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WATCHOURCITY.COM
with its
2004
B EACON AWARD

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WatchOurCity.com

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A new collection of original short
stories from the editor of
WatchOurCity.com that revives the
Noir Pulp Fiction genre, with a Latino
twist, based on real-life shenanigans at
small-time local city halls where the
public record is stranger than fiction.

The intrigue, the corruption, the
comedy, the incompetence and every
policeman's ultimate fantasy of sex in a
donut shop.

CUT ME IN is a series of riveting stories
of bumbling and deeply flawed
characters - mobsters, fringe players,
petty thieves turned politicians turned
petty thieves - with dark agendas who
betray their honor, and the public's
trust, on a dime's turn; at times
humorous and tragic; redemption is
always around the corner but flees
when tempted by small ambition; rare
moments of truth are discarded like
chump change, all played out over the
background both bleak and colorfully
gritty of a blue-collar immigrant town
in the shadows of the big city, a town
of second chancers, forgotten and
abused, but aching for a comeback...
tales with no moral lessons to
uncover, only everyday political dirty
dealings with the help of one lone
hero, Chucho* and his beloved
low-rider.

The Editor presents:

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A gay
  Latino
   Mayor

with a lust

A convicted

for money,

cop,

and a hot

Latina

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A courageously innovative, muckraking web site that focuses like a laser on the political, financial and legal shenanigans of the local government
California First Amendment Coalition

Monday, June 8, 2009

WatchOurCity

Bell mayor Oscar
Hernandez
with U.S.
Congresswoman
Lucille Roybal-Allard

Hazmat teams
Removing
hazardous
chemical
storage
drums, alleged
meth lab
ingredients,
from Mayor
Oscar
Hernandez's
rental property

June 8, 2009
City of Bell:
Sheriff Raids Super Meth Lab in House Owned by
Bell Mayor Oscar Hernandez; Bell PD kept Clueless

The Editor, WatchOurCity.com

Bell, CA - On Saturday morning the L.A. County Sheriff's office raided a "Super" meth lab in
the rear house of a rental property owned by Oscar Hernandez, the city's mayor.

The mayor's son and daughter live in the front house of the raided property.

Several news media outlets, including the San Jose Mercury News, KTLA Channel 5, Fox
News, L.A. Times, USA Today and the Daily Breeze report the following facts:
- L.A. Sheriff's raids "super" meth Lab early Saturday
- House is in the cit of Bell, in southeast L.A. County
- Property is owned by city of Bell mayor Oscar Hernandez
- Oscar Hernandez's son and daughter live in the front house
- The raided meth lab is in the back house, rented to the young couple who were arrested
- Two children of the young couple were taken into protective custody by L.A. County
Children's Services.

Mayor Hernandez is a very close political associate of George Cole, former city of Bell
Councilman and current director of the Oldtimers Foundation in Huntington Park. Mayor
Hernandez is also a close political associate of Huntington Park councilman John Noguez.

L.A. City mayor Antonio Villaraigosa gave the mayors of southeast L.A. County cities broad
power and authority during his failed take-over bid of LAUSD.

George Cole is leading the Southeast Schools Coalition in a bid to break away from LAUSD.
This group is comprised of mayors and council members from Bell, Cudahy, Huntington Park,
Maywood and South Gate.

Responding to inquiries about the Meth lab raid on his rental property, Mayor Hernandez told
the L.A. Times that these sorts of things [meth lab raids] happen all over southern California,
as if finding a meth lab, like the one in his rental property, was a common every-day
occurrence.

The Times quoted Hernandez as stating that “These things happen around the town. It’s
nothing new,” the mayor said. “They happen all over – they happen here, in Glendale, in
L.A., in West Hollywood.”

The last meth lab discovered in any Southeast city was July 14, 2000 in the city of Huntington
Park. A clandestine meth lab was discovered only after it exploded, killing 17 year-old Marcos
Antonio Perez who was working in the lab.

The Times reported that "Perez was on fire when he ran out of the apartment unit and
collapsed on a walkway. He died later of his burns...".

The L.A. County Sheriff's office conducted the raid, not the city of Bell's own police
department. According to media reports, the Bell PD was purposely not clued in to the
pending raid.

Reportedly, Mayor Hernandez wields much influence over the Bell Police Department.

Mayor Hernandez's rental property is a stone's throw away from a corner grocery store also
owned by him.

Both the meth lab and the grocery store are across the street from Corona Elementary
School, an LAUSD campus, where George Cole's wife, Judy, was a vice principal at one time.

Most elected officials, like mayor Hernandez, are aware of their own city's zoning regulations,
fire and building safety codes with regard to keeping large quantities of potentially flammable
hazardous chemicals away from a residential neighborhood and an adjacent elementary
school.

To one reporter, Mayor Hernandez stated that he did not know that his tenants arrested in
the raid kept chemicals in storage inside their garage. These are large quantities of chemicals
and are stored within 200 feet of the elementary school across the street.

In another media interview, Mayor Hernandez seems to know what his tenants were up to
and reveals that all those chemicals were really part of the two men's business dealing with
floor cleaning. According to media reports, and published photographs of the raid, several
large chemical drum containers were removed from the property by Hazmat teams.

The mayor's son and daughter, who live in the front house of the raided property, reportedly
claim they knew nothing, nor were aware of any strong chemical odors from the rear of the
property.

According to Sgt. Rich Pena of the Sheriff's office, a "super" meth lab is designated such
based on the capacity to produce twenty pounds of meth per production cycle.

Several questions remain unanswered.

Subsequent media reports indicate that the two men arrested during the raid were released
by the Sheriff's office late Saturday evening. No reason was given for their release.

Why would the Sheriff's keep the Bell Police Department completely clueless about the
pending raid on a property owned by the city's mayor?

The matter is still under investigation by the Sheriff's department.

According to Mayor Hernandez, the matter is all one big misunderstanding.

Some Meth factoids*:
- A pound of Crystal Methamphetamine, or “Ice”, has an approximate street value of
$20,000.00 (sold for $1,200.00/oz. or $275.00 for an “eight ball” an eighth of one ounce.

- 20 pounds would yield $400,000.

- One pound of Methamphetamine produces five to seven pounds of toxic waste.

- A Methamphetamine lab is usually in a run down shack or dwelling away from other places
due to the strong odors created when meth is “cooked” (produced).

- Some items seen at a Meth Lab: Pyrex or Corning Dishes, jugs, bottles, funnels, coffee
filters, cheesecloth, blender, rubber tubing, paper towels, industrial rubber gloves, gas can,
tape/clamps, hotplate, strainer, aluminum foil, propane cylinders (20lb.)

- The following chemicals are used to make meth and are easily supplied from vendors. In
fact, Wal-Mart supplies all these items: Salt (table/rock), Lithium (batteries), Anhydrous
Ammonia (fertilizer), Sodium Hydroxide (lye), Red Phosphorus (matches), Muriatic Acid, Iodine,
Ephedrine or Pseudoephedrine (cold tablets), Acetone, Alcohol (isopropyl or rubbing),
Toluene (paint thinner), Ether (carburetor cleaner), Sulfuric Acid (Drain Cleaner),
Methanol/Alcohol /Gasoline.

*www.floridamamas.com

George Cole,
former Bell
councilman and
close associate of
mayor Hernandez