Give it back
7-23-01
                  EDITOR: Those with a 10-year recollection of Sonoma County can surely
                  point out some picture-perfect tract housing development and say a few
                  words about the oak trees and tall grass that used to reside in its place.

                  I can remember when Fountaingrove ended at the top of the hill, and the
                  animals for which the streets are named could sometimes be seen. It's just a
                  fact of life in a time and place where our population grows with no end in
                  sight.

                  There's no long-term reason why we should single out an arbitrary 50 acres
                  in Windsor, a town already resembling an ant farm, and deny its inevitable
                  fate of development. Out of all the possible owners of the land, I'd feel best
                  knowing it belonged to descendents of Sonoma County's first settlers, the
                  Pomos.

                  It's guaranteed that the plot will succumb to the everlasting forces of
                  suburban sprawl over time, we might as well give it back to whom it
                  originally belonged and let them have all the fun, for once.

                  GEOFF DEMITZ

                  Santa Rosa