Laurels
&
amp; Thorns
A laurel to the Daughters of Charity for adjusting the job of filling the medical office building at the old Saint Louise Hospital in Morgan Hill with physicians and medical services. By moving the responsibility from the current Saint Louise Regional Hospital to its sister hospital, O’Connor in San Jose, Morgan Hill might see an improvement in its almost nonexistent medical base. O’Connor Hospital has more staff and funding to seek out physicians and services and lure them to town.
We appreciate that. There is a great need more physicians, especially general practitioners, in town.
A thorn to the city policy that allowed the City Council to fail to reappoint Kathleen Keeshan to the Library Commission. Keeshan is a long-time member of the commission, almost from the beginning, and has been a guiding force through the trials of site selection, early building planning and grant writing to secure Proposition 14 bond money.
Keeshan attends most library seminars and functions, even paying her own way to some. She is eloquent and committed and deserved another term. Instead, the council reappointed other members, all of whom are committed in word but, in the case of some, have not always had perfect attendance. The commission will survive but it will be poorer for Keeshan’s lack.
Councilman Larry Carr suggested that the council needs to ask better questions so it gets a better picture of what contributions commissioners have made. We agree.
A laurel to Live Oak graduate Brandon Villafuerte. Villafuerte was optioned from the San Diego Padres to the Triple-A Portland Beavers on June 9. But Villafuerte, who started the year as closer for the Padres, has kept a positive attitude and continues to post Big League numbers. Through Wednesday, he is 1-0 with a 1.91 ERA in 24 games. Most recently, Villafuerte pitched a scoreless ninth inning to help the Beavers defeat the Sacramento Rivercats 6-3.
A laurel to State Sen. Bruce McPherson, R-Monterey (and Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy) for voting “yes” on the state budget. McPherson was one of only four Republicans in the Senate to vote yes, allowing the document to move on the Assembly where it was approved after a 27-hour marathon session.
“It’s ugly,” McPherson said, “but we couldn’t sit on it any longer. This is the best we could do.
“Every day we wait costs California millions of dollars,” McPherson said. “The bond rating is in the tank. We’ve got to reverse the trend and get stability back in the budget.”
Assemblyman John Laird said McPherson might get some grief from Republicans for voting for a budget that the Senate claimed to hate.
We regularly give out laurels and thorns on events and happenings in our community. Feel free to make nominations. We’re always interested in what our readers think. Are we off the mark or do you agree? Let us know by emailing to editormh@morganhilltimes or mail a letter to The Times, 30. E. Third St., Morgan Hill, CA 95037
