The pilot and co-pilot of the Pacific Airlines DC-3 could be forgiven if they were confused when the gunman burst through the cockpit door that July evening in 1961. No one had ever attempt to hijack a plane in California before. No one had ever attempted to hijack an airplane anywhere in the United States before.

The gunman, on the other hand, was perfectly clear about what he was doing. He had already shot and seriously wounded one airline employee. He had then threatened to kill all the passengers one at a time, if his demand wasn't met. Now in the cockpit, he was ready to issue his demand. Inspired by recent news accounts of passenger planes in other countries that had been hijacked to Cuba, the gunman leveled his pistol at the pilot's head and barked out his instructions. Take this plane, he told the pilot, take this plane to... Arkansas!

If the hijacker's intended destination seems unlikely, so does the scene of the crime: the municipal airport at Chico. The first attempted hijacking, which occurred 45 years ago today, was not, it seems, the stuff of a blockbuster movie.

The Chico Enterprise Record sounds a little defensive in its story on the anniversary of the event, implying that the world doesn't pay enough attention to events in Chico.

Much of what happened that day seems lost to history. There is no mention of the hijacker, Bruce Britt, Sr., then 40, among chronicles of worldwide airliner hijackings. In fact, the event is hardly mentioned. It might be different if Britt had been successful, or if it had occurred in San Francisco, Los Angeles or New York.

But then, it's not just the non-Chico parts of the world that forgot about Britt. As the Enterprise Record story notes: "many reporters were stunned when a reader reminded us recently that on July 31, 1961 -- exactly 45 years ago today -- the first attempted hijacking of an airliner on U.S. soil took place at Chico Municipal Airport."

Britt, a native of Smackover, Arkansas (a wide spot in the road near the Louisiana-Arkansas border), had been working on a gas pipeline in Corning, and was desperate to get back to his wife and child in Smackover. He was broke– he later told the police he was owed back pay– but he did have a car and a gun. Now, some might wonder why, if he had a car and a gun, he decided to hijack a plane. Surely, even if he had been successful, he would have been arrested in Arkansas. Instead, he could have used the gun in a robbery to get gas money. Or, if he didn't feel like driving, he could have stolen enough money for a bus ticket. But no– inspired, he would later claim, by reports of international hijackings, he decided forcing the 7:20pm Pacific Airlines flight from Chico to San Francisco to detour to Arkansas was the best solution to his problem. Why? "I thought it was a good idea," was the explanation he offered the police.

Britt almost missed his opportunity, he got to the airport late. Despite doing 120mph on Highway 99– with the Highway Patrol in pursuit part of the way– he still would have missed the plane, if the flight hadn't been late in leaving.

At the airport, Britt ran to the plane, and took a seat by the cockpit door. A ticket agent who had seen him board, tried to remove him, for not having a ticket.

"This is my ticket," Britt said, pulling out his gun and shooting the ticket agent in the back. He then fired a shot at a stewardess– he missed– and announced that he would beginning killing the passengers unless the pilot did as he said.

"You are first," Britt said, as he turned the gun on a nearby seated passenger and fired. Again, Britt missed. He then headed for the cockpit.

With Britt standing over them, the pilot and co-pilot taxied the plane onto the runway. Then, no doubt in an attempt to separate Britt from the passengers, the pilot told Britt that the plane could not take off until the cockpit door was closed. Confused or angry (or both), Britt shot the pilot in the head. The co-pilot knocked the gun from Britt's hand. Britt then pulled out a knife, but was quickly overpowered by three passengers.

When the police arrived, Britt was arrested and charged with three counts of attempted murder. Both men he shot survived. The ticket agent made a full recovery. The pilot's wound left him blind.

Britt was convicted and... that's where the story ends. This remarkable local anniversary didn't stir anyone at the journalistic juggernaut that is the Chico Enterprise Record to do much research beyond flipping through a couple of old editions of the paper. The best Chico's Paper of Record can offer regarding the fate of Bruce Britt is what it learned from Sally Hicks, the widow of the ticket agent Britt shot. (William Hicks, the ticket agent, died last year at the age of 82.)

Sally Hicks said Britt was sentenced to prison, but believes he may have been released. If he's still alive, he'd be 87.

A rather damp squib of an ending for what should be an important story. A story that reminds us during these times when are we constantly pushed to be fearful of swarthy foreigners, that one of the most dangerous things you'll ever encounter in this country– home of Timothy McVeigh and the KKK, as well Bruce Britt, Sr.– is a delusional redneck with a gun.

Orange County's diaspora of ethnicities is finally coming together against a common foe: whitey.

On Saturday, Anaheim's Little Gaza played host to a protest against the ongoing Israeli destruction of Lebanon, as well as US support for Israel's efforts. Some went so far as call the Israelis baby-killers, hearkening back to the rabble-rousing protests surrounding the Vietnam War and such massacres as My-Lai.

A couple of extremely good points raised by protesters:

1. "It is not kidnapping; it is capturing. Hezbollah did not attack Israel. They did not attack civilians." -Kamal Shamas, 50, Los Angeles, LA Times
2. "Why are they killing civilians? If they want to get Hezbollah out, then go after them." -Ahmad Alam, 53, Fountain Valley, OC Register

Hezbollah is like a militia, and Lebanon is not a huge country. From Israel's point of view, if a known Hezbollah fighter lives in an apartment building of 100 people, either s/he is a dickweed for endangering those people or those people are idiots for not knowing the personal details of everyone in their apartment complex. Usually it's both. Either way, any Hezbollah presence is justification for an Israeli airstrike, with complimentary phosphorus exfoliation and cluster-bomb massage. This is a similar strategy that the U.S. uses when it bombs Iraq; we're not targeting civilians, they just happen to live above, below and around the so-called terrorists we are targeting.

The Anaheim protest got coverage in the Register and the LA Times, but only the Timespointed out the diversity of support for the protest: Orange County's majority of minorities are concerned about tax dollars going to rebuild Lebanon when their own neighborhoods and infrastructure are falling into disrepair.

Latino, black and Asian American activists said they were alarmed at the civilian killings but also said they did not want to use their tax dollars to support the Israeli military or the rebuilding of Lebanon when social services in their own communities are being cut.

In addition to Lebanese and Muslim groups, the action reportedly received support from "Latinos, African Americans, and Jews." Yes, that's right, some Jews are opposed to the conflict. Not all Red Sea Pedestrians are fanatical Zionists who'll support any Israeli offensive, no matter how inhumane or unjustified. It's a case of simple, basic logic. Take a look at a recent press release on the Jewish Federation of Orange County website. According to the JFOC:

Israelis are being injured and killed Israeli soldiers have been kidnapped by Hezbollah Homes and businesses have been destroyed Families are displaced and living in bomb shelters Resources have been stretched thin The situation continues to worsen by the day

Let's examine Sunday's tally. Militants fired 134 rockets at Israel, injuring 48 people (one seriously), according to CNN. Meanwhile, an Israeli airstrike on Qana destroyed a building full of refugees. Initial reports claim 60 were killed, 37 of whom were children. The savagery was enough to force the Israelis to acknowledge the indiscriminate nature of their offensive and agree to a 48-hour cease-fire, not to mention validating the Anaheim protesters who were foresightful enough to carry signs that read "BABY KILLERS".

Anyway, point is, the JFOC's pleas for Israeli support make the need for Lebanese support all the more desperate. Israelis are being injured while Lebanese children are dying by the dozens. Hezbollah fighters' corpses are being held by an Israeli military desperate to prove its efficacy. Lebanese bomb-shelters are being bombed. I'm not saying the Israelis don't need help as well; I'm saying the Lebanese clearly need MORE.

HOW TO HELP LEBANON

Iman Azzi is an American journalist working in Beirut. She recently covered current humanitarian efforts in Beirut (as well as Israeli efforts to impede such aid) for the city's English-language paper, the Daily Star. According to Azzi, donations should be sent to either the Lebanese Red Cross or the Hariri Foundation:

The Lebanese Red Cross is accepting donations as follows: Lebanese Red Cross, Audi Bank, Bab Idriss, Account No.: 841500, Swift: AUDBLBBX Contact info in Lebanon (05) 924017 / 8 / 20 or redcross@dm.net.lb

The Hariri Foundation-USA has established an emergency relief fund to aid the victims. Donations to the Lebanon Relief Fund will be used for emergency medical services, food, water, shelter, clothing, and refugee relocation. Questions regarding the Lebanon Relief Fund may be directed to the Hariri Foundation by phone at 301-656-1666 or e-mail at Haririmail@aol.com or at mailbox@haririfoundationusa.org. Make checks payable to the "Hariri Foundation - Lebanon Relief Fund"

One of baseball's great diversions is the Milwaukee Brewers' Sausage Race, where folks dressed in costumes that look like a bratwurst, kielbasa, Italian sausage and hot dog race each other after the sixth inning. It's really the only reason to visit Miller Park--well, that and the guy who slides into a beer glass after every home run--since the Brewers haven't finished over the .500 mark in 14 years. The sausage race is also the Brewers' homage to the various ethnic Europeans that made Milwaukee a socialist bastion for half a century. Now, the Brewers have announced Mexicans can play, too. "El Picante," a guy in a chorizo suit will run tomorrow, then head back to Mexico until the 2007 season. He's baseball's third Latino mascot, after the San Diego Padre's Swinging Friar and your Anaheim Angels' Arte Moreno bobblehead.

The El Toro Shuffle? The Great Park Gavotte? The Irvine Ranch Water District Toxic Waltz? We should come up a name for the little dance.

It's a simple four step dance, and very familiar one. Scientists point out a looming environmental threat and call for government action. The Bush administration, refusing to act and attempting to dismiss the scientists as panic-mongers and tree-huggers, calls for even more scientific study before it will even consider acting. The further study is completed, and the problem turns out to be even worse than suspected. Finally, the Bush administration announces it will take action, while doing as little as possible.

We've seen the dance done when it comes to global warming. Finally faced with the sort of evidence of a problem it can't ignore– the surprisingly strong ticket sales for Al Gore's movie– the Bush administration has stopped pretending global warming isn't a serious problem, and started pretending its taking serious action to address the problem. Earlier this month, President Bush told that noted scientific journal, People Magazine, that "I'm in the process of solving" global warming. Perhaps in the near future we can look forward to him telling In Touch Weekly or TV Guide that he's busy solving the problem of trichloroethylene pollution.

Yesterday, the National Academy of Sciences' National Research Council release the results of 18 month study, which assessed the health risks of exposure to trichloroethylene (TCE), a common industrial solvent, widely used by industry and the military, and one which has seeped into the soil and ground water at numerous sites around the country. Turns out that TCE is much more dangerous than had been realized when the EPA set the acceptable level for TCE exposure at 5 parts per billion (ppb) in drinking water. (5 ppb is also the threshold the EPA set for action regarding the problem TCE "vapor intrusion". TCE is a volatile compound, and can pollute the air through evaporation. According to 2002 EPA guidelines, when the concentration of TCE in water or soil samples is higher than 5 pbb, steps should be taken to make sure TCE vapors are not polluting the air.) According to the report (available here as a pdf. file) all available evidence points to TCE being a potent carcinogen, and a cause of reproductive and developmental problems, neurological damage and immune system disorder as well. Faced with the evidence of the report, the Bush administration has promised action... sort of. As the Washington Post reports this morning,

"Armed with the results from the NAS review, EPA will aggressively move forward" on a new risk assessment of TCE, spokeswoman Jennifer Wood said Thursday. "EPA will determine whether or not to address the drinking water standard once the risk assessment is complete."

Actually, the EPA already determined that back in 2001, when it proposed to drop to the acceptable level of exposure to 1 ppb. But when the EPA first made that recommendation, it was immediately attacked by the less green parts of the Bush administration. The Defense Department was particularly harsh in its attack on the EPA, issuing a statement claiming "the classification of TCE as 'highly likely to produce cancer in humans' appears to be based on the ardor and hypotheses of the EPA authors, rather than on sound scientific evidence". Not surprisingly, the Bush administration sided with the DoD, and refused to do anything other than asking the National Academy of Sciences to do further research on the matter.

Of course, the Defense Department had a good reason to go on the attack– stricter standards on TCE would force it to clean up many DoD sites, former and current, which are heavily polluted with TCE. Sites like the former El Toro airbase (soon to be the Great Park), and the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station.

As Anthony Pignataro reported in the Weekly back in 1999, not only were those two sites heavily contaminated (samples from the Seal Beach NWS reached as high as 163,000 ppb), but the pollution from El Toro has crept from the military world into the civilian.

A three mile long plume of TCE contamination stretches out from El Toro and into the groundwater under the Woodbridge section of Irvine. The Irvine Ranch Water District has been engaged in a long term effort to clean up the TCE pollution in its aquifer, and despite the fact that some of samples back in 1999 showed levels of 140 ppb, has always maintained that the contamination is not a serious problem for the public. Likewise, the Department of Defense maintains that it has the El Toro site pollution under control, and it will in no way interfere with the creation of the Great Park, or all those homes that are to be built at the former air station (though the DoD's reputation for honesty in this area is not entirely unblemished). Of course, all this was before the latest report.

Whether the new report will cause any changes in how the Irvine Ranch Water District and the DoD handle the problem of TCE pollution in Orange County remains to be seen. Hopefully, like President Bush and global warming, they are "in the process of solving it".

According to the funny papers, the justification for tripling the number of homes in Irvine's Great Park is the tremendous demand for new homes. But this just came from the Orange County Business Journal e-mail alert. (We'd link you to the story, but those slick-haired OCBJ money-grubbers make you pay!):

PROFIT FALLS AT IRVINE HOMEBUILDER

Higher interest rates, more unsold homes, falling affordability and weaker home-buyer confidence contributed to a drop in profit at Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. in the second quarter.

This is also something to keep in mind when Chapman U's Doti and his cronies fill their sunny OC economic forecasts with dire warnings about a need to build still more new McMansions.

Yesterday, Anaheim activist group Los Amigos held a sparsely attended press conference to announce that it had just settled a four-year-old lawsuit against the city's police department. The lawsuit began thanks to a secret spying operation against members of the group who had often complained about police brutality against local activists--allegations that surfaced mostly in articles I wrote at the time, like this one. Apparently, the cops read my stories, and In Sept. 2001, they compiled 500 pages of intelligence (including my articles), interviewed 31 people and spent 270 staff hours at a total cost of $10,000 to document links between the complaining activists and the brutality victims.

Having compiled their report, which included sophisticated "link analysis," i.e. flow charts--the kind the CIA assembles in its effort to ascertain the command structure of terrorist groups like Al Qaeda--then-Chief Roger Baker presented the findings in a closed-door meeting with city officials. It would have remained a secret, but for Captain Marc Hedgpeth, who leaked the spook operation to Amin David, chair of Los Amigos and one of the activists targeted in the probe. Hedgpeth has since retired. He was on hand at the press conference, where he received a hero's welcome from David.

Hedgpeth told me he leaked the operation to David because nobody at the city would do anything to stop Baker from wasting time and money trying to defame law-abiding citizens. "There was a lot of concern among a number of people at the police department that Baker was doing this," Hedgpeth told me. "I talked to the city manager about it and said it was wrong. He said it was none of my business, so it took the matter to the city council. They refused to investigate."

According to David, who now sits on the police department's citizen advisory committee, everything's simpatico these days between the cops and Latino residents. "The days of the Police Association talking about the scoundrels and filth of our Latino community is over," he said. "We don't see that any more. The midnight patrol of police speaking in German, wearing Nazi insignia on their rings, and the beatings of undocumented people--it's over."

David said that fact explains why he and the other activists decided to settle for a total of $50,000 rather than go to trial, although he was sure they'd win. He said he was going to spend his share of the cash doing some renovation work to his house. Other than him, the three plaintiffs in the case weren't on hand for the press conference. Josie Montoya, who died the year after the spy operation became public, had a good excuse for not being there. Her daughter, Jessica Castro, showed up only after the conference had already ended. She said she hasn't been involved in any activism since her mom died; Ceja never arrived.

Besides myself and a Register reporter, the only media present was a camera crew from TV Azteca. As I got in my car, the Azteca reporter ran up to me and said his bosses weren't interested in the story--it was too old, and assuming everything's great in Anaheim, who cares?

"Is there anything else happening in OC right now?" he asked. Sure, I said, and told him about this story.

A few hours ago, a Houston jury ruled that Andrea Yates--the crazy housewife who drowed her five kids in the bathtub four years ago--is not guilty of the crime because she's nuts. You might remember that after her first trial, back in 2002, it took a jury only four hours to find her guilty. The highlight of the trial was when Park Dietz, the Newport Beach forensic psychiatrist (and technical advisor to the TV show Law & Order) told the jury that Yates wasn't crazy. In fact, Dietz claimed, Yates was simply pretending to be nuts after watching an episode of the show in which a depressed mother drowes her kids in a bathtub, and is found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Turns out there was no such Law & Order episode, or at least not one that ever aired on TV. That means Yates never watched it and might actually have killed her kids because she had totally lost her mind. Here's my profile of Dietz from January 2005 in which I pretty much predicted the conviction would be overturned and detailed Dietz' long career of arguing that psycho killers aren't really psycho, just mean. That's crazy talk! Isn't it?

You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they're reporting your actions to meet a quota, even though some top officials deny it.

The air marshals, whose identities are being concealed, told 7NEWS that they're required to submit at least one report a month. If they don't, there's no raise, no bonus, no awards and no special assignments.

"Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft ... and they did nothing wrong," said one federal air marshal

[...]

What kind of impact would it have for a flying individual to be named in an SDR [Surveillance Detection Report]?

"That could have serious impact ... They could be placed on a watch list. They could wind up on databases that identify them as potential terrorists or a threat to an aircraft. It could be very serious," said Don Strange, a former agent in charge of air marshals in Atlanta. He lost his job attempting to change policies inside the agency.

As far as KMGH was able to determine, the quota system seems limited to the Las Vegas office of the air marshal service, (a division of Homeland Security, of course). As noted, an official denial of the quota system was issued. On the other hand, there are those memos.

... [S]everal air marshals object to a July 2004 memo from top management in the Las Vegas office, a memo that reminded air marshals of the SDR requirement.

The body of the memo said, "Each federal air marshal is now expected to generate at least one SDR per month."

"Does that memo read to you that Federal Air Marshal headquarters has set a quota on these reports?" [KMGH reporter Tony] Kovaleski asked.

"Absolutely, no doubt," an air marshal replied.

A second management memo, also dated July 2004, said, "There may come an occasion when you just don't see anything out of the ordinary for a month at a time, but I'm sure that if you are looking for it, you'll see something."

[...]

Although the agency strongly denies any presence of a quota system, Las Vegas-based air marshals have produced documents that show their performance review is directly linked to producing SDRs.

So, the next time you're headed for Vegas, just remember, while the commercials say what happens there, stays there, that may not apply to Las Vegas' air space.

The heat has been wilting the attendance numbers at the OC Fair, so the Fair, concerned that Noël Coward may have gotten it right when he claimed that only "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun" and realizing that the rabid and the British form a very limited fair-going demographic, is making a special effort to attract locals who value a bargain more than their core body temperatures. So, if like Coward's Englishmen you "detest-a siesta", you can print out a coupon (here) for half-price admission. The offer is only good till Friday. And the coupon is only good during from noon-4pm, the hours favored by mad dogs and those from the land of mad cows.

So, enjoy the Fair, and if the heat starts to get to you, just sing along with the great Noël (a 30 second clip at the link will give you the tune):

In tropical climes there are certain times of day When all the citizens retire to tear their clothes off and perspire. It's one of the rules that the greatest fools obey, Because the sun is much too sultry And one must avoid its ultry-violet ray. The natives grieve when the white men leave their huts, Because they're obviously, definitely nuts!

***

Last year, the parent company of the Orange County Register, Freedom Communications, launched this fishwrap to reach a younger demographic since the Reg's core readership was born around the Roosevelt administration (Teddy, not FDR). This followed in the wake of the paper's continuing advertising campaign featuring young, beautiful things. The hipster grab still isn't working, apparently, 'cause now the Reg announces yet another reach for the youngsters. The Orange County Post debuts August 21 and will offer shorter versions of Register articles--a Cliff Notes approach to the Cliff Notes of Southern California publishing. According to publisher N. Christian Anderson III, the Post comes because Reg focus groups demand it: "They are very, very busy – a lot of them have young families – but they are interested in the community and want information about their community. We are designing a product that gives them a single source of information."

A couple of questions: why does the Register keep cannibalizing itself? Register staffers hate Squeeze OC for depriving its mother paper of resources--how will they react to another welfare paper in the family? I can read the entire Register from "The Morning Read to In the Bleachers in about 15 minutes (and that's if I don't read Mickadeit--if I do, add an extra minute)--how long will it take to read the Post? Finally: the Register has long dumped hundreds of copies on unsuspecting area schools in an effort to promote literacy--is the Post designed so Freedom Communication can monopolize the Elmo's World crowd?