To the Editor:
I hope you will allow me extra words on this occasion. Before I give my second opinion, I want to acknowledge the death of Marie Wren. I loved her, as did anyone who met her. She and Gene were among the most wonderful people I met in Fillmore, and I was always struck with one extraordinary quality of hers (among so many), and that was her joy. You could not walk away from Marie and not feel it. Well done, Marie. It was a pleasure and a privilege.

Just after midnight on March 13, 2020, in Louisville, KY, a 26-year old EMT Breonna Taylor and her boyfriend Kenneth Walker III were sleeping in their apartment and were awakened by pounding on the door. Unknown to them, it was the police executing a “no knock” warrant, changed to a "knock and announce" warrant at the last minute (for a person not present and for several addresses). The warrant was actually issued for Breonna’s former boyfriend who had used her address as his own. He later confirmed that she had nothing to do with drugs and no drugs were found in the apartment.
Only one witness of 8, who was outside the apartment building at the time, said that the police identified themselves. Walker, who was in the bedroom down the hall, heard the pounding and the door crashing but not the announcement. He assumed it was an intruder breaking into the apartment and fired. The police returned fire, killing Breonna with six shots, firing another 16 into the apartments above and to the side. Walker was indicted by the Grand Jury for the attempted murder of a police officer, a charge which the District Attorney subsequently dropped.
One of the officers was indicted for endangering the lives of the tenants in nearby apartments by recklessly firing errant shots. As to the killing of Breonna Taylor, no charges. The Grand Jury determined that, because Walker shot first, the police justifiably returned protective fire. Keep in mind that the DA found that Walker had not attempted the murder of a police officer. That Breonna and Walker were completely innocent of wrongdoing, in fear for their own lives and protecting their home, apparently did not register with the Grand Jury. Let's see the transcripts.
This case is outrageous for a lot of reasons. Someone is responsible for this tragedy and it’s not Breonna or Walker who happened to be African-American. The police were apparently not responsible for the contents of the warrant. The police clearly did not effectively identify themselves. Whoever authored and accepted the merits of the affidavit and issued the warrant needs to be identified and scrutinized. The tragedy was set in motion by a governmental agency with responsibility for the warrant and the incident, someone higher up than the police officers. At what point did the sole responsibility for the safety of the officers fall to the young man legally protecting his “castle" in the middle of the night? If you are a gun owner, what would you have done? “Yoo hoo, intruder! Are you by any chance the police?” The police report indicated that there were "no injuries" as a result of the incident. Unless you count the dead woman.
We allow guns to everybody so they feel "safe" in defending their families and homes, then issue “no [effective] knock” warrants or make a faulty entrance in an "open carry" state, and regularly let the government avoid responsibility. While reactive violence is almost never the correct response, justice can be vacated just so many times before people begin to think it is unattainable, and they resist the charade.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore, Ca

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To the Editor:
Fillmore women, please be on high alert...
I was on my way home right now, and everything seemed normal as usual. I was even on the phone with my mom and I had just told her that I was less than a block away from home, everything was fine.
There was little to no traffic and I got all green lights. About a block and a half from my house, (East Fillmore) at the stop light next to Fillmore High School a greyish 4 door Nissan/ Toyota pulled up extremely close to my rear bumper. Thinking nothing of it I continued to head home. After making a right turn I noticed the car was staying right behind me at an uncomfortable proximity. I continued on my way and ended up at the front of my house believing that the car would continue on their way and pass me. Not the case. The car slowly pulled behind me and entered into a parked position. I could here the occupant of the vehicle on his phone speaking loudly to somebody. He had them on his car speaker, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. He flashed his head lights into my car and remained behind me.
Since I live on a corner house, it was completely out of the norm for this someone to park anywhere near my house at this hour. (10:45 at night)
I locked my car doors and called my husband to open the front door for me. As soon as my husband came out and stood on our front porch, the car sped off and left.
According to my husband, he saw the car pull up from our dining room window and was just as confused to see someone pull up so close behind me.
Like I said, as soon as the driver of the grey car saw my husband, he drove off...this was too coincidental for someone to be a random person pulling over to google directions.
Please be aware of your surroundings, ladies.
Predators are in our hometown and they’re out looking tonight.
Sincerely,
Concerned Fillmore Citizen