5 letters: Mark Derry column; Gilroy FFA; Codiga: ‘Cowards result to name calling’

Editor Mark Derry is greatly missed
Dear Editor,
Change is always a part of life, but some changes are mistakes. My husband and I wish to express how much we have missed the weekly column by former editor, Mark Derry. His columns always seemed to catch an essence of life in Gilroy. His warmth and humor, his bits of information about people and places around Gilroy, gave a flavor to the Dispatch that seemed so right for a small-time newspaper. Now we go through each edition looking for something similar that brings the people of Gilroy to life, but it’s never there. Sometimes I even forget that this is a Gilroy newspaper. We surely do wish you could have seen the way to keep Mark Derry as a regular part of the paper. His column and insight were the “soul” of the Gilroy Dispatch and are greatly missed.
Jean Summers, Gilroy
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Gilroy Future Farmers are tomorrow’s agricultural leaders
Dear Editor,
Gilroy FFA has finished another year of leadership and competition. Thursday, May 29 Gilroy FFA said goodbye to their beloved seniors and welcomed the new Greenhands (first-year members) at the annual FFA Banquet. The banquet congratulated outstanding members, advisors and the Gilroy High School administrators that have worked so hard to make the 2013-14 year a great one for the outgoing seniors as well as our incoming freshmen. The dedication and commitment each member showed throughout the year was incredible, not to mention the Gilroy FFA booster club working as hard as they could to fund each activity the Gilroy FFA Chapter participated in.
To close the Banquet the new Gilroy FFA Chapter officers where elected: Juli Figone as Historian, Nick Triolo as Sentinel, Mary McClelland as Reporter, Kimberly Potman as Treasurer, Steven Herrera as Secretary, Adrianna Figone as Vice President and Jenna Meacham as President. As the 2013-14 year ends with a bang, the 2014-15 year kicks-off with eager new officers and a Chapter that believes in the future of agriculture. The Gilroy FFA Chapter would like to extend a special thanks to Fran and Bobby Beaudet, the owners of Old City Hall Restaurant, who donated their facility, time and delicious food to the members and their families for this event! Without your generous support, we would not enjoy the tremendous success we do today.
Mary McClelland, Gilroy
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‘Cowards resort to name calling’
I’d like to respond to “know-nothingness and Kevin Jensen” written by the Grzan family, in your May 23, 2014 Opinion section.
I would never expect someone of your caliber to have the courage to debate anyone, let alone an entire group of educated individuals knowledgeable with facts that would destroy your empty claims about Kevin Jensen. But I do expect a candidate such as Laurie Smith who uses liberal tactics such as personal attacks and name calling to be required to defend her position on issues in order to support the office she is seeking. Either you can’t read or haven’t taken the time to educate yourself with Jensen’s list of reforms, issues, problems, etc. which are clearly listed on his website along with endorsements of almost every law enforcement agency in this county and then some kevinjensenforsheriff.com/#!endorsements/c1g7l. If Jensen’s such a know-nothing candidate as you claim, perhaps you can explain with real facts why numerous top law enforcement agencies and individuals—you know, the experts who know what makes a good sheriff—are supporting him?  Yes, Grzan family, I expect cowards without facts to resort to name calling those of us with the truth “dysfunctional extremists” and a “know-nothing group.” Thanks for the compliment; we must be doing the right thing to get you to make such unsupported stupid comments.
Georgine Scott-Codiga, Gilroy
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Support S.J. Res. 19 and H.J. Res. 20
Dear Editor,
Our democracy has been lost, taken over by powerful money interests that have more influence over our government than all but the most wealthy citizens. We need a constitutional amendment that will give the rights of citizens back to citizens, reversing the original, ill-fated decision to allow corporations the same protections and rights as persons, and the recent “Citizens United” legislation, which gave corporations almost unlimited access to the political process. Corporations have legal protections from liability for their actions that individual persons do not have. They have millions of dollars to invest in political campaigns, which the vast majority of individual persons don’t have. It’s no wonder our government has no ability to regulate the finance industry or to prosecute those who crashed the economy, stole people’s homes and looted our retirement funds, or that protections of our rights, our lands, our food and water are being systematically stripped away for the sake of corporate profits.
Jan Saxton, Aromas
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SCVWD not doing enough to protect water resources
Dear Editor,
The growth in the county is unsustainable. Over 55% of our water is imported. We are dependent on outside resources and in light of this drought and climate change our future is in doubt and our quality of life is at risk. While Dennis praises the district for past efforts, I don’t see anything specific, and nothing new in light of current challenges. For Morgan Hill we need to do much more—including a scalping plant that diverts water from the water treatment plant in Gilroy, keeping it right here in Morgan Hill. We need a new water recycling infrastructure. Not just in a local treatment plant but how can we get recycled water to local farmers, big commercial users and public institutions like our parks and schools. We also need to consider bringing recycled water for landscaping to our homes. We talked about doing this for the past decade but nothing has been done. We need to do more than discourage lawns and water wasting landscaping from sidewalks, business frontage, median strips and alike and require native, drought tolerant landscaping throughout the community. We need to look at our housing permits, and require gray water recovery, less lawn space and use of drought tolerant landscaping, including the use of rain water tanks. There is much more we must do and we need bold leaders and leadership to take us to the next century. Relying on past efforts will not get us to where we need to be.
Mark Grzan, Morgan Hill