The not quite rolling Orange County, CA - suburbia of doom thread

Because of this story

Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona, his wife and his alleged former mistress surrendered today at the U.S. District Courthouse in Santa Ana, where they are facing federal corruption charges.

Carona and his wife, Deborah, entered the building about 7 a.m. They were followed at about 8:30 a.m. by Debra V. Hoffman, who was described in an indictment unsealed Tuesday as Carona's long-term mistress. They are expected to appear in court this afternoon.

Some background

The indictment charges that Carona engaged in a broad conspiracy to enrich himself, his wife and Hoffman by trading access to his department for cash and gifts.

The indictment says the scheme took root in March 1998 and stretched until August, when Carona allegedly tried to keep one of his chief accusers -- a former assistant sheriff -- from testifying truthfully to a grand jury. Federal prosecutors also charged Carona's wife and Hoffman.

Court documents describe a furious pursuit of money, perquisites and expensive baubles, including more than $200,000 in payments and loans, a boat, a Lake Tahoe vacation, luxury box seats to the World Series, Mont Blanc pens and Ladies' Cartier watches. Carona, 52, is also accused of helping co-conspirators get a piece of a wrongful-death settlement that the family of a dead deputy won in a lawsuit.

Carona said in an interview with The Times that he was innocent and would not resign as head of the state's second-largest sheriff's department. He declined to discussed the specific allegations in the indictment.

"I'm staying because I love the job and I do a good job," he said. "Most importantly, I have committed no criminal acts."

Deborah Carona said in a prepared statement: "There is no merit to this indictment, and the government's strategy of using me as leverage against my husband will not succeed."

Hoffman could not be reached for comment.

Until he became the target of several state and federal investigations, Carona seemed to be on a path toward political power and prominence. He was dubbed "America's Sheriff" by television personality Larry King, courted by former White House political guru Karl Rove and groomed as a prospective Republican candidate for lieutenant governor. He gained nationwide recognition for his tough, on-camera performance during the 2002 hunt for the kidnapper of 5-year-old Samantha Runnion, who was murdered.

The 10-count indictment paints a very different picture, alleging that Carona and close associates began their criminal activities by illegal fundraising to win election in 1998, then, once he was in office, using the powers of the sheriff to enrich themselves.

In all, Carona faces one count of conspiracy, four counts of mail fraud and two counts of tampering with a grand jury witness. His wife is charged with a single conspiracy count. Hoffman is charged with one count of conspiracy, four counts of mail fraud and three of bankruptcy fraud.

A central figure in the alleged conspiracy is Donald Haidl, an Orange County businessman who formerly owned a business that generated $100 million a year selling surplus police cars and assets seized by law enforcement agencies.

Prosecutors charge that Haidl lined Carona's pockets with paycheck-like regularity. In return, they allege that Carona made Haidl an assistant sheriff, helped his son get preferential treatment in a drug case, and gave badges and guns to relatives and friends.

Haidl, in effect, bought a "Get out of jail free card" from Carona, prosecutors allege.

The sheriff also allegedly exerted influence in an unsuccessful effort to have Haidl's son tried as a juvenile when he was accused of rape in 2002.

Haidl, who pleaded guilty in a related case, has now turned against Carona and is expected to be a witness against the sheriff. He went undercover and taped conversations with Carona after striking a deal that spared him serious charges.

According to the indictment, the payments Haidl made to Carona and Hoffman ranged from a $110,000 "loan" to Hoffman's law firm to $1,000 in monthly stipends that Carona received for doing no work as a board director for company tied to Haidl.

Another alleged co-conspirator was George Jaramillo, who was also one of Carona's assistant sheriffs. He, too, has pleaded guilty in the case and has been cooperating with prosecutors.

Lawyers for Haidl and Jaramillo declined to comment on the case.

Here's the Moxley archive in brief at the OC Weekly.

Way to go Irvine!

Irvine's Great Park CEO had history of embezzling, cocaine use
By William Heisel, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
November 7, 2007

When the executive who was asked to head one of the largest and costliest public works projects in the nation abruptly departed earlier this year, Irvine city officials cited health reasons.

What they did not say was that Marty Bryant -- a longtime city employee appointed this year to shepherd the billion-dollar Great Park -- had a troubled past: He pleaded guilty in 1989 to embezzling public funds in San Juan Capistrano to feed a cocaine habit.

Irvine officials said Tuesday that they did not run a criminal background check on Bryant before he assumed the chief executive's post with the Orange County Great Park Corp., a city subsidiary, because he had been a city employee in good standing since 1985.

A former Irvine city manager, Paul Brady, said he became aware of the conviction in 1989, after Bryant was hired as a transportation analyst. Brady said he decided against firing Bryant, insisting instead that he never be promoted. After Brady retired in 1999, however, Bryant was promoted anyway, eventually becoming public works director.

Larry Agran, the chairman of the Great Park board and Irvine mayor at the time Bryant was convicted, said he did not know about the conviction until a Times reporter called him Tuesday. It is not clear whether anyone else on the board knew of the conviction before Bryant was promoted to the chief executive post in January or whether the conviction had anything to do with his abrupt departure six months later.

Bryant, 54, has since moved to Hawaii. When contacted by telephone, he hung up on a reporter after being asked about his background and did not return repeated follow-up calls.

He was the third chief executive officer to lead the project -- a 1,347-acre public park to be surrounded by new homes and businesses -- in less than four years. The park board, made up of the mayor, four City Council members and four at-large members, is expected to announce his replacement as early as Thursday.

Larry Agran is a curious man.

Poor Garden Grove, not even Wal-Mart wants you

Many cities would be cheering the news that Wal-Mart and one of its mega-controversial superstores had moved out of town before even unpacking its bags.

But in Garden Grove, a town always pressed for cash and respect, city officials and neighborhood business owners are mourning the big-box retailer's abrupt departure -- which occurred just days before city planners were to vote on the project.

"It was cruel the way they did it," said Garden Grove Councilman Bruce Broadwater. "They built people up and got the community really excited. Then they dropped the bomb on us and ran off."

Unlike cities elsewhere -- where the super-sized Wal-Marts are often viewed as a threat to local businesses -- there was little opposition to the planned superstore in Garden Grove. To the contrary, some saw it as the cavalry coming.

No area is feeling the effects of Wal-Mart's 11th-hour bolt more than the restaurants, dry cleaners and beauty salons at the business-starved southwest corner of Chapman Avenue and Brookhurst Street. Here, they were counting the days until the Wal-Mart Supercenter opened its doors and shoppers began returning to the long-neglected center.

In preparation for the grand opening, the strip mall's owners spent $2 million renovating the tired center and signed Verizon Wireless and Wells Fargo to deals contingent on Wal-Mart's arrival.

"You hear all these stories about Wal-Mart coming to towns and shutting other businesses down because of the competition," said Tom Nguyen, who represents CC Technology, the center's owners. "Well, it's just the opposite here. Wal-Mart not coming is going to cause a lot of these businesses to shut down, and it's going to be impossible to lease any of these open spaces now.

It's funny because you can only understand how this makes complete sense only if you lived in O.C.

Michael Carona realizes that the jig is up.

OK, best part of that link

RESIGNATION
Should Sheriff Carona have stayed in office?
* Yes

* No

* I don't know

* I don't care

Why don't all major media outlets include this latter option in any of their stupid-ass polls?

although O.C. kinda epitomizes "I don't care" in many ways.

Then again, I think any given classic episode of Hot Seat! with Wally George pretty much epitomizes everything you need to know about O.C., good and bad.

Welcome to the OC etc:

Two ninth-grade girls at Newport Harbor High have been arrested in connection with the beating of a girl from a nearby intermediate school and the posting of the video of the assault on MySpace.com and YouTube.com.

Earlier reports indicated the assault victim was developmentally disabled. But police said today that the victim is a "regular" eighth-grade student at Ensign Intermediate School, across the street from the high school.

Evan Sailor, a spokesman for the Newport Beach Police Department, said investigators are looking for two more suspects, one who taped the beating and another who stood nearby and watched. A letter from the principal on the Newport high website said the incident occurred last Thursday at a nearby park.

"We understand the girls might know each other," Sailor said. "But we don't know the motivation for the attack."

Stay classy, Newport!

Newport Beach police are investigating the death of a woman who was found inside a large storage bin filled with dry ice in a hotel room late Thursday, authorities said today.

Police discovered the fully clothed body inside a rubber or plastic container while searching a room at the Fairmont Hotel at 4500 MacArthur Blvd., where they arrested a man for possession and sale of cocaine at 10:15 p.m., said Newport Beach police spokesman Evan Sailor.

It was unclear if the man, whose name was not released, was involved in the death, he said. The coroner will examine the body to determine if the woman was a homicide victim.

"It was well preserved," Sailor said.

I never know which part of my upbringing to distance myself from more strongly, MS or OC.

Yeah Rocky but PICKUP STIX!

Sorry, CHOPSTIX... or did the actual good CHOPSTIX rightfully sue them and force them to be called California Chopstix?

http://orangecounty.citysearch.com/profile/571496/irvine_ca/california_chopstix.html

From now on, i'm going to drive the extra 2 miles to Panda Express whenever I want Chinese.

Not a good sign.

I was long gone from OC before the interesting food arrived. (Left in 1975) My mother tells me "our old neighborhood is wall to wall Vietnamese now" and I'm all "YEAH I know! That's the only reason I'd ever want to go back, for the food!"

But watching the Disneyland fireworks every night at 10 was cool.

(California) Chopstix is an exception. And OTM. Orange County is quite tops for food.

Exactly (having just come back from an excellent Chinese Islamic place in Anaheim).

And the Sheriff Carona saga just keeps getting better...

Acting Orange County Sheriff Jack Anderson has informed federal prosecutors that he found a hidden video recording system inside the office of former Sheriff Michael S. Carona, but Carona's lawyers said today that the cameras were for security purposes and contained no audio.

Anderson sent the Board of Supervisors an e-mail Thursday informing them of his discovery and telling them he had passed the information to federal authorities to see if it could be useful in Carona's upcoming political corruption trial.

"The matter has been turned over to the U.S. attorney's office, where they are working in conjunction with the FBI to further investigate the matter. As it is under investigation, I cannot comment further," Anderson said in a statement.

Carona attorney Jeff Rawitz downplayed the significance of the recording system, saying the cameras were installed for security purposes, contained no audio and were monitored by Carona's dignitary protection unit. Many senior members of Carona's staff were aware of the system, Rawitz said.

The Sheriff's Department installed the equipment because of concern about some thefts from Carona's office and because Carona's appointment as a special advisor to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security required him to keep national security documents in the office, Rawitz said.

The system was motion-activated and focused on Carona's desk and other locations that an intruder might target, Rawitz said.

I loved reading that just now. His lawyer must be loving life. Can't wait for the audio to emerge despite all the denials.

As a break from the Carona story, let's consider the story of Irvine billionaire Henry Nicholas...

The case against Henry T. Nicholas III is getting juicier.

One of the two indictments against the Broadcom founder that were unsealed today alleged that Nicholas put Ecstasy in the drinks of unsuspecting high-tech executives, bought prostitutes for customers of the Irvine-based chip company and both used and distributed illicit drugs, including cocaine and methamphetamines.

The second indictment deals with your classic Silicon Valley scandal: It accuses Nicholas and a co-defendant of conspiracy to backdate Broadcom stock options to boost their value without properly reporting the expense to shareholders.

Nicholas' lead attorney, Brendan V. Sullivan Jr., responded: "Dr. Nicholas will contest these charges vigorously. He is confident that he will be fully vindicated."

For aficionados of rich-people-being-naughty stories, there's this delicious tidbit from the story by Scott Reckard and Kim Christensen: The pilot of a private plane taking Nicholas and guests from Orange County to Las Vegas had to put on an oxygen mask because they smoked so much marijuana.

The partying wasn't reserved for the air, the government says. According to the story, the indictment also lists a few properties allegedly used for nefarious purposes:

- An equestrian estate in Laguna Hills, where Nicholas had constructed a warren of tunnels and underground rooms, including one that contractors alleged was intended to become a secret "sex lair."

- A warehouse-office complex in nearby Laguna Niguel, which contractors said was used for the same purposes and nicknamed "The Ponderosa."

The pilot of a private plane taking Nicholas and guests from Orange County to Las Vegas had to put on an oxygen mask because they smoked so much marijuana.

I roffle, so much.

Also, of course, this thread:

fuck this guy imho

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1120ap_odd_violence_at_pumps.html?source=mypi

Calif. police: Things get ugly at the gas pumps
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CYPRESS, Calif. -- Violence broke out at the gas pumps in Orange County. Police say a La Palma doctor waiting in line to buy gas at the Costco warehouse store in Cypress grabbed a tire iron and confronted a motorist who cut into the line.

Sgt. Tom Bruce said the doctor was arrested and booked for investigation of brandishing a deadly weapon in a rude, angry or threatening manner, a misdemeanor.

Witnesses told police the doctor was in line at the pumps Monday evening when another vehicle cut in front of him. When the doctor confronted the motorist with a tire iron, the other driver locked himself in his car and called police.

OC picks new sheriff, white Republican male establishment confirms that they are indeed, the white Republican male establishment

Just after Orange County supervisors selected Sandra Hutchens as the first woman ever to lead the county's troubled Sheriff's Department, Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante sidled up to a conservative blogger with a joke.

"I kept telling the chief," he said, referring to Santa Ana Police Chief Paul Walters, who narrowly lost the sheriff's job, " 'Maybe we should get you some implants. Or a water bra.' "

In the immediate aftermath of Hutchens' selection Tuesday, some of Orange County's politicos and commentators -- particularly Republican men -- have openly asserted that Hutchens was chosen on the basis of gender over qualification. The conservative Red County blog said it was a "gender-driven appointment." The editorial page of the Orange County Register called her selection "an affirmative-action hire."

So typical. I love how Bustamente denied it even when it was overheard by a reporter.

Truly a stellar example:

An 18-year-old Irvine Eagle Scout arrested last month for allegedly stealing iPods, cash and cigarettes from inside vehicles pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts in court last week and was sentenced to 60 days in jail, authorities said.

Carter Andrew Sudeith, 18, was also sentenced to three years' probation and is scheduled to begin serving his jail time July 14.

....

Sudeith was arrested June 18, just hours after his high school graduation in Irvine, police said. He was dressed in black, carried a black backpack and wore latex gloves. Sudeith was apparently looking for unlocked cars and was able to break into as many as 30 after more than 100 attempts.

I'm not sure what lesson to take away there. Can the 30% of dumbasses be sent to jail with the kid?

RH, it's very common for people in the SoCal suburbs to leave their car doors unlocked (while certainly keeping their actual cars locked and armed with an alarm). It's more expensive for OC'ers to replace the windows that get broken than the actual things that get stolen. I think that's a pretty known practice all over the U.S. afaik.

in other words, why the hell should we jail the car owners who kept their cars unlocked, even if they're dumbasses?

Wow, that reasoning for leaving car doors unlocked never occurred to me before.

Well, it says a lot about O.C. re: complacent attitudes toward living a more affluent lifestyle while going "LALALALALA" when having to defend oneself expecting to have one's pride and joy broken into regularly.

please reinterpret as you wish

With reference upthread to the June 12 story about the new sheriff:

Santa Ana City Councilman Carlos Bustamante has quietly resigned from two state commissions he was appointed to by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, after his published remarks last month suggesting that a male candidate for Orange County sheriff could've gotten the job if he had breast implants.

Then there's this. Not entirely for the squeamish.

This seems appropriate for this county:

Officers arrested eight members of an Anaheim biker gang and charged them with attempted murder this morning as part of an ongoing operation, authorities said.

The charges stem from a fight last week at a Newport Beach bar between two biker gangs, said Anaheim police Sgt. Tim Schmidt.

The group arrested this morning are members of a Christian biker gang named Set Free, and the victims are members of the Hells Angels, Schmidt said.

http://www.geocities.com/rfmd2k/stryperthwtd.jpg

honestly i'm surprised they were arrested at all

Well, the Newport crowd were probably disturbed from their real estate schemes.

Christian biker gang named Set Free LOL i would go to this "church" in the 90s and score drugs!

Some more on Set Free:

Set Free has made for some colorful copy in the Southern California area. Members are often dressed in black as they roar along the freeways in motorcycle processions. They produce Christian rock videos, and during worship services will have an extensive time of mouthing Christian "rap" lyrics (not praise worship songs familiar to other charismatic fellowships) while members dance on a large stage in a converted warehouse.

But there's a lot more to it than that.

Elsewhere:

Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) founder Paul Crouch had some strange advice for the leader of a cult-like group he had as a guest on his show in October 1994. "Sue the bastards!" Crouch instructed on his prime time Praise the Lord show.

Crouch was giving his blessing to what pastor Phil Aguilar eventually did. Aguilar, leader of the notorious and scandalized Set Free Christian Fellowship, filed a frivolous lawsuit against Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, Calvary Chapel of Lake Elsinore and others for libel and defamation on February 8, 1995 in the Superior Court of Orange County, California . The attorney filing the suit? The nephew of Jan Crouch, Paul Crouch's wife.

So you were there, C.A.? Do tell some more!

i remember at one point their band had some pretty good musicians in it. they did cover songs with the lyrics all christianized

it was pretty crazy. they had this big warehouse on Anaheim blvd with a bunch of communal housing nearby. they were drawing about 4500 people on sundays. I was about 16-17 and would just go hang outside with bunch of kids my age.

That seems about right. We might know one or two people in common.

my older bro was way more into it being that he was a biker with ties to a certain outlaw club the church would recruit from regularly. the place always seemed well shady to me.

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2008-08/41464702.jpg

so for fuck's sake ,lsd's

we really need a blowup of that icon in the middle

Actually let me NOT directly link that.

www. set free soldiers. com

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r238/donn_05/17SFFS1.jpg

Really surprised these guys were still in business.

It's just a great OC day of 'what the...' stories:

A mountain lion attacked a hiker in Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park early today after he went to pet one of the cougar's three cubs, Orange County authorities said.

The hiker told authorities he came across a female lion and three cubs that he estimated were about 8 weeks old.

"He said they seemed so cute and cuddly and passive," Amormino said.

I have no reason at ALL to doubt that said person honestly thought and believed that.

I sent that story as a link to friend Stripey, who is planning on volunteer work at that park, saying, "They need you there to prevent the brain-damaged from injuring themselves further."

lol Whiting Ranch

sorry

Another friend of mine in response to this story:

"I think they should have changed the headline to say:

Cougar pounces on OC man trying to pet her daughter"

He beat the rap! Well most of it...

SANTA ANA – An Orange County jury Friday acquitted ex-Sheriff Mike Carona of conspiracy, rejecting the government’s claim that he participated in a six-year scheme to illegally win office and use his position to enrich himself and his inner circle.

Carona sobbed and laid his head on a table as a court clerk read the verdict: not guilty of conspiracy, not guilty of mail fraud, not guilty of one count of witness tampering.

But the jury also found Carona guilty on a second count of witness tampering.

"What you are watching is an absolute miracle," Carona said as he hugged friends and family. "If you don’t believe in God, now you should."

Carona now faces up to 10 years in prison – though Carona’s defense attorneys will ask that U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford give Carona probation. He remains free on bond pending sentencing, which is tentatively set for April 27.

Jurors said they dismissed the credibility of Don Haidl, the government’s central witness, and said taped conversations between Carona and Haidl were not convincing enough for them to convict Carona on more than the one witness-tampering charge.

But they didn’t think Carona was innocent – just not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

“I thought he was absolutely guilty,” said juror Jim Ybarra, of Garden Grove. “I really did. But I had to follow the law.”

Another juror, Jerome Bell, 42, of Anaheim, said: “I think he had his hands in the cookie jar. He was just quick enough to wipe his hands of crumbs.”
Bell, who is African-American, said he pushed aside his anger about Carona’s used a racial epithet to describe African Americans during one recorded conversation, and deliberated the case logically.

He said Carona thanked him after the verdict for forgiving him for using the racial slur.

The jury of 11 men and one woman handed down its decision shortly before noon Friday after deliberating for six days.The one count of witness tampering on which Carona was convicted relates to his tape-recorded conversations with Haidl. Jurors agreed with prosecutors that Carona did "corruptly persuade" Haidl to withhold testimony and mislead a federal grand jury investigating charges of bribery and fraud.

Haidl served as an unpaid assistant sheriff under Carona. His testimony, and secret tape recordings he made of his conversations with Carona, were central to the case.

But jurors said didn’t find Haidl to be believable – a win for the defense.

John Hueston, a civil attorney who used to head the federal prosecutors’ office in Santa Ana, said the defense “robustly impeached” government cooperators -- including questioning why former assistant sheriff George Jaramillo didn’t take the stand.

“They made a nice use of an empty seat,’’ he said.

“I thought he was absolutely guilty,” said juror Jim Ybarra, of Garden Grove. “I really did. But I had to follow the law.”

Another juror, Jerome Bell, 42, of Anaheim, said: “I think he had his hands in the cookie jar. He was just quick enough to wipe his hands of crumbs.”

I love this stuff.

He said Carona thanked him after the verdict for forgiving him for using the racial slur.

"Thank you, black person! That's what I really meant to say the first time! :-D"

Crystal Cathedral Is Broke Ass

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008694351_schuller01.html

Mark Driscoll is just sitting there waiting for that txt message from Schuller... any day, any minute...

Melody Mook, a 58-year-old medical transcriptionist from El Paso, Texas, said she stopped her $25 monthly donation and is looking elsewhere for her spiritual needs. She said she dislikes the guest pastors.

"I feel hurt and confused, and I'm not sure that I want to sit and watch when I know there's problems beneath the surface," she said. "You feel like you're in somebody else's church every Sunday."

Ha, I just was reading some other story on their travails. Maybe I should take over and found a church for myself.

MELODY MOOK

Republican Mayor Sends Hilarious Not-Racist White House ‘n Watermelon Joke

The mayor of a tiny Republican hamlet in Southern California’s Orange County — just across the 605 from Long Beach — thought it was super funny to send around a picture of the White House surrounded by a watermelon garden, because gosh, the watermelon is simply a very funny thing, in almost any setting. Watermelons! The very word is fun, and certainly not racist. There was also a caption on the funny picture, of watermelons surrounding the White House: “No Easter Egg Hunt this year.” Ha ha, because Muslims don’t celebrate Easter, right? (Sure, they celebrate Good Friday, but anyway ….)

Lol Alamitos.

you know, when you look bad compared to Bob Dornan...

Then there was the Corona del Mar 'Rent' controversy, which sadly revolved around accusations of homophobia instead of the more potent observation that said musical just plain sucks.

Actually, here's your creepy story of the week from OC.

http://www.ci.los-alamitos.ca.us/city_council/images/deangrose.jpg

Mayor Dean Grose doesn't even see color. He just sees people.

http://www.grose-for-losalamitos.com/

Smashed watermelon found in front of his office. Grose says he'll resign.

After sentencing, Carona declined to comment. Brian A. Sun, one of his attorneys, said that they respect the court's decision but disagree with it. Unlike their jubilation in January, there was virtually no reaction from Carona's wife and friends who attended the sentencing.

Somehow it didn't cross their minds in January that he was still found guilty of something!

Oh where oh where do I start with the incredibly strange story of Steve Rocco a.k.a. the convicted ketchup bottle thief. Maybe here.

On April 16, after a three-day trial in Orange County’s Superior Court, a jury convicted former Orange Unified School District trustee Steve Rocco of stealing a half-empty bottle of Heinz ketchup from a Chapman University cafeteria. Rocco stood accused of purloining the squeezable, plastic, condiment container, which has a street value of $1.20, last September. After campus security guards found the item in the basket of Rocco’s bicycle and called the cops to have him charged, they retrieved the bottle, which presumably was placed back on a table.

The prosecution’s courtroom victory may have cost untold thousands of dollars, but at least county residents can rest assured that anybody harboring intentions of stealing a packet of salt or Sweet’N Low from a similar dining establishment stands warned that they, too, could be hauled before a judge to answer for their crime. Although Rocco faces jail time for his offense, district attorney’s office spokeswoman Susan Kang Schroeder said Rocco would likely receive at his May 26 sentencing hearing only probation and an order not to return to Chapman.

As loyal fans of the bizarre Rocco tale already know, this isn’t his first petty-theft conviction. The man whom Orange parents voted to oversee their children’s education in 2004, simply because he called himself an “educator,” was arrested at an Albertsons supermarket for shoplifting several rolls of Kodak film and a Smokecraft sausage in 1980. That’s when, by his own account, Rocco first discovered that an eerie cabal called the “Partnership,” made up of corporate entities such as Albertsons, Kodak and Smokecraft Sausage, secretly controls Orange County government. After becoming a school official, Rocco refused to vote on educational matters, focusing his attention instead on holding press conferences to expose the Partnership.

Moments after the jury rendered its verdict—see our Navel Gazing blog archive for details of the trial and what led up to it—Rocco told reporters gathered in the hallway that “this isn’t over” and invited them to attend yet another press conference the following day, when he’d tell them more. Rocco may have been hoping for TV vans equipped with satellite dishes, but besides the Weekly, all he got was Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit and a female Register reporter with a videocamera that Rocco refused to let her turn on. Among other things, Rocco claimed that just a few hours after he biked back to his house from Chapman, he discovered two bottles of ketchup in his mailbox—proof, Rocco suggested, that the Partnership was behind his arrest that day.

“They were empty, and they were Heinz,” Rocco said, adding that he immediately reported the incident to his trusty friend and sidekick Evan Harris—who previously witnessed attempts on Rocco’s life by Albertsons (see “Albertsons Wants Me Dead,” Feb. 25, 2005) and most recently signed a sworn declaration on Rocco’s behalf stating that Rocco doesn’t use ketchup or other condiments and that his arrest at Chapman was just the latest evidence of the Partnership’s conspiracy against Rocco.

Rocco brought Harris to last Friday’s press conference—and for good reason: Harris asserted that he had direct personal knowledge that Chapman University had conspired to frame his friend. In a rambling presentation, Harris claimed he overheard the plot being discussed on Feb. 12, 2008, while visiting the very cafeteria where Rocco would be arrested for stealing ketchup half a year later. Rocco, Harris explained, had received an anonymous telephone call a few days earlier, giving him the exact time and location that Jim Doti, president of the university, and Fred Smoller, a political science professor on campus who produced a documentary about Rocco (it was Smoller whom Rocco was trying to track down when he was busted), would be eating lunch together in the cafeteria at Chapman’s Argyros Forum.

“I went through the cafeteria,” Harris said. “I spotted Mr. Doti and Fred Smoller. . . . I sat close to them, and they didn’t recognize me.” Harris says he overheard the two men mentioning several people who have figured prominently in Rocco’s conspiracy theories, including Tom Fulup, a supporter of park ranger Phil Martinez, whom Rocco defeated in his school-board race and who Rocco claims tried to run him over with his car. Harris also heard the name “Vanover,” a mysterious person Rocco believes is Fulup’s stepson. “Smoller said that if these people didn’t stop Rocco, that Vanover was going to kill him.”

Sorry, it's R.O.C.C.O.

http://media.phoenixnewtimes.com/3225529.47.jpg

I almost think it's a bit of Philip K. Dick's legacy, in a way.

Or Dale Gribble's

One for Dan, really.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/29/1m29busby215750-candidate-confront-deputies-over-r/

it belongs in the san diego thread! sorry.

Yep, that's Irvine:

But as Woods, the real estate broker, puts it, Irvine is not for everyone.

"The people that don't like following rules say they can't stand it. I saw a man on a ladder starting to paint the side of his house lavender," she said, noting the color was banned by the homeowners association. "It's the ones like that that we guard against.

"It's who will follow the rules who we want."

That article sums up Irvine so neatly. Irvine is creepy. It would not be a bad setting for a zombie movie.

On the other hand-- they have two Trader Joe's, one right by the freeway. The University movie theater is fantastic. The soporific charms of suburbia.

Southern California will soon be getting a much needed infrastructure update in the form of Orange County’s recently unveiled Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center (ARTIC). Designed by HOK Los Angeles and Parsons Brinkerhoff, the transit center will serve as a hub for commuter trains and two new high speed rail lines that will help commuters, fans, residents and tourists move seamlessly between transit services in Southern California and beyond. In addition to offering increased accessibility to green transportation, the station will be shooting to achieve LEED Platinum certification, the highest possible certification with the USGBC.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2009/07/21/21st-century-rail-station-for-orange-county/

Here's hoping.

"Train stations are iconic. They serve not only as a central hub for transportation in a city, but they’re also a place to meet people, have dinner, shop, and people watch. Every great city has one, and now Anaheim in Orange County will too."

lol @ anaheim being anywhere near the same sentence as "great city"

An assortment of old 1960s & 1970s tract home sales brochures from Orange County, California.

i haven't looked at these yet, but bldgblog linked to them on twitter:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/teamperks/sets/72157603381902237/

Oh joy, the NYT discovers Huntington Beach.

Haha, and Conor Friedersdorf smacks back.

The author finally recommends, in the "Where to Drink" footer, that you visit Sharkeez, "worth a visit if you’re the sort who wonders what spring break in Daytona Beach is like. Loud and cheesy but eye-opening and open late." For God's sake. There is no one reading the New York Times travel section who should visit that bar under any circumstances, and it's only eye-opening if you're utterly unfamiliar with cliched bars. If you must drink in Huntington Beach, make it on a weeknight, and try to nab one of the firepits at Fred's or else on the patio of the restaurant/bar right beside the boardwalk (underneath Duke's).

Elsewhere in Orange County, problems with food.

Hadley reportedly said he had "never seen anything like this." Hodousek says he headed for the men's room and vomited. He then took a picture of the condom that had been wrapped in a napkin with his cell phone.

Hodousek says he left the restaurant with the condom, despite the manager's request to leave the condom behind. The manager also told the Hodousek family that their meal would be "complimentary."

You can take 'em out of Orange County but...:

In the KCAL report, Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee Vice Chairman Michael Duvall (R-Yorba Linda) appears not to realize that his microphone is on during a lull in a July committee hearing and talks about his conquest of two women.

Reporter Dave Lopez then reports that Duvall says on the tape that the women with whom he has been having sex are lobbyists.

The report alleges that one of the lobbyists works for a utility with business before Duvall's committee but does not name her.

Later in the report, Duvall is seen ducking Lopez on the Assembly floor and in the hallways outside the chamber as the reporter confronts him with questions about his sexual encounters.

More NSFW details here.

But that would be getting into sexual details.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u120/kingkonggodzilla/barsugliahansenguest.jpg
Heidi DeJ0ng B4rsuglia, on left.

would.

yep

uh huh.

http://www.cawrecycles.org/files/images/Murray_Barsuglia.jpg

contrast.

What a great and heartfelt apologzzzzz.

Scott Baugh just said he should resign = game over. This'll be interesting flailing.

Stripped of his committee position. Talk about a quick day.

Duvall has also been removed from the Assembly Rules Committee, which oversees members' ethics issues.

I dunno, wish they had kept him on for laughs.

omg lol @ his website

Well that was quick! Now to the investigation and trial and divorce and...

Mile Duvall for Assembly 2010 • FPPC ID# 1313592

looooooooooooooool

We should start the fundraiser.

"Sacramento is a mess, and I know from messes!"

Meanwhile, I had somehow missed this from the other day. (That links to the apology. Do yourself a favor and don't read the original article in full. This piece provides a precis.)

(But if it helps, the OC Register filed Chapter 11 the other day, so hey.)

Further related thoughts. Basically, if only that nasty ol' Internet hadn't been invented, he claims! There there.

Also:

He added that more than anything, the piece was intended to celebrate -- not mock -- Dugard's return home. "The troubling thing for me is whether this means I'm out of touch," he said.

Well done.

holy shit, did you read that satire piece

I did, thus my warning. (It's linked all over the Gawker/Deadspin empire anyway.)

but wait, there's more...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/09/el-monte-man-arrested-in-killing-of-woman-at-anaheim-hotel.html

confession: i stayed at that hotel once (the crowne plaza in garden grove).

Whicker's editors finally cave.

that's a good and proper grovelling

Meantime the long and strange story of Danny Pang comes to an end.

The headlines just write themselves...

DIY Penis Enlargement Attempt Goes Awry in the OC

"kind of a wingnut". well, you don't say. torn between pity and the urge to laugh.

Apparently there aren't enough racist fringe groups.

The American Third Position Party was formally created on Oct. 15 of last year in Orange, where a group of racialists decided Los Angeles-based lawyer William D. Johnson would be its chair. Johnson became nationally reviled last year when he ran as a judge in Los Angeles County, and details emerged about his past. As revealed by the legal newspaper Metropolitan News-Enterprise, the lawyer--writing under the pseudonym James O. Pace--wrote a book in the 1980s advocating the repeal of the 14th and 15th Amendments and the creation of a another amendment that would limit American citizenship to "non-Hispanic whites of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe." Everyone else would get deported.
...

A bit more clarification of American TP philosophy is found in an immigration pamphlet that the party plans to sell, which also puts forth the preposterous assertion that the American TP is "America's fastest-growing political party." "Downloading this product is prohibited," a page on the website warns, "and member's who download or share the resource with non-members will be permanently banned from the party." The Weekly obtained a copy through a source, and I'm more than happy to share it with interested folks (e-mail me). Under the headline "Immigration: Enough is Enough" emblazoned over a picture of a young white girl and an amnesty rally where the Mexican flag waved high, the pamphlet spells out their position against immigration--against it if it involves non-whites, even legal non-whites.

"For decades, increasing waves of foreigners, the vast majority of whom possess no connection to our society and civilization, enter our country against our will," states the pamphlet. "That we could so regrettably lose sight of who we are is among the greatest horrors imaginable." The American TP "accepts that so-called ethnic minorities, who constitute 92% of the world's population, will always be part of America" and finds it "unreasonable and objectionable that all recent immigrants ought to up and leave," but they still want all you recent wabs, chinks, heebs, niggers, and Ay-rabs outta here! Their solution: "Recent immigrants, or those who have become citizens since 1965, who have a genuine need to return to their respective countries of origin will be afforded generous cash grants to help them return home."

"If we do not act in the interests of our people immediately," the pamphlet continues, "we will become a minority in our own country, in only a few decades time."

The American TP lists their mailing address as being in Westminster, a bit away from the Oriental hordes in Little Saigon. They're trying to get listed as an official California political party alongside the Big Two and the rest. But their intentions are to create to what amounts to be a--take your pick--skinhead PR campaign or skinhead Ponzi scheme.

Wow, even American Indians can't be citizens. "You don't have to go home but you can't stay here."

Meanwhile at UC Irvine

Fourth UC Irvine staffer receives letter with white powder and words 'black death'
January 6, 2010 | 1:27 pm
A fourth UC Irvine employee has received an envelope containing a white powder and a message that included the words “black death,” university officials said today.

Authorities were called to the Natural Sciences II building at about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday to inspect the envelope addressed to an assistant dean of biological sciences, said Tom Vasich, a university spokesman.

The assistant dean’s office was closed off until 5:45 p.m. while tests were conducted for hazardous materials.

As in the previous cases, the powder was determined to be harmless and no one reported any symptoms, Vasich said. Further tests will be needed to identify the substance.

A counselor received another one of the letters just after 9 a.m. Tuesday. The others were received Monday by a sociology professor and an engineering professor. All four letters were posted in Idaho and were addressed to women on campus, Vasich said.
“People here on campus are treating this very seriously,” he said. “It is a bit unnerving for a campus community of more than 30,000 to have letters like this appear.”

The campus mail room has been scanning incoming mail for suspicious letters since Monday. But officials believe the envelopes in question arrived during the winter break and were distributed Monday, the first day of the new quarter, Vasich said.

In an alert issued Tuesday, campus police urged anyone who receives a letter from someone in Idaho they do not know to immediately call 911 or the UC Irvine Police Department at (949) 824-5223. All students and employees were provided plastic bags, which they can use to return any other suspicious letters, the alert said.

Vasich said there had been speculation the letters were a prank related to the upcoming release of a movie called “Black Death.” Set during the first outbreak of the bubonic plague in England, the movie is scheduled for a Feb. 26 release in Britain, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Uh, on many different levels.

Some other details here.

Daniel Wozniak, who recently starred in the lead role as Guido Contini in the musical "Nine" at the Hunger Artists Theatre Company in Fullerton, is accused of dismembering the body of Samuel Herr, 26, on May 21, leaving his torso at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base and scattering the limbs and head in another Long Beach park.

""Dan Wozniak’s
Guido is superb. Though his character should be an unlikable pig—he’s
self-obsessed, egotistical and a liar who uses women as checkers
pieces—Wozniak somehow manages to make Guido eminently likeable and even
sympathetic." - Joel Beers, OC Weekly"

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fullerton-CA/Hunger-Artists-Theatre-Company/6449847053

http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/wozniak.JPG

Wozniak and Herr apparently were neighbors. Kibuishi had both of them listed as “friends” on her Facebook account.

About that Hunger Artists photo there on the page -- that isn't him with the gun, is it?

WTF

The apartment complex mentioned isn't too far from where I live, about...twenty to thirty minutes walk, I'd say.

Dan Wozniak
Last chance to see me and Rachel in "Nine" at the Hunger Artists! Hope to see you all there - for those who have come...Thank You! It was amazing seeing you all! Have a good one everyone!
May 20 at 6:32pm ·
2 people like this.

LOS ANGELES — Authorities searching a Long Beach park found the final missing body part – a severed head – believed to belong to a community college student killed and dismembered in a double murder-for-profit plot in Orange County, police said Sunday.

FBI agents and police from Costa Mesa and Long Beach searched El Dorado Park with cadaver dogs for two days before finding the head thought to be Samuel Herr, 26, on Saturday, Costa Mesa police Sgt. Patrick Wessel said.

An arm and hand were found at the park Friday, and authorities had said the head was the only body part still missing. A coroner will officially determine whether the remains were Herr, Wessel said.

Herr's Costa Mesa neighbor Daniel Wozniak, 26, is accused of killing and dismembering Herr and killing Herr's friend Juri Kibuishi for money.

Wozniak was charged with two counts of murder Friday, just hours before he was scheduled to get married in another Long Beach park.

He was being held without bail Sunday at Orange County Jail. He was scheduled to be arraigned by videoconference Tuesday.

Investigators believe Herr was shot and killed in a theater at the Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base. His torso was found in the theater's attic May 21.

Authorities have not said why the two were at the base. However, Herr was an Army veteran who had served in Afghanistan, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. He and Kibuishi were both students at Orange Coast College.

Authorities allege Wozniak shot Herr, then cut off his head, left arm and right hand. Investigators said Wozniak told them where to find the torso.

And it was all for $2000, apparently. Unbelievable.

Laguna Niguel is so weird

For 30 years, the city has hosted "Mooning Amtrak" as crowds line up along the railway tracks, dropping their trousers when a train passes by.

Up to 10,000 people take part, and visitors are encouraged to leave their cars at home and arrive by train.

Local legend has it the tradition began in 1979, after a bar room bet.

A drinker at the Mugs Away Saloon, which stands directly across the road from the railway, offered to buy a drink for anyone who would run outside and moon at the next train.

One customer took him at his word, and a ritual was born.

Each year the event grows, with crowds swelled by word of mouth and enthusiastic reports from radio DJs on local radio stations.

There were reports in 2008 of surging crowds and drunkenness, and police and a helicopter were called in from neighbouring towns to maintain order.

Last year the city, which lies in Orange County between Los Angeles and San Diego, decided enough was enough.

"Avoid the area this year," the city warned on its website home page. It added in a breezy Twitter feed that the city was "saying 'NO' to crack".

Moon Amtrak enthusiasts were not impressed.

Mugs Away regular Rick Sanchez blamed a "stuffy, yuppie mayor" who had "never even been to a mooning", the Wall Street Journal reported

I love that this is from the BBC.

Fame etc.:

A Laguna Niguel businessman has been charged with a Bernie Madoff-like Ponzi scheme in which he allegedly bilked investors out of $9 million.

Mahmoud Karkehabadi, who went by Mike in press materials for his company Alliance Group Entertainment, faces 89 felony counts, all related to securities frauds and grand theft. If convicted, he could go to prison for up to 11 years, according to the California attorney general's office.

Karkehabadi allegedly promised his more than 150 investors returns of between 18% and 35% within one year on loans made to his production company for four low-budget films, including the 2005 action drama "Confessions of a Pit Fighter," starring Armand Assante and Flavor Flav, and the 2008 thriller "Hotel California" starring model Tyson Beckford.

In a press release announcing "Hotel California," Alliance was described as "a multi-faceted entertainment company specializing in cutting-edge Film, Music and Television projects."

No longer Nixon country

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Orange County has been a national symbol of conservatism for more than 50 years: birthplace of President Richard M. Nixon and home to John Wayne, a bastion for the John Birch Society, a land of orange groves and affluence, the region of California where Republican presidential candidates could always count on a friendly audience.

But this iconic county of 3.1 million people passed something of a milestone in June. The percentage of registered Republican voters dropped to 43 percent, the lowest level in 70 years.

Pour some communion wine out, I guess.

Courtesy Mr. Begrand:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daifXC1HaXg

Rick Sanchez blamed a "stuffy, yuppie mayor" who had "never even been to a mooning"

pretty mild in retrospect

Guess Schuller didn't save any of the cash he got for shilling his poor tone-deaf daughter on Laguna Beach

I am loving the Rackauckas/Spitzer/Schroeder war currently under way. If Spitzer's comments on this post are any indication, this oughta be amazing.

Duelling press conferences!

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/tr_fudge/TSpitzer67-thumb-550x366.jpg

http://i561.photobucket.com/albums/ss51/tr_fudge/TRack24-thumb-550x366.jpg

Sums up this county pretty well.

So yeah, this story.

I would win this if it was held up here fwiw:
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit/2010/10/crepes_bonapartes_nutella_eati.php

The best part is the last paragraph:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/11/huntington-beach-may-post-names-of-suspected-drunk-drivers-on-facebook.html

Huntington Beach may try to shame suspected drunk drivers by electing them to office

Making the punishment fit the crime

Roffle:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-crystal-cathedral-20101118,0,3121678.story

so Laguna Beach has flooded?

http://i.imgur.com/0cT3V.jpg

yes, the worst seems to be downtown. from lat

pretty worrisome video here, details on road closures.

Former O.C. sheriff Michael Carona begins prison term

Oh fun.

I HAVE FRIENDS THAT ARE BLACK

Wtf???? people really say that like for realz

yeah, i scrolled up to make sure that wasn't an old post from april fools day. i thought for sure she couldn't be pulling that old cliche with a straight face.

Odd, what a difference a few days makes.

It's been a fun week!

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-rape-marriage-20110423,0,655333.story

Irvine hates fun. First Wild Rivers, next Verizon Wireless Amphitheater.

http://lansner.ocregister.com/2011/09/16/irvine-oks-1750-rentals-at-wild-rivers/122986/

Currently in Placentia. Am here for the next 40 hours or so for a service call tomorrow. I wonder if I'll have enough time to hit disneyland

Stay classy O.C....

The political mailer that arrived recently in Orange County mailboxes seemed from a different era, embossed with a tiny portrait of former Alabama Gov. George Wallace's face and the campaign slogan "Wallace for President, Stand up for America."

But the letter contained no direct mention of the fiery Southern politician, who gained a national reputation as a segregationist during the civil rights era, mounted four failed presidential campaigns and died in 1998.

Instead, it was a plea to American Independent Party members to elect Villa Park Councilwoman Deborah Pauly to a seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

The letter was written by Bob Walters, a businessman from Orange who identified himself as the chairman of Wallace's bid for president in 1967.

Now it's the subject of a complaint filed by Orange County political watchdog Shirley Grindle, who said the campaign piece violates state law because it doesn't mention who paid for it. Further, Grindle says in her May 13 complaint to the Fair Political Practices Commission, Walters failed to file as a committee with the secretary of state's office.

In the letter, Walters refers to an incident last year when Pauly came under fire for comments she made outside an Islamic charity event in Yorba Linda.

Protesters carried American flags as they booed and chanted at families entering the community center where the event was held to "Go back home."

"I know quite a few Marines who will be very happy to help these terrorists to an early meeting in paradise," she said at the time.

Walters commended Pauly for the protest and said she "recently led a demonstration against two radical Muslims speaking up in Yorba Linda."

He said one of the Muslims was "trying to recruit homegrown terrorists right here in our backyard!"

"We need Deborah Pauly and her brand of hard core limited government, fiscally-conservative positions on the County Board of Supervisors," he wrote.

Walters did not respond to requests for comment.

Pauly also drew ire last year when she wrote on her Facebook page that applauding President Obama's healthcare bill was "like applauding a mugging or a rape. Do you feel sodomized?"

Pauly said that she has not seen the mailer and doesn't know much about Wallace.

She blamed opponent Todd Spitzer, who she said is "working hard to dig up all kinds of noise" leading up to the June 5 election.

Spitzer is a former state assemblyman and Orange County supervisor.

Pauly said she can't do background checks on all potential allies.

"I have a lot of supporters who come out to help me in a variety of ways," she said.

Last year Fullerton, this year Anaheim...

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2012/07/joel_acevedo_anaheim.php

An Orange County hockey mom was found guilty today of having sex with her son's teenage friend. 45-year-old Katia Maria Davis of Laguna Niguel was convicted on four felony counts of unlawful sexual intercourse and two misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to City News Service.

While the jury returned the guilty verdict for Davis' actions involving her son's then-16-year-old friend, they deadlocked on the charges Davis faced regarding similar lewd acts she allegedly engaged in with a 13-year-old boy.

At the time of her arrest in September 2011, authorities said they believed Davis engaged in the inappropriate relations with the younger boy about six years ago, and had been having sex with the older boy over the past year and a half.

Davis also held parties at her home for the hockey team, where the divorced mom provided alcohol to the young players.

6 arrested in Irvine prostitution ring

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utD0Ow_44gw

Yorba Linda Drives Black Family Out to Land of More Gracious Living: Corona

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCjZuj3NmR4

And a backup:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK5idmdm4lc

a spree shooting in the tustin/villa park area? i've got a few friends who live there, hopefully none of them were out and about when this was going down

More UCI goofiness:

In an unprecedented case, an internationally renowned computer engineer, who recently left the UC Irvine faculty, has been criminally charged for conflicts of interest involving secret payments from a major Japanese telecommunications firm funding his academic research.

Tatsuya Suda, who until January was a member of the UC Irvine faculty for more than 25 years, faces six felony counts in Superior Court in Santa Ana for allegedly receiving from 2006 to 2009 $325,000 to $700,000 illegally from KDDI Inc. and committing perjury to hide the illicit payments.

Suda, a 59-year-old native of Japan, is the first UC professor criminally charged for violating the state’s system for monitoring and preventing conflicts of interest by researchers on the 10 UC campuses, authorities said. For more than 30 years, the United States government has required such regulatory systems for institutions receiving federal research funding.

Among the charges against Suda are accusations that he double billed the university for travel expenses when he was jetting around the world to academic meetings as often as 170 days a year. The offenses led the Orange County district attorney’s office to seek aggravation charges as a “white collar crime” from $100,000 to $500,000, which could increase his sentence to a maximum of eight years.

Oh and it turns out he was married to Rita Coolidge.

Yeah, Rohrbacher would do something like this.

A question that answers itself

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/07/beach_fire_rings_racist.php

OC Still Losing Young Adults to Cooler, Better Places: Report

U.S. Census figures shows that we've lost over 50,000 residents in the 18-44 age range, making us age at a faster rate than California or the nation. And a bunch of Brave New Urbanists want your ideas to help stop this.

Late last month, something called the Urban Land Institute launched MyPlaceOC, a website that seeks the ideas of young people to make OC cooler for them.

"While some may view this departure from OC as anecdotal, or merely a 'phase' where young people will 'eventually come back to settle down', data shows us we are not bucking this trend," said Phyllis Alzamora, Executive Director, ULI Orange County/Inland Empire. "This trend will impact the quality of life in communities in Orange County. It is great to see that the media, school administration, health care, planning officials and the non-profit sector are finally joining in the conversation about this issue."

I'm skeptical of the group, because they gave Don Bren an award--and anyone who hails Satan offends my religious beliefs. But they did survey 1,649 participants--yet, by their own press release, "the average participant profile is 38-year old female from Irvine and Newport Beach areas."

Double whammy day!

http://www.ocweekly.com/2013-12-12/news/orangetree-irvine-mary-pham-kurt-k*ll*an/

Meanwhile...

http://gawker.com/plastic-surgeon-dad-turns-two-daughters-into-walking-ad-1481974675

Dana Rohrabacher Is Dirty

When Congressman Dana Tyrone Rohrabacher moved into a four-bedroom, four-bathroom, million-dollar Costa Mesa rental home on April Fool's Day 2010, the immaculate, 6,300-square-foot property could have been featured in a glossy real-estate magazine. Built in 1948, the two-story, Orange Avenue home had been updated in recent years for comfort and style. The carpeting was new, appliances worked and walls were spotless. Thriving flowers, plants and grass adorned the idyllic back yard less than 4 miles from the Pacific Ocean.

But it's now understandable why Orange County's senior, career politician secretly changed the locks and refused to allow homeowner Robert Polyniak inside for annual inspections. When he moved out in August 2012, Rohrabacher left behind a shockingly horrific pigsty, a dump worse than a college fraternity house of unhygienic slobs unfamiliar with the most basic tools of cleaning. Darlene Whitsell, Polyniak's longtime girlfriend, entered the home shortly after the congressman's departure and wept at the scene.

"It was disgusting," she said. "It was unbelievable. Who lives like that?"

revive?

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-orange-county-concealed-weapons-after-court-ruling-20140220,0,5517031.story?track=rss

Orange County has loosened requirements for carrying concealed weapons in public following a pro-gun ruling last week by a federal appeals court, officials said Thursday.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2 to 1 that California counties may no longer require residents who want to carry concealed firearms to demonstrate special, individualized needs, such as death threats. The court majority said law-abiding residents have a 2nd Amendment right to bear a gun in public.

The ruling is not yet final, and if successfully appealed, may never take effect. But Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens announced on the department’s website that the county has decided to comply anyway.

“Regardless of what her personal positions are, she feels she needs to abide by what the law is,” Lt. Jeff Hallock, a sheriff's spokesman, said Thursday.

He said the department has received “a huge influx” of requests for permits to carry concealed guns since the 9th Circuit ruled. He cautioned, though, that the new relaxed rule might be “revisited” if the court decision is appealed or overturned.

Orange County arms up (NYT link)

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Pete Alexander celebrated the news that a federal court in California had thrown out this state’s strict requirements for obtaining a concealed-handgun permit — among the toughest in the nation — by calling the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to apply for a permit he had long wanted.

“I’m a gun enthusiast,” said Mr. Alexander, a construction contractor who lives in Fullerton. “Crime is encroaching on our neighborhood, and I don’t feel as safe as I used to. This is adding to the police force.”

Mr. Alexander turned out to be the beginning of a flood. In the two months since the court sided with a group of gun owners and found California’s law on concealed-weapons permits unconstitutional, nearly 4,000 residents in this county of 3.1 million people have applied for one, eight times the number usually logged in a year. While no permit is required to own a gun, California residents must obtain one to carry a concealed weapon outside their home or business.

The surge in Orange County and, to a lesser extent, a handful of other counties stunned law enforcement officials and offered a striking demonstration of the frustration of California gun owners. It also showed the complicated politics of weapon regulation in a state with a large and ever-expanding catalog of gun control legislation.

Help

http://gawker.com/terrifying-dolls-modeled-after-young-girls-left-outside-1610410808

Bleurgh.

A 20 year old article about San Clemente that's just as applicable today

https://farm1.staticflickr.com/98/224213440_2e97acbc71_z.jpg?zz=1

turns out the dolls were just a church lady trying to give a gift. probably should have written a note of some sort tbh.

Anyway, I am now an OC resident again.

Welcome again to the land of rolling doom.

Orange County Register finally reaches a tipping point with its subscribers:

https://www.facebook.com/ocregister/posts/10152769916739630

Background:

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2014/10/oc_register_delivery_cancellations.php

GOP voter registration in Orange County falls below 40 percent for first time

In the latest milestone of Orange County’s shifting political milieu, Republicans’ share of voter registration has fallen below 40 percent for the first time in the county’s history.

That’s 8 percentage points more than the Democrats’ share but marks an ongoing slide from Republicans’ 22-point dominance in 1990, the GOP’s zenith in the county, according to county elections statistics updated this week.

The growth in voters with no party preference – at 24 percent, up from 10 percent in 1990 – is a key part of the shift. While Democrats’ current 32 percent share of registration has stayed fairly constant since 1990, the GOP share has fallen from 55.6 percent.

One major factor is the county’s burgeoning ethnic diversity, with Latinos particularly more likely to align with Democrats. Another is that older, white voters – where GOP support is strongest – are dying off and being replaced by younger voters turned off by the party’s traditional stances on gay, immigration and climate change issues.

Where are you at, ET? I'm Huntington Beach.

In my limited experience, California "independents" are ex-GOPers who don't want to be associated with the kook elements, but are still fairly conservative. Still a good thing though.

Where are you at, ET? I'm Huntington Beach

Laguna Beach

FWIW: For first time since Depression, Orange County goes blue in presidential election

this is bonkers

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/diaz-740628-hadley-rape.html

Police then uncovered, they said, other alleged fraud activity including faking cervical cancer, faking a pregnancy, pretending to be an attorney, forging doctor's notes and impersonating two of her husband's ex-girlfriends over email.

what a nasty piece of work

Absolutely massive news here, and the implications when it comes to coverage in the county are huge.

AAAAAND I'm no longer editor of @OCWeekly. Find out why TODAY on @tomleykis at 3PM PST! It's been fun, fam! pic.twitter.com/kJ4dzigw97

— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) October 13, 2017

isn't leykis a shitbag?

Yeah I can't say I've seen the appeal but he and Gustavo get along, so I'm not surprised he's making his announcement there.

looks like this is due to him beefing with alt right dudes on twitter.. oh orange county may you never live down your racist past (present and future?).

Update

Reporters: I voluntarily resigned from @OCWeekly rather than lay off half my staff. Don't believe otherwise, and listen to @tomleykis!

— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) October 13, 2017

lol I will most certainly not listen to tom leykis

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-arellano-orange-county-obit-20181107-story.html

“Orange County,” the California collection of 34 cities and 3.2 million residents once described by President Reagan as where “all the good Republicans go to die,” died Tuesday. It was 129 years old.

Long famous for its wealth, whiteness and conservative values, Orange County is survived by its offspring, who include a population that is about 60% people of color, some of the most crowded and poor neighborhoods in the United States and a Republican Party that’s on the ropes. Once reliably red, the official cause of O.C.’s passing is a case of the blue flu, which turned its politics more purple than Barney the dinosaur.

While the election results won’t be final, possibly for days, by Wednesday morning it seemed likely that Democrats could represent five of of the seven congressional districts that are are entirely or partially in the county — a once-unthinkable prospect in the land that spawned the modern-day GOP.

The death shocked everyone who hadn’t bothered to pay attention for decades. County boosters and leaders had desperately tried to mask its failing health with a series of anti-immigrant resolutions, orange-shaped balloons at Great Park, and a string of increasingly vapid reality TV series. But as the years went on, the Orange County of old gradually succumbed to a new generation of working-class unions, multicultural youngsters and middle-class voters who just didn’t care about demonizing the downtrodden, except for the homeless.

...

https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Nazi-salutes-and-a-swastika-made-of-red-cups-13660789.php

https://la.eater.com/2019/12/17/21026380/dennys-punk-band-destroys-wacko-orange-county-los-angeles

A Long Beach, California-based punk band named WACKO threw a hardcore show at a Denny’s in Orange County over the weekend, and the videos are absolutely wild.

Per social media and multiple news outlets like Time, WACKO brought a full house — and a mosh pit — to the Denny’s at 2530 S. Bristol Street in Santa Ana on Saturday night. Videos show the place fully occupied by thrashing fans, some of whom were standing on tables to videotape the set and all the pushing and shoving in the mosh pit. There’s even a wild 20-minute video of the entire set, including a bunch of the punks beforehand hanging out inside the restaurant and getting a meal

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS2NkbSd3_U

I guess this means the rock and roll Denny's on Sunset has to surrender its title.

Anaheim sucks (big surprise)

Is there still a Norm's on Harbor?

I skimmed the article and wonder what the antidote is (if the problem is the number of cities and the way they are incorporoated, civic participation and culture, pandemic money (an easy target?), ... ?).

incorporated (sorry for the typo)

I was thinking of Kim Stanley Robinson's novels and how one might imagine municipal governments to be. Santa Monica used to have its meetings on the community college radio station.

OC:LA::Staten Island:NYC?
OC:LA::NJ:NYC?

Suburbia: where one can cite noise pollution as a civic issue
Urban: where one can buy airspace rights to claim a view

This past summer I had an event in Huntington Beach and walking around the pier afterwards with my family there were dozens of high school aged teens wearing tshirts with "F*ck Gavin Newsom" walking around trying to intimidate people.