LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Keep ‘em sober
EDITOR: Kudos to Police Chief Weaver and the Sebastopol City
Council for the recent ordinance that prohibits public consumption
of alcohol on the streets, sidewalks and other public places in
Sebastopol. As a parent of three El Molino High School students, I
see this as a positive step toward maintaining a safe and healthy
environment for all of our children and community members. Policies
and ordinances like this have been effective in reducing
alcohol-related problems in communities across the United States.
As my kids begin to explore the world and spend more time outside
the realm of my protection and influence, I’d like to think that I
can count on “our village” to model responsible behavior and to
prevent our youth from accessing alcohol. I am saddened by local
statistics that show high rates of alcohol use and related problems
among Sonoma County youth and reported easy access to alcohol.
There is a long list of risks and harms associated with underage
alcohol use, and research clearly shows that youth who begin
drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to have
some form of alcohol dependency later in life than those who did
not drink before the age of 21. I signed a Parent Pledge at El
Molino, promising that I would not allow access to alcohol to any
youth in my home. I hope that other parents will also take this
pledge and that all adults in this community will take steps to
prevent our youth from gaining access to alcohol.
Ellen Bauer
Sebastopol
‘Dig Pink’ success
Editor: I would like to recognize some individuals and
businesses that were very giving of their time and made donations
to raise money for the Analy High School Volleyball Program’s “Dig
Pink” night. Dig Pink is a theme used by volleyball programs around
the nation both at the high school and college level to raise money
for the fight against breast cancer. This was our first undertaking
of a Dig Pink night at Analy, and what a grand event it
was. Altogether we raised almost $2,500.00 through gate proceeds,
snack bar sales, donation raffles, tie dye sock sales, and monetary
donations.
When you do an event of this magnitude there are many people
involved and I would like to recognize them. There was a group of
people who were general organizers of the event. They were; Liz
Schott, Becky Olson, Holly Follendorf, Kaity McCollister, Beth
Lamb, and Briana Adviento was the student/athlete who did a large
portion of the organization. Plus there were many generous local
businesses that gave their products for a donation raffle. They
were; East West Café, Copperfield’s Bookstore, Miller’s Candy
Emporium, Milk & Honey, Incredible Records, People’s Music,
Siena Bella, Cool Fitness, Screamin’ Mimi’s, K&L Bistro, Nancy
Kay, DVM/author, Francine Fiesel Jewelry.
I especially want to thank the entire Analy Volleyball Program
(parents included) for their time, effort, and belief that together
we can make a difference.
Nancy Williams
Analy High School
Varsity Volleyball Coach
Frizelle Enos goes beyond
Editor: Henry Moskoff was good at creating smiles wherever he
went. Even when seriously sick.
Shortly before our 13-year-old golden retriever “puppy” was
diagnosed with advanced liver cancer, he had already become a
finicky eater (not a trait of goldens). Scrambled eggs, sausages,
rice were de rigeur for his new diet of festive, celebratory
consumption once we found out he didn’t have long to live. That was
the most compassionate message I got from Sue Buxton after a brief
visit with her after all the tests.
When that gourmet program had no more success, our housemate and
extended family member, Kitty Bouchard, took Henry into Frizelle
Enos with the declaration of his illness and not a small amount of
frustration: “… he’s sick. We can’t get him to eat anything.” Henry
was there watching and listening — cataracts and deafness hindered
his abilities, I imagine, but he knew the nature of the subject so
he paid attention. (How many retail places can one bring his dog in
the U.S.? We’re spoiled here in California.)
The Frizelle employee enthusiastically offered: “Oh, you want a
buffet.” Behind the cash register was their mini-warehouse of
samples — Kitty said they tried over nine items, but made sure they
ruled the duck jerky (he was already over that) and finally found
some things he liked: a turkey sausage and a couple of other items.
We got another two weeks of his attendance in our lives.
Oh, yes, there will be people who might say we were selfish in
extending Henry’s life by keeping him nourished with expensive
victuals. Yup, it would be an accurate criticism and I accept the
blame: he was my friend, my son, my companion, my teacher. What
else would one do with a guy this special? And, I would still
praise the spirit and work of the folks at Frizelle Enos: wonderful
enablers for the grieving family of this one pet.
Henry, the old man, passed peacefully with his family on
December 3rd. He leaves a legacy of unconditional acceptance and
pervasive gratitude for all things … and smells.
George Moskoff
Sebastopol
Public opinion and war
Editor: As U.S. citizens, we are advantageously empowered by our
constitutionally guaranteed and vitally essential right to freedom
of speech. However, our Government continually breaks this
constitutional law by denying us access to certain information that
is vital to our national security. We live in a country where we
have the option to read, for example, Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and if
we are critical thinkers, will probably dismiss it as nostalgic
nonsense and twisted logic, (or if we are not critical thinkers we
have the option of being misled by its ranting madness). Our
constitution even allows the likes of Glenn Beck, and Rush
Limbaugh, to publish hundreds of pages of sadly misguided rubbish.
(Why booksellers continue to place these books on their “current
events” shelves instead of where they belong; on the fiction shelf
next to Orwell’s “1984” bewilders me.) Despite our rights under the
first amendment, the government continues to deny us the option to
view any photographs of casualties in Iraq or Afghanistan. Why? Do
they fear that if we have access to these pictures, public opinion
will go against our military actions in the Middle East, as
occurred when the public viewed the horrifying photos coming back
from Vietnam in the ‘60s and ‘70s? Whether you are for or against
these “wars,” I suggest you go to your computer ASAP and Google,
“mindprod.com” and check out the images of some of the casualties
of Iraqi citizens and U.S. soldiers that were somehow smuggled out
of the war zone. As I understand it, our Pentagon has been
aggressively shutting down Web sites that display such photos, so I
would suggest you download them and forward these photos to your
friends and Representatives, including President Obama. And while
you’re at it, you might remind them that we have constitutionally
guaranteed rights to this information. Thanks to the brave folk at
mindprod.com we have information
our government denies us.
Jay Cimo
Sebastopol