Editorial

The Library Commission meeting on Monday, May 7th was remarkable for the Commission’s inability — or adamant refusal — to listen to points of view other than their own, especially with regard to their pet project, self-check machines. The documents that were meant to inform an incisive conversation about the self-check equipment were over 58 pages long and did not include any information from the employees who have been the “testers” for the equipment. The documents were posted on the website less than two days before the Commission meeting, and were still being revised hours before the meeting itself. A large number of employees and community people came to the meeting, and several commented on the self-check machines.

What should parents do when they notice their kindergartener or

As we observe National Volunteer Week (April 6-12), the staff of the Healdsburg Senior Center would like to extend our heartfelt thank you and appreciation to our volunteers for all they do to serve our guests, as well as assist us in our daily operations.

A couple of weeks ago I saw a tiny item in some newspaper or other about a preacher browsing through the book department of a big chain discount store. He noticed that they had placed the Bibles in the “Fiction” section, and he took offense. The store apologized profusely and fell all over itself to right this supposed wrong.

Unless you’ve been closely following Sonoma County happenings, you may not be aware that another local, iconic bridge, the 1915, Parker-through-truss, Lambert Bridge, is in jeopardy of being removed from service. Like our Healdsburg Memorial Bridge, until recently, this bridge had a Caltrans reported structural Inventory Rating (a rating used for federal funding purposes) of zero tons. Its Sufficiency Rating is 4.8 compared to our Memorial Bridge’s Rating of 2 on a scale of 0 to 100. In June of 2013, I became aware of this threat and corresponded with our County Supervisor, Mike McGuire.

Some time ago a column entitled “Religion challenges left and right” by E. J. Dionne, Jr. appeared in the Press Democrat. “Whenever I write sympathetically about religion,” he noted, “I get bombarded with tweets and notes from readers who normally agree with me but cannot abide by the idea that religious belief should be seen as intellectually serious.” Having made that caveat he goes on to treat religion seriously in a summary of a study produced by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institution. Dionne himself took part in the research for the study. The study divides citizens into four groups: 28 percent religious conservatives, 38 percent religious moderates, 19 percent religious progressives, and 15 percent nonreligious. These groups are correlated to political attitudes and party affiliations.  Not surprisingly, most religious conservatives are politically conservative and gravitate to the Republican Party, and most religious progressives and nonreligious are politically liberal and gravitate to the Democratic party.  Also not surprisingly, religious moderates are in between and just as they are religiously moderate they tend to be moderate Republicans or moderate Democrats in fairly equal numbers. 

Measure AA on the June 7 Primary Election ballot may be double-lettered because it deserves a double look. It supports a worthy goal of protecting and restoring the San Francisco Bay, but it asks voters to pay an annual $12 per household tax that grants new and unprecedented taxing powers over the entire nine-county Bay Area.