There have been interesting developments in Santa Barbara's courtrooms in the past few weeks.
The jury in the case of the 24 year old man charged with manslaughter in the death of young Jake Boysel was unable to reach a verdict. I can't say that I am surprised. Although I was not in the courtroom to hear the cases presented, it seems certain that the sun was in the man's eyes and I've done my share of driving in those conditions so I know it is very difficult to see just what is in front of you. It also seems that the man was driving too fast for the conditions.
A large poster of Jake's young suntanned face stays at the gate of the junior high school he attended pleading with drivers to drive carefully. It is located along one of the most beautiful roads, used for cross-town driving, which is almost always being used unsafely by drivers.
ANOTHER HIDEOUS CASE has been going on; a woman is accused of making 2 of her children stay in a locked enclosure with a bucket to use for a toilet. The woman ran a child care facility (!!??) in her home. I drive past her house, in fact, 2 times each weekday while driving to and from my son's school (along the same road mentioned in the above case). Not a bad house; in this inflated market it would probably sell for $1,500,000 maybe more. I have seen a Mercedes parked in the driveway quite often.
A son and a daughter in the pre-teen years were kept in horrid conditions each night or when she felt "necessary". A daughter a couple of years older than those 2 would sometimes be told to take the others to the enclosures. The places were possibly the size of a bathroom and each had a bucket to use for a toilet. The daughter was also receiving injections to slow her growth. The first thought that crossed my suspicious mind was that she was involved in child porn and was keeping the girl in a pre-pubescent state. I have heard of parents using such injections to keep a child at a size or weight enabling the caretaker to lift and carry a disabled youth. The children were adopted. When asked why she would lock up the kids, the woman told the courtroom that the "experts" told her to do that. I wonder what sort of experts she was referring to. There were trips to Mexico for one particular child, and the woman was not supposed to try to contact the children who were taken from her custody. As far as I know, she has tried at least twice. A jail visit for contempt of court apparently did not make much of an impression.
I was tempted to go watch the proceedings in the courtroom, but I'm sure I would have been kicked out, if not worse, as soon as I threw the tomato at back of the woman's head.
Some guy was brought back to custody from Las Vegas for pimping a 15 year old runaway girl. More tomatoes, please!!!
The 14-year old gang member who is being tried as an adult (!?) in the stabbing death of another youth was in court, too. It was simply a morning appearance, no drama really took place. This is the gang fight that took place right in front of Saks Fifth Avenue's store in downtown Sta. Barb. The details and photos are in my post entitled, "Shanked at Saks".
Finally, the insane antics of Wendy McCaw, wealthy owner of the Santa Barbara News Press. W.Mc. received a huge amount of money in a divorce. A few years ago, she moved to Santa Barbara and bought our old, highly respected newspaper. Since then, the editorial and reporting staff has gone from around 15 to 3 or 4. There have been many disagreements, firings, and resignations. The term "yellow journalism" is used around here for the first time, by my recollection, at least. The employees are not being allowed by the owner to form a union which the court has instructed W.Mc. to allow them to do.
And now the lowest blow, even for a town upon which a soap opera was based. A story was published about 15,000 child and adult porn images being found on a hard drive owned by the newspaper. There was no by-line on the story, although it was on the front page of a Sunday edition. In the story, a popular, respected editor is linked to that hard drive, by name, although at least 4 had used the computer in question. The computer was acquired second-hand, too, so that suggests an unknown number of previous users of the hardware in question. The editor whose name was printed in the story just happens to be someone who resigned last July from his position because of W.Mc.'s insistence on constant interference in editorial decisions which don't normally require an owner's input. W.Mc. asked the court to give her the hard drive so she could have an independent investigation into where the images were from. The police department closed it's investigation. It's obvious the former editor had nothing to do with the images. The owner is suspected by some to be running a smear campaign.
So the rich allow their wealth to go to the head, taking up the space the brain is supposed to have. Coincidentally, although not in the same year, Wendy McCaw was born on the same day as the man who is now occupying the White House, George W. Bush.
Have a great weekend everyone! Lulublue
