Power Shuffle

POWER SHUFFLE… Squid was getting ready to ooze over to happy hour at 4:55pm on Friday, July 7, when a press release appeared in Squid’s inbox – perfect timing for a Friday news dump, in which PR professionals hope no media outlet pays attention. The announcement: Steve McShane was resigning, effective immediately, from his job as CEO of the Salinas Valley Chamber of Commerce; and a search is underway for a replacement.

Chamber chair Bill Hastie tells Squid’s colleague business continues mostly as usual. “I’m glad the board has pulled together. We are all looking collaboratively to get the chamber back to normal and, quite honestly, out of the news,” he says. (A Friday afternoon press release being a key part of that strategy.)

The chamber made news last month when members of Salinas City Council – McShane is also an elected councilmember – started raising questions about potential conflict of interest. The city withdrew its membership, and things seemed ready to move along. Except McShane was placed on leave – for reasons Hastie says are unrelated to the city/chamber drama – before his eventual resignation.

Hastie says he and McShane remain friends, and they’ll be seeing each other at the next Christians in Commerce lunch. It sounds like McShane will be networking – hopefully as a prospective employee, not as a politician.

TAKING THE RIDE… Squid’s not a big fan of driving – it’s so much easier to swim through the sea, no traffic lights or stop signs, and most importantly, no cars. For purposes of getting around on land, Squid does have a driver’s license – Squid can only ooze a few miles per hour.

But getting the license was tough, and required some studying. Of course, one could always forgo getting a license, or owning a car, and still have a joyride or three.

Such is the case for one Greenfield girl, age 15 (not yet of legal driving age), who had quite the week last week. She stole one car. Then she stole another car. Then she stole a third, but this time, there was a person in it!

The girl, whose identity is confidential because she is a minor, was charged with grand theft auto and kidnapping. And the latter charge is the only reason she was brought into custody. The state has been shutting down youth prisons, so county juvenile halls, Greenfield Police Sgt. Justin Mattke says, now only take violent offenders – car theft isn’t a qualifying offense, but kidnapping is. “It’s a big problem for departments all over,” Mattke says. “Juveniles commit a lot of crimes people don’t realize.”

Squid’s not for locking kids up, but a car theft spree seems like it should merit some consequences, regardless of whether incidental kidnapping is involved.