The following events, organizations and people deserve either a
Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week:
THUMBS UP: Here’s to Hollister resident Robin Pollard for leading a citizen charge for improvements at Vista Hill Park. As its name implies, this hilltop park offers spectacular views of the area and could be a civic showplace. But it’s underutilized and has suffered from neglect. For some time, Pollard has been banging the drum with the city about the need to stop the decline and start dreaming about possibilities for the park. Her persistence has inspired others. Local architect David Huboi, who sits on the city Planning Commission, has volunteered to draw up a site plan. His dream for the park is an outdoor amphitheater. Others have suggested the park as a site for a new community library. Of course, there’s that problem of finding the money to turn dreams into reality – especially at this time of municipal budget cuts. But great things start with dreams and happen only when someone keeps pushing for positive change.
THUMBS DOWN: A father-son duo has parlayed a local tow truck operation into a gold mine of litigation, clogging court documents and winning judgments from often unsuspecting people. Since 1999, more than 2,000 people have been hauled into small claims court in three counties and ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in towing, storage and court fees to Vincent Cardinalli Sr. of Hollister and his son, Paul Greer, a former Hollister resident now living in Clovis. Many of the people targeted by Cardinalli and Greer had sold the vehicles long before they were towed and stored, but were caught up in a bizarre tangle of bureaucratic and legal technicalities. Finally, however, one victim has sued to have Greer declared a vexatious litigant, someone who repeatedly files frivolous lawsuits.
THUMBS UP: Students at San Benito High School have raised $10,000 to help the families of two local children facing serious illnesses. The school’s Associated Student Body annually works to raise money to help a family facing some sort of financial hardship. This year, the SBHS students decided to help the families of Kyle Rhodes, a student at the school who is fighting Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and Logan Wood, a 7-month-old boy with cystic fibrosis. The most the students had raised in the past was $7,000. This year, they went far above and beyond. The grateful recipients said the money will go to pay for medical bills. For the students, this fundraiser offered a real-world lesson on compassion and kindness and the value of hard work.
THUMBS DOWN: We saw some scattered showers last weekend, but last month still ended up as the driest January on record. Only .16 inches of precipitation fell during January, which historically is the wettest month of the year in San Benito County. Local ranchers and farmers – who earlier in January had to deal with record cold temperatures that damaged crops – depend on the winter rain to add moisture to their pastures and crop land.
