Guest View

Creation of the Town of San Martin moves closer to becoming a long-awaited reality, thanks to Assembly member John Laird, D-Santa Cruz, author of AB 1602. This critical legislation has passed the state legislature and now awaits Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's signature. Without raising taxes or fees, this legislation provides newly incorporated towns with a larger share of current tax monies, thereby enhancing the financial feasibility of incorporation.

You'll be pleased to know that today as a public service I am revealing some sure-fire wedding coordinating tips I have recently acquired via the successful marriage of our last-born daughter. By "successful" I am referring to a ceremony that neither offends nor disgraces either family%to the point that relatives go to blows on the dance floor and that none of the wedding party's clothing falls off, catches fire, nor is featured on next month's cover of "Motorcycle Digest: The Hell's Angels Edition." Starting in no particular order, I will nevertheless begin with a stern:

Religious fundamentalism is the enemy of all thinking people. It is also the enemy of peace and goodwill among the world's populations. In this context, fundamentalism is using a literal interpretation of a religion's holy book in a spiritually bankrupt way. Fundamentalists take their marching orders from their manuals. For Christians the manual is the Bible; for Muslims it is the Koran; for Jews it is the Torah.

Twenty five years after just running around on a soccer pitch Sunday morning with county employees and after years of working closely with county departments and listening constantly to words like "can't" "why bother" and other such terms that aren't conducive to meaningful change, I have ideas for Pete Kutras on how to shave money from the county budget this year, and it's not looking at non-mandated service, because the preponderance of evidence shows that if county residents don't have access to many of the non-mandated services, we will have more people clogging the mandated systems: county emergency rooms and jails, and the streets.

Anytime a new craze sweeps across the land, I react by rationally yelling, "Now why didn't I think of that?"

I rarely ask for direct political action from readers, but I am now: asking you to write letters to the governor and to the state's secretary of health and human services to support the governor's signing of SB1288. If you or someone you know has endured the pain of a kid in trouble with alcohol or other drugs and ever tried to find help that doesn't require a second mortgage, you will know how important this bill is.

Until recently, I never thought being a bit limited in the ownership of fine jewelry was an especially big problem. In fact, I felt quite ambivalent about the issue as I listened in fascination to friends who found nirvana in a pair of sapphire earrings, and I wondered if there might be something wrong with me. I mean – aren't women supposed to be wild about jewelry? 

This is a big year for us. After 10 years, we have rejoined the ranks of mainstream public school families. Although I knew them before, seeing the notable differences between private and mainstream public schools makes me sigh heavily every morning.

It had to do with my wife's and my legacy. Somehow, I had to show our daughter, our executor, and her husband where our property was located in the wilderness of Oregon. They had the time and inclination. Our other three sons didn't.

This is the time of year when parents experience one of the true mysteries of life – a sort of U.S. version of the Changing of the Guard – known as Sending the Kids Back to School. Finally accustomed to the semi-constant company of their offspring since early June, parents suddenly find themselves handing over their little munchkins to complete and total strangers dubiously described as "teachers," who were, I rationalized, secret agents employed by the CIA bent on molding our progeny into future taxpayers or even scarier – members of Congress.