Today’s meeting was an exciting mix of history, Rotary, and good literature. Mike Wallace from the Watsonville Rotary Club addressed the club, sharing the early ribald history of “Sin City” … aka Watsonville! The rest, as they say, is history … and worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.
In 1956 the Watsonville Register-Pajaronian won the Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for an investigative series by photographer Sam Vestal, working under the leadership of its longtime editor Frank Orr and with assistance of Watsonville Police Chief Frank Osmer. These revelations led to the resignation of Santa Cruz County District Attorney Charles Moore, and the arrest and conviction of one of his associates.
The story is a classic!
