Charity Event for Fallen Officer Canceled Because Conservatives Were Invited

Ferlon Webster Jr. | October 3, 2019
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A charity flag football event in California held in honor of a deputy killed in the Thousand Oaks mass shooting in 2018 has been canceled because conservatives were asked to attend.

Ventura Country Sgt. Ron Helus was a victim in the Thousand Oaks shooting last November where 13 people were killed. 

As Fox 11 Los Angeles reported:

The Blue Bowl was supposed to happen at Newbury Park High School on Sunday. Thousands of dollars had already been raised for Sgt. Helus' family, but now all that money is being returned to donors after organizers say Thousand Oaks Police Chief Tim Hagel convinced organizations to pull out of the event.

Mike Randall, Vice President of the Fallen Officers Foundation, which organizes the Blue Bowl, says things started going south when he allegedly got a text from Hagel saying there were serious issues with the event, specifically that the speakers would cause local political issues.

The speaker list for the event was going to be bipartisan and included Gov. Gavin Newsom’s public safety liaison, Scott Baio, and singer Joy Villa. 

Randall said he was questioned by Hagel as to why Trump supporters were invited.

"He basically said over and over in the conversation this is not Trump country, that slogan 'Make America Great' is not favorable, popular, within 1,200 square miles, that we don’t want Republicans here, I could not believe it,” Randall said. “We were totally floored by this comment, 'the only thing,' and I quote, 'the only thing you coulda made this worse, Mike, was to invite Dick Cheney and Sarah Huckabee Sanders,' and I went...wow are you kidding me?" 

Randall basically was given an ultimatum from Hagel: Get rid of the Republican speakers and keep the event, or keep the speakers and lose the event. The vice president of the Fallen Officers Foundation didn’t bat an eyelid. 

"He goes 'yeah this ain’t gonna work for us,' I said you’re not gonna support this with the honor guard and he goes 'no we’re not bringing the honor guard we’re not coming we’re not going to be there, not supporting it'," said Randall.

Hagel reportedly convinced sponsors and politicians to pull out of the event, causing it to be postponed indefinitely. 

Ventura County Sheriff, Bill Ayub, gave a statement on the event cancellation:

...As the event began to materialize, we became concerned with the behavior of some of the organizers of the event. Although I believe the organizers had good intentions, the event was moving in a direction we no longer felt comfortable supporting.

"Ron Helus was a true hero, he saved lives that night, did he run in and go 'Are you Republican or Democrat or independent, I need to know before I help you?' No they don’t," Randall said in response to the Sheriff's Department. "You’ve messed with the wrong person, you’ve messed with the wrong founder, you’ve messed with the wrong foundation."

Joy Villa expressed her disgust with the way this situation was handled:

"I was gonna come up from Hollywood to support this, this is not okay, this is prejudice, hello? You’re shutting down an event because of the way conservatives think, because I support the president? This is disgusting, I’m appalled, and in all my years being an out conservative, I’ve never seen something so despicable like this."

Fox 11 Los Angeles also obtained a statement from the Helus family:

Sheriff Ayub says Sgt. Helus' widow, Karen Helus, and their son, Jordan Helus reached out to the Sheriff's Department to expressed their disappointment over the negative publicity and provided the following statements:

Friends,

As always, thank you for the continued and incredible amount of love shown to me and my family over the last year. I am saddened and disappointed that a charity fundraiser has turned into politically charged national news story. Since the tragic events of last November, I have intentionally avoided relating political causes to the loss of my husband. Unfortunately, the politics surrounding this flag football event turned into a distraction from the cause it was meant to highlight. Since this event has evolved into more about politics and less about our loss, I feel it is important to remind everyone that I have met our President on several occasions and continue to respect and support him due to his unwavering support of my family and all law enforcement.

I also want to thank my life long family at the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office for standing by me throughout this past year. They have been with me every step of the way from accompanying me to highly publicized charitable fundraisers to getting my nails done and going to lunch.

Thank you,
Karen

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