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A Collection of Witnesses Killed

The Homeless Candidate of Walnut Creek - beaten, arrested, denied HUD funded homeless services


Murders near the 2014 Election Fraud with City Council of Walnut Creek

Pete Bennett attempted to run for Walnut Creek City Council. He filled out the forms, recieved his nomination forms and collected his signatures. Upon entering the City Clerks office officers arrived. Three months later a family connection to trust forgery of Dorothea Leslie Milne Bennett were dead.

The Homeless Constituent

Pete Bennett attempted to run for Walnut Creek City Counc

Democratic Election Fraud

This was the beginning of the web for Pete Bennett Walnut Creek City Council

The Homeless Candidate

This Congressman has ducked the issues

By the time Pete Bennett walked up to Congressman Mark DeSaulnier in October 2018 he was exasperated by the dubious resistance. He is protected by the unions which run the county. That includes the reasoning why Pete Bennett left the county hospital due to the eerliy near fatal incidents near Bennett and others.

The Homeless Candidate

Seeking Constituent Services

September 2018
Congressman Mark DeSaulnier has ducked my requests for constituent services and assistance for 20 years. He is long time friends with Dr. William Walker who turns out to be cousin Alicia Driscoll the mom and daughter (friend) brutally murdered in 2005.

Attacked at Library

December 2018
Congressman Mark DeSaulnier has ducked my requests for constituent services and assistance for 20 years. He is long time friends with Dr. William Walker who turns out to be cousin Alicia Driscoll the mom and daughter (friend) brutally murdered in 2005.

Walnut Creek Officer Moorehouse

February 2019
Congressman Mark DeSaulnier has ducked my requests for constituent services and assistance for 20 years. He is long time friends with Dr. William Walker who turns out to be cousin Alicia Driscoll the mom and daughter (friend) brutally murdered in 2005.
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#deadwitness - Oracle Corporation, Nomoreh1b, Pete Bennett, Larry Ellison

PBS NEWS HOUR

The Battle for Jobs, Data, Information and Jobs

Pete Bennett with Oracle Spokesman Robert Hoffman

Pete Bennett

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PBS

June 2007
Evicted 2007

Mysterious Loss of Contracts

Mysterious Medical

Infections

Beatings
Attempts on his life

The Mormon Connection

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When friends of God came knocking at my door it didn't take long for my truck to explode.

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John

 

Quick Facts

June 2007

Evicted 2007

Mysterious Loss of Contracts

Mysterious Medical

Infections

Beatings
Attempts on his life

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John

Mysterious Loss of Contracts

Mysterious Medical

Infections

Beatings
Attempts on his life

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John


Research Portal

TRANSCRIPT

NewsHour Correspondent: Business leaders in Silicon Valley and other high-tech centers say they need more foreign workers to keep America competitive. Microsoft’s chairman Bill Gates made the case before Congress this spring.

BILL GATES, Chairman, Microsoft: Now we face a critical shortage of scientific talent. And there’s only one way to solve that crisis today: open our doors to highly talented scientists and engineers who want to live, work and pay taxes here.

SPENCER MICHELS: The law allows 65,000 specialized workers, ranging from engineers to architects, and even including fashion models, into the U.S. each year, plus another 20,000 graduate degree holders. They, plus some categories like teachers not included in the cap, get what is called an H-1B visa.

With that temporary pass, they can stay and work here for up to six years. Today, there are more than 260,000 H-1B employees in the U.S.

Companies insist they need foreign workers because there are not enough qualified Americans to fill the jobs.

ROBERT HOFFMAN, Oracle Corporation: The Senate and the House have made this issue a high priority.

SPENCER MICHELS: Robert Hoffman is a lobbyist for software maker Oracle, which currently has about 1,850 H-1B employees. He says the company needs software and computer engineers right away.

ROBERT HOFFMAN: Companies like Oracle and Microsoft have hundreds of job openings currently right now. We want to hire the American worker, but if they’re not there, what alternatives do we have? Either we hire the H-1Bs, or if the H-1Bs aren’t available, we’ll have to move work offshore. We’ll move the work where the workers are.

SPENCER MICHELS: According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service’s Sharon Rummery, the demand this year for H-1B visas was enormous.

SHARON RUMMERY, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: On the very first day that the H-1B visa became available, we received more applications than we had available slots. As it turned out, we got more than 119,000 H-1B visa applications.

SPENCER MICHELS: So what do you do?

SHARON RUMMERY: When that happens, we go to a computer-generated, random selection process.

Securing the best and brightest

Christian Plante

Canadian H-1B Visa Holder

You want to make sure you make it easy for people to come here to the United States, and then you want to make sure that companies have the right means to keep them here.

SPENCER MICHELS: A large coalition of high-tech firms, called Compete America, and co-chaired by Oracle's Hoffman, says the global economy demands a free flow of workers.

ROBERT HOFFMAN: Half, or more than half in some instances, of our graduate students that are pursuing masters and PhDs are foreign-born. Companies like Google, Yahoo, eBay were all founded by immigrants. So what we're trying to do is making sure that we have the very best and the very brightest here in the country innovating and creating jobs.

SPENCER MICHELS: People like Umar Mughal, who lives today with his wife in an apartment in San Jose, he came to America from Pakistan to attend Purdue University in electrical engineering. After graduation, he got a job in Silicon Valley and got married on a visit home.

For the past six years, he's been working in marketing for Altera, a company that makes specialized computer chips and employs about 160 H-1B workers. He has applied for a green card, a work permit for permanent residents, so he can stay here after his visa expires.

UMAR MUGHAL, Pakistani H-1B Visa Holder: I wanted to be in tech. That's what I was passionate about, and I wanted to start working here. The other thing is, once I moved, I really like the lifestyle over here.

SPENCER MICHELS: We talked to Mughal and two other H-1B holders from Canada and India in Altera's cafeteria. All three agreed that, for its own benefit, America needs to encourage, not block, foreign workers. Christian Plante came here from Quebec.

CHRISTIAN PLANTE, Canadian H-1B Visa Holder: The goal is really to snatch talent and keep the talent here because it's going to go somewhere else. It's going to go to China; it's going to go to the European Union. You want to make sure you make it easy for people to come here to the United States, and then you want to make sure that companies have the right means to keep them here.

DEEPAK BOPPANA, Indian H-1B Visa Holder: I think reverse brain drain is, to a certain extent, very real. I've known friends who have gone back to India because of the booming economy there.

A 'money game'


Pete Bennett

Software Developer

It's really a game of two for one. I can get two H-1B visa workers for one American.

SPENCER MICHELS: But software developer and amateur guitar player Pete Bennett doesn't buy any of the arguments to bring in H-1B workers. Bennett, who runs a Web site called "No More H-1B," says he has a hard time finding work, and he blames the H-1B visa program.

PETE BENNETT, Software Developer: It's really a game of two for one. I can get two H-1B visa workers for one American. Many of the U.S. workers that were displaced are in the higher wage category. This is a money game; this is about big money.

SPENCER MICHELS: The workers we met at Altera said they were paid equally with Americans, but a recent survey from the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington think-tank, found that more than half of new H-1B high-tech employees were paid below the starting salary of an entry-level computer scientist.

The Department of Labor says that, under the law, companies where foreigners make up at least 15 percent of the workforce must attest that they've tried to hire Americans first. But most companies hire fewer foreigners than that, and they have no such requirement. They simply have to post internally their intention to hire a foreigner.

For those companies, a Labor Department document states, "H-1B workers may be hired even when a qualified U.S. worker wants the job, and a U.S. worker can be displaced from the job in favor of the foreign worker." That's a fact that frustrates these American high-tech professionals who are out of work.

Laid off Americans

SPENCER MICHELS: After being laid off, Andre Levy spent two-and-a-half years getting a master's degree to be more competitive. He's been looking for a job for more than a year.

ANDRE LEVY, American Citizen: I have a degree from a world-class university here in the bay. I have a master's degree from a pretty darn good university. I am not sure exactly what else I can do.

SPENCER MICHELS: He says he knows H-1Bs generally get paid less, because when he was a manager, he hired them.

ANDRE LEVY: It was a cost issue. I mean, they were cheaper because they were short-term. We didn't pay benefits or any of that sort of stuff. We had a number of folks from Russia, as well. They were willing to live four in a two-bedroom apartment.

SPENCER MICHELS: Kim Doty was laid off in January.

KIM DOTY, American Citizen: Not only are some of my jobs being outsourced, but when I look at other positions, I'm being told that I'm too qualified to take some of those roles. And a lot of it, I think, has to do with my salary, at this point demanding a lot higher salary than what they're looking at.

SPENCER MICHELS: Foreign workers also come with the skills industry wants now. And American workers say they need retraining to stay competitive.

But training funds have been cut, says the director of this job center in Silicon Valley. Companies pay the government $1,000 for each H-1B worker they hire, money to be used for job training. But much of it has been perted out of Silicon Valley to poorer communities, says Mike Curran.

MIKE CURRAN, North Valley Job Training Consortium: So what we used to have was millions of dollars of training six or seven years ago, because the H-1B created a pool for that, and we could take existing workers here and give them new networks, and new technologies, and new access to new training, has evaporated. All of that money has been taken off of the table.

Congress debates H-1B visas


Sen. Dick Durbin

(D) Illinois

We need to really put this back on track. And the first rule ought to be very simple: American workers take the jobs first.

SPENCER MICHELS: The H-1B debate is playing out in Congress right now as an important element in the broader immigration discussions. President Bush recently called on Congress to raise the cap. Republican Senator John Cornyn has been leading efforts in the Senate to get more H-1B visas.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R), Texas: There's been a lot of misunderstanding and some suggestion that you're actually bringing in foreign workers, paying them less, and putting Americans out of jobs. That's not the case. This is to supplement really our lack of qualified people in some of these high-skilled areas.

SEN. DICK DURBIN (D), Illinois: There are some who say, "Well, clearly, we need more H-1B visas." I disagree with that completely.

SPENCER MICHELS: On the other side, Democratic Senator Dick Durbin fears that foreigners will return to their own countries armed with technology learned here and compete with American companies.

SEN. DICK DURBIN: The system is clearly being abused. We need to really put this back on track. And the first rule ought to be very simple: American workers take the jobs first.

SPENCER MICHELS: As Congress continues to wrangle over immigration, the H-1B visa controversy is expected to remain a major issue in the debate.

JIM LEHRER: The Senate deal on immigration reached today would raise the cap on H-1B visas to 115,000, which is nearly double the current number allowed, and it would open the door to future increases.

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#deadwitness ~ Sonny Bono dies skiing at Tahoe (Jan. 5, 1998)

 

#RenoRetro: Sonny Bono dies skiing at Tahoe (Jan. 5, 1998)

Robert Anglen and Jeff DeLong
Rep. Sonny Bono, R-Calif., right, re-enacts his oath of office from House Speaker Newt Gingrich on Jan. 4, 1995, on Capitol Hill. Bono's wife Mary holds the Bible and their daughter Chianna as Bono's son Chesare huddles underneath. Bono was killed in an apparent skiing accident Monday, Jan. 5, 1998, at Heavenly Ski Resort on the Nevada-California state line.

This article originally appeared in the Jan. 6, 1998 edition of the Reno Gazette-Journal.

California lawmaker killed in apparent accident at Heavenly: Ex-singer's body found after he had been reported missing.

Sonny Bono, a California congressman and entertainer who had performed at Lake Tahoe, died in an apparent skiing accident Monday at Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe. He was 62.

Bono's press secretary, Frank Cullen Jr., early today confirmed that the former singer, whose records with wife Cher topped charts in the 1960s, was dead. Bono was first reported missing at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Officials reported that the resort ski patrol found Bono's body between 6:30 and 7 p.m. after a search on the Nevada side of the mountain.

The Douglas County Sheriff's Office positively identified Bono as the victim at 12:45 a.m. Tuesday.

Sonny Bono was killed while skiing through this patch of pine trees at Heavenly Ski Resort Monday.

"From all indications this appears to have been a skiing accident,'' said Lt. Ross Chichester. "No cause of death has been determined at this time, pending the results of a medical examination.''

Bono was on a vacation with his wife, Mary Whitaker, and their two children, 6-year-old Chianna and 9-year-old Chesare, when the accident happened. They are all from Palm Springs, Calif.

Dave Horsman, a bartender at the Fox and Hound in Stateline, said he had heard rumors of Bono's death before it was confirmed. He said ski patrol officers came in late for food, and he saw rescue helicopters making night runs above the resort.

A Douglas County sheriff's patrol unit was parked at the entrance to the Boulder Lift, one of two lifts at Kingsbury Grade on the Nevada side of the resort.

Fitzhenry's Funeral Home in Carson City said the body was being turned over to the coroner for further investigation.

Today in History for January 5th

Bono, a Republican and an avid skier, was first elected to the House in 1994 and was re-elected in 1996. He was a member of the House Judiciary Committee.

Salvatore Bono, born Feb. 16, 1935, in Detroit, rose to stardom as part of husband-and-wife pop-singing duo Sonny and Cher. Their No. 1 hit, "I Got You Babe,'' spent 10 weeks at the top of Billboard chart in the summer of 1965.

Sonny and Cher had their own TV variety show in 1976-77, before they split up. They appeared at Harrah's Tahoe in the 1970s.

Bono got his start in politics when he won the Palm Springs mayoral race in 1988. He served until 1992.

His death comes just days after Michael Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, died of head injuries Dec. 31 in a ski accident in Aspen, Colo. Kennedy hit a tree while playing football on skis.

Gazette-Journal staffer Jeff DeLong contributed to this s

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2020 Walnut Creek City Council Candidate Kevin Wilk

Matching Donors to Candidates - you can see when you read enough

  


  • Kevin Wilk 
  • Mayor Rich Carlston (ret.)
  • Ronald Cassano, City Treasurer
  • Karen Cohen
  • Michael Cohen
  • Linda Rimac Colberg
  • Samantha Francois, Planning Commission
  • Barry Gordon
  • Sue Hamill
  • Katha Hartley
  • Mayor Kathy Hicks (ret.)
  • Gerald Hicks
  • Brian Hirahara
  • Jerry Kaplan, Planning Commission (former)
  • Peter Lezak, Planning Commission
  • Gage Mettler
  • Jill Okimoto
  • Mayor Sue Rainey, (ret.)
  • State Senator Richard K. Rainey (ret.)
  • Rayna Ravitz
  • Richard Ravitz
  • Steve Reiser
  • Nan Siegel
  • Mayor Gary Skrel (ret.)
  • Andrea Kelly Smethurst
  • Rob Stankus
  • Marilyn Weiss, Design Review Commission
  • Nessa Wilk
  • Diane Crowley Young
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    #deadwitness ~JULIE STRACK Obituary

    Julie is survived by her loving daughter, Samantha Strack of San Lorenzo and grandchildren Robert and Kaitlyn. She was the beloved daughter of Robert Strack ...

    You visited this page on 9/22/20. 


    https://clustrmaps.com/person/Strack-53r46f

    https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/julie-strack-obituary?pid=141921687


    https://www.google.com/search?q=Ferguson+Enterprises&rlz=1CAIRZH_enUS920&oq=Ferguson+Enterprises&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8


    https://www.solanopm.com/our-team


    April 13, 2010


    Julie Denise Strack Resident of Benicia "Our Purple Rose" Julie Denise Strack entered tragically into rest on April 13, 2010. She was 49 years old. Born on July 30, 1960, Julie had worked for Ferguson Enterprises for many years as an industrial sales representative. Devoted to her family, Julie took great pride in her daughter and all of her accomplishments in life. She also loved spending time with her grandchildren. She owned a custom Harley motorcycle and rode in several charity events. Julie was a NASCAR fan who was very skilled at playing pool and darts. She will truly be missed by many. Julie is survived by her loving daughter, Samantha Strack of San Lorenzo and grandchildren Robert and Kaitlyn. She was the beloved daughter of Robert Strack. She will truly be missed by her sister and brother in law, Jeannette and Paul Frederick and brother and sister in law, Robert and Kay Strack. She was "Auntie" to Paul Michael Frederick, Jacquie Frederick, Jason Bernardino, Melissa Betts, and great Aunt to Jaycob, Adrian, Christopher, Tyson, Ambrielle and Ethan. She was preceded in death by her mother, Ruth. Visitation for Julie will be on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 from 4 to 5 pm at Grissom's Chapel & Mortuary, 267 E. Lewelling Blvd., San Lorenzo. A funeral service will begin at 5 pm at the chapel. Burial will be private. Grissom's Chapel & Mortuary 510 278-2800 www.grissomsmortuary.com

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    #deadwitness ~ Another tragedy affecting yet another Tech Executive connected to Private Equity, Hedge Funds and Venture Capital

    The Pack Children

    Coming Soon

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    #deadwitness WALNUT CREEK (KRON) — A man has died after an explosion at a Walnut Creek apartment on Wednesday night. Mar 30, 2017

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    WALNUT CREEK (KRON) — A man has died after an explosion at a Walnut Creek apartment on Wednesday night.

    The elderly man was given CPR, as he was rushed to John Muir Medical Center. He has been identified as 91-year-old Wesley Peters, according to the Contra Costa County Coroner’s Office.

    At about 6:30 p.m., firefighters were dispatched to an apartment complex in the 200 block of Tono Way, located in an unincorporated area between Pleasant Hill and Walnut Creek, Fire Marshal Robert Marshall said.

    When crews arrived, they discovered an apartment unit on fire and received reports that a person was still inside.

    Peters was burned and not breathing when firefighters pulled him from his burning home.

    Peters was taken to the hospital where he died.

    Peters lived at the Walnut Creek manor apartments on Mayhew Way right off Interstate 680 near the Pleasant Hill border.

    Investigators say a propane tank is to blame.

    “Some of the initial 911 calls were of an explosion,” Marshall said. “The propane inside did pressurize the structure to the point where the windows blew out. I don’t know that it was really an explosion, but there was definitely a flashback from the gas inside the apartment.”

    HazMat teams responded.

    No one else at the apartment complex was hurt.

    The fire was under control by 6:43 p.m., Marshall said.

    The exact cause of the explosion and fire are still under investigation and no other injuries were reported.

    CA-Walnut Creek 

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    #deadwitness Jeff Adachi Public Defender for the City of San Francisco

    Shrimp Boy’ Chow

    Jeff Adachi

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    Former Public Defender for the City of San Francisco

    Jeff Adachi

    August 29, 1959 - February 22, 2019

    Jeff Adachi, a tireless advocate for equal justice, passed away suddenly on Feb. 22, 2019 at 59 years old. He was the elected public defender of San Francisco, a filmmaker and author, and a beloved husband, father, son, brother and friend.
    Jeff was born Aug. 29, 1959. His parents and grandparents were among the nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans forced into internment camps during World War II. Learning of their ordeal would cement Jeff's lifelong commitment to due process and the right to counsel.
    Jeff's advocacy for the accused bloomed as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley after joining a student movement to free Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant wrongly convicted of murder. Jeff earned his bachelor's degree from UC Berkeley in 1981 and his Juris Doctor from UC Hastings in 1985. He was hired as a deputy public defender at the San Francisco Public Defender's Office in 1986 and served as the office's chief attorney from 1998 to 2001.
    He was elected Public Defender of the City and County of San Francisco in 2002 and took office on Jan. 8, 2003 following two years in private practice. Under his strong leadership and fierce advocacy, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office became a national model of holistic defense. Jeff battled on the steps of City Hall for adequate funding, in Sacramento for laws favoring treatment over incarceration, and in court for the clients he personally represented. He tried more than 150 jury trials and handled more than 3,000 criminal matters in his career, including some of the Bay Area's highest profile cases. Today, more than 23,000 people each year rely on the office and the innovative services Jeff instituted. These programs include in-house social workers; expungement and reentry programs; and literacy, health and recreation opportunities for low-income youth. Specialized teams of attorneys devote their expertise to juvenile defense, education advocacy, immigration, mental health, bail, and pretrial release.
    Jeff was an advocate for racial justice and a watchdog against police and prosecutorial misconduct. Surveillance footage he turned over to the press and public led to federal investigations and criminal convictions against law enforcement officers who brutalized or stole from citizens, conducted warrantless searches, or fabricated evidence.
    He served on the board of numerous professional organizations over his career, including the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants, the National Board of Trial Advocacy, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the National Association for Public Defense, and the California Public Defenders Association. He is the co-author of Chapter 25: Immunity for Testimony, in California Criminal Law Procedure and Practice. He was a BAR/BRI bar review professor for more than two decades and published five books on passing the bar exam. He recently completed two additional manuscripts—his autobiography and a biography of San Francisco's first public defender, Frank Egan, who would later be convicted of murder.
    Jeff garnered numerous local, state and national awards for outstanding public service, managerial excellence, prisoner reentry, youth advocacy, and transparency.
    Jeff was an award-winning documentary filmmaker. He wrote, produced and directed The Slanted Screen, a 2006 film that explored stereotypes of Asian men in American cinema. In 2009, he directed You Don't Know Jack: The Jack Soo Story and in 2016 made the short film America Needs a Racial Facial. His 2017 film, Defender, focused on his defense of a young black man following a racially charged encounter with police and followed the work of the office's fledgling immigration unit. Ricochet, to be released later this year, chronicles the tragic death of Kate Steinle and the trial of the immigrant accused of her murder. In addition to his own creative projects, Jeff provided opportunities to other artists through his work with California Humanities the Center for Asian American Media.
    He is survived by Mutsuko "Muki" Adachi, his wife of 21 years; his daughter Lauren Adachi, a freshman at Brown University in Providence; his parents Sam and Gladys Adachi of Sacramento; and his brother Stan Adachi of Long Beach. He is also remembered by thousands of legal professionals across the country who benefitted from his mentorship, encouragement, and training and who will continue his legacy in the fight for justice.
    A public memorial will be held Monday, March 4 at 11 a.m. at San Francisco City Hall. The family desires that a fellowship in Jeff's name be created to aid deserving young law students and lawyers. In lieu of flowers, a tax-deductible donation payable to "AABA Law Foundation – Adachi" may be mailed to Prather Law Offices, 245 Fifth Street, Suite 103, San Francisco, CA 94103. Donations in Jeff's name may also be made to gofundme.com/jeff-adachi-legacy-fund.
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    #deadwitness ~The CIA Databases Developed by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison reveals facts on CIA Murders of my friends in 1975

    My buds in 1975 before some died.

    more to come

    Hello, world!

    This is a template for a simple marketing or informational website. It includes a large callout called the hero unit and three supporting pieces of content. Use it as a starting point to create something more unique.
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    Chiquita Blvd.  a/k/a the Columbian Runway
    Map: 
    This is Pete Bennett and his pals being more than slightly wild on Chiquita Blvd. located in Cape Coral Fl. where the local open secret was drug landing strip.  When analyzing flight times, locations and distances the location is a perfect way point for Mena Airport.  
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    Gary Webb - former reporter for Contra Costa Times 
    Mr. Webb published a great story regarding the drugs coming in Los Angeles during the 1985. That was the dawn of crack designed to destroy neighborhoods, keep values down and kill as many as possible while those behind the Real Estate Investment Trust industry slowly use a series of corporate shields to "acquire" the land.   

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    Phillip Marshall - Author of False Flag 9/11 
    This man found me in Walnut Creek at Panera Bread.  Once he started talking it was clear he knew about Chiquita Blvd. was used as a CIA Runway.  Several of my friends in the above picture were killed just a few months later.  One died while drilling a hole in the trailer while standing in water.

    Another was killed via a car accident.  

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    Plans to take over McDonald - Successfully Shut Down - the thugs came daily and drove out the customers crazy

    The Pit of the former Walnut Creek McDonalds 


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    WILLIAM Y. TAUSCHER and Blackhawk Networks

    The 1995 SEC Fraud

    Computerland, Merisel, and Vanstar as told by their programmer

    Topics from Elections to Qaudruple Homicides to Missing Children

     

     

    BRUCE G. VANYO, State Bar # 060134
    LAURIE B. SMILAN, State Bar # 116740
    DAVID PRIEBE, State Bar # 148679
    MICHELE E. ROSE, State Bar # 154656
    SUSAN BOWER, State Bar # 173244
    WILSON SONSINI GOODRICH & ROSATI
    Professional Corporation
    650 Page Mill Road
    Palo Alto, California 94304-1050
    Telephone: (650) 493-9300

    Attorneys for Defendants

    UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

    NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

    DAVID T. O'NEAL TRUST, DATED 4/1/77
    and TAMMY NEWMAN, On Behalf of
    Themselves and All Other Similarly Situated,

                          Plaintiffs,

               v.

    VANSTAR CORPORATION, RICHARD H.
    BARD, WILLIAM Y. TAUSCHER, JAY S.
    AMATO, ROBERT C. KUNTZENDORF,
    JEFFREY S. RUBIN, RICHARD N.
    ANDERSON, CHRIS M. LANEY,
    MICHAEL J. MOORE, AHMAD
    MANSHOURI, COLEMAN D. SISSON,
    THANOS M. TRIANT, E.M. WARBURG,
    PINCUS & CO., INC., WARBURG PINCUS
    & CO., L.P., STEWART K. P. GROSS,
    WILLIAM H. JANEWAY and JOHN L.
    VOGELSTEIN,

                          Defendants.
    ______________________________________


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    CASE NO.: C-98-0216-MJJ

    CLASS ACTION

    MEMORANDUM OF POINTS
    AND AUTHORITIES IN
    OPPOSITION TO
    PLAINTIFFS' MOTION TO
    STRIKE EXHIBITS
    SUBMITTED IN SUPPORT
    OF DEFENDANTS' MOTION
    TO DISMISS

    [filed c. Oct. 23, 1998]

    Date: November 3, 1998
    Time: 9:30 a.m.
    Court: Honorable
          Martin J. Jenkins

    INTRODUCTION

    Plaintiffs have moved to strike certain documents submitted with Vanstar's motion to dismiss: Vanstar's 1997 Form 14A ("Form 14A") and a calculation of stock sales by Vanstar's officers and directors ("Appendix"), which is taken directly from publicly filed SEC documents upon which plaintiffs rely. Plaintiffs argue that these documents are "outside" the Complaint, and therefore cannot be considered on a motion to dismiss. Plaintiffs also argue that the documents constitute inadmissible hearsay.

    Plaintiffs' arguments are ill-founded. Under the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995, plaintiffs must plead specific facts giving rise to a strong inference of each defendant's required state of mind (i.e., scienter), or the Complaint must be dismissed. Plaintiffs attempt to plead scienter by arguing that the individual defendants' stock sales were unusual or suspicious. The documents in question simply assist the Court in analyzing the judicially noticeable information provided by plaintiffs. Courts in securities class action cases routinely take judicial notice of SEC filings -- including documents which demonstrate that stock sale allegations are false -- and will dismiss allegations which are inconsistent with the filings. It is contrary to the Reform Act, and palpably unfair, for plaintiffs to claim that the documents must be excluded from the Court's consideration, while at the same time averring that their stock sale allegations taken from the same documents, which may be judicially noticed, give rise to a strong inference of scienter. Thus, the Court should deny plaintiffs' motion; or, if the Court is inclined to strike these documents, it should also strike plaintiffs' stock sale allegations.

    Moreover, the documents are not "outside" the Complaint as they deal directly with allegations in the complaint. The law is clear that the mere fact that plaintiffs neglect to attach documents integral to their complaint does not render such documents "outside" a complaint, nor preclude the Court from considering the documents in a motion to dismiss. The Form 14A reveals the stock ownership of Vanstar's most senior management, ownership that is at the heart of plaintiffs' scienter allegations. Likewise, the Appendix was prepared directly from the Forms 3 and 4 filed with the SEC, which plaintiffs clearly used in drafting the Complaint (there is no other ultimate source from which plaintiffs could have obtained otherwise confidential information regarding the individual defendants' stock sales and holdings). Plaintiffs cannot seriously complain about a chart that was prepared to assist the Court in analyzing judicially noticeable information that was first provided by plaintiffs.

    Plaintiffs' hearsay objection also is misplaced. Plaintiffs waived any such objection by choosing to include in their Complaint stock sale allegations in the first instance. Moreover, to the extent the Form 14A is referenced for the truth of the matters asserted therein, it is admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. Finally, as plaintiffs themselves admit, the documents at issue were not offered solely for their truth value: rather, they are also offered to indicate the individual defendants' state of mind., i.e., were they selling or retaining significant portions of their net worth in the securities of the Company.

    ARGUMENT

    I. THE COURT MAY TAKE JUDICIAL NOTICE OF THE DOCUMENTS

      A. Courts Routinely Take Judicial Notice of SEC Filings.

    When deciding motions to dismiss, courts routinely take judicial notice of, or otherwise consider, documents other than the complaint.1 Indeed, the great weight of authority holds that SEC filings are properly considered when deciding a motion to dismiss, and that those filings are properly the subject of judicial notice. Seee.g.Wenger v. Lumisys, Inc., 2 F. Supp. 2d 1231, 1240 n.8 (N.D. Cal. 1998) (denying plaintiff's motion to strike documents filed with the SEC, specifically Form 4s showing the actual number of shares sold during the class period); In re Silicon Graphics Securities Lit., 970 F. Supp. 746, 758 (N.D. Cal. 1997) (court may take judicial notice of the contents of relevant public disclosure documents required to be filed with the SEC) (quoting Kramer v. Time Warner, Inc., 937 F.2d 767, 774 (2d Cir. 1991)); In re Gupta Corp. Sec. Litig., 900 F. Supp. 1217, 1228 (N.D. Cal. 1994) ("[T]he court may review 'public disclosure documents required by law to be and which actually have been filed with the SEC.'") (quotation omitted); Shaw v. Digital Equipment Corp., 82 F.3d 1194, 1206 n. 13, 1220 (1st Cir. 1996) ("In deciding a motion to dismiss a securities action, a court may properly consider the relevant entirety of a document integral to or explicitly relied upon in the complaint, even though not attached to the complaint, without converting the motion into one for summary judgment."); Lovelace v. Software Spectrum Inc., 78 F.3d 1015, 1018 (5th Cir. 1996) ("When deciding a motion to dismiss a claim for securities fraud on the pleadings, a court may consider the contents of relevant public disclosure documents which (1) are required to be filed with the SEC and (2) are actually filed with the SEC.").2

      B. Courts May Take Judicial Notice of Documents "Outside" the Complaint.

    Plaintiffs also assert that the subject documents do not fall within the scope of judicial notice because they are "outside" the Complaint. See Plaintiffs' Brief at 3-4. It is well settled, however, that a document need not be attached to a complaint in order for a court to properly consider it when deciding a motion to dismiss. In re Syntex Corp. Sec. Litig., 95 F.3d 922, 926, 929 (9th Cir. 1996) ("When deciding a motion to dismiss, a court may consider the complaint and 'documents whose contents are alleged in a complaint and whose authenticity no party questions, but which are not physically attached to the pleading.'") (quoting Branch v. Tunnell, 14 F.3d 449, 454 (9th Cir. 1994)).3

    Here, the authenticity of the subject documents is not truly disputed, and their contents are integral to the Complaint. The Form 14A reveals the stock ownership of Vanstar's senior most management and plaintiffs have made this ownership a central issue of the Complaint. Likewise, the Appendix was prepared directly from the Forms 3 and 4 which are the exact documents plaintiffs used to draft the Complaint.4 All that Defendants have done here is present the same judicially noticeable, integral information plaintiffs have included in their Complaint in such a way as to assist the Court.5

    II. THE SUBJECT DOCUMENTS ARE NOT INADMISSIBLE HEARSAY

    Plaintiffs contend that even if the exhibits are properly the subject of judicial notice, the Court may not consider them because they may not be submitted to disprove scienter and because they constitute hearsay. See Plaintiffs' Brief at 4-6. Plaintiffs similarly argue that cases which have judicially noticed SEC filings have only taken judicial notice of the fact that the documents were filed or where the misrepresentations were contained in those documents. Id. at 4-5. For three reasons, plaintiffs are wrong.

    First, as shown above, plaintiffs themselves have alleged the truth of the matters asserted in the documents. Their Complaint alleges that the individual defendants sold particular amounts of stock, at particular prices, on particular dates. It also alleges that the individual defendants sold particular (albeit inflated) percentages of their stock holdings. Complaint ¶¶ 138-141. Thus, plaintiffs cannot complain if and when Defendants refer to the same SEC filings, or information extracted from the filings for the truth of the matters asserted therein. This is precisely the reason that courts have taken judicial notice of stock sales in securities cases. See Silicon Graphics, 970 F. Supp. at 759 ("Having raised questions about defendants' stock sales, [and] based their allegations on defendants' SEC filings . . . plaintiffs can hardly complain when defendants refer to the same information in their defense."); Wenger at 1240 n.8 (denying plaintiff's motion to strike documents filed with the SEC, specifically Form 4s showing the actual number of shares sold during the class period); see also United States v. Anderson, 532 F.2d 1218, 1229 (9th Cir. 1976) (defendant who introduced hearsay statement waived objection).

    Second, the exhibits are offered not only for their truth value, but also to demonstrate the state of mind of the individual defendants. As such, they are excepted from the hearsay rule. Fed. R. Evid. 803(3). Plaintiffs admit that these documents would demonstrate state of mind, if accepted by the Court. Pl. Br. at 6. Plaintiffs attempt to plead the individual defendants' state of mind by asserting that each of them intended to sell unusual amounts of Vanstar stock, rather than retaining his or her shares and stock options. Thus, the documents are relevant to plaintiffs' state of mind theory.

    Third, the Form 14A is admissible under the business records exception to the hearsay rule. See Fed. R. Evid. 803(6). For a memorandum or record to be admissible as a business record, it must be: (1) made by a regularly conducted business activity; (2) kept in the "regular course" of that business; (3) "the regular practice of that business to make the memorandum, and (4) made by a person with knowledge or from information transmitted by a person with knowledge." Clark v. City of Los Angeles, 650 F.2d 1033, 1036-37 (9th Cir. 1981) (quoting Fed. R. Evid. 803(6). The Form 14A was prepared by persons with knowledge of the facts contained therein, kept in the ordinary course of Vanstar's business, and required by law to be prepared and submitted to the SEC. Moreover, Vanstar relied on the preparation of those documents in its business; it was required by law to disclose proxy and officer stock sale information. Accordingly, all of the requisites of the business records exception are satisfied. See United States v. Childs, 5 F.3d 1328, 1333 (9th Cir. 1993) (documents properly admitted as business records notwithstanding defendant's objections that the circumstances surrounding preparation of documents indicated a lack of trustworthiness, and that documents were not made in regular course of business); United States v. Bland, 961 F.2d 123, 126-27 (9th Cir. 1992) (firearm registration form required by law properly admitted as business record; "the person completing [the form] had knowledge of the transaction at the time it occurred and [the document] was maintained as a regularly conducted business activity as required by law."); Keogh v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 713 F.2d 496, 499 (9th Cir. 1983) (card dealer's diary containing personal financial records properly admitted as business record; "Witlock's diary, even though personal to him, shows every indication of being kept 'in the [ordinary] course of' his own 'business activity,' 'occupation, and calling.' . . . The reliability usually found in records kept by business concerns may be established in personal business records if they are systematically checked and regularly and continually maintained.").

    III. IT WOULD BE CONTRARY TO THE REFORM ACT TO STRIKE THE DOCUMENTS

    Under the heightened pleading requirements of the Reform Act, plaintiffs must allege facts sufficient to create a strong inference of scienter on the part of each defendant. See Securities Exchange Act of 1934 §§21D(b)(2), (3), 15 U.S.C. §§78 u-4(b)(2), (3). Plaintiffs attempt to meet this burden to plead the individual defendants' state of mind by arguing that those persons engaged in unusual or suspicious trading. Plaintiffs' Mem. of Points & Auth. in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss at 19-21. Nevertheless, plaintiffs contend that the actual stock sale information included in the Defendants' exhibits should not be considered.

    Plaintiffs are wrong. As the Reform Act imposes an affirmative duty on plaintiffs to present a complaint that provides a strong inference of scienter, it is only logical that "plaintiffs bear the burden of showing that any such sales are in fact unusual," when they rely on stock sale allegations to plead scienter. In re Health Mgm't Sys., Inc. Sec. Litig., No. 97-CIV-1865(HB), 1998 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8061, at *18 (S.D.N.Y. May 28, 1998). Thus, plaintiffs cannot merely plead their conclusion that the stock sales are "suspicious" or "unusual." Instead, they must plead information indicating (1) the number of shares and options each defendant retained, and (2) each defendants' past pattern of sales, so that the "suspicious" or "unusual" nature of the sales in question can be discerned. Securities Exchange Act of 1934 §§21D(b)(1), (2), 15 U.S.C. §§ 78u-4(b)(1), (2) (Reform Act requires plaintiffs to set forth the factual basis of allegations made on information and belief).

    Thus, the Court is entitled to take judicial notice of those documents to determine if, as the Vanstar Defendants allege, they refute plaintiffs' allegations. In re Silicon Graphics, Inc. Sec. Litig., 970 F. Supp. 746, 751 (N.D. Cal. 1997 ("[T]he court need not accept as true allegations that contradict facts that have been judicially noticed."). Conversely, if the exhibits are not considered, neither should plaintiffs' stock sale allegations. Seee.g.Duncan v. Pencer, 1996 WL 19043, at *12 (S.D.N.Y. 1996) (absent stock sale information, no inference of unusual or suspicious sales may be drawn).

    CONCLUSION

    For the reasons set forth above, the motion to strike should be denied in its entirety; or, if the Court is inclined to strike the Subject Documents, it should also strike plaintiffs' stock sale allegations.

    Dated: October __, 1998

    WILSON, SONSINI, GOODRICH & ROSATI

    By:___________________________________
         Susan Bower
    Attorneys for Defendants




    1 Seee.g.Kottle v. Northwest Kidney Centers, 146 F.3d 1056, 1064 n. 7 (9th Cir. 1998) (declining to treat Rule 12(b)(6) motion as summary judgment motion despite district court's consideration of affidavit whose "sole purpose was to put before the Court certain public records of the Department" for which court could take judicial notice); Emrich v. Touche Ross & Co., 846 F.2d 1190, 1198 (9th Cir. 1988) (declining to treat Rule 12(b)(6) motion as summary judgment motion despite district court's consideration of declaration requesting judicial notice of certain matters in public record, including other related proceedings).

    2 Plaintiffs' citation to In re Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sec. Lit., No. C-89-20351, 1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18740 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 20, 1990), in support of their argument that the Court may not take judicial notice of the documents in question is more than a little misleading: the Court in that case declined to take judicial notice of certain SEC filings because the relevant SEC filings already were attached to the complaint by plaintiffs, and hence no judicial notice of those documents was necessary. Id. at *6. It is also curious that plaintiffs would cite Haltman v. Aura Systems, Inc., 844 F. Supp. 544, 550 (C.D. Cal. 1993), as the Court in that case merely decided that it could dismiss plaintiffs' claims without the necessity of reviewing the documents submitted for judicial notice.

    3 See also In re Stac Elecs. Sec. Litig., 89 F.3d 1399, 1405 n. 4 (9th Cir. 1996) ("[D]ocuments whose contents are alleged in a complaint and whose authenticity no party questions, but which are not physically attached to the pleading may be considered in ruling [under] Rule 12(b)(6) Motion to Dismiss.") (quotation omitted); Fecht v. Price Co., 70 F.3d 1078, 1080 n.1 (9th Cir. 1995); In re Verifone Sec. Litig., 11 F.3d 865, 868 n.2 (9th Cir. 1993); Branch, 14 F.3d at 453 ("The leading commentators state that 'when [the] plaintiff fails to introduce a pertinent document as part of his pleading, [the] defendant may introduce the exhibit as part of his motion attacking the pleading.'") (quoting 5 Charles A. Wright & Arthur R. Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil ' 1327, at 762-63 (2d ed.1990)).

    4 Plaintiffs admit that they reviewed Vanstar's SEC filings in drafting their Complaint. Complaint ¶ 160. In any event, any contention that the stock trading data alleged in the Complaint was obtained from sources other than Forms 4s is highly implausible (and no such other sources are disclosed). If Vanstar and its officers had not been required to disclose their trades and stock holdings in the SEC filings, the information would be protected from disclosure by the Article I of the California Constitution. Silicon Graphics, 970 F. Supp. at 758 (the trading "allegations can be derived only from the[] publicly-filed documents," any credible financial publications themselves must derive information concerning the personal financial affairs of executives from the SEC filings).

    5 Nor may plaintiffs contend that they genuinely dispute the accuracy of the exhibits at issue. The purpose of judicial notice is to avoid unnecessary costs associated with establishing a fact that "is not really disputable." 1 Weinstein's Evidence ¶ 201[03] at 201-24 (1996). Courts have rejected such attempts to circumvent the principles of judicial notice. See Silicon Graphics, 970 F. Supp. at 758 (rejecting theory where plaintiffs' challenge to accuracy of SEC forms submitted by the defendant was "weak," and there was no evidence presented which would cast doubt on those filings). Moreover, the Ninth Circuit has held that judicial notice may be taken of matters less trustworthy than SEC filings, where the matter is "capable of sufficiently accurate and ready determination." In Ritter v. Hughes Aircraft Co., 58 F.3d 454 (9th Cir. 1995), the Court held that the district court properly took judicial notice of widespread layoffs at Hughes Aircraft based on a newspaper article: "judicial notice of layoffs at Hughes was not an abuse of discretion [because] [t]his is a fact which would be generally known in Southern California and which would be capable of sufficiently accurate and ready determination." Id. at 458-59.




    Source: File to epost from Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
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    #deadwitness ~ Attorney Marc Angelucci killed before settlement in Wood vs. Contra Costa County (Bennett was waiting for call)

    #deadattorney where winners take all losers get killed before reaching the courthouse steps

    Pete Bennett has the unfortunate title of the biggest legal loser. He is not the only one but when Pete stood up people turned up dead

    Marc Angelucci

    Pete Bennett was introduced to Mr. Angelucci via the discovery of Woods v. Contra Costa County.  Woods is poised a game changing case in regards to CPS and Social Services.  

    Bennett knows this story very well which is why he created deadwitness.com as his witnesses have been killed.  

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