Letters to the Editor | Sept. 3
City must update general plan to build around airport
At the Aug. 24 Watsonville City Council meeting, while discussing the housing project at 547 Airport Blvd., some council members implied that the Watsonville Pilots Association (WPA) had been involved in lawsuits with Target, Home Depot...
Santa Cruz’s Charlie Hong Kong serves lunch to local farmworkers
WATSONVILLE—About two dozen farmworkers settled in on picnic tables at a Lakeside Organic Gardens field Wednesday for a fresh, healthy lunch featuring the very crops they harvest.
The meal was prepared by Charlie Hong Kong, a Santa Cruz Asian fusion restaurant that was Lakeside’s first...
USDA announces increase to CalFresh benefits
WATSONVILLE—Starting on Oct. 1, anyone receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, known in California as CalFresh, will see a slight increase to the amount they receive each month.
The changes to the federal Thrifty Food Plan comes thanks to the U.S. Department of Agriculture...
Organization aims to integrate beneficial songbirds on farms
WATSONVILLE—For more than 20 years, Watsonville-based organization Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) has aimed to find a sustainable balance between conservation and agriculture.
Established by a like-minded group of wildland proponents and ecological farming advocates, WFA’s primary goal is to bring nature back into the industry.
“As...
Noah and the Climate Crisis
Once when I was a youth pastor, a sixth-grade boy came up to me and asked, “Robby, where’s the rules part in the Bible?” Not sure exactly what he meant, I asked if he was looking for the Ten Commandments. “No, the rules part!”...
Letters to the Editor, Aug. 13
Sheriff Oversight Commission needed
On behalf of Standing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) Santa Cruz County, we submit this letter to draw your attention to urgent needs in our community that have been ignored for too long. We trust you agree that each of us...
This Week in Pajaro Valley’s Past, Aug. 13
25 years ago on Aug. 12, 1996
Thousands of farm workers and their families marched through Watsonville, waving flags and banners to protest the United Farm Workers organizing efforts. In March, the UFW announced plans to organize the 15,000 berry workers in the Pajaro and...
The choice is simple, rebuild the WHS bleachers
Nearly seven years ago I posted a video to social media that, sadly, is no longer viewable. It was a 20-second clip recorded underneath the Watsonville High School press box at Emmett M. Geiser Field. In the video, I ever so slightly nudged a...
Faith sees obstacles as opportunities
The surprising success this season of the San Francisco Giants had me thinking the other day of Dave Dravecky. Beloved by Giants fans, Dravecky was a popular pitcher until a tumor invaded his throwing arm. After surgery he forged a surprising comeback—until the cancer...
Stand with older adults to improve access to dental care
Grandpa wants to eat an apple.
This is a simple act. Yet, one in five people over the age of 65 living in the U.S. have lost all their teeth according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). To make matters worse, Medicare—the...
Sharks hold off ‘Catz to start 1-0 in league play |...
St. Francis and Watsonville both went into last weekend’s Pacific Coast Athletic League opener aiming to get a head start in the race for...