A reminder to check trees for safety

Recently a large limb from a huge tree at the rear of our resident property in the 100 block of Connors Avenue fell on one end of the dwelling, crashing through the ceiling, leaving a gapping hole with about 4 feet of the limb hanging below the shattered ceiling. The main tree was about 40 feet away.

A local tree service is coming to remove the limb and tarp the hole in the roof next Tuesday using a large boom truck.

Folks with large older trees might be advised to have them checked for health and stability. Wind was not a factor in this incident.

— John H. Babcock, Chico

Questioning priority of city streets repair

I have to agree with Adam Ghiorso regarding his letter to the editor Tuesday.

Since we were displaced by the Camp Fire, we have lived in several neighborhoods in Chico. Right now we live in California Park. Although we would not choose to live here permanently, it has been lovely. The location is close to Bidwell Park, where we can bike to everywhere in town.

But, as Adam says, both streets through the park and Vallombrosa, Boucher, Arbutus and others downtown are almost dangerous to ride a bike on and difficult for cars.

What is odd is all the streets and sidewalks are being redone in the California Park neighborhood. It is hard to understand why this affluent area was chosen over many streets in Chapmantown and other Chico neighborhoods where roads and sidewalks are in disrepair or absent.

— Patricia Puterbaugh, Chico

Founders didn’t envision today’s elected leaders

Anthony Watts’ latest letter on the No Kings march sets a new standard for ignoring reality. Anyone who thinks we have a functioning system of checks and balances at this moment in time must be living in a hermetically sealed bubble.

The founders built a system of checks and balances based on the belief that each of the three branches would jealously guard its role and prerogatives and prevent any one branch of government from overpowering the others. They also believed that the voters would elect honorable men who would obey the law.

None of that is true today. The Trump regime breaks the law and violates the Constitution on a daily basis. A spineless Republican Congress, cowed by Trump’s threats, goes along. A stacked Supreme Court refuses to intervene. Trump is effectively functioning as a one-man government and neither of the other branches, under Republican dominance, dares or cares to interfere.

The claim that the massive protests were somehow paid for is even more ludicrous. I was part of the planning committee for the local No Kings march and I can tell you exactly how it was financed. It wasn’t. The coalition that planned it spent not a single dollar on the whole event. A few people used their own computer printers to make a few fliers. Social media and email chains provided most of the publicity — all for free. And thousands marched for love of country alone.

— David Welch, Chico

Seeking to remove our checks and balances

Mr. Watts, the one thing that is a “farcical display” is the truth you dodge around. Yes, our checks and balances were set in place during 1776. However, Trump has been working on eradicating those protections.

The so-called “big beautiful bill” has a hidden provision that seeks to limit the ability of courts — including the U.S. Supreme Court — from enforcing their orders (from Newsweek). The provision “would make most existing injunctions — in antitrust cases, police reform cases, school desegregation cases, and others — unenforceable,” Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, told Newsweek. “It serves no purpose but to weaken the power of the federal courts.”

And (per Calo News report) “It was definitely the LAPD and law enforcement that initiated that violence by pushing forward unnecessarily,” he stated.

My take is: Unlike the “day of love” the January 6 rioters arrived there with explicit plans to riot. Trump has been attempting to silence the press and remove constitutional rights. Ignore legal orders from the courts. Lie about everything under the sun. You know, everything a king/dictator tries to do.

So yes. More than appropriate to display resistance to a wannabe king trying to tear down the guardrails afforded to us by our Constitution.

— Mike McCarty, Palermo