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Keep it on, KION.
Allegations of sexual abuse continue to rock local Catholic churches.
Tonight, the bishop speaks out.
Speculation becomes reality as a pair of Central Coast schools are scheduled to be shut down.
We'll hear what parents and students have to say.
And plans for a new real estate development could leave some dogs and their owners with
no place to go.
KION News 46 at 630 starts now.
You're watching KION 46, your eye on the Central Coast.
Now, News Ed hits home.
KION News 46 at 630.
More problems for the Catholic Church.
Thanks for keeping it on, KION.
I'm Brian Special.
And I'm Rosalinda Roman.
The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Monterey is in Salinas tonight talking about sexual
abuse.
So far, 13 people have filed claims against the diocese saying they were sexually abused
by seven priests.
Most are said to have taken place between the 1950s and 1970s.
Tonight, Monterey Bishop Sylvester Ryan is talking to parishioners.
And Kevin Bollinger is live in Salinas at the Madonna del Saso Church with details.
Kevin.
Well, Rosalinda, this is all part of a four-day tour by Bishop Ryan.
The goal is to open up communication lines with Catholics on the Church's ongoing cases
of sexual abuse within the Church.
Tonight, the stop is in Salinas, as you said, at Madonna del Saso Church here on Laurel
and Mariel in Salinas.
Now, the focus is going to be on legal and financial impacts that all of these cases
are going to have on the Catholic Church, what it's had on it in the past and what it
will have on it in the future.
They'll also present a local report on the Church's charter for the protection of children
and young people, a pledge by bishops to prevent sexual abuse of children by all those who
minister in the name of the Church.
So we're going to be talking about the broad issues of the Church as a whole and also a
little bit here on the Monterey Diocese and what it all means to the people here locally.
Of course, the Monterey Diocese covers a broad range, Santa Cruz, San Benito, Monterey, and
San Luis Obispo counties.
Everything gets underway about 30 minutes from now.
It is open to the public, any and all who want to come down here.
Again, it's at the Madonna del Saso Church here on Laurel Avenue in Mariel.
We'll have a complete wrap up talking to the bishop and getting reaction tonight at 11
o'clock.
We're live in Salinas.
I'm Kevin Bollinger, KIOM News 46.
All right.
Thanks, Kevin.
And the Diocese of Monterey may have to start selling off its real estate holdings in order
to settle those sexual abuse lawsuits.
Just this month, the diocese paid $760,000 to settle a single case.
Money they say will come from resources that they already have.
Elizabeth Valente has that part of the story.
You're looking at over 100 properties, mostly along the coast.
This is just Monterey County.
So if you're counting San Luis Obispo and Santa Cruz, they all have gone up very, very
nicely.
It's like winning the lotto.
Monterey realtor Lawrence Samuels is amazed at just how much property the Diocese of Monterey
owns in Monterey County.
He says they could own close to $100 million worth of real estate.
Just counting just a few of them that they have prices on it, you're looking at probably
about $5 million just on four or five of them.
There's 40 on this page.
Diocese of Monterey spokesman Kevin Trabinski says a majority of the properties were donated.
Sometimes it's been purchased.
Many times it's been donated to the diocese.
And it's been held in anticipation of being able to do some expansion throughout the diocese.
Now that the diocese is defending itself against seven lawsuits relating to sexual abuse cases,
the church is considering mortgaging some of its real estate to fund settlements with
13 alleged victims.
They can land some developed property.
The difficulty in saying what decisions will be made is that we don't have dollar figures
for settlements or judgments.
That should play out in the months and perhaps years to come.
It's more than just schools and hospitals and churches that the Diocese of Monterey
might end up auctioning.
It's also homes like this one that they purchased just 17 months ago right here in Salinas.
It's only been a couple years but it's still probably went up 50, 60 thousand in just a
few years.
The diocese says with real estate going up, church and school buildings would be the last
thing on their list to sell.
We'd like to come out of this at the end of this and maintain the integrity of our parishes.
In Monterey, Elizabeth Valente, KION 46.
And the diocese fears that settling each of the remaining 13 cases could cost from three
to six million dollars each with the total bill potentially reaching 65 million dollars.
Federal agencies are hoping to catch more sex offenders through a new partnership.
Immigration and customs officers will be working with the National Center for the Missing and
Exploited Children.
It is all part of a government crackdown on child sex abuse dubbed Operation Predator.
You are looking at video there of a raid last November when agents arrested several people
across the state including at least a dozen sex offenders on the central coast.
Officers say the effort so far has led to 1700 arrests.
Santa Cruz police are warning women to be on the lookout for a man they say sexually
assaulted to other women.
Go ahead and take a good look at this.
Women reported a man who looks like this touched their breast then ran off.
Police working two separate incidents.
One happened near Walnut and Grover streets.
A second case happened near Santa Cruz High between 715 and 730 p.m.
New at 630 tonight a Santa Cruz man charged with killing a puppy with a golf club takes
the stand in his own defense.
Steven Jackson testified he was just trying to protect his three young children from the
dog who he says was constantly barking and scaring them.
This is one of the dogs right there.
This looks like the dog at least.
He says he didn't take a full swing with his golf club instead caught the puppy with his
backswing which he says surprised him.
He also says he plans to return the puppy to its owners.
Witnesses say they saw Jackson take two full swings at the dog.
The dog's skull was crushed and it had to be put to sleep.
The prosecution is expected to cross examine Jackson tomorrow.
Jackson is charged with felony animal cruelty and witness intimidation.
He faces prison time if convicted.
The Santa Cruz City School Board has made a decision to close two elementary schools
in June in a desperate attempt to balance the budget.
The board voted five to two last night to close Brant's of Forty Elementary turning
it into a base for four alternative education schools.
Natural Bridges Elementary also closing but will remain empty pending agreement on a proposal
for an alternative use.
Now Wes Sims got some reaction to all that today.
He joins us live in Santa Cruz with that part of the story.
Hey Wes.
There's been a lot of disappointment among parents here in Santa Cruz especially because
of what the district put them through just one year ago.
It was January 2003 when the Santa Cruz City Schools Board first suggested closing two
elementary schools to reverse growing deficits.
Parents fell railroaded and the district backed down proposing measure B a six point three
million dollar parcel tax that was supposed to close the gap.
Now Brant's of Forty and Natural Bridges Elementary schools are getting the X.
That irony hasn't been lost on parents.
It's just really hard to have a bond that we passed and we paid for and we went ahead
and put towards the community and it wasn't used for what they said it should have been
used for.
And the school is closing and it's another year of heartbreak.
It really is heartbreaking.
Santa Cruz voters were told last year that if they supported a parcel tax measure all
six elementary schools would stay open.
School board president tells us a lot of external forces have kept the board from keeping that
promise.
External forces like the state budget crisis that led to the gubernatorial recall election
as well as continued losses locally.
Natural Bridges Elementary principal Brenda Payne today tried to explain that to her students.
That students have left the area due to it being an expensive place for people to live,
that people have lost jobs over time, that companies have moved and that the schools
have gotten much smaller.
The principal also led students on an exercise to explore new uses for Natural Bridges.
One second grader saw this as an opportunity to solve a larger problem in Santa Cruz.
I was thinking that maybe this campus could be a homeless shelter for people who don't
have homes and I think it might make the community a better place if we had this service.
Well the school board can expect to hear a lot more creative ideas on what to do with
that school between now and June when school gets out for the summer.
Reporting live in Santa Cruz, I'm Wes Simms, KION 46.
Wes don't you think sometimes if we just turned it over to second graders the politics and
everything would just be better?
This young woman was so well spoken.
Isn't that something else?
Alright, Wes Simms reporting live.
Thanks Wes.
Principal of Brant's 40 elementary, Bessie Hamilton says three quarters of the students
at her school are below the poverty level and walk to school.
She's concerned about the district having enough money in the budget to bus them to
new schools.
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District has voted to move a bilingual program out
of Alianza School in Watsonville.
The district will move the program to another campus about five miles away and convert Alianza
to a middle school.
Many students, parents and teachers are opposed to this move because Alianza offers the only
two-way bilingual immersion program in the entire school district.
Trustees say the program would be just as successful at the other location, although
we have talked to a lot of people who say they worry that the kids that would be best
served by this are in the immediate area and don't want to have to walk or bus to another
location.
Which would seem to make sense.
Still ahead on KION, I ask you this, where will the dogs go?
Where will the dogs go?
Where will they go?
Pooch lovers on the peninsula don't need to try it.
Oh no, let them out.
Pooch lovers on the peninsula don't need to try it.
Pooch lovers on the peninsula are asking that question though as a development threatens
a dog park.
And a fire at a popular Central Coast restaurant leaves customers and the owner wondering whether
things will ever be the same again.
Keep it on KION.
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Tonight on The Late Show,
Jay's throwing stuff off the roof.
That was Jennifer Aniston and music from Ryan Adams.
Tonight on The Late Show.
An early morning fire out in a popular Santa Cruz restaurant has the owner wondering if he can rebuild.
The fire broke out at 4 o'clock this morning at Cafe Brazil on Mission Street.
Flames were shooting out of the attic roof when firefighters got to the scene.
A second alarm was called to make sure that the fire didn't spread to surrounding structures.
The owner told us that after 33 years here,
he's waiting to see how bad it is before deciding if he can rebuild.
The fire department estimates damage at $100,000.
No cause has been determined.
Dogs on the Monterey Peninsula could soon be saying goodbye to some of their freedom.
The Lynn Rip Van Winkle Dog Park on the Pacific Grove-Pebble Beach border is one of the last dog friendly parks on the Central Coast.
Owners and their animals go in there every day to socialize,
but the Pebble Beach company owns the land and is about to start developing it.
And it's like a big community, a big family.
We all know each other and each other's dogs.
It's fun.
And I'm going to really miss this if they decide to tear it down.
I know a lot of other people are too.
It's progress.
It's change.
And my dog's hearts are going to be broken.
Pebble Beach Company is talking about building 12 new employee housing units near Spanish Bay.
Pebble Beach has been planning 10 new development sites since 2001.
Updating you on a story we first brought you last night on KION about a special little puppy with special needs.
His name is Andre.
As you see him right there, you'll remember this three month old Australian cattle dog is looking for a permanent place to call home.
He was born deaf, but the Animal Friends Rescue Project has him in a foster home where he is learning hand signals for sit, lay down and stay.
The group has received a few calls from people looking to adopt Andre.
Now it'll check into the puppy's potential new owners to see where Andre will fit in best.
He'll fit in anywhere.
He will.
Well, I guess there's kind of a process to make sure that wherever he goes, he can really be patient and learn the hand signals.
And if somebody doesn't get Andre, there's plenty of more animals out there too.
So be patient.
Stay with us.
We'll have a check on the Central Coast forecast when we come back.
Meteorologist Pete Giddings in next with your eye on weather.
Keep it on.
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It's thumbs up for America's favorite film critics.
There was no reason for this film. We've seen it all before.
One of the few Hollywood programs that dares to challenge Hollywood.
And the two leads are adorable.
The movie is tiresome.
Well reasoned, thought provoking.
If you're buying it as a comedy, I guess you could buy it.
Don't agree it is a comedy.
Smart, confident.
I found a real juice and a real passion in this material.
I thought this thing was a howler.
They put the movies in focus.
Ebert and Roper.
Ebert and Roper, Saturdays at 5.30 on KION 46.
You're watching News at His Home.
KION News 46 at 6.30.
Thanks for keeping it on KION 46.
We are at 53 degrees, 86 percent humidity.
The winds from the west is 6 and the pressure is 30, 17 and steady.
Today's lows and highs, a little bit of ups and downs by a degree for most folks.
But there were two big winners and losers.
Gilroy lost five degrees and Watsonville right across the way picked up five degrees.
Somebody's got to pay the mortgage.
We went from 37s at Hollister and Carmel Valley to 62s at Watsonville and King City.
Those 60s are going to be as rare as hen's teeth tomorrow.
This 41, two degrees above the seasonal average at Santa Cruz this morning,
that was the only temperature that was above seasonal average.
Everybody else on the cool side and cool we are going to stay.
We're cool now under the double barreled high and cooler air is yet to enter into the picture.
The front itself didn't have the oomph to make it as far south as us.
It's dying as it moves to the north on the southern end.
And because of that, we'll get clouds, but we won't get rain, but we will get cool.
On the bay, westerly winds tomorrow to 10 knots, seas two feet, swells westerly three to eight feet
at 14 second intervals, about five feet a difference between your tides.
Partly cloudy tonight, northerly winds five to 10 miles an hour.
They'll go around to the west after midnight, 36 to 46 the range.
Then tomorrow, mostly cloudy, 49 to 59 with northwesterly winds from five to 15.
Picked up another minute of sunshine down the valley, 57, 58, Carmel Valley the same.
Around the water's edge, 54, big surf, 55 seaside.
Everybody else 56, 57.
And then if you go up to the higher climbs, you're going to find a 52 at Ben Lomond,
53 Felton and Scotts Valley, 54 Aptos.
And then from there, it's everybody with those 55, 56, 57, no 60s, 55 in the water.
And looking out ahead, there are the clouds for tomorrow.
Saturday and Sunday, partly cloudy.
Monday, rain.
Decent looking system.
It was the one behind the one I showed you dying.
And Tuesday, a possibility of rain, though I'm not in love with it,
so I made the icon very small.
And temperatures, once they cooled out of those 60s and 50s,
we're now in the 40s and 50s.
And it looks like we're going to stay that way for a while.
So you're saying that rain at the AT&T Pebble Beach is easier to find than hen's teeth?
Is that what you were saying?
Something like that.
Mm-hmm.
OK, good to know.
You ever find a tooth in a hen?
I'll look next time and see if I can.
OK.
They don't have it.
I hope not.
You ever tried to open the mouth of a hen?
No.
Didn't think so.
Easy, you have to chop the head off.
OK.
How you thinking?
We're starting new every night from this guy.
I tell you what, more to come here on KION 46.
Still ahead, new developments in the Michael Jackson case.
What else is new?
We'll tell you about it coming up.
That's right.
And if you are tired of shelling out the big bucks to pay for college textbooks,
you're not alone.
And there may be some help on the way.
It's next on KION 46.
What's new with you?
Maybe it's those new shoes, tip-tap toeing to the beat of your new mixer,
whipping up a new recipe that will win a new heart tonight.
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The Salinas Californian, for convenient home delivery, call 758-2000 today.
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You're watching News at His Home, KION News 46 at 630.
College and university students in California are being gouged by textbook publishers.
At least that is the charge leveled across the state today by CalPURG.
That's the California Public Institute Interest Research Group, rather.
Representatives from CalPURG presented their case today at UC Santa Cruz,
suggesting that textbooks are rendered obsolete prematurely.
They claim students are forced to purchase new books costing well over $100 when an
online update would allow them to buy used books costing much less.
And it is not the university's fault.
Well, not necessarily with the university, but the publishing industry.
How they use gimmicks to inflate the prices of textbooks.
For example, we have a textbook over there.
It's the Calculus Edition 5 versus the Calculus Edition 4.
The most significant change that we found in the Calculus Edition 5 was that there were
new math problems that were added.
CD-ROMs were also added, raising the price of the book to $135.
An assembly member from Southern California plans to introduce legislation to encourage publishers
to keep textbooks on the market longer by providing paper or online supplement
instead of producing new textbooks.
Students at Foothill Elementary School in Monterey are jumping for health.
Check this out.
The kids collected pledges for the American Heart Association today.
The students were assigned to groups, then took turns jumping to their favorite tunes.
Each child jumping one minute, then resting for three.
The event helps those with heart problems and teaches the kids the importance of exercise.
That'll make you tired after not too long, that's for sure.
Well, the t-shirts and pajamas are meant to be funny, but they are stirring up a lot of controversy.
One of the products in question is this t-shirt you see right here.
As you can see, it says, boys are stupid, throw rocks at them.
The girls' clothing and accessories are made by a company in Florida.
Some protesters are angry, saying the themes are anti-male, and they want them pulled off the shelves.
At least three retail chains, including Claire's and Tilly's,
say they will no longer carry that merchandise.
I don't get it. What's wrong with that?
I didn't think you would have a problem with that, I don't know why.
Especially if the boy is Brian.
Yeah. You should see us after the show.
All right, well, your eye on the West is coming up next.
Did Michael Jackson use pills and booze to lure young boys into his bed?
Well, check that out. Details coming up.
Plus, the mayor of San Jose suffers a stroke in the middle of his State of the City address.
We'll show it to you next on KION 46. Stay with us.
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You're watching News at His Home, KION News 46 at 6.30.
Your eye on the West tonight. San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzalez in fair condition after suffering a minor stroke last night during his State of the City address.
Excuse me.
Hey, Gonzalez apparently suffering the stroke about halfway through the speech.
Shortly after, a woman took the podium saying the rest of the program was canceled.
The mayor underwent an MRI and an angiogram at the hospital.
Aids to Gonzalez say he had been in good health right up until the stroke.
Michael Jackson reportedly served soda cans filled with wine to young boys he wanted to seduce.
Vanity Fair Magazine says the singer called the white wine Jesus Juice and the red wine Jesus Blood.
In the same article, Jackson's former financial advisor says the pop star's ex-wife threatened to go public with his secrets unless he paid her at least $8 million.
Debbie Rowe was the surrogate mother of two of Jackson's children but was not their biological mother.
The advisor also says Jackson has been in and out of rehab for an addiction to Demerol and morphine.
The latest time being in 1999.
The story is never going to go away is it?
Keep it on KION. More news after the break with Rosalinda and Alan Barton.
And the seven o'clock news that's next on KION.