HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
A New SV Media publication
Friday, October 27, 2017
sanbenito.com • Vol. 144, No. 43 • $1
SB supes move to hike their own pay
LOCAL SCENE San Juan Bautista cleanup
Local volunteers are needed for a citywide cleanup in San Juan Bautista on Saturday from 8am to 12pm. The event will include litter removal, cleaning, painting and landscaping at the library and Luck Park, Verutti Park, the community center, city hall and fire station, Abbe Baseball Park and the city’s historic downtown. The cleanup will be followed by a hot dog barbecue at San Juan Library for all volunteers. To register, call 831-623-4661 or email accttech@san-juanbautista.ca.us.
COUNTY WORKERS GET COST OF LIVING INCREASE, PAID HOLIDAYS
Anti-bully workshop Enterprise Academy of Martial Arts at 351 Tres Pinos Rd #B in Hollister is hosting a free anti-bully workshop on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7pm. The workshop aims to educate attendees on bullying, the different types of bullying and how to combat it. Attendees will also learn physical selfdefense techniques. Showing children how to protect themselves from bullying is important to owner and master instructor Mark Preader, who has toured local elementary schools with his message, “Be The Hero Against Bullying.” Last year, he spoke to more than 3,000 kids. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, an estimated 160,000 children across the nation miss school each day because of bullying.
Nicholas Preciado Reporter
Robert Eliason
Military donations
Holiday boutique
Don’t wait until the last minute this year to shop for holiday presents. Pick up a variety of unique gifts at the annual holiday boutique on Saturday, Nov, 4, from 9am–3pm at Hollister United Methodist Church, 521 Monterey St.
A royal school tradition HOMECOMING FESTIVITIES BRING THE COMMUNITY TOGETHER Roseann Hernandez Cattani Editor
It starts with rade through
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of dressing up and going out remains the same. Congratulations to the San Benito High School students who put their best foot forward every day to accomplish great things while always remembering to have fun along the way. The full story of the varsity football game can be found online at sanbenito.com.
—ROSEANN HERNANDEZ CATTANI
Welcome home to Hollister
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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
The ribbon cutting for Hollister’s newest affordable housing complex Friday brought out elected officials including Assemblywoman Anna Caballero, Hollister City Councilman Mickie Luna and San Benito County Board of Supervisor Jaime De La Cruz. The 41-unit Buena Vista apartments boasts amenities such as solar panels and laundry facilities and offers residents access to classes through community partners like Gavilan College.
OCTOBER 27, 2017
TURN TO PIZZA • A8
and Planning Association, Inc.), celebrates the grand opening of Buena Vista apartments on Friday in Hollister’s growing west side district.
THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
CHISPA
San Juan resident:
Project planned for Y Road
KATIE HELLAND •REPORTER khelland@freelancenews.com
HOLLISTER
RIBBON CUTTING Nonprofit housing developer, CHISPA (Community Housing Improvement Systems
Cake, anyone?
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
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
HOLLISTER CA. PERMIT #48
a nod to their community’s legacy and location. The homecoming tradition is an endearing one in our beloved rural communities. Each generation comes up with its own rituals—now, asking a boy or girl to the homecoming dance is more akin to a wedding proposal than it used to be—but the excitement
Congratulations to the San Benito High School students who put their best foot forward every day to accomplish great things
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,”
****ECRWSS**** Residential Customer
Slow-moving cars filled with exuberant teenagers wave to friends and family as they make their way along Hollister streets. School spirit is on full display. Then, the following day, is the big football game—the Homecoming matchup between the Hollister Haybalers and Aptos Mariners, their very names
Soph surge
PAID
Armstrong and fellow student Gio Giannotta at the football game between the SBHS Haybalers and Aptos Mariners on Friday.
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
PRSRT STD US POSTAGE
There will be an assortment of beautiful handmade gifts, seasonal decorations, delicious baked goods, jams, jellies, salsa, pickles and complimentary tea, coffee and cookies. There will also be a raffle with prizes.
REGAL COUPLE San Benito High School Homecoming Queen Janet Armstrong is escorted by her father Dr. Ralph
OU T & AB OU T OF NDAR CA LE EN TS EV
Hollister’s Swank Farms moves its annual harvest attraction
A section of the Hollister Free Lance
With Veteran’s Day on the horizon, locals may want to donate to active-duty military personnel who put their lives on the line to protect the nation’s constitutional freedoms. One option is donate to the local Hollister VFW Post 9242, which collects items as well as donations, and mails care packages to many soldiers, most of whom are local or have ties to the Hollister community. To find out how to give, call 831-637-4846. Also, check out the Hollister VFW Post 9242 Facebook page to see photos of the deployed soldiers that receive the packages.
San Benito County supervisors this week voted to tentatively increase their own salaries from $48,000 to $75,000, after approving numerous labor contracts. “I don’t necessarily agree with the numbers, per se, but that’s part of my research that I’m doing,” said Suzy Caston, a child support specialist and president of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 521 chapter for San Benito County, which represents 270 county employees, in reference to the proposed raise. A county supervisor’s salary is $48,194 for parttime hours. The board voted 4-1 on Tuesday, Oct.24, to proceed with discussion of a 56 percent salary increase, which would boost a supervisor’s to $75,015 in 2018, when the ordinance comes back for a second reading and possible adoption at the Nov. 7 meeting. Supervisor Robert Rivas was the sole dissenter. Like all other county employees, the supervisors will receive a 3.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment that would increase their salaries to $49,645. If adopted at the November meeting, the new raise wouldn’t go into effect until January 2018, because the statute requires a 60-day waiting period after adoption, according to county officials. The supervisor pay increase discussion and vote came right after the board approved new employment terms with county employees. The action drew skepticism from the union representative at the meeting. “Right now on the heels of our [memorandums of understanding] that we had to fight pretty hard for, maybe it’s a more of a timing issue that I’m struggling with,” Caston said. “Maybe if this had come up 10 to 12 months down ➝ SEIU, 4
Maze & grace
BARTENDERS UNION P8 | AUTO WINTERIZING P16 | PROPERTY SPOTLIGHT P19
Inside this issue: Swank Farms sets new roots
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