Uncategorized

Mollie O’Brien in Concert--Tonight!Aromas welcomes Mollie O’Brien in concert accompanied by husband Rich Moore on guitar, known as a dynamic acoustic duo performing contemporary and traditional folk music, blues, jazz and more, all with a warm and funny stage presence. O’Brien has been praised for her rich, fluid delivery and soulful, bluesy voice. It has been said that O’Brien and Moore are musical treasures keeping American music alive and vital. Come listen and be amazed on Friday, Oct. 21 from 7 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the Aromas Grange on Rose Avenue and Bardue Street. Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Buy tickets at mollieobrien.com.Spooks, Pumpkins, Mazes and moreWhen it comes to family Halloween fun time, this area has some of the best pumpkin patches to explore for spooks and mazes. Swank Farms in Hollister with its famous Nighttime Terror in the Corn and Manic Maze, also offers family-friendly activities, from rides to its Kiddy Corral. Visit swankfarms.com. Uesugi Farms Pumpkin Park in Morgan Hill has a wide variety of entertainment and attractions, including a pumpkin weigh-off and live music. Visit morganhillpumpkins.com. Family-run farms Pumpkin Junction at Casa de Fruta in Hollister and Spina Farms in Morgan Hill  both have pumpkins patches and Halloween fun. So if you haven’t yet, pack up the kids head for the farm before month’s end. THE VALLEYRock with the Irish‘Experience the difference’ with a new generation of performers as they execute breathtaking displays in Rockin’ Road to Dublin. Led by dancer and choreographer Scott Doherty and veteran Celtic rocker Chris Smith, this group of talented singers and players fuse the electrifying tradition of the Irish dance with modern rock music. The show tells a story of passion, loss and redemption using rock music and innovative storytelling, for a dynamic evening of entertainment. Join in on this Irish celebration on Monday, Oct. 24 at 7:30 p.m. at the California Theatre, 345 S First St, San Jose. Tickets are $40 to $65 and can be purchased at sanjosetheaters.org.Concert at HogwartsHarry Potter fans can experience the magic of the sound track through a live symphony orchestra with Symphony Silicon Valley’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone Film Concert Series. Relive the adventure in high-definition on a 40-foot screen with unforgettable scores performed by John Williams. The film will feature a live symphony orchestra and a women’s choir performing every note from the movie. This is a once in a lifetime event celebrating Harry Potter films in three concerts beginning Saturday, Oct. 29 and Sunday, Oct. 30 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, 255 Almaden Blvd, San Jose. Order tickets at symphonysiliconvalley.org or call (408) 286-2600.HOLLISTER‘Damn Yankees’San Benito Stage Company presents the musical ‘Damn Yankees’ with a talented cast of local teens. It’s called a home-run hit because of its all-American subject matter and cheeky sense of humor. Joe Boyd, a baseball fanatic, makes a deal with the devil for a chance to lead his team to victory in the pennant race against the New York Yankees. The musical opens Friday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. and continues through Saturday, Nov. 12 at The Granada Theatre, 336 Fifth St, Hollister. For showtimes and tickets go to brownpapertickets.com.SAN JUAN BAUTISTAGhost WalkIf you’re into the supernatural, the bizarre and downright eerie, then make your reservations for the San Juan Bautista Ghost Walk. This is the ninth year the San Juan Bautista Rotary Club will take believers and skeptics on guided tours of well-known locations for ghost sightings and paranormal activity. Someone must be disturbing the other side as new spirits and locations have emerged. The spirits are ready and waiting to show themselves on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29. Tours are scheduled for 6:30 p.m., 7 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. beginning at Union Bank at the corner of Third and Mariposa streets. Tickets are $35 and include a gift bag and beverage. For more information, go to sanjuanbautistaca.com.Esperanza Del ValleThe annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration is a weekend-long cultural festival that honors and commemorates the lives of departed loved ones through dance, music, offerings and art. A full day of fun, family-oriented Day of the Dead activities are also planned, including viewing of the Altares at El Teatro Campesino Playhouse, at 705 Fourth St, San Juan Bautista, one hour prior to performance times. Two special processions will be held on Saturday, Nov. 5 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 6 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $22 for adults, $17 for seniors and students and $12 for kids under 12. For tickets and showtimes go to elteatrocampesino.com.WATSONVILLECelebrate the HarvestGiving thanks for the bounty from the field and the farmers for the harvest at the annual Farm to Table Harvest Dinner. Take time to check out unique, silent auction antique items. Dine with friends and family on a freshly prepared meal by Monterey Bay Caterers. Dinner will be followed by a live auction with auctioneer Terry Medina that promises to be entertaining. Items offered are yearly favorites and new Central Coast vacation opportunities, including a beachfront home that sleeps 12. Complete the evening with some foot-stomping to the sounds of the Buffalo Canyon Band on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the Agricultural History Project Center and Museum, 2601 East Lake Ave. Tickets are $65. Find out more at aghistroyproject.org.

A six-inch city water pipe that sprung a leak and gushed for more than 24 hours illustrates the pitfalls of an aging infrastructure, according to city staff and an affected resident.The leaking pipe on John Telfer Drive near West Dunne Avenue was reported to the City of Morgan Hill’s public works crew about 4:30 p.m. Oct. 17, according to Public Works Director Karl Bjarke.Bjarke said the pipe was a “cast iron water pipe.”“This was an old pipe that developed a circumferential crack (cracked around the whole diameter of the pipe),” Bjarke said in an email to the Times. “Cast iron is a relatively brittle material that the city has not used for a very long time. This is a classic example of aging infrastructure.”The crack was not a “full break” which could have caused extensive damage to the adjacent roadway and private properties, Bjarke added. He estimates the city and customers lost about 62,000 gallons of water due to the leak.The leak sprung in front of the home of Steve Chappell, who said the pipe likely started leaking a few hours before it was reported.City crews arrived the morning of Oct. 18 and repaired the leaky pipe by that afternoon. The repair consisted of a “full-circle repair clamp,” Bjarke explained. A “handful” of city water customers were without service for a short amount of time because of the leak.The repair required digging up the pipe in front of Chappell’s home, who Bjarke thanked for his patience.Chappell, who documented the leak and repair with frequent updates on the Facebook Morgan Hill Community Group page that he manages, said many of the homes in the west Morgan Hill neighborhood were built in the 1960s and 1970s. He figured the main water lines haven’t been replaced or upgraded since then.Chappell also thinks the city lost significantly more water than Bjarke estimated from the Oct. 17 leak.However, he praised the city crew’s work and sensitivity to his nearby property, including a tree and mailbox that were located on top of the leak.“The City Water staff did a good job of removing some stuff while minimizing damage,” Chappell said. “Those guys really work hard and are great at what they do.”The city’s aging infrastructure and the lack of funding to upgrade it wholesale has been a subject of frequent discussion among elected council members, appointed city staff and residents for several years.The council tried to place a local tax measure on the Nov. 8 ballot this summer, which would fund what they characterized as badly needed infrastructure repairs and upgrades. However, the council declined to put the question up to the voters because survey results indicated it would fail.

Jury selection started Monday, Oct. 17 for the trial for the man suspected of kidnapping and murdering Morgan Hill teen Sierra LaMar.Antolin Garcia Torres, 24 of Morgan Hill, has been in custody awaiting trial since May 2012. Police and prosecutors think he kidnapped Sierra the morning of March 16, 2012, and killed her.Sierra has not been seen since that morning, and investigators think she disappeared while walking to her school bus stop near her home at Palm and Dougherty avenues. She was a 15-year-old sophomore at Sobrato High School at the time of her disappearance.Sierra’s remains have not been found, but authorities have connected Garcia Torres to the teen with DNA evidence, according to grand jury testimony from a 2014 hearing.  Garcia Torres is also charged with three unrelated attempted kidnappings in 2009, in the parking lots of two Safeway stores in Morgan Hill. He will be tried on these charges as well in the upcoming trial.The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is seeking the death penalty for Garcia Torres.

Two young men accused of stabbing and killing Morgan Hill resident Cody Flores in May 2015 are scheduled to stand trial in November.Chase Benoit, 22, and Spencer Smith, 22—both facing murder charges—appeared for an arraignment Oct. 17 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Deborah Ryan set a trial date of Nov. 28 for both suspects, who pleaded not guilty. Smith did not waive his right to a speedy trial, but Benoit did. Ryan said she wanted to the two defendants to be tried on the same schedule.Benoit and Smith have been in custody at the county jail since their arrest shortly after Flores died May 31, 2015. They appeared in court Oct. 17 with shackles on their arms and feet, wearing jail jumpsuits issued to inmates. Both were Morgan Hill residents at the time of Flores’ death.The two defendants are accused of stabbing Flores to death in a field near the intersection of Diana Avenue and Ringle Drive in east Morgan Hill, according to police.Flores’ mother attended the Oct. 17 hearing in San Jose. After the hearing, she initially didn’t want to comment when contacted by the press. However, on the way out of the courthouse she approached the Times and said through tears, “Cody was a good person.”When asked for her name, she replied, “I’m his mom.”Investigators have revealed few details about the late-night stabbing incident and the suspects’ possible motive. The court file on the case, which is held at the clerk’s office in San Jose, does not contain police reports or other narrative of the incident.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. Between the establishment of Yellowstone National Park in 1872 and the birth of the National Park Service 44 years later, who managed our parks? Who protected archeological sites from vandals? Who kept out the miners, the loggers and the hunters?One of the most interesting and unlikely stories of early park management happened right here in our backyard.African American regiments fought with distinction as a part of the Union Army during the Civil War, but it wasn't until 1866 that Congress created the first all-black regiment in the U.S. Army. While serving in the Great Plains during the Indian Wars, Native Americans called them Buffalo Soldiers because their hair reminded the Indians of the curly clump of hair between the Bison's horns. The name stuck.After the Spanish-American War, the Ninth Cavalry Regiment of the Buffalo Soldiers wintered at the Presidio in San Francisco. Their summer orders: ride across the Central Valley to Yosemite National Park. For the next several years, these men acted as forerunners of today's park rangers, patrolling and protecting Yosemite from those who would harm it.“National Parks are the best idea we ever had. Absolutely American, absolutely democratic, they reflect us at our best rather than our worst.” Few would argue with Wallace Stegner’s famous quote. These lands are not the fenced-off private property of some monarch or oligarch. They are open to all of us for the cost of a day-use fee. But many don’t come.Shelton Johnson is an African American man who has traveled a remarkable path from the streets of Detroit to his job as a park ranger in Yosemite National Park. According to a 2009 survey conducted by the Park Service, only one percent of the visitors to Yosemite that year were black, a fact that saddens Shelton, but doesn’t surprise him. He is quick to point out that the legends of the Old West and our wilderness have not included people who look like him.When Shelton learned the story of the Buffalo Soldiers, he was thrilled. That bit of hidden history turned America’s wilderness heritage into his heritage as well. And it gives all African Americans ownership of our frontier story. Shelton tells the Buffalo Soldier story hoping to awaken disenfranchised kids and lure them to national parks where nature can do her work. He knows that national parks are more than a lovely view. Time spent in wilderness and nature builds physical and psychological health in so many ways.Wallace Stegner was right. Our national parks are a great gift to us all. The centennial of the National Park Service is an opportunity to remember and be thankful that those who came before us had the wisdom to set aside portions of our grand landscape. National Parks preserve a legacy that belongs to all of us.

Local police responded to a wedding celebration that got out of hand Oct. 15 at the MH Community and Cultural Center, according to MHPD Sgt. Carson Thomas.When officers arrived at the scene shortly after 9 p.m., they observed a large group of revelers causing a disturbance in the CCC's parking lot, located at 17000 Monterey Road. Thomas said the wedding guests were "drunk" and "being stupid."A man ran away from the scene when police contacted him, and officers conducted a search. He was later detained and arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest, Thomas said. Officers on scene called for backup from surrounding agencies “because of the large amount of people there,” Thomas said.Nearby residents reported seeing a police helicopter circling the area, as well as numerous MHPD and Santa Clara County Sheriff’s patrol cars rush to the scene.Police ordered the remaining wedding guests to leave the CCC, which is owned by the city and is often rented out for private events. The Oct. 15 wedding started earlier that afternoon.

Prowler in progressA resident of West Fifth Street chased two juveniles out of his backyard. The children were last seen running westbound from the property, about 1 a.m. Oct. 8.Suspicious personTwo men were seen carrying a wooden patio swing in the area of Watsonville Road and La Alameda Drive at 1 a.m. Oct. 8.Auto burglarySomeone broke into a CalFire truck parked in the parking lot of a hotel on the 17000 block of Condit Road. The incident was reported about 7 a.m. Oct. 8.Petty theftSomeone stole a cell phone from a victim’s vehicle while it was getting serviced. The victim tracked the phone remotely to a nearby gas station on Dunne Avenue. The theft was reported 3:20 p.m. Oct. 8.A guest at a hotel on the 16500 block of Condit Road stole a purse from an employee’s purse. The theft was reported 5:31 p.m. Oct. 9.Police arrested a young man who had stolen more than $2,000 worth of items from Target, 1061 Cochrane Road, in multiple past incidents. The suspect was apprehended while trying to steal headphones from the store about 8 a.m. Oct. 4.A thief or thieves stole the rear license plate from a vehicle parked on Calle Caballeria. The crime was reported 6:08 p.m. Oct. 4.Stolen vehicleA thief or thieves stole a blue 1994 Honda Civic from the parking lot of Del Monte Village Townhomes on Del Monte Avenue. The crime was reported 7:48 a.m. Oct. 10.Recovered stolen vehiclePolice recovered a green Honda Civic, reportedly stolen out of San Jose, parked in front of a home on West Dunne Avenue. A resident of the area who noticed the vehicle had been there for several days called police to report the incident at 4:28 p.m. Oct. 5.A red 1996 Honda Accord was stolen from Calle Asta and found in Gilroy a few hours later. The initial theft was reported 7 p.m. Oct. 5.AccidentA beige Mercury Villager ran over the foot of a female pedestrian on Monterey Road. The pedestrian’s foot bone was protruding from her ankle, and an ambulance was called to assist her. The accident was reported 4:29 p.m. Oct. 5.A pickup truck collided with a motorcyclist in the parking lot of Walmart, 170 Cochrane Plaza. The motorcyclist suffered injuries including a possible broken collar bone. The incident was reported 12:53 p.m. Oct. 6.Animal controlTwo dogs got into a fight at the Community Park, 225 W. Edmundson Ave. One of the dog’s owners was injured trying to break up the scuffle. The incident was reported 6:40 p.m. Oct. 5.BurglaryA resident of Calle Florencia arrived home to see the house had been ransacked by an intruder. The crime was reported 1:19 p.m. Oct. 6.A victim of a prior burglary reported that someone found her stolen tablet at Uvas Reservoir. The incident was reported 4:55 p.m. Oct. 4.DisturbanceNeighbors on Serra Avenida had a verbal argument about one resident allowing their dog to defecate on their lawn. The resident with the dog was worried the neighbor might feed the animal something harmful or otherwise abuse it. The incident was reported 7:12 p.m. Oct. 3.A man and a woman were throwing rocks at others on Walnut Grove Drive, trying to start a fight, according to a nearby resident. The incident was reported 10:57 p.m. Sept. 30.All subjects are innocent until proven guilty. Information is compiled from public records.