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Opinion
There is so much to say about Kenny Parlet’s remarks in the Aug. 20 Record-Bee, it’s hard to know where to begin. But I’ll start by saying this: he and others who describe the pandemic as a “hoax” need to consult the dictionary to see if that is, indeed, what they mean to say.
Webster defines a hoax as “a deception for mockery or mischief: a practical joke.” So when PT Barnum put a wig on a little person and called him The Wild Man of Borneo, or hung a sign next to the door to go out which said “this way to the egress,” those were examples of hoaxes.
Six hundred thousand dead people, countless others on ventilators, hospitals (including or own) with ICUs at capacity, people suffering long haul effects … These are not hoaxes.
I was so disappointed to read that a community leader did not express any empathy for what others are experiencing regardless of what his personal beliefs are.
I am vaccinated and I would encourage others to get the shot also. But I also believe that it is a personal decision. However, if your employer decides for the safety of employees and the public they serve, that everyone should be vaccinated, you are free to seek employment elsewhere if you disagree.
However, masks are different. It’s too bad that the virus isn’t purple or red so we all could see it. You can be vaccinated, healthy, show no symptoms, and still be carrying the virus to infect others.
So here’s the bottom line: The air belongs to all of us and you don’t have the right to infect it. You can’t be a “virus polluter.” You have to wear a mask. It’s not about your freedom. You don’t have the freedom or the right to pollute the air that belongs to all of us.
So mask up, Lake County!
Carolynn Jarrett lives in Lakeport, California.
Webster defines a hoax as “a deception for mockery or mischief: a practical joke.” So when PT Barnum put a wig on a little person and called him The Wild Man of Borneo, or hung a sign next to the door to go out which said “this way to the egress,” those were examples of hoaxes.
Six hundred thousand dead people, countless others on ventilators, hospitals (including or own) with ICUs at capacity, people suffering long haul effects … These are not hoaxes.
I was so disappointed to read that a community leader did not express any empathy for what others are experiencing regardless of what his personal beliefs are.
I am vaccinated and I would encourage others to get the shot also. But I also believe that it is a personal decision. However, if your employer decides for the safety of employees and the public they serve, that everyone should be vaccinated, you are free to seek employment elsewhere if you disagree.
However, masks are different. It’s too bad that the virus isn’t purple or red so we all could see it. You can be vaccinated, healthy, show no symptoms, and still be carrying the virus to infect others.
So here’s the bottom line: The air belongs to all of us and you don’t have the right to infect it. You can’t be a “virus polluter.” You have to wear a mask. It’s not about your freedom. You don’t have the freedom or the right to pollute the air that belongs to all of us.
So mask up, Lake County!
Carolynn Jarrett lives in Lakeport, California.
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- Written by: Carolynn Jarrett
In response to comments made in the Aug. 20 Record-Bee, it seems the mayor of Lakeport is either deliberately or unintentionally deceitful and/or ignorant despite his alleged UCLA pre-med studies.
Pretty much everything he says is well-worn anti-vaxxer palaver.
First, masks are not designed or intended to filter out individual virus particles. Rather they effectively prevent the spread of aerosol-sized droplets in the range of one to five microns that are present in exhaled breath and is how COVID-19 is generally transmitted. And they certainly would capture sneeze-sized droplets. So if you care about yourself and others, wear a mask when appropriate, like when four people are standing behind the counter of a small, poorly ventilated meat market.
As far as "the vaccine has already killed well over 12,000 according to VAERS." Tucker Carlson might say so and maybe our mayor believes it, but that doesn't make it true.
Anti-vaccine advocates are once again falsely citing the VAERS database, and have for decades, to further their misinformation campaign.
Hey, let's not be like Alabama, with the lowest percentage of vaccinated people in the country and the lowest number of I.C.U. beds ... there are none.
Remember smallpox? How about polio? How about rabies? No? I wonder why?
Finally, I find it hard to believe that anyone would say 656,393 Americans were killed by a “total hoax.”
Andrew Tritchler lives in Lakeport, California.
Pretty much everything he says is well-worn anti-vaxxer palaver.
First, masks are not designed or intended to filter out individual virus particles. Rather they effectively prevent the spread of aerosol-sized droplets in the range of one to five microns that are present in exhaled breath and is how COVID-19 is generally transmitted. And they certainly would capture sneeze-sized droplets. So if you care about yourself and others, wear a mask when appropriate, like when four people are standing behind the counter of a small, poorly ventilated meat market.
As far as "the vaccine has already killed well over 12,000 according to VAERS." Tucker Carlson might say so and maybe our mayor believes it, but that doesn't make it true.
Anti-vaccine advocates are once again falsely citing the VAERS database, and have for decades, to further their misinformation campaign.
Hey, let's not be like Alabama, with the lowest percentage of vaccinated people in the country and the lowest number of I.C.U. beds ... there are none.
Remember smallpox? How about polio? How about rabies? No? I wonder why?
Finally, I find it hard to believe that anyone would say 656,393 Americans were killed by a “total hoax.”
Andrew Tritchler lives in Lakeport, California.
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- Written by: Andrew Tritchler
Last week’s Pacific Gas and Electric public safety power shutoff was, I believe, dangerous and misjudged.
I am writing to you because rather than being about public safety, the real effect is that it is more of a risk to public safety to turn the power off.
There was no wind from the time power went out to the time it came back on! And ... we still had another fire.
The day before power was shut off we experienced some of the worst winds in a while here in Clearlake Riviera and yet nothing from PG&E — power remained on.
Then … an announcement of a PSPS with three days with no power.
No power for many means:
(1) Little to no communication/internet in most cases or an overloaded cellular network (especially once the Cache fire occurred).
(2) Hundred or thousands of generators running creating a very real fire risk (and let’s hope the Cache fire is not related to this).
(3) Many being stuck with 90 degree heat or other unsafe scenarios like not being able to prepare or refrigerate food.
(4) All of the above is then compounded if there is then an actual fire like today and more so if you have to evacuate.
You could see on Windy.com what PG&E thought was going to happen. You could see Clearlake and Napa in calm blue, blocked from the north east system, then staying calm blue with last night's westerly winds.
What they thought could happen, which is why they moved it to Thursday, is that the two will meet and be turbulent instead of canceling each other over us. However, it is all a statistical model. Windy shows the more likely model only.
I cannot see how this is anyway a balanced, common sense decision about public safety. It is time for PG&E management to dig deeper and approach this with more common sense. We have the technology and can do this smart without impacting everyone’s lives this way.
Daniel Honeywell lives in Lake County, California.
I am writing to you because rather than being about public safety, the real effect is that it is more of a risk to public safety to turn the power off.
There was no wind from the time power went out to the time it came back on! And ... we still had another fire.
The day before power was shut off we experienced some of the worst winds in a while here in Clearlake Riviera and yet nothing from PG&E — power remained on.
Then … an announcement of a PSPS with three days with no power.
No power for many means:
(1) Little to no communication/internet in most cases or an overloaded cellular network (especially once the Cache fire occurred).
(2) Hundred or thousands of generators running creating a very real fire risk (and let’s hope the Cache fire is not related to this).
(3) Many being stuck with 90 degree heat or other unsafe scenarios like not being able to prepare or refrigerate food.
(4) All of the above is then compounded if there is then an actual fire like today and more so if you have to evacuate.
You could see on Windy.com what PG&E thought was going to happen. You could see Clearlake and Napa in calm blue, blocked from the north east system, then staying calm blue with last night's westerly winds.
What they thought could happen, which is why they moved it to Thursday, is that the two will meet and be turbulent instead of canceling each other over us. However, it is all a statistical model. Windy shows the more likely model only.
I cannot see how this is anyway a balanced, common sense decision about public safety. It is time for PG&E management to dig deeper and approach this with more common sense. We have the technology and can do this smart without impacting everyone’s lives this way.
Daniel Honeywell lives in Lake County, California.
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- Written by: Daniel Honeywell
On Aug. 18 there was a large fire in Clearlake which crossed into Lower Lake. Our skies were filled with billowing black clouds as homes lost power in nearby neighborhoods including my own.
We received a phone call. We heard Sheriff Martin saying an important message followed, and then a woman’s robo-voice saying evacuations were ordered for zones … (numbers garbled).
We had no idea of our “zone number” and while we accept full responsibility for being ill-prepared, we were not alone. We received distressed calls from neighbors asking, “What’s our zone? Are we supposed to evacuate?”
I would like to suggest that the county, or the fire districts, or disaster preparedness, or somebody, mail out postcards telling residents what zone they live in. I would be more than happy to donate to a fund to pay for postage and printing. I would also like to suggest that maps indicating zones be posted in public places like city hall, the post office and the library. It does no good to have an evacuation system if residents are not aware of it.
I later talked to a friend who found out about her zone by looking online. But community leaders cannot assume that all citizens have access to, or even the wherewithal to be looking up their addresses on line to find their evacuation zone.
Our first responders, the firemen, police, helicopter and plane pilots and their crews all did an awesome job. They worked together as a precision team to combat a fierce enemy: a raging fire that destroyed property, sadly, people’s homes. But no lives were lost.
Those of us in the community need to get our act together as well, and be as prepared as we can be. But we need some help. Let’s start with the paper publishing the website where zones are listed and then consider a mail out. I’m all in to help with that.
Carolynn Jarrett lives in Clearlake, California.
We received a phone call. We heard Sheriff Martin saying an important message followed, and then a woman’s robo-voice saying evacuations were ordered for zones … (numbers garbled).
We had no idea of our “zone number” and while we accept full responsibility for being ill-prepared, we were not alone. We received distressed calls from neighbors asking, “What’s our zone? Are we supposed to evacuate?”
I would like to suggest that the county, or the fire districts, or disaster preparedness, or somebody, mail out postcards telling residents what zone they live in. I would be more than happy to donate to a fund to pay for postage and printing. I would also like to suggest that maps indicating zones be posted in public places like city hall, the post office and the library. It does no good to have an evacuation system if residents are not aware of it.
I later talked to a friend who found out about her zone by looking online. But community leaders cannot assume that all citizens have access to, or even the wherewithal to be looking up their addresses on line to find their evacuation zone.
Our first responders, the firemen, police, helicopter and plane pilots and their crews all did an awesome job. They worked together as a precision team to combat a fierce enemy: a raging fire that destroyed property, sadly, people’s homes. But no lives were lost.
Those of us in the community need to get our act together as well, and be as prepared as we can be. But we need some help. Let’s start with the paper publishing the website where zones are listed and then consider a mail out. I’m all in to help with that.
Carolynn Jarrett lives in Clearlake, California.
- Details
- Written by: Carolynn Jarrett