Editorial

The Border Patrol conducted unannounced raids throughout Bakersfield on Tuesday, Jan. 7, descending on businesses where day laborers and field workers gather. Agents in unmarked SUVs rounded up people in vans outside a Home Depot and gas station that serves a breakfast popular with field workers. "It was profiling; it was purely field workers,” said the manager of a local gas station.

Measure O, which will be on the Nov. 5 ballot, would ease restrictions on new housing construction imposed by Healdsburg’s Growth Management Ordinance (GMO) by creating zones of exclusion from the GMO. But that’s not the whole story...

Since its very beginnings, this community has had a very proud tradition of military service. Healdsburg area citizens have stepped forward to serve their country’s military, beginning with the Mexican War when less than two months after the declaration of war on May 13, 1846 local militias supported United States Marines and sailors for the occupation of Sonoma on July 9, 1846 after California had been declared part of the United States. Area residents have served in every major and most of the lesser wars and military deployments since.

The beginning of this story about this local newspaper has only been told to a few people. In 1995, the Walnut Creek-based corporation that owned this and three other local newspapers decided to shut them all down after failing to find a new corporate buyer. But, instead of abandoning the papers, the corporation accepted two separate offers from two families to each purchase half of the four papers. The Atkinson and Mays households formed Sonoma West Publishers and bought The Sebastopol Times & News and Russian River News and merged them together as Sonoma West Times & News. Tom and Beverly Reeves and their children bought The Healdsburg Tribune and The Windsor Times on the very same day as the Sonoma West transaction (May 30, 1995.) The newspapers were not only saved but they were put in the hands of experienced and dedicated newspaper people.

"We have finalized a ballot measure for Healdsburg’s voters that encourages housing that is best suited to Healdsburg’s workers," writes Councilmember Chris Herrod, "near the city center, close to transportation and jobs, and where higher density units make the most sense, both cosmetically and economically (and in accord with our climate goals)..."

We rarely quote our president, Donald Trump, but here goes: “I’m proud to be a citizen, you’re proud to be a citizen. The only people that are not proud to be citizens are the ones who are fighting us all the way about the word ‘citizen.’”

Commentary:

Last month, Healdsburg native Simone Wilson joined the Healdsburg Tribune team as a staff writer and senior product manager. She will send out an email newsletter about Healdsburg a few times per week, containing a quick synopsis of everything you need to know about...

Healdsburg’s Russian River Railroad Bridge is the sole remaining example of a steel Subdivided Warren Truss bridge on the former line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad. Built in 1901, the bridge has three spans supported by four concrete piers, a steel deck and superstructure on both sides of a single track. What does SMART plan to do with it?