Editorial

Editor: What a disappointment to see the Sebastopol City Council

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.  

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.

It was not too long ago that I listened intently to updates of the Lake County fire.

In 1985 there were over 350,000 cases of paralytic polio in the world. These were basically all in third world countries, as polio had been eradicated, due to immunization, in the United States and Europe and Asia in the 1970s. For the young people who do not know what polio can do, as it is no longer a threat here, it is a virus that can cause permanent paralysis of major muscle groups, including respiratory muscles leading to death.

My wife, Susan, died from ALS in 2007 and donated her body to research. A few weeks ago, studies found that NFL players are at greater risk of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease).  Papers like this one ran stories about the news and rightfully so. But with Veterans Day approaching on Sunday November 11, how many of us know that a much, much larger segment of our population — military veterans — also is at greater risk of Lou Gehrig’s Disease?