Many people who are arrested and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail lose not only their freedom but also access to health care and mental health services.
Lack of staff and programs, improper usage of facilities and mistreatment of inmates, including the mentally ill, were all found during the report.
The investigation included tours of Santa Cruz County’s three jails: Rountree, Blaine Street and the Main Jail.
The report said the staff is “deeply dissatisfied” with the physical conditions of the jail and said the conditions negatively impact the mental health of both inmates and staff. Even for those in good mental health, merely being in the jail building was said to be “disturbing and stressful.”
The Main Jail houses mentally ill inmates without a certified mental healthcare facility.
Statistics in the report show 30%-40% of those incarcerated suffer from mental health disorders. This makes the jails the largest mental healthcare provider in the county, the report said.
Most mentally ill inmates either obtain psychotropic medication or require them. Further information provided evidence of overmedicating patients as well.
“Mentally ill residents should be cared for in health facilities, not housed in jail,” the report said.
The report also touched on the use of “safety cells,” also known as solitary confinement.
In California, safety cells are used when inmates pose a danger to themselves or others. They are typically used for short-term confinement.
But evidence provided to the Grand Jury revealed that inmates were held in safety cells for days.
Procedures required by California Title 15 section 1209 and the sheriff’s department state: “In no case shall the safety cell be used for punishment or as a substitute for Mental Health treatment.”
The Grand Jury discovered that inmates are put in safety cells for reasons including, but not limited to:
Breaking the rules.
Threatening to cause harm to themselves or others.
Having a mental health crisis.
The main concern was the misuse of the safety cell, according to a health inspector’s report.
The ongoing issues go beyond the Main Jail. There are staffing shortages at Rountree Jail, a medium-level jail housing medium-offenders.
Last year’s 2023 Grand Jury Jail report suggested reopening one of the two closed units at Rountree, which was previously closed for maintenance. But today, it is still closed due to staffing shortages. Reopening the second unit would offer more balance between the three facilities.
There are also staffing shortages at the Blaine Street facility for women, which dropped 10 positions.
The Grand Jury expressed concern about the shortage, given the high number of patients needing help. Wellpath, the outside agency supplying staff to the jail has high turnover since the pandemic and only provides coverage for 18 hours a day.
“We are currently in the process of thoroughly reviewing the report and look forward to addressing and correcting the misinformation included within it,” Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Ashley Keehn replied.
The agencies that are subject to grand jury investigations are not required to make any of the suggested changes. But they are required to respond within 90 days.
The Grand Jury suggested the investigation would have benefited from inmate interviews, as it would have provided insights on jailers’ experiences. However, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office denied this, saying it has never been done before and would set a bad precedent.
But according to Penal Code Section 916, jurors do in fact have the right to use two jurors for each individual interview with an inmate.
Keehn said that the Grand Jury has several methods they can use to contact incarcerated individuals that ensure the safety and privacy of all parties involved, including using subpoenas to obtain necessary information.
Anyone with further information, please contact ed****@*******es.sc.
Three years after the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors voted to purchase the former West Marine building on Westridge Drive, a convergence of city and county officials gathered at the site June 11 to celebrate its new incarnation.
The 121,000-square-foot South County Government Center at 500 Westridge Dr. holds the Human Services Department, Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, County Clerk/Elections, Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office and a “floating counter” where other services can intermittently be found.
The new site consolidates several services, allowing South County residents to access needed services in one place. It will also make it easier for county employees who live there to get to work, thus reducing greenhouse gas emissions and traffic congestion on Highway 1.
“We recognize that it’s important for local government to serve the community, and make it easy to access the services, particularly in underserved populations,” said Supervisor Felipe Hernandez. “This is a key to equity.”
The county purchased the property in 2021 for $15.6 million. Renovations included seismic upgrades.
County Administrative Officer Carlos Palacios said that, when he was city manager from 1996-2015, he saw that Watsonville did not receive the same services as North County.
“I had a deep feeling—a sense of, frankly, anger—at the fact that I didn’t feel our people were being served in the same way,” he said.
The new facility, he added, will make a big difference in addressing that disparity.
“It represents not only real services to the community to those who most need it, but it’s also a symbol of the county’s investment in south county and inWatsonville.”
And that investment, he said, will soon continue at the Freedom Campus with a new health clinic, dentist and public health services.
Central Fire Capt. Laurel Walters, the first female firefighter to be hired by Central Fire Protection District, hung up her helmet June 6 after 28 years of service.
As a farewell ceremony, fellow firefighters joined her and her family, including her husband, two teen boys and her teen stepdaughter and grandmother, for a final run across town in a fire engine.
“I’ve been reflecting a lot these last few weeks,” she said. “Thinking about my career as a firefighter, I feel I won the lottery. It’s such a lucky thing; I didn’t plan on being a firefighter—it kind of found me.
Walters said her career has been “a wild, amazing ride.”
“There’s been ups and downs,” she said. “The fire service is such a unique organization; there is this family aspect to it. I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, so being able to work here and drive the engine around, run calls and help people and wave to people has been incredible.”
Walters was hired by Central Fire Dec. 1, 1996 as a paid call firefighter, and then promoted to firefighter in 1998. She completed the firefighter/paramedic training in 1999 and was promoted to captain in 2007.
Walters was also a member of the department’s aquatic rescue team. and served as lead of Central Fire’s Explorer program that introduces high schoolers to the world of fire service.
“I did hear a lot about a woman not being able to do this kind of work,” she said. “There’s a funny story where we were all standing at Jade Street Community Center and I was standing in front of this one gentleman and all the guys in uniform were standing behind him and he looked at me and said, ‘So sonny, how long have you been doing this?’ And all the guys beyond him were laughing, but he couldn’t see them. And I just said, ‘You know what? I’ve been doing thas for a while now, sir.’ But overall, I got so much support. This department has been incredible.”
Whenever a foreign interviewer questions Alex Lora, the leader of Mexico’s oldest and most famous rock band, they ask the same thing.
“So, you are the Mexican Rolling Stones?”
“No,” replies the long-haired frontman, who has toured and recorded for 55 years and still fits into the clothes he wore in high school.
“The Rolling Stones are the British El Tri.”
There’s not as much hyperbole there as one might think.
El Tri began as a trio (hence the name) in 1968—the same year San Jose State athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos famously raised their fists at the Mexico City Olympics. In Mexico City that year, government forces gunned down scores of students in Tlatelolco protesting its spending on the international sports competition.
The political turmoil fueled a nascent Mexican counterculture that came into full expression at the 1971 Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro, Mexico’s answer to Woodstock. The event, which drew 650,000 people, launched El Tri to prominence.
El Tri still plays to stadiums around the world and releases new music yearly. Last year the group played to 200,000 people in Peru and 120,000 people outside Dodgers stadium in Los Angeles.
They are featured in the Rolling Stones’ last movie, Havana Moon, and guitarist Ron Wood shoots pool with Lora in Mexico City. They co-headlined a show with the Stones, and Keith Richards wore an El Tri shirt after El Tri got called back for an encore, pretty unusual at a Stones concert.
Their relentless touring schedule has them opening, on June 22, the 2024 season of San Jose’s Music in the Park, an event Metro produces through an affiliated company. No strangers to the city, they were the first band to play the newly remodeled San Jose Civic Auditorium in 2005.
Unlike the Stones, they can’t stop touring and putting out new music. They are road warriors as in love with rock as are their fans. They play more than 150 shows a year, which keeps them in tight form.
I didn’t realize just how skilled they were until I caught their sound check at San Francisco’s Fillmore, where they pulled out, for fun, tunes by the Allman Brothers, Sonny Boy Williamson and the Dead, sounding like carbon copies of the originals.
Two months ago, they played to 50,000 people at Los Angeles’ La Fiesta Broadway street fair. And this month El Tri released a new single,Yo Quiero Ser Tu Celular (I Want to be Your Cell Phone), with lyrics that reflect Lora’s tongue-in-cheek way of making ordinary observations extraordinary.
He sings in Spanish over hard rock music reminiscent of Van Halen:
I want you to worry about me
When you can’t find me
I want your life to revolve around me
And ask me for everything
I want to entertain you and make you laugh
And help you forget your sorrows
I want to direct you where you need to go
And clarify all your doubts
Bar Band Gone Big
The Washington Post says the band “remains rough-edged musically and intensely local in its lyrics, suggesting a neighborhood bar band gone big.” Is there a better definition for great rock and roll?
Lora’s early influences include the great Chicago bluesmen, and like the English rock stars, he took their Southern-based style and made it his own.
I came upon them 24 years ago when I was the music critic at the San Jose Mercury News and their manager at the time, Jason Garner, kept asking me to listen to them, promising me I’d like them.
Back then my job included previewing some 50 new CDs a week and having failed Spanish in high school, I didn’t think I could give them a fair shake, especially with so many competing albums in English.
But one day I finally popped on their disc, Fin de Siglo, which translates to End of the Century, and within two songs I was hooked. The crunchy guitars got me, as they weaved in and out like they were sewing a tapestry—and yes, they brought to mind the best days of the Rolling Stones, when Mick Taylor and Keith Richards made bulletproof music.
And then there was Lora’s voice, which brought to mind the scraping edge of AC/DC with the aching dirty passion of Howling Wolf. The whole sound was like the best DIY rock music of the ages, like the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Who or the Doors and ZZ Top, uncorrupted by commercialism.
They included a harmonica player, Rafael Salgado, who is instrumental to Lora’s blues roots, and a brilliant and seductive female singer: Lora’s wife, Chela, who met him when she was a journalist doing an interview. The current band also includes keyboardist Lalo Toral, who has been with Lora since the start; guitarists Eduardo “Lalo” Chico and Oscar Zarate; bassist Charlie Valerio and drummer Felipe Chacon.
Gained in Translation
Even before I understood the double and triple entendres in their lyrics, I was hooked.
The first song on Fin de Siglo, their 15th release, is “Todo me sale mal” (Everything I Do Comes Out Wrong). It has a beat like “Roadhouse Blues” but lyrics that mix the blues with humor, defying authority and expectations, which is Lora’s trademark. He challenges the strict conventionalism of Mexican society.
As I listened for the first time, I kept thinking, “Who are these guys— and how have I never heard them before?”
It was an awakening to a huge unnoticed world. I remember thinking, what if the Beatles had sung in Greek or the Stones in Portuguese? Would anyone who speaks only English have heard of them? How much rock history would have been lost?
I called their manager soon after hearing the disc and arranged an interview. The 20 minutes I was scheduled to talk to Lora turned into three hours and began a long friendship of shared music. After a night of jamming in their manager’s San Jose home, Lora invited me to play harmonica with them at Shoreline Amphitheatre in front of 25,000 people the next night.
Yikes!
Despite almost fainting when they handed me a microphone, it worked and taught me more about making rock music than anything I’d done before or since. I couldn’t sleep for days afterwards, and when I asked Lora what it felt like to do that night after night, his answer was “It’s like making love to 25,000 people at the same time.”
I get it now. I understand why so many great performers don’t ever want to stop. There’s no high like it.
Their music inspired me to go to Mexico and take immersion courses in Spanish, in large part so I could understand his lyrics.
One of the funniest moments was when one of my prim and proper teachers was too embarrassed to translate some of them for me. (In Todo me sale mal, he sings about a fart that left a present in his underwear.)
Rock Underground
But like everything about one of Mexico’s greatest songwriters (and one of the greatest in all rock and roll, a point on which Rolling Stone magazine publisher Jann Wenner, in an email, agreed), Lora loves contradictions. In most of his shows he has a traditional dancer in indigenous garb reminding la raza mas chida (the coolest race) of their ancient history.
Bucking some tradition, but paying homage to others. He sings raucous songs about pimps, Viagra, smoking weed and getting drunk. But he also has tender ones about abandoned children, the Pope and the Virgin Mary, and about people confined to wheelchairs. He slams the Mexican government, but he deeply loves the country.
In the 1974 song “Abuso de autoridad” (“Abuse of authority”), the government was openly criticized, a risky move back then
To live in Mexico is the worst
Our government is wrong
And nobody can go mad
Because they shut you up
Nobody wants to go out anymore
Nor do they want to tell the truth
Nobody wants to get in trouble
with the authority
On the tender side, he wrote a powerful song about the invisible victims of 9/11, the undocumented busboys whose families were offered no financial settlements for their deaths, while American citizens were given millions. After the song was released, those families were also paid.
The ironies abound in his work. In the song “Oye Cantinero” or “Hey, Bartender,” he sings about sitting in a bar celebrating all of his great drunken nights and asking for his glass to be filled. Only, at the end of the song, you realize he’s in a mental institution talking to his shrink.
Lora is a musical shock jock, managing to offend the politically correct whenever he can. He sings mostly for a working-class audience and loves to be rebellious.
In a recent interview I asked him what he thought of Mexico’s new president, not only the first woman but the first person of Jewish descent to hold the office. I figured he’d be excited at what looked like a major change.
“Different person, same shit,” he answered.
When you look back on the band’s history, you understand his skepticism. El Tri started in 1968, playing the grungiest clubs around the poorest parts of Mexico City. In 1971, after the government saw the rebellious nature of the music and felt threatened by it, even as it fueled movements in the States, it was largely banned and restricted after the big Avandero concerts.
“From 1971 to the middle of the ’80s rock and roll survived in the underground,” Lora says. “El Tri kept the light on in the underground.”
CHIDO AMIGOS Alex Lora and the author on the road outside Fresno heading toward a gig.
They played three shows on Sundays in clubs they called “funky holes.” The drums weren’t miked. The equipment was trashy. Shows weren’t announced in advance and fans had to be alert to find them.
One club was on the site of an old coal mine and when they played it, they were covered in coal dust. Everyone who saw them outside knew where they had been playing.
Chilangos Abroad
As they began to get popular, they got signed by an American record label and used an English name, Three Souls in My Mind. They released two albums and had a minor hit song called “Let Me Swim,” recorded in a Los Angeles studio owned by the Beach Boys.
It was enticing for them up to a point. Lora realized his real fans couldn’t sing along with the English songs, so they dropped the pretense and changed their name to El Tri, which was what their fans called them anyway because that’s how they pronounced three.
“In my mind, because if you knew English well you’d say these fuckers don’t speak English well. If they spoke it well, it would be Three Souls on my Mind. I put it in my mind on purpose to make the guys who really spoke English know we weren’t from the border, we were Chilangos and didn’t speak English as well as the guys from the border.”
Chilango is a reference to Mexico City residents, not always used flatteringly, but Lora says it proudly. In his 2002 song “Chilangolandia” he sums the city up:
“The most beautiful, the most dangerous
The most loved, the most contaminated
The most populated, the most rock and roll.”
Eventually, rock became more mainstream and dozens of bands followed their path, including Maná, Caifanes, Jaguares, Maldita Vecindad. Almost any Mexican rock band you talk to today credits Lora’s influence for breaking the barriers of rock in Spanish and making it as popular as its English counterpart.
Amazingly, the band has released 53 albums in its five-plus decades. You can track the Mexican diaspora along his tour routes. At first they played New York, Texas, Chicago and California. Now you can see them fill concert halls in Omaha, Atlanta and Minneapolis—anywhere hard work is being done and fans want to feel their homeland’s roots.
Working-Class Hero
To travel with El Tri is like joining the circus. At the Orange County airport, they shut down the McDonald’s so the workers could get the Tri members’ autographs. We’ve played the Nokia Theaters on both coasts; the L.A. Sports Arena (where Alex introduced me as Van Morrison’s brother); the Salinas Rodeo and the Hammerstein Ballroom, across the street from Madison Square Garden.
I’ve shared the stage with some famous musicians, including harmonica players Lee Oskar and Billy Branch, Sammy Hagar, Jerry Donahue of the Hellacasters, Seymour Duncan (who designed Jimi Hendrix’s effects pedals) and Javier Bátis (who taught Carlos Santana to play guitar). I also became friendly with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, who is a Tri fan and talked about doing a tour as Tri and the Top.
I always wanted to lay back and tried never to step in front of Alex on stage, partly because I once read an article saying no one ever steps in front of Mick Jagger. Turns out Alex is the opposite. He always tells me to keep on playing and he pushes me out in front of him or puts his arm around me. He’s happy to share, which for me is the sign of a great and confident musician.
TAKING MANHATTAN Alex Lora and El Tri have a huge following in New York, where they played the Nokia Theater in Times Square. Photo by Brad Kava
Lora knows who made him what he is and spends hours signing autographs at each show. One night before a San Jose gig we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant at Oakridge Mall. Dinners with the band and friends are long, three hours at least. And when we got out there were some 1,500 people politely waiting in the parking lot. He spent hour after hour signing cars, photos and bodies.
The band’s favorite U.S. restaurant on tour is Denny’s because the minute they walk in it transforms into a gourmet experience. Chefs come out and ask Lora what he would want to eat and they come up with specialties not on the menu.
It says a lot about Lora, a rock star like few others. He treats his audience and the working people we meet on tour like they are the stars. At the annual NAMM music seller’s convention in Anaheim, he spends more time talking to the janitors than to the instrument makers soliciting him or the other stars wanting to chat. He makes the invisible people around us visible.
He also keeps ticket prices reasonable (Music in the Park tickets have been $35 and $40, and will be $45 at the door), so that unlike the Stones, whose prices have soared, his audience includes all ages, including kids. He puts people with disabilities up front. He did a song and tour to raise money for people in wheelchairs and the upcoming San Jose show will have deaf interpreters to help people who can feel and see the musicians understand what they are saying.
Lora wrote one of my favorite songs about overlooked people called “Nosotros Los Latinos” (“We the Latinos”), released when the entertainment world was swooning over Ricky Martin and J.Lo and calling it the “Year of the Latino.”
He sings, (translated):
We are the force that has made America
The greatest power in the world
Thanks to our work, to our clinging
To our effort and our desire to progress
Well, we are the workforce that has made them strong.
We the Latinos are hot
We are the raw material that has made them rich
And all they have and all they are
It’s thanks to us
We work their lands
We are the ones who fatten their cattle
And just as we want to learn English
They should also try to learn Spanish
When he started out, Lora never thought it would last. To what does he attribute his decades of success?
“We sing about things that are true,” he says. “And because I’m stubborn and I always keep going. We wrote some of these songs 50 years ago and kids 8 years old sing them like they were written a week ago. The song I wrote about the cell phone, in 20 years maybe people will still be listening to it, unless they’ve got some new device.”
El Tri opens Music in the Park’s 2024 season June 22, 5-10 pm, at Plaza de Cesar Chavez in downtown San Jose. Tickets at eltrisanjose.com.
Clockwise from left: Kristine, Donovan, Brody, Crue, and Sailor
Donovan enjoys punk bands at live concert venues—the latest, Drain at the Civic Auditorium. Crue loves getting poke bowls Downtown. Sailor likes playing at the beach
Donovan, 18 (left), Crue 15, and Sailor, 3, with parents Kristine and Brody.
Clockwise from top Alli, Wes, and Cici
Wes had fun at The Boardwalk. Cici liked playing at Natural Bridges. Both loved getting ice cream at Penny Ice Creamery.
Wes, 7, and Cici, 5, with mom Alli.
Left to Right, Rumi and Candace
Rumi had a great time playing in the park with his cousins.
Rumi, 8, with mom Candace.
From left, Novina, Pancho, Bazinga
“The Barnyard” says: “We dress up all the time, we just go out in our own style. We’ll just talk to people going in and out of the theater, or a restaurant, and see what kind of interesting perspectives we discover. We believe you can be a kid at any age!”
I love being logical and reasonable! The scientific method is one of my favorite ways to understand how the world works. I am a big fan of trying to ascertain the objective facts about any situation I am in. However, I also love being intuitive and open to mystical perceptions. I don’t trust every one of my feelings as an infallible source of truth, but I rely on them a lot to guide my decisions. And I also believe that it’s sometimes impossible to figure out the objective facts. In the coming weeks, Aries, I suggest you give more weight than usual to the second set of perspectives I described. Don’t be crazily illogical, but proceed as if logic alone won’t provide the insights you need most.
TAURUS April 20-May 20
In their book Your Symphony of Selves, Jordan Gruber and James Fadiman propose a refreshing theory about human nature. They say that each of us is a community of multiple selves. It’s perfectly natural and healthy for us to be an amalgam of various voices, each with distinctive needs and forms of expression. We should celebrate our multifaceted identity and honor the richness it affords us. According to my analysis of astrological omens, the coming weeks will be an excellent time for you to exult in your own symphony of selves and make it a central feature of your self-understanding.
GEMINI May 21-June 20
In the second half of 2012 and the first half of 2013, you launched a journey that will finally culminate soon. What a long, strange and interesting trip it has been! The innovations you activated during that time have mostly ripened, though not entirely. The hopes that arose in you have brought mixed results, but the predominant themes have been entertaining lessons and soulful success. I hope you will give yourself a congratulatory gift, dear Gemini. I hope you will luxuriate in a ritual celebration to commemorate your epic journey. The process hasn’t been perfect, but even the imperfections have been magical additions to your life story.
CANCER June 21-July 22
I suspect you may have metaphorical resemblances to a lightning rod in the coming weeks. Just in case I’m right, I urge you not to stroll across open fields during thunderstorms. On the other hand, I recommend that you be fully available to receive bolts of inspiration and insight. Put yourself in the presence of fascinating events, intriguing people and stirring art. Make yourself ready and eager for the marvelous.
LEO July 23-Aug. 22
“It’s hard to get lost if you don’t know where you’re going,” said experimental filmmaker Jim Jarmusch. He’s implying that there’s potential value in getting lost. Unexpected discoveries might arrive that contribute to the creative process. But that will only happen if you first have a clear vision of where you’re headed. Jarmusch’s movies benefit from this approach. They’re fun for me to watch because he knows exactly what he wants to create but is also willing to get lost and wander around in search of serendipitous inspirations. This is the approach I recommend for you in the coming weeks, dear Leo.
VIRGO Aug. 23-Sept. 22
Does any person or institution own a part of you? Has anyone stolen some of your power? Does anyone insist that only they can give you what you need? If there are people who fit those descriptions, Virgo, the coming weeks will be an excellent time to fix the problems. According to my understanding of life’s rhythms, you can summon the ingenuity and strength to reclaim what rightfully belongs to you. You can recover any sovereignty and authority you may have surrendered or lost.
LIBRA Sept. 23-Oct. 22
In ancient Greek myth, Sisyphus was a forlorn character punished by the gods. He was required to push a boulder from the bottom to the top of a hill. But each time he neared the peak, the big rock, which had been enchanted by the crabby god Zeus, slipped away and rolled back down the hill. The story says that Sisyphus had to do this for all eternity. If there have been even minor similarities between you and him, Libra, that will change in the coming months. I predict you will finally succeed—is this your fifth attempt?—in finishing a task or project that has, up until now, been frustrating.
SCORPIO Oct. 23-Nov. 21
Is it possible to reap spiritual epiphanies while having sex? Can intense physical pleasure be a meditation that provokes enlightened awareness? Can joy and bliss bring learning experiences as valuable as teachings that arise from suffering? Here are my answers to those three questions, Scorpio, especially for you during the next four weeks: yes, yes and yes. My astrological ruminations tell me that you are primed to harvest divine favors as you quest for delight.
SAGITTARIUS Nov. 22-Dec. 21
Your animal magnetism and charisma could be wildly potent in the coming weeks. I’m worried that as a result, you may be susceptible to narcissistic feelings of entitlement. You will be extra attractive, maybe even irresistible! But now that you have received my little warning, I hope you will avoid that fate. Instead, you will harness your personal charm to spread blessings everywhere you go. You will activate a generosity of spirit in yourself that awakens and inspires others. Do not underestimate the electrifying energy pouring out of you, Sagittarius. Vow to make it a healing medicine and not a chaotic disruptor.
CAPRICORN Dec. 22-Jan. 19
I’ve had thousands of crucial teachers. There would be no such thing as me without their life-changing influences. Among that vast array have been 28 teachers whose wisdom has been especially riveting. I feel gratitude for them every day. And among those 28 have been five geniuses who taught me so much so fast in a short period of time that I am still integrating their lessons. One of those is Capricorn storyteller and mythologist Michael Meade. I offer you these thoughts because I suspect you are close to getting a major download from a guide who can be for you what Meade has been for me. At the very least, you will engage with an educational source akin to my top 28.
AQUARIUS Jan. 20-Feb. 18
In one of my previous lifetimes, I was a bricoleur—a collector and seller of junk who re-used the castaway stuff in new ways. That’s one reason why, during my current destiny, I am a passionate advocate for recycling, renewal and redemption—both in the literal and metaphorical senses. I am tuned in to splendor that might be hidden within decay, treasures that are embedded in trash, and bliss that can be retrieved from pain. So I’m excited about your prospects in the coming weeks, Aquarius. If you so desire, you can specialize in my specialties.
PISCES Feb. 19-March 20
Some people imagine that being creative means having nonstop spontaneous fun. They think it’s primarily exuberant, adventurous and liberating. As a person who prizes imaginative artistry, I can testify that this description is accurate some of the time. But more often, the creative process involves meticulous organization and discipline, periods of trial-and-error experimentation, and plenty of doubt and uncertainty. It’s hard work that requires persistence and faith. Having said that, Pisces, I am happy to say you are now in a phase when the freewheeling aspects of creativity will be extra available. You’re more likely than usual to enjoy spontaneous fun while dreaming up novel ideas and fresh approaches. Channel this energy into an art form or simply into the way you live your life.
Homework: If you’d like to give me a gift for my birthday on June 23, consider signing up for my newsletter: Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com
Don’t worry, California youth, Gov. Gavin Newsom and his army of regulators are looking out for you in at least one way: thanks to them, you are in less danger of getting a mild buzz from a can of cannabis-infused soda.
In April, Newsom’s office announced a crackdown on companies that are peddling products containing THC isolates derived from hemp, which are illegal in California, but are widely available both online and in retail stores across the state (though generally not in licensed cannabis dispensaries, which sell the good stuff).
This month saw the first enforcement action, if it can be called that: the Department of Public Health warned the public not to drink hemp-based beverages sold under the Mary Jones Soda brand. This is despite the fact that, in nearly all cases, the people who purchased those products knew exactly what they were getting. The DPH also said it was working to get the products removed from store shelves.
In recent years, a whole industry has sprung up for products made from hemp that are meant to get consumers high. Hemp in its natural state doesn’t contain enough THC to cause intoxication. But it does contain some, and it can be isolated and concentrated to create products like those made by the Seattle-based Jones Soda company and a slew of others around the country, many of them far more dicey than Jones.
The products might be beverages, edibles, vapes or tinctures. They exist in a legal gray area because of the way hemp legalization was written into the 2018 farm bill: it specifies that hemp products cannot contain more than a tiny amount of delta-8 THC, which is the kind found much more abundantly in most cannabis products. But that law says nothing about delta-9 THC, which is what these companies derive from hemp to make these products. In other words, the feds left a gigantic loophole.
California allows the sale of industrial hemp, but bans the sale of hemp products containing THC isolates.
The crackdown is all about protecting the youth, if you go by how often and how prominently variations of the word “youth” are found in the government’s various announcements. “California Takes Action to Protect Youth from Illegal Hemp Products” was the headline on the initial announcement from Newsom’s office in April.
The California Department of Public Health went even more hog-wild with its youth-protecting language when it issued the warning about Mary Jones Soda on May 30. “The state,” the CDPH declared, “seeks to ensure compliance with existing law to protect Californians, particularly youth, from mislabeled and potentially harmful hemp-infused, particularly youth, from mislabeled and potentially harmful hemp-infused products.”
To be clear, some of the delta-9 products really are potentially harmful, though that seems highly unlikely in the case of Mary Jones Soda, which is made by Jones Soda, the Seattle-based maker of popular, fruity soft drinks.
Jones Soda has been around since 1995 and it distributes its main product lines throughout the country and in Canada. It introduced cannabis-infused drinks in 2022. Some of them are made from marijuana and are sold, perfectly legally, in licensed dispensaries. The products in question are infused with hemp-derived delta-9 THC and run afoul of state law.
There are lots of operators out there making potentially dangerous products from hemp-derived delta-9, and it’s not like the state can let some off the hook just because they have better reputations than some sleazebag making delta-9 vapes in his garage. Illegal is illegal, and there’s a good reason for the law banning such products: they go untested and unregulated and, especially in the case of vapes, might well cause harm, even if the Mary Jones products are almost certainly perfectly safe.
Some states and the federal government are working on closing the delta-9 loophole, which will likely eventually bring an end to the market for hemp-derived THC products. Until then, the best bet for consumers is to get their cannabis products from a licensed dispensary. That might not help the youth get high, but the youth generally have way better access to way better weed anyway.
The magic moment for one of Santa Cruz’s most innovative companies came when its founder rolled the dice and bet big at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics trade show.
Kyle Doerksen had been pulling all-nighters for days on end putting the final tweaks on a prototype of what is now known as a Onewheel, an electric skateboard with—you guessed it—only one wheel. The neuroengineering and mechanical engineering wizard was taking his own leap of faith on his creation, entering the 2014 CES for a chance to show it to the world.
He almost didn’t make it.
It was 5:55pm on the second day of CES—he missed the first day—and Doerksen was running through the convention center with his prototype in hand, trying to make it to a 6pm press event.
“That was the make-or-break moment. I don’t know if there was a Plan B, but that was certainly Plan A,” Doerksen says.
Plan A worked out after all.
“It was incredible—no one had seen anything like it,” his then-new partner, Jack Mudd says. “It was featured on all the ‘Best of CES’ things and everyone wanted to come ride it.”
Now it’s 2024 and the pair are sitting at the massive Future Motion headquarters in Santa Cruz, laughing at their almost-misadventure. Doerksen is the founder and CEO, while Mudd has elevated his marketing title to that of Chief Evangelist. The company and its flagship product, the aptly named Onewheel, are marking a milestone in their mission to make the future rad.
The Future of Motion
Doerksen grew up in Calgary, Canada, and moved to the U.S. in the early 2000s to attend college. While doing his undergraduate studies in neuroengineering at Stanford University, he discovered his passion for the hands-on aspect of the field and left college with a master’s degree in mechanical engineering. After an eight-year stint with IDEO, a Palo Alto firm that developed products like Apple’s first mouse, Doerksen helped found electric bike company Faraday Bikes.
“Through that experience I got to see the birth of what is now called micro mobility,” Doerksen says. “After tinkering in my garage for a while, I managed to get an early Onewheel prototype going.”
In 2008, the most notable personal electric vehicle was Dean Kamen’s Segway, a two-wheeled transporter that arrived in 2001 and was by then decidedly uncool in the cultural zeitgeist.
Doerksen wanted to build something that simulated the feel of snowboarding, but on pavement. A self-balancing board to glide you away into serenity.
“So in the early days, it was just me trying to make something for myself and was not a commercial project,” Doerksen says. “Then I had a couple of friends that were like, ‘Whoa, this is a really cool experience, can you build one for me?’”
Fitted with a go-kart wheel, a wooden deck and metal sidings, Doerksen says, the early prototype was ahead of its time—before lithium batteries and wheel hub motors—and he had to put it on hold for a few years.
“In the intervening years the technological building blocks got a lot better and that’s when I was able to say ‘Okay, you can make something that is thin and reasonably light and could have decent range and would be this sort of integrated and refined product.’”
In May, Onewheel uploaded a 25-minute documentary to its YouTube channel titled “Ten Years of Onewheel.” The footage follows Doerksen from a young 20-something tinkering on his rough, chain-driven prototype and through the various stages of development, from late-night lithium battery tests, to surfing legend Kelly Slater dropping into Doerksen’s Palo Alto shop to ride an early model. The prototype evolved from a wood and metal plate Frankenstein to a sleeker, smoother ride.
By 2013, the Onewheel was ready to roll out commercially. Earlier on that January day in 2014, Doerksen had enacted the second part of his Plan A. He launched a Kickstarter campaign for Onewheel, asking for $100,000 to get the project going. But the success of the campaign hinged on one thing—a standout showing at CES.
The buzz was immediate. Critics and fans raved, setting off a media frenzy over the new “hoverboard.” Within three weeks, the Kickstarter amassed thousands of backers and topped out at $630,000. Now, Doerksen and Mudd had to make good on their promise and build hundreds of Onewheels. The race was on.
THEN AND NOW Kyle Doerksen (left) and Jack Mudd with different incarnations of the Onewheel. Photo: Tarmo Hannula
If You Build It, They Will Ride
After the Kickstarter launch in 2014, the small team had to get to work. Doerksen set a timeline of eight months to complete the preorders. All of the Onewheels were going to be built right in the San Francisco Bay Peninsula, where the prototype was hatched, instead of exporting production overseas. The first model was simply called the Onewheel. It had a battery range of 4 to 6 miles and a top speed of 13 mph. Then came the Onewheel+, with a slightly better range of 5 to 7 miles and speeds of up to 19 mph.
As the board began to take off, Mudd took off as well. He traveled for months introducing the Onewheel to America. Within a few years it became a cultural phenomenon. To date, he’s gotten some big names to ride it.
“I’ve actually been lucky to ride with all kinds of people. I rode with Steph Curry. Who else? Jimmy Fallon over at 30 Rock in New York City,” Mudd says. Adam Savage of Mythbusters fame is also a fan, he adds.
The company has produced seven iterations of the Onewheel, ranging from the smallest versions (Pint and Pint X) to the newer, beefier GT series. The latest to join the family is the GT S-Series, which is a high-performance model with double the battery voltage of the GT series and a top speed of 25 mph. They range in price from $1,050 for the Pint, up to $3,200 for the GT S-Series.
The boards are controlled by the rider’s body weight, accelerating as the rider leans forward. The faster the lean, the faster it goes. To stop, you just lean back. An accompanying phone app helps customize the experience with “Digital Shaping,” which is comparable to shaping a surfboard for different riding styles.
The Future Motion headquarters sits at the end of Schaffer Road on the western edge of Santa Cruz. Large palm trees dot the parking lot leading up to the big, arched entrance of the two-story building emblazoned with the company’s wordmark.
Doerksen and his crew traded the tech-heavy Mountain View for Santa Cruz in 2015. He says that being next to the Google headquarters made everything more expensive and, plus, everyone wanted to be by the beach. The first SC location was at the Wrigley building, the former gum factory turned business park just down the road from the current base. Santa Cruz Bicycles and LifeAid were neighbors. They moved their production to north San Jose to meet the increased demand and employ dozens of workers at their factory.
My photographer, Tarmo, and I visited the sprawling Santa Cruz facility on a sunny Wednesday in May. The building serves as the hub for the engineering, marketing and customer support operations. After winding down a hallway, one comes to a wall shouting the company mantra: “Make The Future Rad.” As Doerksen pointed out all the memorabilia around us, Mudd rode up on his board: “Are we gonna get you on some Onewheels today?”
As we sat down to chat, the question lingered in my mind. I found myself more excited than I had anticipated at the prospect of riding a board for the first time.
But I also had questions that weren’t as fun to contemplate. So, after a while of relaxed banter, I addressed the “elephant on the Onewheel.”
“Let’s talk about the lawsuits and the safety concerns.”
Pushing the Limits
Future Motion and Onewheel made headlines in late September 2023 when, at the behest of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company recalled 300,000 units due to safety concerns.
“Future Motion has received dozens of reports of incidents involving the electric skateboards, including four reported deaths between 2019 and 2021 and traumatic brain injuries, concussions, paralysis, upper-body fractures, lower-body fractures and ligament damage. The reported deaths resulted from head trauma and, in at least three of those incidents, the rider was not wearing a helmet. Future Motion and the CPSC encourage all riders to wear personal protective equipment while riding,” read a statement on the CPSC website.
In some cases, Onewheel riders were jettisoned from their board after it abruptly stopped in mid-motion or it no longer self-balanced.
Like any new technology, Onewheel “has an extra layer of scrutiny on it, right?” Doerksen says. “And people are trying to figure out what the product can do, what is the responsibility of the owner and operator. I think it’s fair to say that that’s what we’re in the process of figuring out.”
“It is a board sport,” Mudd adds. “I think people come into it with different sets of expectations. Some people understand that immediately. I snowboard and I understand that when I go snowboarding, if I’m not careful or not doing proper technique, I can fall and get seriously hurt. And I’m okay with that, because the benefits I get from this lifestyle that I live are tremendous.”
The CPSC recall affects the Onewheel GT, Onewheel Pint, Onewheel Pint X and the Onewheel+ XR. The same day the recall was announced, Future Motion introduced a firmware update called “Haptic Buzz” for the models in question in order to address the issues.
All Onewheel models already had a “Pushback” feature, which automatically lifts the nose of the board to alert the rider when they are pushing the device’s limits. Haptic Buzz is a tactile and audio alert modeled after similar alert systems used in the automotive and aviation industries. The board will vibrate and blare out a warning sound when the rider is pushing their Onewheel’s speed limit; accelerating rapidly and exerting considerable torque; or when the battery is low.
In a video uploaded to the Onewheel Youtube channel, Mudd explains the new feature to their 100,000 subscribers.
“Ignoring Pushback or Haptic Buzz can result in serious injury or death,” Mudd says at the end of the clip.
As of June 2024, there were 66 lawsuits relating to Onewheel injuries that had been consolidated into multi-district litigation. Similar to a class action lawsuit, the litigation will bring all the cases to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California in front of Judge Beth Labson Freeman later this year. Future Motion might have to settle for a still-undisclosed amount of money as part of the process.
While Doerksen and Mudd can’t comment on the pending litigation, Mudd says that in light of the lawsuits, riders from all over the world penned letters of support for Future Motion.
“We had 5,000 letters from riders in our community explaining what value it brings to them in their daily life. It’s crazy. And this is thousands of people saying ‘This has done so much for my mental health,’” Mudd says.
While some people have had tragic experiences on a Onewheel, others are using the device as a way to heal trauma and improve their state of mind.
PRO GRADE Professional riders use the top line of Onewheels, fitted with heavy tread and shaped for maximum power. Photo: Onewheel
Shred The Pain Away
Aaron Knowles has only ever known military life. Both his parents served in the U.S. Air Force, moving the family from base to base. It was a given that he would also follow that path, and at age 19 he enlisted in the U.S. Army. It was the early 2000s, after 9/11. First came the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. Then, within two years, the larger, more costly invasion of Iraq.
Knowles was deployed to Iraq and was almost killed when an improvised explosive device blew the vehicle he was in off the road. He sustained major injuries and has suffered from PTSD ever since.
“I have physical and mental and emotional wounds that I’m still and forever going to be trying to heal,” Knowles said in a phone interview.
In 2017, Knowles found himself stationed in Florida, feeling overwhelmed and disconnected. He saw someone riding a one-wheeled electric skateboard, and it brought him back to his time skateboarding as a child—he knew he had to chase that feeling again.
After determining that the board was a California-made device called a Onewheel, Knowles went to a local surf shop and tried it out. He was hooked. He saved up, bought his board and started riding. At first, he enjoyed just getting outdoors. Then, when he was re-stationed to Germany, he had to get rid of his Onewheel. He soon discovered he yearned for the feeling of freedom riding the board gave him. After returning to the U.S., he went out and bought a new Onewheel.
“As soon as I get on this board and get outside and ride, ride among these groups of riders and have a good time, why is it that I’m just automatically in a better headspace?” he muses.
What Knowles was experiencing is what scientists call the “flow” state.
According to neuroscience researchers, flow is a state of full task engagement accompanied by low levels of self-referential thinking. Flow has been found to relate to mental well-being and physical performance.
“Flow is often associated with athletes, artists, or scientists who are fully task-absorbed in order to achieve peak performance. Yet, flow-like states also occur in more mundane situations, such as when engaging in certain tasks during work or leisure time,” states a 2021 study published by Dutch and South African researchers. “Experiencing flow is accompanied with a sense of accomplishment, meaningfulness and positive mood states.”
After observing his own mood improving the more he rode, Knowles posted in a Onewheel group on Facebook and asked if others were experiencing the same thing. The answer: a resounding “Yes.”
“I just had an immense amount of people interact with it and 99.9% of them were like ‘Absolutely, this is totally Onewheel therapy.’ And that’s when I knew that I could use this tool and other tools like it to help other service members,” Knowles says.
That’s when Shred the Stress was born. Knowles acquired another Onewheel, and with two boards in tow, set out to give military service members and their families a unique therapeutic experience. He connected with more people on Facebook and started showing up at official Onewheel events to spread the word about his nonprofit. Eventually, Knowles caught the attention of Future Motion. The company donated three boards for his cause; in 2022, he was invited to a demo event in Austin, Texas.
After talking to Knowles and hearing him buzz with excitement at all the doors the board opened for him, I had to bring back The Elephant.
When asked about the lawsuits and recall, Knowles says that, as with any other devices and equipment, there are responsible and irresponsible ways to use the Onewheel. He added that all of the participants in his program wear helmets and protective gear.
“Long story short, I do consider the boards safe and especially so if you follow those guidelines and wear safety gear. Dress for the ride.”
The Future Is Rad
I’m floating through the parking lot and it feels like my brain disappeared from my skull. Well, for a moment.
“See, you were thinking about it,” Mudd says as I start to wobble on the Onewheel.
He was leading me down a slight incline and I started to think if I should accelerate or slow down; if I should lean forward or lean back. Despite that, he said I did pretty well.
After The Elephant left the room at the end of our interview, Doerksen and Mudd grabbed some boards and helmets to give us our own private demo.
I’ll admit, when I used to see people riding Onewheels around town, a reflexive side-eye usually followed. I mean, this was Santa Cruz, home to skateboard innovators NHS, a place where locals grow up gatekeeping against Silicon Valley techies.
I was never a great skater anyway, but I found myself wanting to get back on the Onewheel as soon as I got off. Next thing I know, Tarmo is zooming by on another board, being led by Mudd.
Now I’m talking to Bodhi Harrison, Onewheel’s first team rider for the Onewheel Racing League, which has solidified the phenomenon into a board sport. Doeksen and Mudd tell me he is the future of the sport.
“I got into the Onewheel way back in the day right after the Kickstarter launched,” the 25-year-old says.
The Colorado native borrowed money from his dad and bought his first board at 16 and quickly saw the potential of it as a sport: “I saw a future with racing and tricking in films similar to a lot of board sports that already exist.”
Harrison didn’t just want to ride Onewheel, he wanted to live and breathe it. He moved out to Santa Cruz four years ago to work with Future Motion and has taught clinics, made instructional videos and brought ideas on how to make the products better. In 2017, he was the winner of the inaugural Float Life race in North Carolina. Now, he is pushing the boundaries of the sport.
Professional riders like Harrison use the top line of Onewheels, fitted with heavy tread and shaped for maximum power. Races take place on mountain trials and dirtbike tracks, a synthesis of multiple extreme sports.
“The progression that’s happened in the last few years… it really feels like we’re on this tipping point where it’s about to explode and some serious progression with some of the new technology we have to work with,” he says.
In addition to the racing league, a huge online community of freestyle riders has emerged. The Float Life YouTube channel, which is all about customizing and pushing limits of Onewheels, has over 72,000 subscribers.
“It’s really, truly a medicine and a healthy escape from the heaviness that is life, and it brings you into an amazing community and provides you an opportunity to get outside in a fun and really active way,” Harrison says.
Many years before the team at Onewheel moved to town, Santa Cruz was a skateboard mecca. In addition to an internationally known brand, Santa Cruz Skateboards, the town is blessed with a wealth of venerable skate shops. In advance of Go Skate Boarding Day, a holiday for shredders everywhere, Good Times checked in with the team at Bill’s Wheels Skateshop to find out what skateboarding means to them.
“It’s one word: freedom,” says Shane Scoffone, one of the floor managers for Bill’s Wheels. In January, Scoffone will have worked at Bill’s for two decades.
Scoffone isn’t alone when it comes to being in the double-digit club. Ralph Mendoza, who deems himself a jack of all trades, has also been grinding at the shop for two decades. “I started off riding for the team,” he says, “and then somebody bailed on working at the shop, so I was just happy to be here and filled the position.”
Mendoza expressed that he doesn’t know anything besides skateboarding, especially since he started skating at 3 years old. It means everything to him.
Though he’s only been at Bill’s Wheels for three years, Derek Finch is just as passionate about the sport of skateboarding. It’s “happiness and joy, but also anxiety and anger. It’s a good therapy session,” says Finch, who has been skating since 1998.
Finch says his favorite part of working at Bill’s Wheels is connecting with new people and discovering what’s new in the industry.
The man behind the store’s name, Bill Ackerman, got his start in sporting goods with a job stringing tennis rackets at Freedom Sports in 1975. Things took a turn when the store decided to start a skate shop, and store manager Colt Robb chose Ackerman to run it.
After Freedom Sports closed in 1977, the 19-year-old Ackerman opened Bill’s Wheels’ first location in a tiny building he rented for $125, on East Lake Ave in Watsonville.
“I did it because I loved skating, and I was working in a sports shop that was selling skateboards,” he said. “I just said, you know what, I’m gonna try to find some little place and do this. It was all just for fun, and I was living at home,” Ackerman says.
Before deciding to open his own business, Ackerman was originally going to follow in his dad’s footsteps to become a police officer. “I did police science and got my AA degree at Cabrillo College. The next step would have been to go to the academy to become a cop,” he says. “But during that whole time, I was at the sports shop, selling skateboards.”
When Bill’s Wheels first opened, skating in Santa Cruz was very different than it is today. Ackerman says back then Santa Cruz County didn’t have as many skate parks as it does now. “If you wanted something to skate, you built it, like people building ramps or anything to make it seem like you’re surfing,” he says.
“It was more like you were sidewalk surfing back then, going on ramps and pretending you’re on a wave. As time’s gone on, it’s totally split. There’s thousands of skaters that don’t surf but almost all surfers seem to skate.”
Asked about highlights from his career, Ackerman reflects on meeting Danny Way, one of his favorite professional skateboarders.
“He came here for a demo/signing, and we had a big storm at the time, but he was driving up with his girlfriend, and the road washed out along the Big Sur area, and he chartered a helicopter and flew it to the Watsonville airport,” Ackerman recalls.
He thought it was awesome that Way could make the event regardless of the trouble it was to get there.
But besides meeting one of his favorite pros, he appreciates the energy and excitement kids have when they skate. “I was that person at one point when I was younger, so it’s really great to see and watch,” he says.
In observance of the holiday, Bill’s Wheels Skateshop will have an event from 1 to 5pm on June 21 with live music, a barbecue, and access to skate obstacles, such as ramps, rails and fun boxes.
I live near the Food Bin and can’t imagine any more congestion on Mission Street during the construction project and in the future. Most people have a car out of necessity—has anyone really heard of going to pick up your grandkids on the bus? It’s complex enough even with your own car! So, more cars on the street.
I also recommend that they reconsider all the expansion of the University—it is currently out of control and the traffic on Mission Street is sometimes backed up all the way to PAMF with at least a 30-minute wait to get to the intersection to get on the freeway.
I don’t think any of this construction going on which is mandated by the state is leaning toward an environmentally friendly future.
Sue Andre
A STONE UNTURNED
Wow, thanks for the great story about Sandy Stone. Incredible. I just made my transition from clueless to mindblown.
Steven Robins | Felton
TRUMPED
It’s official: After making secret hush money payments to an adult film star 11 days before the 2016 election and falsifying official filings to hide the truth from the public, Donald Trump has been found guilty by a New York jury.
Trump’s conviction in New York should remind us all that no one—including a former president—is above the law. It should also remind us of the danger that Trump still poses to our democracy.
In the final weeks of the 2016 election, Trump covered up his affair with Stormy Daniels to dupe voters and improve his chances of winning the election. As it turns out, this would only be his first foray into undermining our elections. The New York trial may be over, but Donald Trump still faces three additional indictments and 54 criminal charges for a litany of crimes, including federal charges for his efforts to incite violence and overturn the will of voters after he knew he’d lost the 2020 election.
This is a pattern. The jury has done their job to hold Trump accountable. Now, it’s time for the American people to do our part and hold him accountable at the ballot box.
The magic moment for one of Santa Cruz’s most innovative companies came when its founder rolled the dice and bet big at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics trade show.
Kyle Doerksen had been pulling all-nighters for days on end putting the final tweaks on a prototype of what is now known as a Onewheel, an electric skateboard with—you guessed it—only...
