Page 3 - Sonoma County Gazette - May, 2018

Shooting in Sonoma
zones, but the Ag zones are zoned that way for a reason.
I agree totally with Kathy Byrne about that Wing & Barrel Ranch. OMG that is disgusting and sickening and I hope they are not going to
be successful. Would like more information about that. To kill birds and drink OMG and individuals pay $75K to join and organizations $145K, what kind of organizations?? I have an idea of what types and I don’t
like it. Our own little killing fields in beautiful Sonoma! Please say NO! ~
Judy Mikeska
The letters in your April issue illustrate some serious confusion regarding cultivation of cannabis.
For example, Rachel Zierdt threw
out a figure of her neighbor using 38 million gallons of water a year. That is using 105,000 gallons a day! In other words, enough to cover an acre with 4 inches of water every single day!! Not possible.
After it all, remember: cannabis is a plant. It should never have been illegal in the first place.
Ryan Power, Sebastopol
Sustainability?
Fake News?
Thank you for the excellent, balanced April cover story: “Wine Our Best friend or Worst Enemy?”
Cannabis fact-checking
When the Sonoma County Winegrowers buy full-page ads in local papers headlined “Love the land and the land loves you”, touting their goal of 100% sustainability, one has to wonder. If they love the land so much, why are they using so many harmful chemicals? Sustainability? Sounds like fake news to me.
I run a small family farm outside of Sebastopol. We grow 15 acres of organic vegetables and our total use roughly a few million gallons yearly.
In 2015, WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) declared glyphosate a “probable carcinogen.” That same year, just over 46 tons of glyphosate were applied to Sonoma County vineyards.
The cannabis ordinance requires copious attention to water resources already, in addition to thorough biotic assessments for potential environmental impact! The standards are very high in Sonoma County already.
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup; the most widely sold weed-killer in the world. In 2016, a consensus statement by a group of scientists blamed the heavy and rising usage of glyphosate on endocrine disruption, birth defects, kidney and liver damage, and gastrointestinal health issues. They also found that Monsanto’s “allowable daily intakes” in the US and EU were based on outdated science.
It is silly to talk about illegalizing a crop that was already illegal. Many illegal operations will simply continue illegally. The Board of Supervisors have done a great job of making the regulations very restrictive and have set the bar high. Cannabis operations that meet their criteria should be allowed to continue.
Meanwhile, sales of organic wine are growing, significantly faster
than sales of non-organic wine, with each acre yielding about $1500 more for the grapes. If our local wine industry truly wants to be sustainable they will consider your author’s recommendations to move toward biodynamic or organic/pesticide-free farming for the health and welfare of everyone, not just business profits.
The whole point of legalization is to eliminate the criminal element. Cannabis is already a big part of our local economy, like it or not. We need to bring cultivators into compliance to bring the industry into the light, generate jobs and tax revenues, and continue Sonoma County’s rich agricultural heritage.
Jane Colman, Santa Rosa
Remember, Sonoma County has
a Right to Farm Ordinance! This means that you live in an area that has farming, whether or not you like the farmers or the crop. I understand keeping cannabis out of residential
The article written by Aleta includes the sentence...”despite how much
the wine industry benefits our local economy...”
I would love to know...
LETTERS cont’d on page 4
5/18 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3