Letters

Honesty. Integrity. Transparency. None of these words appeared in this newspaper’s May 3 editorial. In their place, Laurie Smith is referenced fourteen times. No other phrase appears more often, not even close.Nowhere in the editorial did this newspaper mention John Hirokawa’s nearly four decades of distinguished law enforcement experience serving and protecting the people of South County. No mention was made of Hirokawa's universal support from law enforcement groups, including the Deputy Sheriff’s Association of Santa Clara County, the Peace Officers Research Association of California, Gilroy Police Officers’ Association, and over 80 career law enforcement individuals and organizations.That should tell you everything you need to know when this newspaper mentions John Hirokawa’s readiness.This newspaper just can’t see the safety of South County residents for all it’s Laurie Smith’s.Fortunately, South County voters read past this propaganda. In the 2014 election, I was honored to receive the support of a majority of South County voters despite similar efforts to distort the truth.The truth is that Smith has fought reforms every step of the way. As of April 2018, she paid an out-of-state consultant nearly $75,000 of taxpayer funds for a biased report that undermined independent oversight of the county jails.I ask South County to join the chorus of law enforcement and community members supporting John Hirokawa for a safer Santa Clara County. This group includes myself, retired Sheriff Bob Winter,and retired Judge Ladoris Cordell. Cordell advocated for a change in leadership alongside the Blue Ribbon Commission in response to the 2015 murder of a mentally disabled inmate.Vote for John Hirokawa for Sheriff to restore honesty, integrity, and transparency to our county's top law enforcement job.Kevin Jensen, Retired Sheriff’s CaptainJohn Hirokawa for Sheriff

Recall Judge PerskyDespite being convicted of three felonies by a unanimous jury on all counts, former Stanford swimmer Brock Turner served only 90 days after assaulting his victim behind a dumpster. Many members of the legal community questioned Judge Aaron Persky's sentencing decision, and over 94,000 voters in the county signed a petition to add his recall to this June's ballot.We deserve judges who take sexual assault seriously, and there is no valid reason why we would need to retain an elected judge who we no longer trust to do so. We are not a “lynch mob” and we are not on a “witch hunt,” as opponents of Persky's recall crudely claim.We are voters frustrated with an elected official's poor decision making. We are simply exercising our rights to remove him from a seat of elected authority.I encourage everyone in the county who is eligible to vote yes to recall Judge Persky.Kathy DiefenbachMorgan HillJudge’s supporters blame victimThis letter is in response to a May 25 letter to the editor about the Recall Judge Persky campaign. In January 2015, two grad students biking through campus found Stanford swimmer Brock Turner in the act of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman behind a dumpster, known as Emily Doe. A 12-person jury unanimously convicted Turner of all three felonies with which he was charged—intent to commit rape of an intoxicated or unconscious person, sexual penetration of an intoxicated person and sexual penetration of an unconscious person.Judge Aaron Persky gave Brock Turner a six-month jail sentence for the crime, sparking nationwide outrage for what was widely viewed as an unduly lenient outcome.In spite of Turner's convictions, Jim McManis, Persky's lawyer and the largest donor to Persky's campaign—giving more than half a million dollars—said of Emily Doe, “This woman was not attacked.”Retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, a spokeswoman for the Persky campaign, claims, “There was no sexual activity behind a dumpster.”Many from the Persky campaign have referred to Emily Doe's intoxication level as a justification for Turner's lenient sentence, shifting the blame of Turner's crime onto his victim. Judge Persky hasn't repudiated any of these statements.The outcome in the Brock Turner case proved to many women that even if you have all of the evidence—the perpetrator is caught in the act, there are independent eyewitnesses, the cops were there on the scene right away, the survivor had a rape kit—you will not find anything resembling justice in the criminal justice system.The Persky campaign's repeated use of victim-blaming tactics to distract from Persky's failings only worsens the misgivings women have about coming forward. As long as Persky’s on the bench, women will continue to believe there’s no use in filing a police report when they're faced with abuse. He needs to go, and now.If Judge Persky is recalled this June, his will be only the third successful judicial recall in California history. The vast majority of attempted judicial recalls in California fail due to the prohibitively high threshold of voter signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. This is by design. While provisions like this are put in place to protect judicial independence, the power of voters to recall judges is crucial for maintaining the democratic legitimacy of the judiciary.California's judicial system is designed to balance the opposing values of judicial independence and accountability to voters.Please vote yes to recall Judge Aaron Persky on June 5.Jennie RichardsonSan Jose

Over the past 45 years, Scout Troop 799/2799 has been launching the Magic Ship as part of the holiday festivities surrounding the Morgan Hill area. Its first sighting occurs at the annual Holiday Parade, but throughout the month of December the Magic Ship (and...

I write in support of the Cordoba Center project initiated by the South Valley Islamic Community (SVIC) to provide a mosque for worship and related spiritual services, a cemetery, a separate community building for social and educational activities, a caretaker’s dwelling and a maintenance building.

On May 27 at about 10:15pm, a major incident involving a person being stabbed occurred in downtown Morgan Hill in front of our business. On behalf of the Acevedo family and all of the staff at The Hill Bar & Grill, we are extending our deepest sympathy for those involved and are hoping for everyone’s full recovery.At the time of the incident a physical altercation had erupted near our front door involving multiple people. Our security staff, in an effort to keep our customers safe and prevent anyone wishing to do others harm inside our business, shut the doors and placed staff members at each door. No altercations, incidents or injuries occurred on or in The Hill Bar & Grill.Our security staff, along with members of the public, called 911 emergency services to report the incident.During the altercation, a person who was not a customer or had been in our establishment prior to the event was unfortunately stabbed, and again we are sending our deepest prayers for their full recovery. This person was stabbed by another person, who also was not a customer of ours nor was inside our establishment at the time of the stabbing or prior to the event. While we have no knowledge of who these persons were, our security staff were able to verify that neither of them had been in our establishment at the time of the incident or prior to it.While we do not condone this abhorrent behavior, we would like to thank our diligent security for acting quickly to prevent any of our customers leaving our establishment from walking into a potentially hazardous situation. Our security acted professionally and rapidly to keep our customers safe.We would also like to thank the Morgan Hill Police Department and all of our first responders for their rapid and professional response to such a serious incident.We want all of our customers to know that your safety is our first and primary concern when you are dining or enjoying our cocktail service with us. Our security implements many practices designed to provide a safe environment for everyone, including hand-held metal detectors, pat-down searches, bag checks and positive identification in a security line for everyone entering or re-entering on weekends, festivals and major holidays that produce large crowds.Again, on behalf of everyone at The Hill Bar & Grill, our thoughts and prayers are with everyone who was involved with the incident that occurred in downtown Morgan Hill on that Sunday night.Robert AcevedoOwner, The Hill Bar & GrillSubmitted via the Morgan Hill Times’ Facebook page

CalFire, the Morgan Hill Fire Department and the South Santa Clara County Fire District will be conducting the annual Fill the Boot campaign for muscular dystrophy patients and research on June 8, 9 and 10. We will be at the intersections of Monterey/Tennant, Monterey/Main and Cochrane/Madrone to collect money that helps send kids to summer camp and fund research.We look forward to seeing you out there!Herb AlpersMorgan Hill

When Donald Trump was in office, he and Mitch McConnell made three lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. McConnell went so far as to defy Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish—that the next president appoint her replacement—by packing the Court with Amy Coney Barrett just...