C2 SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013
HOLIDAY CLOSINGS
Most government offices will be closed Monday for Presidents Day.
COUNTY: County offices are closed. Santa Cruz County Superior
Court is closed.
SANTA CRUZ: City offices closed.
CAPITOLA: City offices closed.
SCOTTS VALLEY: City offices closed.
WATSONVILLE: Most city offices closed.
LIBRARIES: All branches of the Santa Cruz library system are
closed. Watsonville Public Library is closed.
SCHOOLS: All county public schools closed.
POST OFFICE: Post offices closed.
SENTINEL: Office open. Paper will publish.
COAST LINES
SANTA CRUZ
Rally downtown targets violence
The Community Against Gun Violence will host a
rally from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Town Clock
in downtown Santa Cruz.
The rally is in response to the December killing of
20 children at a Connecticut school.
Santa Cruz County’s Superintendent of Schools
Michael Watkins and retired Santa Cruz County
homicide detective Stoney Brooke will address the
topic of gun violence. For information, contact maestramargalete@yahoo.com.
SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL
EXTRA
BOULDER CREEK
Off-leash dog park considered
Recreation district leaders seek to form community group
By KIMBERLY WHITE
kwhite@santacruzsentinel.com
BOULDER CREEK —
With the closest off-leash
dog park 10 miles away in
Scotts Valley, some Boulder
Creek dog owners hope to
set aside an area here where
their canine companions can
run free.
The idea of establishing
an off-leash park has been
talked about for years, but
never solidified enough to
prompt any real action, said
Hallie Greene, district manager of the Boulder Creek
Recreation and Park District.
Dogs are not allowed in
any of the three parks —
Garrahan, Dam and Junction
parks — within the district’s
boundaries.
Renovations were completed at Garrahan in late
2010, and during that pro-
cess, some residents asked
about setting aside an area
for dogs, or at least designating certain hours. But
the park lacks enough space
for a separate dog park and
its layout would make it difficult. Some people still take
their dogs there and to the
other parks, or to outdoor
fields during after-school
hours, Greene said, and
people have been doing it so
long “that it can be difficult
to get them to change their
behavior.”
Last week, she was
approached by a resident
who offered to spearhead a
group to look into the possibility of obtaining a piece
of land for their four-legged
friends. District officials
hope to hold a meeting with
a core group sometime next
month to “at least get some
momentum going and really establish that there are
some people that are interested,” Greene said. Once
formed, that committee
will scout out now-vacant
lots, and form relationships
with those land owners and
other organizations. So far,
Greene said, she’s received
about 20 phone calls and
emails in support of the
idea.
Meanwhile, momentum
has picked up on another
fledgling project.
At a meeting Tuesday
evening, district leaders
will put together a committee of residents interested
in operating a low-power
FM radio station that will
focus solely on San Lorenzo
Valley residents’ interests.
That group will come under
the umbrella of an advisory
committee made up of the
district’s board members,
and they will return to the
full board later with recom-
IF YOU GO
RECREATION &
PARK DISTRICT
MEETING
WHAT: District leaders will
put together a committee to
look into establishing a
low-power FM radio station.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Tuesday
WHERE: District office,
13333 Middleton Ave.,
Boulder Creek
DETAILS: 831-338-4144 or
bcrpd2@gmail.com
mendations.
Greene, who took over as
district manager in late 2011,
said she’s “gotten the most
calls about anything we’ve
put out to the public” since
that time.
Follow Sentinel reporter
Kimberly White on Twitter
at Twitter.com/kwhite95066
SANTA CRUZ
Cleanups set for Saturday
DOGS PLAY
Volunteers are wanted Saturday for a North Coast
beach cleanup and a San Lorenzo River cleanup near
the Tannery Arts Center in Santa Cruz.
Save Our Shores will have a cleanup from 10 a.m.
to noon at Panther and Yellowbank beaches, which
are south of Davenport on Highway 1 between Laguna
Avenue and Bonny Doon Road. Panther Beach is 6.9
miles north of Western Drive in Santa Cruz near mile
marker 26.40.
Also from 10 a.m. to noon, The Clean Team and
Save Our Shores will remove trash from areas near
the Tannery Arts Center at 1050 River St.
Volunteers are advised to bring gloves, a bucket
and sturdy shoes.
WATSONVILLE
Wargin Wines wins awards
Wargin Wines’ 2010 Big & Beautiful California Red
won best in class for Italian varietals for less than
$24.99 at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition.
The wine, a blend of Montepulciano, Zinfandel,
Alicante Bouschet and Mourvedre, also earned best
in class in the whimsical category for its label.
Since Dec. 1, Wargin Wines has operated from the
Santa Cruz Winemaker Studio at 18 Hangar Way.
Winemaker Michael Wargin previously worked for
Armida Winery, Burrell School and MJA Vineyards.
For information, go to warginwines.com.
SCOTTS VALLEY
Council to discuss agreement
with performing arts group
Scotts Valley leaders will discuss whether to enter
into an exclusive negotiating agreement with a local
performing arts group at Wednesday’s City Council
meeting.
Work completed by the Stage Hand Group since
its initial proposal in December includes forming a
board of directors, drafting a business model and
developing an operating budget, according to a staff
report. If approved, the group would operate the
9,000-square-foot site next to the library on Kings
Village Road, where a performing arts venue will
eventually be constructed.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m. at 1 Civic Center Drive,
Scotts Valley. For information, call 831-440-5600 or
email cityhall@scottsvalley.org.
SANTA CRUZ
Museum, magazine seeking
photo submissions
The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History and
Instant Magazine will host “life@work,” an upcoming
museum-wide photo identification ID exhibition.
The project is about the changing nature of the
workplace, and local companies are invited to encourage employees to sending us their photos.
“We are hoping to get a ‘picture’ of Santa Cruz
County at work — in offices and cubicles, kitchens
and classrooms, hospitals, warehouses, garages,
fields, streets, stores, studios, salons, etc.,” Instant
editor Eric Johnson said in a news release. “Here and
everywhere the workplace has changed. For better
or worse, work has become a bigger part of our lives.
We want to show what that looks like here.”
Selected photos will be included in the “life@work”
photo essay in the Spring 2013 issue of Instant Magazine, and exhibited at the MAH from March 30
through July 7.
The show will be curated by Ted Holladay of Studio Holladay and Instant Magazine, the recently
launched journal about Santa Cruz Business, Technology and Culture.
To submit a photo, go to lifeatwork.me.
SANTA CRUZ
Astrophysicist wins fellowship
Charlie Conroy, an assistant professor of astronomy
and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz, has been awarded
a research fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The two-year Sloan Research Fellowship includes
a grant of $50,000 to support Conroy’s research focusing on how galaxies form and evolve.
Conroy has been working on new ways of analyzing
the light emitted by a galaxy to extract information
about its history.
“I am interested in extragalactic archeology — that
is, understanding how galaxies formed and evolved
by studying in great detail their present-day stellar
populations,” he said.
SHMUEL THALER/SENTINEL
SANTA CRUZ — A long-haired Dachshund named Jessu takes a moment to explore during a visit to the Garfield Park Library on
Woodrow Avenue on Thursday. The library, which is open on weekdays, was built in 1915 and is the last remaining Carnegie
library still in use in Santa Cruz County. Andrew Carnegie and the Carnegie Corporation provided funding for 1,681 public library
buildings in 1,412 U.S. communities between 1889 and 1923.
BEST FOR WOMEN
Scotts Valley mom earns Soroptimist award
Sentinel staff report
CAPITOLA — Scotts Valley resident Lacy Pollock, a
student at Cabrillo College,
earned the 2012 Women’s
OpportunityAwardpresented
by Soroptimist International
of Capitola-by-the-Sea.
The award goes to a woman enrolled in or who has been
accepted to a vocational/skills
training program or an undergraduate degree program,
and is the primary financial
support of her family.
Pollock, a single mother of
a 3-year-old daughter, is pursuing a career as a financial
adviser and is particularly
interested in working with
families who have lost a loved
one, women clients who are
going through life changes,
and families with children
who need assistance planning their family finances,
insurance, retirement and
educational
goals.
“Her
efforts will
not only help
her and her
daughter,
they will benefit the entire POLLOCK
community,”
said Carol De Lauder, award
coordinator.
Pollock will be honored
with a $2,000 award at the
Soroptimist International of
Capitola-by-the-Sea Awards
dinner in March and advance
to the Sierra Pacific Regional
level awards program. The
award can be used to offset
any costs associated with her
efforts to attain higher education, including books, child
care and transportation.
For information, go to
www.best4women.org or
email info@best4women.
org.
ARTS AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY STUDY
Arts’ impact to be examined next month
Data to show countywide financial influence of arts organizations
By KIMBERLY WHITE
kwhite@santacruzsentinel.com
SCOTTS VALLEY —
Work will begin soon on a
study to determine how arts
and cultural organizations
benefit Santa Cruz County,
with the twin goals of raising
awareness about the importance of investing in them
and using the data to obtain
future grants.
The Arts and Economic
Prosperity study will begin
next month and continue
through the fall, with results
expected near the end of
the year, according to a staff
report from Tuesday’s Board
of Supervisors meeting.
The cost of the study,
pegged at $20,000, will be
partially covered by contributions from the county,
various municipalities and
countywide organizations.
The study will be conducted by New York-based
Americans for the Arts and
coordinated by the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz
County. Catherine Brandt
Vacovsky, spokeswoman for
Americans for the Arts, said
the organization conducts
nationwide studies every
five years, with the next due
out in 2017, and Santa Cruz
County is receiving a customized study.
“It’s recognized that we
have a vibrant arts community here and they do have
an impact economically,” not
only from ticket sales, but also
dining, shopping and other
activities that go along with
attending a an event or exhibit, said 3rd District Supervisor Neal Coonerty, who sits
on the Cultural Council.
During the next seven or
eight months, the organi-
zations will work to gather
and synthesize data on how
much audiences spend on
attending local arts and cultural events and exhibits,
how many jobs are supported by those industries, and
how much local and state
government funding they
bring in.
The study will update
a previous one conducted
in 2005-06, involving 45
nonprofit groups across
the county. Results were
released in 2007 and showed
they stimulated the economy to the tune of $32 million, including 758 full-time
equivalent jobs and nearly $3
million in local and state government grants. Of the 845
people who attended events
in 2006, the study showed,
70 percent were local, while
30 percent came from elsewhere.
Meanwhile, Scotts Valley
Artisans will soon launch a
countywide website where
artists from around the
county will be able to show
and sell their work. Co-owner Dawn Teall said a meeting held earlier this week at
the Santa Cruz Museum of
Art & History to discuss the
effort was “standing room
only,” and there’s widespread
excitement about the spring
launch, with artists signing
up daily. The study, she said,
is important because it will
show the arts and cultural
organizations already bring
in millions in revenue to the
county, and that economic
engine will become even
stronger with more infrastructure and support.
Follow Sentinel reporter
Kimberly White on Twitter
at Twitter.com/kwhite95066