Columns

Without trees there would be no newspapers, including this one you’re holding in your hands. That’s because the paper we print the local news on is processed from trees. Books, magazines and pamphlets also come from trees. And, come to think of it, so do dollar bills and other paper money.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend an event put on by a group from San Francisco that had raised money for my son’s school. The group – the Young Presidents Organization – had heard about Anova’s school building burning down in the Tubbs fire, and they wanted to do something to help the staff and students in the recovery process.

Mike Benziger grows some of the best marijuana in Northern California. He grows it biodynamically at “Glentucky Family Farm.”

You’re invited to stop in soon to meet Aleta Dimas, our library’s new branch manager. As a memory aid, I told her that I would simply remember that A-Leader is here. She appreciated the jest, and said that when she was little, her dad’s friend had said: “She’s not a litre, she’s a half gallon.”

Ding, ding, ding. It’s a familiar sound that now goes off in my head every time I am about to square off with one of my teenagers. I don’t know what it is of late that is bringing out the angst in them.

I was raised during the Joe McCarthy era “Red Scare” times. Growing up in an ethnically mixed, working class community I remember very well the fear of that time. If you weren’t a “real” American you were suspect. If you supported unions you were a communist. We had people in our neighborhood disappear. Sound familiar?

Maybe after almost 50 years of Earth Day celebrations and actions we can admit to what EPA Secretary Scott Pruitt and others are trying to tell the rest of us. Pruitt, the former Oklahoma attorney general who is being accused of trying to dismantle his Environmental Protection Agency, says we are overregulated.

Want to make your yard a haven for bees and butterflies? Two tips: don’t use pesticides containing neonicotinoids, and be careful where you buy your plants.

Most places that you travel to, Sonoma County included, have something called a hazard mitigation plan. It’s required by federal law, and local governments won’t qualify federal and state funds if they don’t have a hazard mitigation plan.

Not all weeks contain big or world-changing news. Very often it takes the passing of time for the news of the day to become part of our history lessons. Last week was certainly full of all kinds of news, but we’ll have to wait to see what kind of history might have been made.