The folks over at the Register are doing a fine job reporting on the massive Orange County arson fire that’s threatening to keep firefighters at work for another two days as winds approaching hurricane force continue to pound the region. Residents in Foothill Ranch are the latest to see their neighborhood in the path of a fire that’s consumed 8,800 acres in less than 18 hours. Reg reporters say that Orange County Fire Authority officials found three ignition points at Santiago Canyon Road near Lake Irvine. The arsonist must be sadistically thrilled. At one point last night, three miles of brush burned in 30 minutes, according to the paper. OC state Assemblyman Todd Spitzer is frustrated that more helicopter resources haven’t been available to fight the blaze. (Perhaps the taxpayer-funded pilots are busy whisking around Sheriff Michael S. Carona and some woman to a mountain site or simply spying on citizens again.) The Associated Press reported this afternoon that 1,000 inmates at the James Musick Facility were evacuated because of heavy smoke. Residents who've been displaced are staying in shelters. Anyone who knows the identity of the turd who committed this crime should call 800-540-8282.
— R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.