Friday, November 20, 2009
Hetero Today in Traditional Marriage
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 3:45 PM
A man was just sentenced to 11 years in prison for beating his wife—with her consent.
Timothy Thompson, a former news reporter for Portland radio station KXL, will have 11 years and 6 months in prison to think about the severity of what he did to his wife Susan and their three young children, Knapp said. In a bench trial with no jury, Knapp found Thompson guilty of eight counts of assault and one of criminal mistreatment.... Since his arrest, Timothy Thompson said the bruising came from a single occasion when the couple’s “game” of correction got out of control. That story was clearly a lie, McKey said. The bruising was almost unbelievable—purple, green, yellow, red and blue. Knee to waist. Breast to navel. Looking more like the lividity of a corpse than injuries to living tissue, they were administered over years with such exacting care that no one would even notice them on a fully-clothed Susan, McKey said.
The beating game came to an end when the police were called to the house because a woman was screaming. Thompson wasn't home but the police noticed cuts and bruises and that Susan Thompson, "was barely strong enough to lift her infant son." The Thompsons—Mr. and Mrs.—argued that the beatings were a game meant to compensate for Susan Thompson's "lack of discipline" growing up. The couple also wanted a "traditional American family," complete with a submissive wife who stays home with the kids, but Susan Thompson had a hard time submitting. So, beatings. It was all supposed to be "titillating and fun," Mr. Thompson told the court—it was supposed to be consensual sex play—but the court didn't buy it and neither do I. First, because Susan Thompson was punished when she tried to call her parents, which smacks—sorry—the typical abuser's attempt to isolate his victim. And then there's this:
In April of 2009, the beatings escalated to 70 to 100 swats a day. Thompson decided to start using a surveyor’s stick instead of a belt because his arm was getting sore, McKey said. After he was done, daddy would sometimes have the children take the rod and smack the bruises, too, to “let mommy know she had to learn her lesson,” McKey said.
Sorry, but it's not a consensual adult sex game if you're forcing your children to participate. Christ.
Visual Art / Film Currently Hanging
Posted by Jen Graves on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 3:41 PM
City / Boom / Theater Viaduct Park?
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 3:03 PM
Maybe this is really dumb question, but... would it be possible to save a piece of the Viaduct as a park/outdoor concert and performance venue? Kind of like the High Line in NYC? It could start at Seneca—walk out of the Seattle Art Museum and take a stroll to Pioneer Square? Or hear a concert at sunset?
I know, I know: earthquake, crumble, mass death. Plus giant vats of political poison from the Viaduct wars.
But Kadeena Lenz of WA DOT just gave me a ray of hope: "I'm not sure anyone's seriously thought about that as an option—with this project, nothing seems improbable."
She's got a meeting today with a project manager. She promised to bring it up.
Politics Word of the Day
Posted by David Schmader on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 2:44 PM
Politics Gov. Gregoire's Budget Speech
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 2:03 PM
As Will mentioned, Gov. Christine Gregoire spoke last night at a fundraiser for Jeanne Kohl-Welles near Ballard and, during the talk, made a notable declaration.
Below is video I shot of the speech—which also serves as a great primer on the huge budget mess this state is now facing.
"It goes without saying, today has not been my best day," Gregoire began, nodding toward the news of the state's $2.6 billion budget shortfall. "But you know what, I gotta tell ya, If it was ever a time to have a Democratic governor, a Democratic house, and a Democratic senate, now is the time." She promised her proposed budget would be brutal ("It will be nothing like you have ever seen in your life") and then she declared:
An all-cuts budget is not the value of the people of the state of Washington. We must step up to our responsibility to this state and look for revenue to get the job done.
For the declaration, start at 3:37. Or, to learn all about the $2.6 billion shortfall and get up to speed on Gregoire's thinking about how to deal with it, watch the whole damn thing:
Film Precious: Brutal New Classic or African-American Bruno?
Posted by David Schmader on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:34 PM
I am a fan of Lee Daniels' Precious—which chronicles the ridiculously hellish life of a Harlem teen in 1988—for some reasons included here.
But I'm also interested in the ongoing anti-Precious backlash, the most vitriolic contribution to which so far comes from the New York Press's infamous contrarian Armond White:
Shame on Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey for signing on as air-quote executive producers of Precious....Not since The Birth of a Nation has a mainstream movie demeaned the idea of black American life as much as Precious. Full of brazenly racist clichés (Precious steals and eats an entire bucket of fried chicken), it is a sociological horror show. Offering racist hysteria masquerading as social sensitivity, it’s been acclaimed on the international festival circuit that usually disdains movies about black Americans as somehow inartistic and unworthy.
Courtland Milloy at the Washington Post continues the criticism of Perry and Winfrey:
Of course, "Precious" would not have received nearly as much media buzz if Oprah Winfrey and Tyler "Madea" Perry had not signed on as executive producers. Oddly, neither has made a movie about rising above a challenging background and becoming a wealthy and influential entertainer.Asked by Entertainment Weekly magazine why she got involved with the project, Oprah said: "I realized that, Jesus, I have seen that girl a million times. I see that girl every morning on the way to work, I see her standing on the corner, I see her waiting for the bus as I'm passing in my limo, I see her coming out of the drugstore, and she's been invisible to me."
Instead of making a movie about how she beat the odds, Oprah has taken to divining ugly life stories from black girls she passes in her limo. Maybe the Obama girls should stay off the sidewalk for a while.
In "Precious," Oprah and Perry have helped serve up a film of prurient interest that has about as much redeeming social value as a porn flick.
To me, a honky watching Precious, the fact that Precious was made by a black filmmaker, based on a novel by a black writer, and co-produced by two media titans who also happen to be black communicated something to me about the film's value and, I guess, it's "truth." But according to Armond White (who, like Courtland Malloy, is African-American), it's all a con:
Perry, Winfrey, and Daniels’ pityparty bait-and-switches our social priorities. Personal pathology gets changed into a melodrama of celebrity-endorsed self-pity. The con artists behind Precious seize this Obama moment in which racial anxiety can be used to signify anything anybody can stretch it to mean. And Daniels needs this humorless condescension (Hollywood’s version of benign neglect) to obscure his lurid purposes.
And then there's this: The testimony of Mo'Nique, who portrays Precious' biggest monster, mother Mary. From an interview with the Associated Press:
AP: How would you describe the film?Mo'Nique: It is about a forgotten people. It is about obesity. It's about molestation. It's about cruelty. It's about HIV/AIDS. But it's about triumph—and that's the beauty of the movie. People say, "How do you walk away saying it's beautiful?" When you watch it and you understand, through it all, somebody can pick themselves up and keep it moving, that's beautiful... So I was proud to be a part of something that is very honest, and Lee Daniels, baby, he's going to give it to you. He's going to give it to you raw. No chaser, no lollipop licking, this is it. It's the dirt, it's the grime, it's what we're afraid of.....I don't know of any other director that would have given two fat, black women the opportunity to do what we did... The world needs to see it because guess what, Mary Jones exists, baby. So does Precious.
Why I bolded that line above: Despite any and all claims of racism or black-on-black betrayal, Precious represents something all decent people must celebrate: A serious movie filled with almost nothing but great parts for African-American women (that also happens to be directed by a gay guy).
Precious begins its Seattle run today.
Visual Art / Strangercrombie Coming Soon to Strangercrombie: Art Piñatas
Posted by Jen Graves on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Here's a sneak peek at one of them, made by Coco Howard. She photographed it in the forest (!).
That's a suicide note in his left hand, poor guy. He is full of felt organs that she also made. (It's like she made dozens of works of art in this single piece.) Will anybody be able to bring themselves to smack the crap out of any of these things?
Unbelievable. (I'm not being nice; you know me.) And for a good cause.
This is just the beginning. More next week.
Visual Art We Want Poison: "Kill Bill" or "Last Samurai"? Which Does Meiro Koizumi Want to Make?
Posted by Jen Graves on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:13 PM
This morning the video artist Meiro Koizumi got on a plane with his wife Yuka and went back home to Japan after having spent two months at the Open Satellite residency in Bellevue, thanks to curator Yoko Ott. His art is very much still here: He has two shows up through January 9, My Voice Would Reach You (a 10-year survey of 11 videos) at Seattle University, and The Corner of Sweet and Bitter at Open Satellite.
I've written plenty about Koizumi already here, so you probably want a rest. But last night he gave a talk that was also a performance, so I just want to share it for those following the issues involved in his work. The central issues are freedom and abuse, as I wrote last week ("On Whether the Artist Is Cruel").
Last night's talk was perfectly earnest to start out. Koizumi gave background that explained why he created the video Work Like A Dog, in which he subjects a Mexican day laborer (for pay) to some humiliation involving a hot dog, a miniature American flag, and weightlifting on camera. He discussed the rising nationalism in Japan, and how it is changing the way Japanese people feel about singing their own national anthem (the mitigation/aftermath of postwar guilt). He discussed coming to America this summer and immediately being taken to a baseball game, where he watched the national anthem being sung unproblematically, and then being taken to Home Depot, where he saw day laborers standing outside ("It's not that we don't have these things in Japan, it's just that they are hidden"). He also talked about the history of Bellevue—his original subject in coming to Open Satellite—which means the transformation of Bellevue from a Japanese strawberry farming community to being emptied out by internment to today's high-rise Bellevue, dependent on new but familiar systems of inequitable labor that are, again, connected to global politics and economics.
And then he brought up an image of the movie poster for "The Last Samurai," and Tom Cruise's giant serious face (surrounded by long, flowing hair) came onto the Henry's projection screen. Music (I can only assume the movie's soundtrack) began to play over the sound system—cheesy and effective music, the kind of music that moves you to cry if the movie director wants you to cry.
Koizumi explained that he saw "The Last Samurai" on the plane. ("It's like 'Dances with Wolves' but about Japan," he said.) Its nationalistic, hyped-up portrayal of Japan was so pseudo and so absurd that he found himself laughing out loud—until he looked around and saw two women crying. He stopped laughing and started being amazed: what was this work of art that could make one person fall down laughing and another cry her eyes out?
He thought of "The Last Samurai" versus "Kill Bill"—the "sick" image of multiculturalism versus the "healthy" (aware, smart, edumacated, post-PC, etc.) image of multiculturalism.
Which would he rather make in his own art?
He delivered the answer as if he were channeling "The Great Dictator," his voice rising as the music got louder and louder. It's hard to see and hard to understand, but I tried to capture it on video as soon as I saw it happening. (Video on jump)
Events / Arts / Nightlife pun(c)tuation: New Gallery Opening Tonight
Posted by Grant Brissey on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:07 PM
- Jaycee
- (Click to Enlarge)
pun(c)tuation, a new gallery directed by local artist Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes opens tonight at 6 pm with a show called The Shogunate Revisited, featuring works from artists Mike Wagner and I AM. It's located at 705A E Pike Street (right next to Honey Hole). The show promises, among other things, Japanese wood block print-influenced works displayed "against a backdrop of video-art installation that will loop archival footage, classic moments from Akira Kurosawa and John Hughes movies, as well as a short film that was shot in Japan the summer of 2009 by graffiti writer, photographer and producer TEWZ (Chicago)." Also present will be wine from Long Shadows Vinters, and vegan fare from Loving Hut. It's a chance to check out this latest gallery addition to Capitol Hill. Get there.
From the press release:
The show examines the artists’ common influence in Japanese wood block print, manga and historic figures including Utamaro, Hokusai, and Katsuhiro Otomo. The Tokugawa shogunate ruled over Japan for more than 300-years, yet creativity thrived despite (or perhaps because of) this oppression. Wood block prints were called ukiyo-e, “pictures of the floating world” — a world of the courtesans, brothels, and Kabuki theaters frequented by an urban class growing in wealth and size, who celebrated a lifestyle free from government-imposed restrictions. This installation reflects the relationships between political oppression and artistic expression, economic growth and social structures, the impact of technology on communications and communities, and the tensions that lead to a restructuring of our worlds.Mike Wagner is a painter, conceptual artist and non-commissioned public illustration specialist, born in Philadelphia raised in Seattle. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, this year his paintings have been featured at Zeitgeist Coffee and FlatColor Gallery — including a series showcasing the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.
I AM is a self-trained Sharpie maestro, comic book and video game illustrator. Originally from Philadelphia but now calls Seattle home, his work has recently been seen in Kushi Bar and Venom.
Their work will be displayed against a backdrop of video-art installation that will loop archival footage, classic moments from Akira Kurosawa and John Hughes movies, as well as a short film that was shot in Japan the summer of 2009 by graffiti writer, photographer and producer TEWZ (Chicago).
See the full press release after the jump:
Politics Gov. Gregoire Opposes "All Cuts" Budget
Posted by Will Kelley-Kamp on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:03 PM
At last night's Post-Election Analysis forum sponsored by Senator Jeanne Kohl-Welles, Governor Chris Gregoire announced that, unlike last year, she expects there to be at least some new revenue to soften the expected cuts to balance the $2.6 budget deficit. Political operative Nigel Herbig tweeted this from the event:
At Kohl-Welles event, Gov. Gregoire stated that another cuts-only budget would not be acceptable.
This could be the first sign that the Democratic super majority could show some guts and raise revenue to balance the budget. They might not have a choice, since there is so little left to cut:
70% of the state budget is protected through constitutional, federal, contractual and other mandates, which means the Legislature would need to slash 27% from the remaining $9.6 billion in unprotected spending in order to achieve an all-cuts budget. I suppose that could be done, but only at the expense of great human suffering.
If the legislature leans on a cuts-heavy budget in 2010, General Assistance Unemployable (or GAU) could be toast. According to their website, GAU is described as a "state-funded program that provides cash and medical benefits for persons who are physically and/or mentally incapacitated and unemployable." Since GAU is only available for individuals who don't qualify for other government assistance, without GAU many of these people would be on the street. It survived elimination in last year's budget, largely because Speaker Frank Chopp defended the program.
News Pit Bulls!
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 1:01 PM
At Large The Alaskan Stereotype
Posted by Jonathan Golob on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:51 PM
After only a few weeks in Alaska, I'm convinced of one fact: If Sarah Palin is a racist, it wasn't from her childhood in Wasilla. (What am I doing in Alaska? This.) By most measures, the Anchorage area is more ethnically diverse and integrated than most places I've been in the lower 48. That's not to say Alaskans have not exhibited prejudice; rather, aside from a seething anti-native sentiment, people seem focused on aspects other than race when stereotyping others.
How you're dressed counts for a lot. (Bringing a pea-coat up here, in retrospect, was a poor decision; never have I had an article of clothing inspire such ire.) Anything beyond the practical draws attention, all negative. A thick coating of aggressive humility is requisite. Looking the part of a down-to-earth, humble working man or woman counts for quite a bit, it seems—perhaps even more than acting that part. A piece of the Palin puzzle fell into place when I finally recognized this pattern. To her hometown supporters, I suspect, there was no more damning criticism of Sarah than her costly clothing shopping sprees. It's telling her book and public appearances all strongly deny even the most obvious and demonstrated facts of her campaign-financed wardrobe revamping.
The Alaskans have also proven quite prickly about minor offers of help, basic interactions like holding open a door or offering directions. Being self-reliant, projecting the image of not needing anyone or anything to get about your life, seems to matter deeply. Nowhere else has the phrase “Can I help you find something?” been loaded with such malice. This seems like a place filled with outsiders, individuals who didn't fit in well elsewhere. The general attitude is blurred between a desire for acceptance and interpersonal connection and a sour-grapes fuck-off-I-don't-need-you-anyways. Todd's membership in the AIP clicks for me a bit more now.
Politics Teabaggers Turn On Palin
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:48 PM
This is pretty delicious...
I guess the Noblesville, Indiana Going Rogue book signing didn’t go very well yesterday because 300* or so of the 1000 people with wristbands were asked not to tread on Sarah Palin and then she tried to make a getaway with Baby Trig and several duffel bags full of cash but wingnuts have learned to protest about everything these days, so they were having none of it. This is the best thing you will see about horrible, horrible Sarah Palin on the internets all day and until the end of time.
Go to Rumproast to read angry comments left on Sarah Palin's Facebook page by some real disappointed real Americans.
Teh Internets Britain's Insane Plan to Deal With Internet Piracy
Posted by Charles Mudede on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Is this the future of the internet?
The British government has brought down its long-awaited Digital Economy Bill, and it's perfectly useless and terrible. It consists almost entirely of penalties for people who do things that upset the entertainment industry (including the "three-strikes" rule that allows your entire family to be cut off from the net if anyone who lives in your house is accused of copyright infringement, without proof or evidence or trial), as well as a plan to beat the hell out of the video-game industry with a new, even dumber rating system (why is it acceptable for the government to declare that some forms of artwork have to be mandatorily labelled as to their suitability for kids? And why is it only some media? Why not paintings? Why not novels? Why not modern dance or ballet or opera?).I find it hard to believe that this law is actually being considered by people with human-sized brains.So it's bad. £50,000 fines if someone in your house is accused of filesharing.
Sex Do Your Balls Hang Low?
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:40 PM
Sure they do. But why do they hang low? And why don't they hang lower? Why isn't your scrotum bright red? Why doesn't your scrotum have feathers? Science has the answer.
Savage Love SL Letter of the Day: Hot & Drunk
Posted by Dan Savage on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:06 PM
I met a guy about two months ago through weird and serendipitous circumstances on my last visit back home to Tucson and he's great in so many ways. We get along really well, have a lot of common interests, his friends and family that I've met so far I like and they like me. It gets cuter: we're both musicians and we make beautiful music together and have played two shows together. I kind of gave up hope on sharing any of my kinky proclivities with new guys I meet so as not to scare them off (electricity, needles, knives), but he's down and even has some kinks of his own that I haven't tried but think I could get into (watersports). I had given up my dream on getting to peg someone that I was really attracted to... and this guy is down... and it's awesome. I really love giving head, and he really loves eating snatch and I never knew 69 to be so good. We're GGG sluts for each other.This is where the sad part comes into play: he's the most severe alcoholic I've ever met. He's really young (22, I'm 25), but he's in so deep with alcoholism that he has the DTs on a regular basis.
The rest of TSO's long letter—and my short response—after the jump.
Theater Our Lil' Old Theater Scene
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Is the subject of a profile in the NYT... travel section? The article doesn't say much about Seattle theater except that it exists, it includes/ed people like Bart Sher, Kurt Beattie, et al.
Also: "Offbeat delights abound."
In the "offbeat" category:
Teatro ZinZanni, for instance, offers a five-course meal and a European-style cirque act, sometimes with aerial performing in the relatively small space. Another entertaining staple is “The Twilight Zone: Live!,” a long-running stage re-enactment of episodes from the Rod Serling series, at Theater Schmeater.
Is it an insult to have a city's theater scene profiled in a travel section, by a writer who doesn't show much curiosity about it? Or is it a compliment? Does it signal that the scene is of interest to the generalist, not just the specialist?
More fundamentally: Does it even fucking matter?
UPDATE!
I'm taking the "fucking" out of the last sentence because it made the question sound more petulant than I feel. And now commenters (and several email correspondents) are all: "You're a sneering dumb irresponsible jerk who's all threatened by the NYT travel writer." And I don't feel threatened or sneering or jerky about it.
I'm guessing the "fucking" caused the confusion. (As the fucking sometimes does.)
Video of the Day Lunchtime Quickie: A Stuffed Animal Dog Show!
Posted by Kelly O on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:58 AM
Move over risky-business-underwear-girls. Little Channing's about to out-viral your asses...
Comedy / Chow / Film Seafood and Titties: Broken Lizard at Pike Place Market Today
Posted by Lindy West on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:39 AM
- "I AM A FISH AND I LUV BOOBZ"
In honor of the Broken Lizard’s new film, The Slammin’ Salmon, in theatres DECEMBER 11th, the Broken Lizard comedy group will learn to “toss a salmon” like the pros while be cheered on by the Hooters Spirit Squad at the world famous Pike Place Fish Market.
So.....You can go look at that and stuff, if you want. It's at 1:30 pm at the Market. Dudes.
Chow / Drunk Free-Fries Friday at Pike Street Fish Fry!
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:32 AM
- JeanineAnderson / Stranger Flickr
- Thanks, Fish Fry!
It's back, tonight and every third Friday of the month forever and ever!
Free fries and $2 Fat Tire pints: Happy hour is especially happy this evening from 5 to 7 p.m. at Pike Street Fish Fry and Moe Bar.
The fries are really good.
Health / The Ladies The Panic Over Mammograms
Posted by Audrey Van Buskirk on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:24 AM
All the people who rail against Republicans in general and Sarah Palin specifically for ignoring the facts (about abstinence-only education, about global warming and industrial pollution) should take a deep breath and actually read the science about breast-cancer screening.
The articles from the United States Preventive Services Task Force, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, calling for a reduction in breast-cancer screening are surprisingly calm given the maelstrom they've unleashed.
"I definitely think this is the beginning of rationed care and I am very upset that women are the first to get slammed with this," said Dr. Elizabeth Vliet, a women's health care specialist based in Tucson, Ariz., and an ardent opponent of health care reform. "I think that this change is designed to cut costs, not improve women's health."
From a Fox News piece:
"I absolutely believe this could be a form of rationing," said Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga, a practicing obstetrician and gynecologist for 26 years. "It scares me."
Here's what the report says: There is no benefit to teaching women to do breast self-exams.
This is not some secret plot to let women die. It's the result of analysis that proves that women who are taught and harangued about doing monthly breast self-exams are no more likely to find anything cancerous than women who don't. Women who aren't doing regular breast self-exams find just as many lumps as women who are: If you have a tumor, you notice it. For example, no one told me to check my legs for tumors, but I discovered one in my thigh last year. Similarly, if a man gets a tumor in his scrotum, chances are he'll find it, and not because he's doing regular scrotum self-exams.
Regarding mammograms: the National Cancer Institute estimates woman have a 12 percent lifetime chance of developing breast cancer. According to the USPTF, mammography can detect early breast cancer and reduces breast cancer deaths by 15 percent. But the benefits don't come without harms, primarily from the numerous false positive results leading to unnecessary treatment and anxiety.
From the report:
The cumulative risk for false-positive mammography results has been reported as 21% to 49% after 10 mammography examinations for women in general (39—41), and up to 56% for women aged 40 to 49 years.
The harms outweigh the benefits for women—those without breast-cancer risk factors—between the ages of 40 and 49 (age is by far the largest risk factor for breast cancer). So the panel, which does not take cost into consideration when making its reports, no longer recommends regular breast screenings for this population. For women between 50 and 59, the evidence shows that a mammogram every two years preserves the benefits without increasing the harms. Though even for them, mammograms are far from a panacea. (The recommendations for prostate cancer screenings have similarly declined, as have tests for colon cancer.)
Mammograms are so unreliable—as many as one in 10 gives a false positive reading—a woman is nearly guaranteed of having a false positive test in her lifetime. These lead to biopises (not a painless procedure) and sometimes radiation and chemotherapy for tumors that were so slow growing they would never have killed you anyway.
Health Murray on the Upcoming Senate Debate
Posted by Eli Sanders on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:18 AM
On the eve of a big senate vote to open debate on health insurance reform, Washington Senator Patty Murray explains the stakes:
Arts / TV "Photos of TV"
Posted by David Schmader on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Taken by Mike Sacks. Find the full archive here.
Crime SWAT in Ballard
Posted by Dominic Holden on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM
What in tarnation motivated Seattle Police to descend on Ballard last night with dozens of officers, hostage negotiators armed with bullhorns, and a SWAT team? “This was a high-risk search warrant,” says SPD Sergeant Sean Whitcomb. “A person had barricaded themselves in and that requires a lot of personnel and patience.”
Whitcomb cannot confirm the nature of the crime under investigation—or what made it such a high-risk procedure—but he says officers needed two perimeters, shutting down several intersection around the building being searched at Leary Way NW and NW 45th Street. But according to two witnesses at the scene, who spoke to officers on the scene, police were investigating an alleged chop shop, where stolen cars are disguised so they can be resold. A witness, Kris Nyrop, said the place is "sketchy as hell" and he has seen people welding in the building at 3:00 in the morning.
At 9:00 p.m. officers arrested Sean M. Campbell, the suspect who was holed up inside. He was booked in King County jail about 30 minutes later.
King County Superior Court records show that Campbell, 39, failed to appear for an arraignment hearing in March on charges of a stolen red Ford Explorer from an Avis car rental and a stolen laptop computer taken in a Bellevue car prowl. Campbell is also wanted for a felony probation violation, says King County Prosecutor’s office spokesman Dan Donohoe. However, in a booking form filled out in March, someone checked "no" in a box that asks "armed and dangerous."
But police may be frying a bigger fish than a missed arraignment and probation violation: "Because it was a search warrant, that leads us to believe it is part of a bigger investigation that is actively being pursued," Whitcomb says. “I would check for charges coming soon."
Stranger Suggests Today The Stranger Suggests
Posted by The Stranger on Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM
Film
'Stingray Sam'
The American Astronaut is the world's best space-Western movie musical. A black-and-white masterpiece, the movie is like Jules Verne with a rock 'n' roll soundtrack, where space is filled with roughnecks and kooks, and men and women are segregated to their own planets. Cory McAbee, the mastermind behind The American Astronaut, has made a sequel of sorts called Stingray Sam. It has many of the same actors (playing different intergalactic desperados), the same obsession with bars and criminals who save children, and equally great songs. Presented as a six-part serial, Stingray Sam will not disappoint members of the American Astronaut cult. McAbee will be here to introduce the film. (Northwest Film Forum, 1515 12th Ave, 829-7863. 7:15 and 9:15 pm, $6–$9.)
BRENDAN KILEYTheater
Not Pants
This late-night storytelling party, thrown by Annex Theatre, brings you true—and probably embarrassing—tales from some of Seattle's funniest tale-tellers: comedians Emmett Montgomery and Lizzy Pilcher, solo performer Keira McDonald, writer of smut and plays Gillian Jorgensen, our very own David Schmader, and a few others. Schmader promises a story recalling his experiences touring a one-man show about Hitler to a high school in North Carolina in the early '90s. Because nothing's funnier than Hitler. (Annex Theatre, 1100 E Pike St, www.brownpapertickets .com. 11 pm, $5–$10.)
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