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I’ve never had so much fun in my life before I moved to Gilroy, seven years ago. I used to live in San Jose—where neighbors were cordial but where we all stayed to ourselves. On the weekends my husband and I either entertained close friends at our home or visited these same friends at their homes across town. My life revolved around my job and family life (all good things) without any interaction with my community. I often felt like City government and issues were miles away from me and that I was just an onlooker in my community.

Americans are defined by what we do. We say a lot, but that does

Congratulations to the city’s incumbent elected leadership team, resounding endorsed by voters on Election Day. Steve Tate, running unopposed, will remain as mayor for the next two years and City Council incumbents, Larry Carr and Marilyn Librers, will be back in the saddle for four-year terms.

By Raymond J. Keating Small businesses, ratepayers and taxpayers

Good heavens ... this is getting out of hand. Seriously. I thought I could just ignore the proposed bill by Assemblywoman Sally (Motto: "I have no kids and therefore know more than you do about raising them") Lieber of Mountain View. But Ms. Lieber, mother of a politically correct cat or something, has become a media darling recently as she touts her plan to let government further intervene in our day-to-day lives – specifically by making it illegal for a parent (or other caregiver) to issue a swat on the bottom of an errant child under the age of four.

By Natalie Everett Patriotic Americans nationwide are up in arms

The days left of high school can now be counted on one hand. It's hard to believe that the journey that started 13 years ago will finally come to an end as the Live Oak High School Class of 2006 finally graduates.

Twenty five years after just running around on a soccer pitch Sunday morning with county employees and after years of working closely with county departments and listening constantly to words like "can't" "why bother" and other such terms that aren't conducive to meaningful change, I have ideas for Pete Kutras on how to shave money from the county budget this year, and it's not looking at non-mandated service, because the preponderance of evidence shows that if county residents don't have access to many of the non-mandated services, we will have more people clogging the mandated systems: county emergency rooms and jails, and the streets.