The Weekly Dump – 7.12.24

Carpe Diem

Sorry I missed last week. It’s been kind of a crazy couple weeks. I have a friend who recently lost her husband about 2 weeks ago. It was shocking and sad news. He was only 57 years old. He was at a point in his life where he should be enjoying life, after working hard for so many years. His death was a complete shock for everyone. He seemed to be in good health. He seemed happy. And one day he’s here, living out the normalcy of his day, when he was rushed to the hospital where he never recovered. My friend is crushed. Her whole life was also turned upside down with no warning, no indications, just a terrible twist of fate. It made me more introspective about my life, and how short and precious life really is. It made me realize that life is too short and precious to go through it being angry. Which can be a challenge. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the stuff in our life that makes us angry, or frustrated, or upset. But that’s not how I want to spend what remaining time I have on this earth. I’m surrounded by stuff that gets me angry. National politics. Local politics. Stupid people. I also realize none of that is what’s really important to me. Family and friends, animals, being kinder, being nicer to people. That’s what’s important to me. The love you take is equal to the love you make. “Paradise” isn’t a place, it’s a frame of mind. One I’m still struggling to find. So seize the day, it might be your last so make the most of it. 

Santa Cruz Deputies Pelted With Fireworks on the 4th of July

I guess it’s all fun and games until they get a personal taste of what the general public has been dealing with for years. This year’s 4th of July got a bit testy out at Pleasure Point after a local crowd of people shooting off and watching illegal fireworks turned on the Santa Cruz Sheriff’s deputies. Literally. As the local crowd turned their fireworks on the deputies and their patrol cars. Hundreds of people were in the crowd when the incident occurred around 10PM. So I’m guessing they had plenty of witnesses? Deputies were parked along East Cliff Drive when the crowd started shooting fireworks at them. For weeks leading up to July 4th (and for days after), people in Santa Cruz launch countless illegal fireworks, turning our town into a war zone at night. All fireworks are “illegal” in Santa Cruz County county. Quotes added for farce factor.

According to a report by the Sheriff’s office, throughout the holiday, deputies conducted 375 beach patrol checks, and issued 30 citations for fireworks or alcohol-related offenses. 30 citations for days of endless fireworks?!? Give me a break. I’m guessing 29 of those citations were for alcohol and not fireworks. Come on Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s department. You’re not even trying here. You’ve failed. You gave up. You get a big fucking F for your “enforcement” here. You got exactly what you deserved. Chaos. Own it. You made it by not having any punishment for this type of bad behavior. When you don’t enforce the law, people don’t take the law seriously. Isn’t that pretty self evident?

UCSC Shuts Down Student Campground Permanently

This week, officials at UC Santa Cruz confirmed that due to significant health and safety concerns, the university is permanently closing down “Camper Park”, a campground used by students as an alternative to living in on-campus housing. The decision came after an extensive safety and sustainability review process and after hearing input from a number of other groups, including Campus Housing, Environmental Health and Safety, and the Fire Marshall’s office. Camper Park residents were also involved in talks with staff regarding the closure. Here’s a thought. Build ACTUAL student housing on this lot and location. 

Cockfighting Ring Busted Above Soquel

Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies busted a cock fighting breeder up in the Santa Cruz mountains this week, after responding to a call about a welfare check. This past Tuesday morning, deputies responded to a welfare check on the 3000 block of Highland Way in the Santa Cruz mountains above Soquel. While in the area, they also discovered an unrelated cockfighting pit. After getting a search warrant, they spent much of the night searching the property. Deputies and animal control officers found approximately 200 roosters during the search. All of the roosters were mutilated for the purpose of attaching knives for cockfighting. They also found 10 firearms in the search. A 40 year old male was arrested at the scene. If there’s one thing I truly hate, it’s people who abuse animals. Stick this animal abusing asshole in a closed room with 200 hungry roosters and let them have their revenge. 

UCSC Student Killed By Drunk Driver on Mission Street

Last week,  a 22 year old UCSC student was killed on Mission Street after being hit by a drunk driver. Around 3:30am on July 3rd, the male student was reportedly in the street on Mission near Laurel Street when he was struck by a passing car. The victim was taken to a trauma center where he later died of his injuries. A 61 year old Santa Cruz man was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving. Like I said at the top of this page, life is short and can end quickly without warning. 22 years old and his life is over before it ever really began. Just really sad. Don’t drink and drive. It’s not worth the risk, or the mental stigma of killing someone because you were driving drunk. 

Jeepers Creepers

This was part of last week’s “missing week” column. A 42 year old math teacher at Pacific Collegiate School is facing a number of attempted statutory rape charges after being arrested by Santa Cruz Police last Friday. According to police reports, the man had arranged to meet the student off-campus to engage in lewd acts with a 17 year old student. The charges include felonies related to communicating with a minor for a lewd act, attempted unlawful sexual intercourse, meeting a minor for lewd purposes, and a misdemeanor charge for child molestation. His bail was set at $30K and he posted bail and is out of jail. Police say that PCS are cooperating with the investigation.

Free Lunch For the Kids!

This week, it was announced that Santa Cruz City Schools will be offering free meals to all students for the 2024-2025 academic school year. As part of the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs, the school district is offering all students a free breakfast and lunch, regardless of household income. The program will provide free meals at Bayview, Gault, Westlake, Delaveaga and Monarch Elementary Schools, Mission Hill and Branciforte Middle Schools, Santa Cruz, Harbor, Soquel and Costanoa High Schools, and Delta School, AFE and Ark Independent Studies.

Local Serial Killer Denied Parole Yet Again

This week, notorious local serial killer Edmund Kemper was denied parole at a parole hearing at the California Medical Facility state prison in Vacaville. It was the 12th time he has been denied for parole since his conviction on eight counts of first degree murder in 1973. Now 75 years old and in poor health and confined to a wheelchair, Kemper refused to attend the hearing. A psychiatric evaluation earlier this year ranked him as having a high risk to reoffend. Santa Cruz district attorney Jeff Rosell was at the hearing and testified against his release. Between May 1972 and April 1973, Kemper murdered seven women, as well as a 15 year old girl while he lived in Santa Cruz County. The murders of the victims involved corpse mutilation, decapitation and necrophilia. When he was 15, Kemper shot and killed both of his grandparents. He was sent to a maximum security psychiatric hospital, but was released in the care of his mother on his 21st birthday. Two years later he went on his murder spree. The hell with this guy. He can rot away in jail for the rest of his miserable life. I’m striving to be kind and nice here, but not to serial killers. 

The Community Speaks!

Back with the Question of the Week!

“How do you stay cool in a heatwave?”

“Heat? We live next to the ocean. Never hot here compared to over the hill!!”
-Mike

“Take a cold shower on repeat as needed.”
-Debbie

“My downstairs stays super cool no matter how hot. So I don’t leave home when it’s too hot. I wish I had a pool though”
-Magdalena

“Ice tea on the patio”
-Carol

“Bro, I was born cool!”
-Damon

“Freeze water in soda bottles then put in front of a fan”
-Nancy

“Shade, cold showers before bed, ice cubes and popsicle”
-Beth

You can read all the comments here!

The Weekly Seen

Pour one out for DJ’s Mini Mart. I’m sure many have been poured out in that parking lot. Soon to be replaced by this monstrosity. 

In My Ear

It’s wake up time!

Tom Petty – Wake Up Time

New Santa Mierda YouTube Channel!

I started a new YouTube channel for the Weekly Dump. It will host all my videos going forward. I’ll also put the podcast over there too if I can ever get that going. Go check out some videos if you haven’t seen them yet, and thank you to all the subscribers! (you can subscribe over there)

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