Election eve in Riverside
----State Senator Eric Adams to New York Times
The annual Riverside Neighborhood Conference took place at California Baptist University.
People attended the free event to participate in workshops and learn more about city departments.
The city council in Riverside still plans to meet on June 2, the deadline for the ballots that are being cast through mail in the city council elections but the meeting begins at 3 p.m. and this agenda is much abbreviated, highlighted mainly by this budget workshop. But it's likely to be a brief meeting so that the elected officials can run off to various campaign parties that are being held all over the city. It's not clear how long it will take for all the vote gathered to be counted in order to declare winners in each ward that's up for reelection this year. One thing that might separate this preliminary round from its predecessor in 2007 is that it might be the final round for all three of the wards.
If you recall, the mailin elections for four wards in June 2007 led to four runoff finals to be held at a polling site near you later on that year in November. That's not likely to happen this time around. What's expected to happen instead is that there will be three winners who will be elected to serve on the city council.
Ward Two Councilman Andrew Melendrez is heavily favored to win his ward. His biggest rival four years ago, Ruben Rasso, is running on a shoe string campaign this time around. Ward Six incumbent, Nancy Hart is not expected to have a difficult time defeating her rivals either, both of whom are running grass-roots campaigns that haven't picked up much momentum. In fact, the election buzz in that ward has been kind of quiet.
The most competitive and certainly most publicized election race has been in the city's largest ward, Ward Four, where incumbent Frank Schiavone and challenger Paul Davis have both waged aggressive campaigns and each one's camp is confident of victory. Who will win and what the margin will be is unknown at this point but subject to much speculation.
At any rate, it's been a long election season and it's finally nearing its end at least for the short duration but most likely, all three races will be decided.
Then there will be a few months of relative quiet and then comes the mayor's election in the autumn.
And of course, there will be election results posted here as soon as they come in. Blogging's been interesting as it is in the case of most city elections although it's nice to see that this one has finally ended on one level because of the harassment that's taken place online since I started blogging on it several months ago.
I should have known what it was going to be like when I started blogging after having experienced how rough blogging was during the Riverside County Supervisor race last year between incumbent Bob Buster and Schiavone. Back then, Schiavone's supporters weren't any more secure about their candidate than they were this time around. Unlike last year, he could win this round but you'd never guess whether or not his campaign network and supporters believed that were the case based on some of the strange online behavior from some anonymous people who claim to support his candidacy.
It started off in the end of January before the filing deadline had even approached. This post was written but did it discuss civic platforms or politics? No, it discussed of all things, my breasts.
(excerpt, Craigslist)
Whats the matter. Mary can dish it out but she cant take an itty bitty (oh there i go again) criticism? Lets see how strong she really is and lets see howlong this one stays up. Really liked the suggestion that cup sizes be added to the save riverside poll.
When it comes to one of our favorite shriekers, FBM, we already know that she doesn't waste the time or effort trying to restrain those little lumps. Yup, they're out there for anyone to see if they have keen eyesight cuz their so small. But theyve been more noticeable on recent cold days. Just a bit too nippie, huh, Mary? Yuck i think Ive made myself want to barf.
It continued onward but this jewel marked the trend of increasingly nasty posts that were to come. And the irony of this posting is that it's written by someone who was once quite vocally anti-cop. But then last year, he endorsed Buster against Schiavone in the supervisor's race. Oh never mind. Some people change those like they change hats.
(excerpt)
Initial poster how correct you are about FBM, but didn't you know that FBM know's everything and is never wrong about anything.
I'll even bet that FBM had multiple orgasms over the 4 Oakland cops that were killed by a parolee.
Was that story even covered on the FBM blog ?
Another then-anonymous poster showed up not long after to cheer this charmer on.
(excerpt)
Yep! FBM has no concern for all of the cops that give their lives in the line of duty. Nope, her concern is for the predatory criminals that cause so much pain and misery onto law abiding citizens. Idea, how about blogging about the cops that are fatally killed in the line of duty on a weekly basis. Not FBM's concern, FBM would rather blog about the criminal that happened to be shot or assaulted during the commission of a crime. This is what gets FBM off. Let her do her thang though, most know that FBM's missing a few marbles upstairs. A real 5150.
This person too had ample opportunity and a venue to blog about the deaths of the four Oakland Police Department officers in a tragic shooting but instead pimped them to harass me. How sad is that? But then comes this one.
FBM probably dreaming that the RPD would pull FBM over and ask FBM to submit to a full search and seizure.
nite nite! : )
It's not that I haven't had police officers write harassing messages before on my blog and as it turns out, the majority of those posts were apparently written by employees that I either hadn't met and one I hadn't even heard of before. So I'm used to these kind of comments whoever is writing them.
On March 24, somebody left this interesting narrative of what happened involving the Riverside Police Officers' Association's endorsement process surrounding the Ward Four Election race.
(excerpt)
Ward 4 City Council candidate Paul Davis who was dishonorably discharged from the Riverside Police Department after only 5 1/2 months on the job as trainee is doing everything he can to keep his personnel file from going public.
Davis today threatened the Riverside Police Officers Association with a lawsuit should they release any documents from his file.
A few weeks ago, Davis while seeking the endorsement of the Riverside Police Officers Association agreed to waive the confidentiality of his file to allow the directors of the RPOA to review his service record.
After granting this waiver and interviewing with the RPOA, the Association unanimously voted to support Frank Schiavone for re-election.
We are left to wonder what the Riverside Police Officers on the RPOA Board saw in the file that made them all decide to go against Davis, even after they had already contributed to his campaign.
Sadly, the voters may never know since Davis had his attorney send them a letter rescinding his confidentiality waiver and threatening to sue any of them that reveal what they read in the file.
This sort of conduct is not what we should expect from a person who wants to represent us. This is is the behavior of a power hungry man who wants to hide his past from the people so he can trick them out of their votes by pretending he was once a cop, when in fact he washed out as a trainee.
Another irony is that Davis is campaigning on bringing more openness and transparency to government, but he refuses to be open and transparent about his failures as a police officer trainee.
Hopefully the court will unseal his file on Thursday morning and we can all find out the truth about Paul Davis, and whether or not the rumors about his emotional and mental instability are true or not.
What they don't mention is how much internal upheaval that process, both in general and specifically, caused within the RPOA's Political Action Committee with at least two of its members resigning from the committee and/or board of directors.
Anyway, the highlights continue when not-so-anonymous continues his blathering, doing what he usually does and that's waiting until someone else writes something nasty first and then picking up his pom poms. He's easy to spot. Look for four things, the extra spaces that he puts in his sentences, his sentence structure, his use of contractions and his yen for writing about sexual content. Again, this was the guy who used to dislike cops before he wanted to be one and endorsed against Schiavone offline while apparently stumping for him this time around online.
(excerpt)
FBM Mary,
First of all, I do not know what you are rambling about as I have never met nor communicated with you before. The information I know about you has been posted on your blog and various other websites. Based on that, the opinions that you present on your blog sound disturbing. A continuous theme on your blog is that you constantly claim to be a victim of harrassment. I then must contend that you do not know what harrassment is. Stop being a victim of your own self-righteousness. Most disturbing is when you accuse councilman Frank Schiavone as being " sexist " for a comment that may be construed as disrespectful at worst, but not sexist. Sounds as if paranoia has caught up with you. May I suggest that you get a life, as you seem to have way too much time on your hands belittling public officials.
" anonymous "
Here's a gem from April 24.
(excerpt)
Yes I agree. FBM Mary is proving to all of us that she can be as ugly on the inside as she is on the outside.
FBM Mary is a very bitter person at that. But hey, wouldn't you also be bitter if you had no talent whatsoever, and no respectable local newspaper would hire you as a reputable reporter.
Most people might want to keep that ugliness inside hidden to thyself, but not FBM, she has a vengeance for anyone who dares cross her.
During this election year, FBM is currently targeting the incumbents (Frank Schiavone and Nancy Hart) that don't agree with her politics.
Oh but FBM will not target her Ward 2 Councilman Andy Melendrez despite his voting against Chinatown (one of FBM's causes).
FBM Mary thinks that we do not want her to blog, that is not the case, blogging allows FBM to express the rage within herself so as not to go postal upon innocent citizens. Although that does happen if you've seen her at council meetings.
Yes, blogging, medication and lots of walking is the prescription for this overzealous and angry feminist.
Here's one from April 21 that struck some interest because of something that had happened a week earlier.
(excerpt)
You're welcome. I might agree with you.
But you know you are going to get a smart ass comment to your comments. It usually will reiterate the victimization of saps who chose to not wear undergarments and orgasms and don't shower and such. She likes those analogies and defends those people (since she is one of them) to no end.
I don't know where you get the weak father figure and not popular with boys in school - but it's good foddar!
As to where she's from - my best guess is Colorado, St. Scholastica Academy in Canon City, CO to be exact. (Reunion.com or was it classmates.com says our journalist for Black Voice is from there - and that's our Mary).
As far as how she makes a living. . . . who knows. I'm guessing it's selling her crap to newspapers, particularly the Black Voice.
Why did she leave? Only Mary knows.
Her obsessions with cops and everyone else - use your imagination!
This one struck me as interesting because about a week or so earlier, I received an email notifying me that a person had signed my guest book at Classmates.com. This was what was listed in my Guestbook.
(excerpt)
Guestbook
Back to Profile Home Page »
Mary, you have 8 signatures in your guestbook.
Signatures Community Actions
Mike Eveland
Apr 8 2009
Robert A. Millikan High School Add to friends
Add to bookmarks
Remove
Leyden Hahn
Dec 30 2008
Colorado Northwestern Community College Add to friends
Add to bookmarks
Remove
Patricia Morris
Mar 1 2008
St. Scholastica Academy
What was interesting about this is that the city of Riverside employed a "Mike Eveland" until last year as a police officer.
Whether this is the same individual or this is just a coincidence, is not known. Because after all, there are probably a few men with that name who are currently in their early to mid-fifties. Just one of those unsolved mysteries but information from that profile began showing up on Craiglist on around April 8 including my incorrect age, incorrect perhaps because most people assume that all people graduate from high school at the age of 17.
And it's interesting to see information displayed on Craigslist from my Classmates.com profile within a week or so of having someone sign the guestbook. But then again, you never know. Just another strange event during Election 2009.
April 8 gave birth to this posting which generated more of its kind as anonymous posters tried to figure out which other uppity woman to place in the fifth position
(excerpt)
Craigslist readers probably know about the "dirty dozen", that rag-tag group of self-proclaimed "activists" that rally together every Tuesday night with pitchforks and torches ready to spew their hatred? Well, some of us feel (we've been talking on the streets too) there should be a top five list. Top ten won't work because that would leave just two not being recognized and that just wouldn't be fair.
These would be the top five individuals, well, let's just call them the "filthy five". You know, the cream of the crop of "activists". Wait, cream of the crop isn't necessarily the correct word - more like the curds and whey. You know the yucky stuff!
I nominate:
1. Mary Shelton
2. Karen Wright
3. Yolanda Garland
4. Jim Martin
5. ...................I'm having a hard time with this one.
Who has a suggestion for #5?
Including this followup.
(excerpt)
Mrs. Buster was a name thrown around for #5. The trouble was, we didn't know what to call her. Sometimes she's Mary Humbolt, sometimes she's Mary Buster. Maybe we should just call her Sybill because she seems to have multiple personalities.
Oh and of course I agree with yout about the infamous FBM author Mary. You did notice she was #1. Really, if she can afford the internet, she can afford a bra! But then not wearing a bra certainly does draw attention to oneself
And these highlights were all before the election campaign entered into the home stretch in May. Compared to that month, the preceding months were these anonymous folks getting started.
Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein takes a closer look at the county grand jury's report on the Riverside County District Attorney's office.
(excerpt)
When I read the words "grand jury report," I just expect more. An appendix, not an appendectomy. (Even the jury's report on the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District consumed four pages!)
Though the "sworn witnesses" weren't identified, the report could have been much more helpful in laying out what happens when deputy DAs dash to their supervisors (who in turn run to their supervisors) to get "approval for everything."
How much more time and expense does this add to a buckling system?
Exactly how does this affect the rate at which cases slog through the pipeline? This is oversight.
Same with the DA's Executive Division. The grand jury says abolish it, which is what a lot of people say. The grand jury says it "replicates duties performed by existing staff." Fine. Where's the duplication? And how much does this half-million-dollar division really cost? I've been told it's closer to a million.
If I were handing out grand jury grades, this report would get an "Incomplete." "See Me," I'd scribble.
These days, I guess you even have to offer grand juries extra credit before they show their work.
Bernstein's colleague, Cassie MacDuff takes on the scandal involving former San Bernardino County Assessor Bill Postmus.
(excerpt)
When I spoke to Ovitt by phone Thursday, the newly appointed chairman said the lack of specificity may have been deliberate, based on a lawyer's advice. After all, the DA has an open investigation, so Postmus isn't off the hook. Postmus' spokesman Ted Lehrer, however, told me that he and Postmus wrote the speech. No lawyer vetted it, Lehrer said.
So now that Postmus has apologized, does the board drop removal proceedings? Cost concerns dictate that it be seriously considered. (County Counsel Ruth Stringer has said it will cost up to $1
million and could take up to two years.)
Postmus promised in his speech that he won't run for re-election in 2010. Should the board take his word for it? Or should it continue removal proceedings to keep his feet to the fire and make sure he doesn't break that promise? On Jan. 27, the board will discuss all of those options. It will do so in public, Ovitt said.
Score one for open government.
The Press Enterprise Editorial Board urged a recently arrested councilman in Rancho Cucamonga to resign.
(excerpt)
The councilman's arrest, and the nature of the charges against him, will cast a cloud of suspicion over every decision he makes on the City Council. The Hueston report and the district attorney's filing paint Gutierrez as someone selfishly concerned with his own welfare, regardless of the consequences to the public pocketbook. And a councilman accused of theft from the public can no longer credibly oversee the use of taxpayer money.
Yes, people accused of crimes are entitled to the presumption of innocence. But holding elected office requires a higher standard than merely not being convicted. Public perceptions matter in government, and Gutierrez will only damage the city's reputation by clinging to office.
He should leave, now.
Later, the Editorial Board asked itself, is San Bernardino County in the midst of a pervasive scandal?
As it cuts its services and raises its fairs, will the Riverside Transit Agency be seeking federal monies?
Policing While Black or Friendly Fire?
A New York City Police Department officer shot another one to death mistaking him for a criminal. This shooting has attracted a lot of national attention but it's not uncommon for Black law enforcement officers to be shot and killed by White police officers in the same department. Other disturbing incidents have taken place involving police departments from Oakland to Providence. Omar J. Edwards, 25, died of injuries suffered from a single gunshot wound to his back.
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
The city cop who fatally shot an off-duty officer in East Harlem was identified Friday as a 30-year-old Long Islander who has been on the job 4 1/2 years, sources said.
Officer Andrew Dunton is based at the 25th Precinct in Manhattan and - at the request of the district attorney's office - has not been questioned about the killing of rookie cop Omar Edwards.
Mayor Bloomberg said detectives were reviewing security tapes and questioning the suspected thief Edwards was chasing - with gun drawn - when he was shot and killed.
"The only thing that can come out of this is to improve procedures so perhaps it doesn't happen again," Bloomberg said.
"We all know policing is a dangerous job and accidents happen when people have guns in their hands, even legal guns in this case which they are authorized and trained to use."
Further investigation of the tragic incident will be done, with some asking for probes to be initiated from outside agencies.
(excerpt, New York Times)
The shooting has once again raised questions about departmental procedures involving communications among plainclothes officers — particularly those in different units — as well as issues of race.
Officer Edwards was black, and Officer Dunton is white.
The Rev. Al Sharpton said on Friday that he was “concerned of a growing pattern of black officers being killed with the assumption that they are the criminals.”
“This calls for federal investigation and intervention to sort out the facts and bring about a just resolve,” Mr. Sharpton said. “Can police investigate themselves fairly and impartially? It would seem very difficult at best and unlikely in fact.”
Mayor Bloomberg said on his morning radio show that investigators were reviewing security tapes of the shooting, which he maintained was not deliberate, and interviewing witnesses. Investigators were also questioning the man Officer Edwards had been chasing.
"The only thing that can come out of this is to improve procedures so perhaps it doesn’t happen again," the mayor said. "We all know policing is a dangerous job and accidents happen when people have guns in their hands, even legal guns in this case which they are authorized and trained to use."
He added: “It’s easy for people to say, ‘oh, you know, how can this happen,’ but when the adrenaline is running, and you don’t know where the bullets are coming from, and you don’t know who that person is on the other side of the street, it’s easy to second guess. That’s why they are trained. Can you ever do enough training? I suppose not.”
But this incident reminds me of a question that was asked to newer officers who were undergoing cultural diversity training. They were shown two separate pictures. One depicting a White man pointing a gun at a Black man and the other showing a Black man pointing a gun at a white man. Then they were asked to interpret what each picture showed, meaning what they believed was taking place.
The answer is, that without further information and observation, there's no way to tell what's going on except what the pictures show. But they show what's happening, not why. Studies showed that officers were more likely to believe that the first picture represented a White male police officer apprehending a Black criminal whereas the second picture depicted a Black man robbing a White man at gunpoint. It's not difficult to see one of the tragic outcomes that can arise from that kind of "profiling" based on race.
Cops firing on Cops: A Troubling History
(excerpt, New York Times blog)
Many of the city’s own guidelines for preventing such episodes came about after the 1972 shooting death of a black undercover police detective, William Capers, by a white patrolman.
Although such cases have been relatively rare, they have attracted great scrutiny in recent years.
In November 1992, a black undercover police officer, Derwin Pannell, was trying to arrest a fare beater when he was mistaken for a mugger and shot by white fellow officers outside a subway station in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Police officials initially said the episode, involving an inadvertent encounter between two teams of plainclothes police officers, was not about race.
Officer Pannell said his fellow officers opened fire without warning. A grand jury declined to charge two officers in Officer Pannell’s shooting, and Officer Pannell himself said that any criminal charges would have deflected attention from what he believed to be the core of the problem: inadequate training.
In August 1994, a black plainclothes transit police officer, Desmond Robinson, was shot and wounded by a white officer, Peter Del-Debbio, on a crowded East Side subway platform. The case generated outrage because of evidence showing that the black officer was shot several times in the back while he was falling or already lying face down. William J. Bratton, who was then the police commissioner and is now the police chief in Los Angeles, appointed a special department panel to study the racial attitudes of police officers.
Officer Del-Debbio was indicted on assault charges in May 1995 and was convicted of second-degree assault charges in March 1996; prosecutors asserted he had used excessive force, but they said that race was not a factor. He was dismissed by the Police Department, but he was spared jail time.
In January 2006, a rookie police officer, Eric Hernandez, was assaulted at a White Castle restaurant in the Bronx, and then shot three times by a fellow officer, Alfredo Toro, who was responding to a 911 call. He died 11 days later.
And what is the headline that you almost never read? Black officer shoots White officer
One Black NYPD shot by a White one several years ago asks: Has anything changed ?
(excerpt, New York Daily News)
For Robinson, the fatal shooting of Omar Edwards Thursday night in Harlem, brought back an all-too-familiar scenario: A black man chasing someone, gun drawn; a white cop springs into action, and shoots the gunman, who turns out to be a fellow officer.
Robinson said that despite the increase in minority officers in the NYPD, there remains "a predisposition that the African-American is the bad guy.
"If you see a white guy running down the street you think he's a police officer, when most people see a black guy running down the street there is no thought he could be a police officer."
Is it more dangerous to be a Black officer?
Some officers of color react to the fatal shooting of NYPD Officer Omar Edwards.
(excerpt, New York Times)
One runs his hand across his corn-rowed scalp; he is disgusted. “Same deal always,” he says of the deadly encounter between colleagues on Thursday night. “They’ll say it’s about training.”
A block away, a Latino officer with six years on the force acknowledges being conflicted. “Tell you the truth, I feel bad for the shooter. It happens so fast, and now he has got to live with this.” His voice trails off.
At the Newkirk Avenue subway station, a black officer of many years’ experience stares straight ahead. “There’s your training and there’s your reaction,” he says quietly of such split-second tragedies. “That’s two different things.”Oscar Grant, the man fatally shot on New Years Day by a BARTs officer in Oakland failed to obey orders according to another police officer who testified at the preliminary hearing of the officer charged with the shooting.
(excerpt, Los Angeles Times)
Domenici said Grant and his friends yelled profanities and did not obey her orders to sit down moments before Mehserle fired at Grant.
She said she was fearful when she heard taunts coming from Grant, his friends and passengers on the train.
"We're outnumbered and nobody's complying with our orders," she said.
"They were just all over the place. At that point, yeah, you feel for your life and safety."
Five police officers in Burbank's department are suing alleging racial discrimination and sexual harassment.
(excerpt, Associated Press)
The lawsuit, filed this week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks damages of up to $25 million, said the plaintiffs' attorney. It also names seven police officials who allegedly tolerated slurs about race, ethnicity and sexual preference directed at officers and suspects.
The plaintiffs say those who reported the harassment were threatened and demoted. They also allege that police Chief Tim Stehr and other officials conspired to exclude minorities from the best jobs in the department.
Plaintiff's attorney Solomon Gresen said the Police Department "is run as an insider's club where if you aren't white, male and heterosexual you had better keep your mouth shut and play along with the bigots or suffer the consequences."
The plaintiffs said they were regularly exposed to slurs such as "beaner," "towel head" and other objectionable language.
Lt. Omar Rodriguez, a 21-year veteran of the department and one of the plaintiffs, claims he was put on administrative leave and reassigned to patrol after he filed a complaint about harassment and discrimination.
Cindy Guillen-Gomez, also a plaintiff, claims she was threatened with rape and passed over for promotion in favor of men who scored less than she did on the detective examination.
This is what domestic terrorism looks like.
Labels: corruption 101, judicial watch, Making the grade, officer-involved shootings
posted by Five Before Midnight | 2:28 PM
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