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Local Hero – Chris Oakes

I've known Chris Oakes for 15 years. To me, he embodies patience, humility, gentleness and a genuine compassion for people - all necessary qualities in a teacher, a tennis pro and a first rate human being. Chris hangs out his racquet at the Petaluma Valley Athletic club. I'm proud to call him my friend.

By | July 10th, 2010|0 Comments

Independence Day Clean Up

"And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there." Fireworks scare the cats, can start fires, and in the wrong hands can cost the user some fingers. They may all become illegal some day. Which is fine as long has people see them only as a frivolity. But banning them would be to ignore their historical significance. After all, we set them off - at least in part - to commemorate the words penned by Francis Scott Key as he watched the Battle of Fort McHenry from a prison ship, and to recapture the joy he felt as the flash from each explosion momentarily illuminated our tattered but undefeated flag. As a young man I served that flag and the country it stands for as so many young men and women did before me and so many have done since. The fireworks are for us, too.

By | July 9th, 2010|0 Comments

Highway 101 Needs A Stent In It’s Petaluma Region

I wonder if those vascular wizards up north could devise a stent to unclog the arterial blockage on 101 between Novato and Rohnert Park.

By | July 2nd, 2010|0 Comments

Public Double-Talk – Smart Growth

It's fascinating the way that political movements hide their agendas under a smokescreen of euphemistic or outright fraudulent terminology. This is true of all shades of the political spectrum so spare me are outraged polemic about how I'm always teeing off on the Progressives, though they make it so hard not to.

By | June 15th, 2010|0 Comments

The Party’s Over…Not.

Political campaign fatigue has set in and we're just getting started. The summer promises to be a tsunami of charged rhetoric, heated hyperbole, furious mud-slinging, and rank partisans accusing each other of rank partisanship. Perhaps we can hope for a few voices for genuine change.

By | June 10th, 2010|0 Comments

2010 Graduates: Welcome to the Future

It's that time of year when bright-eyed kids say goodbye to their old school and look ahead, often with a mixture of excitement and anxiety, at their future. Countless valedictory speeches will speculate on the myriad of challenges and opportunities that the graduating seniors will encounter. However, one thing will be true for them as was for you and me...the future probably won't work out exactly as they plan. With any luck, and with God's blessing, it will be better.

By | June 3rd, 2010|0 Comments

Election Year Budget Bushwah

Budget.jpg"> No matter whether it's Washington, D.C., California or Petaluma, politicians willingly ignore simple arithmetic, cast fiscal prudence to the wind, and put future generations in hock, in order to curry favor with this or that interest group in hopes of hanging on to a job that they're clearly not fit to do.

By | May 28th, 2010|0 Comments

Endorsement Intrigue

Also noted - Janice Cader Thompson endorsed Ms. Torliatt for County Supe. A vote for Pam is an expression of hope that she will do for the whole county what she's helped to do to Petaluma. Think about it.

By | May 20th, 2010|0 Comments

Petaluma Pete…In Virtual Color

I've long promised John that I would add color to his Petaluma Peta caricature. And here it is.

By | May 14th, 2010|0 Comments

How Will Your Kids Spend the Summer?

Grandma used to say that the idle brain was the devil's playground. When the principle is applied to the two-month hiatus in the school year, even secular humanists can agree that kids left with nothing to do and no direction don't flourish. Fortunately, our fair city offers lots of productive diversions for Generation "Why?" When it comes to kids, dirty, sweaty and tired beats bored, fat and sullen any day.

By | May 11th, 2010|0 Comments