No Scroll & Roll
I write today not just with concern, but with heartbreak. In recent weeks, two pedestrians in Petaluma were struck by vehicles. One of them has since died. Let that sink in. A walk—something so basic, so human—has become a life-or-death gamble on our streets.
We in Sonoma County pride ourselves on our quality of life. We stroll our towns, we walk our dogs, we cross the street to say hello to neighbors. But increasingly, we do so at great personal risk, because too many drivers are looking down when they should be looking ahead.
Distracted driving isn’t just a buzzword—it’s an epidemic. We see it daily: a car creeping past a crosswalk as the driver scrolls; a text sent at a stop sign that bleeds into the intersection; a phone call that becomes more important than a life.
I am calling on all of us—yes, you behind the wheel—to put the phone down. Your notifications can wait. The life of a pedestrian can’t.
Let’s not wait for another headline. Let’s not let another neighbor become a statistic. We owe it to each other to pay attention, to be present and to treat our shared roads with the care they—and we—deserve.
Micah D. Mercer
North Bay
Truth Will Survive
Donald Trump may be winning battles, but, take heart; he cannot and he will not win the war. Immigrants and their allies will win this war. LGBTQIA+ and their allies will win this war. People of color and their allies will win this war. As the South African antiapartheid activist and poet Dennis Brutus wrote, “We will not bow down. We will not submit to defeat. Our courage will endure. Our truth will survive.”
David Madgalene
Windsor
