Editorial

With a 30-year professional background in the local wine industry, including marketing positions at leading Sonoma-Napa wineries, as well as directing tasting rooms and wine clubs, and organizing special events by the score, I would like to make some observations in the context of the current debate over special events at Sonoma County wineries.

It is time to come together and sit around the Thanksgiving table. Family members, from near and far, will be together again. We’ll eat turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. There will be pies and a family blessing. The couch will be full after the meal and a football game will probably be on the TV, just the way the original Pilgrims celebrated the very first Thanksgiving in 1621.

The election is over, the signs are being picked up and James Gore will be on the job. I met with James on Veteran’s Day at the Center Street Café. Knowing Mike McGuire pretty well and now getting to know James I was curious to find out how the heir apparent to Sonoma’s north county supervisorial district will match up to McGuire’s stellar tenure. Although they are both quality people in their own right, I couldn’t help but compare them. A few of their similar trait: they are both extremely intelligent and excellent multitaskers; they are both tireless campaigners; they both have charismatic personalities; they both will take the time to talk to anyone; they both suffer fools graciously; they both put their constituents above special interest groups; and they both absolutely love the flora, fauna and people of northern Sonoma County.

When we get thirsty we turn on our taps and voilà, a nice refreshing glass of water appears before us. Having around-the-clock access to safe and reliable drinking water requires huge investments of time and money, but rarely do we consider the source or the value of water.

It is hard to believe, but in 1954, a deadly virus in the United States scared families, changed behaviors, and led to some panicky behavior, somewhat like Ebola is doing now. It was called by some a “plague” and it was said that the greatest fear of Americans in the 1950s were the atomic bomb and this illness. It would kill 8,000 people in the first years of the 1950s, and it would generally target young, healthy kids.  If it did not kill someone, it might cause significant paralysis, even to the point of that person not being able to walk, or lift an arm, or even to breathe.  And that paralysis could be permanent.

A peculiar thing happened earlier this week on Tuesday. Did you notice? Not only were all the schools closed for a single day in the middle of the week, but so were the banks and post office. Everything else seemed normal. Local businesses were open for regular hours and highway traffic reports included familiar fender benders and rush hour alerts.

Yes, why do we care about them? With so much in this world to care about, why do we care if a baseball team wins or loses? Clearly, many of us care, millions and millions of us. My cousins drove in from Fresno for the games. Others come from Sacramento and points east. There are identified groups from far north of here at the ballpark: Ukiah, Fort Bragg and I think I saw a contingent from Arcata once.

We are on the dawn of the Nov. 4 elections, but even if they were still many weeks away, it would still be too late to vote. Anyway, polling booths are very public places and the danger of catching Ebola could be very high. Plus, random “lone wolf” terrorists are probably lying in wait.

When you read the text of Healdsburg’s Measure P, it’s clear that, compared to the wording of most ballot measures, YES means NO and NO means YES. Please follow on with me and come to your own conclusion.

For too many years, Healdsburg’s public library and all of the Sonoma County Library branches have suffered with reduced hours, less staff and a loss of programs due to budget cuts made during the Recession that have not been restored.