Jennifer Squires, Patch Staff

Jennifer Squires has lived in Santa Cruz County for more than seven years. An Oregon native, she studied journalism, Spanish and ethics at Southern Oregon University. She's worked for several small, community newspapers and also was editor of the SOU weekly newspaper for two years. Most recently, she was the crime reporter at the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Along the way, she's won awards for reporting on schools, wildfires and a grisly tale about the beheading of an Abraham Lincoln statue in a city park.

My Beliefs

At Patch, we promise always to report the facts as objectively as possible and otherwise adhere to the principles of good journalism. However, we also acknowledge that true impartiality is impossible because human beings have beliefs. So in the spirit of simple honesty, our policy is to encourage our editors to reveal their beliefs to the extent they feel comfortable. This disclosure is not a license for you to inject your beliefs into stories or to dictate coverage according to them. In fact, the intent is the opposite: we hope that the knowledge that your beliefs are on the record will cause you to be ever mindful to write, report and edit in a fair, balanced way. And if you ever see evidence that we failed in this mission, please let us know.

Politics

I am my father's daughter and, therefore, a registered Democrat. But I respect a wide range of views and hope that our elected leaders can find a balance between what's best for personal liberty, living-wage jobs and environmental sustainability.

Religion

I was baptized in an Episcopal church before I could walk but don't consider myself religious.