Sunday’s Letters to the Editor

Talks with Lytton Pomos collapse

EDITOR: My wife is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and proudly considers herself an Indian, so I feel free to use the term Indian. That said, I was taken aback by the Press Democrat article, “Setback in talks on waste site plan” (June 10). “The town is surprised and disappointed that after negotiating in good faith with the Tribe they suddenly reversed course and ended discussions on what would have been a win-win agreement,” the article read.

Anyone who has any understanding of the historical treatment of Indians in North America and the California Indians in particular should not be the least bit surprised why any Indian Tribe wouldn’t trust any level of the government. Between 1846 and 1873 the Indian population in California plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Genocide paid for in part by state, federal and local taxpayers dollars.

“Tribal leaders have not been forthcoming with the town officials about their reasons for abandoning the negotiations,” Debora Fudge and Ken MacNab said in the article. Maybe they have smartened up and found a better way to spend their tribal funds. Maybe the city should offer to rename a rock, small wetlands or a mountain. “The government we will always treat the tribe with respect and work with them because they’re our neighbors.”

So once again history repeats; Please don’t fall for it. Lytton Pomo leaders, ask yourselves when was the last time the government helped you without helping themselves more. Keep your money, buy back more land and prosper.

FRANK SANDERSON

Willits

Extra fees at restaurant?

EDITOR: A recent receipt showed me that I had paid 13% tax on my ice cream cone. The sales tax rate in Sebastopol is 9.25%, but my receipt also included Health Care tax, and Zero FoodPrint tax. Are these additional taxes being collected by all of our restaurants, or only by some?

New fees may be necessary during the pandemic, but I haven’t heard about these. I may have missed something; receipts are more often declined or overlooked these days. This restaurant may be trying to encourage people to be generous, but to me this feels like someone is sneaking money out of my purse when I’m not looking. And I wonder who receives the proceeds from these extra fees/taxes?

I mentioned my concern to a city council member, who did not seem surprised. I’m sure the city has bigger fish to fry these days. She did suggested that I check the restaurant’s website for an explanation, but I found nothing there.

I want to support our community, but I expect a restaurant to be more upfront about something like this.

KATHERINE TAYLOR

Sebastopol

Misplaced project

EDITOR: I have been an Oakmont resident since 2004. I have seen the traffic on Highway 12 increase exponentially. In the stretch between Melita and Pythian roads, there are often car accidents, some with fatalities. Since 2017, fire evacuations from our area have become the norm, creating a nightmare on the highway.

The proposed project by Bill Gallaher called Elnoka is ominous (“Disputed housing project revived,” June 6). The site involved is not meant to be the high-density area that Gallaher envisions.

We in Oakmont are not pawns on a Monopoly board. We are living, breathing human beings, who deserve an environment conducive to our health and welfare. The creation of Elnoka may bring more wealth to the developers, but I can assure you it will bring stress and grief to us.

KATHY LOLLOCK

Santa Rosa

Outdated views

EDITOR: Federal Judge Roger Benitez seems to have teleported himself back 200 years, as that is the only explanation for his decision to strike down California’s 30-year ban on assault weapons (“Ban on assault weapons reversed,” June 5).

The Second Amendment is shrouded in ambiguity and consists of only one sentence: “A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” That’s it.

As far as national security is concerned, we haven’t been invaded by a foreign power since 1812, and even then, militias operated under the direction of the U.S. military. I think a defense budget of $733 billion a year makes such a concern laughable. Furthermore, Benitez said the AR-15 is a “perfect combination of home and homeland defense equipment, just like the Swiss Army knife.”

Unquestionably, the Founding Fathers would be horrified to see how an outdated concern has been manipulated to guarantee citizens the means with which to slaughter each other. How many workplace massacres would have been prevented if only the victims just had an AR-15 at home? Insanity.

Benitez might as well be wearing buckle shoes and knee britches to court.

JOHN BRODEY

Santa Rosa

A matter of math

EDITOR: Jordan Newkirk’s letter demands a logical response (“Policy failures,” June 5). He attributes the increasing rates of infection and deaths to allegedly failed COVID-19 policy responses. What he fails to recognize is the exponential growth rate of viral spread over time.

Exponential growth of any phenomenon grows more rapidly than simple arithmetic growth because the rate of growth also increases with time, resulting in an increasingly steeper growth curve.

So, policy is implemented, time passes, rate of growth is now greater than before policy implementation, and the case count is higher. No mystery here folks. It’s just the passage of time and a bit of advanced math.

Contrary to his perception (I can’t call it a conclusion), those case counts would have been higher without those policies as a greater number of virus spreaders would have changed the math and steepened the curve even more.

PETER J. LESCURE

Santa Rosa

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