Ironic, Ain’t It?
Why is it that nowhere in this story (“Steep Climb,” May 15) is Amgen (the tour sponsor) mentioned as the manufacturer and clandestine provider of the primary drug in the scandal? Why do the riders get slammed over and over while the creator and pusher of EPO gets the publicity, and praise, for the Tour of California—despite being deeply and darkly implicated in some seriously ugly drug controversy?
Via online
Dirty Power
I’d love it if PG&E were on this list (“The Final Four,” May 15) to weigh these companies fairly, and if the Bohemian asked Sonoma Clean Power to talk about what it’s like to try to buy cleaner power with a cheaper price in a market known for being dirty in general.
We as citizens just didn’t push hard enough to demand a nationwide clean-energy supply, so now we’re stuck with playing in the dirty muck of the energy market as it is.
Sebastopol
I, too, would like PG&E to be compared with the four companies being considered by Sonoma Clean Power. I am shocked at the heavy involvement in nuclear, and would never support that. And I grew up in New York City with ConEd, which I associate with belching smokestacks. I suspect that PG&E might look angelic in comparison.
Although I spoke last night in favor of Petalumans having some choice, what I have read here is looking like “out of the frying pan and into the fire.” I am concerned and would like to hear what Sonoma Clean Power has to say about the advantages of going with their plan.
Petaluma
On Wilderness
With great respect for Lynn Hamilton, her letter regarding Drake’s Bay Oyster Company is off the mark on a critical issue. Pt. Reyes National Seashore is not wilderness. “Wilderness” is defined as “an area where the earth and community of life are untrammeled by man” and “an area of undeveloped Federal land retaining its primeval character and influence.” In our region, “primeval” was before white people radically changed the landscape and ecosystems. This area was wilderness when elk and antelope grazed the coastal bluffs, millions of fish filled the waters and humans lived in close relationship with the land, burning, pruning, harvesting and seeding, working respectfully in balance with nature. Those days are long gone and cannot be recreated. Millions of people live in the Bay Area, the great predators and grazers are history, and annual grasses and other nonnative species have replaced native bunch grasses. The bays not only lack the populations of fish and shellfish that used to keep waters clean, but the “nutrient” load is massive.
Oyster farms provide essential “ecosystem services” by removing excess nutrients. Yet oysters are very sensitive to pollution, so the farmers have a vested interest in protecting against “upstream” pollution. Research has shown that grazing with cows and other livestock, when done with careful attention to the land, reduces invasive species, helps to bring back native plants and increases soil carbon sequestration. Now that the landscape is so radically altered, leaving it “alone” only exacerbates the problems.
This is why farmers who live on and with the land have such an important place in today’s world, especially in some of our national parks, where it is our national duty to keep them beautiful and healthy.
Community Alliance with Family Farmers strongly supports the Lunny Family and Drake’s Bay Oyster Farm.
Vice President, North Coast Chapter CAFF
Dept. of Thingamajigs
Last week’s illustration of Lance Armstrong raising a pill-filled trophy with syringes hanging out of his arms was not, as we had deduced after much investigation, an uncredited guerrilla public art project (“Steep Climb,” May 15). In fact, it is the work of the very talented local artist Mike Koftinow.
Because some confusion persists, let it be known that we feel BottleRock was a great success against mammoth odds (“Best of the Fest,” May 15). People sucking face, free beer, dominatrixes, boyfriends eating food off the ground—all that so-called negative stuff in last week’s roundup kicks ass in our book, and makes a fun, chaotic, lively festival instead of a boring, staid, dull one.
Likes Weird Things, I Guess
Write to us at letters@bohemian.com.
