Friday’s Letters to the Editor

Fountaingrove water

EDITOR: An article in Sunday’s paper talked about how there was no water to fight the fire in Fountaingrove (“Hard lessons leading to better emergency preparedness”). Consultants were hired, and the conclusion was that the fire sprinkler systems in the destroyed homes drained the water system. This type of fire will happen again, and the replaced buildings will all have fire sprinklers per the fire code, with the same result.

Now is the time for the city of Santa Rosa and its Fire Department to think about installing a dedicated fire water system in the Fountaingrove area. A 500,000-gallon tank at the top of the hill with a large main running down to Mendocino Avenue would ensure pressure and needed volume of water for the sole use of firefighters. The system could be extended as required.

Financing for the system could come from the federal government and the state if the city acts quickly while money is still available.

A system like this exists in San Francisco and has aided firefighters for more than 100 years. It is worth consideration.

FRANK TREANOR

Windsor

A double-standard

EDITOR: In the aftermath of the Christine Blasey Ford/Brett Kavanaugh hearings, much has been said (mostly by men) about the “indiscretions of youth” and that these bad behaviors shouldn’t be held against them all these years later.

One could argue that teen pregnancies fall into this category and that young women are, almost without exception, shamed, shunned, marginalized, discriminated against and sent away.

So far as I know, they didn’t get pregnant by themselves, and the damage done lasts a lifetime, regardless of the outcome. It’s great to know that the great double-standard is still alive and well here in the United States.

Second, if you want to know how Kavanaugh thinks about women, you need only watch his exchange with Sen. Dianne Feinstein. He interrupted, raised his voice and spoke over hers, and was generally disrespectful and dismissive.

Most men didn’t even notice this, but for all of us who have sat in corporate meetings, or any meeting with a preponderance of men, it is all too familiar, boorish behavior. After all, what possible value could a woman’s opinion have?

LEAL REINHART

Sebastopol

That skunky scent

EDITOR: Remember when the first storms of the season brought the fresh clean scent of rain? Now, with all the pot “gardens,” it smells more like wet skunk.

CHERI MEMEO

Santa Rosa

Beattie for council

EDITOR: The biggest issue facing our community today is housing. Many families, like mine, lost homes in the fire and a year later still haven’t been able to rebuild. Many living here or wanting to live here can’t find affordable housing.

In Santa Rosa’s District 4, we have a candidate running for City Council who is uniquely qualified to attack this problem. Dorothy Beattie has an extensive background in housing finance. She has helped people get into housing, both professionally and through her many volunteer efforts.

Beattie understands the need to increase our housing stock and the importance of housing first for those who are experiencing homelessness. Most importantly, she knows we need a collaborative process that provides housing as well as the needed infrastructure to assure our safety and quality of life for the future.

Beattie is someone who gets things done. She is running because she truly cares about Santa Rosa and not because she has future political ambitions. Join me and my family in voting for Dorothy Beattie.

JANET CONDRON

Santa Rosa

Unfit for the court

EDITOR: After the testimony by Brett Kavanaugh, whether he did any of the things alleged has become less important. What was clear was, here is a man who feels he has been mistreated, to the point that he recklessly accused Democrats, the women who have come forward and, in the most Trumpian of all accusations, the Clintons.

He reacted not just as someone unjustly accused but as if this position was promised to him, and someone was getting in the way of what was deservedly his.

This man displayed neither the judicial temperament nor the grace to address the accusations against him in measured tones. Instead, he testily addressed a member of the Senate when asked about excessive drinking with responses like “Have you? I’d be curious to know.”

Surely we as a nation could do better than this. He’s not fit to sit on the highest court in the land.

DOUG RHOADES

Santa Rosa

Yes on Prop 12

EDITOR: Can we have a little heart for the animals? Vote yes on Proposition 12. It doesn’t take a lot of time or energy. Give the creatures a little more room to move. Have a heart. If they don’t suffer and stream anxiety through their systems, we might even get healthier and get less cancer. How about having happier animals and a good egg?

KATY BYRNE

Sonoma