Sandra Cantu Case: Defense Drops Bid to Exhume Sandra's Body

(04-21) 14:37 PDT TRACY -- The attorney for murder suspect Melissa Huckaby is no longer seeking to exhume the body of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu from a Tracy mausoleum in order to conduct independent tests to determine whether she was raped, San Joaquin County's public defender said today.

The defense will withdraw its request, which Huckaby's attorney made to a judge Thursday just a day after Sandra was laid to rest, Public Defender Peter Fox said.

He said the deputy public defender handling the case, Sam Behar, learned this morning from the county's chief medical examiner, Bennett Omalu, that "the relevant samples were preserved" and had not been interred.

"It will not be necessary to disturb the child's remains," Fox said in an interview. "From a human point of view, certainly it's nice not to have to do that."

Huckaby, a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher who is the mother of one of Sandra's playmates in a Tracy mobile home park, was arrested April 10 and charged with her murder. Prosecutors alleged that the murder was accompanied by special circumstances, including rape, that would make Huckaby eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

Sandra was last seen near her home March 27. Her body was found in a suitcase April 6 in a dairy farm's irrigation pond 2 miles from the mobile home park.

The defense was concerned that prosecutors were basing the rape allegation solely on the findings of the medical examiner's autopsy. Fox said his office has not been given the autopsy results or any other evidence in the case, including recordings or transcripts from a long interview Huckaby gave to police before her arrest.

In his motion to exhume Sandra's body, Behar wrote that a second autopsy, which would have been conducted by a forensic pathologist hired by the defense, was "extremely crucial and material to Ms. Huckaby's defense."

The defense team, Behar wrote, "should be allowed to examine Ms. Cantu's body to discern alternative explanation for the assigned coroner's observation of alleged genital trauma, so that Ms. Huckaby can defend herself against those allegations."

Now, Fox said, Behar has learned that tissue samples will be available for testing by the defense pathologist.

The county medical examiner has not released Sandra's cause of death or the results of toxicology tests.

Angie Chavez, Sandra's aunt, said today that the family did not wish to comment on the withdrawal of the defense motion.

Source: SFGate
Author: Demian Bulwa at dbulwa@sfchronicle.com.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't know about the rest of you, but this is great news. In reading a lot of the articles and the comments about those articles, I know a lot of people were up in arms over the possibility of the defense taking Sandra's body from her resting place at the Tracy Mausoleum. This must also ease the minds of her family to know that a 2nd autopsy doesn't have to be done.

There has to be so much more information about this case that the investigators and the prosecutors are holding close. We get bits of information from here and there and I have to wonder how much of it is truth and how much of it is speculation or just plain errors on the parts of the different reporters who are covering this case.

I've been watching TV off and on today and the latest uproar is over another incident that happened in January. Another child in the same mobile home park where Sandra's family and the Huckaby families live was reportly missing for a few hours. From what the reports are saying, Melissa Huckaby took that child to a park, either with or without the knowledge of the child's family (Depending on which report you read.). Sometime during the time Melissa had the child at a park (No clue what park or even if they did go to a "park".) the child's mother returned home and discovered her 7 year old daughter was not there. It was apparently reported to the police, but Melissa returned the child to the family's home either while the police were there or shortly before the police got there or shortly after the police left. (Again, it depends on which report you read!) The child's older sister has told reporters that when her little sister arrived home she was very disoriented, dizzy, slurring her speech and falling down. The family took the child to the hospital and lab tests revealed that she had benzodiazepines in her blood.

I googled benzodiazepines and found an interesting definition of them on the University of Maryland's website.

Benzodiazepines are among the most commonly prescribed depressant medications in the United States today. More than 15 different types of benzodiazepine medications exist to treat a wide array of both psychological and physical maladies based on dosage and implications. To be characterized as such, each benzodiazepine displays one or more of the following drug actions: anxiety relief, hypnotic, muscle relaxant, anti-convulsant, or an amnesiatic (mild memory-loss inducer). Due to their sedative properties, benzodiazepines have a high potential for abuse, especially when used with other depressants such as alcohol or opiates. Benzodiazepines are classified as Schedule IV in the Controlled Substances Act.

Commonly prescribed benzodiazepines include Xanax© (alprazolam), Librium© (chlordiazepoxide), Valium© (diazepam), and Ativan© (lorazepam). Another benzodiazepine that has been the focus of a great deal of media attention is flunitrazepam, trade name Rohypnol©, which is known widely as "the date-rape drug" due to its involvement in many sexual assault cases in recent years.

I don't know about the rest of you, but that last sentence really bothers me.............

(Here's a link to one of the reports about the incident with the other child that Melissa was involved with in January: The Tracy Press)

2009 Kacie's Ride For Hope

To all my readers who happen to own a motorcycle, Here's an event that is well worth joining! If you want more information, go to Kacie's Ride For Hope and then mark your calendar for September 12th! The preparation and planning for this year's ride is under way, so you can expect a great ride in the mountains and contribute to a great cause! Just ask my brother, ChaplainLimeyGene! lol

A Trucker's Lament...

Today I'm not going to report on crimes or tragedies. At least not for now. We'll have to wait and see what the day brings, tough. Anyway, my trucker friend sent me a series of text messages a while back. I saved them and thought I'd share... (With a bit of editing to put them all together into a readable format.) Think Willie Nelson here... And no, my trucker friend is not a big fan of Willie.. Just ask him.. He'll tell you!

On the road again,
Going to places I have already been,
Seeing things I never want to see again,
Oh god help me, I am on the road again.

Dealing with people that are a pain in the end,
Doing things I wish I didn't have to do again,
Oh lord, I think I am going to cry again,
Damn it, I am on the road again.

All eighteen wheels are turning once again,
Stopping at places all over again,
My route seems to never end,
All I do is work and sleep before I start again,
Please someone help me I am on the road again.

Will I ever see my wife and kids again,
Will spend the holidays alone again,
Some day soon, will have to play the lottery or I will never win,
Oh man, its four am, time to get on the road again.
Do I have to die before this will end,
Oh god, I am on the road again

The "purty" big red truck above is one of the trucks I drove back in the 90's. If you look real close at the windshield, you can see a very vague image of the driver. That's me! My trucker friend was out freezing his butt off in the snow taking the picture.. We're in a rest area on I70 near Aspen... The weather was very nice in Denver, but it was blizzard time in Aspen... lol

And now I'll close with a little more humor that I just can't resist this morning:

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Cesar Laurean Extradited!

UPDATED Below

Almost a year ago, I mentioned in a blog post that Cesar Laurean who is accused of murdering Maria Lauterbach and her unborn son, burning the bodies and burying them in his back yard had been captured and jailed in Mexico. Here is what I wrote back then:

Cesar Laurean; He's still in Mexico awaiting extradition, but law enforcement have released a lot of court documents relating to the murder of Maria Lauterbach. Go here and check out the list of documents. One news site details some phone calls and such from the Laurean home the day he took off for Mexico. Another one (This link has been removed because it led to a dead end.) writes about how Cesar was researching things in Mexico before he left. Things like buying property and finding jobs in Mexico. I couldn't find anything in the articles about how the extradition process is going, so we wait.

On the 15th, an item hit the news from a TV station in Ohio that said Laurean was expected back in the U.S. on Friday. Today is Friday and that station was right. Laurean is on his way to North Carolina right now as I type. Someone on the InSessions message boards said they saw/heard on the news that he had landed in Miami. I haven't heard any of the reports yet, but there are a number of news items coming up with a google search now.

• "Laurean returns to U.S. to face charges" (News 14 in North Carolina)
• Cpl. Cesar Laurean, the Marine accused of killing a pregnant colleague in 2007, returned to the United States on Friday. He landed in Miami around 11:30 a.m.
• "Suspect in pregnant Marine's death on way to U.S." (CNN International)
• Investigators were accompanying Laurean, who fled to Mexico, to the United States on Friday morning, two law enforcement sources said. The FBI said Thursday that Laurean would be extradited to the United States on Friday.

There are more, but why "flood" my blog with all the items that come in the Google news search? I do have to say that I love the title of one of the items that popped up in the search.. It's from a blog in Kansas City:

• "Welcome home, Cesar Laurean" (Crime Scene KC)
• Well, he's not quite home yet. But Laurean, a Marine corporal accused of murdering a fellow officer, has exhausted his extradition appeals and could be shipped back from Mexico soon. (He won't be facing the death penalty, though -- one of the conditions for Mexico to hand him over.)

So finally, the wait is over. Cesar is on his way back to North Carolina to stand trial for murdering Maria and her unborn son. They had to take the death penalty off the table in order to even begin the extradition process, so the heaviest penalty he's facing is life in prison without the possibility of parole. From all reports, Cesar's wife, Marine Cpl. Christina Laurean is still standing by her "man". According to one of the first articles I read concerning the extradition stated that she had just returned from a period of leave, which included a visit to see her husband in a Mexican jail.

The trial for Laurean won't be soon, though. It could take a year or more before he sits in a courtroom with a jury watching him.

The sad part is that while Laurean is "coming home", Maria Lauterbach's father is leaving next week on his way to Iraq for a 4 month deployment. (See this link.) Victor Lauterbach is an Air Force Reserve master sergeant in the 87th Aerial Port Squadron, which is part of the 445th Airlift Wing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The squadron is responsible for the on- and off-loading of equipment, cargo and personnel onto aircraft. This has to be a difficult deployment for Maria's father. I'm sure he would like to be there, in North Carolina, to face down the murderer of his daughter and grandson in the hearings in preparation for the trial.

I wonder how much media attention this case will get now... It's been almost a year and a half since Maria disappeared back in December of 2007 and her body found in that firepit in Laurean's back yard in mid-January of 2008. It's time to bring justice to Maria and Gabriel Lauterbach. It's time for Cesar to pay for what he did.

UPDATE

Cesar Laurean is back in North Carolina. He was booked into the Onlslow County Jail in Jacksonville about 8pm EST and is scheduled for his first court appearance on Monday. They're saying he'll be in court shortly after noon.

The photo to the left is his new booking photo. I guess the Mexican jailers treated him well enough. He doesn't look to happy to be back in the U.S. though. His wife isn't commenting to any of the media on the subject of her husband's return to face the charges against him. An Onslow County grand jury indicted him in January 2008 on charges of first-degree murder, robbery with a dangerous weapon, obtaining property by false pretenses, financial transaction card theft and financial transaction card fraud.

Source: JDNews.com

Celebration of Life for Sandra Cantu

I didn't make the drive down to Tracy today for the memorial service.. But a few thousand others did show up at the high school in Tracy to say good by to "Tracy's Angel", Sandra Cantu. From what I've read on the news sites, people started lining up at the doors of the gymnasium at 6:30am this morning. I stayed home and watched the memorial on my TV. When they started playing the song "Somewhere out there", I had tears running down my cheek. That song has always choked me up a bit but today it wasn't just a bit. I cried for that beautiful little girl with the big smile. My heart goes out to all of Sandra's family and friends in this time of terrible grief.

Channel 10 in Sacramento has posted a video of the entire service. I tried embedding it to the page, but it doesn't work like the YouTube ones. It begins playing automatically. So, I've removed the embedded video and left the link.

Channel 30 (I'm not quite sure where they are) also has video up showing the service.

I can only hope that the authorities can put her murderer away for the rest of her life. The community of Tracy and all those who's hearts broke the day they found that suitcase need to have justice. Sandra's family need justice. And that is all I'm going to say... Today.

Rest in Peace, little angel...

Sandra Cantu Laid to Rest Today

Horse drawn carriage/hearse enroute to the cemetary carrying Sandra Cantu to her final resting place.
Image Source: KCRA Channel 3 News

Sandra Cantu buried today during private service

by Jennifer Wadsworth

Family, friends and city leaders gathered for a private burial today for slain 8-year-old Tracy girl Sandra Cantu.

A horse-drawn carriage brought her tiny body from Fry Memorial Chapel to the Tracy Mausoleum shortly after noon today.

Sandra’s mother was “like a rock” during the service, said Tracy police Sgt. Tony Sheneman after the burial. TV news crews gathered outside the cemetery grounds to film as much of the service as they could from a distance.

A few dozen people attended, including several police officers who last week arrested a 28-year-old Sunday school teacher on suspicion of killing the little girl.

Melissa Chantel Huckaby was arraigned Tuesday on charges that she kidnapped, raped and then murdered Sandra on March 27.

Sandra lived in the same mobile home park as Huckaby with her mother, three older siblings and her grandparents. Surveillance footage that captures the girl’s last moments alive shows her skipping playfully toward Huckaby’s house, five doors away from her own home.

It was the last anyone ever saw of her, before her body was found 10 days later stuffed in a suitcase someone dumped in a manure-filled pond on a north Tracy dairy.

“She became an angel to the community,” said Tracy Unified School District Superintendent James Franco of Sandra, a Jacobsen Elementary School second-grader.

Her disappearance drew hundreds of volunteer searchers and nearly 20 agencies on the case. Photos of the blonde-haired brown-eyed girl were plastered on utility poles, car windows and bulletin boards all over Northern California.

It became a familiar face, especially to Tracy.

The national interest in her search brought and the sordid fascination sparked by recent charges against Huckaby of murder and rape likely mean a crowd of thousands will show up for her public memorial service on Thursday.

Organizers have prepared for as many as 8,000 guests, but there’s only enough parking for 500 cars.

The public service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Thursday at the West High School gym, 1775 W. Lowell Ave.

For information, call the memorial chapel at 836-1970

Source: Tracy Press
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't often post whole articles on this blog, but this case just plain sucks my brain dry of rational things to say. Earlier on TV, I watched as they first played the video of Sandra skipping across the street looking like just what she was; a carefree child. Then they played a video of that horse drawn hearse carrying the child's body to her final resting place. To see both those videos one right after another brings home the tragedy and the anger towards the murderer who stole this beautiful child's future and life.

For the past week, I've considered driving down to Tracy tomorrow for the public memorial service for Sanda. I've gone back and forth a number of times already and probably will change my mind a few more times before tomorrow. I don't know if I can do it. Tomorrow will tell. I'll have to wait and see what I'm feeling in the morning.

One feeling that will not change though; I want this beautiful little girl's murderer brought to justice. And I know I'm not alone.

My deepest condolences to Sandra's family and friends. Sandra's memory will stay alive in a lot of people's hearts.................. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥



Surveillance video of Sandra Cantu (Tracy Press on YouTube)

Phil Spector ~ Guilty of Murder 2

Yesterday the second Phil Spector murder trial finally ended. After more than 6 long years and 2 trials, Phil Spector was on the spot. The jury buzzed 3 times a few minutes before noon which was the signal for a verdict. He had been accused of murdering actress Lana Clarkson in the early morning hours of February 3, 2003 by a gunshot in the mouth as she sat in the foyer of Spector's "castle" in Alhambra, CA. The first trial ended in a mistrial due to the foreman of the jury not being willing to deliberate.

I watched most of the first trial and as luck would have it, I was out of town, traveling with my Mom and Stepdad, when it went to the jury and when the mistrial was declared. For the retrial, I followed the trial on Sprocket's Trials and Tribulations blog (Thank you Sprocket!) and on the InSessions message boards. It was frustrating not to be able to watch the testimony and presentation of the evidence this time, but we all made it through. And again, when the case went to the jury, I left on another trip with my Mom and Stepdad. Only this time, I came home before the jury finished deliberating. So yesterday I was able to sit here in my chair and read when Sprocket posted the "Buzz buzz buzz" when it happened. She posted the message that a verdict had been reached a few minutes before noon and then posted that it would be 1:30pm or 2pm before the verdict would be read. Those 2 hours between the buzz, buzz, buzz and the actual reading of the verdict seemed to take forever. Then, it came... Guilty of Murder in the second degree and guilty of the added "use of a gun". The minimum sentencing Phil will recieve, if I've read the right things, is 18 years to life. Now we wait until May 29th for the sentencing hearing to see what the judge will hand down. I wonder if the main stream media will show up in time to get a camera inside that courtroom this time. Yesterday, they had a camera in the courtroom, but they couldn't get the live feed working before the verdict was read. Disappointing, yes. But, at least there are videos available on the net where the reading of the verdict and Phil's reaction (or non-reaction!) can be seen. In my opinion, Phil's attorney, Mr. Weinberg, had more of a reaction than Phil did.

My thoughts went out to Lana's family and friends, hoping that this verdict would finally bring them some peace. I'm sure it doesn't bring "closure", whatever that is, but it has to give them some peace of mind knowing that Phil will be going to prison to pay for what he did. My thoughts also went out to the sons and daughter of Phil Spector. Two of whom had been posting on the InSessions boards for the last few years, Gary and Louis. I have a lot of respect for those two young men for their patient and reasonable postings on the message boards. I also have a "job" to do for Gary, now. He's a fan of the SR71 Blackbird as am I. Somewhere among all the boxes that have been packed up and moved around for the last 15 to 20 years I have some photos of that beautiful plane and I've promised Gary I would try to find them, scan them and email them to him.

Anyway, back to Phil Spector. The years of Phil's "freedom" over the last 6 years haven't been kind to Phil. He didn't look that great in the first mugshot, taken the day of the murder, with the wet hair, evil stare and the quality of the photo. Now we have a new mugshot of him, taken yesterday after he was led out of the courtroom and off to the jail where he will wait for his sentencing hearing. His attorney, Mr. Weinberg argued fiercely for the court to allow Phil to remain free on bond while he waits for the sentencing. The prosecutor, Alan Jackson, argued that Phil was a dangerous man and need to wait it out in jail. He cited the other incidents after Lana was murdered, where Phil threatened people with a gun or threatened to get a gun and shoot them. Judge Fidler agreed with the prosecutors. Phil had had enough freedom in the 6 years since Lana was murdered. The new mugshot is even more spooky looking than the first one. The wide-eyed stare completely creeps me out! When the verdict was read, Phil looked like he was heavily medicated, and he looks medicated in this mugshot as well. There will be another mugshot of him after the sentencing and he is taken to one of the California Corrections Intake units and I hope that TMZ or The Smoking Gun manages to get a hold of it so we can see what changes a jail cell and fewer self-medicating drugs makes in the man.

So the next date to watch for will be the sentencing hearing for Phil, which is scheduled for May 29th at 11:00am if Phil and his attorney don't request a hearing sooner. I'm sure we'll hear from Lana's mother during the impact statements, and perhaps from her sister. But will we hear anything from anyone on Phil's side? His "wife", Rachelle? His sons? His daughter?

I've got my calendar marked. Do you?

12:00pm Curiosity
I just looked at my stat counter and I'm stunned by how many people/readers are coming in looking at the photo of Rachelle Spector with a gun in a post that I did months ago. Odd.. I hadn't done that many posts about Phil Spector, but for some reason that one with the photo of Rachelle seems to be generating a lot of interest yesterday and today... Hmm...

Holiday wishes to all!

I'd like to wish all the readers of my blog a happy Easter! I found a couple cute LOLCats to share for the day... Enjoy!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

I'll have to work on some more posts about the news, crimes and trials I'm following soon. So, be assured, I'm not gone.... I've just been taking a few days off from typing... lol

Home Again! Hurray for Wireless Broadband! LOL

I'm home from my trip to Southern California and I'm so happy to be able to pick up my computer and have the internet available whenever I want it! lol... The trip was fun with the sightseeing and visiting, but I sure missed being able to just open up the laptop and connect whenever I wanted. I'll add a few more photos that were taken on one of the days we went driving around. After leaving Barstow, we headed to Riverside where my Aunt and some of my cousins live. One day while we were there, we took a drive out to Joshua Tree National Monument hoping to see wildflowers and cactus in bloom but were pretty disappointed. There were wildflowers in bloom, but they were rather scattered. I saw some cactus in bloom, but those, too, were very scattered and scarce. Plus, most were out off the road a distance and our driver at that time just drove on by. **sigh** (Our driver that day was my Aunt's hubby... Just love teasing him.. But I sure wish we had stopped a few more times...)

We stopped at one of the official visitors centers in the park and I found one particularly spectacular cactus in bloom in the "gardens" that surrounded the visitor's center building. Gorgeous, isn't it? That was the only one around the center that had such a spectacular display.This image is not edited in any way, either. The colors were just as vivid in person, if not even more. They almost glowed in the sunlight! I love the contrast between the cactus blooms and the red flowers in the back and the bright yellow flowers in the forground.

As I wandered around the outside of the building I did spot one of the many barrel cacti in bloom and got a shot of it. There were a number of barrel cacti in the planters around the building, but only one had flowers open, while the others all had buds that looked like they were ready to open at any moment.

After leaving the visitor's center, we drove through the park looking for other cacti and wildflowers in bloom. When we came across the "Cholla Cactus Garden", my Mom, Aunt and I hollered for a stop so we could look around. This was a huge patch of Cholla cactus (It's pronounced "choy-ya"). Another name for these cacti is "Teddy Bear Cactus". Anyone who runs across these cacti out in the deserts will remember them. Especially if they were unlucky enough to get too near or to brush up against one will remember them for a long, long time. The top or end pieces of them will "jump" off the cacti and stick to whoever the unlucky person was. (And yes, I was one of those unlucky people when I was a kid! LOL) It doesn't take much for the spines on those pieces to penetrate skin and stick tight. Since there is sort of a little "hook" on the ends of the spines, they're quite painful when they are being removed from their victim. Believe me, I stayed well back from the garden when I took my pictures... After heading further south through the desert, we ended up at a casino near the Salton Sea. We played the penny machines for a while and then headed back through Palm Desert and Indio to Riverside. My big regret is that we didn't stop at one of the roadside stands that are common down there. I would have loved to buy some "fresh" dates to bring home. I really wanted to get a date shake too... Oh well. Maybe the next time I head to Southern California.

It was a good trip, but I am very glad to be home sitting in my recliner listening to the rain on my windows... I really do need to finish unpacking and do my laundry... lol, maybe tomorrow.

Sightseeing in Barstow

3/30/09 (Still no internet access.. lol) ~ My Step-dad finally got to meet up with that old childhood friend of his here in Barstow. He had given me 3 names of men that he had grown up with and one of them is still living here in Barstow. (Of the other two, one passed away last year and the other is living in Washington state in the same town as my Great-Aunt. Sequim, Washington. We'll have to try to meet up with that fellow if we make another trip up there.) We met him and his wife for breakfast and they had a great time reminiscing about all the people and places they remembered. After breakfast my Mom, Step-dad and I took off to do some sightseeing in and around Barstow.

First stop after leaving the restaurant was the house that my Step-dad grew up in. My daughter wanted us to take a picture of the house so she could see if it looked like what she remembered. My Mom and Step-dad say that the house is still the same color as it was back then, but that a lot of the trees and shrubs that used to be around the house are gone. The driveway is still sandy and the area where my daughter used to play in the sand still looks like the sand is deep enough for a kid to play in, just as it was when they brought her up here when she was a little girl. I know my brother will be interested in seeing the pictures of the house as well.

After driving around in the city of Barstow checking out different buildings my Step-dad remembered, we headed out towards Calico Ghost town in the hills north of town. Back when I was a kid, we used to go camping in the canyon next to the ghost town. So, we headed out there and found the entrance to the canyon and drove back in there until my Mom and I spotted a familiar area. Of course, I had to take a couple pictures to send to my brothers. The one to the left shows part of that area of the canyon where we think we used to camp. I can remember my brothers and I exploring all the mine shafts and tunnels in the hills around this canyon. Oh, what memories.. lol...

We drove up in the canyon where the ghost town is but my Step-dad didn't want to get out and walk around the town, so we just talked our way past the gate so we could get into the paved area below the ghost town so I could take one picture. **sigh** We also tried to visit the Route 66 museum and the Railroad museum at the old Barstow train depot since we were nearby, but they were both closed. They're only open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and of course, we were there on Monday. So we wandered through the Chamber of Commerce section of the depot and looked at all the old photos and read some of the information about the depot. Then we wandered down the length of the building peering into windows, admiring the architecture. Apparently it's one of the last (and best preserved) of the Fred Harvey Houses left in the country. They've done a beautiful job of keeping the building up. Dummy me, I didn't take any pictures of it.

One last picture for this entry, and that is of a motel we spotted across the street from the building that used to be the Barstow Garage (It's now a church!) back when my Step-dad's father owned it. The Route 66 Motel... The old cars parked in the courtyard was what drew our attention. My Step-dad went inside the Barstow Garage/church and wandered around while my Mom and I wandered up and down the sidewalk outside looking at the cars across the street. Mom and I even spotted an old Nash Rambler that looked sort of like the one she had when I was a kid.

Update (4/4/09) I'm sitting with my cousin in a Starbucks in Riverside so I can get a connection to the net... This trip has been fun, but trying to get online has been frustrating to say the least! I think I will probably just upload any addition blogs articles and photos when I get home. We're scheduled to leave early Monday morning to head back north... So, Tuesday will be "upload" day... lol...

Man Bellies and Hairy Backs...

Hey Sis and readers.



Last year I posted about a Car wash we did for Kacie's Ride for Hope. See First annual Man-bellies and Hairy-backs Carwash? I've been asking Pat to post some of the pictures. As I've told friends and family about it, everyone enjoyed the story and wished they could have seen it. Finally, as we are starting to meet and plan this years run I reminded Pat about the want for pictures. So here they are, on the website for the run: http://www.kaciesrideforhope.com/





Look on the right side of the page and click on the Man Bellies and Hairy Backs Carwash to see the pictures. There were a lot more pics taken but these will give you a good idea of how much fun we had that day. We have decided to do it twice this year, more often might loose it's uniqueness. Pat said he will post the date and location on the site.





I'm looking forward to helping again to benefit "Kacie's Ride" and the "Center for Violence Free Relationships" it supports. The bonus for me is the fun I'll have and memories I'll gain. I , no we all, need to remember to use LOTS more sunscreen this year! Last year we were having so much fun we didn't think about re-screening. It was intense for a couple days. But every time the burn hurt, I'd just grin and remember the good time we had.




Hope some of you readers will be close enough to come to the carwash and enjoy the show!



Untill next post, God Bless, have fun and share it.

Chaplainlimeygene.