ojai news at The Ojai Post :: blog, newspaper, events in Ojai, California

Thank you Tyler. That was hard to watch. A picture is worth 1000 words. I wasn't there and I find it amazing how the community was so complacent while it was happening. Reminds me of something Richie Haven's said about the old Superman TV show at a concert a couple years back. "... and who, disguised as Clark Kent, fights for truth, justice AND the American way. I thought truth and justice WAS the American way."

Wow.. what a raging bitch. I thought she was an attorney, not an actress! i dont find this to be hard to watch, i find it absurd that people would buy into such bs drama. It's how *I* acted when I was *FOUR*, and my mom wouldn't buy me candy @ Bayless.

For those worried: She was taken to VCMC and deemed un-hurt.

If this was hard to watch for you, heres something to take your mind off this lil tantrum: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php

If Ojai Bjorn saw anything in that video that justified an ARREST and being hauled to "VCMC" involuntarily by the police, please enlighten. I missed it. What I saw shows that the police officers need some serious training, to learn how to de-escalate a situation, not escalate it. Has Captain Norris been placed on leave yet while this is investigated? He should not be on duty in this town until he learns how to talk someone down, and avoid arrests when they are so obviously unnecessary.This after all is not the first time he has made a totally unnecessary and probably illegal arrest at a public forum - remember Pete Lafollette at the city council meeting a few months ago, when Pete stood up to answer Sue Horgan's comments directed at him, and was hauled out of there and arrested by Captain Norris before he got two words out? I am told the DA dropped that case. The city is lucky Pete didn't sue them.

If Captain Norris is doing this to attorney Jones at a public forum, what is he doing to to the rest of our citizens out of public view? No wonder we have gangs. These kids don't stand a chance on their own. Tactics like what we see by the police in this video do have consequences - violence begets violence. Let's not have that in Ojai.

Sadly the video is edited and doesnt display how long she had been up there. Interferance with a public meeting IS illegal and (IMO) Chief Norris wanted to get her outside to calm her down. Suddenly she became a victim, complaining about being at the hospital all week, and having to leave her children alone. I'm not attempting to make her statments wrong, but i do feel that they are the words of someone playing victim.

Also, at some point, it DOES become resisting arrest. Had she not done anything wrong, go with the cops and sort it out later. I dunno.. sue or something.

This is why we have gangs in ojai? Please.

BTW: Who filmed this? your statment "God i hope i got this all on tape"... Well no.. You just got what you needed. I hear fox news needs more video editors like you.

Bjorn, the video does not appear obviously edited to me, what gives you that conclusion? You do raise a good point though, in that it is possible that the video doesn't start until after she had already done something that really did disturb the meeting, which might have justified the arrest (let's hope so for the city's sake -if the arrest cannot be legally justified, which would be my conclusion from this video, then what followed is just assault or worse, and the city is going to be defenseless against a lawsuit).

Regardless of whether the arrest was legally permissible or not, it seems plain from the video that it was unnecessary. Norris made no attempt to "calm her down" - she was fairly calm before he dragged her outside and handcuffed her! He didn't need to arrest her, and his decision to do so at any cost is one that I hope he will think twice about next time.

Gangs BTW do form for self-protection against police and others. That is the number one reason many gang members will tell you that they join and remain in gangs. You might feel just fine about an attorney being treated the way this video shows at a public forum. But if you were a kid who fancies baggy jeans and a shaved head, you might conclude that if the police do this to Cathy Jones, you truly don't stand a chance. Does a gang start to look more attractive if you are that kid?

i'm a little unclear how bjorn has access to ms. jones' medical records at county hospital,what she was told by the er doctors there about her bruises and the abrasion on her forehead, and why he thinks norris dragged her outside to calm her down. all i saw was him immediately trying to handcuff her. then he called in the calvary while she was sitting quietly, and the whole lot of them proceeded to slam her face down on the pavement, cuff her, and take her away.
is bjorn a alias for chief norris????????

Anon- By editing i DO mean shortened just to clarify.

I understand the reason that people join gangs, but i feel that you're stretching to bring that into this...

Having been a "baggy jeaned" ojai kid from the second I was bjorn, I can comfortably say that such incidents would not make a gang more attractive. Personally I would more than likely have acknowledged that persistant interference at a public event was not a good idea because it gets you arrested. Rightly so.. It's illegal.

I am not an alias for anyone that lives in ojai...

I am just that.. Ojai Bjorn, as in Born in Ojai. I just choose to have an alias versus hiding under "Anonymous".

This is why we have gangs in ojai? Please.

BTW: Who filmed this? your statment "God i hope i got this all on tape"... Well no.. You just got what you needed. I hear fox news needs more video editors like you.

Posted by: Ojai Bjorn

Dear Ojai Bjorn,
It was shown on channel 10 and all over the world on youtube.com......You apparently did not bother to read the beginning disclosure from Dr. Lee Fitzgerald who is responsible for airing the filming, and interviewed Ms. Jones for the cable channel show!
Go check it yourself before you shoot off your mouth AND foot by slandering someone.
If you care to continue having an interest in this thread, then do your homework first before you rant with misinformation here....
I sent this in to the ojaipost so that the folks who have made comments can actually see what they were commenting about...
I was at the the candidate forum today....
My conclusion: Bureaucracy is born from long winded statements from the uninformed....
Brad

My conclusion: Bureaucracy is born from long winded statements from the uninformed....
Brad

Sounds like 99% of the people who comment here.

Hard to believe this Elliott-Jones gal managed to pass "the bar" since it seems as though she cannot read. The rules for the candidate forum were printed in the local newspaper and they were posted at the forum site. And also got quite a kick out of her little interview with Lee FITZGERALD. Seems as though she ended up at the forum while in the neighborhood intent on buying sammies for the kids from Jersey Mike's, located in FITZGERALD Plaza. Lee kinda razzed her for Mike's being her destination...and she relpied that she did not know it was part of a "chain"...that she just really likes their sammies.( I do too!) Seems like Mr. FITZGERALD is sorta biting the hand that feeds his kin!!! AND what rock HAS Elliott-Jones been under if she missed all the flak over Jersey Mike's??

Clancy's post brings up a very important point about how we all in this valley choose to spend our dollars. Yes, it's easier sometimes to give in and patronize these places for a variety of reasons (sometimes it's cheaper, sometimes it's more time efficient, sometimes your kids just want what they want, etc.) But if we want to keep Ojai unique (as obviously a great many of us do and hence the battles with the current council), then we have to put our money where are mouths are and avoid these places. Otherwise, nothwithstanding the hypocricy of it all, we open the floodgate to more and then, before we know it, the Ojai we love will be but a memory. I believe that in this case it IS POSSIBLE to put the genie back in the bottle, but EVERYONE must take a disciplined stand.

P.S. But please, Clancy - "gal"???