Orginal article written Weds 6/13/18

An African-American woman says she and her daughter were exposed to “blatant racism” when a man asked them if they had taken a shower before going swimming at a Pasadena hotel pool.

The incident occurred Monday, when the woman was with her 5-year-old daughter and other relatives at The Westin, a 350-room, AAA-rated three-diamond hotel on Los Robles Avenue. The family was visiting Pasadena from Texas.

The woman, who only wanted to be identified by her last name, Wheeler, alleges that a man claiming to be with the “health department” asked her if she and her daughter had showered before entering the pool.

He said he did not want to have to shut the pool down.

A spokeswoman for the Pasadena Health Department said the man in the video is unknown to city health officials, and she said there weren’t any health inspectors at The Westin on Monday or in recent days. Further, inspectors would only contact the business operator, not pool patrons, if there were any sanitation issues, the spokeswoman said.

Health inspectors do not make contact with swimmers to ask whether they’ve showered, Pasadena Health Department spokeswoman Adrienne Kim said.

According to Wheeler, the man continued explaining to her that people often carry diseases into the water. Family members took the girl away from the scene as the altercation continued, Wheeler said.

“I let him know that being black is not a disease and showering would not wash the BLACK off our skin,” Wheeler said in an email to KTLA.

She described the incident as “deep-rooted,” citing the history of racial segregation at public swimming pools in the U.S. dating back to the Jim Crow era.

Wheeler’s relative recorded part of the altercation on cellphone video, which shows the man wearing a stripe polo shirt and track pants – not any kind of uniform.

“I am not trash, and I am not dirty,” Wheeler told KTLA in a phone interview. “I have to teach my daughter that no matter how educated we are and how successful we are in life, there are people who will treat us like this just because the color of our skin.”

The video was posted on Facebook Wednesday night, and has been viewed more than 340,000 times by Thursday afternoon.

A hotel employee tried to intervene by telling the man that his question was “inappropriate,” the video shows. Then the manager arrives and asks the man to walk away, telling Wheeler and her relatives, who remain concerned, to enjoy the pool.

“I don’t want to call the police. And if I do, it’s going to be a big headache for everybody,” the manager says in the video.

The manager promises to go talk to the man, whom he describes as a guest at the hotel.

The Westin comped Wheeler for one night of her stay, she said. Representatives from the hotel released a statement saying they had no comment but are “investigating everything.”

via:  http://ktla.com/2018/06/14/texas-woman-says-swimming-while-black-led-to-racist-harassment-of-her-5-year-old-daughter-at-pasadena-hotel-pool/

A grand jury indicted actress and activist Rose McGowan Monday on one felony count of cocaine possession, according to Loudoun County, Virginia court documents.

McGowan voluntarily surrendered to authorities in Virginia in November in response to an arrest warrant. She later pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority obtained the warrant in February last year after authorities allegedly found traces of narcotics in her personal belongings that were left behind on a United flight in January to Washington, D.C.

McGowan tweeted about incident, asking, “Are they trying to silence me?”

“There is a warrant out for my arrest in Virginia,” she wrote. “What a load of HORSES**T.

McGowan is one of the more than 80 women who have accused former producer Harvey Weinstein of acts of sexual harassment, sexual assault and rape.

Through a spokesperson, Weinstein has consistently denied any allegations of “non-consensual sex.”

According to a report published by The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow in November, police said a worker cleaning the plane found McGowan’s wallet, and in it were two small bags of powder that later tested positive as cocaine.

McGowan told Farrow that she was afraid when an airport police detective called her to retrieve her wallet, as she was unsure whether he was actually a detective.

McGowan’s spokesperson confirmed to CNN the accuracy of her published quotes at the time.

McGowan, who was traveling to Washington for the Women’s March when the incident occurred, said the next day she received an Instagram message from a user she did not know that read, “You left your wallet on your Saturday flight with your 2 bags of coke.”

The “Charmed” star and her attorney assert that she left her bag containing her wallet on the plane unattended. McGowan said she filed a lost luggage claim and tweeted United Airlines for help when she realized her wallet was missing, according to The New Yorker’s report.

On October 30, McGowan first publicly responded to the existence of the warrant on Twitter.

McGowan told Farrow she has used drugs in the past, but said marijuana was her “jam.”

“Imagining I’m going into sisterly solidarity, I can think of nothing more opposed to that, energetically, that I would want in my body at that moment,” she said referring to the cocaine.

A May cover story with The Hollywood Reporter included comment from McGowan about the fact she faced a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted, while Weinstein remained free.

“I’m the only one who’s had handcuffs on me so far in this situation,” she told the publication. “That’s not right.”

Weinstein has since been arrested on charges of rape, committing a criminal sex act, sexual abuse and sexual misconduct in New York for which has pled not guilty. The charges are unrelated to McGowan’s allegations against him.

CNN has reached out to McGowan’s representatives for comment.

via:  http://ktla.com/2018/06/12/actress-rose-mcgowan-indicted-on-felony-drug-charge/