An Inner Beauty Pageant
Gilroy – Nellie Ortega never thought she would be a runner up for the local Ms. Senior America pageant at age 64.
Most people think that they must be beautiful and thin to enter a pageant, but this pageant is not about the beauty on the outside.
“The Ms. Senior California pageant program is not a beauty contest,” said Marilyn McCabe-Kohler, the pageant’s statewide director. “It’s a program that looks for the inner beauty, women who have accepted their roles, and have been role models, and have stepped up to the plate.”
 Ortega fulfilled each and every quality required for this program, McCabe-Kohler said. She stood in the spotlight for the first time in her life, which took a lot of courage, given the one week of preparation she had for the pageant that took place in Santa Clara.
“I have more white in my hair, and I had just gotten a haircut, I’m not a thin person, I’m a full-sized woman but the issue was having something to wear,” said Ortega.
The competition has three parts – modeling evening wear, delivering a 35-second philosophy of life and showing off a talent, Ortega said. This year, Ortega sang the love ballad “Amor, Amor” in Spanish, pulling from her Latino heritage. Her philosophy of life included the idea to give a smile to those who need it – it could change their lives, she added.
Ortega is the only Gilroyan who will have the opportunity to compete for the title Ms. Senior California.
California has the largest senior pageant program in the nation with 74 women from Santa Clara to San Diego competing.
Fannie Curro, a Hollister resident, won first place at the local Ms. Senior America pageant.
It’s often a challenge to convince women in “the age of elegance” – those over 60 – to take stage, Curro said. But she did rope her friend Ortega into participating. Ortega and Curro will compete against a dozen other women in the statewide contest come September. The one chosen Ms. Senior California will go on to represent the state in national competition at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas.
Stolen Credit Cards Found in Motel Room
Morgan Hill – Two residents were arrested at a local motel Friday afternoon when a Morgan Hill police officer found stolen credit cards, checks, drivers’ licenses, birth certificates and Social Security cards in the pair’s motel room.
Juan Cortez, 51, and Linda Sosa, 59, were booked into Santa Clara County Jail on charges of allegedly receiving stolen property. Cortez was also placed on a parole hold.
Officer Jason Broyer was checking the parking lot of the Holiday Motel on Monterey Road in south Morgan Hill at approximately 4pm when he noticed a car he thought was suspicious, according to MHPD Cmdr. David Swing. Broyer checked the license plate and found the registration had expired in 2004, although there was a 2008 sticker on the plate. He talked to the people next to the vehicle, who said they were driving the car but it didn’t belong to them, it belongs to a friend.
When Broyer checked their identification, he learned Cortez was on parole. Because of the conditions of his parole, Broyer searched his motel room where he found the items, which were stolen from four victims. Swing said when the victims were contacted by police, they said them items were stolen during auto burglaries.
