2 \\ COACHELLA VALLEY INDEPENDENT
AUGUST 2021
A NOTE FROM THE EDITOR Mailing address: 31855 Date Palm Drive, No. 3-263 Cathedral City, CA 92234 (760) 904-4208 www.cvindependent.com
Editor/Publisher Jimmy Boegle staff writer Kevin Fitzgerald coveR and feature design Dennis Wodzisz Contributors Kevin Allman, Charles Drabkin, Max Cannon, Kevin Carlow, Katie Finn, Bill Frost, Bonnie Gilgallon, Bob Grimm, Valerie-Jean (VJ) Hume, Clay Jones, Matt Jones, Jocelyn Kane, Kay Kudukis, Matt King, Keith Knight, Cat Makino, Brett Newton, Dan Perkins, Guillermo Prieto, Theresa Sama, Andrew Smith, Jen Sorenson, Robert Victor, Madeline Zuckerman The Coachella Valley Independent print edition is published every month. All content is ©2021 and may not be published or reprinted in any form without the written permission of the publisher. The Independent is available free of charge throughout the Coachella Valley, limited to one copy per reader. Additional copies may be purchased for $5 by calling (760) 904-4208. The Independent may be distributed only by the Independent’s authorized distributors. The Independent is a proud member and/ or supporter of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia, the California Newspaper Publishers Association, CalMatters, the Desert AIDS Project, the Local Independent Online News Publishers, the Desert Business Association, the LGBT Community Center of the Desert, and the Desert Ad Fed.
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When Los Angeles County restored its indoor mask mandate on July 18, a whole bunch of business owners sighed in despair. They were not sighing because they disagreed with the mandate; they were sighing because, yet again, they, along with their employees, were thrust onto the front lines of COVID-19 rules enforcement. As the Delta variant ravages through unvaccinated populations around the world, I’d like to take a moment to say to my fellow local small-business owners—especially restaurants and retailers—as well as their employees: Thank you for all you’ve done to both survive and serve our community during this seemingly never-ending pandemic. It’s not police officers or city/county code-enforcement officers who have done the bulk of the “policing” around rules like mask mandates; it’s been businesses. I doubt there’s a single employee of a local restaurant or retail store who doesn’t have multiple stories about dealing with ignorant and rude members of the public—jerks who refused to follow a simple, basic, life-saving rule. Not only have business owners and employees become the de facto mask police; they’ve done so without a choice, at a time when they were risking serious illness by the simple act of going to work. It seemed that as of June 15, these owners and employees could finally relax. California had reopened, and masks were strictly optional (at least for vaccinated folks). Then came the Delta variant. As of this writing, no Coachella Valley governments have re-enacted an indoor mask mandate such as Los Angeles County’s restored rules. However, this is a monthly publication, and as quickly as Delta is spreading, I wouldn’t be surprised if stricter rules were put in place while this issue is out on newsstands. I don’t know what’s going to happen next. I do know I’m filled with gratitude for the local business owners and their employees who have tried to do the right thing over the last year and a half. This brings us to our August print edition. Seeing as it’s hot out there, and seeing as there’s SARS-CoV-2 out there, this is a perfect time to find a nice, cool space to enjoy a good book. To whet your literary whistle, this month, we’re presenting excerpts from two local authors: Michael Craft, whose story “VIP Check-In” is part of new collection Palm Springs Noir; and Rodney Ross, who just published his new novel, Diversionary Fires. Welcome to the August 2021 print edition of the Coachella Valley Independent. As always, thanks for reading. Drop me a line at the email address below if you have any feedback. —Jimmy Boegle, jboegle@cvindependent.com