Fullerton City Councilman Ahmad Zahra was charged by the Orange County District Attorney on October 29 with one misdemeanor count of vandalism and one misdemeanor count of battery that were allegedly committed on September 20.
According to charges filed by the DA in Orange County Superior Court on or about September 20, 2020, Zahra “did maliciously and unlawfully deface with graffiti and other inscribed material, damage, and destroy cell phone, real and personal property belonging to MONICA F, in amount less than four hundred dollars [and]…did willfully and unlawfully use force and violence against the person of MONICA F.”
When asked for a statement from the Observer, Zahra wrote via e-mail, “I deny each and every allegation and am innocent of the charges. I am confident that the truth will come out and expect to be fully exonerated.”
The case has not yet been decided by the court, and a trial date is not given in the official court records regarding this case.
This story was first broken by the Friends for Fullerton’s Future blog.
Screen shot of charging statement courtesy of the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
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Categories: Local News
Jesse La Tour – Not accurate!
I answered questions from Matthew Leslie regarding this issue in an email sent at 9:09am on 12/31/2020.
Sorry Bruce. I was thinking of public comments or statements. As I understand it, you told Matt you had no knowledge of the case except what you’d read online.
Jesse,
It was a good question from Matt Leslie. A “what did you know and when did you know it?”
I cannot speak on behalf of the other Council Members, but my very first awareness arrived by reading an F.F.F.F. post a few days before Christmas.
Jesse, was there comment from the other council members? Any indication they were aware of this on the DL and it was a factor in him not getting the mayor vote?
There have been no comments from other councilmembers about this.
All of you bums flogging Fra. Chris need to get with some “boots on the ground Christianity”; like it or not, you ARE your brother’s keeper, and they ARE your “Neighbor”. Luke 10:25–37
“You do it to the least of them, you do it unto me.”
Man, if Jesus does come back, he’s gonna be pissed!
Many of us do, who do you think pays for the shelters and the safe parking site? We support these services but the homeless have to use them . I don’t support those that do not chose to get the help that is out there.
Naturally; no-one can help those who will not accept it. These unfortunates are usually mentally ill, have substance abuse issues, and probably belong in a state mental institution…oh, I forgot; we closed most of those!
The problem to be solved can be summed up in article 25 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights:
“1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. ”
The US came up with this (with considerable contributions from other countries) in 1948. We were on the road to making it so as written until Mr. Reagan took office in 1967 in California and thereafter de-funded the state mental institutions. The number of homeless shot up immediately after. When he became President in 1980, the problem got worse. By the end of his terms, people sleeping on the streets of America were a common sight.
Today, we have at least 600,000 people sleeping on the streets every night, and no-one has a good idea on the number of those who are within an inch of losing what shelter they have, but it’s a lot higher. A LOT.
I’ve been around a long time, (yes, I’m an antique in the extreme) and I have seen this problem go from being just drunken bums and junkies on skid row to being whole families dying of exhaust fumes in vans in winter here in Orange County because they had to keep the motor running to stay warm!
The fact that this problem even EXISTS in the richest country on the face of the Earth is a national disgrace.
We need decent housing in decent places for the homeless AND the poor; (see article 25 above). The solution as it goes as far as safe parking lots and shelters is not enough. It’s a band-aid on a bullet wound. We have to be that shining “City on the Hill” once again. I doubt I’ll live to see it, but I can keep hope alive.
Friend,
Those are nice words. Yet somehow the targets seem to be a particular stripe — Zahra and, okay by other groups, Silva.
Now, actually I let both know, not that either particularly cared ;-), that I thought the marijuana dispensary ordinance was a rather distracting endeavor to pursue. And I saw thoroughly predictable reaction to the marijuana dispensary proposal among my parishioners who otherwise would have paid _far more attention_ to “who’s _not_ going to throw me and my family out of my home in the next several months” focusing instead on marijuana and asking understandably “but padre my spouse and I have devoted our entire parenthood telling our kids that drugs will just get them into trouble and now they’re going to OPENLY bring marijuana into our neighborhood” (yes, marijuana was already there … but it will now be _here_ in a bigger way).
That said, we have a new crisis:
We have simultaneously RVs parked all over the city, some apparently dumping wastes illegally into sewers, yet, we’re looking to sunset the county’s only “safe parking program” (located here in Fullerton) at New Years.
Certainly, as I’ve said here before the city’s safe parking program wasn’t perfect. Arguably, it made it needlessly difficult / humiliating for people to take advantage of it. But it was something and the alternative is keeping people with no place to go parked on streets all over the city, dumping their wastes illegally into the sewers.
So where’s the recall effort on Whitaker?
There I said it.
Intelligent leadership requires acknowledgement of reality and then management of that reality.
But we don’t have funds for a safe parking program?
Okay a Grade-A safe parking program would include case management (somewhat to generally expensive).
The safe parking program that we need right now — GRADE B, C, or even JUST PASSING — in this environment lacking funds, IS:
(1) In its most stripped down version SIMPLY A DESIGNATED PARKING LOT to send families living in cars / RVs (and yes, ticket them otherwise…). In our region (this is not just a Fullerton problem … but that’s why there are mayors’ and city managers’ organizations …) RIGHT NOW, the most obvious place would be at the Big-A. For South County, ANY of the HUGE beach parking lots could work as well.
(2) In a somewhat improved version the parking lot would offer some kind of waste disposal ability. That would probably take a week or two to set-up.
We _could_ go, eventually, to “Grade-A” sometime in the future, when all the stars align. But right now, THAT’S WHAT YOU DO.
The alternative is having desperate people, often seniors, or families with small kids, parking their run-down RVs all over our streets.
Again, INTELLIGENT LEADERSHIP.
************
As for the tri-F name, when I was in my 20s and a group of us in college were playing around with creating a “role-playing game” in which one was given leadership of a small latin american country, and the goal was to … survive, we quickly came up with the _classic_ name for the country’s fascist military faction — “The Front for Rational Progress” — and it actually borrows from Brazil’s own national motto: “Ordem e Progresso” (Order and Progress).
“Order and Progress” can mean many things … some involving jackboots kicking down doors of problematic people.
And even “accountability” if not applied universally is somewhat like “wikileaks” that seems to demand “accountability” of everyone but Putin … No secrets in Russia? Come on.
Anyway, best wishes to your project. But IMHO you’re chasing the wrong fish …
Mr OSM, you have no idea of what you speak. The rich FFF history alone, is worth researching. It is obvious you aren’t from around here. So please try to refrain from shoving your agenda down others throats. It would be a better use of your time for you to research Fullerton’s rich history. And I will not provide links, that is your job to find.
Some people have opinions without knowing all the facts, and since we all have rights here, (the last time I checked), those people have every right to those opinions.
You are barking up the wrong tree.
“Yet somehow the targets seem to be a particular stripe — Zahra and, okay by other groups, Silva.”
Nope, that’s a lie, and an objectively verifiable one.
Don’t believe me? Go on the FFFF page, and type in “Zahra” in the search query. You’ll get five pages worth of articles on him. By contrast, the same search of “Fitzgerald” will yield 18 pages worth of articles, “Flory” will yield 20 pages, “McKinley” will yield 27 pages and “Bankhead” will yield 31 pages (almost all of the articles for each of those current and former councilmembers were negative). And Silva? Only 16 pages, and most of those are of his wife, who is now a State Assemblywoman.
If you did the faintest bit of research you’d know none of what you said was true. The fact that you didn’t before slinging mud speaks volumes.
Wow, what a drawn-out commotion of nonsense. Hopefully your homilies are better constructed than this gibberish
But, somehow I doubt it.
WOW AGAIN 😳😱
What you say, is what/who YOU are.
Man in the mirror.
We had the safe parking program.
Pilot program – First in OC
Not all wanted to go to safe parking.
So they park wherever.
Unacceptable !
Just like the shelters.
We want and need shelters
We spend billions on shelters.
Not good enough.
Now we want PSH with, gold armoires,
full screen tv’s, sports bar, swimming pool.
“A safe place to shoot up.” So says our Pathways Of Hope
Want want want
We supply
Never good enough
Enforce no parking on streets. !
Regain our once beautiful, safe, clean, and inviting Fullerton.
Thank you 🙏
Dennis Kriz, pretty low for you to insinuate. You should do some fact checking before stepping on your own weenie. To educate you, the Fullerton’s Future blog aka, Friends for Fullertons Future’s mission statement is here:
Intelligent, Responsible, and Accountable. These are the general qualities we seek in our elected representatives – plus the independence and integrity required to be effective leaders. We intend to support candidates in Fullerton who possess the willingness and ability to use their independent intelligence in weighing public matters; who will be responsible to his or her constituents; and who will insist on accountability for all the actions that he or she takes. We will actively oppose incumbents who have failed to demonstrate the qualities described above; who fail to remember that they are servants of the public; who believe that being a “team player” is more important than principle; who don’t have the courage to stand on principle when it means standing alone; who are not humble enough to admit error and are incapable of learning from their mistakes; and those who fail to treat constituents with the respect and dignity they deserve. And we will oppose candidates who through their words or actions indicate that they would not provide intelligent and responsible leadership, accountable to citizens of Fullerton.
I’ve commented here a lot of late, but I _do_ purposefully want to put this question out there: “Friends for Fullerton’s Future” (FFF), is this group inspired by the KKK or Fascism or both?
Whatever its origins, the acronym lends itself to some obvious and terrible interpretations.
Does one have to respond to it and its supporters: NEVER AGAIN ?
Yes, there’s a lot in a name …
Whatever its origins the acronym OSM lends itself to some terrible interpretations. Seriously, dude, get a grip.
Oh, it’s the self serving, false prophet
name calling again !
Nazi, Racist , fascist you know them all and use them frequently
Give it a rest d
What you say , is what you are
Deacon Dennis, having made reference to Zhara….”Yet somehow the targets seem to be a particular stripe — Zahra” makes me wonder if his hositile view of FFF is drivin simply by defence of LGB . Removing Zhara persoanal pereference from the picture may bring a new objectivity toward this matter of assault and hostilile candor at the city council meetings… which frankly could be an secret agenda which is driving Zhara’s politics and hositlities.
Dennis Kriz, Your name seems suspiciously like code for the KKK. DK. (The K, short for KKK). In addition, DK also sounds German. Are you a Nazi? You are so correct, there is a lot in a name. Wow. Amazing!
When asked for a statement from the Observer, Zahra wrote via e-mail, “I deny each and every allegation and am innocent of the charges . . .”
So did Joe Felz and Chief Hendricks.
Liars gonna lie.
Liars gonna lie
Cheaters gonna cheat
Rid Zahra
Don’t we live in a country where a person is considered innocent until proven guilty?