Letters to the Editor 10-16-14

Supporting Ziedrich
Editor: We are happy to endorse Eric Ziedrich for Healdsburg City Council.
Eric’s longevity as a citizen of Healdsburg and experience managing a local business give him the skills and attributes necessary to be a great leader.
We know he will work hard to ensure public safety, maintain and improve our streets, sidewalks and parks, and provide assistance and support to local treasures such as our Senior Center . Eric will work to safeguard a strong local economy which will benefit us all. Please join us in casting your vote for Eric Ziedrich on Nov. 4.
Mary Lou Eddinger
Cassie Call
Healdsburg
Yes on P
Editor: It pains me to listen to the anti-fluoridation arguments. These arguments assume that those adding fluoride to the water are either not paying attention to the evidence or advocating this addition knowing it is harmful. Nothing is further from the truth.
Fluoridation of our water is the precise adjustment of the existing naturally occurring fluoride levels to an optimal level recommended by the US Public Health Service to prevent dental decay. The Center for Disease Control proclaimed community water fluoridation as one of 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.  Even in an era with widespread availability of fluoride from other sources, studies continue to prove water fluoridation to be effective in reducing tooth decay more than 25 percent.  
The data on the safety and efficacy of fluoridation has accumulated for over 65 years and been reviewed by academics, committees of experts, special councils of government and most of the world’s major national and international health organizations. The verdict of the scientific community is that fluoridation safely provides major oral health benefits. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, the EPA is required to periodically review new information. The laundry list of human illnesses that are claimed to be related the fluoridation continues to be recycled, but the preponderance of scientific evidence shows that fluoridation is safe.
Marc Alexander, DDS
Healdsburg
Voting for Gore
Editor: I supported, volunteered for and voted for Deb Fudge in 2006 and 2010, however this year I am voting for James Gore.
As I have gotten to know James (and his family) I find him to be vibrant, intelligent, positive and integrity-driven. He is a devoted family man and native son of Sonoma County’s 4th District. He knows the issues and has both the experience and the drive to bring people together in building a consensus-based, sustainable future for Sonoma County.
He is running a positive and optimistic campaign, quite the contrary to the negativity surrounding and seemingly supported by the Fudge campaign. I believe that the way a person conducts a campaign is an indicator of the way that person will govern. For that reason I am NOT voting for Fudge for the first time in 8 years and instead I am Goin’ with Gore.
Mary Barclay
Healdsburg
Community first
Editor: As a long time resident of Healdsburg, I now live on Fitch Mountain. I can vote for our great local boys, James Gore and Mike McGuire, but not for the City Council. Please, please, please vote for Brigette Mansell and Eric Ziedrich, locals for decades. They will put the community’s interests and needs first, before those of tourism!
Thank You!
Carol Novak
Healdsburg
A friend of Healdsburg
Editor: I support James Gore for County Supervisor because he has the same energy, knowledge, temperment and positive attitude as has been shown by Mike McGuire. He too will listen and be a fair broker when divergent views exist. I cannot say that for Ms. Fudge  who is no friend of Healdsburg and doesn’t enjoy the support of most past or present city council members from the cities within the supervisorial district.
Here in Healdsburg I favor Proposition P. Over 70 percent of our nation’s water supply is fluoridated and it is important especially for those in our community who lack regular dental care and dental insurance.
Kurt Hahn
Healdsburg
Supporting Mansell
Editor: The conversation is a bit like a teeter-totter. On one side we find exuberant willingness to capitalize on Healdsburg’s great resources in wine, tourism and development. On the other side, the desire to maintain small town charm and create an environment that supports all the members of the community.
If you talk to the locals, you’ll find widespread remorse about how expensive it is to live here, having to leave town to purchase essential items, tasting rooms opening instead of useful shops, aloof tourists clogging our downtown. It’s not like the good days! Though few can deny that growth has done a lot for the town and made improvements and opportunity possible that wouldn’t exist otherwise, the overwhelming sentiment is that our city council needs to redirect the town’s priorities. We need to begin to tip the teeter-tooter forcefully in the other direction.
The standard talking point we hear from city council candidates past and present (even the good ones!) is that we “need to find balance.” No one wants to stand against the lure of economic growth and expansion — and everyone pays generous lip service to preserving “small town charm.” But this idea of “balance” hasn’t really been realized and the worries and complaints of many (especially those who have lived here since before the wine boom) seem marginalized.
Only one city council candidate, Brigette Mansell, has set herself apart from the norm. Only one has forthrightly promised to prioritize the voices and concerns of working people, seniors, Latinos (and other minorities), environmentalists and those small businesses who could keep shopping dollars in Healdsburg if they only had the opportunity to fit in downtown.
If elected, she will listen to and engage developers and the wine/tourism industries so that their growth works for all of us. And when decisions are made, we can be sure that the concerns of you and your neighbors are heard and fought for. These are the voices of families, teachers, restaurant employees, vineyard workers, artists, city employees and many others who are struggling to make a home in this lovely town.
Brigette is an intelligent, dedicated, hard-working teacher and mother who offers a fresh perspective and a new direction for Healdsburg — and she deserves your vote.
Chris Herrod
Healdsburg
Vote for Ziedrich
Editor: I am writing to offer my support for the candidacy of Eric Ziedrich for Healdsburg City Council.
Eric is a proven leader, having served our community as both a member of our local school board and previously as a member of City Council. His experience as an elected official coupled with his business acumen will be a great asset to the council. Eric is smart, fair, and a good listener. I hope my fellow citizens will join me in voting for him in November.
Joe Lickey
Healdsburg
No on P
Editor: We are the group of local residents who began No on Measure P. After much research and discussion, we concluded that the people of Healdsburg should have the right to decide whether we want sodium fluoride added to our city water, since the practice affects all of us and raises serious health concerns.
In the last six months we have walked every street in Healdsburg. We have talked with hundreds of you. Many of you have thanked us for reaching out in the community where we live to discuss an issue that affects all of us–in other words, for keeping the democratic process alive.
Ours is not a campaign financed by special interests. We are purely grass roots, and motivated by the need to promote thoughtful conversation around the issue of sodium fluoride in our water. We have been financed solely by small, local contributions.
Not so for the Yes on P campaign. This week, the Yes on P campaign reported to the state that they have received a single donation from Sacramento for a stunning $45,000. Not one dollar in their entire Fair Political Practices Yes on P report came from Healdsburg.
This raises many questions.
Wouldn’t $45,000 spent on real prevention–like early education in nutrition and tooth brushing, dental visits, and even fluoride varnishes if parents choose them — help more children in need? (After all no amount of water fluoridation will prevent baby bottle tooth decay; only education will prevent that.) Why would so much outside money be spent to influence our personal choice? It doesn’t matter if you are for or against fluoridation, this is a questionable outside influence.
Thank you for your interest in this important local issue. For more information please visit www.FluorideFreeHBG.org
And thank you in advance for the wisdom of voting NO on Measure P.
Michael Lipelt, ND, DDS, Barbara Wentzel, Julie Kennedy, Brian Pardini, Carol Treu, Erika Linn, Merrilyn Joyce
Healdsburg
Take the high road
Editor: Once again, I am amazed (and disappointed) with our local Sonoma County political scene as it relates to the Supervisor 4th District race between James Gore and Deb Fudge. Last night I arrived home to find yet another mailer regarding a “dirty and down in the mud” type approach to this campaign. This follows several e-mails of the same nature that I have received as of late. It is this type of political propaganda that the voters here (and all over the country for that matter) are sick of and should send a strong message with their votes.
We want and need to hear ideas and debates from the contenders about real issues that will affect all of us versus groups that have some type of agenda against a candidate (in these cases, regular attacks on James Gore). I encourage James to continue to take the “high road” and discuss his thoughts and proposed actions and solutions for the problems we all will be dealing with for years to come. On the other hand, the slanderous propaganda from someone in the “Fudge camp” only makes me more energized to support the candidate that has not gone down the ugly road of “politics as usual.” It is time we get back to the real issues at hand!
Eddie Merideth
Healdsburg
Love Healdsburg
Editor: Here’s another reason to love Healdsburg. Last week I was in Healdsburg Vintage talking to the owner, Constance, about purchasing a headboard or two for the production of Prometheus Bound we’re staging at the high school. Not only did she allow me to borrow them, but she suggested that I bring in some costumes from past shows to sell as Halloween costumes with all of the proceeds helping the Healdsburg High theatre program.  If you’re in need of a costume and/or would enjoy owning a bit of history, pop on down to Healdsburg Vintage, 425 Healdsburg Avenue, and purchase one today!  We appreciate the support, Healdsburg!  Thank you!
Brent Mortensen
Healdsburg