Coffee??

I just couldn't resist posting this one from the LOL Cats website.. lol..


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Be back later with more of a post... Maybe... lol

Happy Holidays!

I am wishing a very Happy Holiday to everyone! I hope everyone's holidays are filled with love and great times with family and friends.

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This and That

I've been sort of absent from my blog for the last couple of days, but I have been watching the news. More about why I've been "absent" later in this post.

Caylee Anthony
As most everyone expected, the remains found in the wooded area near the Anthony home have been positively identified as Caylee Marie Anthony. Her grandparents, Cindy and George Anthony were notified shortly before the newsconference yesterday afternoon. Her mother, Casey Anthony was also notified, about 15 minutes before the news conference by the jail chaplain. Even though the news was expected, it still tore at my heart. That poor child has been laying there in those woods for so long. I do have some sympathy for Cindy and George, at the moment anyway. How long the sympathy will last will depend on what they do when they emerge from seclusion. They have lost a precious granddaughter and from all the evidence we've seen (I'm sure that the investigators have much, much more.) against Casey, it looks as though they will "lose" a daughter as well. Not in the same sense as they've lost poor little Caylee though.

I read the statement from Cindy and George this morning that their new attorney, Brad Conway released. Here is the text of the statement:

"As everyone now knows, the remains recovered off Suburban Drive are those of Caylee Marie Anthony. The Anthony family did not give up hope that Caylee was still alive until we were notified by the Orange County Sheriff's Office at approximately 1:30pm today. The Anthonys want to thank you for your prayers and best wishes that have been said on behalf of Caylee. They now know that their precious granddaughter is safe and hope that she will serve as the angel that protects thousands of missing children and their families. Please continue your prayers for Caylee, the Anthonys and the families that still hope and pray that their children will be found. We would like to thank crime scene investigators for their exhaustive efforts. The Anthonys want the same answers as everyone who has been assigned to investigate and prosecute this case. In an effort to determine the truth, the Anthony family will be available to law enforcement as the investigation continues. As you can imagine, the Anthonys are grieving deeply about this loss. Please respect their privacy and understand they will stand together as a family in order to get through this. Your thoughts and prayers are welcome, but they also ask that you pray for the families who have lost a child under any circumstances. This is a tragic moment in the lives of good and honorable people. Please treat them respectfully so they can grieve with dignity over the loss of this precious child, Caylee Marie Anthony."

My condolences go to George, Cindy and Lee for the loss of their precious Caylee. I hope they remain true to what they said in that statement. That they want the answers about what happened and that they will cooperate with the investigators to bring out the truth of what happened to Caylee. I understand how they would want to stand behind their family member who is in jail and indicted on murder charges. But, they need to stand back just a bit so the investigators can find the truth among all the lies and "mis-truths" that have been spoken by Casey, Cindy, George and Lee. Especially the lies that Casey has told.

I'm not even going to go into the stuff that Casey's attorney, Jose Baez, has been spewing on nearly every media outlet. He's even attacking the jail policy that determined who would break the news to Casey. Investigation Discovery has a story up on their blog about Jose's little news conference yesterday afternoon. I'm still waiting to hear the story from Baez and company that is going to explain all this away that he's been talking about ever since he became Casey's attorney.

Drew Peterson
Drew Peterson got in the news again this week. He's the husband of Stacey Peterson who's been missing for over a year now. He's also the husband of Kathleen Savio, who mysteriously drowned in a dry bathtub back in 2004. He hit the news again this past week because he's apparently proposed to another woman and she accepted. Another 23 year old woman.. And she wants to be his wife #5! Amazing! According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, her family is in shock.

I sure wish the investigators there in Illinois would find Stacy or at least find enough evidence to charge Drew with the death and disappearance of his wives! Is this new one, Christina Raines, going to be another victim of Drew when he gets ready to move on yet again? I can not imagine what is going through that young woman's mind to even contemplate marrying Drew!

Phil Spector
The retrial of Phil Spector for the murder of Lana Clarkson is on break for the holidays right now. Court will resume on January 5th. But the Spectors, Phil and his "wife" Rachelle, got in the news anyway. Rachelle did another dumb stunt since the picture of her with a gun that I posted about back on December 4th. She apparently took some pictures of Sprocket and posted them on her "website" along with some incredibly juvenile comments. The problem is, she took most of them inside the courthouse which is against all the rules. Judge Fidler, who is presiding over her husband's trial, has said that what she has done are in violation of court rules. Phil's attorney, Dorian Weinberg, has been informed. So if the lawyer has been "informed" of Rachelle's latest stunt, why hasn't he communicated it to Phil and Rachelle and instructed them to take the pictures down? The pictures are still there on her page. (I refuse to provide a link. I'm not going to provide it, especially since a comment was posted on my blog a few days ago from "someone" in Alhambra that gave the link. Comment isn't going to see the light of day, nor will any others that are in the same vein.) What the heck is Rachelle trying to do? Is she trying to get kicked out of the courtroom so she won't have to sit there behind her husband anymore? Is she trying to get Phil pissed off enough to let her out of her marriage contract early? Or is she just an incredibly immature and stupid person?

Mick Brown from the Telegraph in London has an opinion on Rachelle's stunt too... Read it here.

My stuff.... lol
Ok, now for the reason I've been absent from my blog this time. I've been playing with the Christmas present that I bought for myself this year as well as trying to finish up my Christmas shopping for the rest of my family and friends. I ordered a new laptop computer from Dell and the original ship date was going to be December 26th, which was no problem for me. After all, it's not like I was planning to wrap it up and put it under the tree for myself.. lol.. But, on Thursday, I got an email from Dell saying that my laptop had been shipped! More than a week early! And it was shipped from Reno, Nevada! That's just about a 3 hour drive from where I am. It was delivered yesterday! And I'm posting with it right now! lol... I still have a lot of things to install and set up on it, but it's so cool. The computer I've been using up til now was another Dell machine, a desktop machine that I've had for several years. It's still a good machine, but darn it, desktop computers aren't portable! When I go on travels with my folks, I'll be able to take this along and perhaps post stuff about what we see the same day we see it instead of having to wait until we get back home... lol

Ok, so I've posted my "news" for now and I need to get busy and finish my Christmas shopping! Later all!

Oops.. Forgot to mention my trucker friend who got stuck in Reno last weekend. He didn't make it back home until Monday. He ended up having to drive home late last Sunday night after the mechanics put a "temporary" fix on the brake lines on the trailer. Poor guy lost more than half of his day off. He's hoping he'll be able to get his full days off this coming week, but if the weatherman is right, he's going to be dealing with another mess up in the pass tomorrow and he'll be lucky to make it home... Weather like that is something I do not miss about my truck driving days! lol

Snow in the Mountains = Truckers Curse

California is finally getting some snow up in the mountains and my trucker friend isn't a "happy camper". Yesterday he had a long day dealing with the snow up there and it looks like today is going to be a repeat. I just got off the phone with him and he said that he's already had to put the chains on (and take them off) twice getting up the hill this morning! He's definitely dreading the trip back down the hill this afternoon!

Anyway, since his call, I've been playing with the live cams on the CalTrans website. (It's been a while since I watched them. Like last winter when I was his weather/road conditions info person.) The first screenshot looks pretty good. That's at the Whitmore Grade showing the westbound lanes. Road looks pretty good, doesn't it? Pavement is a little wet and there's just a bit of snow on the shoulders. Ahhh.. But wait until you get a little further up the hill! It gets whiter!




Here's the Caltrans camera at Kingvale. The snow is deeper at the sides of the roads and the lanes aren't as clear. This is one of the spots where my trucker friend had to put the chains on this morning. I guess it was pretty nasty between Kingvale and the Donner Lake interchange. I'm not quite sure where he had to put the chains on the truck the second time. With the mood he's in, I was afraid to ask! lol... (And, no.. Neither of the trucks in this screenshot is his! lol)




A bit further up the road, there is a camera on I80 at the highway 89 interchange which is in Truckee. Again, it doesn't look that bad in the camera shots, but apparently the pavement has ice on it. And again, I don't know if this is one of the areas he had to have the chains on. A short while back, he and I went up to Reno for a couple days and on our way up, he pointed out most of the cameras that I've viewed from the Caltrans site plus quite a few more that I've never seen listed on the site.



Caltrans has done some shifting around of available cameras this year. I don't remember seeing this one last year. I'm not quite sure of the position of it, whether we're looking at I80 or if we're looking at highway 267. It seems to be a pretty busy road, though. By looking at a map, it seems to be just down the road a bit from the highway 89 interchange camera. I guess I will have to take a drive up to Truckee one of these days and see if I can spot this one. lol




This camera is a "new" one and I'll have to keep an eye on this camera to see if the snow and ice on the lens clears up later so I can get a screenshot from it. I have no clue which direction it's pointing or what we're supposed to see. The description of the camera says that it's at the Ag Station on I80, which means it's at the inspection area where you have to stop and tell the folks where you're coming from and whether or not you're carrying agricultural products.




There were a couple of the cameras not working this morning. The one at the Truckee truck scale and the one at Floriston. I'll check them out later on today, maybe. Here's a list of the I80 cameras from the Caltrans site, go check them out!;

• 80 at Applegate
• 80 at Colfax
• 80 at Crystal Springs
• 80 at Dutch Flat
• 80 at Whitmore Grade
• 80 at Kingvale
• 80 at 89
• 267 at 80
• 80 at Truckee (Ag Station)
• 80 at Truckee Scales
• 80 at Floriston

Update 1:20pm
Just a quick update. I got another call from my trucker friend. Poor guy. He is stuck in Reno with an "out of commission truck". One of the brake lines on the truck went bad and he can't release the trailer brakes so he's stuck at the loading dock at the Post Office distribution center there in Reno until a mechanic gets out there to fix the problem. It looks like he'll be spending the night in the truck up there. What a way to start your "weekend" huh? His "weekend" normally starts on Sunday night, but he's going to have to stay up there and drive down tomorrow, so the first day of his weekend will be gone. I took a look at the CalTrans camera in Truckee again and it looks like even if he were able to drive, he'd still be stuck. Traffic is at a complete standstill in Truckee and it's been that way for a while now. Somebody must have pulled a really bad boo-boo on the highway west of Truckee.

Blah!

I've posted an announcement over on the right hand side of my blog about Comments and I'm going to repost the announcement here for all to see.

Unfortunately, I have had to enable the moderation of the comments on this blog due to some particularly nasty folks who want to spread their venom around. I apologize to all the nice folks who visit here and leave their thoughts. Hopefully the moderation of the comments won't have to last very long.

Personally I had hoped never to have to moderate the comments on this blog. I believe in free speech, but I don't believe in personal attacks on folks. Especially personal attacks on people that were not in the original posts. So, for the nasty folks who have forced me to enable the moderation; too bad, so sad, your nastiness will not be seen by anyone but me. For the nice folks who have participated with comments on my blog entries, I am sorry that I've had to do this. I hope that the person directing her friends here to spread their venom will get bored with it or will go elsewhere to spread the poison. I hope that one day soon, I can open the comments up again for all.

By the way, the post that has generated the venom from these idiots will stand, as is. It will not be removed. It will not be modified. It will not be rewritten to favor anyone. The comments will be reviewed before being posted for all to see. Venom will be denied.

Caylee Anthony Case ~ Hearing Recap

Another blog that I read regularly has an excellent recap up of the "emergency hearing" that took place this morning.. Head on over to Ketchup Soup and read what Damsel44 has reported.

If Linda Kenny Baden stays on the "defense team", I think she'd better brush up on procedures in Florida. I also think she should think twice about yelling at judges. It didn't go over well in California and it looks as though it's not going to work in her favor in Florida either.

Caylee Anthony Case ~ No ID on Remains Yet

The skeletal remains found near the Anthony home are at the Medical Examiner's office in Orlando and there has been no positive identification as yet. From what I can read in the news articles, bones, duct tape and the garbage bag were not the only things found. There apparently is tissue left on the remains and that is part of what the duct tape was found stuck to, along with hair. Duct tape over the mouth of the skull/head that rolled out of that garbage bag that the meter reader found. Also, the bag wasn't completely closed. It had apparently been in water for some time and items could have "floated" out of the bag during the months that it has lain there in the woods behind the Anthony home. (Casey: "She's close." "I feel in my heart that she's nearby.") So the investigators today are sifting through the site searching for any evidence that might have come from that bag. They are sifting the dirt by hand, they are cutting through the trees and bushes looking for fibers, hair or anything else that might help tell the story of what happened to little Caylee Marie Anthony.

Casey Anthony is still in jail, and reportedly has had some reaction to this news. Which is a change from what she did back when Leonard Padilla's divers came up with that bag of stuff from the river a short while back. That time, she had no reaction to the news. This time, however, she is reacting emotionally. To the extent that the jailers called in a correction officer psychologist and she was placed on psychological observation. Not a suicide watch... Just observation. In my opinion, Casey knows now that the jig is up. She knows where Caylee was hidden and she knows now that her daughter has been found. She also knows now that all of her lies have been exposed. Including the lies she told her family during their visits to the jail.

George and Cindy Anthony are back in Orlando. Somewhere. They didn't go back to the house yesterday and I haven't seen any reports so far stating where in Orlando they are. The investigators had their home sealed off yesterday and executed another search warrant last night. Apparently they pretty much filled 3 cars/vans with evidence taken out of the home. Vacuum cleaners and a small pillow among other things. I haven't seen any mentions of Lee Anthony today either. He's been keeping a low profile for quite a while now and apparently is going to stay "low profile". Meanwhile, the organization that George and Cindy have been using for their "search" for Caylee, Kidfinders Network has announced that they are suspending their search for Caylee due to the "recent developments". I still want to know what they did besides sit around under a tent selling t-shirts, bracelets and buttons. Oh yeah.. I forgot.. They loaned George a rolling billboard to pull around town that had a bad phone number on it!

During this morning's emergency hearing the defense requested permission for Jose Baez to attend the autopsy/autopsies of the remains that were found yesterday. In that plea, they stated "that the anthropological measurements and color of the hair found with the remains match Caylee." Judge Strickland denied Baez's motion, stating that citing the fact that a positive identification has yet to be made. He also stated that the FBI needed to make the identification without interference from outside parties.

Baez also filed a motion to allow him access to the "crime scene" before it is released by the Orange County Sheriff's Office. Judge Strickland denied his access until after the investigation of the scene is complete.

The defense has added a new attorney to the team. Linda Kenny Baden appeared at the hearing this morning with Jose Baez. Does anyone reading here remember her from the Phil Spector trial last year? I have to wonder if her being added to the "team" means that her husband, Dr. Michael Baden is going to join up as well, the way he did for the Spector trial. I also have to wonder how familiar Ms. Baden is with Florida law. From what I read about the hearing this morning, some of what she was attempting to do just isn't done in Florida.

So, now we wait for news to trickle out about the case. What items were found with the remains? Clothing? Shoes? Fingerprints? Casey's hair? What items are they finding in the area around where the bag was found? What things were taken from the Anthony home? Where are George and Cindy? Are they really going to be on Larry King Live again tonight?

Most importantly, is that Caylee Marie Anthony that was found in the garbage bag?

Off I go to read some more....

Sources:
WESH: Defense: OCSO Says Bones, Hair Color Match Caylee
Investigation Discovery: Casey Anthony's Defense Team Denied Access to Autopsy
WFTV: Duct Tape Found Stuck To Mouth Of Child's Remains
Orlando Sentinal:Attorney says body found is similar to Caylee Anthony's

Caylee Anthony Case ~ Skeletal Remains Found Near Anthony Home

I am sitting here listening and watching a live feed from WFTV in Orlando. A meter reader had gone into the woods to "relieve" himself and saw a black trash bag. He moved or kicked at part of the bag and a small skull fell out of the bag. He then immediately called the authorities. (Bless him!) The area where the remains are is less than a half a mile from the Anthony home. The authorities are on the scene right now.. CSI, etc. They haven't removed the bag with the remains yet, and won't until they've checked out the entire scene around the bag. But, the proximity to the Anthony home leads one to believe that the remains may be Caylee.

George and Cindy Anthony are on their way back to Orlando from California at the moment. They were in California for an appearance on the Larry King show (which I chose NOT to watch.) and to check out a lead they say they got about a sighting of a child that looks like Caylee in a restaurant in Newport Beach, California. They have been notified of the discovery of that bag with the skeletal remains of a small child. Jose Baez has also been notified. Tim Miller, leader of Texas Equusearch who had done a number of searches for Caylee, was on the live broadcast as well. He said that the investigators had called him and said "We've got her."

Here are a few links to articles about the discovery;

WFTV
Investigation Discovery
Orlando Sentinal
Fox News
CNN

Will be back later when and if there is any further news..............

Small Update: Slideshow of aerial images from the scene: WFTV slideshow

Another Update (10:15am): Investigation Discovery just posted a new entry. One of the items he is reporting is extremely disturbing.

Sources close to the investigation say that remnants of duct tape were found on both the skull and the trash bag. Those items are now being compared to tape and bags that had previously been collected from the car Casey Anthony was driving at the time of her daughter's disappearance.

Duct tape on the skull???? What the hell was done to that child?????

Rachelle Spector with a Gun?

Well, I got a message this morning that TMZ doesn't want to publish the photo of Rachelle posing with a gun. Speculation is that they are afraid that it was photoshopped or something. And, in another message I received the photo itself! The sender wants to remain anonymous, and I will honor that. Besides, how would I know who it was anyway? Email addresses, especially web emails, can be pretty much untraceable, especially by a non-expert like myself. lol.. Besides, I am sure that I'm not the only one in possession of this lovely little cameo of Mrs. Spector besides my anonymous sender. Shame on TMZ for not having the courage to post the photo. The post with Phil's hairdo that I wrote about yesterday is well on it's way to being one of the most commented on TMZ.com according to the little box over on the right hand side of their page. 152 comments the last time I looked, and it's in 2nd place. (The first place article has 154 comments, so I expect the Phil's "do" article to take over first place sometime today.)

So, here's the picture that was sent to me. The only thing I've done to it for posting is to increase the size of it. But, I have done a little manipulation of it (without saving, of course) to enhance the background stuff so I could look at what's behind Rachelle and her gun. It looks to me like it was taken in some sort of sporting goods store. There is a fellow in the upper left hand corner who looks like a salesperson (he's got what looks like a name tag on his chest). Then there are shelves (?) with merchandise displayed on the right of Rachelle. Then there is that bar thing that she is resting her left hand on. Not being a sporting goods type person myself, I have no clue what the thing is. I also have no clue what kind of gun she's posing with. Is it a real gun or a paintball gun or what?

Even if it isn't a real gun, I think Rachelle is showing her disreguard for her "loving hubby" by showing off with a gun while he is on trial for the murder of Lana Clarkson. A murder committed with a gun! Are there any folks reading my blog that can tell if a picture has been "photo-shopped"? The thing looks pretty authentic to me, but then I'm not an expert. lol..

Rachelle has changed her MySpace picture again today. It's now a picture of a little black dog. And she's removed the comment that was moaning about the "next 3 weeks". I guess she thinks that will fix everything, huh?

I called TMZ this morning to ask about whether or not they were going to post the gun picture. The fellow I spoke to told me that it was "still under consideration". I told him that I was a blogger and that someone had sent me the picture but that I was waiting until they posted it before I put a post up about it. He told me to go ahead and post, since the "powers that be" for TMZ hadn't made a decision yet. And he said "They snooze, they lose".. lol..

So, here are the pics, both the gun picture and Rachelle's current MySpace pic. I'll be back later with an update if I learn anything new about Rachelle's latest airhead stunts.

Update... Just a little one...

I posted another comment on the TMZ website and it was removed a few minutes later.. lol.. I have no clue why they removed it.. Here's what I said:

I'm the one who posted the picture of Rachelle with the gun on my blog.... The pic was sent to me with a request to keep the sender's name out of it. As I posted in my blog, I intend to keep the sender's name out of it. I did call TMZ before I finally decided to post the pic along with a few comments of my own... The fellow I talked to told me that the picture of Rachelle was "still under consideration" for posting here. I told him that I was waiting to see what they were going to do before I posted it on my blog... He told me to "go for it" and post the pic... So... I did! It's there, on my blog, in all it's glory...

Rachelle, if you're reading here, you did an incredibly dumb thing by posting that where anyone could see it... Don't you KNOW by now that nothing on MySpace is truly private? I think maybe you should go crawling on your hands and knees to beg forgiveness from your meal ticket, Phil...

I added a link at the bottom to my blog... Maybe that's why they removed the comment? LOL.. Oh well...

Phil Spector "Do"

TMZ.com has posted a photo of Phil Spector that shows off his "new hair-do" and the comment section for the post is a must read if you're at all interested in what happens to the "Wall of Sound" man. Aside from the photo of Phil, the comment section is full of people making remarks about how they thought he looked like Barry Manilow, among other people. Personally, if I were Barry Manilow, I'd be horrified that people think I looked like Phil Spector! Spector is on trial again for the murder of Lana Clarkson after having a hung jury on the first go-around last year.

The other things noteworthy in the comments section are quite a few mentions of Phil's "wife", Rachelle and a photo that she had posted on her MySpace page a few days ago. I haven't seen the picture yet, but I'm hoping that TMZ will publish it so the world can see what an airhead she is. Would you believe she actually posted a picture of herself posing with a gun in her hand? Her husband is on trial for murder. He's been known to wave guns in people's faces many times over the years and after Lana Clarkson was shot and killed in his home, or "castle", why on earth would his wife post a photo of herself waving a gun around? I have a question. Maybe someone can answer it. We know from the first trial that all of Phil's guns were taken away by the police and I would guess that it would be a term of his bail that he have no guns in his home while he is out on bail. If he happens to have "acquired" another gun and has it in his home, or even if his "wife" Rachelle has a gun in that home, would that violate the terms of his bail?

Now, another little thing occurred to me after trying to look at her MySpace page. (It's been set to private, so the only thing you can see is her picture of the day and a comment.) No, in the picture I'm seeing today, she's not holding a gun, but the comment she has up today is odd.

"Rock N Rosh is dreading this next three weeks...pure live torture!"

I'm trying to figure out what is so horrible about the next 3 weeks. Is she dreading sitting in the courtroom behind her "dear hubby"? Or is she thinking that this retrial is only going to last for three more weeks? There has been a lot of conjecture about the marriage between Phil and Rachelle Spector. Things like most everyone is guessing that the "marriage" is a "job" for Rachelle. All spelled out in a contract that she gets all kinds of money, cars, jewelry, clothes and the like just for pretending that she "loves" Phil so that he looks "good" in the eyes of the jury. Perhaps her "contract" only has 3 more weeks left? She won't be getting more money from Phil? Who knows...

Another thought occurred to me earlier today and I posted it in the comments on the TMZ site. Maybe Rachelle wants out of that contract. She posted that picture of her posing with that gun and she's hoping that someone in authority will have seen it and Phil will go to jail and then she won't have to play "dear wife" sitting there in that courtroom. I wonder if there is an "escape clause" in that supposed contract saying that she doesn't have to play at being a wife if he goes to jail, maybe with a nice bonus at the end of the contract. I know, it's just my imagination running wild, but with the Spector case, who knows.

Go check out the comments at TMZ and we can all hope that someone will post that picture of Rachelle with a gun somewhere so that the world can see. Maybe if enough people post saying they are interested in seeing that picture of Rachelle with a gun, they'll do it! Go read and POST!

If you want to see what has been happening in the courtroom during this retrial, go to Trials and Tribulations. Sprocket has been attending the trial every day and then posts her observations.

Speaking of Sprocket, Steven Mikulan at LA Weekly did a really nice write-up about what Sprocket has been doing. "Spector Retrial Has It's Diarist" Way to go Sprocket! At this point, you're the only one that has been faithfully following and writing about the retrial and someone has recognized it and published it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Suspect Arrested in Brianna Dennison Murder!

Finally! There has finally been an arrest in the Brianna Denison case! According to the Reno Gazette Journal, investigators have a man in custody.

Reno police on Tuesday arrested a Sparks man in connection with the slaying of Brianna Denison, ending a 10-month hunt for the man who abducted the 19-year-old Reno High School graduate from a friend's home in January.

James Biela was booked into the Washoe County Jail on charges of murder, kidnapping in the first degree and sexual assault but could not confirm he is the suspect in the Denison case.

Reno police took a DNA sample from the suspect and said it would take 12 hours to process.

Police spokesman Steve Frady issued a one-sentence news release announcing a news conference at 10:30 a.m. today. He would not say whether the suspect was arrested in Reno or elsewhere.

I found out about the arrest earlier today when I visited California Fire News and saw the post that Bob had put up about it. Check into his entry because it looks like he is updating the information as it comes out. The story isn't exactly an "on topic" post for the Fire news blog, but Bob had followed the story of Brianna's murder closely and has put several posts in the blog about the case.

As he said in the comments section of his post today... "What a great Thanksgiving gift to the world!" Brianna's family definitely has something to be thankful for tomorrow. Her murderer is in custody, finally. Anyway, I'm off to read some more news... If I don't manage to post again today, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Update:
The Reno Gazette Journal has a blog about the case that they are updating periodically. Check it out Here.

THUNDERPRESS NEWS

So here’s the article that came out in the Thunderpress Nov. 8, issue. Thunderpress is a free newsprint magazine available at many bike shops. The article is very descriptive and well written. I’ve inserted a couple corrections in italics.


THUNDERPRESS Nov. 8, Article:
KACIE’S RIDE FOR HOPE
A sense of community
Bikers combat domestic violence
By Flea

PLACERVILLE, CALIF., SEPT. 13----- Even though the calendar noted the last day of summer as weeks away, the feel of the changing seasons hung in the air as we leathered up for the ride out of the Sacramento Valley, up into the Sierra Nevada mountain range for the third iteration of Kacie’s Ride for Hope. Information on the website for the run had warned that the temps would be cool during the ride as the 140-mile route would take us over the famous Echo Summit near South Lake Tahoe and across Highway 89 before eventually cutting west on State Route 88 towards the 8,650-foot Carson Pass.

By the time we rolled into the Mountain Democrat’s already packed parking lot for the preliminary ceremonies and registration in Placerville, all those toasty, very unnecessary duds were being crammed into saddlebags. It was a beautiful day to be on the road.

Pat Barron, founder of Kacie’s Ride. was working on the microphone and greeting riders as they continued to roll in. The tall unassuming biker with the “in memory of Kacie” patch stitched on his vest stood before the crowd to explain how this run came about when his voice cracked and he was unable to hide his emotions. Kathleen “Kacie” Barron was Pat’s younger sister. She was killed on July 26, 2006, by her estranged lover. She had moved on with her life and was no longer living with her killer (who was not a biker), when he showed up in her garage and shot her.
(I need to add here that Mario, her killer, denied being romantically involved with her in his closing letter during trial testimony. He had stayed at her home refusing to leave until Kacie was spending nights at friend’s homes waiting for him to leave, He trapped her in a trailer she was repairing in her own driveway and shot her.)

Kacie, a gracious lady with a big heart and warm smile, was known to open her doors to women and children trying to escape domestic violence and was actively involved with the Center for Violence Free Relationships in El Dorado County. She loved attending bike runs in her spare time and the route chosen for the ride, which includes Hope Valley, was one of her favorites.

For Pat and his wife Sharon, the grief of losing Kacie was exacerbated by their anger at the senselessness of it all. Instead of standing around with their hands in their pockets, however, the Barron’s took that anger and started trying to make positive changes in the world. Their efforts have evolved into a remarkable memorial ride that both honors Kacie’s life and benefits the community in which she lived.

Along the way of organizing the run, the Barrons became familiar with the South Lake Tahoe Women’s Center whose executive director, Matt Huckabee, was on hand to present Pat with a roll of Lifesavers as a reward for his work at “saving lives” and advised him to “just take one at a time” as riders cheered. Members of the center had made, delivered and set up several wooden silhouettes (collectively called the Silent Witness) that were each labeled with the names and information that memorialized the women who had died as victims of domestic violence. This year, for the first time, a child was represented, too.








Andrew Bailey was 2 ½ years old when he was murdered by his father earlier this spring. His mother, Merrily Melson, nervously shared her story with the crowd as Pat stood nearby, displaying the framed picture of the little boy with the huge grin. The reality of the effects of domestic violence came through loud and clear.







As departure time neared, Pat again addressed the crowd. Warning that the route included some tough terrain, he advised riders to ride within their abilities and be safe while keeping in mind the reason for the run. He also said, “citizens are watching us! We want them to watch and to see that we are here for a cause and we want them to get involved, too. We want to end domestic violence.”

Riders broke up into several small packs to meet up later at a designated rest stop at Hope Valley, where memories of Kacie were shared among the folks who knew her best. Riders helped themselves to refreshments before setting out for the most beautiful stretch of the ride.

The sights along Highway 88 were amazing as we navigated the spans of blacktop through Carson Pass which rises to almost 9,000 feet and offers such views as the crystal clear waters of Kirkwood, Silver, Caples and Blue Lakes. Skirting along the narrowing and twisting Mormon Immigrant Trail, we passed over the dams at Sly Park that contain Jenkinson Lake before dropping down into Pleasant Valley and arriving at Pioneer Park where the real party was rocking.

Old school, simple and fun, the celebration included auctions, raffles so huge that practically everyone walked away with something (this writer even scored a free trip to a beauty salon where I’ll challenge the stylist with seriously wind-blown helmet hair and risk being tossed out the door), and a variety of door prizes.

An incredible homemade chili was served alongside hot-off the grill grub that sated the masses before everyone gathered to participate in fundraising efforts. In lieu of biker games, creative gag prizes were handed out to a variety of riders for things like oldest (Tom Pettibone, who received such goodies as Metamucil and liniment), farthest (Pat Bowers from Carson City, who won Monkey Butt Powder), slowest )Louie who scored Octane Booster and an orange reflector vest), and youngest (suckers and a baseball cap). Prizes were also given for best bikes.


Adolph won as highest bidder at auction for the handmade Kacie’s Ride 2008 belt buckle and then promptly gave it back to Pat during a private moment when he shared that he had been a neighbor of Kacie’s and remembered her well. Mike Mullen won a computer when he outbid the competition. Other prizes included weekend packages at Harrah’s Hotel Casino, a variety of wines, tools, a bike lift, and a pile of goods and services too vast to list. By the day’s end an estimated $12,000 had been raised to be donated to the Center for Violence Free Relationships and we all shared a sense of community. I’m pretty sure Kacie would approve. (http://www.thecenternow.org/)

An excellent description of an excellent run, don’t you think? I hope it inspires more people to participate next year. And this is not a Harley run. Yeah most bikes are Harleys but we welcome all riders. In my group were a few Harleys, a `65 Triumph and a couple Ninja bikes. We all had fun.

Again, God Bless.
Gene.

I Have a Question......

If you knew of a missing person or missing child case, had seen photos of the person or child, and spotted someone who closely resembled the missing person/child, how would you report it?

This is in reference to the latest photo released by the Anthony family showing a child who resembles their granddaughter, Caylee. The person who reported the sighting supposedly spotted the child at a mall in Florida and took this photo with a cellphone, then later on, sent it or reported it to the Anthony's or to KidFinders. Not to law enforcement. Why did they wait to report it? Why didn't they call 911 if they thought that the child they spotted was Caylee?

I am guessing that the child they were reporting was the girl in the brown and pink shirt, but if you look over to the left in that photo, there is another little girl in a striped shirt who also has a resemblence to Caylee. By the time the person who shot the picture reported it to the Anthony's, I'm guessing that the children and their families were long gone. This is what I'm not understanding. The delay in reporting a sighting of a missing person or child is stupid!

My answer to my question is that if I spotted a person or child who resembled a missing person/child report that I'd seen, I would call 911 and report it. I wouldn't have gone back home and hunted down a phone number for the family or a group like KidFinders or even go hunting down some private investigator's office that is working for the family. I would have called 911 on the spot!

The Anthony's and their new spokesperson, Michelle Bart, keep bringing up Elizabeth Smart and how she was returned home 9 months after she was kidnapped. There aren't really any similarities between Elizabeth Smart's kidnapping and the disappearance of Caylee Anthony. In the Smart case, there was a witness to the kidnapping. Elizabeth's younger sister, Mary Katherine, saw Elizabeth being taken. No one has reported that they saw Caylee being taken. Elizabeth was found and returned home because a couple of people who had seen the Smart case profiled on America's Most Wanted the night before spotted Brian David Mitchell (who was wanted for questioning by police) with two companions and called police. They didn't call the Smart family, they didn't call a group professing their child finding kills, they called the police! The call to police was fast enough that officers arrived on the scene and stopped Mitchell, his wife and Elizabeth and questioned them. And Elizabeth was able to go home. Similarities to the Anthony case? Not in my view.

Another case where a missing child was returned was Shasta Groene. Her family had been killed by Joseph E. Duncan and she and her brother, Dylan, were kidnapped. I'm not going to go into all the gruesome details of what happened to Shasta and Dylan, but Shasta was spotted in a Denny's restaurant 7 weeks after the kidnapping. She was with her kidnapper and a waitress spotted her, called 911 and worked with the manager of the restaurant to delay Duncan's and Shasta's departure from the restaurant. Thanks to the waitress and her manager, police got there before Duncan could take Shasta away again. Again, a kidnapped child was recovered because someone called the police.

In my opinion, a sighting of a missing or abducted child (or even an adult!) needs to be reported as soon as possible! Not hours or days later. Right there, on the spot. So many people have cell phones nowadays, there is no excuse for waiting to call and report it. Even if a person doesn't have a cell phone, there would doubtless be a lot of people around them who have them. Why wait? Why finish your shopping, then go home and hunt up a number for a private investigator or the family of that child? In the Anthony case, we've seen a couple of photos now of children that have been sent to the Anthony family. Why? Why weren't the photos sent to the investigators? Why wasn't a call made to 911 to report the child?

So, readers... How would you report a sighting of a missing child or adult?

The Anthony Circus - Minus One Player

It just hit the news that Mark Nejame is resigning as counsel for George and Cindy Anthony. Here's the text of his press release:

Unfortunately, I have made the decision that it is best not to continue my representation of George and Cindy Anthony.

George and Cindy have a belief that their beloved granddaughter, Caylee, is still alive. Tips and leads continue to come in. I believe strongly that they should have every right to maintain their hope and faith that one of these "sightings" will miraculously be the one that brings Caylee home to them. What parent or grandparent would surrender such hope? Who is one person to tell another parent or grandparent when it is time for them to abandon their faith? When does a stranger have the right to judge another who has endured such a loss? The attacks made against them by some are deplorable. Let them be to do what they feel they must to find their beloved granddaughter, Caylee. Knowing this case as well as probably anyone on earth, there is no doubt that they do not know where Caylee is. Allow them to walk their own path.

I only agreed to represent George and Cindy Anthony, so long as there were no restrictions placed on me whatsoever as to finding Caylee, regardless of where this might lead. Quite simply, this meant that I could do whatever I needed to find Caylee whether she was alive or not. It impressed me that George and Cindy, both believing that Caylee was still with us, had an overriding and primary concern in finding Caylee, even if the result was not as they would hope. The other condition I required was that I would have absolutely nothing to do with representing Casey or assisting in her legal defense.

Abundant efforts have been made towards finding Caylee. I have worked with so many involved in this matter towards the goal of finding this dear, missing child who has captured the hearts of so many. Some ignorant and judgmental members of the public though have made hateful and inaccurate accusations against me and others, when they had no idea whatsoever what was really going on. As my new, good friend, Tim Miller from Equusearch, tells me "everybody associated with this case gets body slammed." However, like Tim, when you know in your heart that you're doing the right thing, you just move forward knowing that right will ultimately win out. Some have falsely accused me and some others of being in this for the money. If they only knew how utterly wrong and misguided they are.

I had come to a personal opinion and theory for quite some time whether Caylee was still with us or not. However, my opinion was only one like any other…an opinion. The only person without an opinion though is Casey Anthony as only she knows the truth. I believe that the singular person out of the 6 billion people in the world who holds the key to finding Caylee is her mother, Casey Anthony. Although I was quite successful in resolving a multitude of matters, I am unable to go further to help George and Cindy find Caylee in my current role. I can only provide my best advice and must respect any client's prerogative to do what they deem is best, whether they choose to follow my guidance or not. However, there is little value or use I can provide to any client if they choose to act and comment at will.

As someone who has learned and knows the inner workings and details of the case and its various characters intimately, the rampant sensationalism and unfounded accusations must stop. Allow Cindy and George Anthony the respect and decency of dealing with their hope and efforts to find their missing and beloved Caylee as they need to. Allow those with differing opinions on finding and searching for Caylee, whether she is with us or not, to do their jobs without interruption. Finally, the judicial system is in play and justice will be best served by mindless meddlers staying out of something they know little of. There are many wonderful people involved in efforts to find Caylee and there are, unfortunately, many who are exploiting this child. Sadly, most in the public are clueless about who is doing what and what is really going on. The negative actions of some are only counterproductive and hurtful to the cause of those many good people who are doing so much to do something positive with this most sad and tragic situation. There should only be one goal and that is to find Caylee Marie Anthony.

Mark E. NeJame

I wholeheartedly agree with the last sentence in his statement. "There should only be one goal and that is to find Caylee Marie Anthony." Somewhere along the line, this whole case has lost the focus on Caylee. Somewhere along the line it shifted to Casey and her defense. Although, some of the focus does need to be shining on her, since she is the only one who can solve this, the main part of the case should have been finding that little girl.

In my own opinion, I don't think that little girl will ever be found. I do not believe she is with "kidnappers". I believe that something happened back in June, perhaps an accident, perhaps a temper tantrum by Casey, and Caylee had to be "hidden" so Casey could continue with the life she wanted.

Now that Mark Nejame has quit, one has to wonder what will happen with this "press conference" that Cindy, George and the Kidfinder people have been touting. It was supposed to have happened on Monday, then got postponed til later in the week so that Mark Nejame could get back into town, and then it was announced that it would happen tomorrow, Friday. Well, Mr. Nejame is off the "team" now, so will the presser go on tomorrow? I know everyone else must be as curious as I am as to what this so called proof of Caylee's being alive is. My hunch is that it is just more of these "tips" that Cindy goes on and on about.

We shall see, eh?

Source: WESH News

And the Circus Goes On and On.....

As usual, the case of the missing child, Caylee Anthony is still in the news. We have more players in the circus again, too. Henry Lee has signed on to the defense. Yes, the ketchup spitting, evidence losing forensics "expert" is going to try to help redeem Casey Anthony. More about all that later.

First though, the other day one of the posters on the Caylee Anthony section of the InSessions message board made an excellent post and I jokingly told her that I was tempted to ask permission to repost what she said here on my blog. Later, she gave her permission and asked for a "disclaimer" to be added. Here's the original post (with some minor editing for spelling and such):

Pruddennce
Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: across the universe....
Posts: 2,226

The fact that nobody's seen Caylee since mid June, the fact that Casey didn't call the LE and report Caylee kidnapped, the fact she partied and nobody saw her shed a tear or even look a tiny bit worried, and the fact that she told the LE lie upon lie upon lie when they wanted to fnd Caylee after Cindy reported her missing, go a long way to proving to me that Caylee is dead and Casey murdered her. jmo

Thats about it. Cindy utilizing 'public awareness organizations' to put the 'word out' that Caylee is missing, is well, to be blunt, BOGUS.

And the public knows it.

Hence, the reason there has been no outpouring of community assistance. all one has to do is go back a bit and view some videos of George and his t-shirts, setting up a mobile booth out of his car....there is at most ONE person helping him.

That's the reality of the community's mindset. why buy a t-shirt that their own daughter knotted at the waist so the "notify number" isnt readable...that's the first clue.

Having a child "missing" and maintaining a sense of fashion while wearing sunglasses she obtained thru fraud, AND being arrested the first time around with the sweatshirt she obtained thru fraud...

.....Its jaw dropping. And here are her parents, the lawyers championing her. they view the public as uninformed idiots.

Caylee is deceased. The Anthonys are not being taken advantaged of by Kidfinders or anyone else. They are using these resources to keep up appearances prior to the trial.

*Damn dead body in the car* statement, she thinks she can smooth over that statement with her new and approved "she's alive" grandstanding....

Too may words have been spoken by the Anthonys and forever preserved.... So many....

However, Casey's jailhouse calls are the most important. Her mother Cindy might have outdid herself in volume of interviews, but Casey's jailhouse calls, however brief and few, give the most panoramic view of her souless being.

best regards,
Pru

And, here's Pru's request for the disclaimer along with a quote of my post about me putting her post on this blog:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Originally Posted by Anakerie
Awesome post Pru... You just said a lot of what I think of this whole case. I'm halfway tempted to ask you for permission to post it on my blog! lol..
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thank you! You have my permission.... Can you put a little disclaimer like the Anthonys have on their site? Something like "Copyright 2008 IMO" lol

Seriously, though, stepping back in time here, its incredulous of the Anthonys to have gone beyond giving more than ONE interview....given the circumstances...her daughter living her life as if nothing has occurred out of the ordinary and never reporting caylee ABDUCTED. For a good abduction story: she could have done that the day after she killed her....made up a story...lost her in the park, whatever....

But alas, that is what psychopaths do....rather dont do.....they just dont care, close their eyes and go on with life.

I've about had my full with the word "missing". If the story is to be told properly by the Anthonys, she is a victim of kidnapping. however, they continue to peddle their story with the word missing.

Why arent they printing up t-shirts and bracelets that say KIDNAPPED? and why arent they prefacing their pressers with the word KIDNAPPED?

IMO

best regards,
Pru

Pru has a really good point there. The Anthony family, Casey, George, Lee and Casey are trying their best to convince the world that Caylee is alive, Caylee was kidnapped by an nanny that no one other than Casey has seen, and that the investigators are mistaken about the smell of decomposition in Casey's car. If, and that is a big "IF", Caylee was actually kidnapped by this nanny, the natural question then is why can't we (meaning the investigators on the case) find this Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez? Or even some kind of record that she exists?

Apparently, according to all I've read, there are quite a few Zenaida Gonzalez's in Florida. But, there was only one Zenaida Gonzalez that was associated in any way with the Sawgrass Apartments where Casey says she dropped Caylee off with the nanny. That Zenaida Gonzalez visited that apartment complex and toured the units as a prospective tenant. She filled out a "visitor's card" at that complex. And now, due to the notariety of this case, the woman has lost her job and is unable to find another one because of her name. Because Casey told the investigators that Zenaida Gonzalez was a kidnapper/child stealer. And Casey's mother, Cindy, has perpetuated that story in front of so many news reporters.

Zenaida Gonzalez has retained an attorney, John Morgan, and filed a defamation lawsuit against Casey Anthony. Casey and her attorney, Jose Baez filed a countersuit. Mr. Morgan told WESH 2 News that the countersuit obligates Casey Anthony to give a deposition or drop the suit. I have a feeling that Jose Baez has made a major mistake by filing the countersuit. A deposition of Casey Anthony done for this civil lawsuit can be used against her during the murder trial. John Morgan is planning on trying to depose Casey in jail. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will Baez and Casey drop the countersuit before a deposition can take place? (Geez.. This sounds like one of those things from a soap opera!)

Meanwhile, back to Dr. Henry Lee. Henry Lee has examined the car and the evidence that has been taken from the car. On the Nancy Grace show last night, Lee stated that the car still smells bad. But, he is saying that the smell is not from human decomposition. He says it's a "rotten smell" caused by "any type of decomposition". Here is a snippet of the transcription of last night's show:

GRACE: I know. I`ve been missing you, Dr. Lee. It`s nice to hear your voice. So did the car still stink to high heaven when you examined it?

LEE: Yes, when I examine the car, it still have the odor.

GRACE: Now, Dr. Lee, your testimony has been extremely impressive in the past. No one will ever forget the various demonstrations that you have done in high-profile court cases. When you say it smelled, is it true the car smells of decomposition?

LEE: The smell -- actually, it`s a rotten smell. It`s caused by any type of decomposition. The definition of decomposition, anything. It can be any food material. Can be human body. Can be any type of thing, decomposition. So the terms decomposed, human body odor, I don`t think any scientist can qualify to say -- just smell the odor, say that`s a human body.

GRACE: Well, Dr. Henry Lee -- everyone, with us, he is on the Anthony defense team -- I know that you have the highest regard for the Oak Ridge Laboratories in Tennessee. I trained there myself for a period of time. According to them, and their -- their specialty unit, the "body farm," there was evidence of human decomposition. Would that be consistent with the smell that you smelled, Dr. Henry Lee?

LEE: Here, that`s -- you know, I`m a scientist. I only can address some scientific issue. I cannot speculate. Decomposition, because the trunk -- don`t forget, I looked at not only the car. Also looked at the liner, the carpet. Also looked at the content of the material. And I don`t know anybody informed me or not -- there are a lot of garbage was collected. A lot of material was collected from the trunk.

GRACE: Like what?

LEE: Like what? Like food, like meat, like pizza box, like cheese, like ham, box (ph) of soda, and all different material in there. So basically, a lot of maggots and a lot of insects, all kind of material mixed together. So I cannot really elaborate too much on what I found because this is an active case. I cannot really reach a conclusion at this moment.

Of course he can't "reach a conclusion" or even speak about it on TV. So why the hell was he on Nancy Grace last night? And why did he say this:

LEE: OK. Nancy, I look at the whole car. Then I examine the liner, the carpet, the content of the car. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the Orange sheriff department, the crime scene investigator and detective. They`re true professionals. So the whole examination took a whole day and very professional manner. We did find some additional evidence, which was collected and handed to the sheriff`s department.

Lee found additional evidence? Oh man.. Echoes of the Phil Spector case last year when Henry Lee allegedly found a fingernail and then lost it instead of turning it over to the investigators for that case! If he found something this time and turned it over to the investators, perhaps he learned something last year. During the Phil Spector case, Henry Lee was supposed to be one of the "experts" testifying for the defense, but Lee managed to make himself unavailable for testimony by going overseas and not coming back until after the mistrial had been declared. Supposedly, Henry Lee is going back overseas soon to accept some kind of award (Oh no, another echo!) and I have to wonder if he's planning on staying a while again. No comment from me on the list of things that Henry Lee says was in the trunk of that car.. lol.. Frozen food boxes???? (The full transcript of the show is available at this link.)

And rumor has it that there will be more documents relating to the case being released soon. I have never followed a case such as this one where so many documents have been released to the public before a trial!

The search for Caylee goes on, apparently. The media says that divers are in the water at Jay Blanchard park again today, however Leonard Padilla, the man who got the divers there in the first place, isn't with them. He is back in California and apparently is waiting to take a polygraph test about how those items they found last week got into the river.

Then we have the new news about this organization that George and Cindy have been depending on for help in finding their granddaughter. Kid Finders Network. WFTV in Orlando has been looking into the background of the organization and the people who run it. Dennis Milstead, who heads up the organization, apparently has quite the criminal background. And the reporters who are looking into the organization have found out that they have never found a missing child! WFTV's reporter, Kathi Belich went to see Dennis Mistead and tried to talk to him about that criminal background. Milstead got physical with Kathi and her cameraman. Click HERE to watch the confrontation. And this is the guy who George and Cindy trust? Scary.

Well, I'm going to end this post for now... And of course, I'll add a picture from the ICanHazCheezburger site... And it's not a cat! lol


more animals

Proceedes from this years Kacie's Ride for Hope.

Sorry for being so late with the totals from this years Kacie's Ride for Hope. I've been busy, busy then lazy, busy and lazy again... Or sum thing like that...... Anyway, I was in Placerville last weekend and caught up with Pat and Sharon to visit and collect the numbers again.

This year, we were able to donate $14,550 to "the Center for Violence Free Relationships." Pat was pretty weary from all the work it takes to have a run. But when he realized the first year had 139 people register and he gave the center $4,500, the second year had 205 people registering and $7,500 going to the center, then this year had 309 registrations and $14,550 helping the center with an estimated $2,000 more being given directly to the center in Kacie's name... Well hell, that adds up to $26,550 donated to help people change and save lives. That paints a better picture of all that work. The center used to be the El Dorado Women's Center. They have been changing and growing to offer more services and resources to anyone, man woman and child, who needs help. This includes more than just relocation services as in the past. They are active with programs and education to help people change the habits of abusing or being abused or to recover.

As I brought up to the crowd when I asked a blessing for the run, there is NO EXCUSE to let this go on.
If we are the abused and don't want to rock the boat, or we love the abuser and he/she can't help it, or we don't want to be a bother... BULLSHIT! There is help out there before someone else dies!
If we are the abuser, we might be ashamed of it, or we rationalize (lie to ourselves) the actions because of circumstances, or that's how our parents acted... BULLSHIT! It's NOT acceptable, There is help available before someone dies and we go to prison!
If you are aware of someone else involved in the abuse trap and don't want to intrude, It's not your business (and I have been guilty of this one)... BULLSHIT! Research your local resources, talk to the abused/abuser that you are closest to, suggest resources for help. If the abuse continues, report it to the authorities! DON"T FEEL GUILTY! You are probably saving someone's life!
REMEMBER! When someone dies as a result of domestic violence: That someone is gone forever; their immediate family is traumatized and some don't recover, a mother, sister or a son; extended family members are also traumatized; close friends are traumatized too. Out of these groups, imagine trying to explain what happened to the children and emotional teens. But wait! It doesn't stop there. What about friends of the families, workmates, associations with groups... stop and think about how many people are touched by one life.

Before my wife died, she was sick for over 7 years. During the last 3 we often had arguments about suicide. She was 5150'd 2 or 3 times. I was seriously at my wits end and was recognizing that I would literally be spitting mad as I was yelling in the arguments. I know from past experiences that this was on the threshold of loosing control. When I would see the spit as I was yelling, I would throw up my hands and tell her: I HAVE TO GO FOR A WALK! I would remove myself from the heat of the battle until I could think and just talk again. When this was happening too often, I went to mental health and requested an anger management group. I was told they had already had a couple sessions and I'd have to wait a few months for the next group. I insisted that waiting was unacceptable and I needed help before I lost control. They got me into the next meeting with the option to attend the first few meetings of the next group also. One thing that really affected me was that I was the only one there that wasn't mandated by the courts! When they asked me why I was there, I responded that I didn't want to HAVE to be there. I wanted help BEFORE I hurt my wife!

So I know by experience. There is NO excuse to let the abuse go on! With help it CAN stop!

Pat also gave me the Nov. '08 issue of Thunder Press. A free magazine for Motorcycle enthusists found at a lot of motorcycle shops. There is a very good two page article of the run. Should I make a post from it too? I also urged him again to post the pictures from the "Pot bellies and hairy backs carwash" on the run site, http://www.kaciesrideforhope.com/. I'll let you know when the pics show up there.

Till the next post, God Bless.
Gene.

10,000 Visits? Wow!

Sometime in the last couple of days, this little blog hit a milestone. 10,000 visitors and more than 15,000 page views. That amazes me, especially since I haven't been posting as regularly as I should. I've still been following news stories;

• The circus surrounding the Anthony family and the missing child, Caylee.
  
• The Phil Spector trial, part deux.
  
• Stacy Peterson is still missing and her husband, Drew, is still the suspect in her disappearance. (I'm not going to post much about this one until Drew's firearms charges go to trial... Nothing new there at all... Darn it.)
  
• Josef Fritzl, the man who kept his daughter imprisoned in the basement dungeon for so many years. (He's been found competent to stand trial... He's been charged with rape, incest, false imprisonment and slavery in addition to murder.) The trial is expected to begin in March of 2009.
  
• The fires in California and elsewhere.
• And many others........

I just haven't posted about what I've read and heard about the cases lately. I guess I'll post a bit today.

Caylee Anthony
The Anthony family circus continues on and on, and Caylee is still out there somewhere. The grandparents are still insisting that Caylee is not dead and are busy defending their daughter, Casey, and promoting themselves and Kidfinders. Kidfinders seems to have a lot of people questioning their legitimacy. I'm still trying to figure out what they've done to help find Caylee other than loan George that rolling billboard around town with Caylee's picture on it. Big deal, especially since the phone number on that rolling billboard has been reported to be out of service. If someone actually saw Caylee and tried to report it by calling the number on that billboard, they'd reach a disconnected number. Kidfinders is also doing some fund raising this weekend, with George and Cindy as the star guests at a "meet and greet" thing, and they're saying that they need funds to continue the search for Caylee. One article I read on the Orlando Channel 13 website says;

Kid Finders officials said they are always in need of both money and volunteers. The group has found itself short of donations, and have had to scale back its efforts in the its search for Caylee.

Uhm. When have they done any searching? And their website also says that they have a "search and rescue" unit now, with all kinds of "new equipment" for searching. A boat with side-scan sonar. ATV's and other stuff. But they need money. So, George and Cindy are out there begging for donations for this organization. I've never read about any searches organized by Kidfinders and if any have been done, I'd love to know what kind of searches they are conducting. Anyone out there have a clue?

And Cindy has announced that she plans on writing a book. Big surprise, right?

Cindy Anthony also said she hopes writing a book would guide people in similar situations through what she has been through as she searches for her granddaughter.

"Two years down the road, once Caylee's back home safe, and her life's back to normal, and our life's back to normal, if I can help someone in any way, and jot everything down, that I've learned, you know, that's where it is," Cindy Anthony said.

I can't imagine what kind of stuff Cindy would put in a book about her ordeal.

• Would she advise those parents to report the child missing but not give any information that would help give a direction to look in? (What was the child wearing, description of who she was with?)
  
• Would she advise others to stand up at a vigil for the missing child and scream at people to "get off their asses" and go find the child? (Where do you suggest we look, Cindy???)
  
• Would she advise them to constantly change her stories? (Smell of dead body in the car, pizza, pizza with maggots, no smell?)
  
• Would she advise them to constantly berate the investigators who are actually looking for the child?
  
• Would she advise them to bash a volunteer search organization (Texas EquuSearch) because they were looking for a "dead Caylee"?

The cast of characters in the Anthony Family Circus keeps changing too. We've got Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez, who's going to have to hire another attorney because he's not qualified to try a capitol crime case. We've got Cindy and George's lawyer, Mark Nejame, who is "advising" George and Cindy but can't keep Cindy from shooting her mouth off whenever a camera gets pointed towards her. Leonard Padilla, the California bounty hunter who bailed Casey out of jail and is now making the news with his divers doing searches at Jay Blanchard Park. We've got the TES people badmouthing Padilla, and Padilla's people badmouthing TES. Cindy and George's publicist, Larry Garrison has been fired and there are accusations going back and forth about what money has been paid to who for TV appearances and the like. The publicist for Jose Baez, Todd Black, who avoids the camera and even manages to avoid having any infomation about himself on the internet. (Odd, huh?)

The whole thing is such a confusing mess and meanwhile, Caylee is still missing.

Phil Spector
The retrial of Phil Spector for the murder of Lana Clarkson back in 2003 is ongoing, but trying to find any information about the trial this time is limited to an occasion blurb in one of the newspapers or following on blogs. I've been following it on Sprocket's Trials and Tribulations blog because she's been attending the trial every day and has a talent for writing so that you almost feel you are there with her. Her observations of what goes on in the courtroom are excellent.

Poor Phil, though. (Said tongue in cheek.. lol) Last year during the first trial, he hit the headlines quite regularly and was on TV (CourtTV) almost every day. This year, I guess the news media has decided that Phil isn't a big enough celebrity to warrant regular coverage of his trial. And Phil thought he was more important than just about everyone else, including O.J. Hah! OJ's trial in Las Vegas got gavel to gavel coverage just like the murder trial way back when. Phil got gavel to gavel last year but this year has been relegated to the back page news. No headlines, no TV news spots, nothing. From what I hear, his defense is still planning on pounding on the "has-been" status of Lana Clarkson prompting her to commit suicide in Phil's home. In my opinion, Phil Spector is much more of a "has-been" than Lana Clarkson. Lana was recovering from major injuries to her wrists and had been out of action for over a year when she was murdered. She was just getting back into the swing of things, a new job at the House of Blues, a photo shoot scheduled, etc. What was Phil doing? Nothing besides sitting in that "castle" of his collecting the royalties from the past. Nothing new. Phil was sitting in that castle imagining that he was a bigger star than anyone. Bah... He is a has-been that played with guns once too often. "I think I shot someone" says it all.

The Fires
I've mentioned before that I also post on the California Fire News blog. I spend quite a bit of time searching for information on what is going on, but I haven't been fast enough lately to find information to post anything before Bob, the blog owner, posts it. The fires burning in Southern California right now are devastating to thousands of people. Many homes burned and many more are in danger of being destroyed. As the photo here (Courtesy of the L.A. Times) shows, it's pretty horrific.

Fire season may be "over" for most of Northern California, but Southern California is by no means out of danger. The Santa Ana winds will continue to blow off and on for another month or so and with the winds comes the fire danger. All it takes during one of the wind storms is for one power line to get blown down or one idiot with a penchant for flames to start a disaster. The fires that are burning right now are all under investigation, they have no idea yet what started them... Yet. The first priority is getting the fires under control and saving lives and as much property as they can. I grew up in Southern California and still have a lot of family living down there. I spent many years as the wife of a firefighter and I know the hardships that those heroes on the firelines and their families have to face.

Go check out the California Fire News blog... Look at what has been posted there. Scary times for Southern California right now... Very scary. If you're from down there, my heart goes out to you... I remember the feelings very well.

One quick note about the California Fire News blog... The stat counter for the blog is near 1 million visits! Congratulations to Bob Blogger for having such a fantastic and informative blog!

Other Stuff
I got to do something fun this past week... My trucker friend gave me a call on Monday and told me to pack a bag, grab a coat and get my butt down to his place in Sacramento. He was on his days off and didn't want to spend it sitting around his place by himself, so he invited me to go with him up to Reno for a couple of days... Actually we didn't stay in Reno, we stayed in Sparks at John Ascuaga's Nugget hotel and casino.

By the time I got down to his place, it was late afternoon so we grabbed some burgers and hit the highway. The trip up to Reno/Sparks from Sacramento takes about 2-1/2 to 3 hours so it was dark by the time we arrived at the hotel. We got a snack at one of the restaurants and then wandered around looking at the slots and the tables. We mainly just wandered all over the hotel that evening. No gambling or anything, just exploring to see what had changed since the last time there a few years ago. A few places were different; Trader Dick's restaurant and bar is bigger, a couple smaller eateries had changed and a couple more were added. The showroom was closed, so we couldn't take in a show but that was OK.. That wasn't what we had come up there for. We explored the gift shop (and bought nothing! LOL) and the floor where the pool and spa is.

The next day, we wandered around the neighboring places after breakfast. We had breakfast at The Silver Club and I wouldn't recommend it. The service was slow, the food was marginal. Actually, my breakfast was icky. I had biscuits and gravy and the gravy tasted like glue with some tasteless lumps in it.. UGH! My trucker friend decided he was going to get a massage at the spa at the Nugget, so we went up so he could make a reservation. Then we went back downstairs to the casino. He headed for the craps table and I headed for the penny slots. I found a pretty good machine on my 3rd try. It actually let me win! I started off with a $20 and by the time I quit playing, I had over $70! My trucker friend didn't do so well on the craps table, but he said he had fun anyway. After lunch at Rosie's Cafe at the Nugget, my trucker friend went upstairs for his massage while I wandered around some more.. Checking the machines and people watching. Later we went wandering again, the craps table at the Nugget had upped the ante on the craps table so we headed back over to the Silver Club to see if anyone was playing there... Nope.. Never saw anyone playing craps at all! We spotted a theater a block or so away and thought we'd see if there was a movie playing that we'd want to see. The theater was "different". You know how you go to a theater and there are posters up for all the movies they are showing? This one had none. No posters. Just a list above the ticket booth, no information or anything except for the times the movies are being shown! We didn't see anything we wanted to see, so we headed back to the Nugget. After all the walking, my friend's massage and everything, we decided that we'd spend the evening upstairs relaxing and order dinner from room service. The last day, we stayed away from the Silver Club. Checkout time was 11am so we had breakfast semi-early and my trucker friend went and got another massage while I went downstairs to see if that penny machine would pay me some more money. It didn't.. lol, I blew $20 on it. After he came down from his massage we checked out and hit the highway for home.

As we came down the "hill", I kept a look-out for the CalTrans cameras to see if I had spotted them right on the maps that I did last winter. I guess I somehow managed to get most of the camera locations right, but I had imagined them on different sides of the road.. lol..

LOL, I just told my trucker friend that I was writing about the trip up to Reno and he sent me a "review". Here's what my trucker friend just sent me on Yahoo:

J. A. Nugget would review at 3 stars. service and friendliness of staff was acceptable and in some cases was exceptional. Entertainment was lacking in availability. Food service was above average though not exceptional on quality. Cash advances and items purchases were excessive and seemed abit greedy by management in trying to increase higher revenue by gouging guests and visitors. Rooms were above average and comfortable, though tv/internet options were high priced.

And here's his "review" of the Silver Club:

Silver Club food sucked dead ass, service was about the same. The place was damn near dead and most of the game tables were closed both day and evening. Very poor review on entertainment, service, and overall experience. Out of 4 stars would rank it 1/2 star for at least being open.

Can you tell he didn't like the Silver Club?

Anyway, we made it back to Sacramento and parted ways. Him into his place and me back into my Blazer and back up the road to my place (trying to beat the rush hour traffic, which I did!). I'm so glad he invited me along for his mini-vacation. It was nice to get out of the house for a couple days. And, no, I didn't take any pictures because I left the camera at home this time. On purpose. I knew we wouldn't be spending a lot of time in the rooms, and I didn't want to leave the camera laying around in a hotel room, nor did I want to carry it around the casino! lol..

And to close this post, I'll add another LOLCat... hehe


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