The following organizations and individuals deserve either
CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: Rosie Mammini, closing in on 89, was recognized last
week as Senior of the Year by the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance,
for her tireless work on behalf of the community at the alliance’s
annual spaghetti social.
The following organizations and individuals deserve either CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: Rosie Mammini, closing in on 89, was recognized last week as Senior of the Year by the San Martin Neighborhood Alliance, for her tireless work on behalf of the community at the alliance’s annual spaghetti social.
In addition to being the matriarch of a clan of three children, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, Mammini has been president of the Sons of Italy, president of the Italian Mothers Club, president of the San Martin PTA, a cub scout den mother, president of the Wheeler Hospital Auxiliary, president of the United Order of the Druids, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, a member of the St. Catherine’s Ladies Aid Society and John A. Berry Auxiliary and a volunteer at the Driftwood Convalescent Hospital.
JEERS: To the Furtado Dairy Farm, which last week was caught dumping 240,000 gallons of manure water into the Alamias Creek east of Gilroy, the worst spill in the dairy’s 41-year history, and one of a number of abuses over the past two decades.
Now, the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office is investigating, and while Deputy District Attorney John Fioretta said his office has not yet decided how or whether to charge dairy owner Manuel Furtado, Matthew Keeling, an engineer with the Central Coast Regional Water Control Board, predicted that Furtado is “in for some hurt.”
Despite Furtado’s insistence that last week’s spill was an accident, it appears Furtado is in violation of his discharge permits.
CHEERS: To the United States Supreme Court for a 5-4 decision that allows wine makers to ship wine directly to customers in other states, including New York and Florida, two of the largest wine markets in the country behind California.
The decision will help small wineries compete with the giants of a $21.6 billion industry. Customers in other states will be able to buy wine over the Internet, and tourists who visit local wineries will be able to ship wine home.
JEERS: To the California Interscholastic Federation for a couple of high-profile decisions at its recent conclave in Irvine that don’t seem very well thought through. First, the CIF approved a state high school football final. That’s an extra game for several teams in a rough sport that already lasts too long each season. Couldn’t the state high school athletic body have shortened the high school season at the beginning while at the same time meeting the popular demand for a state final?
Second, the CIF issued a wishy-washy new policy on steroids in high school sports. It amounts to little but an honor code that athletes and parents must agree to – certainly a step in the right direction, but let’s see some real, punitive policies for ridding our high schools of this scourge.
CHEERS: To the Gilroy Police Department for quickly nabbing a hit-and-run suspect who forced Ascencion Solorsano Elementary School into lockdown Thursday morning.
After the accident, which occurred about 11:20am, district officials ordered the precautionary lockdown and police surrounded the area searching for the man who ran toward the school. About 1pm, police arrested 44-year-old Felix Arnaz of San Jose in a home off Kentwood Court and Westwood Drive.
Arnaz was out on parole and engaged in a South Valley crime spree, police said. The truck he was driving was stolen and “everything in the truck is not supposed to be there,” Gilroy officer Stan Devlin said.
The lockdown was lifted shortly after noon.
