Friday's Letters to the Editor

<p class="bold allcaps">Donner Party ’09<EL-2></p> <p><MC>EDITOR: In mid-April 1846, the core of what became the infamous Donner Party’s train of covered wagons set out from Springfield, Ill., dreaming of what they thought would be a new life in California. About eight months later, trapped and snowbound in the Sierra Nevada, the Donner Party had become utterly stranded. Their dream had become a nightmare. They were starving, beginning to die. In desperation, they became cannibals.</p><p>For 150 years, we have looked back on the Donner Party in disbelief, in revulsion. How could human beings regress to such depraved acts?</p><p>Now, however, we in California, our state leaders, our Republican leadership, our governor, ourselves, in desperation, are watching our state dismantle itself and feed on the needy. Rather than (of absolute necessity) raise taxes on ourselves (as we know we must do to preserve our union and to share fairly in the protection of all our citizens), we are stopping payments for food, rent, medicine, utilities, education, poison control. Thus our blind, our sick, our poor, our feeble, even our children, are on the verge of the destruction of their lives.</p><p>This is not monstrous, you say. We are just trying to survive, you say. How will those of the future forgive us for what we are about to do to those we destroy?</p><p>They won’t.</p><p>SKIP ROBINSON<QR></p><p><MC>Cotati<QR></p><p><EL6><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><EL-4><IP9><QC></p><h3>Minnesota results<EL-2></h3> <p><MC>EDITOR: Marc Groah’s letter regarding Minnesota’s U.S. Senate seat was inaccurate and misleading (“Franken’s seat,” Letters, Saturday).</p><p>He attempts to take a shot at the Republican Party by blaming it for countless recounts and attempting to keep the Democrats from having a filibuster-proof U.S. Senate majority.</p><p>He conveniently omitted the fact that, according to the Minnesota secretary of state, when the initial count was completed on Nov. 18, Al Franken lost to Norm Coleman by 215 votes. This close margin triggered a mandatory recount. After reviewing ballots that had been challenged during the recount, the state canvassing board officially certified the recount results with Franken holding a 225-vote lead.</p><p>On Jan. 6, Coleman’s campaign filed an election contest, and on April 13, a three-judge panel dismissed Coleman’s notice of contest and ruled that Franken had won the election. Coleman’s subsequent appeal to the Minnesota Supreme Court was rejected on June 30, and shortly thereafter Coleman conceded to Franken. </p><p>GENE ARSENAULT<QR></p><p><MC>Santa Rosa<QR></p><p><EL6><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><EL-4><IP9><QC></p><h3>Flight recorders<EL-2></h3> <p><MC>EDITOR: There have been a lot of airplanes going into the ocean, and the voice and data recorders sink 3,000 feet to the ocean floor. You mean to tell me we can put a man on the moon but we can’t put a flotation device on the voice data recorders? When an airplane is going to crash, why can’t the pilot eject the recorders with a flotation device attached that gives off sound waves, so they can be found faster? Let’s see, a $40 million plane and a $10 flotation device.</p><p>PAUL MOSSI<QR></p><p><MC>Petaluma<QR></p><p><EL6><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><EL-4><IP9><QC></p><h3>We already did it<EL-2></h3> <p><MC>EDITOR: Regarding Richard Cohen’s Tuesday column (“A specter of what could have been”), here are a few comments on what is an “utter disaster.” We did elect a “ditz with no national experience whatsoever” and a rabid ideologue completely “uncorrupted by knowledge,” and that is the “frightening reality.” Pardon me, but it is true.</p><p>JOE WISNESKI<QR></p><p><MC>Cazadero<QR></p><p><EL6><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><EL-4><IP9><QC></p><h3>Act of kindness<EL-2></h3> <p><MC>EDITOR: After wiping the tears from my eyes, I was moved to write this letter. Chris Smith’s column item about the donation by employees of the Petaluma Police Department to Herb Louden, a Pearl Harbor veteran, touched my heart and I am sure the hearts of all who read it (“A Pear Harbor vet is surprised again, twice,” Sunday).</p><p>During these difficult times, it was inspiring to read about a true act of kindness. The public tends to view those in law enforcement as just a uniform, forgetting they are human beings with feelings and emotions just like you and I. The concern for Herb and Evelyn Louden demonstrates what a big heart our Police Department has. Once again their actions have shown us what it means to be unsung heroes. </p><p>As a member of the Petaluma community, I just want to say thank you. I hope your example inspires all of us to reach out and help others.</p><p>EILEEN T. HALLOCK<QR></p><p><MC>Petaluma<QR></p><p><EL6><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><EL-4><IP9><QC></p><h3>Doyle Park well<EL-2></h3> <p><MC>EDITOR: We are going to drill a 1,000-foot hole at Doyle Park for a geological study of that particular area (“Green monster in Doyle Park hides a well,” Saturday). It also will provide valuable geological information since the “Rodgers Creek fault runs through the middle of it.”</p><p>In 1987, the National Earthquake Prediction Evaluation Council convinced a panel of experts to evaluate future earthquakes in California. In 1988, the panel concluded that there was a 67 percent chance of at least one earthquake of magnitude 7 or larger between 1990 and 2020.The data showed that a magnitude 7 earthquake was possible along the Rodgers Creek fault.</p><p>The study on how much the ground will shake shows how many times stronger a magnitude 7 earthquake is likely to feel in relation to the Loma Prieta earthquake. The example shows that Oakland on the Hayward fault would be 12 times greater. The Rodgers Creek fault would be 48 times greater than Loma Prieta.</p><p>I certainly hope that someone has done research on what a 1,000-foot drill will do to the Rodgers Creek fault before we destroy the city and county to get water to Doyle Park. I would really like to see what studies have been done and would hope to read more about this drilling on a dangerous fault.</p><p>R.G. NEACE<QR></p><p><MC>Santa Rosa<QR></p><p><EL6><IP0><HRCUTOFF,72,0.3,0,0><EL-4><IP9><QC></p><h3>A public option<EL-2></h3> <p><MC>EDITOR: People who say they like their health care plan and don’t want anything to change may not have been faced with a health crisis that threatens to topple their sense of security. </p><p>My husband recently ended up in an emergency room with possible stroke symptoms, and within a few hours our future changed. We are fully insured through his job, but with a diagnosis of brain cancer, my husband can no longer work. He is years away from being eligible for Medicare. His job provides some disability pay and insurance benefits for a few months but then our only option to continue insurance coverage is COBRA with outrageous monthly premiums. At a time when he needs health care the most, we may not be able to afford it.</p><p>President Obama has challenged Congress to pass reform that promises to reduce costs, guarantees the choice of insurance plans and doctors and includes a public insurance option. For those like us, an affordable public option could mean the difference between health care and possible bankruptcy.</p><p>No one should have to go through the stress of a serious illness as well as fearing they will lose their home because they can’t afford insurance premiums. Too many of us are at risk of becoming victims of a health care system that stops caring.</p><p>MARGIE FOSTER<QR></p><p><MC>Petaluma<QR></p>