Saturday’s Letters to the Editor

County noise law needed

EDITOR: Hans Beerbaum asks if there is no longer an enforceable county noise nuisance law (“A bad neighbor,” Letters,” Aug. 6). There is not, according to the Sheriff’s Office. The officers did say they wished there was one.

In Glen Ellen, extremely loud, outdoor, all-day parties of more than 30 people, with amplified live bands playing trumpets and tubas, have become intolerable. The Sheriff’s Office has their hands tied by clueless county supervisors.

These parties force older residents to stay indoors all day, with the doors and windows closed, or to leave their houses for the day. During one party, my family was forced to wear earplugs indoors all day. The people holding these parties do not respond to repeated requests to turn down the volume.

The Sheriff’s Office did say that complaints should still be made because officers track the complaints, and after a certain number of complaints, they can cite the owners of the property. However, they didn’t say how many complaints that would require.

What will it take to get the supervisors to listen to their constituents, much less the Sheriff’s Office, and enact a county noise ordinance?

MARTIN BIDA

Sonoma

Thwarting investigations

EDITOR: David Palaez Chavez was shot and killed by a Sonoma County deputy sheriff. Under the terms of Measure P, the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach should have the authority to immediately and independently investigate the killing. Dismayingly, the Board of Supervisors made it impossible for IOLERO to fulfill its duties under Measure P.

Rather, the board signed agreements with the deputies association limiting IOLERO’s ability to independently investigate such use of deadly force until after the sheriff, district attorney and Santa Rosa Police Department complete their investigations.

That flies in the face of the letter and spirit of Measure P. To make matters worse, Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office has refused to exercise its authority under AB 1506 to conduct an independent investigation.

Sixty-five percent of Sonoma County voters approved Measure P in November 2020. AB 1506 went into effect in July 2021. Our elected officials are failing their constituents and the communities they serve by thwarting truly independent investigations of yet another tragic killing.

NANCY PEMBERTON

Sebastopol

One-sided coverage

EDITOR: Reading The Press Democrat and watching the PBS News Hour these past several weeks, I kept wondering if I am missing something. What seems to be missing are the results of statewide Democratic primary elections. Are Democrats even running in statewide primaries? Well, yes, the media did cover Democratic primary results for governor and U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, won by Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman, respectively.

Why is this a concern? Do you remember after the results of the 2016 election were known the media seemed to be searching their collective conscience, realizing they had paid attention to every comment and gesture Donald Trump made after he announced his candidacy for president in 2015? By giving him outsized attention, they perhaps had helped put him into office as the 45th president of the United States.

They are doing it again by focusing only on the Republican primaries where Trump has endorsed one of the candidates. The self-fulfilling prophecy of Democrats losing the House and the Senate will come true because the media continues its perilous coverage of only one party’s pursuit of political victory in November.

FLORA LEE GANZLER

Santa Rosa

Creating a danger

EDITOR: Why does Nancy Pelosi have the right to put our country on the brink of another world war? Because she is speaker of the House, she has total power over her own decisions, regardless of the president and our military advisers.

Pelosi’s dangerous trip to Taiwan was paid for by those of us who pay taxes. I grew up during World War II and served in the Air Force in the Korean War. Wars scare me. Fortunately, those wars never brought fighting to our own shores. Things would be different in the future. This is not about politics. This is about who is putting the United States on death row because of her self-centered desires.

ROBERT CLOPTON

Santa Rosa

What Americans want

EDITOR: For once, I agree with Gayle Kozlowski and her comments on what Americans want (“Law and order,” Letters, Monday). I believe Americans do want law and order. However, I also believe they don’t want a petty, ego-driven wannabe dictator who is willing to break the law to remain in power.

GARY MICHEL

Santa Rosa

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