Letters 11-3-16

Walker, Landry nod
Editor:
 As an El Molino/Analy high school teacher for the past 26 years I know the importance of this year’s WSCUHSD Board of Education election. I endorse both Diane Landry and Ted Walker in their re-election bids.
Diane and Ted truly collaborate with teachers in order to attract and retain high quality teachers. In our last two year agreement both were instrumental leaders in re-directing their superintendent to collaborate with teachers and come to an acceptable agreement. Their ability to think outside the box was instrumental to not only that agreement but they support innovative curriculum and other ideas initially raised by teachers.

Both of these board members have worked to listen to their communities, staffs and students with the outcome being improved relationships amongst all of those groups and the District. There really is no other choice in this important election. Their ability to focus on the different needs of all three of our campuses make their re-election mandatory.

Please join with me in voting for Diane Landry and Ted Walker for the West Sonoma County Union High School District Board of Education as they will continue to honor the necessary collaboration with the teachers and students that our District is proud of.
Bill Olzman, Sebastopol
Hospital economics
Editor: In the long run, economics always wins. Keeping the Sonoma West Medical Center open is an emotional issue that is not backed by the economics of running a hospital. Financial information included in the latest board packet shows that the hospital and the district are both basically insolvent.
When was the last time the district had audited financial statements prepared in accordance with accepted governmental accounting standards? Do the current directors even know how to read financial statements? Do the candidates? They are relying on financial statements prepared by a bookkeeper. The taxpayers are entitled to a true audit performed by an outside accounting firm.
Fear mongers say that people will be dying in the streets if the hospital closes. What an insult to our emergency services personnel and agencies. They are very well trained and equipped to handle emergencies and transport patients to other hospitals.
In the long run, economics always wins. The economics of the small hospital in this medical reimbursement environment going forward are dismal. Let’s end the charade.
Jim Horn wants to move the District forward, whether or not the hospital survives, and put an end to the accumulation of debt that will take decades to pay off.
Vote for Jim Horn for fiscal responsibility for the Palm Drive Health Care District.
Barbara Barney, Sebastopol
Vote for Thomas, Cary
EDITOR: We have been actively involved for 30 years as volunteers for our community hospital. We have had family, friends and neighbors who have received life saving procedures when they have needed emergency medical care. Our Sonoma West County Hospital has always been here for us. Lets not lose it now.
We absolutely need the leadership of Gail Thomas and Rob Cary who have been deeply committed to keep our hospital doors open for so many years.
Thomas and Cary have helped us to meet and surpass the unbelievable challenges which have faced our community hospital. It is through their outstanding leadership, knowledge, compassion and volunteer dedication that we have survived the threat of permanent closure.
Gail Thomas, President of the Foundation for years, has raised, with public help, thousands of dollars for our hospital and Rob with his professional business expertise has guided us through tough financial times. We are still open. A vote for both of them will help assure a future of quality healthcare which we can depend upon today and for all of our children’s tomorrows. These votes will strengthen our resolve to move into the future with a financially stable and outstanding health care community. Please elect Thomas and Cary.
Bob and Heidi Gillen, Sebastopol
NO GMOS
EDITOR: Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF, and duPont have arrived in Sonoma County to fight Measure M, a local Nov. 8 ballot measure that prohibits growing GMOs.
The opposition said they weren’t planning to spend money against Measure M. According to documents filed with the Sonoma County Clerk, these companies are funding a recently formed committee, “No on M- sponsored and opposed by farmers, ranchers, and agricultural technology companies” receiving over, $98,000 as of October 10.
Agro-chemical corporations wouldn’t be funding our opposition, if they didn’t have plans for Sonoma County. The fact is, more and more people want non-GMO food. Our local farms have a right to grow it without contamination. It’s that simple.
These companies make genetically engineered seeds and the herbicides designed to be used with them. When grown in open fields, GMO crops present a contamination threat to non-GMO farms miles away. As new GMO crops are released, local farmers will face a greater threat to their businesses. Eighty percent of Sonoma County dairies are organic, so their cows cannot eat contaminated grass.
The Yes on M Committee is supported by a broad list of endorsers, including: local farmers, dairy owners, farming organizations, vintners, business owners, newspapers, environmental organizations like the Sierra Club and Sonoma County Conservation Action; political groups like the local Democratic Party; former Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey; former State Senator Noreen Evans; former State Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada; local elected and community leaders throughout the County and numerous residents.
Karen Hudson, Citizens for Healthy Farms and Families, Yes on M
Bad News
EDITOR: The bad news keeps coming in the Evans/Hopkins race for 5th district supervisor, and the news isn’t bad for Noreen Evans, but for the heavily funded-by-big-money Lynda Hopkins. Recently events have made it abundantly clear why Hopkins is getting so much money. John Balletto is a successful vineyard and winery owner (who makes some good wine). His recent letter to the editor makes it clear why he is supporting and financing Lynda. He says he wants to grow his business and suggests that winery regulations are onerous. A contribution from New York financier John Dyson to both the Hopkins campaign and the Koenigshofer PAC totaling $44,500 is a surprise until you find out that this man is heavily invested in the Sonoma County wine industry. What does he want for $45K?
Why would these folks support a self avowed progressive, environmentalist and organic farmer? These two men alone have contributed over $70,000 to Hopkins and her dark money backers. We can only speculate that as a supervisor Hopkins will support winery expansion. Will we see more more forest cut down, event centers and tasting rooms on small rural roads, and a reduction in pesky regulations protecting the environment? It is possible that Mr. Balletto and Mr. Dyson want exactly that.
Richard Nichols, Sebastopol
Fernandez for WSCUHSD
EDITOR: As a teacher here at Analy High School for the past 35 years, I feel a need this election cycle to endorse Jeanne Bassett Fernandez for WSCUHSD School Board.
Ms. Fernandez is fully qualified to be elected school board member. She is fair, just and knowledgeable regarding the workings of our school district. Ms. Fernandez is teacher friendly. As President of WSCTA in 2001, I sat across the negotiation table from Ms. Fernandez and we worked out a raise for teachers for the first time in several years to the tune of 16.06 percent, and we were very happy. Jeanne Bassett Fernandez is a wise choice for WSCUHSD School Board.
Kevin Rose, Santa Rosa
Yes on Measure K
EDITOR: I have lived in Sonoma County for over 40 years actively working to conserve and protect the land and helping to create a balance of uses inside our cities while preserving critical agricultural, habitat and recreational uses. By voting yes on Measure K, we have the opportunity to continue longstanding, visionary policies to protect the open space and farm lands around our towns and cities for the next generation. It is simply the most important greenbelt policy measure on the county ballot. And it won’t cost taxpayers anything.
Dee Swanhuyser, Greenbelt Alliance board member, Sebastopol
Support for Horn, Lustig
EDITOR: Confused by the politics and operations of the Sonoma West Medical Center (formerly Palm Drive Hospital)? Join the club.   
We now pay a parcel tax that will take until 2035 to pay off the debt of more than $30 million and the current operating debt that tops $8 million.    
The hospital, under several management teams and the direction of the Palm Drive District Board, struggled over the past 12 years never coming close to sustainability, even with the parcel tax.   
During that time the health care delivery system has gone through dramatic changes, including the geography of local hospitals, the effects of the Affordable Care Act and now electronic medical records that are commonplace.    
Our local hospital has tried and failed to keep up with the changes and achieve a sound financial footing. The current “new/old” management by SWMC is about to put us on the hook for millions more.   
Voting for Gail Thomas and Rob Cary is a continuation of the old guard and will add to the existing debt and the hospital will still likely close.   
There is no way that the hospital under SWMC management can succeed. The Palm Drive District Board needs a strong voice to protect and guide it through the next four years. The Board of Directors have the authority to call them to task.
Jim Horn knows the finances inside out and is one of few that can oversee the changes that need to happen.
I’m voting for the voices of sensibility – Jim Horn and Marsha Sue Lustig.
Craig Boblitt, Sebastopol
Write-In Craig Litwin
EDITOR: As the tides of economic change roll into our little town I find myself more than ever wanting a strong and cohesive city council. If we, as a town, are going to tackle rising housing prices and an influx in wealthy tourism we need Craig Litwin on our council.
I am supporting Craig today because I know that he is mindful of our future and will bring a thoughtfully challenging yet non-combative voice to the council. He has the experience of eight years on the council alongside the endorsement of three of the five seated councilmembers, ensuring that things will get done if Craig is elected. I urge you to vote for write-in candidate Craig Litwin for Sebastopol City Council and remember write in his name and fill in the box.

Annie Dobbs-Kramer, Sebastopol
Three for Palm Drive
Editor: Much gets lost in the simplified, dumbed-down rhetoric surrounding the election for the Palm Drive Health Care District. None of the five candidates have a goal of closing Sonoma West Medical Center (SWMC). Jim Horn in particular, and to a lesser extent, Marsha Sue Lustig (incumbent) and Eira Klich-Heartt have been the subjects of a fear-mongering campaign that portrays SWMC as doomed should they get elected.
An informed voter would know that this is inaccurate. The continued survival of SWMC, tenuous at best, is, at this point, essentially out of the hands of the board members. After many years of repeated failures and inept management, the reopened hospital continues to struggle, despite recent infusions of private capital. The current board has authorized the retention of an outside management firm to attempt one final resuscitation of this facility. If successful, it is likely that this firm will pursue a lease or purchase of the facility, a development that all three of these candidates support.
The primary distinction between these three candidates and the other candidates is their ability to see beyond a hospital-centric future for the Health Care District. Healthcare delivery is a dynamic, rapidly-evolving industry that is moving away from the model that has been pursued, unsuccessfully, by Palm Drive Hospital/SWMC for many years.
Marsha Sue Lustig, Jim Horn, and Eira Klich-Heartt are willing to ask the difficult questions required at this critical time.
I urge you to join me in voting for them.
John Eder, Sebastopol City Councilmember
Hopkins and the future
EDITOR:  My family has lived in Sebastopol and the Russian River community for seven generations, and in my 21 years I have observed that our 5th District is home to people of all demographics and identities that stretch all the way from Roseland out to Bodega.
We as a district deserve a Supervisor who brings the underrepresented communities out of the shadows and allows their voices to be heard.
Lynda Hopkins, and those working for her campaign, aim to unify our communities in the district to have one succinct dialogue.
Over the past several months, the Hopkins’˙ campaign has established invaluable grassroots and open sit-in discussions to demonstrate her desire for a more personal relationship with her constituents.
As a leader who understands the reservation of individuals who are voiceless in small communities, Lynda focuses on addressing their needs first and foremost to alleviate all possible silence.  
It is our duty as voters who care for the future of this district to elect a candidate who is open to listening. Lynda Hopkins fits the mold and has earned my vote.                      
Christopher McDonell, Sebastopol