Dear Editor,
They are already talking about the latest
”
yes
”
vote on Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage will cause some more
judges to overturn the new law. This doesn’t seem right!
Twice it has been voted in. Is it ever going to be against the
law for judges not to do this? Isn’t the whole idea of we the
people voting one way or the other way going to be the final say!
What’s the point of voting?
Heartfelt thank you to community for wonderful school bond support
Dear Editor,
On behalf of the Gilroy Unified School District, I want to thank members of the community of Gilroy from the bottom of my heart for their support of Measure P.
You, the voters of this wonderful community, put the needs of students first by voting for the school bond measure. Thanks to your generosity the Gilroy Unified School District will finish Christopher High School, build a new elementary school, add capacity where needed, and upgrade and modernize most of the schools in the district. The district will also be able to leverage the Measure P bond funds and obtain state matching funds which would not have been possible without these local bond funds.
A special thanks to Don and Karen Christopher for the recent donation of $75,000 to Christopher High School. This donation will provide seed money for programs like the Associated Study Body activities, school newspaper, and transportation for athletics. Their continued support and involvement in Christopher High School is greatly appreciated.
Measure P will benefit thousands of students who attend schools in the Gilroy Unified School District for many years to come. Your vote made the difference and is greatly appreciated!
Deborah A. Flores, superintendent
‘Shame on the City Council’ for choosing the easy way out: layoffs
Dear Editor,
My husband may be one of the city’s employees to be let go Jan. 31.
My job with the Pajaro Valley Unified School District is also in jeopardy, and I may be let go as early as January also.
With an 8-year-old in private school, I only wonder how long we will be able to afford school tuition and our mortgage. Where only a month ago I saw us surviving the economic downfall, I can only wonder if we’ll be next on the list to have a foreclosed home.
Shame on you City Council for not looking at more options; I’m well aware that each department gave you additional options only last week to save jobs. I’m saddened that you did not adequately look at these proposals before making your decisions last night.
Pamela Arbanas Moreno, Gilroy
‘Messiah Obama’ will no doubt be the answer for world peace, etc. …
Dear Editor,
Messiah Obama and his Democrat controlled Congress will bring in a new age that no politician or government has ever been able to accomplish. How do we know?
Because over the last year the media been telling us! The voting public has proved that character, honesty, association, and experience are simply not important election issues. Charm, fluff and image are all that matters. Substance is an unknown, indefinable thing.
Now government will indeed be able to solve all our needs. World peace is coming. Now if you really believe this kind of foolishness, then you deserve everything you will get. For the Republicans and conservatives, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008 will live as a day of infamy.
James Fennell, Gilroy
Teacher-driven indoctrination in public schools simply has to stop
Dear Editor,
When I was in elementary school here in a Gilroy, some people (from outside the school) came in, showed us a brief film about racism, and then took us aside in groups of about 10. They told us that racism was wrong and that our parents were bad people if they were racists.
This was in the mid 1970’s, when “civil rights” (a term used for racial issues that was repeated by the same hypocrites who were pushing gun bans) was the cause du jour. I didn’t think much of it at the time because these people were not calling my parents bad or wrong; I had never heard of or thought of having anything against people of certain backgrounds. (In fact, the only name-calling I heard around town was against “Okies.”)
Being one of those people who remembers everything (except during a time frame in my early 20’s, and when the police question me, but I digress) this has stuck in the back of my mind: Such indoctrination clearly has no place in public schools. (Enforcing rules against calling people names is acceptable and far different from pushing a political doctrine.)
I also specifically remember one of my high-school teachers (this is in the early 1980’s) telling us that the Second Amendment only applies to state militias like the national guard, not regular people. This lie is still repeated today by the Ninth Circus Court in San Francisco. Said teacher was clear in her support for a failed ballot initiative banning handguns.
A recent letter by a local public-school teacher claims that his class “overwhelmingly” approves of homosexual “marriage.” In this election, the California Teachers Association (teachers’ union) gave over $1 million to fight the glorious Prop. 8 (which has no affect on their job security or benefits, such as school funding – it is purely political).
I have already received two reports (from fellow anti-union parents) that Gilroy High School’s U.S. history course spends more time fawning over the labor movement than any other event in American history. Their agenda of indoctrination is clear. I acknowledge that not all teachers are doing this; as usual, it is (most likely) a minority of them giving the rest a bad name.
No matter how many so do, it needs to end immediately; these hypocrites raise a big fuss about anything religious on campus (the teachers’ union even supported a ban on campus religious clubs, and they lost in court), but clearly approve of socialist indoctrination.
Ask your kids regularly what is covered in school and make any indoctrination immediately known. We just got rid of the worst incumbent on the school board; the rest can get the boot, too, if they fail to act on this.
Alan Viarengo, Gilroy
Follow the trend – replace old ideas with new: fire this columnist
Dear Editor,
Now that the election is over, we are replacing some old ideas with better new ideas for sure.
May I respectfully suggest that it is a good time for the Dispatch to stop giving precious inches of space to a real loser, specifically, Cynthia Walker. Extreme Republicans like Walker lost it for the party. Walker is losing it for the Dispatch.
Like many, I have stopped wasting time reading her whining, selfish, greed-originated columns against the public school system (citizens voted heavily for its schools), against the library (citizens voted it rebuilding funds).
I can’t count how many times I have set down with coffee, began reading the Dispatch, then threw it away after trying to swallow the selfishness and illogic of a Walker column – did you hear that, advertisers?
I hear about the columns from others, including good Republicans who end the comments wondering why the Dispatch associates at all with her. Just look at how this city voted regardless of Walker’s wasted ink in the Dispatch. Dump her. Get a writer that represents this city.
It’s fine to have a clear-thinking conservative Republican. Walker is a poor excuse for one. She’s an embarrassment to the Dispatch, and the city of Gilroy. I would never send a copy of a Dispatch with a Walker column to a relative. Doing so would make us seem like we live in a backward, small-minded town. You can do better!
Tony Weiler, Gilroy
Our county joins lawsuit to stop Prop 8 – what’s this all about?
Dear Editor,
In regards to the article published on the web titled “Santa Clara County joins suit to stop Prop 8,” I have a question.
Is the county that I’m paying taxes to using tax money to sue the state on a proposition the taxpayers voted in favor of? How is that not a misappropriation of funds? Sorry, I have a hard time seeing the legality of this. Maybe someone at the Gilroy Dispatch can clarify this for me? How do I file a complaint against the county?
Charles Mattson, Gilroy
Editor’s note: We’ve sent an e-mail to Supervisor Don Gage asking for comment and explanation.
Maddening that there’s already talk about overturning Prop. 8
Dear Editor,
They are already talking about the latest “yes” vote on Proposition 8 to ban gay marriage will cause some more judges to overturn the new law. This doesn’t seem right!
Twice it has been voted in. Is it ever going to be against the law for judges not to do this? Isn’t the whole idea of we the people voting one way or the other way going to be the final say! What’s the point of voting?
Danette Crewse, Gilroy
Top school board candidate says thanks for the support
Dear Editor,
Thank you friends and residents of Gilroy: We did it!
Your faith and trust in me is very encouraging, and I truly appreciate all of your kind words and support. Your vote for me is a very humbling experience, and I promise to work hard every day for you to earn the trust you have placed in me.
Thank you for your warm support and friendship shown to me during my election campaign. It was my great pleasure to speak to you in person and at your homes during this time. For those whom I did not reach at home, we will have other opportunities to meet. I hope we can get together in the future and talk about our issues and how I can best serve you and the children of Gilroy. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
No one gets to where they are by themselves, they get there with a lot of help – I would also like to thank all of my volunteers who helped with treasury, campaign management, literature drops, mailings, poll work, placing yard signs and hosting a yard sign. You all are the greatest!
This campaign started with my family working from our home and quickly grew to include many volunteers, some who gave weeks and months to this campaign. Thank you to you all! Thank you to my campaign managers Art Barron, Yvette Gutierrez, and Michelle Gutierrez, the Leadership Gilroy Class of 2008; youth volunteers Sandra Cruz, Roberto Molina, Magalie Bravo, Orlando Cruz, Brianna Barron, Gaby, Carlos and Annie, and to all the members of Voz de la Gente for their leadership and vision for me and for up-and-coming candidates everywhere.
To my family, my children, my parents, my brothers, my sisters-in-law, my friends and relatives, who made every day of this campaign a joy, and to my wife, Patricia, who earns the MVP award, thank you. No one worked harder to win this election. I couldn’t have done it without all of you!
To Mr. Jamie Rosso, thank you for your service to the people of Gilroy and for your dedication and hard work over the past eight years on the school board. To the other two elected candidates, Rhoda Bress and Mark Good, I would like to extend my warmest congratulations. I know you will do your best for your constituents and for our GREAT city of Gilroy.
I look forward to working with you, the other school board members, and the entire Gilroy Unified School District.
Fred M. Tovar, Gilroy
A lament to the sad passage of Prop 8, banning gay marriage
Dear Editor,
The polls are now closed, and we’ve all made our choices
And now we see the results, of all of our different voices
Some things we’re cheering, and some we’re despairing
Now comes the time, when we look back for comparing
Proposition 8 was one, of those hotly contested fights
Was it a moral judgment, or a question of civil rights
Two consenting adults, who choose to marry and to mate
Is it society’s duty, to determine whatever is their fate
This is something that was already granted, to those in our state
Do we have the right to now choose, to question or to debate
Homophobic arguments, just won’t hold any water
What if we were talking, about your son or daughter?
And if you’re worried, what your children might view
By forbidding other people, in whatever they might do
Morality is so very hard, to try and legislate
Let’s keep the separation, of our church and state
Tom Engebretson, Gilroy
