Published in the Aug. 5-18, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life

Robert Airoldi

Robert Airoldi

The food and dining establishments of Morgan Hill really came together to honor long-time resident Dana Ditmore as the honoree of the July 18 Leadership Excellence Award Dinner at Guglielmo Winery.

About 300 guests for Leadership Morgan Hill’s annual fundraising gala enjoyed five-star food and wine donated by some of our community’s most notable eateries and farms. Among the supporters of the event are Ladera Grill, Huntington Station, Maurizio’s, Noah’s Bistro, Rosy’s at the Beach, The Hill Bar and Grill, Trail Dust, Bubbles, LJB Farms, George Chiala Farms, and the Mary and Mike Cox farm at Anaerobe Systems. Guglielmo provided the vino.

“These businesses who regularly give back to the community — often times behind the scenes — deserve to be honored themselves,” event chair Karl Bjarke told us.

Next time you are out for some fresh produce or a great meal, stop into one of these establishments and thank them for what they provide to our community.
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Billy Jurevich

Billy Jurevich

Morgan Hill cop Billy Jurevich has long loved motocross. Recently at the World Police and Fire Games — the Olympics for first-responders — he won two gold medals for the 30 to 34-year-old expert category and open expert division of the sport. The games held June 26 to July 5 in Maryland and Virginia brought more than 12,000 athletes from all over the globe to compete in 62 sports.

Jurevich grew up in Hollister and attended San Benito High School, spending hours in the nearby Hollister Hills State Vehicular Recreation Area. He raced competitively at age 12 and turned pro at age 16.

After going through police academy, he was hired at age 21 by the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office and patrolled the streets and roads for more than six years before staffing cuts brought an end to his time there in 2012. He was soon hired by the Morgan Hill Police Department. It seemed destined to be because Fox Racing, based in Morgan Hill, started sponsoring Jurevich at 16.

Keep on riding, officer Jurevich!
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Spent some fun hours at the annual Gilroy Garlic Festival Friday July 24 and it was good to see so many Morgan Hill people helping out with volunteering for the annual internationally-known gala for garlic. Among them were Tony and Leonette Stafford, real estate agents with a downtown office.

Had a garlicky good tasty treat with garlic clams. And the ice cream “burger” I sampled was fabulous — a sweet, heated bun filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with hazelnut sprinkles. The atmosphere on Friday of the festival is always more relaxed and laid-back as South Valley residents meet each other, and leave the other days for out-of-towners. Good to see there were a lot more food options to go with the usual Gourmet Alley cuisine.
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Was driving by the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center on East Dunne and saw how sad the dried-up lawn grass is looking surrounding this civic building. But there’s a bright side. A sign read this is the “Future Home of Water Conservation Demonstration Garden.” What a great idea to make this grass area an inspiration for residents to remake their yards to save water during California’s drought.

Speaking of saving water, Morgan Hill came in second place in the county for its conservation efforts during the first six months of the year. We cutback by 26 percent in our water usage. Palo Alto beat us with a cutback of 27 percent. Nearby Gilroy made cuts of 22 percent. With all cities combined, Santa Clara County conserved 22 percent over the period. The month of June showed a whopping 35 percent savings. Our community used 2,805 acre feet of water over the past six months, the lowest among the county’s 11 water retailers.
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El-Toro-kids-speeches-webA round of applause, please, for 10 young people from the Lori Escobar El Toro Clubhouse of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley. The kids gave speeches to dignitaries including Mayor Steve Tate Thursday July 30 at City Hall. The students, ranging in age from 10 to 12 and grades fifth through eighth, described how programs at El Toro have helped them do better both academically at school and socially with friends and family.

The students who spoke are: Angie Morales, Yenifer Morales, Britney Perez, Josh Bojorquez, Sussie Juarez, Briana Alvarez, Daniel Echeveria, Gerardo Lopez, Lizette Lara, and Avery Toran.

Morgan Hill Life Publisher Marty Cheek videorecorded the talented students and put the video online. Go to www.morganhilllife.com to find the link and learn how El Toro positively impacts lives.