By Flo Samuels, Hayward

Can't hold Smith accountable � heck, then you would have to hold all our public servants accountable. (-?-) Where would that lead ya? Guess that may be a way to cut some of the high dollar employees off the public dole as well as the pension benefits those employees would have gathered for the rest of their life. But, what fun would that be?

Posted by Really? | reply to this comment
July 24, 2008 3:03 pm

Nancy Graham should have been fired WAY sooner than Smith was-so race does get played-but it is no excuse-unless you're Nancy Graham-who just felt the heat and finally resigned.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
July 24, 2008 6:12 pm

Regarding Smith and Graham: Who vets them? Who hires them? Who take responsibility when they get caught?

Posted by Sub Ubi | reply to this comment
July 24, 2008 9:07 pm

It seems to be the order of the day in San Diego "Ex parte Garland" everyone gets off free and none will ever be held responsible or accountable(but for the poor and powerless.) Where are Dick and Lamont? Our law enforcement personnel shoot Mother and child (both unarmed) -nothing happens, seems the public does not care so why should our so-called leaders? It appears to be both pervasive and systemic (whatever that means); guess if we were to put a 'positive spin' on all this, we could say it is all not that bad because the regular citizens in other cities have it worse. Perhaps that should be the new slogan for San Diego – not as bad as at least a few other cities in the Southwest.

Posted by Gregory | reply to this comment
July 25, 2008 8:19 am

And I wouldn't mind having that severance check! What San Diego official allowed that to be written into her contract?

Posted by Ed | reply to this comment
July 25, 2008 10:09 am

The mother of the child was not all that innocent...there's a lot to that case which shows inappropriate behavior on both sides. Dick and Lamont have gone off into the sunset with their pals Bruce and Jack, never to be touched by the law or conscience.

Posted by Leanne1 | reply to this comment
July 25, 2008 12:36 pm

One was a professional law enforcement person and did not call for back-up, one was a trained professional with a gun who used deadly force, And please, do tell exactly how “the mother is not all that innocent.” I wonder what would have happened if it were a private citizen (who happened to have been a man of color) who shot a wealthy white woman and her child. In addition, what if that private citizen had shot the wife and child of a member of the SDPD. And then the man of color said something like ‘Oh they were trying to endanger me with their car so I shot them while still sitting inside of my car…’ Or, have I got the story wrong? Wow, exactly how many unarmed people have to be shot and/or killed by the people who are being PAID to protect us? A child!

Posted by Da | reply to this comment
July 25, 2008 3:33 pm

Remember that man who grabbed a police dog and took it over the side with him over the Coronado Bay Bridge? Was he not charged with killing a police officer? Now just a while ago an officer killed his partner, kill a police dog in his care – nothing happened, right? So, exactly why is a private citizen held to a higher standard of responsibility than is a paid professional of the Law?

Posted by I remember…. | reply to this comment
July 25, 2008 3:49 pm

That was truly horrible. The officer apparently abandoned (exactly what the officer was doing it still unknown to the public) his poor K-9 police officer/partner lock/left in their patrol car. The K-9 officer, at the end of his tortures isolation in an every hotter patrol car, was trying desperately to escape the increases heat. Barking franticly, heart racing, pawing and biting at the windows and doors…, how could his partner have done this to him? I would think that the death received from a sudden impact off a bridge is much more human a way to 'go' than from the lengthy torture of being locked/left inside your patrol car by your own partner on a hot day in SoCal.

Posted by Gregory | reply to this comment
July 26, 2008 7:02 am

Dont mention that K-9 ever again-it gets me sick to my stomach. That loser cop should be fired and charged criminally. But there is now, alwways has been in the past and always will be in the future a double standard.

Posted by Billy Bob Henry | reply to this comment
July 26, 2008 10:24 pm

Here is something I think is kind-of so sad it is funny. At the CNC meeting being held tonight, they keep talking about diversity – yet at the meeting some 90% of the people seem to be all of a single group. Much like SEDCs Board.... Moreover, here is something even more funny yet –it is not the single largest group of people (ethnically) in City Council District 4. Diversity means a far representation and includion of all peoples – not just one and not just the ones holding the majority of the power.

Posted by Gregory | reply to this comment
July 28, 2008 7:25 pm

Tell that to the Latinos – one of whom was told at a SEDC meeting ‘that’s what wrong with this neighborhood […] you people are browning it up’ or had a city councilperson come down off his stand in council chambers and tell him ‘you better not say anything about my district.’ Race is very relevant in every aspect of District 4; or has no one noticed the absents or gross under representation of a few segments of the District at many community meetings and on the SEDC board/PAC/Senior Staff?

Posted by Race Irrelevant? | reply to this comment
July 31, 2008 7:59 pm

How odd - it seems that the Black people who supported SEDC only wanted to talk about racism when they claimed 'it,' is being used against them. The second the condition of the Latino in SEDC's, Sphere of Influence, in City Council District 4, or even in all of San Diego is inserted into the dialogue - no one wants to talk about 'it' any longer and all the talk about racism goes silent. I guess some groups only support Civil Right, Equality, Equal Access, and Reflective Levels of Representation when such support only betters the conditions for one small group of ethnically identifiable citizens in San Diego.

Posted by Gregory | reply to this comment
August 1, 2008 10:08 am

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