• Support
  • Advertise
  • Locations
  • Contact
Friday, March 24, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTERS
San Clemente Times
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
  • SC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
  • SC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who
No Result
View All Result
San Clemente Times
No Result
View All Result

Publisher’s Letter: Sleepy Beach Town Joins National Spotlight

Staff by Staff
October 1, 2020 3:05AM
in Opinion Columns, SOAPBOX
Publisher’s Note: Congratulations, Gene James

Norb Garrett

0
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Norb Garrett

By Norb Garrett, owner and publisher of Picket Fence Media

Last week’s tragic shooting of Kurt Andras Reinhold, a 42-year-old Black homeless man killed during a tussle on South El Camino Real with two deputies from the Orange County Sheriff’s Department homeless outreach unit, has brought San Clemente squarely into the national debate on racial equality and police brutality.

While the city experienced a handful of peaceful Black Lives Matter protests this summer in reaction to the numerous deaths of Black Americans during confrontations with police, this incident has put San Clemente on the map for all the wrong reasons.

How we learn and grow from the incident and contribute to the national call for change is largely up to us.

I’m hopeful that the moment and the debate it generates will serve to unify and educate our community, rather than divide us.

Hopefully, we’re able to have constructive discussions that lead to positive action about how to better deal with the homeless crisis in our town, state and nation, and how police and other agencies can be better equipped to deal with it and other social maladies.

There are countless ways to look at the incident through one’s own lens, but at the end of the day, a man’s life was lost during a confrontation with two sheriff’s deputies.

Is it fair to speculate that had Mr. Reinhold simply listened to the deputies and moved to the side of the road that he’d still be alive today? That by choosing not to heed the deputy’s orders, the situation escalated to where he fought with the officers and allegedly grabbed a deputy’s gun and was then shot because the deputies feared for their own lives at that point?

Conversely, is it fair to say that had unarmed homeless services personnel confronted him instead of armed deputies, they might have handled the situation differently and Mr. Reinhold might still be alive while receiving the help he needed?

The truth is, we don’t know all the answers to those questions. We need to wait for the full investigation to know how this confrontation ended with two gunshots fired from a deputy’s gun and Mr. Reinhold’s death.

But as we await the results of the investigation, I hope the community, both internal and external, resists the temptation to jump to judgment and can peacefully engage in civil discourse about how we collectively get better.

Because of this unfortunate shooting death, our sleepy little surf town is no longer on the sidelines of the national conversation about racial inclusion and fairness in policing. It’s time for us to show the state and nation that we stand for warmth, compassion, inclusivity and fairness.

But first we need to show that to each other. 

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

Tags: Black Lives MatterHomelessnessInvestigationOCSDOrange CountyOrange County Sheriff's DepartmentPicket Fence MediaPolice BrutalityPolice ShootingPublisher's Letterracial equalityracial injusticeSan Clemente
ShareTweetPin
Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Local Film Festival Organizer Honored for Pursuits in Storytelling

Local Film Festival Organizer Honored for Pursuits in Storytelling

March 23, 2023

Obituary: Anthony “Tony” Cappa

March 23, 2023
Student Mask Requirements Dominate Discussions at Tense CUSD Meeting

UPDATE: Council Approves Contract for New Legal Services Provider

March 23, 2023
San Clemente Boys Soccer Continues Championship Legacy, Shuts Out Long Beach Poly in Division 2 Final

Triton Report: Seven SCHS Athletes Named to All-CIF-SS Winter Teams; Girls Lacrosse Turns Up Heat in 3-Game Streak

March 23, 2023
Next Post
Upshot of Downloading Spent Nuclear Fuel: SONGS Officials Look to Move Forward from Past Glitches

Guest Opinion: Surfing Community Deserves Truth from ‘Activists’

Discussion about this post

No Result
View All Result

SC Times Daily
Get important news and updates delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here.

Subscriptions
Don’t get the SC Times delivered to your home? Subscribe today.

Advertising
Get new customers and drive traffic to your business. Advertise with us.

Support Local Journalism
For less than the cost of a couple of cups of coffee a month, become an “Insider” member and continue to get “Local News You Can Use” from the only independently owned, dedicated local news organization in South Orange County.

Contribute today.

Picket Fence Media is a proud member of the SoCal Media Network.

  • Archive
  • Contact Us
  • Dana Point Times
  • The Capistrano Dispatch
  • Terms of Use
  • About Us

© 2023 Picket Fence Media

No Result
View All Result
  • Calendar
    • Event Calendar
    • Submit an Event
  • Sections
    • Eye on SC
    • Soapbox
      • Submit a Letter
    • Getting Out
    • SC Living
    • Sports & Outdoors
    • SC Surf
    • Dana Point Times
    • Capistrano Dispatch
  • Digital Edition
  • Best of SC
  • Explore SC
  • Legals & Classifieds
    • Locals Only Business Directory
    • Classifieds
    • Submit a Classified
    • Obituaries
    • Announcements
    • Submit an Announcement
    • Legal & Public Notice Advertising
  • Special Publications
    • A New You
    • Aging Well – For the Young at Heart
    • Best of San Clemente
    • Crib to College
    • Festival of Whales Event Program
    • Go See Do
    • Holiday Happenings & Gift Guide
    • Money Matters
    • Swallows Day Parade & Mercado Event Guide
    • The Green Issue
    • Triton Football Preview
  • SC Guide
  • Real Estate
    • South County Real Estate Guide
    • Real Estate – Who’s Who

© 2023 Picket Fence Media