Editorial

Ten years ago this month, more than 100 Healdsburg Peace Project members and supporters gathered on the Plaza to protest the threat of a U.S. invasion of Iraq.  The protesters believed that the U.S. had no right to invade a sovereign country and that the reasons for war given to the American people were lies. History eventually confirmed this, and the price paid has been horrible.

Once again, the residents of Healdsburg have demonstrated support for our children! Thank you to the thousands of voters who helped to pass Measure E to modernize schools in Healdsburg.

Last year, I was lucky enough to have been selected as Corp Member for Teach for America, a non-profit organization that places teachers in high need schools throughout the United States. My placement is in the Mississippi Delta, a region that has experienced long-standing high poverty, low graduation, and very poor college admission rates. Here, I have taught English to some wonderful students at Amanda Elzy High School in Greenwood, Mississippi. Unfortunately, many of these students are years behind grade level in a variety of subjects and often do not have the resources or opportunities that I was fortunate enough to receive in Healdsburg.

I’m back. Four months ago I signed off and stepped out to get ready to have baby number two. After a month of patiently waiting for her to arrive, Molly Paige Lindecker was born on May 21. There were some complications, and she spent the first week of her life in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Sutter Hospital, but she’s a big, strong girl and has made a complete recovery.

In the Fall of 2002, I enrolled in a course titled "Greed and Corruption in Corporate America" through the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Sonoma State University. We had recently moved to Sonoma County after I retired from practicing Pediatric Dentistry for 40-plus years in the Bay Area. The Enron scandal had just unfolded, and I wanted to better understand how capitalism works in this country and broaden my horizons in general. The course and the OLLi program changed my life. I have not looked back.

CALPERS is the pseudo government agency set up to manage the defined benefit retirement program for government employees.  Their charter is to collect retirement contributions, invest these contributions to maximize return and provide defined benefits to the actual retiree.  CALPERS is controlled by and largely for the benefit of the legislature and government employees.  

“In summer, the song sings itself.” And, summer in the ‘Burg is a delightful and busy tune; even hot. Fan yourself, then send a missive to “IDlewood 3…” - your “who, what, where” column. “Hedda Healdsburg” wants to know all!  

Rollie Atkinson, Publisher of he Healdsburg Tribune, Windsor Times and Sonoma West Times and News was profiled by the California Newspaper Publishers Association in the Summer issue of their official publication "California Publisher".  The magazine covers the news and trends, the buying and selling, the technological developments and the historical events in California's diverse newspaper industry.   Decision-makers in the California newspaper industry look to California Publisher for the latest information to help them run an efficient, profitable and worthy business.  Suppliers to the trade rely upon California Publisher as their connection to all newspaper departments.

There is real enthusiasm in Sonoma County for renewable energy and to that end the Board of Supervisors has voted to explore various public options. Over the next few years, they will try to run-to-ground the costs, consequences and benefits of forming a public power agency. Healdsburg has something to offer in this debate. Not one of the hypothetical possibilities in their study, but the best example in the county of a successful, living, breathing public power entity.