See the update on page 2 with the Costa Mesa City Council approving privatization of the city jail and the city workers union finding the Weekly's coverage of last night's vote lacking.

Workers United Local 50?

"The former officers of Local 50 have been removed from office after it was determined that they made decisions that jeopardized your future and that of the local," Workers United Secretary-Treasurer Edgar Romney says to the contrary in a statement made directly to service employees. He was onsite in Anaheim last week as an appointed Trustee for Local 50.

The finger was pointed at Edgar Romney of Workers United, an SEIU affiliate, who allegedly came to the 527 S. Harbor Blvd. office of Local 50 demanding the keys to the building as well as the names and personal information of union members so that they could be contacted. Alongside SEIU supporters, he was met by Sandi Ecklund and other Local 50 executive board members who denied them access to all that was being demanded.

The Anaheim Police Department was even called to intervene in the standoff.

See Update No. 2 on page 2 about employee absenteeism being up significantly but surgeries only being slightly down, with UCI Medical Center officials vowing, "We're taking care of the patients we need to take care of." Update No. 1 on the next page has UC official claiming the two-day strike of patient care workers will cost $20 million, the union countering with examples of UC waste and deficiencies, and UCI Medical Center saying 70 surgeries were rescheduled due to the work stoppage.

To protect and serve . . . ourselves?

Police department brass didn't discipline any of the offending, high-ranking officers in the Neil Harvey lawsuit. But Hougan--an acclaimed, low-key, veteran cop with a blemish-free, two-decade record of superb public service--found himself called "traitor" and shunned by other cops eager to win favor from management. A punk in the department even taped a picture of a bomb to his desk.

Strange, unsettling things began happening as well to Hougan's wife, Christine, a veteran police dispatcher in the department. She claims chief Jay Johnson repeatedly violated socially acceptable normals by speaking to her within a few inches of her face, breathing on her neck while she was on duty, making sexually-loaded comments and ridiculing her husband in his absence. Johnson even told others that she harbored wife swapping desires.