Better roads make for safer communities

While visiting Iceland I learned that the Icelandic horse has five gaits. One gait, the Tolt gait, is a four-beat smooth trot. The Tolt gait was so smooth that the horseman rode a lap without spilling a drop of beer from his wine glass container.

At the time, I thought: Wouldn’t it be great to drive in our municipal cities without spilling a drop from a handheld container? Admittedly, a giant thought leap from riding a horse in Iceland to driving about in Chico!

The Chico E-R, June 8, 2025, reported that the city bought a Fire Engine, but could only staff it with only half a crew. If they didn’t fill several police positions, Chico could fully fund the fire engine. Furthermore, the road maintenance program could be postponed, helping to fund the fire engine.

I feel greater emphasis should be placed on the road infrastructure within Chico. Not that I believe the fireman and policeman should be driving around with a glass of beer in hand, but I think they shouldn’t have to wear a neck brace along with their protective gear when trying to get to the place of emergency and danger.

— Bill Davis, Orland

Celebrate freedom by playing it safe

The longer and warmer days bring more traveling. Freedom comes with following laws.

When 16 in 1992, I was hit by a drunken driver. Medical care and therapy in the Bay Area and Central Valley made up half of my teenage life. After three decades, I communicate with a deep tone, read lips, cannot drive and I walk unsteadily.

Look at the results for Independence Day Weekend Maximum Enforcement Period for 2023 and 2024: CHP made 1,224 DUI arrests in 2023 and made 1,336 DUI arrests in 2024. Drivers, please make DUI arrests come down this year.

Please follow laws. Anyone’s independence can be ruined if you drive drunk. Many holidays are coming. Memories of a crash, injuries or even death caused from drunken driving will haunt your future.

Foods and drinks are part of the fun. Taking SR 99 to head home from a festivity? Planning to drink? Go ahead, but don’t forget to have a sober person drive you if you become drunk.

This certainly shows your pride for freedom and people will admire your safety. Freedom and safety go hand in hand.

— Lori Martin, Tracy

A familiar mix of bewilderment, bemusement

Six months, a steamship, and a world of observation — such was Mark Twain’s grand tour, meticulously chronicled in “Following the Equator.” One might think that a journey around the globe in the 19th century would unveil wonders and exotic delights. Instead, Twain’s encounters were remarkably similar to what we might experience today: a mix of bewilderment and bemusement at the peculiarities of humanity.

Fast forward to the 20th century, where another explorer of sorts, William Shatner, boldly ventured through the cosmos in “Star Trek.” Created by Gene Roddenberry in 1966, this science fiction franchise expanded into films, TV series, and even video games. It follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise and its crew as they explore the galaxy, encountering new civilizations and facing various challenges.

Both Twain and Shatner, through their respective journeys—one on Earth and the other in the great beyond—shine a light on the absurdities of human nature. Whether navigating the streets of 19th-century India or the depths of space, the follies and foibles of humanity remain strikingly consistent.

It is both comforting and disheartening to realize that, despite the passage of time, we are still wrestling with the same curious contradictions. Perhaps, in our quest for progress, we have overlooked the simple fact that human nature endures, much like Twain’s timeless humor and Shatner’s iconic bravado.

— Andrew Merkel, Chico

Standing in defense of our ‘thin blue line’

My first priority as a Chico City Council person is to insure the safety of our citizens. That means police, fire and flood prevention.

Two years ago we had a staffing crisis at the Chico Police Department. We were paying 20% less neighboring jurisdictions and losing officers at an alarming rate At that time we did not have a full time traffic officer for a city of 109,000!

The City Council voted to make police compensation competitive with neighboring cities and since been able to recruit and retain 109 sworn police officers, still not enough, but all we can afford.

At our recently concluded annual City Council budget meeting a number of speakers were concerned that the city is spending too much money on police. It is a lot of money, $45 million and the largest item in our General Fund budget. It funds 109 sworn police officers but is still well below the average staffing level for cities of our size in California. Chico has 1 officer per 1,000 population. For comparison, Berkeley has 1.2 and San Francisco 2.0. Compared to the average of other California cities our size we only have 2/3 the number of officers.

The “thin blue line” in Chico is thinner than it should be but our Chico PD does an excellent job. The next time you see a police officer, thank them; they put their lives on the line for us every day they go to work.

— Tom van Overbeek, Chico

Land-use planners ignoring fire reality

When did wildfire become irrelevant to where we put our homes? The Ad Hoc Committee on Growth and Community Development in Chico was a warm-up for a General Plan revise.

In the Land Use Element of the current General Plan, fire is given exactly four words: address wildland fire considerations. The ad hoc committee could have sharpened and expanded this message. But in its findings, which otherwise acknowledge climate-smart planning, the word fire does not even appear.

The catastrophic nature of wildfire is a signature of climate change. Chico has had near misses with fire and everywhere fire survivors are our neighbors. Our lives are increasingly shaped by fire but the ad hoc committee chose to omit it from consideration.

Not everyone is looking the other way. CalFire has identified more high and very high hazard zones within our city limits and in adjacent county lands. Chico’s own Community Wildfire Protection Plan and Vegetative Fuels Management Plan boldly contemplate risk to Chico’s neighborhoods. The City’s new Strategic Plan also mentions wildfire multiple times in relation to safety and resiliency. Citizens in the meantime are mobilizing Firewise communities within city limits.

Meanwhile, for the ad hoc committee, assurance from one fire official about building in the city’s wildland urban interface was enough to set the issue aside.

The division between urban fire and wildland fire is over. Chico knows fire well. When will land-use planning catch up to this reality?

— Jacquelyn Chase, Chico