Tuesday's Letters to the Editor

<p class="bold allcaps">Official pay</p> <p>EDITOR: How about writing a story telling what stipends and benefits city council and school board members throughout the county receive? Let's see why these people run for office.</p><p>How many of the five candidates in the Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District, for example, would not run if they did not receive the annual stipend, which deprives the classrooms of nearly $100,0000 annually?</p><p>Recent stories about the extraordinary compensation given in the city of Bell or the extravagant salaries paid to California school administrators (justified as to keep them competitive) make me wonder how many tax dollars are spent to buoy up the political aristocracy.</p><p>What would happen if school boards were made obsolete and council members scaled back and administrators received salaries more in line with what most of the working world lives on?</p><p>LANNY LOWERY</p><p>Rohnert Park</p><h3>Everyone benefits</h3> <p>EDITOR: All Americans benefit from affirmative action. Think of affirmative action as an intentional action to remove corruption from American society.</p><p>Over the last 100 or so years, America has begun the process of reducing and eliminating the segregation, oppression and disparate opportunity that derived from our slave history and myths about racial hierarchies. That this process is not complete is affirmed by Gregory Rodriguez's claim that “white racial anxiety” is looming to become a “destructive white backlash” to affirmative action (“The time has come to eliminate affirmative action programs,” Thursday).</p><p>Who does affirmative action serve? The Rodriguez column was less than half right with the answer African-Americans or people of color. The action that is being affirmed is the fulfillment of the dream and promise of America. The people who are served by affirmative action are all Americans. Intentional action is required to eliminate the structural barriers that have separated privilege by skin color.</p><p>From where I stand, “white racial anxiety” is just one of the last structural barriers.</p><p>Let's get rid of it.</p><p>BRIAN LLOYD</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Taxes worked once</h3> <p>EDITOR: Lots of people are writing these days about how high taxes on the rich don't help the economy (“Squeezing the rich is a poor way to spur economic growth,” Friday). Yet everyone agrees that World War II is what got us out of the last depression.</p><p>If you look at World War II for what it meant economically, what you find out is that the government taxed the rich at rates of 90 percent and more to put the rest of us to work. We should do that again. But instead of making weapons and killing people, we should build a national, high-speed rail transit system, a clean-energy infrastructure and the kind of world-class educational system we had in the 1950s and '60s.</p><p>Military spending only returns 35 cents to the economy per dollar spent. Education returns around $4 and transportation more than $3. What a recovery we could have.</p><p>EDWARD MEISSE</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>GOP deficits</h3> <p>EDITOR: With all due respect to Earl Whitehall (“Democratic ‘bums,' ” Letters, July 29), he is indeed correct that the Republicans were not in control when the recession hit.</p><p>Lest he be accused of not really understanding what has happened recently, let us remind him that the Republicans inherited the largest federal surplus in history in 2001 and in the brief span of about 16 months turned that into the largest debt the country had ever seen.</p><p>Following that brilliant move, the Republicans chose to fund the wars in the Middle East off-budget by borrowing from Communist China. One has to wonder what the Chinese will want in return for their largesse.</p><p>During the years when the Republicans controlled Congress and the White House, they made the Democrats look like pikers when it came to deficit spending. Now Whitehall wants us to ignore that staggering incompetence and toss the current “bums” out so we can return to those halcyon days of that economic juggernaut known as the Bush era.</p><p>He also wants us to believe that none of the current problems started during this same era. Good luck with that attempt.</p><p>TIM McFARLIN</p><p>Santa Rosa</p><h3>Times change</h3> <p>EDITOR: In regard to Proposition 8, this is something that really needs to be looked at without emotion but instead with logic.</p><p>When marriage was established as an institution, it was during a time when women were deemed property and marriage was for the benefit of raising children. Divorce was unheard of, too. Those rules no longer apply, and women are not property. Clearly times have changed, and we have fought for equal rights in the work place. People now marry because they want to be together, not as a means of raising children. This should apply to everyone. The one constant in life is change. We are not living in the dark ages, unless that is what we choose to do.</p><p>LISA McCOMBS</p><p>Healdsburg</p><h3>Dying turf</h3> <p>EDITOR: Five years ago, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors ram-rodded the creation of a turf horse racing track at the county fairgrounds. A 60-foot swath was cut from the existing golf course. This ruined what was a great beginners course as well as a fair test for the average golfer. The redesign of the course did the best it could with what was left. So now we have a great lawn that requires year-round maintenance in exchange for a few days of horse racing for dwindling attendance. Way to go, supes.</p><p>GUIDO RICCIARDI</p><p>Sebastopol</p><h3>Exhaust noise</h3> <p>EDITOR: Living on a country road, I am awakened several times a week by a loud vehicle between the hours of 12 a.m. and 4 a.m. Most often these are Harleys, though some times they are diesel pickups or cars. I fail to see how someone's right to freedom should include having illegal exhaust systems installed. My idea of freedom doesn't include waking people at all hours just because I like loud noise.</p><p>I believe that all vehicles should be smog tested and, at the same time, the decibel level of the exhaust should be checked to be sure it is within legal limits. I realize that exhaust systems could be swapped after every test, but I guess that would only be a minor inconvenience for the inconsiderate few who choose to do so.</p><p>BOB BERGSTEDT</p><p>Petaluma</p>