Guest Column | The American Dream: How We Lost Our Way on Immigration
In 1986 I worked for Californiaās Employment Development Department, where I processed amnesty seekers under President Ronald Reaganās landmark immigration reform law called Immigration and Control Act (IRCA). The Watsonville office reviewed documents proving that applicants had worked in the local farming economy for...
Worthy to Print Column | Nobody Can Beat Two People
I have a saying that is used just about every day: āNobody can beat two people.ā I know, it sort of sounds strange coming from a guy that hasnāt raised his hand against anyone in at least 25 years. I mention raising my hand...
Funny Papers Again Column | State Route 198 Revisited: When Wine Came to King City
Readers will recall last weekās column left off with my first solo truck run to the other valley to gather grape rootings for transplant here on the Oasis Road development we now know as San Bernabe Vineyard. Before we head over the hills, though,...
Window on the World Column | The Mysterious Tale of Two Chains
I can only attribute it to wedding brain or, perhaps, the sad story of the lost memory. The last few weeks running up to my daughterās wedding were borderline insane ā the details, followed by more details, checks and rechecks, lists made and lost....
Funny Papers Again Column | A Way to Get a Barrelful of Hope and a Scold for Regular Readers
There has been a bit of a ruckus over some recent comments made on social media, a lousy debate forum as it offers space for quick one-sentence responses; such responses often just a curse word or two and the suggestion the commenter go to...
Funny Papers Again Column | If Fiction Were Real: A Study in Human Emotion
Below is what happens when a writer is somewhat confined to his immediate surroundings; that writer reads a lot of books and views a lot of documentaries and then sits down at the keyboard and just lets the fingers go where the imagination, and...
Window on the World Column | Rosieās Birthday
Iām not great with anniversaries, birthdays and the like. When I say Iām not great, what that means is that I have an incredible memory for what can be difficult days in the annual calendar. Days like my sisterās birthday. āForever 48,ā I wrote...
Funny Papers Again Column | Another Last, and Hard, Final Goodbye
āIt was not my intention to end the column as it ended. But a call minutes ago informs me my life-long friend Stephen Carl Clark has passed away down in Mexico. For many years there were three of us who kept close since kindergarten;...
Worthy to Print Column | The Eternal Flame
If you have read any of my scribbling over time, you know Iām a lifelong conservative. I donāt know exactly when I discovered this. Although I canāt remember much about politics until my platoon sergeant and I were sitting on the hood of a...
Guest Column | Letās Remain Vigilant, But Donāt Neglect Your Health
Even as Covid-19 vaccinations roll out across the country, the daily threat from this virus remains ā especially in rural areas such as South Monterey County.
We all need to remain vigilant, with a strict adherence to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)...



















