Odds and Ends

Police Blotter fans will be happy to see the column return this month. It has been missing for quite a while, I’m sorry to say.

I spoke with Richmond Station Capt. Chris Canning about it several times last year when the information stopped coming to us for the regular monthly column. He said the station was short staffed and they wanted the officers out on the streets to carry out their official duties, rather than behind a desk, which is understandable.

I heard from more than a few loyal Police Blotter readers who missed finding out about the activities of the police officers on the beat. I hope the tide has turned and we’ll be seeing more about the work of the brave officers who risk so much to keep us safe.

Lawsuit Settled

We reported about a lawsuit filed by then-supervisorial candidate Marjan Philhour against David Heller, president of the Greater Geary Merchants and Property Owners Association. The complaint alleged Heller harassed Philhour.

Recently, Heller sent me this statement:

“During her campaign for supervisor last fall, Marjan Philhour went to court seeking a restraining order against David Heller, a well-known, nearly-80-year-old small business owner in the Richmond District, and supporter of Philhour’s opponent Connie Chan. She claimed Mr. Heller had harassed her at two public meetings.

“In January, Judge Michelle Tong ruled in Heller’s favor, finding that Philhour presented “insufficient evidence” to support her claims of harassment. Judge Tong ordered Philhour to pay Heller and his attorney Scott Emblidge of Moscone Emblidge & Rubens LLP $12,000 in attorneys’ fees.

“I had to fight to defend my reputation,” said Heller. “With today’s ruling, I finally feel vindicated.”

I sent a note to Marjan Philhour asking if she wanted to comment on this, but did not hear back by press time.

“Recall Express”

I wasn’t happy when I saw a four-page mini “newspaper” called the “Recall Express” in various locations in the Sunset District encouraging the removal of District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio from his seat on the Board of Supervisors. The publisher made the unfortunate choice of using the same font and font color as the Richmond Review. Rest assured we had nothing to do with that publication and continue to work hard to remain neutral and unbiased regarding political issues.

Special Thanks

If you are one of our generous supporters who sent us a donation or signed up on our Patreon campaign, please know how sincerely we appreciate your kind support.

Thanks to you, we are publishing more pages and giving more opportunities to local writers to tell the stories of the individuals, businesses, organization and events in our westside neighborhoods.

If you haven’t donated to your neighborhood newspaper, you can help by giving business to our advertisers. Or, the next time you visit one of our supporters – or even locations that kindly carry our papers for distribution – please take a moment to thank them for supporting this community resource.

Vacation Photos

We have been delightfully overwhelmed with the responses to our call for submissions to our Pet Pix feature. We received so many photos, we included nine pets this month with plenty left to spare!

Now we’re asking you to submit a photo of you on vacation reading our newspaper or wearing your RR hat/shirt, carrying your branded tote bag or sipping out of your RR mug. Please send to my email below.

Finally, I would like to thank the very talented writers who have stepped forward and offered to share their skill with our papers. To me, writers are in the same category as painters, dancers, musicians, actors, cartoonists, photographers, sculptors, poets and more who add so much quality to our lives. They enrich the our day-to-day existence.

Michael Durand is the editor-in-chief and publisher of the Richmond Review and Sunset Beacon newspapers and the RichmondSunsetNews.com website. He can be reached at Editor@RichmondSunsetNews.com.