Friends For Fullerton's Future – Page 225 – FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County

March 25, 2011May 19, 2011Setting The Bar Low

Crime and Cover Up: The Pastor Raid Debacle Gets Ugly

FFFF has been trying to obtain the police report filed after several Fullerton police officers conducted a narcotics raid on the wrong house and held an innocent pastor and his family at gunpoint last year (read the story here).

Since the family presented a copy of the police report to the council at a public meeting, that document is now undeniably a public record. But the cops and the city administrators love to keep secrets when they blow it, and thus have deployed one ornery city attorney to block out any sunshine on this case. God forbid the public learns about the mistakes it’s own cops are making.

Lego Police Raid — We have the right to remain silent

But here’s where it gets weird. In this email below, the city attorney justifies keeping the report secret by admitting that crimes were committed when the cops entered the wrong house with guns drawn!

Travis,

After reviewing the police records in a light most favorable to the Nordells if the entry made by the officers were unlawful they may have been victims of several crimes, namely assault, trespass and a civil rights violation. If the officers did enter with guns drawn, they more than likely experienced the fear that goes accompanied with such entry. While, we are not acknowledging any of those unlawful acts occurred it does establish that they are victims of a crime. As victims of a crime they were the only party entitled to obtain the police report under Gov Code 6254 (f).

Kathya M. Oliva
Jones & Mayer

Let’s go over that again. Did our city just deny a public records request by confirming that its officers committed assault, trespass and civil rights violations? Pretty much. Admitting guilt to cover your tracks is a novel approach to criminal defense.

FFFF’s response? If there was a crime committed against the family, the incident should have been referred to the DA for prosecution. Was it? If not, covering up the report because there “may have” been a crime doesn’t hold legal water.

Our question was met with a friendly invitation to sue the city in Superior Court…which is actually a great idea. I can’t think of a better way to bring more attention to this issue.

March 24, 2011March 24, 2011Fullerton School Board

The Full List

by Travis34 Comments

For the sake of fairness and in the interest of full disclosure, here is the full list of Fullerton School District’s highest paid employees, including administrators. Naturally, administrators top the list. As you can see, the list is considerably expanded.

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March 23, 2011March 23, 2011Fullerton School Board

Deleted

by Travis20 Comments

It’s a good thing that FFFF is recording the board meetings of the Fullerton School District. I just found out that Superintendent Mitch Hovey orders the district’s own audio recordings to be destroyed 30 days after each meeting.

How’s that for transparency and accountability?

Anyway, here’s the video from last night’s meeting. All of the recordings are available under the FSD Videos tab above.

Scroll ahead 45 minutes and listen to the union spokesperson pat a few fellow teachers on the back for using one of their valuable weekends to attend a conference at a hotel on educational topics, including… retirement benefits!

How selfless.

March 22, 2011March 22, 2011Redevelopment

The State of Redevelopment in California

by The Fullerton Savage43 Comments

Remember State Controller John Chaing’s review of “Selected Redevelopment Agencies” in California?

His office’s five week study of a sample of 18 agencies (Fullerton was not in the sample of agencies) in the state has released a report:

http://www.sco.ca.gov/eo_pressrel_9789.html

The authors have come to some disturbing, but not unexpected conclusions beginning with “The Controller found no reliable means to measure the impact of redevelopment activity on job growth because RDAs either do not track them or their methodologies lack uniformity and are often arbitrary.” No one who follows the travails of redevelopment in our state should be surprised by this revelation.

The full report is replete with examples of agencies in different cities improperly filing required reports or not filing them at all as well as using funds improperly. Chiang concludes that “The lack of accountability and transparency is a breeding ground for waste, abuse, and impropriety…”.

Even this short term study confirms what many people in Fullerton and elsewhere have maintained for years, that redevelopment law in California has allowed local agencies to abuse their mandates with impunity from the very start with the dubious establishment of the areas themselves.

“The report notes that the 18 RDAs share no consensus in defining a blighted area.” The definition of blight was, of course, at the very crux of challenges against the unjustified expansion of the Fullerton Merged Redevelopment Area. It is encouraging to see the state government challenging agencies to define the blight in their cities in clear terms instead of allowing laughable images of gum wrappers and aluminum cans in a vacant lot to stand as justification for the wholesale diversion of tax dollars away from vital city services.

March 21, 2011March 21, 2011Fullerton School Board

Eighty-Four Underpaid Teachers Who Make Over $90k

by Travis219 Comments

Yesterday one of our blog readers expressed disbelief that any Fullerton teacher made over 80 grand a year. That’s a lot of money for a part time job, and our poor school teachers are supposed to be underpaid, right?

Well, take a look at this list of 84 FSD teachers who made over $90,000 in the 2009-2010 school year.

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But the real kicker is that these folks only had to work for 182 days a year to earn these salaries, while the rest of us slog it out for about 240 days.

confused — When I grow up will I get the summer off too?

So it seems that plenty of Fullerton teachers are doing just fine after all. Maybe it’s time for the school board to stop accepting furlough days as the solution to our budget problems. It’s supposed to be about the children, right?

March 18, 2011March 19, 2011Boohooism

The She Bear

by admin38 Comments

mckinley-she-bear — The She Bear made me do it!

On the eve of my departure for Sacramento to the repuglican convention, I was just about to enter Steamer’s to visit with city councilwoman Sharon Quirk-Silva at her annual St. Patty’s day party and listen to my Friend OJ blogger and entertainer extraordinaire Vern Nelson play the piano (and trust me Vern is quite the entertainer) and who did I see? None other than Fullerton’s biggest sissy – city councilman (by 91 votes) Pat McPension.

At first I thought about going up to him to ask how the Hell he had the nerve to show up at Quirk’s party. After all, this is the same puppet that followed his repuglican string pullers and stuck a proverbial knife in Quirk-Silva’s back on that old Mayor pro-tem stuff. Remember? But then I thought: it’s not that big a deal – he’s probably use to sticking knives in people’s backs.

March 18, 2011March 18, 2011Fullerton School Board

Happy Furlough Day from Janny Meyer!

by The Fullerton Shadow43 Comments

Check out today’s weepy facebook ramblings from the allegedly-conservative Fullerton School Board Trustee Janny Meyer as she whines about the downsides of furlough days and their effect on all of those hard working teachers:

Keep reading as the sentiment is bounced around the echo chamber by union president Andy Montoya and then the dearly departed Collabricorn, Pam Keller.

So a crew gets all hopped up because a few teachers engage in a little professional development in their time off… something considered perfectly common for every private sector professional I’ve ever met. We just don’t have to hear them making a fuss about it.

No mention by Janny that furlough days are foisted upon us at the insistence of her own teachers’ union as a wonderful alternative to the actual pay reductions that the rest of us in the real world are taking. Maybe someone should remind Janny and her union pals of this important fact: today every kid in Fullerton will go without the day’s ed-u-ma-cation because teachers chose to take a day off instead of receiving a small pay cut.

March 17, 2011May 19, 2011Big Brother

Thou Shalt Not Breech and Clear

by Travis16 Comments

Witness below the testimony of Pastor Chuck, in which he chronicles the night that the Fullerton police entered his family’s home and held them at gunpoint in a narcotics raid executed on the wrong house:

Next, enlighten yourself with the unhallowed details here.

Remember, if it could happen to one of the Lord’s anointed, it could happen to you too.

March 16, 2011March 16, 2011Big Brother

An Brief Update on the Blog Threat

by Travis30 Comments

Remember a few weeks ago when some bonehead made a threat against Fullerton cops on our blog?

Well, the Friends have finally reported a crime that the cops are taking seriously.

According to the FPD, the guys in “hi-tech crime detail” paid a visit to our humble blog, evaluated the comment, analyzed the free speech implications of prosecuting it and ultimately decided to write up a report and send it off to the D.A.

So what will the D.A. do? Probably nothing. It’s fairly obvious that “Mad Nerd” lacks the intent (and mental capacity) to actually carry out his threat, but rather was just trying to make trouble for some meddlesome bloggers.

Anyway, we’ll let you know if a search warrant comes in.

March 15, 2011March 15, 2011Dead heads

Impending Invasion of Fullerton By Whack Jobs and Wing Nuts?

by Grover Cleveland31 Comments

Here’s a hilarious invitation received recently by a Friend:

Anyway, follow this link to watch the blood-spattered intro on the speaker’s marketing website: www.hi-caliber.org

splat — You too can join the counter-terrorist offensive!

Note the collision of paranoia, faith, and patriotism – the old formula. A biblical quote is de rigeur, Old Testament, of course, so as not to offend potential Jewish support (other Peoples of Faith, dontcha know – just took a left turn on that whole Jesus thing).

Watchmen on the Wall? Wait is this Lenny Bruce-type parody? No, alas.

Typical know-nothing nonsense, really. And notice the supposed “experts”- a PI operation from Redlands, California! It might actually be worth it to go and watch the scam perpetrated on the rubes after they load up on Sizzler salad bar and jug wine (does Sizzler still have a salad bar after 9/11?)

Ironically this Uber-patriot event is held on St. Pat’s Day by the same sort of people who despised and demonized Irish immigrants one hundred and fifty years ago.