Imperial Valley College Academic Senate Discusses Wind Zero project, 2009-05-20

Citizens Oversight (2009-05-20) Raymond Lutz

This Page: https://copswiki.org/Common/M793
Media Link: http://youtu.be/vFRCIlL-MJY
More Info: Private Mercenaries, Wind Zero

Imperial Valley College Academic Senate discusses the endorsement of the Wind Zero (blackwater-like) training facility, which is prominently displayed on the Wind Zero website but apparently not really an official endorsement of the college.

At the prior meeting, we were invited to come back and they would invite the college president, Dr. Ed Gould to attend. Instead, we were provided with an email from Dr. Gould and the chair said he was right next door and would be happy to answer any questions.

Raymond Lutz spoke as a member of the public and suggested that Dr. Gould come into the meeting. He came in and when Lutz attempted to make further comments, Gould played the "outsider card", forcing Lutz to state his residence address. Lutz initially declined to state his residence address, citing the ruling from the California State Attorney General per the Brown Act. When they persisted, he relented, but then they did not let him speak, stopping the item because it was "out of scope."

At the end of the meeting, as you can see on the video, Lutz went up to meet Dr. Gould as he exited the interior door, presented his business card, shook his hand, but then Dr. Gould said "you're not welcome on campus and you must leave immediately." Lutz questioned that concept, since if the meeting is subject to the Brown Act, then the meetings must be open to the public. As you can see, Lutz was called over by the chair to chat briefly about the fact that the agenda item was probably inappropriate for the scope of that committee. That conversation was just about complete, and others were still gathering up their things and having conversations.

At that point, Dr. Gould called from the lobby area, saying that it was the second warning to get off campus. Lutz walked back, said "okay" and packed up his gear. I think you will agree that Lutz was not causing any great disruption on campus, except that he was bringing up the fact that the college probably was out of line with their "endorsement" of Wind Zero.

After Lutz packed up his camera gear and tripod, he walked out to the lobby where Dr. Gould was carrying on a conversation with Edie Harmon. Without interrupting, Lutz, courteously asked Gould for his business card so additional material could be sent regarding the issue of whether a member of the public can be required to divulge their residence address during a meeting.

Instead of the typical response of "I've got your card, I'll send you an email" or "I won't be able to get you one right now, please look at our web site," or even "Sure, just a second, I'll have my secretary get you a card", Lutz was greeted with a "I'll have you arrested if you say even one more word, I'm sure you won't like that kind of treatment, will you Mr. Lutz?"

Since there was really no "disruption", you can only wonder why Dr. Gould is so hot under the collar about this -- perhaps there is more to the notion that something is amiss here??