Assistant Operations Chief Michael Galvan of the San Benito Police Department is pictured collecting a hypodermic needle from the third floor roof of the Stonewall Jackson Hotel on Friday. A gap large enough to see inside an apartment at the hotel and open windows leading to a fire escape are also shown. (Staff photos by Heather C. Cox)
By HEATHER C. COX
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
After a fire on August 27 that led inspectors to numerous code violations at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel, for which the City of San Benito fire and code enforcement departments responded by way of a “Notice to Vacate Premises” letter to tenants, a buzz has been swarming. And there doesn’t appear to be much of a shortage on people’s opinions or public documents regarding the hotel’s current state.
Armed with a camera and police escorts, the San Benito News entered the hotel on Friday, September 14, after a tour of the building had been cut short the day prior.
“They look like bonsai trees, or weird leaves,” noted News Managing Editor Michael Rodriguez and San Benito Police Department Assistant Operations Chief Michael Galvan, while looking outside of a second floor window at the once-majestic Stonewall Jackson Hotel. They weren’t discussing plants on the ground, either. These unidentified plants are growing on the roof of the building, which is also coated in layers of filth, debris, shards of broken glass and drug paraphernalia such as a used hypodermic needle.
Galvan exited through a broken window, walked past a dilapidated fire escape, and retrieved the needle. “I can’t leave this here,” Galvan said.
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