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Wed
16 May The International Gem & Jewelry Show San Mateo The International Gem and Jewelry Show is an event that will aim to showcase diverse range of gems, minerals and jewelry item…

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Thu
17 May The International Gem & Jewelry Show San Mateo The International Gem and Jewelry Show is an event that will aim to showcase diverse range of gems, minerals and jewelry item…

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Fri
18 May The International Gem & Jewelry Show San Mateo The International Gem and Jewelry Show is an event that will aim to showcase diverse range of gems, minerals and jewelry item…

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San Gregorio Area News

Pot ring bust yields 19 arrests, over $1 million in drugs

A year-long federal investigation into a large-scale pot ring based out of Contra Costa County culminated in law enforcement arresting 19 people and seizing massive quantities of marijuana, weapons and cash Wednesday morning.

Agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Sacramento office raided 14 different locations Wednesday morning as part of “Operation Disco Dazed,” a multi-million dollar investigation that began in early 2011.

Several of the agency’s targets were inside The Lakes, a gated community in Discovery Bay. Local residents reported seeing authorities search as many as five houses in the area.

Yet even before the details of the operation were made public, some neighbors say they weren't surprised to see drug agents here.

“[There’s] a lot of people walking around late at night… people that shouldn't be here are in this park and they're not residents here,” said a resident who wished to remain anonymous.

According to a DEA press release, the raids resulted in the seizure of:

• 14 indoor marijuana grow operations
• 3,606 marijuana plants
• 96 pounds of processed marijuana
• 36 firearms to include multiple assault rifles and a 37mm grenade launcher
• A ballistic vest
• 8 vehicles
• 5 motorcycles
• 5 boats
• Approximately $400,000.

The estimated worth of the seized marijuana was believed to be more than $1 million, according to the release.

According to the DEA, the investigation began in early 2011 after agents learned of an alleged drug trafficking organization centered around Grower’s Choice Hydroponics, a hydroponic equipment retailer operating in Tracy and Hayward.

Those who were arrested appeared in a Sacramento Federal Court later Wednesday, some facing at least 10 years in prison, and maximum sentences of life in prison and a $4 million fine.

_{Wed, 16 May 2012 16:51:58 -0700}

Occupy protesters take on AC Transit fare transfers

Occupy Oakland, working with Alameda-Contra Costa Transit bus operators, launched a campaign Wednesday asking drivers to honor transfers in ways that will ease the financial pain felt by the system's riders.

Before the last round of service cuts, it was AC Transit policy to honor transfers for up to three hours. Currently, transfers are only valid for two hours.

At the campaign announcement outside the Fruitvale BART station this afternoon, Occupy's Cicily Cooper said that service cuts and fare hikes have made life harder on both riders and drivers, who often sympathize with their riders' financial hardship.

Cooper said the service cuts disproportionately affect communities of color, as the disappearance of routes has meant riders in poorer neighborhoods need to take additional buses to reach the same destinations.

"Riders increasingly have to pay more to get less," Cooper said. "It is the working people that suffer from these cuts."

Last year's fare hikes saw the basic adult fare increase by 10 cents and the youth, senior and disabled fare increase by 5 cents, raising the basic bus fare to $2.10 and the discounted fare for seniors, youths and the disabled to $1.05.

Another round of fare increases is scheduled to go into effect next year.

The transfer campaign aims to make transportation more accessible for low-income riders, who represent the majority of the system's users, and to reverse concessions transit workers made in their current contract, which expires in a little more than a year.

AC Transit spokesman Clarence Johnson declined to comment on the matter other than saying, "We have a bus fare policy in place, and we have no reason to expect that any of our bus operators won't adhere to it."    Cooper said the transfer approach is a small step "but will be one of any" as the campaign escalates.

Fellow occupier Mike King said that, before taking additional action, the group plans to assess the campaign's effectiveness in about a month.

"We saw the transfers as a logical first step," King said, because many passengers pay two fares in a single direction of travel when transfers expire while people are waiting for their connecting bus.

King said the campaign is asking drivers to do their job, which, according to operator Dave Lyons, is to simply state the fare -- not enforce collection.

Lyons said that fare disputes, including disagreements over transfers, are the number one cause of assaults on drivers.

"We're making life harder for them and for ourselves," Lyons said this afternoon.

Lyons said that bus drivers should use good judgment when weighing whether to allow passengers with expired transfers to board without conflict.

"You have to be reasonable," he said, and consider the safety and comfort of all passengers because escalating the situation, by demanding a passenger pay a second fare or by calling security, can impact service.

Lyons said the matter boils down to mutual respect, as drivers are capable of showing sympathy but ask that riders not abuse their understanding.

"I think all drivers get at least a little bit annoyed when riders don't respect drivers," Lyons said.

King said that increasing bus fares and declining working conditions have roiled passengers and drivers.

"This reality can only be rectified by riders and drivers standing together and building collective social power to create a just bus system for everyone," King said. "We've tried to create an agreed upon system of mutual respect and solidarity."

_{Wed, 16 May 2012 16:45:28 -0700}

Report says female farmworkers suffer sex abuse

Female farmworkers across the United States are commonly sexually harassed and assaulted, in part because their immigration status makes them fearful of calling police, according to a report being released Wednesday by Human Rights Watch.

The survey by the international rights group mirrors two previous reports on the risks facing women and girls that had focused on California, where most of the nation's farmworkers reside.

"Our research confirms what farmworker advocates across the country believe: Sexual violence and sexual harassment experienced by farmworkers is common enough that some farmworker women see these abuses as an unavoidable condition of agricultural work," said the report.

An estimated 630,000 of the 3 million people who perform migrant and seasonal farm work are women. The federal government estimates that 60 percent of them are illegal immigrants.

"It's easiest for abusers to get away with sexual harassment where there's an imbalance of power, and the imbalance of power is particularly stark on farms," the report's author, Grace Meng, told The Associated Press.

The report calls on Congress to pass laws protecting immigrant farmworker women, and for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to repeal rules that encourage local police to report federal immigration violations.

The report describes incidences of rape, stalking, fondling and vulgar language used against women, who say they often don't report it because they are afraid of being fired or, worse, deported.

Meng interviewed 52 farmworkers and 110 attorneys, social service providers, law enforcement officials and members of the agriculture industry in New York, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, Colorado, Ohio, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and the state of Washington, but focused primarily on California because of its large farmworker population.

Women who work for labor contractors are more vulnerable than those who work directly for a farmer, the report said.

"The goal of our report was to show that this was a national problem. And to show the governmental barriers that exist to reporting these crimes and abuses. And to demonstrate it's a human rights problem," Meng said.

While previous studies have said that up to 80 percent of women who work in the fields have been harassed or assaulted, a counselor in the heart of California's agriculture region says her experience puts it at closer to half.

She said the problem exists in all businesses where immigrant women may lack English language skills and trust in law enforcement, but that farms are the biggest employers so the abuses occur more frequently there.

Incidences are rarely reported to authorities, said Amparo Yebra of the nonprofit Westside Family Preservation Services Network in Huron, Calif.

"We have had a lot of complaints," said Yebra. "Most of the people are farmworkers, but if they get the opportunity to get out of the fields to work in a store, some of the owners take advantage of those people also."

Sexual harassment in the workplace is illegal in California, and Bryan Little of the California Farm Bureau Federation says the legislature identified it as a universal problem. The Farm Bureau's affiliate group, Farm Employers Labor Service, provides sexual harassment prevention and training, which employers are required to provide every other year to anyone who works in a supervisory capacity.

"Agriculture is a big industry in California, but it seems unlikely that they passed this law just for ag," Little said. "They must have responded to something bigger going on in the workplace."

_{Wed, 16 May 2012 14:55:55 -0700}

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