Photo: FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove

A human rights issue in China stirred up the Burbank City Council meeting last night. I was there for the first public comments section and heard some passionate supporters of the Chinese health and spiritual movement Falun Gong speak out. They attempted to bear witness to the persecution of the practice by China, which considers Falun Gong a cult.

During a 10 year crackdown, thousands of Falun Gong devotees reportedly have been killed, tortured or thrown into jails or labor camps. One of the speakers, Yi-Yuan Chang, claims Falun Gong is practiced in more than 100 countries, including the U.S. — and specifically in Van Nuys.

What the speakers hoped to do was drum up support for the Falun Gong victims in China and backing for the U.S. House of Representatives House Resolution 605 which recognizes the persecution and calls for an end to the campaign. Instead, they were reminded by Mayor Gary Bric several times that the focus of public comments should be Burbank City business. While they got a sympathetic response from Vice-Mayor Anja Reinke, Councilman Dave Golonski insisted their cause was outside the parameters of Burbank city business.

Meanwhile, the city council reacted more positively to a group of South Victory Boulevard merchants. The council members offered words of encouragement to the merchants who returned for a second week to complain about the loss of curbside parking and the damaging effect that is having on their businesses. Again, Burbank Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson agreed to meet with the business owners to try to come up with a solution.

 What most of the merchants want is for the South Victory and West Alameda Avenue intersection to be changed back to the way it was, something city officials seems reluctant to do at this point. Apparently the traffic changes, including a second turn lane, were the result of a 1997 agreement, which was not revisited before being implemented.

Also, activist Mike Nolan appeared before the city council again and requested new information on the police department:”How many police personnel are on administrative leave?” Nolan wanted to know how much money the city is shelling out for those leaves. Later, Senior Assistant City Attorney Terry Stevenson would say only statistics could be released to Nolan. That means no names of officers.

Oh, there’s another development in that controversial case of those so-called leaked personnel files and documents of former Burbank Police Detective Chris Dunn. Yesterday Dunn’s attorney announced in a press release the filing of a lawsuit against the city. Jim Carlile broke the story on his blog.

The lawyer’s press release says Dunn has “…  filed a detailed complaint today against the City of Burbank seeking damages and injunctive relief after the city deliberately and illegally provided his confidential personnel file to a local newspaper. ”

“The complaint discloses that the City provided Christopher Cadelago of the Burbank Leader newspaper and other members of the media and the general public confidential documents from Dunn’s official personnel file in direct violation of specific provisions of California’s constitutional privacy protections, several state laws and numerous judicial orders.”  Check out more of the press release on Carlile’s blog.

 Also, over on The Burbank Leader’s new blog, Following the Leader, Burbank City Attorney Dennis Barlow answers some questions about the confidentiality of police officers’ personnel files. Interesting reading, but I don’t think Barlow’s answers really explain the actions of the City Attorney’s Office in regards to the Dunn lawsuit.  

Photo: Dr. Conrad Murray/Las Vegas Sun

Doctor Conrad Murray continues to be the focus of a criminal investigation into the death of the late pop superstar Michael Jackson. Yesterday, a team of Federal DEA Agents, Las Vegas Police, and LAPD Detectives swooped down on Dr. Murray’s Las Vegas medical office and home. During the raids, investigators reportedly carted off boxes of documents, medical records, cellphones, and other materials.

Earlier in the week, investigators searched the cardiologist’s Houston office as well. There are reports, authorities are looking for evidence that Murray may have injected Jackson with the powerful sedative propofol shortly before his death last month. Also, the Los Angeles Times reports, officers were looking for records that the entertainer may have been prescribed drugs under “…19 potential aliases.”

Everette “E” Lynn Harris (June 20, 1955 – July 23, 2009)

Over the weekend, a number of tributes and obituaries for the late writer E. Lynn Harris, a pioneer in popular black fiction.

 Last week during a book tour for his latest novel, “Basketball Jones,” the bestselling author became ill at a Beverly Hills hotel. Harris died last Thursday night, July 23, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Harris self-published his first novel, “Invisible Life” and sold it out of the trunk of car, until he got a deal with big time publisher Doubleday in 1994. Harris created rich plots about the glamorous and complex lives of African-American professionals, both straight and gay. Harris is credited with being one of the first writers of mainstream fiction to portray male black characters living on the “down low,” in relationships with women, but secretively dating men.

Nine of Harris’ novels have hit the New York Times bestseller list, including “Just as I am: A Novel” (1994), “And This Too Shall Pass” (1996), “If This World Were Mine” (1997), and “I Say A Little Prayer” (2006). More than four million of Harris’ books are in print.

Harris was 54. So far, the cause of death has not been released.

Family films continue on a hot streak at the Box Office. This weekend, the animated 3D ”G-Force” debuted as the number one flick in the nation with an estimated take of $32 million. The cast of voices of this guinea pigs comedy include Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz.

Last week’s top flick “Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince” dropped to second place with an estimated $30 million. Still,  the two week run by the latest Harry Potter movie has raked in more than $200 million in the U.S. alone.  A new romantic comedy, “The Ugly Truth” grabbed third with around $27 million. “The Ugly Truth” stars Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Some reviewers slammed this romantic tale for being too predictable. Apparently, moviegoers ignored those lukewarm reviews.

Another new movie, “Orphan,” a horror/thriller about a 9-year-old bad seed, scared up about $12.7 million for fourth, and rounding out the top five, the 3D animation “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” with $8.2 million.                

Photo: Los Angeles Dodgers

Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez heads for home after hitting an amazing grand slam into the Dodger Stadium seats last night. And the home crowd went wild!

 Ramirez was not in the line up because of a bruised left hand. He was called in to pinch-hit for pitcher Chad Billingsley. Manny helped power the Dodgers to a 6-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

This is Ramirez’s 21st grand slam, which ranks him second to the legendary Lou Gehrig who holds the record with 23. Also, Ramirez now has the first pinch-hit homer of his career. Oh yeah, Manny’s back!

Photo:FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove

At Burbank City Council meetings most of the face time goes to the council members and the staff. They’re the ones who are supposed to be handling city business, therefore, they get to do a lot of the talking. Still, I get a kick out of the public comment segments where we get a chance to hear what’s bugging some of the citizens of Burbank.

At last Tuesday’s city council meeting, Mayor Gary Bric called up more than 15 people to the podium to speak for five minutes or less on city business during the first public comment period.  A young group of male BMX bike riders asked the council to allow them to take their favorite set of wheels to the city’s skate park. One skater spoke out against the arrangement saying BMX bikes would damage the park and might cause accidents with skaters. Later the city council (minus Vice- Mayor Anja Reinke who is on vacation) would vote four-zip in support of Option One, which would expand the the skate park by 1,400 square feet and allow for BMX bikes. The council members requested staff come back with some ways to fund the project.

Also, some business owners spoke out about how their street curb parking on South Victory Boulevard near West Alameda Avenue vanished with very little notification recently. The shop owners of GH Shower Doors, Burbank House of Hobbies, and Dav-Tech were among those complaining about being blindsided. The reason behind the red-lining of that section of Victory Boulevard was due to traffic lane changes at the intersection, which included a new left turn lane onto West Alameda.

Burbank City Traffic Engineer Ken Johnson admitted his department had “dropped the ball” by not giving the business owners adequate notice about the street parking change: “I do apologize to the property owners.” Also, the shop owners got quite a bit of sympathy and promises to try to help ease some of their parking headaches from councilmen Dave Golonski, David Gordon, and Mayor Gary Bric.  

A number of the regulars took to the mic as well Tuesday night, most notably Esther Espinoza and Mike Nolan. Mrs. Espinoza made a heartbreaking emotional plea for help from the city and surprisingly, got no response from the city council. Oh, a staff member did offer Mrs. Espinoza some tissues to wipe her tears. Sure, her family issues may not be city related, but someone on staff should be able to help this Burbank resident get the aid she needs through the right agency. The city should really forget past grudges, step up and show some compassion in the case of Espinoza family.

As for Mike Nolan, the Burbank City Attorney’s office provided him with a list of 10 law firms, which have billed the city for police-related matters since 2004. Nolan had been asking for this type of information for weeks. The bottom line cost, $524, 005.35. Yes, a cool half-million bucks. Copies of the list were available to the public at the city council meeting.

Nolan pressed the city to reveal to the public what the reasons are behind those legal costs.  Nolan said it’s  ”…time to tell us what’s wrong…” in the police department. Many others agree with him, still we’ll have to wait and see if the City Attorney’s Office provides any background data on the list.

 Also, Nolan held up a document he said was from former Burbank Police Detective Chris Dunn’s personnel file and that it had been leaked to a local newspaper. Nolan asked, “How did that happen?” Nolan pushed even harder for answers during the second public comment section at the end of the city council meeting, but he didn’t get very far in his quest.

Now, Chris Dunn and his attorney, Solomon E. Gresen, have taken up the issue of those suspected leaked documents. Yesterday, Dunn filed a claim for damages against the city of Burbank. The claim alleges: “On or about July 16, 2009, Claimant Christopher Lee Dunn’s private personnel file and documents contained in that file were disclosed to Christopher Canelago of the Burbank Leader and other members of the press and general public.”

The claim goes on to say that “… the public employee or employees causing his injury, damage or loss include, without limitation, Dennis A. Barlow and Carol A. Humiston of the Burbank City Attorney’s Office, among others.”

You might remember that on July 16, Dunn became the sixth former or current Burbank Police Office to file a discrimination lawsuit against the city. On Jim Carlile’s blog there’s a press release from Dunn’s law firm with more on both legal actions.

Movie audiences can’t seem to get enough of those Harry Potter flicks. The latest, “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” debuted at the top of the Box Office this weekend with a spectacular opening estimated to be at least $79 million. Since it hit movie screens on Wednesday, this sixth film in bestselling author J.K. Rowling’s fantasy-adventure series has earned somewhere around $159.7 million nationwide. The cast is led by Daniel Radcliffe who plays the young wizard, Harry Potter.

In second place, the animated 3D film, “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” pulled in about $17.7 million, followed by the sci-fi action picture, “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” with $13.8 million. Last week’s number one movie,  the R-rated comedy “Bruno,” took a steep slide to third managing only $8.4 million for the weekend.

Not far behind in fourth , another comedy, “The Hangover” with $8.32 million and in fifth, the romantic comedy, “The Proposal” rounds out the top five with $8.3 million.