Hard to believe summer is half over, and the Red Phone is just
starting to heat up. Speaking of heat, some of our callers’
comments should make some people’s ears burn and make others’
cheeks flush with pride.
Hard to believe summer is half over, and the Red Phone is just starting to heat up. Speaking of heat, some of our callers’ comments should make some people’s ears burn and make others’ cheeks flush with pride.
Leave it to those watchdogs committed to keeping Gilroy Unified School District in check. One person called the Red Phone last week, and GUSD agreed to turn off its electric billboards. Now, we have two new (What shall we call them?) “observations.”
“It was probably a really good thing that the light-up boards at the school were turned off for the summer because the sprinklers at Gilroy High School were left on for more than 12 hours last night causing a river to run down the gutters and into the sewer.
The Gilroy Unified School District should have one whopping water bill. The men that were there working this morning said it was due to the construction over there. They have been working in the back in a lake. The construction people turned off the power and the school district employees had no idea when the power was coming back or that the sprinklers would come on. He said it was no one’s fault other than the construction people as they had no control over it. But it was quite a bit of water – 12 hours worth.”
The second call was in regards to the Fourth of July fireworks show.
“During the fireworks show at the high school where people gather behind the baseball field there on Tenth and Orchard, they have those floodlights on and I don’t remember them ever being on before. And it was kind of annoying to have that shining in your eyes while you’re there. I don’t know if you have anybody at the school system for next year who would maybe arrange to have those turned off that night.”
The Red Phone wonders if someone thought a lake would be a good substitute while the swimming pool at GHS is closed this summer.
All joking aside, district officials didn’t know if the water was left running or the stadium lights were left on. However, Director of Maintenance and Operations Jeff Gopp said the school district tries its best to conserve energy and water whenever possible. Gopp said he had no reason to leave those lights on, and he didn’t authorize anyone to turn them on. As for the water, the first caller was right that the electricity at the school was turned off last week due to the construction work. As a result of the outage, the irrigation timers aren’t operating and the school is hand watering its lawns during the daytime. So, Gopp doubted the water was left running overnight. If there were such an emergency, the construction crews also have a number to reach Gopp at any time, he said.
“We are trying as hard as we can to conserve energy,” Gopp said. “It’s my money. It’s all of our money. I realize people are concerned. I think that’s neat. I like that.”
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Another caller called in to thank the caring staff at Saint Louise.
“I am not calling to complain about anything. I am calling to congratulate Saint Louise Hospital – both the hospital and the skilled nursing facility and the wonderful people who work in it, because they have done a fabulous job of taking care of my mother in her recent illness.”
The skilled nursing facility or TLC, as they call it at Saint Louise Hospital, cares for people who are not necessarily seriously ill but will be staying at the hospital for a little bit longer than most patients. Vice President of Human Resources Steve Sharrer told the Red Phone it was nice to hear about the folks in skilled nursing being recognized.
“The folks up in the skilled nursing are just very loving and caring people,” Sharrer said.
However, he wanted to say this type of kindness is not specific to the skilled nursing facility but common to all departments at the hospital.
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Other calls just made us laugh, like the poor fellow from Oklahoma who called the Red Phone not one, not two, but five times to talk about his credit card approval. We don’t know whether he was accepted or denied. But the Red Phone was courteous enough to call this gentleman back and inform him he had the wrong number. His reply: “I was wondering why they (the answering machine message) said make it quick and keep it juicy.”
