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HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
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SAN BENITO COUNTY LOCAL SCENE
PrOGRESS
Friday, September 29, 2017
pRIDE
Tractor Pull
Bring the whole family out to the 36th Annual Truck and Tractor Pull on Saturday. The free admission event—that's right, spectators watch for free, will pay-out to pullers in certain classes. Show starts at 3 p.m., scales run from 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. All donations go to the Ish Hernandez Foundation at Hazel Hawkins. No alcohol is allowed. 5100 San Felipe Road. Bring your own seating.
sanbenito.com • Vol. 144, No. 39 • $1
SPECIAL SECTION INSIDE
2017
Day of the Dead
Studio 23 is offering a Day of the Dead pop-up workshop on Saturday, October 7, 10 a.m.–Noon. Come join the fun in preparing for this great San Juan Bautista activity. Hosted by Madgal Designs and The ART Experience of San Juan Bautista, the workshop promises to be fun and creative. Sign up at darleneboyd.com.
Patriot Pen
Hollister VFW Post 9242 will award $200 to the winner of this year’s Patriot Pen Essay Contest and $25 to the runners-up. Contest is open to students in grades 6–8 in public, private schools as well as home school students. This year’s theme is “America’s gift to my generation.” Rules and entry forms are at the Office of the County Superintendent of Education on Fifth Street or at vfw.org. Deadline is October 31. Send completed entries to 860 Marne Dr., Hollister, 95023, attn: VFW Contest Chairman. Robert Eliason
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
SEPTEMBER 29, 2017
INNOVATION NATION Richard Goozh, chief financial officer at Teknova, a biomedical company in San Benito County discusses how the firm teamed
More Broccoli, Please
up with Gavilan College to create a new course for its workforce to fill the skills gap in the growing industry. Read the full story in Pride & Progress.
Matt Linder, Senior Broccoli Product Manager
Technology and tradition
OU T & AB OU T OF NDAR CA LE EN TS EV
BEAR’S HIDEAWAY P10 | HEALTHY FOODS P16 | REALTOR CHRISTINE FORTNEY P21
Horses were saddled up and kicking up dust Friday evening, as the grandstand at Bolado Park opened its gates for the San Benito County Fair Horse Show.
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
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HOLLISTER CA. PERMIT #48
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2017 SAN BENITO FOOTBALL PREVIEW
foothills of Hollister by ranchers to herd cattle, the skills were showcased with great finesse by the competitors. The stock horse division is separated into two classes—junior and 18 and over. The riders put their horses through different patterns and skills— turning in one direction and then the other and
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
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An intimate crowd of spectators watched while close to forty entrants showed off their horse skills and competed in the stock horse and cutting show. “They are skills that were once needed and now people use them for fun,” said Dara Tobias, county fair manager. “They’re kind of old fashioned, horse riding skills.” Once used in the
TURN TO PIZZA • A8
Jenny Arbizu
Jenny Arbizu
San Juan resident: ‘Like our own
GIDDY UP The San Benito County Fair Horse Show kicked off the annual festivities last Friday at Bolado Park in Tres Pinos. The county fair officially starts on Sept. 28.
HORSE SHOW KICKS OFF SAN BENITO COUNTY FAIR
Cake, anyone?
has found the secret to longevity in the cutthroat world of retail—amazing customer service. Inside these pages are stories of business daring-do but behind the fanfare are real people who want the best for their community and that is why we should all celebrate.
The San Benito County 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
workforce through an education partnership with Gavilan College, a surefire move to keep skilled workers in the region at a time when half the population commutes out to Silicon Valley or Monterey County for work. Bill’s Bullpin, a comic book store that is celebrating 30 years in Hollister
Saddle up to the fair
Project planned for Y Road
KATIE HELLAND •REPORTER khelland@freelancenews.com
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HOLLISTER
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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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Solar revisions
San Benito County is a
land and resources. Then there are companies such as Corbin, a world-renowned motorcycle accessories maker with deep ties to the Hollister Independence Rally who is re-imagining the electric car with the lightweight, three-wheeled Sparrow. Biotechnology company Teknova is investing in its
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
Reporter
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 Nick Preciado
special place. Within its borders is an exhilarating mix of tradition and innovation. Agriculture remains the county’s largest industry, but among the fields and furrows are producers that are doing things differently and looking to diversify their holdings and make the most out of their
Soph surge
SAN BENITO INDUSTRIES COMMUNITY FOCUS IS A REASON TO CELEBRATE
Inside this issue: Sakata Seed America turns 40
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE
A section of the Hollister Free Lance
Sakata Seed America is 40
➝ Fair, 4
TURN TO BRIDGE • A8
LOOK FOR IT ON THE WEB
An advocacy organization that re college instructors across Califo symbolically walk out of the clas what they call a significant pay d