The Weekly Dump 6.28.19

Watsonville Man Stabbed to Death

Last Saturday night, a 27 year old Watsonville man was found fatally stabbed to death on the 100 block of Carnation Drive. When Watsonville police arrived, they found the victim suffering from multiple stab wounds. He died at the scene. Police searched the area for witnesses and surveillance cameras, and could not confirm if the murder was gang related.

Boy Dies in Fatal Accident on Laurel Glen Road

Early Friday morning around 5:30AM, a teenage driver lost control of the Toyota Prius he was driving and plunged over a cliff off of Laurel Glen Road in the foothills above Soquel Village. The car fell more than 100 feet down a wooded cliff, smashing into a large tree before landing on its side in a creek bed. A 12 year old passenger died in the crash. According to the CHP, both boys are from Santa Cruz. A dog was also in the vehicle when it crashed. The animal has since been taken to receive medical treatment. The CHP said the car collided with a large tree during the fall. Crews were able to tow the car out and realized it was stolen. Officials said no related charges have been filed against the boys.

Watsonville Gang Member Arrested For Recent Stabbing

Watsonville police arrested a man in connection to a late night stabbing from earlier this month. The stabbing happened on June 1st on the 100 block of Main Street. The 28 year old male suspect, who police say is a known gang member, was booked into the county jail after detectives served a search warrant at his home. According to police reports, surveillance footage from the attack and witness statements helped detectives identify the suspect. During the search, they found and seized five firearms, ammunition and items they said are linked to gang affiliation. He was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, along with being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition with gang enhancements.

Meth is the Gasoline That Fuels the Homeless Industrial Machine

In some of this week’s least surprising news, the county of Santa Cruz is finally admitting it has an out of control meth problem. Yes, it’s not all boardwalks and Friends and unicorns farting rainbows as they hand out buckets of needles to local junkies. Now the county is admitting that the skyrocketing use of methamphetamine locally is creating a crisis for Santa Cruz County law enforcement and health workers. Law enforcement is reporting a 400 percent jump in deaths related to methamphetamine since 2010. This week, the Sheriff’s Office launched its Narcotic Enforcement Team aimed at seeking out people dealing meth. Their main focus is dealers and suppliers.

Can I just mention the elephant in the room (gangs who control the local drug trafficking market) and our lack of ability to effectively shut them down since we kicked the feds to the curb when we declared ourselves a “sanctuary” for drug dealers. If we wanted to really shut this down, it would require an epic paradigm shift in how we view law enforcement and it would require us to bring the feds back in. I don’t see either of those things happening any time soon, so all of this is just window dressing and the county trying to look like they are doing something beyond churning out the same recidivist criminals thanks to the gift that keeps on giving (county probation).

Santa Cruz United Officially Launches Recall Effort

This week, members of Santa Cruz United officially launched their efforts to recall Santa Cruz city council members Drew Glover and Chris Krohn. They had a meeting on Wednesday at the SCPD community meeting room and I saw a photo showing a packed house, so they might have had about a hundred folks show up for this kick off meeting to talk about their recall efforts. So let’s just say they had a hundred folks there, and let’s just say each person went home and ended up getting 20 signatures each. There’s a thousand signatures. I hope they see the wisdom of holding similar meetings regularly over the next few months. Make it easy for people to sign it and sign it quietly if that’s what they prefer. Take it exponential, by not just getting signatures but by getting signature takers. And you don’t have to live in the city limits to be a signature taker. So if you don’t live in the city (and can’t vote on this), you can still be a huge help and integral part of the success by getting your friends, family, etc. who DO live in the city to support the recall and sign their names.

A Tough Pill to Swallow

Monday night, SCPD responded to a complaint about a van in a parking lot on the 1900 block of Mission street in Santa Cruz. When they arrived, they noticed the van’s registration had expired over a year ago but had 2019 tags on it. The 59 year old woman admitted to the false tags and was acting strangely and going into physical distress. Santa Cruz Fire and medical personnel responded and the woman admitted to swallowing methamphetamine before police arrived. Paramedics took her to the hospital and SCPD impounded the van.

Woodies Off the Wharf

Around 4PM during last weekend’s Woodies on the Wharf, someone reportedly jumped off the edge of the wharf. Another person possibly jumped in to help out. I heard the victim was able to swim to shore before rescue crews responded on Main Beach.

It’s the Same Old Thing as Yesterday

Saturday afternoon around 2:30PM, a 61 year old man was arrested by SCPD near Mission and King streets for assault with a deadly weapon and making criminal threats. The king of pain.

Falling Into the Poop Chute

Saturday afternoon around 1PM. I heard a report about a solo bicyclist who fell from their bike and may have broken their hip. In the Poop Chute. Be careful riding through the Poop Chute. That’s the last place you want to fall.

He Was Making His Rounds

Tuesday night around 11PM, a 36 year old man was arrested for prowling on the 700 block of Modesto avenue, and was also charged with burglary from a location a few blocks away.

Cowells Still Stinks

This past week, in what seems to be a dubious annual tradition, local nonprofit Heal the Bay announced that Cowells Beach ranks fifth on their “Summer Bummer” list. The list ranks ten of the most bacterially polluted beaches in the state of California every year. The city said if bacteria poses an immediate threat to swimmers, warning signs will be posted. How many years have we been hearing about this is going to get cleaned up?

The Goats Are Back!

I noticed the goats were out by the high school last week. Apparently they’ve also been spotted around Neary Lagoon too.

The Weekly Seen

Brent Adams loves to park his rig along Ocean Street, where it gets constantly tagged and visually pollutes the gateway to Santa Cruz. Keeping Santa Cruz a visual eyesore. 

Everclear Plays For Free at the Boardwalk!

Originating from Portland, Everclear found success with their first three albums on Capitol Records which were all certified platinum in sales. They play hooky grunge rock and were big back in the nineties. Two free shows at 6:30 and 8:30PM.

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!

Be sure to check out and follow our Twitter feed for even more mierda! Even though the Dump only comes your way once a week, I try to post breaking news and updates on other days as well. So check us out and follow us on Twitter for even more updates about real time news in Santa Cruz you might not otherwise hear about.

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15 Comments

  1. ???? the craziness of it all. Thank you , you definitely keep us well informed about all that is crazy here in Santa Cruz and I appreciate that. I still am amazed by it all. ?

  2. Billy Shayx

    Dig and see what you can find out about DruG and Krohn wanting to meet with SEIU city employees.

  3. Am I missing something here?
    You are saying that a teenager totals a stolen prius harming a dog and killing a miner and he gets “no related charges”??? What does that even mean?

    • If the car wasn’t reported stolen (perhaps because it was the parents’ car and they didn’t report it) and if nobody saw the kid drive this car (the car was at the bottom of the ravine when police arrived, while the kid was at the top), how do you charge the kid with driving a stolen car? And more importantly, how would you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the kid drove the car, much less stole it?

  4. Ben it is so true we need to reverse the Sanctuary City status and bring in the Feds in order to combat the meth problem. How can this be so widespread and happening right under the nose of the cops. The recall is an excellent step in the right direction however.

  5. It should not be difficult for law enforcement to find the meth dealers. All they need to do is follow any of our local tweakers riding their stolen bicycles. The tweakers will lead police directly to the dealers.

    • Thank you Greenie- I’ve been saying this forever. What we have here is a completely incompetent police chief who should be recalled for incompetence.

  6. “churning out the same recidivist criminals” since 1975.

    Keep on truckin’… 🙁

    Honestly, do they think they are fooling anybody when pretend like they are all about solving the meth problem?

  7. Poop Chute?! Yuck. That’s worse than running into a Pee Tree.

  8. Thank you Greenie- I’ve been saying this forever. What we have here is a completely incompetent police chief who should be recalled for incompetence.

  9. I just signed the petitions for recall at Almar Park and met one of the people who has worked hard on this effort. Many thanks to them for bringing this forward and allowing us to exercise our democratic right to recall. I encourage all of you to keep in touch and sign the petitions from authorized people. Thanks for including it on your podcast.

  10. I didn’t know that unicorns farted rainbows! How cool is that!

  11. if u want to report local drug dealing online to a federal agency here is the anonymous online dea site

    https://www.dea.gov/submit-tip

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