Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Los Angeles Magazine- 40 Years of Charles Manson (six)
Lots of old names show up again to repeat themselves- including the Bug cause there is no show without Punch.
Los Angeles Magazine- 40 Years of Charles Manson (five)
Catherine Share is a criminal above and beyond Charles Manson.
Los Angeles Magazine- 40 Years of Charles Manson (start here)
Los Angeles Mag has an amazing oral history. Click on pics to enlarge.
Friday, June 05, 2009
Deceptive Headline- It was Merely Postponed
Manson follower Susan Atkins, with six months to live, granted parole hearing
8:14 AM | June 5, 2009
But Atkins, who gained infamy for her role in the 1969 slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and others in a bloody two-night rampage in Los Angeles, may get one last chance to convince state parole officials she should no longer be kept behind bars.
Officials with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Thursday they have scheduled a Sept. 2 parole hearing for Atkins in Los Angeles.
Atkins has served 38 years in prison, longer than any other female prisoner, officials said. Before last year's attempt, she was most recently considered for, and denied, parole in 2000.
In early 2008 Atkins was diagnosed with brain cancer. With one leg amputated and the other paralyzed, Atkins has only six months to live, doctors say. Atkins petitioned for so-called compassionate release, igniting a debate about when mercy is appropriate.
Those backing her release argued unsuccessfully that the cost of keeping Atkins in prison, which by now could be well over a million dollars, should have favored her release because it would save the state substantial amounts of money.
Others, including former Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi, said it was a question of mercy and told The Times it was wrong to say "just because Susan Atkins showed no mercy to her victims, we therefore are duty-bound to follow her inhumanity and show no mercy to her."
But most were unwavering in their contention she should die in prison considering her crimes.
Tate, the wife of film director Roman Polanski, was 8 1/2 months pregnant when she and four others were killed at her hilltop home in Benedict Canyon. The actress, who was stabbed to death, had begged Atkins for her life.
"She asked me to let her baby live," Atkins told parole officials in 1993. "I told her I didn't have mercy for her."
Atkins was housed at the California Institution for Women in Corona from April 1971 until March 2008, when she was transferred to a local hospital for treatment.
-- Andrew Blankstein
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Dave Edwards is a Spazz
Okay, so we let the Pugh guy post here, and join here and he doesn't like it here. He can stay or go that's up to him. But first I want to get to the bottom of something? Can he read?
--------------
Back in May there was a comment in the section that reprinted the original article- by member Force 17. It read...
Simon Wells has written a book called Coming down fast and he has done some original research on this rather than another cut and paste job. Dont think it has a US release yet.
In the letter Dave Edwards wrote us, he defensively states that his article is not a cut and paste job. Fine. The comment is clearly referring to other books like the GoRightly one and two others.
-------------
Dave responds to my comments. One of his comments is
Of course newspapers aren't necessarily right but they've always been, and remain, forums of free expression. Sure, sometimes articles are skewed to toe a particular line but this wasn't the case with my piece.
Dave- If you've taken a look around you will see that this site, Bret's site and Cat's site all have one thing in common. We want the truth. A tabloid newspaper wants to be sold. It doesn't, by definition, care about the truth. We do....
I'm sorry, but nothing in my piece expresses admiration for Vincent Bugliosi. Incidentally, didn't Susan Atkins refer to him as the 'Bug'? I really, really hope that you haven't taken to quoting her. That would suggest this is a pro-Manson site rather than something more even-handed.
...And we have been able to, via research and actual free thinking, establish that someone who stalked his milkman thinking he was his son's birth father, who assaulted his mistress and who made up a bullshit motive for the crime of the century should not be trusted, cited or referred to. The moment you cite BUGliosi you lose. Because he is the cause of all the lies out there. His win at any cost ploys helped him to win (although ironically tied him to Manson for life) and helped us lose out on understanding what really happened. And you stand corrected- all of the Family referred to him as BUGliosi (not just Susan, even though BUG dwells on her in his novel). We are not pro Manson. For the record I once again state- Charlie Manson was a short, charasmatic, con artist, a punk who had spent 18 years taking it in the ass. When he got out he continued a life of petty crime. And he never KILLED anybody, so painting him as Satan, as Bug does, is just bullshit. So face that truth, Mr. Edwards. It's where the facts actually start.
If British tabloids really are as bad as you suggest, why on earth are you reprinting my loathsome, inaccurate and sensationalist article? And as far as a response goes, how about sending something to the letters page? It's not hard to do. Try google. Alternatively, there's a forum for comments on the paper's website.
Well Dave, I reprinted it so we can examine and dissect it- not because I assumed that it was the truth because the great Dave wrote it! And why do I care to respond to the paper? Are they official? We are! And why comment on the site? I don't care about the site at all.
This has me at a total loss. And what's with the swearword? This blog follows every twist and turn of the Manson story, happily devoting thousands of words to unsubstantiated rumours but then gets its knickers in a bunch when someone goes out and does some investigative reporting. The reason I looked into Joel's life was because I wanted to tell his story which, as far as I'm aware, had never been properly told. Why has that created such animosity?
Total loss? No doubt. Swear word? Aren't you a grown up? Unsubstantiated rumors? Not sure what you mean but if so I will FUCKING swear that I labelled them as such. Unlike- well, you. Telling Joel's story is a good idea... the question we are discussing is, did you? It appears many people think not. Sorry.
As far as 'sticking around' and learning the truth goes, rest assured, I'll do just that but I'm starting to thin this isn't the place to do it.
Ah, well, there you go. I'm sorry we didn't bow down and accept your tabloid article as God's word.
But at least we got that picture out of it!
Oh and as far as your "truth" goes, Cats from the other great site has a letter for you- she don't think much of your shit either-
Dear Mr. Dave Edwards,
I take note of your presence here yesterday reading this thread, then alas, you appear on the Colonel's site addressing what we have posted here concerning your article.
I take offense to what you said concerning us here, and we do not have hostility nor think we know everything about the TLB case. We just call bullshit bullshit and I am sorry that you did not deem it necessary to address us here on the points made in this thread. You are a member and can post.
The autopsy report has been seen, and Simon too has spoken to Joel's brother Daniel.
The infamous letter with the line about what happened to Joel not happening to the writer is reproduced in full in Simon's book, and when taken into proper context and seeing the letter in full, that single solitary line doesn't mean what has been gathered all these years.
Cats
----------David Gets Snarky in The Comments, Col Dissects----------
Gosh, my own thread. I’m honoured.If the guy could READ he would notice this is his THIRD thread.
Colonel,It's COL thanks I’ve read your comments and, after due consideration, I want to apologise. The points you’ve raised are not only pertinent, beautifully put and well argued; they’re also accurate. You mean this as a snarky asshole, but in fact are correct.
This isn’t easy for me to do but… I want to say sorry. no you don't. This makes you a liar.
First, I want to apologise for writing an article about the Manson case without seeking your permission. I thought it was about Joel Pugh- and you still keep being a smug limey asshole..Given how you, and you alone, possess the truth, I WISH I possessed the truth it was simply inexcusable. After much soul-searching, I’ve realised that somehow I have become part of the Great Media Conspiracy that has turned a basically nice guy like Charlie into the devil incarnate. The media didn't do this, BUGliosi did- with Charlie's complicity. LEARN TO READ.
May I also apologise for quoting Vincent Bugliosi who (you’re absolutely right) knows nothing about the case. Hey guys, CAN THIS GUY READ? I never said he knows nothing- he knows quite a lot. What he SAYS cannot be trusted though. You, Susan Atkins and the others are absolutely right -- he really is a bit of a ‘BUG’, isn’t he?He's a lying, woman attacking former DA.
I also want to – hand on heart – apologise if I suggested your website was in any way pro-Family or that you’re a Manson apologist.Anyone that could READ would realize this isn't true. That’s clearly not the case at all. Having looked over your site, it’s now clear to me that Manson is an unfortunate, misunderstood and largely harmless individual who should be freed immediately so he can spread his gospel of peace, love and death.See what I mean, loser- no where does it say that- too bad you cannot READ. Sure, he may have directed the residents of Spahn to commit mass murder,likely did not he may have tied up the terrified LaBiancas not "may"- didbefore they were horrifically killed, he may have orchestrated the murder of Shorty Shea depends on what you mean by orchestrated, he may have sliced off Gary Hinman’s ear,Hinman's corpse clearly has an ear in the autopsy record so he DID NOT do this he may have shot Lotsapoppa did, he may have raped teenage girls who found themselves at Spahn,we can agree to disagree about this he may have ordered the murder of poor Joel except he didn't and NOBODY but you, the poor reader, thinks that he did.but, as you rightly say, he was merely a short, ‘charasmatic’ con artist. Boy, did I get my facts wrong!And you continue to. Again, I’m sorry.
Sometimes it takes a man to stand up and admit his mistakesWell since you are a poorly educated limey fool who could only sell his 6 months of work to a British tabloid, let me know when you find a man. Well, I’m doing just that. Colonel, you’re truly a one-off. A fearless seeker of the truth and someone clearly unafraid to courageously ask the big questions that most shy away from.This is accurate May I also compliment you on your spelling and grammar – you’re also a commander of the English language. My prose is pretty solid, thanks. You CAN'T FUCKING READ so please don't try to teach.I salute you! I’m also glad you haven’t lost your sense of humour during our tête-à-tête. I can’t remember the last time I was called a ‘Spazz’ but I think it was in a playground.No. It was yesterday. By me. Because? Well, you are a spazz. Anyway reading your letter thinks to themselves "Wow, what a spazz!"
Peace, brother, and fingers crossed Charlie, Susan, Linda and all the other victims of disinformation in the media finally win their long overdue parole. God I hope Susan never gets out. Charlie never will no matter what I hope. And Linda IS NOT IN JAIL.... SPAZZZZZZZZ!
The Guy Who Wrote The Pugh Article writes to us (and joins us?)
Hi everyone,
Apologies for leaving it so late but I thought I'd respond to all your comments regarding my article. Very briefly, I spent six months writing the piece.
I've been a journalist for the past 13 years and came up with the idea of writing a piece on Joel Pugh after re-reading Helter Skelter last year. Over many, many nights, I contacted Ed Sanders, Vincent Bugliosi, Curt Gentry and others looking for leads. They were all extremely helpful and, after a very, very long time, I was able to contact Joel's brother, Dan, to find out a little about what became of him. I then put together the article you now see and placed it with a newspaper.
While I'm proud to have been the first to piece together the life and times of Joel (a warm, witty and idiosyncratic guy), I'm bemused at the hostility my article has caused. This is something I noticed on many of the Manson websites. It's as if there's a hardcore of people who believe they know the truth of the murders who dismiss those who come up with anything off their radar. I can understand this given all the disinformation out there but, still, the patronizing air is stifling. I'm as fascinated as them about the killings but am not arrogant enough to think I'm the sole keeper of the Tate/Labianca flame.
Incidentally, if the webmaster sees fit to post all my hard work here, I'm offended s/he uses the intro 'but how much do I believe?' Why didn't they have the courtesy to get in touch with me first? I'd have been happy to answer any questions they had. Believe it or not, I didn't make this piece up. Every word was drawn from first-hand testimony, contemporaneous newspaper reports and documents.
As far as Force 17's comments go, may I suggest s/he actually reads my article, which is comprised entirely of original research. It's depressing when people dismiss newspaper articles as 'cut and paste jobs' but even more depressing when the critics don't appear to have actually read them.
As for Simon Wells' book, I finished reading it this week. I thought it was an interesting summary of the phenomenon that, rightly, steered away from the whole Helter Skelter mythology. I notice on other websites he's unhappy at my article, suggesting I've twisted the facts to make a suicide look like a murder. Again, the criticisms are delivered in a familiarly patronizing tone, suggesting I've trivialized Joel's life and death for tabloid readers. I refute this and refer Simon to the blurb on the back of his own book that refers to 'new evidence linking a cult member to a murder in London'. Murder, huh?
Having spent a long time perusing this site, it seems clear the users have a distinct distrust of the media (just like Manson himself, incidentally). That doesn't mean all newspaper articles are wrong.
David Edwards
------
Col Writes-
Nor does it mean that they are right. You start off expressing admiration for BUGliosi who wrote a self-aggrandizing book full of lies. How should we respond? That newspaper is a UK Tabloid. How should we respond? You decided out of a clear blue fucking sky to do a story about Joel Pugh- it doesn't get more obscure than that. How should we respond?
Welcome to the Blog. Stick around and you might learn a thing or two.
The Harlot Who Wouldn't Die
Dying Manson killer seeks parole; hearing put off
By LINDA DEUTSCH
AP Special Correspondent
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Susan Atkins was expected to succumb to brain cancer months ago, but the former Charles Manson follower imprisoned for killing actress Sharon Tate nearly four decades ago still clings to life.
Now, a hearing that is perhaps her last chance at freedom has been abruptly put off until September.
Her lawyer husband doesn’t know if the 61-year-old Atkins will make it. But that’s fine with the family of Tate, among seven people killed by Manson followers in one of the most notorious murder cases of the 20th century.
"They all should live out their natural years in institutions," said Debra Tate, the younger sister of the slain actress. If they are released, she said, "I can’t trust that they won’t inspire other individuals to do similar acts."
It’s been more than a year since prison doctors gave Atkins only a few months to live. She lost a bid for compassionate release from prison last July. Now, her parole hearing, initially scheduled for last week, has been delayed three months because parole board members were unavailable.
"I don’t know if she’s going to make it through that long," said her husband, James W. Whitehouse. "She is deteriorating."
Whitehouse said his wife has undergone surgery to remove a brain tumor, is paralyzed over most of her body, can’t feed herself and has lost most of her ability to speak. Still, Whitehouse said, Atkins plans to attend the hearing, even if she is on a gurney.
The gruesome murders that made the cult infamous were discovered on Aug. 9, 1969, when a maid ran screaming from the home shared by Tate and her husband, director Roman Polanski.
Five people were killed in a ritualistic manner, including Tate, who was 8½ months pregnant; coffee heiress Abigail Folger; and celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring. Two other people were killed at another home. Polanski was not at home at the time of the slayings.
Atkins admitted stabbing Tate to death even as Tate begged for her life, claiming she and other cult followers acted on orders from Manson and were on LSD.
The chaotic, nearly yearlong trial concluded with Manson, Atkins and two other followers, Patricia Krenwinkle and Leslie Van Houten, convicted and sentenced to death. The sentences were commuted to life when the death penalty was temporarily outlawed in the United States in the 1970s. They all remain in custody.
Deputy district attorney Patrick Sequeira said he planned to argue that "the enormity and the severity of the crimes" weighs against granting her parole.
At a hearing in 2000, Atkins acknowledged, "I sinned against God and everything this country stands for." She said she wanted to make amends for what she did.
Whitehouse, 46, said his wife has made him a better person in their 21 years of marriage and should be released, if nothing else, to save taxpayers her hefty medical expenses.
Debra Tate, 57, the last surviving member of her family, said brain cancer can go into remission and she doesn’t know if Atkins’ condition is as grave as her husband says.
She said she remains in touch with her sister’s widower, Polanski, and feels that he has designated her the keeper of the victims’ rights in the case. Polanski remains in exile in France, having failed recently to get a decades-old child-sex charge dismissed.
Although many life-term prisoners have come and gone from behind bars while Atkins was incarcerated, none of the Manson killers has been paroled. Krenwinkle and Van Houten remain at the California Institution for Women at Frontera. Every few years they appear before parole boards and ask for release. Manson, now 74, has ceased to request parole.
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Col's Note- Debra "feels" this way like I feel I need a scotch.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
John Bis a Fucking Idiot
Now we all know, or at least SHOULD know, that Wikipedia is a stupid website that is run like an online role playing game. ANYONE can edit it, even special needs children, so therefore NOTHING can be taken as accurate. Its founder recently had his semen encrusted shirt auctioned on ebay, so that gives you a good profile of the place.
That being said, it takes a special kind of idiot to spend a lot of time playing on Wikipedia and becoming an editor. A fucking idiot. This of course is today's topic of discussion, John B.
John has anointed himself the Manson expert on Wikipedia, because, well he read HELTER SKELTER once. And of course, like the fucking idiot he is, he believes it to be an accurate depiction of what happened.
So Helter Skelter, the bullshit theory that even the Bug's fellow prosecutors believe is bullshit? John buys it.
And so he writes this article
on Wikipedia. And it is just so full of bullshit that I want to throw up and then throw up some more. But don't point out that even fellow prosecutors thought Bugliosi was full of shit. No, then this lame ass bitch Wildhartlivie will show up and change things and get you banned.
So what we have is a wrong, provably stupid article that is treated as encyclopedic by the web and thus more and more people are told INCORRECT information by this guy.
It's kind of a shame. But then I guess if people treat Wikipedia as truthful they get what they deserve.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
He's a Little Bit CUNTy, I'm a Little Bit Devastated
So I woke up on Memorial Day and found out that Savage Jim From NY had had the Col's entire YOUTUBE account nuked.
Like removed.
Gone.
Hours and hours of research now removed.
I don't know what to say.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Teh Internest Full of Lies? Oh Noes!!!!
So there was this bullshit piece in a goddamn gossip column about Oliver Stone making yet another version of HELTER SKELTER. This didn't ring true thought the Col. Oliver Stone was way too smart than to fall for the Bug's point of view. So rather than spread internet lies I called up Oliver Stone. I am please to report that this is 100 % bullshit. His next film is Wall Street 2. I'm not sure THAT'S a good idea, but at least it won't hurt our search for the truth.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
The Fires Are Burning
Barker Ranch, the old Death Valley mining camp notorious as Charles Manson's hide-out, has been gutted in a suspicious fire, according to the National Park Service.
“The building is gutted, burned out,” said Terry Baldino, chief of interpretation at Death Valley National Park.
The homestead’s rock walls and tin roof were still intact, but its hand-hewn wooden interior beams and window and door frames were all reduced to ash, he said. An outbuilding, originally built as a garage or workroom, was destroyed, Baldino said.
Park officials said the fire might have started last weekend; it was reported Wednesday. No cause has been identified and the fire is under investigation, Baldino said.
The cabin is in a remote area of the park and used by backcountry campers. It had a stove and a fireplace, but there was no water source in the area. If the fire was inadvertently set, there was no water available to put it out.
“The thing that is really sad,” Baldino said, “is that a month ago we had a restoration crew out to stabilize the place. We were afraid the wood lattice and tin roof would come off. We replaced wood timbers in the sagging roof and cleaned up the interior and the grounds. It was actually in fairly good shape when we finished.”
The simple cabin was built in the 1930s by a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer, who, with his wife, had staked a gold claim. The Barker family then bought the house and worked the claim.
In the late 1960s, the Manson gang roamed the barren Death Valley landscape in dune buggies and prepared for "Helter Skelter," a race war Manson was trying to spark. The phrase was taken from a Beatles song, which Manson believed was encoded with predictions that the conflict would destroy modern civilization. Manson and his followers planned to survive by living in a tunnel, then emerge as leaders of some new world order.
Manson eventually was arrested in the cabin, hiding in one of the cupboards, after a 1969 murder spree in Southern California that included the killing of actress Sharon Tate, three friends and a teenager at the pregnant actress' Benedict Canyon home, and the slaying of a couple in Los Feliz.
The ranch was the subject of renewed attention recently when a local police detective searched the site for possible clandestine graves. The excavation revealed little more than a few bullet casings.
—Julie Cart
Monday, May 11, 2009
Movies That Won't Happen for 300, Alex
CANNES -- Bill Gottlieb's U.S. production banner Gorilla Pictures and L.A.-based American Media Group are ramping up their co-production partnership with a slew of projects including Jesse V. Johnson's "Debt Collectors."
Going into preproduction in the fall, "Debt Collectors" is written and will directed by Johnson and is billed as neo-noir drama centering on the story of two professional debt collectors.
The project marks the second collaboration for Gorilla and AMG on a Johnson movie. The first will see the duo unspool the filmmaker's noir drama "Charlie Valentine" here in the Marche du Film.
"Valentine" stars Raymond J. Barry, Michael Weatherly, Tom Berenger and Steven Bauer and details the story of a gangster and his relationship with his son.
Also in development at AMG is "Within Screaming Distance," written by Joseph Stefano before his death in 2006. Stefano was living next door to Sharon Tate when she was savagely murdered by Charles Manson in 1969. His screenplay centers on a Hollywood party occurring next door to Sharon just before she was murdered.
Also heading into the preproduction phase in early 2010 is "Dead Man's Party," a horror pic written by Lou Aguilar, and "Hard Dazed Night" written by Steve McKean, Frank Elkins & Jack Airey.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
There Was NO PARTY- But the Myth Continues.
'ALLO 'Allo creator Jeremy Lloyd may only have been married to Joanna Lumley for six short months in 1970.
But without her there wouldn't have been Rene, Yvette, Herr Flick and all the rest of the French resistance gang.
Jeremy's not surprised by her stand against the government on behalf of the Gurkhas.
"Like my father, who was a colonel, Joanna's father was an army man, a Gurkha commander, and she was born in the Himalayas.
"Our friendship's outlasted our marriage," he said.
Joanna is just one of a host of beautiful women Jeremy worked with over the years, and there would probably have been no 'Allo 'Allo without her.
Jeremy returned home from a spell in America where he'd won an Emmy for his part in TV comedy Rowan and Martin's Laugh In, co-starring with Goldie Hawn.
"I'd just come back to collect some things," he said. "But then I met Joanna and that rather delayed going back. But she didn't want to go to America, so I stayed over here."
Maybe it was a wonder he had time for a writing career at all. He giggled at the idea that as a stunning-looking young actor he was an It boy of the time.
"I was engaged to an It girl, Charlotte Rampling, in fact she's coming to see me in three days as we're still friends.
"It was an amazing time. I appeared with Goldie Hawn, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Ronald Reagan, Frank Sinatra, they were all on the show."
Jeremy also confirmed what is often thought of as an urban legend, that he should have been at actress Sharon Tate's house the day Charles Manson murdered her in one of the most notorious incidents from Hollywood's past.
"Sharon's husband director Roman Polanski had asked me to look up Sharon while I was out there. I was staying with Leslie Bricusse who worked on songs with Antony Newley and from his house we could see Sharon Tate's roof.
"I rang her and she invited me over for tea the next day. But I went out drinking with the actor George Hamilton and we were back very late, slept in till five the next day – I'd been asked round for four. I tried to phone to apologise, but there was no answer as Manson's people had cut the wires. So I should really have been there when it all happened."
As well as appearing in Beatles movies A Hard Day's Night and Help!, Jeremy acted in West End plays and had TV roles such as a sooty chimney sweep in the first colour episode of The Avengers.
"I took Diana Rigg out for a while after that," mused Jeremy.
And in movies he went from uncredited performances such as Man Doing The Twist in 60s film Play It Cool to roles in Murder On The Orient Express and Tom Jones.
"I wasn't just a writer or a performer, I was a performer who broke into America. Because I looked very silly."
But maybe not that silly. Jeremy revealed he was getting 5,000 fan letters a week from across America.
"They were from girls all over the country – some of them sent photographs!"
You'd never guess Jeremy had a broken leg, injured while falling downstairs.
As well as a packed social life, he's working on a new sitcom called Here Comes The Queen, written with his 'Allo 'Allo co-writer David Croft.
"We've made it and we're trying to sell it and I'm working on another play called Last Tango For A Gigolo, I'm looking for finance.
But Jeremy already had form when he and David Croft first got together to write 'Allo 'Allo.
His first sitcom had been Are You Being Served? in 1972, the hit show based on the antics of the staff of an old-fashioned department store.
"I based it on my own experiences working in the suit department of a big shop in London called Simpson's," said Jeremy. "And that is the most true to life of the sitcoms I've worked on. It really was like that to work in shops like that in those days.
"When I'd come back from America, David and I had been asked to write a show to be one of a number of pilot shows – that was the one that took off!
'Allo 'Allo notched up a victory for international relations last year.
Jeremy said: "German TV bought the 85 episodes and they're translating them all into German.
"I think it's had a harmonising effect with all the different countries represented in it – a lot of Germans have liked it over the years. I think it's like in the First World War when both sides got together and sang Christmas carols."
Jeremy revealed that people like to turn up to see the tour of 'Allo 'Allo in costume.
"It's like audiences do with the Rocky Horror Show," he said.
"I went to see the production in Bournemouth and about 100 German generals came walking down the street towards me."
Friday, May 01, 2009
We're Back // Bobby and Jane Doe
Hi
I didn't post for an entire month. I'd love to tell you that I was on vacation but I wasn't. Or that I was in prison but I wasn't. Or maybe I was on an Amazonian exploration with BRET (whose goddamn site is goddamn down again) but I wasn't. You know what?
I didn't have anything to say!
Sorry kids... I tried. I wanted to. Truly I did.
But I just didn't have much new to add to the discussion. And the Col doesn't like to flap his mouth off. So I shut my pie hole and kept earning major dollars and ignored the ONLY Official Tate LaBianca Blog in existence.
I'm not sorry. I'm just sayin.....
But now I'm back. And I promise to make up for it in the Merry Month of May.
---------------------
Today's Topic
Did Bobby Beausoleil kill a girl before he killed Gary Hinman?
Cats and others are discussing this here.
The Col's Thoughts
I'm friendly with Bobby.
I kind of doubt it.
It came from the Zodiac message board, which tried to charge me $5 to join.
How come this has never ever ever ever been mentioned before? Even by the BUG during the trials? They were desperate to get a conviction the second time around and would have used anything.
on the other hand
It takes a lot to kill people. I mean I there are people I'd LIKE to kill but it ain't gonna happen. Conscience, blood and all. Now once you have done ONE, two or three more, it gets easy. Look at Tex for example. And if you study the Hinman story as much as I have (the fringe stories, Hinman, Lotsapoppa, Shea, are where I believe you will find the truth) you'll see there comes a point on Sunday where Bobby just decides in his head, Fuck it, and kills him. And do not underestimate, that is an amazing step- major- unless he has done it before.
So I don't know.
What do you all think?
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Spurious Stories
Aging Manson 'Family' members long for freedom
- Story Highlights
- Recent release of Charles Manson's prison photo rekindles interest in case
- Other members of Manson's "family" now shun him
- They are described as model prisoners
- Susan Atkins, who has brain cancer, has her 18th parole hearing May 28
By Ashley Broughton
CNN
CNN
(CNN) -- Susan Atkins is terminally ill; Charles "Tex" Watson is an ordained minister. They and other members of Charles Manson's murderous "family" now shun him.
After three decades behind bars, Manson family members Atkins, Watson, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten have repeatedly been described as model prisoners who have accepted responsibility for their crimes.
Parole boards, however, continue to reject their bids for release, and a debate rages over whether the four should ever be freed.
The release of Manson's prison photo recently rekindled public interest in slayings of pregnant actress Sharon Tate and six others in a two-night rampage that terrorized the city of Los Angeles, California, in August 1969. CNN looked into the status of some of his former followers.
Atkins, California's longest-serving female inmate, requested a "compassionate release" from the California Board of Parole Hearings in July. She has terminal brain cancer, doctors say. The board unanimously denied her request.
Atkins' 18th parole suitability hearing is scheduled for May 28, according to a Web site maintained by her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse. The Web site says Atkins, now 60, is paralyzed over 85 percent of her body and cannot sit up in bed or even be moved into a wheelchair.
Despite her declining condition and spotless prison record, the site says, "there is still a very real chance the Parole Board will nonetheless insist her release would be a danger to society."
The Manson family members were initially sentenced to death, only to have their sentences commuted to life in prison when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down death penalty laws in 1972, establishing a four-year moratorium on executions.
By her own admission, Atkins held Tate down as she pleaded for mercy, and stabbed the eight-months-pregnant woman 16 times. In a 1993 parole board hearing, Atkins said Tate "asked me to let her baby live ... I told her I didn't have any mercy on her."
After stabbing Tate to death, according to historical accounts of the murders, Atkins scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home Tate shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski, who was not home at the time. Three of Tate's house guests were also slain, as was a teenager who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage out back.
Atkins' compassionate release was opposed by Tate's sister, Debra, Los Angeles County prosecutors and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, among others. However, the former prosecutor who won her conviction, Vincent Bugliosi, said he supported Atkins' request for release.
Debra Tate told CNN in an e-mail she does not believe any Manson family member convicted of murder should ever be set free. She said the slayings of the victims, including some that may have not been discovered, were "so vicious, so inhumane, so depraved, that there is no turning back. "
"The 'Manson Family' murderers are sociopaths, and from that, they can never be rehabilitated," Debra Tate said. "They should all stay right where they are -- in prison -- until they die. There will never be true justice for my sister Sharon and the other victims of the 'Manson Family.' Keeping the murderers in prison is the least we, as a society who values justice, can do."
In a manuscript posted on her Web site, Atkins, who was known within the Manson family as Sadie Mae Glutz, wrote, "I will never be able to replace what my crime took away. And that's not 'neat,' and that's not 'cool.'"
Known as Katie within the Manson Family, Krenwinkel killed coffee heiress Abigail Folger at the Tate home and, the following night, stabbed Rosemary LaBianca and carved the word "War" on her husband Leno LaBianca's abdomen.
She remained faithful to Manson throughout her trial and into the first few years of her incarceration, according to a profile posted on the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Web site, but she later "made strides to turn her life around."
Now 61, Krenwinkel is a model inmate at the California Institution for Women in Frontera, according to Lt. Robert Patterson, a prison spokesman. She is involved in the Prison Pups program, which helps train puppies to be service dogs, he said.
"It gives you a reason to wake up every morning, and keep moving on," Krenwinkel told Los Angeles station KABC, a CNN affiiate. The program at that time had trained more than 100 dogs; Krenwinkel said she was training her seventh dog.
According to the Manson Family Today Web site, which keeps tabs on all things related to the case, Krenwinkel has largely accepted the fact that she probably will never leave prison. Her next parole hearing will be sometime before December, Patterson said.
Van Houten was convicted in the raid at the LaBianca home, where she helped hold Rosemary LaBianca down as the woman was stabbed to death. At the time, she was 19.
"The autopsy reports have shown that it was Tex that wielded the fatal wounds, but I contributed, and I attempted to hold her down for Pat [Krenwinkel]," Van Houten said in a 2002 appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live." "I called to Tex because we couldn't kill her. You know, it's -- morally, I feel as though I did."
Her conviction was overturned in 1976, on the grounds that a judge erred in not granting a mistrial after the disappearance of her attorney, Ronald Hughes, who later was found dead.
In Van Houten's first retrial, the jury was unable to reach a verdict, and she was released on bond for a few months. But in her third trial, in 1978, she was convicted of first-degree murder.
Known as Lulu within the Manson family, Van Houten, a former high school homecoming queen, is serving her life sentence at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same facility as Krenwinkel and, until last year, Atkins.
Like Krenwinkel, Van Houten is involved in prison programs and is a mentor to other inmates in the facility's college program, Patterson said. She is also a model inmate, he added.
During her 2002 CNN appearance, Van Houten called Manson "an opportunist of the cruelest, most vicious kind." But she was quick to emphasize that she accepts blame for her role in the crime.
Like the others, Van Houten, 59, has repeatedly been turned down for parole. She is widely seen as the best candidate for parole. But her next parole hearing probably will not be until 2010, according to Patterson.
"Tex" Watson's participation in the Manson murders is "a part of history that he deeply regrets," according to a Web site dedicated to his prisoner outreach program.
Watson converted to Christianity in 1975, several years after he was incarcerated, and became an ordained minister in 1983, according to the site.
"He was manipulative," Watson said of Manson in a November 2004 radio interview, the transcript of which is posted on the Web site. "But I take full responsibility for my ignorance, lack of identity, emptiness and choices in life, which left me prey to his deceptive plan. My actions were my own."
Watson stabbed four people, including Tate, to death and fatally shot two others. After the Tate murders, Watson reportedly told Manson, "Boy, it sure was helter skelter."
However, Watson was not tried along with the others in the slayings. A month and a half after the two-night crime spree, he said, he fled to Texas.
Watson, now 63, writes on the site that he has no computer or Internet access in prison, but maintains contact with the site administrator through the mail and writes much of the site's content.
Watson had been denied parole 13 times as of November 2006, a correction spokeswoman said. His next parole hearing is scheduled for November.
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Ageing Charles Manson 'Family' members long for freedom
Thirty years ago on Sunday, March 29, a California jury sentenced Charles Manson and three members of his “Family” to death for murdering actress Sharon Tate and seven others. Claiming to be Jesus Christ, Manson had told his recruits that they needed to carry out a violent racial war as part of a prophecy he referred to as “Helter Skelter.”
Charles Manson, Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkel and Leslie Van Houten were expected to be executed by gas chamber to pay for their crimes, but those sentences were never carried out. In 1972, California abolished the death penalty and the four convicts’ sentences were commuted to life in prison.
Now, as CNN reports, Susan Atkins is terminally ill; Charles "Tex" Watson is an ordained minister. They and other members of Charles Manson's murderous "family" now shun him and have become model prisoners. Parole boards continue to reject their bids for release.
Renewed interest in the case has followed the recent release of a photo of the ageing Manson with a faded swastika still clear on his forehead.
Where are they now? According to a Web site maintained by her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse, Atkins, now 60, is paralyzed over 85% of her body and cannot sit up in bed or even be moved into a wheelchair. More from CNN:
By her own admission, Atkins held Tate down as she pleaded for mercy, and stabbed the eight-months-pregnant woman 16 times. In a 1993 parole board hearing, Atkins said Tate "asked me to let her baby live ... I told her I didn't have any mercy on her."
After stabbing Tate to death, according to historical accounts of the murders, Atkins scrawled the word "pig" in blood on the door of the home Tate shared with her husband, director Roman Polanski, who was not home at the time. Three of Tate's house guests were also slain, as was a teenager who was visiting the home's caretaker in his cottage out back.
As for Krenwinke, now 61, she is a model inmate at the California Institution for Women in Frontera, according to Lt. Robert Patterson, a prison spokesman. She is involved in the Prison Pups program, which helps train puppies to be service dogs, he said.
Known as Katie within the Manson Family, Krenwinkel killed coffee heiress Abigail Folger at the Tate home and, the following night, stabbed Rosemary LaBianca and carved the word "War" on her husband Leno LaBianca's abdomen.
She remained faithful to Manson throughout her trial and into the first few years of her incarceration, according to a profile posted on the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Web site, but she later "made strides to turn her life around."
Known as Lulu within the Manson family, Van Houten, a former high school homecoming queen, is serving her life sentence at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same facility as Krenwinkel and, until last year, Atkins. Like the others, Van Houten, 59, has repeatedly been turned down for parole:
Van Houten was convicted in the raid at the LaBianca home, where she helped hold Rosemary LaBianca down as the woman was stabbed to death. At the time, she was 19.
"The autopsy reports have shown that it was Tex that wielded the fatal wounds, but I contributed, and I attempted to hold her down for Pat [Krenwinkel]," Van Houten said in a 2002 appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live." "I called to Tex because we couldn't kill her. You know, it's — morally, I feel as though I did."
And "Tex" Watson, now 63, converted to Christianity in 1975, several years after he was incarcerated, and became an ordained minister in 1983, according to a site for his prisoner outreach, CNN reports. He stabbed four people, including Tate, to death and fatally shot two others. After the Tate murders, Watson reportedly told Manson, "Boy, it sure was helter skelter."
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