Columns

The sound of the street sweeper is music to my ears. As the street sweeper drives down the street the sound of the vacuum unit reminds me that the sweeper is our first line of defense in preventing debris from entering the storm drain system. By keeping debris out of our storm drain system, the street sweeper is doing its part to prevent debris from entering our creeks and rivers.

Speaking truth to power

Come out Saturday

Have you ever been with your teenager and experienced a Jekyll and Hyde moment? When everything seems fine but within seconds their mood dramatically changes and you are left puzzling over what just happened? There are times as a parent of two teenagers that I have to stop and make sure that I am not in the Matrix. The teenage “being” is a very complex, extremely hormonal and difficult thing to understand. It often leaves us parents feeling overwhelmed and bewildered. Sometimes it’s easy to handle their behavior with humor, and other times it’s emotionally draining. Right now, my tank is pretty empty.

Making the case that substandard housing is a public health issue, long time tenant’s rights attorney, Edie Sussman, advocated for rent control and just cause eviction in her presentation to the Windsor Democratic Club on Sept. 28. Sussman represented 36 former tenants of the Bennett Valley Townhomes in a lawsuit against the owners of the property. The plaintiffs recently agreed to a Sonoma County record $2.7 million settlement. She noted that substandard living conditions can often lead to respiratory conditions, including asthma, and other health issues, which impact the level of health in our communities.

As the Major League Baseball playoffs get into full swing this week, some of our town’s finest baseball players are taking their own talents to a diamond here at home — in the name of fitness and fun.

It’s good to see former students doing well, especially when they do well in innovative ways. That’s true for Daniel Garcia, who took my classes at Sonoma State University (SSU).

It’s not just newspapers or internet giants like Twitter or Facebook; we are all in the communications business. We’re not the talking naked apes we once were. Now we are a species with interconnected tongues and brains, linked by clouds of computers and thinking machines. The same primate thumbs that enabled us to become toolmakers have now become our primary language devices. No thumbs means no phone, no communication.

100 years ago – October 4, 1917

Disputed views about pre-Barlow