Hate Messages in Food Packages

* An article appeared Dec. 31 in Valley Focus regarding Agoura Hills’ decision to make it illegal to place fliers or other written materials into food packages in grocery stores (“Ordinance Bans Hate Packaged With Food”). The reporter left unclear as to whether there is protection outside of Agoura Hills pertaining to this activity.

For the record, I received a hate flier in a box of crackers Oct. 14, 1995, in a grocery store in North Hills. It was vile and hateful, calling for the deaths of “brown people.” I was incensed by this invasion of my right to purchase food without it being tampered with.

I immediately contacted my city councilman, Joel Wachs, and his staff immediately notified him of the problem, as there were many incidents of this nature happening in his district and other areas of the Valley, Glendale and Burbank. Wachs drafted a city ordinance after the city attorney reviewed 1st Amendment issues, and it was presented to the City Council, voted on and passed without one negative vote. Mayor Richard Riordan signed the ordinance into law last year. The ordinance made it a misdemeanor to insert fliers, or any foreign objects, into food packages in grocery stores. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors immediately passed a similar law covering the entire county.

Then Assemblywoman Sheila Kuehl authored a bill making this disgusting activity illegal. The bill was signed into law July 10, 1996, by Gov. Pete Wilson.

The citizens of Los Angeles should know that there are city, county and state laws on the books, and if they finds such materials in food packages, they should first complain to the grocery store and then file a report with the police, the city attorney and the state’s attorney.

Citizens should also take the time to get involved when something like this happens. All I did was identify the problem and push the right buttons to achieve a solution.

MICHAEL T. MANNING

North Hills