Opinion

Back surgery will keep Gavilan College President Steve Kinsella out of his office for a month this spring. But presumably following the surgery and an initial recovery period, he’ll be available on the phone should any need for a critical emergency decision arise.

In the Feb. 22 Free Lance regarding the Pinnacles National Park, page A5’s headline says, “Pinnacles – national and local officials recently held ceremony”. The article begins on A3 with the headline “Soledad rebrands itself as the “Gateway to the Pinnacles”.

Local government and business leaders should be putting top-down pressure on Caltrans bureaucrats to quit the bullying and allow an encroachment permit for Walgreens to build a new sewer line under Tres Pinos Road.

It was far too premature of Supervisor Anthony Botelho to wholly dismiss a housing project at El Rancho San Benito before a prospective proposal even hits the table and before a shred of detail is revealed to the public.

Panelists answered the question: Do you believe the sequestration and resulting service cuts will affect you personally?

As a decedent of the Arthur and Schuyler Hain family, I was fortunate to be part of the historic event when Pinnacles National Monument became Pinnacles National Park.

“When you win you're reborn, when you lose you die a little bit.” This is a quote from George Allen, a former football coach who never had a losing season. I picked this quote because after reading about the state of California deciding to go back on its requirement for 8th graders to take Algebra. I have felt for many years that the educational system is literally and figuratively killing our children. From the hopelessness of some kids in the inner cities, to the honor students in Palo Alto jumping in front of trains. Although I don't have any hard data to prove it, my gut tells me that most of the people who have walked into schools and shot innocent students, teachers, administrators and others have been students who didn't “fit in” or may have been bullied. What I am trying to say is that in the educational systems rush to “leave no child behind”, they are leaving more behind than ever.  The message is clear from the first day that you attend school that you have to go to college, (not just a community college), but a 4 year college, and that everything you do must in some way set you on a path towards a 4 year university.  The A to G requirements.  The message is also very clear that if you don't accomplish these goals you are a “loser”, and that you can never be part of “successful society” if you don't go to college.  

The prospective Del Webb senior housing project at San Juan Oaks Golf Club would provide a multitude of benefits to the county's economy, and serves as an example of an ideal development for the good of business and government coffers.

Richard Place: “Why not? I thought assisted suicide was illegal.”

Every day that goes by with minimum economic progress and uncoordinated actions among local business interests highlights the critical need for an economic steering committee - comprised of leaders from the private sector - which works with local governments and potential developers to create prosperity.