This has been a tense week around City Hall. Everybody knew that the deadline for filing all campaign documents related to the last City Council election was last Friday at 5 p.m. With everybody looking over everybody else’s shoulder, I was curious how this was going to affect the council. Once all the filings were in, the campaign violation investigation moved up a notch and I expected to see some attacks to try and discredit City Attorney Christi Hogin and her investigation. Frankly, I thought there might be some fireworks and didn’t want to miss it.

So I slipped out of the house Saturday morning and down to City Hall to watch a scheduled special City Council meeting. The agenda indicated they intended to review the city’s fourth quarter reports on program priorities, but anything could happen. Normally, I avoid council meetings like the plague because they’re long and tedious. More often than not, it’s the same suspects saying the same things over and over. At least on cable you can change the channel when you feel it all gorge up in your throat. But I do try to go to one occasionally, if only as penance for past sins and also to do a little research. I like to think of it as taking the temperature of the room. There are some things you just can’t get from watching it on cable.

I was particularly interested because I knew there had been a rather testy exchange of memos earlier in the week between Councilman Walt Keller and Christi in which Walt demanded that she attend Saturday’s meeting (the meeting had originally been set for Tuesday and then at the last moment switched to Saturday) and Christi explained that she had a prior commitment on Saturday to pick up her 10-year-old daughter, who was coming back from sleep-away camp, and that she would be happy to accommodate and meet with them any other day, including Sunday.

That did not appear to pacify Walt in the least. He came to the council meeting Saturday insisting that Christi was an essential part of this meeting, so much so that he made a motion to add a review of her office to the meeting agenda. Councilman Harry Barovsky then rose to the defense of working motherhood and insisted that a promise to a child is something that has to be kept, thereby probably earning for himself the Grateful Single Working Mom Award in perpetuity and for Walt the equally permanent Grumpy Grandpa Award.

The public comments at the meeting of course consisted of the usual pro forma comments from the usual suspects. Art London traveled in from outside Malibu to tell us all how we should behave and to dramatically point out that he was disappointed that Christi wouldn’t be there in person to hear his endless chain of well-chosen words, indicating he didn’t like to speak to an empty chair (to which I heard one of the spectators mumble that he didn’t like to have to listen to an empty mouth).

Gene Wood, another regular, rose during public comment to protest his rough handling at a prior meeting by our intimidating Mayor Joan House, who had wanted him to refrain from personal attacks and maintain a certain level of civility. Wood apparently was previously incensed at her overbearing presence and came well prepared this time. Looking directly at our mayor and speaking in his best off-camera-game-show-announcer-about-to-tell-us-what-was-behind-curtain-No. 3-voice, he began reading from several state high court cases in which it was clearly indicated that a citizen had a right to speak at a public meeting:

• No matter how rude or inconsiderate he might be,

• With no requirement that he show any civility or kindness,

• And that she, the mayor, had no right to impose rules of decorum only, and

• That the speech must only be of public concern.

Then, apparently satisfying both the mayor and the audience that he obviously met all those criteria, he told a tale of standing overlooking a military graveyard in the Philippines and vowing that he would do everything in his power to make sure those people had not died in vain, which apparently included refusing to stop talking when his allotted time ran out.

About that time, I had had it and left the room. I understand later the council, as was typical, got through about half its agenda. Christi’s presence was, of course, unnecessary, as Walt I’m sure well knew it would be. Once again, I felt the bile rising from my gut and decided it was time to take flight, get some lunch and a drink and try to wash out that bad taste you get after most City Council meetings.

This letter begins with a legal item, one of many like precedents regarding Free Speech. Pasadena, California. Federal Court ruling, 1995: “The City Council cannot pass rules of decorum. You cannot edit or restrict people’s speech. It only must be a matter of public concern.”

At the City Council meeting of a week ago Monday, Joan House interrupted a statement I was making and said I could not use a phrase. I was outraged. I contested her, and she said she would decide what words were good or bad, and she would also be the judge of, the arbiter of conduct.

I protested vigorously, and she gavelled me down. I never got to finish my statement. It was not profane and the subject was of public concern.

I cannot allow this to happen to our city.

There is an attempt here by Joan House to squelch public input if she disagrees with the speaker’s choice of words or actions. Squelching public input is also a good device to squelch public opposition. That is why it is prohibited.

This letter actually begins in 1946, in the Philippines. I am about to go home, after being in the South Pacific for some time. I weigh 120 pounds, have recurring bouts of malaria, but I was going home! Two days before I was to leave, I went to the Armed Forces Cemetery outside of Manila. I wasn’t really quite sure why I had come there, to stare at thousands of graves, crosses, star of Davids, some graves only with a name, year of birth, year of death. One for every man who died for his country — our country — for you, for the ideals upon which this nation was founded.

And then, it suddenly dawned on me. I had come to pay tribute. I had come also because I felt guilty. I was going home and they would stay there forever. I then decided I would pay my tribute to these men by an oath that I would defend their ideals for them, whenever, wherever it was necessary.

It is now necessary.

Joan House, do not attempt to stifle speech by citizens of this community. I will fight this every legal way that I can.

Joan House is not entitled to dictate what words can be spoken, or in what manner they are presented. Joan House resorts to repression, because she fails to execute her position as mayor effectively. She knows that, and the knowledge turns her into a control addict. That is my sincere belief.

People are guarantied freedom of speech, and those people must be held responsible for what they say — judged by the community, not Joan House.

Until you renounce your statements made at the meeting, Ms. House, I will oppose you.

I believe it is important for everyone in our community to see the tape of that meeting. It speaks for itself. If you agree with me, please call City Hall to express your feelings about freedom of speech.

Joan House must not be allowed to become Malibu’s speech dictator.

Gene Wood

I want to thank the incredibly honest person who turned in my silver bracelet to the lost and found after the Malibu Art Festival. Mary Lou at the chamber office told me the man left the bracelet with her and said, “I’ll bet this person is really going to miss this.” Well, he was right. I was given this wonderful gift while I was going through a very rough time in my life. After a year which consisted of a divorce, the loss of a beloved pet and losing a parent to a long-term illness, I moved to Malibu to start a new life and the bracelet was a symbol of a new start. It’s good to know integrity and honesty are alive. When I asked for a description of the mystery man I forgot to ask, “Did he by any chance have wings?”

John Barletta

Talk to a clown when he’s not wearing his makeup and costume and discover he has very nice teeth and normal-sized feet. His sense of humor, however, remains irrepressible.

The Troubadour Theater Company is presenting “Clowns’ Labours Lost,” another of its Shakespearean romps, as part of the Santa Monica Civic Light Opera’s summer season.

“The clown character is the actor,” says Troubadour’s Artistic Director Matt Walker. “Imagine these clowns reading the want ads and seeing a casting call for Love’s Labours Lost. When the clown gets out there, how will he act Shakespeare?”

The performances are free to children 15 and under. “The whole show was created with kids in mind,” he says. That may be, but his mere descriptions of the buffoonery are enough to set an adult chortling.

As Walker describes it, “It’s a simple boy-meets-girl kind of thing, but with physicality.” The show opens with pure clowning, then 10 minutes of the story, then more “eye candy.” Accompanying the dialogue are pies in the face, foot stomps and eye pokes.

“If I just have clowns speaking verse,” he says, “I’m not being true to clowning. If I just do Shakespeare, I miss all the physical stuff Shakespeare must have done.” So he asked himself what the play would look like through the eyes of a clown, as well as through the eyes of a child. “After all, I have a pretty short attention span, too.” The show runs an easy 90 minutes. He wanted to call the show “Clowns’ Labours Lost And You’ll Be Home In Time For E.R.”

He says the production is in the period, “cramming the girls into their bodices.”

Girl clowns? Can a lovely, young performer the likes of Malibuite Rachel Wolfe do physical comedy?

“I think I feel more comfortable being silly,” she says. “It comes more easily to me. It’s less of an act.”

Coming from an academic family (her father is an English professor at USC and CSUN, her mother is psychologist Bonnie Wolfe), she turned her focus on “more artistic endeavors,” attending Santa Monica High School where she studied theater with Dr. Frank Ford. Having attended the graduate program at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, she says she is still learning. “This play has really stretched me,” she says. “I had to overcome psychological blocks that inhibit you from flying through the air in the general direction of your head toward the cement.” The troupe rehearsed on trampolines and crash mats.

When the company first met to work on the play, Walker in essence asked each actor to find his or her inner clown. Says Wolfe, “Some is from the outside in, some unconsciously develops as you’re working and as you play off what other actors are doing.”

“I tried to imagine how many clowns I could think of,” says Walker, “from the stereotypical Bozo to the 16th century Pierrot and all the clowns in between.” Each actor took a different clown to match the Shakespeare character — a hobo clown, a bird-like clown, a rainbow-haired clown. He took for himself the “lower-status clown” — goofy, toothless and mischievous.

Walker was born in Santa Monica, then “moved around” until returning for junior high at John Adams. As a child, he made new friends by making hand puppets out of paper bags.

Like Wolfe, Walker studied theater with Ford at Samohi. Now their respective companies share the stage each summer at the high school during the Civic Light Opera season.

After high school, Walker continued to study theater, including physical comedy. At a workshop, his teacher Bill Irwin noticed his out-of-class pranks and remembered him years later. For eight weeks during summer 1997, Walker studied at Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Clown College. “It was like boot camp,” he says. “Six days a week, eight hours a day. We learned clowning, mime, acrobatics, dance, skills — juggling, unicycle.”

He tried joining the circus, but says, “There was no real camaraderie. It was every man for himself.” He also always felt like an understudy, wearing clothes not meant for him, spending too much time backstage while the animals and other acts were on. Walker may be the only person to have run away from the circus, not quite two months into the gig.

“To me, circus has always been about bringing it to the people — getting in their faces and sharing the experience.” He’s happy to see kids scraping up shaving cream after the show and hurling it at one another. “They go home and say they got to squirt a clown.”

Troubadour Theater Company has another important appearance Aug. 11 — before the Santa Monica City Council and probably not in clown costume (although don’t put it past Walker). The company wishes to use the Miles Playhouse at Reed Park (formerly Lincoln Park) for an ongoing program of youth theater activities.

Walker hopes Clowns’ Labours Lost will leave young theater-goers understanding and even liking Shakespeare. “Let’s take Shakespeare out of the library and onto the stage,” he says.

What of audience members who don’t like being teased or touched by the clowns? “Leave ’em alone,” he says.

Any downsides to clowning? “White makeup in the ears is the bane of a clown’s existence,” he answers. He also occasionally leaves the theater having forgotten he’s blacked out a tooth.

“Clowns’ Labours Lost” plays Aug. 6-9, 20-23, 28-29 at 8 p.m. at Santa Monica High School’s outdoor Greek Theatre, free to children 15 and under. Alternates with “Cabaret.” Call 458-5939 for schedule and tickets.

I have read with interest a news article, “Letters to the editor” and “From the Publisher” regarding Malibu City Attorney Christi Hogin.Your reporting of the July 28 city council meeting has brought about this firm’s first letter ever to a newspaper regarding a public issue.

Christi Hogin is an able, intelligent and professional city attorney. I have litigated against Christi and I have negotiated with her. She is tough, fair and always keeps her client’s interest, the city of Malibu, in mind. This, of course, includes the requirement that as either a city prosecutor or civil attorney, on behalf of the city, she must comply with the law and the rules of professional conduct. But enough about Christi, for she needs no defense by me.

It is sad to read your description of the actions and statements of certain members of this city before the City Council. Did we incorporate for this? Perhaps those who spoke at the recent City Council meeting are unaware of something well known to a first year lawyer. If you do not have the facts or the law on your side, attack the opponent’s attorney. Personal attacks have no place in city council meeting or a court room. I note, from your reporting, no instances of an attempted retort by Christi. Again, she was maintaining her professionalism.

Are members of this community advocating the use of badgering, intimidation, slander and harassment when issues, important to them, are at stake? I have no idea whether any of these individuals are in fact the subject of the pending campaign violations investigations, but I do know that such investigation should not be rushed or influenced by individuals that may be the subject of such investigation.

Christi Hogin is a good city attorney. It is her professionalism that is the object of the wrath of some constituents. God help this city if Christi leaves and these vocal constituents are able to replace her with somebody who will bend his or her ear, professionalism, knowledge of the law or sense of responsibility to the will and/or whim of one faction or the other.

Let’s get behind Christi and let her know that we not only support her, we need her.

William A. Kerr