This time, Corona speaks out
When I came into work today anticipating a follow up on Baldwin Park school board member Sergio Corona's first appearance at a board meeting since his May arrest, I was expecting another failed attempt to contact Corona.
But I was pleasantly surprised when Corona picked up today and answered most of my questions about the Tuesday night meeting, the charges pending against him.
Corona was cordial over the phone and, for the most part, blunt when asked about allegations of drug and alcohol problems.
He declined to comment on the night in question: May 22, when he was Tased and arrested after allegedly breaking the windows of a Sandstone Street home. And of course, we all remember the recounts of a "shirtless and sweaty" Corona being belligerent police officers.
Corona did say, however, that he has been dealing with some personal issues and is in therapy.
"I went through meditation therapy," he said. "I started meditating, breathing exercises, so that helped. And I'm getting better now. I feel a whole lot better."
Corona would not divulge what those personal issues were.
Despite officers' claims that Corona admitted to having smoked methamphetamine and marijuana shortly before his arrest, Corona denied those allegations and said insufficient results from a toxicology report proved that.
"You know just because they make those claims doesn't make it true," he said. "The facts are the facts. If nothing was found on the toxicology reports, that should suffice."
Corona was charged July 7 with one misdemeanor count of vandalism, one count of resisting an officer and one count of driving without a license.
His arraignment is Sept. 18 in West Covina courthouse.
Corona's license was reissued on June 3, according to officials with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Look for the story in Thursday's paper.
weird how this all works out. Especially when I was at the meeting and saw him pull up, in his own car. So much for suspended driving license.
Reporters and editors of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune often use these blogs to pat themselves on their backs for superficially inquiring, researching, or investigating the interests of the people of Baldwin Park.
Tribune reporters and editors who cover Baldwin Park, however, seldom if ever go beyond reporting the obvious.
This is mostly because they lack the same level of news skills that are typically found among journalists who work at, for example, the Los Angeles Times, which is owned by the same company.
The inequity in news skills may explain why the Tribune failed again to include a timely update this morning on the crime story about Baldwin Park Board of Education member Sergio Corona.
The newspaper knew in advance that the board was scheduled to meet last night and that there was interest about whether Corona would attend.
Yet, the Tribune failed to meet its obligation to the people of Baldwin Park by updating the story in a timely manner.
Most Tribune readers, wherever they live in the San Gabriel Valley, probably don't know that, ironically, the newspaper's editorial offices are located only 12 seconds from Baldwin Park, or just a few feet away. The Tribune is literally across the street from Baldwin Park.
Consequently, reporters and editors of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune who cover what is newsworthy to many people of Baldwin Park have no excuses for failing again to meet their obligation to the people of Baldwin Park by updating the Sergio Corona story in a timely manner.
Actually, it is unprofessional for journalists to engage in self-serving behavior such as congratulating themselves to readers. In fact, such behavior reflects an attitude of entitlement and self-righteousness.
Instead, the reporters and editors of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune should raise their collective level of news skills by simply doing their jobs of keeping the people of Baldwin Park informed in a timely manner. They should do their jobs better than they do now.
What exactly did Corona take responsibility for? If, in fact, he's innocent until proven guilty, than what is it he feels responsible for?
What does Corona feel he did wrong?
The reporter for the San Gabriel Valley Tribune should have done a better job of interviewing Corona--and the editors a better job of scrutinizing her work--so that the people of Baldwin Park could be clear about what Corona is taking responsibility for.
For example, is he taking responsibility for getting out of his car without a shirt the night of his arrest? Because that's not a crime.
Is he taking responsibility for sweating profusely? Because that's not a crime either.
Is he taking responsibility for allegedly ignoring a uniformed police officer's command to stop posing a threat to him by allegedly charging him with so much aggression that the officer was forced to protect himself by incapacitating Corona with two darts from a Taser weapon?
Is Corona taking responsibility for telling police he used drugs before his arrest?
Regardless, Corona doesn't get to use his personal problems as an excuse to behave so badly that police Tased him, arrested him, and pursued criminal charges against him. Students aren't allowed to use personal problems as excuses to engage in behavior so bad at school that they would be expelled.
Corona shouldn't be treated any differently than students who take responsibility for their wrongs. They still get expelled.
Being a member of the Board of Education doesn't grant him the entitlement to receive preferential treatment.
And the people of Baldwin Park shouldn't let the staff of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune get away with continuing to provide the community with basic to mediocre coverage.
Ignoring the Tribune's poor coverage of the concerns of the people of Baldwin Park would be the same as ignoring Corona's intolerable behavior as a public servant for the community.
Ok, seriously, Sergio get a life man. Why would he tell officers he smoked when he actually didn't? Does he really think that people are gonna beleieve that the cops lied about that? Maybe he didn't have enough in his system for the report, but that doesn't mean he wasn't high.
And offthrecordsource, wat's your problem? You gotta lay off man. At least someone is covering this stuff, cause I know a lot of people in the community that dont know S*** about all this "obvious" information that your talking about.
And why don't you get your facts straight. Last time I checked the LA times was not the same company as the Tribune. Zell and Singleton. Look em up.
My bad, "Dude." Thanks for correcting it. I meant to say the Times was owned by a competing company.
I remain adamant about the rest of what I wrote because as the only major, English-language newspaper that covers Baldwin Park, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune is obligated by journalism ethics to inform its readers by tenaciously pursuing and publishing information that is of vital interest to the public.
I have to say that as a parent of a BPUSD student, I am distressed about the behavior of Sergio Corona and the example it sets for kids. Even the hint of wrongdoing by board members should not be tolorated! The actions of the board often determine the future of our students, their reputations should be above reproach.
In my opinion, to run for a seat on the board you should have at least one child attending school in the district (a vested interest).
Warning! Warning!
Concern parents!
Recall the bum...
Is time for Baldwin Park to elect horable people!
Records shown that this man corona is been in truble since 1995
enough is enough grrr...