One thing about Gilroy, and that is we’ve always got something
going on in this town to spark local columnist chatter, even if it
doesn’t involve grades, tests, or reading lists at Gilroy High
School or some other embattled educational issue going on with the
GUSD.
One thing about Gilroy, and that is we’ve always got something going on in this town to spark local columnist chatter, even if it doesn’t involve grades, tests, or reading lists at Gilroy High School or some other embattled educational issue going on with the GUSD.
So speaking of something else going on, it now seems to me (as a mystery story fan), we’ve got a new “who-done-it” here in town. And it’s not the recent “cat burglar” story either. By-the-way, we can all be thankful that the Gilroy PD arrested a suspect who apparently is the “cat” in a series of local burglaries. For the victims of a burglary, it produces a gut sickening feeling that you’ve been violated to the core of your being. Your home, your private world, has been invaded by someone with no moral value of right or wrong, who freely chooses to take your possessions, and maybe even your life, if they’re caught in the act of committing the crime. But I digress.
Now I’ll admit that while this new Gilroy mystery doesn’t have quite the air of suspense as the story of a few months ago (Dispatch Editorial d Aug. 7) when some local nameless phantom wrote some poison-pen letters to some local folks here in town. As you may recall, these people wanted to ban the sale of legal fireworks in Gilroy. A mysterious stranger appeared on the scene, and just like Zorro of old California days, sent threatening letters (but in this case adding foul and derogatory language – something that Zorro would never have done), warning what might happen to those peons if such a local ban was passed.
Why even our leading local liberal Dispatch columnist Dennis Taylor got in to the act of attempting to solve the case, writing in his Aug. 20 column about the “… two-bit thug who threatened supporters of a ban on safe-and-sane fireworks in Gilroy…” and adding his own solution to the case with a conclusion that would even make Sherlock Holms blush, stating “I suspect I know who is behind the threatening letters, given the description: vulgar, angry, demented. Sounds just like one of the right-wing rednecks …”
Well darn, Dennis. You set us up for a solution, and just like O.J., you then proceeded to be at a loss for a specific name to pin on the real culprit – that “right wing redneck,” and just when we were waiting for the answer to the mystery.
But we forgive you, because now Gilroy has another case for you to solve, especially as a credentialed member of the Sierra Club. For lack of better title, I’ll call this the case of “The 98,000 Gallons of Missing Water.” In fact, this case may be so challenging that you might have to call in our own local “Dr. Watson,” Gilroy’s Bill C. Jones, who seems to have answers for everything. And the sooner you and Bill get on to solving this case the better. The first revelation of missing water came from a front-page article in The Dispatch Oct. 30. Now just days later, we hear that even more water has apparently vanished mysteriously, in fact it’s the same volume of 98,000 gallons (letter to the editor from Carol Slay, Nov. 3).
Good grief, what’s going on here? Can it be another right-wing conspiracy?
So Dennis, here’s an opportunity to find out, and this time name names.
But placing aside my spoofing of Dennis and Bill (all in good fun of course), I’ll admit that it was disconcerting to read the boiler plate answer to this mystery from the mouth of city Administrative Services Director Michael Dorn. Mr. Dorn’s answer was that the city doesn’t need a reason, just a meter reading. Ouch! Sounds like Mr. Dorn needs a refresher course in Customer Service 101. But I suspect he’s pretty frustrated as well over this. The same article quotes him saying “We have every indication that the water went through the meter at that amount”… “The water was actually used.”
Now maybe John Walski has actually solved this case (letter to the editor Nov. 5). But if not, we have another unsolved mystery in our city. Let’s hope that the answer will be discovered soon, and that no matter who’s at fault, another 98,000 gallons of water won’t “mysteriously” vanish down the drain.
In the meantime, the victim, Jenny Liu needs to reevaluate her feelings that living in Gilroy is worse than living in China. How she arrives at that conclusion truly is a mystery.
