Moorpark Man Fined for Insulting School Officials
A Moorpark man charged with yelling obscene remarks at two high school officials in violation of an obscure state law has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disturbing the peace and been fined $170.
The man, Ronald Lee Chunn, 20, entered the plea before Ventura County Municipal Judge John Smiley on Friday.
The case drew widespread attention after Chunn challenged the law, alleging that it violated his constitutional right to free speech. In another case, a Simi Valley woman accused of insulting a junior high school administrator last December also said the law was unconstitutional.
But the state Court of Appeal in August refused to review the constitutionality of the state education code that makes it a misdemeanor to insult teachers and other officials on school campuses.
Chunn was accused of swearing at Moorpark Memorial High School Principal Mary Quirk and Moorpark Unified School District Supt. Michael R. Slater after a pep rally at the school Nov. 6, 1985.
A trial date for the Simi Valley woman, Nancy K. Wingrove, 34, will be set this week, Ehrlich said. Wingrove is accused of yelling at Hillside Junior High School Assistant Principal Ron Lucio who, she contends, wrongly accused her son of stealing a bicycle.
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