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After a beautiful but tiring hike I sat atop Yosemite Falls enjoying the panaromic view around me. Yosemite Falls are spectacular, plummeting more that 2,400 feet from top to bottom. The natural beauty was interrupted only by a single sign “Warning, falling or diving from these falls could cause serious injury or death.” Really?? Who would have thought that falling down eight football fields could cause injury? It is moments like this that I am embarassed to be a lawyer. You just know that the sign had to be posted because some yokel drank a six pack, fell from the cliff and then sued claiming that no one had warned him that he might be hurt if he fell. Again, really??
Mission Viejo has its latest competitor for the Darwin award as this story has been broken by the Mission Viejo Dispatch:
Ping Pong is Big Time Politics In Mission Viejo
“Two ping-pong players at the Murray Community Center have filed medical claims totalling $58,000 for injuries in two separate incidents.
Del Weisz filed a $36,000 medical claim against the City for a concussion and subdural hematoma suffered while he was playing table tennis at the Center. He described the incident as follows:
I was playing regularly-scheduled table tennis with a group of players at 2 tables provided by the Community Center in the Hibiscus room. I moved to the right to hit a ball, tripped and fell, and hit my head full force on the side of the pool table also in the room.”
So Mr. Weisz evidently feels that if you won’t spring for your own ping pong table, and you take the game WAY too seriously, the City should pay when you make a fool of yourself? Interesting.
Of course in generally idyllic Mission Viejo this laughable incident has unbelievably created political attacks on the newly elected Mission Viejo City Council. Mission Viejo Dispatch Editor Brad Morton posted the following:
“[Editor’s Note: The City will spend $4 million to give the Marguerite tennis club players more room; and maybe another million bucks to give dogs more room. Forget the injuries – how long can the Council majority endure the embarrassment of not having the most expensive and prestigious ping-pong facility in California?]”
So, on the one hand Mr. Weisz sues the City claiming that they have not provided adequate ping pong facilities (I am really trying to keep a straight face as I write this), and on the other, a small group of out of power local activists that just complain about everything (I have labeled them the “naysayers”) are worried that the City will spend too much on ping pong.
I guess I should be happy to live in a City where the biggest issue of the day is the amount of room needed for public ping pong.
“.. some yokel drank a six pack, fell from the cliff and then sued ..”
Most likely his heirs sued – he was flattened.
Geoff. Your portrayal of the Dispatch is insider baseball to Juice readers who lack the background of this episode. We role out the red carpet for any special interest who show up at city hall.
So a ping pong player fell and hit his head. Are we going to be sued by every resident or visitor who is injured by their own actions in any of our rec centers or parks? If that’s the future for MV perhaps we should shut them down or sell them to the private sector.
And as to council actions reported by the Dispatch editor. Brad does not add comments on this blog nor was he referring to the new council. His remarks relating to the addition of one tennis court, some news lighting and renovation of a clubhouse, for 250 MV residents is surely not warranted. This is a “club tennis” project when in fact the tennis center is closed for several hours every weekday.
This CIP expansion is “starting” at $3.7 million dollars in the middle of a major national recession simply to appease a few tennis players. Talk about a special interest.
Yes, I am one of your “naysayers” in Mission Viejo who has spoken to seniors who are struggling to make ends meet as they watch our council spending OPM without flinching. That former council majority spent around $400,000 for a Rose Parade float that was simply not justified no matter what a few locals may argue. I’ll drop the Rose Parade story as Juice readers have already seen my series on that topic.
Larry, the funny thing is that when you and I step out of discussions of Mission Viejo, we agree on almost everything. Mr. Morton and Dale Tyler have run VERY SMALL but the only media outlets in Mission Viejo for some time with almost no checks and balances. Mr. Morton does allow some comments, but he chooses which ones are posted and which ones are not. In fairness, it appears that Mr. Morton excludes posts that he views as vitriolic, but his site is censored nonetheless. Mr. Tyler makes his usually inaccurate statements while allowing NO opposing commentary. Collectively, using these guerrilla media outlets, the naysayers have been able to gain control of the local arm of the GOP. I think that their actions have generally been divisive and not in the interests of the party as a whole. Their efforts have also been misleading in that they put out a “Patriots’ Tea Party Voting Guide” much to the dismay of the REAL Patriots Tea Party that does not endorse candidates.
I look forward to lively debate as I challenge the posts and statements of Mr. Tyler and Mr. Morton bringing South County politics to the fore of the Juice.
I’d forgotten that you two are often at odds on MV matters. I just figured I was bringing in another articulate rightie so that Larry wouldn’t be all alone here! Hope you didn’t think inviting Geoff on was a shot across your bow, Larry.
Brother Vern. Not at all.
I will offer my hard hat if Geoff wants to borrow it as he enters the blogger arena where we are each exposed to known and unknown author comments on our posts.
As you know I do not need to wear a suit of armor when it comes to my posts.
An area where Geoff and I fully agree, well almost, is in the world of eminent domain and redevelopment abuses. Geoff’s role is that of a highly compensated litigator while mine is a non paid volunteer lobbyist.
Geoff.
I’m sure you will agree that our initial contact was in 2010 relating to Measure D. While you have been a resident of Mission Viejo for a number of years I am not sure if you are aware that I served as president of the local Republican party, as you label it, from 1997-1999 and again from 2001-2002 when I was termed out.
There are new leaders of the Saddleback Republican Assembly Board, some of whom I do not fully agree with on various issues which in my view is healthy. One LG in MV is too many.
As to the TEA Party voter guide I will say that Brad Morton and the Dispatch had nothing to do with it. In fact I do not know who created and distributed it. I was surprised when finding a copy on our front step after getting a heads up from Greg.
As to the other MV blog. The only comment I can add is that not all bloggers have the time to read and respond to reader comments. In that sense I would not label it as a conventional blog. You might have seen the Juice referenced in some of their earlier posts but you will not find a single comment from me responding to any of their posts.
The same is true for a MV resident man named Dan whom we each know. He attacks me on a regular basis on his own blog. I do not lose any sleeep over his negative comments nor should any blogger who puts his fingers on our keyboards.