Opinion

Has anybody heard from Brenda Lee? I mean is she still with us? She sang that famous song, “I’m Sorry.” So sorry, please accept my apologies. What a set of pipes. more...

This is the weekend to remember the great town once called Port Chicago. It was quite a place. I had the pleasure to work there in the summer of 1964 when I was employed by the Contra Costa County road crew. I worked with Bruce Skaggs, who lived in Port Chicago and had to go home at least two times a day. Port Chicago has three tragedies to recall. First there was the explosion, the great loss of life and the physical destruction. Then there were the courts-martial, which have only now been fully exonerating of the men who allegedly mutinied.more...

Sure have been a lot of bikers in town. Oops, I mean the bikers with the strong legs who wear those French-Italian bicycle suits. Apparently they come over the  Martinez-Benicia Bridge, which has a bike lane, so we are now part of the Bay Trail loop.  I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s on my shortlist. I am told the bicyclists take the Carquinez Bridge and go down Franklin Canyon Road and end up in downtown Martinez where they get a cup of coffee at Starbucks. So culture is unfolding itself in those bright, beautifully colored biking suits. more...

We are inundated with new words, and new meanings to old words. Constantly, we have to re-learn words that have been redefined, whether naturally by culture or by those with an agenda of some sort. This is neither inherently good nor bad, but it is being abused. Through the redefinition of our vocabulary, a mysticism surrounds much of our verbiage – chock full of ideologies and contemporary thought patterns, we have crafted super-charged words. Words that don’t truly mean what they intend to imply, or they stand for much more than the original definition.more...

APOLOGY
In the July 2 edition of the Gazette we ran an inappropriate and insensitive headline regarding the tragic death of a Martinez man. The headline read, “Martinez skydiver takes final plunge.” We wish to apologize to Ken Knigge’s family and to everybody in the community for the unforgivable light-hearted approach with which we treated the story. Though I was on vacation that day, the buck stops with me, and I hope our readers know the Gazette does not take personal tragedies lightly.
— Yael Li-Ron, Editor

Two items in today’s Gazette will probably generate some e-mail from readers, so let me try to address some of your concerns in anticipation of your reaction.more...

Decaf latte: $2.75

Antique pin cushion: $7.95

Parking ticket: $28

Shopping in Martinez: Priceless

Welcome to the Gazette’s spankin’ new Web site. We’re kinda proud of it. It would never have happened had it not been for the heroic efforts by Matthew Newton, Web developer extraordinaire. Please let us know what you think and don’t hesitate to leave comments on stories you like (or not). — Yael Li-Ron, Editor.