POLITICAL NOTES : Courts Are Guilty of Harming Pomona’s Image, Activist Says

Name that court: Melody Peterson, who helped push cantankerous C.L. (Clay) Bryant off the Pomona City Council last year on grounds that he was an embarrassment to the city, has another idea to polish Pomona’s image.

The former recall committee co-chair wants to drop the “Pomona” from the names of Pomona Municipal and Superior courts.

Peterson said all criminal cases that go through the courts become identified with Pomona in news reports, even when the crimes occurred elsewhere. El Monte had a similar problem, she noted, until its court was renamed Rio Hondo several years ago.

Peterson has written to solicit possible new names from the presiding judges of the courts, Supervisor Pete Schabarum and city officials. They haven’t written back yet, Peterson said, but suggestions so far include Palomares for one of the city’s founders and Inland Valley, the regional name adopted by Ontario and Pomona newspapers when they merged.

She said that someone also suggested Crossroads in recognition of Pomona’s multiple freeways, although Peterson said “that sounds too much like a shopping center to me.”

Never Mind: Pasadena Mayor Jess Hughston backed down last week from his earlier statements implying racist behavior by Glendale police.

At issue was a Nov. 30 stop of Pasadena Police Chief Bruce Philpott, who lives in Glendale. Philpott said the Glendale officers acted aggressively, and he blamed it on racism. Philpott is white but his passenger was a black woman, Jeanette Henderson, owner of Pasadena’s Hen’s Teeth Square shopping center.

But Glendale police insisted that Philpott, who was stopped for speeding and for playing his car radio too loud, acted aggressively.

Philpott was not cited and the matter might have died there, but the Glendale News Press got wind of it. Hughston criticized Glendale police in the News Press article. That raised the hackles of Glendale Mayor Larry Zarian, who demanded a retraction.

After a meeting Thursday, the two mayors issued a joint press release. Hughston said he was “unable to continue to characterize the incident or the officers involved as racist.”

He added later: “It was totally a teacup affair that became a tempest.”

Never Mind II, the Sequel: “I’ve never been too big to say I was wrong,” said Pasadena City Director Rick Cole last week as he served himself a big helping of crow in front of City Hall.

Cole, who is seeking reelection to the District 2 Board of Directors seat, stood meekly by as challenger Ed Bryant chastised him for a November fund-raising letter that slammed Bryant supporters. Cole’s letter dubbed them “some of the most bitter and reactionary forces in our city.”

“In two elections, I’ve had to face their same vile smears,” the letter said.

Bryant, founder of a youth counseling center, called on 16 supporters, some of them his former students, to rally behind him on the City Hall steps. “Who in the world fits that description?” he asked. “Certainly not these people.”

Cole said he sent his fund-raising letter before he talked to Bryant, who has pledged to run a fair campaign.

She has her limits: Pomona Councilwoman Nell Soto has turned thumbs down on her rival’s invitation to reject campaign donations above $250.

Soto said the proposal by Bob Jackson, who is running against her in the city election March 5, means he’s desperate. “Mr. Jackson doesn’t have any other issues,” she scoffed.

Jackson also asked Soto last week to join him in pledging to limit total fund-raising to $5,000 apiece and to refuse contributions from outside the city. “Large contributions from special interest groups obligate candidates who are elected,” he said.

Soto, who spent more than $25,000 on her winning campaign four years ago, said she will follow contribution limits set in Proposition 73, which put a $1,000 ceiling on individual contributions to a campaign.

Short subjects: When the East Valleys Organization questions candidates for 1st District county supervisor at a forum Monday, their responses will be recorded on a giant score card under “Yes,” “No” and “Wishy-Washy,” East Valleys spokeswoman Marie Krajci said. . . . Democrats in the 60th Assembly District will elect state central committee members at a caucus from 1 to 3 p.m. today in the community center at Morgan Park, 4100 Baldwin Park Blvd., Baldwin Park.