By Rhoda Shapiro & Eric Shapiro, The Milpitas Post, July 19, 2023
Earlier this summer, local dance group Fancy Dancers (of Fancy Dancers, Inc., at 1491 N. Milpitas Blvd.) took a trip to Oahu, Hawaii, for an educational performance tour. During the overseas adventure, the dancers took hula lessons, learned how to snorkel, went hiking at Diamond Head State Monument, attended a real-live luau, and took a tour of Pearl Harbor, where some of them earned Junior Ranger badges.
The Fancy Dancers got started in 1984, and are coming up on their 40th anniversary show in Spring, 2024. The dancers there range in age from 10 to 22.
A fresh wave of auditions is coming up on August 28. New dancer auditions are at 5:30 pm and returning dancer auditions are at 6:45 pm.
When Greg Wohlman was 18 years old, he left his hometown of Fargo, North Dakota – and never looked back.
“I had a driver’s license, a can of Mountain Dew, a Snickers bar, and a high school diploma,” said Wohlman in an interview with The Beat. “And I drove as fast as I could.”
He drove out to Texas, where he attended East Texas State University, studying advertising and art, with a focus on copywriting. However, several years later, after graduating from school, he had the realization that the advertising industry just wasn’t for him, that there was a deeper calling…
That deeper calling was education.
And so, in 1998, he answered that calling and began teaching. Twenty-five years later, on July 1 of this year, he officially stepped into the role of Principal at Milpitas High School (MHS). As someone who resonates with the “culture of we” mentality that the Milpitas Unified School District (MUSD) works to instill across its schools, Wohlman feels he’s found something truly special.
“When we look at the ‘culture of we’ in Milpitas, we’re more than just a high school,” said Wohlman. “We need to look at the kindergarten or pre-k student walking into our system. We need to harness their student voice along their journey, so that we’re constantly shaping what we do at the high school to honor our clientele. I think it’s a new way of thinking about education. Our Superintendent and School Board totally understand that.”
By Maria Denise Cuenca, July 31, 2023, Milpitas Beat
Residents had brought up various safety concerns to the public related to violence, drug-related activity, and mental health. As recently as last week, the Milpitas Police Department informed the public of a domestic disturbance at the property.
On May 22, a tenant of Hillview named Lisa Reeve emailed the City Council as well as many other groups regarding a variety of issues related to the property. Many of the issues at Hillview have led to increased calls to emergency services.
The City Council wrote a letter to Supervisor Otto Lee asking for his assistance on the issue. Then, on May 31, Council staff attended a seminar at the property and heard from tenants about their concerns.
With Retro Milpitas right around the corner, The Milpitas Beat got on the phone with Chris St. Germain – the longtime co-owner of Cal Skate and the daughter of its original founders Ernie and Evelyn St. Germain – for an exclusive interview. Chris, who now lives in Henderson, Nevada, ran the business with her brother Trace and their dad till it closed in 2011.
Cal Skate burns bright in Milpitas’s collective memory. Even years after they shut their doors, they still maintain a robust Facebook page. To many, the business represents a lost time, one of joy, innocence, and simple togetherness.
They opened their doors in 1977. Ernie, Evelyn, and Chris moved here from Sacramento; Trace was off serving in the army. Ernie had worked for many years in broadcasting, but he and Evelyn wanted to start a business, so they got involved with a pool of developers that was building skating rinks around California.
“My dad was a skater,” Chris explains. “My dad used to take me skating as a kid. I’ve been a skater since I was around four.”
Moon Dough takes first place in the adult category
Estranged Individuals celebrate their victory in the teen category at the Battle of the Bands, held July 22 at the Milpitas Library. Members of the Milpitas-based band are Lucas Guzicki, left, on vocals and guitar, Mohamed Ibrahim on bass and Aiden Kawamoto on drums. (Photo by Mylene Stolpe/Charismatic Photography)
Teen and adult bands faced off live on July 22 at Milpitas Library at the Battle of the Bands produced by the Santa Clara County Library District.
With this second annual event, the district hoped to give a chance for these half a dozen bands to make an impression and maybe make it big, and to celebrate and encourage the local music scene in Santa Clara County.
The local bands competed in teen and adult categories. Interested bands first submitted their application online with an audition tape of one song. Over 5,000 votes from the community helped selected the top three bands in both categories to perform live. Each band invited to the showcase had 20 minutes on stage to wow the audience and the judging panel.
The teen division featured the Funky Monkeys, made up of Bradley and Zach on guitar, Josh on the drums and Isaac on piano. The Estranged Individuals, a Milpitas band, had Mohamed on bass, Aiden on drums and Lucas on vocals and guitar. Znnia took the stage playing the audience favorites from the ’80s to rock classics.
The adult division featured Charles Bronson & the Sundance Kid, a comedic experimental new wave duo based in the East Bay Area. Smokehouse and their lead vocalist Emma brought country rock to the auditorium, performing covers and originals. The last band of the night was Moon Dough, a Filipino cover band composed of Gavin, Christian, Yuri and Jude, whose set covered many musical genres.
Bands were judged by Juan Guzman, George Peter Tingley and Chris Dang for musicianship, stage presence and technical ability. Guzman is a professional mariachi musician with experience playing in jazz, classical and brass ensembles throughout his high school and college years. Tingley is a composer whose music has been heard on TV, in film and in concert performances; he served as composer for Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi in the 1990s. Dang is a Santa Clara County Library District employee who’s been playing guitar for 10 years and piano for 20.
The Milpitas Beat last Saturday caught up with Milpitas Historical Society President Bill Hare for a fun, quick chat about our city’s long yet forgotten history as the butt of endless jokes around the nation…
According to Hare, for about a century, a comparable cultural sentiment was in circulation about a “man from Milpitas…” No man in particular, just a general, fictional Milpitas resident…
The Milpitas Historical Society can trace the whole thing back to news articles from the 1860s. According to Hare, “In 1863, there was talk of California maybe leaving the union and becoming a slave state…There was enough Southern sympathy that there was talk of this. So there were various meetings going on [across the state]…”
At one such meeting, a pro-Union group from Milpitas brought in a banner (or, depending upon which accounts you believe, a kerosene wall projection powered by a lantern) that was visible to everyone there. Upon it were the words “As goes Milpitas, so goes the state.”
With a smile, Hare said, “People found this very amusing…” The attitude was, “You think a whole lot of yourself, don’t you, Milpitas?” Hare continued, “The Oakland Tribune was a big factor in this. They loved to make fun of Milpitas.”
Back in the late 1800s, the Oakland Tribune would sometimes run a serious article, then end it with a dose of mockery at Milpitas’ expense.
When John Tuitasi’s car was broken into, he had no desire to call the police.
The car had been in the parking lot of the Hillview Court Apartments, located at 1000 Hillview Court in Milpitas.
But when somebody else at the property found out what had happened to Tuitasi’s car, they decided to reach out to police on their own. Later that night, the police went up to Tuitasi’s door and asked him questions about the break-in.
“The next day, somebody threw a rock through my window,” said Tuitasi. “So what good did it do to call the police?”
Since that day, Tuitasi has been harassed and has received numerous threats from the individual who broke into his car.
This is a common occurrence at the Hillview Court Apartments, where many fear repercussions for reporting incidents to the police…
Throughout the year 2022, investigations of two Milpitas High School teachers were conducted due to allegations of inappropriate behavior toward students. The two teachers investigated were Toby Anderson and Lance Brookner. Toby Anderson was a Life Skills and World History teacher at Milpitas High School and mostly taught 9th- and 10th-graders, while Lance Brookner taught Principles of Finance, Accounting, and Marketing/Customer Service to 11th- and 12th-graders. Through a public records request to MUSD, The Beat was able to gather information on the investigations of both teachers. Both instances are completely separate from one another and have no major correlation.
A man went on a deadly rampage Thursday in Milpitas and San Jose, stabbing at least three people and striking three others with a vehicle that was carjacked, police said. At least three victims have died and two others have life-threatening injuries.
At about 4:30 p.m., Milpitas police investigated a stabbing in the parking lot of a Smart & Final store on the 400 block of Jacklin Road. Officers provided life-saving measures to the Jacklin Road victim but the person succumbed to their injuries, police said.
Shortly afterward, police arrested a suspect nearby at Midwick Dr. and Arizona Ave. just north of the Smart & Final store.
UPDATE: The victim at the Smart & Final has been identified as Jiwanjot Dhariwal, 26, of Milpitas. Our condolences to his family.
Sunnyhills Apartment residents after a Milpitas City Council meeting.
Residents of the Sunnyhills Apartments can breathe a sigh of relief – at least for the next 5 years.
JMK Investments, the developer of the historic apartment complex, recently renewed the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) contract until 2028, ensuring that 149 of the units there maintain subsidized housing status.
Weeks ago, things looked uncertain…
Residents of the Sunnyhills Apartments spent recent months launching a petition and asking the City of Milpitas for support in retaining their affordable housing.
The City had conversations with the developer, leading to a renewed contract of 5 additional years, which was approved by HUD on March 7.
