A fitting tribute
“This is about the story that’s been in many papers about Sean Merriman. He seemed like a very outstanding young man. I too work for a public works and when things of that nature happen, everybody feels it and it hurts down deep. I would like to see the city maybe name the next park after him. Merriman Park. Or maybe the entrance to the new ballpark. Maybe name it Merriman’s Drive, entering the ballpark. It would be fitting and would help everybody heal. Take care.”
Red Phone:
You’re not the first to suggest the idea of honoring the young man for whom so many residents had warm feelings. The city has a formal procedure for naming parks or any other public fixture or site, and you can suggest Merriman’s name by contacting Community Services Director Susan Andrade-Wax at 846-0216.
More on names
“I was reading in the paper about how we need to rename one of the schools on Luchessa Avenue, the former Las Animas School. I was reading about all the different reasons why you’d name the different schools. One of them struck me as very odd. Don Christopher gets to name his school Christopher High School because he gave a large sum of money. I’m not trying to pick on him, but I’d like to see Jeramy Ailes named as one of the new schools. He gave the ultimate price. His life. Thank you very much.”
Red Phone:
Don Christopher donated 10 acres of land to the district and because the high school could not be built on the plot of land for various reasons, district officials have decided to sell it and turn his donation into cash.
That the school board decided to name the new high school after Christopher isn’t odd at all. Actually, naming buildings or fields after benefactors (think football player Jeff Garcia) is pretty common.
Now, to your suggestion to name a new school after U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremy Ailes, who died Nov. 15, 2004 in Fallujah, Iraq. Red Phone agrees that it’s a great idea to name a Gilroy school after a local Marine who died serving the country.
The district is currently assembling a committee to name the school that will replace Las Animas Elementary. Once the committee is established you may submit any name for consideration, along with the significance of that person.
Open up the lanes
“I’m calling regarding the Santa Teresa repair plan. I read your article with interest about the plan and I understand the problems they’re having with the road. But obviously there’s a layer of asphalt on the road because they’re all driving on it in one lane south.
“Is there any logical reason why the cannot remove the red cones and restripe the two lanes south and let us use the whole road until this gets resolved? I really don’t think most people care if the upper layer of asphalt is on or not. They just want to be able to drive on the road. Thank you.”
Red Phone:
Sorry caller, you may not be the only one thinking along these lines, but it’s no solution from the city’s perspective.
“It’s a liability issue since there’s still a lot of corrective work to be done,” said City Transportation Engineer Don Dey. “To open up both lanes is really something we can’t do right now.”
The city is currently reviewing repair plans submitted by contractor Granite Construction Company. They plan to meet with the contractor in May and “hopefully we can reach a solution then,” Dey said.
