Can you define "progressive"

"Progressive" is not a party. It is more akin to the John Birch Society or Moral Majority than to a political party. How do you define "progressive?"

Southern Sweep Asset Forfeiture - right or wrong?

Given our system of 'innocent until proven guilty' how in the world did something like Asset Forfeiture become legal? Or more specifically, taking someone's property before they have been, charged, tried and found guilty. In this case, it is land that is being seized. In cases elsewhere it is boats and planes and automobiles. And if the person is then found to be innocent of all charges, getting the property back is nearly impossible. 60 Minutes has covered this. On the other hand, large scale pot growers certainly knew the ground rules - and took the risk. Now they pay the price.

Today's story: ☛ TS Feds move forward with land forfeitures

When contacted by the Times-Standard earlier this month, the FBI said no criminal charges had been filed as a result of the sweep. Calls to the FBI on Tuesday were not returned by deadline.

According to United States Code, any properties used to manufacture a controlled substance are subject to forfeiture. In this case, because the U.S. Attorney's Office is seeking civil forfeitures, the land could be forfeited without convictions or even criminal charges being filed against the land owners.

While initial complaints filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office with the Humboldt County Recorder's Office list a total of seven properties, only three of those were included in the Notice of Forfeiture Action filed last week.

But - Guilty or not - it is wrong to seize the property until after they have been convicted. What do you think?

Related:
☛ ER Pot sweep costs DOJ $347,000

Other discussion"
At Eric's SoHum Parlance: Feds moving forward on three of the forfeiture actions

Prelim begins for Hoopa murder

☛ TS Prelim begins for Hoopa murder
More than two years after the body of 26-year-old Jason Dee McElroy was uncovered in a shallow grave near Weitchpec, Carlyle Whiteotter Blake -- a Hoopa man charged with McElroy's murder -- entered a Humboldt County courtroom Tuesday for the first day of his preliminary hearing.

The Humboldt County District Attorney's Office brought in two Humboldt sheriff's investigators to lay out the case's circumstantial evidence in an effort to convince Judge Michael Brown the case is strong enough for Blake to stand trial.

Earthquake

Another little one - 4.6 according to the TS - Earthquake shakes Humboldt Felt stronger than the last one though. 14 km (9 miles) north/northwest of Trinidad, at a depth of 11 miles.
http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/recenteqs/Quakes/nc51207076.html

ER Earthquake shakes up North Coast

Timely editorial, two days ago - Living on the edge
Humboldt State University geologist Lori Dengler recently delivered the ominous news that Humboldt County is in the midst of the longest period of seismic calm since records have been kept. It's been 14 years since the last earthquake big enough to break windows or topple chimneys.

The fact is we're due for another temblor big enough to rock our world -- literally.

That means now is the time to get ready. Really ready. Earthquake kits should be kept at home, in the car and at work, providing food for three days, water, flashlights, batteries and a change of clothes along with blankets and pet supplies. Check in with the Red Cross for a full list. Well, this wasn't the "big one!" but the message is worth noting.

Just wondering - UPDATED

What happens if the prosecuting DA - Paul Gallegos - gets called as a witness in the Gundersen trial?

Seal said that during that phone call Gundersen's ex-wife said her family law attorney Joan Gallegos -- wife of District Attorney Paul Gallegos -- said charges would be filed if his ex-wife wanted. Seal testified that she asked for Gundersen's ex-wife to come to the interview room to explain that. This is not the first time this has been reported or mentioned in the court proceeedings.

Then there's also the reports that the nude photos (obtained as evidence) were going to be given to Joan Gallegos. By whom and for what purpose? With whose permission?

These are serious questions.

Also The trial is on break until Aug. 25. Why?

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

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Day 5 - Gundersen's wife again denies rape - UPDATED

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****

☛ TS Gundersen's wife: I didn't think he'd be arrested
Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen's wife testified today that she lied about being raped to investigators on the day of her husband's arrest out of a desire to have him out of her life.

Under questioning by Gundersen's defense attorney Russell Clanton, Darcie Seal said she had no idea why she was called to the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office on Feb. 8, but in hindsight believes it was part of a plot by Gundersen's ex-wife to get him to leave the county and secure full custody of their children.

”Did you think at the time if David Gundersen could be taken from your life .. things would be better?”

”Yeah,” Seal answered.

☛ TS Gundersen's wife again denies rape

Seal also said that she was at an emotional and mental low point at the time, and that her recollection of the events of that February day were fuzzy. She said that her efforts to find the nude photographs on Gundersen's laptop hard drive were unsuccessful, and that Gundersen's ex-wife -- who works at the McKinleyville sheriff's substation -- offered to help retrieve them.

Seal said she didn't want to refuse the offer, in order to keep up an amiable relationship with her. She took the hard drive to the substation on the morning of Feb. 8, Seal said.

When she arrived, Seal said, Gundersen's ex-wife -- whom she'd told about the photos -- asked if she wanted to speak with Lt. Dave Morey. Seal testified that she talked to Morey for a few minutes and asked only that the sheriff's office be prepared for an “appropriate police response” if she and David Gundersen got in a fight.

Seal said she then left the station for an appointment with her therapist. After the session, she got a text message on her phone telling her to call Morey as soon as possible. When called, Morey asked Seal to come to the Eureka station.

Seal said she believed she was going to the station to further discuss a police response, and ended up at the station from 12:30 to 7 p.m. After about an hour and a half -- during which she made the claims about the alleged rapes -- she was taken by Detective Troy Garey to have her blood drawn, then returned to the interview room.

Seal then testified that she became concerned about how things were proceeding.

”I said 'This is going too far,' and I told them about (the ex-wife's) phone call on Jan. 28,” Seal testified.

Seal said that during that phone call Gundersen's ex-wife said her family law attorney Joan Gallegos -- wife of District Attorney Paul Gallegos -- said charges would be filed if his ex-wife wanted. Seal testified that she asked for Gundersen's ex-wife to come to the interview room to explain that.

”I told them it was about getting Dave to move,” Seal said. “I never thought it was going to end up in Dave's arrest.”

☛ ER Alleged victim talks about emotional state

Darcie Seal testified Friday at the trial of her husband, former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen, that as a result of emotional and mental stress stemming from years of mothering children, police work and marital problems, lying to investigators about allegations of rape was seen as a “cure” to get him out of the house.

While under cross-examination by Gundersen’s attorney, Russell Clanton, Seal described the details of events that led up to her interview with investigators on Feb. 8, resulting in Gundersen’s arrest that day for alleged spousal rape....

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

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Day 4 - UPDATED

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****

☛ TS Gundersen's wife re-takes the stand
This morning, Gallegos walked Seal through a transcript of her testimony at the April preliminary hearing, repeatedly asking her if she had answered his questions honestly. She testified that she was under emotional duress, doesn't remember much of the preliminary hearing and was told to testify in accordance with what she told investigators in the Feb. 8 interview.

☛ TS Gundersen's wife says she lied to investigators, on stand at prelim
She also testified at various points Thursday that she was simply repeating things Gundersen's ex-wife had told her, that she was telling investigators what they wanted to hear and that she was angry with Gundersen at the time.

”As a police officer, you are aware that giving false evidence is a crime?” Gallegos asked.

”Yes,” Seal responded.

Gallegos also questioned Seal about her testimony during Gundersen's preliminary hearing, walking her through transcripts of the proceedings and repeatedly asking her if she remembered answering his questions, and if she was honest. She testified that she didn't remember, or only vaguely remembered, many parts of the interview and preliminary hearing, saying she was under a lot of stress.

Seal also testified that she told her attorney Michael Crowley before testifying at the preliminary hearing that her husband had not raped her. She said Crowley yelled at her, telling her she didn't have the right not to testify, and that it was in her best interest to repeat what she told investigators.

”I felt stuck,” Seal testified.

”You chose to testify falsely against your husband?” Gallegos later asked.

”Yes,” Seal replied.

”So, in your mind it's OK to lie under oath?” Gallegos asked.

”No it's not,” Seal replied. “I felt I was under a great deal of stress and I was being badgered.”

☛ ER DA grills alleged victim on stand
The battery of questions by Gallegos directed at Seal focused on specific details about alleged rape by Gundersen she had brought up in the past, but which she now testified were false, at times “sarcastic” and a result of misunderstandings.

Those misunderstandings included conversations with her attorney during the preliminary hearing, Michael Crowley, where he told her she had to stick with her past statements despite her telling him the allegations were false, she testified.

She also testified that she kept being told “over and over” again by investigators that if Gundersen had sex with her while she was asleep and taking Lunesta, that it constituted rape.

“I was under the belief, black-and-white, that if I was under the influence of Lunesta it constituted rape,” she testified.

Seal recanted a long list of allegations she made against Gundersen, including that he raped her and that he was more aroused sexually when she was sleeping.

Intermixed in all this, Gallegos called up previous statements, and when Seal denied them, Gallegos asked if she lied.

Although Seal testified that she lied in many of those instances, she said she had tried to tell investigators, her attorney and Gallegos that she wanted to recant her allegations, but all her pleas were apparently ignored..

At one point, Gallegos asked her to name specific times when she told him or other investigators that the allegations were untrue, to which Seal testified that she talked to him on the phone and also District Attorney’s Office Investigator Wayne Cox.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Detective Troy Garey had testified several days earlier that Seal denied a rape (SART) examination on Feb. 8, because she changed her story to say the sex with Gundersen the previous day had been consensual and not otherwise as earlier stated.

Gallegos asked Seal if she thought investigators would take her allegations as a joke, as she testified that she tried to tell everyone she was being sarcastic.

Seal testified that she didn’t expect the investigators, who were Gundersen’s ex-wife’s friends, to take her statements seriously and arrest him.

“What part of the joke made you cry?” Gallegos pressed her about the taped interview.

“I wanted to leave,” Seal said. “I was confused.”

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

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Day 2 and 3 of Gundersen trial - UPDATED

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****

Day Two

☛ TS Gundersen's wife held for her safety, investigators testify
In his second day on the stand, Humboldt County Sheriff's Office Detective Troy Garey testified he believed Seal was afraid of Gundersen based on his hour-long interview with her on the morning of Feb. 8. He also testified that Gundersen repeatedly called Seal during the interview, and investigators had reason to fear for Seal's safety if she left the premises.

District Attorney's Office Chief Investigator Mike Hislop also testified he believed Seal may have been in danger if she left the main station and that law enforcement consequently did not allow her to leave until after Gundersen's arrest, which occurred at about 6 p.m....

Garey went on to testify that he believed Seal was in an emotionally and mentally fragile state on the day in question and he took that into account in the way he dealt with her during the interview.

”She was fragile,” he said. “It's like handling an egg, you don't want to do anything to push people over the top.”

Garey said it was “somewhat surprising” to find later that day that Seal refused a Sexual Assault Response Team exam at the hospital and was saying she now felt the sex she had told investigators was nonconsensual was consensual and did not constitute rape. Garey testified Seal's changing story was in line with what he had been trained to expect in sexual assault cases.
☛ ER Day 2 of Gundersen trial
When he agreed to the contact, Gundersen’s attorney, Russell Clanton, who read from a transcript, said Gundersen asked Seal, “Why did you do this?”

“They totally bullied me, Dave,” Seal said.

“What do you mean they bullied you?” he said.

“I’m dropping all the charges on Monday,” she said. “I want to spend the $50,000 to get you out.”

The communications between Seal and Gundersen after his arrest are the source of two charges against him, one for violating an emergency protective order and another for trying to dissuade a witness.

Day Three

☛ TS Gundersen jury sees interview video
The wife of former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen took the stand this morning in her husband's trial on charges of spousal rape, testifying that Gundersen never had sex with her against her will and that she lied to investigators....

...After Seal testified that Gundersen had never engaged in nonconsensual sex with her and that she had been “sarcastic” and made untrue statements to investigators on the day of her husband's arrest, District Attorney Paul Gallegos moved to show the jury a video recording of Seal's interview with investigators.

After Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson granted the request, the jury was shown the beginning portion of the hour-and-a-half-long interview. In the portion shown to the jury, Seal makes repeated references to Gundersen having raped her, expresses fear for her safety and says that Gundersen threatened to kill her.

The jury is expected to view the remainder of the video when the trial resumes tomorrow before Seal re-takes the stand....
☛ TS Gundersen's wife takes the stand, says she lied to investigators
Seal sat in the courtroom's first row Wednesday, about 10 feet behind her husband, as the prosecution played the video in which Seal repeatedly uses the word “rape” to describe Gundersen's acts, even saying that he'd confessed about a week earlier that he'd been raping her while she was asleep.

”He just said that he -- he confessed to raping (his ex-wife) and confessed to raping me and said he was sorry,” Seal told investigators in the video. “Just him acknowledging it was pretty awesome to me -- that he admitted to it.”

During the portion of the interview shown Wednesday, Seal repeatedly tells investigators that her husband has had nonconsensual sex with her hundreds of times since 2005 while she was under the influence of Lunesta or marijuana, and that she had confronted him and asked him to stop but he wouldn't. She says numerous times that she considers it rape, at one point even saying she told Gundersen “people go to prison for this for a long time.”


In the video, she also told the investigators Gundersen had threatened to kill her and had recently told her he wanted to “put a gun to his head.”

After hearing Seal tell them that Gundersen raped her, followed her and threatened to “take her fishing,” Hanson, Morey and Garey expressed concerns for Seal's safety and asked her how she would like them to proceed.

”I was really hoping you could have the leverage to make him leave,” Seal said.

”We can't force him to leave, you know that,” Hanson later told Seal.

”Can I?” she asked.

”Yes, if you file this criminal report,” Hanson answered.

In the video, Seal agrees to have the investigators prepare an Emergency Protective Order to keep Gundersen away from her, but seems unsure whether she wants him to be charged or whether she wants the District Attorney's Office involved. At one point she asks investigators if it's something she needed to decide that day, or if she can sleep on it....

☛ TS Experts say victims often recant out of fear, love
While not commenting directly on Gundersen's case, experts say it's not uncommon for victims to change their mind on pressing charges, or reinterpreting what they've said.

”People have very mixed emotions. ... Some people are ready to go forward on day one, but then not ready to go a day later,” said Nancy Lemon, a lecturer at the University of California Berkeley School of Law and a domestic violence expert witness.
She said victims of domestic violence change their testimony, or recant, for different reasons.

They may have hope that the person they love will change, outside pressures from family or clergy who don't believe in divorce, financial dependence, or they want to keep a father figure for their children, she said.

But the No. 1 reason, Lemon said, is the fear of retaliation....

☛ ER Wife's testimony conflicts with video LINK is down

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****

One down, 29 to go - UPDATED

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

****

☛ ER One down, 29 to go -
Humboldt County district attorney Paul Gallegos dropped a charge of possession of a controlled substance against former Blue Lake police chief David Gundersen Tuesday.

Gallegos said he dropped the charge because two people had “constructive possession” of the drugs in question.

The drugs in question were multiple prescription bottles found in the master bedroom and bathroom of Gundersen’s residence.

Because Gundersen wasn’t the only person who owned the location where the drugs were found, Gallegos said it would be unfair to charge him and not the co-owner.

“I thought equity warranted a dismissal of that charge,” Gallegos said .

Gundersen still faces 29 charges. - and he only just now figured that out? It's been one of the obvious problems with this case from the get go. Not only because two people live in the house, but because they both work at the same place, and theoretically have the same access - IF the allegations are that they were drugs that were seized in any kind of police action.

UPDATED:

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012

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Uber Left-Wing Whackaloons

Dave Meserve wasn't an Arcata City Councilman so he could serve the people of Arcata. He used his position as a soapbox to spout his national views, seeking his 15 minutes of fame. Now you've got George Clark running for Eureka City Council, tilting at his own windmills, national windmills, sending a very clear message to the people of Eureka as to just what kind of City Councilman he will be. I don't know who is writing Clark's material, but here are some clues....

“Always Cheaper Politics!” August 11, 2008 by gclark08
A Guest Post by (Clark) Campaign Director Alec Johnson posted on George Clark's new moderated blog.

Alec Johnson,
who like Kerrigan was a field organizer for the Edwards campaign Pretty prolific guy...

Why I Became a Socialist
Why I Became a Socialist
By Alec Johnson

There's more
A democratically planned socialist society, based on genuine democracy in our workplaces and communities, would remove the profit motive from policy decisions, and replace it with democratic assessments of social needs.

And more By Alec Johnson
P-SOL — A New Socialist Party in Brazil

http://lists.cohousing.org/pipermail/mn-prog-events/msg00679.html
But why was the Cuban revolution unsuccessful in spreading to the rest of the continent? What does that mean for today in the context of the resurgence of socialist ideas in Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, etc.? How do we continue the struggle where Che left off?

If this is the same guy - does George Clark agree with all this? Is this the future you want for Eureka? Right now, George Clark is letting his campaign manager post his own rants on his (or Clark's) new 'blog' and topic number one is going after the Eureka Chamber of Commerce. Now Clark, as a Eureka businessman who wants to be part of the government, ought to be a member of the Chamber of Commerce. Is he? And whether he is or not, does he approve of going after the Chamber? Those're some questions that the people of Eureka ought to have answered.

Right now it look like these are some true uber left-wing whackaloons. But maybe there're two Alec Johnsons...