The Buzz: July 21, 2022

FREE SPEECH

Twenty-six years after Cal Poly student Kristin Smart disappeared, a case against her alleged killer is finally going to court. The trial opened on Monday, July 18 in Monterey County Superior Court in Salinas against Paul Flores, who is charged with murder, and his father, Ruben Flores, charged as an accessory for allegedly helping dispose of Smart’s body. The 1996 case has long drawn media attention, and starting in 2019, musician Chris Lambert produced a podcast, called Your Own Backyard, with a deep dive into who Smart was, who Paul Flores is, and the stop-and-start investigation. Investigators said Lambert’s podcast helped them crack the case and file charges. And in the days before the trial began, Paul Flores’ attorney looked at that as a reason to subpoena Lambert, seeking a huge volume of material including outtakes of Your Own Backyard and all materials he had related to Smart’s disappearance – in short, all of his journalistic documents. In a July 15 ruling, Judge Jennifer O’Keefe quashed the subpoena on the basis that it didn’t overcome Lambert’s First Amendment rights or California’s Shield Law, which protects journalists’ source information.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“My roots provided an invaluable perspective.” - Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner Henry Gonzales, who announced he will retire Dec. 30 after a decades-long career in agriculture, starting with working in the fields at age 14 (story posted July 15 at mcweekly.com/news)

GOOD WEEK / GREAT WEEK

GOOD:

House America is a federal initiative of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Interagency Council on Homelessness with a mission to get affordable housing built. They do that in partnership with jurisdictions all over the country, including large cities like Chicago, Boston, Denver and Sacramento. The list of partners also includes tiny King City, and Mayor Mike LeBarre and Community Development Director Doreen Liberto Blanck will present to a national audience of House America partners on July 22. “It’s about what a small community can do,” LeBarre says. “This will be about how rural and agricultural communities can play a part in solutions.” In King City, those solutions include a Homekey project to convert a motel into housing, and 118 units of farmworker housing under construction at Rava Ranches, thanks in part to a citywide farmworker housing ordinance.

GREAT:

Great news for kids of all abilities: a new and inclusive park is under construction in Soledad, and will be the first of its kind in South County. The design includes a picnic area, multiple playgrounds, a dog park, a splashpad area and a skate park that will be accessible for kids with disabilities. “The park, when fully constructed, will reflect the values and needs of our community,” Mayor Anna Velazquez said in a statement. “The numerous elements incorporated in the design represent an important demographic of our city.” The hope is that kids of all abilities are drawn to move and play together. The 3.5-acre inclusive park will also be renamed from the current Orchard Lane Park; residents are invited to participate in a naming competition, with a new name set to be announced on July 29. The new park is expected to cost $7.7 million, and to be completed by spring of 2023.