Even in San Benito County where agriculture reigns supreme, few
people can list their occupation as
”
cowboy.
”
Still, one retired cowboy is convinced there is enough interest
in cattle ranching and the large role it played in the county’s
history to dedicate an entire library to it, and he’s looking for
some help from the county to get the project off the ground.
Tres Pinos – Even in San Benito County where agriculture reigns supreme, few people can list their occupation as “cowboy.” Still, one retired cowboy is convinced there is enough interest in cattle ranching and the large role it played in the county’s history to dedicate an entire library to it, and he’s looking for some help from the county to get the project off the ground.
Peter Frusetta, a San Benito County native whose grandfather immigrated here from Switzerland in 1875 – just a year after the county was formed, has amassed over 1,000 reference books on cattle ranching in his lifetime, and now he wants to spread the wealth.
“It’s about time I gave back after all this beautiful county has given my family,” said Frusetta, a former state assemblyman once known as the “cowboy in the capitol.”
Frusetta wants to use his Tres Pinos office, which is attached to the home he grew up in, as an easily-accessible destination for Tres Pinos residents in search of answers. Whether they’ve got questions about herding cattle, feeding them off of vegetation unique to San Benito County, or just want to know more about their home towns, Frusetta says the information in his books is intrinsically tied to our rural county.
“You ask if there will be high demand for this kind of books, and it’s really how you define it,” Frusetta said. “I think there will be some, although it is a bit specialized. But there will ancillary things that go along with it, and that will be books on the vegetation that go along with cattle, and even part of the social structure of our pioneers who had cattle out of necessity.”
Frusetta is trying to find financial help from the county for his library, which will be named after his parents, George and Ruth Hodges Frusetta. Although the books are already shelved and ready to go in his office, he had hoped the county could put the facility on its liability insurance and help pay for two road signs pointing Tres Pinos residents towards the library. While the county hasn’t been able to give Frusetta much encouragement on that front, the Board of Supervisors has suggested he speak with the San Benito County Historical Society, which has expressed interest in housing the books in a building it owns next to Bolado park. Still, Frusetta said, he’d probably foot the bills himself before sending his books out of town.
“I don’t want to let them out of my control, so that would be a last resort. There are some very valuable books and I don’t think the security over there (at the historical society) is what it should be,” he said.
Frusetta said he was also concerned moving his books to Hollister would take away an opportunity for Tres Pinos residents to have something unique to their town.
“I would think it should be a community thing, and one that’s easily accessible,” Frusetta said. “Something people in Tres Pinos can walk to.”
Jessica Quandt covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach her at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or at [email protected].
