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

February 19, 2012February 19, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

The Deal That Didn’t Happen

In Fullerton the mayor succession is just about the only political intrigue we usually have, with the upper tier repuglicans like Ed Royce Jr. and Richard “Dick” Ackerman calling in markers for their previous endorsements, in order to keep some hapless lady Democrat from getting the largely ceremonial job.

Quirk2 — Her luck was about to change...

In 2010 the deal went down right on schedule as the Three Tired Retreads voted in install Dozing Don Bankhead as “Mayor Pro Tem” instead of Sharon Quirk-Silva whose turn it was. Well, since the Mayor Pro Tem is traditionally next in line to be Mayor, the proverbial handwriting was on the wall.

And then in 2011 the damnedest thing happened in sleepy Fullerton. All Hell broke loose.

With the murder of Kelly Thomas by members of the FPD, with an entire Culture of Corruption finally exposed, with Redevelopment subsidies to campaign supporters uncovered, with an illegal, hidden 10% tax on water laid bare, with the subsequent Recall of the Three Stripped Gears, things took a turn for the weird.

In November, with the Recall signature campaign gathering steam, it suddenly became a matter of conjecture whether it could be business as usual for the Fullerton Old Guard. We said as much, here. And what we asked about is exactly what happened as we reported here.

Ackerslime2 — Heh, heh. I've got these three beauties, here. Sure the mileage is a little high, and the tires are bald, but they'll get you where you want to go!

But never let it be said that Tricky Dick Ackerman missed a trick. I’ve got it on excellent authority that the Three Blind Brontosauruses didn’t elect Q-S without first proposing The Deal: in exchange for making her mayor for 2012, she would have to promise to oppose the Recall of The Three Dim Dealmakers!

To her credit Sharon Quirk-Silva saw what we saw: that her outbound colleagues had no choice but to make her mayor and were in no position to try to cut deals with anyone. When you’re out of chips the poker game is over.

And now the recall is qualified, an election will be scheduled for June, and the ‘pugs get to watch Quirk-Silva run for re-election with the title Mayor of Fullerton. Best of all they got nothing out of it.

February 16, 2012February 16, 2012Dead heads

The Mighty Peculiar Tale of Officer Joe Wolfe

by Mr. Peabody195 Comments

By now everyone is at least casually familiar with the personage of FPD cop Joe Wolfe, who along with Manny Ramos, happened to be the first to confront the homeless schizophrenic man, Kelly Thomas, in the Fullerton Transportation Center, on the sultry night of July 5th, 2011.

Allegedly responding to a call claiming somebody was breaking into cars, Wolfe and Ramos were near enough to get to the scene first. Some folks think this was not a coincidence.

According to the DA, Wolfe searched Thomas’ backpack at the rear of a patrol car as Ramos hovered over Thomas around front – a mere 10-15 feet away. The fact that this implausibly lengthy “search” took place during Ramos’ physical and verbal intimidation of Kelly gave the DA his justification for Wolfe’s subsequent behavior.

What happened next (according to the DA) is that Kelly, who finally realized he was being queued up for an ass kicking one way or another, got up, and backed away from Ramos, hands and palms up; Ramos had pulled out his baton. And who was there to meet Thomas with drawn night stick, having circled around behind the patrol car and who suddenly seemed very much aware of what was going on?

Right. Officer Joe Wolfe.

This corpulent cop, who was so thoroughly engrossed in picking through Thomas’ scant belongings that he supposedly had no knowledge of what was happening a few feet away, suddenly became as nimble as Nijinski, allegedly slamming Kelly in the leg with his night stick, and with Ramos, tackling Thomas. As Ramos held Thomas by the neck and punched him, Wolfe was on top too, kicking and punching as the beat down and the pile on began.

We are asked (by the DA) to believe that Wolfe was completely unaware of Ramos verbally threatening Thomas, and donning his latex gloves; and that he was merely coming to Ramos’ rescue. Could it have happened that way? I guess so, but it really strains credulity to believe that Wolfe was not aware of the provacative behavior of Ramos, even if there were no pre-arranged set up of Kelly involved. And the DA provided no credible explanation for the sheer violence of his physical assault: we are left with the inevitable conclusion that Wolfe meant to do Kelly great bodily harm.

How many times did Wolfe hit Thomas before the one-eyed cop Jay Cicinelli arrived on the scene to finish him off? Only those privileged cops (and city councilmen) who have seen the video know.

Many questions remain unanswered about the role of Mr. Wolfe on the night in question, and despite the DA’s effort to absolve Wolfe of complicity in the killing, many observers, including me, remain unconvinced.

One thing we do know for sure: Joe Wolfe joins an ever growing list of Fullerton cops who can’t be let loose on the street or trusted to testify in court. He has been on paid leave since August. And until the Gennaco report on the Thomas killing comes out, there he will stay.

February 11, 2012February 11, 2012Law N Disorder

Pat McKinley’s Selective Silence

by Mr. Peabody83 Comments

McCueball — Um, let me think about it...

A few days ago, OC Register employee Lou Ponsi scribbled an article here quoting Pat McPension “that because the City Council may have to ultimately decide the employment status of the officers, both on unpaid leave, remaining silent was the correct decision.

We remained silent because that is the rule,” McKinley said. “We were told by the (city) attorney, ‘Don’t say anything.’ … A lawyer tells me what to do and I follow his lead.”

Silent? Yeah, right Pat:

Pat was pretty quick to peddle his damage-control and try to downplay Kelly Thomas’ injuries as not life-threatening. His statement that the Coroner couldn’t determine the cause of death was the old flat-foot desperately clinging to the insinuation that there was some medical reason (i.e. maybe drugs) Kelly died – apart from 1400 lbs. of cop meat sitting on his chest after they had bashed his face into his brain.

We’ve also just raised the question as to whether or not Mr. McKinley may have blabbed about the employment status of Fullerton PD officer Kelly Mejia to his pal and anti-recall spokesorifice, Larry Bennett.

February 4, 2012"Dick" Ackerman

How To Burn Through $55,000

by Mr. Peabody126 Comments

We’ve had a lot of fun exposing the waste and incompetence of our three Jurassic councilmen, Bankhead Jones, and McKinley, although the indecent exposure hasn’t been pretty. The Redevelopment scams, the Water Fund fraud, and the Culture of Corruption in the Fullerton Police Department all point to sclerotic ineptitude of Biblical proportions.

But nothing that came before prepared me for the Protect Fullerton expenses identified on their Form 460.

Somehow these dopes managed to spend $55,000 in a few months mounting a pathetic opposition to the Fullerton Recall signature drive. $55,000 spent on a gang of fixers and political prostitutes assembled by OC’s number one bag man, the “Honorable” Dick Ackerman. The childish website, the dumb mailers, the rotten political advice cost the Three Sluggish Sloths plenty. And what do they have to show for it? A handful of recission cards from people who probably never even signed the Recall petition in the first place.

But, lest you feel sorry about the poor boobs who had their hard-earned contributions wasted by these dodos, consider the source: over half the dough came from the Fullerton cop union and a few other police agencies across the state – including the cop slush fund that is fronting the money to pay for Ramos and Cicinelli’s lawyers.

And to wrap the package in a pretty bow, Friends, reflect on this: if the Three Dimwits can throw their money around to such little effect, just think what they have been doing with our money all these years.

January 30, 2012January 31, 2012Dead heads

Speculation Monday, Part II

by Mr. Peabody40 Comments

Okay, my first foray into look-alikes today was pretty feeble.

How about this:

and this:

Now tell me I’m not on to something.

Hale Bopp — The penetrating gaze of Marshall Applewhite.

January 30, 2012Law N Disorder

Speculation Monday!

by Mr. Peabody11 Comments

The image below is a cop sketch of a perv who attacked a woman near FJC in October. He was said to be in his mid to late 20s.

Here’s a picture of 39-year old Jose Capacete, a Harvard, er, Fullerton Police Academy grad who was recently arrested as a serial rapist suspect.

The link is that Capacete, who preyed on women up and down Harbor Boulevard, would certainly be familiar with the nearby FJC environs.

Capacete is obviously an older dude with a receding hairline. Still, the basic face shape and the setting of the eyes is very close indeed. And it was dark, right?

We already have more on this guy than the FPD had on Veth Mam.

Hey, playing detective is fun!

January 10, 2012Fullerton City Council

Study Session at the Library

by Mr. Peabody25 Comments

In case you’re not aware, there’s a “study session” this afternoon focusing on the water utility. According to the press release, it will cover all aspects of the city’s water utility, including “the public notification process and the legality of the ‘in-lieu franchise/property tax’ transfer of funds from the Water Fund to the General Fund.” The meeting is open to the public and will take place at 4:30pm in the new conference center in the main library.

January 9, 2012Behind Closed Doors

We Get Mail: Something Is Really Rotten in Fullerton

by Mr. Peabody76 Comments

Here’s an e-mail we just got from a Friendly reader:

I just got done reading how the Fullerton Police Department tried to harass a law-abiding citizen by pursuing a phony prosecution against his brother. This behavior is absolutely despicable. And I noted that the police employees have been trying to use their fraudulent case by posting comments on-line.

The idea that that one of the police employees leaked what they assumed would be harmful information about a political adversary that turned out to be phony is also indicative of a department that is absolutely steeped in corruption. This is not the first time. They tried this with State Assemblyman Chris Norby and they will try it again. No one with an ethical fiber in his body is in charge of the Fullerton Police Department.

Something is really rotten in our City and we need to flush the toilet. Now.

It is time the voters and citizens of Fullerton reclaimed their city from the crooked police and the entrenched special interests in City Hall that are using the senile and incompetent civil authority to promote their own interests. The police have declared war on the citizens of Fullerton. Okay, war it is.

God bless the Recall, and God help Fullerton.

J. Stanley

January 3, 2012January 3, 2012Orange County Government

One Good Vote in 2011

by Mr. Peabody25 Comments

Which is a lot better than none. We would be remiss not to offer a tip ‘o the cap to County Supervisor Shawn Nelson for taking on the obscene pay raises handed out by the County CEO Tom Mauk to a couple of his cronies.

The egregious raises were given out three or four years ago within months of these employees being promoted to new jobs by Mauk. The multiple raises went well into double digit territory, as uncovered during a Performance Audit of the County’s own Human Resources Department.

As an ad hoc subcommittee studying the findings of the audit, Nelson and Supervisor Pat Bates recommended reversing the raises, and were supported by John Moorlach at the December 6th Board meeting. Supervisors Bill Campbell and Janet Nguyen fought hard to keep the astronomical raises in place.

Well, kudos to Nelson, Bates, and Moorlach for calling the CEO on his hypocrisy and for taking a big step in the direction of accountability at the County Hall of Administration.

January 1, 2012January 1, 2012Boohooism

Some People Really Seem To Like Being Lied To

by Mr. Peabody126 Comments

Over at his website called Fullerton Stories some poor fellow named Davis Barber has felt the need to unburden his soul of lots of weighty thoughts, n’ stuff. Most of the rather embarrassing dissertation is another lame defense of the Fullerton status quo, and the attack on “protesters,” including FFFF, that we have become all too familiar with from City Hall cronies pretending to be journalists.

But there is one part of this coughed-up pabulum that just has to be read, and re-read, to be believed.

• Blame the messenger/Fullerton Police Sergeant Andrew Goodrich lied about, well, everything: FullertonStories.com does not agree. While there may be reason to doubt statements from Sgt. Goodrich, calling him a liar is un-called for and wrong. It’s his job to tell “the people” what he knows.

Surely this guy must be joking. Can’t this genius see the problem with his own assessment? Why in the world is there ” reason to doubt statements from Sgt. Goodrich”? Because he made up stories that were not true and passed them to “the people” via complacent boobs like Davis Barber. That’s called lying. And people who lie are liars. Quod erat demonstrandum.

On the subject of liars in 2011, and changing gears somewhat, one thing I would like to know is how Mr. Barber came into contact with the so-called homeless jewelry peddler named Richard Fritschie; the guy who popped up almost on cue, claiming to be an eye-witness to the Thomas murder and who tried to exonerate the cops of any wrong-doing. That whole thing stank like a rotting corpse.

Of course the DA’s description of events from the audio and video record proved that Fritschie was a liar, but the question remains – why?

Lots of people have wondered who set up that con man with his mark.