Festive foods, drinks and a myriad of holiday events come now. For example, Cannery Row Tree Lighting on Nov. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m.

"Cheers" to holidays means planning ahead if drinking. A responsible driver can get folded like a pretzel after hit by a drunken one.

A drunken driver hit me in 1992 when I was 16. Years of medical care and therapy in San Jose, San Ramon, Stockton and Tracy followed. I have problems hearing, talking and walking. After more than 30 years, I have adapted to this depressing change.

Taking Highway 1 to go to and from a holiday party? Do not let your night of drinking turn into a nightmare: don't drive drunk. Before celebrating, make sure you have a sober driver to take you home. If tapped to be the designated driver, do not drink alcohol. Take that role seriously.

I'm a fan of public transit, but $90 million for 4 miles of bus-only lane to avoid traffic congestion for a few hours a day seems extravagant.

How about something like the Google buses in the Bay Area? Employers would provide shuttle services for their workers that would deliver them close to their workplace.

Shuttle service would be more convenient than a bus, not cost the employees anything and free up traffic and parking. Instead of taxpayers funding new bus lanes, businesses should pay for this shuttle system as they are profiting off their commuting employees services.

-- Jim Sommerville, Carmel Valley

This is tough. We have to figure out how to process the trauma. It's not even about losing an election, it's about remembering how all this went before, (four years of chaos, trauma, hurt, loss, death, and foolishness) ... and a gradual eroding of a country and a unifying concept-the Republic we would like to keep.

We must not be angry, spiteful or mean; we must not shut others out, or blame others. This is hard. But those are the emotions that led us and others astray. Hate, resentment, fear, anger and blame.

We must not shut down, retreat, or withdraw. In this case, yes, we must take the high road. But there are other reasons for us to rise above the meanness. We need to be what we want of others. We need to model kindness, acceptance, love, caring and understanding.

We must engage with others, build communities, not just our own isolated community, but a larger more diverse community. We need to: reach out to others; understand and accept differences; listen to others, see them and let them see us.

I don't blame the people who were victims of the floods of disinformation, misinformation and lies, which dominated the airways -- airways we weren't listening to, never heard. We must talk to those people. What do they really need and want? What do they fear?

A goal: Choose one thing, do it well. We can reach out, communicate, teach, share, give, see others, listen, and/ or love, if we can. We can express and employ the best of ourselves, finding small or large, but significant ways to make the world a better place.

-- Susan C. Morse, Carmel

I want to thank the Democratic Party for the historic victory of President Trump and the Republican Party in this past election. Frankly, it was a victory for the entire country.

This landslide victory may not have been possible if the Democrats hadn't come out of the closet and exposed their extreme radicalism for the whole country to see. The Democrats showed they are more concerned about illegal aliens than hurricane victims and support allowing men who are pretending to be women to compete in women's sports.

They have no problem using the justice system, both federal and local, to persecute their political enemies and feel no shame about telling the most outlandish lies about President Trump.

Thank you, Democrats. With your help, this country really dodged a bullet in this past election.

-- Brian Burleson, Seaside

Cal Am has been an embedded member of the Monterey community since the 1960s and has consistently served customers with safe, high-quality drinking water. They've worked hard to restore the Carmel River and have been diligently working with community partners to develop new supplies for the region.

At the bidding of the Public Water Now (PWN) coalition the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District (MPWMD) Board of Directors has spent $3,200,000 of ratepayer funds on lawyers and consultants to conduct studies and litigate efforts to buy out Cal Am. As reported in the Herald, the district was found guilty of double dipping on charges to its ratepayers. PWN says that Cal Am is a greedy for-profit company overcharging us for water. Maybe we ratepayers have been dupped by our public agency. This is not reducing the cost of our water.