LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Thank you Fairfield Inn
Editor: On behalf of the staff at Palm Drive Hospital, I would
like to thank the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Sebastopol for its
unwavering support to our patients and their families.
In mid-October, we admitted an out-of-town patient for surgery.
The procedure was complicated, and required the patient to be
hospitalized for several days. Her family wanted to travel here to
be with her during the surgery and convalescence, but their
finances were tight and they couldn’t afford a hotel room.
We talked to Shiva Emdadian, the manager at Fairfield Inn, and
she did something extraordinary: She decided to provide
accommodations for our patient’s family at no charge.
This locally-owned hotel now gives us five rooms each month at
no charge, to help our patients and Palm Drive Hospital.
A sincere thank you to Fairfield Inn and its staff for helping
to ease the financial and emotional burden of a family in need.
Neil Todhunter
Interim CEO
Palm Drive Hospital
Are ‘smart meters’ smart?
Editor: Sebastopol and Sonoma County are slated by PG&E to
have a new wireless grid installed by May 2010. Lampposts,
buildings, and telephone poles will host the wireless repeater
infrastructure to serve the new wireless PG&E Smart Meters,
which will be installed in every home and business. These devices
will add yet another layer of radio frequencies (RF) to our homes
and environment and will emit RF signals throughout the day and
night.
The FCC safety standards for wireless devices are based on
short-term heating and do not address the non-thermal health
effects which are documented in the Bioinitiative Report, which has
been recognized by the European Parliament. RF is under
investigation as a carcinogen by the National Toxicology
Program.
In the interest of protecting public health and in light of the
call for the precautionary principle from scientists and
environmental agencies, the EMF Safety Network has started a
petition asking the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors and the
Sebastopol City Council to investigate the PG&E Smart Meter
proposal and hold public hearings. We ask they require PG&E to
submit a characterization study, the health and safety study, to
allow customers to “opt out” as well as place a 6-9 month
moratorium on all new wireless installations to allow time for a
thorough review.
Already there is a class action lawsuit filed against PG&E
in Bakersfield over the new meters and many people are complaining
about price spikes in their utility bills. For more information, go
to www.emfsafetynetwork.org.
Linda Berg, Bridget Breese
Sandi Maurer, Melissa Weaver
Sebastopol
‘Dine Out’ success
Editor: The 2009 Dine Out Sebastopol program has been a great
success, bringing anywhere from six to 44 diners to the featured
venues. Many thanks to Terry Kelley, Aleia Coate, Teresa Ramondo,
and Kathleen Shaffer who volunteered with me in this effort. 
Special thanks to Miller Candy Emporium, Honey Moon Yogurt and
Screamin’ Mimi’s who offered gift certificates for desserts.
Sponsored by the City of Sebastopol and the Chamber of Commerce,
Dine Out was created to support our local restaurants during these
difficult times. It also encouraged us to indulge ourselves with a
treat — an evening out that we may have been too cautious to enjoy
these last few months. It gave us the delightful opportunity to
share dinner with friends who accompanied us or with folks whom we
met at the table.
Watch for the 2010 schedule that will be published after the
holidays, in mid to late January. It will keep the Wednesday
evening format (6 to 8 p.m.) and continue to rotate locations.
There will be some changes and some fun new features that will
hopefully draw more participants. To be on the 2010 email list,
contact me at sa**********@ya***.com and put
“Dine Out” in the subject line.
Who will be cooking dinner on Wednesdays in 2010? Join me and
let’s find out.
Sarah Gurney
Mayor, Sebastopol