Letters to the Editor

Zimmerman in reverse

To the Editor:

The rush to judgment regarding the case of Santa Paula Police Chief, Steve MacKinnon, is very much like the George Zimmerman case in reverse, in that the media and others rush to place blame on our current City Council and City Manager before the facts are known: Zimmerman in reverse. I like the Chief personally, and he does a lot of good social work for the city, but that has nothing to do with the performance of his job duties or whatever other issues may be troubling the City Manager and/or the Council. We just do not have the facts yet. We cannot jump to any meaningful conclusion without the facts. 

Among those rushing to judgment to feather their own nest by throwing stones at our current City Manager and Council is our former Mayor, Maryann Krause, who, in my opinion, came very close to completely ruining our small city through bad decisions, a wrong-headed social welfare philosophy (“economic justice”) and by pushing through policies and actions that were taking our city down the primrose path of insolvency. Could Krause’s surfacing at this time be a trial balloon for her running for Council again? Is that what the letters and ads are really about? 

Imagine for a minute having Centex’s Fagan Canyon project, promoted by Krause, being a big hole up in the canyon, and a bigger hole in Santa Paula’s budget!; “affordable housing” being built all over the City at a time when just about everything is “affordable” at today’s depressed prices. I could make a long list of her wacky goofy proposals, but going further would take more space and time than I have right now. Our current governance is still working to resolve these past problems, many of which were created on her watch. Are our memories that short? 

The present Council is doing an excellent job and should be thanked for doing it, not attacked by those who have a bag full of sour grapes. Why don’t we let the investigation unfold, and then we can judge based upon the facts, not emotion? As I understand it, the MacKinnon support group is intent on knowing the charges right now. Obviously, our current City Government is not presently at liberty to give out information based upon an on-going investigation, but MacKinnon can clarify the matter, if he wants to, but he has no obligation until the facts come out independently. If knowing more is what Krause and her group want, then direct your question to the Chief and let the City proceed in a professional manner. 

Larry Sagely

Santa Paula

RE: Steve MacKinnon

To the Editor:

Steve Mackinnon, Chief of Police, a respected and admired member of the Santa Paula community has been treated in a thoughtless and unexplained manner by the City Council and the City Manager.

Are we to believe that a simple contract dispute can lead to actions by the City that have damaged the professional reputation of this fine man. We have been told that the confidential nature of the matter precludes release of information that could help the public understand the issues. If this were the case, how did detailed information about the Chief’s suspension find its way to the press? 

A reasonable person would expect that suspension would be justified if a criminal act was suspected. If criminal acts were involved would not the City be compelled to turn to the Ventura County District Attorney for an investigation? If the District Attorney elected not to investigate, would not the matter be referred to the California Attorney General? If this were not a criminal act under investigation, why would the City resort to suspension? What possible justification could there be for suspending the Chief without pay while a contract dispute is resolved. Hiring a private investigator to investigate the Chief seems an unusual step to take. This paid suspension leaves the City without the important services of its lead law enforcement officer at a time when the Police Department is already short staffed. As an uninformed concerned citizen, I’m compelled to suspect that there are issues of a personal nature driving this so called investigation.

Statements made to the press by members of the City Council would have us believe that the Council was not informed about the investigation or the suspension. Was this an action taken by City Manager Fontes without the knowledge and approval of the City Council?

Councilman Cook is reported by the Santa Paula Times to have said “the Council has not discussed Mackinnon as a group or with Fontes”. Could this mean that Council members may have discussed the issue one-on-one with Fontes or among themselves individually outside the legally scheduled and published Council Agenda?  

There certainly has been time to complete the investigation. Prompt acceptance of the results of the investigation and a decision on either lifting the suspension and exonerating the Chief or terminating his employment for cause is the only way to bring this unfortunate chapter in the City’s history to a close.  

Terminating the Chief’s employment without just cause will certainly open the City to a wrongful termination lawsuit. At least such a suit would provide the opportunity to fully explore, in public, the reasons and motivations for the City Administration’s actions.

David Hanson

Santa Paula

Looking at the situation

To the Editor:

Looking at the current situation with our police chief I have to say ‘enough is enough.’ At this time we have an interim city engineer presumably with an interim assistant. We have an interim recreational director whose previous position is probably occupied by an interim person. Our fire chief also handles building and safety so perhaps an interim position. Perhaps on my next gig I should announce that I am just the interim guitar player because the top guy couldn’t make it.

At times, in the past, I have found the politics of our lovely small town to be borderline hilarious. Obviously by writing this letter I am feeling a sense of light relief, which may be shared by others (or maybe not). To be a little more serious, this is no laughing matter. I am sure that the outpouring of support from the community (including myself) for Chief MacKinnon will be simply overwhelming.

This growing firestorm needs to be extinguished immediately. Personality clashes (if there are any) need to be put aside and left there. The matter needs to be examined and addressed in a dignified and professional manner and then we should move on. The chief doesn’t deserve this and neither do the people of Santa Paula.

Barry Cooper

Santa Paula

Re: Former Mayor Krause’s S.P. Times article on Chief Steve MacKinnon

To the Editor:

Calm down liberal/progressive folks and put down the pitchforks; let the administrative process run its course and see the results of the investigation before you get your underwear in knots. The S.P. police chief had made plans of departing our lovely city of Santa Paula, regardless of the outcome, his departure is inevitable. Krause mentions Wally Bobkiewicz in her article but then again he’s long gone after corroborating with Krause and implementing her social values into his city management. Former S.P. Mayor and Councilmember actually had the gall of rallying a small group of people to influence public opinion and hopefully sway the MacKinnon outcome, whether innocent or guilty. Where was this mayor’s conscience when the greater part of Santa Paula was against the development of Fagan Canyon? It seems that some diehard “do-gooders” can’t rest during their retirement! To their credit the present city manager and city council have followed good fiscal sense and judgment but the records show that during Mary Ann Krause’s tenure, this city was in the red and thanks to her and her cronies that perpetuate income distribution programs in the name of “social justice”. These liberal/progressive folks will not stop their agenda until they have driven our cities, counties, state and country into bankruptcy!

Andrew Castenada

Santa Paula

Why did you do that?

To the Editor:

I can’t believe that something like this would happen to a good person. Well it did, and it happened to Police Chief Steve MacKinnon, putting the chief on administrative paid leave for whatever reason.

I don’t know why, but I do know one thing about this - the City of Santa Paula told the City Council to keep it hush-hush about this whole darn mess, so that way the community citizens and the residents of Santa Paula wouldn’t know anything about it. Well, to me in my mind that is a bunch of hogwash about putting a very good person, or in this case the police chief, on paid administrative leave.

Come on, what did Chief MacKinnon do to deserve this? I don’t think he did anything wrong to deserve this. 

I mean, look at this, he made sure that crime was down here in the City and that the crime rate would drop, stay down, and diminish significantly and that it would continue that down trend, just like the last two chiefs that we had before Chief MacKinnon that are now retired - and they are former Police Chiefs Walt Adair and now Councilman and Mayor Bob Gonzales. They made sure that crime was down and the crime rate was also down, too, and they were not put on administrative paid leave and Chief MacKinnon was.

Again, come on - look at what he is doing, too. He is very active with our community in a number of things, like the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Paula - now that is where he devotes a lot of his time to - and this is the thanks he gets for doing what he did.

I don’t think so. Hey listen City of Santa Paula, as well as the City Council, you only put someone on administrative paid leave only if they are working law enforcement and if they did something wrong that will spark off an internal affairs investigation. You don’t put them on administrative paid leave if they did good by doing something good in, out and for the community; and Steve has done a lot of good and is continuing to do a lot of good in and for our community. And Steve didn’t do anything wrong to deserve this, and I think that there is a mongoose rumor going around smearing this kind of gossip.

And in finish, I think that the community citizens people and the residents of Santa Paula should go to Monday’s City Council meeting to show their displeasure over this situation, demand some answers, and to help Steve get back on the job, because I think Steve deserves to get back on the job and not be treated unfairly this way for what he has done in our community and for the city.

And just to let you know, I’m showing my support for Steve and the Police Department on how I feel and felt all about this, and to help Steve get back on the job so he can continue to do more good for the city and our community for years and years to come.

John Bravo