Angel of Art

I must take exception to remarks made by Joe Martinez in his April 5 letter to the editor. Referencing your wonderful article “A Dreamer’s Diary” (March 8) about Maria de los Angeles, Mr. Martinez wrote: “You ungrateful dreamer. Spend all that money on that good education, and all you are is an artist. What a waste.” Maria de los Angeles is not only a true artist, in the sense of someone whose talent is singular and totally original. Maria is a light, the love and the hope, not only to her Latina sisters, fellow dreamers and young people but to the Latino community at large, and by her creative and courageous example, she is an inspiration to us all. She is a teacher, visionary and activist speaking out at her own personal danger.

One tragedy surrounding Maria is that all immigrants are being unfairly targeted and persecuted by the heinous Trump administration. A second tragedy is that in our society, so many people have become so desensitized that we cannot open ourselves up to the healing power of art, nor take heed when we find an angel like Maria los de Angeles in our midst.

—David Magdalene

Windsor

Helping the Homeless

To those who deal on a constant basis with the homeless situation in Guerneville: The solution is not to bus them to Santa Rosa. It does not help to dump unopened cans of beer. It compounds the situation even more. The people who live on the streets need homeless advocates to help them navigate the support systems available. Most of the people who congregate on sidewalks or parking lots in Guerneville don’t have the motivation to make positive change on their own.

Everyone needs to help and not just stand on the sidelines and watch. To eradicate this homeless situation I think we as a country need to look at what Canada did to end its homeless crisis. It’s not an easy fix. Money alone is not enough. The solution is not to transfer a group of people to Santa Rosa. Homeless services need to be available on the weekend. The homeless groups in Guerneville are nothing like those in Santa Rosa.

—Nicole Sartain

Guerneville

Sheriff Recall

Many thanks for the informative piece about the county’s costs while delaying resolution of the Lopez wrongful-death suit and for pointing out that the board of supervisors is more than willing to shortchange Andy’s Unity Park, which they previously agreed to fund fully (“At What Cost,” April 5). Meanwhile, the notice of intention to recall the sheriff was served by members of the Community Action Coalition on March 24. The sheriff’s announcement about not running for re-election was made just a few hours later the same day. Since the sheriff still has nearly two more years to go in this term and given his declaration to cooperate with ICE, the recall effort continues.

—Kathleen Finigan

Santa Rosa

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