Center Dedicated to Fallen Patrolman

The men, women and children of Cabrillo Village gathered Saturday morning to dedicate a new resource center to CHP Officer Saul Martinez, a local hero who lost his life saving a fellow officer two months ago.

Elderly men in cowboy hats leaned against the walls of the small compound, women held small children and young girls in long, ruffled dresses raised their heels and skirts to dance a folk dance in memory of the 39-year-old officer.

Martinez, the father of three, died in May, a week after he pushed partner Donovan Rice to safety and left himself in the path of an oncoming car on a pitch-black desert highway.

Martinez, who was born in Mexico, worked for 10 years with the United Farm Workers and marched with Cesar Chavez. He spent seven years as a CHP officer in Indio, where he spoke regularly on El Protector, the CHP’s Spanish-language radio program, and was named Latino officer of the year. And he was studying to become a deacon in the Catholic Church, said his brother, Able. Gov. Pete Wilson awarded him the state Medal of Valor in May, after he was fatally injured.

His death shook his fellow officers in Indio, where he lived and worked. But even more, it devastated family and friends in Cabrillo Village, the small east Ventura community where he grew up.

“Saul Martinez grew up in this neighborhood and through his work . . . he sought to bring the social change that was needed,” Cabrillo resident Donna Lee Ibarra said in her dedication speech. “He touched all he met and left a lasting impression. . . . Saul Martinez represents what the people in Cabrillo Village are like.”

For two weeks, several of his brothers and other residents worked to paint the small resource center building, put up new fencing and plant flowers in the sideyard.

Friday night, three volunteers slept in the freshly painted building to make sure gang members did not spray it with graffiti.

A host of officials turned out for the dedication ceremony, including a dozen uniformed CHP officers, a dozen Ventura police officers, UFW President Arturo Rodriguez and Ventura County Supervisor Susan Lacey.

More than a dozen members of Martinez’s family--including his wife, Remedios, and their children, who drove up from Indio--sat in the front row for the dedication.

The resource center, at 1515 S. Saticoy, is staffed by volunteers. It provides information about domestic violence programs and military recruiting and offers police officers a place to sit down and make phone calls.

The dedication was followed by an all-day fiesta in Cabrillo Park.