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.