Letters to the Editor 8-6-15

CHS Class of 1975
Editor: The Cloverdale High School Class of 1975 is searching for classmates we’ve been unable to locate. We’re having our CHS 40th Class Reunion September 26 and 27, 2015. If anyone has not received their invitation via email, please contact me with your email address at ra********@co*****.net, or Barbara Bates Ellis at bd******@co*****.net.
Pam Cissna Lestanguet
Cloverdale
Airport’s value in a disaster
Editor: The real reasons not to close Cloverdale Airport, have nothing to do with a proposed mega resort, nor the skydivers. It’s all about the danger of wild fires. Hardly a day goes by when you don’t see another wild fire breaking out due to the drought up and down our state. I remember the Geysers Fire in 1994. The Citrus Fairgrounds was used to bed down the firefighters. This wild fire covered over 70,000 acres according to a CFD firefighter who was there at that time. He tells me that our airport could be used as a staging area for copters and refueling purposes. Any questions?
G.B.Fisher
Cloverdale
Tail wagging the dog
Editor: The attempts by a small group of individuals and now an out-of-town developer to close the Cloverdale Airport are the tail of a small dog trying to wag this community. The airport, the skydivers make far less noise than Highway 101, Friday Night Live, or the many sound systems rumbling through town on some cars and trucks. For this developer to say the airplanes would frighten the horses ignores the many equestrian ranches surrounding the Sonoma County Airport. It makes me wonder if we will follow in the strategy of another community in this county and declare Cloverdale an airplane free zone?
Harry Martin
Cloverdale
Measure O hoax
Editor: Fraud, scam or swindle? It’s difficult to find the right adjective to describe how the hoax of Measure O was presented to the people of Cloverdale. Its implementation is also of great question. Where does the money go? And who is overseeing the spending of these funds? The arguments that were in favor of its passing touts that it will be spent on, in this order:
Police Department
911 Emergency Reserve Fund
Violent Crimes Investigation
Maintain Storm Drains
Pothole/Street Repair
And lastly, Local Business Support
Note what the proponents did not specify is that the tax was a general tax and not a specific tax, meaning that the city can spend the money on anything they like. It does not have to be spent on police services. It can be spent on city employees’ bloated salaries. (Bloated salaries? Go to www.transparentcalifornia.com, hit ‘Localities’ then scroll down to Cloverdale.) It can even be spent on supporting the money losing, dilapidated airport, which already is losing close to $50,000 a year. Or even pay the legal bills regarding NorCal Skydiving operations. The city is to appoint a three-person oversight committee to make sure that the funds are to be used as intended by the taxpayers. And they will. They plan to in 2020. And to be fair, they should only appoint people to that committee who were against the proposal. No cronies. And who voted for this measure? Community oriented people who were willing to sacrifice for the betterment of the town. But if the proponents of the measure were honest, they would have stressed that this measure was a general tax. And they will spend it anyway they want. If they were truthful in their argument in favor of its passage, they would have stressed local business support for failing and mismanaged local business, and the paying of inflated city salaries as the number one reason for the tax. But if they had, would you have voted for it?
C Jeff Kennedy
Cloverdale
Lions thanks
Editor: The Cloverdale Lions Club would like to thank the community for their donations that made the Fourth of July fireworks display a reality. Without the support of local businesses and individuals, we would not have been able to enjoy the display at the Cloverdale High School football field this year. Thank you for your continued support throughout the years.
Chuck Sibert
Cloverdale
Lacks vision
Editor: Mayor Cox doesn’t seem to think that the envisioned Alexander Valley Resort is a fit for Cloverdale. Yet he is delighted with the opening of a Dollar General store. Doesn’t Mayor Cox understand that the presence of dollar stores and thrift stores in a community is a sure sign of economic malaise? Is this the fit for Cloverdale that he would champion? Cloverdale will not improve economically if we continue to regard ourselves as a poor, backwater community. We need vision. Mayor Cox doesn’t have it.
Bobbie Stafford
Cloverdale