Letters to the Editor, Dec. 16
Hats off to the multitude of volunteers that have pulled off the Holiday Lights display at our Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds. My understanding is that with the state’s intervention in the leadership at the fairgrounds, staff hours were cut from 48 hours to just...
Letter: What can be done to prevent more flooding?
After the 2023 flood, $434 million was given by the state and government under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund a new levee. The 100-year floodplain levee would sustain the Pajaro River, Salsipuedes Creek and Corralitos Creek with the idea that there is 1%...
An open letter to City Manager Matt Huffaker, Watsonville staff
In 2015, developer Kamalesh Patel proposed to replace the National 9 motel across from St. Patrick’s church with a four-story La Quinta. The proposed hotel did not comply with Watsonville ordinances intended to control development of downtown properties. In a 2016 public meeting, the...
Summer '17 movie season a mixed bag
I figured that it would stink but nothing really prepared me for just how bad “Transformers: The Last Knight” would be. The acting was phoned in, the script was garbage and even the million-dollar action blended into itself. The only silver lining to this
Farm, biotech company secures more grants for education programs
In 2021, biotech company Blume Industries (BI) and Whiskey Hill Farms (WHF) became recipients of The Farmer Rancher Grant, a major grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Western Division of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE).
The grant aims to support farmers and...
From the editor's desk, Sept. 19: PV High overcomes major hurdle
After more than a decade of lawsuits, angry meetings and countless students graduating without having experienced a complete high school, it finally happened.
Is the Electoral College still appropriate?
We are again just weeks away from another presidential election. An election that won't be decided by a plurality of the popular vote, but by what even our Supreme Court has referred to as the “anachronism of the Electoral College.”
A perpetual majority of voters...
Firework sales should be brought to the public
By Dennis Osmer, former Watsonville Mayor
Hardly anybody likes to work with somebody looking over their shoulder. And of those, nobody likes getting advice from somebody outside the circle. But for City Council and the City Manager, that’s the job they sought and got. According...
Kangi-e ‘A Gathering of Joy’
The month of July and August is what Buddhists call Obon season. For many, the Obon is a Buddhist festival of food, cultural arts, displays and folk dancing. The religious aspect of Obon comes from the sutra called the Ullambana Sutra. The sutra is...
Watsonville Plaza project moves ahead
A crew from Community Tree Service removed several large trees and trimmed back several others Monday and Tuesday at Watsonville Plaza as part of...


















