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sources, came months into the beginning of the coro- navirus pandemic and two months after the Minneap- olis Police Department offi- cer-related killing of George Floyd sparked a hard look at law enforcement agencies nationwide. In September, Hart re- ported that at least four additional physical alter- cations — including one in- volving one of the defen- dants — had occurred on campus in the handful of weeks since school started. He also pointed to issues with cellular phone cover- age to the area around the high school campus. Spurred on partly by the tragedy, County of Santa Cruz leaders recently be- gan considering a pro- posal from AT&T to place a wireless communication tower 1 mile outside cam- pus, hardware which could come online as early as late 2022. Up until a July 22, 2020 vote by the Pajaro Val - ley Unified School District Board of Trustees, the three district high schools had employed officers from adja- cent law enforcement agen- cies, including the Sheriff's Office, as on-campus school liaisons. In the fall-out from this year's stabbing, dis- trict leaders elected to re- verse course, reinstating a Sheriff's Office deputy as a school resource officer at Aptos High in October. Similarly, school resource officers from Watsonville Police Department are ex- pected to return to the Wat- sonville High School cam- pus next year. The current school re- source officer program is being treated as a one-year pilot that will be reassessed after a year. Also, officers at Aptos and Watsonville high schools each are being paired with a mental health clinician for the first time. Pajaro Valley High , which participates in a Student Success Project program utilizing administrators to focus on the prevention of on-campus incidents, was excluded from the pilot. While the school resource officer program reinstate- ment has been championed by Aptos High School par- ents and community mem- bers, the move drew oppos- ing opinions from Watson- ville and Pajaro Valley high school parents at the Board of Trustees' Sept. 15 special meeting on the topic. Stabbing FROM PAGE 1 PHOTOS BY SHMUEL THALER — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL Lili Rigor, a classmate of the 17-year-old Aptos High student who was fatally stabbed on campus on Aug. 31, is comforted as she grieves at a Peace and Unity vigil in Watsonville on Sunday, Sept. 5. Visages of the student who died look out from a photo on an altar at bottom le. More than 100 people came to Romo Park on Main Street to mourn, speak out against violence and come together as a community at the vigil organized by Watsonville Peace & Unity Coalition, Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County and Barrios Unidos. A vigil is held Sept. 5 in Watsonville for the 17-year-old Aptos High student who was fatally stabbed on campus Some facilities, such as Dominican Oaks in Santa Cruz, had been able to sur- vive nearly a year of the pandemic without a sin- gle case of COVID-19. A few, Dominican Oaks in- cluded, were unable to slide through 2020 without hav- ing to field the virus. The fa- cilities that had become hot spots, such as Pacific Coast Manor in Capitola, contin- ued to be ravaged. In the last two weeks of the year, the first COVID-19 vaccine shipments arrived in Santa Cruz County. State officials outlined the phases of prioritization, or who would be offered a shot first, as hundreds and even- tually thousands of doses of Pfizer arrived in tem- perature-controlled boxes. Nursing home and assisted living facility residents and staff members were relieved to find themselves near the top. M o s t d e m o g r a p h - ics found themselves in a waiting game as they ea- gerly checked the Califor- nia Department of Pub- lic Health's website to see if eligibility had yet ex- panded. In the early days of 2021, residents 65 and older became eligible while skilled nursing and resi- dential care communities had not yet secured a vac- cine clinic through the Cen- ters for Disease Control and Prevention's Federal Phar- macy Program. Santa Cruz Post Acute was the lucky es- tablishment that scored the county's first clinic of its kind. The communities left waiting continued to expe- rience COVID-19 outbreaks. Sharing stories Toward the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, loved ones of seniors in cen- ters providing home care began reaching out to the Sentinel. They told stories that aligned with previously filed federal and state defi- ciencies against three facili- ties: Santa Cruz Post Acute, Watsonville Post Acute and Pacific Coast Manor. They alleged neglect. In February, this news- paper published those sto- ries. The stories detailed the lives of John Tipton, Duane Sondgroth and Don- ald Wickham — three men whose families say that they were left without care, re- sulting in worsened health conditions. Tipton, a 63-year-old man who suffered a brain tumor, almost died at Santa Cruz Post Acute when his medications were unnec- essarily halted after he re- turned from being hospi- talized from COVID-19, his wife Leslie claimed. Sond- groth, a 79-year-old man with Alzheimer's, survived contracting the virus only to be separated from his wife, Sandra, and be left without a bath, food or com- pany, alleged his daughter Gigi. Wickham, a 94-year- old man, was the last Wat- sonville Post Acute resident to die from the facility's Oc- tober 2020 outbreak be- cause of facility was under- staffed and undertrained, alleged his son John in a lawsuit against the com- pany. While Wickham's fight concluded in March 2020, when public records data- base PACER indicates an or- der to dismiss the case was filed in Santa Cruz Superior Court, loved ones of individ- uals who had almost died or did die of COVID-19 contin- ued coming to the Sentinel to tell their stories through the spring of 2021. This happened at the same time as Doug Allen, a prosecutor for the Santa Cruz County District Attor- ney's Office, led his region to join a multi-jurisdiction lawsuit against Tennessee- based nursing home chain Brookdale. Just miles away from Allen's office, S EIU Local 2015 union members working at skilled nursing facility Hearts and Hands Post-Acute and Rehab Cen- ter picketed to demand bet- ter treatment and increased pay. After months of informa- tion gathering the Sentinel again wrote about neglect in nursing homes, honing in on Pacific Coast Manor and more than a dozen heavy assertions against it. These allegations were as severe as the alleged abuse of res- idents. Former employees and family members spoke of the circumstances of Arlene Pieper Stine, Angela "Lola" dela Riva and Maria Mar- tinez. The three women, two of whom died from al- leged lack of care, all were said to have suffered at Pa- cific Coast Manor before the pandemic even began. It was not just the care but the facility itself, which a former maintenance worker detailed had a leaky roof , poor electrical wiring, mold and rats, that was said to be unsafe. Authorities such as Allen continue to look into sys- temic issues in the senior care industry while the se- niors, now riding through another wave of the virus, are trying to find a sense of normalcy. That won't be easy to do, as media part- ners at Kaiser Health News reported this week that 1 in 8 Californians who died of COVID-19 were nursing home residents. As Allen works on in- vestigations into ever y skilled nursing facility chain owner in Santa Cruz County, skilled nursing and residential care facility res- idents and staff have fo- cused on keeping up to date with vaccines. In Novem- ber, many of the facilities were able to benefit from CVS Health's on-site clin- ics. Representatives of the centers said there was very little hesitancy around ad- ditional and booster shots. One year ago, residents of any kind of congre- gate living facility made up for nearly all of the CO- VID-19 deaths in Santa Cruz County. As of this week, they make up for less than half of all deaths, according to the county's coronavirus data dashboard. More than 80% of the county's popula- tion older than the age of 60 are fully vaccinated, making them the most impressive demographic in terms of in- oculation, the county's vac- cine data dashboard shows. "This winter is very dif- ferent from last winter for them in that we have a lit- tle bit more of a relaxed visi- tation. They'll be able to see their family," Ghilarducci said of residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. "Overall because of the high vaccination rate amongst all the residents, th eir risk of ending up in the hospital is far, far lower than it was before. It's really a much more hopeful situa- tion for them." COVID FROM PAGE 1 havior and intercourse with a minor, plus misdemeanor destruction of evidence. Gonzalez asked for for- giveness during his April 27 sentencing hearing. "It is not my intention to make matters worse with the words I choose to share," Gonzalez said. "I understand there is very little I can say after all the pain and suffer- ing I have caused. My goal is to work on my issues so that no one else has to experience what you have endured." Both of Maddy's par- ents, Michel Middleton and Laura Jordan, spoke of the impact their daughter's vio- lent death had on their lives. Jordan, choking back years, said her daughter's loss still felt like a "cannon- ball was fired, shooting into the back of my heart and ex- ploding into bits." Middleton said he had accepted his daughter's loss, but said the prosp ect of Gonzalez'¥s pending free- dom and potential to re-of- fend left him frightened. Gonzalez FROM PAGE 1 SHMUEL THALER — SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL Madyson Middleton's mother, Laura Jordan, weeps in court during the sentencing of AJ Gonzalez for Maddie's murder. SHMUEL THALER - SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL FILE Registered nurse Julie Battles tends to a patient in February in the Dominican Hospital Intensive Care Unit where the most severely suffering COVID-19 patients resided. which featured $350,000 in prize money that was divided across four cate- gories for men's and wom- en's divisions: Ride of the Year, Biggest Paddle, Big- gest Tow, and Performer of the Year. On Oct. 30, Mel was proclaimed winner of Ride of the Year. "I knew that this wave was really special," Mel said during the award an- nouncement. "Mavericks is something that is ex- tremely important in my life. It's been a long road there. This wave that came to me was a gift. It wasn't just me. It was coming from the universe, God." Nat Young qualifies for Championship Tour Santa Cruz's Nat Young, 30, beloved by the county long before he won the 2008 O'Neill Coldwater Classic, re-qualified for the World Surf League's top level, the Champion- ship Tour, after a five-year hiatus. The Association of Surf- ing Professional s' Rookie of the Year in '13, Young finished 10th overall in the four-event Challenger Se- ries this season with 12,100 points and advanced. It was a year of highs and lows for Young, in and out the water. He battled through the death of his mother, Rosie, in February and welcomed the birth of his daughter, Rocky Rose Young, a month later. Young paid tribute to his mom in a post on Insta- gram after he officially se- cured a '22 CT spot Dec. 4. "A story about a kid whose mother showed him what it looked like to never give up no matter the circum- stances or setbacks that may come along the way. Thank you mom." He took placed 49th at the U.S. Open of Surfing Huntington Beach on Sept. 20-26, third at the MEO Vissla Pro Ericeira in Por- tugal on Oct. 2-10, 49th at the Quiksilver Pro France on Oct. 16-24, an d 49th at the Michelob ULTRA Pure Gold Haleiwa Challenger in Hawaii, which began Oct. 26 and ended Sunday. Santa Cruz surfer Brody Price, 12, wins national title Santa Cruz surfer Brody Price, an already estab- lished 12-year-old who at- tends New Brighton Mid- dle School, earned the biggest win of his young career Nov. 23. He rallied late to win the Open Mini Groms final at the National Scholastic Surfing Association Na- tional Championships in 2- to 4-foot waves at Hun- tington Beach Pier. He posted a 14.44 score to win the title, plac- ing ahead of Hawaiians Kahlil Schooley (12.94) and Kaden Awad (12.33) and Encinitas' Brody Buck (12.10). Price is Santa Cruz County's first NSSA na- tional champion since Santa Cruz's Nic Hdez won the National Airshow Championships in 2012. Santa Cruz's John Mel won the Open Mini Groms divi- sion (10U) with a 11.90 fi- nal score in 2011. Tyler Gilbert promoted, throws historic no-hitter Felton native Tyler Gil- bert, promoted from Tri- ple-A by Arizona on Aug. 3, became the first MLB pitcher in 68 years to throw a no-hitter in his first start, as he led the Di- amondbacks to a 7-0 win over the San Diego Padres on Aug. 14 in Phoenix. He finished with five strike- outs and walked three bat- ters. "Crazy," said Gilbert, a San Lorenzo Valley High alumnus who also shined at Santa Barbara City Col- lege and USC. "It's not go- ing to hit me for probably another day. I don't know what just happened." The last player to throw a no-hitter in his first start was Bobo Holloman of the St. Louis Browns on May 6, 1953. Bumpus Jones also did it in his major league debut with the Cincinnati Reds on Oct. 15, 1892, and T heodore Breitenstein threw one in his first start for the Browns on Oct. 4, 1891. Gilbert's game-used hat was sent to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y. His cleats were be dis- played in a case at Chase Field. He gave his glove, jersey and final-out base- ball to his father, Greg, to get framed. His teary-eyed and animated father at- tended the game and was a favorite of TV crews eye- ing his celebrations. Gilbert's no-no was the record-tying eighth no- hitter thrown in MLB this season, matching a mark set in 1884, the first year Sports FROM PAGE 1 AUDREY LAMBIDAKIS - SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL Santa Cruz big wave surfer Peter Mel, 51, caught the "wave of his life" on this barreling 40- to 45-footer at Mavericks on Jan. 8. It was later named "Ride of the year" at the Red Bull Big Wave Awards Show. SPORTS » PAGE 7 | | SANTACRUZSENTINEL.COM FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2021 2 S

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