Trick No Treat
Apparently Halloween is cancelled in downtown Santa Cruz this year, thanks to the coronavirus. It’s not really cancelled for everyone. Just for the kids. I get it. Nobody wants masses of unmasked kids converging downtown and turning Pacific Avenue into a super spreader location. It will be bad enough with all the adults going down there. And they should still block off the street. They already have a block of it closed to traffic every day now. Guess where all the adults will be packed into on Halloween night? A single block of space? How stupid is that idea?
It’s been a tough year for the kids. It gets tougher. Here’s a better idea. Parents, buy a few bags of candy and hide it around the house, yard, etc. Have a Halloween candy hunt instead. Stay home, stay safe, keep the kids happy.
Remember the good old days of 2017? Seems so long ago. Won’t see this again for awhile.
Local COVID-19 Updates
There have been 2,744 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Santa Cruz County, according to the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency. 25 people have died. 2,515 people have recovered from the disease. A total of 56,572 people have tested negative. 181 have been hospitalized in total. According to a state count, 8 people are currently hospitalized and four are in the ICU.
No Place Better to Park That Stolen RV
Thursday morning, a vehicle abatement officer with SCPD found a reported stolen motor home on Josephine Street. A man inside was called out and detained without incident. The suspected thief told police that some guy named Tony said he could stay in the motorhome. In addition to possessing a stolen vehicle, the suspect also had outstanding warrants for his arrest.
No Penny Bail But They Tried
Tuesday morning around 10AM, SCPD responded to the 1200 block of Fair Avenue after getting reports of an attempted car theft of a running and parked vehicle. When they arrived, they found the owner of the car had stopped the thief. Our Sheriff was ready to let him out on a penny bail but his past failures came back to bite him in the ass, as he violated his felony parole. So he’s still in jail on a no bail hold, probably against Jim Hart’s advice. So for everyone reading at home…..steal a car from someone, get caught, penny bail, unless you’re felon on parole. Good to know. You’re on your own. Buy a gun already.
Picking Up the Low Hanging Fruit on Lower Ocean
Last Tuesday morning around 2:30AM, SCPD responded to the 300 block of Ocean Street where they arrested a man for stealing beer from a business, being drunk in public, carrying a concealed weapon, and resisting arrest. Just the kind of rabble you expect see on lower Ocean at 2:30AM.
The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Last Friday night around 7:30PM, SCPD responded to the area near School and Adobe streets where they arrested a 26 year old male for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, failing to register as a felony sex offender, drug possession, and being under the influence. Oh and a probation violation. Of course he has a probation violation. Is it really a question? Is the Pope Catholic? Does a bear shit in the woods? He’s been arrested at least 6 times locally since 2018. He’s currently still in jail.
Call it the “Turnstile Effect”
This past Thursday, SCPD made a traffic stop near River Street and after they made contact with the driver, they determined he was in possession of a stolen handgun with ammunition, burglary tools, and drug paraphernalia. He’s also also a felon with outstanding warrants for his arrest. That second part sure sounds familiar! He was arrested and taken to county jail.
Penny Bail
Tuesday morning around 3:30AM, SCPD responded to the area near san Lorenzo and Broadway where they arrested a 20 year old male and charged him with resisting arrest, carrying a concealed weapon, and being drunk in public. His bail was set at one cent. What a deterrent! Why waste the time and money processing this guy? He was arrested and released a couple times last year. He’s only 20. Give him (and the sheriff) time.
Screwed
Watsonville Fire Displaces Nearly 100 Residents
A fire on Wednesday at the Wall Street Inn on Rodriguez and West Beach streets in Watsonville displaced almost 100 people as a result. Two people were injured in the fire. One individual was treated on scene while another was taken to a trauma center. Thanks to a sprinkler system and quick response from the fire department, the fire was extinguished quickly but there was heavy water damage inside the building. The Red Cross is there to help those who have been displaced. Red Cross volunteers say they are currently working on booking hotel rooms for the more than 80 tenants who were evacuated.
Santa Cruz City Council Race
Martine. Shebreh. Sonja. No fourth. Don’t forget to vote!
Ok I’ll embellish this a little. I’ve gotten kind of lazy this time around in terms of covering the local city council election, for a number of reasons. Being in a pandemic is a big one. There are bigger things for me to worry about. And we have for the first time in my memory anyways, a very “likable” and pleasant field of candidates, with only one irrelevant and non notable asshole running. I like having all women running. I like having a lack of surly, aggressive mansplaining assholes pushing ideology over community. I see this race shaking out from the top down, given money spent, endorsements, etc. The incumbents (Watkins and Brown) should each win one of the 4 seats. Shebreh has raised more money than anyone else, and has solid backing. She appears to be headed for the 3rd seat. The 4th seat is basically up for grabs at this point, between Sonja, Kayla, and Kelsey. So most likely scenario (call it my prediction) is “moderates” will win at least 2, maybe 3 seats, and the “progressives” will win at least 1 and maybe 2 seats.
Currently the breakdown going forward looks like this:
- Cummings (Wildcard but leans progressive)
- Meyers: Moderate
- Golder: Moderate
So if the mods take at least 2 seats (and they should with Watkins and Shebreh), that will insure a “mod majority” with or without Mr. Wildcard (Cummings). Which is why I’ll say it again. Martine. Shebreh. Sonja. No fourth. Don’t forget to vote!
Vote Manu for 1st District Supervisor
Ignore all the white noise from mouthy cartoonish social media trolls. Manu is solid. He gets my vote.
Get Your Swagger On!
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15 Responses
The scariest mask, this Halloween, is no mask. That reminds me: Anyone know where I can locally buy a red MAGA cap, for Halloween? Should scare the hell out of anyone (except me). I won’t get one online, since I don’t want the partisans to have my name and address.
Sometimes I wonder if those penny-bailers, particularly the felons trafficing in drugs and guns, are actually being used as investigative decoys. That is, take note of where they go and whom they meet. Maybe they will meet “Tony” and be invited to stay in his stolen RV.
MuyDeplorable,
It also crossed my mind that the felons trafficking in drugs and guns and released for a penny are actually being used as investigative decoys, but the main jail bookings vs admissions don’t show that’s the case. In September, 2020 630 individuals were booked at the jail, only 128 of them were actually housed.
https://7cabd232-d920-4e60-89e4-13a812e90157.filesusr.com/ugd/378c84_6f4a6076cfc544da88959126adc9e004.pdf
In fact, “penny bail” s relatively new. Santa Cruz County has been circumventing bail for years, and releasing persons with a promise to appear (PTA), or on “Sheriff’s Own Recognizance” (SOR). Same type of offenses, but $0 bail.
When the county’s policy is focused on “Justice Alternatives” (ie Turnstile) rather than following law (bail, penal code, etc) they create repeat offenders, an increased need for emergency services (fire, AMR, police…), and a general sense of chaos. At least that’s my take.
Thanks for the details. I don’t recall when or where (other than it was somewhere in SC), a friend opined that there were probation violators on the streets just about anywhere you looked, and the police knew it. The opinion was that if there was anything suspicious happening, the police could swoop in without any need for justification other than picking up the probation violator. And if anything else was going on, so much the better. But I don’t know if that is more than an urban legend. As you noted, the statistics do not point in that direction.
It is best for the kids to not eat Halloween candy. We used to get the big bags from Costco, I would eat some and I would immediately be sick. I am never sick! I am not used to eating that amount of sugar and whatever else is put in those candies. So we stopped and the last two years got old fashioned salt water taffy, the kids loved it, I could eat a little bit and not feel like I was dying. This year we are not doing anything, that is okay too. I am just looking forward to Thanksgiving. I love pumpkin pie!
I was almost passed “sew sew Maria when one of our lovely drug addicts turnstiles types just walked right into traffic mind you I was first at the stop lights witch on ocean and Soquel take forever so me and the car closer the the street had to slam on our breaks With 15-20+ vehicles behind us. Maybe the guy just got let out and was in a hurry to go get drunk,high or both to then have the nerve and energy to go F-up Santa Cruz some more. If I or the car next to me hit and or killed that scum bag our lives would be ruined all because the shity city of Santa Cruz takes care of scum bag criminals more then anything else in this city and if anyone was injured or killed because of that waste of oxogen is just allowed to do anything and everything they want with the opposite of CONSEQUENCE. This is the main reason I hate SC and the SCUM it caters to. And the funny part about this all is just 100 feet up the road were the bridge begins there were about 3-4 scpd vehicles with there lights on doing something I know they heard us blowing our horn at the freaking addict scum bag. This is Santa Cruz.
I’m not as down with the mask thingy as you all, as I don’t think it does that much, we have rotted out our social systems, it gives a false sense of security, and idiots go around walking the streets even dozens if not hundreds of feet away from people in face diapers as if it matters. It will be interesting at the end of the year to see exactly how many extra people have died, what their average age was , exactly how many man years that represents, and compare to the extra suicides, weight gain, and economic damage.
Anyway, I see for the first time possibly in 2 years the council doesn’t have a purely leftist agenda item to bash, so I suppose Oral Communications will have to do. The lack of public involvement in city affairs with this early schedule and zoom meetings is quite apparent. I’ll just have to be satisfied with pointing out the resentment, the ingratitude, the ignorance of what made this country great, how rare in history the USA is, how misplaced and overblown the grievances of the far left are. If everyone of sound mind and traditional American values just took it up one notch in public, all this division would be over. Without E PLURABUS UNUM we are nothing but warring tribes.
I hope you work hard to find credible sources that provide evidence that the “mask thingy” doesn’t work and it isn’t just a hunch you have. Link below to peer reviewed article: https://www.pnas.org/content/117/26/14857
Also, another link that shows information on excessive deaths. Good luck finding credible scientific articles that debunk all of this!
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6942e2.htm
“Overall, an estimated 299,028 excess deaths occurred from late January through October 3, 2020, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to COVID-19. The largest percentage increases were seen among adults aged 25–44 years and among Hispanic or Latino persons”.
Of course any deaths are attributed to Covid, there are less Flu deaths this year for instance. Have you seen the gear virus scientist put on? Not a cloth face mask is it? I can’t get into it here, but I’m always going to say individuals are responsible for their lives more than the government. How many deaths 25-44 is that as a percentage of Covid attributed deaths? not many, a false narrative. We are going to suffer for a very long time more than was necessary. Do you feel the same way about someone who dies of cancer? or old age? Should we do ANYTHING and EVERYTHING to prevent that?
Apparently, a Danish study regarding the efficacy of masks is being censored by the top medical journals. Matter of speculation. Best guess, without leaks, is that the study refutes the efficacy of the cloth masks most of us wear, while confirming the efficacy of high-grade medical masks that we cannot afford. Maybe. That would be consistent with long-ago studies (not extensive) regarding propagation of smallpox. The 6-foot spacing rule seems to relate to the earlier studies. We have an expression,”Say it, don’t spray it.” The “spray it” seems to extend to anbout 6 feet. Simple clothy masks may help reduce the spray from infected persons. But they are unable to stop small particles that can travel long distances, or be carried in HVAC airstreams in buildings. Think Legionairre’s Disease. As long as we are unwilling to consider economic effects, and the deterioration of lifestyle for the healthy versus the end of life for those already sick with other things, there is nothing to discuss. We are not all in this together.
Site the study
Cite, that is. My point was that the study cannot be cited, because the folks who do peer review apparently do not want to review it. If it were bad science. That would be another thing.
If you can’t get into it here then stop trying to spread your dangerous ideas that have 0 backing. It states in the article above, 66% of excess deaths are attributed to COVID-19. From the article: “Excess deaths are defined as the number of persons who have died from all causes, in excess of the expected number of deaths for a given place and time”. You don’t think we should have done more to save these people? You don’t think simply putting on a mask to make the community safer is necessary? You sir should reconsider your thoughts.
We are not all in this together. For example, if I am a surfer, and if 66% of the surfers die (not including me or my buddies), that makes it easier to ride the waves for the rest of us. But if I owned s surfboard shop, that would be a great tragedy.
Nevertheless, the excess deaths numbers seem reputable. The question is, are those deaths representative of the general community, or they mostly confined to the sick and elderly? Or to poor people who just arrived?
This just in: Massive fires in areas where the underbrush has not been cleared for a long time.
Wait lets be clear.
Are you comparing the people who died to the underbrush that got torched in the recent fires?
Yes. But if you recall, the last great flu of 1918 followed a time when millions of young men died for the glory of a few noblemen, who were related to each other. At the time, objection meant prison.