The criminal charges against Remy O’Neill and the Road Worriers arose out of the last election campaign, in April 1996, when the three major candidates for city council, then-Mayor Jeff Jennings, Planning Commissioner Harry Barovsky and Planning Commissioner Tom Hasse, running for the two open seats, clashed in a heated campaign . Hasse edged out Jennings by 29 votes amidst charges by the Jenning’s camp of multiple campaign violations by the Hasse group. Hasse’s group countered that the complaints were just that, the complaints of a disgruntled loser unhappy with the people’s decision at the polls.

Following the election, the Malibu city attorney, responding to complaints, opened an investigation to determine if the campaign laws of the city of Malibu had been broken. At about the same time, the Fair Political Practices Commission of the state of California was reported to have begun an investigation to determine if there had been any violation of the state of California campaign laws. Both investigations were conducted simultaneously, one by the FPPC and the other by Malibu City Attorney Christi Hogin.

The battle over the city investigation broke out into the open in June 1998, when Hogin went to the Malibu City Council and asked for permission to hire an outside lawyer to investigate allegations of fraud in the previous April’s municipal election. The city investigation concerned a Political Action Committee (PAC) called the Road Worriers, run principally by Remy O’Neill, a Malibu resident and political activist and a former campaign manager for Councilwoman Carolyn Van Horn. Because this investigation related to his council campaign, Hasse recused himself and said he would not participate in any decisions relating to the investigations. His withdrawal on the issue left the council split, with Keller and Van Horn on one side and Barovsky and House on the other. Since it took three votes for any action, the council was effectively deadlocked on the issue.

Keller, Van Horn and their supporters charged that the investigation was a witch hunt and were incensed that Hogin would neither give them the details of the investigation nor reveal who was being investigated, Hogin stating it would be unethical for her as a prosecutor to do so, nor could she give them a date for completion of the investigation. Finally, in a 2-2 vote, they refused to let Hogin hire outside counsel, which meant she had to continue on without outside help or drop it. She chose to continue on.

In June and July 1998, at council meetings and in the letters to the editor in both local papers, the battle raged. Hogin was regularly trashed by Keller and Van Horn and their supporters at the council meetings and in the press.

In early July, Keller tried to block Hogin from going on vacation until she finished the investigation, but the motion failed in a 2-2 vote in the deadlocked council. A second Keller motion to make Hogin report to the council five days before she left on vacation also died in a 2-2 vote.

Later in the fall, Keller, Van Horn and Hasse began to scrutinize Hogin’s work habits, and Keller made a motion, which passed, requiring Hogin to prepare and turn in time records every week. Keller said he was not singling out Hogin for selective treatment; however, it was pointed out that she was the only city department head required to do so.

Meanwhile, there were persistent rumors that state investigators were in town and looking into the activities of another group, “Malibu Citizens for Less Traffic on PCH,” run by Gil Segel, who also had been active in Malibu city politics.

In November, Hogin was given a performance evaluation by the council, which normally happens every six months, except that this evaluation began in November, again in January, three times in February and several additional times before concluding in May. When asked about this, Keller said, “It’s not a plot” and “It’s unrelated to any investigations.” The term “harassment” was used by some about the way Hogin was being treated, and the situation grew noticeably tenser.

In March it took another turn, and the City Council hired an outside lawyer from the tony law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, a $420-per-hour specialist in representing defendant companies and municipalities in job-related lawsuits, including claims involving employment discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination. House and Barovsky protested they didn’t know why the lawyer was being hired and what she was supposed to do, and Van Horn accused them of essentially grandstanding.

Next, in late April, a five-count criminal misdemeanor complaint was filed by attorney Paul Fix with the firm of Dapeer, Rosenblit & Litvak, the city contract prosecutors who try city cases. The defendants are Remy O’Neill, an individual, and the Road Worriers, a California campaign committee. The matter is now headed for court.

With all the talk about early intervention after last month’s Colorado high school massacre, one usually doesn’t think about an 8-year-old. But a Calabasas father was concerned when he caught his son stealing from family pockets. He asked the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station Juvenile Intervention Team for help and brought his son to the station Friday night.

“It’s pretty rare that we deal with kids that young,” said Dep. Mark Borges, one of six Juvenile Intervention Team (“J-Team”) deputies. “He’s a smart kid. He just doesn’t realize the consequences of his actions.”

Showing the boy the consequences is exactly what Borges did. He showed him the station, including the jail, before grilling him in a conference room. The interrogation went something like this:

Borges: Why do you think these prisoners got here? Some probably stole stuff. Why do you think your dad brought you here? Is it your birthday, a special day or a party? Or did you take something from your dad?

Boy: I forgot what I took.

Borges: You should tell the truth. Was it some money?

Boy: I didn’t see; maybe it was nickels and dimes.

Borges: To buy stuff?

Boy: I just took it because I wanted it. My brothers take my baseball cards.

Borges: Do you like that? Do your parents give you toys?

Boy: I have Nintendo.

Borges: What if I went to your house and took that, would that be good, is that right?

Boy: No, unless I had a right to it.

Borges: So taking money wasn’t good? Do you know that’s a crime? It’s called stealing. Do you know that kids who get caught stealing get put in jail.

Boy: Do they go to school?

Borges: Yes, but they’re not with their families, and it’s not a fun place.

Boy: Can you watch TV?

Borges: Yes, but only what the probation officer says. You don’t have a room to yourself. Cameras are watching you. Everyone can see you go to the bathroom. Kids have to do what the guards tell them, like scrubbing the floors with a toothbrush and cleaning toilets.

Father: Can you imagine doing that? I think you need to realize how serious this is. When you come to jail, you are all by yourself. There is no one you know. You can’t hug anyone.

Borges: It isn’t good to do anything wrong. You have to listen to your mom and dad. They’re the bosses. Think about what you did. Was it a good thing? Your mom and dad work hard; they buy you Nintendo. You can watch good TV shows. What if your mom and dad said you couldn’t play baseball because you stole? Do you understand what you did is wrong? Parents tell you to do something for a reason.

Boy: My brothers don’t listen to me, but they have to listen to parents or relatives.

Borges: Will you take stuff again?

Boy: No.

Borges: Why?

Boy: Because it’s bad.

Borges: You don’t want to talk to me again, because I’ll put you in handcuffs like these. How many kids do you know who steal stuff?

Boy: None.

Borges: Right, so you won’t have to see me again, except when I visit your school, right? I talk to the SANE [Substance Abuse Narcotics Education) deputies all the time. They won’t tell me you’re stealing, right? And you’ll do what what your parents ask you without asking why?

Boy: (Shrugs his shoulders.)

Borges: Another thing. Your dad tells me that you lied about the money.

Boy: I told my mom I found it on the floor.

Borges: It’s not good to lie, even if you do something wrong. Your parents won’t trust you. What if your parents lied to you about giving you a birthday present? So now you know two things you shouldn’t do: don’t lie and don’t steal. Those are two biggies.

After the hour-long questioning, Borges said, “Lots of kids we talk to are with the wrong peer group. Peers are a big influence around 13 or 14. Kids want strict supervision, they want someone to tell them what to do.”

Besides offering parental support and resource material, the J-Team goes to schools to interact with students at lunch and at breaks. They also lecture on topics like search and seizure. “We’re there if the kids want to vent. We want to break down tension,” Borges noted.

“Often kids will ask when police can be brought in to break up parties. Or they’ll complain about a traffic violation. We’ll try to explain from a law enforcement point of view. We want the kids to see it’s not just us against them.”

The team also meets with administrators and teachers at Malibu High and Middle schools to share information. Last Thursday, a coalition of community leaders met at Malibu High School to identify student problems, Borges said. They want to know what students need to feel safe. In future meetings, they want to come up with solutions.

Once a month, the team also teaches a “Parental Resource Program.” Parents are told about juvenile narcotics trends, and youths are given a tour of a local juvenile probation camp. The next programs are slated for June 26 and July 24.

The team also works weekend nights to talk to kids at their hangouts and monitor juvenile activity. Although Valley and Malibu teens don’t intermingle, Borges says, Malibu parents should be concerned because kids will be going to the beach soon.

For copies of parental resource materials, including a “Teen Assist” wallet card with organization names and phone numbers, and a State Bar of California booklet “Kids and the Law: An A-Z Guide for Parents,” call the J-Team at 310.456.6652 or 818.878.1808.

The quiet of Malibu was broken Sunday morning by a virtual armada of vehicles carrying President Bill Clinton to a gathering at the home of singer/actress/comedian/director Barbra Streisand.

The highway was closed in places for 15-20 minutes while the motorcade passed by, reported to us by surprised spectators as consisting of motorcycles, a presidential limousine without any flags flying, a communications van, an emergency medical vehicle, a fire truck (which they apparently picked up from the Zumirez fire station) and a bevy of Secret Service vehicles.

Clinton had been in Beverly Hills the day before for a large fund-raising dinner. No one was saying whether the visit to Malibu was spontaneous or long-planned.

The president has a number of show business friends in Malibu, and some rumors persist that he may be coming here after his term is over. In his last major trip to Malibu in November 1977, he stayed the weekend at the home of Jeffrey Katzenberg on PCH and went to dinner at Georgio Malibu, along with a few of his Hollywood pals, including Katzenberg, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Barry Diller, David Geffen, Mayor Richard Riordan and Kevin Spacey.

On that Sunday morning, he unexpectedly dropped in to Malibu Presbyterian Church for the 9:30 service.