SQUIDFRY 10.26.17: Something Spooky

SOMETHING SPOOKY… Squid has been working hard on Halloween costume ideas, but nothing seems right. Squid tried on a starfish costume, but too many tentacles were left in the cold, then a shark costume, but Squid’s friends swam away. Squid thought of dressing as a landlubbing creature, but thought twice after hearing about a spooky report filed Oct. 23 with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.

Someone called in around 10:30am to report a decapitated calf left across the street from North Monterey County High School. “It could’ve been a coincidence,” according to Cmdr. John Thornburg’s read of the report. “Somebody thinks it might be related to malicious things that were going on that night.” By “malicious things,” he’s referring to a separate report of campaign signs getting stolen – meaning someone interpreted it as a political threat, not a coincidence. The signs belonged to Linda Lines, board president of North Monterey County Unified School District, who is seeking re-election against retired teacher Kyle Samuels. Only one contested election in the county this year, and there may be calf’s blood on someone’s hands. (No word on the whereabouts of the calf’s head.)

The whole thing left Squid feeling on edge. Then Squid got a press release from Visiting Angels, an in-home senior care company, offering its services to seniors on Halloween. The idea is to hang out with seniors to help them enjoy trick-or-treaters – without becoming targets for troublemakers. So much for Squid’s Clockwork Orange costume.

GROAN OF ARC… Squid didn’t have hot plans for Friday night on Oct. 20, so Squid decided to ooze over the Hyatt Regency Monterey to check in on the Monterey County Democratic Party’s annual gala dinner, “Bending the Arc of Justice.”

The event was sold out, but being a cephalopod, Squid was able to turn so translucent as to ooze right in unnoticed. The evening started out as with the usual: mingling over drinks, catching up with old pals, and a chance for local progressives to meet their electeds. But things got weird after dinner, when the “auction” started. First Tyller Williamson, an organizer of the Peninsula Pride Parade, was called onto the stage to be auctioned off for “a night with Tyler.” After that came Seaside Councilwoman Kayla Jones – emcee Amit Pandya referred to her as “so cute” – the highest bidder won “a night with Kayla.”

Squid’s beak dropped open, watching… two black people on stage being auctioned off. (Two other local politicians, Monterey Councilman Alan Haffa and State Sen. Bill Monning, were then auctioned off, but for “an evening.”)

Squid’s colleague later caught up with Jones, who says she was caught off-guard by the whole thing. “I think it’s a learning opportunity for local Democrats,” she says. “Progressive people still have work to do.” Clearly.