Citizens group responds to DA’s ruling Letter to the community on death of Myra Micalizio

by CCJ

Recently the Butte County District Attorney found that Butte County deputy sheriffs acted in reasonable self-defense when they shot to death a Palermo woman in April 2018. Concerned Citizens for Justice (CCJ) disagrees with that decision.

We believe that the community should find the following facts alarming:

1. Both deputies were wearing body cameras that they did not turn on until after the shooting.

2. The victim was shot five times in the back.

3. She was not armed.

4. She was known to be mentally ill. read more

#ClimateUprising helps Camp Fire survivors tell their stories Group calling for bipartisan climate action

photo courtesy of #ClimateUprising
John Kunst with wife Vicki Redridge-Kunst

by Leslie Layton

Like thousands of Californians, Los Angeles filmmaker Nirvan Mullick spent early November following wildfire news and worrying about friends and family who were in harm’s way.

Then, two developments forced him to think in a larger context: President Donald Trump visited Paradise and advised Californians to rake their forest floors, and Sen. Bernie Sanders announced a national town hall on climate change. The Washington, D.C., town hall would feature well-known experts and activists – climate change stars, so to speak. read more

Family: Mentally ill woman had no history of violence DA Ramsey to rule today on Micalizio killing by Butte deputies

Hali McKelvie with her mother, Myra Micalizio, in 2014.

by Dave Waddell

Myra Micalizio didn’t live to achieve the baptism she so desired.

Instead, the unarmed Micalizio was killed with stunning swiftness in a barrage of bullets from two Butte County sheriff’s deputies responding to what started as a trespassing complaint last April 26 in Palermo. In her 56th year of a life that had no history of violence, Micalizio was accused of trying to back her vehicle into a deputy she had encountered only seconds earlier.

A mere 15 to 20 seconds elapsed from the moment deputies confronted the apparently delusional Micalizio to when they fired their pistols at her. According to a Sheriff’s Department statement issued the day after the killing, Micalizio, after being yelled at by deputy Lair “to stop and show her hands,” got in her car and backed it toward him “at a high rate of speed.” read more

Shafer says Tree of Greed must come down Chico's MLK celebration features Poor People's Campaign rep

photo by Karen Laslo
Greg Shafer speaks at Trinity United during MLK celebration Sunday.

by Karen Laslo

Greg Shafer, Northern California representative to the Poor People’s Campaign, told a Chico audience of about 200 people Sunday that the “American Tree of Greed must come down,” and that it’s responsible for the environmental degradation, endless wars and the prison-industrial complex that cause suffering, in particular for the poor.

Shafer asked, “But who will cut the Tree of Greed down?” Not the government, not the rich and powerful, not the corporations, he said, responding to his own question. Shafer said America must listen to the African-Americans who’ve been warning for years that the tree’s fruit is toxic. Shafer told the crowd, “We need a new Poor People’s Campaign.” read more

Red Cross shelter evacuees struggle with urgent needs A writer asks if Camp Fire changed attitudes toward climate change

photo by Denise Minor

by Denise Minor

The sky was growing dark by the time I checked in at the Red Cross station on a recent afternoon, in front of the Silver Dollar Fairgrounds in Chico. Two volunteers in red vests greeted me and welcomed me to the shelter for Camp Fire evacuees.

Red Cross Communications Director Stephen Walsh offered to show me around. On that night there were about 700 people staying at the shelter, with some living in their recreational vehicles in the parking lot, some living in a tent city behind the RVs and some living in the three dormitories. All six of the Red Cross shelters that had been opened right after the fire had by then been consolidated to this one. read more