Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird— 1961’s Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction–died on February 19 in the same town in which she was born in 1926, Monroeville, Alabama. I have never read her novel. More properly, I was never assigned to–although I attended a truly great high school. If you Google “the […]
In my nearly 30 years with the Tulare County Sheriff’s Office, I have witnessed some ugly situations which law enforcement faces on a daily basis. Yet somehow, the men and women of our department are able to go home to their own families and not burden them with tales from their last shift. On February […]
Dear Max– I hope this letter finds you well, but given the state of the postal service these days my hope is simply that it finds you at all. Maybe this is why nobody writes letters anymore. So–if this has indeed found you–know that I’m also sending my love to Anne and the Mongol Horde. […]
I’m writing on the eve of the Iowa caucus, the results of which will be old news by the time you read this. But, precisely because I want to write about the Iowa results, some waiting is entailed–and it gives me the perfect opportunity to make a few predictions. OK–this is not, as my wife […]
“You’re a lousy American,” I told our daughter. “What kind of citizen are you, anyway?” She had been assigned, as homework, a questionnaire which required her to view the State of the Union Address. Not much fun, she thought. So I told her everyone, every year, loved the speech and looked forward to it almost […]
Reflecting on 2015’s top stories brought about revelations concerning small towns, the importance of the media and why some people hate Facebook. Our top three stories of the year came out of Tulare, Woodlake and Hanford, showing the pent up demand for small towns to get better media coverage. Hanford does have its own newspaper, […]
Kaweah Delta continues to plan for vital, life-saving health care services in support of this community’s needs. These plans include a greatly expanded emergency department, completing the fifth and sixth floors of the Acequia Wing for cardiology and neonatal intensive care services and expanding our operating room capacity, and building a new urgent care center […]
Writing this first column of 2016, I’d like to begin by wishing everyone a happy New Year. But I can’t. I can’t wish a happy 2016 for ISIS–or for extremists of any stripe, anywhere–and I certainly can’t wish a happy year to those who for their own reasonsactively harm others. I can only wish they […]
Some milestones in life seem daunting until you realize, usually during them, that the anticipation of the moment was worse than the moment itself. Childbirth springs to mind, as do pre-wedding jitters. One’s first driving test. A first day on the job or on campus. What we do, customarily, is get through it–whatever “it” is. […]
As previously reported in the Valley Voice on January 15, 2015 and February 5, 2015, Wendy and her son, Brian Jones of Tulare County remain in battle against Tulare County Animal Control. The Joneses claim Tulare County contrived an unlawful seizure of their family pet “Clyde”, who was subsequently ruled “vicious” by County hearing officers […]