Poo-poo the pedometers: “Hi. I was surfing the Web and came across an agenda for the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors. I noticed on the May 3 agenda, there was a proposition for $29,500 to be spent to purchase 5,000 pedometers for employees of the county to use. Why is the county in this day and age when budgets are so tight, spending money on things like pedometers for employees? I think this is wasteful spending, but I haven’t seen any minutes to see if this was approved or not. Can you tell me if it was and why?”
Whoa! Thanks for bringing this to the Red Phone’s attention. It touched base with Supervisor Don Gage to see what’s going on.
Gage said the agenda item was proposed by Board Chairwoman Liz Kniss, who wants to raise health awareness in the county. But the money for pedometers will not be voted on or come from the county’s general fund. Kniss wants supervisors to kick in for the walking device from their office budgets. Gage said he will not do so.
“I don’t agree with it in these economic times,” he said. “I think it’s a waste of money. If you give a pedometer to everyone, what’s going to happen is that they’re going to throw them away or give them away. You should buy a couple and have them available if people ask for them.”
Opinion page suggestion: “Hey Red Phone, I have a complaint. I’ve been getting the paper for many years now and my favorite parts of the paper are the Opinion page and the Red Phone page. It seems like for the past several months now, about 80 to 90 percent of your issues on the Opinion page are going to school issues. I understand that school issues are important in our community, but I’m getting sick and tired of everything being about the schools on the Opinion page. Can you please get back to the fighting between people like the liberal guy Daniel Garcia and Mr. Fennell … and Mark Zappa and all those guys? Just thought I’d complain about it because everything has to do with school issues. That’s it. Bye.”
Thanks for the suggestion. The Red Phone passed it along to the editor for consideration.
Sex ed: “Why does the Gilroy Unified School District not have any sexual education program? It’s mandatory for all junior high students. Even Hollister has one.”
The Red Phone contacted Jackie Horejs, assistant superintendent of educational sources, to get the lowdown.
Horejs said there is a basic biological reproductive program available to elementary students. Parents can opt out of this is they wish.
In middle school, or seventh grade, there is a mandatory sexual education program students take called Life Sciences where students learn about HIV and other diseases.
There is no standard sexual education class students at the high school level take, however, there are courses such as biology and Fitness for Life that teach the subject matter.
Happy 100th Edith!: “We have a lady here, Mrs. Edith Campbell, who celebrated her 100th birthday yesterday and I think she should get a little recognition. The president of the United States sent her a recommendation for turning 100 years old and a few of us people in the court here went to a little party they had at her house and had some birthday cake. I would hope that the paper would recognize her. She’s a wonderful lady and we sure appreciate her becoming 100 years old. It was a wonderful thing and I think she should be recognized.”
Thanks for the call. The Red Phone and the Dispatch love to recognize community members who have reached a milestone such as a 100th birthday. Congratulations Edith!
Hey readers: What do you think about pedometers for county employees, the Opinion page or sex ed in the district? Or perhaps you want to recognize someone celebrating a birthday milestone – let the Red Phone know. Contact it at 842-9070 or e-mail
re******@gi************.com
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