The Weekly Dump 2.8.19

Snow Falls on the Santa Cruz Summit

It’s like a Thomas Kinkade painting!

Really early Saturday morning, and again Saturday night, mother nature blew into Santa Cruz with a fury, bringing sheets of rain, hail, rolling thunder, and lots of wind. I can only imagine what all those people squatting over in Camp Bernal must have thought. At least those who hadn’t self medicated and passed out. And the San Lorenzo river levels are always a concern, especially when you allow a growing homeless camp to flourish on a freaking flood plain. In the winter. When the river is most inclined to rise to flood levels. I watched it on Saturday. It rose about 10 feet in 12 hours, from 3 feet to about 13 feet, which is still below what I’d call a “concerning” flood stage level of about 20 feet downtown, basically where Camp Bernal is currently located. The other thing none of our local environmentalists seem to care about is all the hazardous materials and raw human sewage that is basically leeching into the San Lorenzo river and straight into the Monterey Bay now. Then a couple days later, it actually snowed up along the summit. I don’t think the snow created too much trouble with traffic, but lots of folks drove up to the summit with their kids to check out and play in the snow for a few hours.

Carjacking Suspect Nabbed in Capitola

Around 4PM on Monday, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a 32 year old Capitola man after he crashed a stolen car in Capitola. Multiple people called the Sheriff’s office reporting a man running door to door yelling and terrorizing residents in the area of 17th Avenue and Portola Drive.  The suspect burglarized a home before carjacking an occupied truck and driving it to Capitola. After smashing into another driver, the man ran into the Nob Hill Foods store on Bay where deputies were able to catch up and arrest him. Luckily nobody was seriously injured. Witnesses reported the suspect was pretty jacked up on drugs at the time of his arrest. Is anyone surprised? He was arrested and charged with carjacking, burglary and a parole violation.

Face Meet Palm

This past Tuesday, SCPD stopped a car near Mission & Palm Streets with three juvenile gang members inside. After a search was conducted, one juvenile had a butterfly knife, and a loaded handgun was found under the front passenger seat. All three juveniles were arrested on gang and weapons charges. Are they out of jail yet? Did they get a slap on the palm from our local judges?

Gunshot Wound Victim Turns Up at Dominican

Wednesday night around 8:30PM, someone with a gunshot would reportedly showed up at Dominican hospital in Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies and SCPD responded to the hospital to try to determine what happened. It sounds like the victim might have been shot in the Beach Flats area, possibly near 2nd or 3rd streets. SCPD sent a team out to investigate, and a witness reported hearing shots and seeing a vehicle flee the area around the time of the reported shooting. I haven’t heard any other details on this.

The Gift That Keeps on Giving

Last Saturday night, Scotts Valley Police were patrolling around the Kings Village Shopping Center after a local business suffered a window smash and burglary the previous night. Despite all the businesses being closed for the night, they spotted a vehicle that was occupied by a male with an active warrant out of Santa Cruz County, who just happened to be on court probation for identity theft and narcotics related charges. After searching his vehicle, they found a large collection of burglary tools as well as suspected stolen mail, altered checks, and credit/debit cards in various names. Remember, he was on court probation for identity theft! He was arrested and charged with a laundry list of charges including forgery, ID theft, possession of burglary tools, possession of controlled substances, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of prescription medication without a prescription and his active warrant. Was all of this enough to keep him in jail longer than 24 hours? I doubt it!

Just a Stolen Car Full of Needles

Monday night, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies spotted a stolen Jeep in the Live Oak area. When they attempted to stop the vehicle, the two men inside attempted to flee but were quickly caught. Inside the car, deputies found a trunk of needles, along with drugs. Both men were arrested and taken to county jail.

Turn Out the Lights the Party’s Over

Last Thursday night, a deputy from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department was patrolling on Green Valley Road in Watsonville when they noticed someone suspiciously loitering near a closed business and tampering with the lights outside. When confronted, the man initially lied about his name because he was on probation for vandalism. After searching him, deputies found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia and arrested him on various charges including a probation violation.

Van Goes Up in Flames on Wednesday Morning

Wednesday morning around 7AM, reports came in about a vehicle on fire on Holden in the Beach Flats. Santa Cruz Fire was concerned that a propane tank was inside the vehicle and may explode so they evacuated a number of residences and rooms at the motel. SCPD shut down a number of streets in the vicinity as well. No official word on any injuries. What I heard through the grapevine was a man and possibly his dog were living in the van. Both managed to escape without injury but by all appearances the man lost everything but his dog. I heard a couple of kind hearted community members helped the man out, putting him in touch with the Red Cross and his family members. It was really cold that morning. If I had to guess, I’d bet a heater of some kind caught fire.

How Many Times Can We Fail Here?

At least 18 by my count. A female was arrested Sunday night around 7:30PM in downtown Santa Cruz on a laundry list of charges for causing a disturbance in front of the Regal Nine movie theater. Charges included numerous drug charges, battery on a peace officer, trespassing, disorderly contact, the usual stuff. Makes me want to head downtown for a movie!

Another Creeper Welcomed to Downtown Santa Cruz

Monday morning around 9AM, a man was arrested for indecent exposure and loitering after being caught at Soquel Elementary School, probably playing with himself in front of the kids. I use the term “arrested” lightly of course. He was released back into downtown Santa Cruz around 4PM that same day.

At Least This One’s Still in Jail

Then around 10AM that same morning, a man was arrested at the St. Stephens Lutheran Pre-School on the 2500 block of Soquel Avenue for trespassing, causing a disturbance at a school, and violating his probation. The 50 year old male was part of something called the “Focused Intervention Team”. Last time I checked, he was still in custody.

Santa Cruz Killer Denied Parole

Last week, I talked about how our former Governor, in one of his many “senior moments”, basically pardoned a woman who was convicted of stabbing and torturing a man (and is currently serving time for it). This week, the parole board denied her parole. Common sense finally beats idiot compassion for a change. More from KION.

Rojo Caliente!

Wednesday night around 10:30PM, I heard a report of a male who reportedly was sprayed in the face with pepper spray at Maple and Pacific. When SCPD arrived, they determined he had accidentally sprayed himself in the face.

Local Activist’s Body Found on Santa Cruz Beach

Early Monday morning, the body of a well known and liked local progressive activist was found on Cowells Beach near the Dream Inn. It does not appear to be foul play, but investigators have not revealed many details other than the victim’s name. Sad story. I did not know her personally but I knew who she was. She was a “local fixture” on the progressive side of things here, and could be seen at many city hall meetings and local protests. I never took her too seriously (which is a good thing!) and she never did anything that really bothered me either. By all accounts, she was a very kind and gentle person, despite being a “Raging Granny” on occasion. I know she had many local friends who will miss her deeply.

The Santa Mierda Podcast Network

Be sure to check out the Santa Mierda Podcast Network! We’ve got the latest “Unfiltered” by yours truly, as well as a new podcast, “Untreated” from Sharona. You can find the Santa Mierda Podcast Network on SoundCloud. And Apple Music. And Spotify. It’s free so check it out and give it a listen! Next new podcast should be coming this Sunday night!

Check Out Our Twitter Feed for More Mierda!

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16 Comments

  1. d’awe that snow picture is purdy…

  2. This stuff all seems to be related to drugs. Why doesn’t the sheriff go after the drugs? I never hear anything about that – nothing proactive on Handy Andy’s part that is. Is it the old problem of the revolving door where nobody ever stays in jail – so it’s not even worth arresting them? Or is Handy Andy too busy running his Sanctuary City and Camp Bernal?

  3. the far left wants to legalize all the street drugs, the prostitution, get rid of private property- they r loco. they arent going to punish street drugs because they think poor people have to sell them to survive- and they think big pharma is more corrupt. nevermind the fact that the violence from all the street drugs is making this place extremely violent and misogynistic. or the drugs are making guys crazy enough to think they are winning by chosing to be voluntarily transient and refusing to contribute to society, or actually crap in a toilet. and nevermind the fact that big pharma actually does make some medicine that saves lives.

    seriously there are grown men doing perverted things near schools and the local law does nothing? thats about as disgusting as it gets. no one is even protecting the children. well any child who gets attacked will be more likely to turn to street drugs and prostitution, and then these guys will have one more poor soul to pretend to save.

  4. CITY OBSERVER

    The City of Santa Cruz released their “PLAN” to eradicate the homeless individuals from Camp Ross. I don’t buy their bullshit for a minute.

    Does the free housing and help include the individuals that are on Santa Cruz mugshots a dozen or so times? YEP.

    Time to take off the rose colored glasses suckers!! Homeless locals? I beg to differ. I’m in constant contact with them… they’re from all over the United States and come to Santa Cruz to get everything free….NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

    Take care of the vets and elderly. They are the ones that need help…not the able bodied assholes.

    Disgusting and unacceptable.

    • I had emailed Ryan Coonerty asking whether the $10 million coming to the County for homeless services would prioritize “locals” rather than transient. He said that under state and federal laws you could not prohibit transients from receiving services; only county-provided services could restrict it to locals.
      So come one, come all!

      • this is a bunch of bullshit. the state is using our tax dollars to put out a welcome mat and free house for any creep who knows how to get on a bus to santa cruz? we seriously need a class action lawsuit. this is literally reverse affirmative action and an assault on the neighborhood!

  5. I was happy to hear that the Santa Cruz killer was denied parole on the news. Big sigh of relief!
    Your snow picture just needs some Kinkade brush strokes!

  6. Yes we can all take the judgemental jump to say were glad the woman was denied parole. Do you even know the full story? Probably not, cuz your too busy fixating on dirty needles and homeless people trying to house themselves. The woman was the only woman involved but not the only person in this man’s murder. She was granted the chance to parole. We as a society need to work more on rehabilitating and supporting restoration of human lives. Condemning and commiserating on the horrible choices some make does nothing to uplift our outcome as a community. I enjoy the “The Weekly Dump,” because of the honest perspective being shared and the openness that occurrs when I read it. My opinion is not meant to offend the victims family either. I’m only sharing some information that perhaps had not been known.

    • “fixating”. Yeah, that’s what I’m doing here. I sure wish I didn’t have to fixate on this stuff so much. It’s my fault for fixating on it. If anyone needs a convenient scapegoat, I’m your man.

    • Some people through their actions forfeit the right to live among us. Active involvement in 2 murders will do it. We are all entitled to our opinions. Too busy fixating on dirty needles and homeless is an ugly statement and way out of line.

    • All of the killers involved are behind bars and should stay there till they’ve done their time. They can better themselves with whatever programs the prison system offers. But it’s called the Penal Code, not the Cuddle Code, and she still has some time to serve for her participation in the murders.

  7. restoration of human lives… are you talking about resurrecting the person she helped to murder? lol.

  8. Obliviously Observant

    That’s kinda weird… The crash in Capitola on Monday happened in the EXACT same place as a crash just a few months ago (back in early November of last year), after a driver that was “high on meth” and “believed people were out to kill him” led police on a “high-speed” pursuit (pun intended) through the Capitola Village from Scotts Valley.
    I looked up the article from the previous crash to compare the photos from both incidents… It’s UNCANNY!
    https://patch.com/california/scottsvalley/high-meth-driver-takes-scotts-valley-cop-chase-police

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