Toilet papering seems to be a trend in Gilroy. Can you please
inform people if it’s legal or not and if taking your child along
is contributing to the delinquency of a minor?
“Toilet papering seems to be a trend in Gilroy. Can you please inform people if it’s legal or not and if taking your child along is contributing to the delinquency of a minor? Shouldn’t parents know better? Thank you.”
Red Phone: Dear TPed, While toilet papering a house may seem like an innocent prank, it is still an act of vandalism, which can be a misdemeanor. It can make a mess if it rains and be very expensive and time consuming to clean up.
Usually police don’t want to bother arresting somebody in cases like this and will try to work out an informal deal with them to clean it up, according to a discussion on the topic on www.answerbag.com, a site dedicated to answering questions. But if the home owner agrees to press charges for vandalism or trespassing, it would be up to a court to decide the penalty. The home owner could also sue the vandal in small claims court for damages. It is definitely not a good father-son outing.
Problems with basketball hoop
“I live in a home with a shared driveway and the neighbor put a free standing basketball hoop at the end of the driveway just a hairline to his side of the property marker. The problem is that the basketballs keep hitting my cars on my driveway and my car in the street. We talked to them and nothing has changed. Does the city of Gilroy have an ordinance for this type of issue? Who do I contact to help with this?”
Red Phone: Dear Hoopin’ It Up, Problems like this may seem trivial to some people until it is their car that is being hit or their flowers that are being smashed. While you can certainly file a complain with the Gilroy Police at 846-0350, your best bet might be to call the Santa Clara County Dispute Resolution Program. The service offers mediation from a neutral party in cases where people have a complaint against a neighbor or other person. Usually problems like this one can be solved without any formal litigation. Contact them at 792-2327 or vi***********@oh*.org, and let the Red Phone if the program is able to help.
Don’t send employees overseas
“I was wondering if the reason why we have such a high percentage of unemployment here in Santa Clara County is because we have major companies like Charter Communications, Verizon Wireless and the San Jose Mercury News that have all their call centers overseas. They pay people from other countries for jobs in their own country that people are more than qualified to do.”
Red Phone: Dear Keep It Local, Outsourcing is nothing unique to the county. Many companies are contracting their work out or moving their companies altogether where they can pay what they pay for an hour’s work here for a day’s work elsewhere.
With companies struggling to stay open, many are forced to lay off workers or close. Major retailers such as Mervyns, Blockbuster and Circuit City have filed for bankruptcy. The number of businesses that report earnings declined by 8.2 percent from 46,000 businesses to 42,000, according to a report issued last week by the Santa Clara County Assessor’s Office.
