County bullies in full revenge mode

December 24, 2013

Dan 2OPINION: By DANIEL BLACKBURN

It was a casual get-together of professional women, mostly from the South County and Santa Maria, and the tone was cordial until one of the ladies happened to mention that she had read an article on CalCoastNews.

“The mood of the gathering changed instantly,” she later recalled. “The contempt was palpable.” The room went to ice, and the subject was dropped.

CalCoastNews has been loathed by a segment of county readers since its inception five years ago. That goes with the territory; every newspaper for which I have worked was roundly reviled by the local population. Competent investigative reporting has a way of upsetting fat cats and moral midgets intent on exploiting the status quo.

But my friend wanted to emphasize: What she heard expressed at that gathering was deep, raw, visceral… pure hatred.

News outlets don’t often become the target of anonymous, ongoing, compensated character assassination, and see its reporters probed by private dicks in the hire of public officials.

Nevertheless, it’s all still just part of the job, I guess.

But there’s nothing in the job description about placing one’s family in jeopardy of governmental kidnapping.

That’s the simplest and most accurate way of describing what has happened to the grandchildren of CalCoastNews co-founder and publisher Karen Velie.

(For those of you familiar with social media terminology, the linked article already has been “shared” by 1,536 readers, and is probably CalCoastNews’ most widely read article, ever.)

Velie has been prohibited by order of the court to discuss her family situation, so those of us who haven’t yet been silenced will continue the conversation.

That’s the right thing to do, for Velie, her family, and all of the families now afflicted by these kinds of punitive child welfare services. And it’s the right thing for society.

Those who have followed the grandkids’ plight know that they were taken by San Luis Obispo County’s Child Welfare Services (CWS) last summer on the thinnest of premise after declaring the home of their mother, Velie’s daughter, “dirty.” Since then, child welfare case workers have tried to  justify shuttling the children from foster home to foster home, admonishing Velie to change her attitude and her profession if she wanted to see the children again.

In other words, some CWS people apparently did not like what CalCoastNews has been reporting about CWS’s conjoined agency, the  Community Action Partnership of San Luis Obispo (CAPSLO).

These are not empty assertions. CWS case workers have been oh-so-willing to make these comments with witnesses present or listening.

Check the law: None of these arbitrary “reasons” justify splitting up a family, nor does Velie’s bogus DUI, pasted on her in the immediate aftermath of the CWS abduction.

As the family separation wore on, it became clear from their own comments that CWS employees had every intention of putting Velie’s grandchildren up for adoption.

Did you get that? Up. For. Adoption.

That’s when CalCoastNews published its first mention of the Velie family plight.

The article provided a perception of the county’s CWS policies that generally remain hidden from public view by confidentiality laws and loosely interpreted regulation. But the veil of secrecy surrounding child welfare activities in general is intended to protect the kids, not provide impenetrable cover for inept welfare workers and their unprofessional retaliatory actions.

People need to know about this. Don’t count on most of the local media to bother looking into this situation with open eyes, though, partly because there are too many sacred cows grazing on county largesse, and partly because there is a distinct lack of journalistic huevos hereabouts. This is doubly troubling because I believe an informed, bold, inquisitive, and politically insulated media guards against unwarranted governmental intrusion into our lives.

There seem to be plenty of people in this county who would not agree with that opinion.

They are the folks who are content to sit mute and watch as the sticky fingers of government pluck apart families without sound reason. They are satisfied to look the other way even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of official misconduct.

They are the folks who believe this will never happen to them, or theirs.

Lastly, I should note that this news site’s publisher doesn’t allow reporters to write commentaries. So, figuring that apologizing later will be simpler than getting her approval now, I’m just going to go ahead and post this.

Happy holidays.

CalCoastNews’ senior correspondent says unprintably hateful correspondence may be directed to blackburn.danielj@gmail.com


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Having worked for state government in 2 different states, I quickly became aware that many of those employed by and for government use it as a license to steal. I never thought government employment would give one license to steal children.


Comments below intended to describe county-wide scenarios, but just CWS. And yes, there are Narcissitic women.


I would respectfully disagree with the use of the term “bully”. With the use of this word, I think Mr. Blackburn accurately begins to capture how the rest of us feel, bullied, at the hands of what I would like to suggest are a bunch of misguided Narcissists.


These people distort their own perception of themselves, and with their own reasoning, do whatever they feel truly justified in doing. That’s why they don’t hear us.


Their universe consists of themselves, their distorted self-reflection, and the rest of us as minor irritants, like dust on the mirror they are looking into. They just wipe us aside.


What they do seems right to them. They are working with a flawed moral compass.


Nancy Schaefer exposes the EVIL CPS – YouTube


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TcDTJlPWbE


A speech given by Nancy Schaefer on Child Protection Services The System Can Not be trusted It does not serve The People of USA


Here is one Senator that was fearless…


Report of Georgia Senator Nancy Schaefer on CPS Corruption …


fightcps.com/2008/02/29/report-of-georgia-senator-nancy-schaefer…


Report of Georgia Senator Nancy Schaefer on Corruption in Child Protective Services

.


The Corrupt Business of Child Protective Services | Nancy …


kidjacked.com/family/schaefer.asp


From the legislative desk of Senator Nancy Schaefer 50th District of Georgia. My introduction into child protective service cases was due to a grandmother in an …


Merry Xmas to the Cal Coast News family.


+Merry Christmas to the Velie family+


You are in my thoughts and wrapped in prayers!!!


The NAME dropping begins:


(This is not to say the below individuals are involved in Karen Velie’s case) they may or may not. However, when the same name comes up over and over with gravely complaints it warrants a closer look!!!


Be grateful Judge Teresa Estrada-Mullaney has retired!


Several complaints lodged against Social Worker Flora Sanchez.


This is just a start with the list of names…


I’m sharpening my pitchfork and wrapping a new torch as we speak…


Support (people) should show up at each hearing!!! Even if it is to wait outside the court room. The presence of 1 can change the outcome of a case.

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