On March 28, I also sent a letter by "snail-mail" to a former Minnesota neighbor whose email address I didn't have. I wanted to let her know about this blog, and to ask that she mention it to mutual acquaintances who may not be active on the Internet, may not know about the blog, but may be interested in it.
I received an email acknowledgement of my former neighbor's receipt of my letter on April 9, which is exactly 12 days after I mailed it, here in Thailand.
So, I guess there are several possible reasons why Sandra Couture hasn't answered me: (1) it's barely possible that neither copy of the letter reached the prison in Shakopee -- but as I've mentioned before, I have yet to see a letter that hasn't made it over there within 10 days or so, and in this case, I've mailed two separate copies, 26 and 33 days ago, (2) it's possible the letter was intercepted for some reason, (3) it's possible Sandra doesn't want to answer the letter for some reason, (4) it's possible she hasn't had time to answer it, (5) it's possible that she doesn't have $1.15 for postage.
I'll leave that matter for right now. I'm thinking that some reader or future reader of this blog may possibly have an easier way to get in contact with either of the Coutures than I have, and may know things in this matter that I do not know ... I would certainly like to have a chance to ask the Coutures if they were ever informed of my testimony in the murder case before they each made their "confession", and if they know that the "arson fire" they "confessed" to, evidently never even occurred.
Maybe I will still get an answer in the mail. It's been a big holiday here in Thailand for the past week, and I'm not sure how that has affected the mail delivery schedule.
Now, on to the more general subject of police behavior/misbehavior. We've all heard about the cop shooting the guy in the back in South Carolina a week or so ago, then trying to cover it up by dropping his taser next to the guy, then being "caught" by a citizen's camera, then being charged with murder.
What rather surprised me was the unusual quickness with which Duluth Police Chief Gordon Ramsay jumped to the forefront to condemn this murder on his Facebook page, saying on April 9:
This reprehensible act makes my gut turn and this criminal needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. He has tarnished the badges of all the hard working and ethical officers in the country. Police from coast to coast will have to work harder than ever before to build relationships and trust with everyone we serve. It is a very sad day for policing in America.It seems weird to me that this seems to be the first time the Chief has taken notice of anything like this -- it's not like it's the first time in the history of the United States that the police have shot an innocent unarmed man in the back, and it's not even the first time this year -- or even this month -- but all of a sudden, THIS DAY SPECIFICALLY is "a very sad day for policing in America".
Anyway, I went to the comments section of that post, and it didn't take long for me to notice that comments posted there didn't necessarily stay there for long.
Comments praising the police in general, and Police Chief Gordon Ramsay and his department in particular stayed there, of course.
However, comments directly referring to certain unpleasant happenings right in Duluth involving Duluth police officers and Native American victims were deleted. My comment requesting the Chief's opinion on the framing of the Coutures was not deleted (this time), though you can see for yourself the evasive answer.
Since some of my comments on that page have been deleted in the past, this time I took screen-shots. (The time shown in the lower right of the shots is 12 hours ahead of Duluth time).
I'm just going to post these without much further comment, for anyone who is interested in a case-study of acceptable and unacceptable comments on a police chief's Facebook page.
Please notice how the post above mine in the second picture is no longer there in the third picture, and how several posts in the fifth picture are no longer there at all in later pictures.
I messaged Jared Busse (whose post above mine was deleted) personally, and he messaged me this comment: "He also blocked me ask about David Croud he was a good friend of mine the Duluth pd only came off 100,000 for the wrongful death suit."
So it seems here that the "good-cop" -- "bad-cop" posture we've all heard about the police adapting in interrogations, is in fact, just a posture.
It's pretty hard to believe that the Chief really knows more about that case in South Carolina than he does about the Trina Langenbrunner case tried right there in Duluth, and is willing to comment indignantly on the one, but knows nothing about the other.
But that's what he claims, eh?
Anyway, thanks for reading, thanks for viewing, and please stay tuned!
