In Watsonville today my wife Sarah and I stopped in at Monterey Bay Caterers, 152 West Lake Ave. Owner Ken Schwan helped me preorder two take out dinners a few days ago—their beef Wellington and a chicken Cordon Bleu. Ken said you simply take it home, dress it with an egg wash (provided), bake it yourself for 15 minutes and you have a deluxe hot dinner at home. Besides their regular menu (including breakfast) of soups, salads, desserts and more, MBC is also offering specials five days a week for takeout. They are open M-F from 7am to 3 pm. Their menu can be viewed at www.montereybaycateres.com or you can call at 722-9444.
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I noticed several shops slowly opening up in Watsonville Thursday. Salvador Orozco, owner of ForeverFly Skate and Apparel, a skateboard and apparel shop on Main Street, said he only saw a trickling of customers since he reopened but surmised that people are simply being cautious.
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Riots continue to ravage parts of Minneapolis as protesters take their rage to the streets about the death of an African American man at the hands of several police officers. George Floyd died after a Minneapolis Police officer kneeled full weight on his neck for eight minutes after detaining him for alleged forgery. Floyd, who died in the hospital shortly afterward, can be heard on a videotape saying he couldn’t breathe during the arrest Monday. Four officers were fired after the incident. But that hardly cooled the nerves of thousands of people in numerous cities who hit the streets in powerful backlashes.
In Minneapolis, demonstrators looted and ransacked a Target store, blocked numerous streets and stormed and took over a police department and then set it ablaze. In LA rioters surrounded two CHP patrol cars and caved in windows and smashed the sides of the cars after shutting down a freeway. More fires and street closures happened in Detroit. Mixed race crowds continue to swarm downtown Minneapolis where the National Guard was eventually brought in the aid police. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has now imposed a curfew and the county prosecutor has charged officer Derek Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
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At Ramsay Park I spoke to two teen boys at the skatepark briefly Thursday. One of them initiated the conversation by saying, “What’s up gramps?” I asked them candidly how they were dealing with Covid-19 crisis. The first one said he suspected it wasn’t real and that the numbers were largely untrue. He seemed to try to get across that the country was in overreaction mode. The second youth said he was simply tired of the orders and just wanted it to go away. They both seemed upbeat, however, and then went about skating.
