Tuesday’s Letters to the Editor

The wrong direction

EDITOR: We are now hearing a recommendation that asymptomatic people who were exposed to someone who has the coronavirus don’t need to get tested (“CDC told to curb test guidelines,” Thursday). As a career scientist, I must point out that this is sheer folly.

How can we break the cycle of transmission if we don’t know who has the virus? We need more testing, not less, and we should set a goal that everyone in the country gets tested at least once by the end of March 2021 so that those who test positive can self-quarantine and get help as needed. Continuing forward, everyone should get tested at least twice a year until this disease is broken.

Without good data, we can’t make the right choices. Beware of the voices in this administration who bend the truth. Be safe. Vote Joe Biden in 2020.

KARL FISHER

Petaluma

Four more years

EDITOR: I am voting for Donald Trump. I believe he is the lesser of the two evils. I watched both conventions and believe Trump to be stronger and tougher, which we really need right now. And he has his beautiful, very intelligent wife, Melania Trump, who gave a superb speech at the Republican National Convention. I urge Americans and especially the state of California to vote for Donald J. Trump for our president for another four years.

GAYLE KOZLOWSKI

Santa Rosa

Time for a change

EDITOR: You’ve met the type in school. Loud, bragging, always picking on people and disparaging them. Laughing at people's misfortune. Always talking about “them” in a negative sense. A bully. Not intelligent, but knows how to find the limelight. Lies at every turn. Petulant. Never had friends as much as hangers-on. Sound familiar?

The dictionary defines sociopath as “a person with a personality disorder manifesting itself in extreme antisocial attitudes and behavior and a lack of conscience.” There’s one in the White House. He spends his days tweeting rants and raves but getting nothing done. Fomenting hatred and division. He is culpable for thousands of deaths because of his ineptness. His entourage is routinely guilty of crimes, and now we find out they like to cooperate with Russian agents. That makes him culpable.

I think we’ve come close enough to disaster. It’s time for the adults. This is not about politics any more. It’s obvious now to all. Clean out his obsequious sycophants in Congress, too.

BOB MARKETOS

Petaluma

Pocekay for council

EDITOR: Having served on the Petaluma City Council for eight years, I know what it takes to be an effective councilperson. I know Dennis Pocekay from working with him at the Rapid Response Network. He has what it takes.

As a retired physician, Pocekay knows the value of listening before acting. That's important because of the many issues facing Petaluma today: a decimated budget, COVID-19, affordable housing, disintegrating streets and infrastructure, racial parity and the increasing climate impacts of human pollution, for example.

The ability to act with knowledge and compassion is critical for guiding us through these challenges. Pocekay doesn’t shy away from difficult or controversial situations. He does his work with quiet dedication and persistence.

At a recent protest against the firing of Black staff at St. Vincent High School, counterprotesters tried to disrupt the event. Pocekay was a crucial deescalator and kept events from getting out of control. He was there because he supports Black Lives Matter and is committed to racial equality.

Go to pocekayforcouncil2020.com to check out his platform. We need him now more than ever.

MATT MAGUIRE

Petaluma

Carbon fee is needed

EDITOR: Enough of this damp heat. Our warming world is not only melting the polar ice, it is warming and expanding the oceans. Hotter water offshore allowed that Baja storm to extend its muggy sparky arms into the North Bay, igniting our much-feared pandemic fires. Hotter water threatens the marine life upon which so many human lives depend.

You’re right, heat waves will pass (“Time to get serious about rising sea levels,” editorial, Aug. 14). It’s time to make big policy changes to stop the flood of greenhouse gases into our skies. A rising fee for carbon fuel extraction should be levied on fossil fuel companies, with all fee monies paid out to families in per capita monthly dividends. It’s not the only solution, but more than anything else, it will help stop the flood of climate pollution.

When the “climate Congress” convenes under our new president in January, carbon fee and dividend should be central to the comprehensive climate legislation championed by Reps. Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman.

BRUCE HAGEN

Petaluma

A test for Trump

EDITOR: Joe Biden should tell Donald Trump that he’ll gladly take that drug test if Trump will take one too: release his taxes, since money is his addiction. Biden can prove he isn’t senile, and Trump can prove he hasn’t been laundering Russian money for decades.

STEVE SCHLICH

Petaluma

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