Letters for April 30, 2015

Leave the trees

PG&E’s second public forum was well-attended but poorly executed. It proved to be nothing more than a public relations stunt aimed at quelling public outcry over the lives they have extinguished—both human and nonhuman. Their representatives went on and on about being more open with communication with the public. Yet when members of the public asked to communicate in our style, they refused.

There was outcry. And they were scared. And they should be. This is Butte County and there’s no room for their pathetic corporate dog and pony shows around here.

PG&E may have a monopoly over our power, but never over our spirit.

Mark Herrera
Chico

Let’s not repeat the mistake seen in Oroville. Right now, 85 local trees are slated for destruction, including 55 valley oaks in southwest Chico. That’s not even counting many, many trees under 4 inches in diameter at chest height that PG&E calls “brush.” A tree that has grown to be 3.8 inches in diameter is likely to be 18 feet tall, and a “tree” according to most people.

PG&E is using unfounded scare tactics referring to the San Bruno explosion. The company implies that tree roots were at fault, but it has been found that the explosion was not caused by tree roots.

Moreover, trees have health implications. Research shows one of the most common reasons for hospital emergency room visits is difficulty breathing; Chico has poor air quality many days a year and trees absorb pollutant gases, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, sulfur dioxide, ozone and filter particulates out of the air by trapping them on their leaves and bark.

Furthermore, trees are critical to the character and identity of our community.

Charles Withuhn
Chico Tree Advocates, Chico

Editor’s note: For context on the letters above, see Newslines, page 8.

Butt out, government

Re “Measles, shmeasles” (The Pulse, April 23):

This is another government scam! If one is vaccinated then one has nothing to fear from those who are not vaccinated, at least assuming vaccines work. The only ones who have anything to worry about are those who are not vaccinated. If one chooses not to be vaccinated, then one is accepting the risk, which is their right!

If a classroom has 30 students and five are not vaccinated, the other 25 have nothing to worry about, assuming vaccines work. It is the parents’ right to choose whether to vaccinate their children or not! Government needs to stay out of our lives!

Mike Noyb
Paradise

More chuckles to come

Re “A laugh riot” (Scene, by Vic Cantu, April 23):

Thank you, Chico! It was a great first year for The Chico Comedy Festival. What’s next? Comedy at The Big Room, at City Plaza, in a frat, and more venues? Let’s go bigger next year. I think Chico can become a place where comics come from all over the world to soak up the culture, the rivers and the beer. All ideas and encouragement are welcome at votedna@gmail.com.

DNA
Santa Cruz

‘Accept it, own it’

Re “Trivial police work” (Letters, by Tom Fiske, April 23):

In the last 30 years, my husband and I have earned exactly one parking citation in Chico. The big dummy parked downtown and didn’t pay the meter. He got a parking ticket, he earned it, he paid it, we laugh about it.

We take personal responsibility for where and how we park our vehicles. If we get a ticket, we don’t whine that we got caught, nor disparage the writer of the ticket for doing exactly what they are paid to do.

I’d wager that a police officer did not write the parking citation. It was most likely a (much lower paid) civilian police employee whose job it is to write parking tickets. Cops don’t have the time to proactively seek out parking violators. If it was a cop who wrote the ticket, I guarantee you it was the result of a complaint.

No matter if you are unemployed or making millions of dollars a year (since you qualified yourself by including your job and pay … like it matters), if you park illegally and get caught, it’s on you. Accept it, own it, and take responsibility for your actions.

Julie Nelson
Chico

‘Transparently bogus’

Re “Disappointed in Hillary” (Letters, by Prana Lewis, April 23):

It seems to be an increasing practice among “wingers” these days to repost standard FOX News “talking points” by posing as some sort of “disappointed lib-rul.” Except they’re usually such transparently bogus attempts, that all they really accomplish is to provide a good laugh. So I’ll believe that Ms. “Prana Lewis” was ever a Hillary supporter (let alone “worked on her campaign”), if she’ll believe that the only thing stopping me from voting for, say, Ted Cruz, is the fact he was born in Canada (even if it makes us both Birthers)!

Mat DelFave
Paradise

It’s not God’s gift

Re “Obamacare check-up” (Healthlines, by Robert Speer, April 23):

The story leaves out the cost of insuring 1 percent so far of the population, and that it is not for 20 million illegal immigrants. Obama took $270 billion from Medicare funding. An independent review says the plan will cost $3.5 trillion over the next 10 years and continue to need the government to fund it. Medicare was robbed for it and was in bad shape before that. The reason efforts are made to change it or stop it is the fact it was written so awfully that the cost will grow until it implodes.

These writers make it sound like God’s gift from Obama and the left, and that those awful GOP people hate it because he did it. None of those points is true. My sister was forced to get it. The cost a month is below $20, but the deductible is thousands of dollars, which makes it useless. Should she go in for a serious operation she would be charged that deductible on a bill, then be forced [into bankruptcy] and/or ruin her credit. To defend this program without figuring the cost for the wrongs it makes is a bogus attempt to make this administration look good.

Allan Clark
Paradise

Mission misdirected

Redding resident Cindy Ellsmore is the head of a political action committee organized to oppose the formation of the State of Jefferson. Ellsmore acknowledges Northern California’s need for better representation, but fears losing support of local economies from state funding of roads, schools, social services, counties, parks, prisons and police.

Corruption, unions and other inefficiencies are causing Northern California governments to pay up to almost five times more for the above infrastructure than they should. Accordingly, after a brief transition period, the State of Jefferson should have no trouble reinstating these services at far less cost. That is, especially with the huge influx of funds it could receive selling its water to the south, instead of letting it flow down there for free. This would enable it to thrive even after abolishing state income tax.

Nathan Esplanade
Corning