San Juan Bautista

A shallow magnitude 3.0 earthquake was reported Friday evening one mile from San Juan Bautista, California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 10:01 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 4.3 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was six miles from Prunedale, California, nine miles from Hollister, California, 11 miles from Salinas, California and 120 miles from Sacramento, California. In the past ten days, there have been no earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby.

A shallow magnitude 3.0 earthquake was reported Friday evening one mile from San Juan Bautista, California, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 10:01 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 4.3 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was six miles from Prunedale, California, nine miles from Hollister, California, 11 miles from Salinas, California and 120 miles from Sacramento, California. In the past ten days, there have been no earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby.

Visitors strolling down 3rd Street here often wonder why a long seat belt is attached to the old wooden bench in front of John Cravea's clothing store. "That's to keep us old-timers from falling off," said a man, laughing. He sits there every day to exchange stories and keep an eye on the passing scene. Local folks have dubbed it the Liars' Bench. Such a relaxed and friendly flavor is just one of the reasons for detouring from the busy U.S.

Reporting from San Juan Bautista, Calif. -- On the darkest day of the year, a hushed crowd in a dim church awaited a few minutes of sheer brilliance. It was just after dawn Wednesday, the day of the winter solstice. Outside the 200-year-old mission at the heart of tiny San Juan Bautista, Native American drummers sang, urging the sun to rise. Inside, dozens of parishioners rubbed the sleep from their eyes. A woman stood up and sang in cadences haunting and solemn — phrases in no known tongue, she said, but "the language of the heart.

One day a year, the Cabrillo Music Festival brings the classical muse to this little fork in the road, 13 miles east of Watsonville. In 1989, that day was Sunday and in two concerts Mission San Juan reverberated with music by Corelli, Frigyes Hidas, Olly Wilson and Mahler. Anyone who has suffered through concerts at Carmel Mission, or the Mission at San Luis Obispo, needn't bother to attend any here.

A moderate earthquake shook the Santa Cruz Mountains, but no injuries or major damage were reported. The U.S. Geological Survey reported that the temblor measured magnitude 4.3 and was centered near San Juan Bautista, 75 miles southeast of San Francisco. "It was just enough to rattle things and make the pots swing," said Linda Parker, a clerk with the Salinas Police Department. The temblor served as another reminder for Northern California residents of the deadly Oct.

In an attempt to quell a rising budget deficit, the rustic mission town of San Juan Bautista has fired all 12 of its employees. "It's not fiscally responsible to be spending money we don't have," Mayor Steve Hambacher said Friday. The employees--including the librarian, the public works official, and the three officers making up the Police Department--were laid off this week. Many town services will be performed by contractors and volunteers.

The police chief is gone. So are the police. And so are all the other employees of this small Spanish mission town nestled in the rolling hills an hour's drive south of San Jose. Since the Public Works Department shut down, volunteer Fire Chief Rick Cokley does the yardwork around his two-engine firehouse. Volunteers run City Hall. A contractor picks up garbage.

IT'S A REAL joy to tell you about the Enz Vineyards, virtually hidden in San Benito County, not far from Hollister and the restored Mission San Juan Bautista. If you're planning a drive north to San Francisco and can afford the leisure of a detour off that speedway 101, the mission, surrounded by antique shops and inviting small cafes, will more than reward you. From the town of San Juan Bautista, a country road winds upward through a long valley between the Diablo and Gavilan mountain ranges.

In this mission town rich with California lore and tales of old-time gunfights, some people are taking their ties to the Wild West a little too seriously. In the last year, local politics have taken on the look of a barroom brawl. Three City Council members have been ousted in a recall. The San Benito County district attorney recently won a conviction of the town's police chief, and plans to prosecute the city engineer next month.

I really enjoyed Geoff Boucher's piece on the trip to the missions ["Mission Project: Not Bad, Dad," March 16]. Over the years I have been to many of them from Sonoma to San Diego. La Purisima has always been my favorite, followed by San Juan Bautista. Jerry West Gold River, Canada

If you're a chicken, this picturesque little burg is close to paradise. You and a few hundred pals have the run of downtown, strutting down sidewalks and across streets without fear of winding up fricasseed. Kindly locals buy sacks of feed for you, diners at outdoor restaurants throw scraps to you and camera-toting tourists ooh-and-aah all over you.

Public health officials have suspected for weeks that a hepatitis A outbreak among 19 workers on a San Marino movie set might be linked to lettuce that came from a prominent Northern California grower. But a contractor for the San Benito County company, Pride of San Juan, said this week that it had never been notified of the outbreak, let alone investigated as a possible source of tainted produce.

Her face as dark and furrowed as a walnut, her body bent from 80 years of hard work, the old woman leaned in close to her visitors and told them why it's always a mixed blessing when her grandson and his family arrive from Los Angeles. "Yes, I'm happy when they come back," said Guadalupe Mendoza, the matriarch of a clan that spans two emotionally intertwined but distant worlds. "But I'm sad when they leave again."

Pay a visit to this hilltop farm town with the pretty little church in the plaza, a state official had suggested, and I would discover something was missing. Half the population. Where'd they go? I asked. Los Angeles, he said. I figured he was exaggerating. He wasn't. "Si, un mitad," said the first person I met in San Juan's quiet, nearly evacuated central plaza. Yes, one half. The official population of San Juan, four hours south of Mexico City, is 6,000.

The police chief is gone. So are the police. And so are all the other employees of this small Spanish mission town nestled in the rolling hills an hour's drive south of San Jose. Since the Public Works Department shut down, volunteer Fire Chief Rick Cokley does the yardwork around his two-engine firehouse. Volunteers run City Hall. A contractor picks up garbage.

Lonny Hurlbut, the police chief of the small mission town of San Juan Bautista who covers his beat on horseback and packs a six-shooter, said he's fed up with battling city officials and is turning in his tin star. Hurlbut, 51, blamed City Administrator Onofre Contreras with forcing him to resign as the head lawman in San Juan Bautista, 20 miles east of Monterey. Hurlbut was suspended two months ago for failing to break up a barroom brawl.

In an attempt to quell a rising budget deficit, the rustic mission town of San Juan Bautista has fired all 12 of its employees. "It's not fiscally responsible to be spending money we don't have," Mayor Steve Hambacher said Friday. The employees--including the librarian, the public works official, and the three officers making up the Police Department--were laid off this week. Many town services will be performed by contractors and volunteers.