Dampen the Insanity

With the fall semester drawing near and higher levels of education correlating with higher median weekly earnings, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2019’s Most & Least Educated Cities in America as well as accompanying videos. To determine where the most educated Americans are choosing to settle, WalletHub compared the 150 largest […]

Dampen the Insanity

With the fall semester drawing near and higher levels of education correlating with higher median weekly earnings, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2019’s Most & Least Educated Cities in America as well as accompanying videos. To determine where the most educated Americans are choosing to settle, WalletHub compared the 150 largest […]

Careless and Unaware

The peace of our idyllic new neighborhood is pierced, quite literally–and often–by the shrieking of an impossibly shrill little girl. Closing the windows is no defense. Only when I’m in the shower is she drowned out. Which gives me an idea–an awful idea…a wonderful, awful idea–as I can’t help but hear her enjoying their swimming […]

Blink of an Eye

It’s hard to believe the Fourth of July is already upon us. If I knew where the first half of the year went I’d bottle the knowledge and become wealthy selling it. Twenty years ago this month we moved to Tulare County. It’s gone by in the blink of an eye. The Chief was raised […]

Rocinante

I’ve just finished local author Mark Arax’ latest tome, The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California. It’s a tremendous achievement–the writing ,research and living of it–certainly not my having read it. A must-read for any understanding of the Golden State, Arax expertly chronicles our many gold-type rushes–particularly that of water. We’re all Don […]

Letter: Wife of 49 years killed on Mother’s Day

On May 12, 2019 (Mother’s Day), my wife, Kathryn Garges (67 years old), and whom I shared 49 years of marriage with, along with her best friend, Diana Whitfield (75 years old), were tragically killed by a drunk driver who was about three times the legal drinking limit. The drunk driver, Sergio Delfino Mendoza-Sanchez, was […]

Letter: Local media ignored Visalia Unified failures

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” – Thomas Jefferson, third U.S. President. He set high expectations for their role as government watchdogs – but editors still choose what stories they will […]

An Unusual Luxury

No alarm sounds unless–heaven forfend–I have to appear in court by 8:30 in the morning. Customarily, however, I am off that particular hook myself, and rarely is there a case for the paper to cover. So we routinely awake, without rising, and drowse for an hour or more. Every day. It’s an unusual luxury. “Shall […]