Opinion

  We all love to swim in and enjoy the creeks that surround our communities during the warm summer months. While we are recreating in our beautiful county we should be conscious of the effect we are having on the area for other users and for wildlife.

  This past week, while on a walk with some friends, I noticed someone had driven up and down Spanish Creek and the beach near the big pullout off Beskeen Lane.

  Last week I went to take pictures of the fourth-graders enjoying Living History Day at the museum in Quincy. They were dressed up in pioneer costume, doing all kinds of pioneering activities like baking biscuits in a woodstove oven and churning butter.

  They learned to sew buttons, pan for gold, make drip candles, wash laundry using a washboard and make jerky.

  “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.”

  That’s what the late Apple Computer founder Steve Jobs said during his famous commencement address at Stanford University in 2005. His advice was offered to people crossing one of life’s major thresholds, but his words could apply to any of us … all the time.

  Every year in this county about 10,000 people die in alcohol-related crashes. The number of people injured is far greater; and the number of friends and family whose lives are changed forever is immeasurable.

  Last week, students at Quincy High School came as close as a person can come to experiencing the traumatic impact of a drunk driver causing a fatal accident — without having to actually lose a friend or family member.