Letters 8-11-16

Signals? Meh
Editor: One hundred percent of those I surveyed agree that the stop signs at “Five Points” function better than the traffic signals ever did. I also agree. This is a strong indication to me that the roundabout will function just fine and skeptics have nothing to fear but fear itself. This also raises questions about the necessity of a traffic signal at Healdsburg Avenue and Front Street, where, in my professional opinion, a four way stop would also function better than the traffic signal.
Glenn Grigg
Healdsburg
Don’t dismiss prune picking
Editor: In reference to the article published in The Healdsburg Tribune dated July 21, 2016 entitled “Businesses adopt survival tactics during downtown construction,” I would like to take this opportunity to express my opinion regarding the last paragraph. “If you’re going to have the increase of tourism, businesses are going to flourish. This has to be accommodated for, or you can go back to being prune pickers,” said Rawleigh Fjeld, chairwomann of the Antiques & Arts Fair.
As a 81-year-old Healdsburg native, I take exception to this remark and want to point out that I and many of my friends of the same age grew up picking prunes. Some because their family raised prunes while many others, including myself, because it was a way of earning extra dollars for spending money, purchasing clothes for the new fall school year, saving for that first car, and in some cases to help with their family’s overall income.
Picking prunes was not a pleasant experience, crawling around on all fours, filling a bucket, carrying the buckets and boxes, returning to repeat that process over and over. This all being done regardless of temperatures sometimes reaching into the 100s. Hot, dirty and sore backs.
While I have no objections to the SoHe improvements or the general context of this article, I do find that comment inappropriate and dismissive of ever having picked prunes. It’s akin to saying “Put up with it or get out.”
Oak Elder
Healdsburg