SALINAS, Calif. -- The images of caution tape, police lights and sometimes even death is a constant reminder that Salinas is no stranger to violence. Something Kathy Ballesteros has dealt with one too many times.
"There's so much violence whether its gang violence, or robberies, or armed robberies," said Ballesteros.
Ballesteros lives in the Alisal Union School District and has nieces and nephews who attend schools there. She said she was disappointed in the decision to name Tiburcio Vasquez for the district's newest school.
"It's not about culture to me what's important is the next generation. How are you influencing them?" said Ballesteros.
Central Coast News asked parents around the neighborhood where the new school is being built, and found out many parents don't even know who Tiburcio Vasquez even was.
But those who do stand by the board's decision, like Amalea Gamos, a parent in the Alisal Union School District.
"If you just focus deeper than what's out there, or what people are saying about him, because he fought a lot for this country and did so much for us," said Gamos.
But crime seems to resonate in Tiburcio's history, something Monterey County Sheriff Scott Miller finds unsettling.
"If Tiburcio was in fact a thug or murder this would, in essence, be romanticizing his name among the community, we already have an issue with romanticizing violence in the Salinas community," said Miller.
The romanticized violence that took so many away from Ballesteros' life.
