Dennis
Draper, husband of CUSD Trustee Marlene Draper, detained
and questioned by police.
On Saturday, September 10, a
recall team member was peacefully gathering petitions at
Lowes in San Clemente. In the afternoon, a man (later
identified as Dennis
Draper,
husband of CUSD Trustee Marlene
Draper)
stepped in front of the recall team member while she was
talking with a petition signer and starting yelling at the
petition signer not to sign the petition. He screamed that
the recall team member was “a liar” and demanded the signer
not to listen to claims of the recall campaign. He kept
yelling that the recall would cost our schools $600,000. He
then aggressively shoved anti-recall literature in the face
of both the recall team member and the petition signer
while continuing to rant and rave. The recall team member
asked Mr. Draper to stop and informed him he was breaking
the law. He refused to stop and argued that there was
nothing under the law to stop him from acting this way.
Within a few minutes, another Lowe’s shopper exited the
store. When the recall team member asked the shopper to
sign the recall petition, Mr. Draper once again jumped in
front of the recall team member, again shoving Pro-CUSD
flyers in the shopper’s face. Draper belligerently
positioned himself between the recall team member and the
shopper. Mr. Draper aggressively followed petition signers
to the table where they were signing the petitions and
while standing just a few feet from them, he repeatedly
shouted “they are all liars – don’t sign that petition – it
will cost our schools $600,000.”
His loud, aggressive and continuous antics caused the
recall team member to fear for her personal safety. As his
actions continued to escalate, she began to feel that
something was wrong with him; that he was not in control of
himself and I wasn’t sure what he would do next. As a
result, the police were called. While one recall team
member was on the phone with the police, the other recall
team member went to seek assistance from a store employee
who had seen Mr. Draper yelling and harassing people
attempting to sign the CUSD Recall petition. The Lowes
employee asked Mr. Draper to leave -- but he refused.
The OC Sheriff arrived a few minutes later. They detained
Mr. Draper and questioned him about his obnoxious and
disruptive behavior. After being questioned by police, Mr.
Draper finally left.
This is the type of behavior that Marlene Draper now argues
is part of the time honored “give and take” of our
political process. We disagree.