Saturday, sweet Saturday, and the Red Phone has been at it again
this week in its relentless search to answer caller queries. Yes
the Crimson Crusader has heard your pleas, and has answers for the
residents of San Benito County. Have a comment, question or
complaint? Call the Red Phone
– always listening, always online, always at 635-9219.
Saturday, sweet Saturday, and the Red Phone has been at it again this week in its relentless search to answer caller queries. Yes the Crimson Crusader has heard your pleas, and has answers for the residents of San Benito County. Have a comment, question or complaint? Call the Red Phone – always listening, always online, always at 635-9219.
Dumping on the dump
A caller worries higher rates at the at John Smith landfill will have consequences.
“My gripe is two months ago when we took a little pick-up load of trash to the dump the charge was $7.50. The other day we took the same load out and the charge was $25. And what I’m going to be seeing, living out in the country, is that more people who cannot afford this will dump their trash along the highway. So this is a big gripe of mine. It used to be just $7.50. And the little truck I have is just a little Chevy truck and it cost $25 for the same load that cost $7.50 before.”
“That’s right, if it was two-and-a-half vertical feet of trash,” said John Stewart, manager of the John Smith Landfill. “The county raised the rates Aug. 1.”
The landfill used to charge a minimum of $7.50 to bring trash to dump, but the county increased the charge to $10 per vertical yard of trash to encourage recycling efforts and get residents to separate their waste, according to San Benito County Director of Integrated Waste Management Mandy Rose. Clean yard waste is $5 a vertical foot. A vertical foot is basically defined as the height of the interior of a truck’s bed. Rose said residents can actually dump trash for less money if they separate the trash and compact it in the bed of their trucks. “They’re being charged for air space.”
Rose did admit there has been some inconsistency in how residents were charged in the past and believes that may be the case here. She said anyone who suspects they were charged incorrectly or has other question to call the waste management at 636-4110.
As for illegal dumping, she said there has been no problems since the change.
“We’ve definitely been surprised by that, but it hasn’t been a problem,” she said.
No good deed goes unpunished
A Red Phone caller doesn’t like California Highway Patrol ticketing good Samaritans.
“I want to comment on what Capt. Davies has done at Highway 152 and 156. I cannot believe that he used four cars and wrote tickets to people that were being considerate for westbound cars on 152. I cannot believe that. If he wants to use our taxpayer money for a good advantage why doesn’t he take a couple of cars and go up on Pacheco Pass and go towards San Felipe, Lover’s Lane somewhere around there and make a break in traffic so westbound 152 people can get over on the Hollister side. If I got a ticket for that I would fight it to the death. It’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.”
Stupid depending on which direction you were heading. When the Free Lance reported on this story in mid-September, the CHP said they took officers to the infamous Pacheco Y because of complaints from drivers heading east. The good Samaritans allowing the traffic through were backing up other cars to Gilroy – 13 miles away – on extra busy days such as holidays and Fridays. CHP Capt. Bob Davies told the Free Lance in September the CHP had received complaints from drivers that had to wait while others let traffic cross 152 onto 156 and from drivers wanting to get to Hollister. Basically, a no win situation for the CHP. Davies was unavailable for comment Friday, and it is unknown if the CHP is still stinging drivers at the Y. Davies had said the CHP would be writing tickets on random Fridays until the CHP overtime budget is exhausted.
“We’re trying to find a happy medium and make the intersection flow as best we can,” he said in September.
During peak commuter hours on Fridays, 2,750 cars traveling eastbound on Highway 152 go through the single-lane intersection per hour, according to 2003 Caltrans statistics. Cars traveling westbound during peak commuter hours total 1,550, according to the statistics.
