Monday's Letters to the Editor

<p><b>Second Amendment</b></p><p>EDITOR: Much discussion has been reported and commented upon about violence with guns and possible restrictions on semi-automatic weapons and clips holding multiple rounds. Many supporters of continuing the present unrestricted sale of assault rifles and large clips point to the Second Amendment as legal proof that their right to keep and bear arms is sacrosanct. Let's have a look at the Second Amendment:</p><p>“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”</p><p>Recently, sales of assault rifles and other guns have soared. People are purchasing these guns fearing that if they wait such a weapon will become illegal. I have a few questions for those who rely upon the Second Amendment:</p><p>What militia do you belong to?</p><p>How is your owning a gun protecting the “security of a free state”?</p><p>What are you so afraid of that you must own an assault rifle with a multiple-round clip?</p><p>I am afraid of these new gun owners with assault rifles who lack training and judgment.</p><p>CHARLES O. PRICKETT</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><p><b>A full education</b></p><p>EDITOR: I agree with Lori Christopher (“Supporting Credo,” Letters, Dec. 15) that students should have educational choices. However, public schools do educate the whole child. My daughter attends Rancho Cotate High, which reaches beyond meeting state requirements. She chooses from a selection of rigorous college-prep and advanced placement classes and creates her own science, gym and elective curriculum. </p><p>Public school has given her an opportunity to perform on stage, sing, compete in speech and debate, learn how to draw microorganisms and speak a second language. She belongs to clubs that teach leadership and community involvement and has seen how to win, and lose, gracefully. Rancho values service and requires 40 hours of volunteer work to graduate, although many students earn more. </p><p>Teachers do care. They run clubs, coach, attend school functions and are always available for extra support. Rancho is also teaching my child how to live respectfully in a multicultural world. Public schools teach everyone, and all students know, regardless of their circumstances, they can succeed. Programs such as AVID support this view. </p><p>The Waldorf method is a successful model. But I am proud to say that Rancho Cotate, a public high school, is positively influencing my daughter — also an outstanding teen.</p><p>JILL ZSCHACH</p><p>Rohnert Park</p><p><b>Obama and guns</b></p><p>EDITOR: As I watch Democrats and gun prohibitionists make the most out of the Sandy Hook tragedy to fulfill their agenda of passing draconian firearms legislation, I wonder why we didn't have the same kind of media circus when it was revealed that the Obama administration's Fast and Furious operation sent thousands of assault weapons across the border into the hands of Mexican drug cartels. Did the president shed a tear for the hundreds of Mexican citizens who were murdered with these firearms?</p><p>BRAD POTTER</p><p>Fulton</p><p><b>Keeping the coast clean</b></p><p>EDITOR: I have been noticing large quantities and varieties of garbage ending up on the Sonoma County coast with our recent heavy rains.</p><p>Rather than wait for the annual Earth Day beach clean-ups, which are great projects, we should also do clean-ups when garbage ends up on the north shore of Goat Rock beach. All the upstream communities are responsible for garbage ending up in our waterways. The Russian River, our Sonoma County drainage, dumps right into the heart of the recently expanded national marine sanctuary.</p><p>I'd like to know if the county supervisors plan to help pick up the garbage before it gets buried by the tides or floats out to sea. I'd also like to see more prevention plans.</p><p>Help make our beaches reflective of the No. 1 tourist designation we now have. Remember, every gutter and storm drain is a headwater.</p><p>KEN SUND</p><p>Windsor</p>