Monday, September 22, 2014

H for Hawaii - Bobby Harmon - Part 3

~ ~ ~
February 9, 2008
School's $7M deal
raises ire, eyebrows
By Jim Dooley, Advertiser Staff Writer
Yesterday's disclosure of the $7 million payment made by Kamehameha Schools to settle a civil rights lawsuit prompted questions and anger from individuals on both sides of the schools' controversial admissions policy that gives preference to students of Native Hawaiian ancestry.
"It does seem like a lot of money. It sure would be if it was in my pocket," said University of Hawai'i law school professor Jon Van Dyke, who served as a legal consultant to Kamehameha in the lawsuit.
Van Dyke said yesterday he wasn't part of the settlement discussions and still believes the payment led to the right outcome for the school.
The settlement was signed in May just before the U.S. Supreme Court was scheduled to announce whether it would hear an appeal of the case. Terms of the settlement had been kept confidential until this week. John Goemans, an attorney for the plaintiff in the case, revealed the $7 million figure to The Advertiser.
The settlement meant that an earlier 8-7 vote by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of Kamehameha's admissions policy is still the prevailing law.
H. William Burgess, a local attorney who filed legal papers with the U.S. Supreme Court supporting the plaintiff in the case, said yesterday, "Wow. The settlement was much larger than I thought."
Burgess said he still believes the case should have been heard by the Supreme Court so that legal questions surrounding the school's Hawaiians-first admissions policy were settled.
"I actually think the trustees of the Kamehameha Schools have a legal duty, when there's a legitimate legal question about what they're doing, to seek a resolution of the issue," Burgess said.
News of the $7 million payment provoked more than 500 online postings to The Advertiser that variously criticized school officials who approved the payment and the lawyers and the client who received the money.
Beatrice "Beadie" Dawson, a native Hawaiian attorney who is active in Kamehameha Schools affairs, said yesterday the settlement itself and now news of the $7 million amount "are like an open invitation for more lawsuits."
"I was very dismayed by news of the settlement last year and I was very surprised by the size of it today," Dawson said.
Hawai'i attorney David Rosen, who last year announced plans to file another legal challenge to the school's admission policy, confirmed this week that the lawsuit is taking shape but has not been filed.
He issued a news release yesterday reacting to the settlement amount that said, "The people of Hawai'i should be outraged that the trustees of Kamehameha Schools place a higher value on discriminating rather than educating."
Goemans, the lawyer who publicly revealed the $7 million figure, said he believes the settlement should be a matter of public record given Kamehameha Schools' status as a tax-exempt charitable institution.
Goemans helped bring the civil rights lawsuit against Kamehameha in 2003 on behalf of a non-Hawaiian student denied admission to the high school. The student and the student's mother, who live on the Big Island, have never been identified except as John Doe and Jane Doe.
Goemans also said the settlement is subject to review by the Internal Revenue Service and by the state attorney general's office, which oversees Kamehameha Schools' annual financial accountings filed with state Probate Court.
Attorney General Mark Bennett could not be reached for comment yesterday.
David Fairbanks, a Honolulu lawyer serving as the appointed "master" who must review Kamehameha's financial fillings for the Probate Court, did not respond to a telephone message for comment yesterday.
Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.
~ ~ ~
NEW DISCOVERY (11-29-07):
September 9, 2005
Group challenges court
order on artifacts
Hui Malama says the
federal ruling violates its
right to freedom of religion
By Sally Apgar, Star-Bulletin
A federal court order demanding the return of 83 artifacts reburied in a Big Island cave five years ago would violate Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawaii Nei's constitutional right to freedom of religion, the native Hawaiian group argued yesterday.
Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge David Ezra gave Hui Malama, a group founded in 1989 to repatriate native Hawaiian remains and artifacts, until Sept. 23 to return the burial items, or "moepu." The group reburied the items in Kawaihae in 2000 to honor the wishes of kupuna (ancestors). Ezra ordered the return so that 14 competing native Hawaiian claimants can have equal say in the fate of the items.
Hui Malama filed an emergency appeal of the order with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco yesterday, arguing, "There is no safe manner by which to carry out the (U.S.) District Court's order as it would place ... members of Hui Malama in real physical and spiritual danger."
In a declaration filed yesterday supporting their argument, Edward Halealoha Ayau, a founding member of Hui Malama, said that complying with the court order "would inflict spiritual, emotional, religious and emotional injury upon me and members of Hui Malama."
"Specifically, it would be an extreme hewa (wrong) for me or any other Hui Malama member, if ordered, to take part in any effort to enter the Kawaihae burial cave, with two to three known caves, to remove the 83 moepu, as they belong to the kupuna buried therein," and that would harm "the integrity of the afterlife of these kupuna," he said.
It "amounts to stealing from the dead, an action that threatens severe spiritual consequences for anyone involved," Ayau added.
Ezra's order arises from a recent case filed by two other native Hawaiian groups against Hui Malama and the Bishop Museum demanding return of the items so that 14 federally recognized native Hawaiian claimants could be consulted in what to do with the items.
In 1905 three men, including David Forbes, whom Hui Malama refer to as grave robbers, opened the cave and gave the items to theBishop Museum, an act that Hui Malama considers a desecration that they needed to right. In a controversial 2000 "loan," Hui Malama obtained possession of the items.
There is a sharp split in the claimants' groups over whether the items should be buried in the cave to honor kupuna and allowed to decay, or whether they should be preserved in a hermetically sealed environment for the eyes of future native Hawaiian generations.
The two native Hawaiian groups contesting Hui Malama's claim are represented by La'akea Suganuma, a practitioner of "lua," or "bone-breaking," an ancient form of Hawaiian martial arts, who is also president of the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts; and Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa, a group founded by Abigail Kawananakoa, a wealthy Campbell Estate heir and descendent of royal Hawaiian blood.
The 14 competing claimants, including Suganuma, Hui Malama and Kawananakoa, are recognized under the Native American Graves and Repatriation Act, which was passed into law in 1991 to govern the repatriation of native Hawaiian and American Indian remains and artifacts.
When Suganuma and Kawananakoa filed the suit, they asked for a preliminary injunction, demanding the return of the items, saying they were "improperly loaned" to Hui Malama and that they faced "imminent harm" in Kawaihae Caves because of environmental conditions, insect attack and possible theft. Ezra granted the injunction this week.
According to court documents, the 83 items were crated and handed over by museum staff to representatives of Hui Malama on a Saturday in February 2000 with a notation that it was a one-year "loan" until February 2001 and pending the outcome of an ongoing NAGPRA consultation.
Ezra wrote that the museum "breached its own policies in an apparent, but inexplicable, rush to deliver the items to Hui Malama."
In Ezra's order he noted the loan was based on Hui Malama's assurances that all four of the claimants who were recognized at the time agreed to the reburial. Ezra wrote "that premise was false ... because they (the four claimants) did not agree to Hui Malama's ultimate plans."
Aside from spiritual or religious beliefs, Hui Malama has said it does not want to return the items because it would be handing them over to the museum, which they say "acted as a fence for the original grave robbers."
~ ~ ~
June 16, 2005
Fourth federal judge
is sworn in
J. Michael Seabright fills a seat
left vacant by U.S. District
Judge Alan Kay in 2000
By Mary Vorsino, Star-Bulletin
Before more than 100 colleagues, friends and family members, former assistant U.S. attorney J. Michael Seabright was sworn in yesterday as Hawaii's fourth full-time federal judge.
I feel blessed now to be part of this judicial family," Seabright, 46, told those who gathered at the U.S. District Courthouse for the event. "I will listen to all who come before me, learn from all who come before me."
Seabright filled a seat left vacant in 2000 after U.S. District Judge Alan Kay went on semiretired status. Seabright is expected to ease a heavy caseload for the state's federal judges, who now preside over about 400 trials a year.
"We've been waiting a long time for my replacement," Kay said.
Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra said it has been "far too long for Hawaii to go without an active federal judge."
Ezra praised Seabright for his community service and strong family ties. "It is a great pleasure for all of us to have Judge Seabright on this bench," he said. "He is a dedicated and loving family man."
In April the U.S. Senate voted 98-0 to confirm Seabright, two months after he was nominated by President Bush. He was one of three candidates Gov. Linda Lingle recommended for the lifetime post.
The other two were state Attorney General Mark Bennett and former state chief labor negotiator Ted Hong.
Ezra and fellow U.S. District Judges Helen Gillmor and Susan Oki Mollway commended Seabright for his trial history.
"We're delighted that he is the one," Mollway said.
Ezra swore Seabright in while the new judge was flanked by his wife and two children. Seabright received a standing ovation as his family helped him put on his black judge's robe.
Seabright joined the U.S attorney's office in 1990 and was named head of the white-collar crime section in 2002.
He prosecuted a number of high-profile white-collar crime cases, including those involving former Honolulu City Councilman Andy Mirikitani, former state Sen. Milton Holt, former state House Speaker Daniel Kihano and eight former Honolulu liquor inspectors.
"This is a great day for the people of Hawaii," said Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals Judge Craig Nakamura, who was an assistant U.S. attorney alongside Seabright until 2004. "He cares deeply about the community. ... He always took the high road. I know he's got a good heart."
Seabright got his law degree from George Washington University in 1984 and moved to Honolulu, where he worked at the law firmCarlsmith Ball. In 1987 he started working with the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C., before returning to Hawaii.
~ ~ ~
December 5, 2003
Judge approves admission deal
Ezra lauds the honesty of both sides in the Kamehameha dispute
By Rick Daysog, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Calling it a "gut-wrenching case," a federal judge approved a legal settlement that will allow a non-Hawaiian seventh-grader to attend the Kamehameha Schools through graduation.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra accepted yesterday the deal in which 12-year-old Brayden Mohica-Cummings agreed to drop his suit challenging the Kamehameha's century-old admission policy.
"This has obviously been a very difficult and gut-wrenching case," Ezra said. "Honest mistakes were made in a fashion that disadvantaged this young man with respect to his education. There was no lying and cheating here."
Brayden, who is not of Hawaiian ancestry, sued the estate earlier this year, alleging that its Hawaiian-preference admission policy violated federal anti-discrimination laws.
In August, Ezra issued an injunction ordering the school to admit Brayden while his suit was being decided. Ezra did not rule on the merits of the case, but said the school waited too long to rescind Brayden's acceptance after learning he was not of Hawaiian ancestry.
The estate previously admitted Brayden to its Kapalama Heights campus after his mother, Kalena Santos, whose adopted father was native Hawaiian, said her son was Hawaiian. But the offer was taken back after Santos was unable to document her son's Hawaiian ancestry.
The Kamehameha Schools, founded under the 1884 will of Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, is a $6 billion, nonprofit charitable trust that educates 4,800 children of native Hawaiian ancestry each year.
Ezra said Santos did not "knowingly" lie on her son's application. Had she done so, Ezra said, he would not have issued the injunction ordering the school to take back Brayden.
Ezra said the settlement is in the best interest of the boy and the estate. Had the case not been settled, the appellate courts would have extended his injunction and kept Brayden at the school until the case was decided, Ezra said.
Santos, who attended yesterday's hearing with attorneys John Goemans and Eric Grant, said the settlement puts her family members' minds at ease.
She said outside the courtroom that her son has adjusted well to life at Kamehameha, although he initially was greeted with "second glances" and comments along the lines of "There's that boy."
Santos added that she is glad Ezra "set the record straight" that there was no dishonesty in her son's application.
"I didn't lie. I didn't misrepresent myself. I didn't cheat," said Santos, who was heckled as she left the federal courthouse. "To have heard people attacking me because I was adopted, that was really hard."
Kamehameha trustee Douglas Ing said the decision to settle was difficult for the Board of Trustees. But he said the settlement will allow the estate to move forward in defense of its admission policy, which is the subject of a separate lawsuit by an unnamed non-Hawaiian student whose application was rejected by the school.
U.S. District Judge Alan Kay dismissed that lawsuit last month, a ruling the trust says will give them a strong chance of upholding their admission policy on appeal.
Grant and Goemanswho also represent the plaintiff in that case, said they plan to appeal Kay's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
"We agonized a lot over the decision, and we know that we have hurt members of the community and we apologize over that," said Ing, who attended yesterday's hearing with acting trust Chief Executive Colleen Wong, school Headmaster Michael Chun and trustees Diane Plottsand Robert Kihune. "However, we needed to make a decision that was in the best interest of the Kamehameha Schools, and we feel we made that decision, especially after hearing Judge Ezra's comments today."
During the hearing, Ezra said Santos' adoption by a Hawaiian family might qualify her and her son as Hawaiians. Ezra cited a 40-year-old state Supreme Court case that granted adopted or "hanaied" children the same ancestral rights as children that are born into the family.
That decision was based on the Supreme Court's interpretation of ancient Hawaiian law, which was the law of the land when Princess Pauahi wrote her will, Ezra said.
"You have a legitimate question as to whether or not the boy in this case, for the purpose of her will, is Hawaiian," said Ezra.
Some Hawaiian activists took issue with Ezra's interpretation.
Wayne Panoke, vice president of the 'Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition, which organized rallies protesting suits against the Kamehameha Schools, said a child that is hanaied by a family did not inherit the family's genealogical lines under Hawaiian monarchy laws.
Vicky Holt-Takamine, 'Ilio'ulaokalani's president, cited the example of Pauahi and Queen Liliuokalani, who were hanaied to each other's families. Liliuokalani traced her lineage to King Kalakaua, while Pauahi was of the Kamehameha line, but neither claimed the genealogy of the other, Holt-Takamine said.
"You don't inherit the genealogy; you don't inherit the rank or privileges," Holt-Takamine said.
Ezra noted that Brayden has attended Kamehameha without incident, and he credited the faculty and the Kamehameha ohana.
Ezra said that when he issued his injunction last August, someone suggested he order armed guards to accompany Brayden, but he refused to request protection because doing so would unnecessarily embarrass the schools.
But Ezra also warned some people from acting out against Brayden, saying such actions would violate federal law.
"It's a hate crime to engage in violence against a Hawaiian because he is Hawaiian. It's a hate crime to engage in violence against a Caucasian because he is a Caucasian," Ezra said.
~ ~ ~
September 25, 2001
Clayton Hee named
OHA chairman
Trustee John Waihee
was the swing vote
OHA seeks lawsuit's dismissal
By Pat Omandam, Star-Bulletin
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs chose its sixth chairman in as many years this morning when it named veteran trustee Clayton Hee to the board leadership post.
Hee, who last served as chairman of an interim OHA board appointed by Gov. Ben Cayetano last fall, replaced Haunani Apoliona, who was named chairwoman in December.
Trustee Rowena Akana was named vice chairwoman. Both Hee and Akana are the board's senior trustees, each with 10 years of service.
Hee said he will work with the governor and state Legislature to resolve a Hawaii Supreme Court ruling earlier this month that invalidated a state law that set up how OHA was to be paid its share of revenue from ceded lands.
Trustee John Waihee, who had previously backed Apoliona, was the swing vote in the new 5-4 majority. He said during this time of crisis for OHA that Hee was a better "war leader" than Apoliona.
"It wasn't a knock against the current chair," Waihee said. "There are great war time leaders and great peace time leaders. I think Clayton is a better war time leader."
The next board meeting is set for Monday, where board committee assignments will be approved.


September 25, 2001
OHA pushes for
dismissal of lawsuit
John Carroll says that using
OHA money to help only
Hawaiians is discriminatory
By Pat Omandam, Star-Bulletin
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has asked U.S. Chief Judge David Alan Ezra to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it last year by former U.S. Senate candidate John Carroll because he has no standing to file it.
Carroll wants to stop OHA trustees from using OHA money for racially discriminatory purposes.
In separate motions filed last week, both parties have asked Ezra to rule on the case before it goes to trial. A hearing on the motions will likely be held in the upcoming months.
While running as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate last October, Carroll sued OHA in federal court seeking to stop state revenue payments to OHA. The former head of the Hawaii Republican Party also claimed OHA denied him access to programs because he was not Hawaiian.
But much like the recently dismissed Patrick Barrett case, OHA board attorney Sherry Broder argues Carroll does not have standing to file his lawsuit because he has taken no steps to identify OHA programs he wanted to participate in, has not filed any applications for any OHA benefits and has not suffered any injury because of it.
"He is thus in no sense 'able and ready' to take advantage of such a program or any benefits that might be available," said Broder, who added Carroll's impetus for filing this lawsuit was to try to influence Congress with regard to the native Hawaiian recognition bill.
Barrett claimed OHA and the Hawaiian Homes Commission discriminated against him because he is not Hawaiian. He also wanted access to native gathering rights afforded to Hawaiian cultural and religious practitioners.
His lawsuit stems from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year in Rice vs. Cayetano that said OHA's Hawaiians-only restriction to vote in its election was unconstitutional.
As a result, attorney Richard Lee, who represents Carroll, has asked Ezra to enforce the Rice decision and hold that such practice discriminates against other ethnic groups in Hawaii, in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
Also, Lee noted, the kingdom of Hawaii treated all ethnic groups equally.
Many fear such post-Rice lawsuits will erode government programs and entitlements to Hawaiians.
Ezra noted his ruling in the Barrett case did not address the merits of that case, only that the challenge must come from someone who has a real cause and not a philosophical difference with OHA.
~ ~ ~
Friday, April 13, 2007
Prosecutor Charles F. Marsland
dies at 84
By Debra Barayuga, Star-Bulletin
After his son was killed by a mobster in 1975, Charles F. Marsland Jr. turned the murder into inspiration to fight organized crime.
As Honolulu's first elected prosecuting attorney, he relentlessly battled mobsters and killers, significantly reducing the island's crime rates, his friends and fellow prosecutors said.
Marsland died yesterday on his 84th birthday. A third-generation kamaaina, he is credited with transforming the Honolulu prosecutor's office.
"He was neighborhood watch before neighborhood watch came along," said neighbor and Honolulu attorney Tom Dunn, describing Marsland's commitment to keeping even his neighbors safe.
Charles F. Marsland Jr., an outspoken and gruff Honolulu city prosecutor who turned a family tragedy into something positive by striking out against organized crime, died yesterday on his 84th birthday.
Marsland, who was suffering from an unspecified illness, died peacefully at his Portlock home, surrounded by longtime companion Polly Grigg, friends and caregivers.
Marsland served for two four-year terms, from 1981 to 1988, and changed the face of the Honolulu Prosecutors Office, said deputies that served under him.
"He was a great person to work for because he had a tremendous amount of faith in his deputy prosecutors," said Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona, who served as a deputy prosecutor under Marsland. "As such he transformed the Honolulu Prosecutors Office to what it is today: an office built and sustained on integrity and fairness."
Marsland's passion for fighting organized crime was motivated by the April 1975 murder of his 19-year-old son, Charles "Chuckers" Marsland III, whose body was found in Waimanalo.
Marsland was haunted by the murder and believed his son heard something at his job at the Infinity disco that led to his death. Underworld figure Ronald Kainalu Ching later pleaded guilty to shooting Chuckers Marsland.
"The murder of his son influenced him to take on the job as Honolulu's first elected prosecuting attorney, and it turned into an immense benefit for his home state," said Honolulu Prosecutor Peter Carlisle of his mentor and friend.
Marsland started the first felony narcotics unit and white-collar crime unit -- specialized prosecution units that worked closely with Honolulu police.
Carlisle said he owes Marsland for being in Hawaii and becoming a city prosecutor. Former Honolulu Police Chief Francis Keala hired Carlisle as an HPD law clerk assigned to Marsland. "He was my mentor, my friend, the reason why I'm prosecuting attorney today."
He was Marsland's first "bag boy" during a period when significant criminal cases were happening, including the Nappy Pulawa state trials and the first murder-for-hire case, Carlisle said.
He can still recall one day when he and his mentor were cutting through Iolani Palace grounds to the courthouse to do battle with organized crime when Marsland told him, "Pete, this is getting to be fun."
"Crime rates were dealt a blow that it never recovered from," Carlisle said, crediting Marsland for putting a big dent in crime.
A third-generation kamaaina, Hawaii ran 100 percent in Marsland's blood, Carlisle said. Marsland was knowledgeable about Hawaii and its people and an incredible source of information about old Hawaii before statehood.
After losing a bid for a third term, the private Marsland faded into a life of quiet retirement and mellowed in his later years, according to Grigg, who had known him since 1967.
His beautiful smile is what she will miss most about him, she said. "He was very dear to me."
While criminals, judges and defense attorneys saw his tough side, close friends and neighbors saw the soft side.
He was devoted to his late mother and visited his son's grave at Punchbowl almost daily since the 19-year-old was killed in 1975, Carlisle said.
"As a father, I don't know how he was able to go on, but he lived with it and kept going -- didn't let it stop him -- and in going forward, it was his way of honoring his son," he said.
A doting pet owner, Marsland's neighbors would see him walking his dogs two or three times a day when he was still mobile.
Neighbor and Honolulu attorney Tom Dunn often joined Marsland on his early-morning or evening walks, with their dogs tagging along. Marsland, Dunn said, was always the lawman, looking out for others....
"He was neighborhood watch before neighborhood watch came along," Dunn said. "He cared about people and how people lived. He cared about their safety, and not just professionally, but individually."
Big Island attorney Ted Hong, a former deputy prosecutor under Marsland, described his former boss as "one of the first people who shook the trees of heaven -- the powers that be."
"He really went after people who were abusing and misusing the political system, one of the first to really go after these guys, and it really set the pace for what the office would become today."
The strongest legacy Marsland left behind was to be a strong advocate for clients, especially victims, Hong said. Marsland imbued in his deputies a "no-fear type of attitude."
"We represent the people, and you go in there and do the best job possible -- be aggressive but an ethical lawyer," Hong said.
~ ~ ~
February 9, 2004
Alleged shooter has
roots in old isle
underworld
One Pali Golf Course murder
suspect comes from a legendary
Waianae crime family
SECOND IN A SERIES
By Sally Apgar, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
Rodney V. Joseph, allegedly one of the shooters in the Pali Golf Course murders last month, came of age in Waianae during a legendary era when crime bosses ordered the execution of competitors by a bullet to the head and informants were buried alive in the sands of Maili Beach.
Joseph, 35, a professional kickboxer, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in the killing of Lepo Utu Taliese, 44, and Lawrence "Romelius" Corpuz, 39, at the Pali Golf Course Jan. 7....
The Joseph family of Waianae is part of the storied past of Hawaii's underworld of the 1960s through the mid-1990s, which was vividly described in scores of news accounts.
Federal informants called Charles "Charlie" Stevens, who is Joseph's uncle on his mother's side, a drug lord and "the man" on the Waianae Coast for more than 20 years. Stevens, also known as "Uncle Charlie" or "Old Man," regularly cruised his domain with his lieutenants in a black Lincoln Continental with dark-tinted windows.
Stevens, who was married to Joseph's aunt Aletha "None" Stevens, had a taste for one of his own products, heroin, and died in 1999 of cardiac arrest in a federal prison in Pennsylvania at age 56.
In the early 1990s, Stevens was the target of a state and federal investigation that ultimately sent him to federal prison as part of a plea agreement.
He pleaded guilty to racketeering and confessed to drug trafficking, murder and bribing a state judge to reverse a guilty verdict in a double murder.
Affidavits that were part of the Stevens investigation alleged that young Rodney Joseph and two of his uncles, Terrance "Anthony" Joseph and Jeffrey Joseph, were part of the Stevens organization. Terrance was at one point married to Aletha Stevens, and together they had a daughter who was raised in Stevens' home.
Despite their mention in the investigation, neither Rodney Joseph nor his two uncles were charged in connection with the Stevens investigation.
One FBI affidavit described an incident involving Rodney Joseph when he was barely 20. The 1990 affidavit supporting an FBI wiretap of Stevens recounted how Joseph allegedly helped his uncle retrieve two pounds of crystal methamphetamine, or "ice," from a hotel room.
The affidavit said that Mervin "Charlie" Chan "froze up and died while mainlining crystal methamphetamine in the Plaza Hotel near the airport on Dec. 31, 1988." A man who witnessed the overdose allegedly called Stevens, who came to the room.
With the help of Joseph, Stevens allegedly retrieved the ice that had been smuggled by Chan's girlfriend from South Korea.
Stevens was one of several high-profile crime bosses during the mid-1980s and early 1990s whose underworld activities were exposed in front-page news accounts of sensational trials and mobsters turning government witness.
In 1984, Charles Marsland was an outspoken and controversial city prosecutor who was out to nail organized crime. But Marsland's mission had a personal edge: He wanted to find out who had murdered his 19-year-old son, Charles "Chuckers" Marsland III, early one morning in Waimanalo with a police service revolver.
Marsland was haunted by the murder and believed his son heard something at his nightclub job that led to his death. He was often accused of pursuing the prosecutor's job so he could avenge his son's death.
In 1984 the intensive work of Marsland's organized-crime strike force and federal investigators pinned two major underworld figures: Ronald Kainalu "Ronnie" Ching and Henry Huihui.
Ching, who turned witness for Marsland and the state, was considered a ruthless hit man and the state's foremost contract killer who bore no allegiance to any crime boss. They said he killed for money, favor and sport.
Ching pleaded guilty in 1981 to federal firearm and narcotics violations and was serving a 21-year prison sentence on the mainland when he was indicted for the 1978 murder and kidnapping of Arthur K. Baker, a government informant. He was also involved in drug traffickingand prostitution in Chinatown.
And finally he told all to the government.
Ching, who like Stevens was fond of heroin, once told undercover investigators in a taped conversation that he first "made his bones" (killed a person) at age 16. He eventually pleaded guilty to killing four of 20 people he admitted to investigators he murdered.
Ching claimed he killed Chuckers Marsland on April 17, 1975. Marsland, a Punahou graduate who was attending Chaminade College, left his job as assistant manager of the Infinity disco in Waikiki at 4:30 a.m. His body was found in Waimanalo.
Ching confessed to the Nov. 13, 1978, murder of Baker, who was handcuffed and dragged out of a cocktail lounge on Kalakaua Avenue and then buried alive in the sand at Maili.
Ching also confessed to being a lookout in the sensational 1970 murder of state Sen. Larry Kuriyama, 49, who was gunned down in the carport of his Aiea Heights home while his wife and five children watched television inside.
Ching also said he executed Robert "Bobby" Fukumoto, a major crime figure turned police informant. Ching said he shot Fukumoto 10 times in the back with an automatic rifle while he stood inside a Kapiolani Boulevard bar in May 1980.
On Aug. 23, 1985, Ching was sentenced to four life terms for the four murders.
At the same time Ching talked to the police, Huihui turned informant for the federal government.
Targeted by another state and federal investigation, Huihui ran a group called "The Company," which was formed during the 1970s by legendary crime boss Wilford "Nappy" Pulawa.
Huihui was indicted in April 1984 on federal racketeering charges of gambling and extortion, as well as state charges of murder.
Huihui pleaded guilty to racketeering and to the 1977 murders of David Riveira, a gambler, and Joseph Lii, a labor leader.
Huihui told prosecutors he killed Riveira because he turned police informant and had assaulted a member of his family. Riveira was killed outside a Nuuanu gambling house. His hands were tied behind his back, and Huihui said he shot him in the head with a gun fixed with a silencer. Others present then fired their weapons into Riveira.
Huihui said he gunned down Lii outside the offices of the Inland Boatmen's Union and within earshot of his wife and children. Huihui said he executed Lii because of a power struggle among union factions.
Huihui and Ching were both used unsuccessfully to go after former Honolulu police officer Larry Mehau, who lived on the Big Island and was publicly labeled by one of Marsland's staff in the late 1970s as the "godfather" of organized crime in Hawaii.
Mehau, who was close to former Gov. George Ariyoshi, was the target of a federal and state investigation code named "Firebird." Mehau was never convicted.
For more than 20 years, Stevens controlled the Waianae Coast until he was sent to prison in 1993.
During the state and federal investigation of Stevens, Paciano "Sonny" Guerrero, once the kingpin of the state's largest "ice" ring, told investigators that Stevens was "the man" on the Waianae Coast who controlled criminal activity across Oahu, according to a July 16, 1990, affidavit filed by the FBI to support a request for continued wiretappings of Stevens' organization.
Guerrero, convicted of selling more than $7 million of ice between 1987 and 1988, was one of Stevens' ice suppliers. Guerrero, who was serving a 25-year prison term, told investigators "that anyone who wants to deal drugs or conduct any other criminal activities in the Waianae area of any significance must have the blessings of Charlie Stevens and his organization."
The federal investigation of Stevens led to his end.
In 1991, Stevens was indicted on federal drug and firearm charges. The government said Stevens, with the aid of his wife, was at the center of a secretive and well-organized drug operation that trafficked in "ice," heroin and marijuana. He was also charged with extortion and possessing an unregistered automatic submachine gun and silencers for automatic weapons.
In a subsequent June 1992 indictment, Stevens was also charged with 39 additional counts of racketeering acts for kidnapping, witness tampering and firearms possession.
In the months leading up to Stevens' and his wife's Oct. 28, 1992, racketeering trial, key members of Stevens' organization, who had been indicted along with him, copped plea agreements and turned on Stevens.
Minutes before their own trial opened, Stevens and his wife pleaded guilty to several charges relating to their drug distribution ring and agreed to talk.
One of Stevens' first acts was to confess to participating in a notorious 1978 double murder of two alleged drug dealers and subsequently bribing a circuit judge to overturn an Oahu jury's 1981 guilty verdict. Stevens' confession solved a case that had taunted prosecutors for 14 years.
Stevens admitted that on April 6, 1978, he shot Patricia L.S. Stevens (no relation), 32, in the head with a .45-caliber handgun and that he participated in the disposal of Stevens' body and that of Conrad Maesaka, 27, who was killed at the same time.
The bodies were dismembered, and the gun was cut into pieces, melted with a blowtorch and tossed into the ocean.
During Stevens' 1981 trial for the double murder, three young Waianae men, who were enlisted by Stevens to help get rid of the bodies, testified against him. Stevens' defense was that the men killed the couple and were framing him.
According to trial testimony, Stevens shot the woman in the stomach and, as she begged "No, Charlie, no," he shot her in the head. The men testified that Stevens ordered them to take the bodies to the back of the Waianae Valley. They testified that the night after the murder, Stevens, gun in hand, supervised them. He instructed them to dismember the bodies with cane knives, throw the parts into five trash bags and bury them in a grave camouflaged with leaves.
The jury convicted Stevens of the murder on March 26, 1981. But in a stunning decision that stirred angry accusations, Judge Harold Shintaku overturned the verdict on September 28, 1981, claiming the evidence was not there to convict.
Shintaku was harshly criticized. On Oct. 6, 1981, he made public his written argument for acquittal. That night, police arrested him for drunken driving, and the next morning his relatives found him in a family-owned beach cottage at Mokuleia with multiple skull fractures and a broken collarbone. Shintaku said he believed he had been beaten after he passed out. Police said he hurt himself in a fall during a botched attempt to hang himself.
In 1983, Shintaku retired from the bench. The judge was arrested in a 1987 raid on an Alewa Heights teahouse in the company of Earl K.H. Kim, who controlled gambling during that era.
Shintaku pleaded guilty to gambling charges in 1988. A year later he was found dead after apparently slitting both wrists and jumping from the third floor of the Stardust Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. It was never clear whether he committed suicide or was murdered.
Stevens confessed in 1992 that his brother, Richard "Dickie" Stevens, who had since died, bribed Shintaku. Stevens said Shintaku had gambling debts and that the bribe was made and accepted before the double murder trial ever began.
On May 12, 1993, federal Judge David Ezra sentenced Stevens to 20 years without parole. He told the court that Stevens' prosecution ended "a criminal organization that operated almost unchecked on the Waianae Coast for over 20 years."
~ ~ ~
November 15, 2000
Thou Shalt Judge
U.S. District Court Chief Judge David Alan Ezra has ruled upon some of the most important cases in modern Hawaiian history
By Chad Blair, Honolulu Weekly
Over the past few years, landmark rulings have been issued from the U.S. District Court in Hawai‘i on matters ranging from the FelixConsent Decree to Rice vs. Cayetano, from the 1996 Constitutional Convention vote to longline fishing, from monitoring of the Hawai‘i State Hospital to the growing of hemp.
The rule maker at the center of it all is David Alan Ezra, 53, Chief Judge for the U.S. District Court in Hawai‘i, who has been quietly but firmly — some might say radically — interpreting federal law as it applies to Hawai‘i. Through his bold rulings, Ezra has changed the legal landscape of Hawai‘i.
Ezra’s initial ruling on the longline fishing industry, effective this past summer, closed 6.5 million square miles of ocean located some 500 miles north of Hawaii to all but a relative few longliner outings. Ezra earlier had ordered that trained federal observers be on all longline boats to monitor sea turtles that get trapped in longline gear.
The rulings attracted major media attention, including vocal protests from fishermen, grocery stores and restaurants who charged that, because of Ezra’s restrictions, low yields would lead to high costs, which in turn would force consumers to drop sashimi in favor of cheese and crackers. That hasn’t happened, but the power of Ezra’s decisions has not been lost on the public....
Honolulu attorney Jeff Portnoy agrees. "Ezra doesn’t shy away from controversy. In fact, he takes on the most controversial cases, and every time you do that, one section of the community is happy, but another section is upset.
Portnoy should know: He was appointed by Ezra as special master in the Felix case some seven years ago. The Felix consent decree orders Hawai‘i’s schools to be in compliance with federal requirements for disabled children.
Judge Ezra is indeed a controversial man, but he is also one of the most influential people in Hawai‘i. In two interviews in September and October, Honolulu Weekly set out to discover what makes this man tick.
Court of Order
The Federal Building is a tightly guarded facility. Although the Federal Marshalls are polite, they spend inordinate time screening the items that go through the building’s X-ray machine. They confiscate a reporter’s tape recorder, explaining that no recording devices are allowed upstairs.
Exiting the elevator on the fourth floor, another security guard defends the doors to the four separate courtrooms of the District Court. Ezra presides over an eight-member court, which in addition to Ezra consists of jurists Helen Gillmor, Susan Oki Mollway, Samuel P. King andAlan C. Kay (Ezra replaced Kay as chief justice in December 1998), along with magistrates Francis Yamashita, Leslie Kobayashi andBarry Kurren.
District Courts are courts of original jurisdiction where cases concerning federal matters — such as antitrust suits brought by the federal government or commercial and contractual disputes between citizens or businesses — are heard. Some cases are criminal, including bank robberies, interstate drug-trafficking and kidnapping.
According to some observers, it is not inconceivable that Ezra, who calls himself a political moderate — he was appointed to the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, yet has a framed photo in his office of himself greeting Hillary Clinton at the White House — might one day find his way to the next stop on our judicial ladder, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which comprises most western states and Guam; from there it’s just a presidential tap onto the U.S. Supreme Court.
Despite his boosters, Ezra says he expects to be working in the District Court 10 years from now. Though he has five years remaining as chief judge, all federal judges have lifetime appointments.
Ezra is well-connected with the local legal community and in national circles as well. He was a law partner with John Moon, cousin ofChief Justice of the Hawai‘i Supreme Court Ronald Moonand he counts among his friends several U.S. Supreme Court justices. Ezra downplays concerns that the next U.S. president will reshape that court, saying he doesn’t see any vacancies in the near future. "They are physically fit," he says of the justices. "None are mentally weak."...
"I was a strong supporter when he applied to become a federal judge," says attorney Portnoy, who passed the Hawai‘i bar along with Ezra in 1972. "I think he brings a lot of very important attributes to the bench. He’s very bright, very organized; he let’s people know exactly what he believes. He doesn’t obfuscate — you know where you stand in your cases with Judge Ezra."
Portnoy observes that it is rare for a judge to take the time in court to make sure litigants and spectators alike understand the proceedings. "He’s very media-friendly," Portnoy says. "Most judges just talk to lawyers, but not him. He has an understanding of the courts’ mystique among the public, so he goes out of his way to explain things."
That patience is no doubt influenced by Ezra’s respect for the media. "I absolutely believe in the First Amendment," he says. "Often, I notice that many reporters better understand the issues than some lawyers."...
You Be the Judge
Though born in Columbus, Ohio, Ezra grew up in Hawai‘i and graduated in 1965 from St. Louis High School. He attended Chaminade College and, briefly, UH-Mänoa, later receiving a bachelor’s in business administration magna cum laude from St. Mary’s University in Texas. He later graduated from St. Mary’s law school with high honors, and then joined the Army.
Ezra’s court chambers are decorated with military memorabilia — WWII-era planes and ships, photos of soldiers, depictions of American eagles. "Freedom does not come cheaply," he intones. "It’s earned."
Ezra’s father, Jack, was a business man who served in World War II. He was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge and for the rest of his life had to wrap his left leg in bandages and occasionally use crutches. "Having seen what my father went through, I have an understanding of what disabled people go through," he says.
"He never complained," says Ezra of his father, who passed away in 1992. "He was never bitter."
After finishing his own active duty, Ezra returned to Hawai‘i and joined the law firm of Anthony, Hoddick, Reinwald & O’Connor. By 1976 he had become a partner and focused on construction litigation. Then, in the early 1980s, he ran his own firm, Ezra, O’Connor, Moon & Tam, where he did financial-services litigation.
"I always wanted to be a lawyer," he says today. "I have always been impressed by the profession. Most of the people that I work with are terrific. Like me, I think they see a chance to really help people."
In 1988, Ezra was appointed to the U.S. District Court, becoming the youngest federal judge in Hawai‘i history. Ezra today often travels to the Mainland to deal with complex litigation, at the behest of the 9th Circuit Court and the U.S. Supreme Court, which is separate from his Hawai‘i duties.
But Hawai‘i holds a warm spot for Ezra. He serves as an adjunct professor at the UH law school, and he is a trustee of his alma mater, St. Louis. A large landscape painting of the northern reaches of the Wai‘anae Range and Ka‘ena Point hangs behind his desk, while his computer screen-saver is decorated with palm trees.
"Hawai‘i is a unique community that has very special legal issues," Ezra explains. "Land issues are very big —I’ve ruled on a few — as aresovereignty issues."
Ezra is married with three grown daughters, but he declines to share much information about them. As a private citizen — "I go to the store, I go to ball games, just like everybody else" — he cherishes his privacy.
Ezra also displays a certain modesty. "I can be short with people sometimes," he admits with a smile. "I have bad days — I’m sure my clerks could tell you that. I’m much less than perfect."...
Ezra says he’s not a strict interpreter of the Constitution, either, though he greatly respects Supreme Court Judge Antonin Scalia, a strict Constitutionalist.
"What does concern me is when people misrepresent the judicial system," says Ezra. "I think that people should understand that judges can only react to the cases that are brought before them, and that they must operate within the context of that case. ... We can’t just go out and make new laws."
This leads to a personal frustration for Ezra.
"Ironically, judges must often suppress their own freedoms of speech on certain legal issues so as not to jeopardize a case. But the public has a right to expect a federal judge to be above the fray. It’s like being in the eye of a hurricane — you must stay calm and keep your own, personal opinions in check."
The Book of Ezra
Judge David Ezra has ruled on a wide range of issues, ranging from the profound to the mundane:
September 2000
Former Honolulu developer Sukamto Sia is arrested at Restaurant Row after violating terms of his bail in a bankruptcy trial just a day after he had been released following a dressing-down from Ezra. "I have no intention of dilly-dallying around," Ezra says at the time, although he later allows the financier to stay confined to a luxury condo.
June 2000
Ezra rules that Kaka‘ako Chevron gas station dealer Frank Young cannot have his lease and company contract terminated by Chevron, simply because Young has been an outspoken critic of Chevron, which had sued Young.
May 2000
Ezra finds the state of Hawai‘i in contempt for not substantially improving special-education services as determined in the 1994 Felix Consent Decree. The state currently has until December 31, 2001, to come into compliance.
April 2000
Ezra dismisses the Rice vs. Cayetano decision from any further federal jurisdiction, ending a three-and-a-half year lawsuit that opened up the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ elections to all voters. In essence, Ezra agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court’s Feb. 23 ruling on Rice, though Ezra had ruled against Freddy Rice in 1997, a ruling that was affirmed by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in 1998 but was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year.
January 2000
Ezra rules that Big Island hemp and marijuana advocate Aaron Anderson’s civil-rights lawsuit against Hawai‘i County may include evidence of profits lost in his hemp business when police arrested him for possession of marijuana and confiscated his plants. Anderson later wins his case.
December 1999
Ezra orders the Hawai‘i State Hospital to comply with a court agreement governing the hospital, or face takeover by the federal court. A court-appointed monitor is named. "We owe it to the people of Hawai‘i, to our sense of humanity and to the law to do what is right," Ezra says at a hearing in the matter.
October 1999
Ezra helps broker an agreement between International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 142 and the Hawai‘i Employers Council to avoid a shutdown of the docks. "The children of Hawai‘i will be happy to receive their Christmas trees in time," says Ezra.
October 1997
Ezra refuses to block the Cassini mission, a rocket fired from Cape Canaveral, Florida, bearing 72 pounds of plutonium, which will fly over the Hawaiian Islands"Nothing is risk-free," he argues.
September 1997
Ezra agrees with seven companies that sued the state over a new law that requires private employers to extend health benefits to reciprocal beneficiaries, many of them gay couples, finding that the state law clashed with federal law.
July 1997
Ezra determines that the 1996 vote on a Constitutional Convention was fundamentally flawed — voters could not have foreseen that blank votes would be counted as "no" votes — and orders a new election. The Con Con measure was defeated in 1998. Also rejects claims byPerfect Title Co. that challenged a land conveyance for a federal detention center. Ezra calls "reckless" and "ludicrous" the defendants’ argument that the issue had to do with Hawaiian sovereignty and 19th-century Hawaiian Kingdom law.
April 1991
Ezra rules as unconstitutional a 20-year ban on fixed outdoor political signs"It’s a restriction on freedom of speech," he says.
~ ~ ~
Samizdat, Part 1
Militia Movement Enters Stage Right
By Dan Yurman
During the winter of 1995 Idaho's militia movement discovered new fields of opportunity for its political agenda, which took it well beyond its original focus on 2nd amendment issues involving the right-to-keep-and- bear-arms. Litigation and controversies over saving salmon and wolves on public lands under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act radicalized many Idaho citizens. It made them easy prey for someone with messages of what to fear and who to blame.
State elected officials offered symbolic promises of relief, but also courted the militia as possible shock troops for the radical right-wing of theRepublican party. Some politicians were more adept than others at avoiding accountability for bringing extremism into mainstream politics. The cloak of ambiguity fit too well in several instances, but others, like the state's superintendent of education, decided it didn't suit them.
Environmental Suit Over Fish Puts 4,000 People Out of Work
Unfocused Anger Seeks a Lens; the Militia Offers One
Dateline -- Challis, ID - 01/22/95
Thousands of people in Idaho became unemployed with one stroke of the pen from U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra who January 9th ruled on a suit brought by the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund and the Wilderness Society to save an endangered species of salmon. In his decision the Hawaii District Judge ordered all grazing, logging, mining and road-building activities on public lands in central Idaho must be halted until further notice to protect endangered salmon.
Over 4,000 people could lose their jobs representing $83 million in annual payroll. The decision created a storm of protest. The injunction radicalized area residents, released huge amounts of unfocused anger, and left many vulnerable to messages of what to fear and who to blame.
Some of those affected by the injunction threatened violent action as a means to oppose it. Idaho's growing militia movement sought to exploit the situation by sending its key organizers to Challis, ID, to focus this rage on its "new world order" conspiracy theories and to gain new members. Idaho's state and federal elected officials reacted to the suit offering up largely symbolic promises of relief from the injunction....


~ ~ ~
Judge David Ezra is expected to testify regarding his professional, personal and social relationships with Lissa AndrewsEarl AnzaiLyn AnzaiSusan TiusGuido GiacomettiParker RanchSukamto SiaJune JonesJohn GoemansFreddie RiceMatsuo TakabukiHenry PetersGerard JervisRichard WongLokelani LindseyHaunani ApolionaClayton HeeOswald StenderJ. Douglas IngConstance Lau,Diane J. PlottsFrancis KealaMichael ChunRonald LibkumanRobert K.U. KihuneNainoa ThompsonBishop MuseumMark Polivka;Donald DuckworthFred KrausJanet Hughes, IRSGeorge AriyoshiJohn WaiheeBenjamin CayetanoColbert MatsumotoLouise Ing;Paul AlstonAlston Hunt Floyd & IngHamilton McCubbinNathan AipaColleen WongLouanne KamMichael ChunLarry JohnsonBank of HawaiiDonna TanoueGilbert TamSandwich Isles CommunicationsSummit CommunicationsWilliam S. Richardson; Marsh & McLennanP&C Insurance Co.XL Insurance Co.Rey GraultyGary RodriguesJames DuffyJohn MarshallJudge Patrick YimWayne MetcalfJ.P. SchmidtGuido GiacomettiSukamto Sia; David Chesnoff; Margery Bronster; Irene A. Anzai; Carol RichelieuDavid Fairbanks;Jeffrey WatanabeMichael TanoueDan InouyeDaniel AkakaRobert BennettRobert KatzSteven GuttmanAlan MaJudith Neustadter FuquaUniversity of Hawaii FoundationAl Hoffman, Larry Kuriyama, Larry Mehau, Judge Harold Shintaku, Rocco SansoneMarsh & McLennan, Richard “Dickie” Stevens, Charles MarslandRick ReedTony RutledgeAnthony PoundersEG&G Technical ServicesRobert FishmanMartin FrankelCarlyle GroupLinda LingleBob AwanaDaniel Kihano, Hale Nani Partners, Kathleen SullivanJeffrey Portnoy,Peter CarlisleUniversity of Hawaii Environmental Law ProgramMelinda ChingThe Nature ConservancyThe Hawaii Nature Conservancy, Clifton S. Corey, Sherry BroderHaunani ApolionaOffice of Hawaiian AffairsCarol Muranaka, Judge Mary Schroder, Edward Halealoha AyauJudge Alan KayJudge Michael SeabrightJudge Colleen HiraiJudge Alan KayJudge Michael TownJudge James DuffyJudge Rey Graulty, James NicholsonDavid C. FarmerSteven GuttmanJames CribleyDaniel CaseRonald ReaganJoseph Verner Reed, Jr.,Dee Jay MailerRuth Ann BeckerGuy KaulukukuiLeslie Osborne , and others to be named upon discovery.
Internet References:
Zoominfo Profile for Bobby N. Harmon, CPCU
Bias Complaints / Motion to Recuse / Judicial Independence
Rice vs. Cayetano
RICO Lawsuit - 99-CV-00304-DAE-BMK
Chronologies
Documents, News Articles and Related Links
First Amendment Rights/Obstruction of Justice
www.faceintel.com/intelvhamidi.htm < < < IMPORTANT LEGAL CASE
Hawaii Dept. of Labor - CV 98-2394-05 - Unemployment Insurance Appeal
Equity 2048 -The Richards Report
The Goodenow Report
XL Reinsurance Policy No. XLRKS-01796
Equity 2048 - Related Correspondence and Documents
IRS Closing Agreement for Kamehameha Schools
The Na Kumu Book Advisory Group
Broken Trust: Greed, Mismanagement & Political Manipulations
Lost Generations: A Boy, A School, A Princess
Apartheid...Hawaiian Style
KITV Special Report

TO GO TO THE WOO VS. HARMON WITNESS INDEX

Originally posted: July 1, 2005

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CHRONOLOGY
July 1, 2005: Originally posted on www.the-catbird-seat.net
March 13, 2007: Judge David Ezra signs Order to shut down website
December 23, 2009: Latest update on www.kycbs.net
~ ~ ~
THE CATBIRD SEAT ARCHIVES

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  2. FYI: If you notice, Bobby Harmon's website was ordered removed in 2006 under bogus "National Security" issues by the Bush Administrations DOJ under Alberto Gonzales. Under the Freedom of Information Act, it was later revised an open to the public formum, but was later "transferred" to Mark Zuckenburg's "Facebook" enterprise.....which has since been under scrutiny for sharing and manipulation data mining info.....for the right price! If you also notice, former U.S. Intel operative, Edward Snowden, operation in Hawaii (Kunia & Camp Smith Intel base of ops), fled to Russia to avoid any bogus persecution by Hawaii & U.S. authorities, who confirmed the "inside" govt cooperative moles were secretly stealing and monitoring the public's private information, leveraging bank accts, investments, and any important data mining info for "inside" investors. Always remember the saying: "when government fears the truth with people like Bobby Harmon and Edward Snowden, (including Rand Corp whistleblower, Daniel Ellsberg....Vietnam), there is tyranny. When Government fears the real people fore mentioned, there is LIBERTY!

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