Gallardo’s legacy

EDITOR: The front-page recognition of Omar Gallardo’s life and legacy touched me deeply, as he himself did when he worked at the Graton Labor Center and I volunteered there (“Activist Remembered for Leadership, Service, Heart” October 31).

Gallardo was a powerful and welcoming presence and the way she embodied the center’s culture of harnessing everyone’s voice and leadership potential made a lasting impression. He inspired my own advocacy for immigrant rights, and his loss will be felt throughout the community.

May the community’s gratitude and outpouring of love for Omar Gallardo be of some comfort to his beautiful family and devoted friends.

LIZ FINN

Sevastopol

Safety first in schools

EDITOR: The public schools in this county are not run efficiently or safely.

Student safety should be the No. 1 priority. 1. Rather than continue the policy of having at least one paid police officer at its elementary and high schools, for most of the past few years the Santa Rosa school district has refused to see it through. In recent weeks, two students, apparently separately, had guns in their possession, one at Montgomery and the other at Elsie Allen — both public high schools.

I am a taxpayer and former substitute teacher at both good schools. Personally, I’m more than willing to pay a bit more for campus peace officers. Teachers and staff and all their students must work in an orderly and safe environment each school day. Your newspaper recently printed a editorial saying exactly what I’m saying here.

Regardless of the reason – social issues, costs, school board conflicts between individual members or whatever – this school district should be ashamed of itself. Safety over social issues and differences.

FRANK H. BAUMGARDNER III

Santa Rosa

Trump’s threat

EDITOR: I disagree with Donald Trump on almost every issue and am therefore an “enemy within” whom he has promised to punish using the military. He can do this because the handpicked Supreme Court has granted him immunity for this and any other action he may take when he becomes president again. I don’t understand how any person who believes in the Constitution could vote for someone who would do these things to the American people.

DAVID OSTER

Sonoma

Save the railroad

EDITOR: You can see it from many places along the 101 Freeway north of Cloverdale – corroded rails, rotting ties, weeds and small trees growing between and along the tracks. I’m talking about the abandoned ones Northwestern Pacific RailroadOf course.

That rusted hull can come back to life, ferrying tourists and residents to Willits – and possibly beyond – and provide a viable and proven link to the coast via Western California.

Trains – both passenger and freight – offer a cheaper and more efficient way of moving people and things. Paving that bed and creating a route 200 miles long it would be an incalculable tragedy because it would wipe out a huge opportunity to make a major dent in carbon dioxide emissions from gasoline-burning vehicles.

Why on God’s earth would Senator Mike McGuire permanently demolish an opportunity to revive regional rail service given the clear benefits such service would provide?

Places like Mendocino are watching wells dry up and facing the need to import water from Willits. What better means of doing this than the California Western Railroad? Killing the north-south line from Cloverdale would make the region reliant on trucks again.

Save those pieces. Bring them back to life. The healthy future of the Earth demands it.

ED STAND

Chico

More than a house

EDITOR: It’s not often that articles in your newspaper bring tears of nostalgia to my eyes, but an article on October 19 did just that (“I’m saying goodbye to a home that was much more than a home”). As my wife and I approach our 70s, we have begun to consider downsizing and leaving the home we purchased 32 years ago. For the record, it was 1992, the year Bill Clinton was first elected. Home maintenance is starting to wear on us, so moving would be practical.

But how can we leave the place where so many memories were made, where so many family gatherings were held, where we watched our children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren grow up? During this time, we also opened the doors to non-family members, people who needed a place to stay, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for several months; not tenants, just people in need. How do we say goodbye to the place where both my parents died in the same room, 14 years apart, a room I now go into often just to visit?

Please, tears again.

RICHARD A. DURR

Santa Rosa

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