Letters to the Editor

The water case isn’t clear
The March 21 edition of the Weekend Pinnacle featured an article
on medical drug traces in water. In my opinion the information was
not complete. Jim Hart, Hollister’s utility technician, is quoted
as saying
”
There is no reason to suspect that pharmaceutical drugs would be
found in water supplied by Hollister.
”
In my opinion, absent actual testing of the local drinking water
all that can be said is
”
WE DON’T KNOW.
”
The water case isn’t clear

The March 21 edition of the Weekend Pinnacle featured an article on medical drug traces in water. In my opinion the information was not complete. Jim Hart, Hollister’s utility technician, is quoted as saying “There is no reason to suspect that pharmaceutical drugs would be found in water supplied by Hollister.” In my opinion, absent actual testing of the local drinking water all that can be said is “WE DON’T KNOW.”

On Feb. 25, 2002, San Benito County Water District Consultant, Anne Braghetta, Ph.D., of Montgomery Watson Harza made a presentation to the San Benito County Water District and Regional Water Utilities entitled “Constituents of Concern in Local Wastewaters and Water Sources.” That presentation on the result of testing local wastewater and water sources disclosed the presence of pharmaceuticals, personal care products and endocrine distrupting compounds such as natural and synthetic hormones in San Juan Bautista, Hollister and Sunnyslope wastewater, in wells in the vicinity of the wastewater plants and in imported San Felipe water. San Juan Bautista, Hollister and Sunnyslope water system wells were not tested. Sunnyslope and Hollister supply filtered San Felipe water to their customers.

In the absence of actual testing, all that can be said is WE DON’T KNOW if there are pharmaceutical drugs in the local drinking water. We do know that those compounds are not currently regulated by the state and federal government and we do know that the potential impact of those compounds in the environment and in humans is controversial.

John S. Gregg

Hollister

Save the Aromas post office

Aromas, California, 95004. Our town, unincorporated, and lying within three counties; San Benito, Monterey, and Santa Cruz. The post office is a large part of our identity.. The post office was established in 1894. It may very well be one of the oldest post offices in California. Our village was settled in 1870. It was called Aromitas because it was part of Rancho Las Aromitos y Agua Caliente – Ranch of the Aromas because of the sulfur springs nearby. And because of the railroad, these springs became very popular in the 1920s. In 1894 there was a population of 40 and we had a post office. Now there is a population of several thousand and the postal department is threatening to close it.

The postal department is closing small post offices across the U.S. and now they have zeroed in on ours. The present building is leased and is now on the market. The postal department refuses to buy the building, saying they never buy small post offices. Small post offices do not always pay for themselves so Title 39 was written up to protect the rights of the smaller offices. It states that no small post office can be closed for financial reasons, but that is exactly why they are closing smaller offices. The head CEO of the postal department, which is incidentally not government owned, has a salary just slightly lower than the President of the United States and he is requesting a 39 percent raise this year.

Those of us who live in town walk to the post office, as we have no home delivery. If the post offices closes will we be Aromas, California 95004 or will we be annexed to the next town 14 miles round trip to receive our mail and newspapers, yours included? We will have to go there to get stamps and to mail packages. Will we lose our identity as a town and a place on the map of California? Please help us save the post office. Please print this letter and encourage your readers to sign our petition. Hundreds of people have signed, but we need more. It seems that only with a large number of people protesting do we have power over agencies such as this. We must not give up and lose our rights.

Karen Mendonca

Aromas

Help rescue Park Hill

On Monday, April 7, at 6:30 p.m. the Hollister Parks and Rec. Commission will ask the City Council to take a look at Park Hill. Park Hill is located north of Third Street, between Monterey and West streets. It has a beautiful view and a bad reputation. The view looks over our city and the changing patchwork of fields that remain below, on a clear day all the way to San Jose. The bad reputation comes from its isolation, fires, strong-arm robbery attempts, and a haven for undesirables. The city will be asked to help support a master plan for this area, to create a place families can feel comfortable taking their kids, a place to walk and enjoy, a place to feel safe because other folks are there. 

When I first came to Hollister there was a staircase that went from Third Street to the top of the hill. My kids liked walking up those stairs, we would come to the top out of breath and look out over the city while ours heartbeats caught up. Then the play equipment would call and off they would go, to climb, swing and explore. Years ago the stairs where removed, the play equipment deemed unsafe and removed, the bathroom locked due to lack of funds, the park deteriorated further with broken rails, walls from the barbecue area kicked in, etc.

If you have fond memories of Park Hill and would like to see this green space in the heart of our city improved, expanded, completed, please show up and show your support. You don’t need to speak unless you wish. I’ll be handing out “Friends of Park Hill” stickers so the council can see why you choose to come. Please find the time to help create a place for people to walk, run, and play, an open space, a place to be!

Robin Pollard

Hollister

An inspiring victory tour

Now that the Bush/Cheney, McCain cheerleaders have assured us that the Surge is a success, Congress, in a bipartisan effort, should sponsor a Bush/Cheney, McCain Good Will tour of Iraq. A motorcade through the peaceful streets of Baghdad would be the highlight. Women and children throwing flowers, thousands of Iraqis lining the streets cheering the president and Republican nominee, would be more inspirational than the Mission Accomplished speech.

Frank Crosby

Morgan Hill

Stay the course in Iraq

Mary Zanger’s letter in March 28 Pinnacle needs a rebuttal. Certainly the American people want to stop “making” war and start making peace, and we would like to do it now. Furthermore, I think most of us will now agree that the Iraq war was ill advised and that we blundered badly in naively believing the Iraqi people would embrace democracy and live together in peace once we deposed Saddam Hussein.

However, the hard fact is that we cannot just walk away from Iraq, expect the Middle East to calm down and live happily ourselves. Despite everything, we have many friends in Iraq. Their blood will only flow faster if we abandon them. Meanwhile our enemies will take heart and joyfully proclaim that Americans cannot be trusted to protect their friends, and terrorism will continue and probably escalate.

Perhaps the Iraqi government might become more responsible and decisive if we should pull out, as the Democratic candidates state, but this seems unlikely from their behavior so far. More likely, the anti-American elements expect us to lose heart so they can take over. Letters like those of Ms. Zanger, give them good reason to hope.

The current wisdom says that force alone cannot defeat terrorism, and that we must win “hearts and minds” to prevail. And now that our troops are doing a great deal of just that, we begin to see progress in this nasty struggle. We need to support those bearing the brunt of the effort by showing more resolve on the home front.

We all want the fighting to stop. But an irresponsible withdrawal now would mean the 4,000 precious lives we have lost would be lost in vain.

John Blake

Hollister

Hollister, home of high-priced gas

I wanted to correct the statements made in the article “Measure T takes effect on April 1” by Robert Yant, in his quote: “Gas is so high, that if you go out of town you’re going to pay a lot.”

You’d also pay a lot in Hollister as gas in Safeway for instance is over $3.60, and the stations Quik Stop and Ranch Milk on the corner of San Felipe and Santa Ana are a couple cents under $3.60. But I get gas out of town, and it is in the $3.53-$3.57 range in Gilroy, as of Friday, March 28, and also as of March 28 at the ARCO AM/PM in Morgan Hill off of Cochrane the price was $3.51, which, by my investigation, was the same price as the lowest found in Hollister at Jessie’s Gas, and I don’t know anyone who goes there.

Even better, there are almost half a dozen ARCO-AM/PM’s in San Jose (Tully, two on Capitol Expressway, Julian, Senter, Meridian) that are under $3.50, and almost a dozen, including those I mentioned, which are under $3.52, also as of Friday, March 28. So while the statement made by the owner of Enterprise Electric was probably in good faith to keep people getting gas in Hollister, it is simply incorrect, and you can easily find comparable prices in Gilroy, Morgan Hill, and yes, even many areas of San Jose.

Steven Reno

Hollister

Editor’s note: While consumers may find Mr. Reno’s research on gas prices valuable, Mr. Yant’s reference to out-of-town travel was an effort to illustrate that longer trips are becoming more costly, irrespective of where gasoline is purchased.

Fix the foreclosure headaches

This letter is a commentary on the Pinnacle’s article about the visual condition of foreclosed homes. I see this is an opportunity for some concerted community action.

The problem is that the foreclosing-institutions are not sensitive to the people living in the neighborhoods where the houses are foreclosed upon. There is no excuse for tacking unsightly plywood over windows, allowing gardens to be overcome by weeds, trash, litter and accumulating garbage. The institutions, through insensitivity and inaction, are creating attractive nuisances, and in the aggregate, a climate conducive to deteriorating neighborhoods, drug dealing and other unlawful activities. What to do?

There is an opportunity for providing jobs for young people, pulling neighborhoods up, instilling pride of citizenship in the city and helping the foreclosing institutions understand that the local agency runs the city in the name of and for the benefit of its citizens. (You’d think that some of these people never took a civics class.) I suggest the following approach:

– The local agency adopts a property maintenance ordinance making the existence of unkempt property a public nuisance, punishable by stiff fines

– Provisions of the ordinance should include that vacant houses which are boarded up and not up for rent should be fenced and the boards covering windows and doors be fitted to the windows and painted accordingly

– The local agency creates a youth employment program

– A violating foreclosing-institution is cited and advised to comply. In addition to the citation, the institution is advised of the youth employment program whereby local youth could maintain the property to code in accordance with an established fee schedule and under the supervision of the program

The foregoing is a win-win approach. It would: a) provide some meaningful work for local youth; b) keep neighborhoods from deteriorating and reducing property values; c) provide a service to out of town institutions that would could save them severe fines; and, d) to the violating local institutions, shame on them, it would send the message they are a part of maintaining our cities as desirable places to live.

Ernest Franco

San Juan Bautista

Tres Pinos votes for Zaucha

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors will soon be appointing a new director to the Board of Tres Pinos Water District. A majority of TPWD businesses, former directors, and customers support Bobby Zaucha. Bobby Zaucha is a good, fair-minded person.

He stands for smart growth and fiscal responsibility. Supervisors should LISTEN to Tres Pinos and appoint who Tres Pinos wants appointed, and not bow to outside political pressures.

Bobby Zaucha is a former TPWD director, and he has been to every TPWD meeting in the last two years. He has served on various TPWD committees during that time. He has the most experience and is the right person for the job.

If this were an election in Tres Pinos Water District, Bobby Zaucha would win.

Supervisors now have the chance to do the right thing, and do what Tres Pinos wants.

Bobby Zaucha has had only a limited time to get signatures of support, and he is still getting more every day. The TPWD signatures he has gotten so far are:

– Mike Howard – Business owner/operator of Tres Pinos Inn, landlord of various residences

– Phil and Karen Barrett – Business owners/operators of Flapjack’s Country Cafe, and Tres Pinos Taqueria,

– Wayne Pfeffer – Business owner/operator of Tres Pinos Country Store, landlord of various businesses and residences

– Don Castro – Business owner of Racer’s Edge.

– Norma Price, former Manager/Secretary TPWD, Harvey Price. and Gary Price.

– Alex and Laura Naccarato

– Kerry and Jeanette Maroney

– Peter Frusetta – former TPWD director, former State Assemblyman, and Helen Frusetta.

– Robert Frusetta – TPWD director, and Jamie Frusetta and John Frusetta.

– Sue Alvarado – former TPWD director and Manuel Carreiro.

– Don Rider

– Mrs. George Kincaid

– Michael Zgragen – former TPWD director

– Ed Schmidt – TPWD director, and Jane Schmidt

– Rene Hodges

– Diana Hawkes, former TPWD director, and Ken Hawkes and Mack Hawkes.

– Alicia and Jarrod Zgragen

– Dewayn Kezerle – former TPWD director

– Jeb and Mary Rowen

– Connie Rodriguez – former TPWD director

– Robert and Cass Spencer

– James Maestri – former TPWD director

– Louie Pulido, former TPWD director, and Sally Pulido

– Robert and Rhonda Rovella

– Bob Hansen – served by TPWD

– Joe and Cheryl Mullen

– Valerie Smith

– Wayne Beecher

– Audra Bourdet

– Andrea Sommer

– Mario and Valerie Gaona

– Lynne Zaucha

– Randy Alvarado

– Tex Hunter

– Joe and Dee Gomes

– Lynn Vandervoort

– Maria “Cookie” Sanders

– Mike Martin

– Chris and Nancy Moore

– Robert and Ramona Parra

– Florence O’Daniel

– Rhonda Maestri

– Tim Stankovich

– Fernando and Mary Rodriguez

– Justin Askew

– Samuel and Frances Mendoza

– William and Robin Schnekenburger

– Juanita Diaz and Jesse Diaz

– Basil and Lettie Rodriguez

– Linda Hernandez

– Candice Willis

– Francisco “Pancho” Lopez

– Jan Cunningham

– Mike Marxsen

– David Adel

– Yolanda Gomez

– Dawn Ricotti

Jamie Frusetta

Tres Pinos