Editorial

So you’re turning 65. Congratulations! It’s time to start taking advantage of your Medicare benefits. And just how do you do that?

At an event in the Plaza in 2005 a trio of questions were asked, in English and Spanish of the almost 1,000 attendees. To the question What single change would most improve the quality of your life in Healdsburg? (¿Qué cosa mejoraría la calidad de su vida en Healdsburg?) The most frequent answer written on the chart pads was overwhelmingly, “Affordable housing.”

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.

Unless you’ve been closely following Sonoma County happenings, you may not be aware that another local, iconic bridge, the 1915, Parker-through-truss, Lambert Bridge, is in jeopardy of being removed from service. Like our Healdsburg Memorial Bridge, until recently, this bridge had a Caltrans reported structural Inventory Rating (a rating used for federal funding purposes) of zero tons. Its Sufficiency Rating is 4.8 compared to our Memorial Bridge’s Rating of 2 on a scale of 0 to 100. In June of 2013, I became aware of this threat and corresponded with our County Supervisor, Mike McGuire.

For the last 15 years, I have been a volunteer in prisons, teaching convicted felons in the field of sociology and running self-help groups. Most of my students are “lifers,” men who have been convicted of serious crimes like murder, rape, or burglary for which they have received sentences of 15 years to life and much more. None of them are on death row, and most are now eligible for parole, having served their minimum sentences. Often, they have served far longer.

The Living Room is moving to a new home base in 2015!  We’ve been taking care of homeless women and children for 21 years at space leased from Church of Incarnation, in downtown Santa Rosa.  Sadly, due to the increase of homeless women and children in our community, we’ve seriously outgrown our space and need a new home.  We are glad to announce we’ve purchased a property close by that fits our needs and will allow us to improve our program.  However, in order to make it home, it needs some fixing up and improvement, including a commercial kitchen.  Since we receive less than 15 percent of our funding from government sources, our existence depends on the generosity of others.  In the months ahead, while preparing to move, we are reaching out for support with monetary donations and in-kind assistance to make our new home ready. WILL YOU HELP?

When Gabby Giffords took on the NRA she challenged her former colleagues in Congress to do the same, saying, “Be bold. Be courageous.” Only Giffords and those closest to her know how much guts it takes for someone whose body, speech and career were forever altered by a bullet to the brain to throw herself into the  bitter debate on gun control and dare her old political pals to be brave like her.