Wading In

February 23, 2012 | Fairfield Daily Republic Contraception to the rescue by Kelvin Wade Contraception has been in the news lately and not in a good way. But contraception is an important way to improve the nation’s health, reduce abortion and even strengthen the economy. The Condom Access Project began this week. In select California counties (not including Solano), teens between the ages of 12 and 19 can go to http://www.TeenSource.org and order a package of 10 condoms and health materials that will be sent to them for free in an unmarked envelope. Teens can also go into their local Planned Parenthood (1325 Travis Blvd., Suite C, in Fairfield or call 429-8855) and receive free condoms. It’s always controversial when you talk contraception and teens. Many who oppose such programs feel that giving kids condoms along with other birth control information encourages them to have sex. But scientific studies don’t bear that often-voiced fear out. Besides, you were once a teenager. Did you ne...

February 16, 2012 | Daily Republic Put your final wishes on paper by Kelvin Wade It was Friday, Aug. 18, 2006. My brother Tony called and told me that our mother passed away. It wasn’t a shock. Two-and-a-half months earlier on her first trip to a medical facility for dialysis, an incompetent private medical transport worker failed to secure her wheelchair in the transport van. Our mother rolled backward out of the back of the truck and toppled to the pavement, striking her head on the ground. Since then we’d watched our mother’s health decline rapidly. She complained of headaches and vision problems, in addition to the bruising on her arms. Life from that point on became a blur of hospital trips from La Mariposa Care and Rehabilitation Center to NorthBay Medical Center for our mother. While we were trying to get our mother proper medical care, we were also consulting with a law firm about her horrific spill from the medical transport van. Our mother contracted MRSA — a difficult-to-tre...

February 09, 2012 | Daily Republic Is it ‘black’ or ‘African-American?’ by Kelvin Wade A couple of months ago, my then-6-year-old grandson Kawika told me his sister Lauryn was black. I told him that both he and she were half-black. He looked at his skin and proclaimed he was “brown.” We left it at that. Looking at him, one would think he was a Pacific Islander, especially since his name is Hawaiian. He has a black father and a mother who is half-white and half-Japanese. I like his youthful simplicity. Maybe that’s why I bristle when I hear the term “African-American.” The black intelligentsia, especially the Rev. Jesse Jackson, popularized the term in the 1980s. Someone determined that “black” wasn’t good enough. There’s no question that most blacks reject “colored,” “Negro” and the old “Afro-American” labels. But I don’t recall taking a vote to change from black to African-American. A recent Facebook page titled “Don’t Call Me African-American” received national media attention. There...

February 02, 2012 | Daily Republic Attack of the taxes by Kelvin Wade Reading that the Fairfield City Council is considering a tax measure for the November ballot to help soften the impact of an $8.25 million budget hole isn’t surprising. The state has dealt a severe blow to local governments by killing redevelopment agencies. Asking financially strapped Fairfielders to hike their own taxes is a tough sell. The spending cuts are going to be painful by themselves. With no revenues, truly draconian cuts are in our future. Barry Eberling’s article on the $8.25 million budget hole Fairfield faces contained a paragraph that was truly shocking: “Fairfield could shut down the senior center, the Allan Witt sports center and aquatics center and the Center for Creative Arts, stop maintaining all parks, roadsides and city facilities, end code enforcement, lay off six firefighters and turn off all street and pedestrian lights and save $3.6 million.” That would be less than half of what we’d need t...