- No updates yet in Johnny Pride case, we’ll keep our ears to the ground today however
- SCV is home to at least 13 private schools and their appeal is growing, reports the Signal. More than a few of them teach “evolution as a theory” alongside creationism. Enrollment in the schools seems to be growing, with one (Trinity) set to open a full high school in a few years SIGNAL
- The Signal’s Jonathan Randles had a one-on-one interview with Congressman Buck McKeon on health care, immigration, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell SIGNAL
- Second round of campaign finance disclosure forms will be visible on VoteSantaClarita.com by close of business tomorrow, March 9 I’m told. We may have some numbers for you today however.
- TimBen Boydston opens campaign HQ on Old Town Newhall TIMBEN.COM
- Go Weste the SCV Congress of Republicans says. SIGNAL
- Newhall Land officials must be tickled pink with the success of Awesometown and how the term has entered the SCV vernacular SIGNAL
- Mother thought man arrested for molesting her boy was a “weird guy,” but gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was in her church. That and more details in the Signal’s thorough story SIGNAL
- New Sheriff’s Captain ran cold case and unsolved murder team. He also has run the LASD’s city contracting bureau SIGNAL
- The two giant Texas oil companies who are apparently funding a California ballot initiative to overturn our landmark Greenhouse Gas law are staying quiet about the issue says the NY TIMES
- State Senate bill would forbid cyclists from riding while using their cell phone. Streetsblog is upset but I say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander STREETSBLOG
- Leasing companies and owners are using the SCV’s 25% of vacant office space for film production SIGNAL
- The motorcyclist killed in Bouquet Canyon on Sunday was a 47 year old man from Northridge. The CHP says his motorcycle collided with a car but no one else was injured SIGNAL
- Los Angeles International airport and its “faded, cramped domestic terminal” is us, the people of “the United States of Deferred Maintenance,” writes Thomas Friedman
- I should have seen this coming: Roger Gitlin quotes from my round-up of last week’s Minuteman Rally. Let me just reply with the Bob Kellar defense. The quote is completely taken out of context. SIGNAL
- Speaking of that rally, blogger Blazing Monk has put together an interesting highlight video of the rally BLAZINGMONK
- A perfect storm of media, crime, and the City of Santa Clarita in Dave Bossert’s commentary this week WRB
- About that editorial last week that hinted at the existence of a “Crime is Rising!!1!” hit mailer by one of the Council challengers, the Signal says it messed up and didn’t mean to cause such a fuss. There is no mailer…yet the paper says SIGNAL
March 8, 2010 – Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on March 8th, 2010Another (Possible) Fatality in Bouquet Canyon
Written by Jeff on March 7th, 2010SCVTalk reader and cyclist Chris Castallo rolled up on a sad scene in Bouquet Canyon earlier today:
I was doing the the San Francisquito-Spunky Canyon-Bouquet Canyon loop this morning, and came across this scene around noon. Coroner had just gotten there. About 2 miles north of the cafe @ route marker 9.95. Guy with a house there said there had been a ton of sport bikes all morning, and that he’d guessed they were doing in the 80s.
The CHP tweeted a few hours ago that there was a possible fatality on Bouquet Canyon.
In September, I wrote about sport motorcyclists using the Canyon as their own private race track. Groups of them would shoot up and down the canyon at very high speeds, often times using the entire roadway as they turned into and came out of a corner in the picturesque canyon north of Santa Clarita. They drove their bikes so fast that a friend of mine and I pulled off the road to let them pass (video of them flying through the canyon is at the link above).
Unfortunately it looks like someone has paid the ultimate price for the joyriding. I hope no innocent drivers or other road users were injured.
Chris says he’s no longer going to ride his bike on Bouquet. I agree, I stopped riding that road after the September incident. What a shame.
The Great (but unscientific) Santa Clarita Broadband Survey
Written by Jeff on March 7th, 2010There has been a lot of talk about Google’s plans to deploy 1 Gb/s fiber to some lucky communities. The City of Santa Clarita is pushing hard to be recognized, asking its Facebook followers to submit videos explaining why we should receive super high speed internet access. And today, The Signal wrote an Editorial to Google promising that the SCV would be Google’s forevermore if the company chose us for their project.
All that made me wonder, just how fast is Santa Clarita now?
Let’s find out. Follow the steps below:
- Close all of your PC’s open browser windows, streaming media programs (like Windows Media Player, Zune or iTunes) and just leave open SCVTalk. Make sure no one on your home network is watching Netflix or streaming audio
- Click this link: http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/ , a popular broadband speed test website
- Choose “Los Angeles” as your location to test from
- Let the test run
- With your download numbers in hand, vote in the poll below
Loading ...What the numbers mean:
My internet provider is AT&T Yahoo DSL. I’ve had them for about seven years and well, they aren’t advancing with the times. I get about 2.43 megabits per second download speed and 430,000 bits upload speed. A megabit should not be confused with a megabyte. A bit is about 1/8th of a byte. I can download files, in other words, at about .307 megabytes per second, which means it would take me about 16-20 seconds to download a 5 megabyte MP3 audio file.
My dad, on the other hand, has a Time Warner Cable internet connection and routinely gets between 15 and 20 megabits per second download. That averages out to about 2.5 megabytes per second, meaning he could download a 1gigabyte movie file in a little over 5 minutes.
Now what Google is proposing is about 5o times as fast as the internet connection my dad enjoys on the best of days. We’re no longer talking about downloading movies in minutes or even seconds; no we’re talking about eliminating the concept of ”downloading” altogether. Basically all media would be instantly accessible to your computer; in fact, under ideal circumstances it could be faster for you to access a High Def YouTube video than to access a High Def video on a computer in the room next to you in your house.
Of course, you will still be limited by your source’s internet speed. It’s not likely that YouTube or Netflix could actually send you a movie at full 1 gb/s but still, the improvement in your download time would be remarkable.
So yes. I concur with the Signal and the City. Bring the internet to me Google, with great dispatch!
DA Rejects Johnny Pride Case as it Stands
Written by NickelDime on March 6th, 2010
The Daily News is reporting the LA District Attorney has rejected the case against Johnny Pride, at least as it currently stands.
Johnny Pride, a Santa Clarita city council candidate and reality-show contestant who had been arrested for the alleged rape of two 14-year-old girls, was released from custody Saturday because of “insufficient evidence,” authorities said.
The District Attorney’s office rejected the case, but Los Angeles County Sheriff’s officers plan to continue investigating in an effort to develop more evidence, according to Sgt. Dan Scott of the Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau.
Pride was released from custody at 1:30 a.m. today, Scott said.
“The investigation is on-going, including further investigation into the processing of DNA evidence,” the Sheriff’s Department said in a written statement.
UPDATE:
Johnny Pride’s father, Gerry, blasted the City of Santa Clarita and the Sheriff’s Department after his son was released:
Pride could not be reached for comment Saturday. But his father, Gerry Scarpitta, a teacher living in Yuma, Ariz., said the District Attorney’s Office rejection of the case is “proof that the city of Santa Clarita is as corrupt as I thought it was.”
“They’ve deliberately been harassing my son, but this time they attacked him with the full force of their authority,” said Scarpitta, 57.
“They did this unethical, immoral thing. What they did was just unconscionably wrong; it was an abuse of power. They had him arrested and I believe they knew all along they didn’t have sufficient evidence.”
Scarpitta accused officials of having his son arrested because he had challenged the “corrupt power structure” in Santa Clarita. The father said federal or state authorities should investigate the city because it is “out of control.”
As for the two girls, Lt. Steve Whitmore said this:
“The interviews (with the girls) were quite extensive, their stories matched and when we served the search warrant, what they told us was all verified in the apartment itself,” Whitmore said. “Everything they told us was exactly the way it was, even down to some minor details. It was pretty complete, pretty exacting.”
Also, the Los Angeles Times says that the Sheriff’s Department is “waiting on results from medical examinations of the two girls.” Lt. Steve Whitmore, the main SVB man who has been talking to the media, says the Pride case is still a “pending investigation for us.”
Did someone screw up the process here?
Why on Thursday is Johnny Pride deemed such a threat that he is arrested at work and put in the slammer on half a million dollar bail just hours after a campaign function? And why after midnight on a Saturday morning is the DA saying there is insufficient evidence to try him? Why did the LASD take their case to the DA if it wasn’t fully developed yet?
Has the arraignment on Monday been canceled?
UPDATE #2:
Fox 11 LA talked with the spokesperson for th District Attorney’s Office who can’t confirm that the DA has dropped charges:
Various media outlets have reported the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office declined to file charges because of a lack of evidence.
However, district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons said tonight that she could not confirm reports that apparently originated with the sheriff’s department that prosecutors rejected the case.
“I absolutely cannot confirm what the sheriff’s department is reporting,” Gibbons said.
She said she got a call regarding the matter Friday and called prosecutors to confirm the report, but hasn’t heard back. She said she did not expect to have any more information before Monday, and that there was no way of knowing whether charges will be filed or not.
Hit the Trail Bike Ride in Two Weeks!
Written by Jeff on March 6th, 2010
I’ve been beating up on the City lately so it’s time to give credit where it’s due: in two weeks they’ll host the 3rd Annual Hit the Trail Bike ride. From the City’s website:
My better half towing our dog on a return trip from Trader Joe's on the South Fork
The City of Santa Clarita’s 3rd Annual Hit the Trail event is a community bike ride and rally celebrating the healthy Santa Clarita lifestyle and the City’s thirty-plus miles of off-street bike trails. Hit the Trail will be held on Saturday March 20th at 10 a.m.Community members are invited to join the Mayor and City Council members, along with other community leaders, to enjoy an escorted leisurely bike ride to Bridgeport Park from one of three convenient starting points around the City.Upon arrival at Bridgeport Park riders will be greeted with a host of family friendly activities. There will be a bike decorating contest for kids sponsored by the City’s Parkmobile and attendees can challenge each other to a “Stationary Bike Race” and win fun prizes.
Even if you haven’t ridden your old Schwinn bicycle in years, you really should consider pulling it down from the rafters, inflating the tires and joining us in two weeks. This is a great way to explore the City’s trail system at a leisurely pace and in a safe environment. There were at least 100+ people participating last year and it’s a lot of fun to ride in a group like that.
The great thing about the Bridgeport location is that from all points (Newhall, Canyon Country and North Valencia), you’ll get to ride along the river bed which is lush and overgrowing with life right now (I think I heard frogs the other night, no kidding).
Here are the three routes:
- Route 1 (6.1 miles) – Valencia High School (San Francisquito Creek Trail) 27801 Dickason Drive, Valencia 91355
- Route 2 (4.3 miles) – Placerita Junior High School (South Fork Trail) 25015 Newhall Avenue, Newhall 91321
- Route 3 (7.1 miles) – Camp Plenty Trailhead at Camp Plenty Road and Soledad Canyon Road, Canyon Country 91351 (Chuck Pontius Commuter Rail Trail)
All of them are relatively flat and easy.
You know what else is cool? Well, if last year is any indication, some City Councilmembers will show up, including, perhaps, the three incumbents (McLean, Ferry and Weste) who are running for reelection. Whether the incumbents (or challengers!) ride to the event or not, they’ll probably be there and we can all pepper them with questions about their support for bicycling infrastructure.
Okay, so maybe that will just be me. And you can certainly ask them questions about other things before you vote.
But seriously, consider joining us!
Pride: Father Alleges Frame Job; Candidates React; Tiger-style Texting?
Written by NickelDime on March 5th, 2010
The LA Daily News is reporting additional details and various candidate reactions to the Johnny Pride teenage rape allegations.
First, details of the allegations:
On Feb. 27, Pride bought alcohol for the two girls, Scopp said. They separated and the girls went to a nearby park, but later went to Pride’s Valencia apartment after he sent them a text message. There, he allegedly gave them more alcohol and then molested them, Scopp said.
The girls later reported the assault to police on March 2, Scopp said. It is unclear what the relationship between the girls was, but both were acquaintances of Pride, Scopp said.
Pride’s father, Gerry Scarpitta of Yuma, Arizona, also added some color relevant to a number of comments made on the earlier SCVTalk posting.
Pride’s father said his son was fired after an arrest for trespassing during a track meet at Canyon High School, which he also attended as a student. Scarpitta said his son tried to persuade school officials to let a family who couldn’t afford the entry fee see the meet for free.
…
Pride’s father said his son changed his name from Johnny Scarpitta for professional reasons. Pride appeared on reality television shows including Fox’s “The Battle of the Bods” and ABC’s “The Conveyor Belt of Love,” both dating shows in which he was shown wearing Speedos or underwear
The Frame ?
Pride’s father, Gerry Scarpitta, believes his son was framed to derail his City Council bid. While acknowledging his son was arrested at least once before for trespassing at a local high school, Scarpitta characterized that arrest and Thursday’s as examples of “harassment” by Santa Clarita authorities.
“It just seems so blatant because here he is running for City Council and this suddenly comes up like this,” Scarpitta said in a phone interview from Yuma, Ariz. “They’re trying to make him sound like a serial rapist, and he’s not. John would never do anything like that.”
Candidate Reactions
Weste
Laurene Weste, Santa Clarita’s mayor and a council candidate, said she was saddened by the news.
“In Santa Clarita, nothing is more important than our families and our children. It’s the kind of community we are,” Weste said. “If this is true, it’s a violation of trust of the highest order.”
Gauny
“I think it’s sad,” said candidate and business owner David Gauny, who added that Pride’s support of small businesses resonated with him. “He had some ideas that were pretty good, but I don’t know that he’s been out there enough to be a serious candidate.”
Schultz
“I am shocked,” said Henry Schultz, a retired Amgen scientist who met Pride for the first time at a candidate forum Thursday, just before Pride was arrested. “I wouldn’t have expected it.”
Observations
1) If true, the text messages would be damning evidence against Pride and enough to warrant the arrest. They could also be validated rather easily by the mobile carriers. The recency of the alleged crime also makes gathering corroborating witnesses and physical evidence much easier.
2) Assuming #1 is substantiated, Pride could be left with the treacherous argument of “I didn’t know how old they really were,” or worse, put the victim on trial. Either that, or argue that the long arm of the City Council incumbents extends to the telecommunications giants. After all, there was the deal at last week’s CC meeting to approve a T-Mobile tower on City property…
3) Oh, and what things our beloved valley is being recognized for these days. The AP and LA Times picked up the story, as did the (formerly much more local) LA Daily News and our local ABC and CBS affiliates – who reportedly interviewed our friends at the SCV Moms Blog this evening on this story.
New Sheriff’s Station Captain
Written by Jeff on March 5th, 2010
Captain Anthony LaBerge, the man who took over the SCV Sheriff’s Station in 2007, has been promoted and our new Sheriff’s Captain is Captain Paul Becker, the City announced today:
Captain Becker is a Santa Clarita resident and served since 2008 as a Lieutenant for the Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau, gang task force, unsolved murder team and active murder team. During his nearly three decade career, he has served in several divisions within the Sheriff’s Department including: contract law, transit services, robbery and assaults team, in the stations for Palmdale, Avalon, Carson and Lakewood Station, as well as in Men’s Central Jail.“I am absolutely thrilled to be named as the new police chief at the Santa Clarita Valley Station. I believe my experience and my enthusiasm for this new challenge, combined with the great team at the SCV Station will be a benefit to the community,” commented Captain Becker.
Captain Becker takes over for LaBerge next week. He has been with the LASD for 30 years.
What a Week!
Written by Jeff on March 5th, 2010
Crazy, momentous days in Santa Clarita this week.
Let’s run down the list
Before the week began, George Runner said WTF at the Minuteman rally as a crazy old preacher got up on the stand with his hate-filled message. That didn’t stop Dave Gauny and Bob Kellar fromspeaking in front of the out-of-town group, though.
A day later, Roger Gitlin was apologizing to George Runner and saying the protests were essentially pointless. Wish he would have saved us all the trouble in the first place.
On Sunday and Monday, there was palpable, fist-pounding outrage in the old SCVTalk mailbox and on the SCVTalkers forum regarding the Signal’s editorial that alleged a Council candidate would soon release a manipulative mailer touting a Signal “Crime is on the Rise” headline.
“What the heck is up with the Signal painting ALL of the challengers with a broad brush with their editorial, and giving the incumbents a pass?,” one commenter said on SCVTalk.
And that was before I Heart turned up the heat on the Signal’s stats in his characteristic witty prose.
Turns out that the hard-hitting and manipulative mailer doesn’t exist…yet. So why did the Signal write about it?
The Signal isn’t the only one that got savaged this week though. The California Attorney General’s Office pretty much told us that One Valley One Vision, as currently comprised, isn’t worth the paper it’s written on saying that the document totally ignores greenhouse emissions from all these new cars taking people to their new homes in Level “E” Traffic.
It also said that the document didn’t even work as an informational document.
That totally harshed my buzz for OVOV, even if it did come from Jerry Brown’s office.
Another SCVer’s whose pre-election buzz has been prematurely harshed is Frank Ferry. Sometime early in the week, Dave Bossert posted an email from Frank Ferry in which Ferry appears desperate to raise $45,000 in 30 days because, he says, the race is suddenly “competitive.” Gauny/Boydston partisans are excited by the news, especially in light of the fact that the conservative California Republican Assembly IHOPPed its way into Gauny’s corner alone and didn’t endorse any of the incumbents.
Myers speculated that incumbents were concerned; after all, they’ve been caught opening Facebook fan pages in lieu of polling in order to improve their self-esteem, high school-style, he said.
But within 24 hours the City Council insurgents get smacked down by the City’s release of a new Public Opinion Poll, which finds ”high levels of resident satisfaction on big picture issues handled by the City,” the City’s email to residents said. Boy, I wonder how the Signal will report it?
“A Slice Short of Heaven,” is the Signal’s headline the next day. You can just visualize the mailer now, can’t you?
Geez, the Boydston/Gauny partisans said, the establishment is really pushing for the incumbents to get re-elected. What’s next?
Well the week was only half over at that point.
Yesterday the 60s radical in me rejoiced as 10s of thousands of students took to the streets to protest education cuts across the country. The message of the Tea Party is that no one wants to pay taxes for anything; well now we can see the results as schools in the SCV close, teachers get laid off and students pay more in our colleges and universities.
Back to the City, which yesterday decided to exit the freeway into Right Wing Crankland when it added a number of controversial and downright screwy Glenn Beck-type bills to the City Council agenda. That’s right, on Tuesday we’ll get to see what Marsha McLean thinks about de-funding ACORN, what Laurie Ender has to say about English as the National Language, and what Frank Ferry’s reaction will be to stripping American citizenship from babies born in the US to illegal immigrant parents.
No study session as promised by the City, they’ve just decided to endorse the craziest bills out there in an effort to get the Minuteman off their backs and to give their incumbents something to show to the voters.
Sigh. All this from Bob Kellar’s Proud Racist moment…I wish I had never seen that video back in January.
Surely that’s enough to chew on for one week, but no! There was an interesting Council Candidate luncheon at the Chamber yesterday in which one candidate said the illegal immigrants were working for the SCV business establishment.
And then today…Myers tells us another Republican group in town could only find enough votes to endorse Laurene Weste. Meanwhile, we learn that Castaic doesn’t really want a high school after all (well at least that part of Castaic) and…holy cow…what’s this?
Johnny Pride the 26 year old boffo council candidate has been arrested on rape charges.
Yowza!
All kidding aside, the most momentous and impactful event of this week didn’t occur in the Santa Clarita Valley at all. It occurred on a dusty road in Kandahar, Afghanistan as one of the SCV’s and America’s finest gave his life while in service of our country. Specialist Ian Gelig, 25, a 2002 graduate of Hart High and an elite paratrooper in the storied 82nd Airborne Division, died Monday when an insurgent rammed his vehicle with a car bomb.
You are not forgotten Spc. Gelig and we pray for God’s comfort on your family and friends. Thank you for your service.
Kind of puts our problems in perspective huh?
Johnny Pride Arrested on Rape Charges*
Written by NickelDime on March 5th, 2010
Mr. Pride is not in favor of gun control. At least not on his arms.
Just hours after his luncheon appearance at the Santa Clarita Chamber candidate forum at the Valencia Hyatt, KHTS is reporting Johnny Pride was arrested.
Johnny Pride is being held at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s station, after being taken into custody around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. While the exact reason for the arrest is not known at this time, KHTS has confirmed that the Sheriff’s Special Victims Bureau is conducting the investigation.
Pride is being held on $500,000 bail and is due at Newhall Municipal Court on Monday, March 8.
This doesn’t look like a publicity stunt given the involvement of SVU and the bail amount. Also, no word if Myers has offered to bail him out.
UPDATE: The Signal is reporting Pride was arrested on suspicion of rape:
Pride, 26, of Valencia was arrested Thursday at about 5:37 p.m., the report says, on suspicion of rape by use of drugs or intoxicants and was being held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
UPDATE 2: The Signal is now reporting more details on the charges:
Santa Clarita City Council candidate Johnny Pride has been arrested on suspicion of raping two 14-year-old girls, a sheriff’s report said.
He was booked on charges of rape, lewd conduct with a minor, sodomy, oral copulation of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, the report stated.
The exact details of the alleged crimes could not be released because the victims were minors, said sheriff’s Detective Brian Hudson of the Special Victims Bureau, which is heading up the investigation.
TMS is also highlighting the exposure to children and the amorous side of Mr. Pride:
During his campaign for City Council, he said he works often with children and claimed to have started a nonprofit organization to bring them school supplies. However, the group he described was never registered with the state, as nonprofits are required to do.
Pride worked briefly for the William S. Hart Union High School District at Canyon High School in 2008 for less than a month, said district spokeswoman Pat Willett.
He was a walk-on coach and a substitute campus supervisor, though it was not clear which sport he coached nor whether he ever actually worked a day as a campus supervisor, she said.
Just after he announced his candidacy, Pride’s MySpace profile listed his hometown as “YOUR MOMS (sic) VAGINA” and his occupation as “Your moms (sic) boyfriend!”
According to Mr. Pride’s own posting on SCVTalk, his website and MySpace pages were hacked.
Elderly man found safe, but what about his dog?
Written by Jeff on March 5th, 2010Yesterday’s KHTS article on the 65 year old Canyon Country man who went missing while walking his dog had a happy ending later that night when a Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Deputy found the man in a ravine. Doctors thought he might not make it through the night; it dipped into the 30s last night after all.
But what about his dog?
Sgt. Darren Harris at the SCV Sheriff’s station told me that “the dog had returned home on its own without the owner earlier in the night.”
Alls well that ends well!
