Editorial

I’m back. Four months ago I signed off and stepped out to get ready to have baby number two. After a month of patiently waiting for her to arrive, Molly Paige Lindecker was born on May 21. There were some complications, and she spent the first week of her life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Sutter Hospital, but she’s a big, strong girl and has made a complete recovery.

My family and I have lived in Healdsburg for 36 years, and in the area for 42 total. Our daughter and her family also live here. I understand fluoride occurs naturally in most water supplies. I grew up with fluoridated water, along with my three sisters.

We have been living in a global village and sharing the same orbiting planet much longer than social scientists have been reminding us, or the first photos from outer space of our fragile blue-green marble confirmed.

Red will be the dominant color for this weekend’s many red, white and blue Fourth of July celebrations, holiday picnics and weekend outdoor adventures. That is because we are now under a summer-long Red Flag fire safety alert issued by CalFire and others. Hot weather, busy humans and dumb moments are dangerous ingredients for tragedy and loss.

I request that the city council reconsider their action to prohibit short-term vacation rentals. I understand that there are valid concerns about loss of low cost housing and the impact vacation rentals could have on our residential neighborhoods.

Crowds can be powerful, dangerous, glorious, murderous. Think of the crowds in the streets of cities in the middle east in what has been called the Arab Spring, a spring that has blossomed in hope for justice and freedom, a spring that has also suffered the chill of brutal repression. Think of the crowds of the Occupy events around the US, citizens gathering in protest, in hope, in resentment, and sometimes in crazy violence.

Recently there has been considerable attention directed towards Healdsburg’s lack of affordable housing, especially in regards to the “missing middle” working class families. This situation could be seen coming a long time ago and essentially took this long to boil over.

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.

There are stark, disturbing clouds darkening parts of every community and neighborhood in Sonoma County. Please be alerted that these clouds are increasing and will not go away without our intervention.