May 12, 2008
Ventura County Star watch: Sucking up to crooks
Stop the presses! The journalistic geniuses at the local fish wrap -- aka, The Ventura County Star -- delivered not one but two thumbsuckers recently, devoting prime space, color photos and purple prose to the plight of criminals.
Just in time for Mother's Day, the Star ran what was intended to be a heart-rending story about moms separated from their kids, trapped behind bars, and the emotional reunions to be had with their children as the tykes came to visit their loving, lonely, nurturing and misunderstood inmate mommies.
You'd have to have a heart of stone not to find the whole thing hilarious -- and infuriating.
Photos by Jason Redmond / Star staff
A toddler plays "Jailbreak!" with his mommy at the local lockup last week, part of a taxpayer-funded party for women being oppressed by the patriarchical criminal so-called "justice" system.
The eager moms pulled their hair into neat pony tails, borrowed their favorite blue eye shadow and ironed the only clothes they own as they primped for a visit from their young children.
Since the last time they saw their sons or daughters a year ago, some of the kids have learned to walk and speak and read.
Many of the waiting moms were little more than kids themselves, barely adults who have experienced a lifetime's worth of court dates, drugs and crime.
But for these few hours, when the wards of the Ventura Youth Correctional Facility get a Mother's Day visit from their children, that all melts away.
"It's the best thing to happen in jail, to see your kids," a 23-year-old woman said as she waited for her 14-month-old baby.
"I can still smell her on my sweatshirt when I go to bed."
Yeah, subjecting your own child to seeing his mother behind bars, now that's an unselfish, caring thing to do.
Only one family showed up for the party, the other inmates returning to their cells, dejected, but at least able to drown their sorrows in heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sammiches.
Of the seven moms that were expecting to see their children Friday, only one family showed up at the Camarillo facility that took part in Get on the Bus, a statewide program that unites prisoners with their children. Some moms went back to their cells crying, others hoped that maybe their families would come Sunday, the real Mother's Day.[...]
Still, the facility's staff was ready for a party. Streamers were strung, heart-shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were laid out and free toys for the kids lined the visiting room where music was playing.
Jennifer Stinson, a 19-year-old from Fresno who got tangled up with methamphetamine and is now serving a sentence for grand theft auto, was the only ward who got to see her child.
Here's a newsflash for you: Going to jail sucks. Becoming a junkie and stealing cars brings shame and dishonor to your family. Choosing a life of crime carries with it a pretty clear, it's-all-about-me message.
"Tangled up with methamphetamine"? Makes it sound like she was ensnared in its wicked web, like a wayward butterfly.
A twitchy, tweaking, car-stealing butterfly.
Please.
How 'bout a heart-rending story on the ordeal of the mothers of crime victims, mourning the loss of their children, unable to visit with them because the kids are dead.
Nah, too obvious, been done to death -- er -- been done before.
Or a Mother's Day-themed piece about kids making videocalls to their citizen-soldier mom's serving their nation overseas?
Ewwww -- could be construed as patriotic. Can't have that. Although we could spin it as another inhumane result of the Chimpy McBusHitler-Cheney-Halliburton administration.
But wait! There's more!
Digging back just a little further into the Star's treasure trove of lowlife fawning profiles and using children as stage dressing, we have this piece, detailing the continuing police persecution of a loving father, drug addict and head of a local criminal street gang.
Joseph A. Garcia / Star staff
George Christie, Jr., takes time to play with his four-year-old son at his Ventura home, a change of pace from his former hell-raising days as the head of the local chapter of the Hell's Angels.
Ventura County prosecutors did not file drug charges at Friday's scheduled arraignment of former Hells Angels leader George Christie Jr., and his attorney said the delay was evidence of a weak case stemming from years of vindictive, costly intimidation against his client.
"This continues a pattern of harassment," said Los Angeles defense attorney Robert Sheahen.
[...]
Christie was arrested last week — the day before his 61st birthday — after members of a Sheriff's Department gang unit found less than 2 grams of suspected cocaine and methamphetamine in his Ventura home, police said. A gram of cocaine can sell for $50 to $100 on the street.
The substances were discovered after one of three search warrants was served at Christie's home in the 400 block of Ventura Avenue. Deputies also determined Christie was under the influence of cocaine and methamphetamine, officials said.
[...]
Christie declined to comment on the new case. But Sheahen said in interviews this week that Christie has relinquished his role as president and unofficial spokesman for the Hells Angels motorcycle club.
Sheahen said authorities are wasting taxpayers' money going after Christie. The father of a 4-year-old boy, Christie spends most of his time at home, particularly since a motorcycle accident last year put him under a doctor's care, the attorney said.
"All of this stuff is loony. It's nonsense," Sheahen said, speculating any drugs found in Christie's system likely were prescribed. "He's been a perfect probationer" since a massive 2001 drug and racketeering case that made national headlines, Sheahen said.
How often does a newspaper feel the urge to photograph a criminal suspect -- any criminal suspect -- playing with his kid? In his own home? What does such a picture say to the readers?
And why this suspect?
Isn't it interesting that newspapers can't figure out why circulation's tanking, paid subscribers rushing to cancel their home delivery. I'd say the answer's laying in your driveway.
Posted by Mike Lief at May 12, 2008 06:14 AM
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Comments
I think the readers of the Star are catching on. Check out some of the comments following the story on the jailed mothers. Although there were a couple of people who shed a tear, the majority of the commentators did not think much of the story.
As for Mr. Christie...what can you say? Many people in Ventura have been fascinated with him for years. He is almost like a local John Gotti (even beating a murder case in the 80's). People know that he is probably not a very good guy, but for whatever reason they are struck by him. I am not saying that I fall in this category, but it is true.
Posted by: RW at May 13, 2008 06:34 PM