CHEERS: For the Gilroy High School wrestling and soccer
teams
– wow, what amazing accomplishments. The wrestling team’s
success – five Central Coast Section championship titles in a row –
is now legendary. That it’s expected is only a testament to the
great victory machine.
The following organizations and individuals deserve either CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: For the Gilroy High School wrestling and soccer teams – wow, what amazing accomplishments. The wrestling team’s success – five Central Coast Section championship titles in a row – is now legendary. That it’s expected is only a testament to the great victory machine.
That it’s expected is only a testament to the great victory machine that is in place in our community. What does it take? Dedication, great coaches, kids who find a “home” in a larger sense and who realize that sacrifices that have to be made to be a part of that. In soccer, the Mustangs also claimed a CCS title, their first, beating perennial powerhouse Bellarmine. GHS staff members, parents and student-athletes all deserve kudos, but special recognition is due to head coach Armando Gonzalez in wrestling and coaches Armando Padilla and Brian Hall in soccer, as well as Athletic Director Jack Daley. Outstanding.
CHEERS: For the news that there is an initial proposal for alternative compensation for teachers in the Gilroy Unified School District. At last, a clear realization that performance should be rewarded and supply and demand should weigh in, naturally, on compensation levels. The discussion from here on out should be interesting.
JEERS: For the lack of movement on the City Council’s part to get the ball rolling on finding replacements for retired Police Chief Gregg Giusiana and Assistant Chief Lanny Brown. What’s the point in delaying the search for the city’s two top law enforcement officers? Is public safety no longer a priority for those we’ve elected?
CHEERS: For the news that Gilroy Unified School District Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Steve Brinkman won’t be following our outgoing superintendent to Pasadena. The new superintendent will find his institutional knowledge and expertise in a key area very valuable, as will the school board through the coming transition.
JEERS: For the news that of the $4.5 billion – that’s right billion – passed out by the California Transportation Commission in Proposition 1B money Wednesday, not a single dime will go toward either the widening of U.S. 101 south of Monterey Road in Gilroy or the always clogged and dangerous U.S. 101-Highway 156 interchange. Surprise, the Los Angeles area sucked up most of the money and Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage, the Valley Transportation Authority and Rod Diridon, representing the San Jose-based Mineta Transportation Institute, couldn’t do a thing about it. Think about that next time you vote for a state bond that doesn’t designate the projects to be funded. Northern California’s needs ignored again.
CHEERS: For Luis Valdez, founder of San Juan Bautista’s El Teatro Campesino, who will receive national recognition in April for his contributions to American theater. The well-deserved honor – induction into the College of Fellows of the American Theater – includes just 124 playwrights, directors, producers and educators. Valdez, best known for writing and producing “La Bamba,” has stayed true to the organization’s roots by keeping “the farmworkers’ theater” in San Juan since its inception in 1965.
