Griffith Park Blog » The Land the Times Forgot

The LA Times has been Wiki-Leaked!

Donna Barstow — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 03:26:33 +0000

Restaurant critic for the LA Times has been outed! Her feelings about food are no longer secret!

S. Irene Virbila, the L.A. Times’ restaurant critic for the last 16 years, was visiting Red Medicine restaurant in Beverly Hills when the manager took her photo, and ordered her and her 3 companions to leave the restaurant. In Beverly Hills! An LA Times Reporter!

restaurant critic cartoon from daily special

Ellis [from Red Medicine] said he was intentionally trying to take away Virbila’s anonymity because he does not like her reviews: “Our purpose for posting this is so that all restaurants can have a picture of her and make a decision as to whether or not they would like to serve her. We find that some her reviews can be unnecessarily cruel and irrational…”

Kevin Roderick, of LA Observed, responds:

Geez, dude. Just shut up, man up and make your restaurant better. If you’re afraid to have your place independently reviewed, that tells me all I need to know.

I disagree! He has every right to decide who goes to his restaurant and to toss out people who he feels might harm it in any way; restaurant writers are kind of sneaky, aren’t they? On the other hand: he should never have taken her photo. That’s an invasion of privacy, even as Virbila came in under an assumed name: Fred Snow! So this is a nice piece of drama.

: Image of the ideal Beverly Hills via Wikipedia

I met Irene when I did the restaurant cartoon for the LA Times, called Daily Special ( now running in many other papers). We agreed to meet for lunch at a restaurant on Sunset – I think it was called Dome. I was so anxious and excited about meeting her that I spent too much time getting ready for my big opportunity, and was 15 minutes late. I was ready to kill myself! Fortunately, she was even later, and so the event continued.

She ordered at least 2 choices for each part of the meal, and I still got to eat what I wanted. We had plates full of food left before we had gotten to dessert, and I whispered to her, “What will they think of us?” I never forgot her reply: “They’ll think we’re ladies who lunch!”

I had a great meal, and got to take home all the leftovers, because she said she hated to see food go to waste. As I recall, her review was pretty good for the restaurant. The whole experience was thumbs up for me. :)

She’s not my favorite food critic, however: that’s reserved for Ruth Reichl, former LA Times reviewer, and then editor of Gourmet til it folded. I miss her Reluctant Gourmet (her husband!) I don’t see how Irene can continue doing reviews at the Times, however…and that’s wrong, to ruin her career like that.

More on the story at examiner.com. And over here, some cartoons talking about privacy issues for all of us.

Beverly Hills restaurateur outs LAT’s Irene Virbila (laobserved.com)
LA Times: Online journalism ‘contaminated’ by web format, says Flipboard chief (blogs.journalism.co.uk)

Or were you looking for one of these?

Alligators in the sewers of the LA Times.

Donna Barstow — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 16:29:13 +0000

Roger McCulloch sucks, too, and the LA Times has hit the bottom of the barrel.

I picked up pen to paper today, dear readers, to share an article in last Sunday’s Los Angeles Times, the first section. (I’m a week later reading it, cause of a seriously good party LA Observed threw that weekend.)

Roger McCulloch skipped a grizzly bear hunt in Alaska to drive 18 hours to Florida with one mission: shoot an alligator with bow and arrow. McCulloch’s trophy room is full…

“I love gator hunting,” said McCulloch, who owns a Logan, Ohio construction business. “It’s just the rush of it. I’ve hunted everything — caribou, bear, elk. Gators are tough critters.”

Special rules govern the bagging of gators. Hunters are not allowed to use guns. Instead, they may use a pole, spear, bow and arrow, or rod and reel to catch the animal, then use a bang stick — a pole with an explosive charge on the end — to dispatch it point-blank before bringing it into a boat.

This year, the state is offering 6,260 permits at $270 each, entitling a holder to kill two gators. Last year, hunters harvested 7,844. Gators as small as 18 inches can be taken, but most hunters want a trophy.

Stafford produced a bang stick with a .44 Magnum charge, but before he could press the trigger, the gator’s jaws closed around it. Somehow the guide extracted the bang stick and dispatched the animal in the head.

When the gator went limp, the three men hauled it aboard and taped its jaws shut, and then Stafford severed its spinal cord.

“You feel better now you hit one?” Stafford asked.

McCulloch nodded. “I was starting to get upset.”

The American alligator once was endangered but has rebounded, said Steve Stiegler, a biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“Overall, the statewide alligator population is very healthy,” he said. “It’s a natural resource we can make use of that’s renewable.”

I include the grisly details here (more there) so you can appreciate how INAPPROPRIATE this is for someone’s Sunday read. And how very…regional this is. Just perfect for Southern rednecks!

roger mcculloch tortures bloody alligator - see full size in the Times

It’s written by Susan Cocking, of the Miami Herald. Maybe this is considered important journalism in Miami, detailing the extended torture of an animal killed for a guy’s trophy room, but it’s really hate journalism, and it’s sad that the Times couldn’t find anything more important to include in the Sunday paper. And is the Times really that out of step with Los Angeles, most who are NOT hunters, and the Green movement all over the country? They even name the article Happy Hunting!! It’s astonishing.

Hunting is such a mystery to me. McCulloch is a wimp, not picking a man his own size, but animals, for which he needs a guide, a variety of weapons, none of which the animal has, and most importantly, a bigger brain. Or maybe just a small wienie and a big ego.

Also, notice the words harvested, and taken, which I bolded in the quote. Hunter don’t use the word kill – they pretend they are doing something positive, something like work, something close to nature, instead of the opposite of life – death. Fish and Wildlife are the biggest killers in every state, of course – their purpose is always to kill, eradicate, and help hunters of all stripes. They are the most repulsive group in government.

Los Angeles Times, we don’t have alligators here, though we may have bang sticks. And when you need to go to the bayou or coal mine territory to get your news, you’re not international, you’re funny. But not in a good way.

———-

This is the first post I’ve written about the Times in quite a while. No wonder, when I was pitching my editorial cartoons to them each week! But once I realized that they only use one or two cartoons per week, and always the same guys… hope was gone.

They do have a collection of 3 cartoons each Sunday. However, as I have complained many times in my Op-Ed Cartoon Blog, it’s edited by a cartoonist who lives in…Lexington, Kentucky. That’s right. An international paper like the Times, with the 4th biggest circulation in the country, decides to step down and use Joel Pett, who has never lived here, to choose cartoons for the LA Times. When I told this to an editor at the Orange County Register, she was shocked! It’s simply bad journalism.

Or were you looking for one of these?

Maybe the Los Angeles Times just doesn’t like Mexicans.

Donna Barstow — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:41:23 +0000

Who says you can’t teach an old dog grey lady new tricks? I’m talking, of course, about the LA Times (which they call the Old Grey Lady.) Liberal bastion. Friend of the homeless. Empathizer of the poor. Yet they have changed their attitude, at least towards one poor group – our gangs. The Times has stopped giving them tongue-baths, and given them a slap on the backside! Watch.

You all know me as the green, mean, Park activist machine, but did you also know how fond I am of the Avenues gang? I bet not!

avenues gang member arrested

I wrote about the Avenidas, as they say, twice last year, both times in response to the positive press the Times gave them. Apparently this gang is very popular, all over the US, not just in LA. Of course, I identify with my homeboys because they are so nearby. According to a map on the Times site, their “territory” begins at the foot of Forest Lawn in Glendale, which I can see from where I live. Also, they’re part of LA’s culture. Or something.

Now, you have to admit, most gangs don’t have the best education. Perhaps irony, sarcasm, or exaggeration weren’t mentioned in their English classes, but you know what? They’re busy guys. They have guns to clean and tats to sit for. So if my writing isn’t that well understood? Well, my bad. Let’s continue.

My first post on the attractive Avenues, or Drew Street Gang, as the hip kids call it, was in 2008: The LA Times has a secret crush on the Avenues Gang!

I can’t decide if it’s the awesome tats or the baggy duds…still stylish a decade later, apparently!

It’s always First Class to get an article written about you on the front page of the Times, and this time it’s the Avenues gang that hit the jackpot. I imagine gangs all over the city are envious, and wondering how they, too, can get such reportage and press. Don’t hesitate to read it: it’s family-ready, and really very forward-thinking!

From my June 2008 post 2 months later:

When you read about a neighborhood painted as loyalists with deep family ties to its members, doesn’t that sound attractive? Perhaps a suburban enclave of LA, or one of those beach towns, with all those diehard volleyball players. Good people, in other words. And so these gangs are, in their hearts.

Last time, the Times writers defined the gang as resilient, powerful, and defiant: survivors, with loving neighbors. They’re definitely not as positive this time; I’m afraid they’ve gotten bitter, and that’s a sad thing to see in a journalist.

The new Los Angeles Times headline on September 23, 2009:

Massive police raid targets brutal L.A. gang

This time, the Times writers get down and dirty; they use the terms vicious, gunned down, entrenched, violent, drug-related, and more!

avenues gang members shackled

The gang, named for the avenues that cross Figueroa Street, has a long, ugly history dating back at least to the 1950s.

Officer Juan Aguilar said:

Some of them [gang members] he had at one time tried to help, telling them quietly that the only way to leave the gang is to leave the city. Others had long ago slipped beyond help, he said.

And:

The day’s only significant use of force was the shooting of two aggressive dogs by San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies.

Oh, that’s right, guns don’t kill dogs, police do. (Although I hate to blame gang types for anything, really, I do wish they’d take their dogs to puppy school before their funny dog fights.)

Federal immigration officials were on hand to deal with any undocumented immigrants, although a DEA spokesman said none of the people arrested were found to be in the country illegally.

Most of the Avenues members and associates included in the indictment are being charged under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, which allows prosecutors to pursue lengthy prison sentences.

Hmm, how would they know about the illegal part? And why would that ever cross their minds?! LA Now blog called the gang people notorious, that they used extortion. BUT, then this…

Drug activity in the area has slowed considerably in recent months, the detective said, but considering the size of today’s operation, the gang clearly has maintained a commanding presence in the area.

Oops, back to the compliments, boys! Who wouldn’t want to have a commanding presence?! Name one teen! This is one for the Avenues Gang scrapbook!

Just one slip-up, Times writers. So even though no one from there has given Griffith Park, Interrupted any pats on the back recently, or even credit, I know you read me, LA Times! You took my essays to heart! Your liberal shades dropped from your eyes for a minute. I’m proud of you.

Photos by Mark Boster, LA Times.

Or were you looking for one of these?

The LA Times has been Wiki-Leaked!

You mean I have to get political, and write about cruel farmers?

Donna Barstow — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:17:07 +0000

I wrote in my cartoon blog, Why I Did It, about how I take my canary for a walk these days. He’s near enough to a window to get fresh air, but for him to go outside is nirvana. Can you imagine how the breeze feels against his feathers, ruffling them, tickling his skin?

I’ve had him for 4 years, and now, for the first time ever, he is trying to sing!!

From East Bay Animal Advocates.

Most farm animals will never feel fresh air on their skin, let alone a breeze. That’s farming for you! Yes on Prop 2 would fix this, at least for a few animals. (I wrote about this issue earlier when I criticized the faulty logic of yet another piece in the Times.)

Wayne Pacelle, President of the Humane Society, has been very public about this proposition – I never knew what he looked like until now, handsome fellow!

The greatest nation in the world, with the most innovative farmers, can do better than immobilize animals in severe confinement systems for their entire lives. Family farmers know food quality is enhanced by more humane farming methods, and they know there is a balance between animal care and economics.

…These modest reforms of farm practices won’t be costly to implement. The egg industry’s own California-based economist reports that producing cage-free eggs costs less than one penny per egg more.

The Times doesn’t like this – says it would outsource egg farmers. Well, yeah, if they were little helpless children, and don’t know how to run a business or change the simplest thing, like move one side of a cage. And you knew that George Skelton at the Times was going to be an asshole about this when he starts off in a demeaning way:

The right for egg-laying hens “to lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs and turn around freely” in their little cages, to quote from Proposition 2. [My emphasis - DB.]

(And I rarely swear here, so you know I mean it.)

Photo from the excellent and professional Farm Sanctuary.

I couldn’t find anything new in his article worth quoting, but here’s his ending:

The issue of hen confinement should be worked out between farmers, animal rights activists and consumers through the marketplace.

I’m going to ask my wife to buy only eggs from cage-free chickens. Then I’ll probably vote against Proposition 2.

Well, no George, the farmers , animal rights people and consumers have already come up with something: this. LA Animal Watch shows how another Times opinion fails:

A Times editorial today starts by talking about the terrible conditions at current California egg farms, says the animals deserve better, then opines we should vote no on Prop 2.

However, the Times has an excellent article here:

Since there are few veal farmers in California and the state’s largest pork producer has already said it would eliminate small crates, the initiative would mostly affect 19 million laying hens and the egg industry that farms them…The space per bird is slightly smaller than a sheet of letter paper.

When one more farmer whined (and lied) that this would put him out of business,

Paul Shapiro, the Humane Society’s factory farm expert, responded, “Even if such a synchronized ballet of wing-spreading were possible, it’s not required by Proposition 2.”

Hee!

Oprah had a whole program devoted to this, and my favorite part was when a chicken farmer said that if this law passes, all chicken farmers will go out of business, and California will have to import all its eggs from Mexico and China! Boat or plane? I can’t wait to see the packaging on them. I can feel some new cartoons coming on…

The part that I hate the most: this won’t go into effect until 2015. This is TOTAL pandering to those wimpy farmers. Also, I wrote about this issue earlier when I criticized the faulty logic of yet another piece in the Times.

Or were you looking for one of these?

Plastic, plastic, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

Donna Barstow — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:37:54 +0000

Ever wonder why water in bottles has an expiration date? It’s the plastic. It does bad things as it dissolves. Heard John and Ken talking about it this afternoon, while discussing emergency earthquake supplies. Not only do you have to keep checking the batteries and canned goods – should you go the nervous ant-like way of even having earthquake supplies – and I’m not saying which way I roll, cause maybe I’m a selfish ant – you gotta keep changing the water, too.

Of course, this doesn’t concern the DWP, or the City of LA, or H. David Nahai, or Mayor V., as proven by the tons of HDPE plastic bird balls they keep dumping in our Ivanhoe Reservoir drinking water. DWP has promised they will only stay in the water for 4 years. Okay, for 5 years, in some reports. Plastic for all!

From treehugger.com. Sad.

I just checked the water I’m drinking now. All my water is bottled, and although I enjoy trying different brands of water, I can taste very very well, and prefer distilled water most of the time. (I can even taste differences in that!) I enjoy Whole Foods 365 Brand in a lot of foods, including their water. My bottle of distilled water – with no minerals, as pure as you can get- has an expiration date of June 9, 2010. (my birthday!) So the bird balls baking in the sun in a reservoir for several hundred thousand people, today and every other day, – which is apparently, SUNNY. Again.- are supposed to last at least 2 years longer than my distilled water bottle?

As I reported here several times, these plastic bird balls have NOT been tested by the only water-approved lab in the country, NSF, for anything besides 17 days in water at a temperature of 73.4 degrees. What does the LA County Health Department have to say about this? We shall find out.

Speaking of plastic, a subject I never get tired of, very happy to see LA has banned plastic bags. Treehugger says:

This new vote by the LA City Council is likely to engender vigorous opposition from the plastic bag industry, represented by the creatively named Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, which has already filed a lawsuit challenging a LA County measure to lower plastic bag use 30% by 2010.

David Lazarus, in the LA Times, wrote such a pathetically ridiculous take on this important environmental issue that I think I may have cackled. Lazarus quotes Eric Gutierrez and Elicia Ortiz, whose environmental expertise and objectivity are not at all influenced by the fact that THEY WORK FOR A PLASTIC BAG FACTORY. Lazarus writes:

[Ortiz says] “I’m a single mom,” she said. “Everyone who is against plastic bags should consider all the people who depend on this for a living.”

That’s certainly one aspect of the issue that merits more attention.

Lazarus probably gives money to the homeless, too. But before I got a chance to write this, lao points out Spouting Off, by the President of Heal the Bay, who beat me to the punch:

The whole piece took the side of the plastic industry, which argues that bags are harmless and that banning them will cost the public money and cause people to lose jobs. There was little mention of impacts to the marine environment, let alone the economic impacts of disposal, recycling and clean-up.

Clearly, the article’s premise is preposterous. Personally, I’m more than a little peeved because I spent a half hour talking to the guy and I shot down every myth he trotted out. No mention of HtB, nor a direct quote from me.

David Lazarus, meet H. David Nahai. I think you guys would hit it off.

Or were you looking for one of these?

Coyote Killings Part 2

Translator needed for LA Times Opinion piece on chickens.

Donna Barstow — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:45:50 +0000

UPDATED: here.

Ooh, good, I thought. An opinion on chickens. This is something I might ~~want to read~~ understand.

Photo credit: Compassion Over Killing. I appreciate the humane way the HSUS treats photographers, too, by giving them proper credit.

Chicken Run, by Julia Olmstead, is about an initiative by the Humane Society to outlaw battery cages for farm animals.

If we’re going to eat eggs, I think the chickens that lay them should be able to stretch their wings, stand up and turn around, and not be caged. So I buy cage-free eggs, and I’m not alone. Demand for these eggs has outpaced supply in the last few years.

So far, so good. I like to agree with writers. Then she quotes a lot of numbers on how many chicken farmers there are, the problem with manure and ammonia to the environment, etc. Very true for all farm animals.

If passed, the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act would ban some livestock confinement systems. Sounds like a no-brainer…

But I’m not certain I’ll vote yes.Unfortunately, a California ban may carry unintended costs for the environment.

Not quite understanding…you mean, new environmental problems, other than those you just listed? She doesn’t elaborate on this. The chickens (and other farm animals, like pigs, veal, etc) will have bigger cages, not GROW humongous themselves, Ms. Olmstead.

Photo credit: Farm Sanctuary. These calves live in darkness 23 hours a day, and can’t even stand up. I never eat veal.

She goes on to say farms might move to other states, or Mexico. Those flighty farmers, traveling men, always pulling up stakes, wondering if the grass is greener somewhere else!

She says this law isn’t strong enough. Why save the lives and suffering of animals now, when you can wait until things might get better down the road?

Her last point is good, although it’s nothing to do with how chickens are raised, but rather how the eggs are labeled:

Further, cage-free isn’t the same thing as free-range. The label does not ensure that chickens can get outdoors.

Heaven forbid that the Opinion section actually put LINKS in their articles, even when they’re online! Ooh, scary, someone might leave the page. (Should I go into my whole story about how a goofy opinion about what to do with Silver Lake made its way into the Opinion section, and did link to my server, but without my name or blog mentioned? Okay! They linked only to my large photo. They loved my copyrighted photo and bandwidth, but not me, apparently. Took several phone calls to get that corrected – sort of.)

So I had to Google the Prevention of Farm Cruelty Act to find it. This is fantastic. Vote YES on Prop 2. The Humane Society, which is sponsoring this legislation, also has an excellent page on the opposition‘s points.

Photo credit: Farm Sanctuary. Pregnant sows can’t move.

At least I know now where the Humane Society stands, and what the pros and “cons” are. I have no idea what the writer in the Opinion page is trying to say, or even which way she rolls.

Los Angeles Times, this time I’m putting my foot down. Bring back the copy editors, stat.

No related posts.

The LA Times feels sorry for the Avenues gang.

Donna Barstow — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:28:38 +0000

One of my more popular posts is my April post on how the Times covered the Avenues gang: The LA Times has a secret crush on the Avenues gang!

A lot of looky-loos have been stopping by today, too, of course, because the Avenues and Drew Street gangs are on the front page again, and this time they’re not such heroes. The LAPD cracked down and arrested 28 of those poor guys. Here’s the Times this time:

Heavily armed police and federal agents stormed into a Glassell Park neighborhood Wednesday morning to wrest control away from a street gang — and loyalists with deep family ties to its members — that has in effect turned the sequestered swath of run-down apartments into rogue territory.

That’s a pretty good start. However, note the bolded description. When you read about a neighborhood painted as loyalists with deep family ties to its members, doesn’t that sound attractive? Perhaps a suburban enclave of LA, or one of those beach towns, with all those diehard volleyball players. Good people, in other words. And so these gangs are, in their hearts.

Photo of Latino Taming of the Shrew, by Bob Chamberlin, LA Times.

Last time, the Times writers defined the gang as resilient, powerful, and defiant: survivors, with loving neighbors. They’re definitely not as positive this time; I’m afraid they’ve gotten bitter, and that’s a sad thing to see in a journalist. The quotes they included from the Avenue homeboys and girls were understandable, but so darn negative: they described the police as “gestapo,” and they were frustrated by the show of force by the police and FBI, and doubted those pig bullies could change anything. Nobody on the street was happy the cops were cleaning house, and why would they be? Nosey parkers, those Feds.

Too, I notice a slightly different slant online as compared to in the paper, and this is because of the always powerful and terribly underrated photographs. The front page in the paper has a detective apraising photos of gang members. He looks a little mean to me. Inside, there is a photo of Patricia Gomez scolding police officers because her children were frightened by the early morning raid. Aah, that poor woman. She comes here from who knows where, just wants to be left alone with her druggy gang killer friends, and the police wake her up early. I hate that.

And the photo of the children, ah, the children. I don’t know how much English they understood, and they look confused – maybe bored, I don’t know – but it’s always touching to see children, even living in one of the scariest, dirtiest neighborhoods you’d never want your child to go in, isn’t it?

Online, there are additional photos of the police doing their jobs, and enforcing order. It looks to be more balanced! There are over 400 comments, and not everyone is sensitive enough to put themselves in the shoes of the gang-bangers. Sigh. I guess the LAPD and the rather sexy FBI has to clean up messes once in a while, but I hate to see a close gang like that lose touch with each other. Fist bump.

Or were you looking for one of these?

To catch a thief.

Donna Barstow — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:49:07 +0000

On April 16th my neighbor had her catalytic converter stolen out of her SUV. (I had heard the loud roar when it started up, and this told me why.) I told another friend who has 2 SUVs (and it’s just her and her husband. Don’t ask.), and she said she had read in a Long Beach paper that it’s because of platinum inside the converter.

My neighbor didn’t know what to do. She has one car parked inside our complex, but has to park the SUV on the street. If she got a new cc, then that one, too, would be stolen. She compared prices, and decided the one that is bolted in cost too much, so she would just have her boyfriend put in the cheaper one, but only when she needed to drive the car. This seems like an extremely temporary solution to me, but people who drive SUVS may not have the brightest bulbs in their dash…

Be a crime-solver! Do you know what kind of car this is?

The LA Times was on top of this latest popular crime back in January.

The prize is a catalytic converter, a device used to reduce emissions. Platinum is more valuable than gold, and the contents of a typical converter are worth $40 to $50 to scrap-metal dealers.

I’ve always wanted platinum jewelry, but now I’m not so sure. I guess I should ask for vintage platinum jewelry, just to make sure that it doesn’t come from the lowest of the low, thieves, who would rather steal, and strand motorists (which is everyone in LA), rather than get a [blank] job.

I love how laist points out that the Times then gives explicit instructions on how to do it:

Some thieves use saws, but the preferred weapon in Southern California is a ratchet with a 14-millimeter socket. The thief crawls under the car and unfastens the bolts holding the converter, a process that accomplished crooks can complete in 90 seconds.

That is as unethical as printing instructions on how to make a bomb. Also, overly dramatic. Way to make criminals sound proficient and professional, Times. And my neighbor said when her boyfriend tried to do put the temporary converter in, it took like 15 minutes. The article continues:

“We’ve had them all over the place; we’ve had them in broad daylight in a Vons parking lot,” said Det. Jason Knickerbocker of the Manhattan Beach Police Department. “Most of them are at night. A lot of times, we never find the victim.”

I have no idea what this detective is trying to say. Victims are more important than perpetrators in Manhattan Beach, I guess.

I’m always on high alert anyway!, but after my neighbor put up a notice about this theft, that next week was our first big heat wave of the season. I had my windows wide open one night, and I was almost asleep when I heard this ratchety wrench type sound in the street. Like someone was fixing a tire or something. It was about 4 AM, however. I froze for a couple of minutes and then leaped out of bed, suddenly remembering that not everyone does the right thing in the early morning, like fixing coffee, getting ready for the car pool and generally contributing to the world.

No street lamp, and I could barely see a car double-parked on our almost empty street, with the lights on, next to an SUV. The sounds continued.

I thought about calling the police, but THERE’S a 10 minute wait on hold. I thought about running out there in my jammies. Maybe not. I thought about calling out, but not sure if they could hear me, and didn’t want my neighbors to complain. So I ran to get my lovely digital camera, and then started force-firing the flash over and over. I knew it wouldn’t be able to focus at that distance in pitch black, but my flash might do the trick.

After a couple flash pops, the ratchet sounds stopped and in a minute the car roared away!

Even better, I was using the camera as a flash beacon, but I guess my little guy was able to faintly focus in one of the snaps! You can see the last 2 numbers are clearly 29, and I think the one before that is also a 9. But can any of you identify the kind of car it is from the backlight?

I emailed our small Neighborhood Watch list (email me if you want to be on it!) and our LAPD community liaison, Officer Gina Chovan. I sent her details and this photo. When two stripped cars were dumped on our street last fall, and my windshield was bashed for no reason at all, she had told me that there are only 6 officers on duty at any one time for the entire Northeast area. (There now, don’t you feel safer?) But what about the detectives there? No one ever got back to me!

So here I am, trying to solve the crime for them. I need help; it’s obvious I am co-dependent with the City of Los Angeles.

Or were you looking for one of these?

Maybe the Los Angeles Times just doesn’t like Mexicans.

Griffith Park Blog » The Land the Times Forgot

The LA Times has been Wiki-Leaked!

Related:

Alligators in the sewers of the LA Times.

Maybe the Los Angeles Times just doesn’t like Mexicans.

Massive police raid targets brutal L.A. gang

You mean I have to get political, and write about cruel farmers?

Plastic, plastic, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.

Translator needed for LA Times Opinion piece on chickens.

The LA Times feels sorry for the Avenues gang.

To catch a thief.