Wednesday, November 27, 2019

RIP: OC Weekly (1995-2019)

OC Weekly covered and often led the Sheriff "I'm a Crook" Carona story.
Carona landed in prison thanks in part to the Weekly's dogged reporting.
It sure wasn't the Register's.

Today the OC Weekly's publisher, the Duncan Mcintosh Company, announced the paper's demise and laid off the staff. 

from Los Angeles Magazine:

The Shuttering of OC Weekly Leaves a Gaping Hole in Orange County’s Media Landscape

From the Newport Beach Independent:

Ex-Newport Beach Harbor Commissioner Closes OC Weekly

The OC Weekly served the county of Orange for 24 years and we here at  Dissent couldn't have done what we do without a more than a little help from our friends: Gustavo Arellano, Matt Coker, R. Scott Moxley, Gabriel San Roman, Nick Schou and all the other weeklings who paid attention when others did not and help make this county better than it ever was, doing what good newspapers do: "afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted."

Thanks for the hell raising.

In honor of the OC Weekly's nearly quarter century of work, Rebel Girl and her comrades will compile a "Best of " below. So keep checking back.

And for those of you who are new to the college or new to the district, enjoy the history lesson. It's been one wild ride.

In no particular order:

THE EVIL OF FROGUENSTEIN (MATT COKER) 

(Cover story!)

OC Weekly - April 10, 1998

NOT-SO-SECRET-SERVICE: TONKOVICH OFFERS SECURITY SERVICES TO MATHUR 

(Red Emma offers to be IVC President Mathur's security guard!) 

OC WEEKLY - STAFF | POSTED ON DECEMBER 23, 1999


Connecting Donald Trump Dots with OC's Steve Frogue and John G. Schmitz (2017)


A NIXON-HATER RECONSIDERS TRICKY DICK IN THE AGE OF TRUMP AT THE REBOOTED NIXON LIBRARY  (2016)

by Andrew Tonkovich (aka Red Emma, duh) and featuring a cameo by Dr. Brittany Adams, IVC professor of history. 


OC WEEKLY - STAFF | POSTED ON OCTOBER 21, 1999

Vol. 3

SADDLEBACK COLLEGE’S MRAP MAKES IT TO OC WEEKLY’S “OC’S SCARIEST” LIST (2014)


WACKY IVC SCULPTURE IS HONORED BY OC WEEKLY (2010)




WHY DOES SADDLEBACK COLLEGE HAVE AN MRAP ARMORED VEHICLE?
GABRIEL SAN ROMÁN | POSTED ONSEPTEMBER 12, 2014

OC's Scariest People 2014! Scary People to Avoid in the Dark!
15. SADDLEBACK COLLEGE'S MRAP
     Terrorists and lone-wolf school shooters beware: Saddleback College is ready for you! Thanks to a federal program that allows local police departments to get military hand-me-downs, the Mission Viejo community college snagged itself a mine-resistant, ambush-protected (MRAP) vehicle better suited to fighting jihadis than sixth-year communication majors. It's the only campus police force in the nation with less than 10 full-time cops to have one, which is only used to wow dumb high school kids. No word yet if the MRAP is equipped to protect students from exploding textbook costs and tuition fees, though.
     Mitigating Factor: Just waiting for a Gaucho to take it for a joy ride on Alicia Parkway.
THE UNABAUER MANIFESTO,
MATT COKER | POSTED ON APRIL 8, 1999

FRANK MICKADEIT, OC REGISTER COLUMNIST, SLAMS COLLEGE PROFESSOR ON BEHALF OF LATE TOM FUENTES
MATT COKER | POSTED ON JUNE 28, 2012

Vol. 5

TANGLED WEB OF HATE WEAVED BY CARTO, VON BRUNN N CO.
MATT COKER | POSTED ON JUNE 20, 2009

....South Orange County Community College District rabble-rousers, whose efforts have resulted in the district’s imbecilic board of trustees being ordered by an Orange County Superior Court judge to tape-record its closed-door meetings for two years due to persistent violations of the state’s open-meeting law. Also thanks to the dissenters, an accrediting panel this year denounced the way the district’s Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges have been governed during the past two years....The most publicized South Orange County Community College District rabble-rouser, Irvine Valley College philosophy professor Roy Bauer.  Besides being a constant thorn in the board’s side at public gatherings for the past few years, Bauer has churned out--with the help of anonymous correspondents--two muckraking newsletters: Dissent, which covers the district, and The Vine, which covers IVC. Besides hilariously clever clip-and-crop graphics, a recent Dissent included a mock advice column that looked as if it were penned by board president Dorothy Fortune. One not-really-Fortune response to a not-real reader: “Ours was the only community college in the nation to take the day off when President [Richard] Nixon died. Our district has a board member who thinks Israel and space monkeys killed JFK. Our board includes two members of the Christian Coalition, too.”

'NO ENTIENDO' [TRUSTEE FUENTES VS. SPAIN]
OC WEEKLY - STAFF | POSTED ON MARCH 10, 2005

As the chair of Orange County's Republican Party from 1984 until last year, Tom Fuentes distinguished himself by waging vindicative, sometimes bizarre campaigns against enemies real and perceived. As a trustee for the South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD), Fuentes continues his GOP battle plan by launching a campaign against . . . Spain?!

OC WEEKLY FOLLOWS UP ON OUR "HOLOCAUST MUSEUM SHOOTER" STORY  (2009)




by Lisa Alvarez (aka Rebel Girl) (2004)
Education Secretary Rod Paige's characterization of the nation's largest teachers' union as a “terrorist organization” compels me, a professor and member of the National Education Association, to come clean.
It began in Girl Scouts. Newspaper-collection drives funded field trips to summer camp, where uniformed girls sat in the firelight, singing anthems penned by, yes, blacklisted folksingers. Hearing Pete Seeger's “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” still causes me, Manchurian Candidate-style, to repeat the Scout motto and march to the cupboard for graham crackers and marshmallows.
Brainwashing as a result of this guerrilla training (not to mention selling cookies and calendars for the revolution) did its evil work. My nascent feminism, encouraged by strong female role models, accounts for my later support of the National Organization for Women and its doomed revolutionary ploy, the Equal Rights Amendment....
OC Weekly covered the "Great Park," and the "El Toro Airport" story before it

LA? No Way? College district blocks student trips to Los Angeles (2001)
Hot on the heels of its recent vote to disallow a student trip to Cuba, South Orange County Community College District (SOCCCD) trustees on Monday night voted to block all student outings to Los Angeles County. "The trustees have serious concerns about allowing district-sponsored travel to Los Angeles," said a district spokesperson. "It’s far away and dangerous. Plus, students might get lost."

OC WEEKLY CONSULTS REBEL GIRL (2008) 


and takes a nice pic!
RAGHU MATHUR OUT AS SOCCCD CHANCELLOR?
MATT COKER | POSTED ON JANUARY 26, 2010

READ ALL ABOUT IT
MATT COKER | POSTED ONDECEMBER 2, 1999
Illustration by Bob Aul — South Orange County Community College District trustees on Nov. 22 decided to appeal a court ruling favorable to Roy Bauer. The Irvine Valley College (IVC) professor publishes rabble-rousing newsletters that hilariously lampoon a board and administration that does a damn fine job of hilariously lampooning itself (Nazi sympathizers attending board meetings, homophobic political mailers in trustee elections, faculty fuckheads willing to sell their souls for coin—such a hoot!). Bauer's bosses tried to force him to seek therapy because, they alleged, his Vineand Dissent newsletters were filled with violence and hatred. Bauer sued on First Amendment grounds. The district countersued, claiming employees had been threatened physically in what friends and foes affectionately refer to as the “Unabauer Manifesto.” But the judge sided with Bauer—in humorous fashion. When the district tried to make hay out of a comment in one newsletter that stated the author wanted to drop “a 2-ton slate of polished granite” on the IVC president's head, the judge dismissed it as pure hyperbole, noting, “Think of the logistics!” So now the not-so-appealing district is appealing, even though Bauer's court record against them is a solid 3-0. Two other cases involved the board's cavalier violations of the state's open-meetings law (we forgot to include those with the “District Lampooning Itself” examples). Defending the appeal motion, Chancellor Cedric Sampson says he wants to defuse workplace hostilities in an era when not only postal workers go postal. Subliminal message to Bauer: ixnay on the ackblay enchcoattray.
ANOTHER FINE MESS
MATT COKER | POSTED ON JULY 8, 1999
     Photo by Keith May -- Clockwork asked Irvine Valley College (IVC) philosophy and ethics professor Roy Bauer the other day: Roy Bauer, you just won a $98,000 decision against the South Orange County Community College District. What are you going to do now?
     “Why, I'm going to Disneyland,” he shot back. “There's a fella there, and the trustees hope to appoint him president of Saddleback College. His name's Goofy.”….

LAW AND ODOR
MATT COKER | POSTED ON MARCH 9, 2000


MATT COKER | POSTED ON FEBRUARY 7, 2002
“GOD'S LAWYER” AIDS COLLEGE DISTRICT IN PRAYER SUIT
MATT COKER | POSTED ON NOVEMBER 24, 2009

COLLEGE DISTRICT BOARD'S BATTLE CRY: SEND LAWYERS, HIRED GUNS AND MONEY
MATT COKER | POSTED ON MARCH 25, 2010

FROM KOBE BRYANT'S RAP ALBUM TO GWEN STEFANI'S CHOLA, OC'S 7 MOST LEGENDARY HOLY GRAILS
GUSTAVO ARELLANO | POSTED ON NOVEMBER 27, 2013
[Countdow to #1]
4. Ronald Caspers or His Boat
. . .
1. The Newspaper Clippings That Show Former GOP Chair Tom Fuentes was Caught in a Gay Sex Sting By Cops

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Impressive! Dizzying!

Anonymous said...

Dang! An end of an era! And they were so influential it exposing Mike Carona...Here's to fearless journalism! We need more of it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you OC Weekly. You were a breath of fresh air and fresh intelligence. And you helped turn a Red Orange County into a Blue one.

As one of the faculty who sued the BOTs twice -- and won twice, your help was impressive and appreciated.

Anonymous said...

They used to parade Carona around here as if he was really something. Even then you could tell he wasn't. Sleazy and corrupt. And then they just disappeared everything they named after him like it had never happened. They never said anything. Meanwhile they saluted him for years.

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...