◼ Multi-agency effort leads to arrest of parolee
Humboldt Beacon
Posted: 01/26/2011 03:45:42 PM PST
Three people were arrested Monday after a multi-agency search for a parolee at large ended at a gas station in Valley West in Arcata. Derek Bowman, 29, was arrested by officers with the California Highway Patrol, after the Eureka Police Department asked for assistance in locating Bowman, who failed to report to his parole officer. Bowman is on parole in connection to an armed robbery in Fortuna, said CHP officer Paul Dahlen.
Officers also arrested two people who were in the car with Bowman at the time, and reported finding a small amount of methamphetamine in the vehicle, Dahlen said.
Georgina Archambault, 29, was arrested and charged with possession of a hypodermic syringe, possession of burglary tools and a violation of probation. Officers also arrested Nachel Black, 32, for an outstanding warrant, said Dahlen.
Showing posts with label Derek Bowman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Derek Bowman. Show all posts
4.09.2011
Derek Bowman: Escaped Inmate Captured
◼ co.humboldt.ca.us/sheriff/pressreleases
Date Released: 8/14/2007
Subject: Escaped Inmate Captured
Contact: Brenda Godsey, PIO
Case No#: 200704588
Released By: Brenda Godsey, PIO
Location: Manila
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Detectives captured escaped inmate Derek Wendell Bowman at about 3:20 p.m. this afternoon. Bowman was found in Manila after Detective Troy Garey received information that Bowman may have been hiding at a residence there. Sheriff’s Detectives and a U.S. Marshals Service arrived at a residence on the 100 block of Phillips Court in Manila. They knocked on the door and Bowman answered. He was taken into custody without incident.
Bowman had been at-large since August 5, 2007 after escaping from Sempervirens Mental Health Facility.
Bowman was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for Escape. Additionally, he was booked for the charges that were pending at the time of his escape which included forgery, and resisting arrest. Bowman is not eligible for bail.
Date Released: 8/14/2007
Subject: Escaped Inmate Captured
Contact: Brenda Godsey, PIO
Case No#: 200704588
Released By: Brenda Godsey, PIO
Location: Manila
Humboldt County Sheriff’s Detectives captured escaped inmate Derek Wendell Bowman at about 3:20 p.m. this afternoon. Bowman was found in Manila after Detective Troy Garey received information that Bowman may have been hiding at a residence there. Sheriff’s Detectives and a U.S. Marshals Service arrived at a residence on the 100 block of Phillips Court in Manila. They knocked on the door and Bowman answered. He was taken into custody without incident.
Bowman had been at-large since August 5, 2007 after escaping from Sempervirens Mental Health Facility.
Bowman was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility for Escape. Additionally, he was booked for the charges that were pending at the time of his escape which included forgery, and resisting arrest. Bowman is not eligible for bail.
4.02.2011
TS - Fortuna police looking for attempted murder suspect
◼ Fortuna police looking for attempted murder suspect - The Times-Standard - Posted: 04/02/2011 02:42:19 AM PDT
The Fortuna Police Department is looking for a murder suspect who allegedly stabbed another man in Fortuna.
Officers responded to Redwood Memorial Hospital at about 5:50 p.m. Thursday, according to a press release. The victim, who was hospitalized for stab wounds to his chest and back, said he had been assaulted while seated in his vehicle on Kenmar Road and Renee Court.
The department is seeking information on Derek Wendell Bowman, 29, of Fortuna. Bowman has been identified as a suspect in the stabbing. He is on active parole and should be considered dangerous, the FPD release said.
Bowman was arrested in January by the California Highway Patrol during a multi-agency parolee search in connection with an armed robbery.
The department can be reached at its anonymous tip hotline at 800-78-CRIME or 1-800-782-7463. Informants may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction, the release said.
The Fortuna Police Department is looking for a murder suspect who allegedly stabbed another man in Fortuna.
Officers responded to Redwood Memorial Hospital at about 5:50 p.m. Thursday, according to a press release. The victim, who was hospitalized for stab wounds to his chest and back, said he had been assaulted while seated in his vehicle on Kenmar Road and Renee Court.
The department is seeking information on Derek Wendell Bowman, 29, of Fortuna. Bowman has been identified as a suspect in the stabbing. He is on active parole and should be considered dangerous, the FPD release said.
Bowman was arrested in January by the California Highway Patrol during a multi-agency parolee search in connection with an armed robbery.
The department can be reached at its anonymous tip hotline at 800-78-CRIME or 1-800-782-7463. Informants may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction, the release said.
5.01.2008
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
A large contribution to the successful 2006 re-election campaign of Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos has raised questions the DA has so far declined to answer, after it was learned that the son of the man chiefly responsible for the contribution subsequently escaped punishment on numerous criminal charges, including one alleging the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl.
According to Fair Political Practices Commission filings, the donation, in the amount of $10,000, was the single largest monetary contribution received by the campaign of the incumbent DA from any contributor whose last name was not Gallegos.
FPPC documents indicate that the contribution was recorded April 29, and attributed to the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, which is chaired by Leonard Bowman, father of Derek Bowman, 25, both of Loleta.
The younger Bowman’s association with law enforcement spans two states and 11 years, and includes as many as 40 criminal charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon as a juvenile to three charges alleging violence against one adult and two juvenile females in 2006.
But on July 19, less than six weeks after Gallegos was re-elected, the DA’s Office gathered nine felonies and a handful of misdemeanors pending against Derek, and dismissed or suspended sentence on all of them in a single day.
According to publicly available court documents, recent charges against Derek included felony statutory rape, five counts of felony check fraud against local businesses, felony burglary, felony threats, felony battery, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Restitution orders for the check fraud cases were part of the July 19 deals, but the documents show that no jail time for any of the alleged offenses was requested by the DA’s Office.
For violation of probation on a previous charge, Derek was sentenced in July to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
In a declaration in support of an arrest warrant on one of the charges against Derek, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Garey wrote on June 26 that Cheree Bowie, the mother of Derek’s 17-year-old wife, told him that Derek had “been bragging that even if he was arrested, his dad would get him out of jail.”
In his report, Garey stated that he asked Bowie how she knew this.
“Bowie said the suspect’s father, Leonard Bowman, is the tribal chairperson on the Bear River reservation,” Garey wrote, “and he and the tribe and the Bear River Casino gave District Attorney Paul Gallegos $10,000 in his recent re-election campaign for DA. Bowie then hung up the phone.”
When The Eureka Reporter attempted to contact Bowman at the tribal office, a woman who answered the phone said that Bowman had no comment when he was told the call was regarding campaign contributions.
In all, the Bowmans, the tribe and an attorney employed by the casino contributed $11,100 to Gallegos’ campaign coffers, just under 10 percent of the total of all funds raised by the incumbent during the campaign, according to FPPC filings.
In addition to the $10,000 contribution in the name of the Rancheria, Leonard and his wife personally contributed $100, the FPPC documents show.
The same documents indicate Bear River attorney Michael Acosta contributed $1,000.
Contained in the court records is a letter to the Humboldt County Probation Department, dated Aug. 7 and written on Bear River Gaming Agency letterhead, in which Acosta requested that Derek be granted probation in lieu of the 180-day sentence.
Acosta stated in the letter that he would recommend reinstatement of Derek’s employment in the casino’s surveillance department should probation be granted.
Court documents state that Derek has been charged with violating the terms of his probation seven times in the past nine years.
FOLLOWING THE RULES
While there is no direct evidence that indicates Derek was treated differently because of the contributions, neither did Gallegos exercise any of the options available to him to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The simple explanation may be that he was not legally required to do so.
According to Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese, there is no rule requiring the removal or “recusal” of a DA from cases in which a possible conflict of interest is perceived.
Riese, who has no involvement in the Bowman cases and spoke only in general terms about recusal, said, “District attorneys have unfettered discretion under the government code. If we choose, we can recuse ourselves, we can ask the attorney general to come in or we can appoint a special prosecutor.”
But Riese reiterated that no district attorney in California would be under any legal obligation to choose any of those alternatives.
It is not known if Gallegos attempted to recuse himself from Derek’s criminal cases, but none of the 232 pages of court documents contained in the court files makes reference to a recusal.
Neither does Gallegos appear to have referred Derek’s cases for prosecution by the California State Attorney General’s Office, which retains concurrent jurisdiction in all cases prosecuted by California district attorneys and their deputies.
FOLLOWING COURT PRECEDENT
There is no evidence in any of the files that Gallegos was personally involved in Derek’s prosecution. However, according to numerous legal precedents, in cases in which there exists a possible conflict of interest, an entire DA’s Office is commonly recused.
In a recent example that presented a possible conflict for the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Deputy DA Matthew Monforton wrote a memorandum to county officials demanding recusal of all L.A. County prosecutors and referral of the case to the attorney general.
When a district attorney suffers from a conflict of interest, Monforton wrote, “appellate courts have imputed the conflict to all deputy district attorneys in the same county.”
Monforton cited People v. Lepe, a 1985 Imperial County case in which a conflict was perceived between District Attorney Thomas Storey and a defendant he had once represented as a defense attorney. The California Court of Appeals disqualified Storey, but didn’t stop there.
“As the deputies are hired by Storey, promoted by Storey and fired by Storey,” the court concluded, “we cannot say the office can be sanitized such to assume the deputy who prosecutes the case will not be influenced by the considerations that bar Storey himself from participation in the case.”
Again, in People v. Choi, Monforton wrote, San Francisco County District Attorney Terrence Hallinan recused himself to avoid a potential conflict, but the California Court of Appeals went further, stating that Hallinan’s entire office should have been recused because prosecutors are “hired, evaluated and promoted by the district attorney.”
The court documents indicate that Derek was at various times defended by what is called “conflict counsel,” meaning an alternative defense attorney was assigned to a particular case after the original public defender disclosed a possible conflict in handling the case.
But the same documents show that similar steps were not taken by prosecutors. Derek’s charges were handled by several prosecutors in the DA’s Office, including Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat, Deputy District Attorneys Maggie Fleming and Max Cardoza and former Deputy District Attorneys Nicole Hansen and Heather Gimle.
Gallegos declined to return repeated phone calls requesting comment for this report, and also declined to answer questions about the matter by e-mail.
In response to several specific inquiries regarding the $10,000 campaign contribution and the subsequent handling of Derek’s criminal cases, Gallegos stated in an e-mail only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
FOLLOWING UP
During the 2006 DA campaign, former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman, Gallegos’ opponent, called on the incumbent to recuse the DA’s Office in the Cheri Moore homicide and refer the case to the attorney general, accusing Gallegos of “making political hay” of the investigation.
“(Gallegos) has a history of rewarding his allies and punishing those who oppose him,” Dikeman said at a May 25 press conference.
“His history of questionable practices, his failure to expeditiously resolve this matter and his strained relationship with the rest of the law enforcement community, including the Eureka Police Officers Association, make this an appropriate case for the attorney general to exercise his discretion under the government code and take full charge of the investigation,” Dikeman said.
Dikeman has acknowledged that one possible factor in his most recent defeat by Gallegos was the extended protest in front of the Courthouse staged by Ellie Bowman, who is Derek’s mother and Leonard’s wife.
“It certainly isn’t helping,” Dikeman said in June.
Ellie was protesting comments Dikeman had made about prospective Native American jurors in the now infamous 1992 murder case against former Fortuna resident Richard Kesser.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Sept. 11 in a six-to-five vote that some of Dikeman’s statements contained racial bias, and Kesser’s conviction could be headed for retrial as a result.
But Dikeman said at the time that Ellie had another reason to protest his candidacy. The deputy DA successfully prosecuted Ellie’s other son, Jeffrey Bowman, for the 1999 murder of Trinidad Rancheria member Julius Aubrey.
Jeffrey is currently serving a prison term of 25 years to life.
Jail officials said Friday that Derek was no longer in custody. Technically still booked, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the balance of his 180-day sentence in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
(Diane M. Batley, Rebecca S. Bender and Megan McCulloch contributed to this report.)
By Heather Muller, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Sep 26 2006, 12:19 AM · Updated: Sep 26 2006, 9:38 AM
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
A large contribution to the successful 2006 re-election campaign of Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos has raised questions the DA has so far declined to answer, after it was learned that the son of the man chiefly responsible for the contribution subsequently escaped punishment on numerous criminal charges, including one alleging the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl.
According to Fair Political Practices Commission filings, the donation, in the amount of $10,000, was the single largest monetary contribution received by the campaign of the incumbent DA from any contributor whose last name was not Gallegos.
FPPC documents indicate that the contribution was recorded April 29, and attributed to the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, which is chaired by Leonard Bowman, father of Derek Bowman, 25, both of Loleta.
The younger Bowman’s association with law enforcement spans two states and 11 years, and includes as many as 40 criminal charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon as a juvenile to three charges alleging violence against one adult and two juvenile females in 2006.
But on July 19, less than six weeks after Gallegos was re-elected, the DA’s Office gathered nine felonies and a handful of misdemeanors pending against Derek, and dismissed or suspended sentence on all of them in a single day.
According to publicly available court documents, recent charges against Derek included felony statutory rape, five counts of felony check fraud against local businesses, felony burglary, felony threats, felony battery, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Restitution orders for the check fraud cases were part of the July 19 deals, but the documents show that no jail time for any of the alleged offenses was requested by the DA’s Office.
For violation of probation on a previous charge, Derek was sentenced in July to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
In a declaration in support of an arrest warrant on one of the charges against Derek, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Garey wrote on June 26 that Cheree Bowie, the mother of Derek’s 17-year-old wife, told him that Derek had “been bragging that even if he was arrested, his dad would get him out of jail.”
In his report, Garey stated that he asked Bowie how she knew this.
“Bowie said the suspect’s father, Leonard Bowman, is the tribal chairperson on the Bear River reservation,” Garey wrote, “and he and the tribe and the Bear River Casino gave District Attorney Paul Gallegos $10,000 in his recent re-election campaign for DA. Bowie then hung up the phone.”
When The Eureka Reporter attempted to contact Bowman at the tribal office, a woman who answered the phone said that Bowman had no comment when he was told the call was regarding campaign contributions.
In all, the Bowmans, the tribe and an attorney employed by the casino contributed $11,100 to Gallegos’ campaign coffers, just under 10 percent of the total of all funds raised by the incumbent during the campaign, according to FPPC filings.
In addition to the $10,000 contribution in the name of the Rancheria, Leonard and his wife personally contributed $100, the FPPC documents show.
The same documents indicate Bear River attorney Michael Acosta contributed $1,000.
Contained in the court records is a letter to the Humboldt County Probation Department, dated Aug. 7 and written on Bear River Gaming Agency letterhead, in which Acosta requested that Derek be granted probation in lieu of the 180-day sentence.
Acosta stated in the letter that he would recommend reinstatement of Derek’s employment in the casino’s surveillance department should probation be granted.
Court documents state that Derek has been charged with violating the terms of his probation seven times in the past nine years.
FOLLOWING THE RULES
While there is no direct evidence that indicates Derek was treated differently because of the contributions, neither did Gallegos exercise any of the options available to him to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The simple explanation may be that he was not legally required to do so.
According to Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese, there is no rule requiring the removal or “recusal” of a DA from cases in which a possible conflict of interest is perceived.
Riese, who has no involvement in the Bowman cases and spoke only in general terms about recusal, said, “District attorneys have unfettered discretion under the government code. If we choose, we can recuse ourselves, we can ask the attorney general to come in or we can appoint a special prosecutor.”
But Riese reiterated that no district attorney in California would be under any legal obligation to choose any of those alternatives.
It is not known if Gallegos attempted to recuse himself from Derek’s criminal cases, but none of the 232 pages of court documents contained in the court files makes reference to a recusal.
Neither does Gallegos appear to have referred Derek’s cases for prosecution by the California State Attorney General’s Office, which retains concurrent jurisdiction in all cases prosecuted by California district attorneys and their deputies.
FOLLOWING COURT PRECEDENT
There is no evidence in any of the files that Gallegos was personally involved in Derek’s prosecution. However, according to numerous legal precedents, in cases in which there exists a possible conflict of interest, an entire DA’s Office is commonly recused.
In a recent example that presented a possible conflict for the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Deputy DA Matthew Monforton wrote a memorandum to county officials demanding recusal of all L.A. County prosecutors and referral of the case to the attorney general.
When a district attorney suffers from a conflict of interest, Monforton wrote, “appellate courts have imputed the conflict to all deputy district attorneys in the same county.”
Monforton cited People v. Lepe, a 1985 Imperial County case in which a conflict was perceived between District Attorney Thomas Storey and a defendant he had once represented as a defense attorney. The California Court of Appeals disqualified Storey, but didn’t stop there.
“As the deputies are hired by Storey, promoted by Storey and fired by Storey,” the court concluded, “we cannot say the office can be sanitized such to assume the deputy who prosecutes the case will not be influenced by the considerations that bar Storey himself from participation in the case.”
Again, in People v. Choi, Monforton wrote, San Francisco County District Attorney Terrence Hallinan recused himself to avoid a potential conflict, but the California Court of Appeals went further, stating that Hallinan’s entire office should have been recused because prosecutors are “hired, evaluated and promoted by the district attorney.”
The court documents indicate that Derek was at various times defended by what is called “conflict counsel,” meaning an alternative defense attorney was assigned to a particular case after the original public defender disclosed a possible conflict in handling the case.
But the same documents show that similar steps were not taken by prosecutors. Derek’s charges were handled by several prosecutors in the DA’s Office, including Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat, Deputy District Attorneys Maggie Fleming and Max Cardoza and former Deputy District Attorneys Nicole Hansen and Heather Gimle.
Gallegos declined to return repeated phone calls requesting comment for this report, and also declined to answer questions about the matter by e-mail.
In response to several specific inquiries regarding the $10,000 campaign contribution and the subsequent handling of Derek’s criminal cases, Gallegos stated in an e-mail only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
FOLLOWING UP
During the 2006 DA campaign, former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman, Gallegos’ opponent, called on the incumbent to recuse the DA’s Office in the Cheri Moore homicide and refer the case to the attorney general, accusing Gallegos of “making political hay” of the investigation.
“(Gallegos) has a history of rewarding his allies and punishing those who oppose him,” Dikeman said at a May 25 press conference.
“His history of questionable practices, his failure to expeditiously resolve this matter and his strained relationship with the rest of the law enforcement community, including the Eureka Police Officers Association, make this an appropriate case for the attorney general to exercise his discretion under the government code and take full charge of the investigation,” Dikeman said.
Dikeman has acknowledged that one possible factor in his most recent defeat by Gallegos was the extended protest in front of the Courthouse staged by Ellie Bowman, who is Derek’s mother and Leonard’s wife.
“It certainly isn’t helping,” Dikeman said in June.
Ellie was protesting comments Dikeman had made about prospective Native American jurors in the now infamous 1992 murder case against former Fortuna resident Richard Kesser.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Sept. 11 in a six-to-five vote that some of Dikeman’s statements contained racial bias, and Kesser’s conviction could be headed for retrial as a result.
But Dikeman said at the time that Ellie had another reason to protest his candidacy. The deputy DA successfully prosecuted Ellie’s other son, Jeffrey Bowman, for the 1999 murder of Trinidad Rancheria member Julius Aubrey.
Jeffrey is currently serving a prison term of 25 years to life.
Jail officials said Friday that Derek was no longer in custody. Technically still booked, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the balance of his 180-day sentence in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
(Diane M. Batley, Rebecca S. Bender and Megan McCulloch contributed to this report.)
By Heather Muller, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Sep 26 2006, 12:19 AM · Updated: Sep 26 2006, 9:38 AM
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
3.27.2008
NCJ - Best enemies
October 5, 2006
Best enemies
by HANK SIMS
You may think it out of character,but we praise our brethren at rival media outlets sparingly, and in only cases of genuine merit. Develop a reputation as a glad-hander, a back-slapper or a scarlet-faced guffawer, and your colleagues in the trade will rightly shun you. They will think you a dolt, and they'll probably be correct. But when a piece comes along that absolutely astounds -- think of the McKinleyville Press story, a few months back, on the sisters that gave birth simultaneously in adjacent hospital rooms -- there's nothing for it but to send along an e-mail thanking the author for making us stop and marvel, for dissolving the confines of the cruel quotidian. We are readers, first and foremost, and also autonomous citizens of a democracy.
As it happens, we had occasion to send two notes of applause across the bay last week -- one to Heather Muller of the Eureka Reporter and one to Kimberly Wear of the Times-Standard, who we hope shared it with her deskmate Chris Durant. In these cases, the awe was not inspired by the subject matter of the stories -- each of them "hard news" pieces -- but from the reporters' immense enterprise in ferreting out some obscure data and presenting it well, in service of the county. Their stories centered on political donations to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, and how they affected or didn't affect a criminal case prosecuted by his office.
On Tuesday, the Reporter published the outcome of several criminal cases, including nine felony counts, against Derek Bowman, son of Leonard and Ellie Bowman of Loleta. The younger Bowman had been charged with check fraud, burglary, domestic battery, drug possession and unlawful intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, among other things. All of the charges were either dropped, or Bowman plead guilty to them in exchange for a suspended sentence. Then he was given 180 days in prison for violation of probation. The Reporter wondered whether the seemingly lenient sentence might have anything to do with the fact that the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, which Leonard Bowman chairs, had donated $10,000 to Gallegos' last political campaign, or the fact that Ellie Bowman had protested outside the courthouse against the candidacy of Deputy DA Worth Dikeman, who had challenged Gallegos. (Earlier, Dikeman had successfully prosecuted another Bowman son for murder.) Gallegos did not respond to the paper's questions about the case, despite apparently having been given ample opportunity to do so.
The next day, the Times-Standard came out with a story in response. In it, Deputy DA Max Cardoza, who had tried the Bowman case and a 25-year veteran of the office, strongly denied that political considerations had played any role in the case's outcome. It quoted from an internal memo written by Gallegos that requested that both he and Dikeman be "screened" from the case. (Strangely, the memo was written after the case had already been settled).
The appearance of the Times-Standard story set off a great hue and cry, with letters from Gallegos' campaign manager, Alison Sterling Nichols, demanding that the Reporter retract its "factually incorrect" story. She didn't point out any actual incorrect facts, because there weren't any. There were holes in the story, but they should be lain squarely at the feat of Gallegos, who chose to respond to the paper's many questions with a non-responsive, fatuous one-liner. ("This office operates without fear or favor.") The Reporter ran the story it had, and if we lived in a real city rather than a small town, few people would have had any serious objection. But Sterling Nichols and others chose to use the occasion to demonstrate, once again, that they simply have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that Gallegos is part of the government. You want the media to ask hard questions of the government, right?
If this turns out to be a growing trend, this business of public officials turning up their nose at one or another of the daily papers, we're going to need both of them to report any story. If you haven't already sold your soul to one of the various political factions in town, you might want to step back a bit and take the long view. Though it looks like competition on the surface, and while their publishers no doubt wouldn't mind stealing a great big helping of advertising cash off each others' plates, the two newspapers function in cooperation, not competition. They're both getting to the bottom of things, together. Good cop, bad cop. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
Hey, you're a confirmed paranoid, right? You're certain that The Man is messing with your head, aren't you? If you're reading this in Humboldt County, chances are you fit one or both of these descriptions. So try this out for size -- a candidate in the upcoming election has planted an operative inside the Humboldt County Elections Office. It has possibilities, doesn't it? You can work with it, can't you?
We're sure you can. So, check it: Kelly Sanders is an administrative analyst who has worked with the office for about a year, according to Elections chief Lindsey McWilliams. She's the former director of the Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival. She also happens to be the sister of Bonnie Neely, the 4th District supervisor who is currently seeking reelection.
It's not like she just answers phones, either. (Though if she did answer a phone, what would she say?) In fact, this time around she's going to be in charge of the county's super-scary new voting booths aimed at helping disabled citizens cast their ballot. What's so scary about that, you ask? Not the technology itself -- though it is freaking terrifying -- but the fact that the county's existing electronic vote-counting apparatuses can't process its votes. That means that elections staffers will have to hand-copy every vote cast at the disabled-access machines to one of the county's AccuVote ballots. This leaves the inescapable conclusion that Sanders, and possibly other of her colleagues, have the means, the will and the secret Illuminati brainwash training to throw the election!
Please, please, please take a deep breath, Lindsey McWilliams begs. In fact, the re-voting system will have checks, counter-checks and built-in redundancies that will make any vote-rigging virtually impossible. There'll be two sets of eyes on it at all times, and there'll be a paper trail of the original votes cast at the disabled-access machines (which aren't manufactured by Diebold, if that's what you're worried about).
That's leaving aside the fact that Sanders is a human being, one who probably has at least as much honor as you or me. "Rumors to the contrary, Kelly Sanders is not an android and has no moving electronic parts that I know of," the ever-quotable McWilliams confirmed. (Likely story!) And she's sensible, too -- so sensible that she declined to speak with us when we asked.
In fact, we don't expect any great outburst of elections freak-out over this one. Because why? Because the demographics are such that most of the elections critics around here are Neely voters anyway. No harm, no foul. But just imagine what you'd get if there were a Flemming or a Bass in the office.
We finally got a chance to talk with Dennis Cunningham last week. Cunningham's a San Francisco attorney who has developed a reputation as something of a superlawyer in claims cases against government agencies, usually on the behalf of activists and others. He's had a couple of Humboldt County-related cases in the past, and they were both big ones: the Pepper Spray lawsuit against two Humboldt County police agencies, which resulted in a win for the activists whose eyeballs police had swabbed with the noxious substance, and the similarly victorious Judi Bari-Darryl Cherney civil rights lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The word we had was that Cunningham was considering filing a wrongful death suit against the Eureka Police Department over the Cheri Lyn Moore incident (see "Cause of Death," Sept. 21).
Is he going to sue? The answer appears to be maybe. The six-month anniversary of the incident is next Saturday, and that's the deadline to file a wrongful death claim. Cunningham said that his partner, Gordon Kaupp, has been looking into the case, but that as far as he knew, no one in his office has been able to contact Moore's son -- the only relative with standing to file a claim. Cunningham said that he was unaware that the deadline was approaching so soon -- he thought that the shooting had happened in July. "We'll have to make our move," he said.
If a suit is filed, it will further buttress local doctor Ken Miller's second career -- third career? -- as a midwife of politically charged litigation. Miller was the one who brought the now-dormant Headwaters lawsuit to the office of District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Cunningham said that Miller had been working with Kaupp on the potential Moore lawsuit.
Best enemies
by HANK SIMS
You may think it out of character,but we praise our brethren at rival media outlets sparingly, and in only cases of genuine merit. Develop a reputation as a glad-hander, a back-slapper or a scarlet-faced guffawer, and your colleagues in the trade will rightly shun you. They will think you a dolt, and they'll probably be correct. But when a piece comes along that absolutely astounds -- think of the McKinleyville Press story, a few months back, on the sisters that gave birth simultaneously in adjacent hospital rooms -- there's nothing for it but to send along an e-mail thanking the author for making us stop and marvel, for dissolving the confines of the cruel quotidian. We are readers, first and foremost, and also autonomous citizens of a democracy.
As it happens, we had occasion to send two notes of applause across the bay last week -- one to Heather Muller of the Eureka Reporter and one to Kimberly Wear of the Times-Standard, who we hope shared it with her deskmate Chris Durant. In these cases, the awe was not inspired by the subject matter of the stories -- each of them "hard news" pieces -- but from the reporters' immense enterprise in ferreting out some obscure data and presenting it well, in service of the county. Their stories centered on political donations to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, and how they affected or didn't affect a criminal case prosecuted by his office.
On Tuesday, the Reporter published the outcome of several criminal cases, including nine felony counts, against Derek Bowman, son of Leonard and Ellie Bowman of Loleta. The younger Bowman had been charged with check fraud, burglary, domestic battery, drug possession and unlawful intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, among other things. All of the charges were either dropped, or Bowman plead guilty to them in exchange for a suspended sentence. Then he was given 180 days in prison for violation of probation. The Reporter wondered whether the seemingly lenient sentence might have anything to do with the fact that the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, which Leonard Bowman chairs, had donated $10,000 to Gallegos' last political campaign, or the fact that Ellie Bowman had protested outside the courthouse against the candidacy of Deputy DA Worth Dikeman, who had challenged Gallegos. (Earlier, Dikeman had successfully prosecuted another Bowman son for murder.) Gallegos did not respond to the paper's questions about the case, despite apparently having been given ample opportunity to do so.
The next day, the Times-Standard came out with a story in response. In it, Deputy DA Max Cardoza, who had tried the Bowman case and a 25-year veteran of the office, strongly denied that political considerations had played any role in the case's outcome. It quoted from an internal memo written by Gallegos that requested that both he and Dikeman be "screened" from the case. (Strangely, the memo was written after the case had already been settled).
The appearance of the Times-Standard story set off a great hue and cry, with letters from Gallegos' campaign manager, Alison Sterling Nichols, demanding that the Reporter retract its "factually incorrect" story. She didn't point out any actual incorrect facts, because there weren't any. There were holes in the story, but they should be lain squarely at the feat of Gallegos, who chose to respond to the paper's many questions with a non-responsive, fatuous one-liner. ("This office operates without fear or favor.") The Reporter ran the story it had, and if we lived in a real city rather than a small town, few people would have had any serious objection. But Sterling Nichols and others chose to use the occasion to demonstrate, once again, that they simply have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that Gallegos is part of the government. You want the media to ask hard questions of the government, right?
If this turns out to be a growing trend, this business of public officials turning up their nose at one or another of the daily papers, we're going to need both of them to report any story. If you haven't already sold your soul to one of the various political factions in town, you might want to step back a bit and take the long view. Though it looks like competition on the surface, and while their publishers no doubt wouldn't mind stealing a great big helping of advertising cash off each others' plates, the two newspapers function in cooperation, not competition. They're both getting to the bottom of things, together. Good cop, bad cop. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
Hey, you're a confirmed paranoid, right? You're certain that The Man is messing with your head, aren't you? If you're reading this in Humboldt County, chances are you fit one or both of these descriptions. So try this out for size -- a candidate in the upcoming election has planted an operative inside the Humboldt County Elections Office. It has possibilities, doesn't it? You can work with it, can't you?
We're sure you can. So, check it: Kelly Sanders is an administrative analyst who has worked with the office for about a year, according to Elections chief Lindsey McWilliams. She's the former director of the Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival. She also happens to be the sister of Bonnie Neely, the 4th District supervisor who is currently seeking reelection.
It's not like she just answers phones, either. (Though if she did answer a phone, what would she say?) In fact, this time around she's going to be in charge of the county's super-scary new voting booths aimed at helping disabled citizens cast their ballot. What's so scary about that, you ask? Not the technology itself -- though it is freaking terrifying -- but the fact that the county's existing electronic vote-counting apparatuses can't process its votes. That means that elections staffers will have to hand-copy every vote cast at the disabled-access machines to one of the county's AccuVote ballots. This leaves the inescapable conclusion that Sanders, and possibly other of her colleagues, have the means, the will and the secret Illuminati brainwash training to throw the election!
Please, please, please take a deep breath, Lindsey McWilliams begs. In fact, the re-voting system will have checks, counter-checks and built-in redundancies that will make any vote-rigging virtually impossible. There'll be two sets of eyes on it at all times, and there'll be a paper trail of the original votes cast at the disabled-access machines (which aren't manufactured by Diebold, if that's what you're worried about).
That's leaving aside the fact that Sanders is a human being, one who probably has at least as much honor as you or me. "Rumors to the contrary, Kelly Sanders is not an android and has no moving electronic parts that I know of," the ever-quotable McWilliams confirmed. (Likely story!) And she's sensible, too -- so sensible that she declined to speak with us when we asked.
In fact, we don't expect any great outburst of elections freak-out over this one. Because why? Because the demographics are such that most of the elections critics around here are Neely voters anyway. No harm, no foul. But just imagine what you'd get if there were a Flemming or a Bass in the office.
We finally got a chance to talk with Dennis Cunningham last week. Cunningham's a San Francisco attorney who has developed a reputation as something of a superlawyer in claims cases against government agencies, usually on the behalf of activists and others. He's had a couple of Humboldt County-related cases in the past, and they were both big ones: the Pepper Spray lawsuit against two Humboldt County police agencies, which resulted in a win for the activists whose eyeballs police had swabbed with the noxious substance, and the similarly victorious Judi Bari-Darryl Cherney civil rights lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The word we had was that Cunningham was considering filing a wrongful death suit against the Eureka Police Department over the Cheri Lyn Moore incident (see "Cause of Death," Sept. 21).
Is he going to sue? The answer appears to be maybe. The six-month anniversary of the incident is next Saturday, and that's the deadline to file a wrongful death claim. Cunningham said that his partner, Gordon Kaupp, has been looking into the case, but that as far as he knew, no one in his office has been able to contact Moore's son -- the only relative with standing to file a claim. Cunningham said that he was unaware that the deadline was approaching so soon -- he thought that the shooting had happened in July. "We'll have to make our move," he said.
If a suit is filed, it will further buttress local doctor Ken Miller's second career -- third career? -- as a midwife of politically charged litigation. Miller was the one who brought the now-dormant Headwaters lawsuit to the office of District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Cunningham said that Miller had been working with Kaupp on the potential Moore lawsuit.
8.15.2007
TS - Inmate who escaped from Sempervirens caught
Inmate who escaped from Sempervirens caught
Chris Durant/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 08/15/2007 04:15:46 AM PDT
A man who escaped from Sempervirens Hospital while he was an inmate at the Humboldt County Jail was arrested in Manila Tuesday by Humboldt County Sheriff's detectives .
Derek Wendell Bowman, 26, answered the door of a Manila home and was arrested just before 3:30 p.m.
He escaped from the mental hospital on Aug. 5.
The Sheriff's Department said Detective Troy Garey received information that Bowman was hiding at the house on the 100 block of Phillips Court.
Garey, other detectives and a U.S. marshal arrived at the home and Bowman was arrested without any problems.
He was booked into the jail on suspicion of escape and for a series of charges pending while he was in custody the first time, which include forgery and resisting arrest.
In August 2006, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days in jail for forgery, second-degree burglary, interfering with a police officer and possession of drug paraphernalia convictions.
He is not eligible for bail.
Chris Durant/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 08/15/2007 04:15:46 AM PDT
A man who escaped from Sempervirens Hospital while he was an inmate at the Humboldt County Jail was arrested in Manila Tuesday by Humboldt County Sheriff's detectives .
Derek Wendell Bowman, 26, answered the door of a Manila home and was arrested just before 3:30 p.m.
He escaped from the mental hospital on Aug. 5.
The Sheriff's Department said Detective Troy Garey received information that Bowman was hiding at the house on the 100 block of Phillips Court.
Garey, other detectives and a U.S. marshal arrived at the home and Bowman was arrested without any problems.
He was booked into the jail on suspicion of escape and for a series of charges pending while he was in custody the first time, which include forgery and resisting arrest.
In August 2006, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days in jail for forgery, second-degree burglary, interfering with a police officer and possession of drug paraphernalia convictions.
He is not eligible for bail.
7.30.2007
ER Op-Ed - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
1.05.2007
ER - Two from Leonard Bowman's Aunt
Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Writer questions why Bowman's arrest was singled out in paper
12/29/2006
Dear Editor,
The police-beat arrest list for Dec. 9 was published in the Times-Standard newspaper on Dec. 12. The names of 20 people were on that list. Why then was Derek Bowman’s arrest the only one that was published in The Eureka Reporter? The names of the other 19 people were not published, and neither was their race nor their father’s name. Is this racial discrimination or what?
All of the reservations that have casinos have made substantial contributions to this county for various projects and causes — and probably more to the city of Eureka than any other town, yet we are still being harassed and demeaned by any and all means that The Eureka Reporter can find.
By the way, just for your information, the members of the Bear River Band are also descendants of the Wiyot Tribe. Maybe a trip to the library would help you to get your facts straight. The members of the Table Bluff Reservation are not the only Wiyots in this area, as both newspapers imply in the articles that they publish.
Ilene J. Callahan
Eureka
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Writer questions why Bowman's arrest was singled out in paper
12/29/2006
Dear Editor,
The police-beat arrest list for Dec. 9 was published in the Times-Standard newspaper on Dec. 12. The names of 20 people were on that list. Why then was Derek Bowman’s arrest the only one that was published in The Eureka Reporter? The names of the other 19 people were not published, and neither was their race nor their father’s name. Is this racial discrimination or what?
All of the reservations that have casinos have made substantial contributions to this county for various projects and causes — and probably more to the city of Eureka than any other town, yet we are still being harassed and demeaned by any and all means that The Eureka Reporter can find.
By the way, just for your information, the members of the Bear River Band are also descendants of the Wiyot Tribe. Maybe a trip to the library would help you to get your facts straight. The members of the Table Bluff Reservation are not the only Wiyots in this area, as both newspapers imply in the articles that they publish.
Ilene J. Callahan
Eureka
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
12.13.2006
Derek Bowman arrested on warrants
Derek Bowman arrested on warrants
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=18405
12/12/2006
Derek Bowman was arrested late last week on two warrants and remained in custody Tuesday.
On Friday, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bowman, 25, of Loleta, on no bail warrants for second degree burglary and forgery.
Bowman is the son of Leonard Bowman, the chairperson of the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria.
In July, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail for a probation violation. However, according to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
His most recent arrest violates the terms of his SWAP.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
Ethical quagmire created by Gallegos' acceptance of casino's contribution
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
NCJ - Best enemies
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=18405
12/12/2006
Derek Bowman was arrested late last week on two warrants and remained in custody Tuesday.
On Friday, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bowman, 25, of Loleta, on no bail warrants for second degree burglary and forgery.
Bowman is the son of Leonard Bowman, the chairperson of the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria.
In July, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail for a probation violation. However, according to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
His most recent arrest violates the terms of his SWAP.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
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TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
NCJ - Best enemies
12.11.2006
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
by Heather Muller , 9/29/2006
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos declined again Thursday to answer specific questions raised by The Eureka Reporter regarding a possible conflict of interest in the DA’s Office, while statements by two Gallegos subordinates answered some questions and raised others.
The controversy centers around a $10,000 contribution made to Gallegos’ re-election campaign by the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, chaired by Leonard Bowman.
On July 19, less than six weeks after the election, Leonard’s son, Derek Bowman, received a plea deal from the DA’s Office involving nine felony and two misdemeanor charges, in which seven of the charges were dropped and sentences on the remaining charges were suspended.
Derek received jail time only for a 12th charge, a violation of the terms of his probation. Judge Timothy Cissna sentenced him to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail. According to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
In a heated letter Tuesday to The Eureka Reporter, Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza denied that there was any connection between the Bear River campaign contribution and the handling of Derek’s cases by the DA’s Office.
Cardoza, one of five attorneys in the DA’s Office named in court documents as having handled Derek’s charges, stated that Gallegos had taken appropriate measures to remove himself from the July 19 plea deal.
“Included with the files was a copy of a memo from Mr. Gallegos to Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat suggesting that neither he (Mr. Gallegos) nor former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman should have anything to do with the matters because of the potential conflict or appearance of conflict involved therein.”
But a few hours later, Cardoza sent a second e-mail to The Eureka Reporter stating that he had written the above “without reviewing the files in their entirety.”
In fact, Cardoza wrote, he did not see the recusal memo when he originally had stated, because it was not written by Gallegos until July 24, five days after the plea deal was presented in court.
“So, the bottom line is, I was wrong about when I originally saw Paul’s memo,” Cardoza wrote. But, he added, the error didn’t change what he called “the basic fact: Paul never spoke to me about the cases before I entered into the plea agreement and he authored the memo without knowing that pleas had been entered.”
Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat said in a Wednesday phone call that additional measures were taken to ensure Derek was treated the same as any other defendant.
Keat said he called the California Attorney General’s Office in July and “ran the scenario by” a man whose name he didn’t remember on a date he didn’t recall.
When asked if attorneys typically keep records of phone calls like these, Keat said he had no record of the call but knew that he had made it to the AG’s San Francisco office.
“The other paper was incorrect in the information they printed. I didn’t call Sacramento, I called San Francisco. … Usually, I talk to a lady called Joyce Blair, a supervising deputy attorney general. But she was not in the office, and a gentleman was.”
Keat said the call had been made in mid-July. When asked if he could be more specific about the date, he replied, “I think it was on the 19th,” which is the same day the plea deal was presented in court.
Keat said he did not know if the call had been made before or after the deal was presented.
“When we looked at the files, we reached the conclusion that it was all happening simultaneously,” he said. “The gist, though, is that Cardoza did it all independently.”
Also on Wednesday, Blair at the AG’s San Francisco office confirmed by phone that she had not received a call from Keat, and added that she had not heard from other deputy attorneys general in the office that such a call had been received. She told The Eureka Reporter that she would “ask around” to see if anyone remembered Keat’s call.
On Thursday, Blair called back and said she had no information about who might have taken the call. “This is a big office,” she said.
Cardoza’s Tuesday letter additionally criticized The Eureka Reporter for declining to speak with him directly, as one of the attorneys in the DA’s Office who handled Derek’s charges.
“I find it rather telling,” Cardoza wrote, “that, to my knowledge, no one from your newspaper attempted to contact me regarding the facts of this matter prior to the publication of the article.”
A request for comment Thursday was declined by Cardoza.
In an e-mail exchange with The Eureka Reporter, Cardoza explained that he had a busy court calendar, and added, “As far as my responsibility to the media is concerned, I invite your attention to the California Public Records Act, the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the American Bar Association Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the National Prosecution Standards. I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as set forth therein to all media outlets, including yours. If you feel I am in violation of any or all of those directives, I suggest you file a formal complaint with the California State Bar.”
When asked by e-mail if his refusal to comment contradicted the point raised in his criticism of the original story, and if professional standards would have precluded his response, Cardoza replied, “No, and I would thank you not to bother me with any further clumsy attempts to put words in my mouth.”
Cardoza referred to what he called the “sloppiness” of the original story and suggested that this newspaper might not have contacted him prior to its publication because information contradicting “preconceived notions” might have been received.
“I referred you to the various sources of professional standards for prosecutors so that, if possible, you could educate yourself on a prosecutor’s professional and ethical responsibilities when it comes to dealing with the media,” Cardoza wrote. “If you do so, perhaps you will refrain from making any future ham-handed attempts to strong-arm me into giving you what you want when you want it.”
Numerous requests for comment on the original story were made to Gallegos, whose campaign received the contribution. Messages were left at his direct office phone line, at the general phone line at the DA’s Office, at his cell phone number and at his e-mail address. Instead of answering specific questions forwarded to him by e-mail after he declined to speak directly, Gallegos sent an e-mail message that stated only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
Early Thursday afternoon, The Eureka Reporter again requested responses to specific questions from Gallegos and Keat. A short time later, Gallegos responded in brief (see below).
Court documents state that among charges against Derek dismissed as part of the plea agreement were felony threat of death or great bodily injury to a 17-year-old girl, felony domestic battery against a different 17-year-old girl and misdemeanor battery against Bowman’s mother-in-law, Cheree Bowie.
The first of those charges, California Penal Code 422, is a “strike” felony under the California Three Strikes Law. Court files show that in the third charge, Derek was accused of hitting Bowie in the face three times as she was held down by her daughter and a second female.
(Rebecca S. Bender contributed to this report.)
District Attorney Gallegos responds in e-mail exchange
To Paul Gallegos and Wes Keat, from Heather Muller
If either of you has time to speak today regarding a follow-up on our Sept. 26 story, please contact me at your convenience.
From Wes, we’re hoping to learn if he has any additional details about the phone call he reported making to the Attorney General’s San Francisco office. We have not been able to confirm with that office that the call occurred.
From Paul or Wes, we’d like to know if the plea deal reached in the Derek Bowman case was typical of the kinds of deals reached by the DA’s Office — nine felonies, two misdemeanors, an extensive criminal history and no time requested except on a separate probation violation. An explanation is warranted.
We would also like to clarify a statement made by Max Cardoza, who evidently is declining to speak to us. He said that Bowman was now a convicted felon, which I think is technically, although not entirely, accurate. Is it not true that because of the way his sentence was suspended, those charges would be reduced to misdemeanors at the conclusion of his probation?
We are also waiting for the district attorney to address specific questions previously raised by this newspaper and sent to him by e-mail Sept. 22. If those questions need to be resubmitted, please advise.
To Heather Muller, from Paul Gallegos
As I said before, my office operates without fear or favor. Max Cardoza is (a) highly qualified, experienced, aggressive prosecutor whose judgment I respect and trust.
To Paul Gallegos, from Glenn Franco Simmons
We are not doubting anyone’s professionalism. We only want some answers to our questions. As the leader of your organization, we contacted you. If you are directing us to contact Mr. Cardoza, then perhaps I should send you the e-mails he sent me basically stating that he won’t speak to us. Why won’t anyone answer our questions?
To Glenn Franco Simmons, from Paul Gallegos
Both I and my attorneys have always made ourselves extremely available to your reporters and you. This e-mail further confirms that.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
by Heather Muller , 9/29/2006
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos declined again Thursday to answer specific questions raised by The Eureka Reporter regarding a possible conflict of interest in the DA’s Office, while statements by two Gallegos subordinates answered some questions and raised others.
The controversy centers around a $10,000 contribution made to Gallegos’ re-election campaign by the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, chaired by Leonard Bowman.
On July 19, less than six weeks after the election, Leonard’s son, Derek Bowman, received a plea deal from the DA’s Office involving nine felony and two misdemeanor charges, in which seven of the charges were dropped and sentences on the remaining charges were suspended.
Derek received jail time only for a 12th charge, a violation of the terms of his probation. Judge Timothy Cissna sentenced him to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail. According to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
In a heated letter Tuesday to The Eureka Reporter, Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza denied that there was any connection between the Bear River campaign contribution and the handling of Derek’s cases by the DA’s Office.
Cardoza, one of five attorneys in the DA’s Office named in court documents as having handled Derek’s charges, stated that Gallegos had taken appropriate measures to remove himself from the July 19 plea deal.
“Included with the files was a copy of a memo from Mr. Gallegos to Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat suggesting that neither he (Mr. Gallegos) nor former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman should have anything to do with the matters because of the potential conflict or appearance of conflict involved therein.”
But a few hours later, Cardoza sent a second e-mail to The Eureka Reporter stating that he had written the above “without reviewing the files in their entirety.”
In fact, Cardoza wrote, he did not see the recusal memo when he originally had stated, because it was not written by Gallegos until July 24, five days after the plea deal was presented in court.
“So, the bottom line is, I was wrong about when I originally saw Paul’s memo,” Cardoza wrote. But, he added, the error didn’t change what he called “the basic fact: Paul never spoke to me about the cases before I entered into the plea agreement and he authored the memo without knowing that pleas had been entered.”
Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat said in a Wednesday phone call that additional measures were taken to ensure Derek was treated the same as any other defendant.
Keat said he called the California Attorney General’s Office in July and “ran the scenario by” a man whose name he didn’t remember on a date he didn’t recall.
When asked if attorneys typically keep records of phone calls like these, Keat said he had no record of the call but knew that he had made it to the AG’s San Francisco office.
“The other paper was incorrect in the information they printed. I didn’t call Sacramento, I called San Francisco. … Usually, I talk to a lady called Joyce Blair, a supervising deputy attorney general. But she was not in the office, and a gentleman was.”
Keat said the call had been made in mid-July. When asked if he could be more specific about the date, he replied, “I think it was on the 19th,” which is the same day the plea deal was presented in court.
Keat said he did not know if the call had been made before or after the deal was presented.
“When we looked at the files, we reached the conclusion that it was all happening simultaneously,” he said. “The gist, though, is that Cardoza did it all independently.”
Also on Wednesday, Blair at the AG’s San Francisco office confirmed by phone that she had not received a call from Keat, and added that she had not heard from other deputy attorneys general in the office that such a call had been received. She told The Eureka Reporter that she would “ask around” to see if anyone remembered Keat’s call.
On Thursday, Blair called back and said she had no information about who might have taken the call. “This is a big office,” she said.
Cardoza’s Tuesday letter additionally criticized The Eureka Reporter for declining to speak with him directly, as one of the attorneys in the DA’s Office who handled Derek’s charges.
“I find it rather telling,” Cardoza wrote, “that, to my knowledge, no one from your newspaper attempted to contact me regarding the facts of this matter prior to the publication of the article.”
A request for comment Thursday was declined by Cardoza.
In an e-mail exchange with The Eureka Reporter, Cardoza explained that he had a busy court calendar, and added, “As far as my responsibility to the media is concerned, I invite your attention to the California Public Records Act, the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the American Bar Association Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the National Prosecution Standards. I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as set forth therein to all media outlets, including yours. If you feel I am in violation of any or all of those directives, I suggest you file a formal complaint with the California State Bar.”
When asked by e-mail if his refusal to comment contradicted the point raised in his criticism of the original story, and if professional standards would have precluded his response, Cardoza replied, “No, and I would thank you not to bother me with any further clumsy attempts to put words in my mouth.”
Cardoza referred to what he called the “sloppiness” of the original story and suggested that this newspaper might not have contacted him prior to its publication because information contradicting “preconceived notions” might have been received.
“I referred you to the various sources of professional standards for prosecutors so that, if possible, you could educate yourself on a prosecutor’s professional and ethical responsibilities when it comes to dealing with the media,” Cardoza wrote. “If you do so, perhaps you will refrain from making any future ham-handed attempts to strong-arm me into giving you what you want when you want it.”
Numerous requests for comment on the original story were made to Gallegos, whose campaign received the contribution. Messages were left at his direct office phone line, at the general phone line at the DA’s Office, at his cell phone number and at his e-mail address. Instead of answering specific questions forwarded to him by e-mail after he declined to speak directly, Gallegos sent an e-mail message that stated only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
Early Thursday afternoon, The Eureka Reporter again requested responses to specific questions from Gallegos and Keat. A short time later, Gallegos responded in brief (see below).
Court documents state that among charges against Derek dismissed as part of the plea agreement were felony threat of death or great bodily injury to a 17-year-old girl, felony domestic battery against a different 17-year-old girl and misdemeanor battery against Bowman’s mother-in-law, Cheree Bowie.
The first of those charges, California Penal Code 422, is a “strike” felony under the California Three Strikes Law. Court files show that in the third charge, Derek was accused of hitting Bowie in the face three times as she was held down by her daughter and a second female.
(Rebecca S. Bender contributed to this report.)
District Attorney Gallegos responds in e-mail exchange
To Paul Gallegos and Wes Keat, from Heather Muller
If either of you has time to speak today regarding a follow-up on our Sept. 26 story, please contact me at your convenience.
From Wes, we’re hoping to learn if he has any additional details about the phone call he reported making to the Attorney General’s San Francisco office. We have not been able to confirm with that office that the call occurred.
From Paul or Wes, we’d like to know if the plea deal reached in the Derek Bowman case was typical of the kinds of deals reached by the DA’s Office — nine felonies, two misdemeanors, an extensive criminal history and no time requested except on a separate probation violation. An explanation is warranted.
We would also like to clarify a statement made by Max Cardoza, who evidently is declining to speak to us. He said that Bowman was now a convicted felon, which I think is technically, although not entirely, accurate. Is it not true that because of the way his sentence was suspended, those charges would be reduced to misdemeanors at the conclusion of his probation?
We are also waiting for the district attorney to address specific questions previously raised by this newspaper and sent to him by e-mail Sept. 22. If those questions need to be resubmitted, please advise.
To Heather Muller, from Paul Gallegos
As I said before, my office operates without fear or favor. Max Cardoza is (a) highly qualified, experienced, aggressive prosecutor whose judgment I respect and trust.
To Paul Gallegos, from Glenn Franco Simmons
We are not doubting anyone’s professionalism. We only want some answers to our questions. As the leader of your organization, we contacted you. If you are directing us to contact Mr. Cardoza, then perhaps I should send you the e-mails he sent me basically stating that he won’t speak to us. Why won’t anyone answer our questions?
To Glenn Franco Simmons, from Paul Gallegos
Both I and my attorneys have always made ourselves extremely available to your reporters and you. This e-mail further confirms that.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.