In a 10-2 decision, a 12-person jury has found Caltrans partly responsible for the 2019 death of 22-year-old pedestrian Josh Howard along Hwy 9.
In a verdict announced Wednesday afternoon in Santa Cruz County Superior Court after days of deliberation, the jury set damages at $19.25 million, ordering Jeremy Shreves, the motorist who struck Howard, to pay 51% ($9,817,500) and Caltrans to pay 49% ($9,432,500).
“The community has spoken up,” said Kelley Howard, Josh’s mother, who brought the lawsuit forward alongside Dimitri Jaumoville, the victim’s father. “It was good to hear other people who weren’t related to Josh feel the way I do.”
Howard said pursuing the lawsuit wasn’t about the money, but holding Caltrans accountable for neglecting to fix a busy road with narrow shoulders, despite persistent outcry from area residents.
“This isn’t a way to run a state agency,” she said. “[Local residents’ complaints] just fell on deaf ears, for years.”
While the final verdict wasn’t unanimous, the jury voted 12-0 that the road was dangerous, a point Caltrans’ lawyers had fiercely disputed throughout the trial.
One of the jurors, 81-year-old Santa Cruz resident Alice Tarail, said she understood it could set a precedent.
Having led a walking group through Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, she was familiar with the section of Hwy 9 where Howard was killed. She wanted to make the state agency pay a greater percentage of overall damages, but she was still impressed with the way the group had come up with a compromise.
Jurors had suggested a range of totals, from several hundred thousand to $50 million.
“It was intense,” Tarail said of the process to get to the minimum of nine in-agreement to decide the case.
A week ago during closing arguments, plaintiffs’ attorneys asked jurors to consider $72 million in damages, of which Caltrans would pay 75%, with Attorney Dana Scruggs pointing to the department’s failure to improve the section of road.
But Shelby Davitt, an attorney for Caltrans, said there’s only one person to blame for Howard’s death: Shreves.
“He shouldn’t have drifted towards that edge line,” she said. “He didn’t turn his wheel.”
She clicked to a screen with a giant blue “0” on it, indicating no pedestrian accidents had occurred there prior to Howard’s death.
Judge Timothy Volkmann ordered the jurors to keep an open mind and avoid communicating about the case, including via social media, and sent them out to deliberate. Then he turned to Howard’s parents.
“I’m extremely sorry for your loss,” he said. “I have two kids of my own.”
Volkmann told the family that he was impressed with how well their lawyers represented their position. And he commended Caltrans’ representatives, too.
“Exceptional efforts,” he said. “All five of these attorneys are welcome in my court at any time.”
After the verdict arrived, Caltrans’ lawyers said it was too soon to say whether they’d appeal the decision.
It’s been 48 hours since I heard the news, and I still can’t believe it. Dan Lamothe—son, friend, barber, volunteer fireman, ex-bassist and founding member of Stellar Corpses—has died. Even now, as I write this, I can’t wrap my head around it and have difficulty typing through blurry eyes. I’ve been lost in a fog of shock and denial; calls to and from friends across the county and country, drenched in an endless downpour of tears. I never knew I could cry so much.
He died suddenly while training in Ben Lomond to be a firefighter, wanting to give back to the community that gave him so much. Dan—”Mothman,” “Mothy,” or “Big Moth,” as his friends affectionately called him—was only 38, an age that defies all rational explanations of what happened.
I first met him 21 years ago, when I was a fresh transplant to town going to UC Santa Cruz with hardly any friends and a Los Angeles-sized chip on my shoulder. I remember him being cool in every sense of the word. Cool haircut (a psychobilly pompadour, shaved on the sides, ending in an Eddy Munster widow’s peak), cool clothes, cool girlfriend, cool tattoo (“Who gets a giant neck tattoo as one of their first pieces” I’d ask him years later. He just replied with his famous wide grin and laughed, “Yeah, Didn’t really think that one through”).
I remember him being pretty quiet, so I thought he was too cool for school and standoffish. I quickly learned that wasn’t the case; he didn’t waste his breath when he had nothing important or funny to say. He walked humbly and observed the people around him, taking it all in.
As many know, I learned he was hilarious when he opened up. Always cracking jokes, trying to make his friends laugh, especially when things around us turned sideways, and impending doom seemed imminent.
After learning of his death, I drove around in a daze during the twilight moments of the early morning. I was listening to the title track off Stellar Corpses’ Dead Stars Drive-In album–something I hadn’t heard in years for several personal reasons. I pulled over and parked along the cliffs overlooking the Capitola pier, and as the sun rose, I decided my wrecked soul couldn’t hear the chorus “Dead stars still burn” anymore. The next song, “Be Still My Heart,” opens with the line, “walk with me into the morning sunlight, into a world that’s cold and no one ever makes it out alive.” Great. Once again, the waterworks came, and I could swear Dan was having a good laugh, part of that classic Mothy humor.
Alice and Paul Grimm with Lamothe at the Blue Lagoon. PHOTO: Mat Weir
He was a huge presence in the Santa Cruz music and punk scene. As a musician, he was an inspiration to many. Paul “Wolfman” Grimm (they/them), who played stand-up bass in Fulminante and other various projects and toured with Stellar as a roadie when I couldn’t, has told me countless times it was watching Dan play that inspired them to pick up the instrument.
Over the years, Dan and I would see each other at parties or group hangs with the usual downtown punks and dregs. We became friends but never really spent any time together outside of that. However, we’d start becoming true friends several years after he and singer Dusty formed Stellar, and—technically second but to fans “first real”—the line-up of Emilio Menze on guitar and Matty Macabre on drums was well established.
Dan meant so many different things to so many other people. Because so much of our time was spent around the music scene, those are some of my strongest memories of him. Along with a couple of other bands I’ve toured with over the years, the Stellar Corpses are one I’ve seen live the most to this day. After decades of seeing live music for my own pleasure, as a roadie and as a bartender, believe me when I say I’ve seen thousands of bands, but there was nothing like a Stellar Corpses show, and I rarely missed any.
Of those early days, one favorite stands out. April 17, 2010, we had them at Streetlight Records—where I also work– for International Record Store Day. It’s a day none of us will ever forget for two reasons. First, they were excited to play in a place that meant so much to them growing up. And second, we had to pull the plug on them halfway through because the band was pumping out so much energy, they caught one of our speakers on fire! It immediately became a badge of honor, and we would all laugh about it many times after.
Dusty Sheehan, Kyle Moore, Emilio Menze, Dan Lamothe and Mat Weir on tour in 2011.
After a couple of years of being friends with the band, I jumped at the opportunity when they asked me to roadie on a 12-city, 17-day U.S. tour in 2011. By then, Kyle Moore had taken over drums, and he was the only one I didn’t know well (which would change quickly after that and several more tours). That stint would generate multiple online blog posts from the road culminating in my–and their–first cover article, published in the July 27-Aug. 3 issue of the Santa Cruz Weekly. Dan was so stoked to have made the cover of a local paper and ensured I knew it often, even years later. When it came out, I was proud but also a little doubtful. Why would this awesome rock band I admired be stoked about something I did? My version of imposter syndrome.
I always loved their music, but it was that first tour where I truly learned to respect them as performers. Whether it was to a nearly sold-out show with punk legends like T.S.O.L. or to 10 people because shady, drug addict promoters didn’t do their job or didn’t tell them the local acts bailed, Dan and the band gave their all, every time. Even when the power went out twice at Miss Lips Lounge–El Paso, Texas’ premier lesbian bar, the boys kept playing with Dan and Kyle, filling the dead space with solos and rhythm duets until the power was restored.
I would tour with Stellar again a year later and work for them another year or two after that for an unofficial Viva Las Vegas show and countless times around Santa Cruz. Through endless, brotherly teasing, Dan and Emilio would always make each other laugh in the van (which hilariously had an “I’m proud of my Eagle Scout” bumper sticker). Often it was directed at Kyle (who Dan lived with for several years), who was “Band Dad” making sure we got to each stop on time, everything in the trailer fit neatly in a real-life game of Tetris, and fixing whatever was needed. Like the time on that first tour when one of the trailer’s tires blew outside Fresno on the second day. Or the night after that in Redondo Beach, when the singer thought the trailer could clear a parking structure height restriction. It couldn’t, and he ripped open the top like a sardine can.
In a bit of comical foreshadowing, Dan had told me before the tour about all the trouble they had with the trailer on the last stint.
“The damn thing kept coming unhinged from the frame. We had to get it welded in five different states,” he told me. “But don’t worry–we have a new trailer and tires. Everything should be fine.”
Whether it was for Stellar Corpses or his short-lived honky tonk duo, Oh Bears! Dan could really slap that bass. Self-taught, too. He would listen to his favorite rockabilly and psychobilly songs and try replicating what he heard. He earned the nickname Danimal just for that reason (and Caveman Dan for another, completely different one). Listen to his recordings –songs like “Steel Butterfly” or “Valley of Madness,” and you’ll hear someone who loved what he did but took the time to learn and practice his craft. It’s a quality that shined live as Dan would always have a huge smile when surrounded by his friends on stage.
And oh man, did Dan have a lot of friends. Just go on social media and see the incredible outpour of love, loss and heartbreak surrounding his death from Santa Cruz and throughout the country.
Of course, nobody’s perfect, but if there was one person on this planet not to have a single enemy, it was him. He always showed respect and never had an ego, even when fans would gush over him. I’ve spoken to so many friends in the last two days, some who had lost touch with him or had grown apart for the usual reasons. But they all agreed that whenever he saw you, no matter how long, he greeted you with a smile, gave you his full attention, and acted like it had only been a day since your last interaction. To this day, I’m still friends with many people I never would’ve met without Dan introducing us, and I’m a better person for it.
He made you feel seen and loved. That you mattered, and he was just happy to be around you. Oh, and he loved Nintendo. Whenever someone on tour had one, he was guaranteed to be posted up playing games for at least some time before a show.
It’s a tragic irony that I hardly have any photos with Dan in two decades of friendship. I was always too busy being in the moment with him or making sure I documented the tours and shows to include myself on the other side of the camera. I am thankful I at least had enough foresight to do that, to keep his legacy for posterity. However, the lesson here is when you’re having fun with your friends, take 2 minutes to snap a photo. And, of course, don’t forget to tell them you love them. I wish I had told him more, and now I won’t be able to again.
Yet, I constantly told him how proud I was to be his friend. Whether it was over beers on his back porch deck or when he’d come into Streetlight Records to dig through the vinyl section only to order an obscure, Swedish honky tonk album. It didn’t matter if he was playing bass, working as a barber or training to be in the fire department; Dan approached the task just like he approached his life, by diving head-first.
He loved life and made his friends love it when he was around. I won’t say some worn platitudes like the world grew darker when he died. Because for so many of us that loved him, it didn’t grow darker. It completely stopped. None of us will ever be the same after this. Ever. Nothing about this is ok, and it will be a long, slow journey to figure out how to get by, one day at a time. Big Moth was taken from us way too soon, and we can do nothing about it except honor the man and live the way he did. With a passion for our lives, love for what we do and kindness for one another.
Damn it, Dan! We all miss you so much. Dead stars still burn. So long, goodbye.
Santa Cruz County education officials envision a future where every high school in the county will have a “hub” for students to access a wide range of counseling and mental health services.
Until then, the county will launch wellness centers in two schools—expected to open in the 2023/24 school year–—thanks in part to a $1 million grant recently secured by Congressman Jimmy Panetta.
Panetta visited the Santa Cruz County Office of Education (SCCOE) Thursday to discuss the importance of providing mental health services for young people.
Panetta shares a troubling statistic to show just how necessary mental health resources are: in 2020, officials recorded more than 6,600 deaths by suicide among young people, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for people aged 10-24.
Once the centers are open, students can walk in when they need to talk to a counselor, regardless of their insurance status.
Superintendent Faris Sabbah says access is critical, given that 284,000 students are coping with depression, with two-thirds not receiving treatment.
The issue significantly affects LGBTQ youth, who are four times more likely to consider suicide, Sabbah says.
The centers will also be a resource for teachers, who frequently build strong relationships with their students but are not always equipped to offer the mental health support they may need, says SCCOE Climate and Wellness Coordinator Hayley Newman. More importantly, their prominent location on campus will normalize the idea of mental health care.
“Students can dip their toes into wellness at the level they feel comfortable with,” she says.
Watsonville High School Junior Katalyna López, who sits on the SCCOE’s Youth Mental Health Leadership Council, says that she, like many of her peers, has struggled with her own mental health. She wants to help build a system where teens are comfortable expressing their concerns.
“I advocate for increased mental health awareness because I know what it’s like to feel afraid to express your feelings and not know how a person will react or if they are going to support you,” López says.
With potential annual staffing costs at each of the eight proposed centers ranging from $80,000 for a wellness navigator to $150,000 for a clinician, Sabbah notes one of the biggest challenges is finding ongoing funding.
Organizers are looking into several possible one-time and ongoing funding streams, including conducting a capital campaign. School districts will also help pay for the services from their budgets.
“It’s definitely a community-in-action project,” Sabbah says. “I think it’s going to be as fundamental as part of a school as the instructional aspect is. It’s that high in our priorities for us.”
The Santa Cruz County Office of Education (SCCOE) has not announced which schools will receive the first centers.
Senior Network Services and Meals on Wheels (MOW), which works out of Live Oaks to provide roughly 250,000 meals to older adults in the community, might need to find a new home sooner than expected.
The Live Oak School District (LOSD) Board of Trustees will discuss whether to move forward with the June eviction date tonight but is expected to uphold its decision.
The District and the Senior Center Organization jointly purchased the Live Oak property at 1777 Capitola Road in 2004. When the Senior Center disbanded in 2016, it turned over its claims to the buildings to LOSD, which has continued to rent the space to Meals on Wheels and Senior Network Services.
In 2018, the district announced plans to provide teacher housing on the property, hoping to help recruit and retain teachers. Initially, the idea was to create a mixed-use housing project that would include a space for MOW to provide services.
But in May 2022, the district announced an eviction date of Oct. 21 for MOW. The organization scrambled to find a replacement site, and in December, MOW was granted an extension through June 2023. The district has signaled it plans to remain committed to that date.
That leaves Community Bridges—the organization that runs MOW—less than four months to find a new site with the amenities it needs, including freezer space, a dining area and a commercial kitchen.
“We know this is not a permanent location,” Community Bridges CEO Ray Cancino says. “We know that we have not been wanted, yet I think there is a reality that we have only asked for one thing, which is more time. More time for us to make the right decision in choosing the right location and investing in the right program.”
At the time of its eviction, the district told Community Bridges the Senior Center needed roughly $500,000 in maintenance. Community Bridges responded with an estimate of its own for a little more than $100,000; they offered to foot that bill on the condition that the lease was extended for two years.
Cancino doesn’t understand why the district would move forward with plans to demolish the building without plans to develop the site. In addition, he says, Community Bridges has been negotiating with the district on the possibility of a mixed-use housing project that could include MOW.
“There is a long road ahead for them, from pre-approval to pre-development plans to assessment fees to the analysis that is needed that they haven’t even committed to doing,” he says. “I don’t think they even have the $300,000 for demolition.”
Community Bridges estimates that setting up in a temporary location would cost $180,000 per year for the next two years, leading to 18,000 fewer seniors they could serve.
Seniors Council Area Agency on Aging Executive Director Clay Kempf says that if the LOSD Board votes to move forward with the eviction, it would violate an agreement in Measure E, a $14.5 million bond measure approved in 2004 that allowed LOSD to purchase the property.
The language of that bond explicitly states that the funds would be used to keep Meals on Wheels running.
“To renege on that promise, not only does it affect those 18,000 meals per year, but it calls into question, do senior organizations want to partner with other parties going forward?” Kempf says. “It creates a real lack of trust which only harms all of us.”
Live Oak School District did not respond to Good Times’ request for comment.
Live Oak School District Board of Trustees Zoom Meeting is today at 6pm. losd.ca
TORD GUSTAVSEN TRIO Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen’s ninth album, Opening, was selected by the U.K.’s Arts Desk as the “Jazz Album of the Year.” The record features 10 original compositions plus Gustavsen’s arrangements of works by Norwegian composers Geir Tveitt and Egil Hovland. “For me,” Gustavsen says, “playing the piano is very similar to a meditation or prayer.” Most of the musician’s material echoes his adoration for classical music and his love of Scandinavian folk music. Some of his compositions are inspired by his days playing in church decades ago. Gustavsen has played at the Athenaeum, SFJazz and performed Kuumbwa in 2018, following the release of The Other Side. Drummer Jarle Vespestad—a member of Gustavsen’s ensemble since their 2003 debut—and bassist Steinar Raknes, who joined the trio in 2021, will join the pianist. $47.25/$52.50; $26.25/students. Thursday, Feb. 23, 7pm. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org
THY ART IS MURDER WITH KUBLAI KHAN TX, UNDEATH, I AM, JUSTICE FOR THE DAMNED It might get a bit loud. Australian deathcore outfit Thy Art Is Murder formed in 2006. The Sydney band, featuring singer Chris “CJ” McMahon, guitarists Sean Delander and Andy Marsh, drummer Lee Stanton and bassist Kevin Butler, released four studio records following their 2008 debut EP, Infinite Death, which reached No. 10 on the AIR Charts. The Sydney band’s second full-length album, Hate, ignited more notoriety, debuting at No. 35 on the ARIA Charts, making them the first deathcore band ever to breach the Top 40. $27/$32 plus fees. Friday, Feb. 24, 6pm. The Catalyst, 1101 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz. catalystclub.com
BRIANNA CONREY’S ‘PIANO: AN ALL-WOMAN SHOW’ Local pianist and storyteller Brianna Conrey makes her Santa Cruz debut with an extensive celebration of women composers spanning nearly 250 years of music written for solo keyboard instruments. Female composers continue to “struggle with sexism, imposter syndrome, being mothers who were also artists and gaining professional recognition.” Many second-guessed whether they had talent at all. Yet they composed anyway. “Piano: An All-Woman Show” celebrates their music and stories. An audience favorite and quarterfinalist at the 2016 Cliburn International Amateur Piano Competition, Conrey is known for elegantly expressive interpretations of familiar standards and for “pushing the repertoire envelope,” resulting in “standout performances.” Critics have praised her “glittering scales,” “sparkling voicing” and “well-shaped, clarified vision.” Equally at home with words as she is with music, Conrey’s “magical,” “heartwarming” stories balance poignant observation with the “joyfully humorous.” Her writing focuses on modern womanhood, creativity and family life and has been featured in P.S. I Love You, Forge and Human Parts. $20/$25; $12.50/students. Friday, Feb. 24, 7:30pm. Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St., Santa Cruz. kuumbwajazz.org
MARK HUMMEL’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY HARMONICA BLOWOUT Mark Hummel’s Blues Harmonica Blowouts have carried the blues torch to fans everywhere. The Blowout started on a Sunday night in 1991 at Ashkenaz in Berkeley with four harmonica players—Rick Estrin, Mark Hummel, Dave Earl and Doug Jay. The traveling blues show has featured many top harpists, including Huey Lewis, John Mayall, James Cotton, Charlie Musselwhite, John Hammond, Magic Dick and Gary Primich. The guitar spot has been just as killer with Elvin Bishop, Duke Robillard, Anson Funderburgh, Jr. Watson, Steve Freund and Charles Wheal. Blowout tours have covered thousands of miles to every corner of the U.S., Canada and a few European tours. 2023 marks Blowout’s third decade, following two years of postponements. This year’s all-star lineup featuresMagic Dick (J. Geils Band),John Nemeth, Sugar Ray Norcia, Aki Kumar, Bob Welsh (Fabulous Thunderbirds, Elvin Bishop, Charlie Musselwhite),Anson Funderburgh on guitar, Wes Starr on drums and Randy Bermudes on bass. $40/$45 plus fees. Sunday, Feb. 26, 3pm. Moe’s Alley, 1535 Commercial Way, Santa Cruz. moesalley.com
DAVE ALVIN AND JIMMIE DALE GILMORE WITH THE GUILTY ONES AND OLIVIA WOLF Roots music legends Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore have been buddies for 30 years but only recently realized they had never played music with each other before. So, in 2017, Grammy winner Alvin and Grammy nominee Gilmore decided to hit the highway to swap songs, tell stories and share life experiences. Though Texas-born Gilmore was twice named “Country Artist of the Year” by Rolling Stone, and California native Alvin first came to fame in the Los Angeles punk group the Blasters, they discovered their musical roots in old blues and folk music are the same. During these unstructured shows, audiences experience classic original compositions from the two and songs from a broad spectrum of songwriters and styles—from Merle Haggard to Sam Cooke to the Youngbloods. This tour, the duo has a full band in tow, a new album, Downey to Lubbock and a slew of new yarns to share. $30/$34 plus fees. Saturday, Feb. 25, 8pm. Felton Music Hall, 6275 Hwy 9, Felton. feltonmusichall.com
THE MERMEN The Mermen’s songs have been described as “instrumental tone poems,” “sonic landscapes” and “wordless odes.” The band has been dubbed “the sound of California.” The group’s 100-plus original instrumental tunes—released on 12 records—unleash a distinct, sprawling range spanning many moods. Originally from San Francisco, the Mermen were initially rooted in instrumental surf and psychedelic sounds of the 1960s. Although they delve into many genres, the band’s founder, songwriter and guitarist Jim Thomas’ modern melodic visions are at the heart and soul of the Mermen. The Mermen always perform as a trio during their live shows: Thomas on guitar, Jennifer Burnes on bass, Martyn Jones on drums. They envelop the American sound—think Aaron Copland and bluegrass (Thomas played in the bluegrass flatpicking championships in Winfield, Kansas, in 1977). A Mermen performance is a unique musical experience with traces of influences ranging from Native American to the Ventures. During live shows, the Mermen’s songs mutate into lengthy improvised variations on a theme in the vein of the Grateful Dead and Phish—new music is often created on the spot. $20/$25 plus fees. Saturday, Feb. 25, 8pm. The Crepe Place, 1134 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. thecrepeplace.com
COMMUNITY
FIFTH ANNUAL CLIMATE OF HOPE FORUM: ARTIVISM – CREATIVE ACTION FOR JUSTICE This year’s program will feature artists from various backgrounds who promote healing, environmental justice and community resilience through film, music, photography, poetry, murals and other art forms. A sample of the participants: Lil Milagro Henriquez, M.A., executive director and founder of Mycelium Youth Network, an organization dedicated to preparing and inspiring frontline youth for climate change; poet, singer/songwriter and teacher Bob Gómez, Watsonville’s first Poet Laureate; Consuelo Alba, Watsonville Film Festival co-founder and executive director; Xicana visual artist, muralist, cultural worker and active organizer Irene Juarez O’Connell, co-director of Food What?!, a program that engages youth across Santa Cruz County in healing relationships with land, food and each other. The audience will interact through polls, chat, resource-sharing and organized watch parties. The forum will also stream live on Facebook.Free (donations appreciated). Thursday, Feb. 23, 4-6pm. regenerationpajarovalley.org/climate-of-hope-2023
The first thought that came to mind as I set up my tent alone on the Appalachian Trail was, “this might get creepy.” I was about four miles from any campsite and the sun had set. A frigid wind was blowing bits of snow around the dark woods.
A friend and I had set out to hike the trail’s Georgia section over spring break during our junior year of college. It meanders through the heavily wooded southern Appalachian Mountains for more than 78 miles, with about 19,000 feet of elevation gain.
After a few days of intense knee pain, though, my hiking buddy made the difficult choice to exit the trail at the only road crossing. I decided to continue for the next 60 miles, curious about the solo hike experience.
On the first night, howling winds rattled my tent, and the unseasonable cold froze my water bottles solid. I rose at sunrise the following day, relieved that I hadn’t become frozen bear bait or the subject of a true crime podcast. That was enough to tint the rest of my trip with gratitude.
I returned from those 60 solo miles wild-haired, wind-chapped and loving the little things. A bit of “type-2 fun,” as outdoor enthusiasts often call mildly unpleasant experiences, can leave us feeling rejuvenated.
I’m reminded of this as a 1940s-style narrator chirps, “an expedition is the same thing as a vacation. It just depends on your attitude,” over footage of icy water and stormy clouds. The clip is a preview for A Baffin Vacation, one of 24 films showing during the Banff Mountain Film Festival.
The UCSC Adventure Recreation program brought the festival to Santa Cruz over 30 years ago, and it’s become an annual tradition.
“We’ve been doing it long enough now that people who came as children are now coming [to the Banff Mountain Film Festival] as adults with their children,” Kathy Ferraro says. She’s helped organize the screenings for most of the 30 years it’s come to Santa Cruz.
The festival begins in Banff, Canada, where outdoor athletes, filmmakers and organizers gather to select which films will go to hundreds of communities on the annual world tour. The selections usually involve extreme outdoor sports, expeditions, environmental stewardship and other related subjects.
This year, “it’s the gamut,” Ferraro says. “There’s something for everyone.”
BIG BACKYARD
A Baffin Vacation is one of Ferraro’s favorites. Sarah McNair-Landry’s and Erik Boomer’s 12-minute film documents their 45-day arctic expedition of kayaking and climbing around Baffin Island, Canada.
Baffin Island, known in Inuktitut as Qikiqtaaluk, is the fifth-largest island in the world but sparsely populated—probably because of the weather. It extends into the Arctic Circle and contains no shortage of glaciers, fjords and enormous peaks, including the tallest vertical cliff in the world.
The intense landscape draws daring adventurers from around the world. But unlike most, McNair-Landry grew up there. She considers the glaciated peaks and iceberg-dotted seas her backyard.
“We live on Baffin Island, and we think it is one of the most beautiful places on the planet,” Boomer says.
He and McNair-Landry planned for this particular adventure for about a year, eventually deciding to make a film with the sole purpose of submitting it to Banff.
“We both grew up watching the festival and being inspired, and it certainly affected us in a huge way,” Boomer says.
As if 45 days in a row of kayaking and climbing through the arctic weren’t challenging enough, filming added a new set of difficulties. Limited battery power—made worse by colder temperatures—and heavy loads restricted the two’s ability to film.
“One of the biggest challenges was filming each other in the action while also being there for safety purposes,” Boomer continues. He and McNair-Landry have both been involved in outdoor adventure films before, but this was one of their first endeavors without the help of film crews.
The two consider the selection to be part of the international festival an honor and hope it inspires audiences to “push themselves and have a great adventure, but mostly that they are inspired to treat each other and expedition teammates really well,” Boomer says.
BENEFITING ADVENTURE REC
Human connection is a common thread that weaves throughout the festival. Spending time outdoors has a way of bringing people together and helping us appreciate the basic joys of life.
“It’s a perspective shift,” says Dustin Smucker, associate director of the Adventure Rec program at UCSC. “I’ve been taking groups out into the outdoors for about 25 years, and I continue to find it deeply meaningful.”
Smucker watches students find health, friendships and discoveries about themselves and the world around them.
“There’s something about the time in nature, particularly with a group that has a similar sort of intention that takes us from feeling like we’re a universe of one to recognizing we’re just part of one universe,” he explains.
The rec program offers kayaking trips, surf lessons, backpacking, climbing and all sorts of other outdoor adventures for a few thousand students every year. Proceeds from the Banff Mountain Film Festival lower the cost of those programs, making it easier for students to find community and adventure outside.
As one of the program’s largest fundraising events of the year, around $12,000 was raised in 2022. Ferraro expects a sellout this year.
Ferraro and Smucker predict that Santa Cruz audiences will particularly like the films about mountain biking.
MUST-SEES
North Shore Betty follows Betty Birrell’s journey learning to mountain bike at age 45 and continuing to send three decades later.
In Balkan Express, freeskiers Max Kroneck and Jochen Mesle explore the Balkan Mountains by bike and skiing.
For the surfers, Fabric: Heritage delves into Mainei Kinimaka’s embrace and preservation of her indigenous Hawaiian heritage.
A few films feature climbing, but one takes things even higher as Rafael Bridi attempts to slackline between two hot air balloons in Walking on Clouds.
Some films defy categorization, such as Eco-Hack!, a 17-minute examination of biologist Tim Shields’ unorthodox methods for saving desert tortoises from ravens in the Mojave Desert.
Meanwhile, others focus on the outdoor industry, cleaning trash from Mount Everest and a group of New York City kids finding quiet on a weekend camping trip.
Banff inspires, whether planning a polar expedition or a 30-minute lunch break in a park.
The Banff Mountain Film Festival runs Friday, Feb. 24 through Sunday, Feb. 26 (7-10pm each day) at the Rio Theatre, 1205 Soquel Ave., Santa Cruz. $23/day. ucsctickets.universitytickets.com
It’s Black History Month; cue MLK posters and rampant commercialization of Black faces. We come together to celebrate the resilience and power that is Black America yet struggle to grapple with the modernization of internalized slavery and the economic systems that nurture such conditions today. The 418 Project hosted a BHM movie + talk series, inviting me to co-moderate reviews of the movie Harriet, based on the life of Harriet Tubman. To my surprise, a narrative of power and resilience arose from a slave movie without the formerly enslaved being defined by revenge and anger toward the oppressor. The powerful talk forced a reckoning with all in attendance to ask themselves what it truly means to deliver freedom to our people and the whole of society.
Tubman not only escaped the slave plantation, trekking 100 miles to freedom up north, but she came back to save another seven hundred and fifty enslaved people. Harriet is the true definition of a leader and what it meant to deliver freedom to our people. I can only imagine that freedom felt direct and tangible back then, crossing the bounds from slave to free states as an external and precisely internal experience. Yet Tubman’s power was not born when she arrived in Philadelphia, nor at the crossing of state lines or outside the bounds of the plantation. Her kernel of truth was an internal battle, an internal war won at the release of control and embrace of God, of self.
Freedom is the self-realization that I was always already free. My consciousness is not determined by my identity, and my identity is not limited by my consciousness. My power resides in my agency and my ability to act. To use my voice in alignment with my gut. Freedom is truth meeting force, an organic flow of events where we release our inner subjectivity trapped by an identity and a narrative and a script confining its motion, becoming flexible and fluid and open to the needs of each distinct moment.
I believe to be truly anti-racist is to have a clear vision for the future. Let us uplift leaders that showcase that vision. Self-proclaimed leaders must meet the moment by delivering freedom, working in coordination and with unconditional love to carry the mantle of the past into the present. What does leading a Harriet Tubman level of courage mean in 2023? Have you won your internal battle?
Ayo Banjo | Community Organizer
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
A Blue Heron at Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor. Photograph by Jonifer Hotter.
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GOOD IDEA
On Tuesday, Representative Jimmy Panetta and Santa Cruz County leaders talked about a new $30 million federal grant to improve county infrastructure. It will fund the Watsonville-Santa Cruz Multimodal Corridor Program to expand transportation options between the highly trafficked Watsonville-Santa Cruz route. Funding will also be used to buy four zero-emission buses for the county and build a new segment of the Santa Cruz Coastal Rail Trail. sccrtc.org
GOOD WORK
On Monday, community members marched in downtown Santa Cruz to honor Martin Luther King Jr., culminating in a series of local speakers at the Civic Center. The march was rescheduled from January because of the storms, but supporters were greeted with sunny skies on Monday. It was the perfect way to wrap up Black History Month. Learn more about anti-racism workshops or get involved with the local minority community at the Resource Center for Nonviolence, the organization that helped organize the march. rcnv.org
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“A burger is something anyone can do, just follow the rules.”
When a series of huge storms was predicted for early 2023, it was clear Santa Cruz County would experience an unprecedented downpour which could lead to heavy flooding. When Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County became aware of the impending flooding, we mobilized people, trucks and our network of partner agencies and community aid organizations. Once the city of Watsonville and Santa Cruz County declared a state of emergency, evacuation orders were posted. Evacuation centers were established at the fairgrounds, Ramsay Park, the Santa Cruz Civic Center and Cabrillo College, among others. We immediately coordinated efforts with our partner agencies—including Watsonville Salvation Army, Pajaro Valley Loaves & Fishes, Martha’s Kitchen, Grey Bears, Westview Presbyterian and St. Francis Soup Kitchen—to distribute 5,815 meals and 133 “Handy Access Packs.” This was Second Harvest’s collective partnership in action.
Evacuation notices were lifted; evacuees returned to their homes. SHFB organized a new food distribution model: the mobile food pantry. Canvassing hard-hit neighborhoods, going door-to-door, our community outreach team took food to the people who needed it most: senior residents in Watsonville’s Bay Village and others nearby, many unable to leave their homes due to transportation or mobility issues.
Second Harvest delivered and continues to do so. Due to flood impacts and increased food demand, this month SHFB is hosting three drive-up distributions at our headquarters.
The food bank isn’t just about nourishment. In a time of crisis, it feels like disaster response is a part of our team’s DNA. I am proud of how our staff, partner agencies and volunteers came together last month. I believe, along with our staff members and volunteers—who help people of various ages, races and cities—that everyone deserves access to nutritious food. This helps people thrive and in doing so, they can help their families and communities thrive.
Second Harvest Food Bank is not only committed to providing emergency food in time of disasters, but also year-round relief. Anyone needing food, or assistance applying for CalFresh, is encouraged to call the SHFB Community Food Hotline: (831) 662-0991.
Erica Padilla-Chavez | CEO, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County
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Flippy 2 robots—tagline: “Flipping awesome”—are now in place at 100 White Castle burger joints, and more are on order for hamburger houses around the world.
“The Future Burger” from Future Farms promises to “work better for you and better for the planet” with a pea protein- and soy-based patty and a little beet powder for color.
Chat GPT artificial intelligence, when asked to craft a poem about the future of hamburgers, responded (in part) with this:
In the future, burgers will evolve As our tastes and technology resolve To create new flavors and textures bold That will delight both young and old
It’s a lot to take in. But the underlying point is this: The future of burgers is exhilarating, daunting and delicious at the same time.
In honor of Burger Week, Good Times resolved to dive—tastebuds first—into that future.
Behold The Belushi.
It’s a half-pound burger stuffed with bacon, blue cheese crumbles, aged Irish cheddar and American cheese that’s all beer-battered and—deep fried.
Truth be told, eating this burger often is a great way to limit any sort of future—the menu reads, “Not approved by the AHA—wish you the best”—but for the duration of the meal, it resembles magic. (Full disclosure: A half Belushi proves plenty for this burger lover.)
The Belushi occupies a prime place on arguably the most ambitious burger menu in the Santa Cruz area at The Parish Publick House, which has locations in Aptos and on the Westside.
Joining it are belly bombs like the jalapeño-and-cream-cheese-stuffed Filthy Freddy, bacon-loaded Penitent Pi, and The Huckleberry with more bacon, sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and horseradish mayo on grilled sourdough.
Parish lists 10 burgers, all told. Despite that robust range of options, the team there loves to break out new inventions for Burger Week, which runs Feb. 22-28.
For 2023’s edition, they’re doing a French dip-inspired burger layered with onion slow-sauteed in Jameson whisky, melty gruyere cheese and unlimited au jus “gravy”; a kimchi burger with spicy marinated cabbage and Korean barbecue sauce; and a special burger alternative just in case (fried chicken with brown butter and syrup on a waffle bun).
Co-owner/operator Erik Granath loves how Burger Week inspires his team to venture into new territory, with many items returning later in the year as specials, and how it pushes Parish to scale preparations for the masses who materialize for the informal caloric holiday.
“Year one, we learned a lot of lessons about what we can accomplish,” he says. “It’s always a blast, always a ride.”
As far as the future—beyond the importance of staying creative with recipes—he defers to his food point man, kitchen manager Zac Bates.
“The future is vegetal, animal substitutes, plant-based,” Bates says, “Moving towards more healthy and sustainable lifestyles.”
So, less Belushi, more beet juice?
Bates laughs and replies, “Indeed, yes.”
Surf City Sandwiches founder and co-owner Paul Figliomeni, a classically trained chef, is of two minds when talk turns toward the future.
On the one hand—and a balanced diet can mean a burger in each hand—he believes the future lies in solid fundamentals rather than bells and whistles.
That’s reflected in his Burger Week headliner, a sturdy Angus patty seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, cooked in its own fat, with a choice of cheese (I went with ghost pepper jack), lettuce, kosher pickles and mayo.
Nothing complicated; everything high quality.
“This one speaks for itself,” he says.
He does have a fondness for more daring burgers like his past Burger Week star, the Spicy Muchacho with chorizo, ghost pepper jack, tomato, chipotle mayo, avocado and crispy fried tortilla strips. Still, he believes the best thing coming to the world of burgers lies elsewhere.
“The future is blends,” he says. “The sky’s the limit.”
He’s currently workshopping a burger that combines Duroc pork belly with Angus brisket and Angus chuck, served patty-melt-style with melted Swiss, sharp cheddar, caramelized onions and Sriracha honey aioli on marble rye.
“I do a lot of research and development,” he says. “That blend has a ton of flavor but also cooks nicely because of the fat content.”
One fun futuristic side note: While Santa Cruz represents SCS’s original flagship location, its newest outpost will feature a tiki bar and nestle into a 37-acre land-locked surf park marvel in Mesa, Arizona, featuring a traveling wave, stationary rapid wave and experiential dining. Cowabunga.
Seabright Social subscribes to a similar simplicity theory—and brings the ghost pepper into play too: Its Burger Week feature act, the Brisket Burger, layers on house-smoked brisket, seriously spicy cheese, arugula and pickled onion.
SbS co-owner Keiki McKay is happy people have calmed down on the over-the-top toppings.
“Everybody was trying to make burgers cool and unique with things like foie gras or gold leaf,” she says. “Now I think it’s more classics with fresh ingredients and small creative tweaks. I could be wrong, but it works for me.”
The key for Back Nine Chef Ben Kralj is also straightforward: Get your grind on.
That’s the differentiator for his Outlaw Burger with a whiskey glaze, pepper jack, applewood smoked bacon and an onion ring on soft ciabatta.
“The secret is we grind our burgers in-house,” he says. “That’s why they taste so good.”
Few spots do that—let alone char-broil it, so patty drips ignite and further flavor the meat—because grinding is time-consuming, expensive and easy to outsource. However, that frequently comes with flavor-compromising preservatives.
Also uncommon: the type of intuitive marinade Chef Dameon Deworken applies to his Cruz Burger at Cruz Kitchen & Taps.
He mixes garlic, ginger, soy sauce, fish sauce and a secret blend of spices into his patties, which play nicely with American cheese, jalapeños, homemade pickles, cilantro and lettuce on brioche buns (bacon and avocado optional).
His flavor insight also appears in his house veggie patty, which he worked at length to perfect. Deworken ultimately settled on a balance of beets, shiitake mushrooms, lentils, ginger and—surprisingly—peanut butter, treated with a similar marinade, minus the fish sauce.
His restaurant partner Mia Thorn sees his type of resourcefulness as part of a more significant pattern beyond the rise of plant-based burgers, which—per several studies—is part of a steady and increasing global desire for more alternative “meats.”
“I feel like the future of burgers isn’t necessarily in the average American ‘box,’” she says. “Like our burger, it will feature other flavors and different profiles you don’t [currently] see around town.”
“The Belushi” – The Parish Publick House. PHOTO: Mark C. Anderson
At Surf City Billiards Bar & Cafe—an under-the-radar foodie oasis—Chef Tawni Lucero keeps with that theme, drawing inspiration from a distant corner of South America.
Her lead special for Burger Week is the Oh So Messi, a nod to two Argentinian legends, World Cup champ Lionel Messi and open-fire chef Francis Mallman, whose private Patagonian island is called La Soplada (in English, “blown away”).
On a foundation of flame-broiled ground chuck Braveheart Black Angus beef, she’s adding two more traditional Argentine legends: from-scratch chimichurri and provoleta, a piece of salty provolone that’s spiced, dusted and fried.
Not that the expansive flavors stop there. Lucero is also prepping 1) a patty melt with smoked gouda, onion jam and sautéed shiitake mushrooms sizzled to order with Sriracha aioli on the outside (rather than butter or mayo) to give it a crispy, spicy, orange-tinged effect; and 2) a grilled teriyaki portobello with pepper jack and a pineapple-and-habanero chutney.
The cross-continental sweep of her flavors reflects her view of the burger’s arc going ahead.
“My idea of what’s coming is global,” she says. “I see more fusion and unifying flavors.”
While she calls her vision “a utopian ideal” of what burgers can be, SCBBC owner Zac Crandell is less optimistic, messaging her that “They’re going extinct” and “The future of burgers is nonexistent.”
Versions of that response surface several times on this odyssey. Paul Cocking, owner of Gabriella Cafe—which happens to make a grass-fed doozie of a Burger Week entry on a homemade bun—lowers the boom without blinking.
“The future of burgers doesn’t look good because beef is ruining the planet,” he says with a hint of carnivorous sarcasm. “So, we’re enjoying it while we can.”
Laurie Negro, the owner of the popular Santa Cruz boutique chain Betty Burgers, takes on that challenge in two ways.
One, she sources antibiotic-free, hormone-free and pasture-raised beef from family-owned Painted Hill Natural Beef because she values how they treat the planet and its animals.
Two, she offers every one of her burgers—including best sellers Point Grinder and Texas Two-Step—with a Beyond Meat patty swapped in.
“Burgers do have a future,” she says. “It’s plant-based, as people become more health conscious and environmentally aware.”
For Burger Week at her four locations, she’s introducing a Bahn Mi Burger, a Reuben Burger and a Cha Cha Cha Burger with roasted onions, sautéed red bell peppers and jalapeños, pepper jack and special house green onion “lube.”
“Everybody has sauce,” she adds. “Not a lot of people have lube.”
At Betty and across Santa Cruz, the diversity of burger options points to a primary takeaway from Good Times’ plunge into #thebraveburgerfuture: There are a prodigious number of spots putting real thought and care into their craft.
So, while the future of burgers will head in less-than-predictable directions, for one week in February, it will find a reliably delectable destination in Santa Cruz.
BURGER WEEK PARTICIPANTS
Some might consider Burger Week the fitting counterpoint to Good Times’ recent Health & Fitness Issue, but in many ways, this is a fitness issue too, as in, we’re gonna fitness all these burgers into our mouths.
Each participating restaurant across Aptos, Capitola, Felton, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Soquel will present a burger for $10, $12 or $15, and at least one will do a special burger at each price point. The options abound. You might say trying out a modest fraction of them is a healthy challenge.
Back Nine Grill & Bar 555 Hwy 17, Santa Cruz, 831-226-2350; backninegrill.com
Belly Goat Burgers 725 Front St., Santa Cruz, 831-225-0355; bellygoatburgers.com
Betty Burgers 1222 Pacific Ave., Santa Cruz, 600-7056; 1000 41st Ave., Santa Cruz, 423-8190; 505 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz, 423-8190; 415 Trout Gulch Road, Aptos, 831-612-6668; bettyburgers.com
Bruno’s Bar and Grill 230 Mount Hermon Road, Scotts Valley. 831-438-2227; brunosbarandgrill.com
On Jan. 17, 16-year-old Claire Protti and two of her friends traveled to Sacramento. But it wasn’t for a music festival or camping trip: The three teens planned to speak to lawmakers.
Last October, the teenagers watched helplessly as their friend and her brother were forcibly removed from their grandmother’s Santa Cruz home and taken to an undisclosed site to undergo court-ordered family “reunification therapy.”
It’s been four months, and she hasn’t heard from her friend.
“We haven’t heard from them at all,” Protti says. “We don’t know if they’re safe; we don’t know if they’re injured. We don’t know if they’ve been in school.”
It was out of concern for their friend and objection to the practice of reunification therapy that the trio decided to travel to Sacramento, where they spoke with lawmakers to advocate for their friends.
Under this relatively unknown therapy, children are taken to “reunification camps” for an intensive four-day session with one of the parents, often in cases of parental alienation. Therapists tout reunification therapy as a method for bringing parents and children together in cases where one parent has been estranged from the other, often in contentious divorce and custody disputes.
Critics, meanwhile, say the for-profit industry often categorically ignores what the children want.
Worse, it can be weaponized by vindictive and abusive parents who need only claim “parental alienation” to convince a judge to rule in their favor and award custody, says Tina Swithin, an outspoken critic of the therapy. In some cases, parents have lost contact with their children for years.
Protti is worried. It’s been 110 days; the kids have been kept out of school and away from their father and friends. There hasn’t been communication of any kind.
Protti now aims to spotlight the issue for the world to see.
“This has been so hushed up by everybody,” she says. “This has been happening for years and years, and I don’t think anyone was aware of it until she told us directly. We’re not going to stop until President Biden knows about it.”
Differing Opinions
Reunification therapy often begins with “transporters” from private companies with “specially trained counselors.” Transporters take the children to assigned locations—the group that took Protti’s friend and sibling, New Jersey-based Assisted Interventions, Inc., has not responded to Good Times’ requests for comment.
Lynn Steinberg, a family therapist who also did not respond to Good Times, spoke about the case in a Nov. 20, 2022 podcast called “Slam the Gavel,” including Toronto-based attorney Brian Ludmer, an expert on parental alienation.
Steinberg said the session went “very well” and ended “happily,” with the kids bonding with their mother.
“When the kids arrived at my office, they were in perfectly fine shape,” she said on the podcast. “They were friends with the transporters. There were no marks on them, although they had bitten and kicked and bruised the people who had transported them here.”
Sarah Stockmanns, who traveled to Sacramento with Protti, doubts these claims.
“I don’t think there’s any way for the kids to be friends with the transporters after they were so aggressively taken from their grandparents’ house,” she says. “I don’t think it’s possible, and I think it’s a total lie.”
Ludmer says that the father had refused a court order to bring them to the other parent, hence the court-ordered intervention.
He stresses that reunification therapy is a last resort in ugly custody cases where the warring sides have reached an impasse.
“The family will never restructure in a healthy fashion absent a healthy family structure being imposed on it,” he said in the podcast. “Hierarchies and boundaries and mutual respect and respect for court orders, empathy, forgiveness—all of the normal developmental tools of childhood–have been denied children in these situations, so the court has to impose it.”
The blackout period often accompanies the therapy and gives a “time out” for the parent who may have caused the estrangement.
Greg Gillette, the attorney for the father in the Santa Cruz County case, says the incident with the transporters raises public policy questions.
“These kids were physically handled,” Gillette says. “So, the question is, does that court order give those adults the right to do that? We question the use of force in police cases, and we question the use of force in other arenas.”
The mother’s attorney Heidi Simonson did not respond to requests for comment.
Regulation Battle
In the days before they were taken, the older sibling took to social media, warning friends it might happen. When the transporters arrived, a crowd of friends and family showed up. Some of these supporters recorded a disturbing video of the younger sibling being carried by a large adult with arms encompassing the boy’s chest. Then two other transporters, one grasping the teenage girl’s arms and the other her legs, carried her to a waiting vehicle as she screamed for help.
The video elicited a powerful response from the community and politicians, who condemned the process. Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin and Senator John Laird plan to push legislation that would regulate or prohibit reunification camps and transporter companies.
Pellerin says she is now researching the issue.
“It certainly seems very unusual to take children out of the hands of one parent who is not being charged with anything and basically cut off from that parent and all their friends and family,” she says. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”
Meanwhile, Laird and his staffers are teaming up with Sen. Susan Rubio, who authored a law last year that would have regulated the industry. The bill—Piqui’s Law, named after a 5-year-old boy killed by his father during a custody dispute—died on the Assembly floor in November.
“The video is troubling to anyone who has any humanity,” Laird says.
Rubio did not return a call for comment but has signaled that she plans to bring the bill back.
Protti and her friends don’t plan on halting their mission to get the kids back and bring legislative control over the reunification industry.
The Santa Cruz incident has also caught the attention of local lawmakers.
Former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Ryan Coonerty, who is Protti’s uncle, took up the cause along with Santa Cruz Mayor Sonia Brunner in a press conference last November. He intends to push an ordinance regulating the industry in the unincorporated parts of Santa Cruz County.
Supervisor Justin Cummings, who took Coonerty’s District 3 seat in the November election, took up that mantle in January when he urged the county to forge an ordinance prohibiting private transport companies from physical contact with minors. Such a rule would only apply in the county’s unincorporated regions, so Cummings called on other jurisdictions to consider similar regulations.
In addition to a proposal buried in the supervisors’ consent agenda—a section generally reserved for items expected to pass without discussion—the county asked state lawmakers to consider regulating the industry statewide.
“It’s serious enough that I believe the county should take the lead to try to address this issue,” Cummings says.
Children Empowerment
John Wall, a professor of Childhood Studies and director of the Childism Institute at Rutgers University, isn’t surprised that the court ignored the kids’ desires. He says that many courts do not let kids speak for themselves.
A relatively new philosophy, Childism focuses on children’s empowerment and how they are often marginalized in society, similar to how women once were in the 19th century. The thinking also advocates lowering the voting age. Wall says that many courts believe children are too young and cannot understand their situation in a courtroom setting, an idea he calls “nonsense.”
“A 15-year-old or an 11-year-old does have a lot of understanding of what’s going on in the situation,” he says. “But given a conflict between an adult and a teenager or a child, generally speaking, a judge will take the adult’s side.”
Wall says the American Bar Association has criticized such thinking and that policy experts are working on ways to rethink the system ostensibly designed to protect young people.
“When you don’t have standing in court and must rely on the judge, you are much more likely to have your rights ignored,” he says.
Wall says that a growing number of child advocates around the world are advocating for children’s suffrage.
“Our argument is that because children don’t have the right to vote, it’s easy for laws to ignore them,” he says. “The root cause of why children and teenagers don’t have standing in court in cases like this is that politicians who make our laws don’t have any reason to listen to them.”
Now that their voices have been heard by people who can help instigate change, Protti and her friends hope those lawmakers will continue to push so other children won’t have to endure the same trauma.
“It was amazing to see the government in action and to be able to talk to people we know can make much more of a difference than us high schoolers can make,” Protti says.
