A front page headline. The Morgan Hill Times headline on Tuesday read “City to toughen social host ordinance.” While we’d like that to be the case, the truth is the city isn’t changing anything yet.
Current Morgan Hill ordinances regarding underage drinking at parties lack specificity and are inconsistently applied. For example, the Times reported a few weeks ago that the police broke up a loud party attended by more than 50 youths who were drinking. An adult was on the premises, but sleeping through the whole thing, including, apparently, the part where the youths assaulted the police by pelting them with liquor bottles and other things. The teenaged girl hosting the party was cited and released, and, as far as we know, neither the grandfather nor any other adult associated with the property has met with any consequences, either.
As Tuesday’s article on the social host ordinance mentioned, member organizations of the South County Collaborative that work with local families note that both Morgan Hill and Gilroy have serious problems with underage drinking. And, when our local policies and practices are not clear, it sends an inconsistent message that underage drinking is a public safety issue and not acceptable. We are in the first steps of working with the council, asking them to look at adopting a more specific ordinance that provides police with some clear direction and supports prevention of substance abuse.
If you are interested in joining us in our efforts, please contact me or Lori Escobar, program director at El Toro Youth Center. Lori has been serving the youth of South County for more than 25 years. The stories she can tell you about losing precious teens of our community due to 30 seconds of stupid resulting from drinking makes my toes curl and my heart ache in pain. I bet many more of you have some, too.
A community statistic. In several articles about the unhoused population of Gilroy, reporters have cited the “point-in-time” 2004 Homeless Census and reported that 152 Gilroy residents are homeless. I want to emphasize that this is the number of Gilroy residents counted living on the street. Another 249 Gilroy residents were counted staying in shelters that night, totaling 401 homeless residents which is the highest rate per capita in the entire county. Some have since moved in to permanent housing, but we saw some of the shelter residents from two years ago on the streets on the day of the Outreach Connect at Las Animas Park, and that day, we saw 226 unhoused people. Thanks to Gilroy Dispatch reporters for bringing homeless and housing issues to light.
A perpetuated myth. While I don’t often agree with Cynthia Walker, I usually enjoy her columns. Not so last Saturday’s column about the brutal murder of Franca Barsi. Although Walker advised us to save our complaints about her blaming the victim, her perpetuation of many myths of domestic violence must not go without remark.
The facts are that Barsi died, not because she had premarital sex with someone, or was a single mom dating while her son was young, but because she was killed by a criminal who victimized women.
I used to listen to Dr. Laura, so I can see the attraction to Walker. However, I get tired of women taking the brunt of society’s disapproval. She dated. She had sex before her child was 18. She didn’t marry her “impregnator.” The facts are that many married women suffer from domestic violence, too. And, women who marry their impregnator will suffer from domestic violence if the impregnator is someone with a twisted sense of how to behave in relationships and feels empowered to hit her.
I am guilty of writing about the cheerleaders not going to Hawaii and not expressing public outrage over this senseless death. Where are the stiff legal penalties for assault on an intimate partner? Where is the clear public disapproval directed at men who hit women from other men as well as women? No, instead, people look down on a woman who made a poor relationship choice. Many single mothers do the same, have intimate relationships (and some women marry) and live to see their children grow up to live happy, well-adjusted lives.
As a friend said, Barsi’s lifestyle is not to blame for her death, but instead lies squarely on the blood-stained hands of the woman-beater who killed her.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife, mother of two teens and a resident of Morgan Hill. Her work for the last seven years has focused on affordable housing and homeless issues in Santa Clara County. Her column will be published each Friday. Reach her at
dc******@ch*****.net
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