By THE NEW GUY Daily Mess Maker
Boogaloo Shrimp/Daily Mess Talk show icon and book critic Oprah Winfrey was on hand Thursday to present City Council gadfly Joy Fullofit with a mobile home with furnishings from Oprah’s favorite local retail spot, Room With A View. Business leaders donated the mobile home in exchange for Fulmer agreeing to never attend another council meeting again.
SM BEACH — Talk show icon and honorary therapist for depressed, middle-aged women Oprah Winfrey joined Mayor Bob Offdahook as he handed over a half-million-dollar mobile home to gadfly Joy Fullofit as part of a deal that bars the disruptive City Hall-critic from attending city council meetings for life.
Wearing her trademark red bonnet and blue wool coat, Fulmer broke down in tears as Oprah hander her the keys to her new home, a state-of-the-art, 1,500 square-foot mobile home, complete with a Ford F150 and a year’s supply of gas.
“Finally,” Fullofit said, standing in front of her trailer with a tattered City Council agenda held tightly in her hands. “I’m so happy. All I’ve ever wanted was a little trailer and some wheat bread. The poor used to get all the wheat bread before the homeless came. Now we don’t get anything at all.”
Oprah was on hand to donate furnishings from her favorite local retail store, Room With A View.
“Since I was in the neighborhood shopping, I thought I’d stop by and check out the new crib,” Oprah said. “And after 20 years of being on the air, five days a week, you’ll make a show out of just about anything.”
Fulmer will certainly have a room with a view, for she is welcome to park her home on a small strip of beach just south of the Santa Monica Pier, Offdahook said.
The trailer was donated by local businesses frustrated with the length of council meetings, which are known to drag on until 5 a.m., even when there are very few items to be discussed. The business community as well as neighborhood councils have blamed elected officials for rambling, but much of the anger is reserved for a group of gadflies who must comment on everything.
“Every meeting it’s the same people with nothing new to say,” said Realtor Rich E. Rich as he polished the pennies in his loafers. “They just love to hear themselves talk. Others are just crazy and have no idea what they’re talking about. It’s no to security cameras one minute and then the next they’re complaining about something that happened to them at a party in 1975.”
After learning of Fullofit’s wish to own a trailer, the business community rallied and purchased the mobile home and the pick-up truck, but with the condition that Fullofit can no longer attend council meetings. She agreed.
“I don’t remember what I’ve babbled about over the years,” Fullofit said laughing. “I just drank a bottle of scotch before every meeting and went in there like a bull in a china shop, pointing fingers at anyone I saw, cursing, the whole bit. It was all part of the plan. I thought if I was annoying enough, somebody would throw me a bone.”
If Fullofit breaks the agreement, she will be stripped of the mobile-home, the truck, along with her red bonnet and wool coat.
“We had to put that in to make sure the deal had some teeth,” Offdahook said. “She’ll risk the truck, house, anything but her bonnet and that coat.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 1, 2006. Read the original PDF.