Ava Morgan and her husband moved to Riverside Road in San Benito
County nearly a decade ago because they wanted a peaceful, quiet
place to live.
Hollister – Ava Morgan and her husband moved to Riverside Road in San Benito County nearly a decade ago because they wanted a peaceful, quiet place to live.
However, peace and quiet have been hard to come by for Morgan and many of her neighbors. Nearly each weekend a rodeo, which the county says is operating illegally, draws hundreds of people to Riverside Road who drink beer, watch equestrian events and listen to pounding music throughout the day and into the night.
“Our weekends are shot,” Morgan said. “It takes part of our life away from us. We can’t relax.”
Rodeos have been held on the Riverside Road property – a five acre parcel west of Hollister owned by Francisco Vasquez – sporadically for about six years. But lately they have become more common, according to Morgan.
“They’ve been doing it nearly every weekend,” she said.
Neighbors suspect that the rodeo is a money maker for Vasquez. They also say that beer is sold at the event, which, according to Morgan, draws as many as 400 people as well as horses and cattle. Vasquez could not be reached for comment.
Morgan is certainly not alone in her displeasure. Last week Linda Knoland, who also lives on Riverside Road, asked the Board of Supervisors to do something about the situation, especially the noise caused by the live music at the rodeo.
“It makes my house shake,” she said. “If you get a speaker, take the cover off and turn up the bass, you see it shake. That is my house. That is my head.”
The residents may soon get some relief. Earlier this month, after nearly a year of responding to rodeo-related complaints on Riverside Road, a San Benito County Sheriff’s deputy cited Vasquez for disturbing the peace during a Saturday rodeo.
“We try to work with people,” Sheriff Curtis Hill said. “Now we’re taking it to the next level. If he continues to play music, he’s going to continue to get cited. This is a big, big deal for everybody who lives within a quarter mile of it.”
In addition to the sheriff taking it to the next level, interim Planning Department Director Michael Bethke said that shutting the rodeo down will be a priority for his department.
“We’re going to team-up with the sheriff’s office, and we’re going to go after these jokers with every code enforcement tool we have,” said Bethke, adding that it is against the zoning ordinance to hold a rodeo on the Riverside Road parcel.
“It’s a flagrant violation,” he said. “They’re thumbing their noses at everyone.”
The planning department will also determine if there are any illegally-built structures on the “outlaw” rodeo grounds, and investigate how the land is being used, Bethke said.
“We’re looking to drop the hammer pretty soon,” he said.
District 2 Supervisor Anthony Botelho, who represents the residents on Riverside Road, said he was been hearing complaints about the rodeo for months and supports the county’s efforts to bring his constituents some peace.
“I do want this resolved,” he said. “I agree with my peers on the board that we don’t want to get overly restrictive of what people can do on their property, but it has to be fixed. People have property rights, but the neighbors have rights, too.”
Morgan said she was pleased that the county is taking steps to stop the noise.
“I’m praying for that,” she said.
Luke Roney covers local politics and the environment for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or at [email protected].
