Community

Santa Clara Valley Water District officials are anticipating an Aug. 27 shutdown for recreational boating at Anderson Lake as water from the reservoir continues to be drained and used for the county’s main source of drinking water.

Under a giant American flag hanging over the south end of downtown Morgan Hill from atop a CalFire ladder truck, local children and families got a chance to play games and hang out with police officers and firefighters—on their own terms—at the Aug. 2 National Night Out.Uniformed officers from the Morgan Hill Police Department and Morgan Hill Fire Department were joined by other local public safety agencies as they invited kids to climb on their equipment, fire engines, patrol cars, SWAT vehicles and motorcycles throughout the area near the intersection of Monterey Road and Third Street.City council members and other officials joined the crowds, inviting kids to play street games and take a free serving of ice cream while enjoying live entertainment.The annual National Night Out is a nationwide event designed to promote positive interaction between public safety officials and the communities they serve. The City of Morgan Hill has participated in the National Night Out for several consecutive years, with the crowd seemingly growing each time.Morgan Hill Police Chief David Swing said locally, National Night Out is part of the city’s overall public engagement strategy, which strives to build a meaningful and lasting relationship between police and the community. When officers make a traffic stop or respond to a traffic collision or other emergency, their interaction with the public can be somewhat tense, Swing explained.National Night Out can provide for a much more relaxed setting with police.“An event like National Night Out allows us to put our guard down and have a little more personal, friendly conversation,” Swing said. “I think we accomplished that” Tuesday night.Another highlight of the National Night Out festivities was the presentation of the 2016 California Peace Award for the 30th Assembly District to Morgan Hill attorney Juan Lopez. In 2014, Lopez founded “We The People,” an organization that defends the civil rights of Morgan Hill residents and promotes multicultural events in the community, according to 30th Assemblymember Luis Alejo’s staff.Lopez was one of nine recipients from the 30th district named for the 2016 Peace Award.“It is my honor to recognize these truly remarkable individuals and organizations who have made it their mission to promote peace throughout all of our communities,” said Alejo (D-Salinas). “The commitment and dedication they have demonstrated for their communities exemplify what this award is all about. It’s everyday heroes like these who help keep our neighborhoods safe.”MHPD has more events coming up that allow residents to interact with police on friendly terms, Swing added. On Sept. 30, the Morgan Hill Police Officers Association will host its annual golf tournament fundraiser. This year, the tournament will raise money for the Shop With A Cop program, which invites local elementary school student-leaders to join an MHPD officer while they spend a donated $100 gift card at the local Target store.“That was a huge success last year,” Swing said.Furthermore, the police department hopes to kick off a regular “Coffee with A Cop” session in the coming weeks, the chief added. This event allows any community member to join an officer for coffee at a time and place in Morgan Hill specified beforehand, just to ask questions and offer input. More details about this event will be announced as they are available.

A bobcat kitten found wandering alone at a Los Gatos construction site has found its way to Morgan Hill’s Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center, where its current caretakers are preparing the animal to be released back into the wild this fall.The kitten, nicknamed “Gato,” was first taken to San Jose Animal Services when it was found wandering all alone a few weeks ago. Upon realizing the animal was a wild bobcat rather than a lost housecat, staff at the San Jose facility transferred the 5-week-old, 560-gram feline to Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley. WCSV took care of the kitten for about three weeks, then transferred the animal to WERC, which specializes in the rehabilitation of orphaned, injured wild bobcats, according to WERC Educational Coordinator Anna Venneman.“Initially, he would not eat at all. They had to tube feed him,” Venneman said.Gato spent two weeks in an indoor nursery at WERC before he was ready to be transferred to an outdoor enclosure. Before making the transfer, WERC staff and volunteers brought him to Princevalle Pet Hospital in Gilroy for a checkup and shots, Venneman said.After the checkup, Gato was placed in WERC’s outdoor enclosure in west Morgan Hill with the help of a surrogate bobcat “mother,” a WERC volunteer dressed in a bobcat costume. Venneman explained this procedure helps ensure the wild animal doesn’t associate “positive interaction” with humans they might encounter when released back into the wild.“That could get them hurt, or hurt the human,” she said. “We try to disguise our scent (with) sage and bobcat urine. You can’t do any normal human postures…The only time they get human interaction is when they go to the vet.”WERC has rescued and rehabilitated dozens of bobcats—which are common throughout Santa Clara County—over the years. Gato is its first bobcat of 2016. Venneman said WERC hopes to release Gato back into the wild, near where he was found, this fall.

Morgan Hill-based Del Monaco Foods, a privately held food manufacturing company, was acquired July 26 by Kettle Cuisine, artisan producer of refrigerated and frozen premium quality, all natural soups, according to an announcement made by the new owners.

All Santa Clara County Library District libraries, including the Morgan Hill library, will be closed for building and technical upgrades on Wednesday, Aug. 3 and Thursday, Aug. 4, according to library officials.

Cal Fire Capt. Herb Alpers was in quite a bind leading into Friday’s inaugural Champions for Charity first responders cook-off at the 2016 Gilroy Garlic Festival.

In a collaborative effort to bring awareness to the growing epidemic of Type 2 diabetes among at-risk youth, the American Diabetes Association partnered with Morgan Hill Unified School District and Mount Madonna YMCA to provide a week-long summer camp at Barrett Elementary School.

Local attorney Juan Lopez was named as one of nine recipients of the 2016 California Peace Award for the 30th Assembly District. He will be recognized for the honor during the Aug. 2 National Night Out in downtown Morgan Hill.

It was during the fall of 1992 when Gene Sakahara and Gene Bozzo were called in at the last minute to replace Rudy Melone, Garlic Festival co-founder, for a cooking demonstration at the Nob Hill Foods Hecker Pass Family Adventure Park.A year later, when they made their way to the cooking stage for the first time as SakaBozzo, the comedic culinary duo were a hit with the crowd. This Friday will mark the 25th appearance at the festival for these Gilroy residents.But the sad part is it’s also going to be their final show.“We thought that we had a good run at it,” Sakahara said. “We want to go off while we’re still welcomed and then give other people a chance at it.”The show might be done with after this week, however Sakahara, 68, and Bozzo, 75, plan to be part of the garlic festival in a more low key situation.“The festival is in both of our bloods,” Bozzo said. “We believe in the festival. We believe what good it does for the community and we’re just moving over to another assignment. That’s all.”This year the two former garlic festival presidents are adding their grandsons to the show. Bozzo will have his grandson Dominic, 8, accompany him, while Sakahara will bring up his grandsons Bode, 10, and Kiden Gonzales, 9.“That’ll be fun because we’ve always tried to portray cooking for the family,” Sakahara said. “That’s what we’re about, is family. And we really enjoy the meals together.”Sakahara and Bozzo are known to mix it up year after year with new recipes that include garlic and this year will be no different. Sakahara will make Mendocino crab cakes with Bode and Kiden. Bozzo will make southern Italian red sauce with pork and Dominic will make a family recipe known as Carmela’s Meatballs.Bozzo said the inspiration for SakaBozzo came from someone he watched at the festival, but it wasn’t quite the vision he wanted to model the show after.“He cooked the same thing every year,” Bozzo said “People kind of got tired of that. We never did that, every year was a different recipe.”The SakaBozzo show was also all about cooking for the family and over the years the Gilroy Garlic Festival became a big family to them.Bozzo said they both have strong beliefs in cooking with family and friends. Nowadays, he said, people are always on the go and don’t have time for a family meal.What started as a friendly favor to substitute for an ill friend quickly turned into a success for the SakaBozzo show. They have been asked to make a special appearance at the 40th annual garlic fest in 2018 and they agreed without hesitation.“We’ll still be involved but not on the cook-off stage every year,” Sakahara said “But it’ll be good to just relax a little bit too.”

In response to the July 4 accident that left two children injured and increasing community scrutiny over the safety of downtown crosswalks, Morgan Hill Police are taking a “zero tolerance” approach to traffic violations in downtown.