The Claremont Police Department will be holding their free Citizen's Police Academy beginning Wednesday, April 2nd. Participants will meet every Wednesday from 6pm to 9pm at City Hall for eight weeks and will learn about how our PD performs its important duties, from targeting supporters of anti-war demonstrations to harassing Girl Scouts at the command of our "Deputy Mayor," Queen Ellen Taylor.
Saturday's Claremont Courier had a good article by Tony Krickl on Taylor's targeting of some cookie-selling Girl Scouts Friday afternoon in front of her husband's law firm, first kicking them off her property on the southeast corner of Second St. and Indian Hill Blvd., then threatening to call in the Claremont PD after the girls and their supervising parents moved off of Taylor's parking lot and onto the sidewalk corner.
According to Krickl's article, after the group had moved, Taylor approached the adults in charge:
Ms. Taylor first asked if the group had a permit from the city to operate at the location, announced that she was deputy Mayor of Claremont and threatened to call the police if the Girl Scouts did not cease operations, [parent Pam] Gavin said.
Taylor apparently considers the CPD her own private security firm, and the CPD seems to agree with Taylor's assessment of its officers' job descriptions. Queen Ellen defended her actions by trying to claim that she was just looking out for the Girl Scouts safety and that there had been an accident at that intersection just the day before. (Is Ellen lying about that accident? Sounds like our readers need to make a public record request to the city for accident information for Second St. and Indian Hill Blvd.)
By the way, didn't the Claremont PD use the old "public safety" rationale to defend its actions while ticketing people honking in support of the Friday night anti-war protesters at Indian Hill and Arrow Hwy.?
There is nothing new about this sort of behavior by Queen Ellen. We understand from our readership that some of her neighbors complained in the past that she built an eight-foot wall at her Claremont Village home in violation of a city building ordinance limiting such walls and fences to six feet.
Oh, our readers also tell us that long before she was on the City Council Taylor once asked city code enforcement employees to have a kids' temporary playhouse removed from a front yard across from Taylor's home. And, let's not forget Taylor's alleged slapping incident and the feud she's had with her next-door neighbors.
All this from a woman who claims to be pro-kid. It's more like she's really pro-jailing kids. More importantly, Taylor's true nature is on display, and it's not that smiling, amenable face that accompanied the Krickl article. Taylor's truest self was exposed in her actions Friday with that group of Girl Scouts.
In the past, Taylor has gotten by with groups like the Claremont League of Women Voters providing cover for the ugliness and plain meanness that lie behind that smiling facade. Expect the League and the Claremont 400 to continue covering for Taylor after she ascends her mayoral throne on March 25th.
The Krickl article on Taylor's Friday downtown Girl Scout sweep isn't online yet. We'll link to it if it's ever posted, and we'll try to have a deeper Insider analysis up in the next day or two.
In any case, with CPD's Citizens Academy, you have your chance to see some of the inner workings of Taylor's personal guard service. According to the City's website, any Claremont resident, merchant, student or City employee over 18 years old can sign up.
You can click here for an application. If you have any questions, contact CPD Sergeant John Costa at (909) 399-5409. Send your application to:
Claremont Police Department
Attn: Admin Services Bureau
570 W. Bonita Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
FAX: (909) 399-5439
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