LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 8-16-12

Don’t kill native birds
Editor: The bird Ray Holley refers to in his Main Street column (Tribune, August 9) with the “gaspy, raspy, chokey wheeze” is not the native Mourning Dove but the Eurasian Collared Dove, an import from Asia to Florida (via Europe), now increasing rapidly across the U.S. (source: The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America). Either way, I don’t think it’s appropriate to suggest killing them—especially not the native Mourning Dove, which may be under threat from the more aggressive Collared Dove.
Sincerely,
P.L. Date
Healdsburg
Healdsburg loses
Editor: The CalPers retirement situation should be addressed statewide, not individually. Healdsburg had extreme difficulty attracting qualified police applicants when the retirement formula was 3% @ 50. With new hires receiving lesser formulas there will certainly be no longevity as a councilman suggested. As long as most police agencies statewide remain at the 3% @ 50 formula, Healdsburg will be hard-pressed to attract any good candidates who would stay long term. The city will become a training ground. As current personnel leave or otherwise retire out, the police department will lack a balanced mix of seasoned veterans, and qualified recruits. Surely no experienced officers from other agencies will apply. The majority of quality applicants will apply elsewhere, and any quality officers hired here would soon leave for other agencies. This would result in constant hiring and training costs, increased litigation potential for mistakes, lowering of standards, lowered morale, and an eventual takeover of services by the sheriff department. Is this what the council wants? The people of Healdsburg deserve the quality personnel the police department has now, and they expect quality in the future.
Mike Hallett (HPD retired)
Santa Rosa
Thanks firefighters
Editor: Our firefighters deserve a big embrace of thanks and appreciation. A small brush fire in the north part of town could have raged into a major catastrophe, but they were on it fast and extinguished it. Thank you to everyone who helped avert disaster.
In gratitude,
Barbara Medaille
Healdsburg