Also on today’s menu:
Career Criminal Escapes From Belknap Jail
Crisis At Gunstock
It has become apparent that former president Donald Trump knew but would not accept the fact that he had lost the 2020 election, that he encouraged supporters to come to Washington to overturn those election results, and that he encouraged them to march on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, with the intention of disrupting the official declaration of Joe Biden Jr.’s victory. What was not clear was whether his plan to get alternate electors to declare him the winner was an intentionally criminal act, since alternate electors had been used previously.
In 1876, when Samuel Tilden sent alternate sets of electors that declared him the winner against Rutherford Hayes in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, an electoral commission that Congress created to settle the dispute found that the South Carolina votes for Tilden “were not the lawful electors for the State of South Carolina, and that their votes are not the votes provided for by the Constitution of the United States, and should not be counted.” That handed the victory to Hayes, and although there were indications of fraud in submitting the results for Tilden, no one was prosecuted for a crime.
Yesterday, however, emails emerged in which Trump’s advisors openly referred to the slates of alternate electors they planned to submit as “fake.” Coming from people like Arizona attorney Jack Wilenchik, confirmation that the electors were not legitimate provides hard evidence that Trump knew he was committing a crime in trying to get those results certified.
George Conway, who is an attorney, wrote on Twitter, “If you had asked me to hypothesize, for illustrative purposes, a set of emails that prosecutors would find helpful in proving a fake-elector fraud conspiracy, I would not have come up with anything nearly as incriminating as the emails that the [New York] Times reported on today.”
Career Criminal Escapes From Belknap Jail
Fifty-seven-year-old Peter DiBiaso, who was incarcerated at the Belknap County Department of Corrections jail on charges of criminal threatening, being an armed career criminal, violation of probation, and domestic violence-stalking, escaped on July 25 by barricading himself in the laundry room and busting through a door to the outside in an area out of range of cameras and where there was no barbed or razor wire on the fence.
Belknap County Sheriff William Wright said DiBiaso changed out of his inmate garb and into either unmarked inmate clothing or civilian clothes before escaping. While authorities do not know whether he is armed, Wright said he should be considered dangerous, given his criminal history.
In May 2021, he allegedly threatened his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend at gunpoint on two occasions, and he fled to Florida, where he is believed to have relatives. He is described as being 5 feet, 8 inches tall, and 180 pounds, with blue eyes, blond hair, and several tattoos. Police are offering a $2,500 reward for information leading to his apprehension.
Crisis At Gunstock
There are good ways and bad ways to provide oversight, and the Gunstock Area Commission has provided an excellent example of both.
When the Belknap County Delegation appointed the newest members of the commission, it was with an understanding that they would provide greater oversight of the operations, rather than continuing to simply accept as fact everything the management of Gunstock Mountain Resort said. Gunstock’s draft master plan would call for a large expenditure of money, and the delegation wanted to make sure it was spent well.
There is no question that the management at Gunstock was doing an excellent job, having significantly increased revenues to the point that it would be able operate and expand without the use of taxpayer money and, in fact, was sending money back to the county. Looking into those finances was, as Commissioner Doug Lambert said, “part of our jobs.” However, unaccustomed to that level of oversight, the management was skeptical of the commission’s intentions, particularly given the statements by some delegation members about the desire to privatize Gunstock. In response, the delegation made a nearly unanimous pledge not to support the sale or lease of the county-owned recreation area.
Lambert and Commissioner Jade Wood approached oversight in respectful manner, asking probing questions while also showing appreciation to the management team. Chair Peter Ness and Vice-Chair David Strang were less tactful. Strang was quick to express anger at the Gunstock employees, and Ness showed a lack of empathy. After a contentious meeting at which the employees expressed their frustration, Ness imposed a new seating plan that placed the management with audience, which was taken as a further insult by the team. They walked out as a result.
Now, with Gunstock closed and “no viable way forward,” in Lambert’s words, he and Wood have called for the resignations of Ness and Strang. A crowd of Gunstock supporters agreed that they must go so the management team can return, which they have agreed to do if that condition is met.
Everyone is wondering what the next move is.
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