Opinion


We need a commonsense guest worker program

OPINION By JOHN SALISBURY A report on our Citizen wine grape picking crew. After a “Call to Arms” for local unemployed citizens to pick grapes that started in our monthly column in the Avila Community News and our blog inthevines.com,... (Continue reading)

How will we help our seniors in the future?

OPINION by JUDYTHE GUARNERA Last Friday  I attended the Senior Symposium 2025, along with 140 others. It was sponsored by Wilshire Community Services, SLO County Community Foundation, the Villages, CHW Hospitals and Sierra Vista Medical Center. The goal was to... (Continue reading)

Time to eliminate the federal corporate tax

OPINION By GORDON MULLIN The unemployment rate remains stuck around 10 percent; higher for youth and minorities. Incomes are stagnant and the greatest wealth creation machine in history, the U.S. economy, is jammed in neutral.  You can hear the gears... (Continue reading)

Where is my SLO County midwife?

OPINION By JOANNE TARKINGTON National Midwifery Week is celebrated during the month of October locally, nationally and globally. While the rest of the country is commemorating the exemplary services of midwives, San Luis Obispo County supported health clinics will no... (Continue reading)

Consider municipal banks

OPINION By RICHARD SALZMAN Ten days into the Occupy Wall Street protests, I wrote letters to the editor of several papers complaining about the lack of mainstream media coverage. By the time that letter was printed, they finally got to... (Continue reading)

Greed: The real American dream

OPINION By STACEY WARDE At my college graduation in 1984, a candidate receiving a degree in American Studies stepped up to the podium for his diploma, and someone in the audience proclaimed loudly, “What the hell can you do with... (Continue reading)

Sewer nut shreds the Shredder

OPINION By JULIE TACKER Shredder:  Dear Shredder, I think I’m having a problem communicating. Every week I go to the Board of Supervisors and say the exact same thing and nobody seems to listen. Also, my application to lynch Paavo... (Continue reading)

Brown caves to police, vetoes bill to restrict searches of cellphones

OPINION By PETER SCHEER Jerry Brown, as you may have heard, has vetoed SB 914, a bill sponsored by the First Amendment Coalition that would have required police to get a warrant before searching through cellphones or other digital devices... (Continue reading)

Understanding greed

OPINION by GORDON MULLIN I’m greedy. When I do my taxes, I don’t ask myself, “what’s the fair amount I should pay?’  Nope.  I just attempt to follow the byzantine tax rules as best as I can hoping I don’t... (Continue reading)

Where is the story?

OPINION By JULIAN CROCKER Where is the story? The article that appeared in the Cal Coast News this week, entitled “No Such Thing As A Free Lunch”, gave the impression that either the Coast Unified School District was somehow “inflating”... (Continue reading)