Santa Maria Police Officer Shot

Here's today's lesson boys and girls: When the cops come for you, if you resist arrest, or pull a gun, you will be shot dead, even if you're a cop.
29 year old Albert Covarrubias Jr. was an officer with the Santa Maria Police Department who was the subject of an internal criminal investigation surrounding allegations of sexual misconduct with a 17-year-old girl.

Allegations are not convictions. This is quite scary. If they'll shoot a colleague, where does that leave the rest of us if we become suspects?
Officer Covarrubias was near the end of his shift at a DUI checkpoint when supervisors arrived after 1 a.m. to detain him. There was a struggle, the suspect officer drew his weapon and fired his gun; a fellow officer then shot the suspect in the chest. A four-year veteran of the department, Covarrubias was pronounced dead at Marian Medical Center after undergoing emergency surgery.
At a press conference Police Chief Danny Macagni said developments forced police to take immediate action. According to Macagni, Officer Covarrubias knew that he was under investigation, that witnesses were being intimidated, and that the public would be at risk if authorities did not take him into custody before he left his shift.

What they felt he'd go on a murderous rampage?
Macagni said, "He chose to resist. He drew his weapon. A fight ensued. He fired his weapon. And one of my officers that was there also discharged his weapon and the officer was fatally wounded."
Regarding this evidence that they had Macagni added, "Information unfolded during the time that the officer was on duty and unfolded very rapidly. It was very explicit, very specific, that indicated that the officer was involved in not only an inappropriate sexual relationship, but a very explicit one and it demanded immediate action." He declined to reveal further details about the alleged crimes.
I sincerely hope that the evidence he's referring to includes that he chain-sawed his family, the neighbors and people walking their dogs by his house, because shooting him makes no sense otherwise.
Why didn't anyone think of using a Taser? Surely the officers at the SMPD have them?
Macagni also said, "The information that we had in hand demanded that we not let him leave that scene, get in a car, drive somewhere. It would put the public at risk if he did. We just did not know what was going to happen. And we did not expect him to react the way he did."
Really? Aren't officers trained to anticipate any and all reactions. They're supposed to be able to "cool down" a situation, that's why they get to wear guns.
The police department declined to name him, but the family of Officer Cavarrubias spoke out about their loss.
His father, Albert Covarrubias Sr said, "It's going to be a great loss to me because I love all my children with all my heart and a piece of my heart has been ripped out of me now. They said they had all this information to arrest him. Why on the streets? Why there? Was it to ridicule him? My son was a beautiful person. My son was respected to everybody. My son was a hardworker."
He is demanding answers leading up to his son's death.
I'd like to know as well. I'd also like to know why a Taser wasn't used. Since he can no longer speak, they will never know the entire story. Ever.

Is our All-American City now Gangland Central?

Back in 1998 Santa Maria was awarded the All-American City designation. This award is given to communities whose citizens "work together to identify and tackle community-wide challenges and achieve uncommon results."

Interesting terminolgy for something that's nothing more than a marketing tool. Nonetheless, then-Mayor Abel Maldonado pushed for the designation, since he more than likely viewed it as a feather in his cap while on his way to bigger and better things for himself.

That's right, soon after, he got himself elected the the California State Assembly for this district. After watching him and seeing him speak, I'm still amazed he got any votes. Oh well.

Moving on, it's important to mention that a mere eight years prior to this award, mail carrier-cum-mayor George Hobbs announced that Santa Maria had a "Mexican problem." His claim was that "immigrants were destroying Santa Maria's neighborhoods by crowding into rental houses, drinking beer outdoors and urinating in yards." Additionally, "they kept junk cars all over the place and were draining the state's social and medical programs." Despite this racist rant, Hobbs was re-elected mayor in 1992. I guess people have short memories.

Not surprisingly, it turned out that the bigger "Mexican problem" in town was that this faction was unable to come together to mount a concerted effort to oust him as mayor. Meetings were held, opinions were aired, pontificating occurred along with the requisite number of Letters to the Editor. Unfortunately, because everything got bogged down due to disagreements over who the leader was going to be, nothing productive happened.

So, here we are in 2011, and while the city might still have the All-American designation, We've got another big problem. We're living with big city style gangland killings. On December 8th, 24 year old gang member Samyr Ceballos was shot to death by the police who were there to arrest him. Perhaps if he hadn't pulled a gun, he'd have only lost one Christmas instead of losing his life. Then on December 9th, another gang member, 32 year old Alberto Diaz Jr. was stabbed to death. Last August, Maria DeJesus Martinez was shot to death by her gang-affiliated soon to be ex-husband.

Considering that violent crimes in Santa Maria have almost doubled since 1999, the question is, "Why"?

What city-wide programs, beginning in grade schools, has been pushed? What has been put in place to help the obviously overworked and overwhelmed parents? It's painfully obvious that education is the key here, preferably to both parent and child. 

What has been done by the city council and other "movers and shakers" to combat this problem? When I say "movers and shakers" I mean someone other than me. I have a big mouth, but that's all I have. Perhaps someone more important could get the ball rolling. 

Despite the naysayers, it just might be true that "it takes a village to raise a child." Sometimes the parents just aren't up to the task. Lack of parenting skills can oftentimes create criminals, other times it creates non-productive members of society. Surely I'm not alone in this belief.

I know this first hand. I have an aunt who was such poor mother material that her children got the short shrift, and as a result, her grandchildren got the shaft. How could her children be effective parents when they didn't learn anything from her? Think about it.

We must all come to terms with the fact that something terrible is happening to our youth when they feel that their only option is joining a gang. Somewhere along the line they lose their way, their hope, their self-esteem. Something must be done, otherwise those neglected and abused children could one day grow up to prey on the very people who ignored their plight in their formative years.

Politics or oversight?

On November 16th, I wrote the following letter to the editor at the Santa Maria Times:

On October 26th, the Santa Maria Times dutifully reported on the "El Día de los Muertos " display sponsored by the Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department, that took place at the Veteran's  Memorial Community Center.
A few days later, another story appeared in the Times, this time it was about the event at Dana Adobe.
It's wonderful to know that the Times writes about this celebration of life that dates back hundreds of years. Anything that makes people aware of cultural differences is a good thing. Learning about other cultures enriches all of our lives.
Having said that, I'd like to know why the Times did not send anyone over to the Town Center Mall to cover the "El Día de Los Muertos" display that has been sponsored by the Mexican-American Scholarship Cultural and Recreation Association (MASCARA) for 17 years.

MASCARA's event had been consistently reported by Times, up to and including last year, so I'm at a loss as to why they didn't merit a mention this year. This event began in Santa Maria as a one day event, when Gina Rodriguez set up a display in her backyard. From there it has grown enough to require the larger venue at the mall.
I'd like to think that not seeing a story in the Times about Gina's event was merely an oversight. However, I do understand that politics seems to enter every aspect of our lives these days and this must be factored into account whether we agree or not, but if this was the case regarding which event to cover in detail, it was, in my humble opinion, the wrong one.

Well, they didn't see fit to publish my letter. I'm okay with that since they're so full of typos, my letter's intent could have been badly misrepresented, rather like what Larry King would constantly do with the questions that the callers to his show would ask. Consequently I'm posting it here, since I feel it was a good letter that raised a good point.

Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a pattern of behavior in a relationship used by ignorant jackasses to gain power and control over a partner. These jackasses usually have nothing substantial to offer to another human being. Abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional, verbal, economic. It can be in the form of threats or other psychological actions to frighten, intimidate, terrorize, manipulate, hurt, humiliate, blame or injure. This occurs within all races, ages, genders, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic groups and education levels and at all levels of a relationship.

Emotionally and verbally abusive partners withhold affection, threaten to harm their partner/wife/girlfriend and/or the people and pets important to them; name-call, insult, humiliate, excessively criticize; are possessive, jealous, distrustful, isolate, spy/monitor, exert financial control and force submissiveness such as obedience and obtaining permission.

Physically abusive partners damage property. This can include throwing things, punching or kicking walls and doors; push, slap, bite, kick, choke; will abandon their partner/wife/girlfriend in an unsafe or strange environment; drive recklessly, threaten with a weapon, hold them against their will, prevent them from contacting the police or other emergency services, harm their children or pets and forced sexual activity.

Sexually abusive partners objectify women, enforce strict gender roles, is obsessively jealous, frequently to the point of paranoia, refers to or defines their partner/wife/girlfriend by using sexual language; through manipulation, coercion, verbally demands or physically forces sexual acts.

Now for some sickening statistics to bring the above into sharp perspective:

On average more than three women a day are murdered by their husbands or boyfriends in the United States.

In 2005, 1,181 women were murdered by an intimate partner.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published data collected in 2005 that finds that women experience two million injuries from intimate partner violence each year.

Nearly one in four women in the United States reports experiencing violence by a current or former spouse or boyfriend at some point in her life.

Women are much more likely than men to be victimized by a current or former intimate partner.

Women are 84 percent of spouse abuse victims and 86 percent of victims of abuse at the hands of a boyfriend or partner and 75 percent of the persons who commit family violence are male.

Women were more likely than men to be victims; the rate for rape/sexual assault for persons age 12 or older in 2007 was 1.8 per 1,000 for females and 0.1 per 1,000 for males.

To bring all of this into even sharper perspective, here in Santa Maria, the 35 year old woman pictured above was murdered by her husband a week ago Friday. He shot her three times. He evidently didn't care that his children would be without their mother.

The jackass husband, Isaac Martinez, 32, is the father of the four youngest children, ranging in age from 4 to 14. Immediately after murdering her, the coward fled the scene. Luckily he was arrested the next day near Yuma, Arizona, when his vehicle was spotted matching a description provided by Santa Maria police.

Maria described the years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of this useless jerkweed. He's a piece of work. In the paperwork filed seeking the restraining order, Maria said she left him on May 27 and was no longer living with him and was planning to divorce him.

She wrote, “He is physically, emotionally and psychologically abusive all of our 15-year relationship. He would slap me, kick me, punch me and choke me unconscious. He has even pulled a rifle out on me in the few years we were together."

She went on to describe several incidences of abuse, including having her face slapped at work in 2002 while she was pregnant, and an altercation in 2006 when he hit her, cracking her nose and making it bleed.

A search of criminal court records in Santa Barbara County revealed that this jerk has been busy.

He has a history of criminal convictions and prison stints: including a false-imprisonment case in 2006, a felony DUI in 2004, fighting in public, robbery, burglary and resisting an officer in the 1990s, suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon in April of 2010, and he's a documented Santa Maria gang member.

Now, the son of a bitch is facing murder charges, using a gun to cause a death, making criminal threats and being a gang member in possession of a firearm.

He is currently being held without bail in Arizona awaiting extradition to California.

 I sincerely hope that other women in this situation will not ignore the signs of domestic violence. I also hope that they have a secure and dependable support system to shield them from the assholes they're running away from.

Our "Post Racial Society"

Let's take a moment and look at all of the reasons why all of this talk about a post-racial America by various blowhards is so absurd.

How can we claim to be living in post-racial America when nearly 40 percent of black children under the age of 5 live at or below the poverty line?

How can we claim to be living in post-racial America when the level of school segregation for Hispanics is at its highest in forty years and segregation of blacks is back to levels not seen since the late 1960s?

How can we claim to be living in post-racial America when the gaps in wealth, income, education and health care have widened over the last eight years?

In 2006, 20.3 percent of blacks were not covered by health insurance, 34.1 percent of Hispanics were not covered by health insurance, compared to only 10.8 percent of whites.

In 2007, the unemployment rate for blacks was twice as high as that for whites.

There are those who will continue to insist that the gap in wealth, income, health care and education is due to an inherent culture of victimization.

There are some who will continue to say, "If people of color only worked harder, they’d be fine."

Well, to put it bluntly, that's an idiotic assumption.

This economy has never provided enough jobs for everyone.

The manner in which education is funded gives a leg up to those who grow up in wealthy districts.

Health insurance is a necessity, more so to those without the means, since they rarely see a doctor.

Like it or not, admit it or not, institutional racism persists.

President Obama once said, “Our union can be perfected. What we’ve already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.”

His election and his words redeem some of the sacrifices of so many during the protests at lunch counters and on Southern roads. However, it does not fix nor will it make the racism and bigotry go away overnight.

You still think that we've achieved a post-racial society simply because we have a black president? Well then, consider one more thing, the vast disparities still remaining between the conditions of blacks and whites in America. According the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median black worker earns just over $600/week, about 80% of what the median white worker makes. Black men are incarcerated at 6.6 times the rate of white men, with almost one in twenty black men in prison. Unemployment rates are nearly twice as high for blacks as for whites in almost every demographic category. Almost half of all young black men without a high school education are out of work nationally.

So much more needs to change before we start spouting off about a "post-racial" society.