Dissent the Blog: Where can she be?

ATEP opens Oct 19 2007

I TEACH on Friday mornings, and so I was unable to get to ATEP (the Advanced Technology and Education Park, in Tustin) until a quarter to 1, by which time lunch had been served and the cavalcade of speechifyin' and photo-opery was about to begin.

But I was ready. Forgot my pen, though.

Wow! Everybody who was anybody in OC politics—each a Republican—was either there or had sent a rep or a plaque or a doctor's note. There were lots of ladies in dresses (very GOP), lots of men in business suits (even GOPer), lots of mixing and yammering and wandering.

Plus the weather was great. It was a perfect day.

Naturally, I stood out. Mostly, I was treated as though I were a Democrat or worse, but that's OK. I am worse.

SOMEONE TOLD ME that Trustee Don Wagner had been the "MC" during the lunch festivities, and, reputedly, he was "hilarious."

"You mean peevish. Snarky maybe."

"Nope, he was funny. Real funny."

Actually, I'm not surprised. Don reminds me of Sam Kinison. You know, kinda outa control, but not really.

That's funny stuff!

Don oughta let loose with his zingers more often. That board of ours could use a few yucks. Just look at 'em!

Another funny man is ATEP's Provost, Bob Kopecky, who made the rounds, grippin' and grinnin', being cute.

Almost everybody likes Bob, 'ceptin' Steve, but I'm working on him.

At one point, Bob donned a "park ranger" hat. —You know: "Park Ranger" Kopecky, which is the Reb's coinage.

District PIO Tracy D was there, of course, zipping around like she does, and, bless her heart, she treated me like just one of the paparazzi, or whatever we were. Every one of us had a black Nikon. We all clicked in the same key.

Tracy borrowed my D70 for a second. She's got a Canon, poor thing.

"Fancy camera," she said, chirpily. You gotta like Tracy.

The presentations went pretty smoothly. Mostly, they were brief, and everyone was grateful.

HIGHLIGHT. My favorite part was when Don had to bend over and reach down to pull the mike up to his chin. Feigning annoyance, he immediately blamed the predicament on Chancellor Mathur, who, as everyone knows, is vertically challenged.

Raghu smiled and laughed, but I know him. Later tonight, he'll construct a Dandy Don Voodoo Doll and poke the crap out of it.

After all the presentations, plaques, prizes, and ribbons, we called it quits. I wandered around with everybody to check out ATEP's high-tech facilities. Lasers and such.

People were pretty impressed, I think.

Well, I sure hope Bob is happy. Seems to me the event couldn't have gone any better.

Plus the PA system held up pretty well, except when Mathur spoke, for some reason. You couldn't tell what he was saying half the time.

That was just gravy.

ATEP looks pretty sharp. Nice palm trees. Cool equipment. Plus those huge hangers are just around the corner.

And there's an old white chapel, ensconsed in pepper trees, just a stone's throw away.

Come on down and check it out!

Sunny says "hey."

ATEP roundup, Dec 2011

A kind of "Filmmakers' Village" was once envisioned

for the SOCCCD's ATEP campus; after over a dozen years

and many millions of dollars spent, SOCCCD still doesn't know

what ATEP will be

As you know, in our district, the usual suspects are once again hard at work “envisioning” what ATEP—sixty-eight acres of the former Tustin Marine Corps Air Station—will be. We've certainly heard that before. Lots of times.

Did you see the OC Reg article yesterday about the film complex that will be built at Chapman U (for the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts)? Looks impressive.

$100 million Filmmakers' Village announced

The Chapman "village" sounds a bit like the complex once envisioned for ATEP. Perhaps you'll recall that, for a while (c. 2006), district leaders were working on a plan to bring a film/TV/soundstage/studio complex to the Tustin property. That came to grief by mid-2008 but seemed to be revived soon thereafter (with different Money Men). But the economy soon tanked; then the revived Media Complex plan came to grief also. Sheesh.

I've pieced together some of our (and others') coverage of ATEP and the old "film complex" (Camelot) proposal since 2000. It's pretty revealing, I think. Not in a good way.

• The Fall “Opening Session”

Dissent 50, August 21, 2000

Ced [Chancellor Cedric Sampson] closed by promising, as he had done a year ago, that we will soon “convert” the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station. The political machinations of the Feds and other school districts have delayed conversion, he noted peevishly....

• "Cox channel 3 to air trustee forum"

The Lariat, October 5, 2000

Power, money and education came under discussion Tuesday night as candidates for the South Orange County Community College District, (SOCCCD) board of trustees gave views of their intentions for Saddleback and Irvine Valley College.

. . .

[Incumbent Tom Fuentes] said he opposed the El Toro airport and that, since the acquisition of the Tustin Air Base had to do with the “peace dividend” under president Ronald Reagan and that we have benefited under conservative leadership, a conservative leader should be involved in the process of developing the base.

“We could call it the Ronald Reagan Campus,” Fuentes said.

• From Dissent 54, October 23, 2000

The District Mailer

. . .

Have you seen the $50,000 district mailer, that proud monument to puffery, sophistry, incompetence, and illiteracy?

. . .

Page 4. Here, next to a silly photograph of El Ced [Chancellor Cedric Sampson] and a Marine, we find a description of the “Advanced Technology and Education Park of South Orange County.”….

Alas, the writing is less than lucid:

“ATEP will provide multiple career study opportunities. Special certification through graduate study will be offered to launch new ventures through a business incubator.”
“The ATEP will provide in residence and distance education train-the-trainer component for the foreign, non-physician health providers affiliated with this project.” [Huh?]

• A pitcher, no catchers March 9, 2007

... Chancellor [Mathur] explained the “Camelot” proposal. The Camelot Group proposes a film/TV/soundstage/studio complex with a radio and, possibly, a TV station. CSU Fullerton has a film (production?) program, and they, too, are very interested in using any studio/soundstage facilities we might have.

• It’s Camelot! February 2, 2007

THE BIG ATEP MEETING

Eventually, I made my way to Saddleback College for the special SOCCCD board of trustees meeting concerning the “Advanced Technology and Education Park” (ATEP) in beauteous Tustin, along lovely Ant Hill Boulevard. Tonight was the night for presentations of the “partnership” proposals submitted for use of our 68 acres, which are located just three or four blimp-lengths from one of those big Marine helicopter hangers.

. . .

After some folderol, Chancellor RAGHU P. MATHUR introduced the ATEP business. He explained about the 13 proposals that had been submitted. For tonight, he said, only three of the groups who had submitted proposals would be making presentations. CSU Fullerton would present two of them, some outfit called the SEIS Group would present a third, and then Camelot Entertainment Group would present the fourth.

. . .

The idea seemed to be that these four are the top of the heap.

According to whom? Mathur made a point of explaining the process whereby the use of ATEP was being determined. According to Mathur, the “governance groups”—faculty, et al.—are a part of the decision-making process! (Don't think so.) The 13 proposals, he said, were duly assessed by the Chancellor’s Executive Committee—a group that included no reps from the governance groups. The Committee, he insisted, “not only invited input” from the governance groups, but “their input is expected!”

Well, that’s bullshit. We stared at him.

. . .

Then came CAMELOT Entertainment, the 800 pound gorilla of the evening. Camelot hopes to spend $800 million on a studio complex with sound stages and back lots.

. . .

...Camelot...man, they were slick. Plus they were determined to WIN THIS THING.

. . .

The last proposal was called “Young Americans.” They’re patriotic and cheerful or something, and they used to be on Ed Sullivan….

• Do hemorrhoids dream of pineapple sheep? February 3, 2007

CAMELOT, DO A LOT?

As you know, the star of Thursday’s ATEP board meeting were the Camelot Group, a crew of business suits that showed up with a whiz-bang presentation complete with Star Wars music and slick visuals.

A friend writes

Thanks for the info on the ATEP proposals the other night. Camelot's website…sure doesn't have much—and you'd think that a film group…should have their website completed. Still can't find a single title of anything they've ever produced—though their proposal and their website is really eager to tell you all about "investments" and "portfolios" and "incentives.”

The friend quotes from Camelot’s webpage:

By combining the production efficiencies of the early studios with the creative advantages leveraged by today's independents, Camelot Films seeks to consistently combine financial success with artistic success.

My friend is unimpressed:

Efficiencies of the early 1900s?????...So...where's the education?

Yeah, what about that? No word yet on what the board made of Camelot and their presentation. Trustees did ask some good questions though. For instance, What happens if you guys miss a payment? And: will Camelot be producing pornography?....

• Board meeting February 27, 2007

Mathur seems determined to go with the "Camelot" project ….

• A skosh, a dollop, and a plague! April 22, 2007

Item 4.1 is “Approval of Exclusive Rights to Negotiate Agreement (ERNA) with Camelot Entertainment.” Maybe you know what this means. I don’t. Does it mean that the district is zeroing in on the Camelot deal?

Camelot, of course, is the investor group who proposed a super-duper studio complex to take up much of our ATEP acreage in Tustin. Some people worry that we’ll get fleeced by these guys. Could be.

Mathur seems to have taken over the ATEP project. He imagines, I think, that he can envision a success at ATEP so spectacular that his mug will eventually get blasted onto Mount Rushmore.

• Last week's board meeting: sandwiches described and machinations exposed April 30, 2007

5.1 The board approved the “Exclusive Right to Negotiate Agreement…with Camelot Entertainment.” It was unanimous, and there was no discussion….

• "Real cop donuts": the Saddleback College Trustees Forum May 14, 2007

There was another horrible lull, and so I stood up and asked about ATEP. Park Ranger Bob explained that construction is moving forward at the Tustin facility and they’ll be offering about 35 classes in the fall. There’s a big marketing campaign, too, and the “partnerships” are moving along. The Camelot people are working with the district on agreements and such. That Bob sure can be pithy….

• Monday’s board meeting: machination SNAFU August 28, 2007

After a brief break, Park Ranger Bob Kopecky and his crew made a presentation regarding the recent opening of ATEP in Tustin. Bob showed lovely pictures of the new facilities. He showed charts and graphs. He explained about the ongoing conversations with potential partners Camelot and the “Young Americans,” who, he said, are “spreading the American spirit around the world through song and dance.”….

• Did I miss an email? November 6, 2007

Plus I keep hearing that the city of Tustin is none too keen on Mathur’s BIG PLANS for ATEP—you know, Camelot and Young Republican Hoofers for Christ (or whatever they're called). The word is that the Tustin folks have been giving us the slow stink eye and, if they’re sufficiently unhappy with us, they’ll pull the plug….

• Get with the goddam program December 2, 2007

Everybody’s been pretty tight-lipped about the ATEP meeting, but there are numerous indications that it was way stormy and/or unhappy (if facial expressions & grumpitude are any indication). Could it be that things are not going well re Mathur’s grand plan to place his mug on Mt. Goomore via the "Camelot" deal? I keep hearing that there exist big tensions among the three concerned parties: (1) the City of Tustin, (2) the Camelot people, and (3) the District.

If the city is unhappy enough, they'll pull the plug on any BIG ATEP DEAL.

(NOTE: In my report for the September board meeting (see), I wrote

David Hunt (of gkkworks) presented the “short-range plan” for ATEP.... Our continued use of those 68 acres depends on the city’s confidence that we are making progress in its development. The “long-range plan” is the as-yet-undefined partnership now being negotiated with such entities as Camelot. The “short-range plan” is what we’ll be doing with the property in the interim, which, I gather, will be a period of years. ¶ The short plan’s chief element appears to be demolition of buildings, the projected cost of which is about $7 million. The projected cost of the entire plan, not including some as-yet-to-be-determined elements (e.g., maintenance), is $9,231,610. ¶ Hunt opined that this plan should be enough to satisfy the City of Tustin.

At the time, I wondered: where's all this money gonna come from?)

We’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything definite.

• The further adventures of a world-class f*ck-up: board meeting December 8, 2007

The discussion of the 50% Law fiasco is scheduled for the end of the meeting. That could be interesting. It is no secret that Mathur’s failure to understand that law whilst spending BIG on ATEP has put us between a rock and a hard place. Meanwhile, there are indications that negotiations between SOCCCD, Camelot, and the City of Tustin are going badly. It is conceivable that the plug will be pulled on the Deluxe Edition of ATEP. (If that happens, it will be because Mathur is incompetent, not because ATEP was a bad idea.) But who knows….

• The board meeting: faculty address the board re the contract & Nancy carps about a seal March 24, 2008

Decisions were made about ATEP, but no effort was made to explain them to the public. Curiously, trustees Milchiker and Fuentes voted "no" on item 6.5: "reimbursement agreement: Camelot Development Tustin" ($786,100).

• Will ATEP be home to the "Young Americans"? May 18, 2008

I have a secret plan

One of these days—within a few months, I think—faculty will suddenly be “informed” that they must start developing an impressive range of programs and courses, as per the SECRET PLAN that will at long last be revealed. Naturally, everything will happen in a big rush, like the recent attempt to hire 38 new faculty (caused by the Chancellor's failure to attend to the 50% Law). Judging by the latter effort, the ATEP whatchamacallit curricular/programatic initiative will be a rush-job, a fiasco.

No doubt, someone will be inspired to intone, "This is no way to develop programs and curricula."

—True, faculty are not entirely sans clue. We do know that “Camelot Entertainment” is in the entertainment industry: lights, cameras, action....

• Tiny newsberries June 17, 2008

Speaking of ATEP (i.e., the Advanced Technology and Education Park, in Tustin), I keep hearing that things are FUBAR with the ATEP confabs. Is Camelot a buttnugget? If so, plan B will look nothing like plan A, and SOCCCD will look like SHIT once again P.D.Q. (The Young Americans want to put up their tents and park their clown cars at ATEP. Is that part of plan B?)

As you know, some of our trustees (and trustee Tom Fuentes in particular, who has philosophical misgivings) are unhappy with Big ATEP. When, a few months ago, things got rocky Big-ATEPwise, the board was barely able to scrape up a green light for continued efforts.

• Tonight’s board meeting July 28, 2008

During group reports, IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore thanked the various participants of the IVC Accred Focus Group. Of the report they have drafted, he said, “I think it hits the mark.” Glenn also reported that ATEP enrollments have been very high (about 600 this summer). He indicated that Chapman U, CSU Fullerton, and even UCI are “excited” about working with us at ATEP. (I got confirmation tonight that “Camelot” is out of the picture. One source told me that other groups [with big money, I assume], though, “have been standing in line” to get involved.)

• Williams' last term? Hope so December 12, 2008

ATEP FUBAR. Yesterday, at IVC's Academic Senate meeting, President Glenn Roquemore updated faculty on developments at the district's ATEP facility in Tustin. The Camelot group is long gone, we were told, but two new groups seek to take their place, and a decision about that will be made soon.

Glenn was very upbeat, but I've been reading documents and letters regarding negotiations between the district and the City of Tustin, and it seems clear that, come April, the city will declare that SOCCCD's progress and planning regarding ATEP is unacceptable to them.

Expect litigation. Lots of it....

• What if they gave a democracy and nobody came? Board meeting notes, part 2 March 27, 2009

ATEP 2.0 was once supposed to be a center for “Homeland Security” training. Then, I think, it was supposed to be a center for the study of gizmology (well no) and Young Republican Hoofers 'n' Crooners (yes, sorta). Anyway, in recent years, efforts have been made to work with Money Men (and Money Women I guess, though I never seem to spot any of those) to create a film and TV pre- and post-production complex and underwater basket-weaving appreciation module.

For a while, the “Camelot” people seemed likely to put this thing together, but they turned out to be Money Men sans Money. Nowadays, there are two bigtime developers in the running (they seem to be avec money), and they’re still talking about that Film and TV studio, which, I'm told, is desperately needed in OC. One wonders why these Money People need us, cuz leasing property has got to be cheap in OC by now—I mean, what with the country hitting the skids and all.

In the meantime, the City of Tustin is essentially a crew of hayseeds who keep falling off of a turnip wagon—and those people are pissed because, way back in the 60s or 70s, they were slated to get their very own community college right there where the Tustin Marketplace now stands, but then that wily old Irvine Company arranged one of its slick deals to avoid paying taxes by giving away that orange grove upon which IVC now sits.

• ATEP bushwackery? A tiff over turf April 14, 2011

It's a money pit

…Contemporaneous with Dixie’s Accredular adventures, the SOCCCD board of trustees had about reached their limit with regard to ATEP, a project that, despite many years of district effort and expense, never seemed to really get off the ground. After all of these years of struggle, the trustees just felt worn down.

They were about to pull the plug.

Meanwhile, trustee Fuentes, who has never liked the idea of ATEP (his libertarian ideals produce occasional spasms of bilious spewage; he projectile vomited last summer), had reached the conclusion that ATEP was a “black hole,” a money pit. He said so publicly, noisily. He demanded action…. [END]

Finally....

Fuentes did not prevail. Somehow, the pro-ATEP (i.e., pro-BigATEP) contingent on the board won the day.

As I recall, the decision to embrace ATEP occurred some time during the summer of 2010. That was about when Raghu Mathur was run out of Dodge--during Dixie B's brief tenure as temp Chancellor. Wagner and Williams were still on the board, but they were short-timers.

Recently, Fuentes--seemingly with his last breath--alluded to a fateful wrong direction taken by the district that places us on a precipice, etc. Perhaps he was referring to the Big-ATEP decision. Not sure.

--Ironically, a fair number of faculty critics of the board and of Fuentes in particular--including me--have come to agree that ATEP is a money pit, that we should cut our losses to the extent possible. But it looks like the board has made its decision, and that's that.

I do hope that we don't lose sight of the central faculty issue concerning the ATEP saga: that, despite faculty's authority over program development (etc.), from the beginning, the board and Chancellor have developed ATEP unilaterally. The big decision I mean, not the details.

I certainly understand that faculty could not pilot that ship. But the pilot should have allowed faculty to sit nearby, advising. That never happened.

The notorious ten minute tour of ATEP

Clueless IVC Prez Glenn Roquemore smiles as he makes nice with the enemy - August 26, 2014

Vice President, Western Region, Workforce Solutions/University of Phoenix, Chuck Parker, President, Irvine Valley College, Dr. Glenn R. Roquemore

○ Members of the Irvine Valley College community just received this gushing email from the President:

Irvine Valley College Signs Memorandum of Understanding with University of Phoenix

○ Irvine – Irvine Valley College (IVC) administration, faculty and staff held a formal signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the University of Phoenix, Inc. (University) on Wednesday, August 20, 2014.
○ Irvine Valley College President Glenn Roquemore said, “This partnership will expand the many transfer opportunities available to the IVC students and staff. One of the major benefits of the MOU is the tuition discount."
○ Irvine Valley College students transferring to University of Phoenix into an undergraduate baccalaureate degree program … will be considered as having satisfied the general education requirements for the breadth of the liberal arts degree program….

○ IVC students get 10% off Phoenix tuition, which is way pricey.

○ Evidently, President Roquemore is not aware that entities such as the U of Phoenix exist to make huge profits by taking advantage of students who typically receive federally insured loans, putting them in serious debt. Those students, upon graduating, typically fail to find the work they were expecting and often default on their loans, forcing the taxpayer to pay. (It's a massive bubble that, one day, will pop.)

○ You’re fine with all that, are you Glenn? You're a Republican, aren't you? Yeah. I see you smiling with those vets you claim to love!

○ Alas, the "predatory for-profits" problem is especially egregious in the case of Vets, who pay their way via the new GI Bill:

○ GI Bill funds failing for-profit California colleges

(Desert Sun)

The ever-clueless Glenn R
○ Over the last five years, more than $600 million in college assistance for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans has been spent on California schools so substandard that they have failed to qualify for state financial aid.
○ As a result, the GI Bill — designed to help veterans live the American dream — is supporting for-profit companies that spend lavishly on marketing but can leave veterans with worthless degrees and few job prospects, The Center for Investigative Reporting found.
. . .
○ Financial records analyzed by CIR show that California is the national epicenter of this problem, with nearly 2 out of every 3 GI Bill dollars going to for-profit colleges.
○ The University of Phoenix in San Diego outdistances its peers. Since 2009, the campus has received $95 million in GI Bill funds. That's more than any brick-and-mortar campus in America, more than the entire 10-campus University of California system and all UC extension programs combined.
. . .
○ The school's large share of GI Bill funding reflects more than just the number of veterans enrolling. The programs are expensive. An associate degree costs $395 a credit, for instance — nearly 10 times the cost at a public community college.
○ The University of Phoenix won't say how many of its veterans graduate or find jobs, but the overall graduation rate at its San Diego campus is less than 15 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and more than a quarter of students default on their loans within three years of leaving school.
○ Those figures fall short of the minimum standards set by the California Student Aid Commission, which dispenses state financial aid. The commission considers either a graduation rate lower than 30 percent or a loan default rate of more than 15.5 percent clear indicators of a substandard education.
○ No such restrictions govern GI Bill funds. And nearly 300 California schools that received GI Bill money either were barred from receiving state financial aid at least once in the past four years or operated without accreditation, CIR has found.
. . .
○ Of the $1.5 billion in GI Bill funds spent on tuition and fees in California since 2009, CIR found that more than 40 percent — $638 million —went to schools that have failed the state financial aid standard at least once in the past four years.
○ Four of those schools were University of Phoenix campuses, which together took in $225 million….

○ An Enemy In Common? The Case Against For-Profit Colleges

(Cognoscenti [NPR Boston])

○ … As Americans, we should all be concerned that veterans are being taken advantage of by unscrupulous profiteers. As taxpayers, we should be aware that we are paying for this disservice. Approximately 85-95 percent of the for-profits’ revenue comes from taxpayer-supported benefits….

○ For-Profit College Investigation--Is the New GI Bill Working?: Questionable For-Profit Colleges Increasingly Dominate the Program

([Senator] Harkin newsletter)

…Senator Harkin's HELP Committee investigation found:

. . .

Most for-profit colleges charge much higher tuition than comparable programs at community colleges and flagship State public universities. The investigation found Associate degree and certificate programs averaged four times the cost of degree programs at comparable community colleges. Bachelor's degree programs averaged 20 percent more than the cost of analogous programs at flagship public universities despite the credits being largely non-transferrable.
Because 96 percent of students starting a for-profit college take federal student loans to attend a for-profit college (compared to 13 percent at community colleges), nearly all students who leave have student loan debt, even when they don't have a degree or diploma or increased earning power.
Students who attended a for-profit college accounted for 47 percent of all Federal student loan defaults in 2008 and 2009. More than 1 in 5 students enrolling in a for-profit college-22 percent-default within 3 years of entering repayment on their student loans....

Hey-Diddly-Ho, Neighbor!

○ Oldie but Goodie [2012]: See Senator Harkin’s For-Profit College Investigation: U of Phoenix

2007 - GOP plan contra ACTIVE SHOOTER: throw books and shoes

Mr. Knoblockhead

During the September 24, 2007 meeting of the SOCCCD board of trustees, San Clemente City Councilman Steve Knoblock addressed the trustees concerning the specter of school violence with its “burgeoning body count." The Republican politico ridiculed the nation’s feeble efforts in addressing violent outbreaks (he mentioned reliance on "sensitivity training," among other things).

☢︎ Knoblock's recommendation: reject the “strategy of duck and cover” in favor of a strategy of “self defense."

☢︎ Said he,

Tod Burnett's personal arsenal
☢︎ "We may see less school slaughter if students are trained and encouraged to protect themselves. On hand in every classroom and on every school campus there are innumerable books, chairs, backpacks, laptop computers, shoes, etc., that can be used at a moment’s notice as defensive projectile weapons against armed assassins…."

☢︎ Afterward, trustee Tom Fuentes, former chair of the local Republican Party, noted that Mr. Knoblock is an “esteemed” member of the community (i.e., he's a Republican).

☢︎ You can view Knoblock’s comment here: streaming video.

☢︎ Jump to section 2.5 (public comments).

☢︎ And, no, I'm not making any of this up.

☢︎ SEE The September meeting of the board of trustees - DtB, Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Death by bow and arrow (the Fuentes file)

From The Fuentes file: Fred Harber & the ubiquity of violent death (June 2012)

¶ Recently, I suggested that we need to understand Mr. Tom Fuentes, his career and his significance, in relation to his formative years—namely, his four-or-so years working with and for Ronald Caspers, the Orange County Supervisor, fifth district, from 1971 until Caspers’ mysterious death in June of 1974. Fuentes was young back then: he turned 23 in 1971.

¶ Fuentes managed Caspers’ successful campaign for the post in 1970. Afterward, Fuentes was made a “consultant” to Caspers’ S&L; he was also made Caspers’ assistant down at the County (ultimately, Caspers, as Supervisor, hired two assistants, but Fuentes seemed to be the first and chief assistant).

¶ I have suggested that the 1970 campaign—especially efforts, involving various members of the “Coalition,” to damage the reputation of incumbent Alton Allen—was extremely sleazy, with no-holds-barred on Caspers’ side.

¶ Caspers spent nearly $90,000, much of it his own, to secure that job—a job that made less than $20,000 a year.

¶ At the time, many wondered what he was up to.

¶ According to the man who was the chairman of the OC GOP at the time, Tom Rogers, Caspers represented recognition of an opportunity to make huge sums of money by working with developers. After Caspers, the Board of Supes was about opportunities to support Supes who were happy to allow the special interests to develop the crap out of Orange County. The game was all about increasing density and maximizing profits: the Supervisors win, the developers win. Everybody's happy.

¶ And Tom Fuentes was “there” for the birth and rapid growth of this ugly new reality.

¶ My case for Caspers’ corruption relies somewhat on the notion, inspired by a 1978 lawsuit, which was settled out of court, that Caspers and his crony Fred Harber engaged in a “shakedown” of a developer, Richard Jordan—leading some to wonder whether this was a routine practice of theirs.

¶ Yesterday, I found a marvelous 1978 Times article that paints quite a picture of the Jordan affair. That piece referred to the apparent fact that, seventeen years earlier, when Harber was the City Manager of Cypress, he had participated in a bribery scheme that greatly resembled the one Jordan was approached with back in 1974 (namely, the bit about $2,000 a month). (See below.) At the time (1961), Harber secured immunity from prosecution by agreeing to testify that he and another man, Cypress City Councilman Job Denni, were receiving $2,000 a month in bribes.

¶ But get this: the case was dropped after Denni died in a plane crash.

¶ And that wasn’t the only plane crash that took out people involved in that case. (More soon.)

¶ Since I started to look into Caspers and the "Coalition," I've kept running into stories of peculiar violent deaths. I've already discussed the mysterious 1974 loss of Harber's "Shooting Star," which apparently took ten lives, including Harber, Caspers, and an assistant to Supervisor Clark. (Tom Fuentes and Lyle Overby were supposed to be on that trip. Fuentes never came aboard; Overby actually got off the boat before it headed up the coast.)

Arlene Hoffman

¶ Then there's Harber's secretary, Arlene Hoffman, who was killed with an arrow in 1994 (as she started work with yet another OC Supervisor). The case was never solved.

¶ Evidently, back in the early seventies, a "probate referee" connected to yet another member of the "Coalition" was mysteriously murdered (haven't found any details about that yet).

¶ Here's one I've not mentioned before: in the mid-50s, Caspers, an expert yachtsman, crashed his boat, which killed his first wife. Her body was never found.

¶ What does it all mean? Maybe nothing.

¶ Beyond that, the stuff is fascinating, to me at least....

Past post: "several large bowels of pasta"

"Several large bowels of pasta"
January 30, 2010

Yesterday, the NYT’s “Schott’s Vocab” zeroed in on malapropisms. Having been raised in an immigrant family, I own a brain that is hard-wired with dozens of malapropistic configuroons. I think I even got some of ‘em through the umbiblical “chord,” though, really, that’s a mute point at this stench in time.

First, the malapropism upon which much of my parents’ fame rests:

“He died because of a blood cloth.”

Sometimes, I will look right at them and say, “There is no such thing as a ‘blood cloth.’ You mean a ‘blood clot.’”

Always, they look right back at me with immediate and utter incredulity.

Here are some examples offered by Schott’s readers:

HE'S VERY EGOTESTICLE

• Someone I know is a genius at this. She spoke of a woman who had her hair up in a buffoon; saw my new shoes and said, "My, aren't you the fashion plague"; and recently spoke of a man who is very egotesticle.

• my favorite poem is "allergy in a church graveyard".

• My aunt always said, "I can't have anymore children because I've had my utopian tubes tied.”

• My father, noting the first hint of fall in the air, sighed and said: "Soon it will be time to fart stars in the fireplace.” [This seems to be something of a Spoonerism.]

• A busy woman: "Sometimes I get so stressed out I have to go to my room and decompose for an hour."

YOU DRIVE MY NUTS!

• A co-worker's little son announced that "you drive my nuts!" My daughter once wrote that our cat Butter Boy jumped on Frenzy when she was "least expectant." My grandfather deliberately invented examples like astosbestos for asbestos and nutneg for nutmeg. Another relative admired the singing of Ethel Murmur and the talents of Shirley Dimple. This becomes a way of life. It's dangerous to be exposed to it when young! [God, this sounds like my upbringing. Pretty whackitudinal!]

• i cannot decide which music i like better, R&B or flip flop

• "lead us snots into temptation...."

• My grandmother was famous for her malaprops; when asked if she would like to take a flight in her friend's new airplane, she gasped "Absolutely not, I like it right here on Terra Cotta";

• At a restaurant: Clams on the half shelf and a cup of chino.

• ". . . government takeover and mandation of healthcare . . ." --Sarah Palin

• Here are selected favorites from my wife:

1. This is the tip of the ice cube.

2. Security in schools has been tighter since 7-11.

3. The right foot doesn't know what the left foot is doing.

4. The swine flu has reached the pandemonium stage.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TURTLE

• At work, our team had been working on a project that had been progressing at snail’s pace with no end remotely in sight. One day, we had a breakthrough, and one of my colleagues excitedly announced at our weekly meeting, “There’s light at the end of the turtle.”

• Our church secretary always refers to the annual report to the denomination as the Sadistical Report.

• A friend with a medical condition consulted a doctor at "Cedars Cyanide"

• "I am impressed by the enormity of the universe."

• I've been tracking these at work:

Someone who is frustrated: "I've been pulling my head out over this one!"

Working through a problem: "I'm just talking out loud here."

Suggesting something: "I don't mean to speak out of tongue, but..."

Rehashing: "I feel like I'm beating this with a dead horse."

Feeling a little disoriented: "At this point, we're running by the fly of our pants."

Is in a bad mood: "He's got a craw up his butt."

• "This is a bare-bones specification, let's flush out the details later".

• After a staff party at which pasta was served, we were reminded that several large bowels of pasta were left over in the refrigerator. None of us went near the fridge as a result.

HAD HIS KITCHEN FLOOR POLYURINATED

• A few years back my father, who is now nearing one hundred, proudly announced that he had recently had his kitchen floor polyurinated.

• The late Bruce King, governor of New Mexico for many years, was famous for having said of a legislative proposal that it would "open a whole box of Pandoras."

• One of my son's college roommates, an ROTC cadet, dropped out of the program just as the Iraq war was starting. "This is not a good time," he opined, "to be thinking about joining the Army corpse."

• "Be sure and put some of those neutrons on it." –While ordering a salad.

COULDA KNOCKED ME OVER WITH A FENDER

• "You could have knocked me over with a fender."

• "We cannot let terrorists and rogue nations hold this country hostile or hold our allies hostile." –George W. Bush

• Explaining lethal injection: "First, they give 'em a needle to seduce 'em; then they give the legal injection"

• Friend referring to his relationship with his wife, "...like two ships that go bump in the night."

• "Those kids were able to Flea-Bargain their way to a lesser punishment."

The many monikers of the SOCCCD

1. South Coast Junior College District

(during planning; district founded February 14, 1967)

Problems, real or imagined: "Um, what about inland? Ever hear of El Toro, Tustin, places like that?"

2. Saddleback Junior College District

(renamed during board meeting, March 13, 1967)

Problems, real or imagined: "They're not called 'junior' colleges anymore, cuz they do more than that."

3. Saddleback Community College District

(1970)

Problems, real or imagined: in 1979, the "north campus" is built in Irvine. By 1985 it becomes an independent college: Irvine Valley, and it's denizens take themselves awfully seriously. SCCD is now a two-college district.

So: "How come the district's named 'Saddleback' when only one college has that name?"

4. South Orange County Community College District

(1997)

Problems, real or imagined: "SOCCCD? Really? Maybe we should add some more Cs."

"Looks like this half-county ain't big enough for the both of us."

5. South Orange County Community College District

and

South Orange County Community College District North

(2020)

Problems, real or imagined: "El Toro Rd. is, and always has been, the borderline. Nowadays, students who wander across it must contend with lasar-armed drones and Del Taco rubbish cyclones."

Early Saddleback College history: "faculty wives club"

• “Saddleback College Bonds Approved by Wide Margin,” LA Times, Apr. 10, 1968:

“Midway returns in the Saddleback Junior College District showed voters were approving a $9.5 million bond issue Tuesday night.”

• “Architects Get the Go-Ahead at Saddleback,” LA Times, May 17, 1968:
—“Trustees of Saddleback Junior College District have authorized architects to proceed with specifications for temporary classroom buildings for Saddleback College.”

• “Saddleback's Campus Construction Starts,” LA Times, May 25, 1968:
—“The brand of Saddleback College was added to those dating back to the area's ranching days when ground for the college's interim campus was broken by trustees in a ceremony...”

• “'Instant Campus' Takes Shape for Saddleback College,” June 21, 1968:
—“Transformation of a graded field into a college campus started Thursday with the assembling of the first steel classrooms for Saddleback College.”

• “Saddleback College Chief Rejects Offer of 3-Year Contract: College Head to Leave Post at Saddleback,” LA Times, June 26, 1968

• “Saddleback JC Picks New Superintendent,” LA Times, July 3, 1968:
—“Dr. Fred H. Bremer, 45, dean of instruction and vice president of Saddleback College, will become district superintendent and college president on Aug. 1.”

• “Saddleback Trustees Reject Bid for Delay on Dress Code,” LA Times, Oct. 15, 1968:
—“A student request that the dress code, particularly as it pertains to boys' long hair, be suspended until the new Saddleback College has a chance to form an Associated Student Body was turned down Monday night by the Board of Trustees.”

• “Reagan Dedicates Saddleback, Cites Need for Viewpoint,” LA Times, Oct. 16, 1968:
—“Gov. Reagan told students at the dedication of Saddleback College Tuesday, ‘You are brighter than we were at your age, you are better informed and even healthier’ and ‘we owe you the right to want a purpose, a cause, a banner to follow.’”

• “Long Hair Ban Sets Tone: No-Nonsense Image Marks Saddleback JC’s First Year,” LA Times, Dec. 1, 1968:
—“Saddleback College is only two months old but already it has a reputation as a nononsense campus.”

• “Saddleback to Have More Than 1 Campus,” LA Times, Jan. 22, 1969:
—“Saddleback Junior College District eventually will have a second campus, trustees have decided, but the site won't be selected for three to five years.”

• “Saddleback Adopts highest JC Salary Schedule in State,” LA Times, April 16, 1969:
—“Saddleback College District has adopted a teachers' salary schedule which makes it the highest paying district in the state, at least $5,000—at top of scale—above any other junior college schedule in the county.”

• “Wives Plan Fantasy for Funds,” LA Times, May 23, 1969:
—“Astrologers are predicting good fortune for Saddleback College Faculty Wives as they plan their first major fund-raising event Saturday at the Revere House.

• “Permanent campus to open,” LA Times, June 27, 1969:
—“Saddleback College is on the move again—for the third time since its inception.”

• “College Trustees Slate Meeting,” LA Times, June 30, 1969:
— New trustee officers to be elected “Wednesday.” The meeting was in Crown Valley School. Since last July, Collins had been board pres., Backus had been VP, and Brannon had been clerk.

• “Dress Code Amended: Hair Below Eyebrows is Out at Saddleback College,” LA Times, July 4, 1969:
—“Saddleback College, the only junior college in Orange County with a dress code, is amending its regulations on men's hair styles to make them more specific.”

• “Tea Will Greet Faculty Wives,” LA Times, Aug. 28, 1969

• “College Adopts Speaker Policy,” LA Times, Sep. 17, 1969:
— According to the trustees’ new policy, programs open to the public must get pre-approval from the Board. Programs limited to student units (departments, classes, etc.) must get prior approval of the superintendent.

• “Trustees Maintain Dress Code, Say Economics Dictate Move,” LA Times, Oct. 29, 1969:
—“Saddleback College's no-nonsense image will continue, partly as a matter of economics.”

• “Student Editors Stir Concern—and Reaction,” LA Times, Dec. 7, 1969:
—Tells of new policy by Saddleback College board that governs the student paper, Lariat. The faculty advisor (who is also head of campus PR) is supposed to delete anything he judges not to be in good taste. Students cry "censorship."

Math/Science 1970

• “Avoid Complacency, Chancellor Urges,” LA Times, July 1, 1970:
— The chancellor of the CA Community Colleges warned during a speech to Saddleback College graduates that “complacency and lack of consideration of student rights” could lead to disorder on campus. He was alluding to the trustees’ restrictive dress code for students, which forbade long hair on men. The trustees also acted to deny students a “free speech area” on campus.

MORE old Saddlebackian stories

I think you'll like these historical factoids:

1. The "Sea Mountain Valley Community College District"?

Our district was founded on Valentine's Day, February 14, 1967. At the time, the notion of a multi-college district wasn’t on anybody’s mind, I suppose. Everybody was focused on building “the college.”

"Puttin' a college here, even a shitty one, would raise property values!"

"Yeah, that's good, as long as it doesn't cost us anything."

The original five-person board comprised Alyn M. Brannon and Hans W. Vogel of Tustin; Louis J. Zitnick of Laguna Beach; Patrick J. Backus of Dana Point; and Michael T. Collins of Laguna Niguel. Vogel remained on the board until about 1975 and often served as its president (SOCCCD website).

I get the sense that Vogel was a dominant figure in these early years. (Anybody know?) Evidently, it was through his connections that Governor Ronald Reagan (now: "Saint" Ronald) showed up for the Saddleback College dedication (at a site near what came to be Mission Hospital).

During planning, “the district was referred to as the South Coast Junior College District” (see district website), but at a March 1967 meeting, “the board named the new district Saddleback Junior College District.”

In 1970, it was renamed again, this time the “Saddleback Community College District.”

Then came the infamous “board majority” of 1996, a crew that was as hubristic as it was benighted. Naturally, they decided to change the name again. In February of 1997, they asked the public for help. Trustee John Williams favored the name “South Orange County Community College District,” but

Other names being considered [were] South Valley Community College District, South Coast Community College District, Sea Mountain Valley Community College District and Old Groves Community College District. (LA Times)

Sea Mountain Valley? Old Groves?

2. We don't need no stinkin' “Gauchos”

It appears that the original board was responsible for Saddleback College’s unfortunate mascot, the “Gaucho.” (What do South American cowboys have to do with the OC?)

According to the district website, “Saddleback College was officially named by action of the board on February 26, 1968. In June of that year, the board approved the Gaucho as mascot and school colors as cardinal and gold.”

But since (according to the website) the first students didn’t arrive until September, it follows (more or less) that students didn’t choose the “Gaucho.”

I bet it was these trustees.

3. Dress Codes, war protesters, phantom Hippies

We have among us an old-timer who can remember the early days of the district. John Williams. In a 2008 Lariat article (Through the decades), we learn that

Williams moved to Mission Viejo in 1969 when his brother David, a receiver for the St. Louis Cardinals, purchased a home and needed a caretaker while he was on the road. He registered for classes at Saddleback, competing in both football and track. … "During the construction of the lower campus, we watched as the portable buildings were brought in on trailers. In the fall of 1969, the sidewalks had not been poured and when it would rain, they would lay down planks to walk on."

Williams implies that he went to college to avoid the draft: "If you didn't go to college, you could get drafted," he is quoted is saying.

According to the article, there was some “political activism” in the early years, plus some classic OC fatheaded patriotism:

"Every day at 8 a.m. the campus had their flag salute," Williams said. "The national anthem played and students had to stop what they were doing."

Williams said the student government tried to organize a war protest, and didn't want the track team to get on the team bus. Another time, a rumor was flying around that some "hippies" were going to come to Saddleback to steal the American flag, so some of the football players stood around and guarded it. The "hippies" never showed.

Williams also noted the college dress code:

"There was a strict dress code in those days, almost as if it were a parochial school," said … Williams…. "It covered everything from how to dress to the length of your hair."

4. A mighty fortress is our Library

I happened upon, of all things, a cool Saddleback College in-service pamphlet (Fall, 2008) that is punctuated with interesting factoids and images from the college circa 1968—no doubt as part of the college’s 40th Anniversary celebration.

On pages 20 and 21, the editor writes:

Several years ago a reporter from The Lariat called. He wanted to know the “real story” of the windows in the library. Or actually, the absence of windows in the library. After all, the building sat on a hill and had an unobstructed 270 degree panoramic view which was hardly observable from inside. I told the reporter that I would try to find information. I did, but he never called back. I saved the information anyway, and now do present it here for your consideration.

The “information” turns out to be a newspaper article about the Utt library published in 1970. The article describes a meeting between the board and the library architects. The architects (and the college president) wanted windows. The board? Not so much.

Library Windows Asked. Saddleback Tells Architects to Review Exterior.

By George Leidal, Daily Pilot, December 15, 1970

Situated in the rolling hills of the Mission Viejo campus with potential for a 270-degree view, the Saddleback College library will be windowless. Trustees Monday night instructed the architects, Ramber and Lowery, of Santa Ana, to revise the exterior plans removing the second and third floor windows. [There are no first floor windows, aside from the entrance doors.]

The library, the first permanent structure planned for the Mission Viejo campus, is estimated at $3.7 million and is expected to go to bid next March.

President Fred H. Bremer, said, “From an aesthetic viewpoint I feel a certain amount of windows are desirable, even in a library. Otherwise the building would have a prison like appearance.”

Board President Hans W. Vogel of Santa Ana argued against windows in the library on two grounds, maintenance and insurance costs for possible breakage.

“A library is a learning center with a function to perform,” Vogel said, “and that function is best performed if there are no distractions. A student should be able to escape completely from reality. A fortress without windows is the ideal environment for library study since when you go to the library you are trying to reach the depths of your own mind.”

Vogel further argued that savings of maintenance and insurance that might be projected for a windowless library could be applied in fitting the building with more equipment.

Robert Lowery of the architectural firm noted trustees had already approved the interior floor plans for the library, which will initially house classrooms that later will be converted to library space. Noting the aesthetic value of windows “because human beings like to know what’s going on outside even if they only see a patch of sky or clouds,” Lowery suggested library stacks would not require use of outside walls. The plan submitted to trustees included slanted high windows on the second and third floors.

Alyn M. Brannon, trustee from Santa Ana, concurred with the breakage argument against the windows and added, “I’m opposed to high windows, they are hardly ever washed, anyway.”

The slant of the windows, Lowery said, was to discourage breakage by rock throwing.”

Brannon countered, that with the slant “they’ll just collect more dirt.”

Responding to a question by John B. Lund, Laguna Beach trustee, Lowery noted there would be little difference in construction cost of the library with or without windows. Vogel said it was not the construction cost that concerned him, but said “from a security standpoint I would question high windows and would favor solid walls.” [What happened to “maintenance and insurance costs”?]

Security precautions called for by trustees at an earlier meeting, Lowery said, had already been included in the library plan. [Gosh, had something happened in the meantime?]

“We cut out the second floor outdoor reading balconies,” he said, in order to eliminate the chance students will throw books down from them to other students as you suggested.”

The present plan requires students to check out books before going outside to outdoor, second level terraces, Lowery said.

Features of the plan acceptable to trustees were the beige, sandblasted concrete exterior that requires no painting.

“I should note that I have no recommendation about what you could do [if] a student decided to spray paint an inscription on the surface,” Lowery said. “But there will be considerable maintenance savings if it is never painted.”

Vogel said he hoped that such defacing tactics would not occur.

Lower portions of the façade will be done in adobe brick and an imitation quarry tile made of concrete will surface patios.

Vogel noted that he had used new libraries at Cal State Fullerton, UC Irvine and UCLA and found all were built without windows. “These aren’t old libraries.”

The in-service pamphlet editor reminds us that

a scant 10 months prior to this article, the local branch building of the Bank of America in the community of Isla Vista, Santa Barbara County, was burned to the ground by students on February 25, 1970.

Yeah, that was a big deal at the time. Everybody was talking about it. (Reagan called the protesters "cowardly little bums" and sent in 400 National Guardsmen.)

The editor notes that the title—Library Windows Asked—“doesn’t really make sense.” The article seems more about eliminating windows than asking for them:

It makes one wonder if someone got the title wrong. Should it have read: "Library Windows Axed"?....

Hans Vogel is still alive, living in Tustin—he’s 87 years old. He and his family came to America from Germany in the late 20s. During the war, he evidently distinguished himself, serving as an interrogator of prisoners of war (i.e., Germans) under General Patton.

He describes himself (he has two blogs) a Lieutenant Colonel, Retired.

After the war, he got his degree at USC and became a volleyball coach with that institution. The guy seems to be all about volleyball and war memories.

Scientists are baffled by the education community and their methods

Failure to Replicate (Inside Higher Ed)

…[P]sychologists are not the worst offenders when it comes to replication, it turns out. That distinction might belong to education researchers, according to an article published today in the journal Educational Researcher.

. . .

Only 0.13 percent [i.e., one tenth of one percent] of education articles published in the field’s top 100 journals are replications, write Matthew Makel, a gifted-education research specialist at Duke University, and Jonathan Plucker, a professor of educational psychology and cognitive science at Indiana University….

Makel and Plucker … found that 221 of 164,589 total articles replicated a previous study….

What’s more, 48.2 percent of the replications were performed by the same research team that had produced the original study….

More colorful "research"

Replications are an essential part of validating scientific knowledge. They control for sampling errors and weed out fraud. A replication might show, for instance, that an educational intervention’s effects are less pronounced than a previous study contended.

So why do so few replications appear in education journals? The article, “Facts Are More Important Than Novelty: Replication in the Education Sciences,” argues that education journals routinely prize studies that yield novel and exciting results over studies that corroborate – or disconfirm – previous findings. Conducting replications, the researchers write, “is largely viewed in the social science research community as lacking prestige, originality, or excitement.”

. . . .

Makel and Plucker, however, say that replication matters greatly. What’s at stake, they say, is education’s standing as a discipline. Dismissing replication, they write, “indicates a value of novelty over truth … and a serious misunderstanding of both science and creativity.”….

. . . .

“When I talk to my friends in the natural sciences, they’re just baffled by how this is even a question or a controversy in psychology and education,” Makel said. “Replication is such a normal part of the process for them.”....

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Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Where can she be?

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Old—and insane (—and when <I>eugenics</I> was in the air)