Letters to the Editor

Thanks for dividing community, Aug

Editor: Way to go, August, before even getting your newly acquired city council seat warm you managed to divide the community. Thanks for bringing the Rovian tactic of wedge politics to Sonoma. What’s next, a proposal to ban gay marriage? Or maybe a condemnation of abortion could be your next brilliant idea. Oh … I know. What’s the big deal about a nativity scene? It’s a slippery slope. We may start with a nativity scene but who’s to say where it ends. Maybe a three-story-tall crucifix would look good in the square during Easter? Why not? Just ignore it if you find it offensive. August, your inexperience is showing itself already. Do us all a favor, turn off Fox News and stick to what you know … which is what again?
David Bush

Buy locally this holiday season

Editor: With the holiday season here, so too is the shopping quest to find gifts for friends and family. Just as it is important to buy the right gift for the right person, it is just as important where you buy your holiday items. The right gift puts a smile on a person’s face, but buying holiday items in town will put a smile on local business owners’ faces.
Now I know that Sonoma cannot fulfill all your buying needs. And I know that those needs Sonoma can fulfill may cost you a bit more. Yes, you may find it cheaper on Amazon or Toys-R-Us, or Macy’s, but these stores do not live in Sonoma. They will not help our town. Statistically, buying locally means that 60 percent of all local profits stay in Sonoma.
Still thinking it over? Why not compromise? If you buy online and out-of-town make sure you also buy books, toys and clothes in Sonoma. Our local bookstores, toy store and clothing stores are vital threads of the Sonoma fabric. Just imagine what our town would be like without such stores as Readers, Bookends, and Eraldi’s?
So, this holiday season, give your town a gift and buy locally.
Howard Egger-Bovet

Jesus not reason for season

Editor: Bacchus of Egypt, Krishna of India, Chang-ti of China and Mithra of Persia are four of the 16 saviors I know of that were born of virgins on the 25th of December. There are over 300 different chronological systems by different Christian writers, all founded on the Bible, showing us that Christians do not have a clue when Jesus was born. Not the month, the day or even the year.
Doesn’t it seem odd that God would come to earth, perform all kinds of astounding miracles, raise the dead, cast out devils etc. and not one of the 300 writers of the era wrote a word about him? The only information we have about Jesus is from the Bible and the Bible does not tell us the date of his alleged birth. It was Constantine in the year 325 A.D. who selected Dec. 25 because it is the birthday of gods. Everyone was already celebrating the birthday of Sol, the glorious luminary of the world, or any one of 16 other saviors, so Constantine just informed his subjects that they are celebrating the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25 and it was so. Jesus is no more the reason for the season than I am.
Jerry Mason

Truckee residents warn against paid parking

Editor: While visiting in early December we were told that Sonoma is considering paid parking. A year ago (Oct. 2005) Truckee implemented paid parking throughout our Commercial Row, which is equivalent to Sonoma’s Square. A Sonoma local we met asked that we write this letter before Sonoma makes the same mistake that Truckee made.
Truckee’s paid parking system cost the Town of Truckee about $600,000 for the machines installed at frequent intervals along the street. A customer can pay via cash or credit card, and a ticket comes out with the expiration time written in large numbers. Note, the visitor must trek to the dispenser and back, often in very snowy weather. The cost is $1 for the first hour, $2 for two hours, $4 for 3 hours and $7 for 4 hours; with a 4-hour maximum. You can also put in $0.25 for 15 minutes. The paid parking is required daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Like Sonoma, Truckee only has a parking problem during tourist season – in Truckee that is during the summer and on ski weekends during the winter. Prior to the paid parking implementation, parking was permitted for two hours. After two hours you would be given a parking ticket. The enforcement of that was lax, and when enforced the visitors complained that one can’t shop and eat in two hours.
Supposedly the merchants requested that paid parking be implemented to keep the parking spaces available for new shoppers. However today no one will admit who wanted paid parking and why we have it. And today, no one likes the system.
Today parking spaces are readily available during weekdays as locals no longer shop downtown. No one wants to pay for a parking space when they only want to drop into a store to buy one item. They would rather shop in another area of Truckee that does not require paid parking, or shop in Reno.
No one has admitted that the paid parking implementation was a mistake. However the subject gets the most print in the local paper and receives the most vocal discussion when the town hosts forums.
We know that Truckee and Sonoma are quite different, but we do have some similarities. Since tourism is both towns’ main industry, perhaps Sonoma can find a better solution to its parking problems other than parking meters. Personally we think if the police had enforced the original two-hour parking, then we wouldn’t have the “mess” we have today. Another solution would be to use the paid parking system only during high tourist times.
Karen Meyer and Paul Duggan

Unconstitutional foreign policy

Editor: Altruism in our foreign policy is immoral and unconstitutional. Some lives are worth more than others. The lives Americans should value most are our own, especially those brave enough to take up arms in our defense.
Foreign-policy makers should offer no apology for defending the United States. Conservatives maintain only a vestige of the principle of national self-defense. They cloak our selfish interests in a veil of altruism. Liberals believe the military can only be used altruistically, if at all.
Both conservatives and liberals have set the stage for failure. They invoke altruism as justification to act militarily. By consequence, dangerous limitations have been placed on the military’s rules of engagement.
American foreign policy should promote a rational, selfish self-defense of American lives and property. That’s incompatible with altruism which commands self-sacrifice. If self-sacrifice is the moral imperative in Iraq, we are succeeding.
Phineas Worthington

What is Sonoma Valley’s signature grape?

Editor: A number of times I’ve read Bradley Gray’s wine column in the Sun and have been intrigued by a question raised. Namely, what is Sonoma Valley’s signature grape? The official answer, as Gray has related, is that the Sonoma Valley prides itself on being a potpourri. That’s fine, but somehow it doesn’t quite satisfy me. So I posed the question to myself: which grape varietal, if push came to shove, would be Sonoma Valley’s? I have tried to come up with answer and it goes like this:
• Cabernet: That’s taken. It’s Napa’s baby.
• Pinot noir: Not represented by the Sonoma Valley as a whole, only Carneros comes to mind. Anyway, Oregon has already made a name for itself with this grape.
• Italian varietals (barbera or sangiovese): The Sierra foothills wineries are beginning to specialize in these.
• Zinfandel: Tempting, but Dry Creek Valley has that sewn up.
• Durif (petite sirah): Well, it’s a fine grape – wonderful in classic California claret, but not world-class. And so, in short, no.
• Merlot: Maybe. Long before maladjusted Miles maligned merlot, I was doing so and am personally pleased with its present predicament. Nevertheless, I ask myself, might merlot make a name for itself here? Should Sonoma Valley (the closest one can come to Napa in a geographical and territorial sense) produce a brother Bordeaux varietal; that is, Sonoma to merlot what Napa is to cabernet? Or should we leave the red Bordeaux varietals to Napa and champion the Rhone’s syrah?
Syrah: Possibly. Of course, this grape doesn’t have a long history here (or in the state for that matter). But maybe that is a good thing. If yes, we had better hurry because Santa Barbara County is heading in that direction. But I have yet to look at the whites.
Germanic grapes (riesling or traminer): I just don’t see this. Anderson Valley comes to mind before Sonoma.
As for Loire Valley varietals (sauvignon blanc or chenin blanc), I can think of no reason to support them, and I’m sure I could come up with some reasons against them. California has had only limited success with them.
Chardonnay: Quite possibly. It is California’s main white wine. As Napa is the king of cab, perchance Sonoma should be king (or as a white, perhaps queen) of chard.
I quote below two wine connoisseurs, which you might say allow them to weigh in on the subject:
“It was the cooling fogs below Glen Ellen that helped establish Sonoma County’s early reputation for fine white wines, particularly rieslings. Today, this is pinot noir and chardonnay country. Merlot does well here too.” (“A Companion to California Wine.” Charles Sullivan. Pages 337-338.)
“…this AVA [Sonoma Valley] can grow perfect chardonnay.” (“The World Atlas of Wine,” Hugh Johnson. Page 274.)
I can’t help but think Mr. Gray might already have an opinion on the matter. I assume many of your readers would be interested in reading what his thoughts are on the subject, and so I hope that in an upcoming article he addresses the issue.
Robert Fox