PHOTO BY TARMO HANNULA

A 1907 Magneto Wall Set made by Bell System, used here as a stand for a, iPhone 6s - also almost an antique - is part of the Hannula family legacy gained from years of his parents' thrift store and yard sale shopping in Pacific Beach (San Diego) in the 1970s.

AT&T Wants to Shake Off Its Carrier Obligations

By SARAH RINGLER

You probably already received notice in the mail and heard in the news that American Telephone and Telegraph Company, AT&T, wants to withdraw from its Eligibile Telecommunications Carrier Designation and has filed for Relief from its Carrier of Last Resort Obligation.

If successful, AT&T would not be required to provide "Basic Service" landline telephone services to large areas of California, as it currently is required to do. Basic Service includes, Lifeline rates for eligible customers, free access to 911, Telephone Relay Service and directory and operator services. For households receiving federal Lifeline rates, this would mean increased costs, especially for households on tribal lands.

I talked to an AT&T service person the other day who was repairing equipment in our neighborhood in east Watsonville. He said that over the years, their landline service department has shrunk dramatically.

When we moved into our house two and a half years ago, the landline connection had been severed. AT&T came out and rewired and reconnected us. Our landline is still our clearest and most reliable phone connection, despite living 20 miles from Silicon Valley.

The California Public Utilities Commission, CPUC, said in their letter that they want to hear from you. They are holding live public hearings in Ukiah and Indio. A hearing in Clovis already happened Feb. 6. A Remote Public Participation Hearing will be held March 19 at 2pm. The live video broadcast in Spanish and English with captions is accessible HERE.

To make a written public comment on AT&T's bid to withdraw from its Eligibile Telecommunications Carrier Designation, visit HERE. To make a written public comments on its bid to withdraw from the Carrier of Last Resort Obligation, go HERE. For information on what areas are impacted, go HERE.

For information, go HERE.

Advisory Opinion on the People's Tribunal on Pesticide Use and Civil Rights in California Presented in the

Watsonville City Plaza,

Feb. 15, noon-1pm

BY CALIFORNIANS FOR PESTICIDE REFORM

PHOTO CONTRIBUTED

By any measure, farmworkers and agricultural communities are among the least protected and least visible populations in the United States. In California, 97% of farmworkers are Latinx, 92% are Spanish-speaking, and over 90% are immigrants. The first finding of a violation of EPA regulations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was made in Angelita C., on behalf of children who attended schools near the use of methyl bromide. Angelita C. was a pseudonym for a parent of an Ohlone Elementary School student in 1999. Ohlone Elementary School is in the Pajaro Valley on the outskirts of the towns of Pajaro and Watsonville. While state and federal laws prohibit state-funded discrimination and require agencies to advance environmental justice, farmworkers, parents and children who attend schools near pesticide use, and agricultural communities rarely have access to justice via traditional means.  

In response, Californians for Pesticide Reform and the University of California, Irvine hosted a People's Tribunal at the Lindsay Wellness Center in Tulare County, California on Sept. 12, 2023. The event was a forum for community members to deliberate over civil rights in the context of pesticide use and exposure. People's tribunals take the form of legal proceedings run by public figures, legal practitioners, and community leaders. Designed to demand accountability, their claim to authority begins with the argument that members of the community are competent to invoke and apply the law on their own when governments are unwilling to do so. 

The Advisory Opinion will address the community testimony and call for action on subjects including: (1) Generations of work to address harms to farmworkers and schools from pesticide use in California, with a focus on regulatory gaps; (2) Scientific research to understand those harms, with a focus on links and relationships among pesticide use, exposure, and harm; (3) Local coalition testimony from across the region, with a focus on community experience, awareness of harms, and pressing concerns; (4) Binational and Indigenous perspectives, with a focus on the difficulty accessing enforcement and other services for those who speak Indigenous languages; (5) Community efforts to process, transform, and use public data to understand impacts and potential mitigation of pesticide use; (6) Legal requirements, including civil rights laws, and why they are under-utilized and difficult to enforce in the context of pesticide use; and (7) Potential violations of civil rights law. 

Judges and speakers include: 

Caroline Farrell, Professor of Law and Director, Environmental Law and Justice Clinic, Golden Gate University School of Law

Dr. Ann López, Executive Director, Center for Farmworker Families

Dr. Gregg Macey, Director, Center for Land, Environment, and Natural Resources, UCI Law

Jane Sellen, Co-Director, Californians for Pesticide Reform, Lindsay

Yanely Martinez, City Councilmember, Greenfield and Central Coast Organizer for Californians for Pesticide Reform

Teresa Gomez, Organizer, Coalition Advocating for Pesticide Safety--Ventura County (CAPS 805)

Rocio Ortiz, Jessica Gonzales, and Anali Rivera, Watsonville High School students and farmworkers

Contact Californians for Pesticide Reform HERE.

Concert Aids Center for Farmworker Families

A benefit concert for the Center for Farmworker Families will be held Feb. 14 at 3pm at the Veterans for Foreign Wars Hall, 2259 7th Ave., Live Oak. This concert is rescheduled from a postponed event on Feb. 10.

It features performers Gail Swain, Claire Paul, and Karen Katz with Jerry Paul on keys, Michael Levy on guitar and Jeff Arlt on drums and percussions.

Tickets are sliding scale, $10-20. Contact the center at (831) 335-5492 or email at contact@farmworkerfamily.org.

Nixon’s White Cat

BY LARRY BENSKY

It was the winter of 1956. The Vice President of the United States, Richard Nixon, was trying to convince voters that he would be a wise choice in the upcoming Presidential primaries.

His advisers had a big problem, however.

How could they help craft a man who was widely called “Tricky Dicky” into a reliable persona?

They decided to divide their efforts into segments.

One part of of the electorate would get personal appearances, press releases, glossy brochures. Another would get different material.

I was targeted as part of a neglected segment. Youth. Specifically, educated youth, who were thought to be opinion leaders. And the places from which those leaders purportedly led included student newspapers.

And so, one fine day I got a Special Delivery letter addressed to the Editor of the Yale Daily News. An exciting invitation to question the Vice President of the United States!

A few days later a follow up phone call came. The opportunity was going to be in upstate New York, at Cornell University. All other Ivy League editors had also been invited to what was supposed to be a no-holds-barred on-stage event. Would I be there, the caller from the White House press room asked?

Hell, yes!

But how to get from New Haven to Ithaca, 250 miles by car at a time when there were no wide, interstate highways?

Trains!

Three of them. New Haven-New York-Albany-Ihaca. Mostly on tracks reserved for freight, while passengers were “sidetracked.” A 12-plus hour odyssey.

I got there the night before the Big Day. In time for us Ivy editors to meet. We discussed what each would ask if called upon. All the questions were good, well-researched, brief.

And so there we were, on stage behind Nixon, who strode out firmly (though clumsily), flashing his silly grin and the “V” for victory sign, a symbol from WW2.

The front rows of the auditorium, where the college Republicans were strategically seated, cheered. Few in the rest of the audience did. And none of us journalists demonstrated emotions, of course.

After some forgettable opening remarks, including thanks to his wife Pat, Nixon called on the first editor.

Before that editor could stand and speak, however, another editor leaped to his feet, and began asking a question. It wasn’t one we had discussed the night before. Nixon took two more, these from people who raised their hands. Then it was over, Nixon and Pat signed autographed pictures, and were gone.

For me, the event had just begun.

I quickly stifled my anger at the editor (Adam Clymer of the Harvard Crimson) who had made us immediately seem like another mob similar to reporters at a White House press briefing, which we definitely weren’t.

In haste, I yelled towards him, something like, “What the fuck did you think you were doing?” And then the post autograph crowd bore us in different directions. He, towards a much-praised 40-plus year career as New York Times White House Correspondent and National Affairs Columnist.

Me, towards a room where I could use my portable Olivetti typewriter and a phone.

I called the Yale Daily News, with the assistance of operators — long distance calls were an adventure then, no dialing, no area codes.

And I dictated to a rewrite man something like:

“By Lawrence M. Bensky

Managing Editor

ITHACA N.Y. — Vice President Richard Nixon brought his Presidential campaign to the Cornell campus today…”

And I went on to as many of Nixon’s words, and to the Cornell campus atmosphere as I could fit into the time and space I had available.

By the time I got back to New Haven two days later the article had appeared. One sentence in it was, “Nixon praised his white cat for his success in politics.”

My phone rang off the proverbial hook. So did Nixon’s, I was told. Everyone wanted to know the same thing: what’s that about a cat? What’s its name ? Was it a stray adopted from a shelter?

In fact, what happened was that my rewrite man had misunderstood me. I had said “wife Pat,” he had heard “white cat.”

The sleepy backwater New Haven office of the then (as now) venerable Associated Press routinely sent out Yale Daily News stories with wider implications. They had sent out this one.

Lbensky@igc.org

"Jack Has a Plan" A Film About Dealing with Terminal Cancer

"Jack Has a Plan" is the story of Jack Tuller, whose career as a budding San Francisco musician was altered when he was diagnosed with a terminal condition in 1994 and given six months to live. The film tells the story of the following 25 years as Jack dodges one bullet after the next. But Jack somehow turns his predicament into a Left Coast Performance Project, complete with experimental movies, diaries, and funky dance moves. Finally, Jack engineers a graceful exit from life's stage through Medical Aid in Dying (MAID.)

Universal Unitarian Church Saturday, Feb. 17, 2-5pm, 6401 Freedom Blvd. Aptos.

Resource Center for Nonviolence Sunday, Feb. 18, 2-5:30pm, 612 Ocean St. Santa Cruz.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion moderated by Jen Hastings, MD.,Bradley Berman, Director of the film, Judy Nell Epstein, End of Life Choices California (EOLCCA), Executive Director Jim Van Buskirk, Regional Coordinator, Final Exit Network (FEN)

Stephan Waltcher, MD., Medical Aid in Dying prescribing physician

Please share this information with your family and friends. For information call 831-454-8467, Myrian Coppens, LMFT. 

If you or someone you know is in crisis or suicidal, please calll or text 988 or chat 988LIFELINE.ORG

Survey on Aging Well in Santa Cruz County

By SARAH RINGLER

From now to March 31, the County of Santa Cruz's Human Services Department has opened an online survey that hopes to collect feedback on aging and living with disabilities in our county. That information may be used to develop the county's Master Plan for Aging. The goal is to ensure that people of all ages and abilities can be active and engaged in their community. For information and to take the survey, click HERE.

Help the Warming Center

By SARAH RINGLER

The Warming Center operates from 12-3pm at the levee-side of 150 Felker St. in Santa Cruz. People can access blankets, jackets, tents, clothing, shoes, hygiene supplies, as well as cold and wet weather support gear. The Homeless Emergency Information Hotline 246-1234 will be updated with weather news and info regarding emergency shelters and how to access them.  

Donations are needed from money to street clothing, shoes, all rain and cold-weather gear, blankets, tents, etc. Donation Barrels are located at:

• REI Sports, on Commercial Way (next to Marshall's)
• 150 Felker St., Santa Cruz

To donate money online: Click Here. Mail money to: Warming Center Program, PO Box 462, Santa Cruz, 95061 Office is at 150 Felker St. Santa Cruz. Our Website.

Raven in the Rain

By WOODY REHANEK

She's a raven in the rain

lost in sunshine, bathed in pain

following her every move

you might lose your bearings too

She had the silk

the smooth patina

her body svelte

you should've seen her

Her hair's lustrous surface

was lacquered by rain

black we never heard of

black without a name

Some danced for pleasure

she danced for pain

you tried to forget her

obsidian flame

******

With her love Jose Cuervo

things tumbled downhill

from honey to wormwood

in crazy cartwheels

Negligent, ravenous

alluring to the core

she left the boys wanting

just a little bit more

On the beach with six sisters

she howled at the moon

unfiltered adventures

on star-crossed avenues

 Time's an outlaw raven

that finds us all someday (CHORUS)

we thought we'd live forever

now we're ravens in the rain

Then the decades took their toll

on her structure & soul

nouveau salt & pepper

a touch of gray weather



******

Her small world shrinking

to a sofa and garden

a tattooed trail of broken

men lost in the bargain

Her days black & blue

her nights bruised by fiction

her nonchalance ghosted you

with secret addictions

With a last shred of hope

she shoots for the moon

julienning midnight roses

in imaginary rooms

Beside the still waters

the neighbors all said

daddy's favorite daughter

would be better off dead

Time's an outlaw raven

that finds us all someday (CHORUS)

we thought we'd live forever

now we're ravens in the rain.

Photo by TARMO HANNULA 

A rare sighting in Santa Cruz of a bald eagle a few weeks ago in eucalyptus trees by Twin Lakes Beach

Santa Cruz County Covid-19 Report

By SARAH RINGLER

The California Department of Public Health and Santa Cruz County Health Department regularly release data on the current status of Covid-19 in the county as well as information on influenza, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and Mpox. Since cases of Covid are still appearing, and there are still vulnerable people, I will continue reporting the graphs below.

At-home Covid-19 test kits that were sent free from the government earlier are now expiring. The program that started in Jan. 2022 has distributed 600 million test kits. If you still have those tests, before using, check the date on your box or go HERE to get information. Go HERE for free tests.

The three graphs below were updated on Jan. 31. The first graph below shows the Rt Number. Numbers above one show the spread of the virus is increasing. Below one means the spread is decreasing. 

The second graph below shows data that the Health Department collects for Covid from wastewater at the City Influent, for the city of Santa Cruz, and from the Lode Street pump stations for the county.



The third graph below shows hospitalizations.



The vaccination data for the county has stayed fairly constant increasing very little over time. Go HERE for new information on vaccination records, treatments, vaccines, tests, safety in the workplace and more.

Photo Tarmo Hannula

Fashion Street - The lane is closed, no matter which way you look at it.

Labor History Calendar - Feb. 9-15, 2024

a.k.a Know Our History Lest We Forget

Feb. 9, 2011: Riot police attack students protesting higher fees – 28 arrested. Faculty and staff respond with 72-hour strike that closes University of Puerto Rico. 

Feb. 10, 1932: CNT general strike in Spain followed by insurrection.

Feb. 10, 1990: 800 loot Rio food store s striking guards watch in Brazil.

Feb. 11, 1913: IWW-led rubber strike in Akron, Ohio begins.

Feb. 11, 1919: Seattle General Strike ends.

Feb. 11, 48,000 GM workers end sit-down strike.

Feb. 11, 2011: Strikes topple Egyptian government.

Feb. 12, 1817: Frederick Douglass born. 

Feb. 12, 1877: US rail strike against pay cuts begins.

Feb. 12, 1967: 60 burn draft cards in New York.

Feb. 13, 1917: Strikes and meeting in St. Petersburg plants launch Russian Revolution.

Feb. 14, 1903: Western Federation of Miners strike for 8-hour day.

Feb. 14, 2011: Egypt military takes charge, orders end to strike and protests.

Feb. 15, 1839: Labor journalist Dyer Lum born in New York.

Labor History Calendar has been published yearly by the Hungarian Literature Fund since 1985.

From History of the Great American Fortunes, 1907, by Gustavus Myers:

“This section discusses a time when many railroads were being built around the country and there were huge amounts of investment and government money available for them. (John W. Garrett and Johns Hopkins in Maryland, John I. Blair, George D. Phelps, John J. Phelps, William E. Dodge, Moses Taylor, and others.) 

"The newer system as it was carried on in Iowa and other states was succinctly described in 1895 by William Larrabee, erstwhile governor of Iowa. “Outright bribery,” he wrote, with a long and keen knowledge of the facts, is probably the means least often employed by corporations to carry their measures . . . . . It is the policy of the political corruption committees of the corporations to ascertain the weakness and wants of every man whose services they are likely to need, and to attack him, if his surrender should be essential to their victory, at his weakest point. Men with political ambition are encouraged to aspire to preferment, and are assured of corporate support to bring it about. Briefless lawyers are promised corporate business or salaried attorneyships. Those in financial straits are accommodated with loans. Vain men are flattered and given newspaper notoriety. Others are given passes for their families and their friends. Shippers are given advantage in rates over their competitors. The idea is that every legislator shall be receive for his vote and influence some compensation which combines the maximum of desirability to him with the minimum of violence to his self-respect . . . . . The lobby which represents the railroad companies at legislative sessions is usually the largest, the most sagacious and the most unscrupulous of all. In extreme cases influential constituents of doubtful members are sent for at the last moment to labor with their representatives, and to assure them that the sentiment of their districts is in favor of the measure advocated by the railroads. Telegrams pour in upon the unsuspecting members. Petitions in favor of the proposed measure are also hastily circulated among the more unsophisticated constituents of member sensitive to public opinion, and are then presented to them as an unmistakable indication of the popular will . . . . . Another powerful reinforcement of the railroad lobby is not infrequently a subsidized press and its correspondents." 

Photo by TARMO HANNULA

African Honey Bread

By SARAH RINGLER 

Even though I got this recipe in the 1960s from my sister-in-law, Roma, who lived in Carmel, it originates from east Africa where, in Ethiopian, it is called Yermarina Yewotet Dabo. It is traditionally served with butter and honey which seems a little excessive since it is made with a lot of butter and honey. 

Cardamom can be an expensive spice with only saffron and vanilla costing more worldwide. Cardamom used to only grow in southwest India until it was brought to Guatemala by German immigrants in the 1900s where it was successfully cultivated, now making Guatemala the world’s largest producer. 

Since it is a yeast bread, be sure to allow time for it to rise twice. It is the only yeast recipe that I know of where you knead the dough with butter. While baking, it imparts a wonderful fragrance that fills the house with what happiness and bliss would smell like if it had a smell.  

This sweet and spicy bread makes for special breakfast bread. It toasts well and makes for great French toast. This recipe makes a large loaf but you can make smaller loaves. The ones in the photo above were made to be hamburger buns. 

1 package active dry yeast or 2 ¼ teaspoons

¼ cup lukewarm water

1 egg

½ cup honey

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 cup lukewarm milk

6 tablespoons melted butter – additional ¼ cup melted butter to knead the bread 

Mix the milk and water and stir in the honey. Next, dissolve the yeast into the honey and water mixture. Let the mixture sit until the yeast foams. Then, stir in the spices, salt, egg and melted butter.  

Add the flour, ½ cup at a time. Mix well. The mixture will get stiff as more flour is added. I used a stand up mixer with the dough hook and added flour until it no longer stuck to the bowl. At this point, remove the bread from the bowl and put it on the counter. Knead with melted butter until dough in evenly mixed.

Shape the dough into a ball and place in a buttered bread bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour. 

Punch down the raised dough and knead a little more. Shape into a round dome and place on a baking sheet. Cover with the damp cloth and let rise again for about 45 minutes. Bake in 325 degree preheated oven for about 1 hour until the top is crusty and brown. Makes one large 8-inch round bread. 

Send your story, poetry or art here: Please submit a story, poem or photo of your art that you think would be of interest to the people of Santa Cruz County. Try and keep the word count to around 400. Also, there should be suggested actions if this is a political issue. Submit to coluyaki@gmail.com

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Thanks, Sarah Ringler

Welcome to Serf City Times Our county has problems and many people feel left out. Housing affordability, racism and low wages are the most obvious factors. However, many groups and individuals in Santa Cruz County work tirelessly to make our county a better place for everyone. These people work on the environment, housing, economic justice, health, criminal justice, disability rights, immigrant rights, racial justice, transportation, workers’ rights, education reform, gender issues, equity issues, electoral politics and more. Often, one group doesn’t know what another is doing. The Serf City Times is dedicated to serving as a clearinghouse for those issues by letting you know what is going on, what actions you can take and how you can support these groups.This is a self-funded enterprise and all work is volunteer. 

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