Well, the Fullerton Culture of Corruption is in the news again, and, naturally, not in a good way. The star of the show is Fullerton’s own Jim Blake. Here is a CBS undercover report on Metropolitan Water District board members wining and dining themselves on our dime – even as they keep jacking up the commodity cost of water to us, a cost to which our wise City Fathers then tack on an illegal 10% tax!
Jim Blake has been the choice of Fullerton’s establishment to represent our City on the MWD since the Third Day, when God gathered the waters.
Of course this is no news to us here at FFFF. We reported on Blake and Linda Ackerwoman running up huge “travel” tabs a long time ago, here and here. Blake has been reappointed by Bankhead and Jones over and over again. Why?
Well, Blake is supposedly calling it quits at MWD, but not before causing Fullerton more embarrassment.
Obey me and you won't get hurt. Well, scratch that. You're gonna get hurt anyway...
The systemic pattern of abuse that defines the Fullerton Police Department is well-established. But the allegations detailed in this newly emerging case might give even hardened FFFF readers pause. There seems to be no end to accounts of thuggish, sadistic Fullerton cops getting their sick jollies by brutalizing innocent citizens.
Fullerton College student and Fullerton resident Christopher Spicer Janku, 23 at the time, was with 4 friends around 1:30 AM on the night of August 17, 2008 when the car one of them was driving was pulled over for purportedly running a stop sign on Wilshire Avenue, in Downtown Fullerton. Chris tells his story:
All rookie looking officers who were looking for fun, I’ve never heard so much rude language from any cop. They arrested me on false charges of being drunk in public, (even though they wouldn’t give me a sobriety test even after I asked them to give me one because they knew I wasn’t intoxicated). I was sitting on the curb with my hands behind my back, a cop came over to put hand cuffs on me, he told me to put my hands behind my back, but they already were. Before I could even say “officer my hands are already crossed behind my back” the officer grabbed my neck and slammed my face into the curb while yelling out “stop resisting!” Another officer grabbed me by the legs and dragged me by the knees, shredding my knee caps.
There were five officers at the scene. The gangleader and arresting office was one Officer Perry Thayer. Janku goes on to describe his torture at the hands of this dedicated public servant:
Another officer then TOOK HIS BOOT and slammed it on my head, pinning it between the curb and used it as leverage to squeeze pressure on my head. I HONESTLY THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE, I WAS SCREAMING PLEASE STOP I’M NOT RESISTING, I THOUGHT MY HEAD WAS GOING TO CAVE IN. I still have migraines to this day. another cop came over and dropped kneed me in the back. Everybody watching was in awe, THEY KEPT YELLING OUT “PLEASE STOP, HE’S NOT RESISTING!”
He (Thayer) was the one who slammed me face first into a curb and then put my head in the gutter face first with his boot on my head. He purposely put my face into a gutter full of disgusting dirty gutter water to the point where I was almost choking on it, and pushed down on my head to the point where my head almost caved it and I was screaming for my life. If you look at my mug shot, there is nothing but dirty, muddy gutter water and blood all over my face.
Next, our helpful Bobbies – Officer Thayer and his partner Officer Anthony Diaz – took Janku on a joyride from hell. Chris explains:
They put me in the squad car without seatbelting me in and went on a joy ride while blaring satanic heavy metal music in my ear until my eardrums almost exploded. Around 6-7 times they would hit the gas and then slam on the brakes, so that I was forced to keep cracking my face on the cage.
FFFF readers will recall that although clearly unconstitutional, this is a common FPD procedure, informally known as a “screen test.” Spicer remembers seeing the car pass the Police station, and asked the cops where they were taking him. Their response: “Shut the F up.” After the brake-checks:
I came to the department and automatically filed a complaint about the brutality. They put me in a jail cell bleeding from my head down to my feet and bruised and battered WITHOUT EVEN GIVING ME MEDICAL AID.
Janku was unable to figure out what exactly had set Thayer off. Maybe when he asked Thayer to not thumb through the photos on his cell phone? Or perhaps this cretinous goon needs no excuse to assault, batter, and violate the civil rights of the taxpayers who pay his ample salary? Janku’s friend was arrested as well, for simply asking for his ID back from the cops who had taken and failed to return it.
As for the police brutality complaint? A complete and total stonewall. The detective in charge deliberately misinterpreted the clear audio recording of Janku’s friends yelling “he’s not resisting!” and asked him “why were you resisting?” He also had the temerity to ask Janku why he had blood and mud all over his face.
After checking regularly for months and getting no response, Janku was told recently that he had better contact an attorney. Of course, this is after the statute of limitations had run out and a lawsuit is impossible. What is Janku left with, besides the bruises and migraines? Just the awful memories:
I’ve been afraid to go outside my house ever since, I have nightmares and panic attacks from the injustice.
Janku adds that he is unwilling to go to downtown Fullerton since the incident, and one of his friends there that evening is so terrified he refuses to set foot in Fullerton, period. Way to help out our local economy, coppers!
#66 Perry Thayer
Unlike the marginally more fortunate Veth Mam and Edward Quinonez, Janku is unable to sue the City and make them pay for their abuses. And Officer Thayer? Why, he went on to win the coveted Turkey Bowl police football championship along with his buds – the noted false arrest/perjury specialists Kenton Hampton and Frank Nguyen, of Veth Mam lawsuit fame.
Just another night of death-metal mayhem, beating, torture, false arrest, and random abuse of the public by Fullerton’s Finest. No pattern to see here, folks. Move along, now. No need for that department-wide Department of Justice investigation of police brutality and misconduct. Keep moving.
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.
The Orange County Register is reporting that the Food Truck Jamboree is coming to the Hyatt Regency Irvine January 27th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Imagine if Downtown Fullerton had something like this but on a weekend. Maybe add some music and activities for the kids.
Unfortunately, many communities do not support food trucks because they compete against brick and mortar restaurants and generally have lower operating overhead. Local government doesn’t like food trucks for a few reasons. Their tax structure is such that they pay their sales tax within the city/county which they’re based and not where the tax was collected. Some cities have began regulating food trucks in an effort to capture tax revenue and level the playing field for local businesses. The fact that the trucks can drive into a city, sell food for an hour or two, then drive out of the city has caused code enforcement officers to take notice and issue citations for not having a city business permit.
Sadly, redevelopment agencies give cheap taxpayer funded loans to new businesses to come into town and compete against long existing and well established businesses, many of which are already struggling under the weight of employee benefits, higher taxes, and a depressed economy.
So, as one arm of a community attempts to level the field, another arm, the redevelopment agencies, cuts deep ruts and pits for the losers while building up a taxpayer funded framework for their chosen winners.
I support food truck operators in their endeavor of the American Dream and prosperity. I don’t see the trucks as a threat to local business so long as everyone adheres to the often cumbersome regulations governing businesses and food safety.
Food trucks may not always be the healthy choice when it comes to food consumption but they will certainly help to spur some healthy competition.
Have you noticed the ever present searchlight in the sky above downtown each night? Could you possibly miss it? Anyone curious enough to follow this beacon to its source will find it right outside of Joe’s restaurant in Soco:
Say, do you think Joe’s has some kind of permit for that thing? If they do, I’ll bet they didn’t tell anyone they were going to park it in the middle of a sidewalk, blocking access for everyone, including people in wheelchairs. I’m guessing they probably aren’t supposed to have it set up in front of a handicapped parking space either. And I’m pretty sure they aren’t supposed to cable it to a natural gas meter pipe!
And while you’re there be sure to turn around and wish Rosco’s a Happy New Year!
Inside Fullerton is a new website that posts the latest happenings in Fullerton’s restaurants, bars, shops, theaters and everywhere else you can think of.
The site seems to update once or twice a day. That’s quite a lot of work. In fact, there’s only one other Fullerton site that can pull that off, and it’s us!
Last night one of Roland Chi’s buddies came on to our blog and tried to convince us that “the food taste great” at Roland’s market, and that the food poisoning “90% is the people’s fault.” Well, blaming others for one’s failure is a par for the course in Fullerton, but blaming the victims? That’s a new low.
If only there was a way to use the Internet to see what the rest of Roland’s customers think…
I'd like to talk about something else now.
Oh wait, that’s easy. Scroll through the supermarket reviews on the popular Yelp.com, and you’ll find that Roland’s friend was partially correct: most of the reviewers do like the taste of the food. But when the subject turns to cleanliness, things get ugly:
“Dead Korean Halibut in a big fish tank?”
“This place is pretty dirty & smells horrible”– Tiffany B.
“The place seems unusually dirty for a place that sells food for consumption”
-Ran C.
“Seriously, this place is getting more and more dirtier each time I come here. The floors next to the meat department is disgusting and unsanitary.” – Andy P.
“ended up buying some spoiled milk WTF my fault for not lookin at the expiration date but damn….. put that spoiled shit away!” – john t.
“I purchased some meat to make dduk bo sam… dang the meat smelled funky when I opened the package… and it was rotten… ” – Eri H.
And so the amateur critics generally seem to agree with the county health inspectors and the DA: health standards at the Chi family supermarket have been serially ignored. Eat at your own risk, and hopefully you won’t be one of the unlucky customers who end up on the bathroom floor or in the ER.
Sadly, most of these reviews were posted in 2010, well after the DA made Roland promise to clean up his act. Can this guy be honest about anything?
Anyone who’s ever suffered from severe food poisoning understands how painful and dangerous it can be. It’s typically twelve to eighteen hours of intense vomiting with excruciating pain that can only be relieved by a morphine drip at the E.R. The symptoms are so intense that food borne illness causes an estimated 5,000 deaths per year in the United States.
Last year Fullerton City Council candidate Roland Chi was charged with multiple misdemeanor health code violations when eleven people got sick (source) after allegedly eating food prepared at the Arirang Supermarket in Garden Grove. The DA wrote that Roland holds the position of Director for the troubled Korean market.
Me? I don’t eat there anymore.
When county health inspectors showed up at the market to investigate the reported illnesses, they described conditions there as “filthy” and “contaminated”. The violations they listed include no hot water for hand washing in the restrooms, unacceptable sanitation practices, raw beef and seafood sitting at room temperature, filthy utensils being washed too close to meat, raw beef being washed with a garden hose, and raw beef water splashing all over the kitchen. And that’s only part of the first report, which also included these graphic photos:
Soup of the day?
The incident led to a meeting with the District Attorney and a few more health inspectors. The meeting minutes show that while interviewing with the DA, Roland Chi admitted to understanding all of the violations and promised that they would be corrected. Chi was warned with an exact date and time for another inspection one week later.
Make sure you try the shrimp
When the health inspectors arrived for the follow-up, they found major uncorrected violations and a few brand new ones. And so after promising the DA that he would clean up his act, the market failed inspection for a second time.
The hose water marinade adds something special.
That second report described an employee cutting squid while raw seafood juices were splashing on the nearby sesame oil and spices, along with a bunch of meat and seafood sitting out at room temperature.
Refrigeration is overrated.
But it gets worse. Two weeks later the inspectors came back and found even more violations, listed in a third report.
Just in case you think we are exaggerating, here are some of the health inspector’s own words:
Observed an employee scooping salt with a metal bowl (without handles) from the large pull-up container. The salt and the bowl were observed contaminated with a crusted build-up of meat blood. The sugar in the pull-up container was also observed contaminated with blood.
Observed a meat handling employee with a meat label in his mouth, then picking it up with his gloves and putting it on the meat packaging then resumes to meat serving/packaging process.
Observed an electrical fly catcher stored above uncovered rice bags in the produce department. Discontinue storing food beneath the fly catcher.
Observed an open sewer line between two walk-in coolers in the warehouse.
Table. Floor. Would you like some more?
If you’ve been counting, that’s three consecutive sets of violations, 11 sick customers and one smarmy owner. The DA decided to charge Roland and his business partner with five health code violations.
A seepage of unknown origin. Care to look closer?
Six months later the DA dropped the charges against Roland, presumably in exchange for his business partner’s guilty plea. Still, the damage to the victims had already been done. The DA’s charges against Roland Chi for persistent neglect for the health and safety of his customers would be quite disturbing even if he wasn’t running for city council. But since he is, we have to ask: Should someone this irresponsible be elected to run our city?
Last week you saw some grim pictures taken by a health inspector while the Chi clan was being rounded up for prosecution, which was instigated by a bunch of folks getting food poisoning after eating food from a supermarket in Garden Grove. At the time, Roland’s plea deal was an unknown, forcing us to speculate on how he managed to wriggle out of the criminal charges levied against him.
But now we know the whole story.
A businessman knows how to close.
In April Roland had struck a deal with the District Attorney that would allow him to escape the 5 counts against him, which added up to a frightening maximum sentence of 2.5 years in jail plus fines.
According to the barely-legible excerpt below, the charges against him were dropped because his co-owners pled guilty and Roland Chi agreed to provide a DNA sample for Rackackaus’ infamous DNA database.
The Orange County DNA database allows the District Attorney to keep track of the defendantly-inclined population by exchanging dropped charges for a personal specimen that could later be used to identify the suspect in the event of any future incidents.
Just think of it as a small donation.
Of course, the whole thing is pretty embarrassing for a candidate who keeps trying to cast his “business experience” as a positive for Fullerton voters. Heck, as far as I can tell, the only business Chi’s ever been involved with almost got him thrown in jail for criminal neglect, and then left a little part of him locked up in a vial somewhere, just in case he does it again. Chi must think the bar in Fullerton is really, really low.
Who is Jesse La Tour? I have no idea. But he is the first candidate to throw a bone to Fullerton’s poultry-loving voters.
A cursory search of the new Fullerton city council candidates revealed the blog of La Tour, who is bent on discovering the secrets of the culinary curiosities known as “chicken fingers.”
Nine out of 10. Winner!
On his blog, Jesse journals his journey to five Fullerton eateries, tasting varieties of fried fingers at places like Bill’s Burgers, Stadium Tavern and the Cajun Swamp.
“I love chicken strips. They are delicious,” writes La Tour, who began his quest at Roadside Burgers where he observantly declared that the nuggets probably came in a frozen bag. His suspicions were heightened later when he discovered that the fingers of Bill’s Burgers a few blocks away were almost identical. Both eateries earned a 6 out of 10 on La Tour’s scorecard.
He's not messing around.
So who won? After five plates of simulated poultry appendages, Jesse La Tour finally declares that the best Fullerton fingers can be found at The Pint House in downtown. “These strips are made from scratch, hand-dipped in beer batter and fried to perfection, so they are crisp on the outside and juicy in the middle,” he writes. Sounds tasty.
It is unknown if any other candidates will capitalize on La Tour’s willful abandonment of vegan voters, although some hope other candidates will be as forthcoming as Jesse has been on his carnivorous preferences.
In all seriousness, the lineup for Fullerton’s city council races are nearly complete. Today is the day when FFFF begins combing through the histories of each candidate, distilling fact from fiction and shining light on everything they hoped you would never find out. Despite what you may hear from those who prefer to keep their heads in the sand, this process is not about negativity, personalities or vendettas. This is about the truth, our choices, and ultimately, our future.
“Dead Korean Halibut in a big fish tank?”
“The place seems unusually dirty for a place that sells food for consumption”
“Seriously, this place is getting more and more dirtier each time I come here. The floors next to the meat department is disgusting and unsanitary.” – Andy P.
“ended up buying some spoiled milk WTF my fault for not lookin at the expiration date but damn….. put that spoiled shit away!” – john t.
“I purchased some meat to make dduk bo sam… dang the meat smelled funky when I opened the package… and it was rotten… ” – Eri H.
