PD Editorial: Thumbs down on sentencing of local man in Iran

Taking a holiday hike

What could be better than a hike in the redwoods to work off a Thanksgiving feast? Here's a holiday thumbs up to the Save the Redwoods League, which is using an anonymous $50,000 donation to provide free entry at 49 state parks in the Northern California redwood region on Friday.

Many people look forward to shopping Black Friday sales, but if you're not one of them, this is a great opportunity to see some of the Golden State's most spectacular scenery.

Armstrong Redwoods, Salt Point and Fort Ross are among the state parks in Sonoma County where day-use fees will be waived. For a list of all 49 redwood parks you can visit for free, and to download a day pass, visit savetheredwoods.org.

Local man sentenced in Iran

As with many throughout the North Bay, we were hoping for a more enlightened and humane outcome in the troubling case of Jason Rezaian who grew up in Mill Valley. But that apparently is not to be. The Iranian State news agency IRNA has reported that Rezaian, 39, the Washington Post Tehran bureau chief who has been held on vague espionage charges in Iran's notorious Evin prison for 16 months, has been sentenced to prison.

This is just the latest chapter in a maddening tale of a shadowy system of justice. Rezaian was imprisoned in July 2014, tried behind closed doors, convicted without clear evidence and now sentenced to an unspecified time in prison. His lawyer, Leila Ahsan, told the Associated Press that she had not been given any information about the sentencing. She also said that she knows nothing more about the verdict. At the time his conviction was confirmed last month, he reportedly faced up to 20 years in prison.

Rezaian, whose father was an Iranian expatriate and owned an antique store in Petaluma, has dual citizenship and a strong interest in his family's roots. He started traveling to Iran about 15 years ago, writing freelance articles and producing documentaries. He once said that his goal was to show that 'Iran is not the boogeyman.' Sadly, the judicial travesty surrounding this goodwill ambassador is suggesting otherwise.

Do-it-yourself debt monitor

With property taxes due in about two weeks, we imagine that a lot of people are trying to make sense of their bills. In addition to regular property taxes and any parcel taxes, most property owners also must pay assessments, often totaling several hundred dollars, for general obligation bonds approved by voters and issued by the county, school districts and special districts. Keeping track of all that public borrowing isn't easy, but there's a useful new tool for anyone who wants to try to sort it out.

Thumbs up for state Treasurer John Chiang, whose office created an open-data site — debtwatch.treasurer.ca.gov — that includes details of $1.5 trillion in debt issued since 1984 by state and local governments.

Users can download raw data into spreadsheets, create graphs or review data for individual jurisdictions. For Sonoma County, the website shows $317 million borrowed in 2015 with $102 million already proposed for next year.