LETTERS TO THE EDITOR – 10-27-11

Home for the holidays
Editor: In a few short months, Sebastopol will celebrate the
holiday season. We invite you to enjoy your holidays at home in
Sebastopol. We approach the season with enthusiasm and a renewed
sense of optimism, united in a shared message: Think Sebastopol
First!
In anticipation of preparing for your holiday meals and gift giving
ideas, we trust you will Think Sebastopol First for your shopping
needs. The town is gearing up for a festive season. Trees will be
decked in lights, adding a warm and inviting atmosphere to the
community. Storefronts will be decorated and colorful. The City and
the Chamber, in cooperation with Sonoma County Transit, will again
host free rides on the Sebastopol Shuttle on Saturdays throughout
the season, beginning on Nov. 19 and ending on Dec. 24.
Two holiday dinners will be hosted for free, one on Thanksgiving
Day and the other on Christmas Day. The Town Plaza will be
decorated for the annual lighting of the town tree on Dec. 1. Dec.
3 will be the monthly Super Saturday Sales citywide and bus riders
will receive special offers from local participating stores.
Imagine all the great reasons for staying home for the holidays:
parking is free and more spaces have just been opened up for
shoppers and employees. It’s a more unique experience with a
variety of specialty items to choose from. Enjoy a more relaxed
experience away from the hectic crowds and congestion – you can
meander from shop to shop. Grab a meal and stop and chat with a
friend.
Sebastopol businesses are your friends and neighbors. What better
way to spend your holidays than at home? Today in an
often-uncertain economy we wonder how as individuals we can help
each other. We invite you to drive a friend or someone in need to
one of the free community meals; shop at your neighbor’s gift shop;
give to your favorite local charity; celebrate the season with
great appreciation for the local flavor and global vision of our
home we call Sebastopol.
For information on these and other activities please don’t hesitate
to contact the Chamber at 823-3032 or sebastopol.org.
The Sebastopol Area
Chamber of Commerce Board
Support Sebastopol
Editor: Buy Local is an ongoing campaign in Sebastopol. Many
merchants proudly display the Buy Local signs in their stores. With
the busiest shopping days of the year already starting, holiday
activities are gearing up around the city.
To further promote “Buy Local,” the Chamber of Commerce is
launching a holiday campaign, “Think Sebastopol First.”
Let’s support this campaign and keep our holiday shopping dollars
here. This helps local business, and the city’s sales tax receipts
which we need to improve.
Take a trip around the city, and visit the merchants. Share a
conversation with them about how their businesses are doing.
While they are experiencing difficulties due to the national
economy, they are very optimistic and very appreciative of the
support shown by the community.
“Think Sebastopol First” is a timely and a fitting campaign theme
for this holiday season. So, prepare your gift lists, check out the
holiday ads in the Sonoma West Times, grab your reusable shopping
bags, and enjoy a shopping spree right here in your hometown.
Kathleen Shaffer
Sebastopol City Council
Newsworthy meetings
Editor: The Design Review Board (DRB) continued to hear the
CVS/Chase project after nearly rejecting it at last Wednesday’s
(Oct. 19) meeting. The DRB had requested specific site changes in
July. The developer came back last Wednesday with a nearly
identical site plan and firmly stated that many changes weren’t
going to happen. Apparently, his clients are frustrated with the
City’s demands.
I hope the Sonoma West will choose to cover the next DRB meeting.
It could be crucial. Several areas need to be addressed including
pedestrian features of the project, traffic flow into and out of
the project and the two buildings’ architectural qualities.
This is a very important project situated in the heart of
Sebastopol’s downtown and will have a very big impact on the look
and feel of the downtown as well as traffic congestion. There are
very reasonable concerns.
I hope that the Sonoma West will deem it newsworthy and that more
people will become aware of this important upcoming meeting at the
DRB. If the DRB does not approve the project, the developer may
appeal it to the City Council. What a show that would be.
Peter Schurch
Sebastopol DRB member
Helping men change abusive behaviors
Editor: Since October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, Men
Evolving Non-Violently (M.E.N.) seeks opportunities to speak out.
As a 30-year collective working on this issue, we were shocked and
saddened earlier this year by the tragic death of one of Sonoma
County’s beloved sheriffs at the hands of a man with a history of
domestic violence. This can clearly be identified as an extreme
case, yet there are many more cases that are much less extreme.
There is help for those men who struggle with and want to change
their abusive behaviors. We know because we have been there.
M.E.N. is an all-volunteer collective of peer counselors,
supervised by a paid licensed therapist. We are regular guys from
every walk of life who provide a safe place where men can work on
themselves. We offer a 24-hour hotline and three groups in Santa
Rosa, Sebastopol, and Petaluma. M.E.N.’s sliding-scale fee makes it
affordable to anyone who wants to participate.
Men tend to emotionally isolate and act out their frustrations in
non-productive or even harmful ways. In our society we are usually
taught to “man up,” and not talk about our feelings or needs, much
less get help that looks anything like support or nurturing. As
clients we found M.E.N. to be a one-of-a-kind oasis, where we could
let down our guard and talk about our lives and relationships. It
was a huge relief to be in a non-judgmental environment where other
men were helping us to change our abusive behavior. As
facilitators, we provide ongoing support for men who want to learn
to deal differently with their anger, and want their lives to feel
better.
M.E.N.’s definition of abuse is “a feeling of intimidation because
of the words or actions of another.” This abusive behavior can
include verbal threats, name-calling, put-downs, body language,
tone of voice and/or raising one’s voice, coercion, withdrawal of
money or other necessities, attempting to control another’s
behavior, or physically overpowering or harming someone. M.E.N.’s
philosophy is that people who are “abusive” are usually trying to
get their legitimate needs met, but in dysfunctional ways. Most of
us who sought out M.E.N. felt bad about our behavior, but just
didn’t know what to do to change. M.E.N. teaches specific skills
and tools that guarantee change if they are consistently practiced.
In fact, a number of clients became collective members in order to
have an ongoing place to keep working on themselves and their
relationships while they help others.
We know that it is hard for most men to get support. To start the
process of change, one must muster the courage to call the hotline
at 707-528-2MEN. Talk to someone who has “been there.” Visit
www.sonomacountymen.org for more information about our groups or
training to become a facilitator, hotline operator, and/or
community outreach volunteer.
Jon Warren, Petaluma
Frank Snow, Sebastopol
RobRoy MacLeod, Santa Rosa
Broken paradigm
Editor: A different approach must be taken. If our so-called “Too
Big To Fail” financial institutions were bailed out in order that
they could continue to make a profit, while attempting to keep
employees working/spending money, we should attempt to employ the
same strategies for the hundreds of thousands of college
graduates.
This will help produce the following: earning potential increases,
help mobilize new homeowners, and allowing them to simultaneously
pay down their higher interest-bearing revolving credit. This will
ultimately create an increase in discretionary income, further
stimulating the economy.
According to Mark Kantrowitz, Publisher of FinAid and FastWeb on
August 11, 2010, “As of June 2010, total student loan debt passed
total credit card debt for the first time … the seasonally
adjusted revolving credit totaled $826.5 billion as of June 2010.
As much as 98 percent of revolving credit is credit card debt.
Student loan debt outstanding totaled at least $830 billion as of
June 2010, with roughly $665 billion in federal education loans and
$168 billion in private student loans.”
Now is the time to turn our broken paradigm in the recycling bin,
and clear some room for renewable resources: the working class
within America.
Kevin Godwin
Santa Rosa
Not broken?
Editor: For Congressman Mike Thompson to allow publication of an
opinion on Social Security in your publication (“Social Security is
not broken, not broke and certainly not bankrupt,” Sept. 29) with
the omission of important facts so as to support his position on
Social Security, does not bide well of a Congressman looking out
for his constituents.
I was very fortunate when I was going to a Junior College speech
class in 1947, to be assigned the task of defending Social
Security. The student assigned to oppose Social Security pleaded
with the instructor to allow him to defend. I had no knowledge of
Social Security, and when asked if I would take the oppose
position, I felt it would take the same amount of research effort
as for the defend position, so I said yes. Was I lucky.
First, I looked into the “why” of the program. The general public
at the time very much looked down on anyone who accepted welfare
monies from either city, county, state, or any charity. That is why
the term Social Security was given to the plan. In order for those
people over 65 that couldn’t work, did not have other resources, or
had no children to support them and their social position, a small
retirement payment from the government, that was not welfare,
would.
Second, I looked into how the plan was to be paid for. It looked
very reasonable, just collect a small tax from all the people
working, and with that money as a source, pay out the Social
Security benefits. For the originators of the program, it would
take 134 workers to pay the benefits. And in 1934, the normal life
span was about 67. For a reasonable person, it looked like it was
the thing to do.
But, in 1947 when I looked at the program, Congress had increased
the benefit with an increase in the tax to the workers. At that
time, it took 18 workers to pay each beneficiary. And with the
advances in medicine and nutrition, people were living longer. It
was apparent at that time, that without change it would be almost
possible for all future workers to collect their benefits. Congress
would have to continually increase the FICA tax forever to make the
program work. At the time I had Social Security statistics that
forecast the event. For current forecasts see: Charts Social
Security with Google Images on the internet.
Today it is down to three workers. Why? For the following reasons,
over time, congress has increased the benefits, added Medicare and
a prescription benefit, etc. And we don’t die at 67, we don’t die
soon enough, we are living to an average age of about 79 and
later.
In 2030 it will be down to two workers to pay the benefit of each
recipient.
My question to Mike Thompson, where is the money tree that be used
to maintain the current benefits for all those that are working and
paying FICA today? Only when you tell me where the money tree is
will I believe that my grandchildren will receive a benefit. Please
don’t say that we will have to again raise the FICA tax
significantly to make a minor adjustment to the plan. Tell us what
parts of the plan will have to be discontinued for my grandchildren
in order that they will have any plan at all.
Ray Smith
Windsor