Opinion

There really is nothing like a mother’s love, right? I’d like to tell you a little story about how my mom helped forge me into the strong-willed, can-do man I am today.

For many Californians, the term “Honor Roll” conjures up images of academic excellence and the proud feelings associated with seeing your name included on a prestigious list. For those of us in law enforcement, the “Honor Roll” is not a list on which we want to find our names. Although this list also gives rise to feelings of pride, it is the list of California peace officers killed in the line of duty. So far this year, 33 names have been added to the Honor Roll nationwide.Each year, the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation holds a ceremony to honor the men and women in law enforcement who have made the ultimate sacrifice and joined the list that year. The numbers vary from year to year, but since 2001, the names of 159 California Police Officers have been added to the Peace Officers’ Memorial Monument in Capitol Park in Sacramento. Those names are also included in the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., and are joined by thousands of others. These brave men and women are honored each year in our nation’s capital during National Police Week in May. This year, May 15 will be recognized as National Peace Officers Memorial Day.Those of us who chose law enforcement as a career start each day with a desire to serve and protect our communities by putting the safety of others before our own. We are husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. We are coaches, counselors, mediators and mentors. We dedicate ourselves to fighting crime and drugs to create a safe community for those we serve. We help at-risk youth in schools as well as parents in crisis, and connect the homeless and mentally ill with services. We show up when you call 911 to help you in a time need or an emergency. We do these things with the understanding that it’s part of our job and we are proud to serve our community.The men and women of our department care deeply for Morgan Hill and demonstrate that care through various community engagement efforts—often on our own time. We also strive to decrease crime and ensure a high quality of life through proactive and intelligence based policing strategies.We are grateful to serve a community that supports its police department. I encourage you to show your support during National Police Week, the week of May 15, by shining a blue light to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their community and to show your local heroes how much they are supported by those we serve.On behalf of the men and women of your Morgan Hill Police Department, thank you for the opportunity to partner with you to provide a safe environment in which to live, work and play.David Swing is the Chief of the Morgan Hill Police Department.

Like all communities, public safety is of utmost importance here in Morgan Hill. At the top of the public safety list is our police department. They not only enforce our laws; they do so much more to establish a feeling of safety in our community. By being out on patrol, officers establish a sense of comfort and safety for our residents. Our officers are in our schools, interacting with kids on a personal basis, forming personal relationships that pay dividends in avoiding gang involvement.Although our PD is fully staffed, we need all the help we can get to assure that the feeling of safety in Morgan Hill stays vibrant. Volunteers are a huge part of making that happen. Our volunteer CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) is trained and ready to help on emergency situations. The Explorer program trains and uses young adults to supplement our officers when additional personnel are appropriate. The Volunteers in Policing (VIP) program trains citizens to support the department by doing administrative tasks and supplementing them on patrol. The PD also relies on residents to form Neighborhood Watch groups and report any situations requiring police intervention.The notion of community policing is that everyone is involved in keeping our city safe.There is one other group that is extremely supportive of our policing efforts: the Community Law Enforcement Foundation, or CLEF.  They raise money to donate to the PD for very specific purposes. The most notable example is our canine unit—the dog, Basco, his training and all his food and equipment is funded by CLEF.  CLEF also funds equipment, like license plate readers, that allow our officers to take advantage of the latest technology for law enforcement. Another area of funding provided by CLEF is for training, not only for our officers, but for citizens as well, including the very successful Parent Program.So you are probably wondering where CLEF gets the funds it uses to support our PD? Well, take out your wallet and prepare to have a whole bunch of fun! The annual Cops and Robbers Ball is coming up April 30 and it is truly a BALL! What better cause can there be than to support public safety in your home town by providing funds to this great organization that does so much for the MHPD, making us all safe.And what a great evening it is. CLEF has been doing this for a number of years and event chair Sharon Daniel knows how to do it right.  A great dinner followed by a brief but meaningful presentation of the annual Public Safety Award, honoring Mike Johnson and Frank Thomas for their stellar support of CLEF and our MHPD, followed by dancing. There is a live and a silent auction and some additional fun opportunities to spend money in support of this great cause.Please treat yourself to a really fun evening while helping to keep Morgan Hill safe.The Cops and Robbers Ball will take place 5:30 to 11 p.m. April 30 at the Community and Cultural Center, 17000 Monterey Road. Tickets cost $95 and are available online at morganhillclef.org or from Craig C. Van Keulen at Van Keulen & Van Keulen, 17600 Monterey Rd., Second Floor, Morgan Hill, CA, or by calling Sharron Daniel at (408) 891-7795. Steve Tate is the Mayor of Morgan Hill.

We’re at it again. The Morgan Hill Downtown Association will be luring what we hope is about 1,000 wine aficionados to the downtown to sample some of the finest of our land’s bounty in a glass (yes, you’ve heard me use that line before...).On Saturday, April 30 the “Original local Wine Stroll” is proud to have our finest downtown businesses host the best in local winemaking for what should be a repeat of the success of the previous events.What’s really exciting is we now have the biggest event yet, and it will feature some new activities for our  “Original Wine Stroll”—trying to make a great event just a little better.It was only a year ago that the local wineries were concerned that our Wine Stroll was not focusing on the best of the local wines because of the combination of compensation for their product, the number of tickets sold and the perceived low cost of the tickets.The Wine Stroll Committee listened to the Wine Association’s concerns and increased compensation, reduced the number of tickets sold by 250 and increased the price of the tickets.The reason we raised the ticket price was twofold. First, the price was low in comparison to that of other communities’ wine strolls. Second, we hoped that increasing the price would bring in a more discerning crowd who’d be more interested in sampling wine than seeing if they could consume 20-plus ounces of wine in four hours (that’s almost a bottle).We believe that our efforts paid off at last year’s event. The reduced ticket sales were almost offset by the increase in cost and we received positive comments about the crowd. It was different and perceived by many to be better, whatever that really means—I’ll take it.What was really heartening was to see a nearly complete reversal in attitudes of many of the wineries who now want to participate in our “Original Wine Stroll.” We ended up running out of merchant host locations and had to turn away wineries which we would have loved to include. We also now have the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley Wine Association as a sponsor, which helped in the event planning too.The special touches include shutting down the west end of Third Street to include the parking garage plaza in the event, and hosting an arts and crafts market. We will have an art competition hosted by the Morgan Hill Art Gallery, where we will select next year’s poster design from local artists’ submissions. Local musicians will set up on the corners to provide a nice background feel.And last but not least is the Wine and Food Week which starts April 24. We added food to this title because our local restaurants are really starting to stand out in the region for their menu offerings. This week of events will give restaurateurs an opportunity to shine with their special menus tailored around select local wines.  I hope you will find your way downtown during the Wine and Food Week where you can get a little closer to the winemakers. I also have to warn you to get tickets and make dinner reservations because this year’s events are already selling quickly.See you downtown!For more information, visit morganhilldowntown.org.John McKay is a Morgan Hill resident, board member of the Morgan Hill Downtown Association, city planning commissioner and co-founder of the Morgan Hill Tourism Alliance.

As the saying goes, “If it looks too good to be true, it usually isn’t.”

I have always been truly amazed at the tenacity and patience of wildflowers. Seeds sit on hot bone-dry ground year after desiccating year, all the while remaining viable, waiting for the right moment. “No, not this spring,” says the seed. “I'll never be able to sprout, create a flower, and most important, produce mature seeds on that paltry rainfall. I think I'll wait.”

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley does it again with its regional premiere of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano, translated by Michael Hollinger and adapted by Hollinger and Aaron Posner. There are a number of versions about this character since 1897 and this offering by TheatreWorks brings a fresh look at this romantic, swirling, swashbuckling, poignant character.

Parents, let’s be honest with ourselves for a second.