HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
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Friday, February 2, 2018
sanbenito.com • Vol. 145, No. 5 • $1
What’s up with the biker rally? PROPOSAL COULD COME THIS MONTH Nicholas Preciado Reporter
Robert Eliason
The future of this year’s Hollister Independence Rally could be decided this month as event promoter Roadshows Inc. tries to wrap up enough sponsors to submit a proposal to the city. Promoter Randy Burke said the Renobased company is still pursuing national sponsors for this year’s event— which would take place on July 6, 7 and 8—if he signs enough national sponsors. “We plan on making a proposal sometime in February,” Burke said by phone Monday. “It’s all contingent on our successful landing of several new sponsors.” Last year marked the 70th anniversary of the event that inspired the internationally-known motorcycle rally—the 1947 invasion of Hollister by the Boozefighters ➝ Motorcycle Rally, 17
RUNNERS Mila, Marco and Miana Orasco at Mission 10 Race in San Juan Bautista. More photos, Page 18. THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
FEBRUARY 2, 2018
Gavilan opens night classes at SBHS
OU T & AB OU T CA LEN DA EV EN R OF TS
Local chef awarded 2018 Rising Star Entrepreneur
CLASSES MEET TWICE A WEEK
Fearless Fisher
Staff report
A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance
➝ SBHS, 5
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
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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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The other board seat is held by Mitchell Dabo, who has been a board member for more than 30 years. He also now has until July to decide whether to seek re-election, although he has said he intends to resign from the board. Lomanto said Dabo has not indicated when he will resign. In December, Dabo chose not seek reelection to a second one-year term
TURN TO PIZZA • A8
A new state law is moving the date for the San Benito County Board of Education election from June to November, county election officials said this week. That means the new period for filing to run
2014. She has filed documents indicating she intends to seek re-election. Thus far, she is the only candidate. The board seat held by retired educator and current president of the county school board, Joan Campbell-Garcia, also is up for re-election. Campbell-Garcia was elected president in December. She now has until July to decide or announce that she is seeking reelection.
as president. The board leader is elected by fellow trustees. Dabo said on Dec. 1 he would resign his school board seat, citing fallout from a civil court ruling in November that he illegally took money from a charitable trust. “I know this has been hard on everyone, the articles, the accusations, the office under attack,
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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The communications class, taught by San Benito English teacher Vincent Parker, is being held Monday evenings from 6-9:10pm. Tennenbaum described the new partnership with Gavilan as “the beginning of a great relationship which affords our community more educational opportunities.”
Cake, anyone?
are a math boot camp and Summer Scholars Academy focusing on English language arts, according to district staff. Gavilan courses being offered in the high school classrooms in the evening include: Biology 10 (Principles of Biology); Biology 7 (Anatomy); Communications 1A (Introduction to Public Speaking); and English 250 (Practical Writing). These classes meet twice weekly.
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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for one of the two open board seats begins July 16, and closes Aug. 10, said Angela Curro, assistant county clerk. The new law did not affect the election dates for county schools superintendent. That election will occur in June, as it has in previous years, Curro said. Schools Supt. Krystal Lomanto, former San Benito High School principal, was first elected in
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,”
FILING PERIOD FROM JULY 16 TO AUGUST 10 Managing Editor
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school students to begin work on college credits prior to graduation. “We are very proud of the efforts of both organizations to see this vision become a reality,” San Benito High School District Superintendent Shawn Tennenbaum said of the partnership between the district and Gavilan. Other collaborative projects between the high school and the community college on the horizon
County school board elections shifted By Barry Holtzclaw
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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
Michael Fisher named Rising Star Entrepreneur
Soph surge
Gavilan College instructors began teaching a select number of evening courses on the San Benito High School campus this week as part of a “multilevel collaboration” between the two education institutions, according to a Jan. 29 announcement. Students enrolled at
Inside this issue:
Gavilan College can now register for biology, communications and English classes, which will be held on the 1220 Monterey St. high school campus. The college courses began Jan. 29 and run through May 25. The classes are not dual-enrollment courses open to high school students. However, officials from both schools have expressed an interest in pursuing dual-enrollment as an opportunity for high
➝ Dabo, 10
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