By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
According to Fox 11 Los Angeles, a charity flag football game was canceled that was in honor of fallen Ventura County Sgt. Ron Helus. He was killed in the Borderline Bar & Grill mass shooting in Thousand Oaks, California.
A Democrat, who is also the local police chief, derailed the event, according to the story. He did not want Republicans at the event.
Helus’ widow met with the organizers and supported the event. The Los Angeles Rams were also involved in the project, as they had jerseys made up with his name on it donated for the event.
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In addition, there were footballs with Helus’ image on them that were going to be signed by Rams players.
The Blue Bowl event was supposed to happen on Sunday. However, the event at Newbury Park High School was canceled.
Money was raised for the event that was going to go to Helus’ family. However, now, the money, according to the report, is going back to the donors after Thousand Oaks Police Chief Tim Hagel reportedly convinced the donors to pull out of the event.
The Fallen Officers Foundation, which organizes the Blue Bowl event, alleges that things started to go downhill when Mike Randall, the Vice President of the Foundation received a text from Hagel. The Police Chief claimed there were issues with the event.
He alleged that ‘speakers would cause local political issues.’ The event was bipartisan. President Donald Trump supporter Scott Baio, who attended the same church as Helus, was expected to be in attendance.
In addition, Joy Villa, who is also a Trump supporter, was slated to sing the national anthem.
Hagel did not like that they were slated to be there. According to Randall, he even questioned why they would be there.
“He said over and over in the conversation this is not Trump country, that slogan ‘Make America Great’ is not favorable, popular, within 1,200 square miles, that we don’t want Republicans here, I could not believe it… We were floored by this comment, ‘the only thing,’ and I quote, ‘the only thing you coulda made this worse, Mike, was to invite dick Cheney and Sarah Huckabee Sanders,’ and I went…wow are you kidding me?” Randall said.
Randall also said that Democratic Assemblywoman Jacqui Irwin did not want her previous opponent, Republican attorney Ronda Kenney, there. He also alleges that Hagel forced him to get ‘rid of the Republican speakers or else he would tell the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department and local politicians to pull out of the Blue Bowl.’
“He goes ‘Yeah this ain’t gonna work for us,’ I said you’re not gonna support this with the honor guard and he goes ‘No we’re not bringing the honor guard we’re not coming we’re not going to be there, not supporting it’,” said Randall.
Thousand Oaks Sheriff Bill Ayub has released this statement:
The “Blue Bowl” event was represented as a charitable flag football tournament to raise funds for the family of Sergeant Ron Helus. An event that would honor Ron’s memory and provide support to his wife Karen and son Jordan. As the event began to materialize, we became concerned with the behavior of some of the organizers of the event. Although I believe the organizers had good intentions, the event was moving in a direction we no longer felt comfortable supporting.
The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office has worked with hundreds of organizations, businesses, and individuals over the last year to organize and plan successful fundraisers for the Helus family. To date, every event has been successful, and lifelong relationships have been established. I’m deeply saddened this event did not work out.
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“I initially gave my approval for support of the event organized by this out-of-state group. As we drew closer to the actual event, they seemed to become more focused on political agendas, and less and less so on the victims and their families. I felt it was in the best interest of the department, the victims, and our community to not directly participate in the event, which the organizers have since canceled.”
“The event organizers have now launched a vicious and calculated social media campaign against the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office — and specifically against Commander Tim Hagel, who serves as the Chief of Police for the City of Thousand Oaks, as he has done honorably for the past several years.”
“During the past year, since the Borderline crisis, Commander Hagel has been both professionally and personally involved with all those impacted by the Borderline tragedy. He has personally attended every funeral service and been present at virtually every fundraiser. His focus has been and continues to remain on what is best for those impacted by this tragedy and what is best for Ventura County.”
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