A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO:
HealthyLifeCover.indd 1
2/19/18 3:14 PM
HEALTHY LIFE
HEALTHY LIFE
2018
MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE
A SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT TO:
HealthyLifeCover.indd 1
2/19/18 3:14 PM
ESTABLISHED 1868
A New SV Media publication
Friday, March 2, 2018
gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 151, No. 9 • $1
Gilroy man dies in police custody TRESPASS SUSPECT FLEES POLICE, DIES AFTER CHASE Michael Moore Reporter
Multiple agencies are investigating the death of longtime Gilroy resident Steven Juarez, who died
after a struggle with local police near the city’s downtown on Feb. 25. Juarez died after officers from the Gilroy Police Department chased him on foot through an east Gilroy neighborhood, then used a Taser and a neck hold on him in an effort to subdue him. Police added that Juarez
might have fallen from a roof just before he began to struggle with officers. Authorities as of Wednesday had not identified Juarez by name, but his friends and family members have. On Feb. 26, the Gilroy Police Department said in a statement that the man— who officers were pursuing in
response to a report of a suspicious person on Chestnut Street—was 42 years old. The Santa Clara County Coroner and District Attorney’s Office, along with Gilroy Police, are investigating the death and the circumstances leading up to it. Gilroy Police Capt. Joseph Deras said Feb. 27 that the
seven officers who responded to the Feb. 25 call that ended in Juarez’ death, acted “appropriately and lawfully” in their attempt to arrest him. All of the officers involved in the incident remain on active duty, Deras said. ➝ Police Death, 11
LOCAL SCENE Tractor trailer causes westside power outage Several thousand residents on the west side Gilroy were left without power Monday morning after a tractor trailer struck PG&E electrical equipment and caused a power outage. Around 8:20am on Feb. 26, a third party tractor trailer backed into electrical equipment at the Cambridge Place housing development off Wren Ave. Overhead telephone lines swayed and sparked up and down the street after the impact. Nearly 4,500 customers were affected at the peak of the power outage. PG&E crews restored the majority of the customers less than 20 minutes after the start of the outage, said PG&E Spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian. He said the outage was fully restored at approximately 10am.
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
MARCH 2, 2018
A supplement to the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
OU T & AB OU T OF DA R CA LENEN TS EV
Leaving a Trail
Gary Walton is Gilroy’s 2018 Man of the Year
WINE PASSPORT P12 | ON SENIORS P16 | SNOWSHOEING P17
Gary Walton
Inside this issue: Wending Walton’s path
DOWNTOWN DAVE Dave Armitage, shown at a recent event on Fifth Street in Gilroy.
Friends aid ‘Downtown Dave’ HOMELESS MAN KEEPS CITY STREETS CLEAN By Barry Holtzclaw Managing Editor
6
58015 02001
0
In case you spotted litter on the streets of downtown Gilroy in the past week, it’s not Downtown Dave’s fault. Dave Armitage, the goodnatured self-appointed sidewalk sweeper for Monterey Street and assorted side streets for more than a decade, is recuperating in a Morgan Hill skilled nursing facility. Dave wants to let folks know that he is doing fine, thanks to several of his guardian angels— local business people. “I tripped over a high spot in the sidewalk on First Street, and
landed on my knee cap, then last week a couple of skateboarders pushed me and I fell on the same knee,” he said from his bed in Pacific Hill Manor this week. The 64-year-old Gilroy native is undergoing physical therapy, and is securing treatment for an infection in his leg injury. He said he won’t be released until the leg heals and he can walk again. One bright spot for Dave this week—courtesy of Cindy Parks of the Gilroy Downtown Association—was a telephone call to one of his sisters, Peggy Daugherty of Red Bluff. Dave had not seen her or spoken with his youngest sister since the 2016 funeral of their father Ed, a retired California Highway Patrol officer who had served for years in the Gilroy area. The conversation
LEARN AT TOP COMPANIES WHILE EARNING YOUR DEGREE.
brought a smile to his ruddy face. “I didn’t know where he was— we write letters to his post office box—and it’s so good to know people there are taking care of him,” Daugherty said later. Things definitely weren’t rosy for Dave in mid-February, when Yolanda Casteneda, owner of the Fifth Street Coffee Roasting Company, spotted him sleeping on a Fifth Street bench in subfreezing morning temperatures. Dave usually sleeps on benches in the downtown area. She said Dave often helps her in the morning, putting her chairs and tables outside the popular coffee shop on Monterey Street. On this morning, Feb 17, he appeared listless. “He looked really exhausted— he wouldn’t eat or drink anything,” she said. She was worried that he
might not survive the cold, so she called around, and Dave’s army of downtown angels went to work. Gardner Health Services examined his leg, and Castaneda paid for him to stay a couple of nights at a downtown motel. Mafalda’s Bridal Shop pitched in to help, and Visiting Angels lined up a nurse to help him at the motel. By the end of the week, the Gardner clinic got him a referral to the Morgan Hill nursing facility, out of the cold and into treatment. “This was like a little miracle in our town,” said Parks, describing the way folks pitched in to help Dave. Dave said he is eager to get back to work. “I know what day every dumpster in downtown Gilroy is dumped,” he said. “I walk all over town and get everything cleaned up.”
ACCELERATE YOUR CAREER THROUGH THE
TAKE THE
NEXT STEP BOSTON | CHARLOTTE | SEATTLE | SILICON VALLEY | TORONTO | ONLINE
northeastern.edu/pan/experience