Opinion

In 1986 I worked for California’s Employment Development Department, where I processed amnesty seekers under President Ronald Reagan’s 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...

I have a saying that is used just about every day: “Nobody can beat two people.” I know, it sort of sounds strange coming from a guy that hasn’t raised his hand against anyone in at least 25 years. I mention raising my hand...

Readers will recall last week’s 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,...

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 daughter’s wedding were borderline insane — the details, followed by more details, checks and rechecks, lists made and lost....

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...

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...

I’m not great with anniversaries, birthdays and the like. When I say I’m 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 sister’s birthday. “Forever 48,” I wrote...

“It 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;...

If you have read any of my scribbling over time, you know I’m a lifelong conservative. I don’t know exactly when I discovered this. Although I can’t remember much about politics until my platoon sergeant and I were sitting on the hood of a...

Even as Covid-19 vaccinations roll out across the country, the daily threat from this virus remains — 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)...