Page 5 - Sonoma County gazette September 2018

LETTERS cont’d from page 4
Immigrant Family
The Press Democrat ran an article
on Friday, August 3, showing
how the Trump administration is dragging its feet on immigrant family reunification.
long-standing evidence that even sec- ondary exposure can harm children. Pesticide residues that parents unwit- tingly carry home on their clothes, tools, and skin can be culprits in damaging health.
Reunification
Over 100 schools in Sonoma County are within 1/4 mile of a farm that uses pesticides.The majority of these farms are vineyards, which is worrisome be- cause 98% of the vineyards in Sonoma County are treated with synthetic pesticides.
Redwood Forest Friends Meeting, a Quaker congregation in Santa Rosa, is unequivocally opposed to such inhumane governmental actions.
Though the Sonoma County Wine- growers Association has a goal of certifying all vineyards as “Sonoma Sustainable” by 2019, certification does not require vineyards to reduce pesticide use.
Another recent article described an encounter between a man in Roseland, and ICE officials who were driving unmarked vehicles with no license plates.
Compounds that include chlorpy- rifos and glyphosate are commonly used locally. We call upon our local ag community to put our community’s health and safety over profits for true sustainability.
As a congregation, we unite behind the following statement, and we encourage others in Sonoma County to join us in opposing continued militarized actions in our community:
Reuben Weinzveg, Sebastopol
Minute 2018-7-1: Redwood Forest Friends Meeting opposes
not only the immoral and illegal confinement and separation and
of children from their families at
the border, but also the on-going traumatizing deportations by ICE that separate parents from their families in our own communities.
Molly Bishop, Clerk of Redwood Forest Friends Meeting
Palm Drive Healthcare
The voters passed Measure F in 2000 to continue to provide acute care (not LTAC), an emergency department (not simple urgent care) AND other medical services. AAMG and the District have agreed to terminate
the ER and Acute care completely violating and obliterating the original intent of the district and its taxpayer support.
District Changes
Sonoma West Medical Facility doesn’t have a problem with this?
We unite with Friends Committee on National Legislation in stating: “This unconscionable policy traumatizes parents and children alike, and expands criminalization
of asylum seekers who are seeking refuge. Families belong together. Asylum seekers should not be detained. We strongly urge that Congress use their power to increase oversight of existing immigration and border enforcement and stop funding forcible separation that can do irreparable harm to young families.”
It is no longer your attractive little community hospital. Ambulances will be required to bypass (most of them do so anyway) this shell of a hospital (unless they are going to pick someone up to take them to a real hospital).
We endorse immediate action to reunite parents and children that have been separated, and to facilitate communication between parents in custody and their children until they are reunited.
The plan is to severely cut payroll - meaning either all staff takes a large cut in pay (not going to happen) or a good portion of the staff is laid off (the more likely scenario).
We commit ourselves to support, and increase our participation, in
the current immigration rights and Sanctuary movement, with actions such as: writing letters to local newspapers and Congress people; going to local meetings developing Sanctuary plans; signing up for an accompaniment team or to be a legal observer with Sonoma County Rapid Response Network; joining Comité VIDA; joining vigils at W. Contra Costa County Detention Center.
They are already operating with minimal staffing requirements. There must be a method to your madness
- it’s just too bad that madness is going to affect a lot of good people waiting for settlement of an existing bankruptcy and future generations who are going to be paying the cost of the District’s bad fiscal decisions long after we’re all dead and gone and the hospital has itself turned to dust!
Barbara Decarly
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