The Weekly Dump 9.25.20

Watsonville Man Arrested For Cold Case Murder in Miami

A 16 year cold case murder out of Miami has been successfully solved after Watsonville Police arrested a 46 year old Watsonville man. He is accused of murdering his 16 year old stepdaughter in Miami on September 17, 2004. He was arrested and taken into custody on Monday night with the help of Santa Cruz Police. He faces first degree murder charges and is currently in the Santa Cruz County Jail. Watsonville Police were contacted by investigators from the Miami-Dade Police Department after new physical and circumstantial evidence linked the suspect to the case. WPD officers assisted in finding and arresting the man. The suspect will be extradited to Florida once the legal extradition process has taken place.

COVID-19 Outbreak Strikes Watsonville Nursing Home

It was announced on Thursday that Watsonville Post Acute reported 27 residents and 4 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. Watsonville Post Acute is a skilled nursing facility in Santa Cruz County. Everyone who tested positive has been placed in isolation, according to the facility.

Santa Cruz County COVID-19 Updates

There have been 2,294 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency. 9 people have died. 1,983 people have recovered from the disease. A total of 46,048 people have tested negative. 148 have been hospitalized in total. According to a state count, 17 people are currently hospitalized and three are in the ICU. Santa Cruz County is currently in the red tier of the “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”.

CZU Lightning Complex Fully Contained

As of Tuesday evening, Cal Fire declared full containment on the CZU Lightning Complex fires. While evacuation warnings have dropped or been eliminated, nearly 1,000 people are still evacuated, according to Cal Fire. The fire is among the top 10 most destructive fires in California state history. A total of more than 1,100 structures burned in Santa Cruz County since the fire began Aug. 16th. Of those structures, 925 are single-family residences. Fire officials said 86,509 acres have burned so far and destroyed 925 homes. An estimated 3,837 structures remain threatened by the flames in Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties.

Scotts Valley Blaze Quickly Contained

This Wednesday, Cal Fire responded to a fire burning near the community of Zayante in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The fire burned timber in a dense area off of Upper Ellen Road. Around 4PM, the Scotts Valley Fire Department reported that the fire burned about half an acre before forward progress was stopped.

Mischief in the Santa Cruz Mountains

Last Friday night around 11:30PM, deputies from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s office responded to the 16100 block of Redwood Lodge Road where a report came about a home burglary in progress. The homeowner caught the suspected thief stealing his tools and attempting to flee in his truck. When confronted by the victim, the suspected thief drew a shotgun and tried to run the victim off of the road with his truck. The suspect was somehow detained by the victim and eventually arrested by deputies. The 25 year old male suspect was charged with grand theft and assault with a deadly weapon. His bail was set at $25K but he’s apparently no longer in jail.

Dirty Laundry

Wednesday afternoon around 12:30PM, Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies stopped a driver along Highway 9 in Felton and ended up charging him with a laundry list of charges, including being a felon in possession of a concealed and loaded gun and drug possession. His bail was set at $25K and last check he’s still sitting in jail.

Bums Being Bums on the Westside

Last Friday around 5:30PM, SCPD responded to the 400 block of Bellevue Street in Santa Cruz where they arrested a 38 year old male and charged him with assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. As of Thursday, he’s still in jail on a $25K bond. No word on any victims.

County Probation is Our Number One Threat to Public Safety

Wednesday night around 6:30PM, the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Team (SET) conducted a number of probation searches on the 100 block of Chaminade lane, leading to multiple arrests. They arrested a 30 year old Capitola man who was in possession of an ounce of meth, nearly two ounces of heroin, along with cash, packing materials, and a scale. And he’s on parole. Of course he is. His bail was set at $50K and he’s still in jail. Another man was found in a nearby vehicle and was in possession of narcotics for sale. In the hotel room associated with him, detectives also found another parolee who is on probation. He fled out the back door of the room leaving behind approximately 2 POUNDS of methamphetamine and a suppressed AR-15 style rifle. Both men were taken into custody and booked into county jail with increased bail.

End of Watch

This week we say goodbye to Atlas, brave and faithful K9 warrior for the Scotts Valley Police Department, loved by many who turned out for a nice memorial in Scotts Valley this week. Atlas passed away in August. The department said Atlas died due to complications from ongoing medical issues. He had been evacuated twice and poor air quality from smoke from recent fires may have contributed to his death.

Atlas served the Scotts Valley community loyally and faithfully since October of 2014. He will be sorely missed and never forgotten. Thank you for your service Atlas.

Santa Cruz City Council Race

Martine. Shebreh. Sonja. No fourth. Write me in for the fourth! If I win I will serve.

Get Your Swagger On!

I have swag! I’m working with Spreadshirt and have my own shop. I just put some basic products up to start with for now with the new logo. You can also click “Customize” and “Products” and pick from other products not currently available in my store. Contact me with any questions or issues. Nothing would make me happier than to see people out and about with my swag. I want photos! I’ve never asked for money, and I still plan to continue to do the Weekly Dump each week and make it available for free, without any paywall or ads or spam (or salary). Think of this as a way of donating to the effort and getting something back for your donation (I only make a few bucks on each item sold). I’d love to do more with Santa Mierda if I had the means to do so. This will help provide the means to do so. And it helps get the word out. The hell with the coronavirus, let’s make this viral. Being stuck inside is the perfect time for online shopping! I’ll love you long time if you buy my swag.

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15 Comments

  1. Gail Macdonald

    I seriously would love you to be on the Council. What name do we write in (hope it’s not a joke), you would be great!

  2. Wish I had time to send my “thanks” every week for the existence of this newsletter, but you can be assured that I think it every time I read the The Dump. I feel compelled to spend too much time keeping up with our U.S. Fuehrer so I appreciate this quick, concise picture of what’s going on locally.

  3. Annette Morris

    Can you please add me to the Weekly Dump? I’m fairly new to Santa Cruz. Also, since my catalytic converter was promptly stolen, I’d love to know what our city is doing about this.

  4. I will be writing in Donald Trump for the 4’th place on the council. I congratulate Ben on being the only site anywhere (OK not totally true) that will have me posting anything. Banned on Nextdoor for life by those who don’t like, and will do or say anything to silence, others opinions, un-officially banned from the Sentinel (none of the last 12 latest letters published, although they publish at least some total garbage every day if it is politically correct for Santa Cruz), banned from a few FB sites, and counting. I’m jaw dropped the council is actually finally moving out the CVS RV squatters, but it remains to be seen if Bad Mom will go peacefully. I would definitely not vote a 4’th person actually running onto the council because it would add votes to compete with Martine, Shebreh, Sonja, and chances are Brown will squeak in 4’th like last time anyway.

  5. What’s your last name been. I’ll write you in for the 4th for the city council

  6. Paige Concannon

    I will be more then happy to add you as a city council member, this way Santa Cruz might have a chance at being nice again!

  7. Ben, I’d like to vote for you but want to make sure you are officially approved as a write in candidate and we have your correct name. Can you verify that you could be sworn in if you win?

  8. Alicia DeRollo

    Same as the above! We will write you in. Give us a name (while I keep a straight face saying, “Look what Ben Dover says…”) and we will put it down! Good luck!

  9. Susan Robinson

    I’ll vote for you!

  10. Brown needs to go. Ben needs to be a write-in winner. Run Ben Run!

  11. Ben: Do you have a photo editor? I notice that the dog’s POLICE collar is partially obscured, so that it reads “LICE” instead.

  12. Ben,

    Regarding the Santa Cruz City Council Race, you say:

    “Write me in for the fourth! If I win I will serve.”

    I could tell 2 years ago that you were thinking like that (even if you weren’t concious of it at the time).

    I said:
    “You seem to be getting ready for a future run at City Council.”

    Your reply:
    “In no uncertain terms, let me say I will never run for public office in Santa Cruz.”

    — [ http://www.santamierda.com/2018/12/14/the-weekly-dump-12-14-18/#comment-9660 ]

    PS: I’ll write you in.
    🙂

    • [[[CORRECTION TO ABOVE LINK]]]:

      Your reply:
      “In no uncertain terms, let me say I will never run for public office in Santa Cruz.”
      — [ http://www.santamierda.com/2018/12/14/the-weekly-dump-12-14-18/#comment-9580 ]

      • Great. I think several of us will. But WHO exactly are we writing in? I doubt bendover will stand legally. Ben, could you please comment on this? Thanks.

        • In the event that Ben Dover (or bendover) is elected, then I, MuyDeplorable, will claim that my true name is Ben Dover (or bendover) and remain at City Hall long enough to partake of free drinks, if they have them at council meetings. No booze, no serve. But as long as the free booze keeps flowing, I will gladly serve, and make more sense while drunk than anyone else there does while sober. However, I will not bend over.

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