Turns out everybody's favorite Mexican-suing, rape-victim-blaming, Zapatistas-supporting school trustee is actually Anaheim's only defender of poor, hopeless Mexicans–and he's getting hell for it. At least that's how Harald Martin describes himself. In a long, rambling letter sent last Friday to anti-Mexican movement madrina and California Coalition for Immigration Reform president Barbara Coe, Martin–a former trustee for the Anaheim Union High School Distict who was controversially re-appointed last month–claims “pro-illegal immigration groups” are behind the movement to boot him out, a laughable premise considering such noted Aztlanistas as OC Blog god Jubal, Orange County Register editorialist Steve Greenhut and Anaheim mayor Curt Pringle have blessed the anti-Martin masses. And that's just where the fun begins. Click after the jump for more!
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Before you read (and the formatting below is Martin's, not ours–hey, Harry, learn the value of the return key, wontcha?), a note: The Weekly provides a couple of hyperlinks throughout Martin's letter to provide some bold-faced context. Enjoy!
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Date sent: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 07:45:36 -0700 (PDT)
From: “Harald G. Martin”
Subject: Hi Barb…I hope you are feeling better!
To: xxxxxx
Hi Barb..
As you know, I am being attacked in the papers…(as has happened to
you
all too often).
Anyway, I have written a response to the attack which I will eventually
turn
into a flyer. I am hopeful that there won't be a special election, but
with so
few signatures required, I think it will happen. I have included the
information in this email and as an attachment.
I would appreciate it if you would put this out to the members.
You rest and get well and thanks for your help.
Harald
Harald G. Martin says if you
want to judge me, at least do it
on my whole record.
A bi-partisan group of pro-illegal immigration groups has joined
together to demand my removal from the Anaheim Union High School
Board of Trustees. It´s because I believe in the rule of law and I
won´t
apologize for pointing out the dangers and costs of illegal immigration
to
our community. So let me give you a brief overview of things I have
done…and then you can be the judge.
First of all, I am an immigrant. My family came to Anaheim when I
was 2 years old. I attended Horace Mann and Patrick Henry Elementary. I
also attended Fremont Jr. High and while attending Anaheim High I
became a
naturalized citizen of the United States. I graduated from Anaheim High
in
1972. I volunteered to serve in the military and served for three years
as a
Military Police Officer in Camp Page, Korea and Fort Meade, MD. I hold
an AA degree in Police Science from Fullerton College, a BA degree in
Criminal Justice from Cal-State Fullerton and a Masters Degree in
Public
Administration from Cal-State Fullerton.
I worked in the Jeffrey-Lynn neighborhood (high crime, high drug,
many illegal aliens) as a Community Based Police Officer and I was able
to
reduce the crime rate by over 80%.
I created a tenant organization to teach and train all the residents
how to raise their living standards and how to more effectively deal
with
everyday problems and bad landlords. (Weekly note: was it Martin alone, or did others help?)
My first priority in working with gang members was to get them out
of the gang before there was enforcement action taken and to create a
place at
the community center where they could come to get help in schoolwork
and
deal with personal problems.
I created an owners association to deal with the bad owners and to
keep the drug dealers and gang members from moving from apartment to
apartment as they were evicted.
I strongly pushed city employees to get build a play ground for the
children in Jeffery-Lynn after it had been delayed by city officials
for many,
many months.
I showed the City how to buy an 8-plex building to become a
community center and an income source when they wanted spend to spend
more money to build a small temporary building on the street, saving
Anaheim tax payers a great deal of money.
I went to Amin David and Los Amigos for help to “self-actualize”
the Jeffery-Lynn neighborhood to a greater degree than I had already
been
able to accomplish. His response was to demand that I be fired as a
police
officer. He sent a 5-page letter of lies to the Chief of Police calling
me a
racist. The people of the Jeffery-Lynn neighborhood responded by
sending a
petition with hundreds of signatures demanding that I stay…because I
was
actually helping ALL of them. Amin David later had to send a letter of
apology. (Weekly note: they must not have liked Martin that much if they complained to his superiors about his immigration profiling)
I created the Somebody Group, on my own time, to help the people
around La Palma and Pearson Parks because of the drug dealing,
criminals
and drunks that had taken over the parks and APD couldn´t spare the
extra
resources necessary to deal with the problems.
I dumped steer manure and grass seed in La Palma Park to get rid of
those criminals and vagrants who had worn out large swaths of grass to
nothing
but dirt (and it actually worked).
I helped get rid of the welfare office across the street from La Palma
Park (that´s where many of these folks were getting their money to buy
alcohol and drugs).
I was instrumental in taking back one of the District´s properties
from a private school and helping to turn it into OXFORD…. A school
that
is now ranked #1 or #2 in the State of California and I believe #11 in
the
COUNTRY.
I worked closely with Tom Danley to create the Anaheim Prep
Sports Program for after school sports and other activities. Only a
handful
of junior high students were participating in after school activities
prior to
that. Now we have thousands of junior high students actively
participating in
sporting activities and other programs after school.
I raised standards requiring a 2.0 GPA for students to graduate from
AUHSD and to be promoted from grade to grade – And we are still the
only
district in the State that actually has that standard.
I created a retention program to keep students who were not
succeeding in school from moving on to the next grade to prevent them
from
getting farther and farther behind.
I worked hard to get air conditioning in our schools where students
and teachers were literally “dripping” with sweat and very little
learning was
taking place.
I still want to raise standards at AHUSD to a 2.0 GPA requirement
in core curriculum (Math, Science, English, History or Government
classes)
for promotion and graduation. (I don´t believe an “A” in PE and an
“F´ in
math is equal to a “C” grade.) I want to do this because I have
confidence
that the students and teachers CAN make this happen.
I tried to protect students and staff from criminal gang members by
trying to find a way to remove them from our regular campuses and have
them educated elsewhere.
Amin David and Los Amigos demanded that I resign from the Board
of Trustees because I wanted to bill Mexico for the cost of illegal
alien
students and because I was a racist. The threat of recall was empty and
did
not come to fruition because there was no community support to have me
removed.
I worked as a community based police officer in the Leatrice-
Wakefield area and received DEATH THREATS from the Boys from the
Hood gang because I was getting so many of them arrested and evicted
from
the neighborhood.
I had so many drug dealers arrested and evicted that crime was down
to almost nothing and families could walk their neighborhood in safety.
I was teaching and training people in predominately Hispanic and
illegal alien neighborhoods how to raise their standards of living and
prevent
criminals from taking over again. They told me that their neighborhood
actually “felt” somehow different and better. (Weekly note: Martin sure didn't feel too happy about helping Mexicans just a couple of years ago).
I told the Chief of Police of Anaheim, on many occasions (1994-1995),
that I believed that 1/3rd of the arrests being made in our city were
of illegal
aliens and he refused to believe me.
I spearheaded the effort to get an INS officer into the Anaheim City
Jail after Officer Tim GARCIA was shot and almost killed by an illegal
alien. (Weekly note: Ask Garcia what he thinks of Martin).
My efforts actually resulted in becoming Federal Law as section
287(g) in the 1996 Immigration Act and that Anaheim received the FIRST
INS officer into a local jail…where they found out that 37% of the
arrests
being made were of illegal aliens.
There are over 60 cities around the country now participating in the
ICE program to put ICE officers into local jails and there is a long
line of
other communities waiting to join the program.
I AM SORRY that AUHSD may have to spend in excess of $500,000
to hold an un-necessary election in JANUARY of 2008 when regular
elections will be held in NOVEMBER anyway. Just because Amin David
says I´m a racist.
I AM NOT SORRY that I believe in the rule of law and that illegal
aliens, no matter where they are from or the color of their skin,
should be
deported.
Now you have some idea of who I am and what I believe
in. Judge me now.
