Editorial

Most of us are still adjusting to Daylight Saving Time, trying to get our biological clocks re-set to early morning darkness and droopy eyelids. All this to save an hour of evening sunlight? We can think of better things worth saving.

At last we offer an editorial about love, hope and promise. And to think our main subject is about one of our biggest and most expensive government programs. How surprising for us to be praising Big Government.

“May you live in interesting times” is an ancient curse that has

Sometimes the world seems like an extra crazy place. It’s why we seek escape in comfortable places and pastimes like games or sports. But, nowadays even these can be challenging and confusing.

In 1972 my wife Bonnie and I came to Healdsburg from Calistoga, where I had been the Vicar of St. Luke’s Church. Many churches now have a fairly extensive series of profiles and interviews prior to calling a priest. In 1972, the move was made based on two phone calls from the Bishop, one to me and the other to the Senior Warden of St. Paul’s. When I met the leaders of St Paul’s for the first time it was an accomplished fact that I was their new priest. Neither Bonnie nor I was yet 30 years old and we had a McGovern for President sticker on the bumper of our old Chevy sedan.

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.

There are 78 million dogs in the U.S. today. They eat and then each eliminates almost a pound of poop every day. The resulting 3.6 billion pounds of dog poop produced in a year can fill 800 footballs fields, one foot deep! This is no small nuisance. Sonoma County’s 43,000 dogs produce over 32,000 pounds daily. Cleaning up your pet’s waste helps keep our pets, the environment, and each other healthy.

We work hard to keep our gardens looking beautiful, so when we find our plants in distress it is hard to resist the temptation to head to the store and grab any product that promises to restore the garden’s beauty. While many people consider pesticides and fertilizers as a quick solution, they are not the safest options for our heath nor for the environment.