On the morning of March 8, I looked at the two papers I receive: The New York Times and the Register. I scanned the titles of the articles and found that there were two about education (The Register’s was “Report: State cuts would hurt Napa”). Neither one of them did I find to be inspiring. I felt anger and sadness. The anger was toward the governor for not valuing education, and sadness for the children that are receiving the message that education is not important.

Back in January, former President Bill Clinton came to Napa to promote his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s run for the Democratic presidential nomination. During his speech he was very clear that any talk about a vice president was not only premature but detrimental to her campaign.

The overriding sentiment in Napa County is that people here want the county of the future to be as it is today: Largely rural, with incremental residential growth if any.

One thing about controversial new laws and land use proposals is that they often draw lawsuits.

This year, 2008, was supposed to be the “year of education,” but budget shortfalls suggest that instead of our schools being strengthened, they will face budget cuts.

Following last week’s column about Vallejo’s financial impasse, I’ve been thinking a lot about public safety — it’s a subject near to my heart. Like many kids growing up, I was fascinated by police officers and firefighters: the uniforms, the lights and sirens, the action. As I got older I appreciated the realities of public safety: the strong desire to serve, the risk, and the dark implications of a work environment that routinely involves the morbid, the savage, and the tragic.

Watching the Elliot Spitzer situation unfold in New York, and having been the subject of some bullying myself lately, it brought to mind the whole issue for me again. It may seem like a rather mundane question, but the truth is that it is a big important question that we as a society have had a lot of trouble dealing with.

Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Presidential nomination back in January. As a superdelegate, Thompson's support was pledged to Clinton.