Toxic L.A. School Belmont Is Back On L A Cable Channel 36 TONIGHT Sunday & Monday

Los Angeles, CA. Due to popular demand and continuing revelations of methane gas and hydrogen sulfide on new development sites in Los Angeles, the Full Disclosure Network® is re-running the two-part series entitled, “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” to be featured tonight on

• L. A. Cable Channel 36
• Sunday, July 29th Part-One at 8 p.m. Part-Two at 8:30 p.m.
• Monday; July 30th, Part One at 4 p.m. Part 2 at 4:30 p.m.

For Internet viewers an exclusive, free ten minute video on the toxic conditions at Belmont can be seen on “On Demand” 24/7, as a public service. Tonight's cable TV presentation features exclusive video footage of all the major players involved in the planning, development, financing and investigations of the half a billion dollar, notorious Belmont Learning Center, in the L. A. Unified School District, (LAUSD) that was built on top of the old Los Angeles oil field.

Belmont Players Featured In The Cable Series:
Steve Cooley , L.A. County District Attorney
David Cartwright, Sr. Partner O'Melveny & Myers, (former outside legal counsel to LAUSD)
Jim McConnell, LAUSD Cheif Facilities Executive
Anthony Patchett, Belmont Prosecutor, Special Asst. D.A. (ret)
Jerry Thornton, LAUSD Interim Inspector General
Don Mullinax, Inspector General L.A. Unified School District
Roger Carrick. Special Legal Counsel to Inspector General
Scott Wildman. Former Chairman CA Legislative Audit Committee
Dominic Shambra, Director Planning & Development LAUSD
Dr. Kaye Kilburn, USC Keck School of Medicine, Edgington Chair (transcript)
Ed Scott, Oil and Gas Expert, Licensed Environmental Assessor

Also offering their comments on the Belmont series are:
Michael Schneider, former President California Board of Accountancy
Tony Beall, Mayor Rancho Santa Margarita, Leader CUSD Recall Trustees Committee

Still incomplete the Belmont public school is now estimated to have cost almost a half a billion dollars after questionable remediation of toxic gases, seven years of investigations, lawsuits and controversy. In the early 2000's the Los Angeles news media ceased covering the Belmont Learning Center debacle, the LAUSD renamed the school "Vista Hermosa" and began plans to to redesign the project. The Full Disclosure Network® (FDN) began documenting the history of the project by interviewing each of the major players at a time when Belmont was only 60% complete and had an estimated cost of $175 million to $228 million at that point in 2003.

"Dead Issue": Most public officials and the news media had pronounced the project a “dead issue" and so did the mainstream media that had ceased following the day to day and on going planning for a new phase. In December of 2004 the Full Disclosure Network® was the only media to cover the demolition in a five minute video of the brand new and never occupied Belmont school buildings being destroyed.

Denied Access to the Site: When LAUSD officials denied FDN access to the site to videotape the demolition, an airplane was rented to capture the costly demolition on tape, noting the dozens of new and unused large airconditioning units were removed and taken by the contractors after having been placed on the roofs by costly helicopters.

A $132 million remediation for methane and hydrogen sulfide gases was planned but it is still uncertain if that has taken place and approval by Department of Toxic Substance Control, State of California was delayed for unknown reasons.

Facilities Chief McConnell Resigns: Following the release Full Disclosure Network's® 2005 series entitled “Belmont: The Black Hole of School Construction” LAUSD's Jim Mc Connell resigned. As Chief Executive of the Facilities Division Mc Connell was featured in the FDN series saying, “the days of Belmont are over”. However, mistaken he was, as the days of Belmont are still to this day, far from finished.

Revelations on the Belmont Project:

• What lawsuit blocked BB Bond funds from being used to build Belmont?
• Why was the site (an old oil field) purchased “as is”?
• How did LAUSD Raise the first $92 million to pay for Belmont?
• Why was construction on Belmont stopped when only 60% complete?
• Who stopped the construction?
• LAUSD had to change State laws to win approval for Belmont, why?

Full Disclosure network® programs are billed as “the news behind the news” for the past fifteen years. In 2002 the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences presented a local public affairs Emmy to host Leslie Dutton for the special series entitled “L. A.’s War Against Terrorism." Featured on over 45 cable systems and the Internet, worldwide on http://www.fulldisclosure.net/, Channels and air times are listed on the website

SCHOOL AUDITORS & INVESTIGATORS SPEAK OUT ON LACK OF BIG DOLLAR PROSECUTIONS: Video (8 min)

Los Angeles, CA . School auditors and investigators speak out about their disappointment over the failure of prosecutors to file charges for big dollar crimes documented by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Office of Inspector General. In a Full Disclosure Network® nine minute video news blog some of the most egregious investigations undertaken by the Inspector General's office are revealed, including the notorious Belmont Learning Center. The video is available free, on demand, 24/7, as a public service. Viewers are asked to respond in to survey questions and leave their comments for an online discussion.

Here are a few issues discussed in the video:

• Former LAUSD Inspector General Don Mullinax responds to Full Disclosure® when asked what why no prosecutions resulted from his extensive reports of waste, fraud and abuse on the still incomplete $330 million Belmont Learning Center. Mullinax said he was disappointed "after having spent almost three years of my life working on that report, other reports and on the District Attorney's Belmont Task Force on Belmont."
• Anthony Patchett who headed the D.A.'s investigation on Belmont said "Don Mullinax did an outstanding job. He found a lot of fraud and corruption. It's just the fact that when he took those cases to the District Attorney's office, they chose not to go forward with them. They'll go ahead and they'll prosecute the small crimes under $15,000, but for the other crimes that Mr. Mullinax has found, they still have that blind eye towards that".
• According tothen Interim Inspector General Jerry Thornton some of the problems have been resolved but investigations are ongoing. "If you are looking at lower level employees, if you're looking at people that manage cafeterias and people that do the grounds work, we could do this for the next 15 years and nobody would ever say anything to us. But when you elevate your investigations up to the hierarchy of an organization like this, you're always going to meet resistance. Everybody's for accountability until you hold them accountable", he said.
• Investigator Karen Sexton told Full Disclosure® how an adult school contractor and other unnamed individuals were never prosecuted when the Inspector General's investigation found classes that didn't exist, ghost students and people working double assignments. She said the only outcome of the investigation was "they no longer work for the District" because the contractor's contract was not renewed."
• Bob Williams , promoted to Acting Deputy Inspector General following the departure of Don Mullinax, told Full Disclosure® the BB Bond investigation resulted in auditors finding $600 million that was spent on different things (click here to see PAGE 4 of the BB Bond follow-up report) that went to the actual contractors as opposed to the projects. When asked what the outcome of BB Bond investigation was, the supervising investigator told Full Disclosure® "the outcome basically, was nothing."
• (note LAUSD removed the BB Bond follow-up report from their website following this orignal release)

The Full Disclosure Network®, billed as "the news behind the news", has been producing a series of video news blogs for the Internet using video clips from television interviews and events featuring prominent leaders who involved in the school construction, planning, development and investigations of the L. A. Unified School District and Belmont Learning Center. The videos are featured on 43 cable television systems and video streamed over the Internet from http://www.fulldisclosure.net/ . In 2002 the Full Disclosure® program , hosted by Leslie Dutton, was presented with a local public affairs Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

ARE JAILS INTENDED TO BE PUNISHMENT? SHERIFFS DEBATE: Video News Blog 8 minutes

Los Angeles, CA: In an eight minute Video News Blog the Full Disclosure Network™ presents a dynamic exchange of views about whether jail time should be considered punishment, featuring video clips from recent interviews with Los Angeles Sheriff’s Sgt. Paul Jernigan, Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Merrick Bobb the renowned police reformer, formerly with the Christopher Commission. The video is moderated by host Leslie Dutton and is available for viewing FREE on the Internet on demand, 24/7 as a public service of the Full Disclosure Network™. The video news blogs and full interviews are also featured on 43 cable systems and available on DVD.

Here are a few points made during this debate:

• Sheriffs SGT. PAUL JERNIGAN: “Jail is not supposed to be pleasant, it is supposed to rehabilitate the people that are going to change their lives once they decide, jail is not for me.”
• SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, (Maricopa County, AZ): Describes the 140 degree heat in the Korean War tents where he houses his inmates on the Arizona desert. He says,“It gets hot out but I don’t care. Our men and women who are fighting in Irag (have the same conditions). He says the inmates complain about the meals that cost 30 cents a day, they tell him they hate the food, but he says he doesn’t care. “I hope they never come back….NEVER COME BACK”.
• MERRICK BOBB, (Renowned Police Reformer): Says, “with due respect to the Sheriff, it is not the jailers role to punish an individual.....they cannot be mean, thoughtless, they must provide basic human needs” He says the role of the jailer is “to provide food, shelter, mental care, access to lawyers and whatever the law subscribes”.

Following the video news debate viewers are asked to participate in an online survey by casting their vote on questions pertaining to the issue. They are also asked to leave their comments and to join in the online blog discussion of the issue.

Billed as "the news behind the news" the Full Disclosure Network™ is an independent, educational, public affairs cable program featured on 43 cable systems and the worldwide Internet website http://www.fulldisclosure.net/ Produced by Leslie Dutton and T. J. Johnston, the program was presented with a public affairs Emmy Award from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for the public affairs series entitled "L.A.'s War Against Terrorism". Channels and airtimes can be found on the website.