(From unknown Los Angeles newspaper, Friday, April 9, 1976.)
Venice Town Council
Votes To Support Hunt
(see yellow highlighted text below)
The Venice Town Council has voted to morally support Ozie Hunt, Councilwoman
Pat Russell's aide, who was arrested March 12 for allegedly interfering with policemen investigating a robbery.
At its meeting Wednesday night, the council also decided to ask Councilwoman Russell to take an official stand
on the arrest.
Hunt. who is still working for Mrs. Russell, goes on trial in May in West Los Angeles Municipal Court. He faces
charges of interfering with an officer and battery against an officer.
Before the vote, one council member, critical of Mrs. Russell, said he did not want to support Hunt because he
is her aide. But Bob Wells said that Hunt was a liaison between citizens and the police and that his arrest brought
"a feeling of outrage and somewhat of a feeling of depression" within the Oakwood community.
Wells, a candidate for county supervisor, said that the arrest was an example of "police represssion"
within Venice. Wells also described efforts that have begun in the Oakwood area to form observation patrols to
watch confrontations between officers and residents.
Rick Davidson said he didn't think the council should take out its frustration with Mrs. Russell on her aide and
urged passage of the support motion, which passed easily.
In other action, the council voted to form a committee to study the feasibility of establishing a "crash pad"
in Venice for transients. One proponent said it was unsafe ---particularly near the beach- -- for transients who
do not know where to stay at night because of a lack of funds.
The council also voted to endorse a letter presented by a woman in the audience which stated, "As members
of the Venice Community and the Fat Liberations Movement, we strongly support the Department of Parks and Recreation
in Venice to offer dance and exercise classes which fat people can attend, but without having the classes labeled
as weight loss, dieting, or trimnastic groups.
"We have seen classes defined in these terms at the Venice Pavilion and while we support the continuation
of the dance and exercise classes themselves, we object to their being labeled in ways which assume the unfitness
of fat people or a supposed desire for weight loss," the letter said.
The council voted to withdraw a motion to censure a member for disrupting meetings after the member agreed to discontinue
disruptive conduct.
At the end of the meeting, the council listened to brief speeches by a Tom Hayden representative and two 27th Congressional
district Democratic candidates, Robyn Hickey and Jack Saffer.
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