48.5 F
Gilroy
December 14, 2025

Who would be your quarterback?

Forget about the fact that your reading a newspaper in Gilroy

Time for an initiative to fix the initiative process

For almost 100 years, Californians themselves have passed this

‘The Story of My Life’ sparkles

‘The Story Of My Life” is about the relation-ships in life, what we miss, what we remember and what we could have done differently. Two actors carry this story with quality voices and good delivery.

Huzzah! For the Faire

Sure, men in tights run amok and corsets help women's cleavage

Red Phone: Puddles at El Roble Park

"There are three big puddles at El Roble Park right near the basketball hoops and portables day after day. Mosquitoes could be breeding there in the green-looking water in the middle of the path. There has got to be a leak somewhere because there shouldn't be a puddle like that at this time of year."

Enough already with Gilroy’s illegal fireworks

"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.

Hat trick

Marleau nets three goals in Sharks' 5-2 home win over Colorado

Grad spends summer as a primitive counselor

Haley Peterson, a 2012 graduate of Christopher High School in Gilroy, is one of the primitive counselors at Wisconsin Badger Camp this summer. The camp serves people with developmental disabilities by providing quality outdoor recreational experiences, a news release stated.

South Valley Dance Arts “Reflections” A Spring Concert

Join us for our Spring Show!  New dance works by guest choreographers and students, as well as some of our repertoire favorites, including the entire suite of Raymonda; a rarely seen classic in the States!

VTA makes commuter changes

Valley Transit Authority was set to implement scheduled changes across its entire light rail and bus system on Dec. 28, posing new headaches for many South Bay commuters and new solutions for others. As a way to make the changes more palatable and introduce new...

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