more animals
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
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.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.
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.
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.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
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.
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.
Friday, November 21, 2008
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?
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?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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:
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
Unfortunately, I have made the decision that it is best not to continue my representation of George and Cindy Anthony.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.
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
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
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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):
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:
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
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):
PruddennceAnd, here's Pru's request for the disclaimer along with a quote of my post about me putting her post on this blog:
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~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?
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
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?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: 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.
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
Monday, November 17, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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;
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;
And Cindy has announced that she plans on writing a book. Big surprise, right?
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:
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
more animals
- 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........
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?
I can't imagine what kind of stuff Cindy would put in a book about her ordeal.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.
- 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 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
more animals
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Search For Caylee Suspended... But There Will Be Another Search
Tim Miller, from EquuSearch made an announcement today that they are suspending the searches for Caylee and will be moving their equipment to North Carolina to search for 4 missing persons tomorrow, Monday. David Lohr from Investigation Discovery made the initial announcement on his blog before Tim's press conference. There will be searches going out from TES while the command post is being taken down according to a follow-up post from David.
I've been spending a lot of time lurking on the InSessions message boards and have been reading too many posts from people gloating over the fact that there were fewer searchers than were hoped for. Those posts generated more posts and more hateful back and forth stuff. I put a post up there this afternoon that says this:
With all the arguing going on over who believes ones thing against someone who believes something else. No matter where your sympathies lie, the one thing we should all consider is the fact that there is one person who could end all of it. Just one person. Casey.
Stop and think about all the people who have been out searching on all the various search events that have happened. Whether the searches were with TES or any other group that has gone out and spent their time, their energy and their emotions. Think about the people yesterday who couldn't be there to search but called in hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of food and water for the folks who were able to be there in Orlando. My heart goes out to all of those people, the ones who were there in Orlando and the ones who weren't but still had the heart to do something to help. I applaud them all.. And that is a standing ovation type applause.
The Anthony family, Cindy, George and Lee, have only one person to look to for answers about where Caylee is. One person and her lawyer. I can not imagine the pain that Cindy, George and Lee feel. I also can not fathom the attitude they've had towards the people who have wanted to help find Caylee. I can imagine the feeling of not wanting to broach the subject of a "dead" Caylee, but if it were me, I would want to know where my grandchild was. Dead or alive. If they truly believe that Caylee is alive, they need to give an idea of where to look for the little girl. They need to look to Casey for the answers, unfortunately. I don't think they'll be getting any answers from her or her lawyer anytime soon.
The fact that the searches for Caylee by TES have been suspended (for the most part) makes me incredibly sad, but I do understand the situation that they are in. They've searched the areas spotlighted by the investigators as well as they possibly could, why would they go over ground that has already been covered? TES will move on to other cases, and hopefully will be closure to other families. Some day, some how, there will be closure for the Anthony's, but it will have to come at the hands of Casey. And, as I've said before, I don't think that will be coming anytime soon.
Ok, I'm done with my rant. The gloaters and the baiters can continue on.... Later folks. I need a break for a while."
After leaving the InSessions board, I went over to a live streaming site that is from a fellow who has an awesome live cam setup. He's been down in Orlando giving "virtual" tours of the areas that things have happened in this case. I got on to his site on UStream just in time to find out that he had some "breaking news". Leonard Padilla had called him and asked him to meet him at a certain spot in Blanchard Park there in Orlando. If you've followed the Caylee Anthony case at all, you'll recognize the name of that park. Casey and her mother, Cindy, have mentioned that park numerous times. Murt will be uploading a video later tonight of Leonard Padilla explaining why he's interested in that area of the park, I'm sure.
I'll try to explain a little bit here. According to Leonard, during the searches back in August, a small beaded cross was found. A cross that was very similar to one that Casey has. Leonard has been scoping out that area and has gotten together with the FBI and OSCO investigators and has gotten the go-ahead to put divers in the river near where that cross was found. This will be happening tomorrow, Tuesday. Murt (The guy with the cams) will be there tomorrow morning with his cam truck to record what happens. The divers are supposed to be going in the water around 8am tomorrow, so if any of you east coasters are reading this tonight, try clicking on the UStream link and it'll take you to Murt Witness One and you can see what his cams will show. Murt was supposed to work tomorrow, but because Leonard specifically asked him to come and see what was going on, Murt has arranged for someone to cover him (He's a truck driver, among other things.) and he will be there in Blanchard Park tomorrow morning. At least that is what he said when he had his sound on a few minutes ago... lol.. I'm watching his cam right now, and he's got it on the cam that is on the roof of his van and is driving home...
Anyway, I'm not sure that I want to go back to the Caylee threads on InSessions for a while. Watching people bash each other has never been a pastime that I've enjoyed. Plus, while they are so busy bashing each other and bashing everyone involved in the case, nothing worthwhile in the way of information can be discussed. I am thinking maybe I need to find a better place to lurk... **sigh**
Update
Here's a small update on the search that Leonard Padilla is organizing for tomorrow morning. Another blogger has posted about the search at Blanchard Park as well, and managed to get some screen shots of Leonard and folks at the site they plan on searching. Go to Ketchup Soup and take a peek.
Another Update
Murt has uploaded the video of Leonard Padilla and I'm going to try to embed it here..
Free Videos by Ustream.TV
I've been spending a lot of time lurking on the InSessions message boards and have been reading too many posts from people gloating over the fact that there were fewer searchers than were hoped for. Those posts generated more posts and more hateful back and forth stuff. I put a post up there this afternoon that says this:
With all the arguing going on over who believes ones thing against someone who believes something else. No matter where your sympathies lie, the one thing we should all consider is the fact that there is one person who could end all of it. Just one person. Casey.
Stop and think about all the people who have been out searching on all the various search events that have happened. Whether the searches were with TES or any other group that has gone out and spent their time, their energy and their emotions. Think about the people yesterday who couldn't be there to search but called in hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of food and water for the folks who were able to be there in Orlando. My heart goes out to all of those people, the ones who were there in Orlando and the ones who weren't but still had the heart to do something to help. I applaud them all.. And that is a standing ovation type applause.
The Anthony family, Cindy, George and Lee, have only one person to look to for answers about where Caylee is. One person and her lawyer. I can not imagine the pain that Cindy, George and Lee feel. I also can not fathom the attitude they've had towards the people who have wanted to help find Caylee. I can imagine the feeling of not wanting to broach the subject of a "dead" Caylee, but if it were me, I would want to know where my grandchild was. Dead or alive. If they truly believe that Caylee is alive, they need to give an idea of where to look for the little girl. They need to look to Casey for the answers, unfortunately. I don't think they'll be getting any answers from her or her lawyer anytime soon.
The fact that the searches for Caylee by TES have been suspended (for the most part) makes me incredibly sad, but I do understand the situation that they are in. They've searched the areas spotlighted by the investigators as well as they possibly could, why would they go over ground that has already been covered? TES will move on to other cases, and hopefully will be closure to other families. Some day, some how, there will be closure for the Anthony's, but it will have to come at the hands of Casey. And, as I've said before, I don't think that will be coming anytime soon.
Ok, I'm done with my rant. The gloaters and the baiters can continue on.... Later folks. I need a break for a while."
After leaving the InSessions board, I went over to a live streaming site that is from a fellow who has an awesome live cam setup. He's been down in Orlando giving "virtual" tours of the areas that things have happened in this case. I got on to his site on UStream just in time to find out that he had some "breaking news". Leonard Padilla had called him and asked him to meet him at a certain spot in Blanchard Park there in Orlando. If you've followed the Caylee Anthony case at all, you'll recognize the name of that park. Casey and her mother, Cindy, have mentioned that park numerous times. Murt will be uploading a video later tonight of Leonard Padilla explaining why he's interested in that area of the park, I'm sure.
I'll try to explain a little bit here. According to Leonard, during the searches back in August, a small beaded cross was found. A cross that was very similar to one that Casey has. Leonard has been scoping out that area and has gotten together with the FBI and OSCO investigators and has gotten the go-ahead to put divers in the river near where that cross was found. This will be happening tomorrow, Tuesday. Murt (The guy with the cams) will be there tomorrow morning with his cam truck to record what happens. The divers are supposed to be going in the water around 8am tomorrow, so if any of you east coasters are reading this tonight, try clicking on the UStream link and it'll take you to Murt Witness One and you can see what his cams will show. Murt was supposed to work tomorrow, but because Leonard specifically asked him to come and see what was going on, Murt has arranged for someone to cover him (He's a truck driver, among other things.) and he will be there in Blanchard Park tomorrow morning. At least that is what he said when he had his sound on a few minutes ago... lol.. I'm watching his cam right now, and he's got it on the cam that is on the roof of his van and is driving home...
Anyway, I'm not sure that I want to go back to the Caylee threads on InSessions for a while. Watching people bash each other has never been a pastime that I've enjoyed. Plus, while they are so busy bashing each other and bashing everyone involved in the case, nothing worthwhile in the way of information can be discussed. I am thinking maybe I need to find a better place to lurk... **sigh**
Update
Here's a small update on the search that Leonard Padilla is organizing for tomorrow morning. Another blogger has posted about the search at Blanchard Park as well, and managed to get some screen shots of Leonard and folks at the site they plan on searching. Go to Ketchup Soup and take a peek.
Another Update
Murt has uploaded the video of Leonard Padilla and I'm going to try to embed it here..
Free Videos by Ustream.TV
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Wow, It's November Already
And it's raining today. It rained a bit yesterday, but luckily for the trick or treaters last night, it stopped long enough for the kids to make their rounds and get the goodies last night. I think I had more kids come to my door last night than I had last year. One good indication is that I didn't end up with left-over candy this year. There were some really cute little ones at my door. A little fireman with great big brown eyes. A little princess with a huge smile. A little dragon who wouldn't talk. And many more. By the way, the little dragon was my grandson! lol...
I've been keeping busy with stuff around here, but it sure doesn't show much. I still have a lot more old photos to scan, including the old ones of the bridge here in Meridian. I need to get those out of the pile and get them scanned so I can post them on here with comparison pictures from "now". I've also been reading through the family tree information that my cousin had done. I need to update my genealogy software so I can get the online family tree updated.
I'm still watching the news and still following a few cases.
Stacy Peterson
She's been missing for a year and a few days now. Her husband, Drew, is still considered the suspect in her disappearance. The Will County State's Attorney, James Glasgow released a statement about the case a few days ago. He says that they are close to determining what happened to one of Drew Peterson's wives. Whether it will be about Stacy or Drew's 3rd wife, Kathleen Savio is anyone's guess. All we can do is wait and see what comes out next. I hope this case doesn't end up "forgotten" the way Lisa Stebic's case has.
Phil Spector
The second trial for the murder of Lana Clark started this past Wednesday, opening statements were given by both the prosecution and the defense. Testimony was supposed to have started on Thursday, but one of the alternate jurors fell in the parking lot at the courthouse and apparently broke his foot. Judge Fidler postponed the start of testimony until this coming Monday. The first trial for Phil was televised live last year, but no media outlets have stepped up to the task of televising the second trial. Apparently the media has decided that Phil Spector isn't newsworthy enough to go to the expense and effort of manning a camera and microphones in the courtroom this year. So, for those following the case, we're down to gleaning bits and pieces of information from what news organizations publish and from bloggers. One blogger in particular, Sprocket, is planning on attending as much of the trial as possible and her blog, Trials and Tribulations, will be my "go to" place to find out what happened in the courtroom. She does an excellent job of narration, detailing all that goes on in the courtroom as well as giving information about the people in the courtroom with her.
I have to wonder how Phil feels about not being famous or newsworthy enough to be plastered all over the papers and news shows every night. It seems to me, that Phil Spector wants to be "famous" and wants to be "honored". In an interview that came out before a documentary was aired on British television, Phil complained about his lack of accolades for what he did for the music industry. From the Mirror UK:
As for the trial, there's an interesting quote from Phil about that as well.
What a sad little man he is. He went out on the town that night, bent on partying and having a drunken good time. He finally ended up at the "House of Blues" and was greeted by the hostess, Lana Clarkson, who mistook him for a woman. I'll bet that stung his ego. His date for the evening left him there and Phil pestered Lana into going back to his "castle" for a drink. Apparently Phil did not want to be alone that night. In the early morning hours, Lana ended up sitting in a chair in the foyer of Phil's "castle" with a gunshot wound in her mouth, her jacket on, her purse on her shoulder. There were two people inside that "castle" that night and one of them can't talk anymore. One person outside who heard the gunshot and then saw Phil come out the door with the gun in his hand and heard him say "I think I killed somebody". With Phil's history of pulling guns on women to keep them from leaving until he was ready for them to leave, it would seem that Phil pulled that gun on Lana to keep her from going home. He wanted "company" and he was going to make sure he had it. Was the gun going off deliberate? Or was it an accident? Whichever it was, it was his gun, his house and Lana is dead. That is murder.
I'll be watching Sprocket's blog for updates on the trial. Too bad for Phil that he's not famous enough to be in the headlines anymore.
Caylee Anthony
The missing 3 year old girl and her family is still in the news a lot. Casey, Caylee's mother, is in jail and will be there until she goes to prison. She has enough charges against her and enough evidence for those charges that I don't see any way she can strut her way out of it. She has a November 5th date for the check fraud charges, and a December 11th date for the pre-trial hearing in the murder case with January 5th set as the starting date for the murder trial. I'm curious if Casey's going to have two trials. One for the check fraud and one for Caylee. I wonder if any of the news stations will be streaming the trials live.
Meanwhile, Casey's mother, Cindy has been "busy" surfing the web and harassing people who blog about the case. One blogger in particular received a phone call from Cindy. The blog is called Justice for Caylee and the blogger puts daily updates up for all to read. In her post on Wednesday the 29th, the blogger details a phone call that she recieved from Cindy Anthony. Cindy has gone too far. In that phone call, Cindy blasted the blogger for having the website, blasted the blogger for the slideshow at the beginning of the site and accused her of trying to make money off Caylee. Cindy then went on to malign Tim Miller of EquuSearch, accusing him of using Caylee to make money as well. I'm not going to detail all that Cindy ranted about in this post. Go to the Justice for Caylee site and read for yourself. Lee Anthony has also joined in the "bash Tim Miller" club that his mother started. He sent emails out to news organizations telling people not to donate money to EquuSearch. The Investigation Discovery Criminal Report Daily blog about the Anthony case wrote about the emails as well as detailing a fax that they received from Todd Black, the invisible spokesperson that the Anthony's have hired. He blasted the EquuSearch organization as well. Sick, I tell you. Just plain sick.
Then we have the lawyer, Jose Baez. Yesterday, the news reports were all about him being warned for hugging Casey at the jail. Warned twice. As a rule, most jails have a "no touch" policy for security reasons, but Jose seems to think that hugs are ok. According to him, he didn't know it was against the rules for him to touch Casey. And according to him, he hugs all of his clients. Ick. One of the news stations, Channel 9 in Orlando even reported "Mr. Baez stated he was upset as he hugs all his clients. He went on to say he would hate for a brief to be filed in order to correct this." Uhm. Jose? What the heck kind of brief would you file and what are you trying to "correct"? You want special permission to go against the rules and hug all your clients? Or is it just that you want special permission to hug Casey Anthony?
Other Stuff
There are other things that I watch for in the news as well. Things about the fires here in California, and the aftermath of the fires. For instance, areas of the state are under a flash flood watch this weekend. Particularly in the areas that were burned durning the fires this summer. I'm hoping for a gentle rain, no gully washers that would cause havoc in the areas that are trying to recover from the fires. At least the fires are out now for the most part. The people in those areas that burned just have to watch for flash floods and mudslides now. I'm glad I'm down on the flatland. But I guess I'll keep an eye on the level of the Sacramento River which is a block away from where I'm sitting.
And to close today's post, I'll put in an LOLCat in honor of yesterday, Halloween....
more animals
I've been keeping busy with stuff around here, but it sure doesn't show much. I still have a lot more old photos to scan, including the old ones of the bridge here in Meridian. I need to get those out of the pile and get them scanned so I can post them on here with comparison pictures from "now". I've also been reading through the family tree information that my cousin had done. I need to update my genealogy software so I can get the online family tree updated.
I'm still watching the news and still following a few cases.
Stacy Peterson
She's been missing for a year and a few days now. Her husband, Drew, is still considered the suspect in her disappearance. The Will County State's Attorney, James Glasgow released a statement about the case a few days ago. He says that they are close to determining what happened to one of Drew Peterson's wives. Whether it will be about Stacy or Drew's 3rd wife, Kathleen Savio is anyone's guess. All we can do is wait and see what comes out next. I hope this case doesn't end up "forgotten" the way Lisa Stebic's case has.
Phil Spector
The second trial for the murder of Lana Clark started this past Wednesday, opening statements were given by both the prosecution and the defense. Testimony was supposed to have started on Thursday, but one of the alternate jurors fell in the parking lot at the courthouse and apparently broke his foot. Judge Fidler postponed the start of testimony until this coming Monday. The first trial for Phil was televised live last year, but no media outlets have stepped up to the task of televising the second trial. Apparently the media has decided that Phil Spector isn't newsworthy enough to go to the expense and effort of manning a camera and microphones in the courtroom this year. So, for those following the case, we're down to gleaning bits and pieces of information from what news organizations publish and from bloggers. One blogger in particular, Sprocket, is planning on attending as much of the trial as possible and her blog, Trials and Tribulations, will be my "go to" place to find out what happened in the courtroom. She does an excellent job of narration, detailing all that goes on in the courtroom as well as giving information about the people in the courtroom with her.
I have to wonder how Phil feels about not being famous or newsworthy enough to be plastered all over the papers and news shows every night. It seems to me, that Phil Spector wants to be "famous" and wants to be "honored". In an interview that came out before a documentary was aired on British television, Phil complained about his lack of accolades for what he did for the music industry. From the Mirror UK:
His hands shaking, Spector clearly does care - and the man who gave the world classic tunes like Be My Baby and You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' believes he is given far less respect than he deserves.In my humble opinion, Phil has an extremely inflated opinion of himself. All the names he mentions did a lot more for the music and entertainment industry than he ever did. His name was not as well known as any of them. His "fame" only comes from what he did in a studio to other people's performances. When the murder of Lana Clarkson hit the news, most of the public didn't know who the heck he was. He was a producer, not a "star", and producers don't have the "fame" that the stars have."I don't get depressed cos I don't let myself get depressed," he says.
"It is a wasted emotion. But I'm concerned with the fact that I haven't been made a doctorate at a college and Bill Cosby has, even Bob Dylan has.
"I think I have offered more to American culture and music than they have, or as much. George Martin, Paul McCartney are made sirs, Buddy Holly had a stamp, I love him, but he only lived three years in rock'n'roll."
As for the trial, there's an interesting quote from Phil about that as well.
He thinks he's been ostracised from the industry because Lana died? Uhm. No Phil, you dropped out of the industry a long time ago. It's been 30 years or so since Phil developed his "wall of sound" and has done virtually nothing since then. The "wall of sound" worked well on the old sound systems, the transistor radios and the "record players" with one speaker. But on the sound systems of today it would sound like crap, in my opinion.As for the upcoming retrial for the death of Lana Clarkson, Spector insists people are out to get him.
He describes the judge of the first trial as a "mean son of a bitch" and admits: "I have been ostracised from the industry with this indictment hanging over me. Innocent until proven guilty is no longer a factor."
What a sad little man he is. He went out on the town that night, bent on partying and having a drunken good time. He finally ended up at the "House of Blues" and was greeted by the hostess, Lana Clarkson, who mistook him for a woman. I'll bet that stung his ego. His date for the evening left him there and Phil pestered Lana into going back to his "castle" for a drink. Apparently Phil did not want to be alone that night. In the early morning hours, Lana ended up sitting in a chair in the foyer of Phil's "castle" with a gunshot wound in her mouth, her jacket on, her purse on her shoulder. There were two people inside that "castle" that night and one of them can't talk anymore. One person outside who heard the gunshot and then saw Phil come out the door with the gun in his hand and heard him say "I think I killed somebody". With Phil's history of pulling guns on women to keep them from leaving until he was ready for them to leave, it would seem that Phil pulled that gun on Lana to keep her from going home. He wanted "company" and he was going to make sure he had it. Was the gun going off deliberate? Or was it an accident? Whichever it was, it was his gun, his house and Lana is dead. That is murder.
I'll be watching Sprocket's blog for updates on the trial. Too bad for Phil that he's not famous enough to be in the headlines anymore.
Caylee Anthony
The missing 3 year old girl and her family is still in the news a lot. Casey, Caylee's mother, is in jail and will be there until she goes to prison. She has enough charges against her and enough evidence for those charges that I don't see any way she can strut her way out of it. She has a November 5th date for the check fraud charges, and a December 11th date for the pre-trial hearing in the murder case with January 5th set as the starting date for the murder trial. I'm curious if Casey's going to have two trials. One for the check fraud and one for Caylee. I wonder if any of the news stations will be streaming the trials live.
Meanwhile, Casey's mother, Cindy has been "busy" surfing the web and harassing people who blog about the case. One blogger in particular received a phone call from Cindy. The blog is called Justice for Caylee and the blogger puts daily updates up for all to read. In her post on Wednesday the 29th, the blogger details a phone call that she recieved from Cindy Anthony. Cindy has gone too far. In that phone call, Cindy blasted the blogger for having the website, blasted the blogger for the slideshow at the beginning of the site and accused her of trying to make money off Caylee. Cindy then went on to malign Tim Miller of EquuSearch, accusing him of using Caylee to make money as well. I'm not going to detail all that Cindy ranted about in this post. Go to the Justice for Caylee site and read for yourself. Lee Anthony has also joined in the "bash Tim Miller" club that his mother started. He sent emails out to news organizations telling people not to donate money to EquuSearch. The Investigation Discovery Criminal Report Daily blog about the Anthony case wrote about the emails as well as detailing a fax that they received from Todd Black, the invisible spokesperson that the Anthony's have hired. He blasted the EquuSearch organization as well. Sick, I tell you. Just plain sick.
Then we have the lawyer, Jose Baez. Yesterday, the news reports were all about him being warned for hugging Casey at the jail. Warned twice. As a rule, most jails have a "no touch" policy for security reasons, but Jose seems to think that hugs are ok. According to him, he didn't know it was against the rules for him to touch Casey. And according to him, he hugs all of his clients. Ick. One of the news stations, Channel 9 in Orlando even reported "Mr. Baez stated he was upset as he hugs all his clients. He went on to say he would hate for a brief to be filed in order to correct this." Uhm. Jose? What the heck kind of brief would you file and what are you trying to "correct"? You want special permission to go against the rules and hug all your clients? Or is it just that you want special permission to hug Casey Anthony?
Other Stuff
There are other things that I watch for in the news as well. Things about the fires here in California, and the aftermath of the fires. For instance, areas of the state are under a flash flood watch this weekend. Particularly in the areas that were burned durning the fires this summer. I'm hoping for a gentle rain, no gully washers that would cause havoc in the areas that are trying to recover from the fires. At least the fires are out now for the most part. The people in those areas that burned just have to watch for flash floods and mudslides now. I'm glad I'm down on the flatland. But I guess I'll keep an eye on the level of the Sacramento River which is a block away from where I'm sitting.
And to close today's post, I'll put in an LOLCat in honor of yesterday, Halloween....
more animals
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
