The big cheese
EDITOR: Regarding the Windsor Times “Slice” article of Jan 25, 2018: At last, a sculpture that binds the citizens of Windsor — even those who are lactose intolerant.
Lynn Reiter
Windsor
Focus on health
EDITOR: With the devastating North Bay wildfires three months behind us, maintaining an active lifestyle is more important now than ever. The fires took an unprecedented toll on our community, causing widespread trauma, stress and anxiety. Post-fire stress is affecting many of our county’s children and families, especially those who lost homes, changed schools or saw loved ones drastically impacted. Research shows that stress can have significant negative consequences on the body. The good news is that exercise can relieve stress, releasing positive chemicals in the brain and improving overall health.
There are many ways for families to be active together, even in the winter months. A few ideas are to try indoor sports, like soccer or gymnastics; go roller or ice skating; go bowling; and dance to music. On clear days, take advantage of low-cost and free physical activity areas such as parks, hiking and biking trails, and tennis and basketball courts.
Small things like taking the stairs and walking whenever possible really add up — it’s just a matter of setting manageable routines and sticking to them. Physical activity is particularly important for the bodies and minds of growing children — and the habits they learn now will shape the rest of their lives.
While challenging days lie ahead in an era of post-fire recovery, I want to emphasize the importance of focusing on our community’s collective mental and physical health. I hope that you will join me in this endeavor.
Steven D. Herrington
Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools
Keep neighbors first
EDITOR: On Tuesday our county board of supervisors removed the one protection we currently have against VRBO (Vacation Rental by Owner) speculators who are looking to profit from our fires, and they unintentionally created a huge incentive for those speculators to move as quickly as possible, or risk losing their chance. Please join me in asking our board to reconsider this action.
Immediately after the fires the board acted wisely in implementing a moratorium, which is subject to extension for periods of up to two years, on new short term rentals. Even before the fires, their Community Development Commission noted that: “There is a measurable shift in housing supply, otherwise available to the county’s working families, to vacation rentals and other nonresident serving uses.”
Then we lost over 5,000 more homes virtually overnight.
Every home that is converted to or built as a VRBO is no longer a home for a family, and right now our families need homes. At Tuesday’s meeting the board discussed several promising ideas for addressing the VRBO issue.
Unfortunately, in not extending the moratorium they have now opened the door to speculators who will rush to get their VRBO applications in before those ideas are implemented. The board has the power to stop this.
This moratorium does not change any rules; it just hits “pause” until the board’s own good suggestions, and others, can be explored and possibly implemented.
Please join me in asking James Gore, the board chair, to agendize reinstituting the VRBO moratorium, so we can keep it in place until exclusion zones and VRBO regulations can be updated to reflect the new reality in Sonoma County.
Working together we can keep neighbors first.
Ed Davis
Glen Ellen
Show that we care
EDITOR: The words from Tom Homan, Deputy Director of ICE and US Attorney General Jeff Sessions and the recent actions of local ICE give cause for great concern on the part of all law abiding citizens here in California and Sonoma County in particular.
These seem to be more revenge based than based on citizen security. In an effort to not let this continue unchecked, the Legal Observer team concept has been developed. If ICE activity is noticed, any time of day or night, a simple call to the hotline – 707-800-4544 will bring into action a team of trained observers to document and ensure the activity is within the scope of the law and the policies of our local government.
You are not required to be further involved. For more info see www.northbayop.org/rapidresponse. Let us show all the members of our communities that we care.
Bruce Campbell
Sebastopol
Get the flu shot
EDITOR: A recent New England Journal of Medicine study showed a dramatic increase in the incidence of heart attacks within one week of the diagnosis of influenza (flu), as much as six times more like. That is another reason to get the flu shot; admittedly it is not overly protective this year, but certainly better than nothing, and it may protect you from the flu and a heart attack.
Dave Anderson MD
Geyserville
