Each week we’ll run through the sublime, the trivial and profound issues, decisions and goings on that strike us as Hits or Misses. you can join in, too, by emailing your Hits & Misses to editboard@theunion.com.
HIT (from reader Susan Rogers): to the free document scanning available at the Doris Foley Library for Historical Research (211 N. Pine St., Nevada City) on three Saturdays — June 25, July 9 and 23 — to help you prepare for an emergency evacuation. Get help looking up your Evacuation Zone number and write it on the key tag attached to a free USB flash drive for your scanned document images (such as passports, birth certificates, vehicle titles, insurance policies, real estate and property records, etc.) For an appointment, call (530) 265-4606 or drop in 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
MISS (from reader Daryl Grigsby): To me, in my June 18 interview about the Juneteenth Celebration, when mentioning the darker side of American history I said “the indigenous are gone.” Well, obviously not true, for as long as indigenous adults and their children struggle and survive they clearly aren’t “gone.” What I intended was that our nation, through genocide and broken treaties, killed millions and forcibly took the lands and homes of those who lived here before 1492.
MISS (from reader Bill Lambert): To American gun culture. If anyone thinks they ought to own a handgun for household personal safety, please read the research about the odds of household self-inflicted harm vs. intruder prevention. Harm wins. If anyone thinks they ought to own a semiautomatic weapon with detachable clips, that’s just beyond me. Why are we so uncivilized, so unlike other countries, so married to the word “freedom,” which translates to ”the right to be as reckless as possible”? Why are we so afraid of weapons regulation? The current legislation pending in Congress is a whitewash, a smokescreen allowing the GOP to claim compromise and “movement on the issue.” Shame on American gun culture.
MISS (from reader Claudia Taylor): To the president, who recently stated “We’re changing people’s lives!” in regard to the current administration policies. They sure are … in a very negative way! There are grossly higher fuel costs and food costs, and service fees that never before existed. There is also out-of-control crime, no respect for constitutional law and order, and those coming to the United States illegally have more resources helping them than veterans who have protected our freedom, many at a very high cost. he list goes on just how life is much more uncertain, dangerous, challenging and expensive since Jan. 20, 2021. And the negative affect is magnified in California! One gallon of regular unleaded gas at the least expensive station I’m aware of is now $6.09.9 cash!
MISS (from Taylor): To the current Nevada County assistant clerk recorder/registrar of voters who personally trained the poll workers that would monitor an election in which she was the candidate for the clerk recorder/registrar of voters position. Rather than demonstrate her leadership skills in her office by insisting, for integrity sake, that others do the training, she performed that task herself. There was also not overwhelming local financial support, but rather significantly more from out of the county.
HIT (from reader Shanti Emerson): To Sierra Stages bringing us a series of edgy performances, like “Patty HR.”
HIT (from Emerson): To all the wonderful musical weekends returning to the fairgrounds: Strawberry Festival, Blue Grass, World Fest, Dry Diggings, etc. Great for the community to have them back.
HIT (from Emerson): To the large turnout for the Juneteenth celebration in Pioneer Park.
HIT (from Emerson): To Nevada Union High School for donating free space for California Careforce to take place July 15-17. This is wonderful! Thanks NU.
HIT (from Editorial Board member Ed Beckenbach): To Carol Barnick for her commentary on Mill Street’s regrettable transformation (The Union, June15, 2022). Like with many others, the years catch up, and my wife and I don’t walk too well any more. We have all but given up shopping in Nevada City due to hills and lack of parking. Now we are shopping on Mill Street less and less for much the same reasons. Fortunately, Tess’ has opened a branch in Brunswick Basin, so not all is lost. Though it’s not our first choice, Target here we come!
HIT (from Editorial Board member Thea Hood): To the latest Gallup poll which showed that 81 percent of Americans believe in God, although that number has dropped to 68 percent among liberals and young adults. Without God, man decides what is moral, what a man or a woman is, and whether it is OK to kill a baby in the womb.
HIT (from Editorial Board member Jo Ann Rebane): To former The Union Editor Brian Hamilton’s multi-part series exposing the cumulative effects of brain injuries, even sub-concussive hits which lead to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and to the Dever family for sharing how the disease changed and ultimately took the life of their son Taylor.
HIT (from Rebane): To high school juniors and seniors who took TechTest2022, the demanding four-hour STEM exam sponsored by Sierra Economics and Science Foundation, and to the winners who earned nice cash awards.
HIT (from Rebane): To Quartet San Francisco, which enchanted attendees at the Music in the Mountains’ Summer Fest opener with their new take on the string quarter repertoire. They played tangos and original arrangements of familiar tunes from the Beatles and Queen.
HIT (from Editorial Board member Tom Durkin): To Rosalie Wohlfromm’s Other Voices column on her experiences as a volunteer poll worker. She revealed herself to be a person of integrity who has held the line against misinformed voters. It’s sad that she no longer enjoys her work, but she needs to know how important her volunteer work is in protecting our democracy. Thank you for your service!
MISS (from Publisher Don Rogers): To the experience of a 14-year-old Sierra Academy of Expeditionary Learning student holding a sign saying “Me Next?” outside a Friends of the NRA fundraiser. The student recounted grown men saying to him that he’d make a “real good target,” “you don’t have worry if you’re not running,” and one who pointed with his hand at the child in the shape of a gun and fired. The issue isn’t that members would gather or demonstrators show up, given fresh circumstances, but adults would let themselves behave that way.
HIT (from Rogers): To forgiveness and the hard lessons that teach humility, a quality not much in vogue in our society.
You might have noticed an announcement in the paper a couple of weeks back about us being sold. Again. Fifty-four years with Swift Communications, then five months Ogden Newspapers, then — whoosh — a new…
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Kids as young as 6 months old can start getting the COVID vaccine today (Tuesday, June 21). Will you get your kids vaccinated?
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