Honestly, covering “news reporter” Karen Velie and her CalCoastNews blog has become so tiresome even I, a compact 120-volt office appliance, am sick of wasting my energy and grinding my gears through her sensationalist travails, but here we go again because the saga continues.
To recap, former SLO resident Jody Bernat (formerly Jody Belsher) filed a lawsuit alleging Velie had defamed her after reporting that Bernat was living under an alias in Arizona. That turned out to be false because Bernat legally changed her name to elude a stalker, and the judge in the case sealed the record for that reason, so Bernat is her legal name, not an alias.
According to Velie’s “reporting,” Bernat’s ex-husband, John Belsher, now also living in the same Arizona town (Surprise, Arizona), was using the alias Jon Bailey, and the separated couple were entering pickleball tournaments together. Belsher says he used “Jon Bailey” so as not to draw attention to his wife’s former name.
Right about now you’re yawning and asking, “So what?” I agree! But this is what passes for reportable “news” on Velie’s blog.
This is literally too absurd to sound true, amirite? Velie’s “source” for her alias story was Surprise resident Steve Cable, who also entered tournaments at the Grand Pickleball Club, and who confirmed Velie’s suspicions that Bernat/Belsher (she) and Belsher/Bailey (he) had to be up to no good.
After all, Belsher/Bailey (he), a real estate and land use attorney, also has a $3.6 million fraud judgment to pay with his former partner, Ryan Wright (formerly known as Ryan Petetit), whose development companies bilked investors Jeffrey and Debora Chase out of millions. Did I mention Belsher/Bailey is representing his ex-wife Bernat/Belsher in her defamation lawsuit against Velie and Cable? Cozy for a divorced couple, no?
It’s complicated and silly, I know.
But hey! All caught up? OK! The new revelation is that Cable is saying “no fair!” He filed a declaration in the defamation suit explaining why SLO Superior Court should quash the case against him. He doesn’t live or have business in SLO County, see?
Hm. So it’s impossible to defame someone from another state?
Cable just got caught up in the alias mystery when another pickleball player texted him Velie’s story about Belsher and Wright/Petetit’s $3.6 million fraud judgment, and then he started doing more research and found more CalCoastNews stories and went down a Velie rabbit hole, called Velie, told her what he knew of his interactions with the Belshers via pickleball, then Velie helped Cable and the Chases get in touch, and now this non-story is all a Very BIG DEAL!
Velie has yet to respond to Bernat’s defamation suit, but for his part, “Gossipy Steve” Cable is crying “Not it!” Can I get a ruling, state-line judge?
All I know is that journalism is much easier when reporters vet, confirm, and duplicate sources and when pickleball is not involved. Too competitive!
Speaking of reporting, this just in: Morro Bay adopted a policy to fly only three specific flags on city property—Old Glory (USA), the Bear Flag (state), and the city flag (Morro Rock, duh)—reversing a 2022 ordinance allowing commemorative flags, such as the Pride flag, to fly over City Hall for up to 30 days.
Interesting timing, eh? We’re just 31 days away from Pride Month, when in June we celebrate and recognize the LGBTQ-plus community, history, and ongoing fight for equality and acceptance. I hate to think it, but is this more obeying in advance and trickledown intolerance coming from Trump?
The Orange One ended policy protecting LGBTQ-plus rights, including nonbinary recognition and gender-affirming care. He ended diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI) programs and extorted states and universities to do the same. What’s next? No more Pride Month? No Black History Month? Women’s History? Native American Heritage Month? Oh, but don’t worry, fans of genocide and colonization. Trump is bringing back Columbus Day! Yay!
None of what’s going on right now is normal. Trump is singlehandedly reversing years of social progress. I know it’s easier to avoid controversy, Morro Bay, but now’s the time to stand up to Trump, not bend over.
Like timid mice, the Morro Bay City Council is trying to find cover. Councilmember Jeff Eckles called the old ordinance allowing the Pride flag “divisive” and “gross overreach of local government.”
“Fly only the flags that represent all of us,” Eckles said.
At least Councilmember Cyndee Edwards recognized the optics: [The Pride flag] “wouldn’t be going up in June, and I just wanted to be making sure that I was conscious of what we do here tonight.”
“There’s no malice intent,” Mayor Carla Wixom said. “It’s just bringing us back to our core.”
“No malice, gay and trans friends! We’re just not going to recognize you at this crucial time in American historical intolerance.”
You all must be so proud.
Speaking of pride, SLO County District Attorney Dan “MAGA” Dow has taken Trump’s “only two biological sexes” edict to heart. In his press release condemning the early parole of trans woman Allie Brown convicted of filicide, Dow called her “Mr. Brown.”
I don’t like baby killers any more than you, Dow, but Brown served 12 years of a 15-year sentence and was deemed fit for release. She identifies as female. Maybe “Ms. Brown” is in order. Δ
The Shredder is a bridge over troubled water. Ease your mind at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Best of SLO County 2025.
I question whether someone who beat a baby to death, and then only has served 12 years for it, is entitled to have their choice of honorifics indulged. I imagine that “switching sides” is a pretty effective strategy for ensuring that you are housed with a less-threatening population of convicts. “Misgendering” a baby killer ranks pretty low on my scale of offenses.
To bad the county and cities within will never ban the police from flying their thin blue gang flag.
Personally the only flags that should be flying in front of any government building are the ones tied to the nation, state and city. It is an announcement of where their loyalty lies. To the US, to the state, and to the people within their city.
Anything else smacks of favoritism in my view. No thin blue line flags, no pow flags, no pride flags, no other bullshit flags. Why?
Cause city, county, and state represent EVERYONE, not special interest groups.
TOSHOGU:
The irony, wasn’t it your generation who started burning flags? Yet here you are, all these years later, advocating for the sanctity of the flag and displays thereof? Hypocrite. If the flag means so much to you, why didn’t you go and fight in Vietnam to defend it? If you did, then perhaps you have a leg to stand in, if not, just take the money your generation and you draft dodgers did nothing to earn and be quiet.
I’m not a big fan of the police myself, but I guarantee they’ll be the first people you call if a poor person moved in next to you. Further, if you resent the Thin Blue Line flag so much, try walking in their shoes for a day.
“What constitutes desecration of the American flag?
In 1968, Congress approved the Federal Flag Desecration Law after a Vietnam War protest. The law made it illegal to knowingly cast contempt upon any flag of the United States by publicly mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling upon it.Jun 21, 2024″
https://calcoastnews.com/2024/10/judge-iss…