Border-crossing journalism from the Sacramento Valley
by Dave Waddell
A celebration to both remember the life of Desmond Phillips and to ring in a new state law governing police killings will be held on the first day of 2020.
The Jan. 1 potluck will include music and speakers and be held from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Faith Lutheran Church of Chico, 667 E. First Ave. The public is encouraged to participate by the sponsoring Justice for Desmond Phillips group, said David Phillips, Desmond’s father.
by Leslie Layton
Chico State staffers were gathering this morning on a campus walkway in an effort to prevent any more altercations over the tactics of the campus Republican club. But today, instead of noisy protesting, a video posted on social media showed a group of protesters dancing to music as they faced the club’s booth.
The campus newspaper The Orion reported an altercation or altercations had occurred earlier in the week as the Republican club promotes its #Walkaway event that will bring controversial speakers to campus this evening. The club had erected two booths on the walkway by Meriam Library this morning, where they had hoisted multiple American flags, a Blue Lives Matter flag and a pro-Trump banner.
by Chris Nelson
The man I met during a late October visit to the Yuba County Jail has a kind face, wears glasses and has a neat, graying hairstyle. He was the third inmate I’ve met through a visitation program run by Faithful Friends, a group that arranges visits for immigrant detainees.
As a nurse, I know that anecdotal information does not make a truth. Yet, I’m struck by the similarities among the three men I’ve visited, and I see truth emerging through the presence of these castaway humans.
Marge Nelms (left) holds a picture of her best friend of 46 years, Lolene Rios, who died in the Camp Fire one year ago today, as area residents gathered for minutes of silence in Chico’s City Plaza. Today’s ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of the deadly Camp Fire, which killed at least 85 people, was organized by the Chico Area Interfaith Council.
by Dave Waddell
Not long after Myra Micalizio was shot five times in the back and killed last year by a Butte County sheriff’s deputy, District Attorney Mike Ramsey declared before television cameras that Micalizio had tried to attack deputies with her vehicle.
Micalizio’s family never bought that scenario, but Ramsey reaffirmed it many months later when issuing a report clearing deputies Charles Lair and Mary Barker of any criminal wrongdoing in the killing. Micalizio’s three children – Lisa Rutledge, Sean McKelvie and Hali McKelvie – recently settled a wrongful death suit against Butte County for $250,000, said County Counsel Bruce Alpert.
essay by Denise Minor
On the surface, this story appears to be about a disagreement over the T-shirt design chosen to commemorate this year’s Almond Bowl, the cross-town football game that each fall marks athletic rivalry between two local high schools.
But beneath the surface, the story is really about how we, as individuals and a society, choose the symbols and imagery we find acceptable to represent ourselves to the rest of the world. And beyond that, it is about the divisions between whom we view as “us” and “them.”
