KRKC COUNTRY

AAA will be offering Tipsy Tow service for people ringing in the new year on December 31 from 6 pm through 6 am on January 1. The purpose of the service is to educate the public about the dangers of impaired driving and reduce traffic-related crashes and injuries. Tipsy Tow provides a free ride home and vehicle tow of up to 10 miles for any driver, not just for AAA Members. For mileage beyond this, motorists will be charged a standard towing rate. Drivers, potential passengers, party hosts, bartenders, restaurant managers or anyone who wants to ensure a safe ride home for an intoxicated motorist may contact AAA for this service. Pete's Towing will provide this AAA service for people in King City and Greenfield, while Pete's 76 will be offering this service if you're going to be in Soledad or Gonzales. Services will not be provided to motorists requesting a tow to another drinking establishment, repair facility or any other location other than their home or a hotel if the ...

A man who who escaped San Quentin State Prison was arrested in Paso Robles Saturday afternoon, December 29 after 3 days on the run. 21-year-old Shalom Mendoza, was taken into custody without incident at 12:30 pm at a Taco Bell in Paso Robles. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation stated that someone contacted them to say that they recognized Mendoza who was reported missing during an institutional count at around Wednesday night, December 26 at arounf 9:35 pm. Mendoza was assigned to work outside the secured perimeter of the prison before he ran off. CDCR says during his 3 day escape on the run, he is suspected of stealing a car in a Home Depot parking lot in the San Rafael area. The car, a Toyota RAV4, was found abandoned off the 101 Freeway north of Paso Robles on Friday, December 28. Mendoza was transported to Salinas Valley State Prison in Soledad and his case will be referred to the Marin County District Attorney’s Office for consideration of escape charges and...

37-year-old Emmanuel Rodriguez of King City who has Down Syndrome was recently awarded a settlement of $6 million after his Mom and caretaker Martha Rodriguez  was struck and killed by a local ag company truck driver, Carlos Perez Jr. on November 15, 2015. Perez Jr. was the driver working for Rio Farms at the time of the accident that occurred when Martha Rodriguez was walking across 3rd Street in King City. Weeks before the trial, National Agribusiness, the Insurance company for Rio Farms, offered the $6 million settlement to Emmanuel Rodriguez which included $2 million in wrongful death damages.

On Saturday night, December 29, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) Monterey Area will conduct a sobriety checkpoint somewhere within the unincorporated area of Monterey County. All too often members of our community are senselessly injured or killed on local roadways by intoxicated drivers.  The goal of the CHP is to ensure the safe passage of each and every motorist by targeting roads where there is a high frequency of intoxicated drivers.  A sobriety checkpoint is a proven effective tool for achieving this goal and is designed to augment existing patrol operations.  By publicizing our efforts we believe we can deter motorists from drinking and/or driving.  Traffic volume permitting, all vehicles will be checked for drivers who are under the influence of alcohol/drugs.  Our objective is to send a clear message to those individuals that consider mixing alcohol and/or drugs. Historically, DUI related collisions have accounted for nearly one third of all fata...

A man from Central Valley is in jail for molesting his 15-year-old cousin on Christmas night, December 25 at the victim's family home located at La Colina Street in Soledad. Suspect, Jacob Anthony Mendez was in the area for the holidays and the 15-year-old boy told his relatives that Mendez molested him. The boy's relatives ended up contacting the police. Mendez was arrested and booked into Monterey County Jail.

A power outage occurred in King City and some of the surrounding areas of Pine Canyon, San Lucas, Lonoak and Priest Valley late Thursday morning, December 27 sometime after 11:40 am and lasted until sometime after 2 pm. KRKC and KC102 Radio stations were affected by this outage for over an hour. PG&E Spokesperson Myra Tostado said that the outages impacted approximately 5,000 customers, while 3 crews were dispatched to the field and 8 employees investigated determining that equipment failure caused the outage. Tostado stated that this outage is different then the previous 2 power outages that have taken place within the last few weeks in King City because of how the 2 previous outages were caused by the weather.

 Mesa Del Sol Wine Cellar had 2 pieces of good news for the month of December: the winery learned that the Department of the Treasury agreed to expand the Arroyo Seco viticulture area to include Mesa Del Sol, and the winery has been selected for the 2018 Best of Greenfield Award in the Wines category by the Greenfield Award Program. Ann Hougham, owner of Mesa Del Sol Vineyards had originally petitioned the United States Alcohol and Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a division of the Department of the Treasury, to include the winery in the Arroyo Seco American Viticultural Area (AVA). She had initially thought that the winery was part of the Arroyo Seco AVA, but discovered it was not, so she couldn’t use that designation on her wines. So she petitioned the TTB to include it starting in 2014. The process was long and arduous, but in December of 2016 she was informed her petition was sitting on the agency director’s desk, ready to be signed off and head to a 90-day public comment p...