”
As a longtime citizen of the Hollister community and up until
recently a longtime volunteer of the San Benito Chapter of the Red
Cross, I am saddened and disappointed. There has been a terrible
disintegration of the state of the Red Cross after having hired
Kathryn Engelhard as the ‘director.’ I use that term loosely
because, unfortunately, the state of our local disaster relief is
greatly suffering from her mismanagement and poor people
skills.
”
“As a longtime citizen of the Hollister community and up until recently a longtime volunteer of the San Benito Chapter of the Red Cross, I am saddened and disappointed. There has been a terrible disintegration of the state of the Red Cross after having hired Kathryn Engelhard as the ‘director.’ I use that term loosely because, unfortunately, the state of our local disaster relief is greatly suffering from her mismanagement and poor people skills.”
“My heart goes out to all the parents of the teenagers involved in the horrible accident weekend before last. There for the grace of God go I.
The community where we lived when our children were teenagers had youth activities every weekend. That did not keep the youngsters from doing whatever youngsters do. We made the mistake of leaving our teenagers home one evening. We should have known something was amiss when the house was clean and everything was in its place when we returned.
It took about three weeks before the parents network got the word back that there had been a party. Our children knew the rule was no visitors whenever we were gone. It worked fine until we trusted them when we were gone overnight. Our mistake. Fortunately, no lasting damage.
After a short period of grounding, they had to put up with us going to all their school functions until they graduated. We got to know all the students in high school. Most were ordinary, goofy, fun-loving students doing 110 percent of what their parents would let them do.
The accident at the end of Santa Ana Valley Road was not the fault of Hollister. Part of it was the luck of the draw. Part of it was the parents trusting their teenagers – the same mistake we made.
It is a difficult time to be a teenager. What examples have we set for our youth? The president has sex with an intern in the White House. No problem. A congressman from our state has an intern for a mistress and she is murdered. No problem. No one is responsible for their actions. No problem.
Our current generation of teenagers is no different from previous generations. They are as good as we want them to be.”
“This is for the Citizens Voice in response to the many recent articles on the layoff of city employees. Although it is very decent of the Free Lance to take such an understanding and even open mind with regards to the city manager and the task he has at hand, it seems very one-sided.
Has no one spoken to the employees and printed the side of the story that is NOT being told? There does not need to be this massive layoff! There are OTHER OPTIONS.
I wish the citizens of Hollister knew the ‘rest of the story.’ Other cities are facing the same crisis and are avoiding layoffs in some very creative ways. Why can’t the city manager and the City Council take these other examples, including EDD backfill, wage reductions and reduced hours of operation, to name just a few, and SAVE jobs? For such a community as Hollister, this does not denote small town values and charm!”
“From smart taxpayer to dumb taxpayer: Get rid of the tree trimmers and equipment and then you can give them a call when your tree needs trimming because I am sure they will flourish in business once tree trimming is eliminated from the city budget.
And have you checked out the price that private tree trimmers charge? Open mouth, insert foot.
Also consider the loss of graffiti abatement, leaf pickup, adequate park maintenance – good luck!
With your attitude, you’re gonna need it.”
