If your head spins, it might not just be the city election

Hi,

I'm sorry that the blog posting in the past few days has been sporadic but I've been ill and unfortunately whatever's wrong with me includes dizziness and vertigo so that sitting at all, let alone sitting in front of a computer is not possible beyond 15 minutes. It's kind of like when I was little and riding in the car with my siblings and trying to read a book even though I made me carsick. I would keep trying to push my way through that dizzy and queasy feeling and then finally had to put the book down and stare out the windshield at the road ahead so I wouldn't throw up. Vertigo's not great but not as bad as the panic attack that it apparently triggered Thursday night. If you've never had one before, hope you never do.

I've been to the ER twice including once by ambulance and so far, the doctor said it might be an inner ear thing. But I will have to go to a doctor to find out for sure. I did run into people who were kind including nurse, Christine Sullivan who participated in a race relations study circle with me all the way in 1996 and Sgt. Don Tauli who was there with Officer Roger Sutton.

I met one of my neighbors for the first time when he took me to the hospital the second time. When he and his wife moved in with their two young children, I had ran into his wife who was upset because her son locked the other child inside the house so she came over to borrow my phone to call her mother who had the keys. I do have really good neighbors, which I'm thankful for.

So if my blogging is a bit more sporadic, I'm trying but I'm just not able to do it as much. Hopefully, I'll be able to put out some more blog postings but I have other writing assignments that I have to try to trek through first without throwing up.


Anyway, I received my election ballot, voted and signed it and got it out in the mail as soon as possible. If you live in one of the even-numbered wards, you should have received it by now. Remember to follow the instructions to fill it out to a tee as they're a bit tricky and don't forget to sign it. Remember your vote is your voice so exercise it in this and every election at the very different levels of government.


But again, there are folks who don't want people to be critical of the current government. Then there are those who are just using this as an excuse.


You've noticed FBM Mary's corona too ?
I think the continuous peroxide use has taken it's toll on her cranium.




Huh? Does this person write about me because he disagrees with my politics? No, it's because I told him to bugger off and not initiate contact with me. Twice. The only thing that's happened since is that he's working pretty damn hard to prove to me that I made the right choice to not have anything to do with him. As bad as his behavior's been for a couple of years, it'd probably be worse if I hadn't told him to get lost. So even amid the harassment, I'm thankful that he's not part of my life even as he tries to push his way through his harassment. But reading his crap does make me want to vomit and no, that's not just the vertigo speaking.





The Riverside fire fighters are delaying their payraise. This is the latest development during the intense labor negotiations involving the city's bargaining units during a difficult recession period that's taken a beating on local governments, though Riverside's got a $45 million reserve. Actually, if they're saving positions in the city employment ranks, it's probably a bit less than that by now.


(excerpt, Press Enterprise)




Riverside City Firefighters union members this week approved changes to their contract, agreeing to defer for one year a 2 percent raise scheduled for July 1, Capt. Tim Strack, the union president, said Friday.

In exchange, the city will extend the contract for one year, through June 30, 2011, and will not decrease staffing at fire stations during that time, he said.

Assistant City Manager Tom DeSantis confirmed the terms.

The union represents about 215 members.

Strack said the union could see that the city's declining revenues meant possible layoffs that would hurt the Fire Department's ability to respond to emergencies. So the union approached the city about the tradeoff.

"They were very responsive," he said. "There was no battle over this."




Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein writes about the Riverside County supervisors


(excerpt)




Drama, folks. Timing's everything in show biz. (Ask a trained seal.) Muzzle the boys too early, and Cuddles doesn't produce slick videos, slide shows and his collection of desert TV highlights -- and then warn (elected) seals: "Our office is here to render justice, and if that means that something's in the way, we are going to go through it."

If you're a trained seal, you swallow that whole. You don't ask whether an operation capable of mounting such a manipulative media blitz (compliments of an "executive" propaganda machine whose budget is said to approach $1 million) could stand to shed some flab. If you're a trained seal, why ask? There's no "crisis."

Muzzle the boys too early, and you never get to hear the sheriff say: Sure, we can cut 10 percent. I'll just close a jail! And let all the bad guys run wild!

Now, that's good stuff. Nothing like a good dose of badge-wielding fear and loathing to get the adrenalin flowing. And once it's gushing, not even the sanest seal can sit still long enough to inquire of the sheriff: If you can't cut 10 percent, how about 9. Five? Ya good for 3? But why ask? There is no crisis.

That's why the supes asked builders and developers to concoct a plan to slash fees on new home construction. Never mind that we don't need new homes right now. The main thing is the county doesn't need developers' fees.There's plenty of money.

RivCo has so much loot that Presiding Seal Jeff Stone wants to spend reserves until county revenues come roaring back. (He has a feeling that prosperity is just around the corner -- even though county revenue won't come roaring back until housing prices come roaring back.)

But this is no time for roaring. Shrinking revenues? Just kidding. Budget cuts? What a laugher! Layoffs? Had you going.

It's time to celebrate. Ding dong, the wolf ain't dead. He never existed.






Not so fast on civilian review. So said the city attorney in Concord.


(excerpt, Concord Monitor)



City Solicitor Paul Cavanaugh wrote in a report to the city council that creating a civilian police review board would be difficult given the confidentiality laws governing police discipline.

"Disclosure of confidential internal affairs matters even to a Police Civilian Review Board could seriously hinder an ongoing investigation or future law enforcement efforts," Cavanaugh wrote.

City Councilor Fred Keach, who came up with the idea, said he still plans to pursue it. "There are examples of these panels all over the country," Keach said. "It's not a unique suggestion. While I don't have legal expertise, there are ways to structure the panel that would address the confidentiality concerns that he raised."

Keach first raised the idea of an independent citizens panel last month, after the attorney general's office and the Concord Police Department investigated an accidental shooting involving officers during a training exercise. A shot was fired into an officer's bulletproof vest, but he was not injured.

The state cleared the sergeant who fired the shot of wrongdoing, while police Chief Robert Barry said the officers made a mistake and found that internal policies needed to be updated. Because of personnel rules, the chief did disclose what, if any, disciplinary action he took.

Keach said that having an independent panel review internal investigations would increase public trust of the police department. The panel would not have power to investigate or subpoena witnesses. It would have access to the same investigative documents and reports studied by the internal affairs investigators.

"It's not meant to be a second investigation but a review of the police chief's findings," Keach said. "I'd be very surprised if the panel found differently than the internal affairs investigation. I think we'll find they validate and enforce what was found. But the beauty of it is that there's a group of civilians outside the police department and the city that has access to that information and can verify that a thorough investigation was completed."



A lawsuit claims that a police agency in Texas shakes down drivers.



(excerpt, CNN)



Daniels was stopped on U.S. Highway 59 outside Tenaha, near the Louisiana state line. Police said he was driving 37 mph in a 35 mph zone. They hauled him off to jail and threatened him with money-laundering charges -- but offered to release him if he signed papers forfeiting his property.

"I actually thought this was a joke," Daniels told CNN.

But he signed.

"To be honest, I was five, six hundred miles from home," he said. "I was petrified." Video

Now Daniels and other motorists who have been stopped by Tenaha police are part of a lawsuit seeking to end what plaintiff's lawyer David Guillory calls a systematic fleecing of drivers passing through the town of about 1,000.

"I believe it is a shakedown. I believe it's a piracy operation," Guillory said.




Building a case against Drew Peterson who's been indicted for the murder of Kathleen Savio, his former wife.


(excerpt, Chicago Sun Times)style="font-weight:bold;">



Will County prosecutors plan to use statements Savio purportedly made to relatives and others about threats from Peterson to bolster their allegations that the former Bolingbrook police officer drowned her in a bathtub in 2004.

A new state law enacted last year with the support of Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow makes it easier to use "hearsay'' statements from victims who were allegedly killed to prevent them from testifying against their attackers.

"You're letting someone testify from beyond the grave,'' Glasgow said of the law enacted last November, which was referred to informally in Springfield as the "Drew Peterson bill'' because of its ties to the high-profile case.

The statements of Savio and Stacy Peterson may be critical -- though some legal experts question the constitutionality of the new law -- because authorities apparently have little physical or forensic evidence tying Peterson to his third wife's death.

There are no signs of forced entry to the Bolingbrook home where Savio died; her death originally was ruled an accident, not a murder, and defense attorneys have hinted that a teenage son of Savio and Peterson will provide an alibi for him.




Ernie Raines, the father of Peterson's current fiancee was relieved by the news of Peterson's arrest.



(excerpt, Fox News)



RAINES: When I first met him a long time ago, yes. And then but when -- when Stacy come up missing and then they brought out Kathleen Savio, but then the real point, when he went after my daughter. That's when I drew the line because I was saying to myself -- go ahead.

VAN SUSTEREN: No, go ahead. What did you say to yourself?

RAINES: As I was saying, I was thinking to myself that any other man would be looking for his wife, finding some kind of closure for Stacy. He's not even divorced yet. He went after my daughter, moved her in, and that right there tells me, yes, well, he knows she ain't coming back. And I despise him for that.

VAN SUSTEREN: She had been living with him. Was she living -- was she at the house yesterday, as recently as yesterday?

RAINES: Yes, she was. Yes, she was.

VAN SUSTEREN: Has she ever said -- has she ever expressed any sort of concern about Drew and think that maybe he had some -- that he'd murdered his third wife or had any involvement in the disappearance of the fourth? Or did he do anything untoward -- I mean, (INAUDIBLE) done anything weird towards her?

RAINES: No. No. No, she said that he was, you know, good to her, treated her good, and the kids.

VAN SUSTEREN: The reporter we just had on moments ago...

RAINES: Of course




And Savio's mother talks about Peterson's arrest.



(excerpt, Chicago Tribune)



Marcia Savio was talking about Peterson, whom Illinois State Police would arrest just days later on charges alleging that he murdered Kathleen Savio, his third wife, in 2004. On Friday, while Peterson mugged for the cameras and joked with reporters during his first court appearance in Joliet, Marcia Savio again retreated to her daughter's grave to share the news.

"We're so happy he was arrested, but we know there's a long way to go," Marcia Savio told the Tribune on Friday in a rare interview. "Something good needs to come of this. No one should have to live with fear the way Kathleen did."

Bollingbrook Police Department's summation of calls for service relating to Drew Peterson, Stay Peterson, and Kathleen Savio
Drew Peterson case: Bright lights, big hassle for neighbors
Witnesses go to Peterson grand jury Henry J. Savio declined to be interviewed. Marcia Savio, who's been married to him for more than 30 years, said the five years since Kathleen's murder have been hard on him.

"He's very hurt by a lot of what he sees and reads," Marcia Savio said of her husband. "What [Peterson] did to [Kathleen] was bad enough. Why does he have to act like that?"