Guest View

Future Farmers of America members from the Morgan Hill FFA

In May 2010, the Farm Bureau endorsed Mike Wasserman because of his fiscal conservatism, collaborative attitude, and background in small business. Supervisor Wasserman has exceeded our expectations and over the past two years he has stepped up to support local agriculture in big ways.

So here we are, at the end of May. Does anybody remember last August? I don't know what happened, but even with two and a half weeks left of the 2005-06 school year, there are still activites floating around Live Oak.

"Public commissions, boards, councils and other legislative bodies of local government agencies exist to aid in the conduct of the people's business. The people do not yield their sovereignty to the bodies that serve them. The people insist on remaining informed to retain control over the legislative bodies they have created."

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.

There is a fair amount of hand wringing in the newspaper

As a Republican and fiscal conservative that has represented South County on the Board of Supervisors for 10 years, I've thought long and hard about it, and I strongly support Measure A.

My son started his first year of high school Tuesday, a few days after the results of the annual Back to School Survey conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University. This year's report highlights a huge disconnect between parents and their high school age teens, with parents in denial over what their kids are facing when socializing at parties. Joseph Califano, Jr., the executive director, says the "self-delusion and lack of awareness of these parental palookas (sic) put their children at enormous risk of drinking and using illegal and prescription drugs."

Maybe your worst job ever was when you were in high school. Or maybe it was during college, or your first professional job. Or, perhaps, you've just retired from it. No matter. The fact is that we've all had jobs that in retrospect make us wince, lament or laugh out loud. Actually, a bad job should be a rite of passage. And, our "bad jobs" should be a learning experience. Bad jobs teach us humility, patience, and fortitude and how to get along with others. Most importantly, they teach us to aspire to something better.

Many of the responses to my July 11 column about the sadness and sickness of the violence in the Middle East are attempting to label me in inaccurate ways; so I thought this column could help define who I am and what I believe. By doing this I hope we'll keep an ongoing discussion on track, and off personalities.