- Photo Vigilantisim
- Pentagon Wastes Money As Vets Do Without
- Don't Worry, He's Friendly
- ‘Extrajudicial’ Killings In The Caribbean & Pacific
- Small Steps
- Win Won’t Save Dems
- Support Ethical Farmers
- High Concentration Helps
- Don’t Believe White House Claims About Drug Trafficking
- It's Gone
PHOTO VIGILANTISIM
Editor:
Recently a disturbing presence has been patrolling the streets of Ukiah. Unhinged and rooted in xenophobia and prejudice towards those less fortunate and vulnerable, a vigilante group called “Ukiah Caught on Camera” has taken to the streets. Videos recorded by this group have been posted on social media in an attempt to shine a light on the city’s homeless problem, crime, loitering, illegal camping, panhandling and unlicensed food vending.
These issues could be considered as very valid concerns if not for the methods that are being used to humiliate and dehumanize our fellow community members who are featured in these videos. The purpose of this letter to the editor is to expose this vigilante group for what it is: a hate group masquerading as the neighborhood watch. Their intentions seem to be less about improving the community and more about sowing seeds of division amongst our citizens.
No matter where you stand on these issues, we can’t allow vigilante justice in our society. My concern is that if left unchecked, this group could incite violence and fan the flames of discrimination against “the other” in our small community.
We as a society need to galvanize around our love for one another and strive to protect vulnerable populations from harassment. People who are struggling in their lives do not deserve to be publicly humiliated. They are us and we are them. We are all a part of this community, and only together can we solve what’s wrong with it.
We need to focus on solutions and productive ways to solve the challenges that face our community, not dehumanizing those who we don’t like or don’t understand. We need to enforce our laws and ordinances, but we also need to do it with compassion and empathy. Scapegoating those who are most vulnerable reflects poorly on us as a community.
Public vagrancy, homelessness and drug addiction are important issues to address. We can only solve these issues through our shared humanity and our willingness to work together, not catching people on camera in vulnerable positions and posting it on social media.
This group is not about finding solutions for our town, it’s about targeting bigoted vitriol towards our fellow citizens. I hope that we will protect those who need our protection most and stand up to those who wish to bully them for merely existing and trying to survive.
Jared Soinila
Ukiah
PENTAGON WASTES MONEY AS VETS DO WITHOUT
Editor:
The Pentagon’s budget for this year has surpassed the $1 trillion mark. Of that amount, approximately $450 billion-$500 billion is allocated to the defense industry through procurement, contracts and acquisitions (“Vets suffer as Pentagon cash flows to defense contractors,” Nov. 8). There remains a systemic problem of financial mismanagement within the military-industrial complex. For example, the Air Force reportedly overpaid $150,000 for soap dispenser parts — roughly 80 times more expensive than comparable commercial models. It also spent $1,300 each on retractable coffee cups used aboard KC-10 aircraft—cups that could be 3D-printed for about 50 cents apiece. Waste and inefficiency in the military have been well documented for years. The real tragedy, however, is that while billions are squandered, our veterans — many of whom return home physically or emotionally scarred — are too often neglected by a government that claims it cannot afford to care for them.
Richard Cardiff
Sebastopol
DON'T WORRY, HE'S FRIENDLY
Editor:
A dog isn’t everyone’s best friend. Last year, while walking on the paved trail in Sonoma Valley Regional Park an off-leash dog tripped my wife. She did a faceplant on the asphalt and ended up spending many hours in the dentist chair, ultimately needing two root canals and two crowns to protect the damaged teeth.
There are people who don’t love dogs, people who experience dogs as irritating, threatening, even terrorizing. There’s the barking dog that routinely destroys the serenity of a neighborhood, the dog that snarls and lunges, that sticks its nose in your crotch or jumps up on you. There’s the dog that knocks you down, leaving you with broken teeth or a broken hip.
Dog owners say, “Don’t worry, he’s friendly.” That’s no help for people who want nothing to do with dogs; they have good reasons for feeling that way. Never assume that people will welcome the presence of your dog. Keep dogs quiet and under control when in public places. Respect leash laws and “No dogs allowed” signs. Pick up after your dog, and don’t leave the poop bag laying on the side of the trail.
Christian Pedersen
Sonoma
‘EXTRAJUDICIAL’ KILLINGS IN THE CARIBBEAN & PACIFIC
Editor:
Our government has begun to routinely use the term “narco-terrorists” as a justification for extrajudicial killing of people on boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. This new designation (vs. “drug runners” or “narco-traffickers”) is an overt attempt to morally and legally equate these killings to our government’s actions against al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
We, as American citizens, must vigorously reject this designation. Granted, drug cartels may be terrorizing their own societies in Central and South America, but they are not terrorizing us. Rather, they are drug smugglers (though our government refuses to provide evidence of even that), and thus, they are illegal suppliers of controlled substances to a U.S. market that wants these drugs. We are customers, they are dealers.
This is a law enforcement matter that can be competently address by my good friends in our Coast Guard and Navy through boarding, arrest and prosecution. Extrajudicial murders are the purview of autocratic governments like Nicolás Maduro’s and Vladimir Putin’s. Don’t allow the government that represents us to follow their path in our name.
Tom Benson
Petaluma
SMALL STEPS
Editor,
Two new Democratic governors, a stiff rebuke to the establishment in New York City — these are small steps. But after months of gloom, threats, lies, attacks on the poor, lawlessness, graft, racist rants and the sneering Steven Miller, finally, there’s a reason to believe that democracy, decency and the rule of law may win out in the end.
It could be the turning point so many of us have been praying for. Maybe it’s like Churchill said — not the beginning of the end, but the end of the beginning.
Surely we have a long way to go, but now it’s game on!
Bill Parks
Palo Alto
WIN WON’T SAVE DEMS
Editor,
While voters in New York City rejected the failed policies of the status quo by electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor, Democrats in California hope to cling to power through extreme gerrymandering.
The strategy behind Proposition 50 might succeed in the short term by making it easier for Democrats to win a few more seats in Congress. But in actuality, it’s little more than a bandage on a bleeding ulcer within the party.
Prop 50 will likely further alienate rural voters who are left disenfranchised, and it delays the day of reckoning the Democratic Party needs.
Until the California Democratic Party rejects the status quo of neo-liberal capitalism, American imperialism and Zionism, small victories such as Tuesday’s are little more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Bernie Corace
San Francisco
SUPPORT ETHICAL FARMERS
Editor,
Regarding “UC Berkeley animal rights activist convicted in ‘chicken rescue’ trial” : As a Sonoma County resident who values ethical stewardship and the strength of our local food systems, I want to express my support for family livestock farmers following the recent conviction of animal-rights activist Zoe Rosenberg.
The verdict affirms something many of us already know: that justice, not ideology, must guide our actions.
Our region’s farmers have a tradition of caring for the land, animals and community. They are not faceless corporations — they are families who start work before dawn, invest in humane practices and make possible the high-quality foods produced by our county.
When groups like Direct Action Everywhere trespass, steal animals and stage break-ins for attention, it is not a protest — it’s a threat to livelihoods and to the truth.
The jury’s decision reminds us that lawful, transparent agriculture deserves respect. I encourage people to visit local farms, learn how they operate and continue supporting the people who feed our community with integrity.
Anton Cyril Petrash
Santa Rosa
HIGH CONCENTRATION HELPS
Editor,
Regarding “Shohei Ohtani would have had the ‘greatest ever’ game — but he wasn’t on LSD” : I am not sure if Open Forum writer Jack Chorley has ever ingested a tab of acid. To me, it is not surprising that Dock Ellis could pull off the feat of pitching a no-hitter on acid.
As I recall, Ellis said all he could see was the catcher’s mitt while pitching his no-hitter. In today’s micro-dosing society, increasing focus by taking acid seems to be the norm.
Ellis was an All-Star pitcher in 1971. He had the talent. Jerry Garcia could entertain a crowd focusing on his guitar and the vibe; I am not surprised Ellis could do the same.
Tony Zucker
Larkspur
DON’T BELIEVE WHITE HOUSE CLAIMS ABOUT DRUG TRAFFICKING
Editor:
The vast majority of cocaine and fentanyl arrives in the United Stats through the Mexican border, primarily through legal ports of entry, much of it smuggled by American citizens. So, please, let’s stop listening to and discussing the stories coming out of the White House about bombing boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific as fighting drug trafficking. The bombing of boats has clearly been against international law, is definitely murder, and is totally appalling. Just another lame but horrific excuse for military action in some form yet to be clarified. Please apply similar logic to any story coming out of the White House.
Karen Cooper
Hilo, Hawaii
IT'S GONE
To the Editor:
America is no longer teetering on the brink of a constitutional crisis. For all intents and purposes, the Constitution has already collapsed. At its core, this foundational document was designed to prevent tyranny, but under the weight of relentless assaults on our freedoms by President Trump, with the full backing of Republicans in Congress, that commitment to liberty has been rendered impotent.
James Madison, considered the principal architect of the Constitution, recognized the role that human shortcomings would play in effective governance when he wrote in the Federalist Papers, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.”
This sober view of human nature was key to providing safeguards in the form of checks and balances to ensure that no single individual or branch of government becomes too powerful. Now, nearly 240 years later, with Donald Trump’s return to the presidency, and the support of MAGA loyalists, the guardrails separating democracy and autocracy have begun to collapse.
Jim Paladino
Tampa, Florida
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