City, Sheriff to Split Cost of Little Saigon Protests
The city and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department have agreed to split a $327,000 overtime bill for deputies who helped control protests last year in Little Saigon after a store owner raised the Vietnamese flag and posted a picture of Communist leader Ho Chi Minh.
Sheriff Mike Carona’s decision to bill Westminster angered city officials because they thought it violated “mutual aid” protocol. City officials said that according to Orange County Chiefs of Police and Sheriff’s Assn. rules, the help should have been free of charge. Half a dozen other agencies helped Westminster during the protests, and none sent a bill.
The protests began Jan. 17, 1999, in front of Hi Tek TV & VCR in a Bolsa Avenue strip mall. Crowds peaked at 15,000 people, some of whom plastered the electronics store with flags of the U.S. and the former South Vietnam. Store owner Truong Van Tran said he was trying to make a point about free speech; protesters said they wanted to draw attention to human rights abuses in Vietnam.
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