Hometown Marine Needs Help

Last week, a Mission Viejo resident sent an email (which was forwarded to this blog) to ask the help of community members. She is a longtime supporter of our Marines, and her request is with regard to a 20-year-old Mission Viejo Marine, Lance Corporal Alex Minsky. From the email:

Alex attended Carl Hankey, Newhart and Capo High School. He graduated from Capo in 2007 and then joined the Marines. Sadly, two weeks after arriving in Afghanistan, his HumVee was hit by an IED, and Alex suffered a traumatic brain injury and leg amputation. Alex is our Marine, and we as a community of Mission Viejo residents, as CUSD families or as just parents need to support Alex and his family as he faces a long and difficult recovery.

I felt so drawn to this boy I called his aunt, Michelle, to see if he needs help. Michelle told me that Alex's mom, Jackie, has given up her job to be with her son, and there are two younger children attending our schools, one at Hankey and one at CVHS. Alex's story can be found at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/alexminsky/mystory

If you would like to join me in showing Alex we support and care about him, please consider making a donation. If you would like to send a check (payable to Jackie Minsky) or gift card donation, you can send it to me at 27430 Morro Drive, Mission Viejo, CA  92692.

I will gather up all donations and get them to the family with a note of prayer and support for Alex. I will let you know as other opportunities to help arise.

Sharon Campbell
Mission Viejo

2nd Annual Jewish Musical Concert
Press Release

Mission Viejo, CA, July 9, 2009 - Chabad Center of Mission Viejo is presenting its 2nd Annual Jewish Musical Concert on Sunday, August 2nd, 2009 at 5:30 PM at the Mission Viejo Civic Center, (Marguerite and Civic Center Drive) located at the beautiful Kershaw Gardens in Mission Viejo between City Hall and the Library.

The concert will be performed by three bands namely: 8th Day, the South Coast Simcha Band ( Klezmer), and the Rosey Fusion Jazz Band.

We call the concert: “SOUNDS OF THE SOUL”

Enjoy two wonderful hours of entertainment and fun with the community.

The admission prices are $18.00 for adults and $15.00 for seniors if paid in advance by July 25th, or $25.00 paid at the door. Children are free if accompanied by an adult. For ticket information, call 949-770-1270.

Food and Beverages will be available for sale. You have your choices of hot dogs, popcorn, sno-cones, cotton candy, soda and water.

This is a fundraiser benefitting Chabad. Chabad’s mission is to reach out to others with acts of goodness and kindness. We are a community-based non profit organization whose efforts are rooted in traditional Jewish values and many of our programs help the needy regardless of background or belief. Chabad runs the largest international network of nonsectarian educational and social services under Jewish auspices. Thanks to our generous supporters, we have been able to educate, comfort, and give hope to countless people in their time of need.

City Manager Harasses Recall Volunteers
Press Release

Mission Viejo, CA, July 9, 2009 – On Wed., July 8, two recall workers said City Manager Dennis Wilberg harassed them in front of the city library. The incident occurred when two female volunteers were asking Mission Viejo residents to sign the petition to recall Councilman Lance MacLean.

Wilberg is among a handful of people including MacLean who have either harassed volunteers or made threats of violence against those gathering signatures. Wilberg first interfered with the recall on March 27 when he allegedly harassed a signature gatherer in front of a grocery store. Wilberg is not a Mission Viejo resident, and city employees are legally prohibited from becoming involved in a recall or other city election.

On July 8, Wilberg walked near the volunteers, who were standing in front of the library. According to the workers, he sat on a bench within a few feet of them. They said he was watching them while he held what appeared to be a BlackBerry phone. The city issued him a BlackBerry for use in official city business.

One of the recall workers said, “He was sitting so close to me that I was uncomfortable, and he was acting like a stalker. I thought he was recording my conversation with a resident, and that’s when I asked the other volunteer if we should call the police.”

The other recall worker responded, “I walked behind him to see if he was recording or texting. When I came face-to-face with him, I recognized him as Dennis Wilberg, the city manager. I confronted him by saying, ‘You have reached a new low, Dennis.’ He said, ‘I’m just sitting here.’”

The recall worker continued, “Wilberg wasn’t just sitting there, he was harassing us and trying to intimidate us. After I picked up my phone and made a quick call, I told him, ‘I just called Larry Gilbert to come down here with his video camera.’ Wilberg immediately got up and left with another person. For him to act like he’s recording what we’re saying is ludicrous. We have a flyer we give to people we talk with, and the charges against MacLean were published in a newspaper. It’s not a secret.”

The volunteers particularly noticed Wilberg’s rapid departure when he thought he would be photographed. They said they had already videoed Wilberg when they were discussing whether or not to call the police.

MacLean and his supporters have used bullying and intimidation to interfere with signature gathering. Threats made by MacLean supporters have been reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Recall proponents say they will make a public records request to capture Wilberg’s use of his city-owned BlackBerry to determine if he was using it for illegal purposes such as involving himself in the recall.

Recall spokesman Dale Tyler said, “This is the second time the city manager has apparently used his office to interfere with the recall. With the new evidence of a video and the use of city property, his involvement is undeniable. Surely the city manager knows what happened to Supt. James Fleming when he interfered with a recall in CUSD. I don’t understand what he thought he was doing by sitting there, other than to attempt to intimidate the volunteers gathering signatures."

Tyler announced that the signature drive is nearing completion with 47 days remaining to finish the job. Approximately 9,300 valid signatures are needed by the Aug. 25 deadline.

Recall Update

Last week, the city library became the epicenter of the signature drive to recall Councilman Lance MacLean. On Wed., July 8, City Manager Dennis Wilberg marched out to the front lines, where he was immediately tripped up by volunteers gathering signatures near the library.

Some city officials, including the city manager, have interfered with the recall. Throughout the day on Wednesday, two activists gathered signatures in clear view of city hall. The activists said they got nearly 100 signatures, and they were buoyed by the positive response from residents. Perhaps city administrators couldn’t resist gawking at the activity from across the driveway in their taxpayer-funded fortress. A problem arose when they didn’t keep their distance. The activists said an unidentified man lurked around them for several hours, and they have reason to believe he’s a city employee.

A second man exhibiting strange behavior appeared, walked between the two activists and sat on a bench a few feet from them. As the man on the bench gazed at one of the activists, she sensed he was recording her words. The other activist came up behind him and watched him using a BlackBerry phone. She later said he was either talking or pretending to talk on the phone when he first sat down. She said he began texting or recording as he listened to them conversing with residents about the recall.

One of activists recognized the man with the phone as Wilberg. She confronted him and used her cell phone to summon other recall proponents to the library. When she informed Wilberg that he would soon be videotaped, he got up from the bench. In fact, the other activist had already used her cell phone to video Wilberg holding his BlackBerry and conferring with his associate who had stalked them throughout the day.

The recall committee issued a press release on May 9 (published on this week’s blog) and requested public records to capture all data from Wilberg’s city-owned BlackBerry. Participation by a city employee in the recall is prohibited by law, and the use of public resources in such activity is also illegal. Ex-Supt. James Fleming was indicted for felonies after he engaged in similar activities in a recall attempt of Capo school district trustees. Fleming is currently awaiting trial.

Activists continued to get signatures in front of the library on Friday, and they said two people opposing the recall set up a table near the library entrance, ostensibly to register voters. The recall volunteers said the table had a sign about voter registration, but those working at the table continually made cat calls to residents signing the recall petition. According to the activists, those doing the harassing didn’t succeed at stopping residents from signing the petition, and they appeared to be deficient at registering voters as well.

The Buzz

A particularly contentious point of the recall of Councilman Lance MacLean is the tug-of-war between Mission Viejo residents and the council majority over rezoning of the Casta del Sol Golf Course. The owner of the course, American Golf, has been trying to sell the property for years. In 2007, Sunrise Assisted Living made an offer and planned to build a 350-unit housing project on the golf course. After meeting privately with each of the five city council members, Sunrise proceeded to stake the property for housing. The act of staking indicated to anyone paying attention that Sunrise had found three supportive votes for its housing project. However, Sunrise’s financial problems became public knowledge in November 2008, and it stopped pursuing the project.

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While council majority members MacLean, Ury and Kelly (MUK) claimed they had “saved” the golf course with a moratorium on rezoning, they saved nothing. Sunrise tanked on its own, and the project evaporated. The failing economy has virtually stopped housing development, but another housing developer could buy the golf course at any time. Is City Hall attempting to cover Councilman Lance MacLean’s “assets”? City Manager Dennis Wilberg has tried to convince the public that the golf course is not for sale. Anyone who plays the course notices its state of decline – the owner has obviously lost interest in and commitment to maintaining the property. It doesn’t take inside information to realize that no reasonable offer would be refused by American Golf.

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Library patrons are primarily from other cities, and Mission Viejo taxpayers are funding a regional library. It’s not just speculation, as the city publishes data showing that more than half of the library cardholders don’t live in Mission Viejo. Another city facility that is widely used by outsiders is the community center, which was expanded with extravagant features to the tune of $15 million, three times over budget. Some residents who frequent the community center say it is a regional center with a high number of users from out of town.

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Email from a Buzz reader: “Before the expansion of the community center, the city’s staff members claimed that the center didn’t have enough separate spaces to meet demands. I always believed it was a scheduling problem, not a space issue, and the city overreacted by building a king-size facility. Before and after the expansion, the center has been nearly empty throughout afternoons, and this is the case every day of the week. As an aside, I have yet to see anyone sitting on the expensive outdoor furniture. Those in charge don’t want residents to use the facility, and they have quite an attitude toward us.”

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City Hall continues to err in referring to its pillars on Crown Valley Porkway as “pilasters.” Pillars are freestanding, whereas pilasters are attached to buildings. An easy way to remember what to call the CVP structures is that “pillars” rhyme with killers, and that’s what road hazards are – killers. It’s a matter of time before a vehicle slams into the immovable objects the city staff deliberately placed along the roadway – killer palm trees and killer pillars.