I was reminded of my first job out of college, dealing with people who had bad experiences with drugs, when I read about the new California “Good Samaritan Overdose Protection Law,” which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013. This law very well could save lives.
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Teen Murder Rate Skyrockets in 2012
With fewer resources to combat crime, the San Jose Police Department reports that nearly a quarter of the 45 homicide victims in 2012 were 18 years old or younger.
Herrera, Nguyen Council Race Gets Uglier
And to think there’s still six more days of crazy before District 8 voters go to the polls. The expensive race between Rose Herrera, Evergreen’s City Council incumbent, and Jimmy Nguyen has had it share of distractions, but now come conflicting allegations over Herrera’s husband attempting to put Nguyen’s campaign signs in a park trash can late Monday night.
Endorsement: Vote “Yes” on Prop. 30
Voters will elect representatives and decide state and local governments’ fiscal futures in this year’s election. Here are Metro‘s endorsements for the propositions on the Nov. 6 ballot.—Editor
Story of the Week: Milpitas Councilmember Steals Ex-Husband’s Mailbox?
Gadflynoun ˈgad-ˌflī1: any of various flies (as a horsefly, botfly, or warble fly) that bite or annoy livestock2: a person who stimulates or annoys especially by persistent criticism
This story involves definition No. 2, but we’re not here to make fun of a strident citizen in the snarky manner you might expect. No, this Story of the Week focuses on a gadfly getting the best of an elected official. The whole deal is pretty absurd, so, of course, it happened in Milpitas.
The Death of the Republican Party
Where does a Mike Wasserman, Laurie Smith or Jim Cunneen go? These quintessential Silicon Valley moderate Republicans are out of step with their current party. They are tolerated as Republicans, but with no real enthusiasm from the declining, myopic base of their current party. Republicans are an endangered species in California and the moderates within the party have been driven out by the hard-right agenda that is an anathema to a growing multicultural state.
Sheriff Wants SJPD Fingerprint Program
UPDATE: Due to technical difficulties this post and all reader comments were dropped from the site. The post has been restored in its original form as we work to resolve all outstanding issues. Thanks for your patience.—Editor
The San Jose Police Department is thinking of getting out of the fingerprint business. As a result, a battle for millions of dollars in equipment and staffing, and has been quietly waged for months between the SJPD and the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office over who should process criminal prints.
Mayorluigi
Okay, San Jose Insiders, sharpen your knives. We’re ready for the customary evisceration reserved for those who’ve earned the ire of San Jose’s public employee unions. This week we divine the betting pool for the mayoral prospects of our very own San Jose Inside columnist. Call us crazy, we know, but one shouldn’t count out the dark horse candidate who in 2006 overtook Chamber of Commerce and Labor darlings to clinch the District 6 San Jose City Council seat. Any way you look at it — by vote totals, percentages or being ideologically in sync with voters who overwhelmingly passed Measure B in June — Pierluigi Oliverio is not a force to be dismissed.
Police Union Steps Up, Starts Fund for Children Orphaned by Homicides
The San Jose Police Officers Association, with help from the Victim Assistance Fund, started a foundation this week to help support three children who witnessed the double homicide of their parents. Marybel Jimenez, 27, and Pedro Jimenez, 28, were killed earlier this week at their North Seventh Street home. Neighbors heard the shots and came running to find the three children, ages 8, 7 and 4. Members of the public wishing to make a donation may do so online at the POA’s website.
Sierra LaMar Case Differs from Runaways
On Wednesday, I was interviewed by CBS News to discuss runaways. The day before, Sheriff Laurie Smith held a press conference to announce the arrest of a suspect in the kidnapping and murder of Morgan Hill teenager Sierra LaMar. During this press conference, Sheriff Smith stated that since January 2011, there were 43 reports of missing children (females) in Santa Clara County that were still open, and pondered, “You wonder if any of those were actually abductions also.” The sentence just hung in the air at the press conference, and no one asked her follow-up questions.
A Better Approach to Runaways
The number of runaways in the United States has been widely debated, but a 10-year-old study by the Federal Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention estimated the number at 1.7 million. No matter the estimate, we know kids do run away, often due to violence in the home or family conflict. While on the streets, they are often prey to criminal activities, drug use, and sexual assault. So what can a police officer do when confronting a suspected underage runaway?
The Great Constant, Kalra Pension Debate
The much anticipated San Jose Rotary Club debate between Councilmembers Pete Constant and Ash Kalra did not disappoint. Both Constant and Kalra were spirited advocates for their positions: Constant defending Measure B, the pension “modification” measure; Kalra, a lawyer, presenting the views in opposition. By the end of the debate, to the disappointment of many, it was Kalra who gained the most.
Arrest Made for Hells Angels Funeral Death
A four-month manhunt ended Saturday with the arrest of Steve Ruiz, who is suspected of killing fellow Hells Angels motorcycle club member Steve Tausan at a funeral during October of last year. Ruiz will reportedly be charged with homicide Wednesday.
Hate Crime Goes to Internal Affairs
In his outstretched palm, Atul Lall holds a molar, a wisdom tooth and four fragments of teeth that broke free when a tequila bottle encountered his jaw. Three days before last Thanksgiving, the 32-year-old San Jose native was driving away from the Lucky’s grocery store on South White Road in east San Jose. As he pulled his car out of the lot, Lall says that three men, without apparent reason, ripped him from the driver’s seat and beat him while dousing him with liquor. They called him a terrorist. Almost three months since the incident, the second-to-last of San Jose’s 32 hate crimes reported last year has sparked two separate police investigations. The first continues to search for the three men suspected of beating Lall. The other, sources confirmed, is being conducted by Internal Affairs, the police department’s watchdog, which is looking into claims that investigators bungled the case and blamed the city’s budget problems for their inability to find the culprits.
Was Anthony Macias Impersonated?
Prospective Nora Campos challenger Anthony Macias, a 21-year-old student at Chico State, has written that he was impersonated by an individual who posted anti-Jewish comments online. He has not, however, substantiated the claim with specific information.
In a San Jose Inside post on Saturday, Jan. 28, a commenter who identified himself as Anthony Macias wrote “Regarding [Campos’] charges of antisemitism: Those are entirely false. I have never posted anything of the sort on any Yahoo! message board or forum. I think that someone was pretending to be me.”
Milpitas Mayor Making Bold Moves
Back in August, Fly detailed the sordid tale of fear and loathing taking place within the Milpitas Planning Commission. Mark Tiernan, a veteran in organizing local campaigns, felt he was kicked out of his commission chair position in a coup partly orchestrated by fellow commissioner Noella Tabladillo. Tiernan said loudly in a commission meeting that Tabladillo couldn’t be trusted, and she in turn called him an asshole. Tiernan then made a bold claim to Fly that he thought Mayor Jose Esteves was behind the whole thing. Esteves is now having Tiernan removed from the commission, but there could be an even bigger things happening behind the scenes.
