Monday’s Letters to the Editor

Veterans left waiting

EDITOR: My husband, a Vietnam veteran, was diagnosed with memory loss in 2017. I applied to have us admitted to the state veterans home in Yountville. I didn’t realize that even though his symptoms were mild he could only be admitted to the memory care program, and they were not admitting. His application was completed in July 2019.

COVID put a temporary stop to admissions in state veterans homes. When admissions opened, they were for “healthy individuals” who could live independently and those needing minimal assistance. Those in desperate need of nursing or memory care were told there were no admissions. This was true even though most empty beds were in the nursing or memory care units. By this time, my husband had been on the waiting list for a memory care bed more than three years.

Desperate veterans are put on permanent hold while their loved ones struggle to care for them or cover the costs of private care while open beds at the veterans homes are not filled. My husband died Sept. 1, 2022, without receiving any help from the state Department of Veterans Affairs.

KATHLEEN MILLER

Santa Rosa

Are dairies obsolete?

EDITOR: Yes, it’s sad to hear that more dairies are going out of business (“County dairy farmers face uncertainty,” Oct. 17). But are dairies needed, or are they obsolete? What happens to produce a gallon of milk from a cow? First, consider all the water needed to produce milk. Cows eat a lot, mostly alfalfa, and it takes about 4,900 gallons of water to raise the 7 pounds of alfalfa cows eats daily. She drinks 23 gallons of water daily, and ranchers use about 150 gallons to keep stalls clean. It adds up to about 725 gallons of water to produce a gallon of milk. Finally, consider the environmental damage from cows: methane that adds to climate warming, excrement that pollutes groundwater or ends up in rivers and the ocean.

The truth is everything produced by dairies is available from plants: milk, cheese, ice cream, butter, etc. When you consider how much water is used during this ongoing drought, and factor in all the fuel needed to plant and harvest food for cows, I don’t see how many of the 27 remaining dairies can last much beyond 2030.

PAUL SCONFIENZA

Santa Rosa

For Prop. 30

EDITOR: It troubles me that Proposition 30, which will increase the number of electric cars and charging stations in California and is enthusiastically supported by most environmental groups, is opposed by some groups and individuals I respect, including your paper.

Part of the opposition seems to center on the fact that much financial support comes from the ride-sharing company Lyft. My understanding is that Lyft will not directly benefit, but that Lyft drivers, usually not high-income earners, may benefit by being able to buy zero emission vehicles much more quickly.

California air quality control managers are requiring all ride-sharing companies, which produce a large share of climate changing greenhouse gases, to have their drivers operate all zero emission vehicles by 2030. Without the financial help provided by Proposition 30, many of the drivers could not afford to purchase an electric vehicle nor have easy access to charging. It seems to me that Lyft’s financial support for Proposition 30, enabling their drivers to reduce emissions, should be praised and not criticized.

As an electric vehicle owner for five years, I know that the charging system still has lots of gaps, and our climate crisis is growing.

BILL MONTGOMERY

Santa Rosa

Costly school bonds

EDITOR: Measure C sounds good. Who doesn’t want to improve school buildings? However, my husband and I already pay about $2,000 a year over our assessed property tax in bonds and other fees, so we will be voting no. At some point, the country needs to start living within its means as the rest of us have to do.

MICHELLE BEKO

Santa Rosa

Advocacy vs. journalism

EDITOR: As the author of the ballot argument opposing Santa Rosa’s Measure H, I was surprised that Press Democrat reporter Paulina Pineda didn’t call me for comment before running her article about the pending sales tax measure (“Voters to decide future of tax,” Oct. 23).

Politicians who put Measure H on the ballot and the beneficiaries who stand to reap the rewards of those moneys were interviewed and quoted extensively, but evidently no effort was made to learn the other side of the story. Pineda did lift a snippet from the ballot argument, but there’s always more to the story than can be told in the limited space provided for those arguments, as amply demonstrated by the amount of ink given to proponents of the measure.

Allowing one side the opportunity to elaborate on its position while snubbing the other demonstrates bias and is just plain bad journalism. In fact, it’s not journalism at all — it’s advocacy.

DAN DRUMMOND

Executive director, Sonoma County Taxpayers Association

Water conservation

EDITOR: I understand that we need affordable housing. I also know we are in yet another drought. Are there any requirements for grey water systems in new housing? Wouldn’t that make sense?

ANN V. MORENO

Petaluma

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