Letters to the Editor 5-5-16

Thank you coach Berry
Editor: This is a note to thank coach Rick Berry for once again doing an outstanding job as the high school girls’ varsity basketball coach. His girls represented our school and city with dignity and respect, wherever they went and every game they played. Thanks primarily to the relationship and coaching of Coach Berry, our girls have repeatedly excelled in games and sportsmanship whenever and wherever they played. His teams and individual players will leave school as fine young ladies and through their association with Coach Berry will have very successful careers in any field they choose. I would like to commend Rick Berry as an educator, coach and gentleman for his many years of service to our youth of Cloverdale. We certainly wish him continued success and hope he remains a part of Cloverdale schools and athletics for many more years to some
Don Goodman
Cloverdale
Public Service Recognition Week
Editor: Public Service Recognition Week is May 1-7. Let’s remember our public servants in the federal, state and local governments. Many of the people who work in public service work behind the scenes where we don’t think of them on a daily basis. Whether it is a meteorologist working for the National Weather Service, a public health nurse working with families to promote their health or a volunteer fireman who is always on call and donates his time to the community, they help keep our society working together. Let’s not forget the vital services they provide to our community at all levels.
Linda Robinett, Secretary Chapter 53 of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees, Sebastopol
Volunteerism is alive and well in Cloverdale
Editor: I recently saw a sign that said, “Behind every successful rancher, there is a wife who works in town.” The sign made me grin and think about how much work it takes to be successful in this world. And it also made me think of how much of that hard work goes on unnoticed.
I was also reminded of this unnoticed hard work when I attended a planning meeting for the upcoming Cloverdale Fire Department 130th anniversary celebration. A group of dedicated volunteers showed up at the fire house after spending all day at regular jobs as well as tending to family’s needs before heading to the station for one of the many meetings to plan this monumental event.
Cloverdale has always enjoyed a dedicated collection of service organizations that has impressively supported the town we all love. No one group is better than the other and we could never say who does more as each group serves our town in a much needed way and with dedicated passion.
However, the volunteers at the fire station that night approached planning the 130th anniversary celebration event with the same organization they do when they plan tactics and strategies for fighting a large fire. Reports and assignments came quickly and without questions. When they talk to each other about ideas, they said words you would hear on a fire department radio or television show. When someone asked if they confirmed a bounce house for the kids’ play area, the answer was a quick “Affirmative,” and the native speakers replied instinctively “Roger that,” in a very approving manor.
I decode most of the other conversations but when I asked, “What message do you want to give to the public?” The room became quiet, and the military like incident command structure was paused.
For a moment, the command staff became the mother and wife who worries each time her husband jumps out of bed in the middle of the night to respond to a fire. The division leader was no longer the firefighter who fought the Middletown fires this summer, he was the humble and grateful neighbor who always waves when we pass on the street. This task driven group of emergency responders and their family members looked towards the ground and could hardly be heard as they modestly responded with simple words.
“We just want to say thanks to the community who has supported us for 130 years and remember those who served before us,” were the words I wrote down after a painful period of hushed two-word utterances by this unassuming group.
After I responded with the unconsciously acquired jargon “Roger,” (phonetic for the letter “R” in Morse code that means received and understood,) the task driven group returned to the mission at hand.
I think they have it backwards, but what do you expect from people who rush into burning buildings when everyone else is running out? I think on May 21 we should be thanking them for 130 years of service. But, just like asking my mother-in-law what I should bring to her house for Thanksgiving dinner, the fire department answer is clear. “I will be happy to just have you there with a smile on your face.”
I always bring pies to my mother-in-law’s so let’s not follow that family advice too closely. Please encourage your friends and neighbors to join us in saying thanks to our Cloverdale Fire Department family at the Cloverdale Plaza on May 21.
Kevin Moore
Cloverdale