Letters for July 6, 2006

‘White Knight of Enloe’
Re: “Enloe’s big day” (Letters, CN&R, June 29):

After reading Dr. Doug Benson’s letter to the editor, I move to elevate him to the new title of “White Knight of Enloe.”

He came out of retirement and rode his mighty steed from his Shire of the Closed Gate to 5th and the Esplanade, where he did battle with the “Bad” King of Enloe. Using only the Internet and joining forces with the Guild of the Medical Gases and with noblemen of the Medical Staff, he smote the King within two fortnights. Then he banished him and two Lords of the Board from the Kingdom and proclaimed, “May its recovery be rapid and complete.” This is the stuff of legends—Mel Gibson to play the lead.

The next quest for the White Knight and his merry men should be to wholeheartedly support the Enloe Century Project. This will get us back focused on the positive and the future, ensuring a rapid and complete recovery.

Gary Stromberg
Chico

Hockey fight?
Re: “Pool sharks” (Backbeat, CN&R, June 22):

When I picked up the News & Review last week, I took it straight home and burned it ceremoniously in my back yard. Didn’t even read it. (The next day, I did actually pick one up and read it.)

Underwater hockey?!? Don’t get me wrong, any hockey—and that includes underwater and over ice (very refreshing)—is good by me.

However, Chico has a “real” hockey organization. It’s called NVHSC (North Valley Hockey and Sports Complex). It would warm my cockles and also pay a huge debt of gratitude if you ran a cover story on the hard-working people of our community who have given so many hundreds of hours of volunteer service to this great sport.

Come out and see the faces of the kids out on the rink for their first season. Come see the grit, determination, the growth and the smiles as they work all the way up to the high school level. If you haven’t tried recreational (inline) hockey in Chico, you owe it to yourself to check it out. Moms and dads play, too, in adult leagues.

Tom Garron
Chico

Radio waves
Re: “Gasping for air” (Feature, CN&R, June 22):

I’d like to comment on the radio article. KLRS [92.7], The Point [KQPT 107.5/107.9], KFM [93.9] and [KZAP] 96.7 only play mainstream music. The Point says it’s an alternative station, but they play adult contemporary. I was in Oregon recently, and they have a radio station on FM called “The Rogue.” They play real alternative and on the weekends have DJ mix shows that feature electronic music and Teknowave, Electrowave, EBM, E-clash, etc. They are a locally owned station, but the difference is that they play music that is more suited to a younger crowd.

Chico radio seems to be either corporate cheese or for the 50-something, out-of-it type crowd. It doesn’t have to be that way. We should have more pirate radio and low-power indie-type stations, which the Bay Area has. KZFR is limited, and it’s nearly impossible to get a show there with uptight hippies and liberal elites at the helm.

If anyone has the funds or is in the business community that wants to give the younger people [the people with real buying power] in this community a voice, please contact me at bro80e@yahoo.com.

Gorman Lennox
Chico

Unsettling development
As a native Chicoan and longtime resident, I am very concerned about some of our recent planning decisions. It is too late to prevent the destruction and paving of our city plaza, although I’m trying to reserve judgment until completion, assuming that ever occurs. Similiarly, we have a group of franchises including yet another Starbucks, some fast-food purveyors and a Liquor Barn slated to go in directly across from the park, adding to the congestion at what is already one of the busiest intersections in town. We need all these like we need another Wal-Mart, which brings me to the real subject of this letter.

It is not too late to prevent the proposed Wal-Mart Superstore from being built on the site of the Sunset Hills Golf Course. Citizens concerned with preserving the quality of life in Chico were able to influence important decisions regarding downtown planning and the parking structure proposed for the current Farmers’ Market site. The same can be done regarding Wal-Mart. Contact the City Council and Planning Commission; sign petitions, if necessary.

The site would make a great park or even nine-hole municipal golf course. We do not need any more generic mediocrity—there’s plenty here already and in every other town in the USA.

George E. Washington
Chico

Turn back the clock
Windows XP has a restore point. Does our War President? You know, a restore point: Just click on the date you would like to be restored to. I keep looking for this “pre-Bush” restore point on my computer … it ain’t there!

I have never seen the American people so terribly lied to. It insults what little intelligence I have left.

William Roberts
Chico

Pet lovers, take note
Most of us are aware of the danger of heat stroke, swimming pools and drowning. Few of us are aware of water toxicity.

BooBoo was an 80-pound Keeshond. In March, BooBoo got a clean bill of health and his routine shots. Because of the heat, he was drinking a lot of water and staying in the bathtub to stay cool.

Sunday night when we went to bed, he was fine. I woke at 4 a.m., my normal time, to find he was panting. It was 85 degrees. I went to fetch a bowl of ice water for my BooBoo, only to discover he had vomited. I put ice packs on his head and femoral artery. I gave him a baby aspirin. I put him in the tub and showered him with water and then let him sit in the cool water. When I went to get him out of the tub, he struggled to stand and then began to seizure. His breathing was labored. I tried to comfort him.

We had a necropsy performed—that’s an animal autopsy. It showed BooBoo was a healthy animal. The vet’s only explanation was something “misfired in his brain.” After talking, the only conclusion we can come to is water toxicity.

Water toxicity is when you or your pets drink so much water that it causes a chemical (electrolyte) imbalance in the brain and can cause sudden death. Please, if your pet seems to be drinking too much water, get him to the vet right away.

Tiffany Montaño
Berry Creek

Turning a phrase
I was in a downtown bakery one morning standing behind a well-dressed, professional-looking young woman. When it was her turn to order she said, “Can I have a walnut chip macaroon and a coffee?” It was then my turn; I said I would like a raspberry Danish to go.

Do you denote the difference? Our youngish professional woman gave her order as if she were giving obeisance to one so lofty and regal; I on the other hand tried to be businesslike and pleasant, neither obsequious nor haughty.

I have heard this same “can I have” phraseology seemingly exclusively emanating from the mouths of twentysomething young women.

A free and open society should dictate that all are equal. So who then has recast our young Western women as simpering little violets?

Am I missing something, or am I just making too much out of a turn of a phrase?

John Bilinsky
Chico