Opinion

There are so many “Help! My dog is missing” posts on Facebook these days, it makes you wonder if all the local dog owners just leave their gates open and hope that their pooch makes it home in time for dinner of an evening....

By my reckoning 140 years, give or take, of my family’s timeline was spent in prisons; the years accumulated by my parents, a brother and his wife, a niece and myself. And it seems the family occupation within the California Department of Corrections (CDC;...

While conversations around health are becoming more inclusive, many men still face social and internal pressures that discourage them from prioritizing their well-being. Men’s Health Month, observed each June, aims to break down those barriers — fostering honest dialogue, healthier habits, and proactive steps...

While not referring to any particular county supervisor in last week’s Funny Papers, I did address the board in general with hopes some public remarks would be forthcoming regarding the continued closure of San Lorenzo Park. I now want to address some specific remarks...

It has been a long time since we had a pig in the family. You read that correctly. Back in 2011, when my daughter was young, she raised an award-winning pig for the Salinas Valley Fair through the high school 4-H Club. For rookies...

I cannot remember the first time I met her and her lovely husband. It seems to me that we were friends from the minute I arrived in the valley about 19 years now, so it was a good while ago; and likely at a...

It was the longest gun battle in the history of the Secret Service. At the end of the 40-second firefight, 27 shots had been exchanged with an assassin and a police officer lay dead while a second assassin and two police officers and one...

This past week started off in good shape. I got a lot of stuff done that I have had on my to-do list. Still working on my truck, but now I just need some more parts. Then, the bottom of the week dropped out.  We...

I’m not great with anniversaries, birthdays and the like. When I say I’m not great, what that means is that I have an incredible memory for what can be difficult days in the annual calendar. Days like my sister’s birthday. “Forever 48,” I wrote...

We all have what we nostalgically refer to as our “hometown,” that place where we spent maybe not the most years of our lives but surely the years we recall with sharpest memory; and as decade follows decade the people and places we knew...