Letters for October 27, 2016

About CN&R’s picks

Re “Federal, state endorsements” (Editorial, Oct. 20):

While I see that your paper endorses Hillary Clinton because she is the better choice than Trump, I am astonished that there is no mention or interest in the fact that she is the first woman in our history as a country that will most likely become president.

It is ironic she is running against a man who is openly degrading to women. Because of this, there has been a huge backlash on women.

What troubles me is that I think many young women and men are unaware or take for granted the rights that have been hard-won for women. This seems to me an opportunity to educate people on the significance of a female president.

While I would not support someone solely based on his or her gender, in this case, and given the climate of misogyny, it is the perfect time to make a stand for women and to understand fully the long road to equality we have been on.

Gabrielle Walters

Chico

How can CN&R support a presidential candidate who spews endless lies and whose career has been all about enriching friends and herself with more riches and power?

It wasn’t that long ago that many Democrats—including Clinton, CN&R and its readers—were in lock-step support of the Occupy Wall Street movement and its fight against the 1 percent. Now the CN&R supports the 1 percent, the banks and corporations? Nearly all of Wall Street and corporate funding is going to Clinton. The Clintons are Wall Street. Doesn’t that say enough?

Another State Department employee takes the Fifth when questioned about their role in the email/server scandal? It seems like the entire department has taken the Fifth and been given immunity from prosecution. I thought immunity was given in exchange for testimony? What would the CN&R say if Chico city administrators all took the Fifth when questioned about important city functions? Nothing?

There are better choices than having the Clintons continue their power, corruption and usual crooked ways.

Taft Petersen

Chico

Proposition 61 is a straightforward proposal to protect consumers from the pharmaceutical industry’s price-gouging. It requires that the state of California pays no more for prescription drugs than is paid for the same medication by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. California could also negotiate prices below those paid by that entity. California currently purchases $4 billion per year in prescription drugs. Think of the billions that the state taxpayers could save over the next 10 years. No wonder the drug companies are advertising so heavily against it. Vote yes on Proposition 61.

Paula Woods

Forest Ranch

I was disappointed to see that you are not endorsing a yes vote on Proposition 61. As a registered nurse at Enloe Medical Center, I see every day the issues that people face with not being able to afford their medications: either not being able to take them at all due to cost, taking less than they should to make them last longer or going without other essentials such as cutting their food budget in order to afford their medications.

Prop. 61 would help to alleviate the high cost of prescriptions for Californians. The No on 61 campaign is being paid for by the big pharmaceutical companies. Yes on 61 is endorsed by Bernie Sanders and the California Nurse’s Association. I urge everyone to consider voting yes on Prop. 61.

Sharon Kaplan

Chico

‘A big FU’

Re “Whose bike is this, anyway?” (Newslines, by Robert Speer, Oct. 20):

Not moving Chico Scrap Metal is not only a big FU to the disenfranchised Chapman residents, it is also a slap in the face of Chico’s favorite son. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has put this town on the map. That company’s generosity to local charity events, the jobs they have created, and the tourist dollars they have brought to this town have benefited us all.

Leaving this polluting, ugly business across the street from the brewery (when we were promised it would move) is not a fiscally conservative decision; it smacks of corruption. I say it is time for a personal lawsuit against Councilmembers Mark Sorensen, Sean Morgan, Andrew Coolidge and Reanette Fillmer for violating the public trust. Any lawyers out there willing to pick this up?

R. Sterling Ogden

Chico

Three on The Donald

Re “Trump’s assault on democracy” (Guest comment, by Robert Speer, Oct. 20):

I’m sure Robert Speer regrets saying that Clinton’s policies or actions could not be worse than Donald Trump’s questioning the legitimacy of this U.S. presidential election. Clinton actually working with Dick Cheney’s former foreign policy adviser, the vile Victoria Nuland, to continue Bush’s wars for dominance in the Middle East is far worse than words from Donald Trump’s mouth.

I’m still haunted by the beautiful little Syrian girl asking over and over from her hospital bed, “Will my foot grow back? Will my foot grow back?”

The hallmark of Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state (with Nuland by her side) was to pour fuel on unrest in certain chosen nations until anger blew up into chaos and violence, infrastructures were destroyed and vacuums were filled by terrorists. How cruel for the innocent people of those countries! What a heartless foreign policy!

Linda Furr

Chico

Donald Trump’s rants about a “rigged election” are based on the fallacy of “voter fraud.” This claim is the classic red herring; “something that misleads or distracts from a relevant or important issue.” The real issue is “election fraud” caused by privately owned (proprietary) computer software counting our votes. This is an issue of democracy, therefore not partisan.

The latest occurrence happened in the Democratic primary, where the exit poll numbers were changed to match the computer totals (see the Stanford University study). This raises the question: “Are we witnessing a dishonest election?”

A racketeering lawsuit has been filed in Ohio in this most recent case. This is similar to the lawsuit filed by Cliff Arnebeck and Bob Fitrakis over the 2004 presidential election, which, through discovery, exposed the outsourcing of Ohio’s 2004 election votes to SmarTech in Chattanooga, Tenn. In sworn testimony in this lawsuit, Bob Magnan, an IT specialist for the state of Ohio during the 2004 election, said there was no computer failure in Ohio and that he was sent home at 9 p.m. on election night and private contractors ran the system. That’s the real issue. Private contractors counting our votes!

Paul Ellcessor

Durham

Should Trump have his way (God forbid) and we close our borders to refugees from Syria and other war-torn nations for fear of possible terrorists, to avoid being hypocritical we should drop “home of the brave” from our national anthem.

Dan Johnson

Paradise

Conflict of interest?

Re “High stakes” (Newslines, by Ken Smith, Oct. 6):

Ken Smith succinctly pointed out how special interests are trying to buy the Chico City Council election.

What irks me is that candidate Sean Morgan basically stated that his vote is not for sale. Maybe he should have thought about that when his home-based business accepted $10,000 to $100,000 in both 2014 and 2015 from Golden Valley Bank for “consulting services.” At least five of the bank directors and stockholders have contributed to his current campaign.

Could this be related to Morgan seconding and voting as a Chico City Councilman in favor of a $10,000 nonrefundable fee to Golden Valley Bank on Oct. 15, 2013, for a $5 million loan the city never needed or used?

The state Fair Political Practices Commission’s conflicts-of-interest section clearly states that “a public official has a disqualifying conflict of interest in a governmental decision if it is foreseeable that the decision will have a financial impact on his or her personal finances or other financial interests.” The public has a right to know exactly when Morgan made his deal with the bank.

Seth Derish

Chico

A betting man

I’ll wager $100 that there will be a hit piece distributed by liberals that links conservative City Council candidates to Donald Trump. If that’s their best strategy, they must want to avoid debating local issues. This election should be all about local issues, and the track record of both the conservative council and the liberal council when each had its opportunity to determine the city’s direction.

So how did the liberals rule when they controlled the council? Between 2007 and 2012, they overspent revenues by $20 million. They drained dozens of individual city accounts, including the operational reserves and even the emergency reserves. Results? City Hall was laid bare because massive layoffs were necessary to avoid bankruptcy.

Crime increased due to attrition in public safety. Park maintenance, road repairs and preventative maintenance of city assets were slashed. Finally, funding for critical nonprofits was eliminated, impacting many of Chico’s less fortunate. And, yes, we’re still digging out of the financial hole the liberals created.

That is why I endorse Sean Morgan, Jovanni Tricerri and Loretta Torres. They are the best candidates to ensure Chico completes its financial recovery and public safety remains our top priority.

Bob Evans

Chico

Stone’s their guy

As a former City Council member and vice mayor for the city of Chico, I am endorsing Randall Stone for re-election. Randall was instrumental in saving the Chico Saturday farmers’ market, kept Caper Acres open for families to enjoy, saved Chico’s only public Fourth of July celebration, and was the only council member to fight for pension and salary reform. Meanwhile, the incumbent conservative candidate, Sean Morgan, voted to spend $1.5 million for police officer salaries, and not one police officer was hired as a result.

Randall Stone cannot be bought. He is his own man and has integrity in his decisions to prove this point. Randall’s financial expertise is what we need on this council. Randall has been elected as the president of the Sacramento Valley Division of the League of California Cities. Do you want a “yes man” to special interests? No way! I want someone on the council who is going to challenge the special interest groups. These groups want to change the general plan to benefit developer contributors, destroy the Greenline and our quality of life.

I also support Ann Schwab, Tami Ritter and Karl Ory for City Council.

Tom Nickell

Chico

Councilman Randall Stone has been the driving force in balancing the Chico city budget, mainly by addressing and controlling city employee costs. He passed legislation to return $4 million to the general fund to fully fund public safety, parks and road improvements.

Stone has put a budget emphasis on keeping a fully staffed police department. He passed the Police Staffing Plan, and just as importantly, he found a way to pay for it. Stone’s neighborhood crime-fighting efforts have included organizing NextDoor.com user groups, and personally investigating and initiating the removal of a problem recycling center and the bicycle chop shop that thrived around it.

Stone’s regional and statewide involvement allows him to share data, experiences and techniques with civic leaders from many other cities, large and small. Chico benefits from the knowledge and experience Stone has gained in the important areas of economic development, housing economics, homelessness and vagrancy issues, and associated drug and crime problems. Stone has found creative ways to keep Bidwell Park and Caper Acres open during times of staffing shortages.

Randall Stone is concerned with the best interests of all the citizens of Chico. He deserves to be re-elected.

Ron Sherman

Chico

I strongly recommend Randall Stone for another four years on the Chico City Council. I have known Randall for about 15 years. I’m impressed with his community involvement and his fresh, forward thinking. We can thank Randall for the continued operation of Capers Acres. He worked hard to find ways to keep the Caper Acres open for children and their families to enjoy. He did the same while fighting off those who tried to stop the 50-year-old Bidwell Park annual July 4th celebration. The people spoke and Randall listened!

Randall thought on how to improve his community while he worked for his MPA at CSUC. He’s used his knowledge to benefit Chico and specifically to improve life quality for Chico residents. He’s helped weed out crime areas by prodding for police action. He’s eliminated poorly kept neighborhoods like Pear Grove Mobile Home Park and built neat low-cost housing.

Randall helps us get the most for our tax dollars. For more information on Stone, go to stoneforcouncil.com. You will find more reasons to support Randall Stone for Chico City Council on Nov. 8!

John Martinez

Chico

Vote for Bernie

For those readers here who elected Bernie Sanders by 61 percent, who may not know about this three-way combo of a co-op strategic voting movement to defeat HRC and Drumpf, both too reviled to appeal to the wider voter base in general election, 46 percent of which is independent of the two establishment party system.

1) Write in exactly: Bernard Sanders as president and Tulsi Gabbard as vice president in states that will count them. (I am one of only 55 “presidential electors” needed in California to file the forms for write-ins that will count. Notarized and mailed certified, which we have surpassed.)

2) Deny270 is to block the establishment parties the requisite 270 electoral college votes. This legally forces the U.S. House of Representatives to vote. We believe Bernie would be chosen because of Drumpf’s splitting the Republicans and how much the GOP-ruled House would not vote for HRC. #OpDeny270. Also, Bernie is the most popular senator in the Senate, and as “Amendment King” he works across the aisle all the time. He is an independent again.

3) Vote Jill Stein in all states other than the 10 or 11 with California, so the Green Party can hit the magic number of 5 percent to qualify for funds for 2020.

Mary Kay Benson

Chico

Feeling appreciated

Re “Best of Chico, Readers’ Picks” (Cover story, Oct. 13):

I was honored to see my name in the K-12 teacher category in last week’s Best of Chico, alongside two dedicated colleagues, Rebecca Klein and Nicole Nye. Thank you to all who voted! I am privileged to work with many dedicated, skilled and compassionate teachers who work hard to bring quality learning to our community. Your votes in the education categories (both K-12 and college) are a testament that education is valued here in Chico. We teachers and school staff appreciate the support!

Jennifer Rossovich

Chico

Editor’s note: The author, a second-grade teacher at Hooker Oak Elementary, tied for first place in CN&R’s annual Best of Chico contest in the category of Best Teacher (K-12).

They like Schuster

We confidently recommend Melissa Schuster for Paradise Town Council.

She has lived and worked in our community for many years as a volunteer, community leader and business owner. Through the variety of positions she has held over the years, she has a clear understanding of how government works and the important issues facing Paradise. She has done a remarkable amount of research on the issues as well as community outreach to connect with the voters to find out their top priorities for Paradise.

Public safety and economic development are the issues voters are most concerned about. Melissa has pledged to make these her top priorities as well as working on advancing our infrastructure to attract and retain businesses in Paradise. Community enrichment is also a part of Melissa’s plan to increase opportunities for youth as well as opportunities for our senior population to contribute to the enhancement of Paradise.

Having a Town Council member who is positive, hard-working and dedicated to the improvement of Paradise is a win-win for all citizens of Paradise. We’re voting for Melissa Schuster!

Pam and Bill Hartley

Paradise

No regrets

I was pleased to read the CN&R’s endorsement of Prop. 64, legalizing cannabis (marijuana). While polls predicting election results regarding cannabis seem to indicate it will pass, one poll is spot-on that voters can count on. In Colorado, every subsequent poll indicates citizens continue supporting the end of cannabis prohibition. There is every reason to believe when California citizens end cannabis prohibition, you will not look back with regret either.

Stan White

Dillon, Colo.