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PAJARONIAN Register
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151st Year — No. 14
June 7-13, 2019 For daily news and updates, visit:
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Crime
EDUCATION
Rape, murder suspect captured in Mexico Loza was living in Mexico City, working as day laborer By TODD GUILD OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
SANTA CRUZ — A man suspected of raping two 17-year-old girls and killing one of them in 2003 has been extradited from Mexico, where he has been living since fleeing the U.S. Miguel Ramirez Loza, 43, is facing numerous charges including murder, sexual assault, sodomy, forced oral copulation and torture. He is being held in Santa Cruz County Jail without bail. Santa Cruz County District Loza Attorney Jeff Rosell made the announcement of his arrest at a press conference Thursday. The extradition process was made more difSee LOZA, page A14 Tarmo Hannula/Register-Pajaronian
Court
Above: Daniel Rocha Hernandez gets in the celebratory mood at the commencement ceremony for Pajaro Valley High at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds Thursday. Below: Seniors Mayra Fernandez, Julissa Espindola and Aaron Araiza graduated on Thursday afternoon.
Round of applause
By TODD GUILD OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
As a 7-year-old, Fernandez and her younger sister, Melissa, would tag along with her mother, Maria Zamora, to Cabrillo for night classes. Her mom, at a time undocumented, worked in the fields early in the morning, and spent the rest of her day earning an associate’s d=egree at Cabrillo’s Watsonville location. With her dad, Antonio, spend-
SANTA CRUZ — The Santa Cruz County Public Defenders Office has asked a Superior Court judge be disqualified from hearing one of its cases after the judge was publicly censured last month, and did not reveal the full extent of that censure during an ongoing case. In a filing dated May 27, attorney Jerry Vinluan, who is defending Nino Ruiz on murder charges, stated that Judge Ariadne Symons cannot be trusted to be non-biased after she failed to disclose that she had been sanctioned in a separate case involving the public defender’s office. “Judge Symons’ misleading actions and her false facade of transparency to Mr. Ruiz’s counsel shows that she is absolutely biased towards his counsel,” Vinluan wrote in a court
See GRADS, page A12
See JUDGE, page A12
Grizzlies’ graduates inspired by role models By TONY NUNEZ OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
WATSONVILLE — Mayra Fernandez will soon return to a location that is all too familiar. The Pajaro Valley High School graduating senior will be walking the halls of Cabrillo College in the fall. And while many things have changed since she last visited, her childhood memories of the community college — and the opportunities it provides — have not.
Public defender asks judge to be disqualified
City
City planning changes for Plaza, Ramsay Park By TONY NUNEZ OF THE REGISTER-PAJARONIAN
WATSONVILLE — Watsonville Director of Parks and Community Services Nick Calubaquib strongly believes the City is in the midst of a “recreation renaissance.” The number of people at their events is growing exponentially, community involvement and input has been as strong as ever and the City has had an injection of youth in several important leadership roles — Mayor Francisco Estrada, City Manager Matt Huffaker and Calubaquib are all under 40.
E - EDITION - ON LINE @ www.register-pajaronian.com
“We’ve started to rebuild the [recreation] team and there’s new folks in place to drive the direction a little bit differently,” Calubaquib said. “On top of that, we have a brand new city manager as well, who has a different vision for parks and recreation services than there has been in the past. We have a really energized city council that’s also really supportive and invested in making sure our parks and recreation system is top notch and cutting edge. And I think we have a community that’s ripe and ready for different things as well…I think people are really excited to start looking at
our spaces a little differently.” Among the spaces the City is looking to make changes to: the City Plaza and Ramsay Park. The Parks and Community Services department since January has been holding meetings with community members and conducting surveys at local events to draft master plans for Watsonville’s two historic parks. Currently, there are two proposed design plans for the Plaza and one preferred plan for Ramsay — all three come from Verde Design, Inc. of Santa Clara. See PARKS, page A14
Inside •Advice Columnist A9 •Calendar A2 •Classified B4 •Comics C9 •Crossword C10 •Editorial A6
•Movies •Obituaries •Police Reports •Sports •Arts & Culture •Weather
C3 A4 A5 B1 C1 A14
Tony Nunez/Register-Pajaronian
A group of people gather around the historic bandstand in Watsonville’s City Plaza.
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