Aptos Times: July 1, 2023

Ready to Ring That Bell

Cabrillo Stage Wrapping Up Preparation for The Hunchback of Notre Dame

By Mindy Pedlar

The sitzprobe (Theatre lingo for the first rehearsal with the full orchestra and cast, where the focus is entirely on the music and singing) is always exciting. This production of Hunchback includes the additional layer of a 24 voice choir expertly coached by Choir Director Cheryl Anderson.

The resultant sound is simply magnificent. The excitement from everyone is palpable. After months of working in separate rooms, we finally hear and see the product of the combined work of over 100 people, on and off stage. ... continues on page 4

Wonders of the Sea

Marc Shargel, award-winning nature photographer, marine conservationist and author of the three-volumes of Wonders of the Sea coffee-table books, will give an illustrated presentation featuring local marine life and drastic changes in ecology at Scotts Valley Library from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 8.

Full Story page 11

County Mental Health Underfunded, Understaffed Full Story page 22

UCSC Farm Robotics Win

On the UC Santa Cruz farm, a small self-driving tractor navigates itself over a line of broccoli, avoiding the crops while removing the weeds that may interfere with their growth.

Full Story page 5

Patrice Edwards

Jondi Gumz

COVER STORY

publisher

editor

contributing writers

Mindy Pedlar, Emily Cerf, Jondi Gumz, Jo Ann Allen, Risa D’Angeles, Kyle Smith, Christopher Elliott, Rebecca Gold Rubin, Zach Friend

layout

Michael Oppenheimer graphic artists

Michael Oppenheimer

production coordinator

Camisa Composti

media consultants

Teri Huckobey, Brooke Valentine

office coordinator

Cathe Race distribution

Bill Pooley, Taylor Brougham

“Hunchback of Notre Dame” from page 1

Set Designer Skip Epperson and Technical Director Marcel Tjioe have created and built a set that encompasses the majestic backdrop of Paris and the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It spans three stories and boasts beautiful hand crafted bells. While still unfinished, this backdrop sets the scene for our rehearsal.

The actors have been fitted with microphones. The orchestra members tune in the pit. Sound Designer Skyler Kirby adjusts the speakers, and the actors and singers sit onstage giving Musical Director/Conductor Michael McGushin their undivided attention. The incomparable McGushin asks the singers to rise, raises his baton, and begins. Over the next few hours, he leads the musicians and singers through the show from the Prologue that begins with the ringing of the bells of Notre Dame, to the Finale Ultimo with its wall of glorious sound!

At the close of rehearsal, every talented artist leaves the theatre satisfied and uplifted. Each anticipating the thrill of sharing this magical show with audiences.

epic production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. It will entertain, inspire and tug at your heartstrings. July 6 through July 30. Run time with intermission approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes. All performances are in the Cabrillo Crocker Theater on the Cabrillo College

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•••

Special Opening Night Discount $10.00 off adult and senior tickets Friday, July 7 with the promo code TheBells. Tickets available online at cabrillostage.com. Box Office now open for phone & walk in sales, ThursdaySaturdays 12pm-6pm, 831-479-6154. Flash discount Friday, July 14, 2 tickets for the price of 1, promo code DateNight14. $20 student rush tickets available at the box office 15 minutes before curtain (excludes Sunday matinees) Group discounts for 10 or more available on the website.

•••

Hunchback of Notre Dame” rehearses for Cabrillo Stage this summer.

Cover Photo: Juan Castro as Quasimodo is surrounded by his gargoyle and statue friends as ”The

Michael Oppenheimer, Camisa Composti

Michael Oppenheimer website

photography

Michael J. Mc Gushin (right) conducting the cast, choir and orchestra of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Choir Director Cheryl Anderson (bottom right) watches Michael J. Mc Gushin conduct the cast, choir and orchestra of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

UCSC Farm Robotics Win

By Emily Cerf

On the UC Santa Cruz farm, a small self-driving tractor navigates itself over a line of broccoli, avoiding the crops while removing the weeds that may interfere with their growth.

This autonomous weeder is the work of a team of students co-advised by Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dejan Milutinovic and Executive Director at the UCSC Center for Agroecology Darryl Wong, and has been recently recognized with the Small Farm prize at the inaugural Farm Robotics Challenge.

Members of the “Electrified Slugs” team Joshua Gamlen (computer engineering), Katherine Rogacheva (robotics engineering), Mauricio Chavez (agroecology), and Oliver Fuchs (robotics engineering) collaborated to create their submission for the Farm Robotics Challenge, a competition which presents students with real-life farm automation scenarios for them to gain practical experience with robotics in agriculture.

“This project is really exciting because it’s bridging what sometimes can feel like really distinct worlds,” Wong said. “It speaks to the strength of UC Santa Cruz and how it approaches Ag Tech, that we can have these conversations that seemingly come from different worlds, but do a really good job to inform and support each other.”

Nineteen student teams from 12 universities across the country participated in the challenge, and all teams had access to small electric tractors from Farm-ng, a Watsonville robotics hardware and software startup founded by Ethan Rublee, upon which they had to build their solutions.

The Electrified Slug’s project focused on the development of the autonomous navigation software to allow the electric tractor to safely and efficiently weed plant lines on small, diversified organic farms, using the UCSC farm as a model for this problem. They chose this project focus after identifying labor costs and weeding as two

of the biggest challenges facing local organic growers in California.

Hand weeding and stooping can contribute to significant musculoskeletal issues for farmers and farm workers in organic systems.

“Robotics” page 7

Come see the new Style Line black vinyl window on display

UC Santa Cruz Farm Robotics Team (from left): From left, row 1: Darryl Wong; row 2, Joshua Gamlen, Mauricio Chavez, and Katherine Rogacheva; row 3, Oliver Fuchs, Dejan Milutinovic.

The Amiga

Joby Aviation: New HQ & 1,500 Employees

By Jondi Gumz

From an idea to a startup to 1,500 employees with the headquarters in Santa Cruz – that’s the story of JoeBen Bevirt, co-founder of Joby Aviation, the company that promises to deliver electric air taxis that could eliminate highway congestion.

On June 5, the Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce hosted a grand opening for Joby Aviation at 345 Encinal St., Santa Cruz, formerly home to Plantronics, famous for creating headsets for astronauts and then cornering the headset market.

Juliane Farrand, Joby Aviation’s head of people, called it “our dream location.”

Joby Aviation bought the property, where the buildings date to 1959, last November for $25.5 million.

More than 100 guests showed up including Bruce Delgado, mayor of Marina, where Joby Aviation is developing a world-class manufacturing facility with the help of Latina seamstresses who fabricate parts of the vehicle.

Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley pointed out Bevirt’s parents, Ron and Paula, owned the Hip Pocket Books, the predecessor to Bookshop Santa Cruz.

Keeley is grateful that Bevirt, who grew up off the grid north of Davenport

and went to Stanford, “opted to stay home with this brilliant idea.”

The mayor predicted, “It’s going to be game-changing.”

He declared June 5 as Joby Aviation Day. Hiring is ongoing for this audacious undertaking.

“We’re more than 1,500 people around the world,” Bevirt said. “It’s really special for us to inherit this facility … We hope to be able to do our part.”

“Joby Aviation” page 8

Joby Aviation T-shirts add to the ambiance of the new HQ.

The ribbon cutting with Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley next to Joby Aviation founder JoeBen Bevirt.

Settlement Resolves Allegations of Fraud

On June 21, Attorney General Rob Bonta, with the U.S. Department of Justice, announced a $3.8 million settlement with a Riverside skilled nursing facility, Alta Vista Healthcare & Wellness Centre and its management company, Rockport Healthcare Services, to resolve allegations of Medi-Cal fraud.

The defendants are accused of violating the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, as well as the California False Claims Act, by paying illegal kickbacks to doctors to encourage them to refer Medicaid and Medi-Cal patients to Alta Vista.

As part of this settlement, the United States will receive $2.8 million and California will receive $596,700, based on the proportion of losses to state and federal funds.

The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.

“Decisions that affect patient health should be made solely on the basis of a patient’s best interest,” said Bonta. “When a healthcare company cheats and offers kickbacks to gain an unfair advantage, it jeopardizes the health and well-being of those who rely on its services. These illegal schemes also make public services and programs costlier, and ultimately waste valuable taxpayer dollars. Today, I thank the U.S. Department of Justice for teaming up with the California Department of Justice on this case. This settlement demonstrates our commitment to protecting the integrity of Medi-Cal, and the taxpayer dollars that support the program.”

“Kickbacks can impair the independence of physician decision-making and waste taxpayer dollars,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General

Brian M. Boynton, head of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Division

The settlement is a result of an investigation by the California Department of Justice’s Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse (DMFEA), the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the U.S. Department of Justice.

Investigators found evidence that from January 2009 through December 2019, Rockport and Alta Vista paid illegal kickbacks, in the form of cash, gifts, and salaries, to certain Riverside-area doctors to induce them to refer Medi-Cal and Medicare beneficiaries to Alta Vista, in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.

These referrals resulted in millions of dollars in Medicare and Medi-Cal reimbursement to Alta Vista and Rockport.

Inducing or rewarding doctors to steer or refer Medi-Cal and Medicare patients is unlawful under both California and

federal law because it can lead to over-use of publicly-funded health care services, increased costs for public programs, corruption in medical decision-making, and unfair competition.

DMFEA protects Californians by investigating and prosecuting those who defraud the Medi-Cal program as well as those who commit elder abuse. These settlements are made possible only through the coordination and collaboration of governmental agencies, as well as the critical help from whistleblowers who report incidences of abuse or Medi-Cal fraud at oag. ca.gov/dmfea/reporting

DMFEA receives 75% of its funding from HHS under a grant award totaling $53,792,132 for federal fiscal year 20222023. The remaining 25% is funded by the State of California. The federal fiscal year is defined as through Sept. 30, 2023. n

A copy of the settlement agreement is at https://tinyurl.com/doc-kikbak-settle-2023.

“Robotics” from page 5

To develop their solution, Milutinovic and his students used feedback control navigation, which is based on an original nonlinear mathematical model for relative motion between the tractor’s weeding tools and a plant line.

They implemented the navigation on the Farm-ng tractor’s onboard computer and created a user interface which allowed the navigation to use visual information from the tractor-mounted camera.

Users have the flexibility to mount the camera at a desired position to see the tractor tools and to identify plants without much calibration or intervention. Importantly, this vision-based navigation can uniquely function across a wide range of crops as would be found on a diversified organic farm, a distinct difference from larger monocrop operations.

“At this point we are pushing the envelope of what is possible in food production,” Milutinovic said. “And it’s not naive since we have to deal with uncertainties of operations on real farms. Robotics have decades of development, but we are just now in the position to get these robots outdoors and do some real stuff. That’s really exciting.”

The team is also working with ALBA, a local nonprofit that provides land-based, organic farm management training to lowincome field workers to help them pursue their goals of farm ownership. Over the summer, the team will continue to work

with farmers in the ALBA program to conduct semi-structured interviews about the technology and how these specific growers view the potential and challenges to guide further development. This portion of the project will be led by environmental studies graduate student Summer Sullivan and Maurico Chavez.

“The part of this project that feels most exciting is making sure we’re approaching this nascent and potentially really disruptive form of innovation with a lens of inclusive and responsible innovation, to account for what we know are the harmful things that have happened historically during the process of these innovation cycles,” Wong said. “We’re engaging in these conversations about why it is important that we understand how we frame innovation, and what we’re trying to innovate toward — is it really just about efficiency or is it about people in the communities who are growing this food?”

The project has garnered enthusiasm for socially-impactful agricultural technology among students, both those on the team and those who work on the farm and have watched the tractor’s development. Several students from the team have accepted internships or full-time positions in related fields, and both advisors noted that students not involved in the project were curious to learn more about the tractor and the team’s work.

All teams in the competition, which

included many of the traditional powerhouse agriculture schools, were judged on multiple criteria including design elegance and ease of use, interdisciplinary inclusion, and societal and economic impact.

The competition was put on by AI Institute for Next Gen Food Systems, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources VINE, Fresno-Merced Future of Food Innovation, and Farm-ng.

With their win of the Small Farm prize, the team received $5,000 and a trip to Salinas in September to present at FIRA

USA, a networking and demo event for autonomous farming and agricultural robotics solutions. This research has been supported by a $40,000 CITRIS Campus Seed Funding and additional private gift funding. n

Editor’s note: Farm-ng’s Amiga electric tractor costs $12,990 at farm-ng.com. The Amiga is already used by Jacobs Del Cabo for the production of organic vegetables and culinary herbs, reducing manual labor for seeding, compost spreading, cultivating and hauling materials around the farm.

New CASA Advocates for Foster Children

On June 8, Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Timothy Schmal swore in 14 community members as Court Appointed Special Advocates for children in foster care. All completed the CASA 35-hour training program.

CASA of Santa Cruz County recruits, trains, and supervises volunteer Advocates who are matched one on one with a child in the county’s dependency (foster care) court system advocating for them the entire time they have a case open with the Court. As officers of the Court, CASA volunteers ensure the children’s needs are recognized and their best interests are considered in the courtroom, school, and in the community.

Although there is a great need for bilingual and male volunteers, people from all cultures and professions and of all ethnic and educational backgrounds are encouraged to learn more. n

For information on how to become a CASA volunteer Advocate, contact Clarita Cortes at (831) 761-2956, ext. 102, or visit www.casaofsantacruz.org/volunteer

CASA Director Lynne Petrovic Appointed to Leadership Council

Lynne Petrovic, executive director of CASA of Santa Cruz County, has been appointed to the Leadership Council of the National Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Association for Children.

Serving a two-year term, Petrovic, along with leaders from across the nation, will play a role in voicing the needs of 893 local programs in the National CASA network.

In 2021, the CASA network, with its 97,920 volunteers, served more than 242,176 children who have

“Joby Aviation” from page 6

The technology the company uses is called EVTOL, which stands for Electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing Vehicle. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it. Joby Aviation is gearing up to launch the ride-sharing air taxi service in 2024. n

Photos Credit: Jondi Gumz

•••

RIGHT: Eric Bayona in the former Plantronics building, which showcase photos of the new electric taxi and a wall of signatures of Koby Aviation employees.

LOWER RIGHT: A large crowd attends the grand opening of Joby Aviation.

BELOW: JoeBen Bevirt’s parent Ron and Paula, attend the grand opening in Joby Aviation logo jackets.

experienced abuse or neglect. With more than 391,000 children entering foster care on any given day, the leadership council will focus on the mission of serving children through best-interest advocacy.

“We are so excited and grateful to have Lynne providing her insight and expertise as we strive to move our mission forward on behalf of all children who have experienced abuse or neglect,” said National CASA Chief Executive Officer Tara Lisa Perry.

Petrovic became executive director of CASA of Santa Cruz County in August 2018. She had been a member of

the Santa Cruz County Child Abuse Prevention Council. Previously, she was director of Apiranet, and has many years of nonprofit experience working with children in dependency care. She has a master’s in social work from Rutgers University and is a graduate of New York University with a focus in psychology.

“I am honored to be appointed to this important national role,” said Petrovic. “I’m looking forward to bringing our successes and challenges to a network that makes us stronger as we strengthen our work across the nation.” n

Jobs in Santa Cruz County

•••

Unemployment in Santa Cruz County at 5.7% is down from April, when it was 6% but up from a year ago, when it was 4.1%.

Rains and flooding in March took a toll on the ag sector, with 600 jobs lost, compared to a year ago.

Private education and health services had the biggest gain, followed by leisure and hospitality, with seasonal increases.

The labor force at 135,700 was bigger than in April and there were 300 fewer unemployed people.

600

110,400 Up 1,800

Labor force 135,700 Up 1.0%

Employment* 127,900 Down .7%

Unemployment 7,800 Up 41.8%

Unemployment rate 5.7% 4.1%

Count is on the 12th of the month

*Includes commuters out of the county

Source: California Employment Development Department

The city of Capitola has been recruiting an account clerk. Gayle Bakery & Rosticceria needs experienced retail staff. Safe at Home Senior Care needs a front desk receptionist.

Kohl’s is recruiting a store manager. Bay Federal Credit Union is recruiting a vice president of risk management.

Trader Joe’s needs crew for the evening shift.

During the pandemic in 2020, unemployment hovered around 17% in 2020, fueled by state restrictions. n

Susan Groth, Cassidy Carrico Ellis, Cheryl Ellebracht, Cynthia Alcantara, David Loustalot, Diane O’Rourke, Elena Butler, Ellen Guthrie, Evelyn Chavez, Julia Feldman, Felipe Hernandez, Reyna Ruiz, Evelyn Chavez, Malissa Kaping, and McCall Stone with Judge Timothy Schmal.

Lynne Petrovic

Youth Resource Bank Meeting the Needs of Our Children

By Jo Ann Allen

The Santa Cruz County Youth Resource Bank gathered at the beautiful outdoor courtyard of Bargetto Winery on a sunny Saturday afternoon in late spring for their annual fundraiser.

Guests received a complimentary YRB logo glass, a beverage of their choosing, and grazed on a large assortment of charcuterie catered by Carla Martinez of The Wild Bite. Musical entertainment was provided by the ever-popular local duo Ripatti & Rose along with special guest youth performers, Leilani Winkler, and Ronan Mai.

Sen. John Laird’s office presented the Youth Resource Bank with a recognition certificate for supporting the needs of children and youth in Santa Cruz County.

The Youth Resource Bank Honorable Thomas Black award was presented to Nathan Benjamin of Benjamin/Leibrock Law for his 20 years of service with the YRB.

More than 125 guests mixed and mingled while bidding on 75 silent auction packages and eight live auction items that included a sail on the Chardonnay, an African photo safari, a condo in Maui, accommodations in Lake Tahoe, a private evening of candy-making at Marini’s at the Beach and so much more.

Guests who were not winners of an auction item opened their hearts to the numerous stories shared throughout the afternoon and became angel donors with cash contributions.

Thanks to our sponsors, auction donors, and attendees, we raised over $30,000, of which 98.99% goes directly to meet the needs of Santa Cruz County’s children and youth.

The Santa Cruz County Youth Resource Bank is a 501c 3 nonprofit all-volunteer organization working with professionals in our community (social workers, teachers, and public health nurses) to meet the needs of vulnerable children and youth in Santa Cruz County.

Since its incorporation in 1988, YRB has provided funding and items such as backpacks, sports equipment, school supplies, clothing, and so much more.

YRB believes that small things can make a big difference in the life of a child.

YRB accepts requests from organizations and professionals working in the community with vulnerable children and youth, including teachers, public health nurses, social workers, and juvenile counselors. These are the people who understand the patchwork of programs and systems, and who know when a child has fallen between the cracks and needs a little help without red tape.

Because of our network of referrals, the YRB serves many children and young adults not covered by various systems and agencies.

YRB does not accept requests from the public.

When a request is received, it is quickly reviewed and if the request meets basic requirements (assistance to a child in a situation in which there are no other immediately available resources, typically up to $250 per child), YRB fills the request with, for example, a check to a science camp or gym fee, a Ross or Safeway gift card — providing a quick and specific response to an acute need.

It is through the generosity of the following sponsors and hundreds of community members and businesses donating auction items to our annual fundraiser that enabled us to meet the resource needs of 240 children and youth.

We anticipate these numbers will increase over the next few years as our local families continue to face uncertainties in the ever-changing landscape

of manmade and natural calamities of the modern world.

Heartfelt thanks go to the generosity of the following sponsors: • Bay Federal Credit Union • Capitola Candy Company • Community Printers • Indigo Beach Properties • Kiwanis International • Law Office of Benjamin/Leibrock • Mateo Family Foundation in Memory of Honorable Thomas Black • Monterey Bay Resources, Inc. • Paul B. Meltzer • Ramsey Lath and Plaster, Inc. • Santa Cruz Memorial • Santa Cruz Skateboards (NHS) • Tharen Miller.

If you would like to learn more about the Youth Resources Bank, donate, became a Board member, or volunteer at our events, please check out our website and follow us on: Facebook https://www.facebook.com/youth. resource.bank.sc or Instagram https://www. instagram.com/youth.resource.bank.sc/ n

If you missed the 2023 event, next year’s will be at Bargetto Winery on Saturday April 27, 2024. We hope to see you there! It is the power of community that makes a difference in a child’s life.

Plenty of Free Customer Parking

Wilder Associates Inc.

Property Management Specialists 662-0291

Kumon Math & Reading Center

Learning for the Long Run 508-8200

Village Liquors

For All Your Beverage Needs 688-5691

Joy of Movement

Pilates & Gyrotonic®

More Zest for Life 688-8077

Epicenter Cycling

Trek Bicycles for All Types of Riders 662-8100

Dentistry for Animals

Dr. Judy Force, DVM 768-7148

CQENS

International Inhalation Market

www.cqens.com

Former YRB board member Nathan Benjamin (center) receiving the Thomas Black Award for 20 years of service to youth, with YRB Chair Cameron Logan (right) and board member Jim Tracey.

Musical Duo Ripatti and Rose.

YRB board member and Media/Marketing Chair Salvador Allen with the banner he designed.

Nyland Ranch, 540 Acres, Protected with Amah Mutsun Access

In 2017, developers eyed the 540-acre Nyland Ranch in San Benito County, proposing a luxury hotel and even a Formula One racetrack.

Harvey Nyland, the three-time county sheriff who had inherited the ranch from his father, had died in 2008 after battling Lewy Body Dementia. His widow Gladys, a gifted piano player, legendary baker and consummate hostess, was 82.

That development never happened because the Trust for Public Land negotiated to buy the property for $4.4 million in 2021, a year after Gladys died, protecting the oak-studded vistas near San Juan Batista.

The property had been owned by the family for more than 75 years, but of course, centuries before, the land was home to the Amah Mutsun tribe.

On June 20, Trust for Public Land along with the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust, the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, and the Amah Mutsun Land Trust announced the permanent protection and conservation of the historic Harvey and Gladys Nyland property.

The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County purchased the agricultural conservation easement for $1.8 million prior to the property being transferred to the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust subject to an Indigenous cultural conservation easement.

This announcement represents the long-time vision for the property.

“Conservation opportunities like this are rare and could not be done without partners,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, California state director with Trust for Public Land. “We are incredibly proud to work with local land trusts to design and deliver a multi-benefit conservation outcome that ensures the natural health and indigenous, historic and agricultural heritage of this property are preserved for future generations to enjoy.”

The Nyland Property is located across Highway 156 from San Juan Bautista. Here the grasslands, wetlands, and seasonal streams supported the indigenous Amah Mutsun people for thousands of years, before they were taken to Mission San Juan Bautista and Mission Santa Cruz as part of the Spanish conquest of California.

The property, currently leased for cattle grazing by 101 Equipment Co. and once the site of a land grant era 40-room adobe, provides a scenic western gateway to San Juan Bautista and San Benito County.

“Permanent conservation of the ranch will ensure this land can support viable grazing operations that contribute to our local economy, feed people, and protect our scenic views,” said Lynn Overtree, executive director of the San Benito Agricultural Land Trust. “We are excited about owning these 540 acres, which are adjacent to the 520-acre Rancho Larios Open Space that we have owned since 2004. Together with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County’s Rocks Ranch, there is a chain of protected working lands from the San Juan Road exit of Hwy 101 to the City of San Juan Bautista. We are honored to continue the Nyland family’s loving stewardship legacy.”

First Sunday Ranch Days

On the first Sunday of every month, members of the public are invited to join San Benito Agricultural Land Trust staff for a work party and or hike on their land.

San Benito County lacks the public park systems that are common throughout the greater San Francisco Bay area. The extensive open spaces in the county are generally privately-owned ranches without public access.

The San Benito Agricultural Land Trust calls their monthly events “Ranch Days” in recognition of the need to provide county residents access, and with it, a window to understand the importance of the working cattle ranches that are the foundation of the local agricultural economy and scenic beauty.

A unique intentional outcome of this project is not only protecting grazing land but establishing a framework through a cultural easement for the Amah Mutsun people to return to their lands.

The cultural easement will provide the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band special access to the property for cultural, spiritual, and ceremonial traditions. Their guidance will also facilitate restoration, conservation, and stewardship of the lands and waters using traditional and contemporary indigenous knowledge and methods.

“The Amah Mutsun people have lived in Popoloutchum, which is now recognized as San Benito County and beyond for millennia,” said Valentin Lopez, president of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust and chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. “Our ancestors worked to fulfill their sacred obligation to take care of Mother Earth and all living things for thousands of years. Today we are happy to return to Popoloutchum through this Cultural Easement. This easement will ensure this land remains undeveloped and intact. We hope to share our traditional indigenous knowledge and practices regarding land management with our partners and the public so we can all learn from each other.”

Responding to the imminent sale, Trust for Public Land, with support from Wildlife Conservation Network and donors, stepped in to buy the property, providing time for local land trusts to work together to complete fundraising that ensures permanent protection and stewardship of the land.

The three local land trusts worked together to raise the funding to buy the property from TPL and will collaborate on an ongoing basis to steward and maintain its conservation and cultural values.

“The partnership between our organizations is what makes this project so

exceptional,” said Sarah Newkirk, executive director of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. “This property is important for so many different reasons – wildlife connectivity, agriculture, and cultural history and practice. We all bring something unique to the table, and our collaboration is what will make this conservation project a success.”

An array of native plants and wildlife can be found on the ranch, as well as a historic barn. Besides providing valuable wildlife habitat, the property contributes to an important regional wildlife corridor linking the Gabilan Mountains to the Santa Cruz Mountains a few miles to the north.

“California is changing rapidly, so protecting open space for people and wildlife is more important than ever. Conserving the Nyland property is an important milestone that demonstrates how people are working creatively together to safeguard wildlife and ecosystem health,” noted Neal Sharma, senior manager, California Wildlife Program of the Wildlife Conservation Network.

The Nyland property supports native habitat for raptors, migratory birds, and waterfowl along with mountain lion, grey fox, and bobcat. Several rare species live there including tri-colored blackbirds, American badger, and Western pond turtle.

Protecting this property from development aligns with California’s ambitious climate goals and “30 x 30” initiative that calls for the protection of 30% of the state’s land and coastal waters by the year 2030.

“Conserving and restoring this historic property to protected open space can help mitigate impacts from a rising climate, by sequestering carbon in area wetlands and providing habitat for several endangered and threatened species and native plants, all while allowing managed public access and providing a cultural easement that honors the land and Amah Mutsun people who have called this home since time immemorial,” said TPL’s Guillermo Rodriguez.

Funds for the Harvey and Gladys Nyland Property’s closing were made available through the California Strategic Growth Council’s Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program in collaboration with the Department of Conservation. SALC is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment. n

Photo Credit: John Nyland

The 540-acre Nyland Ranch will be preserved for cattle ranching and wildlife with access by the Amah Mutsun people.

Wonders of the Sea

Marc Shargel, award-winning nature photographer, marine conservationist and author of the three-volumes of Wonders of the Sea coffee-table books, will give an illustrated presentation featuring local marine life and drastic changes in ecology at Scotts

Valley Library from 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, July 8.

This family-friendly event is free. Refreshments provided by the Friends of the Scotts Valley Library.

Shargel’s photos will be on view at the library July 1 thru Sept. 26. Scotts Valley Library is located at 251 Kings Village Road. n

Photos courtesy of Marc Shargel, d.b.a. Living Sea Images

Photo Presentation by Marc Shargel at Scotts Valley Library

Marc Shargel

Dr. Lisa Hernandez to Return as County Health Officer

Dr. Lisa Hernandez, who was Santa Cruz County health officer from 2013 to 2016, will return to that position

July 5 succeeding Dr. Gail Newel, pending approval by the Board of Supervisors.

Dr. Hernandez, who has 25 years of experience in medicine and public health, comes to Santa Cruz County from Berkeley where she was public health officer, leading the city’s pandemic response.

“I have great affection for Santa Cruz County and its residents,” said Hernandez. “I look forward to working with the community to improve the health and wellness of all County residents.”

She is bilingual and bicultural and the proud mother of two college-aged children. She and her husband are enjoying their newfound empty nest status.

Hernandez advocates for data-driven solutions to address population-level health concerns, such as health disparities and unequal healthcare access, and has a deep interest in public health preparedness and communicable disease prevention.

Health Services Agency Director Mónica Morales said Hernandez is “an ideal health officer for the County of Santa Cruz.”

Before coming to Berkeley, she was deputy health officer and infectious disease and response branch director for the Santa Clara County Public Health Department for a year-and-a-half.

She oversaw the Communicable Disease Prevention and Control Program, Immunization and Travel Clinic, and the Sexually Transmitted Disease Clinic. She provided guidance and direction for public health preparedness, the Public Health Pharmacy, and the Public Health Laboratory.

Before coming to Santa Cruz, she was the health officer/Director of Public Health for the Monterey County Public Health Department.

She has a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a doctorate of medicine from Georgetown University School of Medicine, and a master of public health from the UC Berkeley. She had medical residencies in obstetrics and gynecology and another in preventive medicine.

Newel is to retire in July to provide a transition period. n

New Chief Deputy Public Defender

Athena Reis has been promoted to new chief deputy public defender, succeeding Jonathan Cruz, who is departing for family reasons.

“Jonathan played a critical role in the successful launch of the Public Defender’s Officer, supporting efforts to bring vertical representation, holistic representation, and participatory defense to Santa Cruz County while leading the agency’s recruitment efforts,” Public Defender Heather Rogers said. “We thank Jonathan and wish him the best, knowing he will fight for justice wherever his journey takes him.”

Reis previously was the juvenile and specialty courts supervisor at the Santa Cruz County Office of the Public Defender. She is a board member of the Santa Cruz County Criminal Defense Bar and a member of the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention Commission.

She joined the Santa Cruz County public defense firm Biggam, Christensen, & Minsloff in 2012.

For the past 13 years, Reis has passionately advocated for adults and juveniles charged with offenses ranging from misdemeanors to homicide while raising three children with her partner in Santa Cruz County.

She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology magna cum laude from San Francisco State University.

She received her juris doctorate with a concentration in public interest law from UC College of the Law San Francisco in 2009, then began her career at the Kern County Public Defender’s Office.

Reis will lead a team dedicated to improving outcomes for all clients. She is committed to pursuing a culture that honors diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, while providing culturally responsive services to clients and the community. n

Dr. Lisa Hernandez

Athena Reis

Ruth Solomon, Dance Teacher Extraordinaire

Ruth Rosenheim Solomon was born on June 10, 1935, in New York City. She attended the High School of Music and Art, where she specialized in design and graduated second in her class, with every expectation of attending the Rhode Island School of Design.

Much to her chagrin she was denied acceptance, having fallen victim of the school’s “Jewish quota.”

Fortunately, her mother had somehow discovered then-tiny Bard College, 70 miles north of the City, on the Hudson River. There she majored in drama, but made what turned out to be one of the most important acquaintances of her life, Jean Erdman, an ex-member of the original Martha Graham Company, who was teaching modern dance at the college.

Ruth had studied dance (mostly ballet) from the age of 6, so the transition

1935-2023

to that discipline was a natural one. It was also a lasting one, as dance remained the primary focus of Ruth’s life to its very end.

The other important acquaintance made at Bard was John Solomon, who, in 1960, became her husband, a relationship that lasted for 63 years and produced two children. They lived in Soquel.

As a performer Ruth Solomon appeared on and off Broadway, on television, and in concerts throughout the United States, Canada, and Japan. She was for many years a permanent member and solo dancer with the Jean Erdman Dance Theater, and more briefly a “swing dancer” — i.e., one whose responsibility is to know and be ready to perform all cast roles — with the original Broadway production of “West Side Story.”

Ruth created more than 60 works in her unique version of the modern dance idiom, in addition to staging and choreographing such diverse musical/dramatic productions as Euripides’ Hecuba, Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat, and Brecht’s Three Penny Opera.

From 1967 to 1970 she was assistant director of the dance program at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. She then directed the dance program that she established in Theater Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz, the new College Five (now Porter College) until her retirement in 1995.

Her highly successful teaching technique was documented in an hour-long video, Anatomy as a Master Image in Training Dancers. After appearing as an invited speaker at the Olympic Scientific Congress in Seoul, South Korea (1988), she taught in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, and Japan (1990-2002). She was also a guest teacher on numerous college and university campuses in the U.S.

Her articles on dance performance, administration, and pedagogy appeared in Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Now, Kinesiology and Medicine for Dance, and various other periodicals.

Around 1980, she began asking why dancers had back and knee problems and needed hip replacements. She delved into dance medicine and attended night classes

at Cabrillo College to become a certified medical assistant.

“Solomon” page 16

Ruth Solomon

CalTrans Workers Receive Governor’s Medal of Valor

On Friday, the State of California honored 11 Caltrans employees with the Governor’s State Employee Medal of Valor, the highest honors California bestows on its public servants. The awards are given to state employees for acts of heroism that go beyond the normal call of duty and at great personal risk to protect state property or saves lives.

“These 11 Caltrans workers courageously saved others while putting their own lives at risk,” said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. “We join Gov. Gavin Newsom in honoring them and showing our gratitude for their selfless acts. We are extremely proud that they are part of our Caltrans family.”

•••

Caltrans Landscape Maintenance

Worker Brian Rubalcava and Highway Maintenance Worker

Jason Lofton were awarded the Silver Medal of Valor for their heroic act during a dangerous rescue in extreme cold weather down steep terrain to save a couple after their vehicle went over a snow-covered embankment in Siskiyou County on Dec. 19, 2021.

Caltrans Equipment

for rescuing a colleague who was trapped in a burning vehicle after an incident with a cargo truck in San Diego County on May 26, 2022.

Caltrans Maintenance Area Superintendent Cody Collins and Transportation Engineering Technician Jeffrey Scardine were awarded the Silver Medal of Valor for rescuing a student who fell while taking a bank scaling and rock-climbing course in Kingvale on Oct. 6, 2022. The student was dangling by rope, putting him into a lifethreatening situation.

These 11 Caltrans workers courageously saved others while putting their own lives at risk. We join Gov. Gavin Newsom in honoring them and showing our gratitude for their selfless acts. We are extremely proud that they are part of our Caltrans family.

— Tony Tavares, Caltrans Director

Operators Jeremy Maraviov, Scott Davidson and Trevor Gipson were awarded with the Silver Medal of Valor for saving a father and young son after their car went down a steep embankment in Trinity County on Dec. 26, 2021.

Caltrans Equipment Operator Roberto Lopez was awarded the Gold Medal of Valor

Collins and Scardine quickly assessed the situation, rappelled, and transferred the student safely to the ground, saving his life.

Caltrans Highway Maintenance Worker Nicholas Macias and Equipment Operator Robert Hernandez were awarded the Silver Medal of Valor for saving a man trapped inside a burning vehicle in Merced on Aug. 3, 2022.

Caltrans Highway Maintenance Worker William Miller was awarded the Silver Medal of Valor for rescuing a woman after her vehicle struck Miller’s in the early morning of Jan. 21, 2020, in Placer County. Despite his injuries, he selflessly saved the woman in the other vehicle before both vehicles were engulfed in flames.

The State Employee Medal of Valor award is the highest honor California bestows on its public servants.

Gov. Edmund G. Brown Sr. presented the first awards in 1959. Since then, more than 700 state employees, including 116 Caltrans employees, have earned the honor for their courage and selflessness in the face of danger. n

Cody Collins Jeffrey Scardine

Roberto Lopez (center)

“Solomon” from page 14

Her research in dance medicine produced publications in such medical journals as The Physician and Sports Medicine and The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.

Her most extensive books are Prevention of Injuries in the Young Dancer (Springer International Publications 2017), Preventing Dance Injuries (Second Edition, Human Kinetics Books, 2005), Soviet-American Dance Medicine 1990 (AAHPERD Press, 1991), The New Faces of Dance Scholarship (AAHPERD Press, 1992), and East Meets West in Dance: Voices in the Cross-Cultural Dialogue (Gordon and Breach/Routledge Press, 1995).

The nineth edition of her Dance Medicine & Science Bibliography, covering the literature in the field for the last 60 years and containing 5,833 citations, became available in January, 2023.

Some of her latest publications include: “Chronic Lower-Leg Compartment Syndrome in Young Athletes” (American Journal of Sports Medicine), “Arthroscopic Debridement of Hip Labral Tears in Dancers,” “Neurologic Back Injuries in Dancers,” a chapter in Sports Neurology (Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott-Raven Publishers), “Psychological Issues in Dance Medicine” (a two-part Special Issue of the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science),

and “Publications in Dance Medicine and Science: A Bibliographer’s Perspective” (Medical Problems of Performing Artists).

She was the National Dance Association’s “Scholar of the Year” for 1992, “Dance Professional of the Year” (1998), and “Heritage Honoree” (2003).

She served on the board of directors of the International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) from its inception in 1990 to 2010, and in 2007 was elected co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Dance Medicine & Science, and continued to serve in that capacity until 2021.

She did annual three-month “residencies” under the direction of Dr. Lyle Micheli at the Division of Sports Medicine, Harvard Medical Center, Boston, for 39 consecutive years, until the onset of COVID. During these residencies she conducted several major dance medicine studies with dancers of the Boston Ballet.

In 2010 she was named Honorary Fellow of the Division of Sports Medicine, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical Center. In 2017 she became a Fellow of IADMS, and was given “A Lifetime Achievement Award” by that organization.

She died on June 12 in Santa Cruz.

Betsy Fisher posted photos on Facebook with these comments, “What a career. What a powerhouse” — and Tandy Beal reposted.

See Ruth Solomon’s Nov. 9, 2021 lecture on dance and injury prevention on YouTube.

Ruth Solomon was a bundle of energy who brought her many talents to all aspects of the field of dance. For this she was rewarded with a good deal of admiration on both personal and institutional levels. She was a perfectionist who demanded the absolute best of herself and others, yet was able to do this in such a way as to develop lasting friendships with both her students and peers. Her many contributions will not soon be forgotten. n •••

Editor’s note: During the pandemic, locals could see Ruth Solomon walking down Old San Jose Road in Soquel picking up garbage. She would walk two miles down, cross the road, then walk two miles back, picking up trash along the way.

Dientes to Open Pioneer Street Dental Clinic July 5

On July 5, the nonprofit Dientes Community Dental Care expects to open the doors to their newest clinic at 100 Pioneer St. in the Harvey West neighborhood of Santa Cruz, taking over the space from Santa Cruz Dental, which merged with two other dentists and moved to 550 Water St.

The five-chair Pioneer Street clinic replaces Dientes’ four-chair Beach Flats clinic, which closed in May due to flooding.

Dientes, which provides dental care for those with public insurance or who lack insurance, expects to serve an additional 450 people at the new location.

“We are excited to bring more oral healthcare to Santa Cruz to address a glaring need,” said Dientes CEO Laura Marcus. “Our new Pioneer Street location, with an extra dental chair and improved facilities, allows us to serve more patients, especially low-income adults. We believe everyone in our community should have

the dignity that comes with a healthy smile.”

Dientes’ 2022 Oral Health Report found only one in four adults with MediCal are able to go to the dentist because of capacity issues.

Dr. Samuel Kuo, Dientes’ lead dentist at Pioneer Street, added, “Our priority is to provide excellent dental care — care that ultimately improves our patient’s lives. This was my experience as a young Dientes patient over 20 years ago, and it’s why I am here today — to make a difference and give back to my community.”

The Pioneer Street clinic is equipped with state-of-the-art dental technology and the additional chair reduce wait times. The location is near major public transportation routes and has ample parking.

Existing Beach Flats patients will have their care transferred to Pioneer Street as of July 5. To book an appointment or join the patient waitlist, see: www.dientes.org/ appointments.

•••

To read the 2022 Oral Health Report: dientes.org/power-of-a-smile/publications/

Supporting vs. Enabling From a Recovery and Sobriety Expert

By Kyle Smith

The impact of drug addiction on individuals, families, and communities demands both our attention and compassion.

In our quest to assist those struggling with addiction, we often find ourselves navigating a delicate line between providing genuine support and inadvertently enabling destructive behavior. When it comes to the complex dynamics of supporting versus enabling drug addiction, exploring the fine distinction between these approaches and highlighting the crucial role of empathy, understanding, and effective interventions can help individuals on their path to recovery.

In my work as CEO of 12 South Recovery, an addiction and mental health services program in Orange County, California, I’ve learned that unwavering support can make all the difference in the journey of walking with someone on their path to recovery.

If we know someone who is in recovery, or maybe on their path to rehabilitation, we know it’s equally challenging to know when we’re supporting and when we’re instead enabling. To be clear, it’s crucial to see the distinction because support actually helps our loved ones get better. When you’re enabling, on the other hand, there’s really no telling what could happen.

Why

it’s Key to Know

With your support, the healing journey becomes less laborious to navigate. We start to see that addiction has not ruined all the relationships in our lives—and your loved one can start to see themselves as worthy of having those relationships again. For instance, someone with support will be more likely to open up about their feelings instead of shutting down and turning to previous poisons.

However, if we, as loved ones, are treading into the dangerous territory of enabling, we may be inadvertently creating a breeding ground for addiction. Before you cast me off as dramatic, allow me to explain.

In greater society, enabling means “to provide with the means or opportunity,” and we typically associate a positive connotation with that. Let’s say you got a lucrative contract. One might say that it

enabled you to spend more time with your family.

In the rehabilitation and patient care world, though, we define enabling as behaviors that support our loved one’s chemical use.

You know that old saying, “No good deed goes unpunished?” Enabling behaviors might be the best example of that. That’s because when we enable our loved ones, we genuinely mean well—our intention is to help. What we don’t realize, unfortunately, is that we’re accidentally giving them the green light to go on in their addiction.

Below, I’ll share what support tends to look like as well as what enabling behaviors usually are. We’ll end with a side-by-side list of three behaviors that are supportive and the behaviors that are their enabling counterparts.

Supporting vs. Enabling

We covered the definitions of supporting and enabling as they pertain to addiction and recovery. As a professional who interacts with myriad personality types daily, I also know that some folks learn better when they’re given concrete examples. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at support.

Support

When we’re supporting a loved one on their healing or recovery journey, it’s important to encourage them to keep their social appointments. For instance, if there’s a birthday party, graduation, or family gettogether, we should invite our loved ones.

Support also takes the form of an open and vulnerable conversation. That chat should notably include some boundarysetting on both sides, like perhaps talking about off-limits topics so we each know not to bring those up.

“Addiction” page 20

Hacker Fares are Wrong, But …

Would you break a rule for a cheaper airline ticket?

Susan Stevens did when she booked a hacker fare from Vienna to Frankfurt. A round-trip ticket costs hundreds of dollars less than a one-way ticket. So she bought a round-trip fare.

“After I landed, I threw the return ticket away,” recalls Stevens, a retired publicist from Philadelphia.

What rule did she break? Airlines claim throwaway ticketing is illegal, and they sometimes prosecute customers they catch, confiscating loyalty points, suspending their frequent flier program memberships, or even suing them.

But with airfares up 25% in the last year, many travelers are asking themselves the same question as Stevens: Should I book a hacker fare?

Hacker fares are wrong, of course. The airline has placed restrictions on how to use its product, and you’ve agreed to obey the rules when you buy your ticket. But it is not nearly as wrong as the complicated

and convoluted fare rules the airlines have created to squeeze more money from their customers.

What are hacker fares?

Hacker fares are any type of ticket that helps you save money but may violate airline policy. For example:

• Throwaway tickets. Airlines sometimes price one-way tickets higher because they are used by business travelers, who have more money to spend. You can buy a roundtrip ticket for less and then just throw away the return.

• Hidden city tickets. Booking a flight with the intention of disembarking at

Make a Great Escape!

By Christopher Elliott

a connection instead of flying to the final destination can also save you money. Airlines may discount the destination but charge more for a flight to your connection city.

• Back-to-back tickets. Airlines sometimes charge more for midweek round-trip flights than those with a Saturday night stay. By booking two consecutive round-trip flights with overlapping segments, you can get around that rule. These ticketing practices can save air travelers lots of money. But they infuriate airlines, which see them as violating their ticket contract and stealing revenue.

Why are hacker fares wrong?

Airlines claim that hacker fares are illegal. That’s not true. They violate the airline’s contract, which customers agree to when they book their tickets, but they don’t violate any laws.

“Most airlines forbid these practices in the contract of carriage, which customers rarely read,” explains John Hooker, a professor of business ethics at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business.

Hooker says there’s a moral aspect to hacker fares. Using throwaway ticketing or hidden city ticketing may involve deception, which is causing another party to believe something you know is false.

Some frequent travelers say hacker fares are a red line they won’t cross.

“I don’t think it’s ethical to book a flight that you don’t intend to take,” says Barry Graham, a sales manager based in Washington, D.C. He says hacker fares have other unintended consequences, such as making the seats unavailable to other travelers or possibly raising prices for them.

“Hacker Fares” page 20

“Hacker Fares” from page 19

These Crazy Airfares

What’s worse than booking a hacker fare? The way airlines have set their ticket terms and prices, say experts.

“Airlines have created this situation,” says Dan Gellert, chief operating officer for Skiplagged, a site that helps travelers find hacker fares.

Gellert says airlines take advantage of the lack of competition in the industry by raising fares in cities where they have a dominant market share, and overcharging customers. What’s more, airlines practice their own form of deception by overbooking their flights and hoping some passengers don’t show up.

“The idea that a traveler has an obligation to board the flight when the airline has no official obligation to seat them on a flight is hypocritical,” he adds.

David Kazarian, a pharmacist from Tampa, Fla., says he has used hacker fares in the past with no remorse.

“Did I feel that it was unethical?” he asks. “Well, I felt the airline was unethical — and I was just settling the score.”

What to do?

So what should you do? If you answered, “I’ll book a hacker fare,” you’re in good company. More than two-thirds of Americans (67%) will book a hacker fare this summer, according to a recent survey by ValuePenguin.

In a sense, hacker fares are how the market is supposed to work, according to Cathy Mansfield, a law professor and consumer protection expert at Case Western Reserve University.

“Consumers who shop around for the lowest travel fares by any means are actually playing the role economists imagine for them in an unregulated, fully functioning consumer economy,” she says.

Anyone who takes the time to educate themself, find the best flight options and choose the least expensive one is driving prices lower and helping other passengers, she says.

Still not right, but …

The bottom line is that hacker fares -- as the name implies — are still not entirely right. You’ve agreed to the terms of your ticket, and you should adhere to those terms. But the solution isn’t for everyone to become a travel hacker. Instead, airlines should hold themselves to a reasonable standard, when it comes to how they set their fares — and fare rules. When a one-way ticket costs more than a roundtrip ticket, when a flight to an intermediate city is more expensive than one to a more distant final destination, then it’s time to bring some reason back to airfares. And if airlines don’t do it voluntarily, well, we can always try to regulate some common sense into them.

Elliott’s Fare Hacker Tips

You may be able to save a lot of money by hacking your next flight. But here are a few things you should definitely avoid:

• Don’t ask your travel advisor to book a hacker fare. Airlines could hit your agent with a debit memo, asking for the fare difference.

• Don’t give the airline your frequent flier number. If you use a hidden city or back-to-back ticket, you could hear from the airline, and it might ask you for more money.

• Don’t check luggage. Airlines will transport your luggage to your final destination. If you get off at a stopover, you will lose your bags. And remember, if you’re a no-show for one segment of your flight, airlines will cancel the rest of your flights. n Email: Chris@Elliott.org

Illustration by Christopher Elliott

“Addiction” from page 18

Or maybe we support our loved one by educating ourselves, which we might do by reading some addiction and recovery books. (My recommendation? In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté, MD.)

Enabling

Here’s where I might lose some of you, and while I’d rather I didn’t, I understand we’re not all ready to hear that we’re actually doing more harm than good when trying to “help” our loved ones.

Examples

1) Regarding treatment

Supporting: Helping your loved one find the treatment program that works best for them

Enabling: Saying your loved one doesn’t have to do treatment if it’s overwhelming

2) Communication

Supporting: Having open lines of communication and being honest with each other

Enabling: Keeping secrets from each other, making excuses, accepting lies

3) Interpersonal interactions

Supporting: Caring for yourself as a family member and engaging in your own recovery

Enabling: Tending to your loved ones’ needs more than your own Navigating the line between supporting versus enabling can be challenging, as the dynamics are often different from person to person.

Despite the well-intentioned desire to help or alleviate distress, enabling can perpetuate the cycle.

By understanding the critical difference between supporting and enabling when it comes drug addiction and recovery, we can effectively address the root causes, break the cycle, and pave the way for a future of healing, recovery, and resilience. n

Kyle Smith is CEO of 12 South Recovery, a treatment center in Lake Forest.

County Mental Health Underfunded, Understaffed

Editor’s note: This is an edited version. To read the complete report, see https://www.co.santacruz.ca.us/Portals/0/County/GrandJury/ GJ2023_final/2023-6_BHD_Report.pdf

The Grand Jury investigated the Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division of the Health Services Agency to ascertain how well they were handling the additional demands on their services caused by the Covid pandemic.

It found the BHD to be seriously understaffed -- as much as 30% -- including management, clinicians and support staff.

It also found inadequate crisis stabilization capacity, lack of step-down capability for those released from jail, and insufficient outreach to the Latino/a community, but the BHD cannot be expected to improve in these areas without significantly more staff.

Statistics point to a disturbing reality. Santa Cruz has more homeless people per capita than anywhere else in California; some 2,300 residents are without housing. An estimated 37% of the BHD’s clients are homeless. About 67% of homeless residents experience chronic substance abuse, and 43% of BHD’s substance use disorder clients are involved with the criminal justice system.

The Grand Jury urgently recommends increasing BHD’s staffing to meet the overwhelming demand for mental health services in this county.

It further recommends increasing capacity of the crisis stabilization program and transitioning the Mobile Emergency Response Teams for adults and youth to 24/7 availability.

It finally recommends improving service to marginalized populations, especially homeless people, those involved

with the criminal justice system and the Latino/a community.

Background

The United States has been in the midst of a mental health crisis since long before the Covid pandemic, which has made it even worse. Mental health struggles and rates of substance use disorder have been dramatically escalating for more than two years in Santa Cruz County.

A longstanding shortage of mental health workers in the country, combined with the now increased demand for mental health services following the pandemic, has impacted all parts of the country, including Santa Cruz County.

What makes the problem even more pressing here is Santa Cruz has the highest number of homeless persons per capita in the state, along with a very high incidence of substance use disorder.

The County’s Behavioral Health Division is the primary provider of mental health care for low-income adults and children who lack private health care coverage.

BHD is one of four divisions of the Health Services Agency. BHD services are designed to address the most significant mental health needs of the County and to ensure services and access for all residents, with an emphasis and priority focus on serving individuals at highest risk for experiencing mental health service gaps and access barriers.

This population includes individuals experiencing homelessness, those who do not speak English as their primary language, racial and ethnic minorities, lowincome people and inmates released from county jails. Santa Cruz has continued to

see increased community need for behavioral health services, especially for serving Spanish speaking residents and individuals experiencing homelessness.

The County has a complex network of preventive and mental health treatment options for adults and children. Approximately 34% of the services are provided directly by the County and 66% are provided by private contractors.

The BHD oversees many programs, including but not limited to the following:

Two county mental health clinics, one in North and one in South County ● A Crisis Stabilization Program for adults and children

● A 16-bed Psychiatric Health Facility for adults (opened for $15 million in 2013) ● Crisis response teams: Mobile Emergency Response Teams for Adults and Youth in North and South County, known as MERT and MERTY

● A mental health liaison program to local law enforcement ● Homeless support programs such as the Downtown Outreach Team ●

A locally staffed 988 Suicide Crisis Line ● A 24-hour line for referrals to local mental health services ● Jail mental health program ● Residential step-down programs - sub acute and residential ● Case management services for severely mentally ill persons.

BHD’s annual budget to accomplish this is over $100 million, includin County money and State funding such as Medi-Cal.

Investigation: Goals Not Met

The Grand Jury began this investigation by examining documents that evaluated whether goals set by BHD for itself were met. It soon discovered nearly all goals were not met, even those representing very small improvement.

Of 14 goals in their Integrative Behavioral Health Quality Improvement Work Plan, FY 2021-2022, only two were met, and these were not directly related to service quality.

Goals not met included access to services, response times to service requests and cultural responsiveness.

In March 2023, BHD released a draft of their Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) FY 2023-2026 Three-Year Plan and FY 20232024 Annual Update.

This plan includes results of the Community Program Planning Process, a method of soliciting community input to identify local needs and funding priorities.

The results of this process are startling.

The plan states, “Community members and providers alike shared concerns about staffing shortages throughout the county system of care, including psychiatrists, therapists, counselors, and specialty mental health case managers.”

The report highlights the lack of enough beds in higher-level care facilities that can lead to people with serious mental illness repeatedly cycling through the system. Patients and families report delays in receiving needed services, or inability to find services when they need them.

The report states that homeless people and those involved with the criminal justice system have unique needs and barriers, and experience long wait times to access BHD services.

Looking at the county’s Medi-Cal population, BHD serves a lower percentage of the eligible Latina/o residents than any other ethnic group.

The major service gaps became the focus of the Grand Jury’s investigation.

While the scope of mental health care overseen by the county is commendable, the complexity of the system, with each program having its own eligibility requirements, makes understanding and accessing services difficult for patients, especially marginalized people the County serves.

Gaps in continuing care are particularly difficult for these vulnerable persons. Studies show a delay in diagnosis, a delay in appropriate treatment, and a lack of continuity in care make achieving successful outcomes more difficult and increases the overall cost of mental health care.

Staffing Crisis

The Santa Cruz County Behavioral Health Division has a 30% staff vacancy rate. At the time, 4 of the 10 director positions were vacant, filled by interim employees performing the tasks of at least two positions.

In response to critically low management staffing, the department hired a consultant to consider structural changes.

There are vacancies at every level, including psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses, licensed mental health practitioners, and other direct service practitioners, especially bilingual staff.

Contractors providing mental health services for the county are reported to be struggling to fill open positions.

Behavioral Health and Personnel staff point to limited pools of applicants for licensed mental health clinicians.

Despite openings in all licensed mental health job classifications, there were no available candidates in the pipeline.

The BHD lacks analyst positions, which would allow them to analyze tracking data more efficiently, to evaluate contracts and to financially plan.

Staff shortages impact contractors’ ability to meet contracted goals.

Telecare, the contractor that runs the only Crisis Stabilization Unit Program in the county, has frequently had to close admissions due to staff shortages.

These closures cause diversions to local hospital emergency rooms.

Multiple interviewees (all high-level managers) did not know who was responsible for oversight of each contract. This may be due to temporary staffing in these positions or unfamiliarity with the oversight hierarchy.

In response to behavioral health staffing shortage statewide, Gov. Newsom and the State Legislature have recently passed large initiatives focusing on more funding and more streamlined funding for mental health support.

But factors specific to Santa Cruz County heighten the staffing crisis:

Extremely high cost of living, especially housing, ● Increased competition with private and public mental health providers and hospitals, ● Competition with wealthier local counties, ● Lower salaries ● The difficulty of the work, and ● The large homeless population which makes delivering mental health treatment very challenging.

Multiple interviewees pointed to Santa Cruz County’s hiring practices and lower salaries as a barrier to being competitive. Some noted that it takes as long as two months between the interview and the final hire --these practices are outdated and out of alignment with current hiring practices.

They pointed to the need for more automated application processes and more responsiveness in updating hiring classifications to suit a younger workforce that wants more flexibility.

County Personnel Department

The County Personnel Department does not recognize a staffing shortage in Behavioral Health and maintains Behavioral Health salaries are locally competitive by pointing out that Santa Cruz County behavioral health salaries are average in comparison to six other Bay Area counties.

The closest county where workers can comfortably commute is Santa Clara, where in 2020, they paid Sr. Mental Health Specialists $10,000 more per year.

The Personnel Department does not regularly conduct competitive analysis of salaries, only as needed or prior to negotiations with the union.

medical directors, there are no incentives for licensed mental health practitioners such as Licensed Clinical Social Workers and Marriage, Family and Child Counselors.

Santa Clara County has a $5,000 signing bonus, loan repayment, workforce tuition, and public service loan forgiveness for open MFCC and LCSW positions. Recruitment and retention is a problem.

It is difficult to recruit and retain people in a county with the second highest housing costs in the nation without commensurate salaries. UC Santa Cruz does not offer master’s degree programs in psychology or social work. San Jose State University and Cal State University Monterey Bay are the nearest universities to offer these degrees. Interviewees pointed to the need to develop connections to these university programs such as internships or stipends to strengthen the professional pipeline for licensed and unlicensed mental health clinicians in Santa Cruz County

Crisis Stabilization Crisis

Crisis stabilization services are needed for people who are experiencing an acute mental health crisis. These services assess a patient’s mental health status, providing the initial steps in diagnosis, treatment, and determination of their mental health needs.

“Mental Health” page 24

Opioid Settlement Money Coming

Santa Cruz County’s death rate from opioid overdoses jumped from 10 to 100,000 residents in 2020 to 30 per 100,000 in 2021; in May this year, 101 people died. The state reports 7 deaths among those age 30 to 34, and 6 among those 35 to 39; none among those 20 to 24.

The County of Santa Cruz and cities in the county will receive $26 million from the nationwide opioid settlement over the next 18 years. A meeting is planned for July to accept public input.

Critically low staffing levels have had a negative impact on access to and quality of treatment.

From interviews the Grand Jury learned that the Crisis teams—the Mobile Emergency Response Team (MERT) and the Mobile Emergency Response Team for Youth (MERTY)—are frequently understaffed by as much as 50% and are unable to expand to weekend coverage due to lack of staffing despite having funding.

Year over year Quality Improvement reports reference low staffing as the reason for not meeting performance goals.

In trying to verify the hiring practices, the Grand Jury was told the Personnel Department does not collect data by department such as Time to Hire, Acceptance Rates, Turnover Rates, and Retention Rates. They only collect data for the county as a whole, so they have very little means for analysis by department. Data collection about hiring is left to each department. What they did report is that “a typical process could be 30-90 days.”

While some hiring incentives have been introduced for psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, and physicians and

The State recommends funds be used for these 6 activities: Matching funds or costs for facilities to treat substance use, a treatable mental disorder, creating new or expanded treatment infrastructure, addressing the needs of communities of color and vulnerable populations such as the unhoused, that are disproportionately impacted, helping people with substance use disorder into treatment programs and out of jail through community education and harm reduction, interventions to prevent drug addiction in vulnerable youth, buying naloxone (Narcan) to reverse overdoses. n

While MERT and MERTY can provide some screening in the field, this initial evaluation is meant to be provided by the Crisis Stabilization Program at the Psychiatric Healthcare Facility or PHF. A patient may stay up to 24 hours in the CSP which is considered an outpatient setting. Since an overnight stay is not allowed, patients are considered to be in chairs, not beds.

If a patient is deemed to not be gravely disabled or a threat to themself or others, they can be discharged to outpatient care. Otherwise they remain on a mental health hold, known as a 5150 for adults and a 5585 for minors.

This is an involuntary 72-hour mental health hospitalization, which for adults could be at our PHF if beds are available.

The County’s CSP and PHF are operated by Telecare, a company based in Alameda and has been treating mental illness since 1965.

Santa Cruz County is the primary provider of mental health crisis stabilization services for all adults and children, regardless of payor class.

Unfortunately, the demand for acute crisis services often exceeds the capacity of the 12-chair CSP and 16-bed PHF. Capacity depends on the number of chairs/beds and staffing available.

Since the facility often lacks the capacity to take new patients, patients are diverted to the Emergency Department of local hospitals.

In 2022 the average number of CSP patients at the Dominican ED was 29.1 per month, and at the Watsonville ED 8.8 per month.

Patients may have to wait up to 24 hours in the ED to be evaluated. This evaluation can be performed by MERT or MERTY. However, these teams are available only from 8 am to 5 pm Monday through Friday.

Efforts to expand have been hampered by staffing shortages.

Outside those hours, hospitals must rely on their own resources to assess the patient.

If the patient cannot be released for outpatient mental health follow-up, the arrangement for a 5150 or 5585 psychiatric inpatient stay becomes the responsibility of the hospital.

This placement can take days and is generally outside of our county, since our PHF is often full.

According to the nonprofit Treatment Advocacy Center our current 16-bed PHF falls far short of the number of beds needed to serve this county’s population. They estimated 50 beds are needed per 100,000 population, which means that for the county’s population of about 270,000, there should be about 135 beds, vastly more than are actually available.

Even considering the County’s efforts to treat patients in the least restrictive environment, more beds are needed.

The occupied ED bed negatively impacts the hospital’s ED, which is already very busy dealing with patients who do not have a mental health emergency.

Patients brought into the ED by law enforcement require continuous supervision by an officer to protect against violence or possible escape until a mental health assessment. This practice not only ties up an ED bed but also pulls law enforcement away from other critical duties.

The patient’s assessment, diagnosis, and treatment is delayed when they are diverted to an ED.

Psychiatric Healthcare Facility Issues

The current PHF is a free-standing facility and is therefore limited to 16 beds to be eligible for Medi-Cal and Medicare reimbursement for services.

Since there has not been a separate unit for children or youths needing crisis support, up to four of the 12 CSP chairs at the PHF have been held for youths under 18. However, patients under 18 who need inpatient psychiatric treatment must ultimately be placed in a facility outside of our county, since our current PHF is for adults only. The County has acquired a building in Live Oak and plans to open a psychiatric healthcare facility specifically for children and youth, which will include 8 CSP chairs and 16 inpatient beds, by late 2024 or early 2025. (This is a $15.2 million project.)

Unfortunately, starting on July 1, 2023, patients under 18 will no longer be accepted at the current PHF for CSP services. While this will free up four chairs in the CSP, the BHD says the total number of chairs at the adult CSP will remain 12.

To minimize the potential 18-month gap in youth crisis care, the BHD is trying to open a temporary four-chair CSP for children and youths by the fall of 2023.

Due to ongoing issues at the PHF run by Telecare, the County sent out a request for proposals to see if other vendors could run the current adult CSP/PHF programs. While about a dozen groups received information about the RFP, as of the March Mental Health Advisory Board meeting, only one group had responded.

Some in the Health Service Agency feel that many groups did not submit a proposal due to the staffing challenges in this county.

In February this year, the County increased payment to Telecare, because they have had to increase their wages to attract and retain clinical staff.

Since that time, the percentage of time the CSP is diverted to the hospital ED has been falling.

In the final quarter of 2022, the diversion rate for children was 86.7%, and for adults 44%. During February through April 2023, this dropped to 50.3% for children and 11.8% for adults.

Presumably, this means the diversion rate is also falling. However, factors such as seasonal variation may affect demand.

High-Cost Beneficiaries

The FY 2021-2022 Medi-Cal Specialty Behavioral Health External Quality Review revealed that Santa Cruz County has three times the number of mental

health High-Cost Beneficiaries than the state average for calendar years 2018 through 2020.

This review defined a HCB as a MediCal patient who has approved treatment claims of $30,000 or more in one year.

There are many possible reasons. High cost of care typically occurs when a beneficiary requires intensive treatment repeatedly. This may result from failure to provide timely appropriate care, especially step-down care.

HCBs occupy treatment slots and may cause a cascading effect on other beneficiaries, who in turn cannot receive sufficient care. This places them at risk of becoming a high utilizer themselves.

External auditors found through analysis of our Medi-Cal Specialty Mental Health plan billing and claims data that our county’s Medi-Cal beneficiaries received more crisis stabilization and intervention services than the statewide average.

The auditors postulated this was in part due to the “robust” crisis stabilization and intervention services the County of Santa Cruz provides compared to other counties.

However, it was also reported that the County pays for the transfer of a patient from our CSP to an out-of-county inpatient psychiatric facility and pays 100% of the cost for that care for a Medi-Cal beneficiary. Since the County does not receive the Federal match for any Medi-Cal outof-county care, the shortage of in-patient psychiatric beds in this county hurts the County financially.

It is not clear if the high cost of crisis stabilization and intervention services is due to the “robust” services, number of patients sent out of the county for treatment, or other factors.

Watsonville Behavioral Health Center

In spite of the severe staffing issues and in addition to the planned Live Oak facility, there is some really good news. Encompass Community Services has just been awarded more than $9 million in state funds to support continued development of a new South County mental health facility, the Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center, a $14 million project to be built at 161 Miles Lane, Watsonville.

Encompass is the county’s largest community-based behavioral health and human services provider, offering counseling, substance use recovery, and housing for mental health patients.

Groundbreaking will commence in 2023 on the new facility with 7 new residential substance-use disorder treatment beds specifically for the 18-25 years old, and 30 residential treatment beds in total. There will also be 106 annual outpatient treatment slots available and the center will have capacity to serve an estimated 1,300 community members annually.

Encompass has partnered with nonprofit developer MidPen Housing to include a 72-unit affordable housing development on the forthcoming health campus.

Learn more about the project at https://www.sisepuedecenter.org/.

Step-Down Care B

ehavioral Health’s FY 2021-2022

Quality Management Plan outlines significant capability to support patients leaving mental health care either as an outpatient or from an inpatient psychiatric facility.

Their Assertive Community Treatment

Team provides intensive, wrap-around case management services for patients returning to the community from locked psychiatric care. The goal is to support their psychiatric stabilization, successful transition back into the community, increase independent living skills and decrease the need for locked care.

BHD works with Encompass, which runs the El Dorado Center, a communitybased, short-term treatment program for individuals who may be stepping down from locked care. An intensive structured residential program, EDC is an unlocked, home-like environment facilitating the healing process in preparation to transition back to community living. Staff provide individual and group counseling, crisis intervention, structured activities, community outings, and assistance with independent living skills and connecting to the community.

Encompass’s funding from the County was recently increased by $1.7 million to a total of $9.4 million. (This is separate from the funding for the new Watsonville facility described above, and is in addition to Behavioral Health funding.)

Encompass also runs programs for anyone diagnosed with mental illness, including treatment, counseling, emergency shelter, case management, outreach and education, permanent supportive housing, and transitional housing.

Some interviewees noted the lack of step-down facilities, and the consequent need for BHD to repeat treatment because the patient relapses.

Behavioral Health’s Draft Three-Year Plan notes that for people with serious mental illness, a lack of enough beds in higher-level care facilities can lead to a “revolving door of insecurity, including jail and street life.” Some patients are sent to other California counties, which is expensive. Others are released from in-patient psychiatric care with no follow-up care.

Homelessness

About37% of BID clients are homeless. There were 2,167 people unhoused in Santa Cruz County in 2019, and 2,299 people unhoused in 2022.

Nationally, 26% of homeless people self-identify as severely mentally ill. Locally, 67% are experiencing chronic substance abuse. Just being homeless is associated with declines in mental and physical health.

Homeless persons experience high rates of HIV infection, tuberculosis, and other conditions as well as the mental illness and substance use disorder that contributed to their homelessness.

Being homeless is a full-time job; just getting food, shelter, bathroom access, medical and dental care, and access to whatever limited services local government or nonprofits provide is all consuming.

A person needs secure housing before they can be expected to take an active role in dealing with their mental health. There is a huge need for permanent supportive housing.

In their Draft Three-Year Plan, BHD reports that “some of those with the least financial resources are those who need services the most.” They identify “unhoused populations” among their service gaps.

Newly Released Inmates

Some

About 40% of jail inmates have been diagnosed with mental illness.The jail provides some discharge care for released inmates and may coordinate with BHD if the inmate was a former patient.

The 6-7 month wait for a bed in the state mental health system means an inmate needing in-patient care is out of luck.

The Public Defender’s Office runs some programs to help inmates get the services they need. They also coordinate with BHD, but the effort is severely underfunded.

In their Draft Three-Year Plan, BHD identifies “ Incarcerated or formerly incarcerated people with mental health needs” among their service gaps. They further state there is a lack of coordination with other county systems, such as law enforcement or the jail, and a lack of warm handoff to outpatient providers and ensuring a sufficient amount of medication until a pharmacy is open. This is in spite of the “mental health liaison program to local law enforcement” and “Jail mental health program” they claim on their website. (A warm handoff means that jail staff introduces the inmate to the outpatient provider rather than just providing a referral. A lack of warm handoff to therapists, outpatient providers, and ensuring sufficient medications can pose challenges to clients’ continuity of care.

This year’s Civil Grand Jury investigated Santa Cruz County’s jails and found a high recidivism rate -- around 60% -- for individuals released from jail. Released inmates with mental illness or SUD have much higher recidivism rates than those without.

Many released inmates get in trouble with the law again and go right back into the criminal justice system because that is the only easy option for them. Anti recidivism programs do work, but are underfunded and inadequate. The Jail report recommends increased funding for anti recidivism programs, including increasing funding for Behavioral Health to support released inmates.

Latino/a Use of Services

Latinos/as in South County Santa Cruz have experienced mental health problems due to lower incomes, housing uncertainty, documentation status, language barriers, and cultural differences. Nevertheless, according to Medi-Cal data, the percentage of Latinos/ as in Santa Cruz County seeking mental health services is less than any other ethnic group and lower than the state average for this ethnic population.

There are probably multiple factors involved, but historically, investment in South County has been less than in North County. South County previously used a converted building with no private space for treatment. However, an outpatient building for mental health services in Watsonville was opened in 2018.

43% of BHD substance use patients are involved with the criminal justice system.The new Sí Se Puede Behavioral Health Center in Watsonville will make the distribution of mental health facilities in the County more equitable.

Outreach to the Latino/a community has historically been less successful than to other populations. While outreach efforts have improved for South County in the recent past, more could be done. The limited availability of bilingual and bicultural services is the main issue.

Cultural competency, as well as language, is important in encouraging people to seek and undergo needed mental health treatment.

Currently, the County provides an increase in pay of $1. per hour for Level One bilingual services and $1.35 per hour for Level Two bilingual services.

Level One is the ability to converse in the second language and to translate English into the second language. Level Two is the ability to converse in the second language, to read the second language, to translate the second language orally into English, and to write in the second language. At the present time this bilingual pay differential is available only for Spanish.

Unfortunately, in spite of this pay incentive, the County has a shortage of practitioners who are bilingual Spanish speakers. Some of the farmworkers are indigenous immigrants from southern Mexico and speak Mixteco, which is different from Spanish.

The Grand Jury understands that covering all languages is impossible but more qualified interpreters are needed.

In North County, homelessness plays a big role in the services needed, while in South County the focus is more likely to be on youths and families. Understanding the family unit is important in providing mental health services, especially in South County. This emphasizes the importance of bicultural awareness beyond bilingual services.

Mental Health Conclusion

T

involved with the criminal justice system and racial minorities.

Until the staffing level is significantly improved, expecting improved service in any of these areas is unreasonable.

The Grand Jury typically recommends an increase in funding when an agency has more responsibilities than budget, even while understanding that if there were funding available to increase the budget, this would already have been done.

In this case, however, not only are County residents not getting adequate mental health services, the cost to the County is also higher because patients sometimes need to repeat treatment.

Recommendations

Staffing

Competitive salaries and hiring incentives should be put in place for all vacant Behavioral Health Division (BHD) positions that don’t already have them. The BHD

should consider the salaries and hiring incentives offered by Santa Clara County as a guide -- such as hiring bonuses, loan repayment, public service loan repayment, and workforce tuition. The Personnel Department must plan for increases in salary and incentives by the end of 2023 with the goal of including them in the next budget cycle.

The County Personnel Department should:

Plan to do an analysis of the hiring process for BHD positions and put measures into place to reduce the time it takes to hire by at least half. They should streamline the process and make use of up-to-date automated processes by the end of 2023. Institute an annual competitive analysisby th end of 2023 for all open BHD positions that includes consideration of the extraordinarily high cost of living in Santa Cruz, benefits and incentives.

“Mental Health” page 26

Independence Day

California bird

6. Smelting waste

7. Stuff of inflation

8. Adagio and allegro, e.g.

9. German city on Rhine river

10. Con

11. Not of the cloth

12. Down with a bug

15. ____ someone ____ bed

20. Satirical publication, with The 22. Calligrapher’s purchase

24. *”From the ____ forest to the Gulf Stream waters”

25. *Old ____

26. Waterwheel

27. Hymn of praise

29. *Popular decoration 31. *”Rockin’ in the USA” band

38. Heroic tale

42.

“Where ____ is heard a discouraging word...”

49. Sushi restaurant staple

36.

Planets Guarding & Guiding Humanity Each Day & Into the Night

Everything in heaven is reflected on Earth. There is a relationship between the planets and the days of the week. Planets and stars carry frequencies that influence all aspects of our lives.

Each day of the week is named after a planet. And each planet is a Lord whose forces and energies offer us experiences and opportunities. Therefore each day of the week, like each one of us, is distinct and unique. The planets guard, direct, expand and guide humanity. Here is a list of the days of the week and their planetary rulers.

Sunday — the Sun’s (Ray 1) Day. A golden day of rest, reflection, ease, comfort and contemplating the week ahead. We do the Sun Salutation (yoga).

Monday — the moon (Ray 4) watches over humanity calling us to nourish and nurture ourselves and others. Previously, Monday was wash day.

Tuesday — Mars (Ray 6) all actions, hopes, dreams, wishes are expressed with kindness, and in a rhythmic regulatory way, creating Goodwill which uplifts and transforms all that it touches.

Wednesday — Mercury’s day. With Mercury (Ray 4 of Harmony

ARIES

Being creative is a self-identity. Creativity seeks you every moment, calling you to initiate new endeavors that respond to all the changes coming your way in terms of work, how you’re recognized, relationships and self-identity, which is more than you think. Observe everything with calmness. Tend to health with a focus on proper digestion (probiotics, enzymes, green foods, etc.). Stand at the center of dispassion with heart aflame yet still.

TAURUS

Something at home and something about your relationship must hold your focused attention. There’s much to be done here. Ask yourself what the bigger picture is concerning your life, home, geography, relationships, partnerships. Careful if working in the hot sun. You may not be absorbing enough water. Maintain proper and adequate electrolytes each day. Something challenges you, calling you to consider other realities. Cultivate joy. It changes others.

GEMINI

Mercury, the Messenger is your personal planet that guards and guides Gemini. A line of love light streams from the star Sirius directly into your mind and heart. It creates a framework within that unifies all dualities and polarities but only if you love (Ray 2) more, which happens when enough information has been gathered. Study and gather facts on finances, resources, gold and silver, land, gardens, and foods that sustain.

CANCER

Communication may be difficult and you may feel anger and frustration. Simultaneously others could be acting out those feelings for you. There’s a situation with money. Whatever you offer a gate opens. Always what you give is returned tenfold. That’s a cosmic law. Is there a wound or hurt occurring? Something you don’t understand and it’s limiting you? A cold laser light would help.

emerging out of conflict and chaos) we come upon new ideas, learn new things, talk a lot, apply discernment to all thoughts, words and actions.

Thursday — Jupiter’s day of Love/Wisdom (Ray 2). Jupiter teaches us to be loving, expansive, wise and generous. The New Group of World Servers prepare in meditation for the Reappearance of Christ (Aquarian World Teacher whose precipitation begins 2025). Chaos and conflicts in the world always presage the appearance of a World Teacher, carrying a fiery sword and the Rule of Law.

Friday — Venus (Ray 5 of Truth, (unbiased) Science and Concrete Knowledge) guides us towards beauty and kindness. Venus unifies all separations. Our God came from Venus. (which begins to retrograde July 23 this year).

Saturday — Saturn (Ray 3 of Divine Intelligence), the Teacher, who guarded and guided the Jewish people through their 40 years in the desert. Saturn is the Dweller on the Threshold (karma) seeking the Angels of the Presence (Venus). We learn more, clarify all matters, complete our past week with gratitude under Saturn. n

Each day we are guided by these planets. At the end of each day, reviewing our day, we see that our days were good. Then we sleep.

LEO

Sitting amidst your Sun is the past offering you an opportunity to consider forgiveness as a healing path. Gratitude is walking hand in hand with forgiveness. These ask that you value every person, event and occurrence in your life. When you’re able to understand and work on this, a new breath of life fills you and anything that restricts and obstructs disappears. You are free.

VIRGO

As you begin new projects, navigate through them slowly, allowing yourself deep rest so your physical body, emotions and mind can restructure, integrate fresh thoughts, ideas and new realities. We need this reorientation several times in our lives so new values and inner resources can emerge from spiritual sources. There is a deep gestation occurring within. It’s the Soul seeking to more fully direct your personality. Just say yes ... and a magical transformation happens.

LIBRA

You jump between home and work, attempting to be fully present in both. Emotions pull you home for there is a deep need for rest. Both home and work offer comfort in different ways. Daily life seems complicated at times with relationships ever-shifting. Are you stretched out on a cross, attention called in multiple directions? Nothing’s consistent. You’re learning how to navigate the waters of change. Return to the foundations of your upbringing. Understanding slowly emerges.

SCORPIO

Try not to be careless when communicating about people’s lives. Maintain ethics within the constant variations of reality. Your values have shifted so now you’re evaluating interactions. This is good. Home is dissolving and coming together simultaneously, so you seek comfort within groups. A wound seems to come from the past/future settling in the present. Don’t worry about these strange occurrences. They are normal in times of reorientation.

SAGITTARIUS

There is a need to focus on finances, valuations, money and resources. Questions appear concerning what it is you truly value. It’s good to create a list of values and principles concerning all aspects of life; personal, professional, political, public, possessions, people. Who do you value? And why? What do you value, in terms of relationships and communication? And why? Your inner self needs to be discovered more deeply and so these questions are posed. Pluto in Aquarius is asking.

CAPRICORN

An illumination, a fruition, a completion and then a new beginning occurs simultaneously. Do you (like Libra) feel stretched upon a cross, called in four directions? The direction of others, of partnerships, colleagues; of work and being recognized in the world, of home, family and daily realities, and finally yourself (where are you)? This can all feel very complex. Acknowledge all realities. Place an angel at each of the four directions in your home and garden. Stand at the center of the cross and willingly, intelligently and lovingly direct those angels to assist you.

AQUARIUS

Each day seems filled with responsibilities, tasks, errands, restorations, healing and strivings for the purpose of comfort, care and nurturance. On the other hand a dreaminess seems to permeate your days and nights. Your choices and relationships become more important and you wonder if you need to learn new and different communication skills. The answer is yes. Ones that are less strict and more conciliatory. Listen deeply to what others are saying. Reflect their words back to them. This has magical results.

PISCES

As you step more into the world, new abilities are called forth that awaken both your sense of self-identity and your ability to direct, teach, work with and serve others. All of these “others” need nurturing. They are the “little ones” (seekers). And you’re the one recognized as having the needed teaching and nurturing qualities. You may feel a great tension and unease of not being in the right place. Yet you must continue forward. Something will change soon. Quietly and bravely carry on.

“Mental Health” from page 25

Develop connections and internships with nearby universities that have Psychology and Social Work programs to groom a clinical workforce. A plan should be completed by the end of 2023.

Crisis Stabilization

To eliminate the frequent offloading of the Behavioral Health Division clients to local hospital emergency departments, the Board of Supervisors and BHD should by the end of 2023 evaluate ways to increase the number of Crisis Stabilization Program chairs and psychiatric beds available, which may include planning for another adult Psychiatric Healthcare Facility.

The Behavioral Health Division should:

• Improve staffing and expand coverage to 24/7 by the Mobile Emergency Response Team and the Mobile Emergency Response Team for Youth by the end of 2023.

• Ensure a smooth transition plan and back-up plan for the treatment of children and youths from the current Crisis Stabilization Program to the planned new facility in Live Oak other than diverting them to emergency departments. This should be completed by Sept. 30.

Step-Down

The Behavioral Health Division should request sufficient funding from the County to provide adequate step-down care so patients do not relapse and need yet more care. This request should be in place by the end of 2023.

Latino/a Services

The Behavioral Health Division should continue to improve bilingual/bicultural outreach to the Latino/a population, including whether any language besides Spanish reaches the threshold to warrant offering the bilingual pay differential. Improvements should be in place by the end of 2023.

The Behavioral Health Division should review recruitment and retention of bilingual staff, including an increase to the current bilingual pay differential by the end of 2023.

Commendations

The Grand Jury commends the Behavioral Health Division:

For development of a psychiatric healthcare facility for children and youths which will provide much needed mental health services for this population.

For efforts to develop a wide range of crisis care services not routinely offered in similar-sized counties, including Mobile Emergency Response Teams for adults and youth, a Crisis Services Program, and a Psychiatric Health Facility. n

The County Personnel Department does not recognize a staffing shortage in Behavioral Health

WaterSmart Customer Portal Helps Detect Leaks & Track Use

By Rebecca Gold Rubin

The WaterSmart program is an easy way for Soquel Creek Water District customers to track usage and help use our limited water resources wisely.

WaterSmart provides customers with a modern digital portal to access detailed information about household water use, pay bills, and set up alerts. It can be accessed via your phone, tablet or computer. This innovative software helps residents and businesses to save money, use water efficiently, and quickly identify leaks.

Leak Detection

One of WaterSmart’s biggest benefits is helping customers identify leaks

and other issues that can contribute to high water bills. By monitoring usage data through the WaterSmart portal, customers can quickly identify any spikes or irregularities in their water usage, which may indicate a leak or other problem. This allows customers to act quickly and avoid costly water bills. By proactively managing leaks, customers can not only conserve water but also protect their property from potential water damage and avoid associated repair costs. You can sign up on the portal to receive notifications of unusual water use.

Soquel Creek Water Vacancy

Bruce Daniels has resigned from the Soquel Creek Water District, effective June 19. Daniels, first elected in 2000, had a term ending in 2024.

The board could schedule an election, which is costly, and opted to create an ad hoc committee of Carla Christensen and Tom LaHue to develop an application for people interested in the position. The board will interview all applicants on Aug. 8 and 9 in the evening. Interviews will be open to the public.

The last time this occurred was in 2016 when Rick Meyer died. The board

interviewed a number of applicants and selected Rachel Lather, who remains on the board. In 2003, Thomas LaHue was appointed, and he remains on the board.

Human resources director

Traci Hart told the board that they had to decide within 60 days on how to fill the vacancy, or the County Board of Supervisors could decide how to proceed. Manager Ron Duncan said past elections cost $60,000 to $70,000.

Any appointee will have the advantage of being the incumbent. n Info at www.soquelcreekwater.org/

Efficient Water Usage

Inaddition to identifying leaks, WaterSmart can provide personalized recommendations to help District customers save money on water bills.

Recommendations may include adjusting irrigation schedules, fixing leaks, or making other small changes to reduce water consumption. These changes help conserve water, which is especially important in Santa Cruz County where water resources are limited.

Personal Use Reports

WaterSmart also generates personalized water-use reports based on a customer’s consumption patterns. The reports offer valuable insights into your water usage, comparing it to local averages and providing recommendations for improvement. By understanding how your consumption compares to others in your area, you can identify areas where you can use water more efficiently.

WaterSmart’s data-driven approach empowers individuals with knowledge they can use to make informed decisions and take action to improve efficient water usage. Customers can customize their Customer Portal profile through the Household Profile. You can find the Household Profile in the drop-down menu under your name in the right-hand corner. Completing the Household Profile will improve the relevancy and accuracy of the water-use comparisons and recommendations you see in the portal.

Educational Resources

In addition to the data-driven reports, the WaterSmart portal provides a wealth of

educational resources such as tips and guidelines on landscape irrigation and information on the many rebates the District provides. Go Green

The WaterSmart portal is a one-stop shop.

Customers can pay their bills through the portal, sign up for automatic billing, and/or paperless billing. You can also pay by text as well as sign up for alerts. Register today!

To register, simply go to soquelcreekwd. watersmart.com/index.php and enter your Account Number (exactly as it is shown on your bill) and your zip code. Once you are registered, you can create a portal username and password based on an email of your choice.

The District is really excited about the WaterSmart program and we encourage all our customers to sign up today! It can empower individuals to actively participate in sustainable practices by encouraging efficient water usage, leak detection and prevention, and providing personalized reports and educational resources. With programs like WaterSmart, we can collectively work towards a greener future, preserve our precious water resources, and create a positive impact on the environment. n •••

As always, if you have any questions about this month’s topic or anything else related to Soquel Creek Water District, feel free to contact us at outreach@soquelcreekwater.org or visit soquelcreekwater.org.

Bruce Daniels

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

ANNOUNCEMENTS

CABRILLO COLLEGE NAME CHANGE INPUT

The Cabrillo College Board Name Exploration Subcommittee has added two Zoom meetings for community feedback on Cabrillo’s name change, to complement the two remaining in-person meetings at Cabrillo’s Watsonville Center, 318 Union St. (6 p.m. Wednesday, June 28) and Felton Library (6 p.m. Wednesday, July 12). Here are the links:

Thursday, July 13, Zoom link: https://us06web. zoom.us/j/86103659537

Wednesday, July 19, Zoom link: https://us06web. zoom.us/j/86103659537

All community members are invited. At each forum, attendees can discuss the top 5 finalists, ask questions about the process, and vote on their favorites. The 5 names (in alphabetical order) are: Aptos College, Cajastaca College, Costa Vista College, Santa Cruz Coast College, and Seacliff College.

A survey on Cabrillo’s Name Exploration website (and published in local media) gave community members a place to suggest new names and to volunteer on a task force to narrow down the list.

More than 1,500 responses generated 350 viable names. The 23-member task force, which included indigenous scholars and native Spanish speakers, narrowed the list to 5 names presented at the first community forum in Aptos.

The community can vote for their favorite and donate to support the name change at: https://www.cabrillo. edu/governing-board/name-exploration-subcommittee/.

WANT TO HELP HORSES?

Want to do a good deed?

The Monterey Bay Horsemanship & Therapeutic Center in LaSelva Beach needs the support of our community and has put together a wish list. Every little bit helps a lot.

The center is located at at 475 Eucalyptus Way and open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Call (831) 761-1142 for more information.

•••

Wish List

Paper products: Paper towels, napkins, disposable utensils, disposable cups, and plates, Bathroom Products: TP, hand sanitizer, hand soap, wipes, disposable seat covers

Furniture: bean bag chairs for calming and postseizure napping

Basic cleaning supplies: spray cleaners, sponges, brooms, mops, wet Swiffer mop refills

General Maintenance: hoses, regular lawn sprinklers, leftover paint, lumber, gravel, sand

Supply gift cards: Home Depot, Costco, Corralitos

Feed, San Lorenzo Lumber

BBQ: Industrial waterproof gas

iPads or Laptops: in good condition

ASF ANNUAL POKER TOURNAMENT

Friday, Sept. 22, 6 p.m., Seascape Golf Club, 610 Clubhouse Drive, Aptos

Aptos Sports Foundation hosts the 2023 ASF Poker Tournament at Seascape Golf Club.

Check-in at 6 p.m., Texas Hold’Em tournament starts at 6:30. Entry includes a sandwich buffet and snacks, plus a no-host bar.

Top 8 players win prizes.

Single tickets are $125. Sign up and pay at aptossports foundation@gmail.com.

SOROPTIMISTS AT SC SHAKESPEARE

Soroptimist International of Capitola-by-the-Sea will be renting cushions, beach chairs and blankets on cold

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nights at all 50 of the Santa Cruz Shakespeare shows in the Audrey Stanley Grove in Delaveaga Park, 501 Upper Park Road, Santa Cruz, beginning July 8.

Potential members or others interested in learning more about the Club’s work and activities are invited to visit the rental booth and talk to a member.

Proceeds from the booth are the Club’s major fund-raiser and a portion is shared with Santa Cruz Shakespeare. For information, see www.best4women.org, This year’s season: The Book of Will, Taming of the Shrew, and King Lear.

The shows run July 8 through Aug. 27. For the schedule, see www.santacruzshakepeare.org

CALL TO ARTISTS

An artist will be selected to create a site-specific public art component for the new Children’s Crisis Stabilization Center in Santa Cruz County.

The budget for the project is $91,000. The deadline to submit a proposal is July 14.

The center will be located at 5300 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz, next to the Sheriff’s Public Safety Center, in an existing 30,220-square-foot commercial building to be redesigned and renovated to create a Children’s Crisis Stabilization Unit and the county’s first short-term residential therapeutic program.

Currently, there are no inpatient programs for youth who live in Santa Cruz County

The facility, when completed, will be operated by the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency.

Youth experiencing an acute emotional and psychiatric crisis will get help in their own county.

A “Call to Artists” includes detailed information about the RFP process, maps of potential public art locations, and a sample contract are available on the County Parks website: https://www. scparks.com/Home/AboutUs/WorkWithUs/CalltoArtists.aspx

LEADERSHIP SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

Leadership Santa Cruz County is accepting applications for its 2023/2024 program. This will mark the organization’s 37th year with more than 1,600 alumni. This is a great opportunity to learn about the many facets of our county’s cultures and institutions. Participants are introduced to an array of community and civic experiences, with topics such as housing, education, criminal justice, healthcare, agriculture, tourism, and the arts.

Class members have the opportunity to meet many decision-makers in business, government, and nonprofits.

The program runs from September 2023 through June 2024 with an orientation in August 2023. To learn more and apply, see https://www.leadershipsantacruzcounty.org/

SUSPECT ELDER ABUSE?

If you suspect elder abuse, reach out to the Santa Cruz County Adult Protective Services for support by calling (831) 454-4101 or by visiting santacruzhumanservices.org/AdultLongTermCare. Your report is confidential.

“The County is here to help,” said Melissa Villalobos, a licensed social worker, and an Adult Protective Services Program manager. “We might think it doesn’t happen in our community or even in our family, but it can. Fortunately, families going through this are not alone.”

NEW IN SANTA CRUZ: ELECTRIC BEACH SHUTTLE

The City of Santa Cruz is introducing a new electric shuttle service for summer 2023.

The Santa Cruzer Beach & Downtown Shuttle will operate weekends and holidays between Memorial Day Weekend through Labor Day including 4th of July from noon to 8 p.m., taking riders from downtown Santa Cruz to the beach area for $1 per ride.

Free ride coupons are available from sponsors Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk and Humble Sea Brewery. Pickup spots are:

• Del Mar Theatre, 1124 Pacific Ave #4415

• Locust Street Garage, 124 Locust St

The new bus was unveiled May 22 at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Exploration Center, 35 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, which is the beach drop-off point. The shuttle is partly funded by an AB2766 grant to reduce vehicle emissions from the Monterey Bay Air Quality Control District.

KATIE SIMPSON PAINTINGS AT SIMPKINS CENTER

An exhibition by mixed media artist Katie Simpson is at Simpkins Family Swim Center through Sept. 24. The public is invited to view the displays at no charge. Simpson combines collage, drawing, relief printmaking and layers of acrylic paint. Each painting is

MUSIC, MOVIES AND MORE AT THE BOARDWALK

Ongoing thru Aug. 11

The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, 400 Beach, Santa Cruz, hosts free live music, free movie and free entertainment all summer.

Thursdays, 8:30-10 p.m. — Bands play on the Colonnade.

July 6 FAST TIMES • July 13 SANTA CRUDA • July 20 TSUNAMI

Fridays, 9 p.m. — Movies will screen on the beach in front of the Colonnade.

July

a celebration of the magical Central Coastal California, and the nature that thrives in unexpected spaces.

Simpson is from the redwood forest of Aptos, and has a master’s in fine art from the City College of New York and a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University.

A nature enthusiast, she works as a teaching artist with the Arts Councils of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. Her work will be on display at Open Studios this fall. The Simpkins Center/Parks Department headquarters is located at 979 17th Ave., Santa Cruz.

FREE FAMILY MOVIE NIGHTS

Santa Cruz County Parks presents free family-friendly movie nights under the stars this summer and fall.

Family Movie Nights is a series of free outdoor movie events. Movies begin at dusk. Low back chairs, blankets and jackets recommended. No alcohol, please. Come early and bring a picnic to enjoy! The dates:

July 14: Jurassic Park @ Highlands Park, 8500 Highway 9, Ben Lomond

Aug. 11: Lego Batman Movie @ Anna Jean Cummings Park, 461 Old San Jose Rd., Soquel

ITALIAN

LANGUAGE CLASSES: FALL 2023

Learn the language of “la dolce vita” with our native Italian-speaking instructors.

Whether you are new to the Italian language, totally fluent, or everything in between we are delighted to welcome you. No matter what your goals are for learning Italian: business, travel, pleasure, or because you love the sound of this beautiful language and would like to understand it better, these classes are a fun way to learn.

This fall Dante Santa Cruz offers online and in-person classes. The 10-week session begins the week of Sept. 11. Register NOW to secure your spot and take advantage of the Early Bird discount, which ends Aug. 7. The last day to register is Sept. 5.

Dante members receive an additional discount when they register with a coupon code which they can request from dantesantacruz1265@gmail.com. To register go to: www.dantesantacruz.com/classes

FREE SWIMS AT SIMPKINS

Various times, Simpkins Pool, 979 17th Ave., Santa Cruz Simpkins Pool will host a free swim on Tuesday, July 4, from noon to 4 p.m., and again on Labor Day, Sept. 7. On Saturday, July 29, Simpkins Pool will host a free family fun day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with games, bounce houses, and food trucks.

Info: scparks.com

COUNTY FAIR BOARD MEETINGS

1:30 p.m., Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, 2601 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville

Here are the remaining County Fair Board meeting dates in 2023. Each meeting takes place on a Tuesday: July 25, Aug. 22, Oct. 24, and Dec. 5, all at the fairgrounds.

Meetings also take place on Zoom. For agendas, see santacruzcountyfair.com.

ONGOING EVENTS

Mondays

BRIDGE CLUB

10 a.m.-Noon, Capitola Branch Library, 2005 Wharf Road

The Capitola Branch Library will host Bridge Club sessions on Mondays (except holidays).

1st 2023 / Aptos Times www.tpgonlinedaily.com

Everyone is welcomed from beginners to social players. Make new friends and sharpen your mind. Bridge Club is a partnership between Santa Cruz County Parks and Santa Cruz Public Libraries. Register at scparks.com or in-person the day of the event.

Tuesdays through Aug. 29

LOW INTENSITY CONDITIONING & STRETCHING

9:15-10:15 a.m., Anna Jean Cummings Park, 461 Soquel San Jose Rd, Soquel

Santa Cruz County Parks offers a new fitness class for active adults, low-intensity anaerobic conditioning & stretching Tuesdays at Anna Jean Cummings Park. Walk-ins are welcome. Register at scparks.com. Information: 454-7941.

Fridays thru Sept. 29

MIDTOWN SUMMER BLOCK PARTY IS BACK!

5 to 8:30ish p.m., 1111 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz Celebrate the vibrancy of Midtown at the Summer Block Party, happening every Friday! Food – Artists –Live Music – Vendors

The free events will feature the talents of 30+ local bands, local eats, local artists and vendors. Midtown Fridays starts June 2 and runs through to Sept. 29. Live music brought to you by Off The Lip Radio Show. Bands:

June 30: Afrobeats Nite Santa Cruz w/opener Carolyn

Sills Duo

July 7: Ancestree w/opener Hijinx

July 14: The Rayburn Brothers

July 21: Dirty Cello

July 28: Alex Lucero Band w/opener Asher Stern

Aug. 4: The Dylan Rose Band w/opener Maddie & Jackie

Aug. 11: Santa Cruda w/opener Yaya’s Kitchen

Aug. 18: Mak Nova

Aug. 25: Cowboy’s After Dark w/opener Corrina & Rick

Sept. 1: The Joint Chiefs

Sept. 8: Locomotive Breath

Sept. 15: Funkranomicon

Sept. 22: AC Myles

Sept. 29: The Expendables

Details: https://www.eventsantacruz.com/event/midtownfridays-summer-block-party-2023/

DATED EVENTS

Saturday July 1

THINK LOCAL FIRST JOINS SANTA CRUZ VOICE AT APTOS FARMERS’ MARKET

9 a.m.-Noon, Farmers’ Market, Cabrillo College.

Think Local First and Santa Cruz Voice streaming radio will host a live Roadshow Remote broadcast in celebration of our local food community from the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Market at Cabrillo College in Aptos.

Santa Cruz County is home to one of the most productive local food communities in the world, and Think Local First and Santa Cruz Voice believe that is worth celebrating.

Market CEO Catherine Barr says the July 4 weekend market is the biggest of the year, and the broadcast will feature as many of the market’s farmers as possible. Tune in at www.santacruzvoice.com

Tuesday July 4

WORLD’S SHORTEST PARADE IN APTOS

10 a.m.-End of Parade, Soquel/State Park Dr. to Trout Gulch Rd. On July 4th, Aptos will celebrate our freedoms with t-shirts, a great parade, and a party in Aptos Village Park.

This year’s parade Grand Marshal is Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks for their work in trying to restore our parks from a series of natural disasters.

The parade begins at 10 a.m. at the intersection of Soquel Drive and State Park Drive and ends at Trout Gulch Road.

The Chamber is asking the community to be the judges

BASTILLE DAY AT BOOMERIA!

Saturday July 8

1–5 p.m., 60 Verde Dr., Bonny Doon

Boomeria’s annual celebration of Bastille Day, replete with wine, dance, and music of ages past will be 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, July 8, at the stunning Chapel Royale in Bonny Doon.

Preston Boomer’s unique estate in the Bonny Doon redwoods houses a large Baroque-style, trackeraction pipe organ, on which expert organists will perform their art.

Santa Cruz Brass Ensemble and the Bonny Doon Baroque consort provide musical delights, including Martin Gaskell’s Ceremonial Music for Organ and Brass.

Costumed Baroque-era dancing adds to the spectacle. Inquisitive minds can satisfy their curiosity about the organ’s workings by making the ‘organ crawl.’ Delicious snacks and fine wines.

Tickets are $59 presale at https://tinyurl.com/Boomeria-Bastille-Day-BD-2023 and $70 at the door.

Directions: 60 Verde Drive is located off Empire Grade Road, 10 miles past UCSC west gate, past Pine Flat, past Conifer Lane. LEFT on Vick Drive, go past Molina & Robles, down the hill. House chapel on the right.

Visit https://scbaroque.org or contact General Manager Kate Smit at manager@santacruzbaroquefestival.org or call 831-457-9693 for more information.

for this year’s parade. Send photos of your favorite floats, groups, pets, cars, and bands to chamberaptos@gmail. com. Sign up to be in the parade at aptoschamber.com. This year’s T-shirt image is a local Burmese Mountain Dog named Birdie. T-shirts are available for $20 at the Aptos Chamber of Commerce, Aptos Feed, and Deluxe Foods.

FIRECRACKER RACES

8 a.m., Harvey West Park, 326 Evergreen Street, Santa Cruz

The Rotary Club of Santa Cruz Sunrise announce the full Firecracker race is in its 38th year.

That means all three courses will be available: 10K, 5K, and a Kid’s 1K Fun Run at Harvey West Park, Santa Cruz, on the morning of July 4th.

What a great way to kick off a holiday celebration of our nation’s Independence Day!

Runners on the 10K will take on the challenging “Thrill of the Hill” in Pogonip Park before topping out on the Spring Trail that winds through the beautiful meadow by UCSC before dropping down into the neighborhoods before returning to Harvey West Park.

goals and develop a pruning plan that will guide growth, maintain health and highlight your plants’ inherent beauty.

Participants will be guided through hands-on exercises during the first hour, followed by the opportunity to work in small groups to practice class concepts and pruning in the Watsonville Demonstration Garden. All attendees will receive handouts to provide guidance at home.

The class is limited to 20 participants so register at bit.ly/IntermediatePruning

Donated suggested.

Tuesday July 11

CALCARE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL

6 p.m., Online Meeting

Ryan Skolnick, community organizer for the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, will be the guest speaker for a Democratic Club of North Santa Cruz County’s online meeting.

Skolnick is working on the campaign to pass CalCare, Assembly Bill 1400, an attempt to implement a singlepayer health program, which in 2022 never came up for a vote.

Members of the public are welcome to attend. Visit www.svslvdemocrats.org for the Zoom meeting link.

Social time starts at 6 p.m. and the meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.

Friday July 14

thru Sunday July 16

BYTHEAL RATLIFF’S BLAST BY THE BAY SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT

The Cabrillo Gals Softball League will host a tournament July 14-16 at Soquel High and Blue Ball Park (Anna Jean Cummings).

Some 30 travel teams will compete in 4 divisions with teams coming from 6 different counties in Northern California.

Information: https://www.cabrillogals.com/Default. aspx?tabid=1383516

Saturday July 15

TRUE LOVE CHRISTIAN MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL

11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Aptos Village Park, 100 Aptos Creek Road

Chuck Girard from Love Song will kick off the True Love Festival, now in its third year at Aptos Village Park. Love Song was the main band that started the Jesus Movement in the 1970s and is seen in the new movie “Jesus Revolution,” which is the fifth best-selling faith movie of all time.

PARTY IN THE PARK

Noon-4 p.m., Aptos Village Park, 100 Aptos Creek Rd. Come to the 4th of July Party in Aptos Village Park with activities for the whole family.

Food trucks and vendors will include Taquizas Gabriel, with tacos, quesabirrias, burritos, asada fries, nachos, quesadillas, churros, shrimp, fish, and drinks.

India Gourmet will serve hot prepared Indian cuisine. Whiting’s Fun Foods has Dippin’ Dots Ice Cream. Clean Juice Aptos will prepare Acai Bowls and Juice. S and B Food Truck offers burgers, sandwiches, fried food and bottled drinks. The Capitola Aptos Rotary will bring beer. In addition, there will be craft vendors, games, and dancing to the music of “James Durbin and The Lost Boys.”

Entrance donation is $5. The event is hosted by the Aptos Chamber of Commerce. Happy Independence Day!

5K Runners will face a flat and fast course contained in the Harvey West Business Park area. The 5K course is stroller, ADA and wheelchair accessible.

Everyone ends up in beautiful Harvey West Park for great music, post-race burritos and awards. Entry fees are 10K, $45, 5k, $40 and kids 1k, $20. Sign up at https://runsignup.com/Race/CA/SantaCruz/SantaCruzFIrecracker10Kand5K

Saturday July 8

Saturday July 15

INTERMEDIATE PRUNING FOR ORNAMENTALS CLASSES

10 a.m.–Noon, Watsonville Demonstration Garden, 1432 Freedom Blvd.

Join Carol Nickbarg, UC Master Gardener, pruner and landscape consultant, will lead two workshops to learn how to look at plants in a methodical way to set pruning

More than 20 churches and ministries from Boulder Creek to Watsonville are coming together to present the True Love Christian Music and Art Festival which is offered free to the community.

There will be free hot dogs and tacos, fun and fellowship. Bringing extra snacks and drinks is recommended.

Attendees should bring chairs and shade covering. Parking is at Coastlands Church or Resurrection Church; take the Monte Vista Shuttle Vans. More information at www.truelovechristian.com

Wednesday July 19

ICE CREAM SOCIAL

1 p.m., Porter Memorial Library, 3050 Porter St., Soquel The Porter Memorial Library invites pre-school and early elementary school children to an Ice Cream Social and storytelling by Jeanne Jorgensen. This theme this month is “Safari Adventure.” n

Fireworks Are Illegal in our Neighborhoods and Beaches

By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District

With summer officially starting the number of complaints for fireworks (and other explosives) begin to increase.

Last year, we fielded a number of complaints not just about fireworks but about the noise and level of explosive that were set off.

This year the complaints have been slightly less than last year, but we anticipate with the warmer weather they will increase.

While this issue isn’t unique to our area, and many coastal areas in particular in California struggle with how to best address the issue, it nonetheless has a lot of impacts on our neighborhoods and local beaches.

The largest number of complaints come around July 4th (although fireworks occur throughout the summer) with the majority of calls from the coastal areas of our district including Rio Del Mar, Seacliff and La Selva Beach. We have also begun to receive some complaints in more rural areas including the Santa Cruz Mountains and outside of Corralitos.

The exact location of the discharge is often difficult to pinpoint, as the sound reverberates throughout the affected area, but there are some known hotspot locations on state beaches and some county beaches in the unincorporated area.

Additionally, the railroad tracks are a popular spot for setting off M-80s or other types of commercial grade explosives.

Different state and local agencies oversee the response to fireworks at beaches and other locations in the county.

For example, over the last few years (with feedback and recommendations from the community) the Sheriff’s Office,

State Parks and others have tried different enforcement approaches while the County has done a significant educational (including paid advertising outreach) to address the issue. Some of this enforcement, specifically along the coast, has caused concerns about increased fireworks activity in the more rural areas.

Others have believed that when the enforcement is most directed, there is a decline in activity along the coast. Some have contacted my office to express concern about the usage of law enforcement resources for fireworks in general (believing this is a low priority issue or that it shouldn’t be enforced at all because people enjoy seeing the illegal shows).

The County’s position has been that fireworks, even safe and sane fireworks, are illegal in the unincorporated area, there should be enforcement on this issue.

Realistically, there are significant barriers to effective enforcement: the difficulty in pinpointing the exact location of the discharge, the delay between the report and arrival of law enforcement (as people that are discharging them often leave the scene), call prioritization (if there are other active calls that officers are on then they won’t be able to respond immediately) and even the accessibility of fireworks sold through other neighboring communities. But the County is still committed to helping to reduce the issue.

Fireworks and some of the noise-based explosives are sold legally in neighboring jurisdictions and often brought illegally into our community and fired off on the beaches, in the neighborhoods and even along the rail corridor and local parks.

Over the last few years the County has increased the fines for fireworks (fireworks violations are subject to triple fines around July 4th, which means a citation can cost

well over $1,000 after court costs are added on.)

Additionally, working with local community groups and the Sheriff’s Office the County adopted a set of policies and approaches over five years ago that are still in place today. This includes improved tools of enforcement and better education locally and regionally. Specifically, the plan included:

• Making triple fines for fireworks permanent on July 4th and other holidays (meaning possession of fireworks will cost you well over $1,000 in fines and court costs)

• Producing public service announcements and other media outreach to local and regional media outlets about enforcement plans and the danger of fireworks before the summer as well as paid media purchases on social media

• Expanding digital signage near hot spot neighborhoods about

regarding how these calls are handled and also for education to the caller about the best information to provide to ensure proper enforcement

• Working with vacation rental owners and local hotels to educate them about visitors bringing illegal fireworks and also the consequences associated with it (sending letters to all vacation rental owners and hotels and their associations for them to let visitors know about the regulations)

• Increasing police patrols

• Coordination between Central Fire, Sheriff’s Office and State Parks for improved and increased education and enforcement during July 4th and other peak times.

Illegal fireworks activity will continue but the goal is that this approach have a positive impact on the environment and other issues it causes. n •••

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

SCCAS Featured Pet

Sweet Cider

Cider is a 6-year-old neutered male German Shepherd who is as sweet as he could be. He originally came to the Shelter as an owner surrender when his owner was hospitalized and was unable to care for him.

Cider had been an emotional support pup for his owner and was with them 24/7 since he was a puppy. His foster home reported that he was such a sweet and easy dog, except he does get stressed when he is separated from his human. An adoptive home where Cider can be someone’s shadow would be the best fit.

At the Shelter he is known by volunteers and staff as being a gentle and calm dog who loves to walk, hang out at home and carry around his favorite toy.

While Cider did not come with a history with cats he was exposed to cats on an overnight with a volunteer and seemed to ignore them. With dogs Cider is fairly neutral and prefers to coexist instead of play; a home with another dog might be a fit provided they meet at the Shelter before adoption.

Cider also has been around young children in his previous home and did well.

This pup is a big boy and will pull on the leash when excited but calms down with longer walks and is very manageable on a harness. If you are looking for a more mature, gentle pup to be your best pal and daily companion come to SCCAS and meet Cider today!

Right now the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is full of adoptable animals. Fostering animals is an awesome way to improve a Shelter animal’s life and fill your home with love and fun!

If you are interested in fostering any kind of animal please email jillian. ganley@santacruzcounty.us

•••

Right now the Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is full of adoptable animals. Fostering animals is an awesome way to improve a Shelter animal’s life and fill your home with love and fun! If you are interested in fostering any kind of animal please email jillian. ganley@santacruzcounty.us. The Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter is located at 1001 Rodriguez St and is open every day from 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

•••

Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter’s full-service, open-admission shelter: 1001 Rodriguez St., Santa Cruz, 95062

Hours: Daily 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. • Website: www.scanimalshelter.org

SCCAS Main line: 831-454-7200. Animal Control: 831-454-7227. After-Hours Emergency: 831-471-1182 • After Hours: jillian.ganley@santacruzcounty.us