Opinion

Compiled by Steve Bankhead 25 years ago on  Feb. 23, 1996 A 13-member delegation from Watsonville’s sister city Kawakami, Japan began a whirlwind tour here of our lettuce industry. The lettuce industry began in Japan during the U.S. occupation after World War II when a mess...

The 40 days of Lent observed in Christianity begins with the story of Jesus who fasted for 40 days in the wilderness immediately following his baptism. It is as if before Jesus began his ministry, he needed to go through a spiritual boot camp...

How quickly we forget. Recent activity centers around the levee system on the Pajaro River. Yet, the first flooding in 2023 was in Watsonville, when the Salsipuedes and Corralitos Creeks overflowed. There are lessons from that flooding that need to be applied to those...

Hank Garcia, we’ve never met before—I hope that changes in the near future—but I want you to know you’ve had a massive impact on my life. You helped me see new worlds. You helped me learn English. You helped me fall in love with...

City at the crossroads Watsonville is at a crossroads. The Watsonville Planning Commission needs to get its priorities straight. Instead of promoting cannabis dispensaries and the shortsighted thinking of narrowing Main St. down to two lanes, it should be focusing on much more serious issues...

Last month we observed the one-year anniversary of when Covid-19 brought all of our lives to a sudden halt.  Personally, this year has been a challenge not only health wise and financially, but emotionally and creatively as well. Like many of you, I lost so...

Power poles are visual blight I had the opportunity to drive on an improved and repaved Freedom Boulevard recently.   Traversing it nice, however, I wish the powers that be had the foresight to include in the budget, PG&E undergrounding of those unsightly poles, electrical transmission wires...

Since my last message our clocks have sprung forward and Spring is here. As we move past the storms of the past several months, much-awaited federal help for our neighbors in Pajaro has arrived.  The President approved a major disaster declaration for Santa Cruz and...