The Capistrano Insider

Egan's Killer Gets Death Sentence

The OC Register reports the man who killed San Juan Capistrano resident Tom Egan -- the father of twin girls -- has received the death penalty from a Santa Ana jury.

From the Register's Larry Welborn:

SANTA ANA – Jason Russell Richardson, convicted last year of first-degree murder plus special circumstances for the killing of a manager at the Tustin Home Depot in 2007, was sentenced to death Wednesday.

Jurors in Superior Court Judge William R. Froeberg's court began deliberations Tuesday in the third retrial for Richardson, 42, of Oceanside. He was convicted of gunning down Tom Egan at the Tustin Marketplace Home Depot during a botched robbery Feb. 9, 2007.

See the whole story at www.ocregister.com

Ah, Another Case of Code Enforcement Run Amok?

Remember when San Juan Capistrano impounded a truck off a man's driveway because it didn't run? The City Council (including except the Conservative Reeve) upheld that decision ... Now, the city's in the midst of working with Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, who were cited for holding Bible studies in their homes.

Chuck Fromm, by the way, attended Coffee Chat on Friday and complimented City Manager Karen Brust, so it seems as a settlement may be in the offing.

Brust, in her City Manager's Update, noted 204 new code enforcement cases were opened in September, way up from the 113 opened in August. No word on what type of violations the list includes.

But here's one from Diamond Bar, a Los Angeles County town just north of Brea. A man got arrested because his classic Mercedes had a flat tire in his driveway. Here's the story.

Mayor: Capistrano Aiming for 'Home Run'

Maybe it's because the playoffs are underway, but Mayor Sam Allevato's monthly column is baseball-themed. It starts with a line about keeping your eye on the ball, and finishes with how good planning and implementation would be a home run for all of us.

Topics he covers as recently accomplishments include various items off the agenda, along with plans for Pedros Tacos on Camino Cap to remodel into a two-story "Mission Grill."

He also talks about a new philosophy in Police Services, where one less motorcycle deputy will be patrolling the streets after the City Council decided to dedicate more resources to Neighborhood Watch and similar crime-prevention efforts.

The council voted this month to eliminate one of the three motor deputy positions, along with a long-vacant patrol deputy post to hire a sergeant and community services officer. That will give Capistrano a dedicated position to organize Neighborhood Watch programs, hold crime prevention meetings throughout the city and work with community groups on truancy and gang-reduction programs. The sergeant, meanwhile, will be able to better track crime trends and other issues. San Clemente and Dana Point have similar programs.

The changes also save the city about $43,000 a year, said Chief of Police Services Lt. John Meyer. 

As for the Mayor's Message, I'll let you decide whether it's a hit ... or strikes out. :)

Download Mayor's Message October 2011

Councilman Reeve: Don't Worry When I'm Not There Tonight

The San Juan Capistrano hosts a special meeting at 4 p.m. today to consider a new plan for the 241 South toll road, but beleaguered Councilman Derek Reeve won't be there.

But Reeve, dismissed from a teaching job at Concordia University in the wake of plagiarism allegations, a lightning rod for debate after announcing from the dais that he'd named his dog Mohammad and scorned by many after suggesting Capistrano lift its ban on firearms in city parks, won't be there.

Don't draw anything into it though:

"Since rumors have run amuck the last few weeks, I thought it would be prudent to inform you that I will not be attending the special city council meeting tonight. This meeting was scheduled rather quickly and it is my understanding it had to take place no later than Wednesday. Unfortunately I have an unavoidable conflict today at 4pm. I assume one or more of the other council members had conflicts on Monday and Wednesday. I will see you at the regular scheduled meeting next Tuesday."

Derek Reeve

The "rumor" that Reeve is talking about, best I can figure, is actually one started by his own supporters, who contend all of this is a plot by other council members to get Reeve, a first-term councilman, to resign.

The reasoning: Mayor Sam Allevato and Councilwoman Laura Freese are up for re-election in 2012. With Reeve on the five-person council, one supporter opined, those two seats can actually swing the direction of the council by creating a Reeve-included majority.

Reeve, as you recall, ran with Jim Reardon and Clint Worthington.

So, if Reeve resigns, that will allow the counci to appoint a replacement, presumably thinks like they do. That would lock up control of the council, a supporter told me.

As it is, I suspect Allevato and Freese aren't too worried about Reeve sharing the dais with them. The votes are usually 4-1 on any contested item, and Reeve certainly hasn't made any allies up there the past few weeks.

The election will be interesting -- to see if anyone seek Reeve's endorsement or aligns themselves with him in the wake of the above-mentioned incidents.

SJC Councilman Reeve's Response to Plagiarism Allegations ....

San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Derek Reeve sent this to The Capistrano Dispatch to publish. I asked him about reports he no longer teachers at Concordia University. He said he can't comment on that ... yet.

Here's his column:

DEREK REEVE: Guest View

A Message to the Community

I take this opportunity to thank the many members of the San Juan community who have expressed their support of my recent positions. Here’s some information that may be new to you.

Last month the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) demanded that I apologize because I had named one of my dogs “Muhammad.” It is notable that they found nothing objectionable in my naming another dog “America.” My view is that no religion has the right to demand obedience by persons who are not members of that religion. I do object to the dogma: “You must do as I demand or else I will ‘be offended.” Therefore, my respect for the many honorable members of that faith notwithstanding, I rejected the unreasonable demand of this Muslim organization. A recent poll by The OC Register showed massive local support for my position.

I was stunned when my colleagues on the City Council, Mayor Allevato and Councilman Kramer, took up the cause of CAIR and proposed disciplinary action against me. This is the first time in the 50-year history of the City that such a mean-spirited act against a Councilman has been attempted. In a whirlwind of contorted logic, they stood shoulder-to-shoulder with CAIR. They concocted a novel theory that because I am an elected official, I had a “higher duty” to abandon truth and logic and confine myself to “political correctness.” Nowhere in law or custom does such an inane requirement exist. These gentlemen never mentioned the fact that I was being pressured to forego my constitutional right of free speech.

I suspect the real reason for the assault against me by Mayor Allevato and Councilman Kramer had nothing to do with dogs, Muhammad or Islam. As a fiscal conservative, I am proving to be a thorn in the side to a spendthrift, politically correct, ultra-liberal Council. They cannot argue with my facts so they search for issues, real or imagined, in a desperate attempt to discredit me and cause you to consider that I am some sort of peculiar “nut case.” It is standard political deception which brings to mind an old quote: “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts; if you have the truth, pound the truth. But, if you have neither the facts nor the truth on your side, pound the table.”

I believe the real objective of the attack against me by Mayor Allevato and Councilman Kramer is to pressure me into resigning from the Council. This would afford Allevato et al the opportunity to appoint a liberal spendthrift replacement without any say by the voters who would be excluded from the entire process. Then the proverbial fox truly would be in charge of the hen house. That is the way politics works, since my presence as a Council member represents a risk to their political control of the City and disturbs their closed-session sanctum. Rest assured, I have no intention of resigning the position voters have entrusted to me. Someone has to watch out for the taxpayers; clearly the council majority has not, as evidenced by our debt which has ballooned to more than $150 million.

The latest attack is in the form of the charge of plagiarism by a “journalist” on Patch, an arm of the Huffington Post. On balance, I may be partly responsible—along with most of the human race that uses the Internet. In the atmosphere of today’s massive electronic echo chamber, in which we are assaulted with dozens of concepts and ideas each minute, I doubt if any of us have had a totally original idea in the past 50 years. Certainly that is the way it is in the legal profession in which I work. Yes, in formal documentation, one is more precise in adding footnotes to identify the origin of our ideas, which makes it extremely complicated when wading through such writing. However, in normal everyday communication, not to mention blogging, it is impossible for us to precisely identify each antecedent and besides, the atmosphere is much more relaxed and informal (or so I thought).

I think it is clear that the objective of these petty attacks in not “precise journalistic accuracy” but an attempt to besmirch me personally and shift blame away from the website that carried my comments. I am not happy to be the object of these personal attacks but I do take pride in the fact that they are totally unrelated to neither my beliefs nor what I have to say.

Frankly, I am unhappy that these press-amplified attacks have diminished our City on a national scale. As a fiscal conservative, I note that the self-serving attacks upon me by Mayor Allevato and Councilman Kramer wasted thousands of dollars at the last Council meeting as the staff spent a good part of the evening doing nothing while speakers stepped up to express their concern about the council being offended by a dog’s name.

Looking to the future, I pray for a more mature, business-like approach. I am not angry with anyone. I recognize that the attacks upon me were politically motivated; such comes with the job. My focus is on today’s pressing problems. I am concerned with bringing your water rates down. I want to find a method to bring the Ground Water Recovery Plant into either efficient operation, or shed this albatross that has generated an $8 million dollar deficit and dramatically driven up our water rates. Unfortunately, some in the press and my fellow Councilmen seem to want to ignore these matters while focusing on mud-slinging trivia.

 I am pressing for a more effective workforce in City Hall and an investigation of possible outsourcing as a means of controlling personnel costs. I am committed to a more equitable pension system for our career city employees. I want to see the lease arrangement of the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park revised to increase the city’s income. We have these and many other challenges before us. Am I the only Councilman who is concerned because our small City is 150 million dollars in debt? We must set aside the recent annoying distractions and get to work on major problems. Please think kindly of me as I work on your behalf.

Derek Reeve was elected to the San Juan Capistrano City Council in December.