The Weekly Dump 4.21.17

March For Science This Weekend in Downtown Santa Cruz

This Saturday we’ve got the March For Science taking place downtown. We seem to march for just about anything, so why not science? What we need more of is science! March For Science Santa Cruz is a non-partisan, peaceful event for anyone valuing empirical research and science and will begin with a rally and speakers at Santa Cruz City Hall at 10AM, followed by a march through downtown Santa Cruz and along the Riverwalk and ending at the community’s Earth Day celebration at San Lorenzo Park. Learn more at their website: www.marchforsciencesantacruz.org.

4/20 Brings Stoners to UCSC

In an annual rite of passage that becomes less relevant every year (and especially starting this year), thousands of students and local stoners turned out and sat in a field and smoked weed. If I owned a local food truck, I’d park it nearby and watch the green roll in. There won’t be a “march” because let’s be real, stoners don’t feel like marching. They feel like munching. I did hear a report of a 67 year old man from Los Banos who was arrested at around 3PM for felony possession of a firearm (and DUI) at the UCSC west entrance DUI checkpoint. Lovely! Guns and stoners is a recipe for something bad happening to someone. It ain’t all Guns and Roses! Despite an estimated crowd of 3,000, down by about 25% from last year, UC Santa Cruz Police reported zero citations for marijuana-related offenses. The increased law enforcement presence at the event did result in roughly 100 traffic citations and 120 parking citations, so it sounds like someone made some money here!

Tax March and Protest Brings Respectful and Respectable Crowd Downtown

Saturday morning, a good sized crowd met at city hall downtown and marched in protest over to San Lorenzo Park. The whole thing was pretty respectful, with the marchers even staying on the sidewalks downtown to avoid clogging up traffic (unlike certain other recent protesters). I read somewhere a crowd estimate of 1200 people, but I didn’t see that many. More like about 500 when I walked by. But still a good turnout. None of the nonsense we saw on the national news coming out of Berserkley. I see stuff like that and I see a bunch of staged theater from both sides trying to make the news. Paid troublemakers show up to instigate and pour virtual gasoline all over the crowd before firing both sides up to the point of mosh pit diplomacy. Don’t be surprised if their next stop is here (at UCSC perhaps?)

Liberty Bank in Felton Robbed Again

Friday around 5PM, the Liberty Bank in Felton was robbed again. The robber entered the bank around 4PM and demanded money from employees, and threatened workers with what he claimed was a bomb, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Chris Clark. The bank robber made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Witnesses were able to provide authorities with a description of the man and his getaway vehicle. The robber was also seen in security footage without a mask on. Investigators were able to narrow their search to a 41 year old Felton man and obtain a search warrant for his home, where items related to the bank robbery were recovered, Clark said. The man turned himself in at the Santa Cruz County Jail in downtown Santa Cruz around 1AM on Saturday, according to jail records. He was being held on suspicion of felony robbery in lieu of $50,000 bail on Monday.

Local Gangbanger Arrested with Heroin, Gun, and $20K in Cash

The Santa Cruz County Anti-Crime Team’s Gang Task Force arrested a 25-year-old gang member Friday, seizing roughly 345 grams of heroin, $20,000 in cash, a loaded .45 caliber firearm and a car from his Riverside Avenue residence. With assistance from the Santa Cruz Police Department Neighborhood Enforcement Team and their K-9, the Gang Task Force served a search warrant at the residence in the 600 block of Riverside Avenue.

WHERE’S DHS/ICE? OH RIGHT. WE’D RATHER HAVE PEOPLE LIKE THIS IN OUR COMMUNITY THAN GET RID OF THEM. WE’RE MORE AFRAID OF “APPEARANCES” THAN WE ARE ABOUT GUYS LIKE THIS.

As a result of the warrant, $25,000 worth of heroin was recovered. Agents also recovered more than $20,000 in cash and a loaded .45 cal. firearm. The suspect, who is a known gang participant, was arrested on eight charges including the sale and transport of narcotics, gun charges and gang enhancements. He was released later that same day in lieu of $50,000 bail.

HE WAS RELEASED LATER THAT SAME DAY. DID THAT PART EVEN REGISTER?

Be Careful Where You Pass Out in Your Car

Last Thursday afternoon, SCPD arrested a 37 year old Santa Cruz man after he was found passed out in his vehicle. Neighbors reported two people who appeared to be passed out in a silver BMW parked on the 100 block of Blaine Street. When SCPD arrived, they found two people who were slumped over inside the vehicle. After knocking on the windows, officers were able to wake up the occupants. According to police, drug paraphernalia was in the vehicle’s center console. Officers searched the vehicle and found heroin, methamphetamine and cash. They also found a handgun and a “slim jim” used to unlock car doors in the back of the vehicle. Officers arrested the man on suspicion of drug sales and possessing heroin, methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

Just Another Manic Sunday

A friend of mine passed this story along to me. I hate it when stuff like this happens to people I know. I hate it when stuff like this happens to people I don’t know. My friend is in Verve downtown on Sunday morning around 10AM. I’m sure it’s crowded. It always is. Her 12 year old son is in Verve looking out the window watching their car parked out front because it had stuff in it, and it’s been stolen before. It’s just called “being smart downtown”. Some random, tweeker woman approaches the boy inside Verve and says “why are you guarding me?” The boy says “I am just watching our car waiting for my dad”. The crazy woman then yells “who are your parents you little prick?”.  Everyone in Verve is now watching her because she’s yelling and acting like a typical high on drugs or mentally ill, belligerent, confrontational asshole. Anyone who spends any time downtown knows EXACTLY what I’m talking about here. They’re everywhere downtown. Even in the nicest, hippest coffee shop on the mall. She starts screaming obscenities and when she starts to rush towards him, a man jumps in front of her. As she spins around him, the boy runs over to his father and now it’s Dad between the tweeker and his son. She continues screaming obscenities as she leaves before SCPD arrive. Everyone at Verve was very protective and concerned for the boy and his family (my friends). I don’t blame them. What a nightmare it must be to work at that location. Later that day, Dad said he spotted 4 police cars near San Lorenzo Lumber and they were all surrounding the woman. I looked her up on mugshots. Of course she’s a frequent flyer on the County Shuttle™. This is why families are leaving Santa Cruz! Look at the data, Santa Cruz has had a massive exodus of families, something like a 30% decrease in people aged 28-48 over the past 5 years.

Man Caught Breaking Into Car on Felix Street

Around 10:30PM on Saturday night, a resident caught someone breaking into a car on the 200 block of Felix street near downtown. The resident caught the suspect breaking in their car, and when they confronted the suspect he threw a skateboard, hitting a 2 year old child at the home. Fire and medics were called to the scene for first aid for the child. SCPD knew who the guy was apparently (by name and description). One of the people at the house chased the suspect down Laurel street while SCPD fanned out in the surrounding neighborhood looking for him. The suspect also reportedly had a knife and had it out when confronted by the resident. DID I MENTION THE SUSPECT WAS WELL KNOWN BY NAME TO SCPD AS A SERIAL CRIMINAL? How many times will we tolerate endless stupidity and ignorance locally when it comes to public safety? How many 2 year olds do we have to tolerate getting hit by bums throwing skateboards at innocent children? How many times do we tolerate innocent victims chasing the county’s trash down the street after they’ve been nearly stabbed by bums looking for easy targets for their next fix?

Man Arrested For Having Sex With 14 Year Old Girl

A 20 year old man from Santa Cruz was apparently arrested on April 6th on felony charges related to having sex with a minor, according to jail records. SCPD finally released information about the case on Thursday, two weeks after it happened. Talk about transparency! You arrest a sexual predator and we don’t hear about for 2 weeks? Gee, thanks a lot Santa Cruz! In a press release FINALLY issued by SCPD on Thursday, the 14 year old girl disclosed that she and the man had sex multiple times over a two week period. The man allegedly met the girl on social media. Apparently the man also knew the girl was in middle school at the start of the relationship. As a result of the interviews with friends of the victim, an additional female victim was also identified. The man remained in custody at Santa Cruz County jail on Thursday in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Woman Freaks Out at Depot Park

A woman apparently had a major meltdown in the bathroom at Depot Park this past week, freaking out but telling onlookers she didn’t want the police. Then she apparently took her clothes off. A couple of teens tried to help her in the bathroom but she ran out and was last scene freaking out along the railroad tracks behind the bathrooms. Depot Park is one of the true jewels of the city of Santa Cruz. It provides an outstanding soccer field for families and youth to use for recreation, it’s a great location for sponsored events like running races, it’s just an outstanding asset that’s beloved by the community. And the city seems to do everything they can to try to ruin it. They close it for over a year because of pending litigation with the developer. They float the idea of of putting a new basketball arena on top of it. And the worst thing they do is they allow the area to become a favorite hangout for bums to shoot up and drink and pass out. It wasn’t that long ago that some poor homeless guy was literally stoned to death next to Depot Park. Naked women freaking out in the bathroom isn’t shocking here. The homeless use the Depot Park bathrooms all the time. Most of them are harmless and cause no trouble. But a handful of regulars reflect bad on everyone. And it happens enough now that people just shrug and move along.

Santa Cruz County to Open Sheriff’s Office Substation in Davenport

It’s about time! I’ve been advocating for this for some time. Now I heard the county Board of Supervisors passed this on Tuesday. It’s LONG overdue. The “North Coast” (the area between Shaffer Road in western Santa Cruz where the city limit is and the county border with San Mateo) is under the jurisdiction of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s office. It has long suffered from a lack of oversight by the county Sheriff’s office, mostly for staffing and logistical reasons. And opportunistic bums and criminals know this and have long taken advantage of it. Anyone who drives north along Highway 1 from Santa  Cruz sees a seemingly endless trail of broken down RVs and other vehicles parked in the pullouts along the highway. Transients have turned once “scenic overlooks” and pullouts into illegal, makeshift campgrounds. And with the new Coast Dairies National Monument, more traffic will pass through the area, and impact residents of Davenport, Bonny Doon, and the surrounding areas. Hopefully this will help mitigate some of the constant, ongoing public safety issues that plague this scenically beautiful section of the county.

SCPD Sued in Federal Court by Family of Sean Arlt

A sad story gets sadder. I blame the COUNTY for this tragedy more than anyone, but I guess the pain and grief needs to be directed at someone here by the family, who seems to have battled with SCPD ever since the incident happened. I’ve seen the video. SCPD arguably did as much as possible to diffuse this situation. More in the Senile.

At Least Two Supervisors Know Stupid When They See It

As for the other three, who knows why they didn’t participate in signing this letter. Caput is more than a little slow and always seems to be the last one to know, so I’ll give him a pass for now. I’d guess Leopold didn’t sign it because he actually supports the idea. As for Zach Friend, maybe he missed the memo or he’s just smart enough not to get sucked into the stupidity fallout and fight local progressive dimwits over it. So I guess it’s props to Coonerty and McPherson for writing this letter. I have a feeling it’s probably because their direct district constituents raised bloody hell about it and they really had no choice but to refute the idea publicly. I would have felt a lot better if all five signed this. And it’s telling that they never outright say NO here. They just say we’re not ready for it. Yet. Stay tuned.

Man Dies After Crash in Boulder Creek

One man died last week following a solo vehicle crash in the Boulder Creek area of unincorporated Santa Cruz County, according to the CHP. They said a vehicle rolled about 75 feet down an embankment on Bear Creek Road near Harmon Gulch Road. A person in the vehicle was confirmed dead at the scene. Apparently, the man had gone missing and was located by a friend looking for him. During a search for the missing man, a friend discovered the victim’s green Toyota 4-Runner after investigating fresh skid marks that swerved off Bear Creek Road near the Harmon Gulch intersection. The vehicle was discovered overturned at the bottom of a steep, heavily wooded embankment. The victim’s dog was also found in the vehicle unharmed. The dog appears to have remained inside the vehicle with the victim since the time of the accident. The friend took the dog home with him. An investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk Announce Summer Concert Series Lineup

In one of the most anticipated annual announcements every spring, the Boardwalk just announced it’s 2017 lineup for the free Friday Night Bands on the Beach concert series. And I’m stoked to see the return of Los Lobos again this summer. They were the best show last year, and might be one of the best music acts touring today. We’re blessed and truly fortunate they’ve chosen to play again this year. And local favorite son James Durbin returns with his new band Quiet Riot this year. And I always look forward to seeing BOC, who still bring the rock (but no cowbell). And this year we have Yacht Rock pioneers Pablo Cruise! Eddie Money kicks off this year’s season on June 16th. Two free shows every Friday night at 6:30 and 8:30PM. More info and the full lineup here.

Earth Day Celebration at Crystal Bay Farm

This Saturday from 1-4PM at Crystal Bay Farm in Watsonville, enjoy the music of Toby Gray’s Highway Buddha. Come out and help celebrate as they begin their 20th year of organic farming. Crystal Bay Farm became certified organic in 1997. In addition to live music, there will be drumming, and other kid friendly events. The farm is located at 40 Zils Rd in Watsonville, about 15 minutes South of Santa Cruz. Check it out for some clean and dirty down home fun on the farm!

Guerreros

by Ernie Douglasernie_1968_4x5_72dpi

Golden State Warriors:
We’re talking Portland Trailblazers! The playoffs have begun and the Warriors took on the Blazers in games one and two this past week, both at Oracle. In game one, the Blazers stayed close for most of the game in large part from the play of their star guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum but ended up losing to the Dubs 121-109. Durant had 32 points, Curry added 29 more, and Draymond was one assist short of a triple double and anchored the defense. Game 2 was Wednesday night, and this was more of a blowout, even without KD who sat out the game with a bruised shin he sustained the game before. The final score was 110-81, a 29 point win for the Warriors. And it came with no KD and both Curry and Thompson having poor shooting nights. The difference was the other guys. Solid performances from McGee, Ian Clark, Iggy, and Draymond again led a lock down defensive effort, while nearly pulling off another triple double. Warriors now have a commanding 2-0 lead in this series as it heads to Portland for the next 2 games. Blazers would have to win 4 of the next 5 games to win the series. I’ve seen nothing to indicate any possibility of that happening. Warriors have dominated this series with or without KD so far.

Upcoming games this week: Round One Best of 7 series vs. Portland continues this week. Game 3 is Saturday, 4/22 at Portland. Game 4 is Monday, 4/24 at Portland. Game 5 is Wednesday 4/26 at Oracle (if necessary)

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9 Comments

  1. Pamela Hersey

    Why not be brave and post the names of “alleged” criminals and their pretty pictures? Public shame and embarrassment is a higher price to pay than the simple art of posting bail.

    • It’s a fair question. I guess the best answer I can give is sometimes I do name names and post mugshots, but it’s more the exception than the rule. If anything, I’d prefer to shame the city and county into action instead of just shaming individuals. Unless of course those individuals are public officials or public figures (like Dirty Bathrobe Guy or Sugar Bear). I’m fine with bringing shame to self serving narcissists. There’s no hard and fast rule here. It’s always a judgement call, but I tend to be conservative on the side of personal privacy. My intent is to point out the crazy and unreported stuff that goes on daily. I don’t need to name names to accomplish that. I just need to be vibrantly honest about what happens around here. Thanks for reading and commenting!

  2. “Just Another Manic Sunday”- Mentally Ill/ High on drugs: it really doesn’t matter. What I’d like to know is in what world is this behavior ok? I suggest cages be installed on the 5th floor of the County Building to house these people until treatment is available for them.

    • Reality Check

      Or we could give them a “safe injection site”, give them a few pizzas, and lock the door and come back in a week.

  3. Thank you for this great effort.

  4. Keep up the great work please.

  5. Another week in paradise, and as usual it appears to be the same old problems with the mostly the same responses. People just ignoring it. The problem is, it’s hard to see who is helping address issues and who is causing them when they just are being swept under the rug.

    Ryan and Bruce deserve props, I agree, for venturing to say, in muted but clear language to find someplace else to give incentives for more addicts with a safe injection site. What I’d like to know, if that information happens to be at your fingertips, does this Susan Eggman who is pushing these drugs being used at taxpayer expense, and who volunteered Santa Cruz to be thrown under the bus…Does she suggest that the county she lives in enact such a policy? Or is she doing what the Coastal Commission did. Suggest we allow practices to go on in Santa Cruz, that their representative does not even allow in their coastal counties regarding RV parking in their communities? As though to say, we still have an orderly county. Santa Cruz is so bad it can’t really do any harm. And…we don’t live there, so who cares? Maybe she does recommend it for her county. Then she’s just a fool and not a fool and a hypocrite!

    Thanks for bringing up the free concert schedule. Indeed, Los Lobos is a class act, and BOC awesome. But we get a very legendary act following those two to make three greats in a row. The Animals! Can’t wait to see that act!

  6. Here’s my email chain with Zach Friend.

    From: Zach Friend
    Sent: Monday, April 17, 2017 12:40 PM
    To:
    Subject: Re: AB186 – Safe Injection Site

    Sure – but if it doesn’t happen for some reason (and if it passes) I wanted you to know the end result is the same. It is quite odd to be included in a bill that we didn’t ask to be included in- first time I’ve heard of such a thing.

    On Apr 17, 2017, at 12:35 PM, you wrote:

    Thanks for writing back. Is it your position also that we should be removed from this list?

    From: Zach Friend
    Sent: Monday, April 17, 2017 12:19 PM
    To:
    Subject: Re: AB186 – Safe Injection Site

    Dear me

    Thank you for reaching out. As you may have heard, the county never requested to be included in the legislation and isn’t interested in inclusion. In fact, the county doesn’t even currently have a space that would work even if we were included. The author included the county without asking. Staff has reached out to the author’s office about this and a request has been made that we are excluded. Even if for some reason the bill passes with us in it, it’s an opt-in and our county isn’t prepared to opt-in to such a thing.

    Best-
    Zach

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