The following organizations and individuals deserve either
CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: For former Gilroy police chief Jim Laizure who will be
honored with his name above the door on the city’s new police
station. Cheers, too, for Sgt. John Sheedy and the Police Officers
Association for the idea.
The following organizations and individuals deserve either CHEERS or JEERS this week:
CHEERS: For former Gilroy police chief Jim Laizure who will be honored with his name above the door on the city’s new police station. Cheers, too, for Sgt. John Sheedy and the Police Officers Association for the idea. It’s a good one. Laizure’s beaming face on the front of the newspaper Wednesday next to an architect’s rendering of the new building spoke volumes. Score one for the good guys – the C.J. Laizure Building is perfectly apropos. Laizure, chief for 20 years beginning in 1960, literally built a department from the days when Gilroy was “a one-horse town.”
JEERS: For the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce which halfway voted to support the library tax. The group made a nonsensical recommendation to support Measure A, which will extend the current $33.66 annual property tax, but not Measure B which would add $12 annually to the tax for the library system. The tortured logic appears to have been designed to please everyone, but what it accomplished is the opposite. We renew our call for the Chamber to poll its members, and we can confidently speculate that Chamber members would not have tried to play Solomon with the library tax. Doesn’t the library support an educated workforce, and isn’t that what business depends on?
CHEERS: For Richard Nicholls, the executive director of the Gilroy Garlic Festival, who is battling pancreatic cancer. July’s festival will mark Nicholls’ 20th anniversary at the helm of the most successful community event in the country. His stewardship – his meticulous and warm-hearted devotion to the festival’s annual success – is the stuff of community legend. We know his good humor and optimism will aid him in this difficult time. Our prayers and best hopes are with him.
CHEERS: For the news that Union Pacific has been ordered to fix the bumpy railroad tracks across Highway 25 just southeast of Gilroy. That’s great news for everyone planning to attend Gilroy High School’s annual Cioppino Feed (how’s that for a segue?). Mark your calendars: crab galore, gobs of perfected cioppino sauce and the ever-wonderful old time rock ‘n’ roll band Shaboom will be on hand for the 25th Anniversary event slated for Saturday, May 6. Get your tickets early at www.gilroyhighschool.com and help out GHS athletics programs, or call 848-7178 for details.
JEERS: For the possibility that construction of the new field and track at Mustang Stadium will interfere with Gilroy High’s graduation and force a move to the junior fields. We’re sure everyone will work hard to make it a nice affair if that happens, but it just won’t seem the same. Hopefully the contractors understand the importance of hitting the construction deadline. GHS officials, we’re sure, have talked to them about bringing in extra workers, etc. It sure would be nice if the class of 2005 could graduate at a renovated stadium and uphold a
long-standing Gilroy tradition.
CHEERS: For the Gilroy High School Chamber singers who sang back-up this week for folk recording artist Randy Sparks, a Grammy Award winner. Gilroy Chamber singers will be on all eight tracks of Sparks’ “Merry Christmas! Volume II.” Next Christmas that will be a great gift for many Gilroyans.
