Letters to the Editor, Oct. 1

Readers weigh in on local elected officials, poor climate-change education and neighborhood names.|

Welcome to the Ignored by Elected Officials Club

EDITOR: I read with strange familiarity the letter to the editor written by Sheana Davis ('Bombthrower, Eh?' Sept. 20). She is now on the receiving end of the same treatment that a group of Sonoma residents have been receiving from the Sonoma City Council for several years now. I see now that the County is no different.

Being involved, and being interested in our community, we have been branded troublemakers and NIMBYs and whatnot. And have even been called that to our face. All for taking an interest in the future of our neighborhood and not buying the Elected Official Party Line. Sheana should get used to being ignored, called names, strung along and lied to by her Supervisor, as we have from our City Councilmembers. Even when we don't oppose the development, but think that it's impacts have been overlooked and set aside.

Be ready to have oversize development forced on you so someone who isn't affected can put a feather in their cap. Find that the developer, who makes all the money in this effort, will push to maximize their profit at the expense of the residents. Get used to having no representation while people who don't even live in the district get all the representation. Get used to asking straight questions and getting a bunch nonsense in return. Learn that no matter what legal angle you take, your elected official will find a loophole or just plain vote on a motion to ignore the environmental issues, the infrastructure issues or the parking issues.

See that so long as we don't accept the Elected Official Party Line part and parcel, we are the enemy of the elected Official. We are to be silenced, cast aside and derided until we fall silent. Subject to the policies of the unaffected.

Tom Fogle

Sonoma

Climate rally? SVUSD didn't make the grade

EDITOR: It's stating the obvious to say the overwhelming and all-pervasive issue of our time is global warming and climate change. Its repercussions and impacts will be planetary and most directly felt by the current generation of children and coming ones.

That is why it was so disheartening to see very few of Sonoma's kids and students at the Friday, Sept. 20 Climate Strike rally on the Plaza to raise awareness of the dire consequences of this man-made catastrophe, and the need for immediate and radical change ('Strike While the Planet is Hot!' Sept. 24).

As the remarkable young people from around the globe and in our own country are adamantly warning, 'Our house is on fire…' and we can no longer wait another minute to act and change the course of this existential threat. This is our reality, not metaphorical hyperbole.

Our Sonoma schools, K-12, missed a crucial opportunity to have its students front and center and participating in this countrywide demonstration, generated and organized by young people from around the world. This was by, for and about them, and for the schools to not have used this premier teaching moment was incomprehensible.

No doubt the schools will counter this with arguments emphasizing student safety and security (off campus) and disruption to class scheduling and regular routine. These are valid concerns, but I'd say inconsequential and shortsighted in view of the seriousness of the issue at hand. Besides, schools do field trips all the time, and student safety and security could have been planned and implemented in advance for those wanting to plan, attend and be a part of the Plaza rally.

The primary function of our schools is to educate, to teach our children well, and to prepare them for life in our complex and dynamic world. This was a supreme time for our schools to have taught invaluable lessons to our students and prospective leaders, and they failed to pass this most significant test. This singularly missed teaching opportunity must be given an F.

Will Shonbrun

Boyes Springs

Boyes will be Boyes…

EDITOR: I was born and raised in Fetters Hot Springs. My mother, if she were alive would be 103, was born and raised in Fetters Hot Springs.

Your article which refers to 'Sonoma's Boyes Bridge' ('Boyes Bridge Closed for Repairs,' Sept. 24) should have read Boyes Hot Springs Bridge. We are not included in Sonoma. We are part of the County of Sonoma. We do not pay City of Sonoma taxes.

When mentioning areas outside of Sonoma city limits, please use our correct names, Boyes Hot Springs, Fetters Hot Springs, Agua Caliente, El Verano and Glen Ellen.

Marie Wilkerson

Springs

And the band played on

EDITOR: Society is an only child. Civilization is like the Titanic.

Our government is reminiscent of the old man sitting at the bar having another cigar and a brandy as the ship sinks into the ocean.

The infrastructure and the technology failing while the passengers are scurrying around on deck. Each one doing what they must to find a place in a lifeboat. Probability and chance blatantly apparent with each roll of the dice.

Bleak and cold is the surface of the ocean. Fate is certain and persistent.

The course remains as if plotted by some ancient hand. The plans and dreams of all men's souls are laid to rest.

Planets spin with no sign of lost control. The tides ebb and the ocean rolls. The winds blow and the sun rises and falls in the sky. Day after day, night after night, eternity slowly passes by.

The significance of one's opinion fades into oblivion. The grand scheme and divine plan transparent in its meaning. The persistence of the light from a star in a dying constellation.

4.6 billion years pass by in the blink of an eye. Heaven and hell hold no promise. The band plays 'Nearer My God, To Thee.'

I rest my head and I close my eyes.

Eric Heine

Glen Ellen

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