Not All Nope in Napa

 

I want to thank you for the article ("Rock Among the Vineyards," May 13). Hopefully, enough people outside this tourist trap will read it and see that we have more to offer. Our band is called Pasnuta and the Maximals and I have been getting a bit pissed off at my fellow youth for their lack of drive. It seems that the bands are the only people fed up with the fact that if you're not a wealthy wine lover there is nothing to do here except go hiking in a few spots to avoid running into the cops.

People complain every day, but when concerts start to happen, I look around and I'm disappointed and it makes me wonder WTF is going on. Are TV and video games so important or more exciting than live shows? It is my dream to have a venue designated for music where people can practice and not have to worry about noise complaints. Wouldn't it be sick if a winery donated something like that, cuz God knows the town won't do shit. But I guess this is the beginning of something good, and I wanted to thank you for the opportunity.

Nate Beatty
Napa

btw im srry

Dear Editor: I would like to apologize to Jennie McNulty for texting during her performance. Jennie did a wonderful standup comic performance for women's weekend up in Guerneville. I got the spotlight on me when she caught me texting during her show! Her quick wit and comic style forced me to put away my phone. I remember Jennie asking if I was getting a good text? "It was family-related." Most audience participants that night gave more information on who they were. I remained silent on who I was and will continue to do so. I had a lot of friends in the audience and guard my privacy during certain moments. Let's just say I've learned my lesson and will never forget it. Now, in the future, if I catch someone texting during a reading I am giving, I can turn the spot light on them.

The Texter
Santa Rosa

 

Science to the Rescue?

Our culture is impressed with future inventions such as the sleek Hovercar 3000 that uses garbage as fuel. We look forward, confident that scientists are busy experimenting with brightly colored vials while we sleep, solving crises as they arise. This may be true. Renewable science is growing, but we cannot rely on the future; so far, most modern technology has only created more problems. Fast cars pollute the atmosphere, cellular towers radiate cancer and pesticides bioaccumulate up the food chain until human breast milk is contaminated.

Technology is not going to save us, but it may help us. Consider Rizhao, the solar-encrusted Chinese city, where the government has subsidized solar power for funded research that produces superior models. There, 99 percent of homes have solar heating, but remember that solar panels use cadmium, a by-product of copper that is toxic to humans.

We've begun the heavy climb to a balanced existence with the earth, but in the meantime, let's turn down the AC, buy local food and live by the hundreds of "green" tips, until the scientists solve all our problems. When that happens, I'll take the Hovercar 3000 in inferno red.

Sammy Vanek
Sebastopol

 

Dept. of Corrections

Regarding the "Free Okili" piece (Blast, May 20), we got a few facts in this story off-kilter and we apologize. Okili Nguebari was not in a cafe when ICE arrived, he was walking home from the cafe. Nguebari has dual citizenship from the Congo and France, and was never allowed to apply for U.S. citizenship due to a previous marriage. Instead, he applied for amnesty under a special program and was denied after the case pended for some 10 years.

What a lot of heartache!
The Ed.
Clutching Her Birth Certificate

 

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