14 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY JULY 2-8, 2026 www.montereycountynow.com MEDICAL APPOINTMENT The bravery of this doctor—wish more were able to be like this (“A 2023 mistake leads to a nearly $50,000 fine and a federal warning for CHOMP,” June 18-24). That is one powerful machine to be standing up to. The stories people could tell. Kymm Navarrette | Salinas I am so sad to read this. I retired from this facility after 35 years of nursing there. CHOMP was always top-notch with excellent RNs and MDs and whenever I was in need of hospital care, no other facility would have been considered. The Monterey Peninsula cannot afford to lose this facility. I pray CHOMP gets back on track. Robust training programs, safe nurse-to-patient ratios and employee retention are key. The practice of bringing in expensive, temporary travel workers does not foster consistency with safety protocols and it produces a fractured teamwork model. They are often receiving an absurdly higher wage than the experienced long term workers who are loyal to the facility. Karen Schofield | via social media This is shocking to me! I thought they were one of the best in the county. Cathy Hurst Neilson | Salinas Our family has unfortunately had many terrible experiences with CHOMP’s ER. They sent my daughter home with bloody diarrhea several times saying she had the flu but she ended up having E. coli and was hospitalized for a week. Another time she went into the ER with terrible debilitating migraines but they kept sending her home again saying it was the flu but she had spinal meningitis, ending up at Stanford. I went in several times with bizarre symptoms caused by a traumatic brain injury and was told that I had anxiety. Each time I came in, the doctors treated me terribly and kept pushing anxiety meds on me which I refused. Sabriñia Baeta | Monterey My brother was there less than a year ago and was given too much medication in his IV. It took them three rounds of Narcan, four nurses and two doctors to bring him back. Kristy Wolff Salzillo | St. George, Utah My gosh, all these horror stories. And I always thought CHOMP was the best. Allyson Pumphrey | Spreckels And they received two consecutive “C” grades from the national hospital safety reporting organization Leapfrog (“CHOMP gets a second C grade over patient safety issues as its parent Montage continues to grow,” May 7-13). These were the result of high infection rates and documentation deficits. But, hey, if you prioritize a koi pond over quality hospital care, go for it. Diane Mandeville | Salinas HOME PRICE Bravo to Kate Daniels for asking some difficult but much-needed questions (“With or without a transfer tax on high-priced home sales, we need to solve our housing crisis,” June 25– July 1). Her concluding reflection on the workers whose daily efforts keep this community humming, yet who struggle to find affordable housing, is why she is—and remains—the smartest person in the room. John Schubert | Monterey Thank you for printing this piece. I completely agree that we need to build more housing for the “missing middle.” I hope you will print a lot more articles to increase the number of people who are willing to possibly canvas, and to vote to solve our housing problem. Susan Courrejou | Salinas An empty house tax also deserves a healthy debate. If you don’t live here more than six months a year, a healthy tax should apply. Hotels are for visitors; homes are for those who live and work here. Maureen Wruck | Salinas WATER, ALL AROUND Hats off to Katie Rodriguez for her great piece on saltwater intrusion in northern Monterey County (“It’s a critical year to pick a solution to save Monterey County’s aquifers. The questions are how, and who pays?” June 25-July 1). I read it shortly after reading Sara Rubin’s update on the once-and-future Cal Am desalination plant in Marina (“Another public hearing, another chance for opponents to try to sink Cal Am’s desal project,” posted June 22). I wonder who is really looking at it and responsible for overall water regulation in the region. Would the desal plant reduce intrusion in North County? Or put further pressures on ground water/aquifers? Ben Slay | Marina In one of the Scandinavian countries, they used an energy-efficient desalination system that takes advantage of a 7-mile deep ocean pressure and lower salt concentration (“California State Lands Commission approves Cal Am lease for slant wells in Marina,” posted June 25). It seems like a good idea to explore this given our own deep bay. Kevin Herring | Salinas TAX AND SPEND The description the county provided for Measure AA was “to fund critical County of Monterey services, including street maintenance and pothole repair; enhanced public safety, emergency services and disaster response, prevention and recovery; programs to reduce homelessness; libraries, parks and recreation facilities; water and sewer infrastructure; health care; clean and affordable drinking water and other services.” If I had known it was primarily going to be distributed to police and surveillance systems I would not have voted for it (“Supervisors approve a $2.35 billion budget for fiscal year 2026-27, noting challenges ahead,” posted June 22). I wanted better roads, more parks, more library staff and programs for homeless people to receive help. Not for more surveillance and police. I feel lied to. Diana Lopez | Seaside UP STAGE [Actor Andrés Ortiz] tore it up in the studio theater! (“More than a lesson, ‘Latin History For Morons’ highlights Latino stories with humor and with fact,” June 25-July 1.) Jacob Juarez | via social media LETTERS • COMMENTSOPINION Submit letters to the editor to letters@montereycountynow.com. Please keep your letter to 150 words or less; subject to editing for space. Please include your full name, contact information and city you live in.
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