Over and out
Gilroy Police Chief Denise Turner announced her retirement this week, after serving as the city’s top cop for nine years (although it seems like only yesterday).
“It’s all good. I am very excited,” said Turner in a text. “It’s been 31 years for me! Time to relax and enjoy. Leaving at a great time. The PD and the city are in great shape. That’s the best time to go.”
Turner came to Gilroy from the King County Sheriff’s Department in Washington. She started as a reserve officer and worked her way up the ranks. In 2000, she became the chief of police in Shoreline, Washington and then moved to the King County Sheriff’s Department, where she was head of the technical services division.
While in Gilroy she married Santa Clara Police Chief Michael Sellers. Turner, who earns $185,000 a year, will serve through the end of the year. She joins Public Works Director Rick Smelser, who leaves in December and Traffic Engineer Henry Servin who left last month.
Missing Kennedy
Who knew that John F. Kennedy’s sister, Rosemary, had one of the first experimental pre-frontal lobotomies in 1941 at the age of 23, which left her unable to care for herself for the rest of her life?
Author Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff will discuss her book about the largely unknown sibling of the 35th president, The Missing Kennedy: Rosemary Kennedy and the Secret Bonds of Four Women (2015), at the Gilroy Library on Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Admission is free.
Her other books include: Jackson andBud’s Bumpy Ride: America’s First Cross-Country Road Trip (2009); John Muir and Stickeen: An Alaskan Adventure (2003); The ABC’s of Writing for Children (2002); You’re Kidding! Incredible Facts about the Presidents (1999); and Help! My Life Is Going to the Dogs (1997).
Shop local
On Oct. 1, San Jose raised its sales tax from 8.75 percent to 9 percent, while Gilroy’s remained at 8.75. What’s that mean?
Well, if you bought an iPhone here for $700, you’d pay $61.75 in taxes, as opposed to $63 in San Jose. If you splurged on that Tesla for $100,000, you’d pay $8,750 here and $9,000 in San Jose, assuming you could find a Tesla here.
Maybe it’s not a huge savings, but think of the gas you’d save too.
