Gloomy, doomy Santa Ana Mountain communities

The OC Reg’s Science Dude reports that, according to the National Weather Service, “The cold North Pacific storm that’s streaking toward Southern California will drop 1 inch to 1.5 inches of rain by 8 a.m. Friday, with the heaviest precipitation falling in and around the burn areas of eastern Orange County….”


8:14 p.m.: Canyon residents under mandatory evacuation:

MODJESKA CANYON – Weary canyon residents, scarred by the recent wildfire and forced to leave their homes for 24 hours during a rainstorm last week, are now under a mandatory evacuation order again. ¶ The decision to make the evacuation mandatory was based on a National Weather Service forecast that the canyon areas will receive a minimum of 2 inches of rain tonight in a six-hour period….

On an even drearier note, I spotted Raghu P. Mathur at Irvine Valley College's Holiday party today, which, owing to his presence, was a shitty affair, judging by the faces of those who surrounded him. It was bleak, way bleak, I tell you.



Well, so it seemed to me, but I was only there for maybe one minute. No doubt the party was great in every other respect—even IF Tony was not allowed to roar up to the party on his Harley, wearin' his Santa suit.

I bet Mathur told Glenn: "You WILL have your holiday party in the Performing Arts Center. You will NOT have bikers. Or Bauers. Got it?"

I'm told that Mathur took that little poinsettia with him when he left. Could be somebody just made that up.


THE "POINSETTIA" EPISODE, 1998
FROM DISSENT 14, December, 1998:

...Late Thursday, the 10th, everyone seemed to be buzzing about President Mathur’s latest outrage. He had imposed himself on a lunch for classified employees at around noon. Each table held a lovely potted poinsettia. The idea was to give the thing to the classified employee who had been with the district the longest.

Since she had been with the district for nineteen (?) years, classified employee Linda X was identified as the recipient of the plant for her table. But the President—Mr. Raghu P. Mathur—put a stop to that. He announced that he had been with the district for nineteen and one half years, and so, as he left, to the astonishment of everyone, and despite his never having been a classified employee, he took the plant.

“Can you believe it!” people said. “Who does he think he is?” “What next!” Some among the classified staff who had witnessed the infamy offered suggestions as to where Raghu might plant his poinsettia. (Oh, how they hate him.) My inveterate commitment to peace and loveliness precludes saying more.

At about 2:30, I briefly visited a Burrito picnic out by the temporaries that had been arranged by students. Naturally, people were still buzzing about the purloined poinsettia. Then someone appeared holding two plants that he and others had purchased at Ralph’s—poinsettias, of course. A group of about ten faculty and staff—I was told to stay behind by my self-appointed handlers—took the plants and entered the Administration Building. As they walked past the President’s open door, they loudly hailed Linda X and presented her with the replacement plants. Everyone clapped and cheered. Then one of the group halted the applause. “No,” he said. “One clap.” [In those days, Mathur used to insist on what he called the "Orange County 'Clap'."]

Then, in unison, loudly: CLAP!

Again, smoke could be seen exiting Raghu’s riffraffian ears. —BB

"Scared to death" of the manipulative Nielsen

"The passion to be reckoned upon, is fear." —Hobbes

• From this morning's Frank Mickadeit column: Jeff Nielsen should have dealt long ago

…The new evidence would have refuted any defense claim that Nielsen had downloaded child porn inadvertently when searching legal gay-sex sites. "When you have newsgroups like, ' Sven's House of Teenage Lust,' that's unambiguous," coprosecutor Matt Lockhart noted. ¶ Lockhart says Nielsen's two former boyfriends "changed the whole case" by agreeing to testify and should be commended because they were "scared to death" of the manipulative Nielsen….

• This morning’s editorial in the OC Reg: [T]oxic atmosphere of local Republican politics:

…But in politics – and especially the nasty, scandal-plagued world of Orange County Republican politics these days – opponents reach for the long knives at any opportunity. And so, after Supervisor Janet Nguyen agreed to pay $5,000 in fines for illegal donations to her legal-defense fund after her three-vote election victory in February, her opponents came out swinging. ¶ Attorney Mike Schroeder, who represents losing candidate Trung Nguyen, told the news media that "This was an organized attempt to circumvent the law that they repeatedly lied about until they got caught." He was surprised by the low fine amount. Yet the Fair Political Practices Commission, which must still approve the settlement deal when it meets later this month, argued in its report, "In this case, the investigation did not produce sufficient evidence to support a finding that the violations were deliberate. In addition, all of the fundraising occurred after the election and no campaign statements were filed incorrectly as a result of this activity. The money was returned promptly when the mistake became apparent." ¶ … Ms. Nguyen's consultant, Dave Gilliard, told us that Mr. Schroeder "continues to appeal and appeal and appeal [the election verdict]," and is trying to harass Ms. Nguyen so that she cannot possibly win re-election. That is an increasingly common view. In a column in the latest Red County magazine, conservative political activist Mark Bucher writes about "a poison in our party," which he describes as the "practice by some Republicans to attack people personally, and destroy their lives if necessary, as a means to obtaining more power." His example: "Trung Nguyen and his lawyer, Mike Schroeder, are attempting to weaken Supervisor Janet Nguyen through personal attacks, accusations of criminal behavior and serial complaints and lawsuits. Their goal is to damage her politically and financially and thereby increase Trung's chances of winning the seat next year."….

Some Republicans? Tom Fuentes was among Trung Nguyen’s advisors. [Oops. I think I got my Nguyens mixed up. Fuentes advised Tan, not Trung. –CW]

• From this morning’s Inside Higher Ed: Presidential Politics and the Student Vote:

...On the presidential nomination question, Barack Obama and Rudolph Giuliani come out ahead, according to the “Fall 2007 Youth Survey on Politics and Public Service.” … ¶ Among likely young Democratic voters, Obama (38 percent) leads U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York (33 percent) by five percentage points, and both candidates are well ahead of former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina (7 percent). On college campuses, Obama’s margin is even wider. He’s at 44 percent to Clinton’s 23 percent. (Polling stopped a month ago.) Clinton edges Obama among those surveyed who are not currently at a four-year college and those who have never enrolled at any college…. ¶ [James Leach, a former Republican Congressman from Iowa] referred to data showing that more than one-third of the young people surveyed say the two parties are “doing such a poor job that a third major party is need.” Only 30 percent said that Democrats and Republicans are “adequately representing the American people.” Liberals were more likely to say a third party is needed than were conservatives. And while more than 70 percent of the entire cohort said elected officials don’t have the same priorities that they do, more than 6 in 10 said getting involved in politics is “honorable.”….

Sandbags and hay bales and Witch Projects

It was good getting away from the college today, what with its appalling atmosphere of end-of-semester student anxieties. I don't wanna talk about it. ¶ But people are getting pretty anxious out here in the canyons, too—especially, in Modjeska Canyon. You know: fire and rain. ¶ As I neared Lambrose Canyon, I took some grim pics out the window of my Chrysler. Strictly point 'n' shoot. (Or just shoot.) One pic reminded me of the moon; the other of the Blair Witch Project. Seemed perfect.


The rains are coming, and they could be bad, and everybody out here knows it. Grim. ¶ The Reg is on the case: Flash-flood watch issued as rains approach: Modjeska Canyon residents place sandbags and hay bales around homes and other structures:

Updated 4:11 p.m. Wednesday
The National Weather Service issued a flash-flood watch for Orange County coastal and mountain areas this afternoon. The flash-flood watch is in effect from Thursday evening through Friday evening. ¶ A flash-flood watch means that conditions may develop that lead to flash flooding.

Updated 3:45 p.m. Wednesday
Residents, county and other officials and volunteers were placing sandbags and hay bales around homes and other structures in the canyon areas in preparation for the rain predicted to hit the county Friday. ¶ "What will happen will happen, I'm just doing what I can do,'' said resident Nancy Woodward, who has lived in Modjeska Canyon less than one year and already has had to contend with a wildfire and the threat of flooding and mudslides. She was placing sandbags in front of three driveways outside her home Wednesday.

Click here to view the U.S. Geological Survey Webcam of Modjeska Canyon Rain Gauge.

"Sometimes, you're just shoveling shit against the tide." —My Dad

OC GOP’s Nielsen headed for pokey

The OC Weekly just posted: Nielsen's Plea Deal:

Jeffrey Ray Nielsen—the well-connected Orange County conservative activist who claimed the so-called liberal media, specifically the Weekly, was out to get him by publishing a series of exposés on his pedophile activities—is expected to finally admit tomorrow that he used two boys for sex since 1994, according to law-enforcement sources.

A legal representative for Nielsen, who has extensive personal ties to Congressman Dana Rohrabacher and Orange County Republican Party boss Scott Baugh, told prosecutors early last week that Nielsen would plead guilty to two felony counts: committing lewd acts on a child under 15 years old and committing lewd acts on a child under 14 years old.

In exchange, Nielsen, 37, is expected to receive a three-year prison sentence, which is mild considering he faced more than 30 years if convicted of all the sex-crime counts in two scheduled upcoming trials. He will also have to register as a sex offender for life….

See also Jeff Nielsen is a conservative guy
OC Reg, 12/05: Legislator's ex-aide pleads guilty to sex with boys


NIELSEN TAKEN UNDER THEIR WINGS:

On Friday, Tom Fuentes (the chairman of the OC Republican Party) called me and wanted me to meet him at Macy’s at South Coast Plaza. I got there and he bought me a suit. Then he took me to dinner and the sauna at the ritzy Balboa Bay Club. [Name deleted] told me he likes to reward hard-working young Republicans that he likes and he knows are going to go far. It was really rewarding. As you know, I’ve been working really hard on the Scott Baugh campaign. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 28. The only time I’m not working is when I’m watching a USC game, at church, asleep or writing you . . . or trying to get my law school applications together. I’ve got both my USC and Chapman applications typed. I’m working on getting all of my Letters of Recommendation together now. I’ve got Rohrabacher, Flanagan and Fuentes done. Today I found out that this guy who is the state chair of the Republican Party, Mike Schroeder (a friend of Rohrabacher), would also write me a letter of rec. It’s really good that he does because he’s on the board of trustees at USC Law School.

–One of Nielsen’s letters to young “Billy,” in 1996 (Boy Crazy)

This just in—

Five minutes ago, the OC Register posted: Street announces rating change:

Treaurer-Tax Collector Chriss Street announced today that more than $419 million of the county’s “certain structured investment vehicles” have been put on credit watch by Moody’s, the investors’ service. ¶ Street said the change, which he learned of Friday afternoon, is because of a change in Moody’s rating methodology. ¶ “This review does not reflect the performance of the investments but it does reflect how the investments are analyzed,” Street told the board. ¶ The county currently has 14 percent of the portfolio — or $837 million – invested in these ”structured investment vehicles,” Street said. Of that figure, about half has been put on credit watch, he said. The county’s total portfolio is worth more than $6 billion. ¶ Street, who faces a vote next week on whether he should be stripped of his investment powers because of recent controversies, said he wanted supervisors to know about the change as quickly as possible. ¶ “I want any information of this to be upfront and I don’t want people to have any surprises,” he said….

The corrupt Street, of course, achieved office with the help of--you guessed it--our own Tom Fuentes.

Love is in the air

From this morning's OC Reg: Weather turns Catalina into “upside down” mirage:

If you thought Santa Catalina Island looked odd Monday at sunset, you’re right. Orange County beach-goers witnessed a rare “superior mirage” caused by a change in the weather. ¶ Simply put, parts of the island were reflected upside down in the sky due to the inversion layer…. ¶ “The ‘mesas’ in the photo actually show the island being reflected upside down, as seen from the beach,” says Steve Vanderburg, a forecaster at the National Weather Service…..

From this morning's LA Times: Brea teacher allegedly threatens to kill student:

An Orange County teacher has been arrested on suspicion of threatening to kill one of his seventh-grade students, police said Monday.

Brian Christopher Wilcher, 38, of Orange was taken into custody Friday after an altercation in his classroom at Brea Junior High School during which he allegedly told the 12-year-old boy "something to the effect that 'next semester you'd better find another teacher because if you're in my class I'm going to kill you,' " said Lt. Jack Conklin, a spokesman for the Brea Police Department…..

A Rusty Wet Symphony of Mud: Modjeska Canyon

THE MUD is made of dirt and ash and water and rocks, some the size of a human head, most the size of fists. The texture is viscous. The shovels hit the rocks, scrape, almost sing as they slide, sounding like pickaxes, the sound of the old local mines of Modjeska, Silverado.

It's a rusty wet symphony.

When you're at your own home, warm, dry, unmuddied, you think that maybe they don't need you but then you go because you hear they need wheelbarrows and then you get there and you see they need so much more than that and there you are: needed.

Generally, three full shovels fill a sandbag. If Rebel Girl is doing the shoveling, it takes five or six.

The sandbags are made in China.

We fill the sandbags with the rocky mud that has filled the house, a dark even tide of two feet in every room. Then we haul the bags up the hillside to secure against another slide.

The flooded house lies below Flores Peak, the rugged upcropping that catches the light and glows in the afternoon.

In 1857, Juan Flores and a band of outlaws killed Sheriff James Barton and part of his posse nearby at what is now known as Barton Mound. Pursued by a posse led by General Andrés Pico, Flores and his men were finally caught on this distinctive rock outcropping in the canyon. Now the peak, named after Flores, is a California State Landmark. Flores' loot was never found. Rumor has it that he hid it up there somewhere.

It is the kind of story that is told to make cold weary diggers laugh and keep digging. We wonder aloud if we will be the lucky ones. We imagine how we'll spend the gold. We already feel lucky.

This house isn't, after all, our house.

Our house didn't burn, didn't flood.

We keep digging.

Get with the goddam program

• THE BUSY YET GRIM BOARD OF TRUSTEES. As you know, the SOCCCD Board of Trustees (BOT) had two special meetings recently: one concerning ATEP—the SOCCCD’s new high-tech facility in Tustin—the other concerning Saddleback College's accreditation (the BOT met with the Accreds [ACCJC] during their site visit in the never-ending Saddleback College accreditation saga).

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.

I haven’t heard word one about the Accred confab. Evidently, no faculty showed up to the meeting, which was public.

Way to go, faculty. I just love the way you're all over this stuff.

Let me be more direct. Faculty: get with the goddam program.

• COMEDY OF ERRORS or SUBTERFUGE OF MATHUR’S? Meanwhile, trustee Marcia Milchiker seems to be mad as hell and disinclined to take it any more re Chancellor Mathur and his efforts on her behalf to serve on ACCJC visiting teams. You’ll recall that, a few months ago, Marcia expressed interest in such service, but, during a public BOT meeting, Mathur “informed” her that trustees are no longer eligible. His info, evidently, was based on his alleged correspondence with the Big Beno (aka Babs Beno of ACCJC) concerning this matter.

It turns out that Mathur’s information is false, and so Marcia’s hopping mad. But Mathur may be guilty of nothing more than his usual stupidity and poor communications skills.

On the other hand....

Recently, there was considerable interest in the mysterious disappearance and hilarious/disturbing morphing of the faculty hiring policy (4011.1) on the district website. (This at a time when numerous hiring committees are beginning their work!) These phenomena turned out to be nothing more than the cyber-residue of a mere comedy of errors.

Aincha proud?

• NIELSEN CHILD MOLESTATION TRIAL, AGAIN. Speaking of PRIDE, things have not been going well in the FUENTESPHERE, what with increasingly disturbing revelations of Treasurer Chriss Street’s corruption (past and present), the indictment of Sheriff Mike "Hometown Hero" Carona, and so on.

You’ll recall that one of Fuentes’ protégés is (or was) attractive young up-and-GOPer Jeffrey Nielsen, the son of a local bigwig Republican. In the late 90s, Fuentes invited hot young Jeff to the Balboa Bay Club and took ‘im to South Coast Plaza to buy him suits. Gosh! (See Jeff Nielsen is a conservative guy.)

Well, years later, the OC Weekly commenced reporting allegations (and seemingly powerful evidence—check it out) that young Jeff engaged in child molestation with a kid in Virginia. Then, a year or so ago, the OC DA filed charges against Nielsen with regard to a Westminster teenager. The latter led to a trial and a hung jury.

On Thursday, the OC Register reported that:

The often-delayed second child molestation trial for Jeffrey Nielsen—lawyer, former congressional staffer, a former clerk in the Orange County District Attorney's Office and a former member of the Ladera Ranch Maintenance Corp. board of directors—was delayed again, to Dec. 5.

Nielsen, 33, is charged with molesting a 14-year-old male high school student whom he met in an Internet chat, and a Virginia teenager he met in the 1990s when he worked for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) in Washington D.C. Both victims were allegedly molested in Orange County.

The trial—if it goes—could last as long as 25 days, says Deputy District Attorney Colleen Crommett.

Or it could end in less than the 11 days it took for the first trial, when Nielsen was charged only with molesting the 14-year-old student, says defense attorney Paul S. Meyer.

That first trial ended with a hung jury. The second trial was delayed again for two weeks because Meyer is involved in another trial. Nielsen is also represented by prominent defense attorney John Barnett.

It’s amazing what being rich and/or connected will do for a guy. Just amazing. I doubt that the Jeffster will ever be convicted of anything.

As Red likes to say, "It’s Orange County, Jake."