Fire and brimstone in San Juan Bautista
Presented for your viewing pleasure (cue the voice of Rod
Serling) are two tales that begin with striking similarities, but
end in conclusions even more striking.
Fire and brimstone in San Juan Bautista
Presented for your viewing pleasure (cue the voice of Rod Serling) are two tales that begin with striking similarities, but end in conclusions even more striking.
Both involve some of San Juan Valley’s leading figures. Both involve house fires. And there things start to veer in different directions.
Anthony Botelho, scion of a family with generations of public service, is a member of the county Board of Supervisors when he’s not growing some pretty fine apples.
But once upon a time, he was a captain in the Hollister Fire Department.
A few days ago, he was out on an errand with a relative when he spotted smoke boiling out of a mobile home. As 9-1-1 calls resulted in transfers and delays, , the fire continued to grow. As soon as he finished reporting the blaze, the supervisor and his cousin cut power to the home and used a garden hose to quell the flames in the unoccupied trailer.
The fire was on Mission Vineyard Road, just a few minutes from HQ for San Juan’s Volunteer Fire Department.
Irony alert: the city of San Juan is having trouble finding volunteer firefighters. While Botelho was doing his thing, Fire Capt. Chris Finstad was asking local papers for a little help in locating volunteers.
Those who are interested in helping out the San Juan Volunteer Fire Department, may contact Finstad at 524-2493.Â
Once a house fire gets going, responders have only minutes to put it out before the house becomes a total loss.
How about it? Anybody want to make like a supervisor?
From the sublime to the ridiculous: same time frame, prominent politician, trailer fire on Mission Vineyard Road.
San Juan Councilman George Dias was arrested Saturday on suspicion of assaulting a sheriff’s deputy.
According to the sheriff’s office, Dias arrived at the scene of a fire in a trailer he owns, only to be ordered to get out of the road to allow access to firefighters.
Dias is alleged to have said, “go get a real cop. I’m not moving.”
Then Dias is said to have tumbled into the shrubbery while grappling with two deputies.
Soon thereafter, they showed him they were “real cops,” when they slipped real handcuffs onto his wrists and took him into custody on suspicion of a laundry list of misdemeanor and felony charges.
If convicted on the more serious charges, the law will require Councilman Dias to become just plain George Dias.
But one has to ask, aren’t people in San Juan ready to demand the services of a “real councilman”?
Saturday’s dust-up was not Dias’ first exchange with the law.
Some years ago, a much younger Dias was reportedly involved in an exchange at a local restaurant. Sheriff’s deputies were called – San Juan doesn’t have a police force – and deputies claimed Dias became uncooperative and confrontational. One of them charged up his Taser, a hand-held device that delivers a brief but colossal shock. As part of their training, law enforcement personnel are routinely required to feel what it’s like to be “Tased.”
Universally, they describe it as an experience they would take pains not to repeat.
The Tasee instantly finds his or her muscles paralyzed and crumples to the floor for a little cool down time.
Dias allegedly took his first dose of juice and got up for a second helping. After the second jolt, deputies reportedly found it necessary to serve him dessert in the form of another shock treatment.
Just call him “Sparky.”
Just when we think we’re just another boring rural town, it’s always nice to look to San Juan Bautista for a little drama and intrigue.
Notebook is compiled by Mark Paxton with contributions from other Pinnacle staff members as noted. His e-mail address is [email protected].
