THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
AUGUST 10, 2018
Ron Erkine’s 2018 Brokeoff Mountain Challenge
MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Cascade Range Hikers brave Brokeoff Mountain
A supplement to the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
ESTABLISHED 1868
A New SV Media publication
Friday, August 10, 2018
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
AUGUST 10, 2018
gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 151, No. 32 • $1
A celebration of vaquero heritage
Wildfires contained east and west of Gilroy San Juan Bautista remembers el vaquero
SAN BENITO MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE
A Celebration of Heritage
A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance
FAST-ACTING FIRE CREWS BATTLE HIGH WINDS AUG.6 Bryce Stoepfel & Michael Moore Reporters
➝ Fire, 2
Robert Eliason
Two wildfire fires in Gilroy—one of which damaged two homes off Watsonville Road— burned a combined 15 acres of vegetation the night of Aug. 6, according to authorities. The first fire started along Watsonville Road west of Gilroy about 4:45pm. Four air tankers, two helicopters, and multiple engine companies from Gilroy, CalFire, and Watsonville and Santa Clara County fire departments battled the blaze in windy conditions. They carved a dozer line around the fire to aid containment and protect nearby homes and vineyards. Due to dry grass and winds, firefighters worked to contain spot fires sporadically ignited by falling embers. “Things are actually looking pretty good, but it’s so windy, and the grass
MARKET PIGGY Adams 4-H member Holly Driscoll showcases the pig she raised as part of her 4-H project for this year’s county fair, Aug. 2-5.
Fair time is fun time fair food, live entertainment, carnival rides, livestock and exhibits. This year’s fair also Flocks of smiling South County kids joined featured the first “Out at the Fair” event the thousands of visitors to the 2018 Santa Friday, Aug 3, in solidarity with the LGBT Clara County Fair Aug. 2-5. Each August, 4-H community. In its 74th year, the county clubs and Future Farmers of America (FFA) had such a large turnout that by Saturday head to the fairgrounds in the culminating afternoon on Aug. 4, fair organizers were event of the year—bringing their projects asking the public to take Uber and Lyft to and livestock to market. the fairgrounds on Tully Road “due to high attendance,” according to its website. The four-day event included a variety of Debra Eskinazi
Magazine and Features Editor
New FEMA aid headed to California By Barry Holtzclaw Managing Editor
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Residents of Northern California counties ravaged by wildfires were relieved this week when the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced Aug. 6 it would provide disaster aid for Shasta County.
At the same time that President Donald Trump made California eligible for new disaster aid, he tweeted twice that California water and environmental policies were to blame for magnifying the size of the continuing wildfire disaster. The presidential tweets mystified and enraged state officials, politicians and scientists, but one environmental activist, Herman Garcia of Gilroy, thinks he knows the source of the President’s accusation. In July 2017, Garcia revealed
to the Gilroy Dispatch that the state’s failure to modify 60-yearold water policies had forced the release of water from state reservoirs following October rainstorms. State policy prevented collection of rainwater in reservoirs before Nov. 1, which Garcia argued wasted precious water resources and ignored changes in state rainfall patterns. This prompted promises from state officials to study the issue. California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird didn’t respond to questions this week
about Trump’s accusations, or about the status of his department’s study of Garcia’s concerns. “Our complaint made it all the way to the Oval Office,” a jubilant Garcia said this week, theorizing that word of allegedly wasteful water policies had finally reached the President, prompting the comments in this week’s White House tweets. Others offered an alternative political explanation for Trump’s water tweets: the release by the ➝ Trump Tweet, 13
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FARMS VS. FISH DEBATE IN CA SEEN AS LIKELY SOURCE OF TRUMP’S CLAIM