Columns written for the Berkeley Daily Planet newspaper, Berkeley, CA |
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THE DISSING OF MR. DELLUMS
We’ve talked before about the phenomenon of what we call “yard-dog journalism,” that practice of all the dogs (or journalists, or columnist, or newspapers) on the block taking up the howling after someone walks by on the street, even though that person has done nothing peculiar, and may have passed that exact same way with no response many times before. But this time, after one of the dogs starts howling, all the others join in the clamor. Ask the last one exactly what triggered his barking this time and, if he could talk, he’d tell you “Damned if I know. All the other dogs was barking, that’s why, so I figured there must be a reason.” Was the decision to exclude Mr. Dellums the sentiment of the rank-and-file officers of the Oakland Police Department? Perhaps that’s true, perhaps not, but Mr. Johnson offered no evidence of that other than his own assertion. Mr. Johnson then went on to say that “Dellums arrived at the police officers' union hall five hours after the shooting. A council member said the mayor—by his own inaction—has become ‘irrelevant’ and of no use.” Was Mr. Dellums “inactive” in the hours immediately following the MacArthur shootings of the four police officers? More on that in a moment. The Chronicle contributions to this discussion were followed on April 4 by Contra Costa Times and Oakland Tribune columnist Tammerlin Drummond, who wrote that “police sources told me” that Dellums was asked not to speak because “no one wanted to run the risk that Dellums would botch the men's names—like he did with the name of another police officer at his funeral service last summer.” ("Ron Dellums Didn't Speak At Police Funeral For Fear He Would Botch Names") That stemmed from the fact that Mr. Dellums reportedly misstated the name and rank of Oakland Police Lieutenant Derrick Norfleet, who committed suicide last summer. This new assertion, that the real reason that Mr. Dellums was dissed was because he might misstate a name, was picked up the next day by Robert Gammon of the East Bay Express, who repeated it in a blog entry entitled “Dellums Too Incompetent To Speak At Funeral.” A public official like Mr. Dellums makes hundreds of statements and speeches in a year, and the fact that he once misstated a name in one of those public addresses is hardly a judgment of competence or incompetence. On March 18 of this year, for example, in its “corrections” column, the East Bay Express wrote that the paper’s “March 11 article ‘Separate and Unequal at Berkeley's Small Schools’ included several errors. Student Body President Ronald Pernell was incorrectly identified as Ronald Purnell. Berkeley High Jacket editor Megan Winkelman was incorrectly identified as Megan Coleman. PTA President Mark van Krieken was identified as Mark Van Kriegan and incorrectly referred to as a supporter of small schools.” Does the inclusion of “several errors” in a story make the East Bay Express “incompetent?” No, only human. But apparently the paper has adopted a different standard for the mayor of Oakland. Meanwhile, in her April 4 article, Ms. Drummond gave more assertions about Mr. Dellums’ actions immediately following the MacArthur shootings: “For several hours after the shootings,” Ms. Drummond wrote, “Dellums was missing in action. He didn't show up at the police substation at Eastmont Mall—blocks from the scene of the first shooting—for a police briefing. Councilwoman Desley Brooks, D-Eastmont-Seminary—the shootings occurred in her district—was there. So was Councilman Larry Reid, D-Elmhurst-East Oakland, who represents the neighboring district. Nor did Dellums go to Highland Hospital where the wounded officers were taken for treatment. Or to any of the shooting scenes. The city's top elected official was nowhere to be found. Dellums did not surface until much later at the Oakland Police Officer's Association downtown where grieving, dazed officers had gathered along with city officials and a police chaplain. How on earth could Dellums have thought that monitoring a tragedy of this magnitude by telephone was the right thing to do?” 1:22 p.m. (approximately)—The mayor was notified about the shootings of the first two officers, Mark Dunakin and John Hege, through an alert sent out to key city personnel by the Fire Department. Sometime shortly afterwards, the mayor was in telephone communication with Acting Police Chief Howard Jordan, who briefed him on what was known of the situation at the time, and told him to “stand by” to receive further information as it came in. During the approximately two hour manhunt for the shooter that followed, the mayor’s staff said that Mr. Dellums and City Manager Dan Lindheim were “in the communication loop” about the transpiring events. 3:30 p.m (approximately)—SWAT Officers Dan Sakai and Erv Romans and Lovelle Mixon were all shot at a gunbattle in a 74th Avenue apartment where Mr. Mixon had been hiding. 4:00 p.m. (approximately)—Mr. Jordan briefed Mr. Dellums, Mr. Lindheim, and other key city officials by the telephone about the end of the search for the MacArthur Boulevard shooter, including the resulting gunbattle. The briefing lasted approximately 15 minutes. At that time, three of the officers were already dead and one, Mr. Hege, was at Highland Hospital in critical condition. During the call, Mr. Dellums told Mr. Jordan that he wanted to talk with the families of the fallen officers as well as the rank and file officers of the Oakland Police Department. Mr. Jordan informed the mayor that the next-of-kin of all of the officers had not yet been informed. Sometime during the briefing, Mr. Dellums told Mr. Jordan that he would “take his cue from the acting chief” as to when it would be appropriate for the mayor to speak with the families and the rank-and-file officers. Mr. Jordan told Mr. Dellums that the mayor should go to the Oakland Police Officers Association downtown Oakland headquarters, where officers were gathering and grief counseling was being implemented. It was at the Acting Police Chief's recommendation that Mr. Dellums did not visit the hospital where Mr. Hege was still fighting for his life. 4:30 p.m. (approximately)—Mr. Jordan held a preliminary press briefing at the OPD Eastmont Station about the events of the day. 5:15 p.m. (approximately)—Mr. Dellums arrived at the OPOA headquarters and stayed for approximately one and 1/2 to two hours, speaking with rank and file officers. 8:00 p.m. (approximately)—Mr. Dellums went to the OPD headquarters for a briefing in preparation for a 9 p.m. final press conference on the day’s events. Note: this is my 300th UnderCurrents column for the Berkeley Daily Planet. Thanks to the paper and all my readers for making this continuing long run possible. |