Councilman Should Be Ashamed
Councilman Should Be Ashamed
Editor,
I am a deputy with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office as well as our union president. On behalf of the San Benito County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, I would like to inform the citizens of San Benito County of a deplorable incident in which one of our deputies was assaulted by San Juan Bautista City Councilman George Dias.
On Saturday, Deputy Jason Leist was assisting the San Juan Bautista Fire Department and California Department of Forestry Firefighters who were attempting to extinguish a structure fire.
During the course of his duties, Deputy Leist was assaulted by Dias. Deputy Leist was later treated at Hazel Hawkins Hospital for facial lacerations, which occurred as result of Dias’ assault. Deputy Leist’s injuries required eight stitches.
Deputy Leist was in full uniform and working a “beat” in the city of San Juan Bautista at the time of this assault.
As a person, Dias should be ashamed of himself for his actions. He assaulted a peace officer working to protect and serve in the city Dias represents, San Juan Bautista.
As San Juan Bautista councilman, Dias should be ashamed of himself. He has a public service background and above all people should understand our job and responsibilities.
It is the belief of the San Benito County Deputy Sheriff’s Association that Dias’ actions should be dealt with swiftly and severely by the San Juan Bautista City Council, San Juan Bautista City Manager Jan McClintock, San Benito County Supervisor Anthony Botelho as well as the citizens of San Juan Bautista and San Benito County.
Joe Silva
President
San Benito County Deputy Sheriff’s Association
Why Are We Funding VTA Route?
Editor,
Regarding “Hwy. 152-156 Flyover in First Stages,” (April 14): If the Valley Transit Authority gets its way with the “new route” for Highway 152 (i.e., located in San Benito County) that their spokeswoman mentioned in your article, then San Benito’s voters should recall our supervisors and COG directors and petition to merge San Benito County with Santa Clara County so that the burden of paying for the new route falls on the shoulders of the commuters that will mostly be using it, and their employers who will directly benefit. Otherwise, San Benito County taxpayers will be paying for VTA’s incompetence and boondoggle transit policies alone.
Why should San Benito County taxpayers have to pay for the new route that VTA demands? An inconvenient truth: If VTA hadn’t wasted so much money on transit boondoggles, then we could have had a wider Highway 152 many years ago.
How many injuries and deaths on “Blood Alley” could have been avoided? How much congestion reduced? How much fuel and time saved?
I agree with MIT, the Santa Clara County Grand Jury and VTA’s auditors. VTA is the worst run transit agency in the United States.
Joseph P. Thompson
Tres Pinos
