Guest Column | Keeping Our Focus on Health, Safety
If you live in South Monterey County, you are among more than 60 million rural Americans. American Community Survey statistics show that Maine and Vermont have the highest proportions of population living in rural areas (about 61%) while California has the lowest (4.9%).
If you’ve...
Guest Column | Telehealth Is the Best Medicine for Our Community
Telehealth is the use of electronic communications to provide and deliver health care services over large and small distances. Also called digital medicine, this modern advancement represents a major shift in both the administration of medicine and in the venues where it’s provided.
At Mee...
Worthy to Print Column | The Lone Ranger
It seems I missed the deadline for last week’s paper. I could go on and tell you about how I was captured by some of the folks swimming across the Rio Grande and held until Prez Biden paid for my release. Of course, you...
Funny Papers Again Column | Something That Should Have Happened Then and Something That Should Not Happen Now
I am leaning toward the position that Keb’ Mo’ has got it right, but five decades after Shirley he may be too late. Let me explain. By 1968, Americans had experienced six years of turmoil starting with the assassination of a president, the murders...
Window on the World Column | Who Did We Become — Boarding School Part II
“I choose to look back and remember laughter and friendship….” This was a quote sent over from a former pupil of our boarding school when I asked the “Old Scholar” group from the school’s Facebook page if anyone wanted to share some reminiscences from...
Worthy to Print Column | Past = Future
The other day my wife’s cousin and his wife gave me a little book of memoirs written by a young man who had been drafted into the Army during the Vietnam War. I sat down to read a few chapters and it got me...
Letters to the Editor for Week of June 21
South County Newspapers welcome Letters to the Editor of fewer than 400 words. Submit all letters with the writer's name and contact information to editor@southcountynewspapers.com.
Guest Column | It’s National Get Organized Month — The Perfect Time to Remove Clutter and Chaos
The new year offers a blank slate — an opportunity to set things right, to change course and accomplish our goals. When we set New Year's resolutions, we are utilizing a very important concept called self-efficacy, which means that by virtue of aspiring to...
Guest Column | Seismic Shifts: How the 2030 Seismic Mandate is Impacting California Hospitals
In response to the 1994 Northridge earthquake, California enacted stringent seismic safety standards for hospitals under the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act. While crucial for ensuring the safety and functionality of hospitals during and after seismic events, this mandate has presented...
Funny Papers Again Column | What Would JR Sing to Leaders Today?
Back in 1980, I spent a couple hours with an American icon, a man whose music struck chords across a wide swath of the nation and at times insinuated itself into the political discussion. He came from a small, rural part of Arkansas, born...
Local News
Inmate convicted of stabbing correctional officer at Salinas Valley State Prison
SOLEDAD — A state prison inmate serving a life sentence was convicted last Tuesday of assault with a deadly weapon for stabbing a correctional...






















