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THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF MORGAN HILL, GILROY & SAN MARTIN
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
Hot date nights and gifts in South Valley
A supplement to the Gilroy Dispatch & Morgan Hill Times
VALENTINE WINES P10 BLACK HEROES P10 GODSPELL P13
Finds & Dines
SOUTH VALLEY MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Valentine’s Day in South Valley
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THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
ESTABLISHED 1868
Hot date nightsFriday, and gifts in San Benito A New SV Media publication February 8, 2019 Libations Love&
FEBRUARY 8, 2019
SAN BENITO MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE gilroydispatch.com • Vol. 152, No. 6 • $1
A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance
Fun finds and dines for Valentine’s Day
AFRICAN AMERICAN HEROES P10 | VALENTINE WINES P10 | GODSPELL P13
Sheriffs hunt for accused rapist PROSECUTORS FILE CHARGES AFTER COUNTY ALLOWED MAN TO WALK FREE Jennifer Wadsworth
➝Rapist, 12
Robert Eliason
A month after rape suspect Sharwian Bobian was released from jail, law enforcement officers are searching for him. He is accused of false imprisonment and involuntary sex with a woman who brought food and provisions to his makeshift shelter. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office initially declined to pursue criminal charges because they believed the case would be difficult to prosecute. On Monday, they reversed course and filed court papers to proceed against Bobian, a 43-yearold homeless and mentally ill man who left his encampment near the San Martin Transfer waste processing facility following his Jan. 4 release and a brief psychiatric hold. As of 8pm Tuesday, Feb. 5, his whereabouts remained unknown. The Sheriff ’s Office investigated the Jan. 2 incident and detained Bobian that night after interviewing the victim and taking her to Valley Medical Center in San Jose for an hourslong rape kit examination, according to records that became public earlier this week along with the charging documents. Sheriff ’s deputies
FILM FUN Poppy Jasper International Film Festival director L. Mattock Scariot with student Brandon Rios, 10, during a Young Filmmakers Workshop at the Gilroy Library Saturday, Jan. 19.
Movies inspire kids POPPY JASPER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WORKSHOPS TREAT YOUTH AT LIBRARY Debra Eskinazi Magazine and Features Editor
Young filmmakers ages 4-14 cultivated their artistic talents at Gilroy Library on Saturday, Jan. 19 as part of a three-week educational series, “Learn How to Make an iMovie” with the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival. “We do it once a year, and this year we did for three weeks instead of two weeks,” said L.
Mattock Scariot, director of the Gilroy/Morgan Hill film festival. “We have 60 kids this year between the two libraries.” Scariot said they’ve partnered with Community Media Access Partnership in Gilroy to help the students make documentaries. During the workshops, the students had opportunities to interview and be interviewed. “We had all these exercises to show who they were as people,” she added. Scariot said the students edited their own versions, and festival straff will edit a longer version of the whole experience to screen at the April festival, which will include a youth and student film festival.
“We’ll do a block of youth films and then high school and college student films,” Scariot said. “They are a collection local and global filmmakers.” Scariot said this year’s event spans five days and includes 10 events throughout the weekend with 23 two-hour blocks of films. “Filmmakers coming from around the world,” Scariot said. “Fifteen industry professionals that are going to be part of three different workshop panels. Including women, industry and independent filmmaking panel and a distribution panel.” Included in these panels, Scariot said, will be Zoe Elton, the programming director of Mill Valley Film Festival, who will be
presented with an Icon Award during the festivities. “She has an incredible background,” Scarlot said, adding that Mill Valley is “one of the biggest film festivals in the world, and she’s coming to ours.” Scariot said the festival holds the educational programs throughout the year to help engage people in filmmaking and encourage them to become filmmakers. “It’s not just about creating a story,” said Scariot. “It’s about looking at themselves and others as the story.” For more information about the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival, April 3-5, visit pjiff.org.
Becerra filing forces Feb. 22 showdown AG SEEKS A STAY IN U.S. DISTRICT COURT TO BLOCK MARCH SALE OF O’CONNOR AND ST. LOUISE HOSPITALS Barry Holtzclaw Managing Editor
Last week’s local jubilation over a second court victory in the battle to save Gilroy’s St. Louise Regional Hospital and O’Connor Hospital was shortlived, as California Attorney 6
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General Xavier Becerra two days later made one final attempt to block the sale of the two hospitals to Santa Clara County. Late on Friday, Feb. 1, Becerra asked the U.S. District Court for an emergency stay of a bankruptcy court approval of the sale, which the same bankruptcy judge had affirmed in emphatic terms on Jan. 30. The final legal showdown is set for Feb. 22 in a hearing in Los Angeles, less than one week before the county’s purchase agreement with Verity Health System expires. That means a judge could make a definitive ruling against
Becerra in time to salvage the $235 million deal and keep the hospitals. The unlikely dispute between Santa Clara County, hospital patients and staff on one hand and the recently elected state attorney general on the other roiled past the boiling point in the last week of January. In one week: • The attorney general said if the sale closes March 1, his bid—pending in U.S. District Court—to claim authority over the deal would be dead. ➝Becerra, 8
Xavier Becerra