Rally weekend has come and gone with nary a comment from San
Benito residents on the affair. Red Phone thought the people would
have had something to say.
Rally weekend has come and gone with nary a comment from San Benito residents on the affair. Red Phone thought the people would have had something to say. Nonetheless, the Crimson Crusader took calls anyway over the weekend from local residents commenting on a taxpayer-supported institution, changes with Charter Communications, new pedestrian lights in downtown and the Saddle Horse Show. Throw in your two cents on local life – call the Red Phone at 635-9219, but keep it clean.
Shed some light on it
One caller questioned why the new lights in downtown Hollister have not been turned on yet.
“I’m just wondering if those new street lamps the city put in are actually going to be turned on,” one caller asked. “They’re put up, but there’s no light coming out of them.”
According to Bill Avera, who’s been overseeing the downtown beautification project, the lights will be turned on when the entire system is finished in about a month or two. He said the pedestrian lamps were installed to get them out of the way before the Hollister Independence Rally began last weekend. However, the electrical conduit to the lamps still needs to be completed as well as installation along San Benito St. and other areas in downtown Hollister.
“The pedestrian lights aren’t on yet,” Avera said. “We wanted to make sure they were up before the rally so people wouldn’t trip on them or the metal grates where they’re installed.”
Angry with agriculture
One caller expressed their dismay over a lack of response from the Agricultural Advisory Service.
“I’ve got a complaint against the Agricultural Advisory Service – an extension of the University of California,” he said. “Every time I call them for advice either there is nobody there who can answer me or they don’t answer me at all. If I leave a message, sometimes they call and sometimes they don’t. Our tax money is paying for this and I think I’m getting pretty lousy service.”
Saddle up and shell out some dough
Another comment came to the Red Phone from a caller about the San Benito Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo.
“The paper gave a lot of positive coverage of the Horse Show in Bolado Park, but the one major negative thing was the pricing – babies were charged $10 to sit on their parents lap,” she said.
A cable to hang by
And yet another comment from a caller mad that Charter Cable has changed their channels.
“I read the article on Charter Communications changing, once again, the channel lineup and saying it is for our benefit. Remember, it is never for our benefit. It is for their benefit. I have called them and found out that, of course, if we wish to keep such interesting programs as the History Channel we will now have to pay extra for it. They are taking away and giving it back only if we pay more. If we wish to have something to say about it, we can tell City Hall we’re not happy with Charter. I also asked them where do they get their statistics from. They interview people in Reno, Nev. because they are a big city, but they never ask us in this area what we want. Whatever Reno wants is what we get. One day, perhaps, they will ask us what we want.”
