Letters

As the U.S. Senate debates the sweeping legislation known as the “Big Beautiful Bill,” it’s worth asking a critical question: who really pays the price for political ambition? For rural communities like ours in San Benito County, the answer may hit closer to home...

Open letter to Hon. Sean Duffy, U.S. Secretary of Transportation: Re: USDOT F.R.A.'s Notice of Proposed Determination 6-4-2025 In my opinion, the reason for the failure of the CAHSRA’s high speed rail proposal is its reliance on the public sector model of transport funding as seen...

Re: Hellertoon, Free Lance, May 30  This political cartoon coloring the Opinion page amazed me of how skillful art can deftly explain what caused an all night session of congressional words in the House to accomplish.   At first glance of the Joe Heller cartoon, it seemed...

Every year on the last Monday of May, we gather not in celebration but to remember.  Memorial Day is a day carved into our national conscience to honor the brave men and women of our armed forces who gave their lives in defense of our...

California’s legal system should be used to uphold justice—not to line the pockets of trial lawyers exploiting outdated laws. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening today under the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), a criminal wiretapping statute from 1967 that is being twisted into...

Re: Hospital proceeds with negotiations, Free Lance, April 18, 2025 Instead of the Easter Bunny, we get the Big Bad Wolf and he is trying to blow the house down.  The Easter basket from the San Benito County Health Care District over-flowed with attractive colors,...

Re: Insight wants to purchase Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital Trying to understand Insight is like taking a seat on a ferris wheel, where going round and round and up and down is scary. Some may find the experience thrilling, but eventually the rider gets nowhere.   Insight...

Re: International film fest returns to SBC, Free Lance, April 4, 2025 If I could I would make a film about our hospital from the last century to this one for the Poppy Jasper Film Festival. The film might begin with a horse-drawn cart ramble...

Residents of San Benito County are now enjoying something reminiscent of older classic television shows, harkening back to simpler times.  Remember the old TV show “Marcus Welby, MD”? The doctor, with a kind bedside manner, made house calls and was on a first-name basis with...

Numbers don’t lie with the remarkably unsustainable fiscal path for fire services in San Benito County.  With constant misinformation, I must set the record straight on skyrocketing costs and a broken system needing immediate reform.  If we ignore these warning signs, we will continue tumbling down...