Paper must have content
EDITOR: I don’t usually write but I thought I would tell you my response to your new format. I like the old newspaper better. Although I understand the move to online news, I personally look for big news online, world happenings, US News, etc.
When it comes to local news, I read the paper. I am not going to go to several news sites to see what is happening. Big news gets shown on home pages, sent to my phone etc. There was not enough content in the paper. If it stays like this, I am afraid there will be no reason to get the paper. It felt like it was mostly ads. Not all new trends work for everything. There is still value in sitting down to read a paper. But, it needs to have content. My two cents.
Renae Perry
Healdsburg
Contradiction
EDITOR: Can someone please explain to me how it is that the same people who claim vociferously that Russia interfered with and thereby tainted the November election are at the same time quite happy to accept the election result?
C.J. Date
Healdsburg
Mail now working
EDITOR: If you’ve recently mailed a donation to our Healdsburg Center for Animals, we thank you. We’ve just been notified that some of the mail addressed to 555 Westside Rd, Healdsburg has been returned to the senders even though this is the correct address. Yikes. We learned that we have a new mail carrier on the route. We apologize for any confusion. Please be assured that you can send mail to our Healdsburg Center and it should arrive safely from now on. Thank you for understanding.
HAS staff
Healdsburg
Don’t give him a chance
EDITOR: Happy Holidays from Donald Trump. Happy Thanksgiving. Let’s deport 13 million people. Merry Christmas. Let’s start the nuclear arms race back up. Happy New Year. My White House staff are arch-conservative billionaires, hyper-aggressive generals and a white supremacist Neo-Nazi.
Far too many people, from moderate conservatives to progressives, never believed that Trump could ever be elected. This was very naive of us. We never believed that George Bush could be elected, so many people voted for third party candidates or stayed home rather than vote for the impure Al Gore. The result was betrayal of the troops, the Iraq war, thousands dead and a trillion dollars squandered. Obama, imperfect as he was, brought America back from the brink of disaster, with furious opposition from the right wing. There are real reasons to support a candidate that you don’t agree with 100 percent, when the option is incompetence in a crisis. We got that with George Bush and we are heading into a far deadlier nightmare with Donald Trump.
We must not “Give Trump a Chance.” Trump will not change. We must resist every policy Trump endorses. Healdsburg must announce that we are a sanctuary city, and the city council must direct our good local Healdsburg police to refuse to cooperate with any deportation of our neighbors. We must support Democratic candidates who can win, even if we don’t agree with everything they do. Al Gore would never have invaded Iraq. John Kerry would never have allowed the Iraq war to continue as it did under Bush.
All of our greatest presidents have been imperfect. FDR had Japanese internment camps. Jack Kennedy had the Bay of Pigs. Bill Clinton had scandals. Obama did not implement many things progressives wanted. Hillary Clinton was imperfect but we would not be heading off a cliff if she’d had just a little more support. The right wing, the Koch brothers’ empire and conservative media excoriated Hillary for 25 years.
Republican states suppressed voters, gerrymandered districts and did everything they could to rig elections in their favor. They will continue this and we must all be disciplined and resist. Support Democratic candidates. Talk to friends and family who live in swing states to vote for electable Democrats. We must work to effect the midterm elections and get the Senate away from the Republicans. If Trump is re-elected in 2020 it will be our fault. Everyone please vote.
Michael Miller
Healdsburg
Senior Center a gem
EDITOR: The Healdsburg Senior Center is a well-run, stimulating agency with a wide range of programs. The city of Healdsburg just completed a remodel of the facility. If you are a newly relocated senior now residing in Healdsburg, I encourage you to check the senior center out. A special thanks to Lea Black the Senior Center Coordinator. Council member Gary Plass visited the senior center recently and noted the need for computer upgrades for the citizens who frequent the site. The computers were upgraded immediately. Thank you, Gary Plass. I moved here from Bainbridge Island, Washington recently.
Bonny Lawrence
Healdsburg
Holley a Trump fan?
EDITOR: Surely the (team editor) has a ton of leverage on either yourself or the entire staff at Sonoma West. I’m guessing that this is the sole reason, I can only imagine, that he remains employed, let alone have his own column. I must say, he had me quite irate and maybe this is the effect he’s hoping for.
In his previous column, as you know, he wrote of his intent to resist Trump and his apparent antics, tooth and claw. That’s fine, he’s entitled to his opinion and lord knows he does have the forum to express it. He has the advantage on all of us. Our saving grace is that not many of the readers take him seriously and most understand completely that this guy should get over it already and move on to a different topic. After his initial point, he began stroking the readers. When he states that the initial response, by the great unwashed masses, was “OK, Sounds good, how?” he begins blowing smoke, as usual.
I’m guessing that a good percentage of the readers, in fact by the results of the campaign, a very good percentage, understand that he’s just another lefty full of rhetoric. Hmm, when have we witnessed this style of bantering before? The unique thing about this presidential race is that a great many lefties simply lied to the pollsters, pre-election. Now that the poll directors have had the time to research the data, the winner, Mr. Trump, actually received many votes from the left. This contradicts, to the extreme, what they stated regarding whom they intended on voting for. It appears that Hillary couldn’t even convince many in her own party to cast a vote in her direction.
I can’t help but wonder if Ray “Staunch Trump Supporter” Holley, isn’t actually a big Trump fan and continues down the road of many in his party, the road of denial when one of his own is within listening distance. Come out Holley, I for one don’t think enough readers care or even read what you think. If they did, the first thing they would have done was set up a picket line in front of the newspaper’s main office calling for your resignation. I’m guessing that many of the small number of readers were incensed by the way you signed off on your rant. It’s not the best form of example to suggest that most of your readers are white, native born Americans, whatever that means. I’m thinking that maybe you should practice what you are so fast to preach. Maybe you should also treat people of different backgrounds and ethnicities with the respect and demeanor you expect in return. Remember, be honest, be thoughtful and be kind. Thank you for letting me vent, A proud member of the right, on the right, for the obvious right.
Mark Vellutini
Healdsburg
