Letters to the Editor 9-10-15

Generous effort
Editor: All of us at Washington School are so fortunate to be a part of the Cloverdale community. Last week, local churches, service organizations, business owners and individuals (benefactors too numerous to name) gathered to present our school with “Stock a Student” supplies for classrooms and students. The total dollar value must have reached into the thousands. Because of this generous effort, every student at Washington School will have all the fresh new materials needed to help foster success.
We understand that the organizers work for months to bring this program to delivery day. They reached out near the end of last school year to ask us what items would benefit our students the most, then shared our “wish list” with the very generous donors. We began distributing many of the wonderful items to our students immediately!
Many of the organizers and donors were present at the event last Wednesday afternoon to receive a personal thank you from Washington School and the district. But, for those of you who were not able to make it, we all want to extend our heartfelt appreciation for all you did to bring these fabulous materials to our students.
Washington School Staff and Administration
Cloverdale
Subsidizing the few
Editor: A recent edition of the Reveille stated that our city manager is planning to submit a grant application to the Federal Aviation Administration in the amount of $273,705 for improvements to the Cloverdale airport. A few years ago, Cloverdale received a grant from the FAA in the amount of $1.1 million for airport improvements. These sums are in addition to the approximately the $50,000 to $60,000 a year that the taxpayers of Cloverdale have been paying to subsidize the airport.
A recent letter to the Reveille supporting continuing funding the airport was signed by 12 members of the Cloverdale Pilots Association, which rather clearly illustrates just how few people are enjoying the benefits of our tax dollars. The 2010 census states we have a population of 8,618 people. Using 12 owners (even though not all of them live in Cloverdale) this amounts to a very sizeable portion of Cloverdale’s limited budget for the benefit of a miniscule .0014 percent of our population. Just how long will the other 99.998 percent of us continue to support the hobby of these 12 individuals? I strongly suspect that as more and more of Cloverdale taxpayers become aware of this misuse of funds, there will be increased demands on our city council to finally arrive at the logical conclusion that we all deserve a better allocation of our tax money.
Then there is the apparent lack of ability to administer the daily operation of the airport. I realize it is easy to criticize but it appears that the NorCal Skydiving lease was simply renewed because nobody seemed to be aware that the lease was expiring. There was nothing in writing about the terms of the renewal that could be found, so my guess is that the lease was renewed because it was too late to enforce some of the conditions of the original lease that had not been complied with. Also, let us not forget the constant reminder that we all get of NorCal’s operation by the constant droning of their aircraft overhead – yesterday (Saturday) at 7:30 p.m. as I was enjoying an evening in our backyard it was interrupted once again by NorCal. When can we ever get a break from this noise pollution?
Regardless of the outcome of the proposed resort development, it seems abundantly clear that the continuing misuse of tax revenue has to stop. I can see no justification to do otherwise.
Dennis Frehe
Cloverdale
Could be cut off
Editor: There are two words that will end the airport debate: “natural disasters.” California is even training millions of people to prepare for a major quake. Let’s not forget wildfires. Cloverdale could be completely cut off without an airport.
Greg Ericson
Cloverdale