Concerns voiced over restrictions
Health officials say rumor was inaccurate
OROVILLE » A weekly COVID-19 briefing typically reserved for Butte County Public Health, other county staff and local media was attended by a much larger group, between 50 and 100 county residents, on Thursday.
It started with a rumor, one that Butte County Public Health said was inaccurate, which circulated among people in a Facebook group called “Oroville Strong — United We Stand.” One of the group’s organizers, Levi Fuller, wrote in a Wednesday evening post of the groups plans to attend the briefing, held at 202 Mira Loma Ave., based on information received that Butte County Public Health planned to rescind licenses for businesses.
Both Lisa Almaguer, public information officer, and Danette York, Butte County Public Health director, said the county made no such plan.
This came after a gathering Monday, attended by Oroville Mayor Chuck Reynolds, Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly and Assemblyman James Gallagher, among others, when more than 100 local business owners met at Mike’s Grande Burger to protest the state’s orders
prohibiting indoor dining operations, at least among the most restrictive tier that Butte County currently falls under.
Then came Thursday’s gathering at the county health department.
“Let’s show up and make some noise and put them on the defense this time not just wait around for them,” Fuller’s post concluded.
With people packed tightly inside the doors of the county health department, many of them not wearing masks, York, Chico Police Chief Matt Madden and Jennifer Macarthy, deputy administrative officer of Economic and Community Development in Butte County, each gave their addresses before taking questions from media.
Then, over 10 citizens were given an opportunity to step up to the microphone to ask officials questions and express their concerns.
The conversation splintered off in a number of directions, such as mask wearing, constitutional rights, funding from the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom, among others, but likely the most common expression heard from residents worried about the health restrictions in place due to the pandemic, impacting businesses in the county as well as peoples’ livelihoods.
“We’re all hurting,” said Ashton Southworth, of Oroville, who was the third person to speak. “A lot of these people are restaurant owners. I’m not one of them. … We’re going under. There’s restaurants closing that have been here my entire life. Nobody is forcing them — not one person that goes into those restaurants is forced to be there.
“They should have the choice to go or not. My husband has a chronic illness, and he chooses to live his life every day, and that is his choice. And I think that’s what it comes down to — it is our choice.”
Fuller, who declined an interview request with this newspaper following the end of the briefing, was the first person to address the county officials, and began by thanking York for “not going after anybody’s licenses,” which York clarified.
“What I said is, there was misinformation that went out via social media saying that at today’s press conference, we were going to be pulling licenses, and that is absolutely untrue, misinformation, not happening at all. …
“The reason I add that clarification is because there is an enforcement process. I’m not actively involved in that enforcement process so I can’t give you the specific details about it, but I wanted to make sure that it wasn’t just a blanket (statement) ‘no licenses are ever going to be pulled.’”
With the speakers to follow, the conversation grew more tense as some took aim at county staff, prompting county Supervisor and Chair of the Board Steve Lambert to step in and remind people that the county’s directives are taken from the state.
“I love the movement, I love the energy, I agree with you folks, but here’s the reality — we are told by the state, ‘this is how we have to do this,’” Lambert said.
Southworth asked Lambert if the county could opt to not comply with state health guidelines. Lambert said the county could theoretically do that, but would risk giving up coronavirus relief funds from the state. Already dealing with recovery from the 2018 Camp Fire and most recently, the North Complex fires, Lambert cautioned against foregoing money that the county is in need of.
“Say we were a flushed county, say we were in high cotton, we have all this money — which we don’t — but if we did and
we gave up $30 million, OK, maybe we could swing it. Maybe,” Lambert said in an interview after the briefing. “But the reality is, we’re not a flushed county. Paradise burned, gone … now we just lost another community, so we’ve lost all of this stuff. Now you have all these people that are homeless in a sense that need more services so there’s more demand and there’s less money coming in. Now, we want to give up $30 million? Boy, what happens next? … $30 million is big. It’s not that easy.”
While many gathered inside the building, others protested outside. Roxanne Eldridge held a sign saying, “We the people” and “September 17 1787,” the day the U.S. Constitution was signed, with the anniversary coincidentally falling on Thursday.
“I’m here to exercise my right to protest, and I just wanted to come out here and show my support for local businesses that are suffering through these times with the pandemic, and our businesses being forced to shut down,” Eldridge said.
Added Stephen Terry, another one of the speakers, “I’m tired of seeing our community shut down. We cannot destroy our community and expect to come out of this pandemic.
Madden attended the briefing to discuss plans for the Chico Police Department to crack down and possibly issue infractions
to large gatherings of people in Chico, specifically mentioning the 18-24 age group that had a significant spike in case numbers in recent weeks, coinciding with the beginning of Chico State’s fall semester.
Madden said there is a municipal code in the city of Chico concerning unruly gatherings, to address large parties, oftentimes among college-age individuals that get out of hand. However, Madden said the code also addresses safety concerns.
“They’re young; they’re looking at this (pandemic) in a little different light than some of the rest of us,” Madden said of the 1824 age group. “Despite your opinion on mask wearing and whatever else, we’ve got to get our numbers down, because economically it’s hurting this county. Just want to make sure we’re doing our part and educating that age group and make sure they’re doing the right thing.”
Madden said the enforcement would start off as an infraction, a “spendy” citation, he said, but can progress to citing a property owner where gatherings take place, including apartment complexes and college housing.
“Clearly when we have this age group gathering and spiking our numbers that affect the entire county, we can use that municipal code for that type of enforcement if we need to,” Madden said.