On Saturday, Take Back Santa Cruz, Save Our Shores and the Friends of Lighthouse Field will be launching a major cleanup campaign at Lighthouse Field. The 36-acre landmark has been seeing an increase in drug dealing, littering and illegal camping since 2007, the year that the city gave up its lease to the site and it reverted to State Park control. Given the current budget crisis facing California, the Parks Department is hard-pressed to provide the necessary protection for the area. According to Take Back Santa Cruz, “Whenever you pull the community out of an area, then this illegal activity is going to flourish.”
Articles by Danny Wool
Sureno Gang Drug Dealer Busted
Paul Matthew Garcia, 20, was arrested in his home in Rio del Mar after federal agents and local gang investigators raided his house.
The Blue Whales Are Here
Once in a blue moon. That’s one way to describe how rare the event was. Whale watchers in Monterey Bay had a chance to see not one, not two, not three, but 28 blue whales frolicking in the waters of the bay, along with a pod of humpback whales. It’s a sight that’s seldom seen. At 100 feet in length, blue whales are not only the largest animal that ever lived. They are also one of the rarest, with only 10,000 surviving across the planet today compared to over half a million just a few decades ago. Blue whale hunting was only banned by the International Whaling Commission in the 1960s, and halted by the Soviet Union in the 1970s. By then, the population in the Southern Ocean had been reduced to just 0.15 percent of its initial numbers.
Loads of Trash on Beaches, Post-Fourth
What did you do on Monday? If you live near one of Santa Cruz’s beaches, chances are you were combing the sand and collecting several hundred pounds of garbage left behind from the Independence Day festivities. Within two hours volunteer cleanup crews with Save Our Shores and the Clean Oceans Project had collected as much as 300 pounds of garbage at Seabright Beach alone. Much of it was plastic, which would otherwise have ended up in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. But there were also remains of fireworks, which fish could easily mistake for kelp.
Second Amendment Case Surrounds BB Gun
Barbara Saldinger, 47, is a medical doctor with a degree from Stanford who raises horses as a hobby. She is also at the center of a major gun rights case. Ironically, the only gun she’s ever owned is a BB gun.
Sleeping as an Act of Protest
For 40 years Santa Cruz has enforced a ban against sleeping in public places between the hours of 11pm and 8:30am. With more and more people out on the street, the sleeping ban is coming under fire. For two days, homeless activists and their supporters have been holding a sleep-out outside the county courthouse.
Bike Robber Arrested
Police got a clear photo of the environmentally conscious bank robber who robbed a Westside branch of the Comerica Bank on Monday and fled on his bicycle. They were able to identify him as Kent Lee Maxon, 44, and link him to a string of robberies, including banks in San Jose and Saratoga. In each robbery, he had the same modus operandi—he walked up to the teller, said he had a gun, took, the money, and fled by bike.
Local Chef Arrested on Child Porn Charges
Giovani diMaio was a local treasure for connoisseurs of fine Italian cuisine. The chef at the original Cafe Bella Napoli went on to found Limoncello, known for its limoncello liqueur-saturated frozen dessert. On Thursday diMaio found himself feasting on prison food after he was booked in the Santa Cruz County Jail. The chef was charged with possession of kiddie porn.
Grant Approved for SC Branch Line Purchase
At its meeting on Wednesday, the California Transportation Commission approved a $10.2 million grant to enable the acquisition of the rail line from Watsonville to Davenport. The decision came just in time. Proposition 116 funds were set to expire by the day’s end.
Local Anarchists Won’t Prosecute Rip-Off
“Crimes against property are driven by poverty and desperation.” It’s a fairly standard anarchist mantra, but what happens when the crimes against property are crimes against anarchist property? Police found out on Wednesday, when the burglar alarm went off at the SubRosa Café in Santa Cruz.
