JANUARY 2017 EVERYTHING APTOS, CAPITOLA & SOQUEL Vol. 5 No. 6
APTOS
SOQUEL
Seascape Park upgrades
Monterey Bay League accepts Aptos football
pg. 2
pg. 12
CAPITOLA
Plan revealed to address dental disease in county Staff report APTOS — The Oral Health Access Strategic Plan was released on Dec. 5 to a packed audience at Seascape Golf Club. Oral Health Access Santa Cruz County is a 17-member steering committee comprised of healthcare providers, policy makers and community advocates. The committee has been focused on dental disease in the county for months, using Dientes-commissioned oral health needs assessment to better understand the access problem and determine plans to address it. The study, “Increasing Access to Dental Services for Children and Adults on the Central Coast,” outlined the issue. Of the 80,000 people on Medi-Cal in Santa Cruz County, only 25,000 were able to see the dentist. The needs assessment also revealed that, although dental coverage is required to be made available for children under all health plans, 30.8 percent of children in Santa Cruz County under the age of 11 have never visited a dentist and almost onequarter of all pre-K children have untreated dental decay. Please turn to Page 7
These people enjoy taking sunset photos at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz. Photo by Tarmo Hannula
New law makes holding cell phone while driving illegal
HISTORY CORNER By John Hibble Call: 688-1467 Visit us online: aptoshistory.org
By BEK SABEDRA
Visit the museum: 7605-B Old Dominion Court Aptos, CA
Come Jan. 1, drivers will be required to keep their hands off their phones when behind the wheel. The most recent of laws designed to curb distracted driving by regulating cell phone use, AB 1785
The Ding-Wha comes to Aptos
Back when I was in the Navy, Ding-Wha was a slang name for the telephone, (it goes “ding” then you pick it up and ask “wha?” [what?]). Isn’t trivia (A) fascinating, (B) ridiculous, (C) all of the above? We take telephones for granted today. In fact, we take them with us everywhere. The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876 and within 20 years there were plenty of businesses in Santa Cruz with telephones. It would be over a century before cellular phones became available. The very first telephones were directly connected to another telephone but almost immediately the telephone exchange was invented. Each phone was connected to a switchboard overseen by Please turn to Page 6
modifies current restrictions by making it illegal to hold an electronic device in your hand while operating a vehicle. Instead, drivers who want to use their phone for its navigation features or music will be required to Please turn to Page 7
County mental health official making strides By BEK SABEDRA
Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Director Erik Riera said he was brought into his profession after watching people struggle with mental health issues. Photo by Bek Sabedra
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY — More than three years ago, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Director Erik Riera came to Santa Cruz County aiming to address the vast mental health needs of the community. Since then, a slew of advances have been made, with many more on the way, according to Riera.
“It was striking to me how extraordinary it is that when a problem comes up — people really come together to figure out how to solve it rather than point fingers and say ‘it’s your problem to fix,’” he said. “That’s really why we have been able to advance many of these initiatives.” Riera said he has always had an interest in helping people that was Please turn to Page 9
Inside ...
Inner Light Ministries ........3 Briefs ...............................4-5 Guest columns..................11 Calendar ...........................14 PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID WATSONVILLE, CA PERMIT NO. 23 ******ECRWSSEDDM****** POSTAL CUSTOMER APTOS, CA 95003 CAPITOLA. CA 95010