Grope-a-Dope…

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Living in Fullerton, California was a great joy growing up in the land of orange groves, the days before Sunny Hills High School.  It was this suburban town of just over 35,000 souls.  Living at 100 La Entrada Place….directly across Fullerton Road from people like Buzzy Bavasi and Jerry Doggett was pretty impressive in 1958 when the LA Dodgers came to Los Angeles.  Let’s just say everyone knew everyone but permitted all “to have their own space”!  The cops knew everyone, almost on a first name basis.  We had a tough Chief of Police, a dutiful Mayor and a great young City Attorney named Bill Dannemeyer.

The orange groves butted against the back of our property and in the winter the smell of smudge pots was in evidence, as well as the sweet smell of oranges, lemon and  lime trees scattered across forty acres.  Meanwhile, we had our pachuco problems….early lowrider gangemembers…..with Chaki pantalones, wedgees or brogans.  The slicked back hair cross all ethic lines and we had our own share of white hoods, trouble makers, outlaw car clubs, DeMolay members, Future Farmers and of course our own jocks – like track star Leroy Neal, our coaches were later known legends….including Football Coach Neil Gibby, Jim Bush the track coach for both UCLA and USC and his legion of young adoring babes.  This is what you might call – Middle America and certainly the center of the ideas for “the Brady Bunch”, “You’ll never get rich!” and later “Archie Bunker”.  Let’s just say, we had two sides of the railroad tracks, a well behaved hispanic family sector, some bad ones of both races and two token black folks.

Meanwhile, while putting a new (rebuilt hottie) flathead engine in my midnight blue ’40 Ford business coupe….I couldn’t hook up the exhaust in time for me to drive to my first day of my Junior year of high school.  The engine was brutally loud and as I pulled onto Fullerton Road headed to FUHS the cop pulled me over right near the old Hillside Drive-in.  He said: “I know you…what are doing driving that loud bucket of bolts?”  I explained myself and he said: “Great, go right to school and right home.  If you don’t I’m going to write you a couple of tickets!”  “Yes sir….”I responded!  You have heard it all – in those days drunks got driven home by cops.  Freaked out wives wanting to kill their husbands for being out all night were consoled, taken for coffee and returned home…..ready to deal with their dumb husbands.

Lately, Fullerton Police Department has been taking incredible flack.  This is now a Department of out of control quasi-professionals who believe that the law is something for everyone but them!  This is sad.  Some FPD Officer is now under accusations of “Groping women, before, after and during either arresting them or stopping them for something!”  The sad part is that it has seemingly been going on – for quite some time.  We won’t bother to talk about Kelly Thomas now that two of the six officers involved are under DA indictment.  We do know that each and every one of them should be fired.  Now:  The Groper too!  This Department needs a serious housecleaning.  From the Top – starting with Chief Mike Sellers right on down to whoever seems to be flaunting their authority without a legal or moral purpose.

It is sad to see my old home town fall into the crevices of moral and legal degradation.  Fullerton PD and the City of Fullerton – restore confidence and retire the old guard and create a new, clean and helpful group of both City Fathers and Police.  If you can do that – then let the Orange County Sheriff’s to pick up your duties…….and let you find other things to do.  Hopefully, Sharon Quirk-Silva and Bruce Whitaker – two current members of the Fullerton City Council that wanted accountability –  can put the pieces back together in this Humpty Dumpty scenario!