Editorial

For some reason, we have taxes on our minds this week. Tax Day (April 15) just happened and we’re busily wadding up all the extra forms with pencil mistakes and late night calculations. We just hit the “Send” button on our TurboTax or stubbornly filed our income taxes the old fashioned way with a licked stamp and envelope.

Healdsburg’s Growth Management Ordinance (GMO) is a citizen initiative enacted to preserve the town’s unique quality and character and insulate it from the pressures of unregulated market driven development. It effectively put the brakes on residential development and allowed the community to contemplate its future free from outside development pressures. The GMO’s authors and supporters are to be commended for their courage, perseverance and continued resolve.

While the originator’s attribution is uncertain, the following phrase, popularized by Mark Twain, seems particularly appropriate relative to the survey results recently presented to our City Council by HCSS (Healdsburg Citizens for Sustainable Solutions) on March 17 and April 7. To quote Mr. Twain, “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.”

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.

The origins of Memorial Day are often attributed to General John Logan. It is true that, in 1868, he gave impetus to an official “Decoration Day” as it was first called, a time for remembering the Civil War dead and decorating their graves. But Logan never really understood the meaning of the day. Until his own death, he remained a radical reconstructionist whose fierce anger toward the South never abated.

—Rollie Atkinson

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.

Palliative Care to many sounds ominous and foreboding.  But as a practicing physician in Healdsburg for 38 years and caring for many elderly people, I see its value. Its main goal is quality of life, and defining patient’s wishes and seeing that they are followed.

One of the reasons so many people in Healdsburg say “we are so lucky to live here,” is the Healdsburg Museum. On par with the city’s beloved library, the Museum is a keeper of the community’s culture.