It's tax time again, but for households with earning of less than $50,000 in 2011, there is free assistance available to help get the necessary tax returns completed and filed.
From modest beginnings, concentrated just in Sonoma County, the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program has grown in recent years and now includes Lake and Mendocino Counties. But Rachel Olsen, who coordinates the extensive coalition of participating organizations for the United Way of the Wine Country, says that the partner sites in Sonoma County remain the most numerous.
Occasionally, a client will have a tax return that is too complicated for the volunteers to complete. In those cases, says Olsen, they have some additional options to call on.
After working with clients on their tax returns over the past six years at Community Action Partners, Irma Fernandez says she has gotten some of the best possible feedback from them—repeat business.
Toi make an appointment for tax preparation, call 2-1-1. Information on how to volunteer is available online.
For Phil's daughter, Meegan Lee Ochs, working with Bowser offered some insight into her late father's career arc.
Publishing thousands of sacred Buddhist texts is a worthy endeavor. But should it be considered—and regulated--as a constructive extension of the workers' religious practice, or a concentrated industrial operation at a rural retreat center?
Curtis Caton, an attorney speaking for 
It's something never seen before in Bodgea Bay: a pair of tall-masted wooden sailing ships, that will arrive Monday afternoon and spend the week moored at Spud Point Marina.
The onboard experience for visitors to the Lady Washington and the Hawaiian Chieftain is presented with as much historic authenticity as possible, including the nautical language and terminology of the era, which Callen cautions can be disorienting to newcomers.
