Missing State Reports, Walking in Unison: PD Letters

Missing state reports

EDITOR: On December 26, The Press Democrat published an editorial about state agencies failing to issue required reports (“State agencies must do their homework”). A few weeks ago, I wrote to State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire about what I believe is the failure of the California Victim Compensation Board implement the spirit and letter of Assembly Bill 137.

March 2023 was the last annual report issued by the board on the Compensation Program for Forced or Involuntary Sterilization. only three Victims of forced sterilization during the eugenics era at Sonoma State Hospital. had received compensation. No other Sonoma survivors or state hospital victims among approximately 20,000 men and women received compensation.

I submitted a Public Records Act request to the board requesting a copy of the report that should have been issued by March 2024, but was informed that it had not been issued. There should be transparency in the government, including whether the board did not directly notify survivors of forced or involuntary sterilization in hospitals and prisons, how many applicants were denied compensation and appealed in court, and the exclusion of victims, advocates and artists from the project. teams that decide on memorials in state hospitals and prisons.

JEREZ SMITH

Glen Ellen

Walking in unison

EDITOR: Our founders enacted a system of government identified as federalism that describes how power is divided and shared among states and cities within a global system, allowing each to maintain its own integrity of sovereignty.

Recently, a foundation established by Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s top immigration adviser who will serve as White House deputy chief of staff for policy, sent a warning letter to states like California that are enacting laws and regulations to protect immigrants from deportation.

Although it may be illegal for states to provide safe haven to immigrants, especially criminals, the federal government cannot order states to implement federal policies or enforce federal laws. The Supreme Court has ruled that expropriation is incompatible with state sovereignty.

Miller’s threat is the kind of representation you get when you elect a woefully unsuited individual to office who appoints people based not on their experience but on their ability to be sycophants willing to walk at the same pace as their leader.

COLOMBINI GENE

holy rose

Trump’s team

EDITOR: Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Kash Patel, Pete Hegseth and others. In the words of former President Ronald Reagan: “There you go again.”

JOHN NECKER

Sevastopol

Too many districts

EDITOR: Quality teachers require good salaries. Sonoma County has too many school districts and fewer students. It is necessary to reduce the number of districts.

There are 40 separate school districtseach with their own fully paid administrator, staff, district office, etc. Only a complete fool would continue as things are now. The state allocates annual stipends based on “ADA,” or each district’s average daily attendance. Our nation faces a declining birth rate. This means that stipends will decrease each year as the birth rate decreases. This is the main support money, in addition to property taxes and, in some districts, local parcel taxes. Combine districts or face a continued decline in the quality of education.

FRANK H. BAUMGARDNER III

holy rose

Trump’s impact

EDITOR: Donald Trump appears to have achieved many of his goals before even taking the oath of office. It has had a great impact on United States international trade. Unfortunately, he has pushed it among many of our largest trading partners in response to his tariff threat. He has managed to befriend national leaders from Panama, Greenland and Canada, expressing his benevolent intention to include them under his umbrella of wisdom.

Trump has continued to deceive his supporters into believing he can reduce inflation at a time of declining populations in most developed countries by eliminating skilled and unskilled labor. He still hasn’t ended the Ukrainian war after three days, because he discovered that it is complicated. (Remember health care?)

And finally, in the best Orwellian style, he continues to defend that down is up and up is down.

JIM WILDER

holy rose

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