Any day now, you will receive information about the U.S. Census in your mailbox. Please don’t throw this information away. It may look like junk mail, but completing the census form is one of the most important ways you can help our community this month.

The census is an important part of our democracy. Every 10 years it takes a snapshot of our population. This is not an optional exercise, but something that is mandated by our Constitution. It’s really based on the principle of fairness: In order to determine how we allocate federal representation and federal funding, we need to know how our population is changing. And by ensuring that everyone is counted, it ensures that everyone can participate in our democracy in a fair and equitable way.

Funding for education has been decimated by the current state leadership. At a time when lawmakers mouth the importance of improved test scores and quality education, they are firing young teachers and increasing class sizes!

Locally, school district leaders are choosing to “balance the budget” on the backs of students, teachers, and support staff by laying off school site employees.  In our county, 10 percent of the Del Norte Unified School District teaching positions have been eliminated in the past three years. At the same time, administrative costs have increased with only a few reductions in days and no reductions in administrative positions.

As a former supervisor who was very involved in the matter of Tolowa Dunes State Park, Lake Earl flooding and the closing of Kellogg Beach to traditional uses, I take exception to Peter Douglas’ rantings at Del Norte County’s government decisions (“‘Rogue behavior’ cited: Coastal chief blames damage on the county,” March 4).

The North Coast deserves a thriving economy that celebrates our magnificent natural resources, rewards innovation and supports communities with family-wage jobs.

Despite incessant calls for greater diversity in our economy, no business sector has stepped up to drive an economic revival. Ecotourism has yet to be a significant economic factor in our economy.

Perhaps Arbor Day/Week March 7-17, with its focus on conservation and planting trees, will shift attention to an often overlooked path toward economic stability.

Saturday’s tsunami scare brings another chance to remind Del Norters: If there is breaking news of local importance — and what could be more important than a possible tsunami? — it will be posted and updated when appropriate at triplicate.com.

Triplicate Assistant Editor Matt Durkee started monitoring developments shortly after a monster earthquake shook Chile late Friday. When the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a tsunami advisory for the West Coast, Durkee drove to the office and posted the news online at 3:20 a.m.

Joe Gillespie remembers a time when kids around here just naturally gravitated to the outdoor splendor of Del Norte.

Whether it was swimming on a shoreline, venturing into the redwoods or playing a pickup softball game, “it didn’t take much to want to be outside.”

There weren’t the stultifying distractions of today’s technology, the lure of home video games and all manner of hand-held electronic gadgets. “We had two TV channels here when I was a kid,” he recalls.

Okay, so we’re not as healthy as we should be.

Del Norte County got some unwanted attention around California when it finished last among 56 counties in a study of “health outcomes” that measured quality and length of life.

We finished much higher in some other categories, including 25th for access to health care and the quality of that care. That bodes well for the future.

The California Building Standards Commission plans to adopt a new green building code effective Jan. 1, 2011. Being personally interested in building codes that directly impact my profession, I prudently perused the residential portion.

While most of us enjoy the local greenery, clean air and ocean, the proposed “green” code will do little to improve our environment, and much to drive low-income people from the area who would otherwise buy locally. A simple exercise will demonstrate why this is likely to happen.

I am commenting in regard to Triplicate Editor Richard Wiens’ Feb. 3 column titled “Remember when news was news?”

A person can indeed find an abundance of information at their fingertips with the advent of the Internet age. Apparently newspapers are reluctant to change and adapt to meet the demands of this new age. The Internet has been an undeniable medium for the exchange of ideas for nearly two decades now.