A couple of observant callers dialed up the Red Phone this week
with concerns about a potential perchlorate cover-up to questions
about Gilroy Police staffing. Enjoy …
A couple of observant callers dialed up the Red Phone this week with concerns about a potential perchlorate cover-up to questions about Gilroy Police staffing. Enjoy …
One resident, who could consider a second career as a private eye, called Friday afternoon after spotting something fishy going one at the percolation ponds in Morgan Hill.
“I’ve been reading about perchlorate, and I was wondering why they would be dumping Crystal Springs Water into the percolation ponds at Llagas and Miller,” she said. “But someone was down there dumping bottles and bottles and bottles of Crystal Springs water. Unless they’re trying to cover something up, you should look into it.”
By our guess, it certainly would take more than just a few bottles of spring water to do anything to the perchlorate levels, and, according to Mike DiMarco at the Water District, it won’t do much good in short-term, anyway.
“It takes anywhere from five to 20 years for that to get into the water supply,” he said.
Olin is using Crystal Springs to serve residents whose wells have tested positive for perchlorate, so maybe someone is trying rip Olin off by wasting the water. The Red Phone says take a picture and send it our way.
If anyone sees anything suspicious going on with the local water supply, they can call the ASMAT 24-hour hotline at
1-888-510-5151.
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Another caller rang the Red Phone to question the number of police cars he sees sitting unused at the Gilroy Police Department parking lot when he passes by.
“I drive by the police station every day, and no matter what time it is, there’s usually 15 to 20 cars parked there all the time,” he said. “I think it’s a waste of money. They have too many cop cars, and they’d be a lot better off having more cops instead of having more cars.”
Asst. Police Chief Lanny Brown said it wouldn’t be uncommon for residents to see a high number of cars in the lot, but rest assured that they are all getting used.
“We need to have enough cars for maximum deployment,” he said. “We try to put in right on the edge.”
The GPD has 23 marked police cars. With four cars – two K-9 units and two captain cars – that go home with officers each day, there are usually 19 cars available.
While at off-peak times as few as four cars are on patrol, as many as 15 are being used on weekend nights. Of the four remaining, Brown said anywhere from one to three can be in the maintenance shop at any time.
The caller also noted that he hasn’t seen the GPD horse trailer and truck move in three weeks.
“Why don’t you just take a look at it and monitor it yourself for a week or so?” he said.
He did fail to account, however, how many horses were kept in the barn.
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