The lobby of a newspaper can be a powerful attractant to people who believe their story should be told.

Over the years I’ve heard tales of lost gold mines, crooked probate courts, scheming landlords, high-level CIA/FBI conspiracies and heart-wrenching stories detailing the cost of drug abuse, rape and murder.

It’s the stuff that used to make talk radio appealing.

That was back in the time before hosts stopped taking calls and simply turned to using their three hours of radio time to rant and spew ala Limbaugh, Hannity, Kobylt and Chiampou.

That said, very few of the tales I have heard ever made their way into print.

I could probably list a dozen reasons for that: lack of space; lack of time; lack of verifiable sourcing. But it doesn’t stop the tide of storytellers who believe that newspapers are their last resort.

In recent weeks, I’ve been visited several times by a woman who thinks she has one of those stories. She brought me a ream of paperwork that includes bank statements, court records and handwritten notes. She asked that I hold onto them because she feared possessing the documents would cause her harm.

I’m not sure why she feels that way, the documents that aren’t public record are indecipherable.

The woman, who identified herself as Marilyn Ross, has been back two or three times, and little-by-little more of her story has emerged.

In the mid-1990s Ross turned her son in for murder. She said the act brought her scorn and ridicule in the community. Nonetheless she said she appeared on the “Rolonda Show” and discussed the case.

“He was a Crip, and I did the right thing,” Ross recalled.

Since then, she’s bounced from home to home, primarily in Los Angeles, but now she’s living on the streets of West Covina.

I asked where.

“There’s a church with grove behind it, so I stay there,” she said. “Or I go to the Starbucks at Eastland.”

That’s probably the whole story. I’ll never know. And doubtless there are many men and women living through similar tough times on streets throughout the San Gabriel Valley.

Sometimes they just need someone to listen.

The first time I encountered this was when I worked at The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner in the late 1980s.

One gloomy Saturday morning in June a security guard at the back door called up to the city room. He asked Chuck Hubbs, the editor, if someone could come downstairs to speak to a guy with a story idea.

As the copy boy, I was low man on the totem pole.

I made my way down, and standing in the alleyway was a 6-foot, 7-inch bald monster of a man clutching a ream of ledger paper stuffed into a binder with a bunch of other stuff piled on top.

His gripe was the government conspiracy out to ruin his life.

The CIA had planted a bug in his brain back in the 1960s. Every move was monitored.

After about 20 minutes, I excused myself and called upstairs.

“Chuck, what should I do?”

“Is he wearing a foil hat?” Chuck responded.

“Nope.”

“Tell him we’re part of the same conspiracy and get back to work.”

I’ve never seen a big man move so fast.

For the first time since starting this blog back in 2007, I stepped away from the yellow tape for a few days — Nine to be exact.

Took a nice trip to Santa Barbara. Hung out on State Street. Played 21 at the Chumash Casino and tried to stay away from the news — even though for a junkie like me that’s nearly impossible.

Seems like there was plenty of action here on our streets.

Certainly the off-and-on rain has also caused its share of havoc too. 

Nine days wasn’t enough apparently to get a state budget deal done though! Guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

I probably won’t have to much to post today, while I get caught up. You can expect the updates to start flowing again tomorrow.

Thanks for all your nice letters, comments etc.

Ciao,

Frank  

The audacity of my hope knows no bounds.

In this new era of responsibility, I’m hoping that somehow our state and our nation get through the crisis before us.

Seems like they are going to do it by focusing on sports.

I both fear and loathe the tactic. It’s as if our elected leaders see us as nothing more than dumb animals easily distracted by shiny objects.

Both Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.S. Rep. Gary Miller, R-Brea, seem to have deployed the tactic in recent days.

If you watched Pomona’s own “Sugar” Shane Mosley dominate and ultimately destroy Antonio Margarito on Saturday evening, you probably saw our governor there. He was siting ringside with his celebrity friends, just behind Mosely’s corner.

Obviously he can’t be working to fix the state budget crisis on a Saturday night. Even so, if you ever needed any indication of how out of touch Arnold Schwarzenegger really is with the common man, there’s the touchstone.

Can he be expected to feel our pain when taxes go up?

He can’t.

Especially when he can afford upwards of $20,000 for the privilege of watching the fight first hand.

Can he be expected to know how difficult it is to make a house payment? A car payment? A utility bill?

No.

Not when he’s hanging out with Sylvester Stallone, Christina Aguilera, and Marky Mark at the Staples Center.

Then there’s Congressman Miller. He’s chosen to take on the Bowl Championship Series, college football’s flawed attempt to crown a national champion.

On Jan. 16, Miller introduced a bill that would cut off federal funds to universities who refuse to eliminate the BCS and participate in a playoff.

Since when do we send folks to Washington to worry about college football?

I know President Obama has spoken of his dislike of the BCS. I doubt that with the thousands of layoffs occurring daily, the standoff in Gaza, the presence of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan he’s proposing to tackle the problem in the first 100 days of his administration.

Miller’s flak Jessica Baker said Monday that her boss put out the bill to address the unfairness of the system.

I asked, “Since when does a Republican proponent of free markets support the use of federal power to address a problem in the public sector?”

Her answer: “Congress has a role to make sure there’s fairness and equality.”

I’ve got another plan I’m guessing would work just as well.

Rep. Miller, if you want fairness and equality in sports, just propose legislation that mandates all college football games will end in ties.

It’s simple really. I do it with my boys when we play football in the backyard. If Thomas, who is 11, racks up too many touchdowns, I, as all-time quarterback, change the rules midgame so Matthew, 7, has a chance.

That’s fair, equitable and removes the shiny object distraction so that you guys can get back to work fixing this country’s real problems.

The e-justice blog has compiled a list of the top 50 true crime blogs internationally. It’s a fun read for sure. Here’s the top three, the rest of the list is here:

1. Cerberus at the gate. Newly retired, this detective shares his life experiences and offers plenty of valuable information to anyone stopping by for a read.
2. View from the cop. This retired policeman blogs about community watch issues, the criminals, and the police who catch them.
3. LAPD Blog. While not just focusing on detectives, this blog does read like a script from Law & Order with detailed descriptions of crimes occurring in LA.

I’m taking a vacation and while I will periodically check in, Brian Day will man the day-to-day workings of Crime Scene.

Happy Thanksgiving

— Frank

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