While the GOP won the House and key state posts in the rest of the union last Tuesday, California saw its own Tea Party takeover of sorts—albeit one with a Left Coast bent.
Downtown Business Picking Up
There’s good news for Santa Cruz small business owners. Business seems to be picking up, as evidenced by the number of small shops that have recently opened up. Real figures, needed to determine whether the evidence is reliable or anecdotal, are scheduled to be released tomorrow, but Chip-of-one-name, who heads the Downtown Association, says, “We’re starting to see people with bags in their hands.”
Second Assault in Santa Cruz
Yesterday SantaCruz.com reported that a teenage girl was assaulted in Ocean View Park on Saturday. A second attack occurred in Arana Gulch Sunday evening. The victim, an 18-year-old girl, was walking in the area at about 6:30pm when a man approached her from behind with a knife and attempted to attack her. She said that something startled him and he fled into an adjacent wooded area.
Prisoner Takes Advantage of Get Out of Jail Free Card
Antonio Morales is serving time for burglary at the Santa Cruz County Jail. Or at least he was. On Friday, Morales received a pass, allowing him to leave jail to go for a medical appointment. Morales left the jail but never returned.
North Coast Locals Take Action to Save Fish
Pescadero Marsh, at the confluence of Pescadero and Butano creeks, has long been known as a thriving habitat for migratory and native wildlife. That’s all changing, local residents say, and the coho salmon and steelhead trout that spawn there have been disappearing. “The frogs, the snakes and gobies—they’ll come back. But once the fish are gone, they won’t come back. They’re extinct,” one local angler, Steve Simms, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Then there are the red-legged frogs. The largest population in state live there too, and it has been declining rapidly as well.
Teen Assaulted in Ocean View Park
Ocean View Park has long been considered one of the safer places for young people in the city. That’s why a 15-year-old local girl had no qualms going there alone at 6:30am Saturday to enjoy the sunrise. According to police, a stranger approached her and started making lewd comments. He then tried to grab her, but she managed to run off. “This is something I’ve never heard of happening at this park before,” said Scott Guthman, who lives near the park and uses crosses through it frequently to get downtown and to the beach.
Human Remains Found at Pogonip
Yesterday, SantaCruz.com reported on the number of unsolved murders in the county, and how local police are sometimes hard-pressed to identify even the remains of the victims. Now they have another mystery to handle. The badly decomposed remains of a man were found in a remote area of Pogonip yesterday afternoon. Police Spokesman Zach Friend was quick to point out that there were no signs of foul play, and the death may have been the result of a drug overdose. According to him, drugs were found at the scene.
Domestic Violence Calls Up
There’s a rise in domestic violence against women, say officials with Women’s Crisis Support in both Santa Cruz and Watsonville. Laura Segura, executive director of the center, says that calls have increased by 21 percent in the past two years. Segura was reluctant to pin the blame on the recession, but the trend witnessed in the county is repeated elsewhere throughout the nation. Across the country in Rhode Island, for example, felony-level domestic violence has increased by 25 percent.
Police Still Stumped by Homicides
It has been a violent year in Santa Cruz County, with 15 homicides so far—five more than for all of 2009. The problem facing police, however, is not just the number of murders, but the number of murders that are still unsolved. In one extreme case, police are still trying to identify the victim.
Economy, Public Safety Top Voter Priorities
Santa Cruz city residents went to the polls yesterday and put the city on a new path. Incumbent Councilmember Lynn Robinson will be joined by top vote-getter Hilary Bryant and 2008 candidate David Terrazas on the city council. All three support increased economic development for the city, including the encouragement of new businesses. “The economic strength of the city is on everybody’s minds,” said Robinson, explaining that this will help to generate more tax revenue for the cash-strapped city.
