Guest View

Special interests are at it again in San Benito County. That said, I want to address the ambiguous signs that showed up throughout the county this past week with my name on them and phrases like Recall, Censure, Unethical and Shameful on them. To be clear,...

I have been thinking a lot lately about measure Q and the importance of slowing growth, protecting both open space and the environment as well as preserving agriculture in our region. I have had the incredible opportunity, over my lifetime, to spend a considerable...

May is Water Awareness Month. It’s also the start of our irrigation season when water use starts to go up dramatically. Over 60% of residential water use is for landscape purposes in the summer.   This is especially important since we are in the grips of...

A consistent uptick of Covid-19 cases in San Benito County, the Delta variant’s growing presence and a slowing vaccination rate here have raised serious concerns about our progress fighting this deadly pandemic.  This new reality we face is daunting, but vaccines remain the only solution...

As the name suggests, “small” business means the owner is, most likely, working. So, to see around 18 Hollister downtown business owners together at the Oct. 17 meeting was an unusual treat. Thanks to the Hollister City Manager, David Mirrione, and Development Services Director,...

One of the more encouraging recent announcements at a San Benito County Board meeting happened Aug. 8 when supervisors learned about a new partnership to provide local residents the option to buy annual memberships for air and ground ambulance needs if they arise.  Of course,...

The most straightforward definition of drought is the simple mismatch between the amounts of water nature provides and the amounts of water that humans and the environment demand. This mismatch causes California to be in perpetual drought. Even when we receive a lot of rain in California,...

I rise today to adjourn in the memory of Marty Cheek—a beautiful soul, the publisher of Morgan Hill and Gilroy Life, an arts and science advocate, a man who loved his community, and his community loved him.  Marty was born in Hollister and was a...

As someone who was born and raised in Hollister, whose mom was a nurse at the original hospital when it was downtown, I feel a special connection to this community—like so many of you. I was born at Hazel Hawkins, and today, as interim...

Benjamin Franklin said there were two things certain in life: Death and taxes! When it comes to special interests’ involvement in influencing our government, I can add two more certainties: Bad policies and more taxes to cover the costs of those policies. To be clear,...