hannah anderson is innocent

This Hannah Anderson kidnapping case just keeps getting more interesting, doesn’t it?

For a good review of the case, see this article on CNN.

From the article:

There was a time when the Hannah Anderson abduction case seemed clear-cut.

DiMaggio, a close Anderson family friend, allegedly kills Hannah’s mother and brother, burns his house down, kidnaps Hannah and goes on the run. After a frantic week-long manhunt, he is spotted in the Idaho wilderness and shot dead by an FBI agent. Hannah is safe and reunited with her father.

That was on August 10.

With each passing day since then, the case has taken on added complexity.

Immediately after Hannah was rescued people began suspecting she was in on it. As new details have become available more and more people have become more and more convinced. At this point the comments section of every article is filled with people who are absolutely sure she was in on it.

People first became suspicious when it was reported that, in the past, Hannah had been on overnight trips alone with her captor.

The next piece of ‘evidence’ was reports that when Hannah was spotted in the wilderness with her captor, she appeared as if nothing was wrong. That was what initial reports said, anyway. It later came out that she seemed scared, and not normal at all, but by this time nobody cared anymore. She’s guilty!

Here’s the top comment from the above article:

I’ve said from the beginning, when she was still ‘missing’, that she’s in on it. Her actions, at least what’s revealed to us in the media, don’t portray what you’d expect from a kidnapped 16 yr old girl who’s mom and brother were just killed.

I have to say, it pains me to see this. If you don’t act exactly how people expect you to, people automatically think you’re guilty of something. I’ve noted this many times in the past, most notably in cases where a child goes missing and the parent doesn’t display the ‘appropriate’ amount of grief. “Oh! She’s not crying enough! She must be in on it!”

Yes, it does appear Hannah has been coping remarkably well with the loss of her mother and brother. However, people are all different and are going to handle things in different ways. It doesn’t mean she was in on it. Hannah has been coping, and is coping, with events the best that she can. Leave her alone already. Is it a crime to be different?

As the police have stated repeatedly, Hannah is a victim. Whatever her relationship with DiMaggio was, it remains incredibly unlikely that she had anything to do with the murder of her mother and brother or her own kidnapping. It’s unfathomable to me, actually, how people can actually believe this. There’s simply nothing, at this point, to support this point of view.

I can’t say for sure, of course. But I would certainly put money on it. Any takers?

(By the way, I just love how the CNN article linked above is fanning the flames with this tidbit:

Hannah was seen in a car with DiMaggio about 20 hours before he allegedly set fire to his house, police said Tuesday.

This statement implies that DiMaggio was with Hannah for 20 hours and then set fire to his house. This is NOT what police have said. Police have stated all along that the fires were started with a timer, so it sure looks like CNN being deliberately obtuse in order to feed the controversy. (Actually, the author of this article probably just got it wrong.))

Switching gears a little, here’s a thought… Police say a DNA swab test kit was found in Hannah’s mother’s car. This has led to much speculation that DiMaggio could be Hannah’s biological father. Hannah’s family says this is impossible since Hannah was conceived 6 months before they met DiMaggio. It’s not difficult to imagine how that might not be true.

Anyway, here’s my thought: One thing we know for sure is that DiMaggio was crazy. What if he did think, for whatever reason, that he was Hannah’s (or even Ethan’s) father, and the test kit was to prove he wasn’t? That’s certainly one possibility. I can’t help thinking, though, that the swab could very well have nothing to do with anything and possibly wasn’t a DNA test at all.

One thing is for sure, though. We are nowhere near the end of this story.

UPDATE Aug 26, 2013: Latest speculation on the DNA test kit is that it was left in the vehicle by police. I haven’t been able to confirm. This would, of course, makes perfect sense. So much so, that I think it’s safe to assume this is the case until proven otherwise.

trooper concert

Last night I went to see Trooper perform in an outdoor concert as part of Port Coquitlam’s centennial celebration. It seems the city of Port Coquitlam was first incorporated as a municipality 100 years ago, in 1913.

The concert was fun and I’m glad I went. The band’s energy was good and it was great seeing them still playing their hits after all these years. I was a little disappointed with the sound, though. It was blown out, or muddy. They were clearly overdriving the PA system. It was a little overly loud, as well, so they probably could have fixed the whole problem by simply turning down the volume a little.

I uploaded a video of Trooper performing ‘Raise a Little Hell’ to youtube: Trooper Video

The last time I saw Trooper play was February 21, 2010 at a concert that was part of Vancouver’s 2010 winter olympics. They were awesome at that concert. Obviously they would have had a bigger budget for that show, but still, I’ve been to plenty of free outdoor concerts where there wasn’t a problem with the sound. Given that this was part of an all day concert with many acts, one would have to assume the PA was supplied by the event organizer. Of course they would probably blame Trooper for playing too loud.

Anyway, I mentioned in a previous entry that I was trying to decide between attending this concert and taking my son to see a fireworks show in Port Moody. Since the two events were fairly close to each other, I realized we could do both. I told my son to invite a friend to see the fireworks with him, dropped them both off near the fireworks, went to the Trooper concert, and then picked them up again. They had a blast as well, so it was a win-win.

garage sale woe

Last night I was poking around on craigslist when I came across an ad for a garage sale that listed something interesting:

Acoustic Guitar $50 (basically unused, was $400 new)

Wow! I play electric guitar and have long wanted an acoustic guitar, so this would be perfect! There was also an electric guitar listed, and some car ramps, both of which interested me as well.

I don’t normally go to garage sales. I hate them, actually. Every time I go to a garage sale it’s people wanting top dollar for their worthless junk. I’ll never forget the time, some 13 years ago now, when I took my toddler son to a neighborhood garage sale hoping to find him some trinket. He picked up a cell phone with tape on it that said, “not working.”

“How much for the cell phone,” I asked. I was expecting 25 cents or maybe as much as 50.

“20 dollars,” was the reply.

“20 dollars?!” I said, incredulously.

“The charger alone is worth $30,” he replied.

Unbelievable. It was a years old cell phone with a proprietary charger. It was practically worthless. But this guy just couldn’t let it go. I’ll bet he ended up throwing it away.

Anyway, this morning I went to the garage sale to buy my guitar. According to the ad the sale started at 9 AM. I glanced at my clock as I got out of my vehicle and saw that it said 9:00. Perfect timing.

As I walked from my vehicle to the garage, another guy who was sitting in his car jumped out and rushed over. Despite this other guy’s best efforts, I got to the garage first, and quickly looked around for the acoustic guitar. I didn’t see any acoustic guitar so I said to the person working the sale, “I’m here for the acoustic guitar.” There’s a guitar over there, she said, pointing at the electric guitar, which by now the other guy was holding in his hot little hands. It was a nice little guitar and she sold it to him for $20, with another $2 for the stand. What a deal. Darn it!

“Where’s the acoustic guitar?” I asked, still looking around. “The ad said there was an acoustic guitar.”

“Oh, that sold last night,” she finally admitted. “Didn’t we remove it from the ad?” As she said that another guy who had showed up grabbed the car ramps for $20. Argh!

I noticed there was a nice looking workmate (portable work bench) on the wall and wondered if it was for sale. At that moment a neighbor walked up. “Hi Jim,” he said. “Hey, is that workmate for sale?” He bought it for $10.

I seriously wanted to cry. I did manage to buy a pneumatic stapler and brad nailer for $20 each, so the trip wasn’t a total wash. It sure was frustrating, though.

saturday night dilemma

As I walked the dogs this morning I wryly wondered what this wet stuff falling from the sky was. It’s been that incredible of a summer, weather-wise. In fact, July was the first month in Vancouver’s recorded history to have absolutely no rain. That’s not as remarkable as it sounds, however, because there actually was a little rain in the Vancouver area during July. It just didn’t happen to fall at Vancouver airport, where the official weather station is. Still, it was certainly a beautiful, dry month.

But now we’re having some rainy weather. Just in time for the outdoor Trooper concert.

Trooper is playing a free outdoor concert in Port Coquitlam this Saturday night at 8:45. I’ve been planning to attend for a long time now, since I quite enjoyed the last Trooper concert I went to. However, things are not looking good. First, the weather forecast is bad. Secondly, I just checked out the venue on google maps and it’s going to be a nightmare getting in and out of there. It’s actually kind of crazy where they’re holding it; there’s not much parking and the only place I can see large enough to hold an outdoor concert is a large vacant lot. I almost want to go just to check out the logistics. Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, is the fact that Port Moody is having a fireworks show at 9:30 and I know my son would love to see that. I’m leaning toward doing that, at the moment. However, I haven’t told my son yet and my personal opinion is that fireworks are boring. We’ll see.

the Haley Dumay kidnapping fiasco

Update Jan, 2016: It seems this story, which is well over 2 years old, is still floating around on facebook, as this page gets a burst of traffic every now and then. I have decided to alter the person’s last name in order to protect their privacy, as they were a minor when this event occurred.

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A story of a 15 year old girl missing from her home in Cold Lake, Alberta recently went viral. There were several variations, but one read: “This is a picture of Haley Dumay, she went missing earlier this afternoon, after calling 911. She was on her paper route, and thought she was being followed by a black truck with tinted windows. When the police arrived at her home, they could not find her. She went missing from the english bay area (26st) in Cold Lake, Alberta. If anyone sees her, or witnesses any suspicious behaviour, call the police immediately. Please keep an eye out, and share this post.” That particular message was shared over 30,000 times, and there were others out there. This thing was massive.

Of course, I was very worried for the welfare of Ms. Dumay. I was trying to follow the story in the media but there was just nothing out there, which was…. odd.

Finally, roughly 18 hours since the story went viral, the RCMP released a statement. They had found Haley safe and sound at a campground and she had admitted to making up the whole thing. Here’s the statement:

On August 6th, 2013 @ 3:15 pm Cold Lake RCMP responded to a call of a missing or possibly abducted 15 year old female from her residence in the north end of the City of Cold Lake, Province of Alberta. Police conducted extensive inquiries and pulled in a number of resources in effort to locate the female and to determine what occurred leading up to the incident.

At approximately 8:00 pm and as a result of extensive media and social media coverage Cold Lake residents located the female at a local campground and contacted Police. The female was taken to the Cold Lake Health Centre for examination and released. Police interviewed the female at which time she admitted to fabricating the entire story. The Cold Lake RCMP will be working closely with the family to offer support in addressing any underlying issues.

The Cold Lake RCMP wish to thank local media for assisting us in getting the word out, and the residents of Cold Lake who assisted the RCMP in bringing this matter to the best possible conclusion.

So that’s that. I’m posting this here because this is being deleted everywhere (Haley’s faebook page, which was filled with prayers for her safe return, has now been pulled, and postings on media outlets have also been pulled) and I think people who want to know how this turned out deserve to know.

There’s also been a bit of a witch hunt going on, with people pointing fingers at family members for spreading false information. I think we have to assume they didn’t know. Just let the authorities handle it.

what keeps you up more, apples or coffee?

They asked this question on the Jeff Probst talk show last night, during a trivia contest. “What keeps you up more, apples or coffee?” The answer, they claimed, was ‘apples.’ They awarded a prize based on this answer. (It was a repeat of episode 142.)

Come on! Anyone who has had a few apples and a few coffees knows the correct answer is ‘coffee.’

How is it that nobody associated with the production of this show gave it some thought?