Columns

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it solely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. - Mark Twain While taking my ‘traveling...

This month, the voters of the Scotts Valley Fire District will be asked whether to invest $22.2 million into a new fire station and multipurpose administration/disaster support building to improve community safety. The District currently operates out of two fire stations: the 22-year-old Glenwood...

A Facebook friend posts photos taken of her yard with lots of turkeys and deer families. How can you not love a picture of those cute fawns covered with spots? There's something about babies. You know that feeling when you see a new infant...

When I look back on four decades of public service, there is one issue that has remained a top priority for me and the people I have had the privilege to represent in county and state government: Protecting our local environment. As a member of...

Winter weather has begun, even if the official start to winter is still weeks away. And while we desperately need the rain, we must be on guard for the dangers it can present. The large storm that drenched Santa Cruz County on the evening of...

I have just ‘pulled’ another successful loaf of rustic sourdough bread from my oven and as soon as it cools, I’ll butter a slice while it is still warm and fragrant.    While feeding the jar of sourdough starter, I remembered a bread my Appalachian-born family...

School is officially back in session. A new school year can also bring new stressors. New teachers, new classmates, new routines. Change can be hard. We all want our children to succeed in school, and there are some specific things parents can do to...

Fall is a good time to design and plant a new garden. I love to read those articles in gardening magazines with titles like “How to Create a Complete Backyard in a Weekend” or “This Front Yard in Just One Year.” If you're like...

“Adam did not want the apple for the apple’s sake; he wanted it because it was forbidden.” —Mark Twain Home for me in the 1940s was uncle and aunt’s eight-bedroom boarding house in Aberdeen, Wash. My mind is filled with only happy memories, memories that...

As a young child. I lived in Washington State in the ’30s in a boarding house owned by my aged uncle and aunt, where eight boarders lived, all men, and many whose ages ranged from 60 to 70 years of age. One or two...