Stranger than fiction

☛ TS Alleged murder plot against a prominent local family thwarted

It was a late November night when Robert Primeau allegedly sat his two children down to take a blood oath, according to court transcripts.

”We made a blood oath to kill the Barnums,” Primeau's daughter, Collette Primeau, 23, testified at her father's preliminary hearing. “We all cut on our thumb and the three of us swore together to keep it between the three of us because if we didn't, we'd be dead.”

”When you said, 'we'd be dead,' who specifically?” Deputy District Attorney Allan Dollison asked.

”My brother and I,” Collette Primeau replied.

”Who said you'd be dead?” Dollison asked.

”My father,” Collette Primeau answered.

After the preliminary hearing, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson ruled there was sufficient evidence to hold Robert Primeau to stand trial on eight charges, including two counts of soliciting murder, a count of assault with a deadly weapon causing great bodily injury and a charge of cruelty to another's animal.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges in April, and remains held in the Humboldt County jail on $100,000 bail awaiting trial, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 2.

Transcripts from the two-day preliminary hearing paint the picture of how a Eureka Police Department investigation into grisly allegations of Robert Primeau's spousal abuse uncovered allegations of a plot to kill an affluent and well-known Eureka couple, Robert and Patty Barnum, who own the Barnum Timber Co. and whose family owned the Eureka Inn for a time.

It's quite a story. Wait til you read the plan!
***
The case is being prosecuted by Allan Dollison, who is headed for Iraq ☛ ER Deputy district attorney to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people
Dollison has reached the position of major in the Army Reserve and works as a civil affairs officer. Dollison said his job is to “win the hearts and minds of the people.” More specifically, he identifies a need -- a school, clean water, roads -- and figures out ways to meet those needs.

In Afghanistan he obtained a light-therapy machine to help babies with jaundice in the hospital.... Best of luck to you, counselor.

A MUST READ

Ernie's Place: And you thought Marijuana was harmless... A sobering perspective.

Related: Other posts... Cristina's Diesel dope redux and... (previously linked) Kym - Talking with Tom: An Interview with Mendocino County Sheriff, Tom Allman
Allman’s Plans: Part ll of an Interview with the Mendocino County Sheriff

Drive naked. Save fuel.

Why not?
If people really loved America, they would strip down, leave their clothes at home, and drive around buck naked. That would decrease the weight of our cars, which would increase our gas mileage so dramatically that we probably wouldn't have to drill for any new oil!

Genius, right?...

Blogger problems? w/Update

Anyone else having problems with Blogger? I just lost all comments since 8/5 on at least one thread. They were there yesterday and are gone today.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What happened to the rest of this thread that was here previously? Censoring posts? Say it isn't so!"

It isn't. And I'll see what can be done to fix this. 9:50 - still NO COMMENTS posting to that thread. Tried a few test comments. Each time it seems to unlock one of the older ones that is missing. Hopefully Blogger will solve this one soon.

BTW - they did fix the weird SPAM thing, whenever you tried to log on, it would throw up a SPAM message.We have now restored all accounts that were mistakenly marked as spam...

(Incidentally, trying a new Gadget in the sidebar for Recent Comments - seems to be more timely than Bloggers.)

Jury seated, Gundersen trial starts Monday

☛ TS Gundersen trial to begin Monday
☛ ER Gundersen trial ready to begin Monday
Since the Humboldt Superior Court was able to find at least 12 jurors to serve on the trial, Judge Bruce Watson denied a change-of-venue motion submitted by Gundersen’s defense attorney Russell Clanton.

Another big bust

☛ TS Nearly 100,000 pot plants removed from remote grow
☛ ER $29.7 million in pot plants destroyed
No arrests have been made or suspects located. The investigation is on-going.

Morro Bay pot dispensary owner found guilty of federal charges

LA Times Charles Lynch, whose trial involved conflicting marijuana laws, was found guilty of five counts of distributing drugs.
In a closely watched trial involving conflicting marijuana laws, a jury on Tuesday convicted the owner of a Morro Bay medical marijuana dispensary on five counts of violating federal drug laws.

Charles Lynch, 46, was found guilty of distributing more than 100 kilos of marijuana, some of it to people considered minors under federal law.

Lynch, flanked by his defense attorneys, hung his head and grimaced as the verdicts were read in a Los Angeles courtroom. He could be sentenced to a minimum of five years in federal prison or as many as 85.

Cultivating, using and selling doctor-prescribed medical marijuana are allowed in some instances under California law. But they are outlawed entirely under federal law, which supersedes those of the states.

Lynch's lawyers told jurors that their client had the blessing of elected officials in Morro Bay before opening his Central Coast Compassionate Caregivers, and they argued that he was he was told by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration official that he would avoid prosecution as long as he obeyed local laws.

But jurors rejected that argument... Read the rest

The penalty for kidnapping - 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

****

Weren't we hearing life sentence in Gundersen's case? I'm going to have to go back through the damn articles.
Yeah - here it is:
☛ TS Gundersen faces new charges of kidnapping, possessing a machine gun

* Kidnapping or carrying away someone for the purpose of committing rape. The charges stem from a March 7, 1999, incident in Humboldt County involving a second victim, and involved the use of a firearm. The offense carries a possible life sentence.

And that was for going from the living room to the bedroom in his own house, wasn't it?

Then we have today's news of a plea deal in a kidnapping case... with eight years. And this guy really did kidnap his vidtim:

The sentence was a result of a kidnapping, which took place March 28. Testimony during the trial indicated Estrada-Chavez forced a woman into her vehicle as she walked from her car. He then made her drive for more than an hour and a half through various locations in Manila, Trinidad and Blue Lake.

So which is it?

The question is asked in the thread below with the applicable code: Well, Estrada-Chavez was originally charged with a violation of 209(b)(1) - kidnaping to commit robbery, 211 - robbery, assault with a firearm. The sentence on the kidnaping for robbery alone is life in prison.

Penal code numbers
207 KIDNAPPING
207(b) KIDNAPPING A VICTIM UNDER 14 FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT
209(a) KIDNAPPING FOR RANSOM OR EXTORTION
209(b) KIDNAPPING FOR ROBBERY, SEXUAL ASSAULT
209.5 KIDNAPPING DURING THE COMMISSION OF A CARJACKING
210.5 FALSE IMPRISONMENT, USING PERSON AS SHIELD $100,000
211 ROBBERY - IN RESIDENCE
215 CARJACKING
***
Here's 209 -
(a) Any person who seizes, confines, inveigles, entices, decoys, abducts, conceals, kidnaps or carries away another person by any means whatsoever with intent to hold or detain, or who holds or etains, that person for ransom, reward or to commit extortion or to exact from another person any money or valuable thing, or any person who aids or abets any such act, is guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life without possibility of parole in cases in which any person subjected to any such act suffers death or bodily harm, or is intentionally confined in a manner which exposes that person to a substantial likelihood of death, or shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole in cases where no such person suffers death or bodily harm.
(b) (1) Any person who kidnaps or carries away any individual to commit robbery, rape, spousal rape, oral copulation, sodomy, or any violation of Section 264.1, 288, or 289, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole.
(2) This subdivision shall only apply if the movement of the victim is beyond that merely incidental to the commission of, and
increases the risk of harm to the victim over and above that necessarily present in, the intended underlying offense.
(c) In all cases in which probation is granted, the court shall, except in unusual cases where the interests of justice would best be served by a lesser penalty, require as a condition of the probation that the person be confined in the county jail for 12 months. If the court grants probation without requiring the defendant to be confined in the county jail for 12 months, it shall specify its reason or reasons for imposing a lesser penalty.
(d) Subdivision (b) shall not be construed to supersede or affect Section 667.61. A person may be charged with a violation of subdivision (b) and Section 667.61. However, a person may not be punished under subdivision (b) and Section 667.61 for the same act that constitutes a violation of both subdivision (b) and Section 667.61.

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

****

Police: Dickson died of stab wounds

☛ TS has the story

Plea deal

☛ TS Sequoia Park kidnapper sentenced to eight years
A man arrested in May for kidnapping and robbing a 20-year-old woman at gunpoint from Sequoia Park, pleaded guilty to two of four charges Friday and was sentenced at the Humboldt County Superior Court.

Court documents indicate Juan Jose Estrada-Chavez, 31, was sentenced by Judge John Feeney to eight years in jail and ordered to pay undetermined restitution fines. The documents show, at minimum, Estrada-Chavez will be ordered to pay $2,600.

Estrada-Chavez initially faced four charges of robbery, kidnapping, assault with a firearm and false imprisonment. The charges of false imprisonment and assault with a firearm were dropped as part of the plea.

He was sentenced to serve five years for the robbery charge, and eight years for kidnapping. Estrada-Chavez will serve those terms concurrently

Lipizzan Stallions 7:30 tonight

Redwood Acres, tonight's the last night. If you haven't read the Journal's Event listing read it now! Best joke of the year! Best thing about it - until you get to the point where they (the Arcata City Council) were stationing (APD) cops at all the exits to keep people from attending, it was 100% believable. You could absolutely see that happening in Arcata!
The Lipizzaner Backlash
TICKET PRICES: adult tickets are $22.50 each. Discounts for 12 and under and seniors 60 and over available at Great Western Clothing and Carl Johnson Co. Event information at 707-445-3037.
The World-Famous Lipizzan Stallions Great Show! Beautiful Horses!

(NO PROTESTORS there tonight, either!)

The human cost - 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 says case causing financial, emotional turmoil (LINK MISSING)

David Gundersen's wife said she feels like a victim, just not in the way most people think.

Darcie Seal, who requested that the Times-Standard refer to her by her real name rather than the court designation of Jane Doe 1, said the aftermath of her husband's Feb. 8 arrest on suspicion of spousal rape has done nothing short of tear her life apart.

”I don't go out,” she said. “If I have to go shopping, I go late at night or early in the morning. I've become a prisoner in my own home.”

Soon, that may gone. Both of the houses the couple own are in Gundersen's name and now have for-sale signs up on the front lawns, she said.

”I cried when they put that sign up,” Seal said, sitting in the living room of her McKinleyville home. “I wasn't prepared for all this.”...In her interview with the Times-Standard, Seal said she doesn't feel she has been raped by Gundersen and that she only testified because law enforcement and District Attorney's Office personnel had convinced her that if she had taken sleeping pills she was legally unable to consent. She said they told her that it was rape, pure and simple.

Seal said she's not saying any of this out of an attempt to free her husband and she just wants to tell the truth.

”If these other charges are good charges, send him to prison -- that's fine -- but don't send him to prison on lies and fabrications,” she said.

Experts in rape and domestic violence, speaking in general terms and not about the Gundersen case, have told the Times-Standard it's not uncommon for victims' stories to change, and that it can happen for a variety of reasons....

Seal insists this isn't a case of her recanting her prior allegations, and maintains this is the story she has tried to tell investigators and the District Attorney's Office since Feb. 8.

While maintaining she is not a rape victim, Seal said she is starting to feel like a victim of circumstance....

In the aftermath of her husband's arrest, she said her house was shown on the local TV news and she's had random strangers knock on the door to tell her they feel sorry for her. She was forced to resign her position as a sergeant with the Blue Lake Police Department, she said, and friends have kept their distance.

More importantly, Seal said, she's lost contact with Gundersen's two children -- who she said she has treated as her own.

”I'm looking at being homeless in less than a month, and nobody cares,” she said, before turning her attention to what once was her family. “I just miss the boys so much. That's been the hardest thing throughout this whole thing. I miss them -- I'm used to having them here.”

There has got to be help for this family. Somehow they have to be able to keep their house while this whole mess unfolds. Neither of them have jobs. There's way more to this tragedy than newspaper headlines.

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

****

Paul Gallegos, the poster boy for Measure T,

may now get the chance to put his money where his mouth was. And it will pit him against teachers and parents.

It'll also be a test of his "equal justice" sloganeering. Because Measure T was designed for one reason and one reason only and that was to prevent Palco from contributing to local campaigns ever, ever again. But there are serious flaws in that measure, and serious problems that have now caught an unwitting victim in the net.

Last June, the McKinleyville Union School District put Measure C on the ballot in order to raise money for improvements and renovations. What happens next will be very interesting. Not prosecuting because you like this group isn't really an option.

Jack has the full story in the McKinleyville Press: here are excerpts: This year the MUSD may have provided the first opportunity to test measure T in court. School Board officials and the Board of Trustees worked hard all year to develop a different ballot initiative, Measure C, that authorized MUSD to issue $14 million in bonds "to replace, renovate, acquire and construct school facilities."

The bonds would be paid for by an increase in property taxes over the next 40 years. Measure C was passed by the voters of McKinleyville on June 3, after a short political campaign.

MUSD did not accomplish this goal unaided. A number of corporate consultants from all over California were hired by the Board to determine the feasibility of selling the bonds, ascertain the best time to place the measure on the ballot, poll the community, and to actually sell the bonds once the measure passed. The consultants included Godbe Research, a corporation from Half Moon Bay, KNN Public Finance, a subsidiary of Zion's First National Bank in Oakland, and Jones Hall, a San Francisco financial consultant.

While there is nothing illegal about hiring consultants, each of these firms then contributed funds to Citizens in Favor of Measure C, the campaign group formed to sell the Measure to McKinleyville residents. KNN contributed $8,500; Jones Hall contributed $6,500, and Godbe Research contributed $250, North Valley Bank, which contributed $100, also falls under the definition of a non-local corporation, because its headquarters are in Redding, and it has branches all over California.

A fifth non-local firm, Siskyou Design Group, from Yreka, conributed $1,500 to the campaign, although that company may not fall under the definition of a corporation. Siskyou Design is the architectural firm that the school board plans to use to renovate its buildings.

These five contributors account for more than 90% of the money used to convince voters to pass Measure C. Local contributors raised only $1,750, less than 10% of the $18, 600 kitty.

Gallegos is supposed to prosecute Measure T violations. Will he do it? Citizen plaintiffs can initiate action through the Superior Court. Once they have done so, they must notify the District Attorney within 14 days of their action. the District Attorney is supposed to take over the suit, but if he does not, the measure says that citizens can proceed on their own.

Links:
Measure T
☛ County link
☛ "votelocalcontrol"
☛ ER Measure T backers look to curb corporate election influence
☛ ER No on Measure T Committee launches effort to defeat June ballot measure
☛ ER Know the facts: Vote No on Measure T
☛ ER 'No on W' group violates Measure T guidelines
☛ ER Eureka Chamber formally opposes Measure T
☛ ER Speakers gather to voice support for Measure T ordinance
☛ ER Measure T groups duke it out
☛ ER Measure T passes with 55 percent majority

Lovelace and Local Solutions

☛ ER Lovelace donation request a concern in 2nd District
When 3rd District Supervisor-elect Mark Lovelace sent a letter to his supporters thanking them for their help in electing him as the Arcata-area representative to the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors, it didn’t raise any eyebrows.

But when the letter dated July 14 went on to thank the political action committee Local Solutions for its help in his successful effort in the June 3 Primary Election and asked for donations for them, some people in the 2nd District were concerned.

“Local Solutions has been actively involved in many local grassroots campaigns in the past, and is currently engaged in the upcoming November election for Humboldt County 2nd District Supervisor,” Lovelace’s letter states. “Their innovated resources can be developed further to better serve future campaigns, but only with our help.”

Lovelace said it wasn’t the intent of the letter to support 2nd District Candidate Clif Clendenen, who has been helped with in-kind donations already from Local Solutions, nor was he trying to persuade his supporters to do the same.

DA opposes motions to dismiss Douglas-Zanotti charges

***URGENT UPDATE/ALERT! This case was TOSSED by the Judge - never made it to trial,
☛ ER http://eurekareporter.com/article/080826-judge-throws-out-douglas-zanotti-case
Feeney said the indictments the grand jury handed down to Douglas and Zanotti in December 2007 weren’t supported by probable cause. Insufficient evidence regarding the former leaders’ alleged failure to oversee other law enforcement was also presented to the grand jury, Feeney said, and instructions given on “exigent circumstances” were inadequate.
The grand jury should have also been instructed on justifiable homicide by law enforcement officials, Feeney said.***

☛ TS DA opposes motions to dismiss Douglas-Zanotti charges
District Attorney Paul Gallegos argued evidence was properly presented to a grand jury in his response to defense motions seeking the dismissal of the involuntary manslaughter case against former Eureka Police Chief David Douglas and Lt. Tony Zanotti, stemming from the 2006 police shooting death of Cheri Lyn Moore.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna is scheduled to hear oral arguments on the motions for dismissal Aug. 26, at which point he can take the matter under submission or rule from the bench.