Columns

Prop 207, the initiative to legalize commercial and recreational marijuana, has something for everyone to oppose.

The United Kingdom has already prepared its list of names for hurricanes that may occur this coming winter in the North Atlantic Ocean. I don’t object to being prepared. Generally, I don’t object to the contents of this list that includes names such as Heulwen, Phoebe, Fleur, Saidhbhin and Naia, except that I can’t pronounce some of them.

Groundwater in the Prescott Active Management Area (PrAMA), serving four municipalities and thousands of private wells, is seriously overcommitted. Some wells have already failed, and more will follow.

This is a petition for all of us in the Prescott area to take a breath. With concern about violence in some big cities and talking heads saying it's a plot to destroy the country we could easily push ourselves needlessly into violence, or at the least break from constructive disagreement to thinking fellow locals are enemies intent on doing each other harm, physically or otherwise.

The United Kingdom has already prepared its list of names for hurricanes that may occur this coming winter in the North Atlantic Ocean.

During this election cycle there has been an increase in the propagation of conspiracy theories designed to embed doubt, spread fear and influence voters.

That’s over, and not a second too soon. Who won? Who cares? If you can find a winner somewhere in that mess, “Ah Salud!” as the Italians say.

Our country’s government is at risk. There, I said it.

After the first presidential debate mercifully ended, Fox News analyst and moderator Chris Wallace called the free-for-all “interesting.” A better word is ugly.

This is not about voter fraud or which political party is concerned, it is more about how elections work. With all of the hubbub over mail-in ballots, some people in the Prescott region are confused. Let’s run down how elections work here.

“A pioneer devoted to equality.” That was The Washington Post’s headline about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But when Justice Antonin Scalia died, the headline was, “Supreme Court conservative dismayed liberals.”

Today, I want to relate a story that was recently told to me by a physician friend. In times like these it is fascinating how something that seemed so long ago in our past can be so intrinsically tied to the things we are experiencing currently.

As we watch TV in our Prescott-area homes the news stations are regularly broadcasting updates on what may happen if Donald Trump is re-elected to a second term as president. We hear that “all Hell will break loose!” I wanted to know exactly what that could mean, so I asked a number of friends and acquaintances how they would interpret that statement and its consequences? The results of my research are as follows:

This had to be written and turned in before last night's debate but here's a description of what a dignified debate might have been. I'll assume both candidates won depending on your criteria.

I just signed up to be a mentor at my law school, and did something that is atypical for me: Display a preference for female law students. It even surprises me when I look at that sentence, since my entire career as a columnist has been dedicated to the proposition that gender, race, sexual orientation, religion and all of the other epidermal things that form our identity are less important than the intangibles of brain, values, heart and capacity for endurance.

As we all know, in December of this year, Chino Valley Mayor Darryl Croft, Councilman Mike Best and Town Clerk Jami Lewis are retiring from public service and trundling off into the sunset.

It didn’t matter what the findings of the Breonna Taylor grand jury were going to be. Black Lives Matter and their sympathizers were well-prepared to riot recently in Louisville and other cities, like New York and Washington.

My son Gideon has now finished both his ACT and SAT college entrance exams (scoring at an impressive percentile somewhere between “It’s …it’s…go ask my wife” and “Never you MIND what his father’s score was”), but I wonder if the tests will still be relevant when HIS hypothetical kids reach college age.

In case you feared that the looming Supreme Court fight would distract everyone from Donald Trump’s culpability in the deaths of 200,000 Americans, fear not. Trump can’t resist making a fool of himself.

It was a puzzling phone call earlier this week; the lady was asking why more people will not be allowed to attend Prescott-area high school football games.

“Have a Happy Day!” Have you laid this admonition on anyone lately?

The proposed Stringfield Ranch annexation is providing a crystal-ball look into the future, one that has results I think few desire.

Two years ago, Arizona Eco Development’s proposed Granite Dells subdivision awakened a sleeping giant — the public — caught off guard by an unbelievably disastrous proposal. From widespread community concern arose our grassroots volunteer group, Save the Dells.

For much, if not all, of my adult life, I have avoided the annual fall campaign calling for everyone living under the sun to get a flu vaccine like the plague itself. No, I am not an anti-vaxxer, and no, I’m not denying the vaccine from entering my body because of a religious belief of some sort. Admittedly, I just never felt it was necessary.

This column will address some issues that are seldom contemplated today. Who gives generations names? Why?