Letters to the Editor 11-12-15

Help the pantry online
Editor: Did you know that you can shop and donate to the Cloverdale Food Pantry at the same time? It can all be done at www.smile.amazon.com. You can order the same merchandise on www.smile.amazon.com as www.amazon.com but the donation of 0.5 percent on your eligible purchases is only available on the smile address. This doesn’t cost you anything but is given by Amazon to your designated charity.
All you need to do is go to www.smile.amazon.com and read what it is and how to do it. You must select your designated charity. Cloverdale Food Pantry will have to be typed in as it is not a favored choice. Bookmark the website and then do all of your shopping from there. Thanks for making Cloverdale Food Pantry your designated charity.
MJ Dellaquila
Cloverdale
Thanks from Stefani
Editor: I love Cloverdale. The way the members of this community pull together and support each other is phenomenal. On Oct. 10, a great group of community members pulled together and had a wonderful benefit dinner in my honor. The show of support from those in attendance and those that couldn’t be there actually makes me speechless. And for those that know me, that’s a challenge. This event could not have happened without a lot of time, energy and donations. I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to Joe Raphael, Jerry Dow, Jude and Shelley Byers, Rick and Vickey Scaramella, Lee Menicucci, Kathleen Bunting, Ronda Hibblen, Melanee Southard, LaVon Gambetta, Nina Sibert, Steven Wright, CHS Key Club, Steve Bearden, Lorinda Higgins, Ellie Naill, Sue Dickens, Josie’s Star Café, Railroad Station, Chris Sterling and Family, Bear Republic Brewing, Southard’s Tire and Auto, Mary’s Pizza, Musetta Wines, Trading Post Bakery, Ace Hardware, Napa Auto Parts, David, Marlise, Temple and Patricia. A very large thank you goes to Knights of Columbus, Cloverdale Lions Club and Cloverdale Kiwanis for your donations and support from your members. If I have neglected to mention someone’s name, please know that it’s not intentional. There have been so many that have helped my family and me through the last few years, I could not have done it without the moral support, dinners and some forcing me to get out and walk after surgeries (Juli Southard). I love you all.
Stefani Wright, your “beloved school bus driver”
Cloverdale
Come back, Red Bull
Editor: Last week I sat for quite awhile in my garden, with binoculars, enjoying the show of the Red Bull contestants sailing through the air. What a show it was! During the four days I heard the helicopters and smiled at the sound of happy people having a great time in Cloverdale. I hope they come back next year.
Kirsten Sullivan
Cloverdale
Support farm workers
Editor: I think it was very ironic to have an article about our local farm workers and how they are lacking for health care and housing and then right below it having an article about an event by local wineries raising money for people in a different country. Why can’t our local wineries have an event for our local farm workers? But maybe if the wineries paid their farm workers more money, the farm workers might be able to afford housing and better medical care. Maybe the wineries could offer health insurance to the men and women who prune the vines, pick the grapes, so that the rest of us and the world can enjoy our Sonoma County world renowned wines. Our farm workers work extremely hard for very little money. It is time to have an event for them and not someone in some other country.
Debbie Platt
Cloverdale
Kudos to students
Editor: When walking along the sidewalk behind the library and High School football field recently, I was delighted to see that the area had been cleaned up and the sidewalks were spotless. After some inquiring I learned that students from Jefferson High School (Antonio, Jenna, Josh and Logan) had done the work. Many thanks to them for a job well done.
Theodora Moticka
Cloverdale
Dementia village
Editor: Lately (last 20 years) everybody talks about getting Cloverdale (my hometown, born on Third Street) back on track money wise: casino, hotel, pony rides , golf course, turn airport into skate park, etc.
My idea is to turn Cloverdale into a “dementia village” (CNN). There’s a place in the Netherlands where everyone who lives there has “old timers disease” (Alzheimer’s) but they’re happy because they don’t know it and they think they’re in a real town. Stores, post office, library, city council (no banks). Real people like doctors and nurses and other workers walk around all day pretending to mailmen, gardeners, etc. to keep an eye on things and keep the people happy. If somebody thinks he’s still running a business he gets to sit an office all day. If somebody thinks they’re in Hollywood a helper might say: “Yes, I just saw Cary Grant.”
Results: 1) Lots of money for Cloverdale from people who want/need to live here. 2) Lots of jobs: gardeners, mailmen, waiters, dentists, etc. I have plenty more ideas. Call anytime. Marcia (she’s typing this) will bring me the phone.
Charlotte Heston
Boonville
Support for Clover
Editor: For those of you that missed the opening festivities and several days of films for the Alexander Valley Film Festival, you missed a great event. Thank you Kathryn Hecht and all the others who made this event happen. They worked tirelessly for 18 months and it showed. The dates are set for next year: October 20 is the opening event with films running through October 23. Be sure to block out the whole weekend and go to see as many of the films as you can. We were only able to go to the opening and closing films/events and one other film, but next year we will not make any other plans.
The Alexander Valley Film Society has a great mission statement, among other things it wants: “To connect every man, woman, and child within reach to the transformative power of cinema” and “To bind community through a shared experience of storytelling that transcends racial, socioeconomic, and faithful divides.” Check out their website and become a member: www.avfilmsociety.org. Not only did Kathryn Hecht bring her vision of a film society to our community, but she and husband Ryan reopened and revamped the Clover Theater bringing current, favorite, and art films as well as great ice cream and even a comic book store. They are huge supporters of the community — be sure to support them.
Beverlee and Michael Laird
Cloverdale
Small town charm
Editor: The charm of a small town is the ability to walk to most of the activities: Citrus Fair, bakeries, restaurants, City Hall, performing arts and historical society etc. The central plaza in Healdsburg is what makes Healdsburg work. We must keep activities centralized whenever possible, otherwise we will be just like Windsor or Rohnert Park, just cities that have succumbed to sprawl in the name of increased revenue.
The concept of using the airport grounds for a sports park, skate park, dog park sounds good on the surface, but we would all have to drive there. I would not allow my sons, under-14, to ride their bikes to the sports park or skate park because of the incredibly dangerous intersections and lonely, winding road. My other consideration would be security. Do we hire someone to be present at all times to make sure that environment is safe for our kids? In town, the parks are visible to everyone and the police and fire are readily available. Not so at the airport.
Anita Jennings
Cloverdale
Disappointed in Huffman
Editor: I am extremely disappointed that Rep. Jared Huffman has chosen not to represent his progressive constituents, and instead has endorsed Hillary Clinton for President. I am sure I speak for many fellow supporters in Cloverdale of Bernie Sanders for President.
In 2012 he succeeded Rep. Lynn Woolsey, then co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, of which he is now an active member. In 2014, Rep. Huffman’s progressive constituents overwhelmingly re-elected him, with 71 percent of the vote.
Given his membership in the Progressive Caucus, whose platform matches Senator Sanders’ and which Senator Sanders co-founded in 1991, Rep. Huffman’s choice for political expediency over representing his progressive constituents is unconscionable.
Senator Sanders has the best chance of winning the presidency, and of expanding the number of Democrats in Congress, because he has the best chance of significantly expanding voter turnout through his vast, passionate grassroots support network.
Without high voter turnout, Democrats won’t win. Senator Sanders knows this, and Rep. Huffman should too. I am voting for Senator Sanders and will work very hard to get out the vote for him in the 2016 primary election. If money beats people — again — then I will hold my nose and vote for Clinton in the general election.
But I will not lift a finger for Clinton’s campaign, because she will not lift a finger for me. Senator Sanders spoke the truth at the Oct. 13 debate when he said, “Congress doesn’t control Wall Street, Wall Street controls Congress.” And Wall Street controls Hillary Clinton.
Pat Soberanis
Cloverdale