Erin Brockovich

* Re “Stay Tuned . . . “ Ventura County editorial, April 30.

In response to this editorial, let me set the record straight. First, there is no “custody dispute” between Erin Brockovich and her first husband, Shane Brown. Brockovich has, and has had for about 10 years, sole custody of the parties’ children; that same order provides that Brown have no visitation with the children. The order also provides that no member of Brown’s family “will have any rights of visitation whatsoever.” As this order was made in a different state, and as Brockovich and Brown now both live in California, Brockovich hired me to domesticate her orders so that, if there were ever any further issues, California would have jurisdiction over them.

Second, the editorial asks whether “Ventura County investigators have anything better to do with their time” than to look into this matter. Was it a waste of investigators’ time to investigate and ultimately successfully prosecute Autumn Jackson for her attempted shakedown of Bill Cosby? Do people who have gained some celebrity have to give up their right to justice? Your editorial has made it clear that their fame subjects them to the cynicism reflected in the comment that “all this [might be] merely an attempt to extend Brockovich and [Ed] Masry’s celebrity for another five minutes.”

Last, the editorial coup de grace is the attempt to manipulate public opinion by diverting focus away from what happened to Brockovich and Masry, and directing attention toward that which gets the public’s attention: “the tab in your tax bill.” Do only certain crimes deserve to be investigated? Are certain people, because of celebrity, undeserving of the equal protection of the law? For that is surely what your editorial implied.

CATHLEEN DRURY

Westlake Village