Blogging for Freedom

Modest, old and affordable best describe the seven houses on my little block of a street in Spokane, Washington. Nondescript and indistinguishable from millions of other working-class neighborhoods are terms that also apply. For the most part, we own our little homes, we take care of our yards to make them pretty and we don't get too nosy about anyone else's business.

The big rental duplex on the corner is the exception. A while back it was rented to an extended family of meth heads. Constant traffic, noise all night, garbage piling up, car prowlings, gang graffiti - like Bush bombing Baghdad, overnight we had a crank house dropped into our quiet little neighborhood.

So, what do reasonable, responsible property-owners do in a situation like this? We got together and called the drug abuse hotline and connected with a detective who agreed to meet with us. We learned this - there's not much the police can do unless they can set up a controlled buy. Even if it's a 'suspected' meth lab, the police have no probable cause to get a warrant to search the house. **Never mind our documentation of obvious drug activity going on in that house.** "We need proof of criminal activity before we can go in there." Detective Bowman told me. He suggested we contact the property owner and threaten civil suit to get the cranksters evicted. Which we did. The meth lab left our neighborhood and moved somewhere else - into your neighborhood, perhaps?

That's the story of one house. The other one is reasonably well-kept, the owner lives there with her 3 cats and P. - her companion for more than 11 years. She's quiet, considerate, responsible - causing absolutely no trouble, disturbance or annoyance to her neighbors. She works for a living, pays her bills and pretty much keeps to her self. She has a disease, however, which qualifies her for a medical marijuana recommendation. As an activist, she attended a public meeting and within ten days her house was raided by 14 Federal DEA agents and numerous local cops. They stormed her door military-style with drawn weapons and tasers, black-booted government thugs with faces covered like terrorists. Once the house was cleared, they laughed and joked while tearing her home apart. One DEA agent bragged to a neighbor about how "Her house is ours now. Everything she owns is ours now. We're taking everything she has."

Sons of bitches.

They had a warrant for the raid and search issued on "suspicion of cultivation of marijuana." Probable cause was based on this 'evidence' - the DEA agent told the judge he could smell growing marijuana in that house from the street. That's it, that's all they needed to launch a full-scale military offensive against a middle-aged lady growing cannabis in her basement - along with her tomatoes, petunias, sunflowers, valerian, peppers, sage and Sweet Williams.

The third house in this tale is the one that our most famous criminal, Robert Lee Yates, used to live in with his family. Located on the South Hill, his home was swankier and more expensive than those on my little block in the flatlands.

Mr. Yates was accused, convicted and sentenced for the deaths of 17 people, mostly women, dumping their bodies in vacant lots around town. His killing career spanned years, starting in the 1980's with the random shooting murder of a young couple on a picnic. When the forensic physical evidence finally and conclusively linked him to the murders, an arrest and search warrant were issued.

This is how Spokane cops busted the most prolific serial killer in Spokane history....

They waited for him to leave for work one morning, then pulled him over and arrested him. Simultaneously, officers arrived at his house, knocked politely on the door and explained to Mrs. Yates why they were there. Police then transported Mrs. Yates and her teen-aged children to a motel where they were housed for weeks, at taxpayer's expense, while authorities searched the Yates house for more bodies. Feeling sorry for the family, the Sheriff's department started a bank fund to help them out with expenses. And, worried about the Yates house, police hired a lawn service to maintain their yard, flowers and garden until the investigation was over. How much you wanna bet they tidied up before leaving?

(**interesting note - even though they claimed to have searched the Yates house thoroughly, it was only months later at trial that they found out about the body he buried beneath the master bedroom window...)

In the crankster's house? Police didn't do anything to protect any children that might be in or around or near the meth lab. But, by contrast, when DEA and local cops busted the medical marijuana lady they threatened her grown children with investigation and arrest. They made a point of taking her daughters' photos out of their frames and arranging them on the coffee table - just to let her know her kids were open targets. "Bet they're drug addicts." one agent smugly said. (They're not. One's completing her Masters and the other is a stock and bonds editor with a major international news organization.)

Authorities also did weird stuff while searching (trashing) her home.  Like plugging the iron in and putting it in the washing machine with clothes over it.  Removing the batteries in her mouse. Hacking into and crashing her boss's personal computer.  Stealing a flash drive and a jar of nickels and dimes.  Dumping all her Christmas decorations out of her hope chest, then walking on them. Taking all her lights to the backyard and gleefully smashing them into her lawn and garden.  Crystal Nacht anyone?

They knocked on the serial killer's door. They broke down two doors and four locks getting into the cannabis house.  When they were done they left an axe plunged into her wall. They were professional, courteous and considerate to the multiple murderer. They certainly didn't seize the title to his home, like they did to cannabis lady, nor did they threaten to take everything he owned, even when it was proved he strangled (and buried) innocent women there. 

It is said that justice is blind, but this tale of three house, three crimes are three completely different stories. I guess the moral  is this - if you're going to commit a crime in this county, be a serial killer and terrorize your entire community, or maybe just another crankster cooking and selling meth to the neighborhood teens.  But, for heaven's sake - do not grow flowers!