Gorell supports victims of crime
I spent a significant portion of 2025 in a courtroom, where I testified as the victim in a deeply difficult case against a violent individual who was ultimately found guilty and sentenced to prison.
Throughout this challenging experience, Supervisor Jeff Gorell — a former Ventura County criminal prosecutor and strong advocate for victims — provided consistent support to both me and my children. He helped answer our questions and facilitated communication with key departments, including probation, the sheriff’s office, and the district attorney’s office, ensuring that important concerns were addressed.
It came as no surprise that Supervisor Gorell played a leading role in bringing a Family Justice Center (FJC) to Thousand Oaks. During my case, I had to travel back and forth to Ventura — often leaving work and my children behind — to access the critical services an FJC provides. Knowing that future victims in this community will have access to these resources locally, near Cal Lutheran University, is incredibly meaningful.
This one-stop center allows individuals to access a wide range of essential services in one place, including multilingual restraining order clinics, mental health support, shelter resources, police interviews, childcare, and more. Without the support of the FJC, I may not have been able to pursue and ultimately achieve justice.
Thanks to Supervisor Jeff Gorell’s efforts, victims in the Thousand Oaks area will now benefit from this vital, life-changing resource. For me and my family, supporting his re-election is a clear and meaningful choice, and I encourage others to consider doing the same.
Heather Padilla, Thousand Oaks
Interpol could stop the madness
The Republican Congress is supine. Our military has been decapitated by our Secretary of War Crimes. JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth aren’t going to invoke the 25th Amendment. But Trump’s madness is so great that another solution presents itself.
With a little surreptitious cooperation in the U.S., Interpol can arrest Trump and Hegseth and haul them off to the Hague to be tried for war crimes. And I expect those trials would take at least 32 months.
Vance is no great improvement, but at least he’s intelligent and not insane (I think). And in any case Congress under the Democrats will recover some backbone and squelch the worst excesses of Putin love, ICE, tariffs, and the Department of Injustice.
Brent Meeker, Camarillo
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Gorell is there for victims, an Interpol intervention? | Letters
Reporting by Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
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