Dateline Carson – While passion-driven, meticulously motivated organizers yesterday morning were turning in thousands of anti-Jim Dear names in quest of a spring recall election of the city clerk, the handsome, quiet atmosphere of City Hall was eerie.

Murmurs hardly spoiled the silence as activists — propelled by chair Basil Kimbrew of the California Friends of the African American Publication – delivered 12,188 to-be-verified signatures to the office of Sue Herbers, a temporarily hired elections specialist.

According to investigators, Mr. Dear’s staff and others accuse him of racist talk and of displaying racist attitude toward non-whites.

Entering what may be the most attractive small-town city hall in Southern California, a visitor inquires of directions to the city clerk’s office.

There is more action in the bowels of Grant’s Tomb.

In this working-class – but admirably ambitious — community of 92,000, the clerk has a staff of five, none of whom is in evidence at a glance through the wall of glass that separates the office from a medium-length corridor.

It was 10 in the morning, and the most electrifying city clerk up and down the state, Mr. Dear, was outtta sight. His parking space was bare.

Hewing to amazingly confining, We Are Watching You rules handed down by his political rivals on the City Council, Mr. Dear essentially has been placed under house arrest. He may only be in certain areas at certain times, quite apart from his staff.

When he is not in his glassed in office, Mr. Dear says he is out in the community, much as he was during the 11 years he spent as mayor while collecting a far more modest salary.

(To be continued)