Opinion

Halloween, where yards become planted in gravestones and ghosts and offices appear cobwebbed and spidery to make scary fun… Children love to transform into monsters with big mouths and sharply pointed teeth to scare everyone.   Scary Halloween is enjoyable because it is all in fun....

Your Sept. 26 editorial, “When National Headlines Collide with National News” regarding the massive and successful boycott of ABC/Disney, Sinclair and Nexstar distributors (who have since also acquiesced) was tone-death!  It minimized the threats to our freedom of speech. You missed the whole point! This...

Last week the smaller print piece in the Free Lance side bar labeled “Local Scene” got my attention. The title “State to study cancer risk of fighting wildfires” had me opening the paper focused on further information. Everyone is interested in cancer risk.   Our surrounding...

Small Business Saturday may have come and gone, but the importance of supporting our neighborhood shops, makers and service providers hasn’t faded with the weekend sales. If anything, this is the moment when shopping locally matters most. After the rush of Thanksgiving weekend, many small...

Rodeos are barbaric How is it possible that watching animals suffer is considered a source of entertainment? A horse breaks its neck and dies…. and that is just collateral damage all in the name of good old family fun? Rodeos are barbaric. Anyone who partakes, or is...

In the upcoming special election on Nov. 4, voters are going to see a new measure, Proposition 50. By a vote of the majority, California voters will decide if temporary changes to our congressional district maps should be authorized.  This would allow the legislature, members...

In the coming days, the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) faces elimination for the month of November, or it may be partially funded—moves that threaten to deepen food insecurity for millions of Americans, including many right here in Hollister. SNAP, formerly known as food...

California’s love affair with unmerited lawsuits targeted at small and minority small business owners is alive and well. So much so that the California Assembly failed to even schedule a hearing on Senate Bill 84, a much-needed reform measure to protect against abusive shakedown...

No one would ever suspect the library as a place of fraud. We go to the library for novels like “Moby Dick” or “Tale of Two Cities” or for information like “California History of San Benito County” or any history, geography, politics or literature.   I...

For years, San Benito County has prided itself on caring for its most vulnerable residents, especially our seniors. But today, that commitment is at risk—not because of a lack of need, not because of a lack of capable nonprofits ready to serve, but because...