This is tough for me because I support and I respect law enforcement. But Jon Andoh is a friend of mine and I do not like the way he was treated by the South Tahoe Police Department. Dale Rise is a friend of mine and I do not like the way he was treated by the South Tahoe Police Department.

My questions, “Was there no other way for the officers to handle this situation?” “Was using a taser the only option?” “Will I be tasered if the officers come to my door?” “How do I protect myself from the South Tahoe Police Department?”

I have heard City Council talk about the lack of experienced officer in Tahoe. Tahoe cannot afford to pay our officers enough money to survive in this town. So young recruits come to our town, get a little experience then move to a city with higher salaries. We live in a training ground for young police officers.

To a young officer, “disrespect” is often perceived as a criminal offence. To a young officer “anger” is often perceived as a criminal offense. I know of a case where a person was arrested because he referred to the officer as “dude”. The man said to the young officer, “Come on dude, he didn’t mean it.”

It is not surprizing that Dale Rise ‘s attorney is seeking not to have Judge Suzzane Kingsbury preside over his trial. I like Judge Kingsbury but there is a reason she known as “KANGAROO KINGSBURY”.Frankly though a pleasant person no one feels that they can get a fair trial because she is an out of touch judge that supports and protects the system at the expense of citrizens rights.

She is very ambitious and has risen to the position of presiding superior court judge. Yet as presiding judge she takes a blind eye to two of her held in secret depency courts being described as a “living nightmare of being in a modern day kangaroo court”.THe citizen picketers report that they fear these courts and judges as more of a danger to their children than child molesters. Both in Tahoe and in Placerville these courts under her watch have been repeatdly picketed by its victims.It is a disgrace to our county that citizens have to picket a court to beg for justice.

Hopefully she will recuse herself from the Rise case.Further it woiuld be best if she would accept that she is a nice person but just not suited to be a fair superior court judge and accordingly retire early.

This would save citizens in both the lower county and in Tahoe from having to vote her out in 2014.

Mr. Rise, deserves, as he asks for, a fair trial and determination of his guilt or innocence based on the facts presented at trial and decided by a jury of his peers. He does not deserve to be tried in the papers or blogs. Neither do our police force or judiciary deserve to be slandered or defamed in reference to this event.
Mr. Cotter, a middle aged Arizona resident, living with his parents and on medication for mental illness, whose only familiarity with the facts are provided by the media or his friend, Ernie Claudio, believes that slander and name calling will help Mr. Rise. He is wrong and way out of line.
Mr. Claudio, bases his response on one sided information from John Andoh and incorrectly leads readers to believe that the three responding officers were inexperienced under trained rookies. They were not, combined they had many decades of service to our community. Mr. Cotters slandering and calling Judge Kingsbury names is uncalled for. She is a fair and impartial jurist who consistantly receives the highest praise from her community and fellow judges.
Nor should Mr. Rise suffer the same disparagement at the hands of STPUD’s disgruntled employees or others.
This is a matter to be settled and determined at trial. We all should have faith in the American system of juris prudence and await the outcome as determined the facts presented and decided by a jury of our peers to determine Mr. Rises innocence or guilt.

John Runnels is not one that should talk about slander tactics.While it is true that like milllions of other Americans I suffer from a mentalillness Runnels did not mentin that it is totally in remission under medication. Further that while I have temporarily relocated to Arizona to help my sister care for my elderly parents I am self sufficient and do not live with them.

Mr Runnels further attacks claiming slander based on only hear say and newspaper reports.I am a trained civil rights law para legal with work experience at one of the largest west coast civil rights law firm. As such I am ver familiar with cases of police assaulting citizens and then claiming the citizen resisted and assaulted the police.Sadly in most cases the cirtizen victims are average citizens with no money for adequit legal defense so despite being innocent their sub standard public defender presures them into pleading guilty to something they are completely innocent of. As this fine publication reports the prosecutor tried to get innocent Dale Rise to plea bargain/plead guilty though innocent.

Remember the Rodney KIng beating and riots?In that cae the police were caught on tape savagely beating a black motorist. They then arrested him and charged him with resisting arrest and assaulting officers just l;ike the SLT police have doone in the curent Dale rise case. Fortunately for Rodney King a bystander video taped the beating and the police eventually got four years in prison for violating his civil rights. JUst last month back east in a college town after a basketball game celebration/disturbance several police viciously asaulted a student and then claimed the student asaulted their horses etc . A film of the incident clearly showed that the police completely fabricated all the charges . These are just two cases of what is standard operating procedure for a majority of our police.fortunately in the Dale Rise case there is no video tape but there is the word of MR Rise who is an unimpeachable public official and town hero . Also the word of his wife.

Now as far as judge kingsbury goes I did not slander her. It is fgact that Mr Rises attorney doesnot fel he can get a fair trial with her on the bench. Further it is true that her nickname is “KANGAROO KINGSBURY” it is true from my personal experience dealing with her that she supports and protects the systyem at the expense of citizens rights. It is fact that under her watch as presiding judge the now secret child dependency courts are reffered to by victims as “A LIVING NIGHTMARE IN A FRIGHTENING MODERN DAY KANGAROO COURT”. it is fact that I have wtrote e mails and letters to her as well as met with her for two hours to discuss this problem but got no results except BS and letters in response.It is true that citizen victims of these courts have repeatedly had to resort to picketing in front of both the Tahoe and placerville superior court branches to beg for justice.It is a fact that by her innaction she is morrally responsible for the dozens of lives being destroyed in these courts every year.FACTS NOT SLANDER> Bye the way i stated I personally like judge Kingsbury but simply have the opinion that she is out of touch and not suited to be a superior court judge.

MR john Runnels likes to attack me after i wrote in the paper exposing his anti socital running of a public eyesore which contributed to his political defeat.JUdge for your self. If you agree with me that it is unlikely that an upatanding citizen like DAle Rise would resist arrest and asault three officers then call VErn Piersen the head County Prosecutor and tell him to call off his misgiuded attack dogs which are being used as pawns by rogue members of our SLT police force.Or if you think I”M full of it write a response in this paper right now.

Sorry for the above typos as I was in a hurry. I am writing again to point out that Mr Runnels attacks Ernie laudio for excusing the police behavior on inexperienced officers when he claims these officer had decades of experrience. It should be pointed out that from my experience and what is proven fact in the cases I mentioned caught on video tape that experienced officers were guilty. In fact in the Rodney King case only two officers went to prison for the savage beating and false arrest/charges but about a dozen watched the beating but not one spoke up to tell the truth. So the “BLUE CODE” that is sort of a code among thieves will also be probable in the DAle Rise trial.Sadly hero Dale rise President of the South Lake Tahoe Public Utility District, faithfull husband, good father, contractor and owner of the local ice cream shop faces an up hill battle against the ‘BLUE CODE” and perjury by police that are trained and expert witnesses. So if this can be resolved by putting presPnure ON Vern piersen our elected prosecuter through writing the obvious truth in this paper then justice is well served .

I need say no more Mr. Cotters rambling makes my point.

How can you state WHAT Mr. Rise WOULD have done IF the police had done X? Were you there in Mr. Rise’s head? Or do you have access to inside info from the police? Whole lotta speculatin’ goin’ on.

dogwoman, thanks for your response. I welcome even critisism. To answer your question I know this to be a virtual certainty based on dealing with Dale rise and the way he responds to every situation as elected President of the south Lake Tahoe Public Utilities District etc. Dale Rise is a stubborn principled individual but is always very reasonable and respectfull of others. Further he is a law abiding outstanding citizen , employer, contractor, small buisness person, father , husband and serves as our elected representative for only four hundred dollars per month yet it costs him thousands per month in lost time to his contracting buisness. He is simply a very rational , law abiding and principled fellow m3emnber of our community that we should trust including his version of the events surrounding his conflict with the police.Does that answer your question ?

H, I am only a former para legal 20 yrs out of practice. As a para legal and now today i do not give legal advice. Writing here i am just a private citizen that is sharing his opinion on a already made public matter.your attitude supports my contenbtion that it ios unlikely that Dale rise can get a fair trial.Despite video tapes in the Rodney King Case etc the average juror out of ignorance tends to support the police. The jurors unless confronted with a video tape just dont want to accept that the men and women wearing uniforms and sworn to protect us are falible and quite regularly perjur themselves etc.You are right though that Dale Rise is rolling the dice but from his point of view it is a matter of principle not to accept a plea bargain for something he is not guilty of.I wish him the best and ask others to remember thst in America we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty.

John Lee, I pointed out that when the police asked if they could enter and MR rise said not without a warrant they could have told him they didnt need one because of the 911 call etc giving them what you decribe as probable cause. But the cops didnt do this or ask to talk to who called instead they reacted to refusal of their request to enter with hostility and violence against a citizen that was in good faith excersizing/protecting his rights.It’s doubtfull that MR rise was ever aware until reading the police report that a 911 call had been made.If convicted Mr Rise a wealthy man will no doubt appeal this to every level possible.I am not an attorney so do not offer legal advice but only a lay mans opinion . I feel that it was reasonable to refuse entry unless told that the police had a right and just what gave them that right. Without that being the case i feel that the police were unjustified and hasty to push their way in and asault an unarmed man thre on one especially when he pleaded for them to stop and told them he wasnt resisting them etc.His poor wife was terrified by the sight of three armed police brutally asaulting her husband then arresting him.BUt like I wrote earlier it will be three criminal police officers perjuring them selves with a fabricated story against a upstanding citizen and his wife.I salute Dale Rise for his courage and matter of principle to notr accept a plea bargain for something he did not do. But frankly if i was his attorney I’m not sure I would advise this if the plea bargain was for a misdemeanor and no jail time etc.Also I wonder if faced with the same situatrion would i have the courage of Dale Rise to face possible prison or county jail time if convicted.But at least I take the time to write in the paper what I think is the truth and open myself up to critisism from such types as John Runnels. Further the trial and posible appeals are just one aspect. THe other aspect is the electoral process where we can muster public opinion and votes to oust the district attorney and judge(s) if one of our best citizens like Dale Rise ids unjustly tried and convicted etc.We must use our free speech rights to protect society from both unjust law enforcement actions as well as unjust prosecutions etc. wE cant keep in office prosecutors and judges that essentially support the “BLUE CODE” and law enforcement right or wrong.May GOd be watching over and protecting all of us including Dale Rise.

Tahoe, we are going to find out,all 911 calls are recorded in detail,they got the memo,good attorneys like the pay scale,there’s no guarantee on any their contracts.
They sit you down coach you on a lot on details.How to act,what to wear,how answer question ,if they even let you take the stand.
This case will be interesting.A lot times this is a cat ,mouse game with the defense keeps asking for more time for (discovery),I don’t know the % of success rate,but this can drag on for sometime.More motion,more motion,$$$$$!
Most rational people know if they are guilty,a speedy trial sure less stress on your family and ones Mind. District Attorney Hans Uthe does not fool around , neither did SARA!
THE JURY WILL BE GOOD LOCALS WITH SUPPOSEDLY FAIR WITS.
GOOD LUCK.These things scare the hell out me.

Great comments. Thanks to the Lake Tahoe News.net for this opportunity.
I am glad I don’t have to serve on this jury.

John Lee did a great job informing us about the “letter or the law”, but there is also the “intent” of the law to be considered. Our officers need to apply these laws without going beyond their legal intent. Forcibly entering a private residence is serious business and should not be taken lightly by either side in this debate.

I do not fault the officers in the Dugard case. I do not believe the officers intentionally did anything wrong. The forcible entry laws were not applied as they were intended in the Dugard case.

My friend Kim has a long record of accomplishments in social activism. Because of his legal education, he is trained to argue his case from every possible approach. Like me, Kim is willing to voice his opinions even though we know criticisms will flow and relationships will be strained.

Working as a law enforcement officer is the toughest job in the world. I know I could never come close to doing the job correctly because I have a habit of acting impulsively when things get tense.

No matter what my opinions are about any incident, I will always respect and support our law enforcement officers; any person who is willing to take a bullet to protect me deserves nothing less.

H, I liked your words of wisdom and yes the right to bear arms is next to free speech our most cherished right. Do you agree that the ca state ban on so called assault weapons is a violation of our right to bear arms ?And would you trust judge kangaroo kingsbury sitting on a court where its constitutionality was challenged ? I wouldnt as Judge kangaroo kingsbury when i met with her and the head of CPS and other counbty agencies about the injustice s in the child dependency court only supported and defended the system. In fact she called the meeting to try to persuade community hero Ernie Claudio from going public with thegross miscarriages of justice. Further she even made a slightly veiled threat to Claudio implying that if he protested etc rather than “working through the system’ that it could jeaperdize his charity works in the courts and community regarding the twelve steps programs.This judge is very ambitious and cares less about justice and people than the public image of her and her courts. John Runnels pointed outthat she gets high marks and praise fro m her fellow judges. Well that praise is worthless because all the judges are in like a click or little elite club that support each other right or wrong.THecess pool of injustice in the Eldorado Cpounty courts and Govt agencies is going to be increasingly made aware to our public. This incl;udes judge Suzzanne Kingsburys nicknam of “KANGAROO KINGSBURY” becoming a house hold word.NOe asa a christian I do believe in redemption of souls so judge Kingsbury could make amends by doing her moral r4sponsibility in cleaning up the out of control CPS and child dependency courts both in our county a through out the state. She copuld use her influence to get the “PARENTS BILL OF RIGHTS ” enected by the state etc. Well if she did rather than a step by step progress campaign to replace her she would have our vigorous support. THe choice is hers.The fate of countless parents andchildren is morally in her hands. She can claim or psycologically hide behind it not being her full rresponsibility. However, she as presiding judge is very connnected and the fact that is within her power to help this gross injustice inmymind makes it her moral duty not to take a course of denial and innaction. What do you think ?

Mr. Cotter – Are you talking about the same Dale Rise that I know? The one I know is very deceitful and quick to anger. In fact I have seen him quickly yell at people who walk to close to his construction sites. They don’t deserve it and the harsh things that you are saying about our local police based off of third party retellings of the story are unjust in and of themselves. Maybe you should take a few breaths and put a little faith back into the court system that makes our country so great.

concern, you don’t know Dale other than what you read in these blogs and if you did you must realize you don’t know Dale. It is so easy for you to hide behind the screen and give your comments and rumors about people and expect them to believe you. You and most everyone have already convicted him based on what you read and hear as rumors. I knew from the beginning what actually happened, that his kid called 911 but held judgement and rumor starting on what happened. I am not saying what happened was right or wrong, that will be up to a jury and not the court of public opinion. The media has done this case a great injustice as they knew, from the police reports, what actually happened but failed to report the entire story. Unfortunatly that is the power of journalists when the journalists do not like someone or want to give the story sensationalism for sales. Once again, I am not saying that happened here but several items were left out of all the reports by all the news accounts. Yes the Rise’s are friends of mine but so are the officers involved and I feel this was a situation that got out of everyones control. If the police have the right to enter your house on any domestic dispute they better park their butts outside every household where there are married couples who have been together longer than 30 minutes.

Mr. Cotter insists on making my points regarding his veracity for me. He is obviously more interested in rabid ranting than any reasonable discussion. He continues to speak as if he is Dale Rise’s best friend and raves with conviction about how and what Dale feels and experienced. He might have met Dale at most several times and as previously stated he is not a member of our community. His information comes only from the media and what he is fed by his compatriot, Ernie Claudio. He is a certifiable wacko and his comments only serve to hurt Dale and his position. Those of us who are friends of Dale wish that he would use his time and unending expertise in his Arizona community. Or perhaps they have tired of him too.

Mr. Cotter, have you even SEEN Mr. Runnels’ car lot in the past year? It’s probably the best looking property on those 4 corners! Certainly it’s the cleanest. He’s always out there sweeping it. I feel bad he has to look across the street at the eyesore that was a shopping center and is now a boarded up building with a dirty parking lot that morphs into tacky summer craft sale tents.

Mr Cotter, Johns description of you is accurate and not even close to libelous based on your past comments in blogs on various issues. You have no idea what is going on and your view is very one sided based on your perception of the facts or incomplete facts as stated in these blogs. This blogs is a heartbeat away from using the R word which is usually the first thing thrown out.

lol, You are correct and I like mine ground very fine.

It’s nice to know that Johns eyesore has been cleaned up. Why did he refuse to do so for years unless the city and cal trans paid for it. He claims he is such a nice guy but practically extorted the city etc to pay for his eyesore or suffer from it. He may have some redeaming qualities but taking responsibilty for his own doing regarding his car lot”wrecking yard” was not what he demonstrated for years.JUst because I speak my opinion on issues which happen to be shared by many others doesnt make me a certifiable wacko or self proclaimed nut case. It is draconian and based on old fashioned ignorance for people to think these days that someone who takes medication for chemical imbalance is not as sane and functionable productive member of socitey as others more fortunate. youshould be ashamed of your selves.My other posts on this web paper have concerned Tahoe Victims of CPS and Eldorado County Victims of CPS a non profit 501 corporation which i am proud to be co – founder of . From these groups and dealing with citizen victims i have found that Judge suzanne Kingsbury for example is nick named “KANGAROO KINGSBURY” etc . After much investigation and personal experience I find the nickname appropriate so in good conscience mention it.I base all my opinions on research and or personal experience.I have been temporarily living in Az for quite a while so was not aware that Johns incredible disgusting eyesore had finally been cleaned up.I would actualy salute him for the change if I was sure he finaly did it on his own without city and county funds.enough said…

Time for a more detailed response to allegations that I am a certifiable wacko and self proclaimed mental case.

First of all I am sane enough to accept wothout denial that I have like millions of other productive good citizens a chenmical imbalance which under medication allows me to function at 100%. I am retired on a Teamsters Union pension, self sufficient, lease a large executive home which i rent rooms to a couple of college students, I vote, handle all my own affairs, Atend a baptist church where I am a leader on several committesand run the food andclothing bank,volunteer three nights per week with my pick up truck one of two cars to deliver meals on wheels to the elderly and handicapped, though in Az still help out with Tahoe Victims of CPS and Eldorado county victims of cPs and I recieve expensement reimbursment as an unpaid advisor to the Teamsters Union.Also I under my own nam not hiding open myself up to critisism and now some unfounded vicios attacks on thuis web paper trying to help people in need in the Tahoe community.

I expose the injustices of an out of control CPS that hurts more vcchildren and parents than it is supposed to help. I expose the un american held in secret kangaroo like child dependency court and I presently am trying to help Dale Rise get justice because in America when it comes to cops asaulting a citizen and then charging them falsly with resisting etc it is rare with out a video tape to get justice,

Now my attackers distort my medicated under control chemical imbalance as making me someone that is not credible etc,.

lEts look at John Runnel. JOhn is reported to be rich kid now middle aged on a family trust fund that requires him to operate a buisness. so for years he has had a wrecking yard with no cars ever for sale and parts store rarely ever open that was an incredible eye sore top our beautifull community. tHe city council intendeed to clean up his eyesore but he threatened to sue the taxpayers. Then he bosasted among friends that he was keeping the wrecking yard a disturbinbg eyesore to force the city council etc to pay for the fence and landscaping etc.extortion ?Nice guy ?now he boast s of being in the autom,buisness for years like he is contributing something to the community. he boasts of cleaning up part of hios own property. well I ask what is in it for John?AS the John which I once liked and campaigned for I know as an only in it for John type. Lets look at the Citizen aliance which John helped form. It had very few average citizens. instead most were greey buisness men that wanted to stop paying their share of taxes.

THen speaking of the citizens alliance peole stopped coming to the meeting s because JOhn insisted on being chairman for his big ego and used the chair to attack and alienate everyone. so his friend ernie Claudio wrote him a polite e mail sugegesting that he might for the good of the organization step down as chair. Well soon after an ego hurt john then back stabbed his friend Ernie Claudio by writing distorted letters to the editor critisizing him. This is the same Ernis Claudiothat he talked ointo running for the STPUD board etc . Ernie claudio is just a retired Teamster that spends all his retired life helping the needy in our comuntity.Well when I supported and campaigned for John Runnels the first time he ran for STPUD he was real friendly and complimentary towardsme. But then after he back stabbbed Ernie Claudio and I wrote a rebi=uttal and also exposed him for th3e then un cleaned up wrecking yard eyesore at the “Y” and his threatening to sue the taxpayers he turned on me and viciously tries to discredit me because I take medication. Well JOhn I may take medication to function at 100% but why do you take illegal drugs except to escape reality? perhaps John should seek rehab.

Yes Ms Reed …no more name calling. Bye the way to be fair and to acknowledge that I do make mistakes I would like to point out that Ernie Claudio gave me an earfull regarding what I wrote about the citizen alliance. He informs me that from his experience the Alliance did not try to evade taxes and actually did many good things for SLT. Further I should have given judge Kingsbury more time to investigate CPS and the Dependency courts as well as more time to take action before I publicly critisized her.However, I still feel from experience and research etc that what I said about Dale Rise and the Slt police as well as police and courts in America is very accurate. I dont think Dale Rise will get a fair trial ,