RSS Feeds
 |
Dana Parsons• E-mail
|
Recent Columns:
First, some history. In the late summer of 1951, 22-year-old Paul Siemasko was working the bar at the NCO club at Marine Corps headquarters outside Washington, D.C., when a young woman walked in. Her name was Charlotte Rose, from South Bend, Ind.
Bob Medina had wondered how he'd react if he were the guy facing disaster. If, all of a sudden, the danger wasn't abstract, if he wasn't reading about someone else in the paper or watching them on TV, but contemplating that this time he might be the victim.
The July 2002 arrests on rape charges of 17-year-old Greg Haidl and two friends landed with a sickening thud inside the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
Forget the alleged affair with his friend's law partner. Forget the alleged monthly visits to the Newport Beach home to pick up the envelope with the thousand bucks in cash inside. Forget the alleged routing of legal cases to a longtime friend so profits could be split among the inner circle.
The sentences came out clipped. If one or two words could answer a question, that's what the courtroom got. More than once during his first couple days on the witness stand, he had to be reminded to speak into the microphone, because many of his words seemed to be dying about six inches after they left his mouth.
Let's not kid ourselves, these are momentous times. Decisions must be made -- and soon -- that will affect the course of our lives for the next few years, maybe longer. Nothing less is at stake than the psychological well-being of tens of millions of Americans.
Inquiring minds want to know. Will Mike Carona take the stand in his corruption trial? Will a trial already expected to generate juicy testimony give us the ultimate dramatic showdown of having the former sheriff in the box, dueling with a government attorney?
Roll tape.
The guys at the roofing supply company in Santa Ana are always giving co-worker Cynthia Richardson the business. What is it with you and inmates?
I've got a popular Alaskan politician on the brain this week, and it isn't the one with the new wardrobe who's running for vice president.