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Letter to the Editor – June 12-18
My proposal for Renaissance High School students
Last year in a PVUSD Board Meeting I opposed moving Renaissance High School to Pajaro Valley High School in order to move Ceiba students to the current Renaissance High School site. After I supported Ceiba continuing to operate on their current site In 2023, 2024, and 2025, I have advocated in the Board meetings of both PVUSD and Ceiba for restructuring Ceiba to help financially struggling PVUSD schools .
I was surprised when I heard the idea of moving the students of Renaissance High School to the site of Duncan – Holbert School and the students of the latter school to an elementary school because of safety concerns about the water. I thought it was too rushed.
I would like to ask the students of Renaissance High School whether you would consider moving to the site of Lakeview Middle School temporarily until a suitable site is found. You might remember that the students of Pajaro Middle School moved to the site of Lakeview Middle School for one school year at the time of the devastating flood in 2023.
Takashi Mizuno
Watsonville
Is Christian nationlaism reshaping government policy?
The Establishment Clause is the first of two religion clauses in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”
This clause forbids our government from establishing an official religion, and also prohibits government actions that unduly favor one religion over another, preferring religion over non-religion, or non-religion over religion. As a general matter, the Supreme Court has long recognized that the Establishment Clause’s prohibition of laws “respecting an establishment of religion” not only prevents the government from establishing an official religion, but also bars other types of support “respecting” an establishment.
The “Establishment of Religion” clause, at a minimum, means that neither a state nor the federal government can set up a church, neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. (See e.g. “Everson v. Board of Education ” (1947)).
In short: the amendment appears to have been firmly cemented in constitutional law.
Enter the Trump Administration, Project 2025 and Christian Nationalism. Christian Nationalism is a political ideology which advocates for a legal and cultural fusion between Christianity and a nation’s government. In the U.S., its adherents believe the country was founded on Christian principles, that the government should actively promote these values, and that Christianity should hold a privileged place in public life. It excludes some Americans following other religious traditions, or those who are not religious at all.
The explicit aim of Project 2025, which has guided much of the early work of the Trump administration, is to infuse biblical principles across the federal government. Calls to protect Christianity, make America more Christian, and align this country with the Bible are all common phrases associated with Christian Nationalism. It is generally understood that conservative Christians behind this point of view form the bedrock of President Trump’s Republican support.
A prominent—though awkward—focus of the movement’s pursuit of its objectives has been its insistence on removing the concept of empathy, a deeply-rooted Christian value, from our government’s decision making process.
The conflict surfaced prominently during Mr. Trump’s high profile clashes with Pope Leo XIV, which centered on questions of empathy and leadership, specifically sparked by the Pontiff’s vocal opposition to the war in Iran, mass deportation and military conflict.
The debate over empathy has become a prominent focal point for many Christian Nationalists. The latter’s critique is rooted in some specific ideological, cultural and theological beliefs. Among others: The fear of moral compromise—the thought that untethered empathy can blur the lines between right and wrong, that fully identifying with someone’s pain might lead to condoning or validating actions the Bible defines as sin, i.e. LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access, etc.; Priority of objective truth – the belief that truth, defined by biblical scripture must always take precedence over feelings, which may replace scripture as the ultimate moral guide; and “Woke politics,” the thought that empathy may be weaponized as a progressive political tool.
The Trump administration has gone “all in” in support of Christian Nationalist ideology, and has actively worked to expand religious expression in public life and loosen restrictions on faith organizations. Some key policy and cultural actions include: establishing Executive branch task forces like the White House Faith Office, the Religious Liberty Commission and a task force to eradicate anti-Christian bias. Efforts also include targeting LGBTQ+ and gender identity issues, curbing abortion access and engaging in cultural battles with universities, the Smithsonian Institution, and Public Broadcasting all the while singling out opposition to DEI programs. These moves, while celebrated by the religious right, eroded the separation of church and state.
To some the growing prevalence of Christian Nationalism in our government is innocuous, harmless. However, the movement’s objective no longer simply focuses on the defense of liberty, it targets the accumulation of power. As such, it endangers constitutional values, impregnates governmental policy, and provides a justification for the lack of empathy in our government’s pursuits. It is using its enhanced influence to impose its will on Christian organizations it identifies as “woke” or opposed to President Trump’s agenda, as exemplified by its role in defunding religious groups that have been providing life saving care to many of the most vulnerable people in the world.
If we are not careful, while we appear intent on demolishing a theocratic regime in the Middle East, we could end up gradually easing into the semblance of one right here.
Elected leader, organizations join statement backing immigrant communities ahead of World Cup
Two Santa Cruz County supervisors and several local community organizations have joined a regional coalition of elected officials and advocates reaffirming support for immigrant communities as the Bay Area prepares to host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The joint statement, released Monday, was signed by supervisors Felipe Hernandez and Monica Martinez, along with representatives from Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, The Watsonville Law Center and YARR (Your Allied Rapid Response) of Santa Cruz County. MariaElena De La Garza of Community Action Board and Adriana Melgoza of The Watsonville Law Center were among the local signatories.
The statement said the region’s diversity is one of its strengths and acknowledged concerns among immigrant families amid ongoing immigration enforcement actions.
“As we welcome the world to the Bay Area for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, we want to send a clear message: everyone belongs here,” the statement reads.
The coalition said the international soccer tournament presents an opportunity to bring people together and urged residents to avoid spreading fear or misinformation. The statement encouraged community members to use local Rapid Response Networks for verified information and resources.
The statement was signed by supervisors and community leaders from counties throughout the Bay Area and Central Coast, including Santa Clara, Monterey, San Mateo, Alameda, Marin, Napa, Sonoma, Contra Costa and Solano counties.
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Watsonville to host public safety town halls
Watsonville residents will have two opportunities this month to help shape the future of public safety services in the city.
The Watsonville Police and Fire departments are hosting community town hall meetings to gather public input on priorities for emergency response, public safety services and community programs.
City officials said feedback from the meetings will help guide future planning efforts as Watsonville works to strengthen public safety and community services.
The meetings are scheduled for:
• June 24 from 5:30pm to 7pm
• June 29 from 3:30pm to 5pm
Both meetings will be held in the Community Room on the top floor of Civic Plaza, 275 Main St. in Watsonville.
The city will provide pizza, childcare and Spanish interpretation services. The first 50 attendees at each meeting will receive a free bicycle helmet for children. Participants are asked to know their child’s helmet size before attending.
Advance registration is required. Residents can register online at https://bit.ly/4vjx7AV.
According to city officials, the meetings are intended to bring community members and public safety leaders together to discuss current needs and future priorities for Watsonville’s police and fire services.
Pajaro Middle School teachers pass no-confidence vote against principal
On May 8, the staff of Pajaro Middle School formally declared a vote of no confidence in Principal Nicole Killian in a letter to Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) Superintendent Heather Contreras.
According to the letter, the decision was reached following an affirmative majority vote of 14 out of 17 full-time certificated union members, as well as an additional anonymous affirmation from classified staff.
The vote was primarily attributed to Killian’s alleged failure to provide a safe school environment for students and teachers, as well as to a lack of communication and transparency.
“Pajaro Middle School has long been a school with a foundation of collaboration between the administration and both classified and certified staff,” reads the letter to Contreras. “Nicole Killian has not only ignored this foundation, but dismantled it.”
Killian has been the full-time principal at Pajaro Middle School since the fall of 2024. She previously served as the principal at Main Street Elementary for one year during the 2023-24 school year.
“The District takes all reports related to school operations and safety seriously,” said PVUSD Public Information Officer Alejandro Chávez in a statement to the Pajaronian. “We remain confident in the site leadership’s ongoing commitment to maintaining a safe, supportive, and positive learning environment.”
Chávez maintained that the events were not newsworthy and that “there’s nothing there,” and declined to answer specific questions about the allegations against the district, principal Killian, or the events on campus.
Killian and Superintendent Heather Contreras did not respond to requests for comment.
Complaints about Killian’s leadership at Pajaro began to emerge only a few months after she took the role of principal, said Brandon Diniz, president of the Pajaro Valley teachers union. With teachers and staff citing a lack of student discipline and communication.
Throughout the 2024-25 school year, the concern across the site continued to grow, said Tim Powers, one of the two PVFT site representatives and a teacher at Pajaro Middle School.
These concerns grew, especially after a notable incident in which a teacher was allegedly kept in the dark about a physical threat a student had made against them, which the district intercepted via an internal language-monitoring algorithm.
“What the student wrote was said to have been, ‘change my grade or else.’ So pretty vague,” said Powers. “When the teacher finally got Ms. Killian to show the actual statement written by the student, the statement was ‘change my grade or else I’ll shoot you.’”
According to Ben Waite, the other PVFT site representative and a teacher at Pajaro Middle School, it wasn’t until five days after the incident that Killian finally showed the teacher the original message, and that the staff member who was threatened initially learned of it the same day from another staff member. However, this incident was not officially reported in a grievance to the district.
According to the letter to Contreras, five staff members filed a grievance against Killian in the 2024-25 school year.
During that time, Killian didn’t have a vice principal, said Diniz, “as a result of that first grievance, they did assign a vice principal to the school site.”
At the beginning of the new school year, the staff were hopeful for change, explained Powers, adding that he and Waite additionally spoke with Killian and set up regular meetings with the principal for the 2025-26 school year to address on-site issues as they arose.
However, despite these meetings, Powers and Waite felt that the concerning behavior and leadership remained unchanged.
“We brought up several times to her like, ‘hey, we need to get better about the communication, about what’s going on with students and discipline, and follow up,’” said Powers, “and that continued to not stick.”
Throughout, the incidents on campus—along with the lack of communication and disrespect towards teachers—continued, alleged Diniz, who also described multiple incidents in which he alleges that Killian downplayed the severity and disregarded the Ed. Code procedures.
There was one such case where a student threatened another student with a kind of homemade dagger, said Diniz, “when the student brandishes a dirk, dagger, or knife Ed. Code requires the principal to recommend that student for expulsion, and she [Killian] just basically covered it up.”
Around the fall of 2025, Powers and Waite were approached by a few staff members to conduct a vote of no confidence.
Powers maintains that, throughout the process, staff remained willing to attempt to work with Killian.
“We were initially reluctant at that point to pursue that,” said Waite. “We probably held out the longest in terms of trying to work with her.”
For Powers, this changed in March, referring to a lockdown mentioned in the letter to Contreras, during which Killian was allegedly unresponsive to multiple radio calls during a police chase on March 5, which had prompted the school to initiate a lockdown.
An event that Powers referred to as “the final nail in the coffin.”
“At this point, there was a lack of trust,” said Powers. “The breakdown causes us to kind of retreat internally and try to solve problems with students more so than we should. And so over time, it impacts our ability to even teach on a regular schedule.”
Finally, in early May, Diniz said he informed Contreras of the plan for the vote of no confidence.
“[Contreras] gave me the assurance on May 5 that she was going to remove her as principal,” said Diniz. “She said not to even go through with the vote [of no confidence] because she hears us and she’s willing to act. ”
The site decided to continue to move forward with the vote regardless, said Diniz.
It was then that PVUSD Area III Trustee Gabriel Medina learned about the vote when the resolution letter to Contreras landed in his inbox a few weeks ago.
“It doesn’t feel like the district is doing their due diligence,” said Medina. “I’m hoping that it gets addressed. But the way that I’ve seen leadership kind of take these complaints, I’m not going to be holding my breath.”
However, according to Diniz, on May 22, following an unsuccessful meeting with district representatives, Contreras began to walk back on the promises. Following that, the union decided to make the events and the vote of no confidence public, said Diniz.
Since then, Diniz, Waite and Powers feel that there has been no progress, instead “only doubling down by the superintendent,” according to Diniz.
“It just sort of has spiraled to the point where we feel there’s no future for that site under Principal Killian, and she’s lost her staff,” said Diniz. “Trust is lost in buckets, but earned in drops, and she has lost buckets’ worth of trust with that staff.”
Santa Cruz County to support lawsuit over planned ICE facility near Gilroy
Santa Cruz County plans to support a lawsuit challenging a proposed federal immigration enforcement facility near Gilroy by joining an amicus curiae brief alongside Santa Clara County and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, county officials announced Thursday.
The lawsuit seeks judicial review of a facility that public records indicate is intended to support U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. Plaintiffs contend the project moved forward without required local review and permitting processes.
Although the proposed facility would be located in neighboring Santa Clara County, Santa Cruz County officials said its effects could extend throughout the Central Coast region.
“Santa Cruz County communities are deeply connected to those throughout the region,” Board of Supervisors Chair Monica Martinez said in a statement. “Our immigrant families deserve transparency, public accountability and compliance with established legal processes.”
Martinez said the county’s participation is consistent with ongoing efforts to understand and prepare for the impacts of federal immigration enforcement activities.
Supervisor Felipe Hernandez said many residents are experiencing uncertainty and fear related to federal immigration enforcement actions.
“We have a responsibility to understand and prepare for the impacts these actions may have on local families, schools, healthcare systems and community organizations,” Hernandez said. “Our participation reflects that commitment.”
County officials described the move as a continuation of broader efforts by the Board of Supervisors to address the local effects of federal immigration policies. In January, the board established the S.H.I.E.L.D. (Safeguarding Health, Inclusion, Essential Services and Local Defense) Ad Hoc Subcommittee, which developed an ordinance prohibiting the use of county property for immigration enforcement activities and policies intended to protect residents accessing healthcare, education, public benefits and other services.
The county said additional information about its immigration preparedness efforts is available through the County of Santa Cruz website.
From Our Archives: Berry Fine
Watsonville Fire Department Battalion Chief moves on
Watsonville Fire Battalion Chief Almita Schaefer hung up her helmet June 4 on her final day as a firefighter with Watsonville Fire Department.
The Watsonville native has spent her adult life helping others, a reflection of how her family brought her up.
After attending the now shuttered Moss Landing Middle School and graduating from Watsonville High School in 1994, she worked for 10 years as a paramedic, and then switched over to be a firefighter in 2007.
She said she initially hoped to be a doctor, but a stint volunteering in a hospital emergency room convinced her that being a paramedic was more fitting.
“I decided I wanted to do something as well as medical,” she said. “I found that on calls I was only able to assist in one dynamic, and I wanted to do more.”
“Since Watsonville is my hometown I pursued it here,” she added. She is the first full time woman to hold positions of firefighter/paramedic, Captain and Battalion Chief.
“This career has been more than I could have ever asked for,” she said. “Any good recipe, anything worth enjoying has a lot of ingredients. It takes years and years for this particular moment to come to a point where I feel like it’s complete, where I feel like it’s not just something I’m doing. I started for a different reason. And I’m happy to say that I’m leaving with that accomplished.”
She added that she is leaving with “a continued sense of family. Being able to be welcomed by the fire department, the fire family at that age was really, really important to me. And through the years, that’s been the constant thread, that anytime I need something, they’re here for me. No one second guesses me here, or puts me down and it isn’t a competition.”
She says that one of the most “inspiring and special things” about being a firefighter is that no matter where you go on the fire engine or the fire truck, “someone’s always waving at you. I love to be friendly and so that was probably one of the most special things that this career gave me.”
She also noted that there have been “some really amazing women before me that were in the reserve program. Nobody signs up because they’re short or tall or gender or a certain kind of cultural background. That’s not what we sign up for: We sign up to help people and each other in that time of need. From week one, this department has always said, ‘She’s one of our family and that’s what we’ll always think of her as.”
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Country’s 250th birthday coming, 4th of July events slated
The City of Watsonville invites the public to celebrate America’s 250th anniversary with a full day of community activities, and events.
The day begins July 4 with the Spirit of Watsonville Parade at 12:30pm that runs along Main Street from Street from Patrick’s Church, 721 Main St., to First Street. This year’s parade will once again feature a flyover by the West Coast Ravens. Street Closures include Main Street between Freedom Boulevard and 1st Street, along with adjacent streets, closed from 8:30am to 4:30pm.
The Fire in the Sky Open House at the Watsonville Municipal Airport opens at 11am.
The schedule includes:
11am – Community Car Show with Dynometer
4:30pm – Gates Open to the Public
6:00pm – Skydive Aircraft Departures
6:20pm – Skydive Jump and National Anthem Performance
6:30pm – Flyover (tentative)
8:30pm – Fireworks Show Begins
Meat markets grapple with price hikes
As summer edges in, the folks at Corralitos Market & Sausage Co. and Freedom Meat Lockers are dealing with rising meat prices as the industry and customers across the nation adjust to higher costs, soaring gas prices and more.
“I feel like the prices have gone through the roof,” said Sarah Lewis, general manager at Freedom Meat Lockers. “And to top it off, I feel like there’s a big supply and demand shift happening right now. Even with skirt steak; we’re trying to get the product that we like and are really comfortable with that we want to serve our customers. And then we get a sample case from a new company and it is simply not what we want, so we send it back. It’s harder to find the level of quality that we want at a reasonable price.”
Lewis added that the price hike is “denting into what products” are out there.
“We’re fortunate enough to have wonderful suppliers, and they’re doing the best they can to get us the price we feel comfortable with,” Lewis said. “It’s challenging. We’ve been running into a lot of folks trying to get that quality that customers want with the price that they can afford,”
Victor Silva at Freedom Meats said that ”everything’s going up.”
“Everything across the board—beef, pork products or chicken, chicken breast. For example, we’re charging 50 cents less than what we paid. Who else does that?”
In response, one adjustment the company offers, Lewis says, is the business’s ever-changing Variety Bag for $99.
“It easily has $120 to $150 worth of products,” she said. “It’s one way to get people high quality stuff that they can use, but that won’t break the bank. And it’s easier on the customer because it means fewer trips to the store. So buying in bigger numbers saves you.” A typical bag features chicken, skirt steak, ribs, Cornish game hens, ground beef — a list that changes each month.
One big plus, Lewis added: “We won Best of Show for our Italian mozzarella basil sausage. That’s something folks are coming in and asking for. It was at the California Association of Meat Processors. It won best out of the entire convention. Also new at the counter is our marinated butter chicken thighs. And we have a brand new marinade, mango habanero. We think it’s sensational.”
Meanwhile, at Corralitos Market & Sausage Co., owner Dave Petersen, said he has been adjusting to spikes in meat prices.
“My first highest cut of meat is filet mignon,” he said. “Now number two, unbelievably, is skirt steak. Number three is prime rib. It used to be vice versa. Prime rib was a cheaper cut, but now it’s supply and demand because they’re shipping it overseas.”
READY TO GRILL Dave Petersen, owner of Corralitos Market and Sausage Co., shows a tomahawk steak and their new whiskey bourbon marinade. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)He explained that a butcher can only get about four pounds of skirt steak out of an 800-pound “hanging, dressed beef.”
“And people don’t realize that,” he said. “They think there’s 20, 30, 50 pounds of skirt steak there. But there’s not. And so people are saying ‘you guys are charging so much money.’ It’s not us. That’s the way it is; it’s the whole chain.’”
He added that meat companies are also tacking on higher gasoline prices by charging a “fuel fee” just for a delivery. This is brand new. And you’re seeing that everywhere, too. Cause your cereal, spices, whatever—everything gets here by gas.”
Petersen added that in earlier times, people would come in and “it’d be nothing to buy 20 pounds of skirt steak for a family party. Well, you can’t do that anymore. And it’s just not me. It’s everywhere.”
Peterson said that on the upside, he’s featuring a new Harbinero pineapple sausage.
“We also had a chicken mango and we’re doing that one with a Harbinero too; it almost sounds hot, but it’s really not. It’s just got a nice kick to it.”
He said that he’s just introduced new pork riblets.
“They are so easy to grill,” he said. “And we’ve got a whiskey bourbon marinade that we came up with. It’s really, really good.”
Corralitos Market & Sausage Co. is at 569 Corralitos Road in Corralitos, and Freedom Meat Lockers is at 160 Hi Grade Lane in Watsonville.
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The World Cup kicks amid a host of political controversies
The World Cup opened Thursday with an estimated 5 million international visitors descending upon Mexico for the kickoff of the 39-day international sports event. The United States’ neighbor to the south is struggling with its own social issues as protesters take to the streets to shine a light on their government’s shortcomings. But Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s welcoming of…
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Karmelo Anthony and the Futility of Claiming Self-Defense While Black
Last spring, during a track meet at a Texas high school, 17-year-old Karmelo Anthony stabbed and killed Austin Metcalf, a white student and fellow athlete from a rival school, during an argument. Whether or not Anthony killed Metcalf wasn’t up for discussion: Anthony had admitted his guilt, and there were several witnesses present during the altercation.
The question at the center of Anthony’s trial was whether or not the Black teen was acting in self-defense. Texas is one of 31 states with “Stand Your Ground” laws that allow people to use reasonable force, including deadly force, against an assailant under certain circumstances.
Similar laws have been invoked in several high-profile cases across the country, including the 2012 killing of Trayvon Martin, where George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch captain, was acquitted after claiming he shot the 17-year-old in self-defense. Zimmerman outweighed Martin and initiated the encounter; Metcalf was also larger than Anthony and the first to engage. But more than a decade later, Anthony would not be given that same judicial grace.
On Tuesday, a jury convicted Anthony, now 19 years old, of murder. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison. There wasn’t a single Black person on the jury—every Black potential juror was struck before trial. The case has reignited a decades-long conversation, both on and off social media: In the US criminal justice system, who do “Stand Your Ground” laws protect?
View this post on InstagramCivil rights activists, celebrities, and politicians have expressed outrage at the case, with some saying that Anthony’s conviction highlights a clear double standard in self-defense claims in the United States: If a white person kills a Black person, courts (and white juries) are more likely to rule the killing justified than if the situation were reversed.
Daniel Penny snuck up behind an innocent Black man who never touched anyone, and choked him to death while claiming self defense. This happened in New York that has some of the strictest self-defense laws and a duty to retreat. Penny was still acquitted & paraded around like a… pic.twitter.com/JA6eGwL6Nb
— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) June 10, 2026And the data backs that up.
According to a 2021 study from Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that advocates against gun violence, homicides are deemed justified more often, in nearly every state, when the shooter is white and the victim is Black. A study from the Urban Institute found that homicides with a Black shooter and a white victim were ruled justified self-defense in a little more than 1 percent of cases. For a white shooter and Black victim, the figure jumps to 11.4 percent.
The response to Anthony’s conviction certainly hasn’t been helped by the far-right mouthpieces and conservative media figures who have invoked the case to justify blatantly racist rhetoric. Jake Lang, a far-right influencer who rose to prominence for participating in the January 6 insurrection, stood outside the Frisco courtroom in the days leading up to the verdict, spewing hateful rhetoric and posting it for his 169,000 Instagram followers to see.
I cannot say whether or not Anthony was acting in self-defense, but I can say that, while living in a country that has made the likes of Kyle Rittenhouse famous, I understand the Black community’s frustration.
Santa Cruz County first responders, National Weather Service warn of beach hazards amid back-to-back rescues
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, the National Weather Service and local fire agencies are warning the public to beware of dangerous ocean conditions that have led to several water rescues and one fatality.
Cal Fire and assisting agencies have responded to five ocean rescues in the 1-mile stretch between Yellow Bank Beach to Bonny Doon Beach in the northern part of the county in the past 30 days.
“That’s much more than normal,” Cal Fire spokesperson Cecile Juliette told Lookout on Thursday afternoon.
While the region has already experienced several days of large swells and dangerous beach conditions, the National Weather Service says beach hazards are expected through at least 9 p.m. Thursday. The agency warns of sneaker waves and strong rip currents and advises that people stay off jetties, piers, rocks and other infrastructure adjacent to the water.
“Remain out of the water to avoid hazardous surf and NEVER turn your back on the ocean,” the NWS said in a statement.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office and City of Santa Cruz also warned the community about warmer temperatures and beach hazards through the weekend. For information on Santa Cruz County coastal beach conditions and hazards, click here.
The sheriff’s office urges beachgoers to watch for sneaker waves and changing surf conditions as powerful waves can quickly and without warning surge much higher and farther up the beach than expected. It encourages swimmers to stay in shallow waters and to swim near staffed lifeguard towers when possible.
On Wednesday, during the most recent Cal Fire water rescue, Santa Cruz County Volunteer Fire Captain Kyle Breton said on X, formerly Twitter, that two women were swept out into the ocean by a rising tide at Yellow Bank Beach. One has since died and the second is in critical condition, according to Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s spokesperson Ashley Keehn.
“Both of these patients, we believe, were originally sleeping right at the Keyhole,” Breton said, referencing an opening visitors use to access Yellow Bank Beach. “Which is an area that we’re finding catches people unaware [as] the tides come in.”
He said that about eight rescue swimmers helped and they were able to get both of the women out, one to Yellow Bank Beach and the other to Panther Beach, from which they were transported to local hospitals.
Keehn told Lookout that the agency isn’t releasing the identities at this time.
Breton said first responders are noticing that beachgoers are going through the Keyhole to get to Yellow Bank Beach and are getting trapped there when the tides come in. Breton wants the public to understand that risk when visiting the beaches.
The Santa Cruz city and Central fire districts, as well as the sheriff’s office, assisted in the rescues.
Have news that should be in Lookout Briefs? Send your news releases, including contact information, to news@lookoutlocal.com.
MORE LOCAL COVERAGEThe post Santa Cruz County first responders, National Weather Service warn of beach hazards amid back-to-back rescues appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.