Apology owed

EDITOR: For 35 years, my husband put on a sheriff's uniform and protected the people of Sonoma County. He and his colleagues were dedicated, brave, hardworking men and women. They put their lives on the line.

The recent articles and the court decision allowing you to publish names and pensions for retirees are heartbreaking examples of yelling fire in a crowded theater. The articles would have been just as effective without naming names, without putting citizen against neighbor. You have painted these people as greedy, but the contracts were entered legally and with expectation they would be honored.

Some with different careers also have excellent retirement benefits — nurses, teachers, government representatives, autoworkers. They, too, have earned their pensions. We as taxpayers supplement teachers' and government representative retirement funds through our taxes, but these people also deserve their pensions. However, they are not being singled out or criticized.

I think you owe the retirees from the Sonoma County Employee Retirement System, especially the law enforcement crew who protected all of us, an apology. Changing the retirement system, now and for the future, is needed. But to label as greedy, by inference, and to blame retirees is ugly and heartbreaking.

JANE ANDERSON

Occidental