Editorial

On the eve of a long ago Christmas a little 8-year-old girl

A little over a week ago, I was driving with my father from Phoenix to San Diego. We were in the hills above San Diego when traffic on Interstate 8 came to an abrupt stop. Soon we saw signs telling us we were approaching a Border Patrol checkpoint. We noticed that the Border Patrol officer was having a long conversation with the driver of the car in front of us, finally motioning him over to the side where there were a number of well-armed officers. When I drove up, he motioned me on through with a wave and a simple, “Have a nice day.”

Early in 2013, the new members of the Board of Directors of the Healdsburg Animal Shelter confronted the task of examining the Shelter’s business model and dealing with its continuing operating losses—losses that had severely eroded the Shelter’s financial reserves. In providing the high level of care that the Healdsburg community has come to expect, the Shelter has now exhausted nearly all its operating reserves.  Today we need community support—more than ever in the Shelter’s 53-year history—to keep the Shelter operating and fulfilling its mission.

For some, August can seem the cruelest month because it means it

Thirty percent of the world’s population lacks adequate access to safe water and a child dies every 90 seconds on our planet from a water-related disease. Many schools and hospitals in underdeveloped countries lack safe drinking water or sanitation.

CALPERS is the pseudo government agency set up to manage the defined benefit retirement program for government employees.  Their charter is to collect retirement contributions, invest these contributions to maximize return and provide defined benefits to the actual retiree.  CALPERS is controlled by and largely for the benefit of the legislature and government employees.  

Pride in Public Service