Questioning legal status was appropriate

You might have noticed that we are now in the age of “instant news” here at the Coastline Pilot. Stories are now being posted on our website as soon as we can ready them. Our mantra, coined by Managing Editor Brady Rhoades, is “break it on the web, explain it in print.”

This means stories that appear on the website early in the week are often changed or updated and expanded upon by the time they get “on the street” in the print edition. Since the print version replaces the earlier, online version, this can lead to some interesting situations.

The fluidity of the web also means we can instantly correct errors or make other changes that seem desirable on second thought, or add information that was not available when the story was posted originally.

This happened last week, when a story about the gunman who committed suicide in his truck on South Coast Highway was posted on the web Monday with the information that the man, who happened to have a Latino surname, had been determined by police to not be an illegal immigrant.

This sentence was taken out of the version that was printed in Friday’s paper since it seemed extraneous, and we are always looking for ways to save space in print, which is not the case on the web. An online reader took note of it, however, and sent us a blog comment objecting to the fact that the question of the man’s legal status had been raised at all.

The issue of the man’s legal status was, to us, a question that could have shed light on his motive for driving through Laguna, shooting at police, and then turning the gun on himself. After all, people risk their lives and many die attempting to cross the U.S. border; it’s not out of the realm of possibility that someone could react with lethal force if he thought he would be deported.

In fact, more and more criminal suspects and even traffic offenders stopped on Laguna streets are being handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as we see every week in the police blotter.

A few months ago, a young woman with a Hispanic surname who had a public altercation — basically a slap-fight — with a boyfriend here admitted to police that she was here illegally and was soon dispatched to Mexico.

The fact that this has become a question that police apparently now routinely ask of those they encounter in a law enforcement situation should please those who have campaigned to extend immigration enforcement to local police agencies.

Now that it’s happening, it’s surprising then, when that very question is asked by the press and answered by police, that it would generate an objection from someone who probably supports that effort.

But perhaps it wasn’t the question that irritated the commenter — it was the answer.

He (hearts) Huckabee

Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist, the veteran anti-illegal immigration activist, has been campaigning for surprise Iowa caucus victor Mike Huckabee, who is running for the Republican nomination for president.

Gilchrist himself ran for Congress to represent Laguna Beach not too long ago on the American Independent roster, losing in a runoff to Republican John Campbell.

Now he’s in a nasty tangle with other members of the original Minuteman Project over allegations of financial impropriety, and the fur is flying on both sides.

Gilchrist has launched another Minuteman Project, called Jim Gilchrist’s Minuteman Project, not to be confused with the original Minuteman Project founded by Jim Gilchrist, which is in the hands of the bunch that has severed ties with Gilchrist.

Laguna’s own anti-illegal immigration activist Eileen Garcia — who, in happier times, founded “Gilchrist’s Angels,” a Gilchrist women’s auxiliary — announced publicly not too long ago that she was “dissociating herself” from Gilchrist, who essentially says “Godspeed.”

Now those who jettisoned Gilchrist from the original Minuteman Project are accusing him of spreading malicious lies about them. It’s a whirling dervish of accusations and counter-accusations that makes for some eyebrow-raising e-mail reading.

In the meantime, Gilchrist was said to be heading to Michigan to stump for Huckabee on the presidential trail leading to Super Tuesday’s California primary, Feb. 5.

Whether you like Mike Huckabee or not, we can definitely recommend a trip to the video store to rent the movie “I (heart) Huckabees,” a quirky, philosophical comedy that came out a few years ago starring Dustin Hoffman and Lily Tomlin as psychiatrists investigating whether there is such a thing as coincidence — or if everything happens as part of a grand plan or scheme, perhaps under the hand of a Creator. In the movie, Huckabees is the name of a department store, not a former Baptist minister who wants to be president.

It’s something to think about.

CINDY FRAZIER is city editor of the Coastline Pilot. She may be reached at cindy.frazier@latimes.com.