Three Flats, Make That Four.

New Years day started rather deflated for us, as the two rear tires on the Radio Brandy van at our California campus were found slashed as well as the spare. We are sure a story we were covering regarding discrimination when it comes to code and law enforcement in northern Los Angeles county had nothing to do with the tire damage. Unless you entertain the fact that outside of those who work in law enforcement for the county, only a very few knew of our location, and the last time we did a sensitive story regarding the county, we had glue placed in our locks, and a staffer assaulted, during the assault the staffer was told if the story continues there would be more trouble. You would think this was Texas, but no it's Los Angeles county where a certain religious group receives favorable treatment when it comes to enforcement of the law. The discrimination is rather blatant, case in point: In Los Angeles county, it is illegal to have a trailer on your property that is rented out to others, unless you belong to a certain religious group, the law is strictly enforced. If you are doing 10-30 mph over the speed limit and belong to the religious group, you will not be pulled over by the deputy who also belongs to the same religious group. On the other hand, 5 MPH will get anyone else pulled over and ticketed.
After the three tires were replaced, not ten minutes later, we had a forth flat tire. It turns out the tire was also slashed; just not deep enough for it to leak immediately. Well the new students got an early education on the downside of covering sensitive news stories, but were not deterred from covering the story; it just made them more determined to get the story out.

The real downside is that the four new tires were not in the budget by any stretch, and will leave the campus with some serious financial problems to start off the new year. Other cost have gone up substantially too, including taxes on the land, propane is still very high here; coming in at over $3.80 a gallon. Water has just tripled at the California campus too, so we are really going to have to tighten our belt.


Staff
Radio Brandy
California Campus