VENTURA : City Council Critic Arrested at Meeting

Ventura City Council critic Caroll Dean Williams was arrested Monday night after he refused to leave the podium at the City Council meeting.

Williams, who frequently uses meeting time to berate council members and read his own poetry, was arrested on suspicion of disrupting a public meeting. His nephew, Randy Williams, was arrested on the same charge after he also caused a commotion.

Both were booked in Ventura County Jail, police said.

The disruption occurred during a period set aside for public comment. Williams, an unemployed mechanical engineer, continued speaking after his allotted five minutes had expired. He alleged a homicide cover-up had occurred in the Ventura Police Department.

When Mayor Greg Carson told Williams his time was up, the Ventura man continued to speak and refused to sit down. Within moments two Ventura police officers arrested Williams and led him away in handcuffs.

When his nephew began shouting and referring to the officers as the “Gestapo,” he was also arrested.

“He’s crossed over the line tonight,” said Sgt. Carl Handy, one of the arresting officers.

Disrupting a public meeting is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum fine of $1,000 and one year in jail, Handy said.

City officials went to court last week in an effort to make it more difficult for Williams to file lawsuits that they view as frivolous. In the past year, he has filed more than two dozen suits against government agencies and businesses, including three against Ventura officials.

Carson, trying to put a light tone on the incident, greeted the speaker after Williams this way: “Welcome to the Ventura City Council.”