A first-class gesture on the part of a local civic group will
send a courageous little girl and her family on a magical adventure
for her birthday
The following organizations and individuals deserve either CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: For the San Martin Lions Club, which will be sending 4-year-old Caley Camarillo, who is battling cystic fibrosis, to Disneyland with her family for her fifth birthday in December. Lions Club members read the touching stories and heart-warming photographs in The Dispatch and stepped up to the plate to pay for a first-class trip. The family’s caring and determination has been rewarded by a generous local group. Now that’s building community.
CHEERS: For the winery owners in south Santa Clara County who are infusing the local industry with new ideas to go with some outstanding wines. Our wineries are an underutilized tourist draw. In addition to the beautiful settings and fine wines, the owners are friendly and accessible – plus tasting, for the most part, is free. It’s great news that a passport weekend is in the works and that the Visitor’s Bureau is working with the wineries to ramp up the marketing engine.
JEERS: For the news that an indoor marijuana farm existed in a quiet Gilroy neighborhood at 8885 Kern Ave. where Gilroy police found 28 pot plants and $21,000 worth of growing equipment. No arrests were made, though four men and one woman were detained and questioned. They claimed, according to police, that there were simply the renters. GPD forwarded the complaint to the District Attorney’s office. Hopefully, this will not be dismissed as a small item. Drugs beget violence. That’s the last thing we want in our peaceful neighborhoods.
CHEERS: For the positive spirit at Eliot Elementary School. Teachers like Antoinette Calip are bound and determined to raise test scores despite the difficult language challenges that exist at the school. Eliot, one of two schools in GUSD that did not meet its Academic Performance Index goal, dipped by five points year to year. That is certainly reversible, and the spirit of the staff indicates it will change next year.
CHEERS: For Gilroy boxing star and featherweight world champ Robert “The Ghost” Guerrero who, it appears, will be fighting on Nov. 4 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It would be an HBO pay-per-view fight on the undercard of the Floyd Mayweather-Carlos Baldomir bout. That’s really big time. Congratulations Ghost!
