can I get a witness...

you're gonna like the way you look....

from the moment I stepped into the proceedings room at 20 E Victoria for the New-Press hearings, Wendy's lawyer Barry Cappello began watching me like a movie, suspiciously, out of the corner of his eye. It was 11:00 am, I was in shorts with my camera bag over my shoulder, sitting in the back of the small room... I took a couple of pictures..I waited a bit..then Yolanda Apodaca, the News-Press Human Resources Director, took the witness stand...she's a pretty hot Latina babe...spoke quietly but couldn't remember a damn thing about 2006 and doesn't know a thing about Human Resources, either. Gee Yolanda, what about all the union busting (firing permanent employees and hiring temps) the News-Press was trying to do in 2006..she kept telling the NLRB lawyer "I don't remember, I don't know"....ok, so she's got ADD..slip some Ritalin in her water bottle. Now, about 15 minutes into the proceedings, Cappello, who was sitting in the back 3 chairs away from me, goes over to another NewsPRess lawyer and whispers something to him.....whispers ..then the assistant comes over to me and asks if I'm a witness or observer..I tell him observer..then he goes over to Cappello and tells him I'm an observer! Cappello nods his head. Apparently, there's a little hierarchy among NewsPress lawyers where the important ones get the 16 year old flunkies to ask questions to non-lawyers like me....I looked at him and laughed and shook my head....he kept looking at his notebook and leaving the room,coming back, leaving, coming back.. I think I was really getting under his skin for some reason..IT WAS HILARIOUS! and do all these guys shop at Men's Wearhouse??
Then, I take another picture of Yolanda who was still on the witness stand, preening. The same thing happens with the NP lawyers..there were six of them! Like little tattletails, they start whispering to each other, then interrupt the questioning and tell the judge.."someone in the audience is taking pictures of the witness"...the judge looks at me since I'm the only one there, (the lawyers never once looked back at me, only quick glances on the sly) and says: "you need to stop with the pictures of the witness".
I said: "ok, your Honor.. sorry, I didn't realize it wasn't allowed" Then he says "can you erase them?"..I said: "sure, I'll do it right now if you want"...he says: "no..that's ok, I'll trust you to do it later". Obviously this wasn't a big deal or they would have confiscated my camera. I think Capppello was just throwing a little beta-male temper tantrum...he was like a little monkey making faces at me!!!!

After the interruption I caused, the proceedings started again...Capppello was still darting in and out of the room, still giving me the evil eye...geez, Barry, you got a problem with me, come over and say it to my face...I'm right there in the same room, you little freak! Who do you think you are, Elvis Presley?
Well...I won't show Yolanda's picture ..I respect the judge and the system to a degree... but he didn't say anything about taking pictures of the lawyers! Lunch break at 12:30 pm so I went to check out City Hall..on my way out I'm walking down the sidewalk, I turn around and there's Barry and boys huddled together, staring at me. I stop and stand there with arms open to see of they wanted to rumble, to show off for the girls, but they turned and walked off...
City Hall Protest...
two Pressies showed up to protest the city's fire response...this "event" was advertised in the NewsPress Sunday letters/opinion section....instead of taking responsibility for their own lives, Pressies blame City Hall for all their problems...what do they want..Mayor Blum to take them home, tuck them into bed, and read them a bedtime story?