If the bloom temporarily vacated your mental rose, reminder … the annual Rotary Flower Fest Sale is Saturday – (weather report 72 degrees purrrfect) at Syngenta Seeds on Hecker Pass. Put on your best elbow pads and mosey on out to pluck from the marvelous selection. Heard the Rotarians working the flower floor were all going to don David Cox wigs, now that would be a funny picture … Starts at 8 a.m., ends at 3. Buying beautiful flowers for the Rotary’s charitable giving programs is pretty darn sweet.
Bought some blooms last weekend in the rain at Gilroy High’s Future Farmers of America sale. Hopped out of the truck and an excited young man sprinted our way asking “Is that OS on your truck for Oregon State?” Indeed, our youngest daughter goes there. Gilroy High’s Trevor Marquez, who already owned an orange-and-black OSU lanyard, said he wants to wrestle for the Beavs. Great school, I told him and the exchange reminded me that you just have to love that GHS wrestling program which keeps inspiring students to reach for lofty goals and gives them the support and confidence to make it happen.
FFA is the same way. We hosted the annual Leadership Gilroy class Media Day last Friday, and class member Gina Lopez, our lively local State Farm Insurance representative, talked about the wonderfully positive influence Gilroy High’s FFA program has had on her son. It came up in the context of an Editorial Board discussion on the school district’s budget quandary following a visit from Superintendent Debbie Flores and Trustees Jaime Rosso and Dom Payne. Any parent worth their salt knows that extracurricular programs really count. And with a potential $8.5 million budget cut looming for next year – a cut that follows four consecutive years of multi-million dollar cuts – those programs like sports, music and FFA could be on the chopping block. The way California funds its public schools – money controlled by the state, trickling down to the local school districts – has absolutely got to change. The rule is simple: the farther away the money gets from its Gilroy home, the less control and the less efficient the spending of that money becomes. Bank on it.
Meanwhile, with $24 million-plus in the city of Gilroy’s reserve bank account, the city hems and haws over being asked to fork out $117,000 to repair and keep open the swimming pool at South Valley Junior High. “How dare those paupers ask for our help!” Swimming pools are good community assets. Folks, in case you haven’t noticed, it gets hot in the summer in Gilroy. Recreation, a place to teach swim lessons, therapeutic classes and lap swim. All good. Fix the pool, staff it, promote its availability, work out a deal with the YMCA to run it – they have plenty of lifeguards at the Centennial Recreation Center in Morgan Hill. It’s amazing when turf wars are allowed to get in the way of what’s best for the community of Gilroy. Swimming pools are good assets. Keep it open, serve the people, make Gilroy a better place.
The Latino Family Fund de Gilroy makes Gilroy a better place and its main fun(d)-raising event is coming soon to the historic Willey House in downtown Gilroy. It’s the Sixth Annual Tequila Tasting Event set for Saturday, May 5. The homemade appetizers are to die for, the combined tequila tasting and education is a real treat and the silent auction very spirited. It’s a fun afternoon that sells out, so email Javier Aguirre (ja*************@gm***.com) if you’re interested and let him know that the addition of a tasting for the most fascinating spirit from Mexico, Mezcal, with some education about its origin and making would be most welcome.
Unwelcome: Head coach Sean Payton and the entire New Orleans Saints coaching staff. Were I NFL commissioner, all would be banned from the pro game for life. A one-year ban for Payton is a slap on the wrist. Targeting player’s knees and heads to inflict maiming injuries and then paying players bounties for doing just that? Seriously? Sure, the most damning evidence is against defensive coach Gregg Williams, but Payton had to know. Who is teaching these people about sportsmanship? The NFL has enough injuries as a byproduct of a rough game. Commissioner Roger Goodell should throw the book at this sick-minded coaching gang and send a no-tolerance message to the league and the fans.
My best fan friend Jeff, who donned the Saint Joseph’s red-and-white basketball uniform with me so many moons ago in grammar school, scored last minute tickets to The Masters and is there with his son Jonathan. How cool is that? A Magnolia Lane father-son memory that will last forever.
A forever quote that someone posted on our comment board caught my attention because it applies to so many high-and-mighty, holier-than-thou, it’s-my-cause crusaders in our society: “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Grandson Jackson turns 2 on Sunday, and we’re going to have a Happy Birthday Buckaroo good time before I sit down to watch The Masters. And to all my friends who keep pointedly reminding me I’m a grandpa, I gotta tell you, the initial realization is a bit unsettling, but it’s all worth it.
Reach Editor Mark Derry at ed****@ga****.com
