The following events, organizations and people deserve either a
Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week:
THUMBS UP: San Benito County orchardists are disposing of their tree trimmings in a more environmentally friendly way. In the past, orchardists have typically burned the big piles of branches pruned from their trees each spring. This week, walnut grower Greg Swett used a 450-horsepower shredder to turn branches pruned from his trees into mulch that will add nutrients to his soil. Starting in 2010, state law will prohibit California orchardists from burning their trimmings. It’s nice to see local growers out there ahead of the curve.
THUMBS DOWN: Gas prices just keep going up and up. In the past four weeks, the average price of a gallon of unleaded regular in Hollister has risen from $2.64 to $3.09. In the past two weeks alone, pump prices have spiked by 31 cents a gallon. For the 10,000 local Hollister commuters who drive to jobs in other counties every day, things could get worse before they get better. Those who track gas prices say the trend is likely to continue and warn that we could soon be flirting with the sort of record-high prices we saw last May.
THUMBS UP: The San Benito County Juvenile Justice Commission seems to be making real progress in filling the empty seats that have effectively left the commission inactive and in violation of state law. The commission is required to have at least seven members, but presently has only three (and as recently as late last year had just one member). The commission has received applications from 10 people interested in serving and Judge Steve Sanders said he expects to name new members by early April. The commission oversees operations of Juvenile Hall and is required to play an advisory role in selecting a new chief probation officer for the county.
THUMBS DOWN: Nobody seems to know exactly what the underlying reason is, but the number of registered voters in San Benito County has fallen by seven percent since 2005. Once contributing factor is that County Clerk Joe Paul Gonzalez’s staff has purged the names of a lot of relocated or deceased voters from the rolls since the first of the year. But even Gonzalez admits that growing voter apathy could be part of the problem. Others cite possible reasons ranging from election overload brought on by a string of recent special elections to an increasingly mobile population to the possibility that people simply aren’t in a hurry to register this year because they’re waiting for the 2008 presidential vote.
THUMBS UP: Camille Vargas, a student at San Benito High School, took top honors among musicians aged 14-18 in the recent Marian Felice Youth Piano Competition. She won a $500 cash prize and has been invited to perform as part of the coming Bach to Blues show at Gavilan College. Also deserving of a nod is Hollister optometrist Robert Theaker, who has been elected president of the 2,600-member California Optometric Association. Theaker, who is a partner in the Vision Center here, has been practicing optometry in Hollister for 16 years.
