WOODLAND HILLS—Thousand Oaks Police Chief, Tim Hagel allegedly canceled a fundraiser for a fallen officer out of fear that Republicans may attend the event.
A Blue Bowl Flag Football and first Memorial fundraising event were planned in honor of Sgt. Ron Helus who was killed during a mass shooting on November 7, 2018, at the Borderline Bar & Grill with twelve others. The Blue Bowl was planned as a fundraiser to benefit Sgt. Helus’ wife, Karen, and his son Jordan.
Mike Randall, organizer of Fallen Officers, and an event planner explained in a September 27 podcast that Joy Villa was to open the event with the National Anthem. A pre-game memorial for Sgt. Helus follow before the football game. Actor Scott Baio, a fellow church member of Sgt. Helus planned to attend the event.
In the podcast found at magamedia.org, Randall stated that he had an issue with Villa singing the anthem, saying she was “Radical” and asked about Baio, wanting to know if he belonged to any right-wing groups. Randall indicated he was not sure what he meant by right-wing, but he was a supporter of President Donald Trump.
Sgt. Hagel told Randall, “This is not Trump country. That slogan, ‘Make America Great’ that’s not favorable within 1,200 miles. We don’t want Republicans here.”
In a Fox News report, Randall quoted the Police Chief saying, “The only thing you could have done to make this worse, Mike was to invite Dick Cheney or Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”
Randall stated in his podcast that fallen officer events are not Democratic, Republican, or Independent and people from all parties are invited. Randall indicated 12 messages were left for Congresswoman Kamala Harris with no reply. Senator Dianne Feinstein declined the invite, and Democratic Assemblywoman Jacquie Irwin was not happy that her opponent was invited. Governor Gavin Newsom was also invited, with no indication Newsom accepted or declined the invite.
Randall started the Fallen Officers group to honor officers killed in the line of duty and to raise funds for the officers families. He started that organization after a 7-year-old girl who lost her father on Christmas Day.
Canyon News reached out to Police Chief Hagel, but did not hear back before print. Ashley Bautista from Ventura City Police Department sent the following statement from the Ventura County Sherriff’s Office.
