Roadside Crosses: A Kathryn Dance Novel (9 page)

For that is what journalism is all about.

—James Chilton

Below that was: “Mission Statement.”

We can’t make judgments in a vacuum. Will business, will government, will corrupt politicians and criminal and debauched individuals be honest about what they’re up to? Of course not. It’s our job in
The Report
to shine the light of truth into the shadows of deceit and greed—to give you the facts you need to make informed decisions about the pressing issues of the day.

Dance also found a brief biography of Chilton, then a section about personal news. She glanced over the listings.

G
O
T
EAM
!

I’m happy to say that after this weekend’s game the Older Boy’s team is 4–0! Go, Jayhawks! Now, parents: listen to me. Your youngsters should give up baseball and football for soccer, which is the safest and healthiest team sport there is. (See
The Chilton Report
of April 12 for my comments about sports injuries among children.) And by the way, make sure you call it “soccer,” not “football,” the way the foreigners do. When in America, do as Americans!)

A P
ATRIOT

Yesterday the Younger Boy knocked the socks off the audience in his day camp recital by singing “America the Beautiful.” All by himself! Makes a dad swell up with pride.

S
UGGESTIONS
, A
NYONE
?

We’re coming up on our nineteenth anniversary, Pat and I. And I need ideas for presents! (Out of self-interest I’ve decided against getting her a high-speed fiber optic upgrade for the computer!) You ladies out there, send me your ideas. And, no, Tiffany’s is not out of the question.

W
E’RE
G
OING
G
LOBAL
!

Am pleased to report that
The Report
has been getting raves from around the world. It’s been selected as one of the lead blogs in a new RSS feed (we’ll call it “Really Simple Syndication”) that will link thousands of other blogs, websites and bulletin boards throughout the world. Kudos to you, my readers, for making
The Report
as popular as it is.

W
ELCOME
H
OME

Heard some news that made me smile. Those of you who’ve followed
The Report
may remember glowing comments over the years about this humble reporter’s dear friend Donald Hawken—we were pioneers in this crazy computer world so many years ago I don’t like to think about it. Donald escaped the Peninsula for greener pastures in San Diego. But I’m delighted to say that he’s come to his senses and is returning, along with his bride, Lily, and his two wonderful children. Welcome home, Donald!

H
EROES

Hats off to the brave firefighters of Monterey County. . . . Pat and I happened to be downtown on Alvarado last Tuesday when calls for help rang out and smoke sprouted from a construction site. Flames blocked the exit . . . with two construction workers trapped on the upper floors. Within minutes two dozen firemen and -women were on the scene and a fire truck had stretched its ladder to the roof. The men were plucked from harm’s way, and the flames were extinguished. No injuries, minimal damage.

In most of our lives bravery involves little more than arguing politics or, at the most physical, snorkeling at fancy resorts or mountain biking.

How rarely are we called on to exhibit true courage—the way the men and women of Monterey County Fire and Rescue do every single day, without a moment’s hesitation or complaint.

Bravo to you all!

Accompanying this posting was a dramatic photo of a fire truck in downtown Monterey.

“Typical of blogs,” Boling said. “Personal information, gossip. People like to read that.”

Dance also clicked on a link called “Monterey.”

She was taken to a page that extolled “Our Home: The Beautiful and Historic Monterey Peninsula,” featuring artistic photos of the shoreline and boats near Cannery Row and Fisherman’s Wharf. There were a number of links to local sights.

Another link led them to maps of the area, including one that depicted her town: Pacific Grove.

Boling said, “This is all gingerbread. Let’s look at the content of the blog . . . that’s where we’ll find the clues.” He frowned. “Do you call them ‘clues’? Or ‘evidence’?”

“You can call ’em broccoli if it helps us find the perp.”

“Let’s see what the veggies reveal.” He gave her another URL.

Http://www.thechiltonreport.com/html/june26.html

This was the crux of the blog: Chilton’s mini-essays.

Boling explained, “Chilton’s the ‘OP,’ the original poster. Which, if you’re interested, is derived from ‘OG,’ Original Gangsta, for the leaders of gangs, like Bloods and Crips. Anyway, he uploads his commentary and then leaves it there for people to respond to. They agree or disagree. Sometimes they go off on tangents.”

The original comment by Chilton, Dance noticed, remained at the top, and below were the replies. Mostly people replied directly to the blogger’s comment, but sometimes they responded to other posters.

“Each separate article and all the related posts are called a ‘thread,’ ” Boling explained. “Sometimes the threads can go on for months or years.”

Dance began skimming. Under the clever heading “HypoCHRISTcy,” Chilton attacked the very man Dance had just seen at the hospital, the Reverend Fisk, and the Life First movement. Fisk, it seemed, had once said that murdering abortion doctors was justified. Chilton wrote that he was adamantly against abortion, but condemned Fisk for the statement. Two of Fisk’s defenders, CrimsoninChrist and LukeB1734, viciously attacked Chilton. The former said the blogger himself should be crucified. With the reference to the color in his name, Dance wondered if CrimsoninChrist was the minister’s large, redheaded bodyguard she’d seen earlier at the hospital protest.

The “Power to the People” thread was an exposé about a California state representative—Brandon Klevinger, who was head of the Nuclear Facilities Planning Committee. Chilton had found out that Klevinger had gone on a golfing junket with a developer who was proposing a new nuclear plant near Mendocino, when it would have been cheaper and more efficient to build it closer to Sacramento.

In “Desalinate . . . and Devastate” the blogger took on a plan to build a desalination plant near the Carmel River. The comment included a personal attack on the man behind the project, Arnold Brubaker, painted by Chilton as an interloper from Scottsdale, Arizona, a man with a sketchy past and possible underworld connections.

Two of the postings represented the citizens’ two positions on the desalination issue.

Reply to Chilton, posted by Lyndon Strickland.

I have to say you’ve opened my eyes on this issue. Had no idea that somebody’s ramrodding this through. I reviewed the filed proposal at the County Planning Office and must say that, though I am an attorney familiar with environmental issues, it was one of the most obfuscatory documents I’ve ever tried to wade through. I think we need considerably more transparency in order to have meaningful debate on this matter.

Reply to Chilton, posted by Howard Skelton.

Do you know that America will run out of freshwater by 2023? And 97 percent of the earth’s water is salt water. Only an idiot would not take advantage of that. We need desalination for our survival, if we’re to continue to maintain our position as the most productive and efficient country in the world.

In the “Yellow Brick Road” thread Chilton talked about a project by the state Department of Transportation—Caltrans. A new highway was being built from Highway 1 through Salinas and on to Hollister, through farm country. Chilton was questioning the lightning speed with which the project had been approved, as well as the meandering route, which would benefit some farmers far more than others. He hinted at payoffs.

Chilton’s social conservative side shone through in “Just Say No,” a thread condemning a proposal for increased sex education in middle schools. (Chilton called for abstinence.) A similar message could be found in “Caught in the Act . . . NOT,” about a married state court judge caught leaving a motel with a young
clerk, half his age. Chilton was incensed at the recent development that the judge had received a wrist slap from the judicial ethics committee. He felt the man should have been removed from the bench and disbarred.

Kathryn Dance then came to the crucial thread, beneath a sad picture of crosses, flowers and a stuffed animal.

Posted by Chilton.

I recently drove past the spot on Highway 1 where two roadside crosses, and some bright bouquets, sit. They marked the site of that terrible accident on June 9, where two girls died following a graduation party. Lives ended . . . and lives of loved ones and friends changed forever.

I realized that I hadn’t heard much about any police investigation into the crash. I made some calls and found there’d been no arrests. No citations were even issued.

That struck me as odd. Now, no ticket means a determination that the driver—a high school student, so no names—was not to blame. So then what was the cause of the accident? As I drove along the road I noticed it was windswept and sandy and had no lights or guardrails near the spot where the car veered off the road. A caution sign was weathered and would have been hard to see in the dark (the accident occurred around midnight). There was no drainage; I could see pools of standing water on the shoulder and on the highway itself.

Why didn’t the police do a thorough accident reconstruction (they have people on staff who do that, I’ve learned)? Why didn’t Caltrans immediately send a team to examine the surface of the road, the grading, the markings? I could find no record of any such examination.

Maybe the road is as safe as can be expected.

But is it fair to us—whose children regularly drive that stretch of highway—for the authorities to dismiss the tragedy so quickly? It seems to me that their attention has faded quicker than the flowers sitting sorrowfully beneath those roadside crosses.

Reply to Chilton, posted by Ronald Kestler.

If you look at the budget situation in Monterey County and in the state in general, you will find that one area taking the brunt of our economic woes is adequate warning measures along high-risk highways. My son was killed in an accident along Highway 1 because the Curve sign had become covered with mud. It would have been an easy thing for state workers to find and clean it, but did they do this? No. Their neglect was inexcusable. Thank you, Mr. Chilton, for calling attention to this problem.

Reply to Chilton, posted by A Concerned Citizen.

Highway workers make obscene amounts of money and sit on their fat [deleted] all day long. you’ve seen them, everybody has, standing by the road not doing anything when they could
be fixing dangerous highways and making sure we’re safe. another example of our tax dollars NOT at work.

Reply to Chilton, posted by Robert Garfield, California Department of Transportation.

I wish to assure you and your readers that the safety of our citizens is Caltrans’s number one priority. We make every effort to maintain the highways of our state in good repair. The portion of road where the accident you’re referring to occurred is, like all highways under state control, regularly inspected. No violations or unsafe conditions were found. We urge all drivers to remember that highway safety in California is everyone’s responsibility.