we saw that...

a wst... global exclusive: case study: the richard lee mcnair file

wst... note: this is an extremely lengthy and difficult post. yet one of the most interesting posts that we've ever done.

while there is a chance that some may interpret this as our "blowing our own horn" so-to-speak thats really not the case as there is a chance that wst... might receive a sentence or two passing reference in a book about richard lee mcnair, it gave us a good opportunity to relive the events of the spring of 2006 ... and 17 november 1987.

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click picture to enlarge

"notice of escaped federal prisoner" original fax sent at 1:53 pm cdt by the bureau of prisons

source: byron christopher via: roy hebron

where to begin ... around mid morning on wednesday, 05 april 2006, the united states penitentiary in pollock, louisiana inmate, richard lee mcnair, "mailed" himself to freedom.

wst... first learned of it later that evening when we happened to glance at the television screen and read kalb's crawl -- which we posted about here.

we assumed that the escapee would be captured overnight and that would be the end of it. boy were we wrong.

on the morning of 06 april we learned that the prisoner had not been captured. sometime before 10:33 am gannett/the alexandria daily town talk newspaper had acquired and uploaded to their website www.thetowntalk.com a dashcam video between a ball, la., policeman and the escapee in which the policeman and mcnair, playing a runner, exchanged pleasantries before the ball cop shook mcnair's hand and let him continue his run.

thus began mcnair's "the running man" saga.

we really cant remember what if any opinion we had of the ball cop and what he did or didnt do in the mcnair stop. we just knew that the video was an incredible find.

at that time youtube was fairly new we didnt even have an account there so we opened one and we attempted several times to add it there but they had a strict 10 minute in length and 100 mb file size per video limitation and the ball cop video is seven seconds over the 10 minutes cutoff and at 101 mb was always rejected.

so we uploaded it to google video and posted it here.

now it's instantaneous, however, in those days, at least as far as wst... posts were concerned, it took google up to 24 hours to fully spider and index our postings into their search engine.

the evening of april 6th, we noticed that our first post containing the kalb crawl was beginning to receive a lot of traffic from googlers searching for mcnair news. so we updated it with a link to the second post -- the one containing the embedded dashcam video.

not long after the second post became the primary post that google would send traffic to.

looking back at that post now the length of it and all the updates scattered around, it hardly makes any sense but due to all the interest in mcnair's escape we were attempting to keep everything on one page to avoid creating another post and waiting for google to catch up again.

many of the visitors were from the feds - doj, homeland security, fbi, bop and police departments. still many more visitors were from regular citizens who were concerned that they might live in the path that mcnair was taking and were looking for the latest news and links.

one news article that we were able to acquire and repost with his permission was written by our friend andrew w. griffin. mr. griffin had been a reporter with the alexandria daily town talk and he had left only a few months before to take a job with the lawton, oklahoma, constitution which as it turned out is mcnair's hometown newspaper.

living here, on the same side of the red river and not that far, as the crow flies, from where everything was taking place, the longer this "cold blooded killer" was on the loose made it easy to identify and empathize with the fear and tension that folks over in the tioga area were feeling.

so it became like an obligation or a challenge really that as long as mcnair was on the loose and so many people were looking for information about his whereabouts that we would attempt to post all the updates that we could.

some visitors now may think that we were just attempting to draw traffic here for the ad revenue. however, we didnt add google adsense until nearly 21/2 years later in september 2008.

after it was confirmed that mcnair was out of the area the story was pretty much over as far as we could tell. we continued to post a few updates about him from time-to-time because of the local interest

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source: adatlantic.com 2010 better newspapers competition 32 page [12.2mb].pdf
click here to download hi-res scan of section b cover page 05 august 2009 campbellton tribune
one page .pdf [631 kb]
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unbeknownst to us though was that in canada and elsewhere the mcnair escape and 18 months on the lam generated a massive amount of interest and remains a sensation to this day.

one interesting tidbit that we learned -- we know alex cenla will love this -- is that apparently, cenla is receiving tour buses sent here at least in part by interest in the mcnair escape.

in the fall of 2008, canadian crime reporter, byron christopher received a lead from a colleague about a federal prisoner who escaped and made his way all the way to canada before being captured.

mr. christopher explains in the below audio file how one thing led to another and he began corresponding with mcnair, now held at the florence, colorado, supermax federal penitentiary.

actually, we had heard of byron christopher before. in january 2009, wst... fave mike magnoli (now with katc in lafayette, la.), did a local interest story about mcnair and interviewed mr. christopher by phone about their burgeoning correspondence. we posted about it here.

as far as we can tell, that january 2009 post is the last we heard anything about mcnair.

until last sunday, 07 august 2011, when out of the blue we received an email from byron christopher.

mr. christopher's interest was in our 13 april 2006 post "riding the richard lee mcnair escape train." in that post we mentioned all the various traffic that the mcnair escape was generating.

so we emailed him back and again, one thing led to another and we wound up having two telephone conversations with him that afternoon and evening.

mr. christopher had been commissioned to write a case study of the mcnair case which will be an enlargement of his award winning "the running man" series that ran in the campbellton tribune newspaper from august 2009.

all last week mr. christopher answered our follow-up questions and sent us more information about his work.

while mcnair's escape was the cause for all the excitement and tension around cenla, we often wondered what the story was behind why mcnair was in prison for in the first place.

in the msm accounts you might get a sentence here or a paragraph there touching on the 17 november 1987 incident in which mcnair, reportedly, shot two men, killing one when they walked in on him burgling a grain elevator office in minot, north dakota.

mr. christopher made available to us several passages from his draft about mcnair's escape, the [cenla part of the] search and the ball police officer/dashcam incident.

both passages are painstakingly researched. where possible the participants describe what happened in their own words. this was the result of mr. christopher's travels to cenla, north dakota and elsewhere to interview anyone as well as view evidence thats been connected to mcnair.

mr. christopher has perfected a technique in his case study of allowing mcnair to tell the his story, in his own words, while mr. christopher fills in around that with whats happening based on his research.

one of our concerns was whether this was all an attempt to glorify mcnair.

for sure, the mcnair escape and subsequent 18 months on the lam makes for a compelling story. just how did a 47-year-old man escape from a federal prison in grant parish, louisiana, on foot, with no money, with no outside accomplices and with the full force of the federal government as well as every parish and county sheriff in the country out looking for him -- make it all the way to canada?

we're happy to report that from the passages that we've read from mr. christopher's case study that the central louisiana police and people were treated very well -- including ball policeman carl bordelon, whom mr. christopher says was given a bad rap by the media and after being privy to mr. christpher's research and methods we believe him.

but there was that reason for mcnair's being in jail to start with: the 17 november 1987 minot, north dakota shootings and murder.

the murder and shootings are not glossed over in any way whatsoever. mr. christopher has allowed mcnair, in his own words, to describe the events of that night, while using the technique we described before, he went back and filled in around mcnair's words with the words of the surviving victim dick kitzman, first responders and another grain elevator employee, jerry omvig who arrived at the scene right after it happened.

mr. christopher also drew from his viewing of the crime scene photos and police reports including a transcript (to be in the book) of dick kitzman's 911 call.

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jerry thies tombstone

fort snelling military cemetery, minneapolis, minnesota

photo credit: byron christopher, december 2010

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the vivid recounting of the break-in, shootings and murder as well as mcnair's reasoning for it all, are as disturbing as their inclusion is necessary.

we understand that the family of the slain trucker, jerome "jerry" theodore thies, are very reluctant to talk to the media.

while we've never had an immediate member of our family murdered, so we cannot know exactly how they feel, we can understand on some levels where they are coming from.

if we could, we would probably tell them that for reasons known only to god and satan, that the lives of mr. thies, dick kitzman, larry omvig and others are forever linked to richard lee mcnair and that as long as mcnair's story is being told so will mr. thies and he will not be forgotten.

as for us, we dont hate mr. mcnair, nor do we, even if we could, damn him to hell for all eternity. we believe that he deeply regrets what he did and how he messed up his own life.

mcnair writes that back then he was like a selfish, spoilt child. "a piece of shit." that if north dakota, at the time, had the death penalty that he would have received it and deserved it. we agree.

which brings us back to the present -- on sunday evening 14 august 2011, we had an opportunity to have a telephone conversation with byron christopher about all this. the embed is below.

towards the end, mr. christopher plays an audio clip from a home move that mcnair made while on the lam.

this is the first time that mcnair's voice has been broadcast publicly -- exclusively from wst...

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link to audio download page

wst... note: this is a telephone conversation we had with byron christopher on sunday, 14 august 2011. this is not an "interview" or represented as such.

although we had chatted by phone with mr. christopher for about 30 - 45 minutes the previous sunday as well as emailed back and forth all week -- we still became a bit nervous at the beginning - but such is life.

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related posts

oopsie federal prisoner escapes from pollock prison

oopsie no2 ball cops capture then release escaped fed prisoner

riding the richard lee mcnair escape train

richard lee mcnair spotted in canada

richard lee mcnair latest

**flash** richard lee mcnair video no2 on google video

**flash** richard lee mcnair breaks previous escape record

richard lee mcnair still free one year later

richard lee mcnair believed in calgary and southern alberta area

richard lee mcnair captured

mcnair capture pushes dashcam vid back to no. 4 on google video

richard lee mcnair ordered deported from canada

richard lee mcnair returns to central louisiana

richard lee mcnair arresting officer interview

richard lee mcnair writes to edmonton crime reporter byron christopher

dear zachary: a letter to a son about his father

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EXTERNAL LINK

caroline fayard releases newest poll numbers in la sec'y of state race

this all sounds nice and all but it's months later and we're still waiting on our "caroline fayard loves me" bumper sticker.

Despite what some pundits say is a difficult political environment, there is real potential for a Democratic statewide victory in the 2011 race for Louisiana Secretary of State.

Our recent survey of 700 likely voters in the October 2011 election shows a true toss-up between me and Republican Jim Tucker.

In a head-to-head match-up, I lead Tucker (or similar candidate) 36 to 34 percent with 23 percent undecided.

After allocating the undecided voters by party identification, I maintain a 48 to 44 percent margin over Tucker.

Unlike most recent statewide races in Louisiana—where Democrats faced nearly insurmountable circumstances – the 2011 Secretary of State’s race is quite winnable and will depend heavily on the candidates, their resources, and the quality of their campaigns.

As you may recall, last year I was a little-known outsider who mounted a come-from-behind victory over some very well-funded career politicians to make the run-off in the Lieutenant Governor’s race.

Well this year we are ahead of the game ... Voting is just a few short months away.

Also, be sure to visit my website to keep informed of important campaign announcements and dates.

Sincerely,

Caroline Fayard

EXTERNAL LINK

israeli protesters roll out a guillotine

that's what we're talking about.

ynetnews.com

Guillotine display stuns Rothschild's 'tent city'

French Revolution symbol becomes main attraction at Tel Aviv's protest center, as rallies continue to spread across country. Protest leaders say Beersheba to hold next mass rally ~ read more

we'd recommend that they start with the criminal jew "bibi" netanyahu and work their way down to this guy:

EXTERNAL LINK

jim tucker is a poor choice for louisiana's sec'y of state and any other elected office

on 22 october 2011 the only two reasons you will need to vote no to the rino jim tucker for louisiana sec'y of state:

(1) led the state house charge and eventually won final passage of SB 672 the massive legislative pay-raise fraud bill.

(2) for years he has been speaker of the house yet has done nothing to put a stop to vote changing. house members can vote on a bill and then later that day or weeks later go back and change their vote - supposedly as long as it doesnt change the bills original outcome.

this may sound harmless enough to anyone naive enough to think that louisiana has an honest; respectable legislative branch of government because its obviously a procedure they employ to trick their constituents with.

house members dont even have to have been present when the original vote took place -- rather, they can just glitz in after a night out partying with the lobbyists and cast a vote..

we've posted about it before -- but dont take our word for it. research vote-changing for yourself. for instance. cb forgotston at www.forgotston.com has reams of information about it; we're sure others do too...

+ bonus reason not to vote for jim tucker --:he is a bankster.

and so soon to be former speaker tucker wants to be the keeper of the great seal of the people of the state of louisiana, as well as our archives, corporate records, the electronic voting machine scam -- and the elections division as well as the states museums? you must be a blistering idiot.

EXTERNAL LINK

walker hines out of sec'y of state race

EXTERNAL LINK

al sharpton has much to be committed about or sumthin

a wst... reader sent us this link.

Uploaded by amazinz2006 on Aug 10, 2011

"Tonight is the measure of whether the country begins in the state of wisconsin, a national drive to push back or whether we have more to go to build a movement of resistence... BUT RESIST WE MUCH, WE MUST, AND WE WILL MUCH, ABOUT THAT, BE COMMITTED...

EXTERNAL LINK

more scenes of red river and alexandria, la

city of alexandria, la. lowers flags to half staff in memory of slain seal team 6 members

via: twitter @SLABBEDblog RT @Opinionatedcath

2 Shreveport SEALs among those killed in Afghanistan ~ the advertiser

excerpt:

Among the 22 SEALs killed in the attack are two Shreveport natives, according to The Shreveport Times.

That newspaper reports Chief Petty Officer Robert James Reeves and Lt. Commander Jonas Kelsall were both killed today [saturday, 06 august 2011] when a U.S. Chinook helicopter crashed in Wardak province.

The Shreveport Times reports that Reeves and Kelsall were both graduates of Caddo Magnet High School where they played soccer together, according to John Kelsall, Jonas Kelsall’s father.

Both would join the military after graduation, though Reeves spent a year at LSU first, his father Jim Reeves, said. ~ link

UPDATE: wafb via: the dead pelican: Jindal extends order for flags at half-staff

BATON ROUGE, LA (AP) -

Gov. Bobby Jindal has extended until Sunday his order to fly flags on all state buildings at half-staff in remembrance of two Louisiana Navy Seals killed in Afghanistan. ~ read more

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related posts

"war is a racket" smedley darlington butler, mg usmc

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EXTERNAL LINK

meat loaf: "paradise by the dashboard light" & "two out of three aint bad"

in light of our previous post a little meat loaf might be nice.

meat loaf
"paradise by the dashboard light"
bat out of hell - 21 october 1977
i couldnt take it any longer, lord i was crazed and when the feeling came upon me like a tidal wave, starting swearing to my god and on my mothers grave that i would love you till the end of time. i swore. i would love you till the end of time ... so now i'm praying for the end of time ...
(we dont have a clue what the few seconds of ayatollah khomeini at the start and the footage of the jim jones peoples temple compound at the end is about.)
"two out of three aint bad"
bat out of hell
well there's only one girl that i will ever love and that was so many years ago ....

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EXTERNAL LINK

billy joel "scene da un ristorante italiano" live 1982

billy joel
live @ nassau coliseum, long island, new york - 30 december 1982
"scenes from an italian restaurant"
the stranger - september 1977

... we'll get a table near the street ... in our old familiar place ... you and i ... face-to-face ... mmmhmm ...

a couple of months ago, for a day or two, it was all the rage about how facebook was breaking up marriages.

while it's probably true that facebook helps to speed-up the process, facilitate it even -- for those like that -- the premise of ex-lovers running into each other by chance and rekindling the romance is certainly nothing new.

solomon said in ecclesiastes chapter one kjv [1611] that:

The thing that hath beene, it is that which shall be: and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing vnder the sunne.

Is there any thing, whereof it may be sayd, See, this is new? it hath beene already of olde time, which was before vs.

the caveat appears to be in verse 11:

There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there bee any remembrance of things that are to come, with those that shall come after.

so this might be a good time to check your spouses browsing history -- or, clear your own.

EXTERNAL LINK

alexandria housing authority audit file turned over to rapides district attorney jam downs; will he investigate or cover it up?

since this case appears to be a little more complicated than prosecuting a speeding ticket, look for the d.a. to "misplace" this file -- a lot;

in addition, we always have the words of louisiana attorney and blogger c.b. forgotston to guide us:

"district attorneys in the state dont have a good track record of prosecuting politicians for wrong-doing and they just dont do it and so the feds have to do it -- thank goodness we have somebody -- but the district attorneys have jurisdiction over all of this.

the district attorney could have prosecuted the jeffersons for ripping off the state. they dont. thats one of the reasons that this (corruption) is so prolific around the state is the fact that there is no scrutiny by the state and there is no prosecution by the local district attorneys." ~ louisiana political blogger and attorney c.b. forgotston 26 february 2010 on the moon griffon show

EXTERNAL LINK