Highlights, lowlights from the week’s news
HIT >> What a wonderful “hit” to start the day — we now have a new preschool and child care facility in Chico that includes babies in its state license.
Acorns to Oaks Preschool and Daycare at 2452 Tom Polk Ave. is open for business. Infant care, of course, is a significant need in Chico and thus has resulted in waiting lists at other care providers, which have referred parents to Acorns to Oaks.
The center is allowed a ratio of 12 children for one adult, with a total of 20 children able to fit in each classroom. The business already has 17 children enrolled — 12 preschoolers and five infants. They anticipate more as more parents have applied; the maximum they can accommodate is 56 children combined in both categories. Children can be enrolled until they begin kindergarten or transitional kindergarten.
The story of how “a lifechanging event, a severe need and an old friendship all came together as factors in the formation” of the preschool and child care center is a good one, and we invite you to read Ed Booth’s account if you haven’t seen it already.
MISS >> There’s seldom a lack of drama in Butte County regarding politics, but sometimes, it’s good to pause and recognize that we’re not even close to being the most off-the-rail act in the circus. In fact, compared with Shasta County, we’re a model of calmness.
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors recently voted 3-2 to cancel the county’s contract with Dominion Voting Systems, apparently falling under the spell of conspiracy theories that falsely claim Dominion had something to do with Donald Trump losing the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden.
(Actually, you can thank the voters for that outcome … but, back to Shasta County.)
The decision means Shasta County is now exploring options for going back to handcounted ballots. In the meantime, they basically have no way to conduct an election, period. One supervisor even went so far as to solicit money from prominent election conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell which the county would hold in case their actions lead to a lawsuit.
And the purpose of this effort?
To restore trust in elections. Oh.
HIT >> It was another great winter for local sports, and it’s worth a final recap — as well as a look ahead at an opportunity to honor many of our outstanding athletes.
The Butte College women’s basketball team wrapped up another outstanding season by finishing second in the California Community College Athletic Association playoffs at West Hills College in Lemoore.
The Roadrunners, led by a great number of local athletes, finished the season with a record of 28-4.
Several high school teams also made deep runs into the CIF playoffs, most notably the Chico High boys, who made it to the Division IV NorCal championship game before falling to Half Moon Bay. Pleasant Valley’s girls also made it to the NorCal finals before losing to Central.
The great performances from so many of our local sports programs is habit-forming. That’s why we’re so excited to be bringing back another Butte County sports tradition: the Chico Sports Hall of Fame and Senior Athletes Banquet.
The banquet, a North State tradition for 47 years before being halted by COVID in March 2020, will return Tuesday, May 9 at the Elks Lodge. Nominees are being sought for the Chico Sports Hall of Fame — you can make a nomination by emailing sports@chicoer. com. Also, the top senior athletes of the year from Chico State and 12 area high schools and the top sophomores from Butte College will be honored, as selected by each school’s athletic directors and coaching staffs.
Tickets will go on sale in early April. Watch for the announcement.
MISS >> We’re not sure how many different ways we need to say “It’s usually a pretty dumb idea to try to swim in deep, fast-moving water, much less try to drive a car through it,” but apparently we need to try again.
First, yet another driver decided to ignore the big signs that say “Road closed. Flooded” on Ord Ferry Road. To the surprise of no one who has paid any attention to this annual lunacy, they got stuck, and had to call for help. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team, and the Cal-Fire Butte County Swiftwater Rescue Team responded. Fortunately, no one was hurt in either the deepcar-dive or the rescue attempt.
Then, on Thursday, a 12-year-old boy who was walking with his family on the bike path next to Centennial Avenue decided to try to cross Big Chico Creek. He was swept about 50-75 feet downstream, according to Capt. Mike Watner of the Chico Fire Department, but was able to stop moving after encountering some higher ground and blackberry bushes (one of the 12 rescuing firefighters had to use a chainsaw to help remove the boy). Fortunately, he survived, as did the rescuers.
Once again, it’s a lucky deal that nobody lost their life. It was also a gigantic, completely unnecessary waste of resources thanks to two incredibly foolish decisions.
Let’s be smarter.