Meters don’t run backwards
I was present at the last Board of Supervisors meeting. The
Director of Public Works stated that the water meters in Stonegate
would all have to be replaced because some of them are reading
backwards. It is essentially impossible for a water meter to read
backwards. What is far more likely is that the meters are not being
read in the same order every month, so that readings are being
switched. There are 150 meters in Stonegate, and they are not
arranged in a nice straight line, so it would be easy to get the
readings switched.
There are people who specialize in reading water meters and who
understand this problem. Some of them operate small water systems.
I suggest that someone with previous experience be hired to read
the Stonegate water meters.
Robert Gilchrist Huenemann
Hollister
Examine the facts
In answer to Mr. Nunez’s letter in the Pinnacle (Aug. 1), it is evident Mr. Nunez did not understand my point. I, too, honor and respect our men and women in uniform. Stating the facts that a disproportionate number of low-income, non-college educated, brown and black people fill the ranks of the non-officer enlisted is not an insult! It is insulting to imply that being poor, unable to afford college, and possessing black or brown skin is degrading. My patriotism is expressed by standing up and speaking out against an administration that should be impeached for lying the people into a criminal war that has murdered 1 million Iraqi civilians, 4000-plus American soldiers and wounded tens of thousands who will be permanently physically and/or psychologically disabled. Not to mention that the war debt is driving us into a depression.
I think if Mr. Nunez had attended the presentation by our two young Mexican-American Hollister veterans, who are devoting their lives to telling the truth about the Iraq war, Mr. Nunez would have a broader perspective and less invective.
In reference to his remarks about me and Mary Zanger, I am honored to have a friend like Mary Zanger, a woman who has made Hollister her home for 50 years and has devoted a great part of her life to serving the most vulnerable of our community, from the homeless and hungry to the sick and dying. Thank God for people like Mary Z.!
Finally, the facts are needed in reference to Steve Collins questioning Mary Zanger and the Pinnacle about the number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. and California. According to the prestigious Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigration research center, there are now an estimated 11.3 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. One-third of these are from Mexico. About two and a half million reside in California. An article in the July 30 Mercury News stated that illegal immigration is dropping due most probably to the declining economy. There has been an 11 percent decline since August 2007. Where did the “40 million illegal aliens” figure come from, Mr. Collins?
Natasha Wist
Hollister
Meters don’t run backwards
I was present at the last Board of Supervisors meeting. The Director of Public Works stated that the water meters in Stonegate would all have to be replaced because some of them are reading backwards. It is essentially impossible for a water meter to read backwards. What is far more likely is that the meters are not being read in the same order every month, so that readings are being switched. There are 150 meters in Stonegate, and they are not arranged in a nice straight line, so it would be easy to get the readings switched.
There are people who specialize in reading water meters and who understand this problem. Some of them operate small water systems. I suggest that someone with previous experience be hired to read the Stonegate water meters.
Robert Gilchrist Huenemann
Hollister
Stonegate: just the facts
I am writing this in response to the letter published Aug. 8 “No crying over water,” and the article printed Aug. 1 about the situation with the water and Stonegate. I am a resident of Stonegate. It infuriates me when people like you, Mr. Huenemann, and the Pinnacle make statements and accusations of which they have no facts or have not done any research. First of all the reason we at Stonegate are in this horrible situation with our water rest solely on the San Benito Public Works Dept.
Stonegate’s 73 residents pays public works $220,679.00 every year ($3025.00 per house) to purchase and maintain our blue valve water. Blue valve water is used to maintain landscape and care for livestock.
San Benito County Water District notified Public Works in four different letters dated from Feb. 21-May 31 that there was an extreme shortage of blue valve water. We would only receive 40 percent of our allocated water. No one at the Public Works Dept. notified anybody in Stonegate that we should cut back and ration our water due to the extreme shortage.
We were officially notified June 27 that we should be more cautious of our blue valve water usage; for example, make sure not to use a hose with out a nozzle on it, and do not wash down your driveways, etc. Then 10 days later, we were notified by phone that we were completely out of water. So I say to you Mr. Huenemann, I would hope you would question the Director Jerry Lo and Mike Watson the superintendent of Public Works were does their responsibility lay in all of this? I hope you now feel that they should be blamed and penalized for what has happened to us, not the residents of Stonegate themselves. “Now you know the rest of the story.”
Lisa Greenup
Tres Pinos
Editor’s note: The Aug. 1 Pinnacle article “Well runs day” reported that the San Benito County Water District staff said they sent letters notifying the San Benito County Public Works staff of the water shortage on Feb. 6, April 22, and May 31, though Public Works Director Jerry Lo said the department did not receive notification until July 7. Residents were not notified until late July of the shortage.
Hands off LULAC
Every Mexican Native American living in this country should stand up and show their disgust regarding the insulting article about LULAC that appeared in the Aug. 8 issue of your newspaper by babbling Bob Valenzuela that called LULAC “The Gang that couldn’t shoot straight.” Let us not forget that we non-white American citizens live in a country under what should be the golden lining of the umbrella of our Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights that clearly states “All men are created equal.” Let us not forget that if it were not for originations like LULAC, Mr. Valenzuela would not have the position or opportunities he has today!
It’s a disgraceful shame in the darkest days in our nation’s history when a respected origination like LULAC or the NAACP deems it necessary to take the extreme measures of having to file a lawsuit in order to afford non-white American citizens their God-given rights. Before a blanket attack is launched at LULAC the columnist of your paper should state the facts so that your reading audience receives a full understanding and reason of what and why the article is written.
I am the grandson of major civil rights leader Maria Latigo Hernandez who in 1920 saw it necessary to set in place the foundation of what is now the origination of LULAC. LULAC was founded to insure that our Constitution word-for-word adequately protected all non-white citizens of this beautiful country of the United States, so that they be forced by the letter of the law to be included and not excluded victims by the lopsided warping of the American political landscape by people like Tom Delay, the KKK, Jim Crow and Birchers.
Mr. Valenzuela needs to realize that Mexican Native American members of LULAC who like myself in the 1940s were slapped on our hands and denied the right of speaking their native American language of Spanish, forced to take a back seat in school class rooms and even excluded from Little League baseball. For our generation of kids not having a taste of the “American Pie” was not only humiliating, it was socially traumatizing but ever so empowering crumb by crumb! How can you have the nerve to compare LULAC or the NAACP with a gang? Where have you been?
Putting all of LULAC’s imperfections aside, neither LULAC nor the NAACP will sit idly to be verbally plowed under or railroaded of any of its citizens’ constitutional rights. No president, politician or origination in this country is flawless. But granted, we as Americans all must strive to improve, strengthen and reshape the fabric of indifference, so slow as it may be, as it forges the future of our great nation with liberty and justice for all! Non-whites in this country have had to do every thing except to stand in front of a 50,000-pound armored tank to demand rights, Thank God! But there are words that can pierce the armor of a person’s American spirit.
A priceless debt of gratitude is owed to each and every club, group, organization and individual in our beautiful country who has treaded through the shadows and depths of adversity that have made it possible for us to express our views and or beliefs and more so have it appear on a page of a newspaper today!
So, my brother, if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.
Ronald Rocha
Hollister
Don’t ignore immigration laws
When I read the line in Sheriff Curtis Hill’s recent article in the Free Lance asking for support of Proposition 6 that states, “Eliminate bail for undocumented individuals charged with violent or gang-related felonies,” I was somewhat taken aback and tried to contact Sheriff Hill and D.A. Candace Hooper for policy comment without success (so much for the public servant stuff).
It seems common sense takes a back seat when trying to rationalize this issue. When an illegal alien is arrested for a crime, that person actually has two crimes against him/her. One being in the U.S. illegally, second committing a crime that ended up with the arrest then let out on bail without notifying the federal authorities?
Regardless of the health and welfare of the community, it seems Sheriff Hill and Hooper write their own policy. This policy by definition allows illegal aliens a sanctuary in our county. Sheriff Hill and Hooper’s policy of not notifying the proper federal agency after an arrest of an illegal alien and allows that criminal out on bail jeopardizes the safety of the entire county. All one has to do is look at the recent killings committed by an illegal alien that occurred in sanctuary city San Francisco. That is just one of thousands of violent crimes committed by illegal aliens against law biding citizens where local enforcement policy was not to notify the proper Federal immigration agency. The loss of life, property and taxpayer hard earned money of legal residents committed by illegal aliens have elected officials looking the other way only for political posturing. And only the D.A., Sheriff and HPD know how many violent and other crimes against San Benito County citizens by illegal aliens have been and are committed.
Illegal immigrants come from many nations and backgrounds such as Hispanic, Russian, Middle Easterner, Asian, etc. Illegal immigration is a sensitive issue and should not be. Unfortunately when trying to discuss or debate illegal immigration one is usually tagged a racist and politicians, such as Hill and Hooper, run for cover, look the other way and make their own feel good policy that results in endangering the safety of the community. And just as disturbing is our city council and county board of supervisors who have taken an oath to protect us have no idea what Hooper, Sheriff Hill and the HPD policies on arrested illegal aliens that have committed crimes.
Policy is not a law and the bottom line is those elected officials who do not like the laws as written should have them legally changed, but, for public safety at least enforce the ones on the books.
Paul Grannis
Hollister
