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HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY

A New SV Media publication

Friday, January 12, 2018

sanbenito.com • Vol. 145, No. 2 • $1

Commission investigates vice mayor’s conflicts COMPLAINT FILED OVER KLAUER’S CANNABIS VOTES Nicholas Preciado Reporter

Nicholas Preciado

Hollister Vice Mayor Karson Klauer is currently under investigation by a state commission for potential conflicts of interest related to city council votes on cannabis businesses. Resident Gary Cameron filed a sworn complaint in August 2017 with the California Fair Political Practices Commission, which oversees the enforcement of the state’s Political Reform Act. Cameron has been an outspoken critic of the city’s quest to regulate medical cannabis. “Karson Klauer as the City of Hollister vice mayor and councilperson may have used his office to financially enrich his family, friends and co-workers,” the complaint alleges. The documents cites Klauer’s “failure to recuse

LEADER Lovell “KC” Adams in his business Kutz and Colors Hair Salon in Gilroy. Adams is set to receive the

Martin Luther King Freedom award on the civil rights leader’s bicentennial holiday on Monday, January 15.

MLK award honors local leader

➝ FPPC Complaint, 4

THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY

BREAKFAST TO BE HELD AT SAN JUAN OAKS

JANUARY 12, 2018

OU T & AB OU T OF NDAR CA LE EN TS EV

Highest Honor Frankie Gallagher is Woman of the Year

Nicholas Preciado Reporter

A section of the Hollister Free Lance

AUDITIONS P10 | SPOKING MY MIND P16 | HEALTHSTYLES P18

Tickets to the event are $45 per person and can be purchased by calling Elvira at 831.801.5530.

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 WEB

An advocacy organization that re college instructors across Califo symbolically walk out of the clas what they call a significant pay d

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Over his county career, Rivas has advocated for affordable housing, LGBTQ equality, improved roadways, and local higher education. He attended Gavilan College and Sacramento State for undergraduate school and went on to San Jose State University for graduate school. Prior to serving as county supervisor, Rivas worked in staff

positions for Assemblymembers Simon Salinas and Anna Caballero. He has also worked as a lecturer at Gavilan College and a paid call firefighter in Hollister. The supervisor stated his interest in running for state assembly late last year, but didn’t make an official announcement. One is expected next week.

TURN TO PIZZA • A8

San Benito County District 3 Supervisor Robert Rivas said this week he intends to run for California State Assembly District 30. “I am a lifelong resident of this region and I will work

tirelessly to make sure the 30th Assembly District has a strong advocate in Sacramento,” Rivas said. Rivas, a 38-year old Democrat, was first elected to the San Benito County Board of Supervisors as District 3 representative in June 2010 and reelected in 2014. District 3 encompasses southwest Hollister south of South Street and East to Memorial Drive.

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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HOLLISTER CA. PERMIT #48

Club in Hollister. The commemoration will begin with a silent auction at 9 a.m. followed by breakfast and the award program at 10 a.m. Harris said that because 2018 marks 50 years since the assassination of King, “Moving forward, we really wanted to keep that dream alive because the issue of freedom is still vital today. We have many people who are incarcerated economically, incarcerated in terms of lack of education.”

Democrat Anna Caballero is the current state Assembly representative for District 30. Caballero was elected in 2016 when she faced off against fellow Democrat Karina Cervantez Alejo. Caballero will term out this year, leaving her seat open to a potential battle royale. California’s 30th State

➝ Rivas, 2

ACCELERATE YOUR CAREER THROUGH THE

TAKE THE

NEXT STEP

Cake, anyone?

this award more important to me.” In addition to his sports mentorship, Adams is owner of Kutz and Colors Hair Salon that has operated in Gilroy for 20 years. “I feel like I’m a VIP, being given it on Martin Luther King Jr. Day,” Adams said. “Being a black man, I’ve struggled to get where I’ve gotten. Just getting here and overcoming obstacles, it’s a blessing.” Bethany Community Church has given the award for over a decade. The event started out at the Forest Park Inn in Gilroy, but moved to Gavilan College and is now hosted at San Juan Oaks Golf

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

San Juan resident: ‘Like our own

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Project planned for Y Road

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,”

SAN BENITO SUPERVISOR IS A DEMOCRAT Reporter

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Adams, who was born and raised at an orphanage in Gilroy, works with at-risk youth in athletics. He’s coached sports at numerous institutions including Gavilan College and Anchorpoint Christian School in GIlroy. He is currently the president of the Gilroy and Morgan Hill chapter of the 28-team National Junior Basketball Association. “I think it’s an honor just to be selected by that group,” Adams said. “This summer I was in Atlanta, I did a march with Martin Luther King Jr.’s son. Talking to him and understanding what his dad was about, it makes

Supervisor Rivas to seek Assembly seat Nicholas Preciado

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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

PRSRT STD US POSTAGE

Inside this issue: Woman of the Year

Soph surge

Local leader Lovell “KC” Adams, a Gilroy business owner and youth coach in Hollister and Gilroy, and several students from the San Andreas Continuation School in Hollister will be honored on Martin Luther King Day, Monday, Jan. 15 by Bethany Community Church at San Juan Oaks Golf Club in Hollister. Adams will receive the Martin Luther King Freedom award for his

dedication and service to the community and schools. The students will receive certificates of completion of the Future Leaders with SWAG (Successful Winners Achieving Goals) taught by local attorney Elvira Zaragoza Robinson and Pastor Gerald E. Harris. “The reason why Lovell was selected was because we were looking for individuals that really serve the role model of being as we call freedom fighters,” Harris said. “Fighter is a harsh word, but a freedom fighter is someone out there trying to liberate people from their incarceration, whether that’s in education or finance or opportunities.”

northeastern.edu/pan/experience


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