Published in the May 27-June 9, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Robert Airoldi
Robert Airoldi
Renowned producer and director Rupert Hitzig, known for “Jaws 3-D,” “The Last Dragon” and “Wolfen,” hopes to make a full-length feature film right here in Morgan Hill. Hitzig met resident and Morgan Hill Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Chairman Rich Firato at last year’s Poppy Jasper Film Festival when the documentary about Firato’s Morgan’s Cove backyard was shown. Hitzig went home and wrote a screenplay about a shy Morgan Hill man who transforms into a brave and strong buccaneer when he dons a pirate costume and meets six real-life pirates who travel in time from 1689 to present-day Morgan Hill. “Everything we can make or build here, we will,” Hitzig told me after a workshop at this year’s film festival. Sounds like an idea that could have a significant economic impact and shine a light on Morgan Hill.
• • •
For the past nine years the Retired Teacher Group of the Diocese of San Jose has put on an annual Friendship Tea for the women at the Learning and Loving Center. The teachers bring their fine china tea sets from home, decorate the tables, bring goodies, and serve tea, creating an environment of warmth and caring. It is mutually one of the favorite events of the year for the teachers and the low-income and immigrant women living in the South Bay. These 170 women learn in classes of English, computer/technology, basic math, nutrition, parenting, high school equivalency certification, and other fun classes such as yoga, sewing, knitting, art, and music. Their under-school-aged children attend the free preschool. Good job, ladies.
• • •
What a great idea by Morgan Hill Police Department Detective Mindy Zen in donating confiscated or lost bikes to the El Toro Boys & Girls Club kids. The bikes usually have been auctioned off, but Zen is working with Alban Diaz, the site director at the club house, to provide the bicycles for the students who are fourth, fifth and sixth graders.
The Boys & Girls Club have collected bikes for first, second and third graders and taken them for rides along the Coyote Creek Trail and other locations.
“We go on a bike ride for seven or eight miles,” Diaz said. “That’s a good exercise for them and they start getting a love for riding a bike and being more active outside instead of being inside and watching TV.”
The MHPD will donate two bikes to start off with, and the more bikes they get, the more they can give the kids throughout the year, Diaz said. If you have a good condition bike you’d like to present to the club to help a child learn to love bike-riding, let Diaz know by emailing him [email protected].
• • •
Children check out taxidermy bobcat at this year’s Ranch Day at Henry W. Coe State Park. Photo by Marty Cheek
Kids today are hooked on Silicon Valley technology, so it’s good for them to discover how people lived in the region a century and more ago. More than 200 kids and their parents enjoyed the fourth annual Ranch Day event at Henry W. Coe State Park’s Hunting Hollow entrance Saturday May 16. The young people got to go up close to chickens, sheep and goats and took rides on miniature horses. Many practiced roping a fake cow and also got to sit in a tractor. And they got to make crafts using material from oak trees and other natural sources – much like children did generations ago.
The event was organized by Coe volunteer Chere Bargar who aims to introduce families to the park through the free event and learn in a fun way.
“I really like to get kids interested in the park and what’s going on. And we draw people who have been in Morgan Hill and Gilroy forever and have never been in the park,” she said.
• • •
Great job by Art Nazzal and his staff at Mr. Falafel restaurant for helping to remove a passenger from a VTA bus who was trying to stab the driver. The incident was captured on video and posted to Facebook that afternoon. The man could be seen eventually exiting the bus and running through traffic. He was later arrested by police. Good job, guys!
