Opinion

The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Ah, February — so many notable dates: Groundhog Day, Lunar New Year, Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day. However you celebrate, please send your newsy items to me in care of The Healdsburg Tribune. “IDlewood 3” (433) was the town’s original telephone exchange and now “Hedda Healdsburg” wants to know all!

Delaying the dam

100 years ago – August 11, 1921

Sonoma County may be a land of bounty and beauty, wine and luxury, but it is also a place of wild extremes. Most of the time we shield ourselves from these extremes with our modern appliances, Golden State infrastructure and accumulated wealth. But lately, our extremes have become so extreme that we not only can’t ignore them, but we are now struggling to endure them.

It’s been a couple of decades since we started hearing about how climate change would impact the planet and hence, the creatures living on it. Ice would melt, seas would rise and extreme weather would get more extreme: hotter, colder, windier, wetter, dryer.

The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Sonoma County has a long history with marijuana and cannabis, much of it being half-hidden from public view and cloaked in outlaw fables and underground commerce. Most of that is now changing as county officials, certified growers and concerned citizens haggle over land use and safety rules to define where — and where not — commercial cannabis cultivation and related activities should be allowed. Final decisions will not only determine where the crop will be allowed, but will also define who will be the prominent face of our newest multibillion dollar ag enterprise. Will Sonoma County retain its pot legacy of smaller cottage industry growers or will it be dominated by large corporate enterprises, descending here atop a promised/threatened Green Rush?

Ukiah, the city I work in, recently renovated the entire downtown area with new sidewalks, paved road, and all new trees with planter areas. In full transparency, I was involved in aspects of the planning of this project but not the design. When a co-worker of mine made a criticism regarding the new planters at all the street corners, I was excited to actually have some rare insight that I felt was useful in a nerdy sort of way. He complained that the contractor left the planter areas several inches too shallow and made an opening in the curb which will likely flood and dump garbage and dirty water around the new plants just put in. “Exactly the point!” was my response which only made him more confused, and as I presume, makes him not the only one. Let me geek out with you in a science meets nature sort of way.