This letter is a response to information I heard about the fatal
accident that took the lives of some of our youth. A Monday night
joy ride. A horrible end.
Dear Editor,
This letter is a response to information I heard about the fatal accident that took the lives of some of our youth. A Monday night joy ride. A horrible end.
I understand everyone’s concern about the casino: adverse effect on families, traffic, growth and Highway 25.
What I don’t understand is why we allow societal trends to be acceptable. We give our children drivers’ licenses. Do we obey all of the driving laws to set an example, or do we have radar finders in our cars? I agree 25 is a problematic road. However, I never saw it open up and swallow any drivers. I have seen adults speed, pass and basically not obey the laws. We have lost youth on that road. Our youths and families have already been harmed by society trends, addictions, and the acceptance of the trends and addictions. The computer, arcades, spending, television, drinking, drugs, even some good addictions that take a lot of time away from home all tend to be “trendy.” Sometimes excused as, “all kids experiment.”
It is hard raising children today. A woman told me in the store, “raising teenagers is dangerous.” I know, I had four. I didn’t do it perfectly. I scolded, I lost it in verbal battles.
Whatever you do to prevent and keep your teens from these addictions and events, even if the verbal attacks are harmful, whatever you do is not as harmful as the outcome of those addictions and events. I grieve for all the children lost, and their parents. We are caught in a society where boundaries and limits seem to be giving way to acceptability. The kids have the upper hand and control in many families. We want to be friends.
When I was in high school my boyfriend was killed in a drinking and driving incident. Their car was at the A & W when I cruised by the next day, unknowingly. Friends tried to keep me away from the gruesome site. The car was left in the middle of the high school quad for a long time, and it kept the incidents at bay. It took me a long time to deal with the loss. In my conversations with teens it becomes a repetitive story. These incidents are gruesome, the movie they show in traffic school is gruesome, but if it works, why not show it to all licensees?
We know that the largest threat to young lives today is the automobile. Yet, look at the high school parking lot. We don’t have time to drive them to school. We don’t make them take the bus, or the transit system, or ride their bike or walk. We reward a child for becoming 16 with a vehicle. They survived because we took care of them, then we turn around and hand them something that is proven to be a weapon that will more than likely harm them.
Next to the automobile, the casino is harmless. How many of us placate our children, and entertain them by giving them not just 25 Â cents but many dollars for the arcades? I have always been against these money scavengers. Aren’t we training them? The arcade gives them lights, action, and noise. What is the difference between that and a slot machine? The slot machine gives them a chance to make it back!
We all need to think. Wouldn’t we have rather had a lot of business like Hershey’s come to town? But now businesses we have cannot expand due to the sewer moratorium. There are lots vacant, and buildings vacant. New businesses, one a large hotel, are stopped. Sinking in monthly interest and loan payments. The local governments don’t allow the state of the art temporary, “above the ground septic tanks” that can be removed when hookups are permitted.
We didn’t want to be a bedroom community, but the moratorium and the “no growth attitudes” will win and that is what we will be. The casino is a hope not a danger. We need the revenues. It is economic not emotional. The casino is money. Money talks, money walks and money builds. Negotiate, compromise, mitigate and have the casino pay for an improved 25 and improved services. Contribute to the plan of locating 152 into our county. Use the casino to market San Benito County. Feature a mural depicting all of the county businesses. Have them work with the Chamber of Commerce and community nonprofit organizations to help bring revenues in. All of their flyers boasting “San Benito County.”
Use the casino to do good. We didn’t want growth. It was advertised in all the newspapers. Now we travel down 25 and shop and the large shopping centers at the Santa Clara/San Benito county lines. Gilroy and Santa Clara receives the revenues. We come home and say, “why don’t we have….”
The casino just might go on the Santa Clara line, six inches from San Benito County. Or the Monterey County line, six inches from San Benito County. We won’t get the revenues or get a chance to negotiate. It will not impact our families or children as much as the liquor in the stores, the drugs and violence, society trends and the automobile. And someone else will benefit.
Sally A. Haydon, Hollister
