The People's Alliance didn't exactly distinguish itself during the lacrosse case: the far-left group announced in April 2006 that it "wholly supports the struggle of this young woman [Crystal Mangum]"; resolutely stood up in November 2006 for prosecutorial misconduct in its enthusiastic support for Mike Nifong; and then stood four-square in summer 2007 for police misconduct when its most prominent City Council backer, Diane Catotti, did her best to frustrate the inquiry into why the Durham Police Department helped indict three demonstrably innocent people.
Now this only-in-Durham allegation, involving the People Alliance's office manager and former city Democratic Party official, courtesy of Powerline.
38 comments:
Off topic-
Wasn't FireFilmz (or whatever) supposed to be releasing the REAL story as told by Precious in June? It's now July and I haven't seen anything. Just who Precious is has, to me, been one of the big question marks as I have compulsively followed this case since it first hit. Her personal situation has consistently been off limits apparently for KC as I suppose it's irrelevant to his focus on the academy and the criminal justice system- but it's not off limits to me. There is nothing I can find on the internet about her doings other than her remarkable recent graduation.
Was she supported financially by Durham as a victim enabling her to stay 'underground' during the long struggle leading up to Mikey's disbarment? If so- how much did she receive and when did it stop? Where was she living? Was she taking care of her kids? Was she actually attending classes ‘under the radar’? Does she continue to work for any escort services? Under the circumstances- does anybody? How in the world has she failed to try to capitalize on her celebrity $tatus?
How can there be such a dearth of information generally on a character so central to a significant national event. Now that's a mystery to me. Anybody have any ideas?
RL alum medicine ‘75
I'm waiting for the potbangers, the take-back-the-night marchers, the Durham clergy, the Rev. Barber, the NAACP, etc. to express their outrage.
The fact that their alleged crimes are being attributed to "a satanic cult", of which there are almost none in the United States, makes me immensely skeptical of these allegations.
Boy, this whole case just keeps getting more and more bizarre. I gave up long ago trying to guess just how far into Bizarroland it would go.
I'm never impressed by wannabe satanist sillies, but.....lots of tacky goofballs out there, and nothing would surprise me about anybody involved in that shabby Durham Peoples' Alliance.
I just noticed this. It's old but still very relevant legacy of the 88...
http://sportstheocracy.blogspot.com/2007/06/long-time-coming.html
Honestly, while UPI is a great read it's looking more and more like Carl Hiaasen or Elmore Leonard should write a novel about this tragedy. Think either one could expose the greed, avarice, evil, and downright stupidity in a fun loving sort of way. Just add a little satan worship and cages and this could be one funny novel.
Those folks in Durham really know how to have fun...
Is Catotti a Communist?
Don't most of these "satanic cult" cases turn out to be BS? Is there any reason to think this case is any more legit than the lacrosse case?
Joy is also a board member of the City of Durham Human Relations Comm. She was appointed in December 2007.
5:55 good luck with that. Seems there's been much more public support/sympathy (as reported by MSM) shown for the accused in this case than for the alleged victims.
To amend my statement above: those people ARE absolutely innocent until proven guilty. I think the significance here is seeing how Durham activists will react to the accusations, re. both the accused and the alleged victims. It will be so opposite to how they reacted to the Duke lax accusations.
The Satanic Cult's greatest trick was to deceive everyone into believing there was no Satanic Cult.
.
Boo!
I saw this story days ago.
It took some outlets--including the N&O--a while to take the bull city by the horns, as it were.
These two urchins are illustrative of what others mean when they say that Durham is the "jumping off place".
Even those in Durham who are ostensibly in charge and appear to be otherwise normal often have a kind of off-center strangeness.
Even affluent residents in places like Hope Valley or Treyburn seem to have a kind of "not-ready-for-prime time" quality.
No taste.
Is something in the water?
This story is the icing on the cake after the Lacrosse Hoax. It seals the deal. More FOM (friends of Mikey) on display.
Looks as though the moronic wonder Woody Vann---Otis of Mayberry's cousin---will soon be plastered all over cable news again.
H-S:
More sex offense, kidnap charges
By Ray Gronberg : The Herald-Sun
Jul 2, 2008
DURHAM -- Police filed more felony charges Tuesday against former Durham County Democratic Party activist Joy Johnson and her husband, and said "an active, ongoing investigation" of the couple is still unfolding.
Arrest warrants show that Investigator Ronald Guardino Jr. lodged two additional counts of second-degree kidnapping against Johnson's husband, Joseph Scott Craig, 25, and a count of second-degree forcible sex offense. The latter count is in addition to an earlier count of second-degree rape and, by definition, involves a sex act other than vaginal intercourse.
Both new kidnapping counts allege that Craig restrained a man against his will "for the purpose of terrorizing" him. The claim is the same one that prompted Craig's arrest last Friday on an initial charge of second-degree kidnapping.
Police identified the same man as the alleged victim in all three kidnapping counts.
Police identified the same woman as the alleged victim in both the rape and sex-offense counts.
Johnson, 30, was charged with a third count of aiding and abetting a crime.
In an arrest warrant, Guardino alleged that she helped Craig commit kidnapping "by instigating and encouraging him" to handcuff the man and force him "into a dog cage, leaving him there for three hours to terrorize him."
Craig and Johnson have been in jail since Friday on the original charges, which also include two counts against Craig accusing him of assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.
The assault counts against Craig allege separate beatings of the man and the woman police say were victims. The two previous aiding and abetting counts against Johnson allege that she watched while Craig committed the rape and one of the assaults.
Prosecutors said in court Monday that the alleged crimes stemmed from some sort of satanic ritual.
The new kidnapping warrants claimed the violations occurred sometime between Dec. 1 -- a month earlier than the first such charge -- and last Friday. The rape and the sex offense supposedly happened between May 1 and June 1.
The man and woman identified as victims are the only witnesses Guardino has listed on the arrest warrants he's filed so far.
Police haven't said anything publicly about the charges, other than what Guardino has sworn to in the arrest warrants. They are known to have procured a search warrant in connection with the case that would include more information. But it remained unavailable as of Tuesday.
State law allows police 48 hours to execute a warrant once they obtain it.
They have to return the warrant to court clerks along with a list of any evidence seized. But state law doesn't set a time limit for the return and says only that it must occur "without unnecessary delay."
Tuesday also saw the couple receive legal representation.
Durham County Public Defender Lawrence Campbell said one of his assistants, Elizabeth Curran, would take Johnson's case. Campbell's office farmed out the job of representing Craig to a private-practice lawyer, Durham attorney Woody Vann.
Vann said that as of Tuesday afternoon, he hadn't received paperwork formally assigning him to the case. He added that he would likely confer with Craig for the first time on Friday.
Durham Police Department spokeswoman Kammie Michael's said police are still conducting an "active, ongoing" investigation when asked if Tuesday's charges would be the last filed against Craig and Johnson, and again when asked if any one else might face charges.
Johnson has resigned all her positions with the Democratic Party, which included the post of third vice chairwoman of the county party and a seat on the hundreds-strong executive committee of the state party.
The case started drawing attention Tuesday from online blogs and other national media outlets because of Johnson's Democratic Party ties -- a development local Democrats feared because of its potential to complicate their organizing for the fall election.
The only bit of good news on that front for party activists is that Johnson wasn't one of the people Durham Democrats recently elected as delegates to the upcoming Democratic National Convention.
Johnson was a Hillary Clinton supporter and wasn't in the running for a delegate's seat, a source said. U.S. Sen. Barack Obama carried about 75 percent of the vote locally in the May primary, so most of the delegates from this county are supporters of his candidacy.
I wonder if the powers that be in Durham are going to call for "due process" and the like in this case. Now that some of their own are in the dock, no doubt we will see the hard-left Democrats in Durham suddenly discovering the importance of due process of law and not "rushing to judgment."
TO 5:55 PM--
You ask some excellent questions.
The answers to most of them I think you already know.
It would be a wonderful breath of fresh air to this case if the instigator of this entire saga were to be scrutinized the way the victims (the lacrosse players) have been.
When I read the news I often silently hope that the perpetrators and the victims are of the same race.
Otherwise, there is always this circus atmosphere. It's so boring and predictable.
The same story we've heard forever that those accused who are black get shoddy and unfair treatment does not hold up to the facts.
Do you realize to what lengths many will go to keep this narrative alive?
We have witnessed but one example of many with this case.
Crystal Mangum is living better now than she ever has in her life.
Who says that crime doesn't pay?
It does for some.......who fit the long-savored antebellum fantasy.
Worth taking a moment to look at the Comments on Powerline.
I almost forgot.
As an amusing sideline to this story, Floyd McKissick, who is a friend of these strange people and who is a former Durham City Council member, and now a state senator.....
.......was in the news several years ago for allegedly hitting and terrorizing his wife (now ex-wife).
She accused him of holding her down and hitting her.....along with other abusive marital delicacies.
Another Durham council member has a grown daughter who was arrested for stabbing his girlfriend with an ink pen.
LOL!!!
Unfortunately,Hiaasen is extremely left-wing and would likely support the Duke and Durham liberals whose world-view held that the laxers had to have committed the rape because a (black) woman said it happened and the accused were white (males).
With apologies to KC Johnson (who autographed four of the UPI for me at Duke), I was abducted by a flying purple people eater who said he was a member of something or other . . . I can't remember much of anything more with great certainty except to ask does Durham have one of those on its city council or the DukeGroup88 have one. While I was not molested, there was a wild and rabid look in its eye . . . it only had one and appeared to be a cyclops of some sort . . . I am not sure, but I don't think it was a Democrat even though it treated me roughly. I thought I was Tina and Ike had come home. I trembled at the thought, and it had a horn coming out of its head which throughly perturbed me, and it could fly . . . flying me high into the sky. It was awful. I thought to myself that none of it was real because you just can't make this up. It was as if it could read my thoughts because just then it turned and said to me in a very low voice, "Oh, yes you can." Low and behold it was right.
Given the way the lacrosse hoax turned out, if I was these folks I'd be askin' for my soul back.
-RD
Is there a tour bus company in Durham that offers guided tours of this bizarre wonderland of Oz?
Satanic Cult! Fooey.
I mean, really.
::
GP
Most likely, when all is said and done the accused will produce evidence that the alledged victims got what they paid for. Less likely is that the whole affair is satanic in nature, other than the fact that all sin is satanic in nature.
The accused run a business that specializes in weirdness like this. Indigo Dawn
Probably just a dissatisfied customer.
It only took 6 paragraphs before you found out the woman was a dimocrat! Imagine where it would have appeared had they been republicans!
Well, this was just precious!
However, if you read closely the article from the N & O that good old Debrah copied, note how carefully the reporter referred to the "victims"(my emphasis):
The man and woman identified as victims are the only witnesses Guardino has listed on the arrest warrants he's filed so far."
and
"The assault counts against Craig allege separate beatings of the man and the woman police say were victims."
Perhaps the local press has learned at least a small lesson from the work KC has done on the lacrosse hoax.
One Spook
I understand why the title "Only In Durham" is appealing. But I also think it's unfair in the same way that it would be unfair to write of the show trials the Bush Administration is trying to put on "Only In America."
The debauchery, the corruption, the public subsidizing of leaches, the morons in positions of public trust.....
Is Durham becoming the Detroit of the South?
For the same reasons????
River Rat, Durham is the Detroit of the South.
Packwood, miss you at LS
River Rat,
Your handle is a term for hand liners fishing for walleye in the Detroit River.
I too am a river rat in that aspect.
Have I guessed correctly?
Detroit and Durham appear to be cities run by the you know who party.
"O" wouldn't even come close to "KK" on either of his visits. Even KK's sister referred to Detroit residents as "Idiots" in a text message. Now that 4 council members are about to get the axe from the FBI I believe we have the edge on Durham.
Detroit, "Where the weak are killed and eaten"
Himself
The Mulatto Leprechaun will be in Michigan this week! Stay tuned!
Anonymous 4:55,
Sorry - my "river rat" comes as the result of a meal I was served in Vietnam - being the only Marine in my team who kept it down after being informed of the nature of the "meat" in the pot.
Note: Rats along the river in our AO feasted on corpses floating down the river - and grew to unbelievable size.
So I guess that also made me a cannibal once removed!
Good news for KC: "Johnson [no relation, I hope] was a Hillary Clinton supporter".
What they need to do now is perp-walk all members of the People's Alliance down to the jailhouse to get DNA samples, then provide the complainants with a photo line up of just PA members. Ironically, such actions would help Durham's trial position in the lacrosse case. :)
Btw, for the few doorknobs who've commented above about the "unlikeliness of the charges": History shows a lot more crimes by satan worshipers than it does rapes by rich white men of black women. I think the defendants here are probably guilty.
RRH
TO 12:09 AM--
What?
Debrah,
Detroit News:
The Obama campaign has significant weapons in its arsenal with which to propel its Michigan campaign.
To One Spook
You said
"Perhaps the local press has learned at least a small lesson from the work KC has done on the lacrosse hoax.".
I doubt it. They haven't done anything to correct their past sins and don't believe they've been caught in any bad angles. I'm guessing they have no angle to run with yet, or this is just like the white girl who was raped by the black guy at the frat house...not really newsworthy
TO 3:38 PM--
If you are also the commenter at 12:09 AM, then I am puzzled.
Do you think such a comment elevates your anti-Obama position in any way?
You know, last week I tried to leave a link to a post of mine inside The Diva World answering such caustic drivel, but KC wouldn't get into it.
At the time, I hated him for denying the Diva......and after a short time away, I am just now getting over it.
He's extended largesse to you here and I will just say that all you guys over at the abyss of JinC, please just give everyone a big kiss.
To see the rest of that comment, check out the post at my place.
H-S:
LOL!
Democratic zombies
I really can't understand why the Herald-Sun keeps ragging on these Durham Democratic Party kingpins just because of some kidnap-rape-satanism beef. Hey, what the guys and gals do on their weekends is their business. The Democrats always say that they're for diversity, and we've got to figure that this is part of it.
Any Republicans who imagine that the story will make an electoral difference in November are living in a dream world. The Durham committees will again march their legions, zombie-like, to the polls. And they will again mark their ballots for all the Democratic candidates, exactly as their little cheat-sheet cards instruct them.
FRANK HURLEY
Chapel Hill
July 9, 2008
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