Musick

Alice Chandler, OCSD Special Deputy and close friend, passed away peacefully on June 10th at age 94 (she would have turned 95 on June 19th). Alice led an amazing life, becoming an Orange County Special Deputy Sheriff in 1949 at Sheriff Musick’s request to patrol the Irvine Ranch where she and her family lived and worked, fending off poachers at Peters Lake on the property. Alice was recently visited by several active and retired deputies and police officers who have embraced her going back to the time when she mailed a letter to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, describing an incident when she was driven to the local shopping center in a Leisure World courtesy van and witnessed an apparently able-bodied man park his car in a disabled persons-only space. In 2008, Alice at almost age 80, became annoyed and told the driver the error of his ways. The man sassed her back, so Alice called the sheriff’s dispatcher and three patrol cars showed up to give the errant driver a citation. The spicy Chandler remarked to one young deputy that she might have been able to solve the problem herself, because she had a sheriff’s badge, revolver, and ID card. The deputies didn’t understand the context of Alice’s disclosure but smiled, thinking that this was the end of the story.

Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes said Wednesday he is terminating the county’s agreement with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to house federal detainees, saying he needs the jail space to accommodate growing numbers of inmates with mental health issues.

The Orange County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to solicit bids from four pre-qualified contractors for a $167-million expansion of the James A. Musick Facility — a minimum-security jail in Irvine.

The decision launches the next stage of the Orange County Sheriff Department’s effort to grow its jail system.