Forget Smashing Pumpkins — Los Alamitos Mayor Dean “What Racist Gag?”

Grose suddenly found himself on the retaliatory receiving end of a

controversy he'd set in motion by sending an ethnically insensitive

email. That missive, sent over the past weekend, depicted the White House lawn strewn with watermelons, titled, “No Easter egg hunt this year.”


Image courtesy of Keyanus Price

One African American recipient of Grose's email, Keyanus Price, took

offense. Price, described as a community volunteer and friend of the

mayor, demanded a public apology. So far she has received a private one

from the clueless mayor, though he has yet to make a public

acknowledgment of his blunder. He claims he was unaware of the racial

connotations connected with watermelon imagery.

Today the kerfuffle ratcheted up a notch, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram and other sources, when Grose arrived at work to find a watermelon smashed on his office

steps. Police are not treating the gesture as an act of vandalism since

the watermelon did not cause any damage. So far '80s comedian Gallagher has not been named a person of interest.

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