A little bit about a lot of things:

• Keep an eye on this story....we will be following the efforts of West Side historians to document the existence of a pioneer cemetery on the grounds of the Crows Landing air base, and to ensure that the proper respect is afforded the site.

Putting together the bits and pieces of information alluding to the cemetery’s existence - and possible location - has been no easy task, but historians believe they now have a pretty good idea of where it may have stood more than a century ago.

It makes sense that there would have been an early-day cemetery in the Crows Landing area.....possibly right next to (or underneath) one of the roads leading into the air base.

Historians believe that two trees standing nearby may have framed the gateway to a cemetery, and are pursuing their investigation.

They have no illusions about a cemetery derailing the massive, controversial West Park project, but quite rightly want any formal burial ground respected and preserved.

This episode reminds me of what a valuable asset our many historians are to the communities we call home.

As important as it is to look to the future, we should never forget to honor our past and celebrate our history.....and heaven knows there’s plenty of history to be found on the West Side.

• History, by the way, isn’t always where or how you expect to find it......just ask the good folks at Bonita School in Crows Landing. They discovered a sinkhole on campus Monday.....which after further investigation and a little digging turned out to apparently be a long-forgotten, wood-lined septic facility that had served the previous building.

Apparently there was nothing below a portion of the sidewalk but about 10 feet of air, a problem which was not discovered until the adjacent grass caved into the hole over the weekend.

That was a situation which could have ended badly had something given way when students and staff were on campus; fortunately, that wasn’t the case - although custodian Dave Larsen took a partial tumble into the hole Monday morning and was scratched up a bit.

That’s no way to start your week.

• To bail out, or not bail out? Our lawmakers have been wrestling with that question quite contentiously in Washington, D.C., this week. Time will tell if they work something out in hopes of rescuing a financial market some insist is on the verge of total collapse.

Like many people I have severely mixed feelings on the proposed federal bailout of our financial system.

Do I want things to get worse? Of course not.

Do I have confidence that a federal bailout would work as touted instead of simply costing us billions of dollars which we don’t have to spend in the first place? Nope.

Where does that money come from, anyway? Is somebody firing up the printing press in the basement of the White House?

But, perhaps on principle above all, else I have major issues with pumping taxpayer dollars into a bailout which rewards failure, irresponsibility, excess and greed.

Small businesses up and down Main Street understand that you have to be responsible, make good decisions and be accountable.....or your doors don’t stay open. Period.

That above all else is what makes this crisis, and the idea of federal intervention, so hard to swallow for those who make their living on Main Street.

• Hate when this happens. A quote from Gustine councilman Joe Oliveira last week hit the paper reading that “you can subsidize new development on the backs of the people who are already here.” What Oliveira actually said (quite correctly, I might add) is that “you can’t subsidize new development on the backs of the people who are already here.”

Just a humbling reminder of the difference that a character or two can make in totally changing the meaning of a sentence.....and with that, we set the record straight with our apologies.

• A bright spot sometimes overlooked......while much of our attention focuses on the challenges of a sluggish economy, the foreclosure crisis and a housing market in free-fall, our local farmers just keep doing what they do best - efficiently producing commodities which help feed the world while continuing to be the engine that drives the West Side economy.

By all reports, agriculture has enjoyed a bountiful 2008 blessed by favorable weather, strong production and generally solid market prices.

Despite facing many challenges of their own, local farmers and West Side agriculture as a whole continue to thrive.

And that translates into very good news for our communities and the local economy, which benefit greatly when farming flourishes.