Erosion of Private Property Rights at Dangerous Level With
Knee-Jerk Acceptance
Dear Editor,
In the Dec. 5 issue of the Gilroy Dispatch, a Mr. Bone opined that he supports LAFCO, “not as an annexation building moratorium but as a structured mechanism to preserve open space and agricultural land.”
What load of manure, Mr. Bone! The funny thing is, the people who own the land aren’t the ones trying to preserve it. It is the constitution-bashing tree huggers like Mr. Bone and others who want to infringe on the private property rights of their neighbors who actually own property.
If the tree huggers want to preserve a farm or a hill or a tree or a red-legged frog (they’re tasty by the way), they should buy the land at full fair market value. To use the government and its thieving agents like LAFCO, the City of Gilroy or the Gilroy Unified School District, who routinely condemn private property thereby stealing it from its “rightful” owners, is contrary to the original intent of our basic constitutional rights. As to the Filice family, they are living the American dream, and they earned it. What exactly did anyone do for them Mr. Bone?
They and there forefathers earned this land. It was not seized for them, they bought, negotiated and traded for it. Perhaps the school district should fire it acquisition superintendent and hire a Filice. They are obviously much smarter in matters of real estate. I wish there was more of an outcry from the community when the government strong-arms its citizens taking away their land and more and more of our rights. The Dispatch is right when they say that LAFCO isn’t funny. It is high time that we rid our society of this parasitic entitlement mentality.
Mark A. Zappa, Gilroy
The Golden Quill is awarded occasionally for a well-written letter.
Gifts for Students With Great Attendance Would Send Wrong Life Message
Dear Editor,
Regarding your Web poll on rewarding students with gifts for good attendance: When these students get out into the real world and get a job their employer will expect them to show up every day to work and perform.
I have been in the construction industry for 30 years which, by the way, is a tough way to earn a living. In this business it is set up as a no-work, no-pay industry. You are expected at work every day whether it is hot, cold, raining or whatever.
If we ever start to dangle gifts in front of our students to get them to go to school we would be teaching them a wrong message about life in the real world.
Joe Costa, Gilroy
