Letters for June 7, 2018

Tsk-tsk, CN&R

Re “Endorsements” (Editorial, May 31):

Shame on you for not endorsing Audrey Denney for Congress! Growing up in agriculture, she truly represents the values of our Chico community as endorsed by the California Teachers Association and Chico State. I thought the CN&R represented these values as well, but I guess this publication would rather support an attorney not from our city. Disappointed.

Bill Matthews

Chico

Quit your crying

Re “High stakes for women’s health” (Guest comment, by Roger S. Beadle, May 31):

If Mr. Beadle thinks a Congress that’s 80 percent white male and Christian is so bad, what would be his opinion on an 80 percent black and Christian, or Hindu, Congress? Surely then, one composed of 80 percent women would be disastrous to men? What he probably thinks is we cannot have old religious men deciding women’s issues? Then the system of people elected to represent us falls apart.

This could have been said under Obama and the left. If people are unhappy with this government, change it. But don’t cry and moan like little kids. The left does their thing and then the right does their thing. Half the country is upset every eight years. It is not the end of the world.

Allen Clark

Paradise

‘Rip-off’

Re “Fair way” (Newslines, May 31):

Just when I thought I had seen most every kind of rip-off out there in my 77 years on this earth, wouldn’t you know it, the Silver Dollar Fair board manages to provide a new one.

I’m talking about the parking situation at the fair. Bad enough the fair board set the fee at $7 per car for the average citizen. They even decided to extend this disgusting fee to disabled veterans.

The fact that they managed to do this on Memorial Day weekend no less is a real slap in the face to our veterans. The fair wouldn’t even exist without their sacrifices. Most veterans are pretty much low-income or on a fixed income, so $7 is a lot of money. To add a little more insult, the California Highway Patrol involved themselves by having kids in their Explorer group out taking the money—not a good public image for them.

Yes, sir, future fair boards are going to have to search pretty far out to find a way to beat the money grab they laid on the public this year. Maybe next year they can charge disabled veterans $10 a car to park—out in a field to ensure a good walk. Classy job, fair board.

W.M. Gunter

Hamilton City

Blame indoctrination

Re “More on mass shootings” (Letters, by Loretta Ann Torres, May 31):

Ms. Torres: You have freedom of religion; atheists have freedom from religion. However, neither atheists nor secularists, who want religion out of government and vice versa, discard sound values and reason from their lives or the lives of their children. Traditional values may have their base in religious morals, but you don’t need a supernatural deity to understand their worth and to behave in a socially conscious manner. Atheism is not your problem.

Try directing your frustration to the extreme anti-American liberalism on university campuses preparing our new generations of teachers. Along with principles of classroom management, teaching-credential candidates are indoctrinated with their professors’ ideas that America was stolen, its heritage slavery, its culture exclusionary, the white race bigots, males are misogynists, and conservatives are evil.

If you’re a young American white male with behavioral issues, and feel isolated, and you’re standing at the edge of sanity, and one push, one little slight, sends you over the edge, what pulls you back when you’re taught you embody everything that is wrong with the world?

School shooters are young white males not because we let them, but because we make them. Our children, after all, become what we tell them they are.

Peter Bridge

Ord Bend

Regarding karma

Re “The doctor is in” (The Goods, by Meredith J. Cooper, May 24):

Meredith Cooper’s comment suggested karma had bitten Acapillow and they went out of business because they caused 1078 Gallery’s eviction.

My business, All Fired Up Ceramic Art Center, shared a common wall with 1078 for eight years. We enjoyed many shared art events and, usually, being neighbors was a win-win.

Sometimes 1078 were bad neighbors. Loud, blaring music and theater groups screaming obscenities were clearly heard during business hours. Sometimes customers walked in, heard the racket, and abruptly left. After late-night concerts, large piles of ice were dumped by my back door in the path of my customers coming in from the parking lot. I know Acapillow dealt with the same issues.

I feel these problems were due to the volunteer board not being able to properly oversee events, and I really hope things go better in their new location.

For the record, property owner Dorna Andersen always went out of her way to be generous and accommodate her tenants. Yes, she is a businesswoman, but more importantly, she is a passionate supporter of the arts. She charged myself and 1078 low rent for years in an effort to help us succeed.

Janice Hofmann

Chico

Remembering Bobby

Fifty years ago on June 4, 1968, Robert Kennedy won the California presidential primary by 5 points over Eugene McCarthy. Both Kennedy and McCarthy were running against the war in Vietnam. Vice President Hubert Humphrey was not on the California ballot.

Tragically, late that night, after Kennedy was declared the winner, he was shot. He died in the early morning on June 6. Humphrey became the Democratic nominee for president and Nixon won by just 7 percent. About 40 percent of the 58,300 Americans who died in Vietnam were killed while Nixon was president—so much for Nixon’s “secret plan” to end the war.

I believe that Bobby Kennedy would have won the nomination and the presidency, and I think of that often. I was in Vietnam (101st Airborne) that June, and by the time I heard [the news he’d been shot]—it was Bobby Kennedy assassinated, after winning California primary.

Bob Mulholland

Chico