Xavier Alvarez at Three Valleys water board meeting Wednesday

On Wednesday evening, Three Valleys Municipal Water District board member Xavier Alvarez became upset at me for writing "negative" articles and said I had "s*** for brains" after the water board held a special meeting.

Warning: This post will be sort of long.

For those who don't know, Alvarez represents south Pomona on the board, which meets in Claremont for meetings at the water district headquarters.

He has pleaded not guilty to illegally registering his ex-wife for health benefits with the Three Valleys Municipal Water District. He is accused of adding his ex-wife, Juanita Ruiz, on his insurance from Jan. 24 to Oct. 31, 2007.

Previously, Alvarez was fined and sentenced to probation in July for violating the Stolen Valor Act, which criminalizes false claims of military valor. He claimed he had received the Medal of Honor. 

He was fined and sentenced to perform community service at Loma Linda's Veterans Hospital. I believe he is trying to appeal the case but he declined to answer questions about it Wednesday.

In the current case, an estimated $4,000 was calculated as the loss of water district health insurance premiums. If found guilty, Alvarez could be given anywhere from probation to five years in state prison.

The jury selection for his trial is scheduled for June 8, after a readiness hearing on June 3. 

Anyway, back to Wednesday. Things actually started off on a good note (or at least better than usual) when he said I need to "brush my hair."

I can't really argue this one (look at my Claremont Now photo that occasionally runs in the paper if you don't believe me). 

As an aside, Alvarez's hair is now in a pony tail and maybe he was trying to give me a visual tip on what to do. Thanks Xavier.

After the main water board meeting ended, I walked up to Alvarez to ask how his community service was going in his federal Medal of Honor case and how his appeal was going. 

So we walked to the hallway of the water district (it's toward the south end where board members could get soda and pizza on Tuesday).

Alvarez, who stood directly in front of me, said he would "never" tell me about his community service and to ask his probation officer.

When I asked who his probation officer was, he said it's "none of [my] business."

Then he asked why I keep bringing up the Medal of Honor case. He said "nobody" wants to hear about it and if they did he would be getting recalled.

"Who cares? Nobody cares. You keep bringing up the past ... if they wanted me out, I'd be out."

I told him I get calls and e-mails about the case but he didn't want to hear it.

"What you write is a bunch of bulls***." I think he repeated this phrase, emphasizing "buuuuuulls***."

After this, he said I only wrote "negative" stories.

Then he said "you're full of s***" and that I had "s*** for brains."

Alvarez has a history for going off on people so I didn't take it personally. It's actually pretty funny because I haven't heard that insult in years ... I think I last heard it from my father when I was younger but I'm not sure.

Squishy brains must equal squishy memory too.

I finally just told Alvarez we had "a difference in opinion" after his crappy insult and negative story talk and walked around him to get my notes and leave.

No use arguing with a man convicted of lying.