The following people, organizations or events deserve either a
thumbs up or thumbs down this week:
THUMBS UP: Mike Sanchez fortunately stayed in the county when he left his job as principal of San Andreas Continuation High School and area alternative schools, opting instead to become assistant superintendent of alternative education and support programs for the Office of Education. Though Sanchez’s prior role hadn’t been filled with little time before school starts, the Office of Education this week hired Angel Rivera from the Dixon Unified School District to succeed Sanchez. Rivera not only has the background to get the job done, but the hiring also means Sanchez can focus on his new challenge, a worthy investment to expand the program and address such chronic problems as truancy and teen pregnancy.
THUMBS DOWN: Veteran law enforcement official Robbie Scattini – current marshal and planning commissioner, and a former city councilman – had his mailbox blown out by a homemade bomb last weekend. Scattini was befuddled when a responding Hollister Police Officer handed him a form and told him to self-report the crime, a felony. Scattini tried giving the officer a carbon-dioxide cartridge he had recovered at the scene, but was told to keep it and file his own report. The police department quickly corrected the problem this week after Scattini questioned the case’s handling. With budget cuts, the department asks citizens to self-report mailboxes damaged by baseball bats and firecrackers. But this clearly wasn’t such a minor offense, and the department must take action to ensure such oversights don’t occur again.
THUMBS UP: The San Benito County Board of Supervisors is set to approve a $113.6 million budget adding $2.5 million in spending over last year’s expenses. With continually rising health care costs and worthy, additional investments in law enforcement and economic development, the budget is tight, as officials pronounced, and responsible. While supervisors are addressing basic needs by funding two new positions in the District Attorney’s Office – a deputy DA and an investigator – they’re looking at longer-term viability with a $50,000 payment to the Economic Development Corp. for operating expenses, as the county desperately needs a more collaborative offense toward economic viability.
THUMBS UP: A 23-month investigation led this week to 15 arrests on federal and state warrants during raids early Wednesday in the area. Authorities confiscated 25 illegal guns and recovered 10 stolen cars. They seized about 14 pounds of methamphetamine, 105 grams of cocaine and 376 grams of marijuana. Two local law enforcement agencies, the Sheriff’s Office and the Hollister Police Department, played a valuable role in the busts and deserve credit for catching so many suspects and ridding so much junk from our streets. They worked with state and federal agencies to catch the bad guys and showed how collaboration among law enforcement agencies can often translate into a successful operation.
