Sonoma County family
We keep getting told by national and so-called social media that we are living in very divisive times with an America that seems split right down the middle. We get messages and news feeds that render our nation as being full of right and leftist political extremists, mass murderers, lots of bad cops, greedy corporations, sham politicians and a very small sliver of families and people just trying to get by, stay out of the way and be left alone.
Halved
These days, just about everywhere we look, we are being “halved.” For instance, half of all Americans have now had their COVID-19 vaccinations. (Half of the other half doesn’t believe in vaccinations.) According to one recent opinion poll, half of Republican voters still think the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen from Trump. Half of the rest of us can’t believe this is happening.
Commentary: Unmute yourselves and wave your magic wand, Healdsburg
Two questions: How will the city of Healdsburg use water to prioritize livability not profitability?
This Week in H’burg: Flood markers, not this year.
This Week in H’burg is a weekly column featuring photos and fun facts from local photographer Pierre Ratté. Each week we’ll feature a new photo from Ratté along with a fact about the subject matter of the photo.
Wine, weed, water and us
Sonoma County and its residents have become victims of too many cumulative impacts. We have backroads with too many wineries and valleys with not enough water. We’ve had tons of illegal cannabis for decades and are now fighting to figure out how to make it legal and grow it in the right places. Farmers need lawyers and land use consultants just to plant a crop or plow a hillside. We’ve had a generation-long debate about preserving our rural character but we can’t even agree on what the term exactly means.
Commentary: Changing of the chief should lead to changes in policy
Editor’s note: This commentary was received prior to the announcement on Friday that Mayor Dominic Foppoli was tendering his resignation. In addition, the agreement for law enforcement services between the sheriff’s department and the town requires that the sheriff designate two candidates for the town to choose from; the town cannot create its own candidate pool. Furthermore, as currently codified, sole responsibility for the hiring of the police chief lies with the town manager. Though the process has been more public in year’s past, the hiring choice has always been solely that of the town manager. However, because we felt there were additional strong points that are being echoed throughout the town, we felt this writing was important to share.
