Every week, something comes across my desk that stops me in my
tracks emotionally and makes me think. The heart and the brain
together are a powerful combination. This week I read the e-mail
update from Linda Perry on her son Danny the morning after
&
amp;#8200;Super Tuesday.
Every week, something comes across my desk that stops me in my tracks emotionally and makes me think. The heart and the brain together are a powerful combination. This week I read the e-mail update from Linda Perry on her son Danny the morning after Super Tuesday. Two years ago, a rocket propelled grenade hit the Army private in Iraq wounding him severely. He spent months in hospitals before having the Purple Heart pinned on him at an emotional ceremony at St. Mary’s Church. The family, longtime Gilroyans, moved back east just few years ago – thus the e-mail updates. Anyway, Linda reports that Danny suffered some brain stem damage from the blast on the day of his injury, so he’s continuing to work on his equilibrium and other issues. He’s going to have some help with those efforts, too. He’s engaged to Gina and they have set a July 12 wedding date. There are still brain issues, but the heart appears well. We wish Dan and Gina the very best Valentine’s Day now and forever. Lastly, Dan is working with the Wounded Warrior Project and will be speaking at a fundraising event. “The mission of the Wounded Warrior Project is to raise public awareness and enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members to aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs,” according to their Web site. That’s as noble a cause as I could imagine.  
Now that we’re on to wedding celebrations, there’s one this weekend at Hecker Pass Winery where owner Carlo Fortino has built a new event center called, appropriately, La Vigna. The Vintages and Vows Bridal Boutique runs from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday – wine, vendors, mustard fields framing the dormant vines and gorgeous weather are on tap.
Sam Bozzo won’t be in attendance as a vendor at the wedding fair (ahem, at least not this year), but his new cookbook will be on sale as the official cookbook of the Gilroy Garlic Festival this July. What’s the title? Well, fill in the blank … “Any —– Can Cook?” If you said Sakahara, you’ve had too many beers for too many years at the GGF …
Don’t you just love perfect segue’s … So Sam’s longtime partner in cooking crime, Gene Sakahara, has something to crow about. His son, Tim, has been nominated in two categories near and dear to my journalistic heart. The television reporter, who is now based in Honolulu, is up for an Associated Press honor in the Best Investigative Reporting category for “Dorm Security: An Open Door”  a story that exposed critical security gaps at UH Manoa dorms following incidents involving intruders. At his previous station in Sacramento, he earned a nomination for Best Spot News Story for coverage of the Lake Tahoe fires. Web viewers might catch Tim on KGMB (
