I am humbled by all the love and support our family has received
from the Gilroy community and neighboring cities. My cousin, Sgt.
David Gutierrez, received a farewell send-off just as he deserved.
People showed their love and respect in ways I will never
forget.
Sgt. Gutierrez’s family members say thank you to Gilroyans for kindness
Dear Editor,
I am humbled by all the love and support our family has received from the Gilroy community and neighboring cities.
My cousin, Sgt. David Gutierrez, received a farewell send-off just as he deserved. People showed their love and respect in ways I will never forget.
The priest from Saint Mary’s Church, Father Tad Terembula, spoke some inspiring words of encouragement and wisdom.
I’m very proud of the city with their highly trained peace officers and fire department that made this massive crowd of cars and pedestrians move with ease and safety. I also want to commend and thank the military personnel for their sensitivity to our needs in time of sorrow and stress.
Our aching hearts in such need of direction were made to feel secure. For days we were able to feel safe and comforted by their positive and strong presence.
A big THANK YOU to all those kind and caring residents who lined up on First Street in our path to the cemetery. Their manifestation of love and support during our greatest need will be embedded in our hearts forever.
A great big thank you to all the little school children that waved American flags and smiled as we drove by. I could not see you clearly beyond my tears of gratitude. However, I hope you felt my sincere thanks when I blew kisses out the window to each and every one of you.
I must not forget to thank the VFW members who donated their time and space to bring our family several hours of peaceful family time together.
A special thank you to all those wonderful people that donated the delicious food and volunteered their time. Each and every one of you lightened up our pain and grief more than you will ever know. I thank you on behalf of the David Hector Gutierrez family.
Dolores Mendez and family
Dear Editor,
We would like to thank the community for their welcoming home of our cousin Sgt. David Hector Gutierrez. The procession from St. Mary Church along First Street to the cemetery was incredible and very emotional – from the students to those who were paying their respects along First Street.
We also would like to thank Gilroy’s finest, the police and fire departments, and the local VFW chapter.
This was truly a hero’s welcome. David is gone, but not forgotten. May he rest in peace.
Ernie F. Gonzalez, Gilroy
President Obama can’t just wave a magic wand – give him a break
Dear Editor,
A year ago, if we had read in the paper that employers were hiring again, that health care legislation was proceeding without a bump, that Afghanistan suddenly became a nice place to take your kids, we would’ve known we were being lied to.
Back then, we recognized that the problems Barack Obama inherited as president wouldn’t go away overnight. During his campaign, Obama clearly said that an economy that took eight years to break couldn’t be fixed in a year, that Afghanistan was a graveyard of empires, and would not be an easy venture for us.
Candidate Obama didn’t feed us happy-talk, which is why we elected him. He never said America could solve our health care, economic and security problems without raising the deficit. Instead, he talked of hard choices, of government taking painful and contentious first steps towards fixing problems that can’t be left for another day.
Right after Obama’s election, we seemed to grasp this. We understood that companies would be happy to squeeze more work out of frightened employees, and would be slow to hire more. We understood that the banks which had extorted us out of billions of dollars, were lying when they said they would share their recovery. We understood that a national consensus on health care would not come easily.
Candidate Obama never claimed that his proposed solutions would work flawlessly right out of the box, and we respected him for that.
But today, the president is being attacked as if he were a salesman who promised us that our problems would wash off in the morning. He never made such a promise.
It’s time for Americans to realize that governing is hard work, and that a president can’t just wave a magic wand and fix everything.
Ellie Light, San Felipe
