Opinion

The slate of candidates is set. The campaign signs will soon be everywhere, mailboxes will fill with political mailers and candidates will be making their cases to voters. Now it’s our turn. Voting is one of the most important responsibilities we have as citizens, yet it...

Dymphna (DJ) William’s Guest View on the library deftly exposes the rich value a library offers to the community. Food for the soul comes from the library. The library sets the table with a smorgasbord of infinite variety. If an adequate smorgasbord includes a dish...

“If we can find pretty much everything online, why do we still need libraries?”  This is a question that has crossed the minds of many people. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, about 52% of Americans say people don’t need public libraries as...

Words are important. Where words reside is important. We read newsprint, books and magazines. We see posters. We see walls. “In God We Trust” on the supervisors’ chamber wall causes thoughtful concern.  Words on a wall may or may not represent what remains hidden in...

Now you see the gift of nature which is soft hills protecting fertile plains of fruit trees and vegetables. Beware magicians among us like a recall group and Silicon Valley Biz PAC who want to change this view of plenty and beauty.  The Recall group...

Thank goodness for thankfulness in a thankless society. Yet gratitude lives in a grateful community graciously alive served by this newsprint. The front page of this paper (Free Lance, Aug. 7) features volunteers and names them “Heroes.” Gratitude is unique. Usually office holders need to...

Reading “Velazquez plans to rerun for supe seat” (Hollister Free Lance, July 31) overjoyed me. The article reassured me that courageous people still exist!  Because of one brave person, democracy can still function. It takes extraordinary dedication to the common good to face extreme hostility...

There are certain events that become part of your life without you ever realizing it. They mark the seasons, become family traditions and, over time, become part of your own story. For me, that event is the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Like so many people, I’ve been...

“Abolish Ice”, a sign captured in the Free Lance photo featured in the coverage of the protest at the Gilroy construction site for an ICE detention center. Of course we don’t want our spinach, carrots, onions and garlic spoiled by a police state. I...

With the California High Speed Rail Authority’s Supermassive Black Hole Bullet Train insolvent, and getting more so every day, as motorists and taxpayers are gouged for the tax subsidies the builders demand, a bankruptcy solution, so common in the economy (see examples off the...