Friday’s Letters to the Editor

Setting the record straight

EDITOR: Day Two of the impeachment trial and it is horrifying to watch the videos and relive that day in January. However, I do not expect Republican senators to convict Donald Trump. And I don’t really care because I believe the outcome of this trial is more important than a conviction. It is about finally setting the record straight. Trump lied — the big lie that he won in a landslide.

Yes, he lied to you, to me, to his supporters, saying he won an election he lost. Whether it was to protect his ego or he thought he could overturn the results, he and his Republican enablers continued to proclaim the false narrative of his victory. Now the record has been corrected, the world is watching and the truth is out there.

Trump is a loser, a wannabe tyrant, a danger to democracy, and his time in our political life is over. The nightmare is over. Finally. Let’s move on.

CONNIE KELLOGG

Sebastopol

A valuable firebreak

EDITOR: I am dumbfounded to see that, while the city of Santa Rosa and Sonoma County are struggling to budget for the creation of firebreaks to protect residential areas, the City Council would consider destroying just such a valuable firebreak.

The Bennett Valley Golf Course stands between the forested hills of Trione-Annadel State Park and the densely populated neighborhood to the west and north. This neighborhood has been under evacuation orders and/or warnings twice in the past three years.

In 2017, the golf course stood between this neighborhood and the Nunns fire raging over the hill behind it. As we evacuated in 2017, it took us 45 minutes to travel approximately one mile from Bethards Drive to Hoen Avenue on Yulupa Avenue. I thanked God every minute for the golf course.

It had been my understanding that the golf course was self-supporting. Elliot Funk writes that it actually turned a profit for the city until the city incurred bond debt for the restaurant building (“Golf course economics,” Letters, Tuesday). A Press Democrat report on the finances of the golf course would be helpful. Maybe our creative community can suggest a way to make that building pay for itself, as the golf course has.

MARY BLOM

Santa Rosa

Good vaccine news

EDITOR: No one can argue the mess that the communication and organization around coronavirus vaccinations turned into. That is accepted, a given. But let us hear some good news where it is deserved. Shots are going into arms. Per SoCoEmergency.org, almost 15% of the population of Sonoma County has received at least one dose, and the percentage of those fully immunized climbs daily. It really is getting better. Let us hear that from you, our trusted news source.

MARIAN McDONALD

Sebastopol

Recall is wasted money

EDITOR: I am vehemently opposed to the recall effort against District Attorney Jill Ravitch for a few reasons related to cost. First, there is the cost of a special election of at least $500,000. This isn’t a time to burden taxpayers, particularly when Ravitch has announced she won’t run again, and there will be a regular election in June 2022 for the next district attorney.

Then there is the cost of lost productivity and morale within the office with uncertainty about the future. There is also the cost of lines being drawn in the workplace between employees impressed with her performance and opportunists looking for advancement.

We hold elections for this position, and there is one scheduled next year. Ravitch won’t be on the ballot by her choice.

That said, I have been personally impressed with her performance and have supported her since day one. She has a great work ethic and has done an amazing job during the most trying of times. Her character is beyond reproach — that means her honesty, integrity, grit, loyalty to oath and resolve for justice. She is an asset who should complete her term.

DOUG WOOD

Forestville

Relief and stimulus

EDITOR: Republican senators have given President Joe Biden a counterproposal to his coronavirus relief/economic stimulus program. Though it seems stingy, it could be the basis for a bipartisan approach, even if this particular proposal remains unacceptable to Democrats.

But let’s be clear about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. As noted about a month ago by economist Paul Krugman, we need to reduce the distress of those who are suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t need to inject cash into a distressed economy. This is not 2009. The stock market is at record highs. Home prices are over the top. Interest rates are at record lows. Our problem is the pandemic and the economic hardships it has caused.

Democrats should defend those proposals that are targeted to help people who are suffering, by providing necessities such as food, extended unemployment benefits, housing assistance and medical care. But cash payments to everyone regardless of need seems to be a place where Democrats could make concessions.

Let’s face it. This was one of Donald Trump’s reelection gimmicks. I would hate to see public funds misspent and Democrats suffer defending a poorly conceived Trump scheme.

JOHN LOWRY

Santa Rosa

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.