HOLE IN THE HEAD… Squid has grown accustomed to the rantings of former Marina mayor Gary Wilmot, but even Squid was blown away, as it were, by Wilmot’s remarks at the June 8 council meeting. Trying to make a case that current mayor Bruce Delgado should back a 1 percent sales tax increase on the November ballot, Wilmot escalated the rhetoric alarmingly, saying: “If you were in Vietnam, you would have been shot in the back of the head a long time ago. Ask anybody who was there. But this is not Vietnam – unfortunately.”

“Is it worse to be shot in the back of the head than the front of the head?” Delgado responded. “It’s ironic that [he] expresses concern about an increase in crime in town, when those comments clearly contribute to a violent perspective.” But the mayor says he doesn’t have the “emotional energy” to push for an apology, especially with the U.S. Open coming. “We’re putting out banners saying, ‘There’s a Hole Lot of Love in Marina,’ trying to say things with a little bit of flair, but some people say it’s distasteful and tacky.”

Now Wilmot, Councilmember Dave McCall and a few others are pushing for the slogans to come down. “The banners should have been designed by someone with marketing skills and avoided language or phrases that could be taken improperly,” McCall wrote primly to one interested party.

But Delgado notes that McCall has failed to express any concern about Wilmot’s life-threatening remarks: “These banners are a whole lot more distasteful to him, apparently, than Gary’s comments about me getting shot in the back of the head.” Unfortunately.

SCHOOL DAZE… By the time you read this, the troubled Monterey Peninsula Unified School District will have had another chance to show parents it feels their pain – unless they tell their troubles to the Grand Jury. A bit of background: Monterey parents – already angry over the reshuffling of teachers – showed up at Monterey High earlier this month for a meeting touting a potential November bond issue. But when they tried to ask Superintendent Marilyn Shepherd the tough questions, it was not to be. Shepherd and other officials, including a so-called communications staffer, failed to detect the boiling anger, even as parents began to shout, “No, No” to suggestions they grab magic markers, dare to imagine the schools of their dreams, and put the ideas on sheets of butcher paper. Another meeting was set for Wednesday, June 16. If unsuccessful, parents say they’ll consider asking for a Grand Jury investigation of the district’s administration, or pay for their own audit, and will likely be less than enthusiastic about a potential bond issue. Squid hopes what we’ll have is not another failure to communicate.