THE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE OF SAN BENITO COUNTY
NOVEMBER 16, 2018
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE P8
Navy Veteran Trish Graves
A supplement to the Hollister Free Lance
GEORGE TROQUATO P17
Clinical trial offers a way out of pain
Psychedelic treatments for trauma
SAN BENITO MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Breakthrough Treatment
ROAD TAX HAS SLIM LEAD P2 | TWO NEW SUPERVISORS P2 | VELAZQUEZ, RESENDIZ WIN P8
HOLLISTER • SAN BENITO COUNTY
A New SV Media publication
Friday, November 16, 2018
sanbenito.com • Vol. 145, No. 46 • $1
Council upset may tilt balance ALL NEW FACES ON HOLLISTER CITY COUNCIL, EXCEPT MAYOR By Jaqueline McCool Reporter
Robert Eliason
HONORING WWII VETS Norma Martinelli, left, and Martha Moses ride in the annual San Benito County Veterans Day Parade in Hollister, Nov. 11.
Hollister praises vets On Sunday, Nov. 11, Hollister held its 17th annual San Benito County Veterans Day Parade and Ceremonies celebrating American servicemen and servicewomen.
HONORED VET WWII Veteran Walter Hemingway was celebrated at the Hollister parade.
Robert Eliason
Chaired by Frankie Gallagher, information officer for Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital, for the last decade and sponsored by the Hollister Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9242, the events were held exactly 100 years after the end of WWI. Spectators gathered on the streets of downtown Hollister to watch the procession, which included veterans in vintage cars and military vehicles, local students as well as scout troops.
Robert Eliason
In a major upset in the Hollister city elections on Tuesday, Nov. 6, newcomer Rolan Resendiz, a likely ally of Mayor Ignacio Velazquez, unseated two-term District 2 Councilmember Mickie Solorio Luna. The campaign was contentious, with personal attacks on Resendiz raised by Luna’s supporters. Despite endorsements from prominent political figures in the community, Luna, a staunch member of the pro-development council majority, lost to Resendiz’s grassroots campaign. Resendiz received nearly 66 percent of the vote with 788 votes, and Luna received 34 percent of the vote with 427 votes. “I’ve never done anything like this and I didn’t know what the results would be, but I had a very good feeling,” Resendiz said. Luna was the only Hollister incumbent running for re-election, despite two other council seats being up for grabs. With the appointment of Carol Lenoir to the vacated District 1 seat in October, the council will be full of new faces, aside from the mayor, who won his reelection campaign. The election could tilt the council balance, with victorious Marty Richman holding a swing vote between pro-development and slow-growth factions. ➝ Council, 8
Rivas wins 30th Assembly seat DEPARTING SAN BENITO SUPERVISOR WILL LEAVE SBHS JOB Democratic candidate and San Benito County Supervisor Robert Rivas is easily on his way to winning election to the California Assembly for the 30th District.
Although vote-bymail and provisional ballots were still being counted this week, Rivas has maintained a significant lead over Republican candidate Neil Kitchens. Rivas received a total of 41,979 votes throughout the four counties in the district, or 65 percent of the vote. In San Benito County Rivas received 7,487 votes, or 60 percent of the vote,
and in Santa Clara County he received 12,719 votes, or 60.3 percent. Rivas is a lifelong resident of San Benito County. He works as a professor at Gavilan College and as a counselor at San Benito High School. Rivas stepped down as San Benito county supervisor for District 3 to run his assembly campaign. Dating back to when he attended San Benito High
School, Rivas has always been involved in politics on a local level, winning his supervisor seat at just 30 years old. He said his past work as a political organizer for local campaigns helped him in his run for assembly. “You understand all the work that’s involved,” Rivas told the Free Lance. Anna Caballero is currently the Assembly member for District 30. The district’s boundaries run all the
way from Morgan Hill south to King City, encompassing parts of three counties and all of San Benito County. Caballero was termed out and this week was leading in her bid for election to the state Senate’s 12th District. Rivas said he will continue to bring what he calls his bold leadership style to Sacramento. He told the Free Lance, “I’m always going to stand for what’s right.”