Editorial

Mylar balloons, new shoes and envelopes full of money always make good gifts for graduating students. And, this being June and the beginning of the local graduation season, it’s not too early to pick over suitable gift suggestions. But caution is urged. Not all gift categories fit all graduates. Clothing, personalized tattoos or inspirational books can really miss the mark. Graduates may be quite young with much more to learn, but they know exactly what they want. Especially when it concerns fashion, peer approval and mandatory tests for coolness.

Memorial Day and Veterans Day can often seem interchangeable. Both days are marked by solemn reflection on the service of military members. The main difference in my life has been usually that I got Memorial Day off, but never Veterans Day.  

By now we’ve all seen the stunning pictures of humpback whales swimming in San Francisco Bay and received in our mailboxes the expensive color brochures touting the benefits of Measure AA. The well-funded proponents of Measure AA would have us believe that $500 million in new taxes will result in a clean and healthy San Francisco Bay for ourselves and future generations.

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.

Healdsburg Charter School (HCS) opened in August 2011, after extensive visioning and community involvement, and has become a thriving school with a waiting list at each grade level. The school is housed at two sites, with K-2 students at Healdsburg Elementary School and grades 3-5 at Fitch Mountain Campus.

We know it is true that fewer and fewer people vote these days and just stay home. And we also know that more and more of these same people let their apathy and ignorance ruin their dreams for happier days, healthier children, strong communities or a greater America. That is sad news.

Governor Jerry Brown recently signed five important tobacco control laws, made possible because of the governor’s special session on health legislation.

At last we offer an editorial about love, hope and promise. And to think our main subject is about one of our biggest and most expensive government programs. How surprising for us to be praising Big Government.

SMART train officials recently took a reverse commute trip to Cloverdale after brief stop-offs in Windsor and Healdsburg to deliver updates on the commuter train project that was first launched by Sonoma and Marin county voters in 2008.

There appears to be some confusion in the minds of a number of our Healdsburg residents about the five-way intersection, infrastructure construction project commonly described as the “Roundabout Project.” This confusion begs clarification.