Letters to the Editor 12-20-12

Change of season
Editor: As we head into the Holiday Season and the Election Season begins to fade, I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the citizens of Sebastopol that voted for me in the Nov. 6 election for City Council. I’d particularly like to thank Ken Foley, Colin Doyle, Sustainable Sebastopol.org and Sebastopol Citizens.org for their encouragement, support and hard work on my behalf. I’d like to thank Kathleen Shaffer for all her hard work and dedication on the City Council as she leaves to pursue other interests. I’d like to congratulate Robert Jacob and John Eder on their successful bid to join the City Council.
As the newly constituted City Council is formed, I wish them success in dealing with the issues at hand, particularly the financial issues that challenge the city. There were a significant number of citizens that voted for Kathleen and me and I trust the new City Council will listen to those voices as well as the voices of those that elected them. It is imperative that we all work together for the benefit of the town that we all love. There were many more similarities than differences in the candidate’s positions and this bodes well for cooperation among citizens as we move forward.
To all the citizens of Sebastopol I wish you peace and wellbeing over the holidays and for the New Year.
Kathy Austin
Sebastopol
Thank you Sebastopol
Editor: I wanted to take the opportunity to thank the people who supported me in the city council election. Thank you, as well, for all of the messages of support and the acknowledgement of my service to the city. Many city residents have told me how unfortunate it was for the community that the campaign was so negative. Most of this negativity, as we all know, came from some council members, their spouses and their single issue organizations. These same residents also feel that their negativity actually reveals much more about them than it does about me. I agree.
I have enjoyed working with the community, and particularly with the local businesses. I would also like to acknowledge the city staff for always providing accurate information and never misleading the council about city projects and issues.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,
Kathleen Shaffer
Sebastopol
Searching for answers
Editor: School employees, school trustees, parents, community members and students are all deeply impacted by the recent tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut. We share the loss and grief that has befallen the Sandy Hook Elementary School community.
The unfathomable has happened. As President Obama said when speaking to the Newtown community, “… 20 beautiful children and six remarkable adults … lost their lives in a school that could have been any school in a quiet town full of good and decent people that could be any town in America.”
As we search for answers to many difficult questions, everyone associated with West County public schools will continue to offer care and understanding to students, parents and those around us. We will support our students and school communities through the darkness of this tragedy.
Be assured that our local schools have reviewed prevention efforts and emergency protocols. Our schools maintain a close working relationship with local law enforcement and the Sonoma County mental health department to ensure that procedures are appropriate and up-to-date. Emergency responses are practiced and well-communicated at each school. Staff and students are observant and engaged. The approach taken by schools across West Sonoma County will continue to be as preventative as possible and as prepared as possible.
President Obama told the nation, “This is our first task, caring for our children. It’s our first job. If we don’t get that right, we don’t get anything right. That’s how, as a society, we will be judged. … Can we honestly say that we’re doing enough to keep our children, all of them, safe from harm?” While the President posed this question on a national level, be assured that schools across West County will grapple with this question and take appropriate action on a local level.
As we move forward, West County educators will reflect on the President’s words about children. “… The memories we have of them, the joy that they bring, the wonder we see through their eyes, that fierce and boundless love we feel for them, a love that takes us out of ourselves and binds us to something larger, we know that’s what matters. We know we’re always doing right when we’re taking care of them, when we’re teaching them well, when we’re showing acts of kindness. We don’t go wrong when we do that.”
On behalf of schools and educators across West Sonoma County, thank you for entrusting your precious children to our care.
Keller McDonald
Superintendent, WSCHSD
Moral failure
Editor: I believe the disregard for someone else’s life is a natural outcome, a part of the Great Modern Secular society. Little or no more respect for basics like the 10 Commandments. No teaching children from the ground up “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” — especially at school. Loss of spiritual, especially Christian values in this country, not lack of “meaningful gun control,” whatever that is, has been a great tragedy. One can never legislate moral principles and behavior.
Paul Geiger
Sebastopol
Creeks not toilets
Editor: I walked down Hulbert Creek to go fishing in the Russian River for Steelhead on Tuesday, Nov. 20 and while I was walking down the trail from the parking area I first ran into the disgust of what smelled like a toilet, probably an area used as a bathroom by the inconsiderate.
I called out to see if anybody was about and nobody answered so I started to gather up garbage and pile it onto a trash tent. I cut ropes that were strewn across the creek to dry clothing. I checked a tent that seemed vacant, only to see what must have been used as a toilet. I pulled garbage out of the creek, which included a mini barbeque, a bag of trash, some rags and parts of a tent. Downstream of the encampment was a gathering of trash amongst the main river. It was not only upsetting, but saddening.
Unfortunately, it is not only them but also the careless summer partiers from other areas and even some of our own local people who think our river and the wilderness around it is a dumping ground. These people couldn’t care less about the trash they leave behind. This trash includes but is not exclusive to, condoms, bottles, tents, clothes, sleeping bags, feces, — both human and canine — plastics, propane tanks, sunken boats, tires and other garbage.
The simple fact is, what I witnessed is something that doesn’t need to happen, doesn’t need to be a problem or a hurdle to overcome in order to revive a dying place. We as a people, who now know more than we did 100 years ago, need to take care of our world or see it go away in a ditch of oil.
Much of the urination, defecation and trash is now washed out into our river system. If you care about your water you will do something about this.
Scott Heemstra
Guerneville