Editorial

The March 10 commentary piece “The elephant in the room” brought to mind a quote attributed to a U.S. Army officer in Vietnam concerning a military operation there. “It became necessary to destroy the town in order to save it.”

The more arguments that are presented in support of Measure A, the quarter-cent sales tax increase on the June 2 ballot, the stronger our opposition becomes. First it is called a “road tax.” Now “Yes on A” campaign literature features a firefighter and a public safety message. What is Measure A, really? It is a “free pass” for our Board of Supervisors and their labor union contributors to avoid fixing their unfunded pension problem and other budget imbalances.

I have read the commentaries of candidates for the City Council with great interest. It is obvious to me that some of the candidates have really done their homework to learn the issues through the media, from members of the City Council and the City staff. Every candidate was encouraged to meet with City staff which included the City Manager, City Attorney and department heads. Most chose to, a couple did not. Their commentaries reflect that.

Friends of the Blue Whale

I promised myself that I would give the whole gun control issue a bit of a break. I find it depressing in the extreme and it only exacerbates my feeling of helplessness. I broke that promise to myself because a) no matter how I tried my thoughts still carom back to the subject, b) I had my fingers crossed when I made the promise and c) I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the words ‘exacerbate’ and ‘carom’ in one paragraph.

In his Commentary, ³July 4th 2006…,² veteran Sebastopol police