Opinion

By John Gallagher, Grand Jury Supervising Judge  We need the Grand Jury and the Grand Jury needs you. In this time of political polarization at all levels of government, the need for a neutral Grand Jury to investigate, report on government performance and offer solutions...

Memo from Pastor Rene This summer our nation is reeling at the horrific police brutality on display in the death of George Floyd and others, and grappling with the difficult task of criminal justice reform––and the broader plague of systemic racism. But while the country’s focus...

Memo from Rev. Mathews-Johnson While I was growing up, whenever we moved—which was often in those days because my dad was a Navy officer—my mother would find a job at the local United Methodist Church in our new town playing the organ and piano.  As...

MEMO FROM REV. SHINSEKI “It is wrong to think that misfortunes come from the east or from the west; they originate within one’s own mind. Therefore, it is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled.” Teachings of the...

By Rebecca J. Garcia, Watsonville Mayor All my grandchildren learned to swim through the Watsonville summer aquatics program. They went underwater, they floated, they played and they swam. So much fun. However, there will be no summer aquatics program this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic....

A plea for cyclists This message is asking drivers to please consider the safety of cyclists in our communities. Think about how you feel if you hit a bike rider and maimed them for life or they died. It’s not a fair contest. Cyclists always...

By Dennis Osmer, former Watsonville Mayor Hardly anybody likes to work with somebody looking over their shoulder. And of those, nobody likes getting advice from somebody outside the circle. But for City Council and the City Manager, that’s the job they sought and got. According...

By Jimmy Dutra, former Watsonville City Councilman In 1992, some of us witnessed the ugly truth of racism for the first time. We heard the outcry over the beating of Rodney King. I was a teenage student at Watsonville High School, who believed in an...

By John Flaherty, vice-chair of Navigator Schools’ Board of Directors Sharon Waller, the co-founder of Navigator public, nonprofit charter schools, grew up in Watsonville. Her grandmother worked at Ford’s Department store. She took Sharon to lunch next door at the Woolworths.  Sharon Waller is a third-generation...

Navigator Schools, which runs Watsonville Prep on the grounds of E.A. Hall Middle School—and will soon expand to Ann Soldo Elementary School—should find its own space as soon as possible. In the meantime, the organization should immediately pay back the hundreds of thousands of...