Pajaro News

When city residents take a shower, flush a toilet or wash dishes, the water's no longer just going down the drain.

As it runs through Watsonville and neighboring Pajaro, the Pajaro River is most famous for devastating floods and the homeless encampments and crime on its banks.

Janet Manzano took her son David Rojas, 5, to school Friday to get vaccinated. She was one of several parents taking advantage of the opening day of a clinic at Freedom Elementary School to get their children protection against the H1N1 flu.

Angel Gabriel Escobedo, 19. Jose Maria Barajas, 44. Joel Pineda, 24. Oscar Avalos Sanchez, 35.

Turns out, Brendy Juarez Lopez's battle against leukemia is a feel-good story. The 16-year-old Pajaro boy was diagnosed with the bone marrow condition in August 2008 and, a little more than a year after beginning chemotherapy, he appears to be cancer-free. Brendy's medical care came from doctors in Palo Alto.

Facing another $11.5 million in cuts for the coming year, the Pajaro Valley Unified School District is taking its numbers on the road, hosting three budget crisis meetings in early October.

Date of Report: 10/13/2009 Time of Report: 17:14 Deputy Name: Sheppy, Jose Report Number: 07539-09 Charges: M17 Suspect Arrested Y/N: No Arrestee: None Location: Pajaro Levee Synopsis: I advised the transient population residing in and around the levee of the potential for flooding in the area.

As documented in this week's SF Weekly cover story, Too Cute to Shoot , a former army tank commander named Wayne Fenton recently spent $400 and a whole lot of time and energy rescuing a one-eyed, starving sea lion named Breadstick.

Charges: 243 P.C., 273a P.C. Suspect Arrested Y/N: Yes Arrestee: bryan c. russell Location: Prunedale, CA Synopsis: The suspect was arrested for spitting in his ex-girlfriend's face in the presence of their 22 month old son during a heated argument.

Date of Report: 9/29/2009 Time of Report: 12:32 Deputy Name: PATTERSON Report Number: 07203-09 Charges: M-16 Suspect Arrested Y/N: Yes Arrestee: Location: JUVENILE YOUTH CENTER Synopsis: A NARCOTICS SEARCH OF THE JUVENILE AT THE YOUTH CENTER IN SALINAS WITH MY K-9 BOSCO WAS CONDUCTED.

County leaders are appealing to federal legislators to help end a stalemate with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the long-stalled Pajaro River levee project.

Lois Goldfrank pursed her lips and made a soft psh, psh sound. "It's called pishing," Goldfrank explained to the fledgling birders she and husband Wally were leading past a scrubby hillside east of Pajaro Dunes on Friday morning.

An unidentified man was taken by helicopter to a San Jose hospital after he was injured in a crash on Highway 156 near Prunedale on Monday.

A 19-year-old suffered an injury to his hand when shots were fired into a gold Chevrolet Venture minivan in what investigators are calling a gang-related crime about 1:30 p.m. Monday on Ingram Court.

Are you interested in helping assess the pollutants entering the Sanctuary with the season's first rain? The Marine Sanctuary First Flush Program is seeking volunteers.

It's like a bunch of hazardous grapes stretching from Pajaro to King City, where each cluster represents thousands of pounds of pesticides that douse row crops every year.

As students from Aptos to Watsonville returned to school Aug. 12, Pajaro Valley Unified School District trustees voted to spend $30,000 on a consultant with a strong record of passing local school taxes.

Synopsis: THE REPORTING PARTY HAD BEEN GRANTED GUARDIANSHIP OF HER YOUNGER SISTER.

Date of Report: 8/2/2009 Time of Report: 0036 Deputy Name: REYES, J. Report Number: 05642-09 Charges: PC 1489 , PC 242, PC 647 Suspect Arrested Y/N: Yes Arrestee: ESPINOZA, DORA Location: PORTER DR, PAJARO Synopsis: DEPUTIES AND A CHP OFFICER RESPONDED TO THE LA ALCACHOFA BAR REGARDING A FIGHT.

A homeless man and six Watsonville gang members, age 12-19, have been arrested in connection with the April slaying of another homeless man on the Pajaro River levee.