Letters for June 23, 2005

Bad feelings
I was disgusted when I read “Dr. Goodfeel” [Downstroke, June 9]. It is obvious that Oroville Hospital doesn’t care about the community or its patients. But then what can you expect from a one-star hospital (http://www.healthgrades.com/)?

Local residents avoid Oroville Hospital, preferring to drive the extra distance to Chico or Marysville for treatment, but that doesn’t help the victims who are transported via ambulance. Think you can get legal protection? Think again. Judges like Steven J. Howell grant summary judgments to Oroville Hospital without allowing evidence proving medical malpractice. Just look at www.buttecourt.ca.gov/ online_index/CMSSearch.cfm in Butte County Court records. How many cases are filed in other counties? We need to do something about this abuse of power and victimization of the people they are supposed to help. This is a blatant violation of the public trust.

Tiffany Montano
Received via email

Pave paradise
I am a concerned and saddened citizen of Chico. I have seen many changes in the 10 years I have lived here, yet the proposed five-story monolithic parking structure is the most disturbing.

Chico was founded by John Bidwell as a farming community, and now, at the expense of farmers the community, developers and current city leaders want to run roughshod over all the farming values! I am sure that if John and Annie Bidwell could see this they would be just as heartbroken as me and a large part of Chico will be. At what cost will increased parking spaces and revenue come? At the cost of young children, families, farmers and the sense of a real living farming community! It is way too expensive a price to pay for the heart of this town.

I pray people come to their senses and see how terribly this will cripple downtown Chico, for no one will be excited about coming to see this horrific new structure, and it will stand empty a large part of the time.

In closing, please listen to your hearts and those people who oppose this, for the opposition comes due to a love for Chico and what it stands for.

A better place for the proposed structure would be to demolish Bidwell Mansion and build it there; it would do far less damage to downtown and could be the Bidwell Memorial Parking Lot.

Lika Shimmon
Teacher, CUSD

Cop appreciation
Josh Indar’s report on Chico police officers involved in curbing violent crime was an amazing story [”Sometimes cops gotta shoot a guy,” Newslines, June 16]. We citizens cannot imagine how difficult it must be to act so rapidly and thoughtfully in a life-or-death situation. We cannot imagine the sense of pressure our police officers must experience. But we can express our gratitude. To Officer Carlos Jauregui and Sgt. Linda Dye, to the S.W.A.T. team and to the Chico Police Department as a whole: Thank you for protecting us. You do a fantastic job!

Eric M. Hitchcock
Chico

Fund-raising awareness
Your May 12 article on new CSU, Chico Vice President Rick Ellison and university fund-raising focused a bit on the College of Business [“New fund-raiser faces daunting task”]. I want to fill in some details about what has been a very satisfying year at the college in regard to fund-raising.

Our new Entrepreneurship Center has been enhanced by a $104,000 gift by alumnus George Schmidbauer, as well as a $531,000 anonymous gift to endow the Center for Entrepreneurship. So far this academic year the College of Business has received cash donations and pledges totaling more than $1 million, most of which supports programmatic needs.

We’re collaborating on a landmark software initiative in the construction surety bond business thanks to a gift from alumnus Dixon Wright. An all-volunteer student group did a telemarketing campaign and solicited $30,000 from college alumni. Carnegie-Mellon University recently became one of over 25 universities to contract with the college for assistance implementing SAP enterprise-wide software. SAP provided over $500,000 in cash contracts this year to the college (not included in the $1 million mentioned above), in addition to software valued at several million dollars.

As we prepare for the arrival of our new dean, Dr. Willie Hopkins, in July, we have much to be excited about at the College of Business.

Steve Adams
Interim Dean
College of Business

Hello Mr. Soul
Rock ‘n’ roll, as a musical art form, distinguishes itself from other types of music by possessing two things in greater quantities: soul and balls. It is obvious to this musician that your “Local Bastard” has neither.

Mike (Snake) Howe
Chico

Integrity, service and faith
What’s worse—when a national media outlet publishes unsubstantiated stories from unnamed sources, or when a clearly biased local paper publishes a sneak-view story from an unethical stringer who got the info by posing as a neighbor begging a favor for her journalism class?

That Ms. Scholtes got the interview in the Herger home is a testament to her deceitfulness almost as much as it is to the Hergers’ graciousness and friendliness. True, she is a neighbor and a student, but she didn’t let on that she was also writing for the CN&R until two-thirds through the conversation. Too bad she abused the privilege by penning disparaging remarks about Mr. Herger.

And what useful information did the large color photo of the Hergers’ private residence offer your readers? None. It served only to violate the Hergers’ privacy and security. Even people in public careers should have personal security for their families.

Fortunately, the discerning reader could still see past the journalism student’s obvious political bias to catch a glimpse of the Hergers for the honest, unassuming, nice people they are. All politics aside, we’re lucky to be represented in Congress by a person of demonstrated integrity, service and faith.

Pete Carr
Chico

Editor replies: Ms. Scholtes began writing the article as a class assignment. She brought it to us on the advice of her instructor, and we worked with her and told her to let the Hergers know that she was now writing a story for the CN&R, which she did.

Lives per gallon
How many lies and lives does it take to turn that oil tap on for your SUV, America? We are being bled dry by Bush, Cheney, Inc. Call now for a congressional investigation of the Downing Street memo. Tell Herger it is time for him to really stand up for this country and make our Constitution whole again.

Christopher Mehne
Gridley