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Sunny Summer Masks Threat Of Drought

Last Thursday was like last Wednesday, last Tuesday, and last Monday. They all featured beautiful summer mornings. Fluffy white clouds punctuated clear blue skies. Temperatures were in the balmy 60s in the mornings, near 80 in afternoons, with slight summer breezes for wind. Lovely. But we need rain. I have not yet seen “Drought!” in headlines. I do see it looming. The Little Mill Creek a quarter-mile from our house is a series of puddles marked by the dismal thrashing of trapped fish. I have not fired up a riding mower in nearly three weeks. When I walk across our yard, ...

Bats, Pumpkins, Ghosts, And Faith

I am sitting down in my living room, looking at a ghost, a witch and a bat. Pretty odd company for the tail end of August, if you ask me, but then again, my daughter invited them. If we are being specific, she created them. My eldest decided to create Halloween decorations with her younger sister, using reams of construction paper, gem stones, glitter glue and oodles of tape. They made spooky ghosts, creepy witches, glittering Jack O’Lanterns and hanging bats that looked like they were flying. While I encouraged their artsy efforts, I tried to remind them that Halloween is two ...

Truth Has Two Faces

Truth comes in two flavors. One is the measurable, touchable, physically-manipulable world outside of me, as an individual. It is the world of physics, biology, gravity, and rocket science. Even those who say they live their own truth expect the lights to go on when they flip the switch, and call an electrician or do some type of trouble-shooting when they don’t. They turn the key for their car’s ignition and expect it to start and to go forward when they put it in gear and press the accelerator. They take it to a mechanic if it doesn’t, because reality is real. Effects do have ...

Whitaker Should Look At Preventative Action At JPS

“The potential trajectory of the district is what excites me,” said Jamestown’s new superintendent of schools. “We have incredibly talented kids, we have incredibly talented staff, we have a supportive community, we have foundations, the community college and the opportunities those things all allow and bring. It means that the sky is the limit.” Of course, these are words the community is eager to hear. Not so fast, though. We have been here before. Each newly-hired superintendent made similar, seemingly obligatory, statements, most without fulfillment. Although Geneva is ...

Vaccinations Aid Herd Immunity

There was an alarming report recently out of California from San Quentin Prison. Out of a population of 3,260, there have been 2,200 infections and 25 deaths — the latest being a guard at the prison. About two-thirds of the prison population has been infected but the prison still hasn’t reached “herd immunity.” The mortality rate at the prison translates to 767 deaths per 100,000. Were that rate to be applied to the entire country, we would be looking at 2.5 million deaths from COVID-19 in the United States vs. current deaths of 163,000. According to an epidemiologist ...

Trump Is The Real Threat To Our Democracy

On Aug. 13th, President Trump admitted that he is intentionally and knowingly opposing the funding that the USPS needs to ensure that mail-in votes will be received, on time, to be counted in the November elections. He claims baselessly that mail-in voting is a threat to our democracy, because it will result in massive, nationwide voter-fraud not reflective of the people’s voice. Under Trump’s postmaster general‘s watch mail collection boxes and high-speed mail-sorting machines have been selectively removed from postal facilities across the U.S. These actions create obstacles to ...