Video and text by Fred Caldwell:
A few years back, a guy named Clay asked me if he could have some stalks from our bamboo plant (that we were plagued with for 40 years). Sure! No problem. I didn't know him well but coincidentally I know two of his brothers pretty well.
I didn't see Clay for a year then he showed up with numerous bamboo flutes he had made from the bamboo. I helped him sell a few of them.
One night I was at Keno's with my camera I thought of recording Clay and one of his flutes to post on Youtube and maybe get him some sales that way. The 2nd generation video is attached below. It was completely unscripted and spontaneous as I said basically "Sell me a flute while I videotape you for the Internet". So with a little light in the dim recesses of Keno's I rolled the camera.
The video is attached.
I was shocked to hear today that Clay was the man shot and killed by the new security guard where I do my laundry every week. My heart goes out to his mom, brothers and girlfriend.
nctimes.com: ENCINITAS: More details emerge in shooting
SignOnSanDiego.com: Security guard fatally shoots man in Encinitas
New Blog Reporter News: Sorry to hijack your latest post J.P. but I am just back from Ada Harris and the first of three Candidates Debates, so I am now reporting in as your New Blog Peporter (NBR for short)
ReplyDeleteQuite a night in Caridff at Ada Harris School, where approximately 150 citizens had an opportunity to ask 10 candidates for City Council questions about issues that are of concern. Yes folks, Jerome, Jim and Maggie were there, along with 7 others. Of great interest to Cardiffians is the Hall property. Out of all 10 candidates, only 3 favored less than 5 sports parks. Those are Maggie Houlihan; Rachelle Collier; and Bob Nanninga, although he sort of hedged the question a bit. Jerome was his usual arrogant self, calling one citizen who asked a question, disingenious. I am not sure if he really knows what the word means, as it didn't really apply to the question. Oh, I forgot to tell you, this is NOT objective reporting. Now on to other issues.
The 3 incumbants do not want the San Dieguito Water District to be split off from the City and form a separate entity like Olevenhein Water District, the other City provider of water. Since the Council currently is the management of the San Dieguito Water District and gets paid $100.00 every meeting, in addition to what they get on the Council, I found that to be interesting. Other candidates thought it might be a good idea to split it off and have separate management like Olevenhein Water Distict. As I recall Rachelle and Bob and perhaps Brandenburg were among this group. I could be wrong on that, so don't quote me OK? The Cardiff Specific Plan was also a major topic. I think those of you who know this particualr Council will be amused that Jim Bond and Jerome Stocks said they were all for citizens getting what they wanted for their individual unique communities. So, Leucadians mention that at the next forum. Tell Council you heard it first from the NBR.
I must not leave out the VIP's in the audience. They included Danny Dalagher; one of our Planning Commissioners (a good guy); and a few of the local developers. Last, but certainly not least, a give a huge round of applause to Cardiff Town Council President, Barbara Cobb for doing great job. Signing off now is Your New Blog Reporter, AKA NBR.
I was also at the Cardiff Candidates debate. Welcome aboard NNR and you are a good reporter. A couple of additional thoughts that the NBR didn't mention. 2 candidates must have been asked to run by someone else-like maybe devlopers? These are Betsy Aceti (that is Steve Aceti's wife) and the dentist (already forgot her name). Neither know much and Aceti did not seem like an environmentalist to me even though she says she lived on some kind of commune years back. Not quite sure how that was relevant but o well. Jerome was very condescending to the citizen as the NBR said and he really had the nerve to say citizens should have a say in what happens in thier own unique parts of the community. Since there are 10 candidates it is hard to get much in so I would suggest in future debates try to ask questions pertinent to one or two candates. One person asked only those who wanted the 5 sports fields to speak on an issue she had. That eliminated 3 of them and we all got to know who wanted what. The NCTD was not addressed, nor was Pacific View. Perhaps future debate questions?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to legally murder somebody become a rent-a-cop. Clay was tripped out but our society shouldn't condone shooting down guys like him just for not fitting in. This rent-a-cop severely crossed the line. A security guards job is to watch the property and call the police if trouble arrives. He took the law into his own hands and became judge, jury and executioner. Did this security guard not have pepper spray or a taser? Why didn't he run back inside and call the real cops? This man murdered Clay Pardee in cold blood but he will walk free.
ReplyDeleteI doubt if the Security Guard will walk free. Don't guns have safety locks on them? Kind of hard to buy the story that the gun accidently went off. What was also interesting was before Pardee's name came out, the NCTimes Blog was filled with posts about Mexicans and how they were bound to be shot. I got the impresson that some people would not mind that. After Pardee's name was announced, all of the sudden some people are indignant. Sad, but true. Nevertheless, security personnel should not be carrying armed weapons and this is a testimony as to why. A very sad story for all.
ReplyDeleteSomeone needs to take a baseball bat to that piece of shit rent a cop if he walks.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you have to take matters into your own hands.
Cowboy Up bros.
No way no how should security have guns! Their job is to call the real cops -- this is a tragedy and I feel for his family. Senseless tragedy.
ReplyDeleteI was also at the Cardiff forum. It was interesting that the three incumbents supported keeping the SDWD nonindependent. I don't think Maggie understands the issues. Stocks and Bonds understand them only too well. They want to keep the revenue stream from water fees and rates flowing in to the city's General Fund. The Encinitas and Cardiff Sanitation Districts have already been absorbed. That why they have higher sewer rates than Leucadia Wastewater.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the SDWD is that it is only half the city. So the money sucked out of ratepayers for the Hall property bonds is an unfair burden on ratepayers. The SDWD is responsible for paying the Hall property bonds, not the city.
Both Stocks and Bonds bragged about the size of the city's reserve fund and the balanced budgets over the last eight years. First the city is required by law to have a balanced budget. There is no choice in the matter. Second the reserve fund is as large as it is because the city has borrowed $43 million in Lease Revenue Bonds over the last eight years. There was not a public vote, only a majority vote of the council. These were the Hall property bonds and the library construction bonds. It will cost more than $90 million to pay them back.
Yes, both Stocks and Bonds said they supported community input on the Cardiff Specific Plan. I suspect both will support more mixed use, even though most in Cardiff don't want any Pacific Station and Moonlight Lofts kind of development.
I agree that Stocks was arrogant and was dismissive of the one questioner. Bond seemed slightly more conciliatory this time, except on the five soccer fields. And he disagreed with one question that his membership in the Rotary Club is influencing his position on the Hall sport complex. Stocks also said the same. Can this really be true?
Overall I thought Maggie performed the best of the three sitting council members. She put distance between herself and the two men. All the rest of the candidates seemed to agree that change is needed at city hall. Even Doug Long, who admitted that he is a stalker at city hall, feebly attempted to embrace change, but didn't succeed. How can he when he is a clone of Dalager and Stocks?
Bob Nanninga gave his usual strong performance. He danced around the Hall park issue until finally pinned down near the end. The questioners were relentless. Bob finally said he supported five fields. With native plants!
He seemed flummoxed and even admitted he was at a loss for words. That's a first. He spoke very eloquently about a question of where the city should be in 50 years. His answer in one word: sustainability. The others pretty much fell in line behind him. Even Doug Long, which must be some kind of miracle.
All in all it was an interesting evening. It's true there are too many candidates for good discussion. That probably shields Stocks and Bonds. The motormouth of the evening was Betsy Aceti. She mentioned sand replenishment too many times. Surprise! Her answers were way too long and often avoided the question.
After doing my laundry for years at the Jolly Clean Giant, I noticed right away there was a change in security guards at the site. For one thing, they're keeping everyone off the grass out in front. Fine.
ReplyDeleteBut just two weeks ago I heard someone yelling obscenities at two of the new security cops as they were walking away from them. I peeked out the door for just a minute. It was not Clay. I wondered what the problem was cause I never heard anyone go off on the old securtiy guard. Wished I'd paid more attention now.
Clay Pardee has been around here for a long time. May God rest his soul.
ReplyDeletePardee was a out-of-control, aggro, drunken f-ck.
ReplyDeleteIf he approached anyone in his typical messed-up rage, he deserved to be gutshot.
Tragedy. I spoke with the old security guard a couple days ago and he was truly heartbroken and deeply saddened about it. I know nothing about what actually happened, but seems like procedures and training need to be implemented and that particular guard needs to find other work.
ReplyDeleteThoughts and prayers to the family and friends...
Most of the rent-a-cops that I've interacted with have been a little strange.
ReplyDeleteJust more proof that the sum of two idiots is greater than the whole.
Was he related to the famous Pardee developers?
ReplyDeleteDo crazy out of control drunks really deserve to be killed? And security guards assigned to old , ugly strip malls are the ones who get to decide who lives and who dies?
wow.
If bouncers had guns, no one would patron bars. Why do "security" guards have guns. This is senseless. They are there to report crimes, not stop them nor create them. The company who armed this 24 year old should be held accountable -- no 24 year old has the judgment to be armed and alone. There are many retired police officers who are security guards and carry guns, but they have been trained NOT to use them because there are many alternative ways to de-escalate a confrontation. What the hell is so irreplaceable at the Smart & Final strip mall that an armed security guard had to be hired. Thank god my teenage sons weren't being mischiveous and hiding in the shrubs throwing acorns at this guy -- put a gun in an untrained hand and the bullets will be used.
ReplyDeleteHow about the hundreds of thousands of 17 and 18 year olds carrying M16 ashalt rifles?
ReplyDeleteThe US has been doing that for hundreds of years.
yes Clay was related to the Pardee family, he had issues for sure.
ReplyDeleteSince they seems to be no witnesses to the incident, we can't know for sure how it went down.
sad story
Let me get this straight, because he was a security guard hired by an ugly strip mall he didn't have a right to protect himself? Are you people as demented as Pardee was?
ReplyDeleteI've run across him for years and he is in my opinion an aggressive, out of control person. The story related by the victim of the assault sounds very credible to me. Our police department says the physical evidence is consistent with the story. The contradiction is only from Pardee's girlfriend who wasn't there. I must question her judgment if she was Pardee's girlfriend.
JP where in the hell did you get the idea that the security guard doing his job made a god like decision? He made a decision to protect himself from that "crazy, out of control, drunken person" that eventually took his life. I thought you were smarter than that.
Anonymous, I couldn't disagree more. This security guard KILLED a guy, took his life forever. That is a God like decision. Thou shall not kill, where have I heard that expression before?
ReplyDeleteI don't believe the security guard was in any real danger. Have you never been approached by a wacked out homeless guy? You just back away quickly and call the cops if you think he is a real threat.
Mr. Itchy Trigger Finger should have been armed with a taser of pepperspray and used that option first.
I've seen real cops take down gnarly meth heads with batons instead of using their guns.
I will NEVER shop in the Smart and Final complex ever again.
J.P. your comments are TOO STUPID to warrant a response!! I for one will NEVER shop at any of the businesses that sponsor your blog.
ReplyDeletePS- God help your wife and child should someone come into your home uninvited with the intend to do harm.
Wow... this one got heated.
ReplyDeleteI love your philosophy on Leucadia JP. If someone threatens the lives of your family, I will gladly take them out. But I wont kill every drunken fool that approaches me.
Otherwise, I would have target practice all day long along the I5 exist ramps.
The real story is we will never know what really went down. That rests with Pardee and the shooter.
We do not have a Police Dept, we have a Sheriff's Dept. that naturally said the guard acted appropriately. It will probably be rubber stamped by the DA as well, even though the guard "doesn't remember firing his gun" and "the gun went off by accident" seem to be two diverse stories coming from the same guard.
ReplyDeleteA previous poster accurately said "we weren't there, so we'll never know what really happened" is about the closest post to the truth. Still, there was definately an attituted problem with the changing of the guards at that strip mall. If there's anything to the guard's story, we do know such an altercation could have been dealt with with either pepper spray or tazer far less of an impact to Clay and his loved ones.
its true that the sheriffs are better trained in these situations and should have been called,
ReplyDeletethe sheriffs tasered a guy in leucadia just the other day when he was out of control psycho, bam , down he went and off to the hospital,
better than bam , dead.
Hey anonymous, thanks for calling me stupid. You seem to have trouble making the difference between the psycho axe murderer breaking through your front door and the crazy guy out by the Smart and Final dumpster.
ReplyDeleteMy view is this:
If you come breaking through my door at 2 am then yes, you are going to get blasted with my American made shotgun.
However, security guards assigned to patrol strip malls should be armed with NON-LETHAL weapons and a cell phone ready to dial 911.
Do you see the difference?
What if you had a brother who has a chemical imbalance in his brain and by mistake went off his meds and wandered off to the back alley of Petco and started wigging out at some rent-a-cop, does your brother armed only with sunglasses need to take a bullet and die, or does he need the rent-a-cop to call professionals who can deal with him and get him the help he needs.
WHAT WOULD JESUS DO ANONYMOUS?
Jesus would blow his fucking brains out, idiot!!!
ReplyDelete"I don't believe the security guard was in any real danger" The understatement of the year 2008, as if you were there and saw the whole thing.
So you would blast me with your American made shotgun?!?!?! Wow, as of you can judge when someone is in danger. Maybe I like to break into houses at 2AM to borrow a cup of sugar. And you would blast me with your American made shotgun, well at least you would be protecting your wife and child, God Bless you for that, but then again Jesus would know that you weren't in any real danger, so I would be dead for nothing, huh!
But J.P. I am going to give you a pass, 'cause you are a product a public school education. Enjoy!!
Its sort of impressive how you contradict yourself several times in one paragraph anonymous.
ReplyDeleteWhatever anonymous-
ReplyDeleteYou’ve got issues and need to go see the dog/people shrink.
9:59
ReplyDeleteYou believe the security guard was in grave danger (as if you were there and saw everything!) Guess this post boils down to what you believe then.
I do believe you should stock up on sugar at home though. We know how you crave donuts in the middle of the night.
May I have a pass now too?
Kill or be killed, that is the question? I hope not. The security guard was in "grave danger" and felt his "life was threatened" by an unarmed man? What the hell was he defending, not his life, as his legs still worked and he COULD HAVE RUN. Obviously, this twit was arrogant because he had a weapon and all the videos he has ever seen, you just have to wave a gun in someone's face and they will back away. That is called ESCALATING a confrontation. Was Mr. Pardee raping someone, beating someone senseless with baseball bat, taking sniper shots at someone, holding someone hostage, running around with a machete, gunning his car at someone? These are life threatening situations. This security guard was a punk with no training, probably a reject from the police academy trying to throw his weight around. If the person who confronted him was dressed in a tie and suit and was just as beligerant, walking towards him "brandishing" his sunglasses, the gun would not have even been drawn. I also will not patronize that center until the security goons have been de-gunned. Anybody know who owns that mall?
ReplyDeleteAnon: you need to take your angry pill now, as you are starting to spell just like Jerome, and that is an offense punishable by _____ (I'll let you, as Judge and Jury, fill in the blank.) NRA forever, guns keep us warm, double barrels are better'n single malts, etc.
ReplyDeleteI read this story with great interest because I purchased a gun two years ago, as a result of someone trying to break into my home. It's a lengthy process and you have to take a little test before you are allowed to own a weapon. One of the questions is "when can you use a gun to protect yourself?" and I answered "whenever you feel you are in danger". That was an incorrect answer. You may only use a gun when you are in "immediate danger". I asked the guy who gave me the test, "So I can only use a gun when someone has his hands around my neck and is lying on top of me in my bed?"
ReplyDeleteHe didn't answer, but rolled his eyes, and I got it. What I got was, if you DO shoot someone in your home, or elsewhere, it's a real good idea to say the attacker reached into his waistband, or he said he'd kill you or he had something in his hand that looks like a weapon. Which is exactly what the lawyer of this security guard said. That means this "guard" is covering his ass and his lawyer knows it. Tell you what, if I were minding my own business and some "guard" kept cruising by my car and giving me the stink eye, my first reaction would be the same as Clay's. The only justice I can see in this situation, is this "guard" will have to live with this for the rest of his life. I too, didn't know these wanna-be cops were allowed to be armed. Not good. I have to back JP on this one.
I've changed my mind and I now see the light. Encinitas is a better place when security guards shoot the mentally ill dead and I wish more of them would do it.
ReplyDeleteThe best deterrent to burglars, rapists, evangelizing bible thumpers, is a dog. Guns in the home account for 75%?, it may be more, of all stupid senseless deaths by gunshot.
ReplyDeleteThat's why you are supposed to keep your weapon in a locked container or safe, and if I had kids, I probably wouldn't have one. I agree, a dog is the best deterrant.
ReplyDeleteSo let's see - We've got a 123 lb, 24 year old security guard who is trained AND LEGALLY PERMITTED to carry a gun to do his job. He gets backed down by a mentally unstable guy with a history of violence that's 6'4" and outweighs him by 100 lbs that is pissed off at him for doing his job. Of course, the guard doesn't know anything about him other than he's big and pissed off. The guard is scared, pulls his gun, and guy coming at him keeps coming. Is the guard supposed to then "turn and run" and then call the cops hoping the guy that's pissed at him doesn't catch him from behind while he's running?
ReplyDeleteCome on people, this isn't rocket science! Clay screwed up (again) and ended up dead for it. It's too bad, but was brought on by him - not the guard.
Clay did not weigh 100 lbs more than the guard and was slender. Whether he "came after" the guard is according to the guard. I heard a recent surgery on Clay's leg prevented him from barely walking at all.
ReplyDeleteEven rocket scientists build craft that crash where they don't want them to.
Gunfire is final. The situation (if it's anything like the guard described) didn't call for gunfire but a far less fatal remedy. Didn't he have pepper spray or a tazer? And why the hell didn't the guard have a cell phone to dial 911 himself instead of running through businesses yelling "call 911!"?
And how does someone rip their pants and cut their leg by backing up into a Budget truck? I'd like to see that far fetched part re-inacted. But the part that gets me most is that he doesn't remember firing the gun, yet he does know it went off accidentally when he bumped into the truck walking backwards. OK fine.
sorry 2:15, but you have a Cold Cold Heart
ReplyDeleteHow far do bullets travel? If the guard missed Mr. Pardee could the bullets have gone into the houses nearby?
ReplyDelete