Editorial

In recent months our country has been embroiled in a contentious social and political climate fixated on how fundamentally divided we are. The fire disaster and crisis that has befallen our counties here in northern California transcends political views, prejudices and controversies that pervade news and social media.

Pouring fats, oils and grease (FOG) down sinks can ruin your home or restaurant’s plumbing systems and have negative impacts on municipal sewer systems and private septic systems.

In a reversal of the folksy joke “you can’t get there from here,” local shoppers should take heed that when they drive south to patronize big box stores or click on virtual shopping carts at Amazon.com they are forever exporting dollars that will almost never return. In other words that’s money that “can’t get here from there.”

A precious gem of coho salmon habitat just became more rare and special. Felta Creek watershed did not burn in the firestorm, but a whole lot of Sonoma County’s forest and wildlife habitat did. The streams that flow through the burned areas of the Russian River watershed are perhaps irreparably damaged. They will still carry water but without the shade of surrounding trees, that water will be warmer, will dry up earlier and erosion from the scorched hillsides will choke spawning gravels with fine sediment.

Recently, our 37-year-old son Morgan died of an accidental heroin overdose. He was an avid surfer who dodged big waves and sharks, but could not dodge addiction. We are devastated by his unexpected and untimely death.

Thousands of Sonoma County residents represented by the Sonoma County Water Coalition and the local Democratic Party seek permanent protection of the headwaters of Felta Creek. Why is this, you may ask?

Imagine being in fear of the person you care about most. Imagine feeling you have nowhere to turn because you lack resources, perhaps have children to care for and you don’t know if family and friends will believe you.

The Sonoma County Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) joins with the majority of Americans to denounce all those who harass, intimidate and terrorize minority communities and individuals across the nation.

Last Saturday afternoon, two weeks after Charlottesville, one week after Boston, the same weekend that white nationalist groups planned to march in San Francisco and Berkeley, in 100-plus degree heat on the sun-soaked plaza, the residents of Healdsburg showed up.

I remember that morning so clearly. She was far more calm than my wife and I were … it was hard not to tear up. We were dropping our daughter off for the first day of Kindergarten.