Associated Press

10/22/03

Council speaker arrested for brandishing knife

RIVERSIDE -- A speaker who stabbed the lectern with a knife to make a point at Tuesday night's City Council meeting was arrested by police for investigation of brandishing a weapon.

Thomas Kenny, 48, stunned council members when he flipped open a 3-inch pocket knife, waved it toward the city leaders and slammed it into the wooden lectern as he made rambling comments about youth program funding, authorities said.

Councilman Chuck Beaty, who was shot in the face during the City Hall shooting in 1998, was clearly unnerved as police moved in and Kenny was out of the council chambers.

"Did they get him? Good," Beaty said.

Kenny tried to explain to two police officers and a captain taking him to a side room that he was simply trying to make a point about wasteful spending on security measures. Police told him they understood but that he made a terrible decision in brandishing the knife.

He was released a short time later. Lt. Ken Carpenter said it wasn't clear if charges will be filed.

General Services director Bob Hall said knives with blades shorter than 4 inches are allowed inside City Hall, noting contractors sometimes attend meetings with such knives on their belts.

In October 1998, U.S. postal carrier Joseph Neale entered the council boardroom and began firing at council members with a 9 mm handgun. Mayor Ron Loveridge and council members Beaty, Laura Pearson, Ameal Moore and Terri Thompson and three police officers were injured. Thompson is no longer on the council.

Neale reportedly was angry about the loss of his job as a part-time chess coach at a city recreation center. He was convicted of 12 counts of attempted murder and sentenced to more than 300 years in state prison.