Friday’s Letters to the Editor

A civic role model

EDITOR: Nancy Pelosi’s performance throughout her political career has been fact-based, ethical and exemplary. She stands as a preeminent role model not just for girls and women but for anyone interested in serving the public in a political position or as a civil service worker.

When right-wing zealots demonize an opponent it is a sign that their target is a powerful threat to their determination to push the country away from progress and attempt to return to a 1950s view of our culture.

My only regret is that she never ran for president, where she would have guided us forward. Simply compare her demonstrated integrity to the absolute lack of honesty and integrity of Donald Trump and no more need be said on the matter. Thank you, Nancy Pelosi, for your leadership and love of all the American people.

WILLIAM CAMPAGNA

Cotati

Survivor’s story

EDITOR: Kudos to Jennifer Seibel Newsom for her bravery and Anita Chabria for her sensitive, informative column (“Bravery was on display in courtroom,” Nov. 17). I am grateful to you as a former director of a sexual assault agency who knows how difficult it is for survivors to even report their experience, much less to tell others about it in a courtroom.

LILYAN FRANK

Petaluma

The class clown

EDITOR: Among the tenets effective classroom teachers learn early on is this: The more attention one grants the class clown, the more attention the class clown will seek; and in the bargain, dedicated students will lose. The class clown is silenced when the forum is denied.

Now, as this relates to the recent announcement of an individual re-seeking the presidency: the more airtime and media ink he is granted, the more airtime and ink he will seek; and in the bargain, dedicated leaders and public servants and those who might benefit from their thoughts, discussions, honest compromise and practicable solutions will lose.

Perhaps it’s time to deny the forum to a world-class clown.

DAVE DELGARDO

Cloverdale

Missing service

EDITOR: At midday on Nov. 15, I drove to six Petaluma gas stations (both east and west side) after my car’s tire pressure indicator light went on. Three stations had signs on their pumps that read “out of service/broken.” Two had attendants who told me the pump was free, but the pumps barely pushed any air out, and one station right off the freeway was unattended and had a malfunctioning air pump with no warning sign. Lord help electric vehicles drivers who are going to need service station assistance when California cars convert to electric only.

JEANINE MICHAELS

Petaluma

Student debt relief

EDITOR: Those who oppose President Joe Biden’s loan-forgiveness proposal seemingly cannot abide helping indebted students who will struggle for an average of 20 years before their debt is paid off. These factions argue that someone will have to pay the $420 billion in loan forgiveness money. Since it won’t be the students, who’s stuck with the bill? U.S. taxpayers.

Yet there’s something to be said for Biden’s plan. Student debt is concentrated at the bottom of the wealth distribution curve. For example, 81% of students of color in four-year colleges take out loans compared to 60% of white students. Black students, it should be noted, owe $7,500 more on average than their white peers.

Even with a college degree, they earn less once they enter the marketplace, so it’s more difficult for them to pay off their loans. Canceling their debt would narrow the racial wealth gap, and no longer saddled with debt, loan payments for more than 15 million students would be invested in the nation’s economy.

Fact: More than 100 corporations pay no income taxes. We bend over backward to help corporate America. If corporations could pay their fair share, maybe we could help young people shed the shackles of debt so they can get on with their lives.

MICHAEL O’LOONEY

Santa Rosa

Try using a rake

EDITOR: Anna Coopersmith laments that using a gas leaf blower for an hour emits as much greenhouse gas as a car driving 1,100 miles (“Get rid of gas blowers,” Letters, Nov. 7). Bill Houghton points out that electric leaf blowers cannot run all day, or even a couple hours, without needing recharging or a fresh battery (“Emissions conundrum,” Letters, Nov. 18). And recharging, especially by commercial yard maintenance companies, winds up polluting too. It truly is a conundrum. But I had an epiphany when I discovered a long wooden rod in my garden shed that has a palm frond-like spread of metal tines on the end. I found I could use this tool to move leaves into a pile, even across concrete, without polluting the atmosphere. Or even making much noise. I call this tool a “rake.” I wonder if I could patent it.

RANDY JONES

Santa Rosa

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