Friends For Fullerton's Future
FFFF supports causes that promote intelligent, responsible and accountable government in Fullerton and Orange County
Here’s a fun image captured by the journalists at Fullerton Stories:
While only a few hundred yards away outraged citizens were protesting the police-bludgeoning death of Kelly Thomas, Fullerton’s liberal and repuglican elite were feting themselves at the opening of the new library wing.
Friends, you are invited to provide your ideas for a picture caption in the comments section.
FFFF Friend Andy Anderson has organized a second protest that’s scheduled for tomorrow morning at 9:00 am to 1:00 pm on the corner of Highland and Commonwealth in Fullerton.
If you can, bring a poster board and make a sign on site. This is your opportunity to send your own personal message to the FPD letting them know what you think of the brutal killing of a local homeless man named Kelly Thomas.
There is a Facebook page to help organize the event.
The Fullertonian is reporting that the officers who got into a “scuffle” with Kelly Thomas did NOT suffer from broken bones, as erroneously reported in news broadcasts.
So where did this lie come from? Well, we know that FPD spokesman Andrew Goodrich fed that line to Matt Coker of the OCWeekly, as indicated in his July 7th article on the incident. So it’s safe to assume that Goodrich squeaked that one to the rest of the media outlets as well.
Of course Goodrich let the lie float around for two weeks while he ran damage control for the invisible chief.
FullertonStories.com just published this letter from councilmember Bruce Whitaker, in which he demands that the video and audio recordings of the July 5th police beating of Kelly Thomas be released to the public.
Don’t forget to check out the printed responses of the other councilmembers, including McKinley who says “I disagree with that last sentence about releasing the video. It isn’t a wise thing to do and is for the authorities to do.”
What does that mean?
We received the following correspondence from a long-time Friend.
The controversy surrounding the recent beating death of Kelly Thomas, a local mentally ill homeless man at the hands of the Fullerton Police has been marked by the absence of Chief Michael Sellers. The FPD has instead relied on its regular spokesman Sgt. Andrew Goodrich for information about the case. This might be thought an appropriate channel of communication if this were anything like standard police work. It is not. Six sworn peace officers beat a man to near death (he died days later) in the parking lot of the Fullerton Transportation Center, and no explanation has been offered other than that the man offered physical resistance and that a thorough investigation will follow.
The brutality of the beating has left many in this city asking how it was that six trained police officers could not subdue a single unarmed man without killing him. Chief Sellers, who is reportedly vacationing, neither returned to Fullerton to appear before the press and public or even offered a written statement about the tragedy. His complete absence does nothing to assure the people of Fullerton that there is responsible leadership being exercised over the officers in his department.
There is a protest happening right NOW in front of the Fullerton police station. Demonstrators say they will be here until those responsible for the death of Kelly Thomas are brought to justice. Come on down and join us.
For all you folks out there that are thinking about dining and drinking, or drinking, or even art walking in downtown Fullerton, think twice before you venture into the battle zone. A few years back, your esteemed Mayor, Dr. Dick Jones, declared the downtown “unsafe,” and called it the “Wild West;” he said that “there are people down there that don’t look like me,” and called them “last week’s prison felons.” Here is Jones in all his befuddled glory:
So what did the city do? It looks like they spent one and a half million dollars per year to employ a collection of goons to work the downtown beat who, with exception of a uniform, may be hard to distinguish from the folks they go after – last week’s prison felons.
The original problem, created by Jones & Co. persists. And now I invite you to consider whether the remedy isn’t worse than the disease.
There will be a service for Kelly Thomas this weekend for anyone who would like to attend.
Here’s an explanation from Ron Thomas, the former sheriff’s deputy who’s son was beaten to death by Fullerton police last week.
