Monthly Archives: May 2015

A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 16, 2015, at 4:00 P.M., at the First Presbyterian Church, 2066 San Benito Street in Hollister. A private inurnment will follow at San Joaquin National Cemetery at a later date, where she will be laid to rest next to her husband, Elmo. Donations are preferred to The First Presbyterian Church of Hollister, Hazel Hawkins Hospital Foundation, or the American Heart Association and can be sent in care of the Grunnagle-Ament-Nelson Funeral Home in Hollister.

His Celebration of Life is May 16th 10:30 A.M. at South Valley Community Church 8095 Kelton Drive, Gilroy, CA 95020. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Histiocytosis Association www.histio.org to help find a cure.

GILROY—The teenage stepdaughter of a Gilroy policeman accidentally shot herself in the leg Monday with his pistol and is in stable condition after emergency surgery, according to Gilroy Police Department Sgt. Royce Heath.

GILROY—Thursday’s home meet marked the end of an era for Christopher coach Jeff Myers. After 30 years, the track and field coach is retiring.

What inspires you?My friend David Julian. Even when things look bad, he always seems to have a quiet confidence that no matter what happens, things will be OK. Whenever he speaks during class, the entire classroom becomes silent for him, as if everyone knows that what he is about to say is important. These speeches are incredible, ranging from short one-liners to full-on presentations - each one perfectly executed and perfectly fit for the situation at hand. He has traveled to many different countries, expertly picking up on both languages and their respective accents. He finds time for doing homework, coaching hockey, and studying for ACADEC, sometimes all in the same day. His dedication to what he does and to what he believes inspires me almost daily, and I am happy to call this man my friend.What is your favorite subject?Currently I am enrolled in a Philosophy class at Gavilan College, and it has to be one of my favorite classes this year. Because the course is titled “Contemporary Moral Issues”, I am able to be exposed to the issues in race, wealth, class, gender, and other modern concerns that our generation faces. I am pleased to be a part of this class not only because I have the chance to input my own thoughts in a discussion, but because I am able to hear and appreciate new issues to which I was previously ignorant.If you had the power to change one thing, what would it be?History.If you could go anywhere, where would you go?Home. The want to go home is not one that will fall away over time. One does not visit his or her home as one would visit a tourist location, going simply for the experience and exposure to new things. Rather, the want to go home increases with this experience and exposure. As people have been pushed through hardships in life, ranging from surgery to kidnapping to war, the common phrase becomes clear: “I just want to go home”. If I no longer want to return home, it is evidence of either a new home or a lack of hardships.Name one big challenge in your life right now:Graduating.What is your dream job?Having fun and getting paid for it.Something that makes you smile:

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice released an album in 1976 in London of a show-to-be called “Evita.” By early 1977, the album took the world by storm and by the time “Evita” premiered in London in June of '78, everyone was humming "Don't Cry For Me Argentina."

GILROY—Gavilan’s historic season came to an end Saturday.

GILROY—Suzy Brookshire hit a three-run home run in the second inning off Gilroy ace Lauren Castro to lead San Benito to a 6-4 win over the Mustangs at Gilroy High.

Shani Kleinhaus and Mike FerreiraGuest Columnists What should the City of Gilroy look like in 2040? Should it sprawl over thousands of additional acres of farmland? Or should growth be compact and transit oriented?This future is being considered now, as Gilroy is developing the “Gilroy 2040 General Plan” to guide the City’s growth patterns for the two decades ahead. Already, a lot of work has been done resulting in the release of a report that presents three alternatives. All the three would convert agricultural land to urban use: the first retains the existing General Plan boundaries and would allow the development of 1645 acres of agricultural land; the second “Orderly Growth” alternative would allow expansion of the current urban footprint by 2077 acres; and the third “Compact Growth” alternative would reduce the currently allowed development, but allow the development of 230 acres.All three alternatives allow development in oak woodlands, riparian and other sensitive habitats that lie within the city limits. All three have build-out capacity for housing, population growth, and jobs that exceed all but the highest projections for Gilroy by 2040.  The General Plan Advisory Committee (GPAC) has recommended that the City proceed with the most ambitious and sprawling alternative (“Orderly growth”) for many of the Plans focus areas.But do residents aspire to a sprawling and congested metropolis as they think of Gilroy’s future? Based on sentiments expressed by participants of a February Gilroy community workshop and on responses to an on-line survey – the answer is– NO.Instead, the community clearly respects open space and the rural surroundings of Gilroy, and assigns a high priority to the conservation of these resources.  The Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club and Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society recently sent a joint letter to the Gilroy Planning Department, Planning Commission, and City Council, urging the city to curtail sprawl and to preserve sensitive habitats.In our letter, we asked Gilroy planners and decision makers to prioritize quality of life for residents and the ecological health of the community and its surroundings. Growth should be efficient - vertical rather than horizontal - and development should be transit-oriented to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Lands outside Gilroy’s current footprint should be valued as an ecological resource, and urban development in native habitats and agricultural lands should be avoided.We duly note that we owe the Gilroy Dispatch an apology for one of our comments in our letter. We erroneously stated that the Dispatch had not covered the workshop and on-line survey results. To the contrary, an article by David Lima (April 3) discussed these and highlighted deficiencies associated with the GPAC’s support for the highest development alternative in most of the focus areas where open space is at jeopardy.We know that residents of Gilroy and southern Santa Clara County depend on the Dispatch for information about local issues.   We are pleased to see that this tradition continues, and look forward to future articles that will help readers engage as decisions are made about the future of the community.  Shani Kleinhaus is the Environmental Advocate for Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society. Mike Ferreira is the Conservation Committee chair of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter and serves on the Executive Committee of the chapter. They wrote this piece for the Dispatch.