Letters to the Editor

Healthy debate

EDITOR: Many of the instructors at Santa Rosa Junior College are liberal, and yes some probably have political ideologies that border on communism, or more accurately socialism. As a former SRJC student, I can tell you that on more than a few occasions these instructors made their beliefs quite clear in the classroom, but I see nothing wrong with that. That is the beauty of academic freedom and the First Amendment.

I equally see nothing wrong with what Molly McPherson and the SRJC Republicans have done. While I would have at least signed the posting, this is clearly nothing more than a calculated attempt by an under-represented group to gain access to the stage and, frankly, they deserve that chance to be heard.

My gut tells me these Republican students are not out to create "an environment of hostility" just as all instructors are not out to brainwash impressionable young people. Let's cool the rhetoric on both sides and have a debate. It's healthy -- what college is for -- and there are things to be learned from both sides.

Congratulations to Molly McPherson. You've made it to the stage. Now, make your fellow conservatives proud. And that's coming from a Democrat.

MATTHEW WELLS

Santa Rosa

EDITOR: Windsor High School is almost finished building a second gymnasium. Having a second gymnasium is wonderful for the wrestlers, basketball players and volleyball players, but what about the swimmers? Being a junior on the WHS swim team is challenging because between school, work, church activities and friends I have to find the time and gas money to drive to the north end of Healdsburg every school day of the week.

It is my understanding that Windsor High was supposed to have a pool by the year 2005. Well, we are here, and there is no pool. Is a pool that was already in the plans for Windsor High too much to ask for? We have a good team that grows every year, though we are often overlooked by our teachers and peers. If Windsor was given a pool as promised it would put our team where it belongs, on top.

RACHEL ANDERSON

Windsor

EDITOR: Your March 1 editorial "LBC plans" shows that the Sutter Hospital proposal really poses two separate questions. The first question is whether the county needs a new hospital. The answer is simple. Yes, we need a new hospital. The second and more demanding question concerns the location for the new hospital. So far, the only public record shows that county residents are against the plan to locate the hospital at the LBC site. At the county supervisors' hearing on the subject in October, public speakers who addressed the question of the location for the new hospital were 7-1 against the LBC site.

Where should we build the hospital? Southwest Santa Rosa residents have specifically asked for the hospital to be built in their area. Rohnert Park and Sebastopol residents want closer access to the new facility. Mass-transit advocates want it on the west side of Highway 101. Larkfield residents are overwhelmingly against the LBC site choice. Why not build the hospital where most people want it and where it would do the most good? I believe the logical place to build the new hospital is in the vicinity of Highway 12 and Dutton Avenue. This would please all parties who have spoken.

PAUL BARASCH

Santa Rosa

EDITOR: This letter is a response to J. David Bradley's letter on March 1.

I am a biologist and retired school teacher. I have taught plenty of kids who had to wear the same clothes everyday and came to school hungry. Don't tell me that your so-called development community cares about kids, schools and homeless people. Don't tell me you care about pollution, traffic congestion, crime and urban sprawl and other development side effects, either. Money is what you really care about. The stated cost of saving the tiger salamander is your misleading scare tactic. Property developers, like you, will pay for it, and rightly so. You have caused the property price escalation and have profited immensely from it. What is $400 million as a percentage of the wealth of real estate you have developed?

The tiger salamander is not a lizard, Mr. Bradley. It is a key wetland species amphibian that cannot reproduce without standing water in a meadow. Protecting these isolated wetland communities is what is needed. Protecting tiger salamander habitat will do that.

I am thankful for the Endangered Species Act and the courageous and selfless people who care about the wholeness of our lives. Remember that when our wetlands are saved, and they will be, they will be there not just for the tiger salamanders but even for those like you who don't know a lizard from a lollipop.

DR. RICHARD PAPP

Santa Rosa

EDITOR: I very much appreciate your paper's coverage of New Economy Working Solutions' report on jobs and wages in the North Bay. However, I think your March 2 editorial, unlike your news coverage, misses one of the main points of the report. Our local economy has seen a surge in low-paying, service sector jobs, a surge that is projected to grow. The state of California, as your reporter indicated, predicts that two-thirds of our new jobs will be low-wage. To clarify, these jobs do not pay a wage that allows workers to meet their basic needs.

I agree with your editorial that education is important, but it's only one part of the solution. It's not a panacea, as your editorial seems to suggest. College and training-program graduates need a market that has jobs to meet their skills. The report's policy recommendations are geared toward creating that market.

Additionally, the recommendations are geared toward ensuring that honest labor, including service sector labor, is compensated in a way that more fairly reflects the value it brings to business. Too often, workers suffer while CEOs, management and stockholders profit. The public sector and private charities are also burdened because they must fill in the gaps between workers' pay and the cost of subsistence survival.

EILEEN MORRIS

Member, Sonoma County Living Wage Coalition

EDITOR: Social Security is the only income many older people have to live on. I was married and raising children for 20 years but that does me no good because my husband worked free lance and did not make enough in Social Security to make me eligible for anything from his. After my divorce, I worked to support myself and my children but at low-paying human services jobs which left me with under $500 a month in Social Security, once Medicare was deducted.

Why doesn't President Bush deduct payments to the very rich instead of looking for ways to cut off funds to those for whom Social Security was designed, those needing it for basic survival?

BARBARA EARNEST

Fort Bragg

EDITOR: I'm happy for the cheer squad from Maria Carrillo High School who are touring South Korea with the mayor. But I would like to know how they were chosen. Was there a lottery or a try-out? In a city that is struggling with such huge ethnic and economic divides in its school systems, why does it seem that the northeast side of town gets all the opportunity?

TAMMY HARPER

Santa Rosa