“City attorney resigns,” the headline reads. These words don’t do justice to the grave injustice three members of our City Council have done to a dedicated employee, as well as to the citizens of Malibu! Christi’s contract called for (I believe) a 90-day notice period (during which she presumably would work), a six-month severance payment and payment for unused sick leave, or, about a year’s pay in total. Three members of our council saw fit to buy her silence (what other reason could there be for this overpayment?) by offering more than one year’s additional pay, over and above what was contractually required! What a waste of our tax money. All because she has the integrity to bring bad news to the council when the law isn’t on their side! And this is not just about the current criminal investigation: Hasse has been gunning for her since his days on the Planning Commission.

In our history, we have had two lawyers on the City Council. I know that both of them have a great deal of respect for Christi. But more importantly, they are the only two members of the council, past or present, who have the expertise to critique an attorney in a meaningful way. Rather than jump off and hire someone for political reasons, or because of laymen’s perceptions of legal ability, perhaps the council would create a professional search committee, composed of attorneys and co-chaired by “the two Jeffs,” as they were sometimes referred to when they both sat on the council.

When Jeff Kramer and Jeff Jennings may have disagreed on many issues, they are both respected attorneys and share a professional respect for one another. A committee co-chaired by the two of them using their legal expertise as well as the expertise of each of them gained in the workings of the city as council members would result in a far better search process than we will see if it is left in the hands of our current crop of politicians.

Peter Tompkins

After reading your article about Rev. Dave Worth [“Worth talking about,” June 10], I decided I had to respond. You see, I am the woman you spoke of who he baptized as a baby, and later had the honor of him performing my wedding. Born the same year he began preaching in Malibu, I have been blessed to have him in my life a long time. Even after moving to Long Beach my husband and I have made the drive to Malibu Presbyterian Church many times.

On his last Sunday in Malibu, Dave baptized our 6-month-old daughter. Only a week prior we discussed how sorry we were that we hadn’t found the time to have her baptized before he finished his work in Malibu. “No problem,” he said, “for you I’ll do anything.” Needless to say, he altered his already full Sunday to perform the special ceremony.

Dave Worth will be missed in more ways than one. He has always gone the extra mile for anyone who needs him. Truly a man of God, this pastor has given his heart to Malibu. He and his wife, Nancy, are in my prayers.

Allison Lee McKellar

When the issue of cityhood was first placed on the ballot before the voters of the city of Malibu, we were stampeded into cityhood on the single issue of no sewers ever in Malibu. Keep Malibu rural, and keep Malibu isolated were the twin themes of the election. The man who was most qualified to become a city councilman in Malibu was vilified. He was portrayed by the Keller clique as the henchman for Pepperdine and development in Malibu. He was probably the best candidate on the ballot, and as time has defined his character, he was falsely accused in a typical underhanded Malibu election fraud. His name is Judge John Merrick.

We really miss Judge John Merrick on the Malibu City Council. He would have been the peace keeper on the City Council, and he would have knocked some sense into our petty, myopic and paranoid City Council. Judge Merrick is a pragmatist, and Judge Merrick understands the concept of compromise. Our City Council has never understood either circumspection or compromise.

Our beaches in Malibu are polluted, and they are full of feces and fetid materials. Our local boys and girls are forced to swim and surf in feces, gray water and other septic overflows. Why? Because we have always felt that a dirty ocean filled with septic runoff is better than a clean sewer system in Malibu. Blockheads we are in Malibu.

How many times do we have to learn the lesson of compromise in this city. We have paid dearly for the many battles that Walt Keller and Carolyn Van Horn have waged in futility against individual property owners and the owners of Paradise Cove. Now that Tom Hasse has joined Van Horn and Keller as the governing clique of the City Council, we have once again returned to the politics of micromanagement and character assassination. Walt Keller was defeated once, and he promised that he would change his spots. He has not. The firing of Christi Hogin and the payoff of $227,000 to her as tribute so she would not assume the mantle of obsequiousness to Hasse, Keller and Van Horn is an unending story in the City of Malibu. Disagree with Keller, Van Horn and Hasse, and heads will roll.

There is no democracy on the City Council in Malibu. It is a petty dictatorship that must be abolished. In the next election we must return to sanity in Malibu. The city cannot continue to make gratuitous payouts to developers, mobilehome park owners and employees because they do not genuflect to Keller, Van Horn and Hasse.

I suggest we elect rational and realistic City Council members in the year 2000.

Judge Merrick, where are you? We need your voice of reason more than ever in Malibu. It is never too late to admit a mistake and to rectify the mistake.

J. Patrick Maginnis

Art curator Carl Schlosberg is at it again, brightening up the summer landscape with new sculptures by Ed Benavente, Ken Bortolazzo and Bret Price.

Installed in public spaces all over Malibu’s Civic Center, the collection combines the humor of Benavente’s steel men, long-legged, big-footed stick figures and a great, green pedestrian inspired by the “Walk” symbol. Bortolazzo’s architectural constructs of polished stainless steel and Price’s brightly painted, sculptured steel tubes and spirals enrich dull parking lots, as well as garden shopping spots.

Reactions range from smiles to curiosity and sometimes dismay.

Schlosberg says there’s no place like Malibu for outdoor displays of art, and that it could not be done in Beverly Hills or Brentwood.

“The reality is, in order to avoid bureaucracy, I chose user-friendly, very cooperative landlords who gave me carte blanche,” he said. “It was only through their courtesy and lack of restrictions that I could put them where people go.”

The pieces were designed by the artists for specific sites, blending with the lush landscaping of the Malibu Racquet Club and jutting out prominently in the bare fields on Civic Center, Webb Way and Stuart Ranch Road, where they can be seen by motorists and bus riders. At Malibu Colony Plaza, shoppers and tourists pass six, two by each of the artists, and Michael Koss’ Malibu Country Mart, already home to several permanent sculptures installed over the past few years, has four new pieces.

“He bought that big piece of Benavente’s for the site two years ago and [Country Mart tenants] Malibu Lifestyles owners bought the granite fountain installed at the entrance, and Tra Di Noi has the classic reclining nude,” Schlosberg said. “Malibu is developing some permanent art for its public spaces. The city is enriched by that generosity.”

Jerry Seymour, Racquet Club manager, welcomed five sculptures to the beautifully landscaped entrance and gardens beside the dining patio and courts.

Malibu Bay Co. made three sites available for the exhibit, including the field where three of Francois Lalanne’s steel-and-cement sheep appear to graze. (See related story, Page A1.)

“We think the sculpture exhibits are an asset to the community. It helps stimulate people’s interest in art, and it’s a wonderful cultural resource to have this art displayed in prominent places in the community,” said David Reznick of Malibu Bay Co.

“Little by little, Malibu is getting a collection of public art that enhances the visual and spiritual life of its inhabitants and visitors,” Schlosberg said. “One of the messages it sends is that we care, somebody cares. Someone has installed something beautiful and left an unspoken and unwritten message.”

Schlosberg will personally conduct tours on three weekends, meeting in front of Coogie’s. “We’ll use a van or caravan depending on how many people want to go,” he said. “I’d love to walk, it but it might be too far for some people.”

All of the artists have smaller works on exhibit at Schlosberg’s Malibu Road home. Viewing is by appointment only.

Schlosberg says, “Maybe another piece of art will remain after the exhibit ends in August.”

Tours of the summer exhibition begin Sat. and Sun. at 11 a.m. and continue July 10, 11 and July 24, 25. Weekday viewing by appointment. Call 310.456.8687.

Since no one seems to be talking about anything other than the sudden departure of our city attorney, I decided rather than rehash old ground I would write about something totally different: crime in Malibu.

Some of you who have already seen the front page know there was a major crime in town this week. Recently, some of you may have noticed three sheep standing in a field at the intersection of Civic Center Way and Webb Way. It was reported to me that sometime between last Thursday night and early Friday morning, the middle sheep, actually a ram, vanished. I spoke to a deputy involved in the investigation, who agreed to give me information but only on background because this is an active, ongoing investigation.

He said they had received a number of anonymous tips and had begun to question some people at City Hall, which is very close to the scene of the crime.

One City Hall insider said he thought the sheep hadn’t been stolen at all and suggested it probably left voluntarily. When it was pointed out to him this seemed highly unlikely since the sheep was actually concrete, he apparently scoffed and said, “How do you know the sheep was concrete? Perhaps it was just pretending to be concrete while planning its departure.” This line of logic seemed rather farfetched until we heard there is a fund at City Hall for animal relocations and apparently a withdrawal had been made recently. But we were told the withdrawal was merely from the accrued fodder fund and didn’t mean the ram was asked to leave.

The detective had also heard rumbles that things were not that harmonious among the three sheep, that the sheep on either end were upset because the ram was always in the center while the two ewes were on the ends, and that there was a secret vote and thereafter the ram was allegedly told to leave. Apparently, they wanted to rotate the center position and the ram refused to budge.

Another City Hall source said that wasn’t it at all. She said the reason was that the ram was grazing in a tsunami/flood plain. She had attended a seminar recently about liquefaction, and it was her opinion that, since this was a well-known liquefaction zone, the ram probably just slipped into the ground. We were skeptical because the other two sheep are still there, but she said they talked about that at the seminar and our area was susceptible to “spot liquefaction,” and any time anything is put on that land, that’s where the liquefaction occurs.

We then had a call from a radical environmental activist group, “Sheep Up.” Although not taking credit for the disappearance, the group felt it was really a political act of protest. Sheep, a spokesperson said, were inherently bad for the soil, destroying indigenous vegetation, and since this was a highly sensitive area of coastal scrub and junk (“junk,” by the way, is a subspecies of the coastal scrub), perhaps that was why the sheep suddenly vanished. We said considering the ram was concrete that didn’t seem very likely. That didn’t matter, he countered, because this was a symbolic political act — this was a concrete symbolic sheep eating symbolic grass in a symbolic wetland/ tsunami/liquefaction zone. Finding it hard to refute that tight logic, we moved on.

Another local called us to say it was absolutely clear to him that it could only be the Malibu Bay Co. that was responsible for the disappearance. He said there was a clear historical record that whatever bad occurred in the Civic Center was the fault of the Malibu Bay Co. In fact, he had called a member of the Planning Commission, and she told him it’s written right into the Malibu General Plan, in the boilerplate section, in bold letters. It says, “IT’S THE MALIBU BAY CO.’S FAULT.”

So we called the sheriff’s investigator back. He said livestock rustling was rather common in rural areas like Malibu but the investigation, unfortunately, had stalled in a jurisdictional dispute between the Sheriff’s Art Squad and the Sheriff’s Rustling Squad, and they were awaiting a decision from downtown as to which group was to proceed.

He said he’d call back.

P.S. An interview with Councilwoman Joan House and former City Attorney Christi Hogin is currently airing on Falcon Cable (The Malibu Government Channel).

Your reckless disregard for the truth sunk to a new low in your “From the publisher” column last week. This forces me for the second time in a month to correct your misstatements of fact. If this keeps up, I’ll need space for a weekly column.

City Attorney Christi Hogin was not fired as your editorial implies. She was not “asked to resign” as the Fourth Malibu City Council (1996-98) “asked” former City Manager David Carmany to resign in 1996. Ms. Hogin made the decision to resign. Per the terms of her contract, approved by the Third Malibu City Council (1994-96), Ms. Hogin was entitled to a compensation package including earned, unpaid wages, notice (pay in-lieu of), accrued, unused sick leave, unused vacation and unused administrative leave and severance pay. This totaled $118,000.

In addition, since Ms. Hogin served as Malibu’s first full-time city attorney for five years, the City Council asked her to remain as a legal consultant to our new city attorney until January, 2000. I am very pleased that Ms. Hogin agreed to our request, which clearly demonstrates her commitment to the city she served for nine years. For that service, the City Council agreed to pay Ms. Hogin the equivalent of her annual base salary and COBRA benefits since the amount of her time needed to perform her legal consultant responsibilities to the city is unknown and could pre-empt her ability to seek and secure full-time employment during this transition period. This compensation offer totaled $109,000. Added to the aforementioned contractual obligations to Ms. Hogin, incurred by a contract approved by a past city council, Ms. Hogin’s total compensation package is $227,000.

As to your “supposed” reporting that I “cut a deal” with Mayor Walt Keller and Mayor pro tem Carolyn Van Horn to remove Ms. Hogin as City Attorney in return for their endorsement of my 1998 candidacy, well, obviously your imagination is overheating again, Arnold. There was no such deal. But, I’ll file this false accusation away with all of the others you’ve leveled against me over the years. It’s grown to be quite a collection. There was your classic 1994 fib-a-roo that claimed I said I’d take the mobilehome park rent control ordinance all the way to “the Supreme Court.” I never said such a thing. Your 1997 Big Whopper was that I told the Los Angeles Times the city of Malibu was “going bankrupt.” Not only did I never say the city was going bankrupt, but you can imagine my surprise when the Associate Press reported you were the source for the bankruptcy quotes. That revelation was certainly an eye-opener into how you operate.

Of course in last year’s election you went into spin cycle overdrive claiming (1) I didn’t want Kanan-Dume Road re-opened (Wrong again — I supported its re-opening from its initial closure in 1996); (2) You claimed I was Keller and Van Horn’s puppet (I’m nobody’s puppet, Arnold, as my voting record clearly demonstrates, and, of course, least of all your puppet, which I suspect is the cause of much of your misreporting); and (3) My ’98 election would mean the city’s intergovernmental relations would die. Frankly, I inherited an intergovernmental relations mess thanks, in part, to your constant badmouthing of the city of Malibu to anyone who’ll listen. I’ve led the effort on this council to hire two experienced lobbyists to help us actually get results. In fact, just three weeks ago, I spent the day in Sacramento with our lobbyist meeting state legislators trying to do just that.

Finally, your remarks last week at our City Council meeting where you claimed “we all know” that the city attorney’s resignation was “tied in” to the current 1998 campaign finance investigations and prosecution was not only out of line for a supposed “objective” journalist, it clearly demonstrated, once again, your obsession with this issue. For the record, as I have told you repeatedly, I publicly recused myself from any City Council deliberation on this subject last year in order to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest although I legally did not have to do so. And I have refrained from even inquiring about any city prosecutions (code violation cases, parking tickets, etc.) including the camping finance case.

Your constant spin doctoring is substance abuse, Arnold. The community deserves factual, fair and balanced reporting from the publisher of this newspaper, not a weekly malicious prosecution in the court of public opinion. Ironically, the only one “gagging” a free and fair press in Malibu is you.

Tom Hasse

city councilmember

Noticed in the other “newspaper” that Hasse figured only about five people considered his proposal as censorship. As one of the fulminating five, I thought you would be interested in noting that the Malibu and Los Angeles Times are not the only newspaper skeptics. [An] article appeared in the Sacramento Bee, a paper not known for being conservative by any stretch of the imagination.

Having traveled the world, and in the past found that mentioning Malibu was my home always was greeted with respect, awe and even envy, I’m afraid with this group of council clowns the admittance that Malibu is my home will be met with pity, scorn and derision, sentiments which are sure to be augmented by the latest fiasco — the $227,000 city attorney “firing” and buy-out. It’s great Malibu is so rich we can afford to use public funds to afford very expensive lawyer consultants and costly staff removals just to satisfy some of our inept councilmembers’ egos.

Wayne Estill

About a year ago, you published a letter in which I sarcastically took Caltrans to task for failing to properly repair the stretch of PCH just south of Big Rock Drive. Whether my sarcasm was too obtuse for the dim bulbs that head this incompetent state agency, or if it even cracked their thick, intransigent skulls, I’ll never know. But the latest offense is too much to ignore.

These past few weeks, virtually the entire stretch of PCH — from Topanga to Trancas — has been prepared for major repaving. Vast stretches, in fact, that don’t need repaving at all. Add to this the gazillions spent on various landslide projects over the past quarter century and the question remains, why has the stretch of severely warped and buckled highway south of Big Rock never been addressed? Compared to their other projects, this should be a minor project on Caltrans’ radar. Yet for 25 long years Malibu has suffered through dozens upon dozens of amateurish patch jobs every time another season of rains buckle the highway.

Would our esteemed City Council please take up the baton and do something about this problem? Please? Caltrans has proven that they can move mountains, literally. How hard can it be to bulldoze a few annoying humps on a highway? If there’s a reason this can’t be done, the morons running Caltrans owe the citizens of Malibu an explanation.

Wade Major