News

At least since Isabelle Simi converted a big wine vat at her Healdsburg winery along the Old Redwood Highway into a roadside wine tasting  room just after the Great Depression and that “little old winemaker” invited the world to visit the Italian Swiss Colony, Sonoma County has beckoned agricultural visitors. Organized in 1973, a hundred or so small family farms created Sonoma County Farm Trails to welcome thousands of Gravenstein Fair goers, pumpkin patch seekers and Christmas Tree farm trekkers. Before that, apple blossom and prune blossom tours drew busloads of out-of-towners.

While Healdsburg District Hospital (HDH) appreciates the visibility the Healdsburg Tribune affords us, there were several errors and omissions from the article titled, “Hospital adopts tough budget” (Feb. 11, 2015). I would like to clarify a few of the points I feel may be misleading to both our community and our hospital staff. Some points may seem innocuous, but for those whose daily work revolves around the hospital and those who have lent financial support to our ongoing efforts, clarity is needed.

Sometimes we feel embarrassed by all our daily blessings, the many comforts, natural riches and compassionate community we share here in our part of Sonoma County. All our troubles are small, where real help usually comes before we ask for it. We know we are blessed and we know better than to take it for granted. At our best, we are like farmers who pray not so much for rain or good weather, but for the strength to put in another full day’s honest work.

Bacteria are a natural part of the environment, but some bacteria like those found in human or animal waste can be a hazard when we are exposed to it in the rivers where we work and play. These microscopic single-celled organisms are found virtually everywhere, including water, soil, plants, animals and the human body. Bacteria provide numerous benefits to the environment, including the decomposition of organic matter, like breaking down leaves and plants to nourish the soil. Bacteria also serve several functions in the human body, including assisting with digestion, aiding the immune system and protecting against harmful and disease-causing invaders, known as pathogenic microbes.

Telling right from wrong, what’s desirable or less so, or how to make the best decision from a long list of choices has never been a “black and white” affair. We often pretend it’s that easy and we always have preferred a simple “yes” or “no.”

A lot of public interest has been expressed regarding the new building on the corner of North and Center Streets. Questions related to parking requirements, changes to the Development Agreement (“DA”) and the impact the changes of the building’s tenants have on the DA have been recent topics of conversation in our community. We have prepared this information in an effort to inform residents of the changes to this project.

Thousands of people visited last weekend’s Steelhead Festival at Warm Springs Dam and Lake Sonoma. The people outnumbered the fish — and that has been our problem in the Russian River watershed for the last 60 years. The epic winter runs of spawning steelhead that once numbered over 50,000 are now down to a very few thousand, if that many.

The current controversy over changes to the Meat Market project is part of a larger discussion. Open government gives us, the public, a voice in decision-making. One of the most important issues here is whether the public can or should be left out of the decision-making process on a project like the Meat Market.

With this week’s issue of The Healdsburg Tribune we announce a change at the top of our masthead. At the same time, we are letting our readers know not to expect changes anytime soon in how we gather, write and report the local news.

All of Sonoma County owes its eternal gratitude to Bill Kortum for his five decades of open space preservation, environmental action and community leadership that shaped the land, coastline and our urban-rural land use patterns as we know them.