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Proposition: Step away from your busy personal life for a three-day out of town trip; drive five hours to a Yosemite mountain trailhead.

Bill and Lawana Clem, formerly of Gilroy, celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary July 26. The couple married in San Martin in 1945 and raised their four children, Larry, Glenda, Marilyn and Bruce, in South Santa Clara County. Bill Clem, a World War II veteran who served in the Army Air Force 303rd Bomb Group, worked as a carpenter for 16 years and later became building inspector for the City of Gilroy until his retirement. Lawana Clem worked for Gilroy Cannery for 39 years. The Clems retired to Oklahoma in 1989. They have six grandchildren, one step-granddaughter, two step-great-grandchildren and three great-grandsons.

Love is many things to different people. It has inspired countless tales, Shakespearean plays and many movies. For one Gilroy couple, love holds a truly unique and aromatic meaning: garlic. And in Gilroy, love and garlic go hand-in-hand. As the Gilroy Garlic Festival began to wind down Sunday afternoon, a large crowd gathered at the main stage to witness Tom and Stacy Davenport renew their wedding vows.

Children’s story writer Roald Dahl wrote “Matilda” in 1988. This is a story turned into a musical about an abused child who is gifted and handles the terrible neglect with an abundance of charm and an ability to “always make things right.”

I am being tormented by a critter.

In the last year, my neighbor has moved into his front and side yard on the dirt, six or seven cars that one day maybe restored. I live in a R1 Residential Zone. Every time I go out into my backyard, I am looking at a salvage yard. I think that there might be an ordinance on this one, but I know it would be a very low concern for the ordinance people because they are busy with a lot of stuff. Anyway, I have not given them a call because I think that nothing at all will happen. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you.

"Law that is not obeyed is a mockery of justice." That principle is not only valid for federal law but is also valid for local law on the municipal level. And it appears after passing another July 4 "fireworks festival" in Gilroy that the city is basically helpless to enforce any action against the bonehead residents who not only don't care about lighting illegal fireworks, but also take pleasure in lighting them before July 1 and well after July 4.In my attempt to share my frustration with our mayor and city council, I emailed them the following note:"Well, another July 4, and as I write this at 10:45pm it's another ‘joke’ regarding Gilroy's empty threat of ‘no support for illegal fireworks.’ I think this year has been the worst of any July 4 regarding the explosions of illegal fireworks—very loud military-sounding blasts going off just about continually all over the area of Welburn Ave., Santa Teresa Blvd. and Mantelli Dr. with impunity.“Listening to the scanner, the police are overwhelmed with calls about illegal fireworks and really don't give this a high priority. So, apparently, we residents, who are sick and tired of this noise abuse, must grin and bear it?“These illegal blasts start around July 1, crescendo on July 4, and go on past July 6, as I recall from last year. So, is the profit motive for ‘non-profit orgs’ really worth the City of Gilroy allowing even ‘safe and sane’ fireworks to continue each year with so many abusers? It appears to me that the noise abusers have won, and not only are you powerless to do anything about it, you don't care.”Mayor Don Gage replied: "This is one time I agree with you. This has been before (City) Council many times and rejected. The Fire (department?) does not support this either."While my email went to the entire city council and city administrator, at least Mayor Gage had the courtesy to reply to me, even if it offered no solution to the problem. The rest of them were stone silent.In addition, from a local Facebook page, "Gilroy Neighborhood Watch," the facilitator shared that cops would have to witness an illegal firework being set off to do anything like write a citation.But he did add that a law-abiding citizen could always make a citizen's arrest of the perpetrator setting off illegal fireworks. Right. That’s just the action to take if you want to target yourself and your house for vandalism by the same people who don't obey the very clear Gilroy law about illegal fireworks.    So dear people who do obey the Gilroy fireworks law, here's another slap in our faces compliments of our local government.  And I'll add as well: "Law that is not enforced is a mockery of justice."  Enforce it, or get rid of it.James Fennell has lived in Gilroy since 2000 with his wife Diana. They have 8 adult children and 17 grandchildren. He retired from IBM after 30 years in middle management. He wrote this piece for the Dispatch.

“Triangle” melds 2 stories across two centuries in a moving and tragic love story that blends early 20th and 21st centuries people together in a beautiful musical with actors who deliver an intense story with humor, deep feelings and a beautiful, well done score.

The shared summer reading theme at the Gilroy and Morgan Hill libraries is “Every Hero Has A Story.” Gilroy Librarian Elizabeth Munoz-Rosas believes the Friends of the Gilroy Library belong in that category. “The FGL are our heroes,” she said.

The long awaited Mel Brooks zany, over the top, wonderfully tasteless comedy “The Producers” has arrived at the Morgan Hill Community Playhouse courtesy of the South Valley Civic Theater. This is the most irreverent tribute to musical theatre ever produced. Just when you think it can’t get any more outrageous … it gets more outrageous. It hits on every race, creed, ethnic group and gender and no one is left out. You find yourself laughing hysterically at material you would never consider laughing at or even thinking about.