Our first Red Phone caller of the week, concerned about a recent
burglary in his neighborhood, asked the Crimson Crusader to find
out about Hollister Police Department procedures following a
break-in. We were somewhat surprised that he wasn’t told about the
burglary by the police and later found out, from a neighbor, about
the crime.
Our first Red Phone caller of the week, concerned about a recent burglary in his neighborhood, asked the Crimson Crusader to find out about Hollister Police Department procedures following a break-in. We were somewhat surprised that he wasn’t told about the burglary by the police and later found out, from a neighbor, about the crime.
The Crimson Crusader made a quick call to Rosie Betanio, the public information officer for the Hollister Police Department to get the answer. Betanio said that police do sometimes contact neighbors who may have information about the crime, but don’t go door-to-door to let residents know about something such as a burglary.
“We normally talk to the neighbors for investigative purposes only, to see if they witnessed something or could identify the suspects,” Betanio said. “But otherwise, we usually don’t talk with all of the neighbors.”
The Crimson Crusader and the fine men and women of the Hollister Police Department are always happy to help local residents with questions about the procedures of local law enforcement.
Moving with the Paper
Our second Red Phone caller, moving from one Hollister home to another, asked the Crimson Crusader to find out how he can switch his Free Lance delivery to his new residence. The Crimson Crusader took care of the problem. In the future, questions or comments about circulation, delivery, or lack thereof, should be directed to our Circulation Department, where Jeanette Hurtado will solve the problems of all Free Lance subscribers. Reach her at 637-5566 ext. 326. The Crimson Crusader is best equipped to deal with questions about potholes, tree trimming, street repairs, city or county business and other such matters. But all calls to the Red Phone are addressed, so please call the Crimson Crusader. While on the subject of the Red Phone, the Crimson Crusader would like to take the opportunity to address some common Red Phone issues. The Red Phone is reserved for callers who have questions that need to be answered. Questions about newspaper content, corrections to articles, or editorials should be directed to Free Lance Editor Dan Fitch or City Editor Brett Rowland at 637-5566. Or, if one is so inclined, the Free Lance editorial staff can also be reached electronically at [email protected].
Sewer questions
The final Red Phone caller of the week, an elderly woman concerned about the planned sewer rate hike, asked the Crimson Crusader if senior citizens would get a break on their monthly sewer rates. The Crimson Crusader made a call to Hollister Mayor Robert Scattini to find out if sewer rates, which are expected to increase 125 percent by 2009 to pay for part of the cost of Hollister’s planned $120 million wastewater project, would also affect senior citizens. Scattini said the City Council agreed Monday to subsidize sewer rates for low-income senior citizens. The Free Lance ran a front-page story on this, but we’ll reiterate. The program, which has not been approved, would give a 25 percent discount to qualified rate-payers 60 or older. Above, dear caller, is a chart of proposed rates for seniors living in a single-family residential dwelling compared with those for non-seniors. The chart assumes that the moratorium will be lifted upon completion of the project in 2008 and will allow for new development to pick up 46 percent of the new wastewater treatment facilities.
Possible Future Sewer Rates
Current 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Senior Residential: $31.30 $34.74 $48.64 $51.08 $53.63
Single Family: $31.30 $46.33 $64.86 $68.10 $71.50
