Guest View

By Carol Holzgrafe Luck—sheer luck—brought me safely through November’s horrific Camp Fire in Paradise. Preparation eased life afterward. Before moving to that forest of 100-foot trees, I lived in Morgan Hill, reporting for The Times. Once, I was assigned to the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)...

Happy Fourth of July from Freedom Fest!Yes, it's that time of year again, time to celebrate the birthday of our great nation. And, what better way to do so than to attend the events provided, free of charge, to our community, by Morgan Hill Freedom Fest.Begin on Monday by attending the 29th annual Patriotic Sing, 6 p.m., at the Morgan Hill Amphitheater, 17000 Monterey Road. Here, local children will be singing the songs of America and honoring our Armed Forces. Sing along as our children continue a tradition of performing patriotic songs on the eve of the Fourth of July! Please bring a lawn chair. Donations to our deployed troops will be accepted. (Check out southbaybluestarmoms.org for a list of soldiers' requests.)For those of you who are fans of Angeline Madriaga, she will be singing at this event as well as at the Family Music Fest in downtown Morgan Hill. The Music Fest begins immediately after the Sing, and features food, music and fun for all.On Tuesday, July 4, our events begin early (register at 6:30 a.m.) with the 1 Mile Children's Run and the 5K Adult Walk/Run. Then, find time to sit, at 9:30 a.m., and watch the Car Cruise along the parade route. At 10 a.m., you'll feel a sense of pride as our Freedom Fest Parade winds its way through Morgan Hill. Bands, horse units, community service groups and churches are represented in the entries.But wait, there's more! Our Freedom Fest events conclude at the Morgan Hill Outdoor Sports Center, 16500 Condit Road, with music and fireworks at dark. All in all, there are so many ways to make memories of a Hometown Fourth of July in Morgan Hill. Please see mhfreedomfest.com for complete details.Thank you to our Freedom Fest sponsors, to our members who work so passionately to present our events, and to all of you who will attend our celebration. We hope you are left with a renewed sense of patriotism and a new appreciation for Morgan Hill, this place we call home.Karen Ann Crane is the organizer of the annual July 3 Patriotic Sing, which is part of the Freedom Fest Independence Day festivities in Morgan Hill.

John McKay’s avocation for an “not perfect” Measure S is exactly the reason it should be rejected. It is this imperfection wrapped around vague and ambiguous language that leaves the measure open to interpretation. If passed, the measure at best will likely end up in the courts, resulting is costly and unnecessary litigation. At worst, it could lead to the destruction of our precious open spaces.For example, John cites in his article that 300 agricultural units can be set aside in Morgan Hill’s “developable areas” for preservation. But John, how do you define “developable?” As a Planning Commissioner, you know that when we define lands and boundaries we use terms such as the UGB (Urban Growth Boundary), City Limits or Sphere of influence, etc. These are legal terms. They are well known and there are maps with lines that define them. But none of these terms are used in the measure. Instead, we find the term, “developable lands.” All lands are developable and that includes county farm and agricultural lands. And therein lies the problem.The city has already spent over a decade in an effort to develop county farm and agricultural lands at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars, only to be rejected by the state regulatory agency—not once, but twice. There is good reason to distrust the ambiguity of the measure as a continued pursuit to pave over our open spaces.John’s article fails to mention that those 300 agricultural units are specifically identified for housing, encouraging urban sprawl and untold costs to our community. And again, I have to ask, what is a unit?Measure S doesn’t solve problems, it creates them. It is labeled to “conserve water and preserve open space,” but it does none of that. Measure S is a “smoke and mirrors” effort to undermine our slow growth policies and encourage excessive development.If you discount that, just look at where our pro-growth incumbents are getting their campaign funding: real estate companies, landowners and developers. Councilmember Marilyn Librers, the strongest advocate for sprawl, received $3,000 alone from a Cupertino developer with land interests and projects in Morgan Hill.John, you want facts, and so do I. But the wording in Measure S lacks factual language and likely by intent. It deserves a NO vote until it can be rewritten clearly and factually. Your comment that it is not perfect is correct and we agree but no measure such as this should have ever have been brought before the community unless it is openly clear as to its intent and impacts.Mark Grzan is a former Morgan Hill City Councilman and Mayor Pro Tempore. 

We celebrate the 4th of July because that's America’s Birthday. When I think  about the 4th of July, I think of Morgan Hill’s 4th of July Parade, and our whole community gathering together to celebrate America’s Birthday. I think of the 4th of July...

It is with whole-hearted enthusiasm that I submit this letter of support for the renewal  of Charter School of Morgan Hill’s charter. I am a proud parent of a seventh grader at Charter School. Our daughter has been a student there since kindergarten, and my husband and I could not be happier with the education she’s received since day one.Charter School is a true community that consists of students, faculty, support staff, parents and families. The strong family involvement and community interaction is the foundation of our school’s successful learning environment.Through project-based learning (PBL), which is at the core of the school’s curriculum, our daughter has been able to be immersed in a variety of amazing educational experiences.  In first grade, she traveled back in time for “Now & Then Day” and learned how people truly lived in the past.In second grade she took a trip across the seas for “Ellis Island Day” and experienced the immigration process first hand (please note Ellis Island Day represented the experience of ALLimmigrants to the United States). Our daughter was born in China, and she experienced that day as a Chinese immigrant, just as thousands of Chinese immigrants came through Angel Island to find work and start a new life in the U.S.In third grade she learned problem solving through deductive reasoning by solving a "teddy bear" crime scene. In fourth grade she panned for gold as a 49er in Placer County. In fifth grade she experienced life as colonist in the hamlet of “Charterburg,” running a business as a seamstress and forced to pay taxes to the King. In sixth grade she went spelunking and discovered ancient cave paintings.  Charter’s Math, Science, Art, Agriculture, Music and Spanish curricula weave seamlessly into the PBL subjects. Watching this type of teaching and learning take place year after year is almost magical. All our teachers are dedicated and talented individuals who give of themselves to make Charter the remarkable school it is.My husband and I are both Latino and it was important to us as parents to find a school that reflected the diversity of our Morgan Hill community. Public education in a diverse and positive learning environment is extremely important to us, so Charter was our first choice for our daughter. My husband grew up in San Jose and is the son of farm workers. As a child, he and his family lived and worked in the fields. He was fortunate to attend an elementary school that had caring and loving teachers.  Because his parents worked during the day with no one at home to watch him, his teachers went the extra mile and allowed him to stay after school to do homework and get the extra support he needed. He is the first in his family to earn a college degree. He often says the environment at Charter is much like the environment of his elementary school.  My father immigrated to this country from Latin America to seek educational opportunities for himself. He was profoundly grateful for those opportunities which allowed him to become one of the first Latino neurosurgeons in the U.S. He never let us forget the importance of a free and equal education, which allowed him to better himself and our entire family.Both my husband and I feel the Charter community has the diversity needed to enable its students to become culturally competent adults. In our daughter’s seventh grade class are students of Latino, Asian, Filipino, Portuguese and Middle Eastern descent. Our daughter has the unique distinction of being of Chinese ethnicity, raised by Latino parents, and at Charter she is just Caroline. To us, this demonstrates that her classmates respect and embrace cultural diversity.It is evident that Charter School students are learning and thriving through the PBL curriculum and dynamic environment.  Your vote to approve renewal of the charter should be without question. A vote to deny renewal is a vote to deny students within your own school district an exceptional learning experience that educators throughout the area strive to emulate.