Simi Receives Angry, Threatening Calls : King case: Officials defend the site of the trial and express fears that the violence might cross the county line.

The day after the verdict in the Rodney G. King case, the phones at Simi Valley’s City Hall and Police Department were ringing off the hook with angry and threatening calls from across the country.

“Simi Valley’s next,” Police Chief Paul Miller quoted one caller as saying. “We’re getting calls from people threatening our police officers, from people saying they are going to come up here and set our city on fire.”

Miller said the city has received more than 200 calls since the King verdicts were announced Wednesday afternoon, most expressing outrage at the acquittal of four Los Angeles police officers.

Even as officials defended their city in the wake of the verdicts, they said they are bracing for the possibility that the same anger exploding in Los Angeles might be transported across the county line.

At a late afternoon news conference, Miller said a local newspaper had received a call from someone threatening to kill a dozen people in Simi Valley. He said the Radisson Hotel had received a bomb threat.

“We’ve had a lot of threats being made,” he said. “We’re not going to stand by and watch crime committed.”

Miller said local residents also have been calling to express fear that Simi Valley, like Los Angeles, would become the target of violence. He said the city’s entire 109-member police force has been put on alert and will remain on alert until at least Monday.

Some Simi Valley residents seemed to be bracing for the worst.

Cynthia Nagy, sales manager at Hilldale Discount Gun Sales, the largest of the city’s two gun shops, said her store sold 20 firearms and hundreds of boxes of ammunition Thursday. The store usually averages about four gun sales a day, she said.

“We have about 50 people in the store right now,” Nagy said. “It’s paranoia. They’re just talking about the craziness in L. A.”

Officials said the city, which has been looking forward to a visit Monday by Mikhail S. Gorbachev to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, is unfairly being blamed for the outcome of one of the most closely watched trials in California history.

“Our community is getting a bad rap,” Miller said. “The verdict does not necessarily represent the views of this community.”

Mayor Greg Stratton said it was important to note that only two of the 12 jurors were actually from Simi Valley, the rest coming from different areas of Ventura County.

“I hope people understand this was not a Simi Valley jury or a Simi Valley trial,” Stratton said. “This was a Los Angeles County trial. All we did was simply host the trial. We looked at it as a duty. It was certainly not an honor.”

There is no reason for people to take their anger out on the city, Stratton added.

“It would be like getting mad at the home city for the Super Bowl if your team loses,” he said.

Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) issued a statement from his Washington office denouncing the bashing of his hometown by “outside activists.”

“I think the outsiders should lower their rhetoric and work to end the mindless violence in L. A. instead of inflaming it further,” Gallegly said.

In his statement, the congressman said that while he was surprised at the jury’s decision, “I am confident that they truly did their best to see that justice is served.”

Stratton agreed: “I have to trust the system. I can’t second-guess their decision.”

The mayor called on Simi Valley residents to remain calm, urging them to vent their frustrations by peaceful means.

The jury’s verdict drew mixed reactions from dozens of residents who gathered in front of the East County Courthouse on Wednesday evening after the panel’s decision was announced. Some held up American flags and chanted “Support our courts”; others carried signs that read “Our system sucks” and “We will all pay for the crimes committed on April 29, 1992.”

“The guy got what he deserved,” Sam Sweiss, 29, said of King. “They should have beat him more. He broke the law.”

Pamela Marshall, 25, said it was a mistake to hold the trial in Ventura County because its residents are, for the most part, very conservative and mostly white.

“It’s a major hypocrisy that they came here for an impartial trial and they did not have one single black person on the jury,” Marshall said. “I’m ashamed of my community today. I’m ashamed of the human race.”

Shelbie Alvarez, 50, said she was stunned.

“It makes you angry,” she said. “The videotape was evidence enough. Why couldn’t they just take that and convict them. This way, it’s opening the doors for policemen to do whatever they want.”

“They’re trying to paint Simi Valley as bad, as a racist town,” said Mike Demaret, 20. “But this was not a racist issue. No one wants to see four cops go to jail for trying to protect their city.”

Rose Brown, a 43-year-old black woman who traveled from Los Angeles to Simi Valley to vent her anger at the acquittal of the officers, found herself in a shouting match with a group of young white men who defended the verdict.

“God help America,” Brown said. “We are a sick people. What happened here today will be an earthquake that will shake everyone in America because the whole world will see how much a racist country we are.”

Don Jones, who drove all the way from his home in Gettysburg, Pa., to attend the trial, said he was saddened by the jury’s decision.

“What it means to me is that once again Archie Bunker has won,” said Jones, who was among the few blacks gathered outside the courthouse. “It was a miscarriage of justice. The whole panel was made up of illiterate hillbillies.

“We were just healing from Watts,” Jones said. “Now we’ve got to start all over again.”

Simi Valley officials said the bashing of their city will not last.

“It will be a rough couple of days for sure, but life will go on,” Stratton said.

“It’ll blow over once people realize this was not a Simi Valley trial,” Councilman Bill Davis said. “I don’t understand why a lot of the blame isn’t being put on the district attorney in Los Angeles. He didn’t do a good job of prosecuting the case, did he?”

Chamber of Commerce officials said it’s too early to tell if the outcome of the trial will prove to be financially damaging to the city, possibly discouraging much-needed businesses from locating there.

“There’s a negative attitude at this point, but we can’t say if there is going to be a negative attitude from now on,” chamber spokeswoman Pam Campeau said. “It’s too soon to tell.”

Campeau noted the irony in the fact that earlier Wednesday, it was reported that the city was among the safest communities in the country for its size “and, by the afternoon, Simi Valley was a bad word.”

Reagan library officials said present plans are that Gorbachev’s visit Monday will proceed as scheduled. A spokeswoman said she did not know if extra security measures will be taken.

Stratton said it is unfortunate that Gorbachev’s visit is coming so soon after the verdict.

“It’s bad timing,” Stratton said. “But maybe it will all be over by Monday.”

Times staff writer Psyche Pascual contributed to this story.

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