Thursday’s Letters to the Editor

Bungling vaccination

EDITOR: I just got off the phone with my 85-year-old parents, informing them that their second COVID-19 vaccine has been postponed due to lack of supply. My parents, although disappointed, were thoughtful and resilient in their response.

I, on the other, hand, feel frustrated that my parents who have made the best of this past year, who made the best of the Tubbs fire when their house burned, who have made the best of the world and their family being turned upside down, must wait for I don’t know how long to get their second vaccine.

As a nurse practitioner, I have patients, and I’m sure everyone knows people, who are 65, 23, 30 years old and aren’t essential workers who have received vaccines. I have patients who have cancer, who have had kidney transplants, who are paraplegic and have not received their vaccines.

How can someone go to sleep at night knowing that the most vulnerable have not been served first?

As one of my nurse friends said the other day, this whole pandemic has been mishandled, why would the vaccines be any different?

JULIE LEVEQUE

Healdsburg

A time for gratitude

EDITOR: While the Democrats and Republicans argue over the details of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, I feel a need for us to pause a moment for a dose of reality.

Unfortunately, some Americans are hanging a face and arguing about what the proper amount the stimulus checks should be, and that the financial aid we are receiving is somehow by law or birthright owed to us by our government. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The fact is there is nothing in our Constitution or any other document signed by our forefathers that states in times of trouble or pandemic Big Brother will rush to our aid with a batch of greenbacks.

Regardless of what each of us may think fair compensation is, be it a wage increase or thousand dollar checks, we should and need to be grateful for whatever we receive.

I know of no other country doing half of what our nation has done in terms of financial help during this trying time. Let us rise above our own financial self-interest by using the same hand that receives to instead help lift up someone who may be in a more dire position than ourselves.

J.L. ROBLEY

Santa Rosa

Steelhead shortage

EDITOR: I and many others have a question. What happened to the steelhead return on the Russian River? In an average year between 3,000 and 5,000 salmonids make it back to the fish hatcheries at Lake Mendocino and Dry Creek. As of Feb. 26, 532 steelhead have returned. Are some people not doing their job to plant the extra smolts needed to offset the massive predation by cormorants, mergansers and seals as well as the dams? Please don’t blame it on climate change or COVID-19. It gets old.

CHARLIE BECK

Bodega Bay

Recall revenge

EDITOR: As a Sonoma County resident involved with the criminal justice system, I have had my criticisms of District Attorney Jill Ravitch. That said, I am completely against the effort to recall her.

Ravitch was right to sue Bill Gallaher after vulnerable senior citizens in one of his senior homes were left on their own during the Tubbs fire. As a result, Gallaher had to pay a $500,000 settlement. It is particularly ironic that Gallaher’s recall petition cites “social justice” as one of the reasons he wants to oust Ravitch. He admitted to his negligence to settle the case and his concern is social justice? The hypocrisy is shocking.

Just last year, Ravitch announced she would not seek reelection, meaning we will elect a new district attorney in 2022. So why waste money on a recall election in 2021? Don’t sign the recall petition, which amounts to a rich guy’s petty revenge. If anything, Gallaher got off easy.

JERRY THREET

Sebastopol

The political divide

EDITOR: The GOP should have known the party was in trouble when Sarah Palin’s alarmist and mendacious claim of death panels encouraged a populist momentum. This happens when folks feel disfranchised and ignored by conventional leaders and are tempted to turn to conspiracy theorists and flamboyant outsiders who claim to represent them. Hence, the indoctrination of QAnon and white nationalism into the Republican Party.

Congressional Republicans have also experienced an embarrassing loss of spine as manifested by their opposition to removing QAnon devotee Marjorie Greene from the House education committee, even though she claims Sandy Hook and other school shootings were hoaxes staged by anti-gun liberals. She was filmed harassing Parkland survivor David Hogg. QAnon believes that Donald Trump is a divine agent appointed to save us from a Democratic pedophile ring that drinks the blood of children. Yes, meet the new “GQP.” The party of Trump.

Can Joe Biden save us? Democrats experienced their own impotence when they couldn’t get enough Republican votes to convict the former president. How are they going to get them to vote on progressive issues like immigration and climate? It will take much more than urging people to welcome opposing views to bridge the political divide in the United States.

BILL MASHEK

Forestville

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