Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History

I don’t know that reporting problems is going to change them.  Our society is becoming immune, rapidly, but there is clearly a VIEWPOINT divide between the potential victims and those charged — at public expense — with protecting them.

MY common sense says, don’t lean on the broken posts to protect onesself.  What the other legal options are is clearly up to each individual — or relative/friend of someone being stalked — to figure out. 

WOMEN TARGETED BY STALKERS NEED MORE SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING AND EMPOWERMENT, if not some EQUIPMENT, too, and LESS  TRAINING IN RISK-TAKING BEHAVIORS, SUCH AS SEEKING HELP THROUGH PROTECTION ORDERS. 

Among the SELF-DEFENSE measures available — sometimes — can include, if possible — LEAVING THE AREA.  Is it better to be totally uprooted, even poor — but alive?  Or well-grounded and respected in the community, hoping the powers that be will do what they are supposed to do,  and staying, until caught by a stalker who went over the edge, or got tired of playing cat and mouse, and went to endgame mode…  Like in the incident reported below.

Again, an “ORDER” is a piece of paper issued by the judge.  It does not possess magical powers. 

When a piece of paper comes up against a person intent on stalking and making sure no one else gets a woman, no matter what, that person is going to get what (he) wants unless he is behind bars.  Even from then, there’s the potential to incite others of similar mentality. 

There’s a real backlash against assertive women in religious circles, at a minimum.  Well, if we can’t be assertive in these situations, what is the option?

From the site Anne Caroline Drake.com

This site has organized commentary and detailed summaries on news events.  These posts are worth checking regularly, particularly if my lack of spell-checking is a hard read. 

 Teacher Murdered by Stalker while Legislature Bickers

Friday morning, February 26, Jed Ryan Waits waited two hours outside Birney Elementary for Ms. Paulson to come to work at 7:30 AM.  She was with a colleague.  Without saying a word, he fired three shots and killed Ms. Paulson.  The fire department arrived within seven minutes to find Ms. Paulson bleeding profusely, but there was nothing they could do to save her life.

Within a half hour, a deputy spotted Waits’ car and pulled him over.  Ironically, it was at a day care parking lot in Frederickson.  When Waits fired at the officer, the deputy returned fire and killed him.

Four hundred children go to Birney Elementary.  The newspapers didn’t say how many kids were already at the daycare center.

What were the options?

Get her a bullet proof vest, and wear it daily?

MOVE, and change her identity, including name and social security #?  Her stalker had military training, and was persistent.  He’d met her in college!!

 This isn’t even an intimate partner relationship.  However, the theme of stalking IS  family court matter, and so I find it relevant.  Continuing, from this website:

Pierce County and Olympia:  What if Jennifer Had Been YOUR Daughter?

Pierce County has a very long history of callous disregard toward domestic violence.  They didn’t lock up domestic violence perpetrators Tacoma Chief of Police David Brame or the DC Sniper or Isaiah M.K. Kalebu or Maurice Clemmons or Darrel Street or David E. Crable or dozens of other people they knew or should have known would kill.

Judge Thomas Felnagle refused to grant bail to a couple of punks who savagely murdered a stray dog, but he let Maurice Clemmons go home to further terrorize his 12-year-old step-daughter, who he allegedly raped.  Maurice Clemmons assassinated four cops in Lakewood while out on bail.

The legislature got all excited when David E. Crable, who had been abusing his 16-year-old daughter for years, killed a deputy sheriff and wounded his partner.  Crable’s daughter Bryona had to rescue the cops {{SEE BELOW}} who were supposed to be protecting her.

Legislature Bickers and Keeps the Status Quo Firmly Entrenched

Did the legislators in Olympia focus on the domestic violence underlying these killing sprees?  Hell, no!  Did they try to pass a law to deny bail to domestic violence perpetrators?  Hell no!

The law enforcement task force focused on protecting the cops rather than people experiencing domestic violence.  Gov. Christine Gregoire, who perpetually evidences callous disregard for domestic violence, according to the Seattle Times:

The original bill proposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire would have let judges deny bail if they determined that the suspect posed a public safety risk, but in order to get enough support in the House, the criteria was narrowed to those who would face a maximum sentence of life without the possibility of parole and if the suspect is considered dangerous.

By the time the bill got to the state senate, Judiciary Committee Chairman Adam Kline, who also has his head up his ass, said:

A prediction of violence is a shot in the dark right now.  We’re not going to have judges deny a consititutional right on a hunch.

(HERE”s MY rant on that).    He happens to be right on the matter of PREDICTING violence.  That’s what the experts do, and want us to participate in helping them do.  Here’s a new one from Michigan I became aware of recently:

 http://www.biscmi.org/thelethalityequation/index.html

And here’s the sales plug.  Notice:  WHO (to “whom”) is it addressed?

• Do you feel like there is more to evaluation than current assessment tools provide, but you’re not sure where to turn?
  Are your current lethality assessments and abuse histories enough to adequately understand and predict future intimate partner violence and sexual assault?
  Would you like to learn more about what to assess with individual perpetrators within your community?
• If so, join us at this training and learn more about personality issues among those who are violent and abusive to others.

Not to minimize the research and expertise that went into exploring this, but WHY should I want to know more about personality issues among those who are violent and abusive to others.  Isn’t this information already available by listening to their victims?  What benefit will a new set of vocabulary to describe what we already know “dangerous” is?  HUH?

What does a large cat predator do before the kill?  It stalks!

So how much more does one need to fine-tune that, rather than get that woman protection, including if necessary OUT of there?

Yeah, Anne Caroline is right to be on a rant (and I’m out of time, also). 

However, since constitutional rights aren’t going to be infringed upon (when it comes to certain profiles of people), we’ll just have to go back a little further than this Constitution, I guess, and remember some INALIENABLE RIGHTS, the FIRST one of which is to LIFE.  That’s physical, breathing and not having that breathing stopped violently or suddenly by force.  Then LIBERTY.  Being stalked compromises one’s freedom to wander about at will, freedom that people NOT being stalked may take for granted but we (yes, I said “we”) can’t. 

In this country, women attempting to leave violent relationships involving children for the most part CAN’T.  They have to show up again and again and fork over either more funds for court-appointed professionals, or court-associated professionals, OR if they can’t afford this, they too often have to fork over their children to the batterer, or the state.

Just like the anti-harrassment orders in This case (resulting in one dead woman), that too is regardless of court orders.

This is where the “cult of the experts” leads to, logically speaking.  IF “we” (collectively) are going to farm out the basic things of life:

• Thinking
• Self-Defense training for ALL
• Knowing how our legal and economic systems really work, for ALL (male & female, rich and poor)
• Raising our young and educating them
• Governing ourselves.
• Restraining people close to us from violence
• Also entertaining ourselves without pornography, excesses of drugs, alcohol, violence, or simply mind-numbing idiocy (sometimes I’m not sure which is worse)
• Respecting people of other faiths or no faith, by which I mean, not trying to press OUR views onto OTHERS’ kids — and this is going to require a hard look at the school system also.  The message is in the system, not just the supposed content of it.  These schools are war zones, and the response is too often to blame the parents.  Parents then blame the schools.  Well, come on folks, it’s an interactive system!
• Living moderately and requiring that our politicians and leaders ALSO do.
• Health, Welfare, and things pertaining to general HUMANITY

Then what kind of country is this? 

Rep. Mike Hope and Rep. Chris Hurst, who are former cops, went ballistic.  Rep. Hurst told the Seattle Times:

I can’t remember a time when a couple folks sat down behind closed doors and didn’t talk to their colleagues, didn’t talk to the law-enforcement community.

We will not leave this session without this legislation.  This is the most important piece of criminal-justice legislation in decades.

Amen.

The Senate Judiciary Committee held a public hearing a half hour after Ms. Paulson was gunned down.  I’m willing to bet they still didn’t get it.

We the People get it.  And, we’re mad as hell at your callous disregard for our safety and welfare.

 Click on her links and learn how the abused daughter protected the cop.

Here’s a sample, as summarized on same website:

Deborah Horne onKIRO7 has just reported that Pierce County deputy sheriff Walter “Kent” Mundell passed away this evening at 5:04 p.m. 

He had been on life support at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle since being gunned down during a domestic violence call near Eatonville in Pierce County, WA on December 21. 

NOTE:  shortly before the holidays…

Police officers had been keeping a 24/7 vigil at the hospital. 

Last night there was a candlelight vigil at the LA Fitness outlet in Puyallup, WA where deputy Mundell worked out. 

His partner, Sgt. Nick Hausner, visited him at Harborview after he was released last week from Madigan Army Medical Center at Ft. Lewis, WA.

Sgt. Hausner credited Bryona Crable, the 16 year-old daughter of David E. Crable (the perpetrator who gunned down the deputies), with saving his life. 

Apparently, she courageously jumped her father during the close-range shoot-out and took his gun away before he was fatally wounded by deputy Mundell.  Her aunt and uncle pulled Sgt. Hausner to safety. 

HERE is a SEATTLE TIMES account of this incident, in which a pro-active teenager saved what could easily have been more lives, although her own father and eventually a police officer died.  THIS FAMILY knew more about the “danger assessment” of their relative David Crable than, apparently, a Pierce County Superior Court judge, which shows up in prior sentencing to “parenting classes.”  When in doubt, a parenting class will stop bullets, abuse, and change behavior for sure.  Do you think the policy of assigning parenting classes to men who are terrorizing their family is going to change just because it resulted in deaths of a cop, and in essence, Suicide by cop, this time?

Bryona Crable, 16, whose dad shot 2 deputies, is a heroine, possibly saving Sgt. Nick Hausner’s life

December 27, 10:35 AMSeattle Family ExaminerIsabelle Zehnder

December 27, 2009 – 16-year old Bryona Crable is being called a ‘herione’, {spelled like that?] according to The Seattle Times. She didn’t just stand by and watch as her father opened fire on two unsuspecting Pierce County Sheriff’s deputies who were at her home responding to a family violence call. Instead she grabbed her father, pushed him to the floor, possibly avoiding additional gunshots from being fired, and possibly saving Sgt. Nick Hausner’s life.

Deputy Kent Mundell, 44, was shot multiple times by Bryona’s father, David E. Crable, 35. Mundell was able to fire back and kill David Crable. According to Ed Troyer, Spokesman for Pierce County Sheriff’s, Mundell now remains in ‘grave’ critical condition. He is on life support at Harborview Medical Center.

During the shoot-out David Crable was hit. His daughter, Bryona, “jumped on her dad and fought him for his gun,” Troyer said. “He went down and never got up again.”

Bryona ran outside to get help from neighbors and to call 911. She and Jason’s girlfriend, Bridget Warren, protected Hausner by dragging him to another room, barring the door, and administering first aid, “while Bryona went for help.”

“She’s absolutely a hero, but she’s also a victim. She witnessed her dad being shot,” Troyer said. “She’s had a bad life at her dad’s hands. She saw her dad shoot two deputies and she stood up and did the right thing and tried to help our guys.”

The Seattle Times reported that Bryona has been in the middle of family fights involving her father whose life, according to court records, was plagued by alcohol and violence.

After the shooting Edward, David’s brother, Bryona, and Warren, were forced to leave their Eatonville home with ‘little more than their clothes’. The property has been ‘torn to pieces’ during the criminal investigation. According to Warren, it took more than two days for them to even retrieve their cell phones.

“We’re going minute by minute,” Warren said Thursday morning. “Obviously, we can’t go back to our house, so at this point, everything’s up in the air.”

The three have been staying with friends due to a lack of relatives in the area. They are trying to figure out what to do about a funeral for their troubled relative, David E. Crable.

Background of sentencing? (Maroon print, below, from HERE):

Callous Indifference to Domestic Violence Reigns in Pierce County    

Gimme a break.  Let’s review the myriad opportunities various government officials had to stop Crable:    

• Spring, 2007:  Crable was hospitalized after threatening suicide.  He was arrested on domestic violence charges against his mother and daughter.
• June or July, 2007:  Crable’s brother Jason sought a protection order against David because he had threatened “to kill my dogs and damage my car. .We started talking and he started to get upset then started yelling. . .he was going to ruin my life and do anything to possible to mess up my move.”  This was a clear indication that Crable was a pit bull abuser.
• February, 2008:  Crable was charged with DUI, fined $966, and sentenced to 24 hours of community service.
• May 18, 2009:  Patsy Jo Crable (his 71 year-old mother) asked for a restraining order against her son David:  “I am afraid in my own home with  him because of the many guns he owns. . .before I left home, he was always threating suicide, and told his daughter he wanted to die. . .The altercations have escalated.  This constant threat of what he’s going to do has caused me great stress.  I have a heart condition, and he constantly gets in my face and tells me he wants me to die.”  She described him as armed, suicidal, violent, and abusing drugs.
• May 28, 2009:  Crable was arrested at his mother’s home after getting into a fight with his brother, choking his daughter, threatening to punch her in the face, and pointing a knife at her.  All four of the tires on his brother’s car were slashed.  This was the first police standoff.
• June 25, 2009:  Crable pleaded guilty to a third-degree malicious mischief, to unlawful display of a weapon, and to unlawful carrying of weapons in Pierce County Superior Court.  Judge Vicki Hogan suspended his sentence, put him on two years of probation, and ordered him to pay $800 in fines and court costs, to have no hostile contact with his brother Jason, and to take parenting classes.

OK — did you GET THAT?  They finally arrest the suicidal, assaulting people, threatening people, property damage people who is totally out of control, and escalating, has access to weapons (which kill people, right?) and a (female, but that may not really be as relevant as the system that spawned judges that come up with “solutions” like this) says “be a good boy now, and take some nice, friendly, parenting classes.”

Should we fast forward to the latest AFCC conference about the REAL CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER is not enough funds for court-associated professionals to do MORE parenting classes and behavioral modification programs ???  Sure, yeah…

• June, 2009:  Child Protective Services (CPS) received a complaint that Crable had assaulted his 15 year old daughter.  The allegations were deemed to be “founded,” but nobody at CPS did anything to protect his daughter.
• November 14, 2009:  Crable was arrested for a DUI.
• Pierce County prosecutor Mark Lindquist said multiple protection orders were issued against Crable:  “They are a result of people saying this guy is a danger to me.  I think you can reasonably infer from his history, he had an alcohol problem.”

Crable obviously had more than a problem with alcohol.  But, Lindquist, Troyer, and the judges in Pierce County minimize and trivialize evidence in domestic violence cases.  Perpetrators get a slap on the wrist.  Crable, for example, was never charged with a felony despite abundant evidence that his long history of terrorizing his family was escalating.  He was, therefore, allowed to own guns.  His victims survived the best they could with nothing but a piece of paper to protect them.    

Crable’s daughter wasn’t the only terrified teenager in Pierce County in 2009.  Maurice Clemmons’ daughter was similarly left unprotected after her daddy raped her until her daddy assasinated four Lakewood cops.  Then, the system pulled out all the stops to arrest him.  The people who allegedly aided and abetted him before he was murdered by a Seattle cop are facing serious jail time.    

THE QUESTION IS NOT, IS THIS NOW ROUTINE?  THE QUESTION IS, WHAT ARE PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT THOSE CLOSE TO THEM GOING TO DO, IN LIGHT OF THIS INFORMATION?

Here’s from the Pierce County, WA, website (I went there and searched on “domestic violence.”)  They have a Domestic  Violence Diversion Coordinator . . . .  This is about their Domestic Violence Unit

The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Domestic Violence Unit was established in 1995 in order to more effectively stem the tide of what is a very serious and harmful crime to society.

That’s apparently why, when it occurs, the perpetrator can get “parenting classes and probation…”

The Unit is comprised of detectives and deputies whose responsibility it is to investigate domestic violence related crimes including assaults, property damage, court order violations, rapes, threats, custodial interference, and others. Additionally, Unit members serve as liaison to health care providers, advocacy groups and social agencies to improve identification and reporting of existing instances of domestic violence and develop prevention strategies linking law enforcement and community efforts. We review cases to more quickly identify high rate offenders and high rate victims and direct coordinated intervention efforts toward these groups. We identify high rate locations for domestic violence, especially multi-family housing units. We work with patrol, crime-free multi-unit housing coordinators and social service agencies to focus on early, comprehensive attention to cases of domestic violence.

The Unit also serves arrest warrants and develops new, innovative programs to help deal with domestic violence.

Should you have any questions about the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department Domestic Violence Unit or wish to contact us for any reason, please call us at (253) 798-6516.

?? ??? ???

They also have one of those “family justice centers” that are now becoming commonplace. 

Goals and Objectives

History

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Oh well . . . .