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Pablo Mazon Balancio Jr., a longtime Hollister resident who became a staple on the Gavilan Community College campus in recent years while showcasing his lively personality, died at age 56.

Downtown Morgan Hill merchants have reported a flurry of recent attempts by customers to pass suspicious $100 bills for retail purchases. The owners of at least six stores downtown reported the suspicious currency last week, according to Morgan Hill Downtown Association Office Manager Raquel Crowell. One of the store owners reported on Thursday that two women tried to pass a $100 bill, and refused to let her mark the note with a special pen used to detect counterfeit currency when they presented the cash to her. Another downtown store owner - Krystal Thomas of SleepPlayLove Children’s Consignment Boutique - said she received a fake $100 bill last week “that had all of the correct markings and holograms,” according to an e-mail Thomas sent to the MHDA. “It even passed the pen test.” Thomas recently purchased a “UV counterfeit bill detector” that lights up a “security strip” in higher denomination bills when the cash is placed under the light, according to her e-mail. The possibly fake $100 bill she received last week did not show a security strip when placed under the detector. She added especially with the holidays coming up, retail store owners and employees should be aware of the presence of counterfeit bills and how to detect them.“Most people are really unaware how sophisticated the counterfeit bills have become and we have found that in most cases people are unknowingly passing these bills they’ve received as change at gas stations or even from banks,” Thomas said. Staff at the Morgan Hill Downtown Association spent Monday morning getting the word out about the recent incidents. The MHDA seeks to further educate store owners and cashiers about how to detect counterfeit bills, according to Crowell.As a result of the suspicious currency last week, many stores downtown are no longer accepting $100 bills, Crowell said. Earlier this year, Morgan Hill police conducted a class for Chamber of Commerce members on how to spot counterfeit currency, and Crowell said it might be time for another such class for MHDA members. “That may help people detect counterfeit bills,” Crowell said. 

A memorial service will be held 2:00P.M., on Friday, October 18, 2013, at St. Mary Church in Gilroy.

Three days after performing on stage at the 2013 Kihncert, classic rock musician Greg Kihn will return to Morgan Hill for a “Meet The Author” book signing event Tuesday at BookSmart, located at 80 E. Second St. in downtown.

Gilroy High School was the host site for the Western Band Association’s Oct. 12 marching band competition, tagged the Gilroy Garlic Classic 2013.

Funeral Friday, October 25, 10:00 A.M., at Habing Family Funeral Home, 129 Fourth St., Gilroy, followed by burial at Gavilan Hills Memorial Park. Donations preferred to SPCA. Further details and on-line condolences at www.habingfamilyfuneralhome.com.

Dear Editor,I’d like to ask those opposed to Gilroy Unified School District’s decision not to allow school choirs to perform in churches, to really look into their hearts and ask themselves, “Do I really object to this decision because the choirs lack a venue with adequate acoustics?” or is the real issue that “I want the kid’s choir to appear in my church.” It’s important because solving the problem requires really identifying what the problem is.I suspect most people’s reason is really that they want the choir to visit their church, but since that isn’t a socially acceptable, politically correct reason, they complain about “acoustics”.Let’s look at this dispassionately. The school district can’t endorse school choirs singing in churches because it would cause an unmanageable morass of legal exposure. The choir sings in church A because the venue has great acoustics; now church B who meet in a rented warehouse complain about “religious discrimination” because the choir won’t perform for them.It costs the district money to defend itself from charges of discrimination even if the charge is without merit. From a legal and cost perspective, for the district it is far easier to just “not go there”. So please don’t hassle the district over their decision – it protects district money from being wasted on lawsuits.If the real objection is you want kids to perform in your church, then organize a community teen-choir. Or, several churches may band together to form a non-denominational choir that rotates performances through participating churches. Yes, you may view running your own choir as a hassle, but you are protecting the school’s – kids’ – interests by taking on this public service. If the membership overlaps with that of the school choirs, and benefits from the training singers obtained at school, this is merely a fortunate accident. A non-denominational community choir can also allow home-schooled children to participate, or a wider age-range – whatever suits the wishes of the organizers.If the issue truly is one of having an acoustically appropriate venue for student musical performance, then that is something the city – or a group of citizens or investors – could address in several ways. Can the auditorium at Gavilan College be used? Is there a musical performance hall at Gilroy Gardens?  Should there be? Should any of the local wineries create an outdoor performance venue, mimicking the Paul Mason venue in Saratoga (and eventually attracting professional headliners)? Again mimicking Saratoga, should one of the high schools have a high-tech auditorium with professional quality acoustics and stage facilities? How can Gilroy get (corporate?) donors to fund a school auditorium (which I believe is how Saratoga High got theirs)? What about the new private retreat being planned on ranch land off Hecker Pass – perhaps performance facilities will be included there, where space might be donated on occasion for school fundraising concerts? We are now a town of 50,000 people – shouldn’t we have a decent performance venue, whether public or private? Can the city require the builder of any such venue to donate some specified number of nights for student performances, as part of the approval process for an otherwise commercial venture?I know people feel startled and perhaps hurt by GUSD’s new restriction, but let’s give the school district room to protect it’s legal interests, while addressing the issues that really underlie people’s complaints. Singing in church? Start a community choir – and if the participants overlap the school choir, it’s just that those kids like to sing. Lack of decent performance venues? Let’s find or make one that everyone can use – a genuine long-term solution to the problem.Lisa Thornquist, Gilroy  GUSD has woefully overstepped the bounds of separating church and state with regards to students singing in churches issue Dear Editor,I agree with your condemnation of the Gilroy Unified School District's superintendent’s edict prohibiting Gilroy school students from singing in churches.This edict supports a widespread campaign to secularize American society. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” means that the government cannot force us to join or financially support a particular religion. The founders did not intend for us to banish every vestige of religion from public life but recognized that religion is the foundation of morality, virtue and a free citizenry.   Noah Webster, “the Father of American Education,” who gave us the First Dictionary of the American Language, wrote: “Any system of education, therefore, which limits instruction to the arts and sciences and rejects the aids of religion in forming the characters of citizens, is essentially defective …”The Dispatch article reports that “several anonymous members of the public complained.”  This could well be some activist group in another part of the country.  Let these people step forward.Choir members ask to sing in venues with good acoustics.I suggest that the ambiance of the concert venue also affects the experience of the performers and the audience.There is a difference between enjoying music in a cafeteria or in a cathedral.Also the church or synagogue or mosque has cultural significance.Furthermore, it is beneficial for schools to build partnerships with community organizations.Our Gilroy choirs have performed in historic churches in Europe and in Washington, D.C. and would possibly do so in the future.The superintendent’s decision is not merely contingent upon which facilities are available within our local community.I ask the school board to reverse this decision.Diane McGinty, Gilroy