The District Weekly - Latest Comments in A SIMPLE FELONY

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Dwight K Snider — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:04:04 -0000

Mr. Goodhue, the Germans also had a few other ideas: Auschwitz, Birkenau and the Final Solution. And, let us not forget Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:31:00 -0000

Councilman DeLong was asked tonight at the Belmont Shore Residents Association meeting how many officers he believes are necessary to address the late night public drunkenness on 2nd street in Belmont Shore. DeLong responded, “I don’t know if 2 more, 3 more, 4 more or 5 more will be sufficient.” “Currently, there are 2 officers that are only for Belmont Shore, which is 2 more that you normally have.”

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:22:33 -0000

When asked what his plan was to address this pervasive drunks and crime problem in Belmont Shore, Councilman DeLong stated at tonight's Belmont Shore Residents Association meeting that he was "open for suggestions." He was again clueless and twice asked for suggestions from the audience. When a resident reminded DeLong that he had not followed through on previous suggestions as promised, he again did his deer in the headlights imitation while fumbling for a way to change the subject. At one point, he said "there is room for improvement" and began talking about clamping down on Panama Joes on 2nd street, the whole while avoiding the white elephants, which are Legends and Belmont Station. DeLong then said “we don’t know what bar they’ve been drinking in” and again said to the audience he was open to suggestions.

Never mind that credit card statements spell out exactly what bar the drunks came from. Never mind that each bar has its own video security system that could identify whether the person had been served in the bar. If DeLong truly believe there is no way to identifying the source of the problem, then why isn’t he slapping a moratorium on new 2nd street bar and restaurants until this can be identified. Personally, I believe DeLong is full of it. Everyone knows where the problems originate. It just happens that the owner of that bar is one of his buddies.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:08:04 -0000

Councilman DeLong spoke at tonight’s Belmont Shore Residents Association meeting about the Melody Ross murder at the Wilson High Football game. He claimed to be “very happy” with the police department for catching the bad guys in 5-days. However, his comment that most stuck with me was when he said “we need to do a better job of preventing these types of things from happening in the first place.” He followed that up with asking for suggestions from the audience rather than explaining how anyone was going to do a better job.

Need I remind people that Councilman DeLong was Chairman of the Budget Oversight Committee that approved the reduction in the Long Beach police force by 100 officers in September? Long Beach now has the same number of sworn officers protecting the public that they had in 1999.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Guest — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:39:55 -0000

http://www.rootology.com/im...

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Guest — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:21:18 -0000

safe from woe but not whoa!

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:59:13 -0000

I guess that makes me safe from woe.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Guest — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:53:32 -0000

surely youve heard the old tales mike, legends was built on a desecrated indian burial ground, woe be to any who darken its doorstep.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:52:58 -0000

The below link contains pictures of the car flipped on Covina Avenue near Legends Bar. Keep in mind that Covina Avenue is a narrow, single lane one-way street in a residential area with a 25 mph speed limit.

http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:16:22 -0000

By the way, the location of where this car flipped near Legends Bar is approximately 150 feet from where Mr. Rodriguez was shot and 50 feet from where two of the public disturbance youtube videos were taken per the below link. Hazard a guess what the common denominator is? Could it be Councilman DeLong?

http://www.youtube.com/user...

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:30:25 -0000

I was just handed 28 pictures of the green Toyota RAV5 (license number 4FAL018) that barreled into seven cars on Covina Avenue before flipping 200 feet from Legends bar November 5, 2009 at 11:00 pm. The car was driven by an over served drunken twenty something woman who reportedly lives on 7th street near the ocean in Seal Beach.

The police refuse to release the police report from that night to the VICTIMS, reportedly stating the investigation is not complete. The police say it may be weeks before they can release the police report to the VICTIMS.

There are eleven cameras at the rear of Legends bar, some of which are focused on the area where the incident occurred. Hopefully the police requested the videos of this incident from Legends owner Gene Rotondo. However, don’t be surprised if the video of this incident as well as the video of the patrons inside Legends bar the night of the incident has now been destroyed.

The police claim they know where the driver had been drinking that night but refuse to release that information to the victims who are regularly impacted by the over served patrons of the 5 problem bars in Belmont Shore.

It is also reported that one of the seven cars damaged by the over served driver was owned by a Legends’ bartender. Is that considered irony or Karma?

If residents want to learn more about this accident, I urge them to come to the Belmont Shore Residents Association meeting tonight at 6:00 pm in the Bay Shore Library to ask Councilman DeLong what he is doing to curb the violence in our community. DeLong is the guest speaker scheduled for 6:30 pm.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:59:16 -0000

Or could it be that Councilman DeLong has told the police to back off his bar owner buddies on 2nd street?

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:12:26 -0000

Is anti-terrorism becoming a catch-all justification for questionable police actions and policies? It appears to be happening elsewhere in LA also. The attached youtube link is an example. LA County Sheriff’s claimed anti-terrorism reasons for threatening to put a person on the FBI’s hit list (starts at 4:54 of attached video link) because he is legally taking pictures in a Metro station. I'm sure there are more and better examples of how terrorist concerns are being used as justification of questionable actions.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:41:31 -0000

Why are the police allowed to conceal information from the public? Similar to when the Long Beach Police Officer ran over and killed the single mother of 3 small children while speeding down Ocean Blvd last year, the police refuse to release the name or description of the officer who shot the 5’6” Rodriguez. The public has a right to know whether the officer was 5’2” and weighed 120 lbs. That may help everyone understand how Rodriguez might have overpowered the officer. If so, maybe the police should adjust their employment standards to only hire officers capable of controlling a 5’6” individual without having to shoot them.

The public has a right to know why the police officer did not wait for backup, mace Mr. Rodriguez or shoot him with a tazer before resorting to his/her gun. Why did the police officer choose lethal force when other non-lethal options were available that would NOT have endangered multiple bystanders from being struck by a bullet from the officer’s gun? All of this information will come out in the trial. So why are the police withholding it?

Why did it take over 20 minutes for the paramedics to arrive to address Mr. Rodriguez’s wounds after being shot? After all, the fire station paramedics are only located 3 blocks from the shooting location. Why did it take over 30 minutes for Mr. Rodriguez to be transported to a hospital? Did the police impede paramedics attending to Mr. Rodriguez? Were they hoping he would die so there would be no law suit?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a supporter of the police. However, I am not a supporter of some police policies that appear to protect the police from proper public scrutiny. For 18 months I was denied a simple request for information on how many police officers were deployed in the East Division compared to other parts of Long Beach. I met with City Manager West, Police Chief Batts, Assistant Police Chief Luna, Commander Renaud, all of which told me they would not give me that information, citing bogus TERRORIST concerns. City Attorney Shannon backed them. Utterly ridiculous. It was not until I spoke before city council and it was published in the newspapers were the police embarrassed enough to release the deployment information.

Pretty much everybody, including myself, has done something stupid in their life like breaking a window. However, it did not escalate to the point where I was shot three times for doing so. It may be an anomaly. To make sure that is indeed the case, I believe the public has a right to know more about how the police are protecting them and have the right to question unreasonable conduct. Withholding information from the public only encourages misconduct.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

DontKnowIt — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:25:57 -0000

Hi Theo,

Are you working on finding answers for any of these questions? Not trying to be the boss of you, just wondering if we're going to have any answers to these questions that we can use.

Hope it's not snotty to ask. You're doing good work here.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:13:24 -0000

The police reported Ernest Rodriguez was shot because he overpowered a police officer who was in fear of his safety. The description provided to the media claimed Mr. Rodriguez was 5’ 6” tall and weighed 300 pounds. The below link takes you to a facebook picture of Rodriguez. Does that look like a person who weighs 300 pounds? The police department’s credibility on this and other cases is indeed suffering.

http://www.hs.facebook.com/...

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Guest — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:31:49 -0000

preferably something constitutional this time adolf.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Evan_Gould — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:12:08 -0000

I don't have a plan Laurence. I just pray that one day, human beings will stop their self-destructive behaviors. I am sick to death of reading about alcohol-related tragedies. However, I don't think electronic monitoring of the citizenry is the solution. All we can do is try to educate people that drinking and driving is bad. Also, it is not nice to get drunk and break windows. Also, don't get loaded and punch people. I guess the point is that most people can drink and enjoy themselves, but there is always a wingnut who can't. We shouldn't let the actions of one wingnut determine how the rest of us can live (that would be minority rule). As for the East Germans having a few good ideas... I don't think so. But they did have jaunty uniforms, substantial architecture, and a very handsome Olympic Women's Swim Team.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:42:26 -0000

Vote his butt out of office in April and replace him with a resident friendly Councilman who is more concerned with resident quality of life issues rather than blindly supporting developers and business at all costs.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Laurence B. Goodhue — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 13:31:07 -0000

Sounds like the East Germans had a few good ideas,which,with proper adjustment, just might work well here.

Let us hear what your suggestions are as to how to expunge the De Long
culture which as so deteriorated our neighborhoods.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Evan_Gould — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:42:59 -0000

Didn't they try a system similar to this in East Germany? If you are stopped by the police, you must produce documents that show you are able to travel. Also, if questioned , you must be able to provide proof of where you were, and who you associate with. Laurence, this is not a good idea. Go back to the drawing board, and come up with something better. This time preferably not from the Stasi files.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:26:13 -0000

Probably. How do you find out which companies are insuring the 5 problem bars? It would be interesting what their response would be to the various fight videos and crime statistics surrounding these bars.

I bet the company insuring the bar Ernest Rodriguez was drinking at before being shot will be interested in what liability they will be force pay for in addition to us taxpayers.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

Mike Ruehle — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:21:06 -0000

I guess you are fortunate to have not been one of those 390 callers in September who called 911 and it took 60 seconds or more for their call to be answered.

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

DontKnowIt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:48:41 -0000

Could insurance companies actually be an ally in this fight? By alerting them to this kind of financial liability, could they help persuade city management that the Belmont Shore 2 a.m. Demolition Derby needs to be stopped?

Re: A SIMPLE FELONY

DontKnowIt — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:44:04 -0000

Like my supermarket card? I'm surprised the cut-rate public drunkenness industry doesn't already have this.

My hunch is that too many public officials, their donors and their offspring enjoy public intoxication too much for this to fly.