LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

When a tree falls …
Editor: It is not so much what happens when it
falls, but how a community responds to its falling. I am not
speaking in metaphors, but of a situation that befell my family and
me one sunny evening, as we departed an event which memorialized my
step-father, Lonny Sumner, and drove along 101. The tree fell
without warning and changed our lives forever. After the accident,
I stepped out of the car and said please help us, and you did, in
that moment and in the many days and weeks that have followed. The
tree fell and the community of professionals and citizens alike has
responded in ways we could never have expected or imagined. The
tree fell and everyone responded with great love and support to
make things right once more. To all of you named and un-named,
recognized and unrecognized, we wish to give you our most profound
thanks. Your prayers, meditations, thoughts and wishes have been a
vital part of our recovery. You have fortified our faith in our
fellow human beings and in our beloved community. We only hope for
an opportunity to give back.
– The Taganashi Family, Sebastopol
Celebration sanity
Editor: As we near the Fourth of July holiday,
I wanted to remind folks that Sebastopol is one of the few cities
in Sonoma County that still allows the sale and use of Safe &
Sane fireworks within our City Limits.  Personally, I’m pleased
that that’s the case. My family and I enjoy celebrating our
nation’s birthday with legal fireworks.
Unfortunately, some people still insist on obtaining and
igniting illegal fireworks, which included all fireworks not
purchased at a licensed Safe & Sane booth. Not only is that
illegal and terribly unsafe, it really does endanger our ability to
maintain the use of legal fireworks. If things get too dangerous
and out of hand, all fireworks may be banned outright. So, I
encourage West County citizens to police themselves. Use only legal
Safe & Sane fireworks and ask friends or neighbors to do the
same. 
The Sebastopol Police Department will be discouraging illegal
and dangerous behavior by strenuously enforcing laws against the
use of illegal fireworks. Observed violators will receive a
misdemeanor criminal citation. If circumstances warrant, violators
will be arrested.
I’d encourage attendance at the wonderful, family-friendly,
alcohol-free event hosted by the Sebastopol Kiwanis Club at Analy
High School on July 3. It is a great fireworks show which helps
support many community groups. 
Here’s to a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July for all.
– Jeff Weaver, Chief of Police
One-sided reporting
Editor: I was disappointed in the one-sidedness
and lack of fairness by the author of the recent Palm Drive
Hospital article on the front page of the Sonoma West Times. This
one-sidedness was not evident in the Santa Rosa daily newspaper’s
articles on the same subject. CEO Russell was given 16 lines of
direct quotes while Mr. Smith had four. The author also promotes
Mr. Russell by declaring that he is a “very popular figure among
the hospital’s staff.” The same phrase is repeated a second time. I
get the point. Is this a fact, an analysis or an opinion?
Jim Lehrer declares that basic principles define his practice as
a journalist at the News Hour on PBS. He says that viewers and
readers have a right to know what principles are used as guides.
From Lehrer, “Carefully separate opinion and analysis from straight
news stories and clearly label it as such.” Sounds good to me.
Another: “Write and present every story with the care I would want
if the story were about me and assume there is at least one other
side or version to every story.”
Mr. Russell was allowed to create a false choice for the reader,
a false choice between interests of the entire West County
community and the personal self interest of one person. This is a
common debate tactic used to discredit others and create division.
This, by the same individual who reads a caustic statement to a
group of colleagues and then walks out without permitting any
response. This is grandstanding and not mature behavior and only
adds to the personal drama, while subtracting from the group
process.
It takes more than one person to make an enterprise work and I
am suspect of someone who takes all the credit. The excellent CEOs
that I know give credit to the team and staff rather than
themselves. Mr. Russell is short-lived in our community, while Mr.
Smith has been committed to this area for a long time. I would like
to suggest the possibility that Mr. Smith may be a convenient
lightning rod for diverting attention from the real issues. Sounds
like Mr. Russell may be in hot water and needs to create a
convenient villain. If so, please don’t fall for it.
I expect a front page news article on an important community
issue to be reporting and not editorializing or scandal-mongering.
It does not serve to sensationalize events and show a shallow
sympathy for the “underdog” against the created despot.
– Daniel Osmer, Sebastopol
Put egos aside
Editor: With the changes occurring in the West
County Health District Board meeting dates, I suspect the next
meeting may be hard for some of us to attend. I have been a surgeon
at Palm Drive Hospital for the last nine years. When I stepped back
from involvement in the hospital’s fundraising and policy affairs a
little over a year ago, I had hoped the hospital was in good hands.
From what I have read in the paper, I fear I was wrong. There seems
to be a personality clash, or a control struggle, or a series of
hidden agendas wreaking havoc within the hospital and district
leadership. When the West County took ownership of this hospital,
the citizens of the county asked for leaders that would keep local
healthcare a reality. Running anything in healthcare is not easy.
There are few outside sources advocating for improved professional
and financial status for hospitals, and none working on behalf of
small hospitals like ours. It will always be hard work to keep a
place like this open. As we scrape our way along, there is no room
for wasted energy, hard feelings, or divisiveness. When we work
together, the health care district works well, too, as the last
decade has shown with the hospital remaining open and in some ways
thriving due to the hard work of many. So this is my prescription
to anyone involved in the recent conflicts: Lay down your arms,
take a deep breath, turn down your ego a couple of notches, and get
to work on what you should do. Make it work so that we can take
care of patients. If that won’t be possible for you, please let us
find someone else for whom it will be.
– Allan Hill, M.D., Sebastopol
Hands off my Uzi
Editor: That agenda promoting diatribe by Susan
Swartz was probably the biggest piece of compost that you guys have
ever printed. I’m sure Ms. Swartz was trying to be cute while
showing off her skills. What she was doing was pushing an alarmist
and radical anti-gun agenda with no facts and no logic.
The congressional bill in question states that if a person has
been issued a concealed carry permit in a given state, and can
legally bring that weapon into the state parks, they can then
legally enter a National Park within the states boundary with the
weapon. 
The bill doesn’t say anything about Uzis, AK-47’s, target
practice, shooting Bambi or Smokie the Bear, packing heat at the
ball-games, dead grandpas, or any other kind of crap she was so
eloquently spewing. No other park rules or regulations are changed
concerning weapons or their discharge. 
The bill was passed with bipartisan support votes in the
Democrat controlled Congress. I don’t remember the NRA having a
vote in Congress. 
While the bill has supporters and detractors on both sides of
the issue, most park officials feel there will be no effect or
change to the park operations.
It’s B.S. from self-righteous people like her that takes the
whole firearms issue into the realm of panic and frenzy. It doesn’t
help, and it certainly doesn’t promote meaningful dialogue.
– Jim Lucchesi, Healdsburg
Volunteer at Juvenile Hall
Editor: I am writing in hopes that you can let
your readership know that we are  looking for people who enjoy
working with adolescents and can volunteer one afternoon a month to
cut hair at Los Guilicos Juvenile Hall. Stylists/ barbers must be
licensed. Hours are flexible. Weekday hours are from 3 p.m. to 3:50
p.m. Saturday and Sunday time slots are open throughout the
days. 
Working at Juvenile Hall, volunteers will feel safe and will
leave knowing they are very much appreciated by the residents and
staff. If any one of your readers are interested, please ask them
to contact me either at 707-565-6321 or they can e-mail me at
na****@so***.net.
Thank you so much for getting the word out. This is a huge need
right now.
– Nancy Jones, Chaplain/Volunteer Coordinator, Santa
Rosa
Salmon habitat in danger
Editor: The unprecedented closure of
California’s salmon fishery in 2008 and 2009, which put thousands
out of work and cost California’s economy a quarter of a billion
dollars, is a terrible tragedy that could have been avoided.
Misguided federal and state water policy and the manipulation of
wildlife-agency science allowed unsustainable and excessive water
diversions from the Delta, which contributed to the crash of
California’s salmon and other Bay-Delta native fish
populations.
Indeed, the National Marine Fisheries Service released a
biological opinion earlier this month concluding that water pumping
for the federal Central Valley Project and the California State
Water Project jeopardize the survival of federally protected
salmon, steelhead, southern green sturgeon, and southern orcas,
which depend on Central Valley salmon for food. The biological
opinion calls for reasonable changes in pumping — reductions of 5
to 7 percent in Delta water exports — to prevent the extinction of
these species.
This is a stark difference from Bush-era permits that allowed
record water diversions from the Delta and Central Valley rivers,
leading to the collapse of the Delta ecosystem and ultimately
intervention by federal courts.
However, wealthy agribusiness interests are pushing for
ever-increasing water diversions and a peripheral canal that will
devastate the Delta ecosystem and destroy California’s largest
salmon fishery. Congressman Devin Nunes is currently pushing an
amendment to appropriations bills that would remove funding for
implementing the biological opinion, eliminating Endangered Species
Act protections for endangered fish, and sabotaging the restoration
of California’s salmon runs. This salmon extinction amendment
narrowly failed last week, but will likely be reintroduced to other
spending bills in the coming weeks.
Protecting the Bay-Delta’s endangered species also protects
commercial fishing jobs, recreational angling, and the communities
that depend on fishing and tourist dollars. Nunes is attempting to
cast blame for the economic hardships in the Central Valley caused
by drought and recession on protections for endangered fish.
Reviving healthy salmon runs could support recreational and
commercial salmon fishing to the tune of tens of thousands of jobs
and bring up to a billion dollars or more to the California
economy.
Encourage your congressional representatives to uphold the
Endangered Species Act, protect the habitats salmon need to
survive, and vote no on any amendment that would strip funding for
essential protections for Central Valley salmon.
– Jeff Miller, Conservation Advocate, Center for Biological
Diversity