Tag: news

Saturday Tourists… (4/21/18)

… Came wandering up to my place this morning. A young, polite Chinese couple, clearly in trouble. They had gotten their car stuck in a hole a few miles away. They slept in their car. They had had no food or water. They offered me $200 to take them to the highway. Unfortunately, I was expecting company in an hour – a BSK reader and her husband who had flown in to SFO and were renting a 4×4 Jeep and a place at the bottom of the road from me and who did not know the neighborhood, were coming up. I couldn’t take the couple down.

I offered the use of my phone, but it kept dropping the calls. I drew them a map of where they were, how they needed to go to get out of here. I gave them each a 1/2 gallon of water, bananas, and oranges. I was just sending them on their way, when my son showed up. “Want to make $200??” I asked him. After looking at the photo of their car, he said he could pull them out with his chain, so he loaded them up and took them back to their car. He needs to make his truck payment and works at whatever he can get. Plus, he is just an all-round good guy. Boy did those visitors luck out!

Rain Reports & Road Conditions, 12/15/16

8:30 pm – the highway closed at 8pm, there was a car on its roof at the Big Sur Station, and now we are under a flood warning:

“FLASH FLOOD WARNING – Soberanes & Chimney Burn Scars
This message is for any of the areas inside/alongside/or down-slope of the Soberanes or Chimney Burn Scars. The National Weather Service has issued a FLASH FLOOD WARNING for your area. A WARNING is issued when a hazardous weather or hydrologic event is occurring, is imminent, or has a very high probability of occurring. A WARNING is used for conditions posing a threat to life or property.”

6:30 PM – it just got serious. 40 mph, 1/3″ an hour. Total so far today, 1.35″

3:3-0 pm – Many rock/mudslides in   Santa Cruz being reported.

2:30 pm – up to .60″ and it is just getting going.

1 pm – here are the graphs, yesterday’s (again) and today’s which is quite higher.

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Noon:

Rain: I have received .28″ thus far, steady, but light all morning. Also received .25″ yesterday by dark. Nepenthe is up to .34″ thus far. This is what the automated gauges have recorded as of 11 am:

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Roads:  As far as the roads, no big problems being reported, but there are bound to be rocks out on Highway One, so pay attention as you travel, and report what needs reporting.

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.