Bring tennis back to Callaghan Park
There are many American legends of men’s professional tennis. And from its beginnings, the United States has produced the finest players the world over. In recent decades that has not been the case. Why? The decline of interest in tennis. Kids are not playing tennis like they used to. Not enough are getting into the sport with an interest in becoming a pro, or even a capable amateur. Or just playing for exercise or fun. The change from wood to graphite racquets created a game more focused on power than finesse and skill. I can barely watch tennis these days. Players just slaughter the ball with every stroke and serve. Tennis used to be more artistic, ballet-like, racquets handled like magic wands.
In the late 70’s I began playing tennis at Callaghan Park in Watsonville. I was inspired by the great tennis I watched on television. I would mimic tennis strokes with a wood racquet in the living room. I played a challenge match with a friend at Callaghan Park. And for a time, playing at Callaghan Park I may have dreamed of going all the way. Wouldn’t it be great to be a great tennis player? Play at Wimbledon or the U.S. Open. Even play at the local Closed County tourney at Cabrillo College? The spark of these dreams happened at the courts at Callaghan Park. Today, tennis is a thing of the past at the courts of Callaghan Park. The popularity of pickleball has squeezed tennis out of Callaghan Park. The City of Watsonville gave up on tennis, a real sport, where one could have played there at Callaghan, and sparked a desire. But that is no more. And that is where I almost get angry. Okay, the City of Watsonville decision makers, why not leave at least one portion of the Callaghan courts for tennis. Make at least one court available for someone desiring to play tennis, a real sport? But no The courts have been all designed for PIckleBall, a recreational activity, for mostly older people. Why, City of Watsonville, did you give up on tennis at Callaghan Park? Please refurbish the Callaghan courts to give a tennis option for those that want to play it. And leave the pickleball portion permanent like it is. Please bring the tennis option back to Callaghan Park.
Charles Birimisa
Watsonville
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Pajaronian wrong to bury KION story
I am bitterly disappointed at the editorial decision to bury the coverage of KION’s closure on page 17 of the current paper.
Furthermore, the headline of the article was misleading or inaccuatate—did KION’s local staff decide to end news production, or did the ownership company (not local but based in Missouri) arrive unannounced and without warning “shutter” not one but two invaluable sources of information for Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey counties?
Silencing KION is an outrage. The station offered far more coverage than other outlets of political issues directly influencing Santa Cruz, San Benito, and Monterey counties, such as the battery storage fires in Moss Landing or the compensation for the floods in Pajaro offered by Monterey County, among many other local stories I followed on KION.
I hope another local agency will step into the void left by closing down KION and report these stories and others like them vigorously.
I don’t want KPIX; I want robust local reportage.
Barbara A. Hohman
Watsonville
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Joy Flynn an intelligent and thoughtful leader
It saddens and pains me when our local officials who are our neighbors and friends receive vitriolic comments in this community. The letter to the editor on 9/26 about Joy Flynn that made extreme allegations about her comments and did not appear to be interested in helping a relatively new leader in our community make improvements, but only called for her to step down. It is not easy to take office, it is not easy to be in public view everywhere you go, it is a courageous and laudable task to take on being a trustee for the PVUSD board and to take on the tremendous and important care for the well being of the children and the teachers and the entire education system of Pajaro
Valley.
Ms. Flynn takes her job seriously and is a conscientious and dedicated public servant and deserves all the respect that deserves. I have been to PVUSD board meetings and have been impressed with her measured and thoughtful responses to her fellow board members and to emotional public comments. All of us make mistakes. That’s how we learn. Ms Flynn’s willingness to reach out to the Jewish Community and do that learning shows, in and of itself, a commitment to being a responsive and responsible leader, someone I can put trust in and depend on as my ally (I am an active member of the Jewish community of this county).
Feeling safe does not just include physical safety but emotional safety as well. As a woman, I support Ms. Flynn’s decisions to not be subjected to badgering and attacking language. She has worked to find mediators to meet with the writer of this letter but after offering myself as one of those mediators it became clear to me that it would be very difficult to mediate any discussion when unrelenting condemnation is the tactic used to get one’s point across.
I hope that the people of the Pajaro Valley have noticed that they are lucky to have such an intelligent and thoughtful leader as Joy Flynn.
Batya Kagan
Santa Cruz
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Criticism of Flynn was personal attack
It’s essential that we critique the actions of our elected representatives. Attacking their character, or calling them names by contrast, does nothing to improve things, and in fact is a driver of the feverish disunity that our country is ill with now. When attacks are aimed at a Black person’s character, they also add to the mountain of racist harm that has stopped every attempt at creating a better society. In a letter published on Sept. 26 [“PVUSD Trustee Joy Flynn should resign”] the writer showed no restraint in making personal attacks on the character of the one Black member of the PVUSD Board of Trustees, Joy Flynn. Using forms of the word “embarrassment” three times and citing her spelling errors, he invokes tropes long used to insult the intelligence of people of color. In fact, I know Joy as a deeply intelligent, thoughtful friend and ally to me as a Jewish person in the community. When she became aware that she had made comments that were received by some Jews as antisemitic, she quickly got in touch with me (as well as with leaders in the Jewish community) to apologize and learn. I do not ask more than this of my allies, because I believe that an ally is not someone who never makes mistakes, but one who stays in a relationship and constantly learns. Being on the PVUSD Board is not an easy job for many reasons. It’s complex and daunting, with a constant ferment of urgent and often contradictory voices demanding change. We would do well to take a cue from Joy and support caring leaders like her by building relationships and learning, without attack.
Michael Levy
Santa Cruz
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Prejudice and Misinformation
For centuries, a pervasive issue regarding a (mis)perception of global Jewish economic status unfortunately persists to this day. Yet in April of this year, it was disheartening to have read that two board members associated with the Pajaro Valley Union School District, who represent an educational institution of teaching and learning, espouse in a public meeting distorted information and invectives directed at the Jewish community that was beside the point of a contentious civics curriculum.
I have known and worked with many people who identify with Judaic culture that have worked for Santa Cruz County School Districts. In my own early years of teaching it was barely a living wage. Yet they were passionate about the value of education and their service to teaching others.They worked tirelessly and embraced the communities. They didn’t merely act to serve their own interests.
If we are talking of financial and political influencers, then let’s talk Rockefellers, Vanderbuilts, JP Morgan, Elon Musk, Fords, Jeff Bezos, J.Paul Getty, Waltons of Walmart and Koch Industries, to name just a few. If I’m not mistaken, none of these individuals or families have a hebraic background. How are they different from the above mentioned who have been the economic power brokers in this country and continue to this day? By obtaining some degree of monetary status, or prefacing someone by their theological association, is it supposed to suggest or imply something (unscrupulous?) about their character?
It begs the question why?
The Jewish population makes up a mere 2.4% of the entire US population or two tenths of one percent of the 8.1 billion people on this planet. There might have been more of us if not for the centuries of persecution and forced to live in miserable and discriminatory conditions. But despite that, they learned to survive, endure, and progress. The scurrilous idea that global Jewry has this disproportionate economic power is one of the oldest forms of bigotry and hate. A fraudulent anti-semitic manifesto, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” continues to this day that perpetuates that spurious document. It bestows precision upon the apocalyptic fears of judeophobia.
Despite periodic historical difficulties, Jews are not victims. That minuscule percentage representing the world community has contributed 22% of Nobel prizes that has advanced the world in many areas of science, medicine, the arts, and literature.
Joel Amrani
Santa Cruz
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