PO!NT

OPINION
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EYE WITNESS REPORTS ON HUMAN CULTURE
   
AUGUST, 2010

LA journalists are all abuzz about the discovery of the remains of Mitrice Richardson, who disappeared a year ago after being arrested at Malibu's Geoffrey's Restaurant on Pacific  Coast Highway for allegedly refusing to pay her tab. No one at the restaurant has gone on record as to WHY the pretty woman refused to pay her tab or been clear as to the "bizarre" behavior that the restaurant claims she was exhibiting. Her purse was in her car when it was impounded by the police when she was taken into custody and it was determined that she had enough money in her bank account to pay her tab. Anne Soble, editor of the Malibu Surfside News has been relentlessly following this case since the woman's disappearance after Mitrice was released from the Lost Hills Sheriff's Station but even though she reported every available detail of the case, she was unable to produce answers to some very big gaps in the story. LA police officials got very testy when LA TIMES reporters tried to fill in some of those gaps.

Somebody's hiding something - the police, the restaurant, the family? Why was Mitrice's car impounded, preventing her from being able to return to it - even if she had found a way to get back to Malibu - about 13 miles from the station?  There are no parking restrictions on the stretch of PCH where Geoffrey's is located and if it was parked in the restaurant parking lot, it seems extremely cruel for the restaurant to have it impounded. Locals agree that if a celebrity or wealthy customer of Geoffrey's had not been able to pay a bill of only $83, the restaurant certainly wouldn't have called the police - but would have told the customer to come another time and pay the bill. Was Mitrice meeting someone at the restaurant that didn't show? What happened to the other customers that the restaurant claims she was bothering?  Evidence in her car indicated she may have been sleep-deprived. Why? Was she afraid of something or someone? Who was the officer that videos show followed her out of the station when she was released at 1AM?

The death of Mitrice Richardson reads like a Bruckheimer crime show. Her family has been in the news periodically and have launched lawsuits in order to get records released, but it is painfully obvious that Mitrice was not close to her family. No one seems to know what might have lead her to Geoffrey's that fateful night. Hopefully, although the police say there was no foul play indicated, the discovery of her remains is not going to stop investigative journalists from learning the truth.  It is tragic that a woman with so much promise and potential came to such a lonely end. It would not be the first dark secret that Malibu has hidden under a facade of sun and surf.  

Recently award winner at the 2010 Southern California Journalism Awards - Magazine Feature category

PO!NT,   was established in 2002 as BATES RATES NEWS by Dianne Bates, a Los Angeles-based culture journalist whose writing and/or photography has appeared on the covers of the LOS ANGELES TIMES Calendar section, FLAUNT magazineLA Architect magazine, LUXURY LIFE AND STYLE magazines (WESTSIDE and SOUTHBAY magazines), CITY AND SHORE magazine. She has also contributed to LA TIMES, Variety, Baltimore Sun, Baltimore City Paper, Where LA magazine, Malibu Magazine,  RPM, Performance Plus, and Music Connection.  She is the former Visual Arts Editor of the Tacoma Reporter.

Dianne was one of the early Internet TV reporters on NETTHISTV.com. She served as a judge in the 2004 California Mid-State Wine Competition and associate judge in the 2006 Central Coast Wine Competition.

She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club.

Her architectural photography was recently accepted for a MOPLA group show at Smashbox Studios sponsored by the Lucie Foundation. 

Dianne serves as Advisory Board Liason for the non-profit Malibu Friends of Music, established by composer/violinist Maria Newman and conductor/violist Scott Hosfeld.

She is currently co-writing a book with James Winfree, CRIME AND CIRCUMSTANCE, about the gay scene and record business in Hollywood from the mid-1950's through the early 1980's. She is also co-author of the screenplay, LOGANSPORT.


Out this week: My write up of Santa Monica's HOTEL SHANGRI-LA in H MAGAZINE. It's the Westside's hottest new hang!


The enchanting Emerald Iguana in Ojai, CA. Photo by Dianne Bates copyright 2010.
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