Dirty rotten crooks

We are approaching the 11 month mark since the Yu Chen tragedy last spring, and in May it will be one year. Yet, the sheriff's report and other records are still being withheld. We're unsure whether to belabor this story or just let it go. The unlawful withholding of public records is such a problem in Wisconsin that we decided to collect the contacts for the major area newspapers below. Anyone who cares might think about contacting at least one of these and suggesting an (updated) story:

Isthmus:
Judy Davidoff (replaced Bill Lueders): 251-5627
Submit tip or story idea: edit@isthmus.com

The Progressive Magazine (Madison)

Capital Times:
Main number: 252-6400
Submit news tip: citydesk@madison.com

Wis. State Journal contacts. The Wis. State Journal and Cap Times have covered the incident, although not lately, and the Milw. Journal-Sentinel had one brief note on it right after it occurred.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
Opinion/Editorials: 414-224-2143; jsedit@journalsentinel.com
News: 414-224-2318; jsmetro@journalsentinel.com

Chicago Tribune:
News tips & ideas: online form

The public records problem in Wisconsin is getting worse, not better. Without unfettered access to public records, there is little to keep public employees from indulging their natural tendencies and becoming crooks.

Show me your hands!

Those words were uttered by a white cop at a black man, Stephon Clark, as he lay on the ground motionless in his grandmother's back yard in Sacramento, CA on Sunday evening. He was motionless because two cops had just shot him 20 times.

Notice the shot-counter at 1:10 in the above video, like in a videogame, which might be funny if this weren't footage of an actual murder. After unloading their magazines, the cops then engage in buddy talk for several minutes, unconcerned about the dying man on the ground.

"You alright? You hit?"
"Yeah, I'm good."
"You alright, dude?"
"Yeah, I'm alright. I don't think I'm hit or anything."

Of course the cops weren't hit--Clark only had a cell phone, and a white one at that. Maybe if your IQ is just 75, a white iPhone can look like a gun. For five minutes, the cops continue to hide just around the corner of the house from where they shot Clark, playing out the videogame scenario.

"I got him at gunpoint, dude. You do a tactical reload okay?" as if the dead Clark were going to pop up and attack like video game creatures do. One of the cops makes it clear (over the radio) that no one important has been injured: "I want everybody to know--we are fine, no officers are hit." Why is that even relevant to the situation?

Other cops arrive, and all four continue to stand there, shouting periodically at the bullet-riddled Clark. "Hey can you hear us?" and "Let's see your hands!" If there was any chance of saving his life, it evaporated in those five minutes.

The four heavily armed, sissy cops then call for a body bunker--a riot shield--before approaching the dead Clark.

Maybe police are rightfully cautious. Maybe there are people out there gunning for them, and who could blame anyone after all the recent murders by police? But this incident, like hundreds of other recent killings by police, highlights a serious and growing problem in this country: the lives of cops (and state employees in general) are valued more highly than the lives of everyone else. In 2017, cops in Amerika shot and killed 987 people, but only 46 cops were killed.

What does all this have to do with Hoofers? To some of us, the parade of cops who are getting away with murder is eerily similar to the lack of charges in the death by motorboat of Yu Chen almost a year ago now. At least in Sacramento, authorities released the video after a few days; the Dane County Sheriff and DA are still refusing to release the video of Yu Chen's death 10 months later.

Kinda makes ya wonder what it shows.

CIRCLE JERK

Beef jerky. Winter chow. We're talking about the meat heads and other Hoofer Sailing Club "staff" who exist mainly to serve and protect each other. The image at right, obtained from a source, was taken several years ago from the Hoofer Webcam. Click on the image to see the actual full-sized 1600x1200 capture.

What, you didn't know about the Hoofer webcam? That's because it was disabled soon thereafter by the HSC webmaster (guess who) because he and others didn't like that some plum smuggler had figured out how to capture time lapse video from it, and because such captures were being used to publicize screw-ups by Hoofer "staff".

Had they not removed that camera, there might now be video of the Yu Chen incident as the camera pointed straight at that part of the lake. (there may be video anyway, but the sheriff and DA are still withholding everything 8 months later.)

This is the Information Age, and knowledge is power. That's why those in authority do everything they legally can (and often illegally) to obtain information and then to keep it exclusively for themselves>. The Union's 100+ surveillance cameras are just one example. The public is not allowed to see any of that video, ever. Yet, Union staff, crooked cops, and other voyeurs can lock themselves in a room and study it whenever they like. If you're not breaking the law, who cares, right?

Who cares if they're getting off on girls in bikinis or you with your shirt off on the Terrace. Is the Union safer or better in any way since they installed all those cameras? Nope. The only deaths at Hoofer Sailing have both occurred after the installation of blanket surveillance--and after the removal of the one useful and publicly available camera at Hoofers.

Have you seen The Post yet? It's a great movie about crooked government officials trying to suppress public information, starring Meryl Streep & Tom Hanks.

NOTE: Thanks to those who posted the link with a bit of new info on the investigation.

Y.A.C.H.T.* XP

Are you young? Can you handle your liquor? If so, then why not join other hip young people on a cruise in the Bahamas this March! That's a cruise in the Bahamas, not to the Bahamas. You'll have to get yourself to Nassau prior to departure (no refunds if you arrive late).

The price is just $1300** or so for a week of total annihilation. There will be beer, rum, tequila... you name it. You'll have to buy it too, as this cruise is BYOB.

The graph above plots Hoofer alcohol policy vs. Yacht XP over time. Is it coincidence that Yacht XP's inception occurred right after alcohol was banned from Hoofer keelboats in 2014? You'll have to judge that for yourself.

Most organizers and participants are current or ex- Hoofers and their friends. Yacht XP's own Greg Bammel organized the last, semi-successful Hoofer cruise in 2014. After that, official Hoofer cruises were disallowed due to expensive screw-ups on the last two, so Yacht XP is now the only Hoofer-related*** way to get out on the water, get drunk, and get wasted!

Anyway, for under $2000 (probably--airfares to Nassau in March can be expensive), you can come and get shlt-faced with other young people and make up for all those times you wanted to drink on board Hoofer boats last summer but could not!

Note that the price goes up the longer you wait, e.g. signing up in January costs $1400**. If that seems expensive, it might be because Yacht XP gives big discounts to the skippers--who are hoping to get a free ride on you.

Hey, isn't that how it works in Hoofers too?

*Yet Another Crazy Hoofer Trip?
**Plus beer, liquor, transportation to Nassau, personal expenses, bar tabs, your share of any boat damage, etc.
***NOTE that Yacht XP is not officially part of Hoofers any more, but the two did have a formal relationship.

Happy(?) Halloween

In honor of All Hallows' Eve, here's the winner of this year's poetry contest. We hope you "like" it.

Five Fingers of Justice

When the chilly nighttime hours grow,
And powerful nor'westers blow,
Comes knocking at the Hoofer door,
A scratching from the hallway floor.

In beer-laced bliss the doorknob turns
Wherefor a wasted brain discerns,
Pale moonbeams reveal a shape:
A rat, a squirrel, a tiny ape?

Abruptly it scampers into the light,
Ashore to avenge its owner's plight.
Five fingers leade a yellow stump,
Detached from heart, from soul and pump.

At ankle height it coils, then leaps,
Trailing severed end where blood still seeps!
Fast upon the skipper of the boat,
The arm crawls nimbly toward the throat.

Its headless, cat-like corpse alive,
It grabs the Adam's with all five.
A frozen watch reads days gone by;
Now it's time to scream, and die.

With justice served on their mistake,
It crawls back to the cold, dark lake,
The palm and fingertips embossed
With echos of twelve summers lost.

Keelboat Lift-Out 2017

Lift-out is tomorrow, Sat Oct 28! We need as much help as possible, so if you're available, be at the lakefront at 8 AM. Why so early? Because, ah, whoever scheduled it is an early riser?

Work hours will be available if you need them. Or you can come down just to watch big sailboats fly thru the air! We guarantee a good time for all (BYOB please).

The question no one wants to ask is: Will this be the final lift-out at Hoofers? We hope not, but the out of control politics along with recent events has cast a dark cloud over HSC.

Finally, there's new info here on the status of Soma.