Tuesday’s Letters to the Editor

Presumed innocent

EDITOR: Carol I. Huygen wrote, “If, after all Donald Trump’s trials and appeals, he is allowed to be on any presidential ballot in 2024, then we may as well just burn the Constitution” (“Teflon Trump,” Letters, Sept. 19). She went on to note that he has been impeached twice and indicted four times.

I admire Huygen’s passion but not her logic. One of the bedrock principles of our Constitution is that people, even reprehensible people like Trump, are innocent until proven guilty. Yes, he was impeached twice by the House of Representatives, but an impeachment is simply an indictment. The conclusion of both impeachment trials in the Senate was that he was acquitted of the charges brought against him.

Thanks to the brilliance of the founders, Huygen and I live in a country where people are innocent until proven guilty — even people we can’t stand.

DENNY OLMSTED

Napa

Discouraging change

EDITOR: Clearly, Lexipol has aimed to protect law enforcement agencies from accountability and liability in the carefully worded police policies that often lead to successful lawsuit defenses that discourage needed changes (“Too much influence?” Sept. 17).

Exposing Lexipol brings up questions about how its work prevents honest conversations about controversial police actions in connection with use of force and often undermines change.

Fortunately, here in Sonoma County, we have an oversight body — IOLERO — with an excellent director and staff and a community advisory group that reviews the policies of the Sheriff’s Office. We know that while there is support for law enforcement for the difficult job they do, there is also strong agreement in our county for the need for oversight and community engagement.

IOLERO is an uncommon entity in the field of police oversight and has been strengthened with the groundbreaking passage of Measure P. Its support is a tribute to many who have worked for change since the early 1990s.

I don’t believe there will be a destination point for police reform. In my experience, it will be more about being on the path to improvement and making necessary changes when needed.

JOHN MUTZ

Sebastopol

Support the UAW

EDITOR: It is time to publicly and actively support the United Auto Workers. The union has borne the brunt of corporate failures for over a decade. Case in point: when General Motors lost the title of global leader to Toyota, did GM “leadership” take a pay cut? The answer is no.

GARY SCIFORD

Santa Rosa

Anti-democratic actions

EDITOR: The Sept. 16 headline “School board hit with hate” should be a wake-up call that anti-democratic forces are trying to undermine regular folks from participating in the work of their communities. The trolls couldn’t care less about the issues before the Santa Rosa school board and the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, but rather their intent is to intimidate and disrupt.

Because the guardrails of civility and respect are broken, local leaders must anticipate and take steps to prevent these kinds of disruptions in the future. And We, The People, who benefit from the work of a robust local government, should be quick to show our leaders that we support and appreciate the work they have stepped up to do on school boards, commissions and at the polls. Without them small “d” democracy will surely fade away.

SUSAN THOMPSON

Petaluma

The new isolationism

EDITOR: Have some politicians in Washington forgotten the lessons of World War II? They want us to stop helping Ukraine fight for its life against Vladimir Putin. They have either forgotten or never knew about our isolationism before that war.

The famous aviator Charles Lindbergh was invited to Nazi Germany many times and even awarded a medal by Hermann Goring himself. As late as 1941, after Poland and Austria had been invaded by Hitler, Lindbergh railed against President Franklin Roosevelt, the “British race” and the “Jewish race” and urged the U.S. stay out of war. By then Hitler had opened concentration camps. So much for appeasement.

Some in the British aristocracy also admired Hitler, and many visited Germany before the war, where they were wined and dined by Nazis who wanted Great Britain to stay out of Hitler’s way. Meanwhile, Hitler was planning to ultimately invade Great Britain.

We now have Putin on the world scene. Putin is responsible for the deaths of thousands. Unfortunately, we also now have politicians who support the man who wants to be our next president, who has just said, “I am the apple of Putin’s eye.” I fear this new isolationism would lead to more tragedies.

GREG JACOBS

Sebastopol

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