Letters to the Editor 3-10-16

The time has come
Editor: Well, well, well. Our own Jim Wood has sponsored a bill which would raise the age for buying tobacco from 18 to 21. The state assembly overwhelmingly approved Jim’s bill with a vote of 46-26. The legislation is going to be approved. The time has come.
Too bad our current city council didn’t have what it takes to stand up to Big Tobacco and stick with the ban that Jim passed in 2014. They caved in to the threats of tobacco sellers and lobbyists. Our good city was on the front lines and we should have stood our ground. Anyone can see the time has come.
Kudos to Jim Wood, Dave Anderson and those retailers who stood up for the youth of our city. We should all be less concerned about big business, whose products harm citizens, and more concerned about what’s in the best interest of a healthy society. We all pay for the costs of doing business with the tobacco industry when our tax dollars go to pay for the health care of smokers. The time has come.
Carin Case
Healdsburg
Disappointed in response
Editor: I have been following with interest the stories about lead water at the elementary school. There are some troubling issues; first the delay of notification by the school officials to the parents and the health department. Vanden Heuvel delayed over three months to get a plan in place. What was his plan? Am I the only one that thinks this was not the way it should have been handled?
Then the confusion of the two extreme tests results; were the samples taken from the same source and yet got completely different results or were the original tests taken from the fountains and the health department samples taken from the street? Clarification please.
Vanden Heuvel didn’t explain his plan of action in the article, did it involve testing all the facilities in the district last November? or was the junior high building tested for the first time this last week? I would think all the campus facilities should have been tested last November. If they weren’t, bad error.
If I was in charge of several buildings, one had a lead issue and I knew another building that was even older than the one with issues, getting it checked out ASAP would be a given. Is someone else in charge of facilities?
The quotes from Milman and Vanden Heuvel in your article are PC for sure, and cover their respective butts … sorta. Very disappointed in the response from school officials. School board, heads up.
Nancy Citro
Healdsburg
Don’t miss out
Editor: You may have already heard that The Healdsburg Jazz Festival has scored a major coup in booking the brilliant, highly acclaimed, 12-year-old jazz pianist, Joey Alexander for our 18th annual Jazz Festival. Joey performed at the 2016 Grammy Awards and was recently featured on Sixty Minutes. We have already received numerous requests for tickets to this outstanding event.
I am writing to give our local supporters a shortcut to obtaining the best tickets to this sure-to-be-sold-out concert to be held on Friday, June 10. We are offering a early ticket buying opportunity to our membership this year. To become a Healdsburg Jazz member, you can visit our website healdsburgjazz.org or call 433-4644. Check out our various membership levels with each tier offering additional premiums.
You won’t want to miss this extraordinary evening. Your membership at any level entitles you to early ticket buying privileges for all Jazz Festival performances. Be sure to check out our extraordinary line-up for this year’s Festival, June 3-12. Your donation is tax deductible.
You must be a Jazz Festival member before the early ticketing date of March 20, so please join today.
Gloria Fabe Hersch Healdsburg Jazz Festival
Board Chair
Fluoride a risk
Editor: In response to last week’s letter to the editor, I would like to invite the community to consider getting involved in halting the use of fluoride in the water systems in the city of Healdsburg. As a student at Sonoma State University, I have become very passionate about this topic, and I feel it is my duty to pass along my knowledge to the citizens of Healdsburg. It is our right to know what is in our water so we can make the best decisions for our health as well as the health of future generations.
Throughout the years, it has become common knowledge that drinking fluoridated water is beneficial for preventing cavities and other dental concerns. Upon researching, I have had a difficult time finding consistent and current evidence to support this notion.
According to the Department of Environment Health, Harvard School of public health, China Medical University, and the University of Southern Denmark, scientists, Anna L. Choi, Guifan Sun, Ying Zhang, and Philippe Grandjean recently conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on the developmental fluoride neurotoxicity in water.
Upon reading this study, I discovered that the addition of fluoride into the water system has been know to disrupt brain development in children, which can cause ADHD and lower IQ scores. The U.S. department of Health and Human Services lists fluoride as one of 11 of the developmental neurotoxins identified. Therefore, I do not see having fluoride in our water systems as a risk worth taking.
As I have learned, this year’s initiative is different from Measure P in 2014. The moratorium initiative would not change the Healdsburg City Code; it would halt fluoridation until the manufacturer of the fluoride chemical provides the specified documentation and verification of safety for all consumers.
If approved, it has the potential to halt Healdsburg fluoridation permanently. We hope you join us in this movement. We only have two months to collect 800 valid signatures. If you are available to help collect signatures to qualify the initiative for the November 2016 ballot, please call Jeanie for a clipboard (542-1732).
Clara Stewart
Healdsburg