There are some worse than city politicians

DANETTE GOULET

This week, I was planning on writing about the bumbling Planning

Commission.

I was going discuss how the commission took four months to study

the Poseidon Corp.’s proposed desalination plant, overstepping its

responsibilities of simply passing or denying permits and trying to

decide if its members wanted the plant in the city, and how the group

eventually passed the buck to the City Council without ever making a

decision.

That was until I went to my car Tuesday morning.

I unlocked my car -- juggling my gym bag, my purse, my lunch and

my too-full coffee mug. I tossed all but the coffee mug and keys in

the back seat and whipped open the driver’s seat door.

I know I’m a bit messy, but something was wrong here. The glove

box was open and its contents strewn all over the passenger seat. I

plopped down into the driver’s seat as it dawned on me that my car

had been . My eyes traveled up to the passenger side window that I

had opened half way the night before so that my dog, Bandit, could

stick her face out the window.

Darn. It was my own fault.

But hey, what did they get? I took stock. They took my brand new

$10 sunglasses, which were in an Arnette case, giving the allusion of

being expensive glasses. Sucker -- the expensive ones were lost weeks

ago.

They also took my car manual -- because that will fetch a good

price -- which also contained my nearly expired registration and

insurance card, neither of which do anyone any good but me. Boy, this

burglar was a dope.

Oh wait, they also braved moving a couple dirty tissues to get

some cash -- well, sort of cash. They got one Monte Carlo dollar and

one Luxor dollar. They’d better hope the next car they steal from has

tickets to Vegas in it.

So, I got lucky.

The burglar’s big score was my new, cheapo, knock-off sunglasses.

Then it occurred to me -- what a sad commentary on society. I felt

it was my own fault my property was stolen because my car was not

locked up. I counted myself lucky that only a couple items were

stolen and that the thief was too petty to pop the trunk and look in

there.

There is no safe haven or city. I consider the area of Downtown

where this happened to be relatively safe -- yet I was not surprised.

This is an everyday sort of occurrence -- it could have, and probably

did, happen to any number of people in any number of cities across

the United States last night, not just here in Huntington Beach.

What has caused this and far, far worse to become an accepted ill

of society?

Is it how some are raised? Is it a question of opportunity and

hardship?

Is there no way to turn back from the society we’ve become?

I’m not worried about my meager possessions, nor would I be if

they had popped the trunk and stolen the VCR that happened to be in

there.

I am worried about my cavalier attitude toward crime and what has

become of my estimation of people.

So while City Council members and planning commissioners aren’t as

low as the creeps who broke into my car, they’re still not off the

hook.

* DANETTE GOULET is the city editor. She can be reached at (714)

965-7170 or by e-mail at [email protected].