Sims reinforces the art of sumo
Last week at his Hollister home, Roy Sims hosted a dozen U.S. sumo athletes who are competing in the Sumo World Championships or hoping to qualify for the event. Sims made a T-shirt for all of the camp participants—he runs Golden Bear Central Coast...
Rescue operation provides healing for horses and people alike
When they found him, Smokey was tied to a tree. All he could do was walk around in a circle. Which he did, for months. The circle eventually became a rut, a deep one.
“You could hardly see his head,” Dennis Barwick said. There was...
New home on the pasture
Within this five-acre park-like setting lies a newer home.
Located at 557 Ruben Court in Hollister, the 3,309-square-foot, five-bedroom, four-bath home was built in 2016. The fenced acreage includes a pasture as well as eucalyptus and oak trees that surround a seasonal creek.
The interior has...
Gilroy Garlic Festival gunman took his own life, coroner rules
The gunman in the mass shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival took his own life during a shootout with police, the Santa Clara County coroner revealed late Friday afternoon, Aug. 2.
Dr. Michelle A. Jorden, responding to requests from the Gilroy Dispatch and other local...
Gilroy police chief names ‘hero’ officers in Garlic Festival shooting
Eric Cryar, Hugo Del Moral and Robert Basuino are the Gilroy police officers hailed as heroes for shooting and killing the gunman who murdered three people and injured more than a dozen others at the Gilroy Garlic Festival July 28.
Police Chief Scot Smithee named...
Gilroy Police Chief talks about the Garlic Festival shooting
Gilroy Police Chief Scot Smithee stopped by the Garlic Festival law enforcement tent at “Gate 3” on Miller Avenue on his way home with his family about 5:20pm July 28. He was on US 101 just south of Gilroy about 20 minutes later when...
Conner Menez does Hollister proud
"Don't forget to breathe."
That was the simple yet most effective advice Conner Menez received from some of the San Francisco Giants players when the left-hander made his major league debut on July 21 against the New York Mets, a game the Giants won 3-2...
Local residents react to Gilroy tragedy
As the 41st annual Garlic Festival was in full swing, Christopher Ranch’s executive vice president Ken Christopher told the Hollister Free Lance that this year could potentially change the festival forever.
With bigger-name celebrities than ever before, Christopher’s most pressing concern on the festival’s second...
Hemp is San Benito County’s hot crop
The 2018 Farm Bill made it legal to grow commercial hemp in the U.S. for the first time in half a century, but fewer than half of California’s counties allow the crop. San Benito is one of them.
Growers are now storming San Benito and...
Returning to its roots
San Juan Bautista is a city that prides itself on its history and its preservation of artifacts from long ago. Its state historic park features several structures built in the 1800s, meticulously maintained, highlighted by its 15th century Spanish-era mission.
So it’s baffling that an...
