Friday, September 26, 2008

What A Tangled Web We Weave...


by Janet Phelan

On the heels of dozens of arrests of journalists at the DNC and RNC, including WBAI's Amy Goodman and Rogue IMC's own Noah Balloon, a clandestine scenario has been unfolding in Medford, Oregon as the local police attempted to frame and arrest another journalist. In a dramatic attempt to subvert justice, the MPD has created false documents in order to illegally entrap and ensnare.

When I stated in my previous report ( http://rogueimc.org/en/2008/09/13854.shtml) that the MPD, which had already disappeared my September 2007 police report, the evidentiary photograph and even disappeared the dispatch call, were "apparently" moving forward and had assigned a detective to investigate my case, I spoke in error.

To give a brief history here, when I caught the MPD disappearing documents, I went to Internal Affairs for redress. When I complained to Watch commander Sgt. Sergi that my reports had disappeared, he snarled, "Get over it." I then went to the Communications Advisory Committee for redress. As a result of that televised meeting, the police came out with egg all over their collective faces, and Detective Scott Clauson was assigned to the case. He appeared agreeable to investigate a stalking/harrassment claim, and I began turning over evidence to him, including phone records, emails and names of parties who had been contacted by the stalker, who regularly makes email and/or phone contact with my work associates with the intent of defaming me. I also turned over recordings of the harasser's voicemails. These include sounds of guns being fired into the phone and sounds of someone being tortured or murdered.

In a maneuver equal to the antics of a Harry Houdini, the MPD suddenly resurrected the "missing" dispatch call, stating it was misfiled due to the department misspelling my last name. Sgt. Sergi stated that the dispatch call was "located" when the record was searched by my address. However, on two previous occasions multiple employees of the MPD had searched by my address and no such record was ever found. Caught in the act of disappearing records, the MPD apparently furthered the cover-up of their own illegal activity through yet another illegal act--creating a false record, the dispatch call with a misspelled last name. I have attached the record of the dispatch call. While the scan may be slightly fuzzy, the original clearly shows that my name, misspelled as "Thalen, Janet," is in a different type cast than the rest of the document. This further substantiates my allegations that the document was tampered with, and tampered with in exactly the manner which would have exonerated the police from my original allegations that the document was entirely disappeared by the department.

While Detective Clauson initially appeared to be on the track of investigating the stalking/harassment complaint, he actually had no intent in following through on my criminal complaint. Instead, he took a nearly unprecedented step and provided me with a bogus subpoena for my phone records. The subpoena he handed me on August 23 is not the same subpoena tendered to my phone carrier.This was confirmed by a phone call I made to my carrier last week. For all intents and purposes, Scott Clauson was trying to lull me into a false sense of security while he "moved in for the kill."

I am alleging that this action constitutes a felony on the part of Scott Clauson. The fact that the bogus subpoena bears the stamp of Mark Huddleston, D.A., implicates him also in the alleged crime. Mr. Huddleston did not return phone calls from several members of the media concerning these allegations.

I declare with good faith and clean hands that I do not know what in the world the P.D. is looking for, or if they are merely on a fishing expedition. As a journalist and talk show host, I maintain a phone list of many prominent people, including Cindy Sheehan, Larry Chertoff (cousin to DHS chief Michael Chertoff) and many others. I have no criminal record; however, it appears that the MPD is eager to create one for me. So eager, in fact, that the force is now breaking laws with great abandon in their pursuit of this 5'4", one hundred and thirty pound reporter and political talk show host (Republic Broadcasting Network and KSKQ).

I am plagued with some concerns here, and I must ask the following rhetorical question: How many others are now sitting in jail, prison or ended up dead in custody for similar machinations by "officers of the law?" Here is Chief Randy Schoen's phone number--(541) 774-2200. Give him a call, if you will, and ask him how his employees came to be above the law they are mandated to uphold.

In addition, the attempts by the Mayor and Councilman Bob Strosser to gut the Communications Advisory Committee, discussed in the previous report, seem to be coming to fruition as well. The October session of the CAC has been moved to a room with no television hook-up; therefore, Mayor Wheeler's comments concerning the inadvisability of continuing to televise the CAC meetings appear to have been taken as fiat, and will result in a non-publicized meeting of that committee. Activists and other concerned citizens are urged to contact KSKQ at 482-3999 concerning the possibility of arranging a citizen-journalist based coverage of that event.

Coming soon--Internal Affairs: Medford P.D.'s last "CYA" pitstop.

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