PEOPLE VS. VINEYARDS...

Here's a letter (one of many, recently) that appeared in the Press Democrat re: new vineyards...

Stumps of apple trees waiting for removal to clear the way for another vineyard.

EDITOR: Patrecia Graham (“NIMBY reflex,” Letters, Feb. 11) appears to believe that Sonoma County is the absolute property of vintners and, thus, holds local residents in contempt. I’d like to remind her and Guy Fieri and Paul Hobbs and others like them that people also live in this area. We live here because we love its beauty and tranquility.

As I am witness, in less than a decade even my neighborhood was transformed from a landscape of orchards that attracted plein air artists to vineyards surrounded by ugly wire fences. Many of us feel that we already have too many vineyards and wineries as it is. Our unique viniculture, a source of great pride for our county, has become a culture of greed for those who can only see profit.

These people have complete disregard for the communities where they wish to expand. They insist that their expansion produces more jobs, but at whose cost, the taxpayers? I would like to know if these people ever considered paying their workers a fair wage and supporting their housing and health care.

Many of us would rather see our precious farm land and groundwater utilized in the production of edible foods and not in something we cannot eat.

JACQUELINE SCHAEL

Sebastopol