Letters to the Editor 8-29-13

Driver awareness
Editor: As summer draws to a close and children return to school, motorists are urged to always be aware when they are driving around school buses, schools and children walking and biking to school.
School buses are 172 times safer than the family automobile when compared to accident statistics during the morning and afternoon school drive times. Recently the National Transportation Research Board completed a study and published its findings. They have declared that, “Children are at far more risk traveling to and from school in private passenger vehicles — especially if a teen-age driver is involved — than in school buses.” They go on to report that, “Every year, about 800 school-age children are killed in motor vehicle crashes during normal school travel hours … of these 800 deaths, only about 2 percent are school bus related … more than half of all deaths of children between age 5 and 18 occur during normal school travel hours when a teen-ager is driving.”
School buses have a stellar safety record, however we find fewer and fewer families taking advantage of the service that a school bus provides. California ranks dead last among all 50 states in school bus use, with only about 15 percent of our student population using the school bus, compared with a national average of 55 percent.
Encourage your children and families to use the school bus. In addition to the safety benefits, school buses are environmentally friendly, reducing traffic congestion around schools and on our roadways and reducing the large amount of single-car exhaust emissions.
Motorists are reminded to always be cautious when travelling around school buses. Be aware that children can act in unpredictable fashions. Always be on the lookout for a child running out into the street. Whenever the school bus red lights are flashing alternately, please stop and wait until the lights are extinguished. Proceed only with the greatest of caution.
The school bus red flashing lights are used when students are boarding or exiting the bus or when they need to cross the street. There are some times when a school bus does not use the red lights. These are very specific exemptions allowed under the law. There is only one situation in which drivers do not need to stop for the red lights. That is when the bus is on the other side of divided roadway or highway. If you are ever in doubt, stop for the school bus red lights, and always be cautious around school buses.
Mike Rea
Executive Director
West County Transportation Agency
Presumed guilty
Editor: I am disappointed at this rush to judgment by the editorial board of Santa Rosa’s locally owned daily newspaper. Their attempt to discredit the outstanding representation Efren Carrillo has given to his constituents is unfair. Our supervisor is a man who has represented our 5th District with exemplary leadership and commitment. He has worked tirelessly promoting good government for all. An editorial page may express its opinion, but where is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty? Rather, they suggest his consideration of resignation as did other supervisors, his comrades, who have suddenly become his detractors. No one has worked harder for us, and yet his fellow supervisors stand ready to make public comments about him and judge him based upon media reports, gossip, lack of factual information and, of course, his political opponent’s speculation.
I have worked as an administrative aide to our West County supervisor for seven years and have never heard any elected supervisor come to conclusions regarding one of their colleague’s actions based upon rumor and assumptions. One more disappointment for me.
I have believed, since 1977, that good government leaders work for all the people in Sonoma County. Efren is entitled to the same basic rights that flow from the due process of our laws, which we all hold dear. His detractors have prejudged him. I expected fairness and objectivity from the local daily newspaper and our supervisors. If he has broken the law, he needs to address this in court. Let us help him to move on with his work as our 5th District Supervisor. I will be proud to work beside him. West County deserves nothing less
Let’s give Efren a chance to get well and return to the leadership role he has so rightly earned in the four-and-one-half years he has served as our supervisor. It has taken far more courage for Efren to acknowledge his misbehavior, take corrective action and confront those who are ready to ask him to resign.
Heidi Gillen (retired)
5th District Administrative Aide
California Assembly Field Representative
Sebastopol
Give him a chance
Editor: I was relieved on Aug. 20 that Efren Carrillo returned to work, and astonished that Supervisor Shirlee Zane said his “sudden return to public office” was a “distraction from ‘our’ (meaning “their”) official business.” Have she and Susan Gorin (who said she would not speak to him without an appointment) forgotten that public service is still Supervisor Efren Carrillo’s business too, and he has the right to return to work?
The public should remember that the colleagues who publicly condemned him have been and are his worst critics. If there is a recall vote, I will not vote for him to be recalled. He has not been charged with burglary (of what? the blinds?) or breaking and entering, or assault. If he intended to assault his neighbor, why would he knock on her door, tell her he was just a neighbor and go home? So he was in his underwear … it was a hot summer night.
At least 8 percent of Americans have been diagnosed as addicted to alcohol, but the count is not accurate. Many people deal with depression or other emotional and mental difficulties with alcohol, and they go undiagnosed. That one of our own young men is owning up and receiving treatment is a good thing. He can be a model to all the young people in Sonoma County who have a similar problem.
Efren has been a hard worker. I’ve seen him ringing Santa’s bell at the Sebastopol Safeway collecting money for those in need at Christmas, cutting ribbons and at fundraisers. He’s been at innumerable events with his smiling face, offering hope to not only the Hispanic population of Roseland where his home is, but the rest of us. So he made a mistake. Give him a chance. Let him redeem himself.
Linda Hauser
Sebastopol