Sheriff Demands Pasadena Apologize : Rose Bowl: Block says deputies won’t be assigned unless council retracts comments.

In a blistering attack on the Pasadena City Council Wednesday, Los Angeles County Sheriff Sherman Block said he would assign no deputies for security duty to the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game unless the council apologized for remarks about alleged white supremacists and neo-Nazis in his department.

Even with an apology, he said, sheriff’s deputies might refuse to accept a Pasadena assignment because of the level of anger within the department.

“The personnel of my department have been so grievously and unfairly characterized,” Block said at a news conference, “that I am concerned that an apology might not be enough to assuage their feelings at this late date.”

Block’s action comes as the 103rd Tournament of Roses faces the certainty of demonstrations and possible disruptions on Jan. 1. American Indian groups and others have expressed outrage at the selection of a direct descendant of Christopher Columbus as grand marshal for the parade, whose theme will be “Voyages of Discovery.”

Tournament officials sought to soothe the outrage last week when, in a historic compromise, it named Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (D-Colo.), the only American Indian in Congress, as a co-grand marshal.

But Latino, black and American Indian groups said the gesture was not enough. A number of such groups, including the National Chicano Moratorium Committee and the Pasadena Male Black’s Forum announced Wednesday that they intended to hold lawful demonstrations on New Year’s Day.

Block’s anger was sparked by the Pasadena council’s vote Tuesday to place a stipulation on the allocation of $400,000 to pay for the services of 763 sheriff’s deputies on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

“Of necessity, we must continue doing business with the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department,” Councilman William Paparian said at the Tuesday meeting. “But we want to make sure there are no neo-Nazis, white supremacists or members of the organization called the Vikings, which operates out of the Lynwood area.”

Paparian said he was referring to a finding by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter last month that a “neo-Nazi, white supremacist gang” of deputies, the Vikings, operates in the Lynwood sheriff’s station. The department has characterized the group as a harmless social group.

Accompanied by a phalanx of miffed Sheriff’s Department employees, from clerical staff to senior supervisors, Block denied that there was any credible evidence that a white supremacist organization ever operated within the ranks of sheriff’s deputies.

“From time to time, there have been individuals who have exhibited conduct of an unacceptable racist nature, and they’ve been dealt with,” he said.

The level of anger after the council action was unprecedented within the department, Block said. The sheriff’s deputies who work at the parade and the football game are volunteers, though they are paid for their services, he said.

“I cannot recall a time in my more than 35 years in the department when I have witnessed such a spontaneous and angry response from the members of this department,” Block said.

Block called the council members publicity seekers. “I’m sick and tired of having petty politicians jerking law enforcement people around to get a little space in the media,” he said.

For their part, council members were refusing to back down late Wednesday.

“The council is not going to apologize, I’m not going to apologize,” Paparian said. “I don’t think we’re going to allow the sheriff to hold us hostage like this.”

Paparian said that at Tuesday’s meeting, he had merely cited Judge Hatter’s finding about the Vikings. “Nobody made any allegations,” he said. “We looked at the findings of fact and conclusions of law from a U.S. District Court judge, who found that in fact such an organization was operating with the knowledge of management.”

Councilman Isaac Richard, who had challenged the Sheriff’s Department to send a largely female and minority contingent for parade duty, also responded testily.

“We’re not going to be bullied into a stance of kowtowing to a man with obviously heightened sensitivities,” Richard said.

But Pasadena Police Chief Jerry Oliver was apprehensive at the prospect of policing two major events without the assistance of the Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff’s deputies have pitched in on New Year’s Day since 1956.

In addition to the deputies, the Sheriff’s Department was expected to provide equipment, including 97 radio cars, 25 prisoner vans, two fully equipped command post trailers and 375 portable radios, all using the same frequency as Pasadena police radios.

“I’d be hard-pressed to identify other resources and logistic support that could even approach equaling what the sheriff traditionally provides us,” Oliver said.