Cheers to the Morgan Hill Midget Raiders, who this week placed
third at the Pop Warner
”
Super Bowl
”
in Florida. Morgan Hill, which won titles for the Peninsula
Division and Pacific Northwest Region, lost 20-6 to Northeast
(Maryland) in the Division II semifinals Tuesday.
Cheers to the Morgan Hill Midget Raiders, who this week placed third at the Pop Warner “Super Bowl” in Florida. Morgan Hill, which won titles for the Peninsula Division and Pacific Northwest Region, lost 20-6 to Northeast (Maryland) in the Division II semifinals Tuesday.
The Raiders finished 13-2 and became the first Pacific Northwest team in 10 years to win its opener in the national tournament, held at the ESPN World Wide of Sports Complex.
They did it with offense. They did it with defense. They did it as a team.
Jeers to the 56 percent of responders to a recent web poll who indicated they’d do less than 25 percent of their holiday shopping locally. The brick-and-mortar small-business owners represent the backbone of our local economy. In this “what’s-in-it-for-me?” era, here are some reasons for spending money with local businesses.
n You will conserve energy. Why drive miles to a major mall or metropolitan shopping district when you can likely find what you need only a mile or two away?
n You will keep your money and your tax dollars in town. Studies have shown that for every $100 spent locally, $68 stays local. For every $100 spent at a national chain store, only $43 stays local. Sales tax dollars stay local as well, helping city governments pay for basic services such as police and fire protection, road maintenance, parks and recreation services.
n Local businesses generate local jobs. Income to those businesses is returned in the form of salaries, which are spent locally as well.
Cheers to the children and their families who braved cold, rainy weather to participate in and watch the 6th annual Holiday Lights Parade through downtown Morgan Hill. The parade, sponsored by the Kiwanis Club, just gets better and better every year and is a big reason for Morgan Hill’s smalltown feel.
Each year, the Kiwanis Club puts on the parade the first Saturday of December, starting at 5:30 p.m. If you missed it this year, put it on your calendar for 2011.
Jeers to Olin Corporation, the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the city of Morgan Hill for continuing to charge residents for the decade-old perchlorate mess. Olin caused the problem and Olin should be financially responsible for fixing the problem.
But, both the city of Morgan Hill and the Santa Clara Valley Water District have included “perchlorate response” fees in water bills. In Morgan Hill, it’s a 3 percent surcharge for residents who are living off the city-owned wells. If it’s a SCVWD bill you’re receiving – which goes to South County’s estimated 4,000 private well owners – the charge is $4.5 million spread over two years or 14.8 percent of the total cost of groundwater charges.
Cheers to the South Valley Islamic Community for its renewed efforts to build a mosque and community center in San Martin. The community, whose membership includes about 75 Muslim families in southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties, submitted building permit applications for the project in 2007.
However, due to the souring economy, the group was unable to begin construction and allowed the permits to expire. But fundraising has picked up in recent months and the group is prepared again to open a permanent house of worship.
