Ventura County Grand Jury

Shortly, the process of selecting candidates for the 1997-98 Ventura County Grand Jury will begin. Since a new jury is formed each year, we as a community have an ongoing need to attract perceptive citizens who are willing to dedicate a year to this service. It is rather sad to note that within a county population of over 720,000 residents, there were only 103 applicants last year. I hope many of you will give the application process your careful consideration this year. In addition to being a great civics lesson, serving on the grand jury is challenging, motivating, and most of all fulfilling.

Although the Ventura County district attorney has said there was no impropriety in contracts awarded by the Channel Islands Harbor master, Supervisor John Flynn, whose accusations prompted the investigation, says his concern was justified. Flynn said in a written statement Friday that "larger issues of trust" were at stake in his call for an investigation into contracts that Lyn Krieger awarded to a marina operator at the harbor.

The Ventura County grand jury is holding an open house Thursday for community members who want information on how the watchdog panel works. County and city employees, as well as members of the public, can receive a tour of the chambers used by the panel at the Ventura County Government Center, 800 S. Victoria Ave. Members of the 1995-96 panel will also answer questions about their work.

A voter-mandated program that steers drug offenders to treatment instead of jail has been so badly managed that it has "compromised public safety and health," according to a scathing report released by the Ventura County Grand Jury on Monday. The 93-page report echoes observations made over the last year by local law enforcement officials, who say that the county's Proposition 36 drug treatment effort may have contributed to an increase in crime.

The 1998-99 Ventura County Grand Jury will hold an open house Oct. 2 as part of its ongoing effort to inform people about its role and function. Officials also hope to encourage county residents to consider applying for a seat on the grand jury, which investigates complaints, considers criminal indictments brought by the district attorney and generally serves as a watchdog of government agencies. Service on the grand jury lasts about a year. The open house will he held between 2 and 5 p.m.

Members of this year's Ventura County Grand Jury will meet the public at an open house Sept. 14 in Ventura. The open house is intended to make the public aware of what the grand jury does and how the public can become involved in its watchdog role over local government, officials said. "We want people to be aware that government isn't something that's just out there," said Linda LaSalle, spokeswoman for the grand jury. "It affects all of us, and you have to be willing to put time in.

A member of the Ventura County Board of Education this week called for a board-led investigation into alleged mismanagement in the Ventura County Superintendent of Schools Office. At Monday night's board meeting, Trustee Marty Bates called for the probe into allegations raised last February by two teachers.

The Ventura County Grand Jury has indicted a 23-year-old gang member accused of fatally shooting another gang member over a romantic triangle, prosecutors said Tuesday. Thomas Al Corral, 23, is scheduled to be arraigned in Ventura County Superior Court today on a charge of murder. He also faces a kidnaping charge from an unrelated 1991 case. Prosecutors say Corral burst through the door of his ex-girlfriend's Ventura home July 21 and shot Roger Rowland, 23.

The Ventura County grand jury has indicted an Agoura couple and a Chatsworth man on charges of conspiracy to sell cocaine. Anthony C. Scearce, 34, and his wife Jeannene J. Scearce, 23, both of Agoura, and Richard A. Mandel, 23, of Chatsworth are being held in the Ventura County Jail with bail set at $500,000 each. Ventura County sheriff's deputies began investigating the Scearces in early November after an informant said they were dealing cocaine, Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory G. Phillips said.

In an effort to increase the number of applicants for the 1995-96 Ventura County grand jury and achieve a better demographic mix, officials have extended the application deadline to April 21. As of Thursday, county officials had received 80 applications. Officials, however, are hoping to receive at least 120, said Sandi Hatmaker of the jury services department. Also, officials hope the finalists will reflect the county's population ratio with regard to sex, age, race and family income.

In a scathing report, the Ventura County Grand Jury has concluded that the city of Oxnard operates the River Ridge Golf Course under a flawed and loosely controlled deal and recommends that an 18-hole expansion of the facility be delayed until the contract is rewritten and public oversight expanded.

A Santa Barbara judge has thrown out the indictment of a murder suspect after ruling that the makeup of the Ventura County Grand Jury did not reflect the county's population because it lacked representative numbers of women and Latinos. The ruling by Superior Court Judge William L. Gordon set aside the indictment against skinhead murder defendant David Ziesmer, as well as drug charges against five other men in separate cases who challenged the composition of the grand jury.

The Ventura County Grand Jury has recommended that county supervisors be stripped of extra pay for serving on outside boards and commissions because such jobs should be considered part of their regular duties. The finding runs counter to a current policy that allows supervisors who serve on two committees--the tax appeals and retirement panels--to receive extra money. Supervisors earn $104,127 a year, which includes a base salary of $89,633 and benefits.

Effective immediately, residents reporting for jury duty in Ventura County Superior Court could be tapped to serve on a grand jury, a new system triggered by rulings that the current system underrepresents women. Until now, volunteers applied to serve on the grand jury and were selected by Superior Court judges for a one-year term to hear criminal cases and investigate the affairs of local government.

Attorneys for accused killer Vincent Sanchez, arguing that prosecutors misled a Ventura County grand jury, urged a judge Monday to dismiss two allegations that make him eligible for the death penalty. Sanchez, a 31-year-old unemployed carpenter, could be executed if jurors find that he killed 20-year-old Moorpark College student Megan Barroso during an attempted rape and kidnapping last year. Barroso disappeared July 4 and her remains were found a month later in a shallow grave near Simi Valley.

Capping a three-year investigation into national Hells Angels spokesman George Christie Jr. and the Ventura chapter of the motorcycle club, the Ventura County district attorney's office has taken its drug and racketeering case to the county grand jury.

A Hollywood insurance salesman pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges that he defrauded seven Ventura County residents of $190,000 by selling them bogus insurance policies. Elmer Oliver (Knobby) Smith, 63, denied seven counts of grand theft and four counts of failing to file an income tax return, which were lodged in a grand jury indictment filed last week in Ventura County Superior Court. Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeff G.

Which is it: A, B, C or off the charts? That's a guessing game we have to play each time we eat out in Ventura County, and there's nothing amusing about it. When it comes to basic hygiene, restaurants should be required not just to undergo inspections but also to post the results somewhere more prominent than the walk-in freezer. We are glad to see that the Ventura County Grand Jury has taken up the cause of informed dining.