Well, I'll be!

Speak of the devil, Mr. Nelson!
Well, one of 'em, anyways...

watchpaul

◼ Wordle.
Funny. I thought Salzman would be BIGGER somehow.

Crime is down?

Update: ☛ TS Cutten man shot in his home dies

A 27-year-old man who was shot several times inside his Cutten home by an unknown assailant Wednesday night, died from his wounds at a Eureka hospital hours after the incident.

Investigators continue to seek the gunman, who reportedly forced his way into the home of Garrett Ryan Benson on the 5800 block of Walnut Drive shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported....

...According to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Brenda Godsey, upon entering the residence, investigators found “a large amount of marijuana.” However, Godsey declined to say whether the marijuana was being cultivated, or how much was found.

”We're so early in the investigation that we're not necessarily connecting (the marijuana) as a motive,” she said.
According to Godsey, Sheriff's Office detectives are working with members of the Drug Enforcement Unit and the Department of Justice crime lab in the investigation.

Those investigators remained at the scene, collecting evidence throughout the day Thursday....

☛ TS breaking news Man shot dead in home invasion

A home invasion in Cutten Wednesday night left a 27-year-old man dead and a suspect on the run.

Sheriff Deputies responded to reports of gunshots in the 5800 block of Walnut Drive shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday, and found the victim with a gunshot wound, according to a department press release. Emergency medical personnel were immediately called and transported the victim to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead at 11:40 p.m., according to the release.

The investigation later revealed that the victim and his girlfriend had been in their residence when they heard a knock on the door around 9 p.m. According to the release, an unknown white male in his 20s, wearing a black sweatshirt and black stocking cap, entered the residence armed with a handgun.

When the suspect attempted to restrain the 27-year-old male, a struggle ensued, eventually resulting in several shots being fired, at least one of which struck the victim. The suspect then fled on foot, according to the release.

The victim's identity is being withheld pending further investigation and the notification of his next of kin.

The suspect is described as a white male adult in his early to mid 20s, who stands about 5 feet 7 inches tall, with a thin build. He is said to be armed with a small silver or gray handgun, according to the release.

Sheriff's Office investigators and evidence technicians, along with members of the Drug Enforcement Unit and the Department of Justice Crime Lab, spent Wednesday night processing the crime scene.

Anyone with information regarding this home invasion homicide is asked to call the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office at 445-7251 and ask for Detective Franco or Sergeant Hanson.

Second home invasion/robbery shooting - this time the homeowner was killed. Last time the homeowner fired the shots. ...Details emerge... BooBoo still at large...

GREAT IDEA!

heraldowordle - summary of 365 days
◼ and, on heraldo

Tears. And Questions.

☛ TS Hug your children Letters to the editor
Posted: 12/03/2008 01:15:16 AM PST

What has happened to our justice system?

In early 2008, Jason Bradley Whitmill was sentenced to 16 months in prison for one of his 17 times in criminal court in Humboldt County since 1997. On Oct. 6 an intoxicated, uninsured, unlicensed, Jason Whitmill along with Anthony Flores, owner of the Mustang with no insurance, took the life of Nicole Lynn Quigley.

In a few seconds these people destroyed the lives of an entire family. After lying and covering up evidence in a murder investigation for several days Chen Marcelli, registered owner of the uninsured Pontiac, is out on the street and after three weeks of searching for Jodyne Aubrey who covered up evidence in a murder investigation she was apprehended in Crescent City. We are now told Aubrey will not be charged in this accident.

Who is responsible for the fact that Jason Whitmill was not in prison on Oct. 6, and therefore responsible for the fact that I will never get to watch my precious Nicole dance, play soccer, go to her first prom, etc?

To all you responsible people out there a bit of wisdom from a grieving father, give your children a big hug and tell them you love them every chance you get and also make sure you have uninsured motorist coverage on your auto policy.

Kenneth Quigley
McKinleyville

The COMMENTS on this include this observation:
anonymous wrote:

My thoughts and prayers are with the Quigley family and all others that are being victimized because we either can not or will not do something to change the injustice in this community.
Another shining example of the incompetence of our criminal justice system. Another example of the "get out of jail free" cards issued to criminals by a DA who doesn't care about anything except for lying to the public and cashing his pay checks of what is it 13 or 14 THOUSAND DOLLARS A MONTH for doing nothing except for letting dangerous guys out of jail.

just a thought wrote: I've seen alot of people blaming the D.A. on this issue, but he isn't the one issuing a sentence. A judge has the final say. Has Whitmill had the same judge on all his charges ? Just a thought, something to look into ?? On parole violations it is the parole boards, or parole officers judgement on the call to send the parolee back to prison.A judge or the D.A. isn't even involved.I totally agree this person shouldn't have been out on the streets, but who's "lap" does it really fall into ? Again, just a thought.....

So. Whose fault is it, if blame is to be assigned. Is it the judge's fault? Or is the judge limited in what he can do, by law, and by the charges brought by the DA? What do you think?

***
Related:
09
◼ Whitmill and Flores trial date delayed another month 08/04/2009
◼ Whitmill, Flores take District Attorney's deal 12/05/2009
◼ Jury selection begins in trial of Whitmill, Flores 11/23/2009
◼ Whitmill, Flores trial to proceed 11/10/2009
◼ Motion denied to suppress blood sample in Whitmill case 11/06/2009
◼ Whitmill faces murder charge for alleged role in crash 10/15/2008
◼ Quigley family, friends remember 9-year-old Nicole 10/06/09
◼ Nearly one year ago 10/01/2009
◼ Case surrounding fatal crash on Highway 299 delayed 09/15/2009
◼ Too many delays 9/10/09
◼ Legal maneuvers slow case of men charged in 9-year-old's death 09/01/2009
◼ Whitmill and Flores trial date delayed another month 08/04/2009
◼ Evidence, charges unchanged against Whitmill 07/17/2009
◼ Evidence for second degree murder charge? 06/19/2009
◼ Thinking of the Quigleys 05/29/2009
◼ Remember Nicole 05/08/2009
◼ Looking forward: Quigley family watches and waits as case continues 05/17/2009
◼ Defendants in 299 wreck plead not guilty 03/28/2009
◼ Judge holds Whitmill, Flores to answer for 299 wreck 03/14/2009
◼ Wife refuses to testify against husband at preliminary hearing 03/13/2009
◼ Investigator testifies suspect in fatal crash changed story 03/12/2009
◼ Officer testifies about 299 crash at prelim 03/11/2009
◼ Preliminary hearing over Highway 299 wreck continues 03/10/2009
◼ Superior Court delays hearing in 299 crash case 02/11/2009
◼ Broken system 01/23/2009

08
◼ Hug your children 12/03/2008
◼ Vehicular manslaughter suspect has extensive criminal history 11/13/2008
◼ Whitmill-Flores hearing continued 11/06/2008
◼ Street race case waiting on CHP reports 10/23/2008
◼ Authorities seek Mustang passenger for questioning 10/17/2008
◼ Court document: Flores tried to 'subvert' investigation 10/16/08
◼ Whitmill faces murder charge for alleged role in crash 10/15/2008
◼ Authorities arrest driver of Mustang 10/10/2008
◼ New driver named in fatal collision 10/09/2008
◼ Search continues for other driver in fatal crash 10/08/2008
◼ ER Parolee named as driver in fatal collision
◼ TS New driver identified in fatal crash
◼ TS New driver named in fatal collision
TS Update: ☛ TS Police still looking for driver
◼ TS Driver sought: Suspected drag race on 299 results in fatal crash

Note: there were other articles in the Eureka reporter, but none are available online anymore.

Andrew Belant stabbed in jail

☛ TS Andrew Belant stabbed in jail
Andrew Belant, a former teacher's aide and part-time church youth director accused of molesting four young boys, was stabbed in jail Tuesday night, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported this morning.

The 25-year-old Belant was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was treated and returned to the jail the same night.
According to HCSO information, some time between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m., Belant was in a common area in the jail when he was approached by 30-year-old Allen Guilliams, who reportedly stabbed him in the upper arm, shoulder and armpit approximately six times.

The blade of the prison-made shiv was about 7 inches long above the cloth-wrapped handle, the Sheriff's Office reported.
Guilliams, who has been in the jail since Nov. 14 for felony evasion of a peace officer, driving when unlicensed and a parole hold, was booked again for attempted murder and possession of a weapon in jail.

According to Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Brenda Godsey, who has worked with the HCSO for 17 years, stabbing events are very uncommon at the jail.

”This is the first stabbing I can remember,” she said. “It's significant stuff.”

Belant is scheduled to return to court for a hearing Dec. 8, and his jury trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 15.

What happens when one side gets out of control

Little Green Footballs reports: ◼ Romania Removes Theory of Evolution from Schools

Romania’s withdrawal of the theory of evolution from the school curriculum could be evidence of a growing conservative tendency in teaching. Evolution has been removed from the school curriculum in a move which, pressure groups argue, distorts children’s understanding of how the world came into being.

Meanwhile, religious studies classes continue to tell Romanian children that God made the world in seven days.

The theory of the Origin of Species and the evolution of humans is no longer present in the compulsory curriculum, through a nationwide decision made under the previous Government in 2006. Before the change, Darwin’s theory was taught to pupils aged 18 or 19 years old. This was also in the curriculum during the Communist period of dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.

Information on natural selection, how fish turned into lizards and, more or less, a summary of the first 4.5 billion years of the world until man walked the earth is now optional.

“We don’t teach the theory of evolution anymore,” said one 38 year-old Bucharest-based biology teacher.

But the Minister of Education, Cristian Adomnitei, argues that biology is taught within the context of evolution. "This subject can be found implicitly from middle school to high-school," the Minister tells The Diplomat. "Do you think that the studies about the world where we live, its evolution or genetics can ignore the evolution theory? This is impossible."

But Remus Cernea, president of Solidarity for Freedom of Conscience, is unimpressed by the Ministry's position on implicit learning.

"How can the evolution theory be implicit?" Cernea says. "The evolution theory is either present in the curriculum and in the text books and is studied by everybody, or not present in the curriculum and nobody studies it."

Meanwhile, in religious classes, pupils are taught that the world was created in seven days and God made plants on the third day and the sun on the fourth. Textbooks claim the first man was Adam, who was 'made of ground', and that Eve, the first woman, was made from one of her husband's ribs.

"The Romanian state, whether it intends or not, offers pupils a unique perspective on the world, the religious one, without any critical scientific or philosophical offset," argues Cernea.

Biology has been cut from two hours to one of teaching per week for the final two years in many high schools. In place of evolution, kids are taught more about human ecology and the environment, subjects which one biology teacher says children find boring.

"Kids find out what really happened from the Discovery channel," she adds. "They don't really believe the world was made in six days. Well, I hope they don't."....
◼ macedoniaonline.eu/

War

◼ The Journal Arkley v. Humboldt
◼ "heraldo" From ag land to subdivisions
◼ Hank's (Journal) Blogthing Gans Responds

Some people do get penalized

☛ TS Pot grower sentenced to 10 years
EUREKA -- A father and son were sentenced Monday in federal court for growing marijuana in the Six Rivers National Forest.

Jose Magana received a 120-month sentence after pleading guilty to manufacturing a controlled substance while his father, Jose Miranda, received a 57-month sentence.

Jose Magana and Jose Miranda were arrested on July 4, 2007, by law enforcement officers from the U.S. Forest Service, Trinity County Sheriff's Department and California Department of Fish and Game. Officers entered the marijuana garden located near Zenia and found the two suspects armed with rifles working in the marijuana garden, according to a release from forest officials.
Magana and Miranda were arrested on charges including the growing of 14,232 marijuana plants and conspiracy to manufacture marijuana...

The operative words being "in federal court."

Interesting

☛ TS Obtainable goals on the Klamath River Op-Ed, by Denver Nelson

...Unfortunately, a few environmental groups and others continue to criticize any progress. They have no end point in mind, but are quick to pick apart the hard work of others. Many of these groups and individuals became interested in the Klamath River only when the public's awareness was raised by the 2002 fish die-off. The environmental groups realized the great fundraising potential of advertising their alleged work for the Klamath River. The Klamath problems have spawned a new growth industry of professed scientific “experts” who are more than willing (for a fee, of course) to give their opinion on the result of enacting some of these complicated solutions.

One does not need to be an “expert” to understand the effects of dams. Dams block the upstream and downstream movement of fish. Thus blocked from their breeding and rearing sites, the fish population dies. Removing the dams will allow the fish to make a comeback....

☛ TS A framework for dam removal Jill Geist
☛ TS Klamath announcement signals major progress in dam fight The Karuk, Yurok, and Klamath Tribes
☛ TS Dam removal 'off-ramps' ahead Greg King
☛ TS Pact looks to remove hydropower project on the Klamath River by 2020 John Driscoll
☛ TS Klamath dam deal struck John Driscoll

Kesser attempts suicide Kesser has died

By all appearances, he was about to get out for time served, thanks to Gallegos' plea deal... perhaps justice is served after all.

☛ TS Kesser has died

Richard Craig Kesser, an inmate who reportedly hanged himself in his cell at the Humboldt County jail early Tuesday morning, has died, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported.
Kesser, 47, was in critical condition after the suicide attempt, and was placed on a life support system at St. Joseph Hospital. According to HCSO information, Kesser died shortly after 11 p.m.
He had been incarcerated since 1992, when he was found guilty of first-degree murder for soliciting the killing of his estranged wife in 1991.
An autopsy will be conducted by a forensic pathologist later this week, the Sheriff's Office reported.

Honestly, I don't think an autopsy should be necessary, do you? I guess it has to be to prove he wasn't murdered in his jail cell.

Condolences to his family. Regardless of what he has done.

☛ TS Humboldt County jail inmate attempts suicide
☛ TS Kesser attempts suicide at Humboldt County jail

First report: An inmate at the Humboldt County jail, who attempted to hang himself early Monday morning, has been placed on life support at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. Authorities are withholding the identity of the inmate, but according to information from the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office, a 47-year-old inmate hanged himself inside his cell, where he had been housed alone. A correctional officer reportedly witnessed the man hanging in the cell, then cut him down and began resuscitation efforts, HCSO reported. Medical staff reportedly responded and administered CPR before transporting the inmate to the hospital. According to HCSO information, the inmate had been housed at the jail since Dec. 5, 2006, for ongoing court proceedings. His family has been notified. Additional information will be released as it becomes available.

UPDATE:
Richard Craig Kesser, a former Fortuna resident who spent more than 17 years behind bars for the murder of his estranged wife in 1991, hanged himself in his jail cell early Tuesday morning.

The 47-year-old inmate was transported to St. Joseph Hospital and placed on life support, where he remained in critical condition throughout the day Tuesday, hospital staff reported.

The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that at around 12:15 a.m. Tuesday, a correctional officer found an inmate hanging in his cell. The officer quickly cut the inmate down and began resuscitation efforts shortly before medical staff responded and began CPR.

The Sheriff's Office has so far declined to disclose the identity of the inmate. However, Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who led prosecution against Kesser during the past three years, confirmed the inmate was Kesser.

During an interview in late November, Kesser said he had been taking medication for depression, but was hopeful about his future after accepting a plea agreement offered by the District Attorney's Office.

”I suffer from depression from time to time,” he said. “I have a whole bunch of hopes. I'm trying to go home now, after 17 years ... hopefully someday I can get back to being a productive member of society.”

During that interview, Kesser also spoke about his 1991 plot to murder his wife, which had been schemed with his then-girlfriend Jennifer Leahy, who has since been released from jail.

The couple -- who had been dating for about four months at the time -- hired Stephen Duane Chiara for the hit. According to court documents, the three mapped out plans for the murder over the course of several weeks.

On Nov. 26, 1991, Mary Kesser was stabbed to death in her N Street home.

Authorities long suspected the motive was Mary Kesser's $50,000 life insurance policy. In 1992, a panel of jurors agreed, finding Richard Kesser, Leahy and Chiara guilty of first-degree murder.

The three were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Then, after 14 years behind bars at Pelican Bay State Prison, Richard Kesser and Leahy's verdicts were narrowly overturned by a panel of judges in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, on the grounds that former Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman had stricken three American Indians from the jury pool because of their race.

That decision led to Richard Kesser's return to the Humboldt County jail on Dec. 5, 2006.

In 2008, a plea agreement was struck between Richard Kesser and the District Attorney's Office, which compelled Richard Kesser to issue a truthful, polygraphed statement about the events that led to his former wife's murder. That agreement stipulated that if he truthfully completed the polygraph test, he would receive a second degree murder sentence, reducing his possible sentence from 25-years to life to 15-years to life.

Richard Kesser failed his first test in August. But in September, those results were thrown out by a Humboldt County Superior Court judge, who ruled the examiner used inadmissible techniques in the test.

The second test was cut short after Richard Kesser told the examiner he had been taking medication for depression.

A judge allowed Richard Kesser to take a third test in late November, but those results have not yet been disclosed by his attorney Glenn Brown.

Brown was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

”I was hopeful the first time -- I wanted to (pass) the first time,” Richard Kesser said the week before his third test. “Anybody who's lived in this building (the jail) for two years doesn't want to be here that long.”

According to Gallegos, Richard Kesser left a suicide note inside his cell. However, the contents of that note have not been released.
☛ TS Man convicted of wife's murder dies after hanging himself

Smile, MSNBC is the new FOX

Holy Ego Trip, Batman!

Geez! ◼ This is UNREAL. the Hugo Chavez Show... 8 installments on www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hugochavez/
...Every Sunday President Chávez talks to the people in his TV show - which lasts for hours. Chávez basically improvises as he goes along....

h/t: James

◼ From Daniel in Venzuela on Nov. 30 -
Another reason for Chavez to close Globovision
Tonight, 7 PM, on Globovision, the Spanish version of the FRONTLINE documentary "The Chavez show". DO NOT MISS IT!!! Then again Chavez might stick a cadena....
◼ Frontline on Chavez: The Hugo Chavez show
...The cooperative chapter is brilliant. They compare the textile one that is shown to "political tourists" while they are sewing bunches of red clothing! And after they show a real cooperative, of the kind not shown to visitors, left on its own, without any business training, left to a slow death. And the end of that chapter they go on to housing construction cooperatives; we see the guy that is still waiting to get paid while the "la Suiza" subsidized development lays idle, stopped on its track once Chavez monitored the inauguration of the first building and moved on to some new interest. Fabulous! With savaged tractor bonus!

The chapter on freedom of expression is excellent at illustrating how freedom of expression is still exerted at least by some within the opposition (the self censorship issue is not addressed) but showing how such freedom of expression does not exist within chavismo ranks. We get two examples of awful scolding of chavista supporters, an activist humiliated in an Alo Presidente and Eleazar Diaz Rangel who shows to us that he accepts his scolding as the abject sycophant he has become. It is amazing that Diaz Rangel would have thought that he would have fooled Frontline with such lame excuses!!! But what is better is that Teodoro Petkoff explains clearly how the terrorizing of his supporters is an effective weapon for Chavez to control them. Fascism anyone?

◼ Washington Post Hugo Chávez, Stealing His Own Show

◼ Googled links - take your pick.

Another voice weighs in

◼ County agrees to pay out $44k; no sign of financial support from Democracy Unlimited

...The integrity of Sopoci-Belknap and her DUHC “non-profit” is itself at question, however, in light of their promises that Measure T would survive challenges to its constitutionality, not to mention promises by DUHC to cover the entire cost. DUHC held a series of fundraising forums in Eureka and Arcata over the last few months to help “defend” Measure T, and also had a “Donate Now!” advertisement on their votelocalcontrol.org website next to their statement concerning the Measure T defeat. No funding, nor the “free legal help” pledged during the Measure T campaign, was ever forthcoming from Democracy Unlimited, their HCCR front group, or any other Measure T supporters, leaving county taxpayers with the bill during an economic crisis....

Scams, money and Measure T

Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap has a My Word in today's TS. Without Measure T, the Country is going down the drain, dontcha know. She believes in government by the people, and damn the Constitution.

Read it if you can stomach it. ☛ TS The ongoing struggle for the right to self-government ((Cough))

But ask yourself, and her next time you see her - how much money has she raised with all the solicitations of money for Measure T? They're all over the internet, with a fast easy DONATE now button. So how much has she raised?

And HOW BIG IS THE CHECK SHE WROTE TO THE COUNTY OF HUMBOLDT TO COVER THE $100,000.00+ MEASURE T LITIGATION COSTS?

$50?
$100?
$1,000?

I'm sure I would've noticed if they had a Press Conference to present the check. Maybe she did it quietly.