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Life & Times Transcript
04/21/06 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Does getting a restraining order mean you're protected from the person you fear? Paula Manuel>> I was actually on the phone with 9-1-1 on hold while he was shooting at me. I was on hold. Val Zavala>> And then, as the Iraq war enters its fourth year, the widow of a Marine learns to adjust to life on her own. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Restraining orders are supposed to protect people, mostly women, from abuse, mostly from their ex-husbands. But many times, the protection from restraining orders is only paper thin and one Orange County woman lost her four year old son because a restraining order failed to protect them. Roger Cooper, along with The Orange County Register, has the story. Roger Cooper>> His name was Josh Manuel. He was only four and always smiling. He had spent a normal day at his preschool in Long Beach, but before the end of the day on April 21, 2005, Josh would be dead, shot to death as he sat in his car seat. The killer? His father, despite the fact that his fearful mother had gone to a judge seeking protection from her estranged husband through a restraining order. Now in her La Habra home, it's painful for Josh's mother, Paula Manuel, to tell the story, but she does in hopes it won't happen to someone else. Paula Manuel>> The system failed even when I called the police and said, you know, he's kidnapped my son from school, he's not supposed to have him. The 9-1-1 operator basically told me, "If you don't have your court papers with you, there's nothing we can do." I'm thinking, you know, he has a gun. I have a restraining order. I can't serve him. He's hiding and he has a gun. I'm afraid. Less than an hour later, my son is dead because no one listened. Roger Cooper>> How a California system for restraining orders failed Paula and many others has been the subject of a six-month investigation by The Orange County Register. The study was led by investigative reporter, Monica Rhor, who called up court officials in all fifty-eight counties in California to learn how differently restraining orders are handled in each jurisdiction. Monica Rhor>> California actually has a very strong restraining order system law on the books. I mean, the way it's written is very strong. But the breakdown is when it actually comes into practice, that different courts operate in such different ways. There's no uniform system throughout California. Roger Cooper>> The Register found that a third of the restraining orders granted in California are not served, that many orders never make it into the state database, and laws which require guns to be taken out of the hands of people under restraining orders are not enforced. Do you think that, for one or two procedures, this didn't have to happen and he could be here today? Paula Manuel>> Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Roger Cooper>> For victims of domestic abuse, the road to a restraining order begins here at a courthouse like this in the city of Orange. But the investigation by The Orange County Register found that, even when victims follow all the procedures and get the restraining order, there are no guarantees. Monica Rhor>> The judge issues the restraining order. They think they're fine. They have no idea that there are still other steps that have to be taken after that and that the order that they have might not be valid until they call the police and say, "I'm in danger. Somebody's violating this order." Then that's when they find out that it's not valid at all. Roger Cooper>> Paula is the case in point. This is the very courthouse where she came to fill out a form like this one and apply for a restraining order. Paula told the judge her husband had been sinking into mental illness, making violent threats against her and telling her he was killing small animals. Paula Manuel>> I'd never seen him actually hurt an animal. We had a dog and, after I'd moved out of the house, I'd gone back to get some things and I noticed that the dog's tail was cut off. There was a pair of scissors on the table and obviously he had cut the dog's tail off. That's when I said, you know, he's not well. Roger Cooper>> But as she applied for her restraining order, Paula learned something about Orange County that stunned her and almost made her drop the whole idea. Monica Rhor>> In Orange County and ten other counties, they're basically told that, before you can even apply for this order, you have to call the person and give notice to that person that you're basically afraid of and say, "I'm about to apply for this restraining order against you. I'm at the courthouse. I'm about to go through the process." So basically you're telling that person before you even have legal protection that this is what you're trying to do. Roger Cooper>> Do you remember being on the phone and having to tell him you were getting the restraining order and what his reaction was? Paula Manuel>> Yes, he was extremely angry. He made threats. Monica Rhor>> It's a really frightening moment for people when they have to do that. I mean, I was in the courthouse one day and I saw people who just said, "No, I'm not going to do this" and walked out because they were just too frightened to do it. Roger Cooper>> Nevertheless, Paula pushed on and got her restraining order only to discover another problem in the system. Paula Manuel>> He granted the restraining order, but in order to have it enforced, you have to actually serve him which becomes a problem also because, at this point, he knew that I was attempting to serve him with the restraining order, so he went into hiding. Roger Cooper>> Paula's husband would eventually come out of hiding, but with tragic results. Monica Rhor>> Because he wasn't served, the order was not enforceable. It was not legal, in other words, so no one could enforce the order. He went to his son's school, picked up his son and ended up shooting and killing his four year old son and he also shot and wounded Paula. He was later killed in a standoff with the police. But Paula is convinced that, had the order been served, her son would have been protected because her husband would not have been allowed into the school. Roger Cooper>> Paula herself escaped death only by diving into the open window of a passing car. Paula Manuel>> I was actually on the phone with 9-1-1 on hold while he was shooting at me. I was on hold. So through the whole thing, I have felt like it's just almost laughable, it's so ridiculous. It's like when you tell people, they're like, "I can't even believe it." I'm listening to hold music while I'm being shot. I mean, it's insane. Monica Rhor>> And Paula believes that that notice requirement where she had to call him and say, "I'm getting this restraining order against you" tipped him off and helped him avoid getting served by police. Roger Cooper>> And there are many other cases, like Lori Jean Smith of Corona whose restraining order request got shuffled to another courthouse. Monica Rhor>> She applied for a restraining order, but she didn't get it the day she applied for it. That night, she went home, was sitting in her kitchen and, according to police, her husband came in and shot and killed her. Roger Cooper>> What happened to fourteen year old Evan Nash in San Diego illustrates another of The Register's major findings, this one about guns. Monica Rhor>> Under the law, under state law, anybody who's served with a restraining order cannot have any guns. They can't own guns. They can't buy guns. They're supposed to surrender any guns that they might have. Again, it's a great law, but it's not enforced at all. Roger Cooper>> After Lindsay Nash obtained a restraining order to protect her son, Evan, from his father, she wrongly assumed the father's gun collection had been turned over to deputies. She didn't know about the forty-eight hour waiting period to comply. Monica Rhor>> They came back to San Diego. He was starting school and the boy's father basically ambushed the son. He killed him. He stood outside waiting for the boy to come running by when he was running with the track team and he shot and killed him. Paula Manuel>> I think, if I could do things over, I definitely would just take my kids and run. It's horrible to say because that's not the appropriate way to go, but the system failed in two different courts, with the police, the judges, everything. You know, I went the appropriate route. Monica Rhor>> My advice would be that they shouldn't be dissuaded from trying to get a restraining order because they can help and they can offer protection. But they have to arm themselves with a lot of knowledge of how the system works. If at all possible, go to like an advocacy group or a domestic violence support network that will help them navigate the system. It's the people who go through it alone without attorneys, without an advocate helping them through it, that have the most problems. Roger Cooper>> But can problems with a restraining order process be fixed? The State Attorney General's task force has been working on modifications. A bill in the Assembly would require a restrained person to surrender guns immediately upon request by a law enforcement officer. The eleven California counties that require abuse victims to notify the target of a restraining order may drop the practice as too dangerous. But whatever changes may happen will come too late for Josh and a grieving mother. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> If you'd like to read the entire story about restraining orders, you can go to The Orange County Register's website at ocregister.com. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, plus transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org, scroll down the page and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> This month marks the third anniversary of the war in Iraq and, although we're all aware of the soldiers who are dying, we often forget about the widows who are left behind. How do they cope? How do they make ends meet? Hena Cuevas has the story of one widow at Camp Pendleton who's trying to put her life back together. Hena Cuevas>> This is how Michele Linn remembers meeting Aaron White back in high school in Oklahoma. Michele Linn-White>> We were in an English class and he wouldn't leave me alone. I had a crush on the guy who sat in front of me and he kept invading my space. Hena Cuevas>> She never dreamed that, a few years later in 1998, they would end up getting married. Michele Linn-White>> I think I was waiting to see what he was going to say, whether he'd say "I do" or not. He was worried that I wasn't even going to show up. Hena Cuevas>> White was a Marine and they set up life in Camp Pendleton. Two years later, their daughter Brianna was born. By then, it was 2002 and the United States was gearing up for war in the Middle East. As a military wife, what did you think when you first heard that the United States was going to get into a war with Iraq? Michele Linn-White>> I knew there was a possibility of going to war and, if I married him, I still knew there was the possibility because he was a soldier first. They all are, and he wanted to go. Hena Cuevas>> So in February of 2003, Aaron White left Camp Pendleton for his tour in Iraq. Michele Linn-White>> It was just like a goodbye. We kissed each other on the cheek. He hugged Brianna. He did get a little teary-eyed and then I went to the grocery store. That wasn't very emotional because, you know, I figured he was going to be back. Hena Cuevas>> For three months, Michele and Aaron did what many other military couples do. They exchanged letters, phone calls and emails as often as possible. [Film Clip] Hena Cuevas>> By then, little Brianna was about to turn one, so Michele went to Texas to celebrate her baby's first birthday with her family. They spoke with Aaron over the phone on Brianna's birthday. Two days later while watching TV -- Michele Linn-White>> Earlier that evening, there was a clip on the little black strip on the bottom of CNN saying that the helicopter had gone down and the four crew members were dead. It was a CH46 and I knew that he was flying that day. My sister made the offhanded comment that that was Aaron's plane and we all kind of, you know, laughed, yeah, yeah, yeah, because it happens to other people. You know, it doesn't happen to me. Hena Cuevas>> But it did happen to her. That day, May 19, 2003, Aaron White's helicopter crashed, killing everybody on board. Aaron was twenty-seven years old. Michele Linn-White>> When they came up to the door for that, they didn't even call to announce that they were coming. They showed up and I saw a chaplain, the Navy chaplain. You don't have to say anything. When a chaplain comes to the door, you know. Hena Cuevas>> At that moment, she says her biggest concern was protecting her young daughter. Michele Linn-White>> I don't know if she sensed anything was different because obviously my stress level went through the roof. But, you know, I kept her on her schedule. She had her naps, she had her playtimes, and she had her bedtimes because I didn't want her world to fall apart. Hena Cuevas>> Aaron's body was flown back to the United States and buried in Oklahoma near his parents. Michele Linn-White>> I went to Texas to celebrate her birthday and ended up planning my husband's funeral. Hena Cuevas>> In the middle of her grief, she also began the process of signing up for benefits which included three year's medical and dental insurance. She was also told that she would have to move off base in six months. When did it finally start to sink in? Michele Linn-White>> It was maybe around that six month mark that I realized. When his squadron came home and he wasn't with them, you know, I realized. When I saw his picture on the television and read the newspaper report and when I received condolence cards from strangers. That made it real. When I looked at Brianna and she looks just like him. That made it real. Every day that he did not walk through the door, that made it real. Hena Cuevas>> So when it starts sinking in after six months, then it comes time for you to move. Michele Linn-White>> Yes, and I thought I'm going to be homeless. I have to leave in six months. I have no security, no income. Sure, there are these benefits, but they're not lifelong. They're not permanent. You know, what am I going to do in three years when my daughter doesn't have health insurance? What am I going to do? Hena Cuevas>> She was able to stay in their house on base by signing up for school, so she enrolled in a criminal justice program. But that meant she had to pay rent. Michele Linn-White>> It's really hard. I have to watch what I spend. Hena Cuevas>> After Aaron's death, Michele received a one-time payment of twelve thousand dollars, but because Aaron was in the service for less than ten years and his rank wasn't high enough, she's not eligible for other benefits like his retirement. She says her income is now less than half of what it was. It's so little that she now qualifies for food stamps. She feels the government has let her down. Michele Linn-White>> The soldier works for the government, but they don't have laws stating that, while you're a soldier, you cannot be married. You know, everyone becomes part of the military. The wives support the husbands, they move around and then the wives and the children are not taken care of when something happens. Hena Cuevas>> Should people feel sorry for you? Michele Linn-White>> I'm not looking for sympathy. I suppose it's nice to have. I am looking for what is right and what I feel is owed to me and everybody else who's lost a husband. Hena Cuevas>> Among the things she treasures the most are these photographs from an undeveloped roll of film that Aaron left behind. The most difficult part, she says, is explaining what happened to her now four year old daughter. Michele Linn-White>> She has a little photograph that she carries around and that's her daddy. She knows that's her daddy and she knows that I'm her mommy, but I don't think she quite recognizes the fact that her mommy is here and is a person and that her daddy is not here. Hena Cuevas>> It's been a year since we first met Michele. She's now a senior and will be graduating with a criminal justice degree. And with the help of the life insurance benefit, she was able to buy a house and move off base. She and Brianna, however, will lose their health benefits in two months, something that has Michele worried. She suffers from depression which requires very expensive medication. Michele Linn-White>> With every little personal story that gets out there, you don't just see a soldier who's going over there and it's his job. You see the people that are left behind. You see who he was as a person and that's what I want. Hena Cuevas>> I'm Hena Cuevas for Life and Times. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> She's in charge of the most powerful labor organization in southern California, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, with more than eight hundred thousand members. Her name is Maria Elena Durazo and she's taking over after her late husband, Miguel Contreras. She's feisty, dramatic and tough and many business people are not looking forward to facing off against Durazo. More than three hundred fifty unions belong to the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor from the public and private sectors. Everyone from janitors to Hollywood cameramen, from firefighters and police to hotel workers. Durazo is new to the job, so we thought we'd ask her what her vision is for southern California workers. Maria Elena Durazo>> I think the most important thing is that we working men and women, regardless of whether they're in the middle class bracket or low wage and the working poor, have one dream in common and that is to be able to live a life in which they raise their children, they have health insurance, they have a pension plan so they could retire with dignity and that they have a voice on the job, that there aren't abuses of their work and workload and things like that. So we have all of that in common. Where there might be different jobs from a firefighter to a dishwasher, we all have the same passion. Val Zavala>> Now you have a reputation for being quite feisty and combative. You have fasted, you have called the situation in Los Angeles, the labor situation, the have and have-not situation, like apartheid. The business people are not eager to see you take this very influential position. Maria Elena Durazo>> Well, I have worked with business people the entire time that I worked also as a union organizer and as a union president because workers need for the businesses in the private sector or for the government in the public sector to be successful. We cannot get what is fair if they are not successful. You hear about the times when there are certain employers on those rare occasions where they absolutely refuse to do and provide the most basic and fundamental needs of those workers. That's when, of course, we have to then respond and fight for those workers. I want to say that the overwhelming majority of the times, we have relationships with employers who understand that, whether it is they want to avoid the fight or because they really do believe in providing a good standard of living. Val Zavala>> Now union numbers have been shrinking nationally over the past couple of decades and yet you see unions as the key to reviving the middle class in America. But some people would say, you know, the globalization and so forth is a mega trend against that. Maria Elena Durazo>> I believe that the only way that workers in this country and, frankly, any country could get their fair share is when they're organized and we're up against -- you're right -- these global corporations that are making decisions that affect workers not only in the United States, but throughout the world. What better way to take on these global corporations and what only way is there, if not the organization of workers to say that we're going to stick together. For example, in the union that I've come out of, the hotel and restaurant workers, we have a National North America Hotel Workers' campaign because, if workers in one city don't unite with workers in another city, there's no way that we could get our point across to the Hiltons and the Starwood, global hotel operators, so I have a very strong belief in that. My parents came to this country from Mexico. They worked very hard in the fields and, if it hadn't been for a movement of farm workers led by Cesar Chavez, it would have been that much more difficult and they would have suffered that much more. Val Zavala>> How did you get to where you are now? Maria Elena Durazo>> I worked in the fields up and down California and Oregon until I was in high school. My dad, you know, really, really taught us a work ethic. My mom is the one who taught us to fight for ourselves. He truly believed that, if you work hard, that you'll be rewarded, that you'll be able to raise your children and your family. My mom had a more realistic side to her, which was that, yes, you'll be rewarded, but there are times when you won't, so you've got to get in there and fight for what's fair. Val Zavala>> How did you get to law school? Maria Elena Durazo>> Well, I was working full-time and this was at night. This was for four years. I took classes at night until I was able to graduate, but my heart and my soul was in what can be done for working people. I saw my father and mother. To this day, they're old and they're very ill and they could never buy a house of their own. They could never afford to do that. Val Zavala>> They never owned their own home? Maria Elena Durazo>> They never owned their own home. They didn't own their own home because, even though they worked from, you know, sunrise to sunset, they worked hard in the fields, they worked in the canneries, they worked as janitors, my father did. Yet they could never buy a home for themselves. When I went away to college -- I was number seven in the family, but the first one to get a college degree -- my father tried to apologize to me and said to me, you know, "I'm really sorry that I couldn't pay for your education and that you have to take loans and you have to apply for scholarships. That would have been my preference." I thought to myself, "Why is he apologizing to me?" He worked so hard and he gave everything, his sweat, to this country. He has no reason to apologize. No one should apologize if they work really hard. I believe in that and I think the majority of people in this country believe in that. Also, you know, a nonviolent movement of people is what really makes change in this country. You could point back and you say the women's movement, the African American civil rights movement, the environmentalists. A nonviolent, but strong mobilization and also exercising our rights. Cesar taught us to exercise our right to vote and we need to be involved in the political and civic process of this country. I will do everything I can to carry out those kinds of values and ways of winning. Val Zavala>> Maria Elena Durazo, congratulations again. You've got a big job ahead of you. Best of luck. Maria Elena Durazo>> Thank you. I appreciate it. Val Zavala>> And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. 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