Editorial

As one of two new Co-Chairs of the Board of the Healdsburg Animal Shelter, I want to take this opportunity to update the community regarding the new Shelter facility and outline a path forward toward its completion in the short-term. Further, I do so not in an effort to point fingers at any of the parties involved to date, but rather to move as quickly as possible to finish what will be an extraordinary facility. Our very achievable goal is that the new facility will continue to serve the many animals in need that have been so well provided for by the existing Shelter and operate to the highest standard possible utilizing the best practices in modern day animal care.

I ran into Mike McGuire the other day at the First Annual

Lack of water availability for our state’s farmers due to the drought is creating unprecedented challenges for winegrowers and all growers across the state. The recently finalized trade pact, the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) will make the future of farming in our state even more uncertain.

When the new Healdsburg City Council reconvenes on January 3, 2017, there will be one vacant seat. In the wake of the 2016 election, councilmember Eric Ziedrich tendered his resignation, effective December 31, due to the rejection of Measure R by Healdsburg voters.

“How will we feed ourselves?” asked Joseph McIntyre last month to a packed house at Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.

I was avoiding Amour, the movie. I’d seen enough previews to know the story line and it frightened me. For a while I was saying I’d sooner see a Die Hard movie than Amour. And I’d have to be dragged to one of those brutal movies. And then sit through most of it with my eyes closed and then rant about Hollywood glorifying violence.

Probably every issue of this newspaper ever published has contained at least one story or item about a death. That’s because when we share our lives and community together, we also share our passings.