.From The Editor

Plus Letters To the Editor

Time may heal, but it also allows for a chance to take in the bigger picture.  More than a month after the tragic deaths of Sgt. Loran “Butch” Baker and Detective Elizabeth Butler, their families have released a media statement, provided by the Santa Cruz Police Department. Butler’s family wrote, in part, “We … have  just reached the one-month anniversary of Elizabeth’s death, and we miss her terribly. Each day is filled with both tears and moments of deep sadness. Yet almost every day of the past month has also included moments of awe and amazement at the love and honor paid to Elizabeth’s memory. We have so many people to thank from those that we know well to those that are complete strangers.”  Kelly Baker, widow of Sgt. Baker, wrote, in part, “According to the children, Butch now has wings, is in the clouds, has a halo, and sometimes he even wears a cape …

My daily healing is in part due to the nationwide outreach of compassion and kindness. My husband would have been so proud of his community’s support and the love shown to his family. Butch spent 28 years protecting his beloved Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz responded with the utmost respect and honor to him and his years of his
service. I have lived in Santa Cruz for over 20 years and I couldn’t be more proud to call this city my home.”

In the aftermath, questions and concerns about local crime and safety mount. This week, GT’s Joel Hersch takes a deeper look inside the issue. In a compelling analysis, which looks into actual crime data and other statistics, along with in-depth interviews with local officials, the results prove to be illuminating. Turn to page 12 for the full report and continue to send us your feedback on the matter to le*****@gt******.com.

In the meantime, the week ahead looks full. Make it good.

Greg Archer | Editor-in-Chief

Web of Power?
Regarding the front page question in the last issue of good times, “Has Corporate Power Seized the Internet?”The answer is yes!. Norman Solomon (as always) presents a cogent view of how corporate America is taking total control of everything you do on the Net and elsewhere. They want to illegally spy and surveil you in any way they can, including with the proliferating use of spy and surveillance cameras in our grocery stores, libraries, street intersections and laundromats, etc.

What we have here is a corporate military police state security complex completely out of control. The endgame is to have everyone invisibly barcoded on their right hand or forehead (see revelations 13) This is hard core evil—there’s no other way to descibe it.
So, what to do? Resist and fight back in any way you can. Use ixquick.com (the world’s most private search engine—they don’t record your IPA ddresses/searches) instead of NSA/government-owned Google, who spies and records everything you do on the Net, including developing a psychological profile on you without your knowledge, permission or consent.

Get off Facebook and other social media—they do the exact same thing. Call for the dismantling of any surveillance camera anywhere (and the firing of any public official who violates our privacy and dignity in this way)

Unfortunately, the fastest-growing sector of the economy is homeland security/police state/Internet surveillance. They’re churning out thousands of  “brown shirt” domestic security cops and TSA security agents to deploy on our streets and communities to turn us into an east german type STASI police state.  The TSA has already left the airports and are moving into our train and bus terminals. Expect to run into them on our interstates (at illegal checkpoints) here soon as well.

Even though the Internet has been taken over by corporate America, we the people can still use it to help build an alternative society that neither recognizes nor endorses their insane desire for dictatorial power and control.

There is still plenty of freedom of speech on the Net, so let’s use it to our advantage while we still can. We decide our future, they do not.  All it takes is the will to be free.
Brent Cajun
Santa Cruz

CHASING THE SUN  Taken from a Smart Phone while bike riding during an impromptu trek, this shot along West Cliff Drive captures “the Santa Cruz spirit.” photo/Amy Gonzalez

Submit photos to ph****@gt******.com. Include information about the photo (location, etc.) and your name within the body of the email. Photos may be cropped to fit.

Book ’Em
Issues of crime and safety have been grabbing a great deal of attention over the past few months, so it was especially good to hear that Santa Cruz deputies recently arrested Jennelle Renee Arnold. The 42-year-old woman was on Santa Cruz County’s Most Wanted list. Arnold was being sought after failing to meet her court terms in the aftermath of a felony theft arrest with prior convictions. The arrest, made by Lt. Bob Payne, took place near the San Lorenzo River levee.

National Dance Week
Santa Cruz loves the arts. But artists love (and deserve) kudos. So we tap our hats (or take our dancing shoes off, I am not sure which works best here) to the organizers behind Dance Week. The festive event, which features numerous—and downright impressive—performances, launches April 18 and runs through the 26th in a variety of locales and venues. It’s a triumphant undertaking organizing all of the creative juju that’s on display, so take note of more details at santacruzdance.com and turn to page 22 and read this week’s feature article.

Online Comments

On ‘Widening Hwy 1’ …
I guess our RTC finally realized that fighting widening Hwy 1 is a waste of time. People will not rely on a non-existent mass transportation system and will not bike for more than two miles. This is especially true when a major part of our work force needs to commute outside our area for a decent wage in order to live here.
—Don Honda

On whether there should be more camera surveillance …
A camera is useful for understanding what happened, after it’s already happened. That might be a crime or a traffic collision. No one is actually looking at the video live or “looking over your shoulder.”
—Mark Nockelby

Absolutely! One camera in every household. If you think crime on the streets is bad, wait till you see what’s going on behind closed doors in our community. It’s all there—drugs, child abuse, assault, robbery, rape, fraud, and more! I guess it’s not called “crime” when there’s a roof over it, huh?
 —Al Frisby