Letters to the Editor, Sept. 11: Sanitizer, shmanitizer!

Full story on Cheese Factory buyers

EDITOR: Front page news: Sonoma's Best Hospitality Group, aka Ken and Stacy Mattson, have bought yet another prominent property (“Sonoma Cheese Factory Sold,” Sept. 4). Their latest prize is the iconic Sonoma Cheese Factory. You provided a list of their extensive and expensive acquisitions. A single entity owning so much of our community is certainly newsworthy - $100 million worth at this point - and any new purchase requires this context.

Also important to include is the outcry that arose last April, and continues to be expressed, when we learned their business partner finances and lobbies for organizations working to deny equal rights to LGBTQ-plus individuals and to curtail women's choices. We also reacted to Stacy Mattson's own hateful and discriminatory comments directed at marginalized groups. Many locals will not patronize SBHG businesses for these reasons. I believe this part of the story should be included when you write about them. They have obtained a great deal of financial and business influence in Sonoma Valley, and potential customers should be informed of the bigger picture.

Having no reason to think they have changed their bigoted views or support for anti-equality causes, I choose not to put my money into anything they own. I will let others know so they can make their own informed choice. I am far from alone in this commitment. If their ongoing purchases are newsworthy, so is this consistent and sustained response.

Carol Allison

Sonoma

School District must put learning first

EDITOR: The letter published on Friday written by Cindy Lindh struck me deep in my gut (“School Trustees - Reset Your Moral Compass,” Sept. 4). Having raised two daughters in the Sonoma public school system, and knowing that they got a good education despite the decisions made by trustees, reminded me it was because of some excellent teachers and two parents who placed a lot of value on education. Teachers are not given the money and instructional materials they need to provide stimulating, healthy and safe learning environments. They often spend their own money for needed supplies. I believe sports programs are important, but not at the expense of learning materials. Please consider placing greater importance on education the next time there are funds like Measure E. You owe it to the students and to their hardworking parents and teachers who pay their taxes.

Peggy Spence

Sonoma

Stop the sanitizer insanity!

EDITOR: Sanitizer is everywhere. Just because something has sanitizer on it does not mean that it is clean. Sanitizer itself becomes its own slimy, gooey, sticky layer of filth. You can put it on but you got to wash it off, and dry it.

The baskets at the supermarket are dripping with sanitizer. Sanitizer gets on your hands, your money, your food, the tables you eat at, and your steering wheel. Sanitizer is omnipresent. Eventually you will taste it.

The flavor of sanitizer occupies the front of your mouth. You will think: Man, I'd really like to vomit. Yes, I could go for a nice vomit right now. I'd like to do the big spit, the technicolor yawn. I'm ready to drive the porcelain bus. I'm ready to give back to the community. How can I get this foul taste of sanitizer out of my mouth.

You could brush your teeth. Then you can rinse your mouth out with a little kosher salt in a glass of water. A shot of tequila followed by a Cuban cigar.

Sanitizer does exactly what it says it does - that includes knocking down your residential flora.

Just because something's covered with sanitizer does not mean it's clean. Sanitizer can make a surface a filth magnet. You still have to wash it.

You should rinse residual sanitizer off of things people come in contact with, and you should dry it. Sanitizer gets all over then people track it around. Sanitizer is a form of contamination.

You got to wash it. Wash it good.

Eric Heine

Glen Ellen