Notebook -- Danette Goulet

Huntington Beach lost a legend this week.

Most of you will know his name. Not because he was a Huntington Beach

native and resident for 66 years, but because George Arnold was one of

those larger-than-life characters.

Arnold passed away Sunday in Palm Desert at the age of 73.

I wish I had known him. The more I read about him, the more I heard,

the greater my feeling of loss became for not having known him.

Most likely he would have been a bane upon my existence -- always at

my door or on my phone, as he ran for City Council or as he fought the

powers that be.

But any man who, after being told by former Police Chief and

Councilman Earle Robitaille to -- and I paraphrase -- leave on the horse

he rode in on, would then “ride in” on a children’s hobby horse to the

next several council meetings is a man I would like to know.

I don’t know what it was he said to the volatile councilman that

night, but it was undoubtedly par for the course.

Arnold was well known for his scathing tirades at council meetings,

from which no one was safe. Robitaille was a common target I understand,

as was City Atty. Gail Hutton.

Despite his searing attacks, which were difficult to understand I’m

told as he didn’t have any teeth, he was loved by many -- including

council members.

“You had to kind to work to understand him, but dammit he had some

great ideas,” said former Mayor Dave Sullivan. “As a council person, I

just loved having him come up to the podium each meeting -- he was a

great asset to the city and help to council people.”

Of course, Sullivan added, it probably helped that Arnold’s views ran

parallel to his.

But Arnold was more than just a gadfly. He was known as the “perennial

candidate,” as he made five unsuccessful runs for city council and a one

bid for governor, for which I’m told he got two votes.

He funded these many campaigns through the sale of politically themed

T-shirts, a practice which landed him in jail once and in court years

later.

In 1990 he was arrested for selling the shirts without a license.

Hutton declared the sales an expression of free speech since he was

running for council, but failed to tell the court, so Arnold was arrested

for failing to appear in court.

He did win a T-shirt victory against the city years later -- sort of.

When police confiscated 250 of his shirts at Pierfest 93, he sued and

won. A court award him $250 in damages for revenues lost -- not quite the

$3,750 he was looking for.

So you see, Arnold was clearly a reporter’s dream and a people

watcher’s paradise.

The many lesser known stories abound. There is a rumor that when he

was a teenager he stepped into the parade and walked a block or two buck

naked. Who knows?

Fact is, Arnold will never be forgotten. He made an indelible mark

upon this town and is as much a part of its history as landscape itself.