MoVal changes course on churches

As previously reported below the city of Moreno Valley was considering limiting where churches could be established. Due to heavy lobbying by certain church groups the city decided to drop the proposal. We get a taste of the extent of the lobbying here:

"I don't think it's worth falling on a sword for and becoming divisive," Councilman Bill Batey said. "Personally, I'm tired of personal attacks from those I would expect to have more conversations and respect from."

Close Tremors for rowdiness?

The PE reports that your local public attorney Gregory Priamos "plans to meet with representatives from the Riverside Police Department and the state Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control to evaluate and eliminate "criminal and nuisance activity" at Tremors." This comes as a result of a recent brawl inside the club which continued outside where some guy grabbed a gun and started shooting. Mr. Priamos is quoted as saying that the bar could lose its alcohol license.

Man sentenced 16 months for making threat to Rod Pacheco

The PE reports that Chandler Cardwell of Perris was sentenced to 16 months in state prison for publishing the following in the PE:

"Cardwell placed an ad in the paper calling for a yard sale at Pacheco's home to support the "Rod Pacheco Memorial Fund." The ad included Pacheco's home address and cell phone number. It also read, "Big Blowout going out of business sale" and "everything must go."

Cardwell, who worked as a commercial classified advertising representative at the time, said he searched newspaper records to obtain Pacheco's information, court records said.

He called the paper and gave false check information to pay for the ad using check No. 0187, the California penal code number for murder."

Apparently Cardwell did this because he was upset at Pacheco's plans to have the East Side Riva gang declared a public nuisance.

Riverside settles wrongul death case for $395,000

The PE reports that the city of Riveside settled with the heirs of Summer Lane for $395,000. The case arose from an officer's shooting of Ms. Lane. She was driving a vehicle apparently trying to facilitate the escape of her companion who was in the middle of a scuffle with a police officer. It's hard to say exactly what happened but I was stuck by the account of witnesses at the scene.

"It was in the parking lot, witnesses said, that Lane drove up to the men in her Honda Civic and backed away several times, screaming for Grotness to get into the car. She knocked over a sign in front of the store and may have hit both men.

Grotness told police that Lane bumped into them with the car once. Several witnesses said Lane appeared to be trying to run the officer down, but they didn't know whether she had actually hit him.

Wilson said Lane ran over his left leg at least twice and bumped into him at least once while he was on the ground fighting with Grotness.

Police originally said Wilson had suffered a broken leg but later changed the injury to a slightly sprained ankle.

The struggle went on for four minutes without backup officers, with little help from a security guard and with a small group of onlookers "yipping and snorting on their cell phones, giving a blow-by-blow account" but offering no help, Barham said.

Very nice. Perhaps the whole matter could have been avoided if some of these people would have helped. But it seems that no one wants to get involved. I can understand not wanting to get hurt, but "yipping and snorting" hardly seems civic worthy.

Judges are essential for protection of liberty

The PE reports on the case of three prison guards convicted of roughing up some prisoners. A jury found the three guards guilty of the allegations which pertained to causing some cuts and bruises to the prisoners. The judge found that their was not sufficient evidence for the jury to find the defendants guilty and therefore overturned the convictions. It may seem peculiar that the judge would overrule the jury but there are documented cases where the jury ignores its obligations to apply the facts to the law and gets cases wrong. Fortunately, there are judges willing to protect the citizenry from the state's occasional overreaching.

Judicial strike force cut in half

As previously reported, RivCo has benefitted by the appointment of 12 temporary judges to hear criminal trials. I also reported below that their are more criminal trials awaiting trial now than when the task for was appointed. The PE reports on Thursday that the task force was ended. There is no question the task force was necessary but the problem still exists and shows no signs of easing without either a massive amount of new judges or the DA starts dealing with the criminals to reduce the demand on the courts. Until one of these options takes place, we will continue to have no civil justice system in this county.