A good way to start the day
– or end it – is with a good book, so here’s a graduation gift
recommendation: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. The author is a
relatively young father who is a professor and he’s dying of
cancer. His last lecture is a brilliant life lessons book. It’s
humorous, straightforward and simple. If y
ou’d like to enhance the gift by a factor of 10, read it with
your child … it will likely stoke the fires of conversation.
A good way to start the day – or end it – is with a good book, so here’s a graduation gift recommendation: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch. The author is a relatively young father who is a professor and he’s dying of cancer. His last lecture is a brilliant life lessons book. It’s humorous, straightforward and simple. If you’d like to enhance the gift by a factor of 10, read it with your child … it will likely stoke the fires of conversation.
…. Whew, the real fires burning so close to our fair city are just about kaput. Talk about dodging a fire bullet. That’s twice now – the Croy Fire and the Summit Fire – that this side of the hill has been spared. If you’re in a rural area, abide by the 100-foot clearing law and read the CalFire Web site for tips.
Then, there’s Roe Dent who wrote in wondering if the firefighters housed at Christmas Hill Park were restricted to the ranch side of the park due to the squirrel invasion that’s wreaking havoc on the grounds. Don’t think so, but I’d hate to read the headline, “Squirrel holes prompt rash of lawsuits against the Garlic Festival and city …” … BTW, it’s not Christmas Tree Park as so many of the electronic media reported at the outset of the Summit Fire last week …
… While it’s nice for the local politicos to come out in force for a press conference to stand next to a Grade A Lousy Governor who has star power and not much else, perhaps a walk over to the “wild” side of Christmas Hill Park where softball players and Garlic Festival patrons will wander the squirrel-mounded grounds is in order. Trust me, it’s worth a local State of Emergency proclamation from MayorAl ’cause the Garlic Fest is just days away. A few rat terriers like the famous Gilroy hunter “Bella” could handle the varmints in a week.
Speaking of garlic festivities, a phone call to Festival Entertainment Chair “King” Kurt Chacon Wednesday yielded not a return call but, magically, an afternoon press release – there will be a Garlic Fest Battle of the Bands hosted at a shade tent on the ranch side adjacent to Gourmet Alley on Friday and Saturday with the winners battling it out for the big cash Sunday at the Gazebo stage. Cool idea. Now we should get AT&T to sponsor the tent, the event and text message voting for the winner … Is it true that Chacon has pledged to match the pot for the winning band? … Turn the Magic-8 ball over to reveal the answer – “Signs point to Yes.” Way to go, “King” Chacon …
That match-the-pot donation could be easily dwarfed by Gilroy police and fire personnel donating their (over)time to the Garlic Festival. Sure, there are on-duty issues, but certainly there could be a give-back donation program set up that could hugely reduce costs for the fest.
Disappointing is the best way to assess the proposed Gilroy city budget. Staff has, predictably, proposed that programs like Kids Discover Arts and the Summer Concert Series get the axe while all the jobs at City Hall remain secure even in the face of a whopping and growing $7.6 million deficit. Councilwoman Cat Tucker isn’t buying the proposal, and neither should her colleagues. Position freezes aren’t enough to close the gap substantially, and costs – given the salary increases already in place for the unions – will continue to escalate. Positions should be cut sooner rather than later, and if City Administrator Tom Haglund is too new to make the call, then the Council should review each department position by position and make the call.
There’s disappointing, then there’s damnable … that’s what I’d call a press release put out by Brian Schmidt for the Committee for Green Foothills Monday supposedly related to the Summit Fire, but really a ploy to take full political advantage under tragic circumstances. Remember, these are the folks who backed draconian Measure A on the 2006 ballot which would have hog-tied farmers, dealt a crushing blow to wine industry growth and further restrict property rights. To wit: “Committee for Green Foothills called today for the Santa Clara County to reconsider environmental reforms that would reduce the number of new hillside “monster mansions” in the wake of the ongoing, 4,000 acre Summit Fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains. “Taxpayer money and firefighters’ lives should not be risked for more and more inappropriate, ‘monster mansions’ on the hillsides,” said CGF Advocate Brian Schmidt. What a crock tying “monster mansions” to this tragedy … firefighters try to save every home, don’t they? Is the problem the few “mansions” that are out there? Or is it really just a ploy to pave the way for another stupid measure when county government already has reasonable development restrictions in place. You decide. And don’t forget this press release if another measure comes to the ballot.
You can vote with your feet on this last tidbit, also a press release, “After an absence of forty years, the Traditional Latin Mass according to the Roman Missal of 1962 returns to Mission San Juan Bautista on the Feast Day of Saints Peter and Paul, Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 2 p.m.” Oh, Joy, is that Latin? I can’t remember …  
