Saturday's Letters to the Editor

<p class="bold allcaps">A fond farewell</p> <p>EDITOR: As Sawyer's News enters its final days of business, I cannot begin to express my appreciation for the support that flowed from this community these past months. My sincere thanks for every touching and creative suggestion for delaying the closure of our business. Had I been better prepared, I would have catalogued the myriad ideas that crossed the counter since last September. All produced smiles; many brought tears.</p><p>Your sincere expressions of sadness and loss have been truly heartwarming. What I have come to learn is Sawyer's satisfied a need for a community gathering place. In the not-too-distant past, we were the first location people thought of for timely information regarding most topics and certainly hot news events, which usually created a flurry of activity and rapid-fire discussion. The gathering spot remained, personal stories still told. Ultimately, printed media evolved, which challenged newsstands. </p><p>My family's many employees and I have had the privilege of serving six generations. I cherish the 50 years of memories “the store” provided me. It is now time to let go, to thank the journalists, photographers and loyal customers without whom there would never have been a Sawyer's News.</p><p>JOHN SAWYER</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Missing redwoods</h3> <p>EDITOR: On my way home one night recently, coming down the grade into Cotati on Highway 1010, I saw a redwood stripped clean of its branches except for one branch at the very top. On that branch sat a red-tailed hawk. There was something incredibly sad about that picture.</p><p>Can someone explain again why the redwoods are being clear cut from the sides of Highway 101?</p><p>DICK McKEE</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Cotati services</h3> <p>EDITOR: I am a Cotati reserve police officer and a Cotati resident. I support Measure A, and here's one reason why:</p><p>If Measure A doesn't pass, Cotati will lose its entire dispatch operation; 911 calls would be answered by another agency in another city. In my experience as a police officer, I rely heavily on our local dispatchers. Their intimate knowledge of our community is indispensable. They provide me with essential information needed to respond quickly and efficiently to emergency calls. Often they have information I need even before I ask for it. Because they know the city inside and out, it makes it easier for me to do the best job I can to protect our citizens.</p><p>Another agency could provide basic services, but it wouldn't be the same. I hear our dispatchers handling calls every day. Most of the time, they know the people who are calling, which is an immediate comfort to someone in distress. Citizens are more comfortable calling the Police Department because they know they'll hear a friendly voice. You can't put a price on that.</p><p>Help me keep Cotati safe. Vote yes on Measure A on Tuesday. </p><p>BAUDELIA GALLO</p><p>Cotati</p><h3>The drug problem</h3> <p>EDITOR: Unless you have been living in a cave, you have to know that we have a serious problem on our southern border. The drug gangs are becoming more and more aggressive and are causing Mexican citizens to try to escape across the borders of several of our states.</p><p>Several of our political representatives have suggested that we must improve border security by stationing troops along the border to deal with the problem. This might even be effective, but it will not cure the problem. It will simply require other avenues of entry to satisfy the demand for illegal drugs in the United States.</p><p>The only way to cure this problem is to start making the use of illegal drugs more costly — fine first offenders at least $10,000 and second offenders should get either a death sentence or 50 years in prison.</p><p>The only possible justification for the present course is that present efforts to control the use of illegal drugs provides work for a large number of government employees.</p><p>It is time to recognize that the problem is not created in Mexico — it is the market here at home.</p><p>CHARLES D. MORGAN</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Holocaust story</h3> <p>EDITOR: Thank you for Staff Writer Guy Kovner's Monday article “ ‘I never gave up hope.' ”</p><p>Press Democrat readers should know that the wonderful interview of Holocaust survivor Vera Korkus by Healdsburg Junior High students occurred under the curriculum designed and taught by Listening for a Change, in which students are taught about human rights and oral history taking, with links to their current class studies and participation in a reflective service-learning project.</p><p>With the strong support of teachers Pat Sabo and Lillian Fonseca (and financial support from Summit State Bank), these students planned their questions and conducted the interviews of four individuals with links to the Holocaust brought in by Listening for a Change and heard a musical quartet perform excerpts from the upcoming Santa Rosa Symphony Holocaust Remembrance Concert.</p><p>Though our focus is not solely the Holocaust, this particular project was a collaboration between Listening for a Change, the Santa Rosa Symphony, Rabbi George Gittleman and members of the Jewish community. Videos of these interviews, planned and conducted by students, will be shown before and after the concert tonight at the Jackson Theater at Sonoma Country Day School.</p><p>DAPHNE BELETSIS</p><p>Chairwoman, Listening</p><p>for a Change</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>War vs. health</h3> <p>EDITOR: Bill Sleeth (“Insidious erosion,” Letters, Tuesday) comes from his ideological perspective obviously affected by pundits of the right and far right, who say health care will break the budget and ruin the country.</p><p>The cost of health care is a pittance compared to the price of the wars waged by an out-of-control Republican administration from 2001-09. That is why Barack Obama was elected. His stance was to bring the country a plan that would not destroy the lives of those unfortunate enough to get ill and unable to pay the out-of-control costs of health care.</p><p>My perspective is different. On a grander scale, the level of greed and largesse of Wall Street execs, people of well-to-do position who have the government's ear and power to make laws in their favor are the reason the country is diving into debt. Until all Americans share the burden of a civilization, it will fail. This is not socialism. It is Democracy.</p><p>NICK XENELIS</p><p>Santa Rosa</p>