- Vax Us, Please
- Setting The Stage
- Nascar Imitators?
- Ukiah’s Transparency Deficit
- Folk Hero Or Common Criminal?
- As Tarzan Said To Boy…
- Solar's Big Break
VAX US, PLEASE
Editor,
I am writing in the hopes of catching the attention of the Public Health Department or maybe just some of the general public who could then inform them that inmates here at the Mendocino County Jail are once again waiting on Covid vaccines.
When I first arrived here over three months ago I submitted a request to receive the first shot. I waited seven weeks to actually receive it, during which time there were several small outbreaks of covid here at the facility.
I’m in the “at risk” category and once again I’m sitting here waiting two weeks now past the due date for the second shot.
With cases starting to increase again you would expect them to be on hand, but I just keep being told, “We’re waiting for them from Public Health and there’s nothing we can do.”
With the seriousness and extended length of this pandemic you would think that there would be better coordination between these two local agencies. I know there are inmates here who have been waiting for over two months for their first vaccine shot and many more are waiting for their second.
Sincerely,
Just another frustrated unvaccinated inmate!
Edward Johnson
Ukiah
SETTING THE STAGE
Editor,
Let me get this straight. For as long as workers have tried to organize, the ruling class has tried to prevent them from succeeding.
Crucially, in 1981 the federal government under President Ronald Reagan crushed the air traffic controllers union after it dared flex its muscles and go on strike. Corporate America followed that lead and, for four decades, has viciously broken unions, limited their power or prevented them from forming.
Now, in an expression of support for workers’ rights, federal agencies will withhold funds from public transit (“Marin transit services could face big federal funding cuts,” Nov. 14). This will do little to punish the transit officials who ignored the rights of their workers, but it will do a lot to make life harder for the working class in California.
Meanwhile, mainstream Democrats bemoan how faith in government has declined. They fear the return of Donald Trump or the rise of another like him, when what gives this reactionary movement its power is — in large part — government and corporate disdain for ordinary Americans.
By punishing workers for decisions made by transit officials, the federal government is further setting the stage for a future that will be ugly for everyone but the rich.
Dr. Will Meecham
Novato
NASCAR IMITATORS?
Editor:
Has anyone wondered about the relationship between sideshows and NASCAR winner burnouts? Are sideshow participants trying to imitate the NASCAR race winners?
If so, maybe it’s time to go after NASCAR to eliminate burnouts as a means of celebration. As an alternative, race winners could be encouraged to carry the American flag or their team flag while doing a reverse lap around the track.
I know this is a radical thought, but if the example isn’t there, maybe the sideshows would go away. As a bonus, NASCAR and sideshow participants would eliminate the contamination of the tire smoke to spectators and drivers.
Wes Brubacher
Geyserville
UKIAH’S TRANSPARENCY DEFICIT
To the Editor:
I think the Deputy City Manager was being more than a little disingenuous, if she was quoted correctly in the Daily Journal, saying that city residents do not pay the “same fire-specific property taxes that residents outside the city do.” City residents’ general property taxes, which I expect are higher than those paid by residents outside the city, paid for the city fire department for years, and presumably still go towards financing the joint fire district. Or if not, what use are those funds being put to? We do not seem to be getting our general property tax lowered. When we passed the public safety sales tax a few years ago, I remember the city saying it was to enhance fire and police, not replace existing spending. So where is that “existing” spending now?
I have no objection to paying more money for fire services. I think it is of paramount importance that our firefighters have the equipment and training and personnel to safely perform the ever more important work that they do.
But I think we could do with a bit more transparency and honesty from city officials.
Stephanie T. Hoppe
Ukiah
FOLK HERO OR COMMON CRIMINAL?
Mr. Anderson and Mr. Scaramella:
Why are you glorifying and making a folk hero out of a man who broke into people’s homes, stole what did not belong to him — mostly alcohol, not exactly Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread to feed his family — and shooting his rifle at a deputy sheriff trying to capture him? If this man is guilty of the charges against him, including attempted murder, he belongs in prison for the rest of his hopefully short life.
Bernard Kamoroff
Willits
* * *
ED REPLY: Just telling his story isn't glorifying Mr. Evers but we take your point.
AS TARZAN SAID TO BOY…
Editor:
A reader writes that the COVID vaccine is experimental and has not had long-term study. The polio vaccine had one year of human trial before it was released for general use. The MRNA technology that produced COVID vaccines has been used in medicine for decades in cancer therapy. Plain and simple, it is not experimental.
Life is a tough sport. If people need long-term studies before making a move, they must never cross a street or wake up in the morning.
A virus can’t be controlled as long as there are people without immunity. Before vaccines the world had to rely on death to eliminate people without immunity or incarcerate (quarantine) the dying and anyone who had been exposed. It is public safety. It is about killing others if you don’t get vaccinated (or die or get locked up).
Dr. Roger Delgado
Sebastopol
SOLAR'S BIG BREAK
Editor:
What select group of electric utility customers benefit the most, but pay the least, for operating California’s power grid? Solar customers. Solar customers make use of the grid 24/7, either feeding power or taking power. Without the grid, they wouldn’t receive the financial benefit that net energy metering provides.
Because of their much-reduced electric bills, solar customers don’t pay their share of the grid costs, which include the power generation necessary to keep the grid energized, maintained and reliable. This imbalance shifts those costs to remaining utility customers, resulting in increased rates.
As more and more customers go solar, the impact on electric rates becomes even more acute. Resolution of this issue is long overdue.
Bill Skoonberg
Santa Rosa
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