Questions Arise After Trustee’s Arrest in Shooting Case : Oxnard: School board member Fred Judy is the focus of concerns about guns and being a role model.

In the weeks since Oxnard high school board trustee Fred Judy was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder, parents, teachers and students in Oxnard have begun raising questions.

For starters, do educators care that police suspect that Judy carried a gun while students in the school district are regularly searched for weapons with metal detectors? asked Robert Silva, a senior at Oxnard High School.

Or is Judy, who serves as vice president of the board of education, really a good role model for students? asked a teacher in the Oxnard Union High School District.

And should a suspect in a crime be allowed to remain on the school board? asked Bernard Dunhom, a longtime Oxnard resident and parent of three children who attended Oxnard High.

“If that’s the kind of person we have on the high school board, it makes me deathly afraid,” Dunhom said.

It is not the first time troubling questions about Judy have been raised.

More than once during Judy’s earlier stint as operator of an Oxnard homeless shelter, people questioned his ability to manage the Zoe Christian Center’s day-to-day operations. Others complained of his confrontational style dealing with some city officials.

With Judy’s Jan. 28 arrest, and a continuing police investigation into whether he is responsible for shooting 56-year-old Oxnard resident Donald Jones outside an Oxnard bar, the debate over his tenure on the school board has gained new focus.

“If in fact he is found guilty of an offense, I think Mr. Judy ought to take a long, hard look at whether he should stay on the school board,” said Korman Dorsey Ellis, an Oxnard resident and attorney for the high school district.

Jones, a former Oxnard police officer and a licensed private investigator, survived the shooting. He was released after being treated for a gunshot wound to the neck less than a day after the confrontation, officials said.

Police released Judy from jail three days after his arrest and revoked his $250,000 bail.

After re-interviewing witnesses, investigators decided they did not have enough information for the district attorney to file charges, Oxnard Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.

Hurtt said Judy is still under investigation, but would not comment on whether police would continue to seek charges of attempted murder or would consider a lesser charge. But he dismissed the notion that Judy’s case might be completely dropped.

“We will definitely submit a report to the D.A.’s office,” he said.

In the meantime, Judy has said he does not intend to resign and board members have not asked him to do so.

Dunhom and others want district Supt. Bill Studt or school board President Jean Daily-Underwood to state the district’s position concerning the arrest.

And they would like their concerns about Judy’s fitness to serve on the board addressed.

One teacher said many of his colleagues are concerned. But they are afraid to speak out because Judy, as a trustee, is essentially their employer.

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“You really are on a hot seat if you speak out on this matter,” said the teacher, who asked to remain anonymous. “But I’ve talked to members of other school boards and they say, ‘What the hell is going on over there?’ ”

Daily-Underwood refused to comment, saying she has directed Studt to speak on behalf of the district. Studt said there is little he can say because no charges have been filed against Judy.

But the law clearly spells out that if an elected official is convicted of a felony, the official must be removed from office, Studt said. Unless that occurs, Judy is entitled to remain on the board, he said.

Judy, 54, made his first public appearance since his arrest at a board meeting on Feb. 8. He made no statement regarding the incident, and said last week that he would not comment on the advice of his attorney.

He is living at his home in Oxnard Shores while awaiting the outcome of the police investigation, Judy said.

Judy’s arrest triggered closer attention to a man who, until now, was known primarily for his advocacy for the homeless and for run-ins with the Oxnard City Council over the past decade.

Although he refused last week to be interviewed, Judy has talked about his background in the past. Other pieces of his life can be found in public records and the accounts of acquaintances.

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He grew up poor in Oklahoma, Judy told a reporter before his unsuccessful November bid to gain a seat on the Oxnard city council.

He married his first wife, Sylvia, and joined the Navy right out of high school. He was transferred to the Point Mugu base in the 1960s, and the couple produced a son, Joe, in 1972.

Judy told a reporter that he retired after a 15-year career because he injured his leg during the Vietnam War. It was also during his military stint that he lost an eye during an accident, Judy has said. He did not give details of either injury.

He received his bachelor’s degree in human resource management from Pepperdine University in 1977. Judy said he later obtained a doctoral degree in psychology from Valley Christian University, a Fresno-based college that closed in 1986.

Sometime in the late 1970s, Judy began calling himself a minister and, with Jim Gilmer, opened the Zoe Christian Center on Rose Avenue in Oxnard.

Many people praised the center for providing food and shelter to homeless families in Ventura County, the only such facility in the region. And others lauded Judy as the heart and soul of the operation.

He seemed particularly concerned about the welfare of children, said Bedford Pinkard, an Oxnard councilman who has known Judy for several years.

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“He seemed to fight for what he believed in,” Pinkard said. “And concern for homeless children is something he fought for so long.”

But others saw a darker side.

Clients in the shelter complained in 1992 when Judy hiked rents to keep the financially troubled center open. Other homeless residents chafed when Judy required them to perform chores in addition to paying rent.

By the time the Zoe closed in May, 1993, the center was $300,000 behind in unpaid bills, officials alleged in court records.

Former Oxnard City Councilman Mike Plisky said he became angry with Judy after the pastor publicly accused him of a racism.

Judy had come before the council in the mid-1980s, seeking money to help run the Zoe shelter, Plisky said. He asked Judy, who is African American, for an accounting of money the city had previously given Zoe before making a new commitment, Plisky said.

“He immediately insisted I was a racist and all the other garbage he used to spout,” said Plisky, who is white.

The clash between Judy and the council escalated when a city investigation concluded that the Zoe Shelter would have to move from the Rose Avenue site because it was too close to hazardous chemicals stored in a nearby plant.

Judy filed a lawsuit against the city, charging city officials of discriminating against him and his clients because they are minorities and conspiring to shut Zoe down. Although the suit eventually was thrown out of court, the experience left Plisky and others embittered.

Even Judy’s supporters concede he has flaws. Dorothy Maron, a former Oxnard councilwoman, said she was dismayed to see piles of bills and other papers strewn over Judy’s desk during a visit to Zoe.

“Their bookkeeping was about as sloppy as it could be,” she said. “I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, and that’s my profession,” said Maron, a retired accountant.

Still, Maron said, many of Judy’s clashes with the council may have resulted from his experience as an African-American in a society often intolerant of minorities.

“I think he carried a chip on his shoulder,” Maron said. “So when he came before the council, that showed. And not all of the council members could be forgiving of that.”

Maron said Judy sometimes remarked he had made it his personal mission to help the homeless and less fortunate. And she said he was deeply wounded when the center finally closed.

“You know what used to be called a ‘God-fearing man?’ ” Maron said. “That’s how I would describe him.”

Not matter what his motivation in the past, Judy’s future in large part may be determined by Ventura County’s justice system. Little is publicly known about what happened that January night.

Police were called to The Shores Restaurant and Bar on South Harbor Boulevard about 2:15 a.m. Jones was bleeding profusely from his wound, police said. Witnesses that night told police the two men had argued inside the restaurant and the dispute spilled over into the parking lot.

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At some point, Judy produced a gun and shot Jones, police said. Investigators would not say if Judy was carrying the gun or retrieved it someplace else.

Judy also has not discussed the shooting with district leaders, Studt said. Board members have reacted with shock to news of the shooting.

During his two-year tenure on the board of education, Judy has always been prepared for board meetings and knows the issues, Studt said.

“He’s done a fine job as a board member,” he said.

Susan Thompson, an English teacher at Adolfo Camarillo High School, said she has always viewed Judy as a strong advocate for troubled youths and that his presence would be missed if he left the board.

“He cares a lot about students who are in danger of failing or not graduating high school,” said Thompson, a 16-year teacher. “He’s a minority and is currently in a position of respect. If we lose him from that position under questionable circumstances, I would see it as a loss.”

But others are less supportive. One parent who is active in her children’s high school activities said she is concerned about Judy’s past and current troubles.

Those concerns reach down into the high school district’s student body.

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Kimberly Davis, a senior at Oxnard High, said she is disturbed by Judy’s arrest. It is unfair that students should be held to one standard of behavior--not bringing weapons to school--while a school board member remains on the board after being accused of carrying a gun, she said.

“At the very least, he made some poor judgments,” said Kimberly. “I think the students of Oxnard need better role models than that.”

Martin Soto, 16, the associated student body president at Channel Island High, said few students have mentioned Judy’s arrest to him.

“If something doesn’t directly affect them, they don’t care,” Martin said.

But Martin, like Kimberly, thinks it is odd for Judy to be involved in such a serious matter.

“I read somewhere that he described it as an accident,” Martin said. “It’s sounds like kind of a big accident to me.”