Columns

Big decisions require big work. And voters have very big work cut out for them this November when they will vote to either end California’s prohibition on adult use of marijuana or delay the inevitable one more time.

We weren’t at the Dallas Black Lives Matter march last week where a rogue sniper killed five police officers. We were home with our families, maybe sharing conversations with our neighbors after another work day. We were with our kind.

July 1 is the start of a new fiscal year for local governments. This is when the county, cities and schools start spending new tax money based on recently approved 2016-2017 budgets. All these budgets tend to launch with the same conclusions: there is never enough tax revenue; there are too many unmet needs; employee and pension costs keep going up; and everything could be solved if we only agreed to raise new taxes and vote for more long term debt bonds.

In a provocative presentation to the Windsor/North County Democratic Club on June 23 progressive activist, Dale Axelrod, contended that the primary process was rigged by the Democratic Party establishment against Senator Bernie Sanders in a way that even Senator Sanders may not have fully considered.

Not all Fourth of Julys have been as historic as this year seems to be. We stand just 10 or so generations beyond the original 1776 founding of our country and our Declaration of Independence. Our times are nowhere as monumental as the Independence Days celebrated during our Civil War or the bleakness of two world wars. Yet, right now, we have arrived at a historic defining point as we debate — and must decide — what America’s “greatness” truly is, how it was created and whether it has been lost or needs a radical reformation.

Welcome to summer, the season of growing light, relaxed purpose and new opportunities. Summer dreams. Summer breaks and summer vacations. Summer of our youths, summer play. Let’s do it.

In the middle of another horrific news cycle, set off by the mass killings in Orlando, we look closer to home for signs of sanity, human hope and answers. We curse our crazy world while we gather and hug our loved ones ever tighter. Sonoma County is not Orlando or San Bernardino or Sandy Hook, Columbine or Paris — but it could be.

Summer time and the living is easy. Especially in our cozy, friendly small towns we call home and where we welcome streams of visitors, seeking respite, fun and some genuine modern Americana. School’s out, vacations are being planned and all our homebound chores seem to lessen. It’s festival and fair time and there’s a free concert almost every night of the week somewhere between Cloverdale, Guerneville, Sebastopol or the town squares of Windsor and Healdsburg.

Mylar balloons, new shoes and envelopes full of money always make good gifts for graduating students. And, this being June and the beginning of the local graduation season, it’s not too early to pick over suitable gift suggestions. But caution is urged. Not all gift categories fit all graduates. Clothing, personalized tattoos or inspirational books can really miss the mark. Graduates may be quite young with much more to learn, but they know exactly what they want. Especially when it concerns fashion, peer approval and mandatory tests for coolness.

Memorial Day and Veterans Day can often seem interchangeable. Both days are marked by solemn reflection on the service of military members. The main difference in my life has been usually that I got Memorial Day off, but never Veterans Day.  But really the difference couldn’t be starker. Simply put: on Veterans Day we celebrate the living, on Memorial Day we contemplate the dead. Specifically, we remember those who died while in military service.