Community

A new student club at Sobrato High School devoted to identifying and helping local disabled residents will host a fundraiser for a boy with a rare developmental syndrome at the Granada Theater Saturday.The club, “A Lending Hand,” will bring dance and music performances, a raffle and singers to the downtown Morgan Hill theater in order to raise funds for Kevin Lopez-Rendon, a 7-year-old boy who suffers from DiGeorge Syndrome, according to club member Zuha Aslam, a junior at Sobrato High School.DiGeorge Syndrome is a developmental disorder caused by a deletion of part of a chromosome. The disability results in the poor development of a number of body systems, characterized by heart defects, poor immune system function, blood defects and delayed behavioral and emotional development, according to the website mayoclinic.org.The April 4 fundraiser, which will take place from 1 to 3 p.m., will specifically raise funds to buy Lopez-Rendon a new wheelchair, Aslam said. The students hope to raise $2,500 for a new wheelchair.“A Lending Hand” was just started at Sobrato this year, Aslam said. The club currently has about 10 members from the school’s student body.Granada Theater is located at 17440 Monterey Road.  

Visitors and residents of South County swarmed wineries in Morgan Hill, San Martin and Gilroy for the Spring 2015 Santa Clara Valley Wineries Passport Weekend. Passport holders were treated to wine tastings at participating wineries, as well as winery tours, live entertainment and fine dining. For more information about local wineries, visit santaclarawines.com.

The San Martin Neighborhood Alliance is urging its members to attend at least one of two public meetings this week regarding Santa Clara County’s proposed modifications to General Plan land use policies that could “significantly impact San Martin,” according to an SMNA statement.

While county officials have made it clear that they disagree with the attorney general’s decision to approve the sale of Daughters of Charity Health System to Prime Healthcare, Morgan Hill mayor Steve Tate is in wait-and-see mode as the for-profit company decides whether to accept the stringent conditions tied to the $843 million acquisition.“I’m going to wait to see how it unfolds, wait to see if Prime accepts the conditions, that’s question No. 1, and if they do, how they are going to be enforced,” Tate said. “And if they don’t, what’s the next step?”Attorney General Kamala Harris’ approval of the sale with conditions came Feb. 20 after months of deliberations, research and community input meetings. The DCHS includes Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, De Paul Medical Center in Morgan Hill, O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and four other medical facilities in California.“I wasn’t really surprised,” said Tate of Harris’ decision. “It seemed to be like she needed to approve it because there weren’t that many other options, but she needed to put conditions on it. So, it wasn’t that big of a surprise.”Supervisor Mike Wasserman has been unavailable for comment, although the county sent out a prepared statement shortly after Harris’ Feb. 20 announcement. The county submitted a bid to acquire SLRH and O’Connor Hospital, but was rejected from consideration by DCHS.“The County of Santa Clara is disappointed with the Attorney General’s decision,” the county response reads. “Regardless of the conditions placed upon Prime Healthcare, the county believes that the decision jeopardizes the health of the county’s neediest and most vulnerable residents by reducing their access to critical medical services, and by placing undue hardship on the county’s existing healthcare facilities and services to the poor and disadvantaged.”Prime officials, as well as those from DCHS, said they must carefully review all of the attached conditions, which include operating four of the DCHS facilities (SLRH among them) as acute care hospitals with emergency services and charity care for the next 10 years as well as continuing the Medi-Cal and Medicare programs for a decade.“I agree with all of them,” Tate said. “I think (Harris’ decision) brought about many more questions than it did answers.”Tate spoke with members of the community who have stake in the hospital sale and they were “universally convinced that (DCHS) had to be sold to Prime because it was the only option that would keep them employed.”Among the 12 conditions, one solely focused on the hospital workers states that Prime must assume and guarantee all pension obligations covering approximately 17,000 current and retired employees. Prime agreed to such parameters with DCHS officials prior to the Harris decision, as well as to invest $150 million in capital improvement expenditures at the facilities over the next three years.“(All the conditions) are fairly important because they all have to do with the health of our community,” Tate concluded.See this related story for all the details on Harris’ Feb. 20 announcement, including the full list of conditions for Prime’s acquisition.

GILROY—Following the largest review of its kind, California Attorney General Kamala Harris ruled Friday that new owners can take over six medical facilities from a Roman Catholic health system nearing financial ruin, but not without rigorous, 10-year conditions.

Ann Sobrato High School’s Future Farmers of America celebrated FFA Week with a slew of events running from Feb. 9 through Feb. 13, culminating with the “Kiss a Pig” fundraiser on campus during their lunch break.“FFA Week is a week long celebration of our pride to be part of such an enriching organization,” said Emmanuel Calivo, Sobrato FFA Chapter Reporter.Sobrato’s FFA—which consists of about 500 members—hosted an assortment of contests and fun activities throughout the week, including Feb. 9 “Cowboy & Cowgirl Day;” Feb. 10 “Dress Like Your Ag Teacher Day/Bubble Gum in a Pie;” Feb. 11 “College Day” and Obstacle Course; Feb. 12 “Construction Day/Build a Barn;” and Feb. 13 FFA Day/Kiss a Pig Contest.Each day of the week, FFA students dressed up in different apparel to show their creativity and pride, according to Calivo. Activities were held in the Sobrato quad for all students to participate.FFA members raise various livestock animals on the sprawling Sobrato farm and then show them during the annual county fair, which is held July 30-Aug. 2 at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds located at 344 Tully Road in San Jose. Students also take agricultural science courses at school.

It’s three strikes and you’re fined in Santa Clara County after the Board of Supervisors passed a new county water conservation ordinance at the Feb. 10 meeting.

The Morgan Hill Community Foundation is now accepting applications for its annual spring grant cycle, which disburses awards to local, qualifying nonprofit in addition to a scholarship for Morgan Hill Unified School District high school students.

With workshops such as “A Cow’s Eye View,” “Pokemon Math,” “The Secret Life of Strawberries,” and “Jamba Juice Jenga,” local students were treated to a Saturday filled with academic enrichment Feb. 7 at the 14th annual Science Alive Conference on the Gavilan College campus in Gilroy.Middle school students (grades 6-8) from Morgan Hill, San Martin, Gilroy and Hollister were introduced to math and science based, hands-on activities in a wide variety of one-hour workshops spread throughout the day.In all, there were 18 workshops, where students explored such things as the principles of energy storage and conversion, the physics of sound and music, the magic of geometry, principles of electric circuits and how the heart functions. Each workshop called for students to construct a project to test what they had learned.Students pre-registered for the sold out event, filling in their four top choices of workshops they wanted to attend. Each student was then placed in three selected workshops.Instructors included faculty and students from Gavilan College, San Jose State University and Gilroy High School as well as others from the Chabot Space and Science Center and Gilroy Veterinary Hospital.

Ford Store Morgan Hill was selected as one of four dealerships in the U.S. to participate in a wind power pilot project, helping to advance the auto dealer’s and the city of Morgan Hill’s long-term commitment to renewable energy.Ford Store owner Tim Paulus said the dealership on Condit Road, which is also in the process of expanding its service department, plans to install a wind turbine and solar panels by the end of the first quarter of this year, pending city approval.Paulus added it’s not just the dealership that is interested in promoting sustainable energy. It’s also Ford Store’s customers, who made the local dealer the number one seller of Ford’s line of Energi plug-in hybrid vehicles in the country in 2013.“We’re selling so many (hybrids) because there are so many folks here who drive up to Silicon Valley, and they can use the HOV lanes which is a huge time savings,” Paulus said.Ford Motor Company selected Ford Store Morgan Hill to participate in the “Windy System” late last year. The project, in conjunction with Wind Energy Corporation, will produce more than $750,000 in wind and solar panels to “help power dealership facilities, electric vehicle charging stations and lot lighting,” said Ford Motor Company spokeswoman Danielle Vaticano.“The Ford Store Morgan Hill, a certified electric vehicle dealer, was chosen to participate in this pilot program due to their already strong commitment to clean energy and technology,” Vaticano said.Vaticano added that Ford Store Morgan Hill is the top retail volume Ford dealer in the San Francisco Bay Area market since 2011.Morgan Hill Program Administrator Anthony Eulo, who has been instrumental in developing the city’s “environmental agenda” in recent years, said it’s “fabulous” that Ford Store wants to join the ranks of other local companies that power their business on renewable energy facilities. These include Safeway at Tennant Station, which has one of the largest solar panel systems in Morgan Hill.Paulus added that Ford representatives conducted a wind test on the property before selecting the site to participate in the Windy program. That test proved the location is capable of providing adequate wind to make the system, consisting of a single turbine, pay off without bothering birds or other wildlife.