GONZALES — As the New Year approaches, the staff at South County Newspapers looked back on the past year and compiled a list of the top stories that defined the community in 2017. Here is our Year in Review for Gonzales:
JANUARY
Local solar projects save the city
For the City of Gonzales the words Gonzales Grows Green (G3) and ‘The Gonzales Way” are not mere mottos. They describe programs that help the environment and save the city money.
The wind turbine at Taylor Farm plant and the solar array on their roof offset plant power usage by a megawatt.
Now, the city boasts four solar projects that each will bear at least 40 percent of the power needed to run the site.
The four sites are: the Gonzales Police Department, The Gonzales Pool, The City Corporation Yard and City Water Well number Six.
Council brings health to forefront in city
The City of Gonzales has teamed up with Monterey County Health Department and started a Health Equity Fellowship that will address the needs of the people, of all ages living within the city.
Gonzales has also brought in Mario Guzman. As the city’s Health Equity Fellow, his job to talk with the people of Gonzales and, by asking them questions, find out what they need to be healthy. The city has adopted HiAP, which stands for Health in All Policies. HiAP shows that health is where people live, work, learn, worship and play.
FEBRUARY
Preparing students ready for college and careers at GUSD
The Gonzales Unified School District (GUSD) has been working to make the learning experience better, and has started a program called College and Career Readiness (CCR).
In addition to helping the students make their way from school to college or into a career, organizers Candice Camacho, Carol Caetano and Will Zibell have helped their fellow teachers at all four campuses evaluate where students stand and what they need to do to advance for a better future.
Local youth attend gang prevention summit
In January, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Monterey County (BGCMC) held their annual Crossroads Gang Prevention Summit.
The summit brings together 300 middle and high school students, parents, and community members to discuss the lives of teenagers and the choices they make.
There were 24 young people from the City of Gonzales in attendance.
Jean Salcido of the Gonzales Youth Guardians has attended the Summit for the last three years, and took 13 young people from the Gonzales Youth Guardians with her.
MARCH
GHS Mock Trial Club finishes season
There are many clubs at the Gonzales High School, including Math, FFA and Mesa. This year, one more joined in.
This is the first year for the club at GHS, but teacher William Starling put out the call and twelve students signed up. The idea number of students in the club was 16, but the Gonzales club did not let that deter them, some of their members had to play a dual roll.
Mock trials gives students an understanding of the law, to practice critical thinking, and gain confidence with public speaking. The students take the roles of attorneys and witnesses in a fictional criminal or civil trial.
Occhiata Foundation hosts ‘Day at The Opera’
Last Saturday, the Occhiata Foundation hosted its eighth “Day at the Opera,” bringing students in to experience the opera.
The event took place at the Century Theatre in Del Monte Center and included a showing of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata.”
The Day at the Opera was broadcast in HD on the theater screen, the students watched the performers perform live on the stage for an audience at the Metropolitan Opera Theater in New York City.
More than 150 students from Gonzales’ Fairview Middle School, Soledad’s High School and North Monterey County Middle School arrived at the Monterey Theater early to make up for the three-hour time difference between California and New York.
APRIL
Youth group benefits from new home
Every Thursday Jean Salcido would meet with the youngsters from the Gonzales Youth Guardians in Central Park, where she would mentor the at-risk youth through sports and games. But, being outside in the park was problematic at times. Weather was always a determining factor in which type of activities could be performed.
Through a partnership with The Salvation Army, the youth group has moved its meeting place to the Vosti Recreation Center, 107 Centennial Drive.
Gonzales hosts Maker’s Faire
A first of its kind event in the City of Gonzales, the four South County school districts celebrated the power of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) during the first week in April.
STEM is more than a Periodic Table hanging on a wall or reading from a book, and it is not just for boys either. The diversity of the ages and students that participated it the STEM Maker’s Faire held in the Gonzales High School gym is proof of that.
The four South County cities (King City, Greenfield, Soledad and the home city of Gonzales) had students from kindergarten with a booth on growing seeds to high school seniors showing advanced agricultural practices.
MAY
Drug take-back yields 7 boxes
Residents had the opportunity to clean out medicine cabinets and drawers April 29 and bring unused and expired prescription medicines to the 13th National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Gonzales Police Department and other law enforcement agencies around the country set up areas to receive the unwanted or outdated prescription drugs and prepare them for disposal.
MST holds celebration in Gonzales
Monterey-Salinas Transit (MST) celebrated its 15th anniversary of service to South County this year.
On May 4, they set up a booth in the Gonzales Shopping Center next to the MST Bus Stop so that the riders on that day could hop off the bus and spin the prize-wheel they had on hand.
On that day, bus riders enjoyed free rides on local bus line 23, which connects King City and Salinas. With stops in Greenfield, Soledad, Gonzales and Chualar, the line serves all of South County.
Junior Livestock Auction raises $2.1M
The Salinas Valley Fair Junior Livestock Auction included the sale of 950 animals and raised $2.1 million with the fair’s heritage animal selling for $371 per pound.
This year’s Salinas Valley Fair Heritage Foundation scholarship winner was Matthew Umbarger, a senior at King City High School.
The Junior Livestock Auction brings together not only auction buyers from throughout the Salinas Valley, but also FFA and 4-H members from Gonzales to King City and from Bitterwater to Templeton.
JUNE
Rotary Golf Scramble raises money for scholarships
More than 20 teams competed in the sixth annual Gonzales Rotary Golf Scramble at the Laguna Seca Golf Course on June 3 to support the Gonzales Rotary and the Betty Macias Scholarship.
Approximately six years ago the Gonzales Rotary Golf Scramble fundraiser was started by Rotary President Tim Jackson, who approached the club with the idea as well as John Macias. According to Jackson, Macias was interested in partnering with the Rotary Club.
Gonzales High School students to attend Harvard and UCLA
Cecilia Trujillo and Alondra Urena, Chualar residents, rose to the top of the Gonzales High School graduating class of 2017 and will be headed to two big name schools, Harvard and UCLA, respectively.
“I knew I wanted to go to college since I was in elementary school, and coming in as a freshman, I decided I was going to be valedictorian of my high school class,” Trujillo said. “I was not sure exactly which college I wanted to go to, but I had an idea of where I was going to apply.”
Urena decided where she wanted to attend college based on the schools that accepted her.
“UCLA was one of my top choices,” Urena said.
JULY
Mann Packing to move facility to Gonzales
Mann Packing is planning to build an agricultural processing facility in Gonzales, potentially bringing in about 200 jobs to the area.
“The City of Gonzales is pleased to welcome another major business into our industrial park, Mann Packing,” said City Manager Rene Mendez. “They continue our mission to bring a high-quality agricultural processing company to the city. They are going to bring some quality jobs to the area.”
The new agricultural facility for Mann Packing would be located at 49 Katherine St. in the Gonzales Agricultural Industrial Business Park. The fresh vegetable food processing facility would be 130,000 square feet and be on a project site of 16 acres.
City Council considers expanding ag park
Gonzales City Council voted to move forward with expanding the Agricultural Industrial Business Park to include Gonzales River Road and allow for the cultivation and manufacturing of medical marijuana within that area.
“This row of property particles (Gonzales River Road businesses) is not located within the Agricultural Industrial Park as we defined it,” said Special Projects Director Mark Hartunian. “What that led to was Mr. (Casey) Maconachy making a presentation with a memorandum requesting that the council consider expanding the boundaries of the Agricultural Industrial Park.”
Change of Command
Col. Kerry E. Norman has taken charge of the largest Army Reserve installation and the seventh largest post in the nation, becoming Fort Hunter Liggett’s newest garrison commander.
Norman, who hails from Kirkwood, Mo., was sworn in during a Change of Command ceremony at the Fort Hunter Liggett track and field facility. She takes over the post of outgoing commander, Col. Jan C. Norris, who had assumed the commander duties since July 2015.
New bins combat opioid epidemic
New bins for unwanted or expired prescription medications have been installed at the King City, Greenfield and Gonzales police departments, providing a way for residents to properly dispose of these drugs before they fall into the wrong hands.
The drug take-back bins are funded through a grant with the help from Drs. Casey Grover and Reb Close, emergency care physicians from Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula. The husband-and-wife duo are part of the Monterey County Prescribe Safe Initiative, which offers resources to help prevent prescription drug abuse, and partnered with Sun Street Centers and other organizations to bring these bins to South County.
AUGUST
City of Gonzales accepts Community Action Grant applications
The City of Gonzales is now accepting applications for the Gonzales Community Action Grant for the first time.
The grant is available to residents, business owners and community groups within Gonzales who are interested in doing projects that enhance the community.
Taylor Farms gives backpacks to first graders
Taylor Farms distributed 161 backpacks to first-grade students at La Gloria School in honor of the first day of school on Aug. 10.
“Bruce’s (Taylor) mentality for Taylor is to help out the communities we are in,” Office Manager Chrissy Fink said. “Sam (Chaidez) came on board more than a year ago and he strongly supports Bruce’s philosophy of giving back to the community. We were approved to do the project and we did it.”
Chaidez is the director of operations who also came up with the idea to give gift bags to the first-grade teachers. Inside the gift bags were items from Taylor Farms as well as a $100 Walmart gift card to help the teachers purchase supplies.
Victim center for South County reopens
Monterey County District Attorney’s Office has reopened the South County Victim Services Office, located in the newly refurbished courthouse building at 250 Franciscan Way in King City.
The victim center increases accessibility for South County residents who lost services in 2008 when the Monterey County Courts King City Division closed due to financial reasons. It focuses on trauma-informed services and treatment for children and youth victims of crime.
SEPTEMBER
Gonzales student named Monterey County Fair Heritage Scholarship winner
Gonzales High School FFA Chapter President and Monterey Bay Sectional Reporter Samantha Santos, who was selected as the Monterey County Fair’s 2017 Heritage Scholarship winner, auctioned off two hogs Sept. 2 at the fair, one of which — the heritage hog — sold for more than $33,000.
“Spending the summer raising the heritage market animal has been a very humbling experience because knowing that the money I raise from this market animal is coming back directly into helping this fair,” Santos said.
Santos, a senior at Gonzales High School this year, is going to put the funds from the two swine projects into a bank account for her college fund. She plans to attend the University of California Davis and major in agricultural business with a focus in marketing and a minor in political science.
County supervisors support Dreamers
Monterey County has been declared a “Dreamers County,” one of the first counties in the nation to enact a resolution supporting the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which grants a temporary reprieve from deportation for so-called “Dreamers,” immigrants who were brought into the country as children by their parents.
OCTOBER
Wise appointed new Police Chief
It’s official: Keith Wise is the new police chief of Gonzales, a decision made after seeing him in action over the past year.
“He’s been serving as Interim and Acting Police Chief over the last year at various times,” said Rene Mendez, city manager. “After a lot of discussion and watching him do the job, I feel that it’s in the best interests of the city to appoint him chief of police.”
According to Mendez, Wise has been with the Gonzales Police Department for 25 years and has seen a lot of transition within the department.
City approves grant funding for 7 community groups
Seven recipients have been selected and approved to receive the Community Action Grant Program funding to implement a variety of civic-minded community activities.
The funding for the Community Action Grant Program was $20,000 from transaction and use tax approved in November 2014 by 67 percent of the Gonzales voters. One of the purposes of the Measure K tax was to continue the development of innovative programs for economic growth, youth, adult and senior activities.
The groups that were recommended for Community Action Grant Program funding were the Gonzales Community Presbyterian Church, Ramirez-Treleven Project, The Lion’s Club, Grupo Su Unidos De Gonzales, Assemblia de Gonzales, Salvation Army, and Gonzales Youth Guardians.
Celebration of a century
Nearly 250 guests recently took a journey back in time to tour the properties owned by Salinas Land Co. and California Orchard Co. — located between King City and Greenfield — in celebration of the companies’ 100th anniversary and their profound impact on agriculture in the Salinas Valley.
Board members, growers, dignitaries and invited guests gathered in the Los Ositos Vineyards to commemorate the significant milestone of these two companies based outside of King City.
NOVEMBER
City moves forward with license plate recognition and camera pilot program
Surveillance cameras and license plate readers could soon appear in the City of Gonzales as the City Council approved the pilot project to move forward on Oct. 16.
“The pilot project would only take in a couple areas in the city,” said Mark Hartunian, special projects director. “The system would have the ability to read license plates and it would also have the ability to capture footage on traffic.”
According to Hartunian, when the Police Chief and the Chamber of Commerce came together to speak about the pilot project, the business sector approved of exploring the project.
Alta Street pavement project breaks ground
The City of Gonzales’ Alta Street is the site of the second Measure X project in Monterey County and the second roadway project in South County, breaking ground Nov. 1.
The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by many Gonzales city officials, Supervisor Simon Salinas, Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) Executive Director Debbie Hale and members of Granite Construction of Salinas, who were awarded the contract for the $5 million Alta Street Rehabilitation Project. The design of the project was under the Harris and Associates team.
Measure X was on the November 2016 ballot as a three-eighths percent sales tax that was effective as of April.
South County resident named Veteran of the Year
King City resident Charles DeSchepper was recently named Veteran of the Year for 2017 by the Monterey County Military and Veterans Affairs Office Advisory Commission, which honored him at the annual ceremonial dinner in Monterey.
DeSchepper, 70, is a Vietnam War veteran who grew up in Iowa. He is a member of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Sgt. Frank Lillard Post 6747, American Legion and the Elks Club.
DECEMBER
City Council votes to extend emergency marijuana ordinance
Recreational marijuana cultivation and manufacturing was once again on the Gonzales City Council agenda, only this time it was to put into place an emergency marijuana ordinance on Nov. 20.
Last November California voters approved the legalization of using non-medical, or recreational, marijuana for anyone over the age of 21. The proposition also allowed for people 21 or older to grow up to six plants indoors and outdoors.
City staff recommended that the council adopt an interim emergency ordinance to establish a complete prohibition on cultivation and retail sales of recreational marijuana within the city.
County Supervisor Salinas to retire
Monterey County Supervisor Simon Salinas announced that he will retire from office in early 2019 after his current term expires, ending a nearly three-decade career in public office.
Salinas, 61, is throwing his support behind his chief of staff — and South County native — Chris Lopez to succeed him for the District 3 position, the largest supervisorial district that encompasses part of Salinas and all of South County.
The open seat will be up for election next year.
