Dear Editor,
The City of Gilroy should keep Gilroy Gardens. I’m having a hard
time believing that people are talking about recalling the mayor
over Gilroy Gardens. I visited Gilroy Gardens last week and it is a
wonderful place. It really make me look forward to moving to Gilroy
in the next few weeks.
Sell Gilroy Gardens? No, way – reduce benefits for police and fire
Dear Editor,
The City of Gilroy should keep Gilroy Gardens. I’m having a hard time believing that people are talking about recalling the mayor over Gilroy Gardens. I visited Gilroy Gardens last week and it is a wonderful place. It really make me look forward to moving to Gilroy in the next few weeks.
The purchase of Gilroy Gardens was a brilliant idea and the mayor and City Council should be commended for the purchase.
I strongly believe we should not squander this new city resource because of short-term thinking buy a few disgruntled residents.
As to the budget, the biggest problem is the rising costs of health care and the only solution to that is President Obama’s national health care reform. If Obama’s plan doesn’t pass then it doesn’t matter if Gilroy sells Gilroy Gardens or not because the results will be the same.
There is no amount of money that can be raised to cover the surging costs of benefits for the police and fire departments that have tripled in recent years. As a city we have to turn to reality when it comes to making our important decisions. We have a responsibility to come up with real solutions and not to just make a lot of noise.
I’m sure the mayor would welcome any solution from anyone who can show the math to back up their position.
Marc Perkel, Gilroy (in two weeks)
‘Jesus anointed with cannabis’ – support medical marijuana use
Dear Editor,
Support medical marijuana use which has been legal under California state law for 13 years!
President Obama has stated that he is going to cease Drug Enforcement Agency raids to stop wasteful spending and that he supports medical marijuana use.
Why don’t all you conservative folks just keep to yourself and let freedom ring. No one is telling you how to live. Pharmaceuticals, alcohol and tobacco cause more fatalities every minute than marijuana has caused in all of recorded human history!
It has been used for medicinal purposes for more than 4,000 years. In fact, Jesus was anointed with cannabis. Read a history book. Stop the ignorance.
Jonathan Kolodinski, San Martin
County shouldn’t abandon the protection for animals in rodeos
Dear Editor,
Is animal welfare another victim of the budget disaster, or is this just politics as usual? In January, after a full year of multiple hearings and testimony, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors was to have voted on an ordinance to ban the brutal “steer tailing” event, and mandate improved veterinary care for animals in circuses and rodeos.
Out of the blue, a letter from the county executive put the effort on hold until the budget could be balanced, “possibly 3 to 5 years.” Not acceptable! The Board received reams of documentation, videos, letters from veterinarians and the public, overwhelmingly in support of the ordinance. Both Alameda and Contra Costa Counties passed ordinances in the early 1990’s banning steer tailing, and requiring on-site veterinarians for all rodeos and charreadas. This is a “no-brainer.”
The opposition was driven by self-interest. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association opposed it , as did a few misguided people who attempted to play “the race card.” Hopefully, the Board didn’t fall for those bogus arguments, and simply used the county’s financial woes as an excuse to sidestep their responsibilities to the animals and the public. Ethically, steer tailing is about as debatable as waterboarding. I have video footage of steers with broken horns and tails, and of horses having their legs broken when the steers run the wrong way.
Some “sport!” Supervisor Don Gage told The Dispatch that he “could almost guarantee” that steer tailing would soon be banned. The Board, at the very least, should outlaw this cruelty. The homework has been done, the evidence is in, and it would cost the county nothing. Surely this is the very least we owe the animals. “Hope and change,” remember? Not just for people.
Eric Mills, coordinator Action for Animals, Oakland
