The following events, organizations and people deserve either a
Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week:
THUMBS UP: Hazel Hawkins Hospital and the union representing nurses there have reached a tentative agreement on a new four-year contract. The agreement provides registered nurses with a 25.5 percent wage increase over the life of the contract, bringing pay at Hollister’s hospital in line with what’s offered at hospitals in Gilroy and Salinas. That should help end staffing problems at Hazel Hawkins, which had seen RNs leaving for better pay at nearby hospitals. Local members of the California Nurses Association will vote Tuesday on ratification of the deal reached at the negotiating table. If union members OK the contract, it goes to the hospital board on Thursday for their approval.
THUMBS DOWN: A big-time San Benito County pot grower got off this week with what surely seems like a light slap on the wrist. A raid this summer at Michael Hennagan’s ranch house in the Panoche Hills turned up nearly 3,000 marijuana plants with a harvested street value of $524,000 – plus weapons including an illegal AK-47 assault rifle. After pleading no contest to felony cultivation of marijuana, Hennagan was sentenced on Wednesday to three years’ probation and credit for time served in the San Benito County Jail.
THUMBS UP: The feel-good story of the week was the swearing in on Tuesday night of new Hollister School District Trustee Bea Gonzales-Ramirez. A one-time high school dropout, Gonzales-Ramirez realized she wouldn’t get far in life without an education and returned to San Andreas continuation school, then got her diploma from San Benito High School. After raising her children, Gonzales-Ramirez again returned to school and received a bachelor’s degree from CSU-Monterey Bay and then earned a law degree as well. When sworn in as a school board member, Gonzales-Ramirez asked Mike Sanchez, who as principal at San Andreas had helped her turn her life around, to do the honors.
THUMBS DOWN: Car thieves are taking advantage of thin-blooded auto owners, driving away with vehicles left to warm up unattended in driveways or on the street. Hollister police say auto thefts increase significantly during chilly months of the year. During the first few days of December, seven cars were stolen in Hollister, compared with eight in all of November. Police Chief Jeff Miller says it’s simply a crime of opportunity, made all too easy by auto owners who just aren’t thinking about the risk. He urges motorists who want to warm up their cars before heading off to work on cold mornings to stay with their vehicles. “Bundle up and take your coffee with you,” Miller said.
