Page 4 - Sonoma County Gazette November 2018

4 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 11/18
LETTERS cont’d from page 3
OPINION: A perspective on the wild side
noise ordinance-and it works! Crime all over this district - I have
Natural History of 2595 Railroad St. - proposed cannabis farm
got you covered. To quote Mark Essick “We have a new sheriff in town starting January 2019”and he is on our side working together with us!
By Meghan Peterman
Many concerns have been shared by the community in regards to the
Culvert, potholes, & theft issues on Drake - I have got you covered!
harmonious setting of the two properties recently sold along the West County Trail. This space is currently zoned for agriculture and for myself, as a naturalist, is where my concern resides.
How about needles on our riverbanks - not to mention all over town - PGE & Recology working with me and our FROG group for a couple of months. PGE just gave us (FROG)
a grant this week to help beautify St. Elizabeth’s Trail & Park - dog poopie bags, needle disposals, and garbage for all-cleaned up by wonderful
local volunteers. Plus the wonderful benches from Jim Rossi & thanks Iene Deem and all her help! friendsandresidentsofguerneville.org
Unfortunately, the monetary value of nature is often unrecognized or underestimated and is not given adequate consideration in land-use planning or development decisions. As the population of a region grows, the economic value of its natural lands increases, but only if the health of the ecological and hydrological systems is maintained. Some of the most important ecosystem services rendered by natural lands include maintenance of biological diversity, groundwater recharge, nutrient recycling by wetland areas, flood prevention through water retention, and pollination of crops and natural vegetation.
We’re a small volunteer group - River Friends of the Library humbly puts on theatre for childrn and adults-all thru book sales. This and these local folks are the backbone of our community. Find them at: www. riverfriendsofthelibrary.
The property on the west side of the West County Trail is a part of the Atascadero wetland system. Along the west end of this property runs the Atascadero Creek. This rivulet and its major tributaries are an important natural resource which historically supported steelhead trout, California freshwater shrimp, and have served as habitat for the endangered Coho salmon.
Please vote and remember - while we need big business and tourism -special interests should not run our town. We the people should have a say and a stake in our town!
Throughout the winter season, these fields annually flood, not only providing a habitat for migrating birds, but also creating a space for flood prevention and ground water recharge. Further more, Hallberg Butterfly Gardens, a nature reserve, resides on the east side of the two plots and these properties serve as the last open space accommodating wildlife to forage and pass through this lateral corridor. A disruption in the availability of these fields affects the diversity and well being of the animals residing on the Hallberg preserve which continues to serve as an ecological learning center for local schools, community and visiting tourists.
Let’s give Guerneville back to locals including our businesses - but to people who live here and may work elsewhere as well.
With the increasing development of monoculture farming in our county I hope that we can propose a long term plan of a complete transition for this land to serve as an open space, reestablishing native plants, for wildlife to prosper and the community to enjoy. In circumstances in which this could not be accommodated, I would implore our guidelines to require all parties being considered for this space to not only accommodate our natural resources, but assist in helping them prosper and therefore support a sustainable utilization of the rich biodiversity that inhabits our county.
Please feel free to contact me with any and all questions. I am happy to come to your home and talk one-on- one or with a group of you.
OPINION: The Sin Eaters
Best, Marcy Cooper
FROG SECRETARY
RFOL media /publicity chair Executive Director, Veterans Village
By Zachary Neeley
Across Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, funerals would be graced by
a stranger providing one last chance at savings the deceased’s soul. Bread or other simple food would be placed on the corpse, to absorb sin from its flesh, and then it would be consumed by the willing sin eater.
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At the risk of their own soul, the sin eater offered absolution by accepting another’s damnable acts into their own body. The reminder of their dead relative’s failings couldn’t have been pleasant to the funeral goers but the threat of eternal hellfire made it well worth it. Living with our sins requires a certain kind of ingenuity to safely continue.
The chaotic aftermath of the presidential election left a sense in the air that things couldn’t possibly stay the way they were, one way or the other. Huge protests, the Women’s March, masses in the streets over Trump’s travel ban.
For a moment, I saw us close to a generation of centrists being radicalized, Republicans quietly going along with bigoted and reckless behavior being punished for a long time. Instead, you don’t have to look around long to see a new equilibrium created instead. Umbrage and outrage all over but also complacency, a stunning level of comfort and the growing realization that all the same people could vote for Trump again.
We have our own modern class of sin eaters, cleaning up after the powerful, sanding rough edges and searching for any false equivalence. Public figures and commentators who will sell the products of the Trump administration to those who would recoil from Trump himself.
Writers who have come to be viewed as centrist in relative terms, like David Brooks, Jonah Goldberg or Megan McArdle, offer up what would be
OPINION cont’d on page 5