Opinion

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

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

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

As your District 1 County Supervisor, I am proud of the beautiful parks and trails in South County that are accessible to all residents, and I encourage you and your readers to explore what South County has to offer.The County, City of Morgan Hill and City of Gilroy invest in parks and trails for their economic, health, environmental and quality of life benefits. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, providing places where residents can be physically active can improve both physical and mental health. Chronic disease sufferers can greatly benefit from walking on local trails and spending time at our parks. Being outdoors can increase vitamin D levels, decrease blood sugar levels for diabetes, and reduce feelings of depression, thereby improving mental health. Parks and trails function as a hub for community members to meet for social events and recreational activities resulting in increased social cohesion, which strengthens our community.The South County United for Health Leadership Team—which I Co-Chair with Erin O’Brien, CEO of Community Solutions—is coordinating our second annual “Let’s All Go to the Park” initiative. Along with the City of Gilroy, City of Morgan Hill, Santa Clara County Parks, Santa Clara County Public Health, the South County Collaborative and the Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission, we have undertaken this initiative to promote parks and trails as destinations for physical activity and meeting other members of the community.Five free events have been planned in South County geared to all ages and fitness levels. Prizes will be provided for participation.I encourage residents to participate in these events. The first event is a hike on Saturday, May 26 at 9am at the Coyote Creek Parkway. This event will begin at the Park Visitor Center, 19245 Malaguerra Ave. in Morgan Hill, and be led by Santa Clara County Park guides who will provide information about local plants and animals.Taking steps toward better health as a community is important.For information about “Let’s All go to the Park” events please visit https://spark.adobe.com/page/QBHMd68OAVBt7/.Mike WassermanSanta Clara County Supervisor, District 1

Please consider joining us for our annual Memorial Day Ceremony held in downtown Morgan Hill. We will gather to honor those who have served in our Armed Forces, sing traditional patriotic songs, and hear the names of those Morgan Hill soldiers who have given the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country. Our ceremony begins at 9am on Monday, May 28, at First Street and Monterey Road.Parents, this event quite clearly defines the meaning of Memorial Day. Please consider bringing your youngsters to help them discover Memorial Day isn't just the “beginning of summer,” but a time to pay tribute to America's fallen heroes.Children should wear red, white and/or blue. Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts are encouraged to wear their uniforms.So many of our cherished American traditions remain alive and well in our Morgan Hill Community. The event concludes at 9:30 a.m., leaving time for family activities. Hope to see you there!Karen Ann CraneMorgan Hill

Five candidates are running for California Assembly District 30, and two have emerged as serious contenders to represent the region’s half million residents. The district includes south Santa Clara County and San Benito County and is currently represented by Anna Caballero, who is running for state senate.

About three weeks ago a group of us were having a Friday dinner when we heard police car sirens passing by over and over again. A little while later we start hearing the chirps and buzzes of messages being delivered to our faithful little electronic tethers to reality. C’mon, on a Friday night?Seems that something was happening at the Britton Middle School carnival right around the corner. Details were kind of sketchy at the time, but apparently someone had a knife and then half the world’s police showed up and things got ugly. Or something like that.More information arrived in the news the next morning—on the radio. Police officers were injured by several minors, eight arrested, one youth tazed, carnival cancelled and $20,000 in fundraising to support classroom related projects lost.Once again, something bad happened in Morgan Hill and the entire Bay Area gets to dwell on it with us. Can’t we get a break?So, we had a student with a knife at a carnival where police intervened, a mob got ugly, some police were assaulted, some young hoodlums went to jail, and the carnival was shut down.Can you find the good in all of this? One of my friends pointed out some things that we, in Morgan Hill, should appreciate. So here I go.First, someone noticed a knife being exchanged between two young males and they called the police, two of which were already on site patrolling the carnival. When approached, the young male with the knife handed it over without incident. No problem.So then the guy who first supplied the knife is approached and wants to tango with the MHPD and a crowd joins in.This is the smart part of dealing with the stupid part.Instead of possibly escalating the issue with the few MHPD officers on site with any number of defensive and offensive weapons at their disposal they reach for their—radios.This is the part I needed made clear to me.The MHPD brought in neighboring law enforcement agencies not to overwhelm the riotous crowd with lethal force, to but to be in large enough numbers to use the least amount of force possible for the situation.But until all of those other agencies showed up, things were getting pretty dicey. This is about the time some other police departments haven’t done so well. You see it on the news with shootings and complete riots.Apparently our officers were very cool in the face of all of this. Whether it’s training or hiring the right personnel, this discipline and cool headedness is now, to me, the face of our police department: cool and level-headed enough to think of calling in greater numbers to avoid violence and then remaining cool until they show up. They were surrounded by a mob and some officers were actually assaulted.With the possibility of someone greatly harming an officer or grabbing a service weapon, there are some who might say that deadly force is appropriate here. I can only imagine that if you’re afraid and freaking out you might turn to the last resort, deadly force, and the courts have in some cases said that it was appropriate. Not in Morgan Hill.Some are hungry for headlines like “Carnival at Middle School Ends with Officers Hurt”.I like “MHPD Diffuses Escalating Situation with Professionalism”.

We are fast approaching another Fourth of July. In Morgan Hill, we celebrate July 4 over two days with six events, together known as Freedom Fest.Many people are not aware that Independence Day Celebration, Inc., (IDCI) produces the events. A 501c3 nonprofit corporation, IDCI is staffed entirely by volunteer, community-minded individuals. With more than 500 volunteers led by more than 50 dedicated team leaders, six event chairs and a five-member board of directors, our team works much of the year to bring you these events. Freedom Fest is not produced by the city or Chamber of Commerce, although both work closely with us.The six Freedom Fest events have a little something for everyone. Our Patriotic Sing on July 3 features local children singing patriotic songs, Blue Star moms and much more. Immediately after, the Family Music Fest held downtown includes live music and a DJ for dancing, food and drinks featuring wine from local wineries.Runners and walkers can start the day on July 4 with a quick tour around the parade route, then enjoy the car cruise and historic parade. Following the parade, car enthusiasts can stop by our Car Show at the Community and Cultural Center. The Fireworks on the Green at the Outdoor Sports Center is the perfect way to end the day with live music, food, drinks and crafts to go with our world-class fireworks show.All volunteer community organizations face annual challenges in the areas of financial and volunteer support. Freedom Fest is a perfect example. Despite the growth surge that Morgan Hill is experiencing, we have funding challenges this year. Morgan Hill businesses and residents have given us tremendous support over the years. We hope it will continue, and even grow. Without your support, there can be no Freedom Fest.We always try to find new ways to reach out to sponsors and communicate with Morgan Hill residents. One new way we will do so this year is to mail our award-winning program to every household and business in Morgan Hill. In past years, we have increased our Facebook and web presence.On behalf of the Freedom Fest team, I want to thank the community for always showing up. It is your participation and support that makes Freedom Fest events a pleasure to produce. We are proud to serve our community in this way.Please go to mhfreedomfest.com to donate, volunteer or learn more about us.Jeff Dixon is a Morgan Hill resident and President of Independence Day Celebrations, Inc. He can be reached at [email protected].

On the June 5 ballot, Santa Clara County voters will be asked whether or not to recall Judge Aaron Persky, the judge who sentenced former Stanford student Brock Turner for sexual assault. I urge all voters to vote NO to the recall and here is why.Let me be clear, rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and similar offenses are wrong, illegal, and those who commit these offenses should be held accountable. The issue is whether Judge Persky acted in a way that deserves a recall.While many believe the sentence in the Turner case was too lenient, the sentence was lawful and followed the recommendation of the probation officer.The recall campaign claims that Judge Persky is an “outlier” in his sentencing and that his cases show a “pattern of bias” toward white, privileged athletes. These assertions are false.Jeff Rosen, the Santa Clara County District Attorney and Molly O’Neal, Santa Clara County Public Defender, both oppose the recall. They each confirm they never received one report, phone call or email complaining about the conduct of Judge Persky or heard any suggestion that Judge Persky ever acted with bias in any case. Had they received such a complaint, they would have taken action.The California Commission on Judicial Performance thoroughly investigated Judge Persky’s prior sentences and found no bias or misconduct.While Judge Persky presided over more than 2,000 cases, the recall campaign identified five cases they felt support a pattern of bias; that’s .25 percent or one-quarter of one percent of Judge Persky’s cases.That is not a pattern!Four out of five of those cases were the result of a plea bargain between the DA and the defense. In only one case was the defendant an athlete (and he was African-American), and in only one case was the defendant white (and he was not an athlete).Finally, this recall threatens judicial Independence. Judges take an oath to follow the law and not to follow popular opinion. We do not want to politicize our judges. They are not politicians and should not give in to popular sentiment.This case has created a lot of emotion, but also a lot of misleading and inaccurate information. Get the facts at norecall2018.org and vote no on June 5.Swanee EdwardsMorgan Hill