Holden Caulfield said it best: “I’d rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at least human, for God’s sake.” The fact is that some people want a stable relationship, and they feel they can only have one with a horse. Then again, some people take it too far …
Ben Harper’s Blue Side
Undoubtedly there was some head-scratching when the name “Ben Harper and Relentless7” appeared atop the lineup for this year’s Santa Cruz Blues Festival. A man who’s sold millions of records thanks to reggae-inflected acoustic hits like “Burn One Down” and “Jah Work,” Harper is often written off as mellow indie it-boy by old-school rock and blues fans raised on B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Buddy Guy. But those people obviously haven’t heard his newest records.
What’s Next for Cemex?
The Cemex plant on the North Coast is gone, so the question is now what to do with the 10,000 acre property right outside of Davenport. One option is to turn the land into a public trust and recreation area. Even before the plant shut down, the nonprofit Sempervirens Fund of Los Altos offered to buy the vast woodlands surrounding the property. The Sempervirens Fund is dedicated to protecting the forests and other natural features of the Santa Cruz Mountains.
Downtown Businesses Hit Again
They only just finished cleaning up after the May Day riots, but yesterday downtown businesses had to contend with a new episode of vandalism.
Santa Cruz Author Reimagines Holmes’ World
There exist a vast number of Sherlock Holmes pastiches, from Mark Twain’s Double Barrelled Detective Story to the animated series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century. Even so, it’s safe to say that local author Laurie R. King’s novels featuring Mary Russell, protégé and wife of Sherlock Holmes, are among the very finest of these stories.
Watsonville Stabbing Not Gang-Related
The stabbing of a 15-year-old girl in Watsonville High School was boy-related, not gang-related.
Cyclists Whiz by a Quiet UCSC
What was Mike Rotkin so worried about? This isn’t the ’60s. The protest wasn’t for our troops overseas, and money, not lives, were at stake. And yet Rotkin was nervous about having the Amgen Tour pass by the UCSC campus, where students were holding a walk-out to protest rising tuition.
Lessons Learned From The Valdez Disaster
Sometime after midnight on March 24, 1989, I was awakened by a phone call. Within hours I was climbing a rope ladder to the deck of the Exxon Valdez. The grounded tanker would drain 11 million gallons of crude into Alaska’s Prince William Sound. The oil would eventually reach parts of some 1,200 miles of coastline—enough to span California’s coast and Oregon’s, too. Twenty-one years later, oil remains in the beaches of Prince William Sound.
South County Water District Drops Lawsuit Against Agency
South County was awash in warm fuzzies last week with the announcement that the small but pugnacious Pajaro-Sunny Mesa Community Services District had dropped its two lawsuits against the embattled Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency. In a joint statement, PVWMA general manager Mary Bannister said the two parties had “buried the hatchet,” while Pajaro-Sunny Mesa GM Joe Rosa referred to the need to “join hands” with “our friends at PVWMA.”
A Photo Finish for Amgen Race in Santa Cruz
It was a photo finish in Santa Cruz for stage three of the Amgen Tour of California as United States’ David Zabriskie nosed ahead of Australia’s Michael Rogers by mere inches to claim the stage win. Defending TOC champ, Santa Rosa’s Levi Leipheimer came in third, while local favorite Ben Jacques-Maynes of Watsonville finished 38th and cycling legend Lance Armstrong placed 14th among the 58 cyclists who completed the 113-mile race from San Francisco to Santa Cruz. With slideshow and videos.
