Cheers for the judge; jeers for the supe
The following events, organizations and people deserve either a Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down this week.
THUMBS UP: For Judge Harry Tobias, who made public the summary of an important investigation into the district attorney’s office stemming from a harassment complaint filed by two employees. Though we think the results of the entire investigation should be public, we commend Tobias for allowing the sun to shine on the summary, which was leaked to the Free Lance in February. It shows some of the problems with the way John Sarsfield operates his powerful office and that the investigator concluded the prosecutor retaliated against some of his employees for their perceived political alignment with the former administration.
THUMBS DOWN: For Supervisor Pat Loe who said she wanted the San Benito County Sheriff’s Department to continue to investigate the source of the leak of a summary of the investigative report into the district attorney’s office even though Judge Harry Tobias ruled it is a public record. With the sheriff’s department and the county struggling financially, it would be foolish to continue to allocate law enforcement resources to tracking down the source of a document that is public and readily available to anyone who asks for it.
THUMBS UP: For the effort to find Arno the police dog that is on the loose in Hollister. Arno is a K-9 unit, specifically a Belgian Malamois, for the Capitola Police department that got out from the backyard of his handler’s Hollister home last Sunday. Local police are on the lookout and the California Highway Patrol even deployed their helicopter to search for the dog. Arno is friendly and comfortable around children and large crowds, but police worry someone could unintentionally trigger an aggressive response in the highly-trained animal. And, understandably, the police want their valuable K-9 officer back home. There is a $2,500 reward for Arno’s return. If you spot him, call the San Benito County Dispatch at (831) 636-4331 or the Capitola Police Department at (831) 471-1141.
THUMBS DOWN: For the poor turnout to a public forum held to discuss forming a county ethics committee to monitor local campaigns. While only about a dozen people showed up and only three spoke, San Benito County Supervisors should not take that to mean the public is uninterested in ethics. If there is a problem with ethics, people are concerned, want it fixed and probably expect it to happen in house.
THUMBS UP: For Dassel’s Petroleum, the local David that scored a victory against the Goliath Safeway gas station this week. The owners of Dassel’s are convinced that Safeway was selling their gas under cost to push out competition from small local operations. Judge Harry Tobias issued a preliminary injunction against Safeway in the county this week, warning the grocery store not to sell gas for less than it buys it. Though Safeway lawyers insist the company did nothing wrong, and it’s not clear what the ruling means for Safeway in the long run, it seems to indicate that Tobias thinks the case needs a full trial. In this day and age everyone wants cheap gas, but we’re sure no one wants a local business to suffer unfairly.
