Voting, political War chests and Police Salaries

I forgot to mark my calendar so I missed the November 5th birthday celebration of that wonderful actor, Joel McCrea.

I see the first day of Hanukkah and Thanksgiving will be celebrated this year on November 28th. The last time this happened was 125 years ago in 1888. I don't know if my memory is correct, but I kinda remember in 1962 or thereabouts Hanukkah fell on December 25th.

I guess the political pundits would say Rubenstein is a high propensity voter since he missed voting in only one election since turning 21 darn near 50 years ago. Could the reason Sebastian Ridley-Thomas sent almost every Tom, Dick and Harriet three pieces last week be because his campaign knows he has few qualifications to be our Assemblymember but he has a war chest of over $500,000 and a father who just happens to be the county supervisor? If you want a good person to represent you in Sacramento, vote for former Culver City Mayor Christopher Armenta.

The Page 1 headline story from the November 1, 2013 issue of "The Week": A Brooklyn man was arrested by the NYPD for possession of six Jolly Rancher candies that cops assumed were rocks of crystal meth. Continuing . . . Officer Putnam lost his job in Tennessee for shooting at a squirrel as the animal scampered through a crowded convenience store. The policeman then tried to spray the critter with Mace, which forced the store's evacuation.

Have you heard the best idea to come out of the police department since the city should arm the school crossing guards with 12 gauge shotguns? Of course that's an exaggeration but this news flash isn't -- it's meet and greet your local cop on Thursday, December 12th from 9 am to- 11 am at Coffee Bean, Washington and Overland. You know the coffee shop because it's directly across Overland Avenue from the City of Los Angeles. Can we analyze this? Hmmm . . . Thursday, not a weekend. Hmmm . . . 9 am to 11 am, two early hours so as not to attract a large group. If the police wanted a perspective on community thinking, the mayor would have it televised on Channel 35 with citizens in council chambers asking the questions.

Here are some possible questions:

1. IS IT TRUE our small town of 40,000 has some police getting over $250,000 per year?

2. IS IT TRUE we have some police getting pension checks of over $140,000 per year?

3. IS IT TRUE we have some officers getting larger pension checks than when they were working?

4. IS IT TRUE some officers received over $40,000 in overtime?

5. IS IT TRUE Culver City police get the same raises as the L.A. County Sheriff and since the deputies' pay is going up in 2014, how much will the Police Dept. budget be increased?

6. IS IT TRUE the police voted their "no confidence" in the chief?

7. IS IT TRUE the City of Culver City paid over $1 million in out of court settlements for police "misconduct" and paid an additional $1 million to the outside law firms Carol Schwab, our City Attorney used? Carol, Carol, Carol . . . I hope you and the mayor are good friends, but if it was me I would hire a full time lawyer to handle these cases. Is it true, Carol, that the $2 million or thereabouts was over a three or four year period and covered less than five suits?

IS IT TRUE other questions the police might receive could be concerning red light cameras, DWB (driving while black), Police Commission, chest cameras, recovered stolen property, and recent complaints from female officers?

This is my opinion. What's yours?