Los Gatos Weekly-TimesLettersThinking of 25 years while I've gone fishin' When you operate your own business, phrases like "Here today, gone to Maui" do not ever cross your mind. Phrases like "gone fishin" do, however. Gone fishin' somehow implies that same slow pace that got you from your first day to 25 years in business. Those friends, staff and family who helped me hang the equivalent of the "gone fishin' " sign on my store a few weeks ago when I temporarily closed The Indian Store during renovations at Old Town know how difficult that moment was for me. In the great scheme of things, 25 years isn't a terribly long time. I look at my colleagues in the Southwest and see businesses established in the early 1900s. Right here, in San Jose, family-owned and -operated Hillis Printing has been in continuous operation for more than 90 years. But in little Los Gatos, 25 years in business is something special, especially at one location, Old Town. I was 22 when I started The Indian Store. In the last few years, Los Gatos has seen lots of young people do what I did 25 years ago, via Soles, Nuance, Sprockets, Nectars, Time Out, Jennifer Croll and Romantiques. Some of these young people learned from their part-time jobs in high school or college how a business should be run. Some may have had a little help from their parents like I did (my former partner and I each borrowed $1,500 from our parents), but it was their hard work and faith in themselves that allowed their businesses to grow. To these young people I look for inspiration. I look to their youth, to their enthusiasm, to their ability to delegate and to take time out to play, raise families and have fun. So much has changed since The Indian Store first opened its doors on Oct. 14, 1972, and yes, so much has stayed the same. A simple thank-you somehow seems not enough to a community that has stood by me professionally and personally. When I lost my son Luke in 1983, this community gave me strength and hope. To this day when someone remembers me as Luke's mom, I am filled with memories and reminded of how people I didn't even know came forth to offer a hug or a sorrow of their own or simply to show me their care. A simple thank-you seems not enough to a community that has allowed me and my business to grow. To my staff, past and present, and to the thousands upon thousands of customers who have supported me far beyond monetary measure, thank you! To the friends who have welcomed me late to their parties (because work came first) and to the friends who have helped me store away my store during renovation, thank you. To the outstanding Native American artists I represent, thank you. This relationship of merchant and artist has been a true gift to my spirit. To the many representatives of various companies, to the designers who create my ads, my look for the store, thank you. To the Schulmans and especially Sean Sullivan, the former owners of Old Town who encouraged the giant leap of faith that brought me from the lower level where I had figuratively lived for 19 years to my present location in 1991, a huge thank you! To the present owners of Old Town, who are attempting to save the center from destruction by Mother Nature and thus are having to take on a formidable task, thank you. And to all the guys on the job site, thank you. And lest I fail to fully sound as though I had just received an Oscar, thank you to my husband, Ken. You see, Ken and I have been married 12 years this Oct. 19. There's so much to be said to thank him but simply, without his support and encouragement and love--well, let's just say, I couldn't do this alone. So, thank you for these past 25 years and yes, as the sign on my store says, like Jerry Rice, we'll be back this season. There will be a cake to celebrate these 25 years, and yes, Dear Community, you're all invited.
Janice L. Benjamin Some thoughts on family business It is with deep sadness that I announce the closing of Richard's Natural Foods. Since 1981 we have operated as a family-owned business. I want to thank each and every one of you for your patronage over the last 16 years. We survived the 1989 earthquake and rebuilt to continue the business, and when other small stores closed we hung in there. But times have changed, and we can no longer compete with the "big guys." I raised my own children at Richard's. They worked with me by my side, starting at the early ages of 10 and 11. Many high school students have walked through my doors, and some even worked here. It has been a wonderful family experience, and I want to thank you all for the fond memories. I feel I have known you personally and have enjoyed conversations about family, friends, school and community. I have also enjoyed sharing my health-food knowledge and expertise with many of you who needed assistance. With the closing of Richard's, another small family business will be gone from the Los Gatos scene. I am a family man who believes it is important for the townspeople to support the community they live in. As a responsible community member, I donated many hours and items from our store for the schools and other causes. Small, unique businesses are what make our town special. Please support the small businesses that still remain in town. Los Gatos is such a special place to live; let's keep it that way. Best regards to you. Wishing you a healthful life.
Richard Jones Is the 'Cat's Meow' money well spent? Recently, I have been receiving through the mail something called Cat's Meow, which I believe is published by the town of Los Gatos. I question the need for a publication of this type. The Los Gatos Weekly-Times has been very good about maintaining an unbiased posture, wherein matters concerning the town government are concerned. Why do we need a redundant publication? Is the town simply using our tax dollars to publish an organ by which they can control the spin?
C. F. "Chuck" Weber LGUSD should look for solutions that are creative I feel compelled to express my objection to the Los Gatos Union School District board of trustees' continually purporting to represent the "Community of Los Gatos" as they do in their Resolution #2-97-98 that was adopted at the Sept. 10 board meeting. My husband and I built our home at Montclair and Bicknell roads 21 years ago and have been committed residents of the town of Los Gatos since that time. The LGUSD board should speak for all Los Gatans by including them in the school district, but in fact, the board only represents approximately half of our town's residents, a portion of Monte Sereno and some unincorporated area residents. Representatives of hundreds of members of the community of Los Gatos also expressed to the county Committee on School District Reorganization the unequivocal sentiment that they are in favor of annexation of large areas of Los Gatos territory. I am extremely frustrated by the lack of ingenuity shown by the Los Gatos board and absence of resolve to tackle a difficult but solvable problem. Overcrowding in Los Gatos schools is already a serious threat and will continue to worsen at an increasing rate with the changing demographics of a younger adult population unless the board takes action now. As a group, the board of trustees has not endeavored to create a cohesive community but has instead chosen to insulate itself from change to the detriment of the community's student population. The board has failed to pursue possible building sites (i.e., the county courthouse property), and ignored the benefits of acquiring school properties at no cost through unification. Perhaps the board should begin to look for solutions to unite, instead of to fracture, the Los Gatos community.
Karen Blondefield What's next in the name of a drug-free school? Los Gatos High School has gone from a vice principal patrolling the hallways and dances with a breathalyzer to using our kids as pawns in an ill-conceived partisan political rally to having drug-sniffing dogs patrol hallways and search cars. Whatever happened to treating the students with respect, to teaching them about due process, personal value, individual and community rights and personal responsibility? When was it determined that the criminal justice system was the most effective method of dealing with a student with a substance abuse problem? When was it decided that the most desirable way to spend limited funds was on drug-sniffing dogs? And when, please tell me, was it decided that CASA was representative of the parent community? We seem to be running from one knee-jerk response to a very real community problem to another. What's next, daily hair screenings from each child? It certainly eliminates the intervention methods that rely so heavily on guess-work and opportunity. The community needs a return to sanity, reasonableness and balance. I don't want to minimize the very real problem we have with substance abuse; I would just like to see that the solutions have, at their core, a belief in human dignity, fairness and respect for all of our students.
Harriet Meshke
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This article appeared in the Los Gatos Weekly-Times, October 15, 1997. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||