2 Cities-Under Seige and Under Threat : Simi Valley Braces for Violence as Calls Vent Anger, Blame

The day after the verdict in the Rodney King case, the phones at Simi Valley’s City Hall and Police Department were ringing off the hook with angry and threatening calls from across the country.

“ ‘Simi Valley’s next,’ ” Police Chief Paul Miller quoted one caller as saying. “We’re getting calls from people threatening our police officers, from people saying they are going to come up here and set our city on fire.”

Miller said local police have received more than 200 calls since the King verdicts on four Los Angeles police officers were announced Wednesday afternoon, most expressing outrage at the outcome of the trial.

City Hall reported receiving more than two dozen other angry calls, including some from New York, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Colorado.

Even as city officials defended their conservative Ventura County community in the wake of the King verdicts, they said they were bracing for the possibility that the same anger exploding in Los Angeles might cross the county line.

Miller said some residents are expressing fears that Simi Valley, like Los Angeles, will become the target of violence. He said extra police officers will be patrolling the city, especially in the Civic Center area, until the destruction in Los Angeles subsides.

Officials said that the city, which has been looking forward to a visit by Mikhail S. Gorbachev next week to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, is unfairly being blamed for the outcome of one of the most closely watched trials in California history.

“Our community is getting a bad rap,” Miller said. “The verdict does not necessarily represent the views of this community.”

Mayor Greg Stratton said it was important to note that only two of the 12 jurors were actually from Simi Valley, the rest coming from different parts of Ventura County.

“I hope people understand this was not a Simi Valley jury, or a Simi Valley trial,” Stratton said. “This was a Los Angeles County trial. All we did was simply host the trial. We looked at it as a duty. It was certainly not an honor.”

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) issued a statement from his Washington office denouncing the bashing of his hometown by “outside activists.”

“I think the outsiders should lower their rhetoric and work to end the mindless violence in L.A. instead of inflaming it further,” Gallegly said.

The congressman in his statement said that while he was surprised at the jury’s decision, “I am confident that they truly did their best to see that justice is served.”

Stratton agreed: “I have to trust the system. I can’t second-guess their decision.”

The jury’s verdict drew mixed reactions from dozens of residents who gathered in front of the East County Courthouse on Wednesday evening after the panel’s decision was announced. Some held up American flags and chanted “Support our courts,” others carried signs that read, “Our system sucks” and “We will all pay for the crimes committed on April 29, 1992.”

“The guy got what he deserved,” Sam Sweiss, 29, said of King. “They should have beat him more. He broke the law.”

Pamela Marshall, 25, said it was a mistake to hold the trial in Ventura County because its residents are for the most part very conservative and mostly white.

“It’s a major hypocrisy that they came here for an impartial trial and they did not have one single black person on the jury,” Marshall said. “I’m ashamed of my community today. I’m ashamed of the human race.”

Simi Valley officials said the bashing of their city will not last.

“It will be a rough couple of days for sure, but life will go on,” Stratton said.

“It’ll blow over once people realize this was not a Simi Valley trial,” said Councilman Bill Davis. “I don’t understand why a lot of the blame isn’t being put on the district attorney in Los Angeles. He didn’t do a good job of prosecuting the case, did he?”

Stratton said that it is unfortunate that Gorbachev’s visit is coming so soon after the trial.

“It’s bad timing,” Stratton. “But maybe it will all be over by Monday.”