Letter: McPherson has local history

EDITOR,
Michael Burns wrote matching letters to the Press-Banner and Santa Cruz Sentinel last week (“Hammer understands district’s needs,” Letters, May 25) suggesting that a 1972 supervisorial race between Pat Liteky and Hoot Cress was a mandate between a San Lorenzo Valley candidate and a Scotts Valley candidate. And, therefore, a modern-day mandate on who best understands the San Lorenzo Valley.
Mr. Burns has his history wrong. In fact, Hoot Cress was a longtime San Lorenzo Valley resident. Like Bruce McPherson, he was descended from San Lorenzo Valley pioneers. Elected to four terms as supervisor, he lived and worked in Boulder Creek all his life.
Hoot was instrumental in opening Mount Hermon Road to the valley. He was always an ardent supporter of the valley community. During times of disaster, he would get out and walk the towns and hillsides helping people with their electricity and gas and making sure they were OK. He was a real environmentalist; he cared deeply about the environment and lived by example.
Like Hoot’s, Bruce McPherson’s roots in the San Lorenzo Valley go way back to the turn of the century. Dr Mahlon McPherson was our family doctor. My mother was one of his first patients. Dr. McPherson brought me, my sister and brother, nieces and nephews into this world. Bruce’s great-uncle Duncan Jr. was the town attorney of Boulder Creek. His maternal grandparents Mernie and Mae Hodges were longtime residents of Ben Lomond. His great-grandfather Duncan McPherson helped form Big Basin State Park.
Please vote for Bruce McPherson, a longtime advocate for the San Lorenzo Valley, the environment and working families. I feel he is a good candidate who has been to Sacramento, knows the political field, knows the valley and all of the 5th District. And he is an intelligent gentleman who has his history correct.
Emily Cress, Boulder Creek