HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
A New SV Media publication
Friday, July 21, 2017
sanbenito.com • Vol. 144, No. 29 • $1
The cup flipping eatery turns 50 ROADSIDE SPOT IS A FAMILY TRADITION By Roseann Hernandez Cattani Editor
Adam Cattani
In between the mighty waves of the Central Coast and the majestic heights of Yosemite, is Casa de Fruta in the Pacheco Valley, a roadside oasis along Highway 152 that has been offering commuters and holidaymakers a chance to rest, fill-up and make merry for more than 100 years. This week, the compound’s signature restaurant, the 24-hour Casa de Restaurant, celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. On Tuesday, customers enjoyed 15-cent coffees and $2 beers alongside their omelets and prime rib dip – a way for the family-owned operation to say thank-you to the generations of families that have passed through its welcoming doors over the years. “We’ve been married thirty-four years and the day we got married we
CLASS WINNER Hollister residents, Hal Himenes, 57, and son, Brad, 22, pose before their show-stopping 2017 Chevy Camaro COPO, which won the Best Modern category at the 31st annual Street Festival and Car Show presented by the Hollister Downtown Association on Saturday. The event showcased a record-breaking 235 cars and pick-ups.
Car show glory
➝ Casa de Fruta, 8 THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
MORE THAN 200 VEHICLES PACKED DOWNTOWN HOLLISTER SATURDAY
How one mom’s skill allowed her son to play the game he loves
MOVIE NIGHT P11 | ON SENIORS P12 | REALTOR MARY SQUIRE P16
Inside this issue: Love without limits
at the car show on Saturday. An event tradition, the watermelon is donated by local growers.
and explained that the role of the COG, the county’s regional transportation agency, is to focus on long-range planning. “We’re not so much down on the individual roads, but we try and help the local jurisdictions as much as we can,” Gilbert said. “There’s also some funding that comes through COG that we then allocate to local jurisdictions. We’re a partner to many agencies.”
Gilbert provided an overview of transportation funding, which includes fuel excise taxes, truck weight fees and vehicle registration fees. She touched on Measure P, a countywide half-cent transportation sales tax that failed to pass during the June 2016 primary election. Neighboring Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara Counties
of wood-fired oven used to make his pizzas. In starting the business, he is also bringing a taste of his family’s home country to his family’s hometown in Hollister. The Felice family is from the Calabria part of Italy and has deep roots in San Benito County as well. With the opening of Forno, meanwhile, Hollister will once again
because the lunch was fully booked. Speakers included Council of San Benito County Governments (COG) Executive Director Mary Gilbert, Hollister Management Services Director Mike Chambless, County Management Analyst Louie Valdez and County Supervisor Mark Medina. Gilbert provided overview of the transportation policy-making landscape
TURN TO PIZZA • A8
Rough roads and crowded highways took center stage at a congenial lunchand-learn community discussion session held by the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce July 12.
said Jim Brumfield, whose 14-acre horse ranch on San Juan Highway is a short walk from the site of the planned bridge. The riverbed crossing will be funded completely with federal money from the Federal Highway Administration's Toll Credit Highway Bridge Program, with construction slated for the spring of 2017. “The key to a better transportation
TURN TO BRIDGE • A8
LOOK FOR IT ON THE WE
An advocacy organization that college instructors across Cali symbolically walk out of the cla what they call a significant pay
San Juan resident: ‘Like our ow
KATIE HELLAND •REPORTER khelland@freelancenews.com
HOLLISTER
A $16 million bridge stretching 900 feet across the San Benito River is planned to connect Y Road and San Juan Bautista. But in this rural area, the number of people it will serve is small. “It's like our own bridge to nowhere,”
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Chamber members met at the stylish, new Marriott Hotel at 390 Gateway Drive in Hollister to hear from city and county officials about the state of local roads. The event garnered much interest from the business people whose bottom line are impacted by the condition of the county’s infrastructure, according to Chamber CEO Juli Vieira, the nonprofit had to turn away eight people
Project planned for Y Road
****ECRWSS**** Residential Customer
PAID
HOLLISTER CA. PERMIT #48
SWEET RELIEF Volunteers pass out free sliced watermelon
Cake, anyone?
➝ Car Show, 2
The San Benito County Adam Cattani chapter of the national nonprofit organization Birthday Cakes 4 Free started last spring and group members have been bringing cakes, cupcakes and muffins to low-income seniors and children ever since then. Since the group started in June, its members have delivered about five cakes a month to the Emmaus House, Chamberlain's Children Center and the assisted living facility Whispering Pines Inn. Now they're looking to expand to individual homes in the county. A2
Solar revisions
The company vying to build a 247-megawatt solar farm in Panoche submitted a draft supplemental environmental impact report addressing plans to examine impacts under a revised, reduced proposal. PV2 Energy filed the supplemental draft EIR on Dec. 23. The prior company overseeing the project, Solargen Energy, had an initial EIR approved by the county board in late 2010. A5
SPORTS
A year ago, Brad Sparrer was the No. 5 player in the lineup on San Benito High’s golf team. But entering the 2015 season—practice starts on Feb. 1—the 5-foot-8, 140pound sophomore will likely be the Haybalers’ No. 1 player. Sparrer’s meteoric rise came the good old-fashioned way: hard work. B1
LEADERS LOOK PAST FAILED SALES TAX MEASURE Reporter
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California, the chili cookoff portion of the event, usually officiated by Firefighters Local Union 3395, was cancelled. “Strike teams from other departments were called out,” said chili cook-off organizer, Bill Olguin. “No one from Hollister Fire has been called up yet.” Along San Benito and connecting streets, the event spread out with rows of immaculate cars,
Community gets update on state of the roads
Nicholas Preciado
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Soph surge
Street Festival and Car Show flooded the district with more than two hundred show cars and trucks. “We thought it was amazing. It was the most cars we've registered, as hot as it was outside, we had 235 cars,” said Jeana By Roseann Hernandez Cattani Arnold, Development Editor Director at the Hollister Just weeks after the mo- Downtown Association, torcycle rally took over which puts on the voldowntown Hollister, the unteer-driven event. “We streets yet again were the have about 125 volunteers, stage for a parade of im- and organizing starts in pressive machinery. On January.” Due to the wildSaturday, the 31st annual fires currently raging in
Allheart
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE
A section of the Hollister Free Lance
JULY 21, 2017
➝ Road Repairs, 2