On April 4, I went to my first city council meeting in three years. I was very surprised and disturbed to see a fully armed cop wearing a bullet-resistant vest sitting in the back of council chambers. Luckily, a couple of days later, I had a brief chat with a city hall worker who kindly filled me in on the back story. So this is what I learned. At a previous meeting, a group of townies showed up and were belligerent, screaming. So city hall got frightened and asked the police department for protection. I hope the townies got their grievances off their chests. And by the way, that cop sitting in the back was not a cop but a sergeant-at-arms.
Michael Hoag, Laguna Beach
