Monthly Archives: December 2014

From stories of heartbreak and loss that pulled at our heartstrings to tales of triumph, headlines in the Gilroy Dispatch over the past year prove there’s much more to the Garlic Capital than the stinking rose.

Gilroy-area athletes made it hard to pick and choose the top stories of 2014 because there was so much accomplished this year. From the victorious return of Robert ‘The Ghost’ Guerrero to the Christopher football team’s stellar inaugural season at Don Christopher Sports Complex, there a lot to be excited about this year. Take a look back at some of the top stories with us and share your favorite sports memories with us online at gilroydispatch.com. Here are our top picks, in no particular order:

Albert Einstein said “creativity is contagious, pass it on,” which is the idea behind Gilroy’s newest pizzeria, Pieology, 6955 Camino Arroyo, Suite 30. Customers will enjoy custom artisan-style pizzas, flash-fired in less than five minutes. You create your own from unlimited toppings and all at one price. Owners James Yeung and Manny Gharahgozloo invite you to take a look at  pieology.com and stop by for a pizza of your choosing. 

Lions and tigers and bees, oh my! They sting and they’re scary. We avoid them if possible, and we try to shoo them away if they come near us. If they sting it hurts, and for people who are allergic, a bee sting can be fatal. It is not unreasonable to not want them around.

What do you have when you gather together 37 dozen tamales, a woman named Kathi Mendez dressed in a Santa suit, a six-foot tall elf named Lee Hill, 29 families and 57 children who need toys? The most joyous event of the holidays this season—the Toy Giveaway.

Earlier today, Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de Leon announced that he had appointed Sen. Bill Monning (D – Carmel) to serve as Majority Leader.The Majority Leader serves as the main Floor manager for the President pro Tempore and the Majority Party, and serves as the chief assistant to the President pro Tempore in political matters and strategy.“It is an honor to have the opportunity to serve President pro Tempore de Leon as Majority Leader,” said Monning.  “I look forward to serving in this leadership position and supporting the pro Tem, as well as working to engender collegiality on the senate floor.”Monning represents the 17th state senate district, which includes Morgan Hill.

The pending sale of the Daughters of Charity Health System to Prime Healthcare—which has drawn the scrutiny of U.S. congressional representatives—will be the topic of a Jan. 8 public meeting in Gilroy.The 10 a.m. meeting at Gilroy City Hall’s Council chambers will be hosted by the California Attorney General’s office, which will conduct a review of the sale of the health system before approving or rejecting it. The public meeting, as well as a similar one Jan. 7 at O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, are part of the attorney general’s review process, according to authorities.The sale of DCHS to Prime, a for-profit company, was announced in October. It includes Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, which serves South County with 96 beds and an emergency room that saw 26,000 visits in 2012. The sale proposal also includes the DePaul Medical Center campus in Morgan Hill, which houses an Urgent Care facility as well as a number of private physicians’ offices.The public meeting at Gilroy City Hall, 7351 Rosanna Street, will follow the attorney general’s evaluation of the current state of SLRH and each of DCHS’ six hospitals to be completed by the end of December, according to Morgan Hill city staff.Since DCHS officials announced Prime Healthcare as the top bidder for the six-hospital system, after a lengthy bid solicitation and internal review process, a chorus of concerns has raised from the local to the federal level, both in support of and in opposition to the sale.Planning to attend both public meetings in Gilroy and San Jose is state Sen. Bill Monning, who represents the 17th district which includes Morgan Hill, Gilroy and the rest of South County. Unlike other officials on the Central Coast, Monning has not yet formed a steadfast position on the pending sale to Prime.He hopes to discover the questions and concerns of the public in order to research the issue further before offering his own input, according to California Democratic Party Central Committee delegate Swanee Edwards, who acts as the senator’s “eyes and ears” in the South County portion of Monning’s vast district.“There are people who are very much against this sale, and there are people who are very much against it, and we need to get to the bottom of what’s best for the South County residents,” said Edwards, who lives in San Martin.Among those concerned with the sale of the currently nonprofit health system to Prime are Santa Clara County Supervisor Mike Wasserman and 18 U.S. Congressional representatives—including Zoe Lofgren who represents Morgan Hill—who penned a letter urging the attorney general to reject the sale Dec. 11.Those congressional representatives cited Prime’s “history of unfair business practices” as the chief reason for their opposition. Wasserman has said he is concerned about the loss of healthcare access to lower-income residents that could result from the sale of SLRH and O’Connor to a for-profit provider.Supporting the sale are the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce and the California Nurses Association, which represents nurses employed at SLRH and other DCHS facilities.DCHS executives have said Prime was by far the most qualified bidder to take over the entire system. The company has promised to keep all six hospitals open for at least another five years, invest $150 million in capital improvements at the DCHS facilities, retain DCHS’ existing 7,600 employees and assume more than $300 million in pension guarantees for about 17,000 union and non-union active and retired workers.SLRH Foundation board member Bernie Mulligan, a Morgan Hill resident, also plans to attend the Jan. 8 meeting in Gilroy. With DCHS losing $10 million per month, according to DCHS executives, Mulligan said the impact of a rejection of the sale to Prime would be dire.“I am very much in favor of the sale being approved,” Mulligan said. “They are losing millions of dollars each year, and if the attorney general fails to approve the sale, the only other alternative is bankruptcy.”

In the spirit of the holiday season, staff from the Santa Clara County Office of Education’s Migrant Education department once again coordinated the adoption of several families in need this year, according to a press release from SCCOE.More than 15 families served by the Migrant Education program were adopted by staff from the SCCOE’s Educational Services and Business Services branches and the Alternative Education, Environmental Education and Migrant Education departments.“We really do make a difference in the lives of families,” said Veronica Ramos, SCCOE Director of Migrant Education. “Through the incredible efforts of our staff we are able to make the dreams of a few families come true and give them a holiday that they wouldn’t have had otherwise.”The families adopted by Migrant Education are receiving clothing items, donations of food, gifts and grocery gift cards, and all items have been delivered to the families throughout the week, according to SCCOE staff.SCCOE staff also contributed more than 280 toys to the SCCOE’s annual toy drive, benefiting children served by the Head Start, Foster Youth Services and Migrant Education programs.“While the holidays have traditionally provided an opportunity to highlight the needs of vulnerable individuals in our community, the reality is that throughout the entire year many of our children and families go without even the most basic of necessities,” said Jon R. Gundry, County Superintendent of Schools. “I hope that the dedication of the County Office staff to reaching out and supporting the families and children in our programs inspires others to make a small charitable contribution or extend a helping hand to those in need.”