Columns

This newspaper publisher has long been predisposed to remind his readers that there is no such thing as a free press. It takes money, lots of it, to hire dedicated journalists and buy newsprint, ink and computers to produce news. It cost Sonoma West Publishers just over $1.2 million last year to provide a steady stream of vital and reliable news for the four communities we serve in north and west Sonoma County. And, even with all that, we still lost almost $200,000 at the end of the year. Now, during the pandemic-caused economic shutdown, our financial challenge looks nearly impossible some days. But that’s another story for another day.

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.

It’s a little early to write one of those “How I spent my summer” essays but there’s nothing wrong with getting a head start on a writing assignment. Besides, the choices and experiences for the short months between school years — for youth, teachers and all others — have multiplied and morphed since the lazier days of summer lifeguards, pumping gas or washing cars.

The ultimate manifestation of inequity is that, in the worst of times, the vulnerable suffer the most.

Spring in Sonoma County is particularly vibrant this year with clearing from fires and abundance of winter rain.

I know I could never be a bus driver. I don’t even know where to start on the reasons why, but my hat is off to all those intrepid souls who navigate barges on wheels each and every day.

Our Earth is quickly warming. Every year the rate of increase is faster and faster. The Earth is in critical condition.

Last November, the world watched with horror as residents of Paradise tried to escape from an oncoming wildfire on clogged roads, some so desperate that they abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot. Government can reduce the risk from wildfires. Our county government should properly enforce the state’s “fire safe” road regulations to stop new development in fire-prone areas and better enable emergency access and evacuation.