Barn Dance Feb. 10
EDITOR: It’s back on. The Healdsburg Future Farmers Country Fair Barn Dance is on Feb. 10, at SRJC Shone Farm, in the Warren Dutton Jr. Pavilion. Great food, live music with Rovetti & Meatballs, and a silent auction. At the Barn Dance, three gentlemen that were exhibitors at the very first Healdsburg Fair will be recognized; Joe Rochioli, Al Greco and Henry Cornelssen. It will be a joy to honor these first exhibitors from the 1949-50 Healdsburg Fair. Bring your valentine and support this local fair and the scholarships it offers to our youth. You can pick up tickets at Valero Gas Station, Wright Feed, or go to BrownPaperTickets.com/3192307 and purchase them online.
The HFFCF Board
Healdsburg
Value of local hospital
EDITOR: During a recent three-week period, I bounced around the ERs, ICUs and Med-Surg units of Healdsburg District and Memorial hospitals, as I suffered, sequentially, a traumatically lacerated spleen, a ruptured appendix and a serious heart condition. The first two ER admissions at Healdsburg resulted in transfers to Memorial because of needed expertise; the third resulted in a week at Healdsburg for treatment and observation. I am home now and the future is bright. I wish to thank Memorial for its care and expertise, but focus on Healdsburg because of a somewhat unusual viewpoint.
For many years, my wife, Martha, and I have joined or otherwise supported organizations that advocated the continued existence and strengthening of Healdsburg District Hospital. The arguments advanced can be summarized:
The presence of a small, nearby ER would provide quick transit, prompt admission and, thus, more-quickly delivered treatment;
A small, local hospital would provide a quality of care which simply cannot exist in a larger facility — staff you get to know, a pace not driven by the torrent of required admissions, a non-alcoholic beer on New Year’s Eve;
That neighborhood hospital would allow easier visits by family and friends (glows in dark times) and the involvement of longtime medical connections whose stop-by chats and personal knowledge might provide insights not found the medical books’ checklists.
Intellectually, I found those arguments convincing, given the facts of time and distance, human nature and the regulatory complexities of medical institutions. Now, I can speak from the hell of reality. Thank you, past and present donors to and voters for Healdsburg District Hospital (and to the present facility). We were/are right.
Alson R. Kemp
Healdsburg
Saturdays at the Plaza
EDITOR: “Silence is consent” goes the adage, and many of us in Healdsburg are far from silent about the Trump Administration. Just the opposite. But our opposition to what the Trump Administration is doing and destroying, though sustained and consistent, is often expressed“under the radar of the community of which we are a part.
So, to take our resistance and witness into the public square, we encourage everyone to put “Peaceful Resistance on the Civic Square,” where Healdsburgers and tourists alike (foreigners, too!) can see us fighting for America’s truest democratic values.
A number of us have been on the Plaza several Saturday afternoons now, and we encourage our friends to join us on any corner you please, Saturdays, noon to 1 p.m. Bring any appropriate sign you wish or hoist ones we supply. Our country is worth fighting for, and the Healdsburg Plaza is a great place to do it.
Tessa Kraft and friends for “Peaceful Resistance on the Civic Square”
Healdsburg
Moral high ground
EDITOR: I wanted to take the time to thank the Trump administration for finally deciding that it is time to enforce this country’s laws against the sale and use of cannabis. Until now, our country has been losing the drug war and it is time to finally win. In fact, we are losing so badly that the cannabis industry employs hundreds of thousands of Californians with quality jobs and is poised to raise over a billion dollars for our state. But, with concerted and immediate efforts, we will finally be able to take the moral high ground and imprison hundreds of thousands of Californians, not for a billion dollars, but for many billions of dollars. #MAGA
Gabriel Froymovich
Healdsburg
Better and more just
EDITOR: A very important law for our local community went into effect on Jan.1 in California, one that has not been featured in many “new laws” reports.
SB54, the California Values Act, supported by both Senator Mike McGuire and Assemblymember Jim Wood (thanks!), bars local and state law enforcement officers from arresting individuals based solely on civil immigration warrants, from asking about a person’s immigration status and from participating in any joint task force with federal officials solely for the purpose of enforcing immigration laws.
The bill does not prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Department of Homeland Security from enforcing federal immigration laws in California, it just says California will not use its own law enforcement resources to help in those actions.
The law does not give a pass, however, to immigrants who commit crimes, since it exempts from the protections those immigrants with previous convictions for an estimated 800 crimes.
It will also help local law enforcement to build the strong relationships necessary to public safety and community well-being, since immigrants often fear approaching police officers when they are victims of and witnesses to crimes and when local police are entangled with federal immigration enforcement.
As Gov. Brown said when signing the law, “These are uncertain times for undocumented Californians and their families, and this bill strikes a balance that will protect public safety, while bringing a measure of comfort to those families who are now living in fear every day.”
We have a better and more just California today because of The California Values Act.
Dave Henderson
Healdsburg
