Tag: Cal-Trans

Highway One roadwork

(See attached file: Hwy.1 Striping 6.12.12.doc)

Today’s Date: Tuesday, June 12, 2012
District: 05 – Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito
and Santa
Cruz Counties
Contact: Susana Z Cruz (bilingual) or Colin Jones
Phone: (805) 549-3138 or 549-3189
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HIGHWAY 1 STRIPING/MARKING FROM SAN LUIS OBISPO/MONTEREY COUNTY LINE TO
SOUTH OF BIG SUR IS UNDERWAY

MONTEREY COUNTY – A project to restripe a 42-mile section of the centerline
and edge lines as well as place new pavement markers from the SLO/Mon.
County line to just south of Big Sur near Coast Gallery is underway,
Caltrans officials have announced.

Work hours are from 8 am to 4 pm Monday through Thursday and until 12 pm on
Friday. One-way traffic control by flagging and pilot car will be
implemented at all times during this roadwork. Up to 15-minute delays are
anticipated. Electronic message signs will be used to alert motorists of
the work/delay ahead. Work is expected to be completed by June 22.

The project will improve safety by increasing roadway delineation and
visibility. The contractor for this $332,000 project is Central Striping
Service of Rancho Cordova.

Caltrans reminds motorists to move over and slow down when driving
through
Caltrans work zones.

For traffic updates on other state highways in Monterey County, motorists
can call Caltrans District 5 Public Affairs at (805) 549-3318 or visit the
District 5 website at: http://www.dot.ca.gov/dist05/road_information.htm

Susana Z. Cruz
Public Information Officer /
Portavoz de Relaciones Públicas
(805) 549-3138
(805) 549-3326–Fax

Cal Trans workers

Just got a call from one family member who was at the bail bonds office. All of the accused Cal Trans members have now made bail and are being released on $50,000 bail, and are being released, even as I type.

I have a tribute to Dante to post, but I haven’t been able to get it on my blog, yet, so will make that a priority tomorrow. Also, I have a press release from the Los Padres Forest on the upcoming fire danger to post as soon as I can.

Finally, Lee Ann posted on FB re a veg fire across from the Big Sur Campgrounds, but I have no confirmation or information re that. Will follow up in the am.

I’ve been out of sorts with two abscessed teeth, and not been up to much of anything for a few days now. Hopefully, the antibiotics are beginning to kick in.

Bail Reduction granted

This morning in court, the same Judge who set bail for the Willow Springs maintenance crew at $1 million dollars each, reduced that bail to $50,000 each. The Deputy District Attorney agreed that bail should be reduced, given the lack of criminal histories by those accused. One DDA asked for and received a no contact order with the witness, as well as a stay away order from their own houses at the yard.

A gentle reminder to ALL community members, anything you say or do toward the witness or his family could be misconstrued and attributed to the defendants, thus resulting in them being tossed back in jail. Be kind in any contacts you may have, if you have any at all. Until this is resolved, we ALL must walk on egg shells for our friends and neighbors.

We learned very little about the charges themselves, today, as at the calendar call, or readiness calendar, on Wednesday, the public defender for one of the defendants continued it until next Friday, the 25th. I intend to be present, if possible.

A primer in Criminal Procedure

I thought it might be helpful to explain the process for this next week.

There are two dates set for the accused. The first, on May 16th at 10 am, is called the preliminary hearing calendar call. This is the opportunity for all the parties to meet and make sure they are ready to proceed to preliminary hearing. The defense attorneys will be making sure that they have all the discovery – police reports, etc. to which they are entitled. They will either be telling the court whether they will be ready to proceed on Friday, or be asking for additional time to prepare. The Deputy District Attorney will be sharing any supplemental reports they have received from the various agencies and letting the court know if their witnesses will be available, and whether they will be ready to proceed. This is typically also the time when initial plea bargaining discussion occur.

A Preliminary Hearing has become rather pro forma. Because these are felony charges, the DA must simply establish whether there is probable cause to believe a crime or crimes have been committed and that these defendants probably committed them. It is a very low standard that has little to do with guilt or innocence. Since the passage of Prop 115 (I think is the number), the state no longer has to put on many of the actual witnesses. The investigating officer is allowed to relate to the court what these witnesses told him, and presumably what they will testify to. It will be the first opportunity the public has to hear what facts the state has. Generally, the defense puts on little testimony, and certainly, none of the defendants will be put on the stand at this point. They can, but most attorneys will not let that happen. There is no advantage to it. There may be one defense witness, we will see, and I will be there to report. It is possible, but unlikely, that if the evidence presented is considerably less than what is charged, then bail might be reduced. I think it is unlikely that there will be a reduction, considering what the DA said about the witness.

I hope this short primer is helpful to understand what may happen next week.

Friday hearing for Cal Trans crew

I was in court yesterday for part of the hearing. Bail remains set at $1,000,000 each. Preliminary hearing remains set for Friday, May 18th at 10:00 in Judge Pamela Butler’s court room, although a challenge under Penal Code 170.6 seems likely to be filed by one of the five attorneys in the matter.

One evening anchor man from a local Monterey station was present, and asked to speak to Tom Worthington, Juliet Peck, or myself, but we were all too upset with the court’s refusal to consider anything the defense had to say about a bail reduction, to respond to the press.

Given the nature of these judicial proceedings, from the overbearing nature of the initial assault on the south coast, to allegations made by the DA in open court, to the court’s refusal to consider anything on behalf of the defendants, as a member of this community I feel stifled in what I can and cannot share on this or any other public forum. I just urge every one to keep an open mind until this case is concluded.

No Willow Springs Maintenance Crew means this section of the highway is no longer safe. Driving home from the North Coast today, Saturday, there was a minor slide south of Limekiln. There were quite a few rocks in the north bound lane, and a few in the south bound lane. There is no one for me to call or stop and see to let them know. This could a harbinger of things to come, not necessarily, but it could be a warning from Mother Nature.

Remember, there are many layers to most cases, this one in particular. Also, as an aside, Cal Trans is suing the estate of the dead bus driver and the tour company who employed him, for damage to a bridge out near Soledad, when the driver crashed into it, killing four French tourists, per a report in yesterday’s Pine Cone. Cal-Trans is suing for one million dollars. I have never heard of such a thing. Nice, huh?

The Cal Trans 5 in court

The Cal Trans 5 were in court in Salinas this afternoon, but the arraignments were continued until tomorrow at 8:30 am. An attorney for one of the defendants said it was likely not to be heard until 1:30 in the afternoon. A significant outpouring of support showed up in solidarity for the Five from the South Coast of Big Sur, including family and friends, local school officials, and other community members. All told, there were probably at least a dozen people who made the 2 and 1/2 drive to show their support. Two camera crews from local news stations also showed up to cover the proceedings.

Attorney Tom Worthington appeared on behalf of Phil Taylor, the retired Cal Trans employee. Attorney Juliet Peck made a special appearance for Cal Trans Supervisor Danny Milsap. She will also make a special appearance tomorrow. A special appearance simply means that financial arrangements have not yet been finalized between the client and the attorney. The public defender was appointed for the remaining three, but the Public Defender will only represent one of the three, and alternative defenders will be appointed to represent the other two. Those attorneys are likely to be present tomorrow.

The only surprise presented in court addressed why the bail had been set so unusually high.Tom Wothington pointed out that the standard bail schedule for these non-violent, non-serious felonies is usually $10,000 per offense charged. However in this case, a declaration was filed under seal under Penal Code section 1275.1 to allow for the extremely high bail of $1,000,000 each. None of the parties – the DA, the attorney, or the court had seen this sealed declaration.

Either a police officer or a prosecuting attorney must file a declaration under penalty of perjury that he or she had probable cause to believe that the money that may be used to post bail was obtained by fraudulent or felonious means, and therefore, it may be set much higher than the bail schedule allows.

This is just another piece of the puzzle. A million dollar bail requires $100,000 cash. That is the sum alleged to have been involved in the overtime fraud charges by ALL 5 people. So the question in my mind is how a cop or a prosecutor can claim that all four are going to use feloniously obtained funds to post bail when they collectively are only charged with “stealing” enough money to post bail for one? Since no one is yet allowed to see the declaration (although defense attorneys will get a copy) we cannot know the reasoning behind this move by the prosecution. The defendants are entitled to a probable cause hearing on the Penal Code 1275.1 declaration, as soon as their attorneys can be ready for it. In the meantime, a preliminary hearing has been set for May 18th.

This story has lots of layers, which will only be revealed over time. My fear is that the real story will never find its way into the public information system.

UPDATE: 11pm, Tom Worthington was interviewed after the bail hearing and told the reporter that in his opinion this matter was WAY over charged and that he expected these men (and one woman) to be released tomorrow. Interesting. Let’s hope he is right.

I cannot make the 8:30 time frame, but if it is held over until 1:30, I will be there and report back.

Big Sur’s compassionate citizens

I am glad so many people here are supporting our South Coast crew, willing to recognize that there is more to this story than we have heard. So many of you are keeping an open mind, willing to prevent the presumption of innocence (yes, I know how to spell it) from being a meaningless series of words just strung together. We are doing what we are so known for, supporting each other in difficult times.

Truth has many sides, not just one or two. I often used to tell juries, as does a jury instruction, that two people witnessing the same event, will have two different versions. They may be similar, and they may differ little or a lot, but if they are the same, it is because the two parties got together and decided jointly which version they would present. Ask any cop, or defense attorney. We know this is the way of perception.

This Cal Trans story likely will have many layers, and many parts. We may never know what is true, particularly if we cannot depend on the local media. It will come to light in bits and pieces over the next few days, weeks, and perhaps months.

On a related note, i am concerned that I have yet again been removed from Jack’s WildBigSur email list, after posting a version of my Innocence post there. I never saw it, and I wouldn’t have seen the 5-6 responses I received, if it hadn’t been forwarded to me by a friend. Why does he do this? I know of at least one other very knowledgable, very responsible blogger about things Big Sur, who has also been banned. Given my experience, and this other person’s, I do not believe it is an accident. I would love to be wrong. I haven’t gotten ANY Pelican Network emails for a couple years now, unless they are forwarded, and I just was re-added to WildBigSur a couple months ago, and once again, I have been removed – because I spoke out about an injustice? Why is that? Inquiring minds want to know.

A primer in Innocence

I sent a version of this to WildBigSur in response to Bill Monning’s comment, but Jack has a way of censoring me, and not posting my comments, so I wanted to share this here.

Please remember, we only have allegations at this point, and we only have a very narrow, and incomplete story. All these individuals are INNOCENT until they are either found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by a jury of their peers, or they plead guilty to any possible charges, which may be much less than what they were arrested for. Family members and loved ones of those accused are reading the comments posted online at news sites, and it is adding to the pain they are already feeling. I have talked to several of them throughout the day and night, and they are in shock, pain, and reaching out to make sense of what is happening. Public comments make that harder.

My 31 years of experience as a criminal defense attorney for indigent clients has taught me that the initial charges are often times very exaggerated, and the charges actually filed by an attorney for the District Attorney’s Office may be less than what the police are asking for, and what is found true or admitted may be even less still. “Overcharging” is a common way to “force” a plea’bargain, which might not otherwise happen, and a way to keep defendants locked up in jail on outrageous bail amounts.

Be considerate and kind in your thoughts and comments. Unless you are on the jury with evidence from both sides presented to you, it is not up to us to judge.
Bigsurkate

A failure of the Press

My information is that one of the current employees was arrested, but later released, with no charges pending. I was told of his arrest by CHP last night at 6:30 pm, confirmed by the jail as arrested at 7:00 pm, and yet the press release issued jointly by CHP and Cal Trans just after 3:00 pm, doesn’t list him as being arrested or as a suspect. I also find it interesting that the only media to carry this information is bigsurkate and the Cambrian, who called me. All the major news networks are reporting, almost word for word, the statements issued in the joint press release. NONE, of our local media seem to be doing any independent investigation at all! I am extremely dismayed to discover that the Herald and KSBW, at least, are just reporting what they are told to report. So much for independent, investigative journalism. PLUS, in my humble opinion, it is biased. Where do we go for honest, and in depth reporting, if we can’t count on our biggest newspaper and local television station? Please don’t say bigsurkate. I can only cover the South Coast, sometimes the North Coast, and I haven’t had time to train my volunteer.

This has been a day of lessons for me. Many people prefer to condemn without knowing the facts. Local media prefer to just publish press releases, rather than do their homework, no one notices except those who have access to the inside story. We wonder why our economy and democracy are in jeopardy? A true democracy does not work without an informed constituency, and it hard for the public to stay informed if the media just publish what they are told to publish. Shame, is all I can say.

Rocky Creek Viaduct

Cal -Trans made a very informative presentation of the proposed Rocky Creek Viaduct at Friday’s BSMAAC meeting. I’ ve suggested they put the presentation up on their website, and when they do, I will let you know.

The most relevant points for most of us in the Big Sur Community and the traveling public are:

Construction to start after Labor Day; 24 overnight closures anticipated between October 2012 and February 2013; the contractors are to give Cal-Trans 24 hour notice of the intended closures, and the PIO will notify the current list of media and relevant organizations, including this blog; The closures are limited on Monday-Thursday to 9 pm-7am, midnight to 7am on Friday, none on Saturday, and 9pm to midnight on Sunday (when presumably Monday kicks in until 7am). As is currently the case with all road closures, provisions are being made for emergency vehicles. Of course, this all is dependent on the cooperation of Mother Nature.

I will keep you all posted as the anticipated construction time gets closer.

Editor’s note: I am glad that Cal-Trans has shortened the closure from the 8pm deadline the South Coast experienced lately.

(This is a test of the publishing capabilities of bigsurkate from home via iPad. If you see this, it worked! (My, what interesting word combos the autocorrect came up with for bigsurkate!)