Mr. Peabody, Author at Friends For Fullerton's Future

July 7, 2012Behind Closed Doors

The Waistband

Something has been bothering me, and I have a question: What is a waistband?

I don’t really know. It sounds like something that held up those stretchy green rayon pants old grandad wore.

I do know that it is the handiest thing imaginable for cops who, for whatever reason, have just plugged somebody. How many times have we read in post-shooting news articles that Mr. Sinister was “reaching for his waistband” when Officer Galahad, fearing for his own life, felt compelled to shoot him four or five times? Apparently a “waistband” is the place that bad guys stick their pistols, or knives, boomerangs, or whatever; or that’s the plausible place he they would stick ’em if they had ’em in the first place.

And how many times has the DA, investigating the shootings, given a pass to Officer Galahad or one of his brethren, due to the claim, often unsubstantiated, that Mr. Sinister was “reaching for his waistband?”

Of course it’s a little embarrassing when it turns out that Mr. Sinister was completely unarmed. Then you would think that the “reaching for waistband” defense would come up a little short. After all why would a bad guy reach for a weapon that wasn’t there?

But no! It seems that for a successful Reaching For The Waistband defense, a policeperson merely needs to chant the mantra and that establishes the defense. After all, how was Officer Galahad to know that Mr. Sinister was merely trying to pull his pants up?

July 3, 2012July 3, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Read All About It! A New Blog in Town

by Mr. Peabody28 Comments

A guy named Matt Leslie has started a new blog in Fullerton, and it looks like a pretty good read. It’s called the Fullerton Rag and appears thoughtful and well-written. I am informed Mr. Leslie is the lesser half of recent council candidate, Jane Rands.

This blog will likely appeal to the less febrile and more intellectual Fullerton political aesthetic preference; and I say bravo! The more people who dial into what’s happening in Fullerton, the better.

Be sure to read the post about Leslie playing Monopoly with Don Bankhead. It’s pretty good.

June 25, 2012June 25, 2012A Step in the Right Direction

Tanned, Rested, Ready. Bill Hunt For Fullerton Police Chief?

by Mr. Peabody441 Comments

Dear Friends, we received the following e-mail today:

The Fullerton Police Department needs a housecleaning; a big broom that will reach all the way back into the filthy corners that haven’t been cleaned for years. There are hairballs and dust bunnies back in there dating to Patdown Pat McPension’s first years on the job.

Except for those inside the department and the cowardly do-nothing types like Sharon Quirk who would have us believe that she and Dan Hughes are cleaning up the spills on Aisle One, nobody believes the department is capable of reforming itself. We need an objective outsider to do the job. Somebody who has experience as a municipal police chief, but who isn’t afraid to take on the establishment.

That person is Bill Hunt.

As a lieutenant in the OC Sheriff’s Department he was the Police Chief of San Clemente. He took on the corrupt Sheriff, Mike Carona when nobody else had the guts to. In doing so he earned the enmity of all the other crooked repuglicans in Orange County. It cost him his job.

Let’s get Fullerton back on track. Let’s get a strong, effective, honorable reformer running our police department!

June 15, 2012Dead heads

Fun Comments: 3 Good Men?

by Mr. Peabody38 Comments

Yesterday we received this pearl of a comment from Mr. or Ms. Anonymous:

“These paranoid pot smoking hippies put 3 good men outta a job just because they said they wanted to wait until an investigation was complete before commenting on the death of Kelly.

Now these smelly hippies are turning there paranoia on the sidebar which had nothing to do with anything. when will the madness stop?”

You know, I think this person meant to say “Three Bald Tires.” You see, there was simply no tread left. The steel was showing through what was left of the rubber. They were worse than worthless: they were dangerous.

But now they are in a better place – protecting against erosion along a bend in the Santa Ana River. And even though we are all just smelly hippies, we are all in a better place, too.

June 8, 2012Behind Closed Doors

A Fun Re-run

by Mr. Peabody18 Comments

All this talk about Fullerton cop union boss Barry Coffman has resurrected fond memories of the hilarious video we shared last fall, after the notorious FPD Excessive Horning harassment episode. It seems that good ol’ Barry was one of the principle performers in Dan Hughes’ circus. Enjoy once more:

June 7, 2012Law N Disorder

Barry Coffman Says We Are Misinformed

by Mr. Peabody91 Comments

Bungling Barry — The donut holes would come later...

Echoing the sentiments of his boss and apparent mentor, Acting Police Chief Dan Hughes, Fullerton cop union leader Barry Coffman says those who characterize the FPD as having a corruption problem are misinformed. Here are his exact words from a Register article.

“I think they are misinformed,” Coffman said about anyone saying the department has had corruption. “They don’t know what corrupt is. … They take this Kelly Thomas incident and say there has been a cover-up. Just because they didn’t get information when they wanted it, they conclude there is corruption.”

Predictably, Coffman chooses to gloss over the long string of malfeasance perpetrated by members of the FPD, mostly card-carrying members of his own union. See, Barry is suddenly confronted with the very real possibility that Fullerton might consider outside offers to take over policing in Fullerton, offers that could save as much as $10,000,000, annually.

Well, Mr. Excessive Horning has a selective and self-serving memory. I don’t. Here’s what I remember from just the past year:

Albert Rincon – Accused of multiple sexual assaults. City styles two cases for $350,000.

Todd Major – Fraud. Ripped off Explorers.

Kelly Mejia – Grand theft.

Miguel Siliceo – misidentification of suspect. Wrong guy spends 5 moths in jail.

Vince Mater – Charged by DA with destruction of evidence in jail suicide case.

Manuel Ramos – Accused of assaulting disabled man in June, 2011.

Kenton Hampton – Accused of battery and false arrest against Veth Mam and Edward Quinonez. Cooked up story to attempt to convict Mam. Jury acquits Mam.

Frank Nguyen – bogus testimony in Mam case.

Robert “Go home or go to jail” Kirk – Threatens law abiding citizens with jail for watching the FPD at work. Later spotted in the “excessive horning” debacle.

Perry Thayer – accused of roughing up downtown visitor

Cary Tong – ditto

April Baughman – stole from the FPD property room for two years before getting caught. Hmm. No accomplices? No inventory?

Andrew Goodrich – peddled falsehoods about the Kelly Thomas killing that were never retracted.

Barry Coffman(!) – proud participant in Dan Hughes’ excessive horning scam.

Tom “Tango” Basham – allegedly the watch commander the night of the Thomas murder, and player #1 in the subsequent cover up.

Christopher Wren – off the hook in the Rincon assaults, but plead no contest to “false imprisonment” against some kid in the IE – bargaining down battery charges. Anger management took care of his legal problems. Ours are still pending.

Dan Hughes – boss of all the above

Etc., etc.

Of course the “incident” with Kelly Thomas stands in a class by itself for malicious, incompetence, and murderous thuggery. We will always remember the names Ramos, Wolfe, Cicinelli, Blatney, Craig. Oh and let’s not forget our old friend Hampton.

Say, Barry, tell us again who is misinformed?

June 3, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down…

by Mr. Peabody239 Comments

I discovered this hanging from my door knob this morning, courtesy of the Fullerton Recall team. Yowzer! Look down there at the bottom of the salary side: Thomas Basham – the alleged Watch Commander who watched his boys beat Kelly Thomas to death. And on the pension side get a load of #2: Former City Manager, and anti-recall contributor, Chris Meyer who pulled in $171K in pension last year. He sure has lots of reasons to back the Three Bald Tires.

June 1, 2012June 1, 2012Behind Closed Doors

More Bad News For Fullerton Taxpayers; Another Lawsuit Against FPD and Manny Ramos

by Mr. Peabody109 Comments

Manny's Boo boo — The bloated Ramos. Hard to tell where the cop ends and the night begins.

UPDATE. From KNBC: “Sgt. Jeff Stuart, a Fullerton Police Department spokesman, did not return a call seeking comment.”

Now that’s not very good way to improve communication with the community, now is it?

– Mr. Peabody

Over at the OC Weekly, ace reporter R. Scott Moxley has written a post detailing an incident between Fullerton cop Manny Ramos and a 58 year old disabled guy named Mark Edwin Walker. It appears the gist of the thing is that last June 21, two weeks before he instigated the Kelly Thomas murder, Ramos, without provocation or cause, confronted Walker outside an Albertson’s in Fullerton, threw the man to the ground, stomped on him and tossed him in jail, charged with public intoxication, resisting arrest, or some other such nonsense.

Subsequently a judge threw the case out and Walker lawyered up. Of course this is all Walker’s story and it may be self-serving; but it also sounds a heckuva lot like the Veth Mam case. Who’s a jury going to believe now?

Ca-ching. The Culture of Corruption marches on.

May 31, 2012Behind Closed Doors

Joe Felz “Streamlines” City Government

by Mr. Peabody162 Comments

The City of Fullerton issued a press release yesterday identifying some job reassignments. Here’s a link to the press release.

How any of this game of musical deck chairs constitutes a real “streamlining” of anything is anybody’s guess, but it sounds good and appears proactive. I remain highly skeptical of people moving into technical jobs like Risk Management just because there may be an opening and a body with which to fill it; likewise the relocation of an Redevelopment “manager” into a completely unrelated area like accounting and payroll to avoid just cutting them and their big salaries and pensions loose.

How someone with a degree in Anthopology becomes an expert in Economic Development is a complete mystery to me.

May 26, 2012May 25, 2012Boohooism

Doug Chaffee Gets Serious…

by Mr. Peabody124 Comments

Okay, get beyond the hilariously portentous music and the dyed hair, and choose your favorite phrases.

“A few changes…”

“If we can ever get there…”

“Right now we’re a little short…”

“Community based policing…”

I was standing in the lobby of City Hall last week as Chaffee went to the table there to fill out a speaker card, went outside to make a phone call, and then vanished. He just couldn’t get up there to say anything. maybe he finally realized that the jig was up.

After waiting 11 months and saying zip about the Kelly Thomas murder we’re supposed to believe this limp noodle wants to reform anything?