The Three Amigos Out and About but Where's Lincoln?

Christina -Taylor Greene
(Sept. 11, 2001-Jan. 8, 2011)
Born on a day that united a nation; died on a day that divided it

A life born on the darkest day and lost on another, Christina Taylor Green,9, was one of 50 children included in "The Faces of Hope" a book about 9-11.

Chicago Avenue Reopened

[The portion of Chicago Avenue near Andulka Park damaged in the rains has been reopened after being repaired]

[The "Three Amigos" have been quite busy but not at Lincoln Field Station]





[Deputy Chief Mike Blakely (l.) has been busy at Orange Street Station overseeing the personnel division and has dethroned a king or two in his day]

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,

---William Shakespeare



And on Wikipedia: Riverside Police Department


Yenta:

n. Slang
A person, especially a woman, who is meddlesome or gossipy.

AWESOME! Given that like most women I'm no stranger to being called even less endearing "slang" for blogging and this term has a cool tradition as the world has produced some truly great "Yentas".

Of course originally like all terms associated with uppity females that are afforded them by annoyed men, it had a different meaning and having grown up close to several Jewish-American communities, I'm familiar with both.

Origin:

1930–35; < Yiddish yente, orig. a female personal name, earlier Yentl ≪ OIt; cf. It gentile kind, amiable, orig., noble, highborn; see gentle

So thanks for the name, and Mazel Tov!

Riverside Police Chief Sergio Diaz and his two outside cabinet members, Asst. Chief Chris Vicino and Deputy Chief Jeffrey Greer have been fairly busy and out and about since their arrival. They've been front and center at the community meetings held recently at different locations in the four neighborhood policing centers in Riverside which has been most excellent. It's given many residents the opportunity to see them engaging with the community soliciting input on the what will be the Strategic Plan 2010-2015 (which will be the focus of a management planning session soon). They've been to different community groups and events and at city council meetings delivering messages from the department and representing it. That's been very nice as well to see. Whether to listen to what they have to say or to watch them, listening.

But one place they haven't been lately is the Lincoln Field Operations Station where all the field operations had been relocated, one NPC remains stationed awaiting the Internal Affairs Division to vacate its own space at the downtown bus terminal and soon, the Traffic Division will be housed there as well. But while Lincoln is bustling with lots of people especially dressed in blue and lots of activity, there's been some folks missing in recent months and that's been the Three Amigos, which are Diaz and two of his cabinet members. This strikes as being somewhat odd because at least one of them Vicino said earlier that he had tried really hard to be assigned to the Lincoln Station rather than at the administration headquarters at Orange Street to "be with the troops" which is an admirable goal. But since then neither he nor Greer or even Diaz have popped into roll call sessions or apparently made any visits recently to solicit questions from the officers at their roll call sessions. Not that they have to be or even should be there all or most of the time but to just show up once in a while? To show that maybe they know that they're there and that they formulate one of the largest and vital divisions in the Riverside Police Department?

Lincoln Station isn't the prettiest looking building out there, it's basically a brick block with a window and there and even after a long awaited renovation, it's still easy for the visitor to get lost as some of us did during the tour. But it's one of the vital centers of activities in the police department, one of its hearts, it's where most of the front line officers and their supervisors are assigned to work out of and to return to at the end of the shifts. None of the Three Amigos are stationed there, Diaz and Vicino are of course at Orange Street while Greer is located all the way across the city at Magnolia Police Center near the Tyler Galleria and La Sierra. But in the beginning of their tenures at the Riverside Police Department, they did visit there in roll calls. Diaz even did an impromptu promotion there by elevating Officer Hal Webb to sergeant during a late night shift some time ago.

But where have they been since then? They haven't really been showing up at Lincoln station much or at all. Maybe it has to do with how that would deviate from the style of leadership in the Los Angeles Police Department where two of these men hail from, where those in the highest positions of leadership don't show their faces to those at the lower ranks very much if at all. But then again, the LAPD is at around 10,000 officers and the Riverside Police Department would stand around 402 if all of its paid positions were filled, and the largest section of the department's sworn division is patrol officers. Many of whom were hired during different hiring periods including the post 2000 hiring period to address an 80% turnover in the department and then later that started around late 2005 before the freezes started hitting around 2007. The average age of officers has often been very much on the young side, certainly in the patrol division.


Here's a map of the area where you can find Lincoln Station which is very helpful in that it's actually on...Lincoln Street and it's across from the local division of the California Highway Patrol which is across the street. The industrial yard for Lincoln Station is actually sandwiched between the infamous Corporate Yard (which houses vehicles for Public Works and also occasionally, code enforcement officers who've been exiled) and the parking lot for the Public Utilities Division which is on the corner of Adams and Lincoln fairly close to the Auto Center.

[Map to Lincoln Field Operations Station]

So hopefully they'll drop on by this station and say hello like they've been doing out in the community including at meetings because it's important to build up and maintain those connections with all the stake holders in public safety. Along with Field Operations Capt. John Wallace who's apparently been rarely seen at the roll call sessions.

Vicino's been busy dealing with the establishment (well, the re-establishment) of the Community Services Division which is one of the largest priorities under Diaz. Lt. Guy Touissant beat out nearly every other lieutenant for the top spot. In contrast, none of the sergeants applied to supervise that unit so Touissant recruited Sgt. Dan Warren to serve in that position. Vicino's located next to Blakely at the Orange Street Station and apparently some interesting dynamics have developed between these two intelligent men with very different personality styles.

Greer being somewhat apart from the hub of administrative activity at Orange Street has a somewhat different dynamic with the others in the cabinet and his adjustment to his job has been a bit more challenging but he's been seen more often at community meetings and at city council especially during presentations than some of the others. He's quieter and just as smart and you have to remember the adage, "still waters run deep".

It's interesting because among the cabinet, there couldn't be three personalities more different from one another and it will be equally so to see how they mesh in the months ahead.

Palm Springs Police Chief Dave Dominguez Steps Down

[Palm Springs Police Department Chief and former Riverside Police Department Deputy Chief Dave Dominguez]

News broke that Palm Springs Chief Dave Dominguez stepped down in what the city labeled a "retirement" nearly two years after a vice sting at Warms Sands Villa, a hotel that caters to gay customers and guests. Allegedly during or after the sting, inappropriate and homophobic comments were made that were caught on audiotape because many stings of this type are recorded for evidence purposes later on as well to protect against charges of entrapment. Another allegations were that the incident came to light long after because the taped recording of alleged comments made by Dominguez were released by an unknown party not too long before Dominguez' retirement after a disagreement between Dominguez and this party, some say. Others say it's not clear how the incriminating recording came to light. Or if Dominguez when asked about the comments denied making them before the recording was produced to him.

This incident got traction not because gays and lesbians are particularly valued in society as they're not and have been subjected to legislation against them marrying and they couldn't be "open" in the military because of President Bill Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" which proved that homophobia trumped national security when after 9-11, the military fired two-thirds of its expert translators in the Arabic language because of their sexual orientation. Riverside unexpectedly became the epicenter of that controversy after U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips made her ruling on a related case in her courtroom. They came to light because Palm Springs is somewhat different because gays and lesbians bring their tourist dollars there in such large amounts and there's an active community there so any uncomfortable feelings about them would be put aside in favor of those economic interests and political pressure would soon come down on Dominguez and the police department. Some estimate that gays and lesbians might comprise up to 40% of the city's population.

It's disappointing that any police officers on duty would engage in any type of homophobic comments let alone a police chief if that's what happened. It's potentially an issue of civil liability to cities like Palm Springs if they sting and then arrest or detain individuals of a particular demographic and there's derogatory and bigoted comments associated with the parties in that situation as many cities and counties have discovered when having to settle related litigation, whether filed by these individuals or members of the law enforcement agencies themselves. Or when they lose at trial and are handed monetary verdicts. But beyond that, engaging in that conduct is not what's called protecting and serving the public and fortunately there are a lot of police officers who remember that and keep it in mind in their own conduct. In the Riverside Police Department, I've seen and heard of examples of officers who when hearing offensive comments including those based on race, they express displeasure even when they don't know it's been overheard or seen by others. Does that make a law enforcement agency immune? No it doesn't but it's a good indication that efforts are being made to not accept that conduct on some level.

Though apparently some including Dominguez in Palm Springs did not, in a city which is known as a tourism spot for gays and lesbians. Because if Dominguez made the comments to lower ranking officers then what does that say about the climate of his department?

Gays and lesbians are crime victims like anyone else and in some cases may be more vulnerable, as Riverside was reminded when Jeffrey Owens was murdered outside the Menagerie although later hate crime charges were dismissed. At least one man, a gang member, was convicted of killing him which I remember having been a member of the large jury pool for consideration in that trial some years ago. In that case from when it happened, the Riverside Police Department really did a good job particularly the Homicide investigators with that case. Gays and lesbians can also be perpetrators including in domestic violence cases and like any other demographic shouldn't be subjected to bigoted or offensive remarks in this case based on their sexual orientation. Dominguez had apparently along with his department in Palm Springs had reduced the crime rate there and he had spent a lot of time in community meetings and outreach, positive attributes of any chief. And in Riverside, Dominguez interfaced with many different people of different backgrounds including gays and lesbians who were friendly with him. But what he said would upset many people in that demographic and it's their prerogative to express that and respond to that.

But comments don't just have an impact on the public, they do internally as well.

Not to mention that there are gay and lesbian police officers and the Los Angeles Times did an excellent series of articles on some who worked in the Los Angeles Police Department and what they faced in the workforce and the public. Many gay officers at different ranks in different places remain in the closet and maybe that includes Palm Springs. And to have an agency where the chief can make homophobic comments can impact the use of them by others in the agency as well.

But police chiefs and sheriffs too, they are the leaders and managers of their law enforcement agencies and they set the tone through what they say and the decisions they make but mostly through their example. Because how they present themselves is really the most critical part of their job in many ways. It sets the tone for police officers and also for the public as well and it does make a difference to both as it's been very clear what happens when those in management including at the top aren't setting good examples for those they lead and manage and also interface with in the communities. Take the Riverside Police Department, did the arrests and prosecutions of five police officers (who all were high risk according to their backgrounds) during a 14 month period have anything to do with the fact that the sixth in that group turned out to be the police chief?

If leadership and management puts expectations on their officers as they should, then they should also live those expectations themselves through their examples. And if the remarks that Dominguez allegedly made were made in company with officers who were later viewed to have made inappropriate comments then why was there that apparent comfort level to engage in that kind of conversation to a police chief in the first place? How many police officers engage in inappropriate comments to their police chiefs or sheriffs? Though the investigation of this case stated that Dominguez wasn't in the police car when another officer used a slur. His comments allegedly came earlier than that, before the officer made his or her own remark.

The other part of this incident that raised brows was the relative lateness of its revelation given that the vice operation that led to a chief's resignation was nearly two years ago and the fate of the alleged recording which was withheld apparently for a lot of the time. The reasons presented appear to be different whether it was after one party became upset with Dominguez or whether there were other troubling issues in the Palm Springs Police Department. It'd be interesting to read the labor complaint that was filed last autumn in connection with one of the officers associated with the vice sting. Was the officer who made the slur treated differently than Dominguez, in terms of harsher discipline or was there some confrontation between this officer and Dominguez on another front? And when did the tape come to light?

After all, in the Riverside Police Department a detective was recently investigated for termination for making an inappropriate comment whereas a former lieutenant who used a racial slur apparently wasn't disciplined at all even as he was investigating another detective for the same remark (and this officer initially was looking at a hefty suspension for making the same comment in roll call) and later was hired by the city to work in another department. That seems backwards that someone in leadership would get a slap of the wrist and others in lower ranks would receive worse than that for the same behavior, by the same individuals in Riverside who laud that they demand leaders and managers to be accountable for their own conduct. But then for a while it looked like a mid-line supervisor associated with the DUI incident involving the former police chief was going to be the only one to have his pension negatively impacted by the incident whereas those in management wouldn't be so affected. And City Manager Brad Hudson appeared to have no problem with that...until the supervisor turned the tables on him and the upper level of the police department.

It's a reminder that as Shakespeare once wrote, the world is but a stage with a cast of characters and this incident probably has a lot more to it than has come out so far.

Al Franz is expected to be serving as interim chief while a committee to recruit candidates for the fourth police chief in the city since 2002 is expected to be formed soon.


The Desert Sun did some articles on the situation:


Palm Springs Police Chief Dave Dominguez to retire


Editorial: Police Chief's decision to retire the correct one

Chief apologizes for comment


This article details that one of the officer's involved in the sting filed a complaint against the city.

(excerpt)


However, a Sept. 11 complaint, filed by Orange County-based attorney George Petersen, maintained Dominguez was in the undercover car the officers used during the sting and had “initiated the conversation” against the men arrested.The complaint accused Dominguez of saying “what a bunch of filthy (expletive)” and “you guys should get paid extra for this.” Petersen filed the complaint on behalf of at least one officer who took part in the sting.

Ready said Tuesday that the city's investigation concluded Dominguez was not in the car when his officer made the slur. By that point, Dominguez had made the remarks detailed in Petersen's complaint and left the undercover car so he couldn't have heard the officer's subsequent slur, Ready said.

In his memo to the council, Ready said the city should have reached out to Warm Sands hoteliers, businesses and residents to alert them a sting was being planned.

He said he regretted using undercover police decoys in an effort to attract men prowling for sex, which didn't represent the “best practice,” he said. The same goal could have been achieved through surveillance alone, Ready added.



City Manager defends decision on chief


Warm Sands case time line

No Reception Scheduled Yet for Incoming CPRC Manager

As of yet, City Manager Brad Hudson hasn't announced or even responded to inquiries into whether or not there will be a public reception hosted for incoming CPRC manager, Frank Hauptmann. It doesn't have to be some of the rather extravagant ones they've held in the past, it could be simple and include introductions and taking questions from the community members and perhaps some cookies and coffee which isn't too expensive to provide at one or more of the publicly owned buildings including City Hall.

The predecessors including Kevin Rogan received receptions even before they started working but Hauptmann who begun work on Jan. 3 didn't receive a reception and that's just inappropriate making it look like they are slipping him in the back door. And that's not how to do it, Hudson or least do it right.

Mayor and Nomination Screening Committee Fields Applications




[The Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee picked a long list of people to interview for three boards and commissions plus the Charter Review Committee]

The four-member Mayor's Nomination and Screening Committee met in the Mayor Ron Loveridge's office to field applications and select individuals to interview for vacancies on the city's boards and commissions as well as the upcoming Charter Review Committee. Over a dozen people including current commissioners Chani Beeman and Peter Hubbard were scheduled to be interviewed for three spots on the CPRC, the first time that commissioners had to be interviewed to be eligible for reappointment. This was done for the Planning Commission and Board of Public Utilities but one wonders if this is to provide some opportunity to bounce Beeman off after a single term.

Time will tell of course but the hallmark committee that was the center of the selection for interviews was the Charter Review Committee which will be encharged by the city council and Loveridge to hold meetings to receive, research and discuss before ultimately voting on what recommendations for ballot initiatives to send to the city government. Whereas the past choices were appointed by Loveridge and council members from each ward, these will be nine city-wide positions which means that potentially one or more wards might not have any representatives and no one's explained why doing this isn't a violation of the amendment that ensures ward representation given that like the boards and commissions, this is a committee created by a Brown Act body the city council. The city government might be getting around that inconvenience by calling it an ad hoc committee. Hopefully, they won't use that to justify holding secret meetings too.

Those interviewed include the following. Most of them have ties to the city, including serving in elected office, serving on city boards and commissions, ties to Best, Best and Krieger, the Press Enterprise (The Fourth Estate meets City Hall?) and the political scene while several impressive candidates with references were excluded from consideration. Not surprising considering that with these selection meetings, it's always the mayor or one of the members doing the following:

"Do you know this person?"

"No...do you know...I don't know...do you know...?"

"Yes I do..."


It's always a good time.



Ward One:

Brent W. Lee
Tomas A. Podgorski
Ronald R. Redfern
David St. Pierre


Ward Two:

Diana Medina
Michelle Ouellete
Montgomery Van Wart


Ward Three:

Michael D. Pope
Robert A. Stockton


Ward Four:

Maureen Kane
Damien R. O'Farrell
Sharon Tyrrell


Ward Five:

Thomas P. Evans


Ward Six:

Judy G. Teunissen


Ward Seven:

Wendel W. Tucker



The entire city council will interview and then vote to select members of this committee as well as those to fill vacancies on the three boards and commissions that undergo a similar process of appointment.

Riverside Downtown Partnership to issue awards including one to the late Officer Ryan Bonaminio.

Rain didn't mess at all with the attendance a the Festival of Lights.

Special Alert!

My name is Cynthia Ferry,

My parents are Bill and Geri Flounders. They came to CA to visit for the holiday. They left our home in rural Riverside County, the Greater Lake Mathews/Gavilan Hills area on Tues. Jan. 4, between 9 and 10 a.m. They were heading for AZ. They were to spend the night there and continue on to Santa Fe, New Mexico and should have arrived home on Wed. Jan. 5. They have gone missing. They are driving an extended cab, white 1998 Dodge van, lic. # Rock Art, registered in Santa Fe, New Mexico. My stepfather is 74 years old, short gray hair, about 6’, about 160 lb. My mother is 73, about 5’ 5”, short, curly gray hair, about 150 lb. They are traveling with a brown, pet rabbit in the back seat. My stepfather was admitted to the hospital on Christmas Eve, so is still recovering from his surgery and was not feeling really well when he left but, wanted to get back to his home to recover. My mother is diabetic and on medication.

We have a missing persons report on file and an APB in CA, AZ, NM and CO, looking for the van, checking hospitals in the area. I’m asking for help in finding them. It is not like them to not call us. They call us when they stop for the night at a hotel and they call us when they arrive home. We have not been able to reach them since they left. Police have checked their home and they have not been there and the neighbors have not seen them.

A report was received that a van had gone the road, they checked it out, but it wasn't them.

I’m asking everyone to put a search out over their facebook and other internet sources to help us find them. Please pass this information on and help me find my parents. My mother does not like CA traffic and my father was to drive them to the CA boarder and my mother was to take over driving from that point. The van had been in for a check-up prior to their leaving New Mexico and so should have been in fine driving condition. As a surprise Christmas gift we had their windshield replaced when they were here and didn’t tell them. As of the last time we saw them, they hadn’t noticed the windshield. There is a route 66 sticker on the lower left corner of the windshield, as we had made sure we got that off and put back on.

If anyone knows of their whereabouts please call Deputy Santiago, badge # 4429, Perris, CA, case # PC110060023, phone number (951) 210-1000 or reach me at (951) 657-6610 or e-mail CindyRAGLM@aol.com. Thank you!!!

Cindy Ferry

UPDATE: Ferry's parents have been found in a hospital where the father was receiving medical care for an infection. Thanks for all those who included them in their prayers.

Riverside Downtown's Latest Sweet Heart Deal?

***UPDATE**** Judge's threatened recusal and a missing doctor's report stall the sentencing of former Riverside Police Department Officer Robert Forman. More to come...****

Best in Show?

Oh my goodness, another blog posting from Riverside's best "dog and pony show", as I've been called by Councilman Steve Adams who represents the seventh ward in Riverside. Okay, maybe he didn't say that I was the best dog and pony show but I'm sure he just omitted that part of his statement by accident and hopefully will rectify that omission in his commentary on the dais at this week's city council meeting. Not that I'm not flattered that my comments at the afternoon session last week warranted both an original performance and an encore at the evening session by Adams. With all the important city business to be conducted including hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars to spend, he still made the time to bring it up again for those who missed the afternoon session and to perform it as his first official action while mayor pro tem on behalf of the dais because after all, that's what the mayor pro tem represents.

But the issues I raised that offended Adams so much are still serious and they still matter and if Adams hides behind rude and boorish behavior on the dais to avoid that, then perhaps he should reconsider running for reelection again in 2011. He must be thinking about it again because a couple of people (though not all of them) who were seriously thinking about declaring are backtracking and really they shouldn't, the Adams they face in 2011 won't be nearly as formidable as he was in 2007 when he won his reelection bid by a whopping 13 votes.

If he loses, one sad thing about that will be that Yolanda Garland, one of La Sierra's best activists and staunchest voices won't be alive to see it because she passed away last year and worked hard to bring progressive action to her ward and Adams greatly disliked her and showed it every opportunity he had to do so. The insults he threw in her direction that she was a liar and had "no class" were truly not Adams at his best. Oh no, wait a minute actually that is him at his best because he takes great pride in his dais behavior, as was evidenced in the evening session last week. It's too bad that he allows and takes great pride in his behavior defining him as a politician because believe it or not, he does have talents and occasionally takes principled stands like on the train issue. It's just few and far between these days and his contempt for members of the public who address this city is fortunately matched most closely with elected officials who no longer are on the dais.

It's too bad that he will leave a legacy of bad dais behavior when he departs public office, like two of his predecessors before him, but that's truly his choice. As it turns out, the city's voters don't like their elected representatives to misbehave in public very much. Yes, thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from developers like Adams receives, like former Councilmen Frank Schiavone and Dom Betro received, are great and all that, but they're no substitute for actual votes. Ward Seven deserves a council member who actually lived in the ward before running for office there. After all, only months before he began his first election campaign in that ward, he tried to collect enough signatures to turn in a petition to run in the third ward but alas, he apparently wasn't successful so his political ambitions necessitated a relocation.

And speaking of dog and pony shows, check out the film, Best in Show, if you have a chance as it's pretty funny.





Press Enterprise Columnist Dan Bernstein provides this update on the lawsuit filed by Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Wayne Guillary against the City of Riverside. As you know, that lawsuit was settled in October for a tidy sum of money and silence exchanged for denial of plausibility. In other words, business as usual in Riverside. Instead of litigating this lawsuit to a trial date in U.S. District Court so that both sides could present their cases in front of a jury as it should have been done, the city and Guillary's attorneys settled it behind closed doors.



(excerpt)

In 2008, RPD Chief Russ Leach accused LAPD Sgt. Wayne Guillary of "misconduct" and "launching a publicity campaign." Turns out he was merely guilty of being a black homeowner in an upscale neighborhood. And talking to a black woman, who said she sold Bibles.

Guillary said he was cuffed and searched in front of his home. Threatened with a Taser and a gun. When police (up to nine showed up) finally examined his ID, which he had offered to produce from the start, they left. The RPD said Guillary was spoiling for a fight. He denied it.

The LAPD investigated Riverside's allegation against Guillary and, word has it, found no misconduct. In case you missed it, the city has now agreed to pay Guillary and his lawyers $175K to settle the matter.

Pretty hefty tab for a case that, in the city's words, had no merit.

There's been payouts of up to $1.75 million in the past several years, all involving lawsuits with "no merit" or that are "frivolous", according to the city. And more claims and lawsuits have been filed since both inhouse and from city residents. So the city will be hosting more closed sessions to update its legislative body on these cases and it will be making more court appearances to defend itself and it will be settling most if not all of these cases at some point unless someone forces their hand and takes a lawsuit to trial.

And there will probably be even more public outbursts by City Councilman (and former police officer) Steve Adams to come especially since now the rest of the city council's anointed...I mean appointed him mayor pro tem for the next six months. With Mayor Ron Loveridge needing to go on all these trips as the president of the League of Cities, the mayor pro tem role might actually take on some importance.

Still Time on the Strategic Plan Survey

In case, you're one of the roughly 90% or so who wasn't invited to be part of a series of focus groups meeting beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 13 from 5-8:30 p.m. this week at the Magnolia Policing Center on Magnolia near La Sierra, there's still one way to be involved in the Strategic Plan development process and that's the online survey. If you're in the lucky 10% or so who found a gold ticket in their candy bar (oh wait, that's from a movie, right?) or were invited, then go to the focus group meetings because your input is needed.

Spanish speakers will be available to answer questions at this week's meeting and will translate part of the meeting so that more people can participate. Already people who are invited to that first meeting are trying to ensure a good turnout.

Speaking of the police department, there's still time for everyone else to fill out this online survey on your concerns, ideas and thoughts about the police department's upcoming Strategic Plan. It's due the end of January and if you aren't keen on online surveys or need more space to write, then you can pick up a hard copy at the Orange Street Headquarters. It's important to participate in that process.

It's not a bad survey for a start and it will receive further analysis on this site but someone clearly worked hard on it when they put it together. It's a good device to initiate conversation rather than serving as an end all when it comes to receiving public input. But one question is missing, in that whether or not you would like to see the police department under a single chief that can be held accountable for what's going on in the department good or bad or rather you would rather see it ruled by committee, meaning that City Hall calls the shots. I would guess that the addition of that question wouldn't go over very well and perhaps asking it, probably would ensure that you never got invited to another focus group meeting again so no one who's invited is going to ask it.

And that's too bad, because until that question is settled, the Strategic Plan really will have as difficult a time being implemented and staying on its path as the other one did once the consent decree expired. In fact, the process was stalled earlier this year for a period of time due to alleged interference by City Hall which is why it wasn't completed and put in place before the original plan "sunset" in December.

One City Hall individual said that it might have been chilled somewhat while Schiavone was still in office. At any rate, this important process did get back on track at some point. But will it stay on track? That's the question, as the forces at City Hall that tend to keep their fingers in different pots in the kitchen that is the Riverside Police Department get into mischief when people have their attention elsewhere. So don't just fill out the survey, pay attention to what's going on.

Court Dates

Speaking of the police department, former Officer Robert Forman was scheduled to be sentenced on Monday, Jan. 11 at 10 a.m. by presiding Riverside County Superior Court Judge John Molloy on the oral copulation under the color of authority and petty theft convictions but it will likely be postponed until another date. There was also a motion for new trial that's been filed by Forman's attorney, Mark Johnson that's been scheduled for a hearing at 1:30 p.m. That might be postponed as well. Not to mention a felony settlement conference on the felony sexual battery charge that resulted in a deadlocked verdict at the trial last month.

There will be updates on this blog whatever happens in court tomorrow.

Former Officer David Reeves, Jr. will have a felony settlement conference on his armed robbery and kidnapping charges later this month and Officer Anthony Fletcher is scheduled to be arraigned on his felony case next week.

Fox Theater Developments

Attracting some degree of controversy is the new marquee sign at the Fox Theater located on the corner of Mission Inn Avenue and Market. Some people like it and some people hate it. Some changes have already been made since its construction in anticipation of the glitzy premiere of the long-awaited theater later this month.

Even former Councilman Dom Betro has put his two cents in through a letter to the Press Enterprise's Reader's Forum. What's interesting about watching the evolution of Betro still continuing two years after he lost his reelection bid, is how he's becoming more and more what he despised in people while he served as the dais but apparently, he doesn't get that.

Someone who floods the city with negative commentary rather than someone who "works" with City Hall like he tried to get people to do instead of "complaining" at city council meetings. In fact, far from being the champion for public participation that he claims now, he made the motion to restrict public comment at city council meetings including the removal of items from the consent calendar for discussion by city residents, you know the people who provide the tax money that is use to be spent on consent calendar items.


And although Councilman Steve Adams might think he's the most accomplished at engaging in verbal temper tantrums on the dais, he really is but a mere shadow compared to Betro who actually had to get another now former city council member who liked to make similar outbursts to help him rewrite the ethics code and complaint process resolution during the summer of 2007 to allow council members to engage in tantrums away from the dais. And five city council members backed that language in the resolution and those that did were 1) those who engaged in public outbursts from the dais and 2) those who engaged in questionable campaign tactics in their election cycles (which they were heavily criticized for) but wanted to repeat in the next election cycle and 3) those on the dais who are easily influenced by advocates for #1 and #2.

Here's Betro's latest piece:




A lot of political capital and public funding was expended to ensure that the Fox historic theater was brought back to life with the historic significance that it deserved. This included hiring a historic preservation architect to ensure that all that was done met the highest historic standards.

It appears that political incompetence and staff-driven standards have replaced objective historic standards. The digital sign that has been slapped on the front of the Fox is an affront to the historic marquee which was its signature image.

This sign needs to come down. It should be replaced with one of historical appropriate design.

Dom Betro

Riverside



But it's this current agenda item on this city council meeting agenda for the afternoon session of the Tuesday, Jan. 12 meeting. The only written backup available on this huge proposed expenditure of $25 million of the city's money to hand off to a private developer in the form of a "loan" (and any such thing has to be qualified during the most economically difficult fiscal period in this city's history). That's after being extraordinarily generous to these folks and threatening eminent domain to snatch up prime real estate for them in the first place.

Does the downtown area need hotels? Probably, but why not just take Mark Rubin's busted condo/loft concept and use those units as an avante garde hotel of sorts for visiting guests. But the item isn't being continued to give the public more time to respond to it, it's being continued because property negotiations between the city and the developer are still taking place behind closed doors.


But maybe it's all related closed session item in relation to the same proposed Hyatt Regency Hotel that could be the recipient of some of the city's greatest efforts at enriching that other form of welfare, corporate welfare, in the form of a "loan". As some have told me in response to this controversial item, you would think that the city given how many consultants it's hired during this recession to "improve" or even "define" its image to the world, that it would have some clue how to attract businesses to Riverside without using city funding to subsidize them (which didn't work too well with local restaurants). But this city hasn't quite that down pat yet. In fact, it hasn't even started. Since there's no written back up material on this items which was given public notification through a tiny item in the Press Enterprise (which actually the city was loathe to do because it's still steamed at the newspaper about the article on that controversial water study).

I started getting emails about this as soon as the city published the official notice and while I've been researching to determine the next round of budget cuts for city departments, given that the city's hit the middle of its current fiscal year this month. This likely includes up to $10 million in budget shortfall for the Riverside Police Department, which was recently hit with $2.6 million cuts. Ironically, it's purported that the $2.6 million cuts were pushed by Mayor Ron Loveridge who's the biggest booster of hiring "concept" consultants for just about everything in this city. You know, the guy who ran on the importance of public safety just a few scant months ago but then well, that's the past and this is the present.

But the thing about public safety cuts including police cuts, is that since public safety isn't usually cut first but last, if you see major public safety cuts, what you're essentially being told is that the city's in seriously bad financial shape if it's coming to that. But all we hear as the public is how great the city's doing and how city's like Corona are laying all these people off when if you look at the comparison of how the city's using its labor statistics in comparison to what it's doing for Corona's, there's a huge difference as was pointed out on this blog several times.

Are We Having Fun Yet?

And the intrigue deepens because guess who's heading the Fox Theater's Foundation Board? None other than Mission Inn Owner Duane Roberts who also incidentally donates into quite a few of the campaign chests of elected officials. Which of course is a total coincidence.

And I hate to break it to the readership here but this deal is probably going to go through and it's questionable if it does because as some readers pointed out when the public announcement was first made, how can the city float such a huge loan during an economic crisis when there was some reluctance to do so during the economic boom years not too long ago?

I don't know how common this type of deal is because most cities know that cultural and performing arts institutions can't survive on public dollars, no matter how many are pushed their ways in these kinds of sweetheart deals disguised as public process. And is this public hearing scheduled when people can actually attend. Well, not really originally it was scheduled for the afternoon session of this week's city council meeting but as it turned out, it was scheduled before the requisite closed session to ahem, settle this land deal involving the property.

But I thought it not surprising at all that an individual who's such a big player in the downtown and good at popping some serious money here and there into various political campaigns of local elected officials would get appointed to such a key position. No, it's not really surprising at all. And some people might have to think about whether their votes will co align or conflict with their campaign promises from the various election cycles. That should be interesting.

But naturally, there's tons of money sitting around waiting to get thrown into this project because Riverside's doing much better than other cities. After all, the city hasn't laid off anyone in six months and the police department for example isn't really experiencing 10% vacancy rates while other departments like museum and library have been pretty much decimated. The Development Department might be freezing the most positions percentage wise lately as people continue to "drop out of there like flies".

But with millions more in cuts to come including possibly as much as a $10 million short fall just in the police department, why is this thought even being entertained on the agenda? The city will say this money doesn't come from the same funding source but most of it ultimately does come from the people in one way or another. And since as stated earlier public safety, like fire and police are usually the last departments to receive major cuts, if it's true that the police department is facing more hard hits as anticipated, then what does that say about the financial state of the city?

I guess this means that the civilian and sworn positions in the police department which are frozen won't be thawed. Not if the Fox Theater needs all the city's available cash lying around to stay afloat until it can like pay all that money back in 20 years or so.

That everyone should be very concerned about what's really going on with the city's budget. Really, you should be.

Some more "fan mail" and advice

I actually was so fortunate that I was able to get such great advice from this anonymous commenter and "fan" who is taking some valuable time off of hounding Councilman Mike Gardner to throw some rants my way.


(excerpt)



Nobody have the time to read looooooooooonnnnnnggg postings by FBM Mary. If you can not say what you want in two paragraphs, then you are wasting your time. It is common of egocenttric individuals to write loooooooooonnnnggg postings thinking that we are praying for them to write something. The guy you are reffering to obiously his campaing is working, because you took the time to reply. Mary get a husband, a dog or something. You really need it bad.





Husband? Huh? But it's interesting because men get challenged on what they actually do. Women? We get told we need a husband or "it" as if that's the sum of all of our parts and maybe to enlightened individuals like this unidentified individual, that's true.

But maybe I will think about getting a dog some day. I don't have enough room for a pony.

Thank you, Councilman Steve Adams

Your outburst at city council although obnoxious has jump started more participation in a civic project I've been working on for the past 10 years. And I'm thanking you, because no bad deed goes unrewarded. I will make sure that when changes are made in this area that full credit goes to yourself.

Two Temecula city councilmen have been cleared on conflict of interest allegations.





This key decision has come down from the Ninth Circuit on the use of tasers by officers on passively resisting individuals. Some Inland Empire law enforcement agencies will be reexamining their taser use policy. Others won't be, saying that their policies are adequate enough. The Riverside Police Department's taser policy is pretty inclusive of many of the limitations on taser use already, including some that the majority of the police agencies in this country haven't covered in their own taser policies.





Who is going to be in charge in San Bernardino County?



How did the city of Hemet get its name?




Poor Ferndale, California!

A 6.5 earthquake hits but they have major quakes about every 10 years including three huge ones in 1992 so this one was a mere temblor. Ferndale sits close to the intersection of three of the earth's tectonic plates, which in one spot are divided by the San Andreas Fault. The magnitude of the huge earthquake that hit in San Francisco in 1906 was felt in this small town over 300 miles away, knocking down buildings and shattering glass. The town repaired itself gradually after the 1992 quakes which you can see in the film, Outbreak that came out in 1995 after being shot there in 1994. A lot of the "sick" people in that film which starred Dustin Hoffman and Morgan Freeman were actually from that town.

Don't like big earthquakes, probably shouldn't hang out there though it's a pretty town of nice people. Nothing like dodging falling objects and trying to hold onto the table that you're sitting under while it shakes around the room or dodging bricks flying off the whip-lashed chimney. But it's a great place for practicing duck and cover drills and you have to have really fast reflexes to work there but if since its number one industry is dairy and cows can be inclined to kick people especially bulls about to become steers, that's not really much of a problem.

I love earthquakes, yeah sure. Not so sure about cows.

Ethics Training For the CPRC

It will be held at this meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 4 p.m.

It's hoped that they spend a portion of that training paying extra attention to ahem, conflict of interest issues. Actually, the thought of any type of ethics being part of the CPRC is pretty much a joke after learning of yet another potential conflict of interest situation involving a CPRC commissioner.

This is actually kind of a humorous situation.

Election 2009: Show us the money and 'just the facts'

Now that Election 2009 has left the starting gate in Riverside with the even-numbered city council seats up for grabs, the fund raising and spending will begin in earnest. Some of the fund raising has been going on for a while but there's still money to be raised to finance campaigns especially in the two wards which will likely be the most hotly contested.

The incumbents and newcomers haven't yet begin to submit campaign disclosure forms for any money raised after Jan. 1 but if you go to the City Clerk's office on the seventh floor of City Hall, you can access the campaign records for last year as well as previous years and even election cycles for those elected officials who competed in more than one election.

Here's some of the fund raising done in 2008. The donation amounts are fairly small but keep in mind, these are maintenance contributions. The more lucrative donors will make their presence known on the public record in later campaign contribution statements filed at City Hall. These statements are very important and very valuable records to review that are valuable to the public and they tell you, the voter a lot about your political candidate and what he or she really stands behind and for.



Councilman Andrew Melendrez (Ward Two)



Duane Roberts: $1,000

Riverside Police Officers' Association: $500

Mark Rubin: $375

Doug Jacobs: $500

Union Pacific: $250



Some of these donations show the shift that Melendrez has made from the grassroots candidate he ran as four years ago (on the heels of another originally grassroots candidate, Dom Betro) and it's mirroring in a sense the campaign donations list that Betro compiled during his reelection campaign. It will be interesting to watch how many developers donate or have donated money into his political campaign and how much money they contributed. Because of the impact of the recession (especially regional) and the collapse of the housing market (particularly newly built housing), the developers might not contribute as much money as they have previously but they should still make their presence felt.

Compare and contrast the donation that Melendrez received from the RPOA with that received by Schiavone in the same period. Don't expect it to be repeated if the RPOA shifts its support to Melendrez' rival, Ruben Rasso who has declared his intention to run again. The police union is taking steps through its political action committee to try and improve its record in backing winning candidates but one step towards doing that might be to support Melendrez over Rasso or split campaign contributions between the two. There's no harm in nonendorsement of candidates, either by sitting on the sidelines (like the Riverside Police Administrators' Association is doing) or by in a sense, picking both of them.

Is that likely to happen? Probably not.

The donation from Union Pacific Corporation is kind of funny considering that the city council contemplated suing the freight train service. But Melendrez' receiving a campaign contribution is not nearly as funny as it is for another council member listed below who also received one.






Frank Schiavone (Ward Four)



Adkans Engineering: $250

Supervisor Marion Ashley: $250

Doug Jacobs: $250

Maxi Foods: $250

RPOA: $2,500

Duane Roberts: $1,000

Riverside Fire Fighters' Association: $1,000

Water Mark Properties: $1,000

Union Pacific: $250 (!)



Never short on development money, Schiavone will probably collect a lot more as well as huge donations from both the RPOA (which was a given probably even before it conducted interviews several weeks ago) and the RFA (which typically plays it safe by endorsing incumbents). He's also been courting the SEIU very, very heavily hoping to get its endorsement as well.


And yes, the same council member who declared that he would lead the charge against Union Pacific Corporation for turning Riverside's busy intersections into its personal parking spots accepted a campaign donation from the company in 2008. With that curious dichotomy, does anyone wonder why some people think the city council chambers are a stage and the members of city council the players?





Another fan letter at Craigslist. That's two in relation so far to the Ward Four city council election and the season's still very young! Whereas some anonymous scribbler ranted that I couldn't keep my hands off of him during the county supervisor election, now I am told I have hatred towards him.

Whatever.

I don't have anything against him at all. Sometimes, he's articulate, well-mannered and makes good comments on issues and then there's times that he doesn't but that's true of politicians particularly seasoned ones in general. For most of them, there are times you want to applaud them for an action and then there's times you want to cringe. That's the duality of elected officials who perhaps become too entrenched in the political games that pass as business in many cities.

If you name two of the most promising politicians after they were elected on the Riverside canvas, the two that come to mind are former councilman Dom Betro and Schiavone but neither really lived up to the potential that they showed. They ran for office challenging a system that they later became interwoven in which is what often happens even in municipal politics. They become what both of them fought (in terms of wanting to make change) and the biggest sign of that is if you compare and contrast their campaign contribution disclosure forms over a period of time particularly between the first election and the second.

Another important sign to watch for is how many politicians in an legislative body endorse each other during their respective election races? In Riverside, the practice of council members on the dais endorsing each other with sometimes incumbents receiving endorsements from nearly the entire council is alas, well known. It just sends the message that it's a closed off "good old boys" club and that they can't work with the candidates they didn't endorse who win regardless.

The evolution that these campaign donations often take during this time can be disheartening but in a sense, fascinating as well.

Actually, nothing personal against politicians. I address the politics of an election and the actions of the candidates, not the personalities of those involved in the process. I'll leave the hating to other individuals, having been on the receiving end of more than my share including by individuals whose actions are protected by others.

My personal favorite comment I have received for writing about an election that Schiavone has competed in is the posting written someone who waxed about fortune telling, tea leaves and of course, runes and that this person thought they had made it clear again and again to me how he or she considered former councilman, Art Gage to be slimier than ectoplasm which created quite a mental picture of how this individual felt towards the former councilman. All I had to do was to remember what one person I had discussed Gage with more than once. The one thing that came to mind that was kind of funny was actually visualizing this person looking over a pile of runes for his or her prophesying. Still it was an interesting post in part for that reason.

None of the other related comments quite reached the pinnacle of this art form in comparison to that one.

I'm familiar with this writing style and let's just say, the hatred I have for anything wouldn't fit in a thimble compared to what has been exhibited by this individual below including towards me.





It is doubtful that FBM is objective about anything or anyone, especially Frank Schiavone.
Maybe her objective is to promote Paul Davis because of her hatred of Frank Schiavone, maybe, could be ?
Can it be more obvious.



There's a certain irony to this comment considering its author which I will explain in a future posting.



You want to see hatred and lack of objectivity? Have some anonymous person write about your breasts which has little to nothing to do with local politics or even in that case, the arrest and prosecution of a Riverside Police Department officer for sexual assault. Have someone write that you fantasize about being raped by a police officer. Whether the above person wrote that one or one of the "Starsky" trio (led by the one who picked the moniker because it was his favorite television show while growing up) still hasn't been determined. Only because they share a spelling anomaly in common and it has something to do with an apostrophe.




As far as the challenge of Davis' credentials as a police officer, this is an issue which really should be argued and debated on the campaign trail as other politicians do and not inside a courtroom. It's not that it's not a worthy issue to discuss and debate but no one has done it well yet.



Is it an issue worthy of examination and discussion? Yes, but then again, so are issues arising with Schiavone sharing a house with one of the city's department heads for a period of time if decisions were made by the city council during this period which involved that department or any of its management personnel including the department head including any votes taken to renew any employment contracts. And if and when any contract renewals of this department head came to the city council for a vote, did Schiavone vote or did he disqualify himself from taking that vote?

So both candidates have issues which might concern the voters and so far one of them has at least tried to (if under some pressure) release privileged information addressing these challenges before being accused of altering a governmental document by assorted anonymous sock puppets who keep changing their collective hypothesis on how he did it each time it's challenged. You can't make up that kind of publicity for any candidate that's opposing one supported by a pair of sock puppets like these. Especially ones who try to imply that Davis is not turning over his personnel files because he's secretly covering up a crime (including murder) where the statutory of limitations hasn't expired yet. Any ethical politician would freak if they knew that someone was writing things like that in their name.

They might be major issues or minor issues but often even minor issues became major issues when they're not addressed. Then the two sides could hash these issues out during the beginning of their campaigns leaving the rest of the time available for debates, discussions and public forums on their stands on the issues impacting both Ward Four and the city at large. Ultimately that is what will and should determine how people vote for a candidate.



And when you have allegations posted like this one below, it might be helpful if the authors explain what an evaluation from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department is supposed to look like and where their information comes from so that the average person who doesn't understand the format of the evaluation forms can have some sort of background understanding of them to better understand allegations of fraudulent altering of such forms. That would be very helpful.






I must agree with a previous poster that the evaluation that Paul Davis has put on his website and supplied to the courts looks fraudulent.

On page 1, not a single one of Davis' superior officers checked the box saying that they concur or do not concur with the evaluation. They obviously didn't want to be on the record about something.

What is that something? It appears to be missing from page 3 where two paragraphs of his evaluation have been somehow removed. Notice that Davis' initials are at the bottom of the page, not after the last paragraph, yet on page 2 they are right after the paragraph.

In law enforcement evaluations, the employees sign right below the last sentence so that someone can not come in and add either good or bad comments after the fact. Something appears to have disappeared after the fact.

It is of grave concern that Mr. Davis would float this altered evaluation around as proof that he was not forced to resign from the RSO. It is also of great concern that his attorney submitted this document to the courts as evidence.

If it is proven that the Davis RSO evaluation has been changed in any way, Davis should withdraw from the race and his attorney should be disbarred for unethical practices.




Yes, it would be interesting if anyone would step forward and *prove* this allegation but is it going to be this individual who wrote this posting? And further elaboration about the statement about "law enforcement evaluations" and where they are signed would also benefit the voters, the majority being not knowledgeable of how law enforcement evaluations are done given that for the most part in the State of California, most members of the public have and will not ever see one.

Thanks in advance.

And what is the proof that Davis was forced to resign from the Riverside County Sheriff's Department? Rumors that this is the case were posted here on Craigslist even before Schiavone's campaign did the public document request for Davis' records. Threats were also made that if Davis ran for office against Schiavone, his history as a law enforcement officer would be exposed. But what you have are people making insinuations and asking Davis to come forward and *prove* them right when if they are absolutely sure that their allegations are true, then they should just come forward and present their evidence already. Call or fold, it's called in poker.

If his campaign is so sure that Davis was forced out of both the Riverside County Sheriff's Department and the Riverside Police Department, then it seems that they would be able to provide the evidence themselves. Probably not through public records because of state law but through other evidence to support the allegations.






Then there's this comment which makes the same allegations.


(excerpt, Craigslist)



The interesting fact to note here is: This is a document that DAVIS produced. It DIDN'T come from the Riverside Sheriff's Office.

It came from DAVIS (no questions asked?). The previous poster is correct in stating that the initials are at the end of the comment to prevent alterations. WHY are Davis' initials at the end of the comment in some places and many inches below in others? Because he doctored it. He deleted it, scanned it, then posted it on his website.

Get the true, certified document from the Sheriff's Department - unaltered - please!

Get what is going on now haters?

As I said before - this IS important.




One major point that this unidentified writer omits is that the reason the document came from Davis and not the Sheriff's Department is because only one of the two parties can produce it without violating state laws. Police officer evaluations are not considered public information under current city and county interpretations of state penal code, 832.7. Should they be? That's an issue worthy of discussion for reasons including those raised during this political campaign for example. However, the only individual who can legally provide this document is Davis, by waiving his confidentiality rights.

If these individuals are such pros when it comes to determining when a police evaluation is genuine or a fraud (and the last one seems to certainly be a pro in alteration technique if what he or she describes is accurate), produced verbatim or in an altered form, then they must surely be cognizant in the state laws that as interpreted by the city and county legal counsel are deemed confidential and privileged under state laws including PC 832.7. Because if you're an "expert" on police evaluations (and the credentials of these individuals are not included in their comments) then you would know who gets to release the document and who doesn't.


But what were the sentences by the evaluating supervisor that preceded the allegedly deleted portion of page 3 of this evaluation? And the previous poster was absolutely correct that this was very important indeed. The most important words in this statement are the ones I highlighted in red below.



(excerpt, RSD evaluation, pg. 3)


"In summary, Deputy Davis is a young enthusiastic self-starter and he is progressing at a very acceptable rate."



For those who don't know, in most forms of writing, the words "in summary" are equivalent to taking the salient points raised in the body of your work and bringing them to a conclusion. The likelihood of a supervisor (who is writing an evaluation) of write a conclusion that's reasonably positive and then following it with negative comments about this individual's performance is just not very high.

In summary, who's misleading who?




But then there's this comment in response.


(excerpt, Craigslist)



You are such a fool! Ever heard of "cut and paste"?

The post doesn't necessarily mean the LAST paragraph or two was omitted. Wrap your warped brain around the fact that a paragraph or two was cut out and the final one pasted in it's place. OMG do people really do that? YES THEY DO! The initials are STILL way below the others. You even made the comment about that.

Go figure.




"Fools." "Warped brain". Now we're beginning to get serious in defending the argument that Davis has altered his evaluation that he received from the Sheriff's Department through the making of a salient argument.



Actually, this is what is called revising your argument in the face of having it challenged. If you read the two posts above which come with embedded links, you'll find the words "removed" and "deleted" and not "cut, pasted" and rearranged. The fact is, this individual is alleging that an individual altered a governmental document, a serious offense without anything but tin foil hat reasoning to back your claims. These postings are so outrageously hyperbolic that one can only hope these anonymous individuals aren't involved in Schiavone's campaign and are just overzealous fans.


But then there's comments like this one against Schiavone which are also tacky, tasteless and mean-spirited.


(excerpt, Craigslist)



I think Schiavone's wife left him because he's actually in the closet. I'm not against gay people but I think Frank should really accept himself and come out of the closet. If he and the chief of police have a thing going on they should simply come out an admit it. Frank's obviously feminine and I really think he can't hide his homosexuality.



A personal attack against a candidate and homophobic to boot because in order to use a tactic like this, you have to be homophobic. There's reasons why people who write these comments are anonymous because they would never come out from beneath their rocks and say this to someone's face. After all, they didn't in the past.

And many homophobic rants like this one, preface themselves by saying they are not against gay people or have nothing against them or are even down with them. And I can relate having read a lot of similarly ilked posts by people with this same kind of mentality. Nobody deserves that and that includes Schiavone.



My favorite comment of the day on Craigslist is this excerpt from a longer rant (the same one that implies that Davis is covering up a serious crime like murder while in law enforcement) that insists that Davis did alter his records because well...because.


(excerpt, Craigslist)



California protects the files of peace officers and keeps them confidential so that cop-haters like Mary Shelton can not go through them and recklessly persecute our society's defenders or harass their families.


Recklessly persecute a person? Like implying they committed a rape or a murder because they didn't hand over their personnel files to people like this one? Some role model this commentator is in terms of not being "reckless" and he sounds more like a walking advertisement for someone an officer, current or otherwise, might not want to turn their personnel files to either.




Yawn on being called "cop-hater" for the zillionth time. It got old after about 2002 and the first dozen or so times. And I'm used to people writing nasty things and then adding "Back the Badge" or "Go RPD" or whatever to justify calling me a bitch, a cunt, a skank, a whore or whatever.

Actually, there are many really fine police officers in this city. They are probably too busy to be ranting on Craiglist and they don't use those officers as excuses to justify bad behavior that they choose to engage in because they can't relate to women unless they harass or threaten them. If they couldn't do it for the sake of police officers or council members, they'd find someone else to pimp to justify their actions. And most police officers probably have no clue that they're being used in this way to justify cyberharassment.

Some day I'll more fully explain the irony of this statement about "harassing" and how state law shields that behavior but not today. In fact, it's going to take a couple of posts to explain it all.

But you harass people in Riverside, you get awarded. In contrast to others who don't engage in that behavior and aren't given awards for doing their jobs well.

In fact, when was the last time a Riverside Police Department officer actually received an award from the city council? Didn't it used to be a monthly tradition? That's a tradition that the city council and mayor should restore in the near future. Certainly, that's worth a future blog posting as well as to why the good officers in our city don't receive more awards and recognition and have to crowd the city council chambers just to be treated fairly in the contract negotiation process.

"Starsky" would be jealous as he has still not received his own award. Ironically, it was because the confidentiality laws protected the first individual's sustained misconduct from being disclosed that the city council was in the position on one occasion of congratulating an officer it had criticized less than a year before being none the wiser. That's one side of the peace officer confidentiality laws which doesn't enter into very many discussions because that's a part of it that the public might find more difficult to justify. And the irony is that when I was being harassed, Schiavone was one of the few elected officials who showed concern about it and now, several of my old harassers are engaging in the same behavior purportedly on his behalf.

Does he know? Probably not. He might know these individuals but probably not this side of them. They probably save that for the internet. Hopefully, that's the only place they share it.

But the comments raise interesting points about the double-edged sword that this law has become in terms of it being restricted to protect officers as one person argued and yet used to shield the behavior of officers as well as this same poster also pointed out in the same comment. And how you can't have it both ways. That's worth a post or two as soon as the technical issues are resolved.





The posting of the night goes to this "annonymous"[sic] commenter at Craigslist.


(excerpt)





Too Funny Cuz It's Me. Although I am Not Schiavone's Lawyer, I AM annonymous and there's no mudslinging - just the facts ma'am......... Then there's Karen who isn't really annonymous 'cuz of her give away long ass posts and mention of Greyhound and mention of bicycle paths and, oh, the screw up about "Bay Area Chamber of Commerce" being next to Riverside Greyhound (I laughed my ass off on that one!) links to FBM blogger, who is no longer annonymous herself.

Nice try.



Nice try. You're not very anonymous.


I don't know, there's kind of a distinct style to it that's captivating. I've been wondering where he's been hanging out lately after the firestorm he caused over at City Hall while at his last haunt several months ago. The irony is that he would be anonymous if how he spelled the word didn't give him away because he has a thing for putting double consonants where they shouldn't be including with this particular word.


The funniest thing is that he acted like he knew me and we've crossed paths once, maybe twice but were never formally introduced. I'm not sure I even remember what he looks like. But the strange thing is that at least three of my cyber harassers that I was able to identify never even met me. One of them worked in a unit where other employees were under investigation but it's not clear whether or not he was investigated himself.

One of them, I had never even heard of.





But this post comes in a close second. I'm not sure why I'm even mentioned in relation to the controversial incident involving Schiavone's comments about former councilwoman, Joy Defanbaugh except for the fact that this person cyberstalked me from early 2006 to the autumn of 2006 using some of the same derisive language about feminism and is using someone else's comment as an excuse to try to pick up where he left off to impress anonymous posters he probably doesn't know but believes (and he may be right like before) are officers. Because there's a circle jerk going on and he wants in and his material really hasn't changed much since the last time he's harassed me. Hopefully, the others in the circle will give him the "atta boy" that he's after this time rather than ignore him.

Actually in relation to the "Defanbaugh" incident, Schiavone and I had an interesting conversation about this situation when it happened which was fairly positive. And I wonder why this particular poster since at least 2006 has been railing about how I don't appreciate a good man and want to emasculate them. That I'm a lesbian. That I'm called a laundry list of assorted derogatory terms by elected officials he claimed to know. That I'm a radical feminist who hates men! That's a little bit off the beaten path for a vengeful cyber stalker.

You know it's pretty interesting when some guy writes some misogynist garbage about you and then has the audacity to then say that you don't appreciate compliments from men. It makes you wonder if he's on the wrong section of Inland Empire Craigslist (although that can be said about a couple of individuals here who visit in pairs usually around the same time at night).

On the other hand, this particular commenter (who also posted the "SPIN" comments above and tons of other garbage that would probably short out the Craigslist server just to hold it all) hasn't left me with very fond memories of our past "conversations" given his propensity for writing comments about me having "orgasms" while writing about police officers' misconduct, had DUI convictions in my past, graphic descriptions of me going down on female commenters on my blog and other equally memorable prattle. The funny thing, is that just a month ago, he was harassing CPRC Commissioner Chani Beeman on line as he did about a year ago fairly relentlessly. His grudge against her is too old to be engaging in such vile conduct. He needs to get over it and move on.

Not a police officer but definitely wanted to be one at one time and perhaps still does. Couldn't even get hired as a crossing guard, all told.

Though in one of those truly ironic twists, his paths did cross with one of his fellow circle-jerkers (and if you knew who they were and what they were doing at the time, at least the irony's kind of funny) although in a way that was somewhat less based on the shared camaraderie who get together to harass a woman even if they might not know each other, and more based on something quite different than that. Still, it would make an interesting group picture, something that provided some degree of humor to a terrifying situation.



So when did saying " being very much a lady " become negative treatment toward women ?
Only " Riverside's biggest and most prolific blogger " Mary (radical feminist aka rad-fem) Shelton could believe this to be a fact.
Ms. 5 bi midnight, get over your belief that men are only out to denigrate women, especially when men are being complementary.
Oh that's right, you believe that a man that compliments a woman is being sexist. Aaagh!



Aaagh is right. I'm not surprised you asked that question since you know what appalling behavior towards women really is because you've engaged in it yourself. and you misused "complementary"...again.

As if this guy would know what to do with a woman or how to please her unless "she" were vinyl and blown up with a bicycle pump because most of his posts objectified women as if he were given the right to decide who was a woman and who's not which shows an inability to relate to them. If you're a harasser of women in any venue, then one defense is, "well, that person's not really a woman because I say she's not." This particular commenter regularly engaged in this type of semantics.

There's probably more to come because after all, the election season has just begun and these individuals continue to be a tribute to the candidate that they're engaging in this conduct on behalf of. But it's curious to me why this group of cyberharassing losers have now began venting their considerable energy against Davis.


Still, I feel sorry for Davis for being in the cross hairs of this bunch who three years later are still engaging in the same pathetic, pathological behavior they showed me and no doubt some of them still being protected by the same laws that they're arguing should be bent to expose some alleged misconduct on Davis' part. They were and now are a monumental pain in the ass to deal with, something I wouldn't wish on anyone and they pretty much engage in this conduct with impunity. Still they're kind of silly, reminiscent of a puppy that's not housebroken that comes up and pees on your leg.

But hey, if they get away scot free the first they did it (assuming that was the first time), why not do it again? This time, saying it's righteous because they're defending an election candidate and not a certain faction of the Riverside Police Department.

And this has been amusing to take a stroll down memory lane but next time, we'll be resuming our regularly scheduled program.















One of the candidates running for the fourth ward seat in San Bernardino has taken a huge lead. That is Fred Shorett. It's not a shock because he was favored to win the election by a large margin.



(excerpt, San Bernardino Sun)

Reached by telephone after the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters released the first round of election results, Shorett said his victory speaks to the support he received from San Bernardino's business figures and that he's eager to to try his hand at making positive change in San Bernardino.

"I'm very, very pleased with the results and we ran a good campaign," Shorett said.

Why did the Redlands City Council schedule one of its city council meetings to take place in Washington, D.C?



(excerpt, Press Enterprise)




Redlands officials this week issued an official agenda alerting the public that their regular council meeting would be held in Washington, D.C., headlined by Sen. Barbara Boxer.

Yet at the aforementioned time and place, there was no sign of Redlands officials.

Boxer, D-Calif., was there -- because the time and place set out on the Redlands agenda coincided with a legislative briefing she was giving to the California Association of Cities inside a Senate hearing room on Capitol Hill.

As city officials from places such as Rosemead and Rancho Cordova filed in, Boxer's staff said they knew nothing of plans for an official Redlands council meeting there and noted that the use of a committee hearing room for such purpose would require plenty of advance notice and congressional approval.





The indecision continues in who will become the next assessor in San Bernardino County.



(excerpt, San Bernardino Sun)

John Hueston, the trailblazing attorney who successfully prosecuted key figures in the Enron scandal and was commissioned by the county to do his own investigation into the Assessor's Office, has yet to report his findings to the Board of Supervisors.

"It's going to happen. How it happens and when it happens is still up in air," said Mark Kirk, chief of staff for Supervisor Gary Ovitt, the board chairman.

As for naming Postmus' successor, Kirk said, Ovitt's office is currently working on a proposal for replacing Postmus that should go before the supervisors in April.

Assistant Assessor Dennis Draeger, the interim assessor, and former Assessor Donald Williamson and state Sen. Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga have all expressed interest in taking over the Assessor's Office, said 2nd District Supervisor Paul Biane.

He said he sent a memo to Ovitt about two weeks ago suggesting it

was time to get the ball rolling.

Whomever Postmus' successor is, preference will likely go to someone with local real-estate experience and management skills who is also a credentialed real-estate appraiser, Biane said.

But former Assessor, Bill Postmus' case has been postponed.