Community

The heat is on in South County with today’s forecast pushing record temperatures with a high of 97 degrees, according to National Weather Service Forecaster Diana Henderson.

Fireworks illegal in Morgan HillWith the Independence Day holiday and a dry summer approaching, police and fire authorities hope Morgan Hill residents remember that all fireworks are illegal in the city limits. “If it has to be lit, it is an illegal firework,” reads a notice from Morgan Hill Fire Marshal Dwight Good. Morgan Hill Police Sgt. Carson Thomas clarified that even the “safe and sane” fireworks that are permitted for sale by authorized vendors in other cities such as Gilroy at this time of year are illegal in Morgan Hill.Violators can face penalties of up to $1,000 or six months in jail, according to authorities. Furthermore, those who start fires by sparking illegal fireworks can be liable for restitution of property and for costs of the fire department’s response.  Supes approve gang intervention programSanta Clara County will spend nearly $290,000 on an “innovative” gang violence prevention program by providing intervention and counseling through staff at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. The County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the program, known as Trauma to Triumph, at the June 16 meeting. The program will fund nursing and social work staff to provide intervention counseling services to gang members who are victims of life-threatening injuries resulting from inter-gang violence, according to county staff. “We’re seeing really great opportunities to serve individuals while they’re in the hospital and, for lack of a better term, a captive audience to talk about gang intervention,” Supervisor Cindy Chavez said. Esther Mota, a member of the mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force of the City of San Jose, agreed that the program, which has served 29 clients since September with 17 having completed the six-month course of counseling, is all about timing.“When somebody comes in and they’ve been assaulted – been a victim -- it’s about that that 24-hour window when they start to think about ‘Am I going to meet my maker or am I not?’ It’s important to get them into the right services,” Mota said. Free community days at Morgan Hill Aquatics CenterIn celebration of the Aquatics Center’s 10th anniversary, all Morgan Hill residents are invited to swim for free at the facility Friday, July 18. The free community day will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., with proof of residency.The Aquatics Center is located at 16200 Condit Road.  Tickets on sale for Downtown Brew CrawlTickets for the Morgan Hill Brew Crawl now on sale at a number of downtown restaurants and merchants. The Brew Crawl will take place 1 to 5 p.m. Aug. 2 in downtown Morgan Hill.The event is sponsored by the Morgan Hill Downtown Association and is designed to promote downtown Morgan Hill businesses with a one-day showcase of 20 breweries from the Bay Area and beyond. Tickets cost $30 each in advance, and each ticket holder gets a taste of offerings from breweries including 21st Amendment, Drakes, Goose Island, Kona Brewing, Red Hook, Samuel Adams, Stella Artois, Widmer Brothers and more. On the day of the event, tickets will cost $40 each. Breweries will set up tasting tables and displays in different downtown shops and restaurants. For more information, go to the MHDA’s website at morganhilldowntown.org, or call (408) 779-3190. 

Providing a little taste of southern cuisine to South County with a lineup of scrumptious desserts such as pecan-crusted sweet potato pie, peach cobbler, lemon Jell-o cake and sweet potato cheesecake, Anthony and Dawn Randolph deliver a unique goodness through their family venture: Soul Sweets.

The Morgan Hill Adult Summer Softball league is now accepting team registrations for co-ed and men's teams. Both leagues will start regular play July 28, with seven regular season games planned on Monday nights throughout the summer, with playoffs scheduled for September. Registration will remain open until July 21.  The cost is between $500 and $600 per team, depending on teams' residence status in Morgan Hill. To sign up and for more information, go to the city's website at morganhill.ca.gov and click on the "recreation" tab. 

Business owner Renee Carrillo is a woman of her word.

Darin Dixon plans to bring his lifelong passion for music and live performances full circle by opening up an entertainment venue in the former Gaslighter Theater in downtown Gilroy. The venue that Dixon plans to name The District will open later this summer, he said. It is located at 7430 Monterey Road behind a dark wooden door tucked between two smaller shops. The front door opens into a narrow hallway that leads into the vast expanse of a theater, with a common no-frills small-venue design that includes the stage at the rear of the room and the bar at the front, near the end of the entry hallway.Dixon has owned The Music Tree in downtown Morgan Hill—a 38-year-old mainstay—for about eight years. Working with some of his Music Tree associates to open The District for a variety of acts, summer music camps, student recitals and private events is an effort to enlarge The Music Tree’s footprint.“Having this and The Music Tree is a way of expanding our influence on the entertainment community in the South Bay,” Dixon said. Dixon, 42, has played music his whole life. He first performed on stage at the age of 4. His first job was as a music DJ in junior high school, and ever since then he has been an independent sound technician for countless bands and producers. Dixon is also a guitar player who played with fourwayfree, which toured across the nation for several years. Recently he has played as a “gun for hire” for various acts including JJ Hawg, Blue Dog and Austin Corini. Working with Dixon to open The District is James Avena, a Music Tree employee and member of JJ Hawg; and Sam Curtis, a music producer who owns and operates Studio 13 in the Morgan Hill Downtown Mall behind Dixon’s store. Avena will be in charge of booking bands for The District. “This is a club run by musicians,” Avena said. “We want to give the bands a venue where they’re comfortable.”Curtis will be the venue’s sound engineer and take care of some “behind the scenes” tasks, he said. The Music Tree has offered lessons through a number of instructors, for students of all ages for several years. So a key idea behind opening up The District was to give these music learners—including young children—a venue to perform the skills and songs they have learned locally. Also, with a capacity of 350 people, The District can serve as a venue for regional and even big-name national acts on the weekends. Dixon anticipates “a lot of country music” will be performed at The District.  They also plan to rent the venue out for fashion shows, corporate events and birthday parties. They might even have theme nights some evenings, but with the energy and enthusiasm of Dixon and his crew make it sound like the possibilities are endless. “We're coming in here with fresh eyes,” Curtis added. “We're not going to an outside source. We are the source. This is just kind of where we need to end up. We really need a place, a home base to really improve on.”Dixon and his crew are in the process of gaining all the permits he needs to open and remodeling the interior of the theater, which was formerly occupied by 9Lives. He hopes to have a “soft opening” by the beginning of July. “This is my first time starting a business from scratch,” Dixon said. “I see the relationship between entertainment and hospitality, and I wanted to take my experience into this. This is going to allow us to expand on our contribution to this community.”

Jasmine Square Apartments resident Isabel Ceballos sat in the back row of the Community Center room among 25 or so Hispanic adults listening attentively Wednesday evening as Morgan Hill Police officers demonstrated how to navigate the City of Morgan Hill website.