Who would have thought Part 4 of the Godfather series would be
played out right here in San Benito County.
How exciting! Like many other SBC residents, I’m watching the
action with amazement, but from a safe distance.
Who would have thought Part 4 of the Godfather series would be played out right here in San Benito County.
How exciting! Like many other SBC residents, I’m watching the action with amazement, but from a safe distance.
It wasn’t too long ago that several of these gang members that are now being exposed were taking shots at me with their Tommy guns (I didn’t even know that supervisors were allowed to carry Tommy guns).
Bullets were flying every which way back then, all in an attempt to silence me, and as a reminder that if I didn’t split my profits, I would be rubbed out.
The way I saw it back then, was if they wanted me, it was going to take more then a few shots and made-up stories in the local tabloid to get me.
After all, I had a bulletproof vest to protect me, along with lawyers, in case I got into a fix.
It was a tough few years and unfortunately several of my friends were whacked. The rest of the idealistic individuals who wanted change and a better community had to go underground for fear they soon would be wearing concrete boots.
There is an unwritten rule in SBC that should be part of the local curriculum so that no one else gets hurt. Now pay attention! Gather the family and stress this point to the children: Never do anything in this town without Boss Hog and his sidekick’s permission. Y’all got that!
Just look at what happened to those farmers when they didn’t want to sell their land cheap. Poor fools, they believed a handshake was as good as a contract. What saps!
What Boss Hog doesn’t get, he takes. It’s a simple process; all he does is rezone the land he wants. If he can make a profit, the zoning is approved, if not it’s rejected. It’s that simple. That’s the power one gets from being supervisor too long.
After all, who do you think approved and profited from most of the developments that have scarred our county? No, it wasn’t the out-of-town developers, you fools!
That’s the cover story reported by the tabloid he’s in control of. It was Boss Hog, the self-proclaimed savior and protector of our county who had his hands in most of the developments. He was even brazen enough to have the City of Hollister reroute a major thoroughfare for one of his developments where he made millions.
Boss Hog’s latest ploy, which it now appears to be leading to his downfall, was the Stalinist-like grab of farmland that has been worked for generations by the same families, which had been passed from father to son with the expectation that they will carry on the traditions of farming.
Surreptitiously, Boss Hog organizing a group of out-of-town environmentalists, which happened to be led by people he created overpaid positions for in the county (unlike local labor that can’t get a raise). Boss Hog plans on plowing under the local farmers and then building more developments when the dust settles.
This is nothing new in SBC, it’s what they call “Good Old Boy Politics.”
Now that the truth is finally being told it’s time for all of you who have lived in fear over the years to speak up and tell of the threats that were made against you. So we can put an end to this usurpation of local government and let Boss Hog and his clique be exposed for the entire county to see.
As the saying goes, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.”
Ignacio Velazquez is owner of the Vault Restaurant in Hollister.
