Highlights, lowlights from the week's news
HIT >> `Tis the season of giving, and we're seeing more acts of charity right now than we could list in the pages of this newspaper.
But, just to highlight a couple …
A group of local construction and development businesses came together at 5th Street Steakhouse recently for a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of the North Valley, which has served youth in after-school and teen services throughout Butte and Glenn counties for the past 28 years. The net result was a donation of more than $100,000. Contractors and developers, for all the bad raps they occasionally get, are often among the most charitable members of our community, and this is just the latest example.
The Rural County Representatives of California (RCRC) presented $68,900 to six Butte County nonprofits at the Butte County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday. Rural community and business leaders from across the state raised the funds during the basket drawing and auction at RCRC's 2023 annual meeting in late September for the benefit of nonprofits serving the Butte County community.
And on the ridge, the Paradise Animal Shelter just got a huge boost from the town of Paradise and the facility's biggest booster — the nonprofit group Paradise Animal Shelter Helpers. The town allocated $600,000 for an expansion project, matching the amount raised by PASH in a fundraiser.
Just three examples of the huge amount of good being done by local benefactors — big and small — every day. MISS >> We were sorry to hear of the passing of Ulrich Bullerjahn, who served as the Chief of Police for the Chico Police Department from August 1, 1977, to December 18, 1991. He died Dec. 10 in Chico. He was 84.
Karl Ory, who was mayor of Chico during part of Bullerjahn's stay as chief, recalled Bullerjahn as a “professional” and “trustworthy” chief who was hired from outside the force.
The loss reminded us of some of the challenges faced by our local law enforcement agencies, especially these days. Just this week, the Butte County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to offer bonuses to aid with recruitment of new hires. That follows a plan by the Chico Police Department to offer substantial wage increases; so far that has worked out well, with Chico making nice gains toward being fully staffed again. Like all law enforcement agencies, they're basically in competition with each other and other agencies across the land, with governing bodies going to extra lengths to make sure their communities are adequately served while hiring from a not-large-enough talent pool.
Law enforcement remains a noble, invaluable profession that has been stained by the actions of a minuscule number of its employees. Those actions, too, have no doubt impacted the number of people choosing it as a career.
We're glad our local elected officials have taken these extra steps to improve our staffing, and seem committed to hiring ethical officers who will serve as positive examples to our community for years to come — just as Chief Bullerjahn did long ago.
HIT >> With a relatively light year as far as wildfires having wrapped up in California, it was fitting to see “good fire” take center stage in December.
Members of the Mechoopda Tribe were on the campus of Chico State on Monday for a “cultural burn,” performing a task performed by indigenous peoples in this area for centuries — and providing the public with some much-needed education on the benefits.
The goal of these burns has historically been to keep healthy ecosystems for flora and fauna.
It was an important reminder that for all of the advances society has made through the past couple hundred of years, there is still much we can learn from the native people who took such great care of this land long before any settlers set foot on it. MISS >> Look. We understand that school districts have policies and regulations in place regarding the use of their campuses, and we know those policies aren't going to make everyone happy.
But sometimes, we wish plain old “common sense” could play a bigger role. News that the Girls on the Run organization — a group that has partnered with Chico Unified School District for many years — would be losing some access seems like a classic example.
“Girls On the Run is one of the largest community partners with the Chico Unified School District. We were on every one of their 12 elementary campuses and we're serving
250 girls per school year,” said Claire Johnson, executive director of the group. But under the new policy, the group must wait until 6 p.m. for community access. Ostensibly, some other group had asked that they get the same kind of deal as Girls on the Run had in terms of access, which — common sense should dictate — can't be possible for every group.
Of course, there's no way to split the pie into big enough pieces to satisfy everyone, and in today's lawsuit-rich environment, it's a shame that the only solution sometimes benefits … nobody.