Letters to the Editor 6-25-15

Generosity
Editor: On June 13, the Wash & Brushup Co. of Healdsburg celebrated its two-year anniversary as part of the Healdsburg community. Partners Jeffery Scott and Joanna Evelisa have a unique and generous way of celebrating. They hold an open house for the community, and they adopt a local nonprofit organization as the recipient of all receipts of the day, all proceeds of a raffle of hair and body care products, and donations made by open house attendees. This year’s recipient was PSST, Inc., (Public School Success Team) whose members tutor and coach students of the Healdsburg schools. PSST volunteers and students offer a heartfelt thank you to Jeffery, Joanna and all the stylists at Wash & Brushup. You are truly generous benefactors and wonderful members of our community.
Jean Mosby, PSST Secretary
Healdsburg
Water fines and editorial
Editor: The mandatory water use letter that my wife and I received last week was very disconcerting. Thousand dollar fines for watering at the wrong times of day or week. And there in the lower right hand corner was the ‘fink on your neighbor’ number for violations of the rules sent in from on high at the City Council chambers by our betters. In Sacramento, which has a lot less water than Healdsburg, they can water three times a week, and until 10 a.m. Lake Sonoma is fuller than last year. What is going on?
I also appreciated the editorial about how the current Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has failed its budget exam. It was right on the money, well written and much appreciated. I only hope the overpaid little empire builders who run Sonoma County government read it.
Timothy McGraw
Healdsburg
App battle
Editor: Spectafy, meet Nextdoor. Nextdoor, meet Spectafy. Two social media entities doing very similar things. I understand that the Nextdoor site has a county connection, but I think I’ll wait for the two to duke it out, Beta vs VHS style, lest I pick the wrong one. Again.
Meg Keehan
Healdsburg
Better baseball
Editor: If you want to see great baseball played in your very own hometown by a team with a long Healdsburg history, sitting in bleachers lovingly restored by the community and named for a star of the team in the 50s, listen to super commentary by Dick Bugarske (occasionally assisted by one of the kids present), eat a delicious sausage with all the fixins from The Wurst, then you would thoroughly enjoy a Prune Packers game at Rec Park. (Schedule at www.prunepackers.org.)  Plus, the Prune Packers are winners. Unlike another team further south whose name starts with “G.” We’re just sayin’. The only thing that could make the games just a bit better is a traditional accompaniment to watching baseball — beer. Please City Council, allow beer to be sold at the Prune Packer games. The crowd is enthusiastic but very well-behaved, and I’ll bet our local Bear Republic would jump in.
Jane St. Claire, Maureen Mousley, Deborah Geitner
Healdsburg
Boycott Civil War Days
Editor: What if they held a war and nobody came? That’s our plea for the Civil War Days. What is being celebrated? Racism? A desire to return to slavery? White supremacy? Does the bloody slaughter between the north and south need to be re-enacted? The confederate flag is being banned in challenges throughout the country. Nine people were killed in a black church last week, allegedly by a white supremacist. To the kind, intelligent, free thinking residents who see the banners for Civil War Days, please consider how it would feel to be black. The Civil War was a shameful time for our country and we are ashamed to live in an area that celebrates it. Perhaps if nobody came, it would end.
Glenys Konze and Tony Bryhan
Sebastopol
Troubling trend
Editor: Christine Webster’s letter to the Tribune last week is deeply troubling. How has it come to this? An unconscionably steep hike in the price of  rentals in this sweet little town betrays a deep indifference by some to the well-being of others. Of course it is within a landlord’s “legal” right to ask whatever the market will bear. And in Healdsburg, that seems to be quite a lot. But what about one’s moral right? Can that be as easily justified? When we begin to see individuals losing their homes at such a pace, can we all be complacent? Many who must leave their apartments and dwellings contribute to the quality of life in our community. We depend on their expertise and labor to give us the illusion of ease and prosperity. We, all of us, wealthy and not, are part of the whole, and if we begin to believe it is okay to discard the less affluent in favor of the moneyed, we lose the intensity and luminosity that enriches us all.
Barbara Médaille
Healdsburg