Friday’s Letters to the Editor

Students left hungry

EDITOR: I am writing because no one in the Petaluma City Schools district seems to care about lunch issues at Kenilworth Junior High. Back in September, I was elected student body president and promised to fix the problem of lunch lines being too long and food running out.

Since then, I’ve contacted the former principal, Bennett Holley, the food services manager, school board members and the district superintendent. All I received was a promise that things would be fixed by the first week after winter break. Nothing has changed.

This is a big issue because students have either not had enough time to eat, what they want runs out, or they have chosen to stop eating and wasting their time waiting for something that has most likely run out.

Kids should not be going to class hungry, and hungry kids shouldn’t expect to be successful in class. Please see if you can ask questions of the school district to get them to solve these issues.

PRESTON STEWART

Student body president, Kenilworth Junior High School

Waiting for midterms

EDITOR: Many letters here criticize Republicans, say the GOP is in tatters, and that it wants to destroy our election system. All far from the truth. I suggest that Democrats look in the mirror.

Joe Biden’s approval rating is 33% in a Quinnipiac University poll; Kamala Harris’ is even lower. Do you wonder why? Nothing the Biden administration has done his first year has improved our lives. Not the embarrassing withdrawal from Afghanistan and 13 military killed. Not shutting down the Keystone XL pipeline.

Not allowing 1.7 million illegal immigrants across our southern border. Not destroying our economy with 7% runaway inflation. Not labeling concerned parents domestic terrorists. And not the hapless handling of the COVID pandemic. Nothing.

Biden’s extremely low approval rating says Americans are unhappy with him. Consider: 80% of Americans favor voter ID laws. Of those, 75% of whites agree and 81% people of color. Voter ID ensures election integrity. We can’t even get a vaccination without an ID.

It’s not just Republicans who are dissatisfied. When James Carville and Joe Scarborough criticize Biden, we know something is wrong. While dozens of discouraged Democrats are retiring, Republicans look forward to the 2022 midterm elections. Yes, we do.

SANDY METZGER

Santa Rosa

Trump: A two-time loser

EDITOR: We call ourselves a democracy, although we aren’t quite a true democracy. If we were, Donald Trump would never have been president. He lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by about 3 million votes and, of course, he lost to Joe Biden by 7 million. Gee, a two-time loser.

CAROLYN MOORE

Healdsburg

A 2024 nightmare

EDITOR: A Wall Street Journal editorial presented Hilary Clinton as a possible Democratic candidate for president in 2024. Is this Groundhog Day, and I am doomed to repeat November 2016 over and over? What accomplishments has she had since then, besides co-authoring a mystery, to be the Democratic leader? Is the party that desperate? Clinton vs. Trump in 2024, to quote Yogi Berra, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” I would say to the president, like the little boy said to Shoeless Joe Jackson after the Black Sox scandal, “Say it isn’t so, Joe.”

JON YATABE

Bodega Bay

Wanted: A new sheriff

EDITOR: The last two sheriffs in Sonoma County have had rocky terms. That is the inevitable consequence of a calcified culture, the culmination of seven successive internal promotions of hand-picked designated appointees.

That explains why the culture of the Sheriff’s Office has been so resistant to change. It will take a determined veteran law enforcement professional who is not beholden to the current administration, has a 12-step management plan to fix it and the administrative skill set and executive experience to make it stick. Dave Edmonds says there is a deep management problem that only the chief can fix, in collaboration with the other agencies in county administration.

After attending his fundraiser on the advice of my ally John Mutz (a sheriff’s candidate in 2018) and two subsequent hourlong interviews, upon reviewing the field, the best pick for sheriff is Dave Edmonds, a retired 30-year veteran in the office, who is now editor at the nation’s largest police magazine, American Police Beat.

Edmonds has a commitment to public service-oriented law enforcement. As sheriff, he will work diligently to restore public confidence in law enforcement in this county.

BEN BOYCE

Sonoma

Misguided health rules

EDITOR: Sonoma County’s latest approach to trying to reduce coronavirus infections seems misguided (“30-day ban on large gatherings ordered,” Jan. 11). In the past few months, we’ve dined out in San Francisco and New York and attended live stage shows. On those occasions, we were required to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask unless actively eating or drinking. In all instances, the venues were well attended, and we felt the appropriate measures were being taken.

It seems that a more effective strategy, including continuing to support local businesses such as restaurants, would be to require proof of vaccination before entering some businesses. Other locales have instituted it, and it makes more sense than the approach of limiting activities implemented this month.

CLYDE MILLER

Healdsburg

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