HIT — We’re almost to mid-September and, knock on untarnished wood, we’re still having a remarkably light fire season.
According to Cal Fire’s website, as of Friday there have been just over 5,000 wildfires in our state this year, burning around a quarter-million acres.
Sure, that sounds like a lot — unless you compare it with just about any other year of the 21st century.
In 2018 there were nearly 2 million acres burned and more than 24,000 structures destroyed, most of them in the Camp Fire. In 2020, 4.3 million acres burned and over 11,000 structures were destroyed. In 2021, it was 2.5 million acres and nearly 4,000 structures.
Last year wasn’t as bad as most recent years, with 331,360 acres burned and 772 structures destroyed. But this year’s numbers are even a marked drop from that. Remarkably, we’ve had only 33 structures destroyed by fire so far in 2023.
We’re going to give full credit to our outstanding firefighting personnel, property owners for doing a better job with defensible space, and some long overdue, good-old-fashioned luck. Let’s hope it continues until there’s snow on the ground.
MISS — The core mission of the California State University system is to provide an accessible, affordable, high-quality education.
You’d sure have a hard time telling it by some of CSU’s actions.
Students are facing annual tuition increases in the 6% range beginning with the 2024-25 school year and continuing for at least five years. That figures out to a 30 percent increase over that time.
You know what else has gone up 30 percent the past three years? The annual salaries of many of the campus presidents. And the chancellor’s office, meanwhile, has seen a 60% increase in salary.
None of that should come as a shock to anyone who has paid close attention to some campuses, where the reaction to many challenges seems to be “Hey! Let’s hire another six-figure vice president and put them in charge of that!”
Equally disturbing (and predictable) is the way the system is trying to pass this off as good news to students and their families. According to a statement on the system’s website, “the proposed plan would benefit current and prospective students” by, among other things, offering “tuition stability and predictability for students and parents.”
Seriously? We’re having a hard time imagining this conversation around the dinner table: “Hey, tuition is going up 6% next year, and then the next four years after that too!”
“Really? What a relief, Thank goodness for such stability. This is great news for students!”
HIT — We’re glad to see the expansion of the Butte County Jail is on track and expected to be completed in May 2025.
“Design is complete and we are currently under construction,” Megan McMann, community relations coordinator for the sheriff’s office, said of the project. “We are currently constructing site retaining walls and utilities.”
The expansion has been years in the making. The state of California funded the majority of the cost in 2015 but a series of incidents put the project on hold. The Camp Fire, among other fires, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, halted much of the forward progress.
McMann said the expansion will add 38 additional medical and mental health beds along with multiple classrooms. Additionally, 96 beds in the primary facility will be replaced.
In addition to helping make operations more efficient at the jail, this will also help the district attorney’s office. District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the expansion “means having space for programming and rehabilitation within the walls of the jail, and that’s what we’re looking forward to beyond just the extra beds.”
Bravo, and onward.
MISS — While we applaud the good news of the upcoming jail expansion, we can’t help but be bothered by the fact that short-staffed law enforcement agencies (and jails that simply don’t have room to house all of the criminals) have led to civilians having to take the law into their own hands so often.
Earlier this week, a man who was wanted for vehicle theft, violating terms of his probation and drug charges was spotted by sheriff’s deputies near Midway and Blossom. He escaped through an orchard — only to be apprehended by a local citizen, who held him at gunpoint until deputies got there.
In that case, well done all around. We don’t encourage vigilantism; it’s a dangerous business, for criminals and citizens alike. Yet we can’t blame people for often feeling like if they don’t do something, nothing’s going to happen. Too many criminals, not enough space (or political will) to hold them, and a fed-up populace have combined to create a scenario where more of this sort of thing is likely to happen.
Continually dumping criminals back onto the street the same day they’re arrested isn’t working out very well. Hopefully, the people who run our state will eventually figure that out too.
Hits and misses are compiled by the editorial board.
