In explaining his opposition to city participation in local tourism promotion, Dennis stated that “We (city government) don’t benefit the most ... I’m not in favor of it.” I would remind Dennis that this is a nation where the government is supposed to serve the people, not the other way around where “government benefits the most.”

Dennis explained in the article that if a visiting family of four spends $500 during its stay in our community, the city gets “only” about $23 in sales tax and Transient Occupancy Tax. Continuing, Dennis complained that the rest of the $500 goes to the hotel, restaurants and retail shops.

In response, I remind him that the balance goes to the businesses that earned that money, with no help from the city if it does not fund tourism promotion.

The balance goes to the business owner and his family and to desk clerks, housekeepers, gardeners, grocery checkers, baggers, produce workers, butchers, security, janitors, waiters and waitresses, dishwashers, bar tenders, cleaning crews, gas jockeys, mechanics, drivers, insurance brokers and their families.

We’ve gotten quite a bit of response, mostly positive and some amounting to high praise. While much of it arrived in the form of emails or phone calls rather than letters to the editor, I’m going to share a bit.

Gopher Gulch columnist Inez Castor copied me on a congratulatory note she sent to reporter Nick Grube and said of the series, “It was community building at its best — not to mention damned good storytelling.”

She added: “This is the sort of writing I think readers of a local paper want to see. We want to care about people, and this story makes those of us who never knew them care about Mari, Peter and their lives, as well as the Alexandres and their struggle to deal with this.”

A family friend wrote to say that she has “never once seen Mari without a smile and only God can understand why someone so amazing would have to endure this.”

It was a foggy but warm, beautiful morning. Perfect for agate hunting and strolling along to the pounding of the surf before true winter sets in. We left our truck and walked through the dunes to the beach with our 10-month-old spayed female heeler/

Lab mix on her 6-foot leash.

Suddenly from 20 yards or so away a pit bull charged us, flew onto our pup’s back, rolling her leash out of my grasp and viciously bit on her throat and pinned her, then kept biting until he was on top with her snout flat into the sand and her yelping piteously. I was screaming “No no no no” and my husband (who was recovering from a bad fall) was trying to ward off the fearless brute with his walking stick (no reaction from the monster) and screaming for the owners.

The fact was the pit bull was in full attack mode and humans yelling meant nothing to him. With no provocation, he’d thrown us into shock and terror so fast we were just blindsided! We went into shock just like being in a car wreck!

Mari’s Climb, a three-part series running Thursday through Saturday about a lo­cal wom­an who was par­­alyzed after contracting a food-borne illness, is notable in several re­gards.

Most im­portantly, it couldn’t have been done without the willingness of Mari Tardiff and her husband, Peter, to totally open up about the ordeal that has turned their lives upside down for the past 17 months. They granted Triplicate reporter Nick Grube incredible access into their minds, their hearts and their home.

As a result, Nick’s articles will go beyond recounting what transpired — even though that account is riveting and will be told in detail for the first time. You’ll also know what the Tardiff family was thinking and feeling before and after Mari got sick. This affords a deep understanding of the challenges they have wrestled with ever since the fateful day when Mari opened her refrigerator and found catastrophe.

Interwoven with the Tardiffs’ story will be a broader look at the issues raised by Mari’s illness.

At bigger newspapers, rep­orters would be able to focus all their efforts on a project such as this. That’s not possible at a paper our size; Nick has continued to cover city and county government and myriad other stories while working on this series. Occasionally colleagues have pinch-hit for him, but the fact remains that he has accomplished something noteworthy because of his dedication and his willingness to sweat.

He’s known for months that the Tardiffs deserve nothing less than that.

Del Norte County’s political landscape is often described as green versus brown more than Republican versus Democrat. When it comes to the traditional political parties, we’re about 50-50. It’s harder to measure green/brown allegiance, but certainly both “sides” are represented when it comes to debates over growth control and stewardship of our vast tracts of public land.

But a funny thing is happening here on the North Coast. While our Democrats and Republicans have long worked together on local issues for the betterment of the community, the lines between brown and green are now blurring as well.

Sure, we’ll still squabble over thorny issues like where all-terrain vehicles should be allowed on public property and how to balance the needs for economic growth and environmental protection. But the business community here is increasingly embracing the concept of ecological enterprise — for profit.

Green, after all, is the color of money.

Continually, the citizens of Crescent City are being misled by City Councilwoman Donna Westfall, and now her most current escapade regarding the sewer plant.

“It’s easier to believe a lie heard a thousand times than the truth heard once.”

Councilwoman Westfall has publicly stated on various occasions that she likes to grandstand, engage in theatrics, and admits she doesn't know how government works.”  Clearly, she has proven this self-assessment repeatedly. Westfall is not fit to serve the people.

Not only does Westfall not know how government works, she continually makes false, misleading statements and accusations that further her one-horse, destructive political agenda.

Laura and I headed out aimlessly for a walk late Saturday morning. Maybe a jog. We didn’t have a specific plan until we saw something special at sea.

There’s an unusual access at the north end of the Pebble Beach Drive bluff, just before the road curves into its descent toward Washington Boulevard. A long stairway takes you not all the way to the beach, but to the flat top of a rock wall. It’s a mini-adventure getting down to the sand from there at low tide. You wouldn’t even try at high tide.

We often descend these stairs partway to a perch perfect for watching sunsets. If the tide is way in, the waves crashing against that rock wall provide their own entertainment.

On Saturday, we just happened to arrive when the tide was way in. It was the peak of the highest tide in many weeks, and we didn’t need a chart to figure that out. Muscular waves were lining up for their crack at the shore.

We need to decide what kind of garbage and recycling pickup service we want in the future.

We need to figure out how to configure our elementary schools for maximum efficiency and effectiveness.

We need to make the best possible use of an extraordinary opportunity to improve the health of our community, especially our children’s.

This past year has been surreal. Phrases once taken for granted, like “innocent until proven guilty,” are now painfully laughable.

Within 24 hours of being arrested, I was tried and convicted in the media. Before I ever saw a judge, or heard the actual charges, people from Gold Beach all the way to Eureka, were hearing a vilifying, sensationalized version from the radio, television and newspaper.

Business-wise, the damage was done no matter the final outcome. Personally, it was just beginning.

The following six months of court dates ended with a dismissal, but it felt like six months of walking in the dark, never knowing what was coming or when the bottom might fall out.

Business almost stopped completely, Christmas sales were non-existent and every month posed the question, “Will this be the month we close a business I’ve had open for 12 years?”

Maj. Dominic Oto of the Oregon National Guard had unfinished business when he came home from war. He had been in the same armored vehicle as de Solenni, part of a convoy heading to Kandahar on Sept. 20, 2008. In fact, Oto told an Oregonian reporter, he and de Solenni had tossed a coin to see who would have to drive.

“I lost the coin toss, so I was driving,” Oto said. “That’s probably what saved me when we got hit by a 500-pound IED.”

The 37,000-pound vehicle was thrown 20 feet in the air. Oto suffered two herniated disks in his back and a dislocated shoulder and was sent back to the United States a week later. De Solenni was killed instantly.

“When I got back, I was a mess,” Oto said. “I had a lot of guilt over Bruno passing. I really did feel in my heart of hearts that he was a better man than me.”

“I think about him all the time. Always part of my mind is there in that day.”