Opinion

Happy June! At Monterey County Free Libraries (MCFL), we are really excited because it’s time for the Summer Reading Club. Summer is the best time of year at the library since we have so many fun programs and prizes. When you sign up for the...

“Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another’s world.” I don’t recall whose words those are, if I...

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept farmworkers stooped over for long hours each day. Workers were only able to stand and stretch when they reached the...

I received an email from a fellow who lives out Jolon way, in which I was asked about a situation I had never really considered and I found that I was probably too close to the subject to have ever had the notion enter...

It is our family custom, after the passing of a loved one, that we gather together and celebrate the life of that person. Whether it be in church or not, this ceremony of sorts provides closure, for want of a better word. The breaking...

In rural America, hospitals are more than healthcare providers — they are pillars of their communities. They deliver essential medical services, create jobs and support the overall wellbeing of thousands of residents who might otherwise face insurmountable barriers to care. As the CEO of Mee...

To the Editor: On behalf of the members of the Southern Monterey County Republican Women Federated, I would like to sincerely thank everyone for the unbelievable generosity and support we received for our annual Salad Bar Scholarship Luncheon, which was held on Friday, April 25. We...

It is a little after 4 a.m. Monday morning and I don’t have a column written for the noon deadline. In fact, I have only the words you are now reading on paper and no more in my head to follow with. So, I...

Hello, Neighbors. A couple of things have happened the past couple of weeks that boggles the mind or at least in my mind anyway. Powerful things that snuck up on me and filled me with hope that our little town as well as our...

So, another Fair has rolled into town and out again. And it was a good one, at least for me. It is the reason this column may fall well short of the usual 1,000 words. I have enough notes and ideas that if combined...