Community

Joe Blundo wants to set the record straight. The retired Santa

A 32-year-old man was struck and killed by a juvenile driver early in the morning May 19 near Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, according to police.  At about 12:30am, officers were called to the area of the 9400 block of No Name Uno near...

MORGAN HILL—Fry’s Electronics has ended its title sponsorship with the PGA Tour, thus ending speculation of the Frys.com Open returning to Morgan Hill.

Elodia Benitez has fond childhood memories of birthday parties at San Ysidro Park, while also admiring the rows of trees on Miller Avenue and grabbing a bite to eat at Pinocchio’s Pizza. But above all, it’s the time she shared with her grandmother that she...

Not long ago, at a concert or something like that, Margaret Myers of Gilroy caught sight of a big group of women dressed in purple and wearing red hats, each more outlandish than the next, with feathers and flowers and ribbons and bows.

There’s nothing quite like a stage full of kids dressed as starfish, sea anemones and seagulls singing and dancing their little hearts out to lift one’s spirits these days. And the cast and crew of South Valley Civic Theatre do a charming job of it in their current children’s musical production of The Little Mermaid Jr. in Morgan Hill through Oct. 22.The story, loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s Danish fairy tale and adapted into a Disney movie and then a musical, involves a young mermaid, Ariel (Emily Pember) who falls in love with a human prince (Gannon Janisch) and is tricked into giving up her lovely singing voice to an evil sea witch (Jenna Hernandez) in exchange for legs so she can walk on land. She is surrounded by a cast of hilarious characters including the woebegone crab Sebastian (Tegan Leong) charged by Ariel’s father (Paul Maack) with keeping her safe.As the little mermaid of the title, Pember does fine work singing while managing the tricky aspects of swimming gracefully through the air (with flight direction by Jason Chamberlain). Unfortunately, her voice is sometimes overwhelmed by the recorded soundtrack on “Part of Your World.”As Ursula, the sea witch—in a wonderful costume of purple velvet and satin with sequined octopus’s tentacles—Hernandez has no such problems. She’s got a big voice and knows how to use it to best effect on “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”Stealing the show every which way is the spark plug Tegan Leong as the crab Sebastian, who knocks everyone out with a fish ensemble in “Under the Sea” and really tears things up in the sassy calypso “Kiss the Girl,” well supported by an undersea cast of seemingly thousands.Among the numerous other characters, well directed by Colleen Blanchard, Catherine Drayton stands out as the lead seagull, Scuttle (in a terrific costume, designed by Alice Gracey). Set designers Blanchard, Larry Tom and Jason Leong have created a wondrous undersea world, all wavering watercolors studded with bubbles and seaweed.The Little Mermaid Jr. Music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, book by Doug Wright. Directed by Colleen Blanchard at South Valley Civic Theatre, Morgan Hill. Final performance is Oct. 22. For tickets call (408) 842-SHOW or visit www.svct.org. 

As the old-fashioned privet hedges are becoming less common,

As Gilroy residents prepared for the winter holidays news of a fatal plane crash involving a local family sent shockwaves throughout the community.Gilroy residents Jason Thomas Price, his wife Olga Price and with their three children, Olivia, 9, Mary, 10, and John, 14, were killed when the small plane Jason Price was piloting crashed into an almond orchard outside Bakersfield on Dec. 19. News outlets initially covering the crash identified Jason Price as the pilot and his family as the passengers.At 4:26 p.m. that day, a Los Angeles air traffic control tower received a distress call from an aircraft, later identified by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as a Piper PA-32, single-engine, seven-passenger plane, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office.The family had left the Reid-Hillview Airport in San Jose and were on their way to Henderson, Nev., when the crash occurred. Emergency responders conducted a ground search and found airplane wreckage in the orchard near the intersection of Panama Lane and South Allen Road. Debris from the crash spanned a quarter-mile, according to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. At press time, the NTSB and FAA had not concluded their investigation into the cause of the crash.Jason Price was a principle reliability engineer at Genesis Solutions, a position he held for five months according to his LinkedIn profile. His company released the following statement: “On behalf of Genesis Solutions and its employees, we express our deepest sympathy and condolences for Jason Price and his family. Jason was an associate of our organization and a valued and loved team member, friend, and contributor to our customers and the maintenance and reliability professionals we serve. We are mourning this tragic loss.”As news of the tragedy spread through Gilroy, residents who knew the family shared their heartbreak.Olivia and Mary were students at Luigi Aprea Elementary School, which had just closed for the winter holidays on Dec. 18. Misty Blythe, a fellow parent whose children went to school with the girls had just seen them at school.“Friday was the last day of school for all the kids,” said Misty Blythe via Facebook. “We [were] all saying goodbye and happy holidays, and see you next year.”Blythe shared a friend with Olga and had been to few birthday parties with the friendly mom.“It’s such a sad thing. They will be very missed. Olga was a good friend, awesome mother and loving wife.”

The Santa Clara County Coroner’s Office identified those who died in recent suspected fentanyl overdoses at a Gilroy residence as three men in their 50s.  Those found dead Feb. 6 by CalFire paramedics who responded to the home on the 10000 block of Garcia Lane...

The County of Santa Clara Public Health Department recently released new data showing a 19% increase in new tuberculosis (TB) diagnoses in the county in 2023, compared to the previous year.  This follows a 6% increase in new TB diagnoses in the county for 2022,...