LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Scientific worldview
Editor: Currently, PG&E has people who go to our homes and
read meters. Those people are subject to all of the normal risks of
traffic accidents, plus the risks of going into people’s yards and
doing literal battle with “nice” dogs who turn out to be not so
nice.
Sandi Maurer, Linda Berg, Bridget Breese, and Melissa Weaver
would like those workers to continue to risk their lives in order
to support a confused and deeply anti-science worldview.
It is vital that we not allow the forces of ignorance to again
prevail.
Rich Gibson
Santa Rosa
We need urban parks
Editor: The recent issue of your newspaper carried two, (not
one, but two) full page ads by Dutra concerning their proposed
asphalt plant on the edge of Schollenberger Park, at the entrance
to Petaluma. The second ad stopped me in my tracks, and sent me
running to write you. The ad is the most amazing feat of
dissembling information in the name of the “facts.” They say that
Schollenberger is not a Yosemite, it is just an urban park
surrounded by industrial areas. Yes, indeed. Not worth protecting,
they say. As a former New Yorker, I immediately envisioned their
argument about Central Park. Surrounded by buildings, surely just
an urban park. Who needs it? Luckily people in Sonoma County are
not as verbally virulent as New Yorkers (G-d bless them.) or Dutra
would be hearing an earful by now, most of it unprintable in your
family newspaper.
The fact that Schollenberger is an urban park is precisely why
it must be protected from Dutra (or other) plans for a rather
unclean enterprise such as asphalt. Surely it is obvious that we
need green refuges in the midst of our crazed incentive for paving
over the very land we and other species need for survival. The bird
life alone in Schollenberger, which began as a dredge disposal area
and is now a true wetland, is remarkable, given the surroundings.
Are we just going to dump the birds, because they live in an urban
park? Dutra, get real, please. Stop disguising your business needs
as social facts, and attributing needs to us that are not relevant.
As for fact checking, I encourage readers to look up the factual
track record that Dutra has on being a good-citizen regarding
environmental interest. Ask the Marin County Grand Jury what they
think. Shame on you, Dutra.
Laura Duggan
Freestone
Stroke clarification
Editor: As the Director of the Stroke Center at Palm Drive
Hospital, and as a resident of West County, I want to share a few
key points with the community. In the article printed in the Sonoma
West on Nov. (“Palm Drive set to become West County stroke
center”), the impression was given that strokes must be treated
within a one-hour timeframe. That figure is somewhat misleading —
our best results will be with people that are able to be seen
within that timeframe, but the treatment window that we generally
like to go by is within three hours of the onset of symptoms.
The important thing is to be seen as quickly as possible, before
irreversible damage occurs. Stroke is the third-leading cause of
death in America, and even when a patient survives, long-term
disabilities often are the result. Residents of Sebastopol and the
surrounding area will greatly benefit from having this resource in
the community, potentially the first of its kind in Sonoma County.
It’s to the great credit of Palm Drive Hospital and its supporters
that our hospital is now in a position of leadership, and poised to
be of even greater service to our community.
Allan L. Bernstein
Sebastopol