I need help with a legal fund for retaining a good attorney who can sort through a complicated and political dependency case. I have run out of ideas, and it has come to this. I cannot afford the kind of representation I and my son need for this case, and I believe it is NOT in our best interest to have proceedings in Wenatchee, where so many problems have been, nor do I believe a court appointed attorney has the time to dedicate to this case. I haven't really explained everything that's happened but it goes back before my son was born. This lawyer I've been working with wants me to use my own words in my response because he says I logically explain everything and show how CPS and my accusers are motivated politically and show bias and hearsay with zero evidence. But I think I will be railroaded unless I have aggressive representation. I have too many powerful people hoping someone can dig up some dirt on me, mainly hoping for a mental illness diagnosis, so they can claim my report about them or their organization is unfounded and not credible.
My family was initially going to help me with a private attorney, but as of last Friday, I found out several conditions were being attached to the support. I agreed to the conditions, for the sake of my son, even though they angered me and went against my grain. One such condition, for example, was that I begin going to a church of their choosing or approval, which was "spirit-filled" and couldn't be "Japanese Baptist, Lutheran", or a number of other churches. They would be checking to make sure I went. That was just one of many conditions. I agreed to ALL of the conditions, even when it pained my independent nature to do so. But then the financial support changed, last minute, as of Friday, and while I was still willing to meet my end of the deal, their end had changed. The attorney we've been working with and have already paid over $1,500 for, also changed his strategy last minute. I wanted change of venue and representation, and because my family can't afford to pay for his travel time to Wenatchee, he's suggested I go pro se to prove my competence, or with a court appointed attorney, with him to assist as second chair. I don't want any part of this to remain in Wenatchee. It is the only reason I've stayed over here. I want a private attorney or firm who will fight for change of venue and modification of visitation, and kill this whole allegation, which is founded on suspicion and has not one shred of evidence.
I can give more details, but I have been right, in the past, about my assessments of a legal predicament and this isn't good. I believe I need change of venue for a number of reasons, which is why I stay in Bellingham. CPS refused to even let me visit my son for 2 weeks (which meant I didn't see him for a MONTH after he was taken from me) after I called asking for visitation, and ever since I have been jerked around with various demands (to get on a bus not knowing which hotel they're putting me up at, week after week, for over a month, and they've been telling me they don't KNOW where I'm staying and that the paperwork isn't done, but I found out last week, that they're setting up accomodations and getting the signature from Linda Corrick days in advance of my departure) and now they're telling me, after they found out I won't have a lawyer with me next Wednesday, that they don't want me to have more visitation with my son even though the monitor has recommended it and praised my parenting. I was told this before I started writing about the medical marijuana. I have asked for more visitation every week and have made all appointments and never been late, but CPS is trying to force me back into their town to even see my son. I need to get my son OUT of that town, and as soon as possible.
I wouldn't mind change of venue to King county where I may find a lawyer with more of a firm backing them. Who knows, maybe there is even a lawyer out there in another state who wants to assist pro bono. I and my son pretty much need a miracle, and I am at a point where I have to ask.
I don't have enough time, because the hearing for Contested Shelter Care is Wednesday afternoon. I want a continuance but I've already had one continuance. It's not my fault that everything changed last minute, last Friday, but this is where I'm at. I'm also confused as to why an Attorney General is involved as I just read tonight that they do not typically get involved unless someone or some agency outside of the Department of Social and Health Services initiates the action.
I am seeing a doctor tomorrow to get my permit for medical marijuana.
I am also calling some banks to find out how to set up a fund for legal defense and expenses. I'm very honest. I wouldn't use monies for anything except a lawyer for this case, but I want to set it up right so I can give receipts for tax deductions and also make sure anyone making a contribution feels they know where their money is going.
I can't imagine who might contribute. I have made a lot of enemies, and I'm not conservative enough to be a darling of the christian set and I'm not liberal enough to be a darling of the leftist set (I don't think, I don't know). I'm not running for office though. I just know I'm innocent and that if I don't have the money and power to match the state and AG, I may lose my son. This is very serious and has involved people who have wanted to give me a bad name for some time. All I'm asking for, is a chance at equality for once, to be matched in resources and strength and have a fighting chance. I am asking on behalf of myself and my son. I know we will win if we are given a chance, if I am given a chance.
Maybe I have some silent supporters, and I know others have come forward to thank me for writing about certain things or for things I've done for them...I have been able to give to my community in the past, and to others, and I suppose I could make a list of my past and current contributions (current contributions have not been financial in nature), but right now I'm just putting out a sign, or casting my bread upon the water.
Contributions to the Legal Fund For Oliver & Cameo Garrett may be mailed to:
Legal Fund For Oliver c/o
Cameo L. Garrett
7467 Gemini Rd.
Birch Bay, WA 98230
I will keep any and all contributions annonymous, especially upon request. I will try to set up the fund ASAP, work beginning tomorrow, to have checks go to the fund instead of to me directly in the future. Right now, I have to use my name and address, but I will write out receipts and make a log of contributions. Any and all contributions appreciated! Thank you so much. I also welcome any and all questions about this situation and what we might need.
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5 comments:
Cameo,
I thought you lived in East Wenatchee, not Wenatchee, which would make it Douglas County, not Chelan County, which would be Waterville, not Wenatchee where you'd be in court.
Yes, hello. Thank you for asking. I don't know if you're local or not but in case you're not, East Wenatchee is still Wenatchee. There's E. Wenatchee and (W. Wenatchee) and a river divides them. It's all the same town. Although the counties are technically different, it's pretty much the same thing. The court is in Waterville, for Douglas County, but the politics are the same regardless and the river has never been a barrier to gossip and misinformation. The mentality and system is pretty much the same too. Everyone knows eachother because the 2 parts of town (E & W) run into eachother and it's a small area. The medical community serves both Douglas and Chelan county, and the prejudice against me is throughout the area.
As for people knowing people, Judge Nancy Harmon, who is now a Judge for Wenatchee, was formerly the Prosecuting Attorney for Douglas County (E. Wenatchee) and she and Judge Hotchkiss (E. Wen. judge) know eachother well. Judge Harmon was absolutely prejudiced and terrible towards me, screaming at me in court and insulting me, on the record, when I was before her. She had some preconceived ideas about me and came into court with them.
As for the other Judges in the area, it is good for Wenatchee that Judge Warren is gone. He was putting first time DUI offenders in jail (I watched as someone's grandma got sentenced) and then letting admitted sex offenders go scot-free. He also had me jailed for something I didn't do, a misdemeanor, and although it was a first time charge, and I should have had personal recoginance (where you are not jailed but show up for court hearing)he made me sit in jail for 14 days. During this same time, I was writing kites (requests) to Judge Warren, for reduction of bail, P.R., and a number of things, and he told the guards to return my kites to me unfiled. This is flat-out illegal. A judge may refuse to grant requests, but they cannot refuse to have them filed, and he did. Judge Warren was also the person responsible for telling police in ANOTHER STATE that my license was suspended when it was NOT, which resulted in my car being towed in Oregon and the DMV gave me proof I was never legally suspended; when I went to Judge Warren to fix this, he refused to my face, and I had to go then to the DMV to get papers to prove I wasn't suspended and get another license.
Judge John Bridges is supposed to be halfway okay, but he his wife works for CPS and they sent "the Judge's wife" out to visit me after the first complaint to CPS by the doctors. He had to recuse himself from further dealings with me. Judge Small, I'm told, comes into court with his mind already made up and favors one party over the other, usually the one with more clout or someone he knows. Judge Nakata thanked me for "your honesty" when I admitted to speeding in court for a traffic ticket, knowing I didn't HAVE to, because the officer didn't show up. I could have, and should have, won by default. But when Nakata pressed on to read the report by the officer who wasn't even present, I voluntarily told the truth, when I could have even just pointed out the cop wasn't there to defend his case, simply because I wasn't going to falsely accuse an officer of being wrong. Nakata took less than $100 off of a $700 ticket, in appreciation for my "honesty". I've never had a Judge reduce a ticket by less than half, but Nakata seemed to want to make a point. I thought it was odd.
Judge Lesley Allan I had to ask to recuse herself, after trial had begun with the hospital injunction against me, because she didn't even attempt to mask her prejudice. Not wanting to have further evidence dragged into court against her, she recused herself voluntarily. Those are pretty much the Judges. And most of the same Judges who sent innocent people to jail in the Wenatchee Witch Hunt deal, are still judges.
The politics do not end at the river. Judges talk, and they go to lunch with DAs and are in the same social clubs. Most of the judges, to have a chance to be nominated by the public in the area, have to be locals, which means they were born and raised in the area, or have been there for 20 or more years, and have become a part of the small town mentality.
The police all work together, and CPS is the same CPS for E. Wenatchee and Wenatchee, and CPS has been out of bounds and NOT working cooperatively with me. I had a couple of complaints pending with DSHS, including against the supervisor Debbie Schomer, at this time too, which CPS works closely with. My own former social worker in DSHS started a complaint against me herself, while supposedly acting as my social worker, and after some crazy manipulation and lying, moved over to CPS to work for that department. She was best friends with my former counselor, Brett McDonald, and McDonald actually begged me not to call her to testify to the facts when I had a hearing against DSHS because she didn't want her friend to get into trouble. CPS in Wenatchee knows I have a job and while they have the ability to schedule visitation for evenings or weekends, they refuse to do so, scheduling times in the middle of the week, which they know affects my work. They don't care, because they don't want me to be working in Bellingham and have a reason for change of venue.
I called Bellingham CPS and asked them if they would take my case and the guy was pleasant, without issues, and said they would and wondered why Wenatchee CPS wouldn't let go of this case and wanted to keep it to themselves. He thought it was odd, but told me he couldn't do anything unless they agreed to turn it over to their jurisdiction. He said it made much more sense, since I was living and working in Bellingham area, to have it moved to this location, but Wenatchee won't do it.
Why? because from the first, they've been dishonest, politically motivated, and control freaks. They know they have a better chance of getting their way with a Judge THEY know, in a small town. No one else would put up with their crap, especially not in King county, and it doesn't sound like Whatcom thinks they're reasonable either.
Wenatchee CPS, after they first talked to the Wenatchee hospital ER doctors who complained about me, offered me and my son a one-way bus ticket out of the state. I am not kidding. The doctors wanted me out of town because I was calling them onto the carpet, and they knew I was looking for lawyer to sue them for a number of things. If I was out of the state, it would be more difficult for me to retain an attorney. At the same time, all the medical clinics in the town were refusing to provide standard of care for me and my son, which is pretty much pushing us out and trying to force us to leave. I had several doctors tell me to my face that I should leave the area, and to try to pressure me into this, they refused services by allowing me come to the clinic or hospital, but refusing to treat me or do diagnostics, and then writing up crazy things in my chart.
The doctors know CPS and they're all inter-related and friends and even residents of Wenatchee will be the first to tell you that if you need a medical malpractice attorney you have to go to Seattle because all the Wenatchee lawyers do favors for the doctors.
It's not a good place. I really need private representation.
I guess I should also mention, I know what the public defense is like in this area. I had to use it when Warren threw me in jail on trumped charges and my own PD threatened me and told me to take a plea bargain for something I didn't do. I had evidence to back up my defense and he wouldn't get it, even though he only had to get a counseling record and some police records.
Instead, when I refused to take a plea, knowing it was wrong and would affect my future, he brought in his BOSS to sit next to me and try to intimidate me. He told me if I didn't take the plea (we were already sitting in the courtroom and waiting our turn before a judge) that he would have to take my case to trial the very next day and we would lose. I told him no we were NOT going to trial the very next day, because he hadn't even obtained character witnesses or the evidence that exonnerated me.
They still pressured me, telling me (I was newly pregnant) that I would end up in jail for a year and my son would be taken from me in jail. He got on the phone and talked to the DA like they were best friends and had lunch everyday.
I was so worked up, I had more migraines, and severe anxiety, but I held my ground. I knew I was innocent.
The DA was forced to drop and dismiss all charges against me because I wouldn't take the plea, because he admitted they didn't have any witnesses, and no evidence.
It was one of the hardest things I've done. Did anyone hold the PDs accountable? no. Did anyone hold Judge Warren accountable, even after I told my PD and he agreed what the Judge had done was illegal? no.
My family was telling me to take the plea. My family listens to legal professionals, even if they're on the other side, and assume everyone is the good guy, and that I don't know what I'm talking about when I say I will get screwed. I have had accurate judgement about legal situations, but my family is sheltered and doesn't get it. I trust my own intuition and analysis over my family's. And, I have so far, always been right.
I asked my family for help with legal assistance BEFORE CPS took my son because I knew it was getting worse and I kept being harassed. I told them it was "too late" after they took my son, and would cause him and me trauma. They didn't believe me. They said they'd help with a lawyer if someone really took him away. Then, when they did, they attach all kinds of "conditions" and after I even agree to them, they change their end of the deal and think I should just follow along.
It's not in my or my son's best interest.
I have been told, by mainly smaller town lawyers, that to represent my case properly, it will cost between $20,000-$30,000.
All of them agree my case is very complicated, and that a variety of tests need to be done (not just for private mental evaluation, but for biological dosimetry to prove radiation or microwave theories) and that the people working against me have power and resources and will railroad me without zealous representation.
I tried to keep an open mind about CPS, but in Wenatchee they've just lied to my face and purposefully attempted to provoke me, and even the legal secretaries at law offices, when they read my response to their allegations, are convinced they are biased and motivated politically. "WHAT is their PROBLEM?!!!!" said Beaty's secretary. They also cannot believe what I and my son have had to suffer with from a traumatic childbirth at the hospital, and think there is an FBI/Catholic fringe group connection. The key is fringe. I've never alleged everyone who is Catholic is "out to get" me, as it's been written up. I just know some very bizarre things have happened, and the only group that would have access to the kind of sophisticated equipment a computer tech said would have to be used to hack onto my desktops (without using internet) and cause health problems, would be either state, FBI, or someone within an organization that had access or from a church that had a lot of resources.
We also want to get records from the FBI and other organizations, including police the Mt. Angel Abbey and Catholic church lawyers used against me to further their agenda. These would be FOIA requests. I've been slandered and a lawyer needs to find out where this is coming from.
But it takes money, that I don't have, and the people trying to railroad me and blacklist me, KNOW and knew ahead of time that I didn't have the money to fight them or defend myself.
I need some help. I am having to go outside of my family to ask for it.
You were in jail for 14 days for domestic violence (after trying to have someone else charged with that for telling you to get off the premises) and the charges (due to holding your 70+ year old grandmother down on a bench) were dropped because she refused to press charges. You also consider a hug restraining you. Alot of your "victimization" is due to your choices and actions. no more to be said.
Another reason for change of venue: CPS is trying to force me to return to Wenatchee in order to see my son and yet I cannot get medical care in Wenatchee. Anywhere. It is not possible for me to even live there, for medical reasons, because of politics.
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