One way this is accomplished is by getting precincts in the county organized. This is accomplished by having the Precinct Chair, Vice and Secretary more active in their polling area and in organizing volunteers. Alamance County Democrats are having precinct meetings from February 27th through March 12, 2010.

Cathy von Hassel-Davies, Precinct Chair for the North Newlin District of Alamance County held her first precinct meeting on March 1st. She hopes to get more Democrats active in her precinct and to build a strong volunteer base. She was very active in the 2008 primary elections and noticed that her precinct areas voting list was very out-dated. This prompted her to get involved in her local precinct so that she can help clean up the voter database. This will also help volunteers who are giving of their valuable time to not waste it by going to homes that are abandoned, not there, or the occupant has moved.

There are 972 registered democrats in the precinct and there was about a 10% showing for the first precinct meeting of the year. This is a good way of becoming familiar with the people who are running in the local elections and to speak with these local politicians and finding out what their issues are. Jeremy Teetor, running for a two-year term of County Commissioner, Brad Allen running for District 15A District Court Judge, Ron Parrish who will be running for Alamance County Sheriff, James "Hunt" Johnson running for County Clerk were all in attendance. Unfortunately Pat Nadolski could not make it but he sent a representative who spoke for him at the meeting. Each one held our attention at they each spoke for about 10 minutes explaining their agenda and their hopes for the future of Alamance County.

If you want to be part of this mass organization of local Democrats in your area please check out the NC Democratic website and get in touch with one of your local representatives.

Alamance County Democrat precinct meetings will be held between February 27, 2010 and March 12, 2010. Contact your local voter registration office or search for your county precinct. You can also contact your local party headquarters and they should be able to tell you when your precinct meetings will be held.

This is a wonderful way to get involved at the local level and see how grassroots politics work.

I will post more on the trials and evidence or lack thereof, and then we can all form our own ideas. In the meantime if you happen to have any information that can shed some light as to why all 12 said he was guilty please email me or call.

Thanks you.
Cathy

When the scene was first discovered by people on their way down I-540, until evidence was gathered, there were numerous cars and people on the scene. I was really not able to discern from testimony whether the scene was really kept pure from beginning to end. Tammy Malinowski, of the City County Bureau of Investigation (CCBI) sketched the scene and evidence, she also video-taped the path of the evidence leading to Latrese Curtis' body. However, there was a discrepancy in the sketch as it showed the cell phone was located differently than what the video showed.

In regards to Robert Reaves' (the accused) car it was not shown that Robert Reaves was actually behind the wheel. His boarder Steven Randolph also had access to the car and keys anytime he wanted to use it. Even though the car was reported on the scene other witnesses also said it was a white cargo van, one even stating that it had no windows on the side.

Shawn Lilyquist, also of the CCBI processed three vehicles; Latrese Curtis, Steven Randolph, and Robert Reaves. She collected evidence from Mr. Reaves vehicle but did not bag and tag all things in his car. She stated there was a screwdriver that she did not collect. All prints in Latrese and Robert's vehicles were there own. Here is where it gets sticky... over nine months later Robert Reaves' vehicle is again processed, but this time by Alfred Sternberg of the Wake County Sheriff's Office of Criminal Investigation. This time he found a knife in the rail under the back seat, he also found a fingernail, numerous papers, and another screwdriver among other things. Which made me wonder why didn't Ms. Lilyquist of the CCBI see and gather these things also. The defense asked Mr. Sternberg if he could tell if there was blood on any of the items and he stated that he could not tell. He was asked again by Mr. Kelly, Robert Reaves' attorney, and he said that he 'did not see anything overtly like a blood drop.' Defense then asked 'you collect not on your observation but on what SBI can find? Whereas, Mr. Sternberg replied that it is 'certainly an objective and his is to collect and preserve...' At no time did the defense ask if the vehicle was at all times in a secure area, at least not that I heard, I had made a notation ...if vehicle was secured from February '08 until October '08?

There were quite a few other things that made flags go up for me but I will not state them all here until after the jury has submitted a verdict. Tomorrow is closing arguments so we should hear from the jury sometime tomorrow.

This case is one where a score card is needed as there are threads of connections throughout.

Darin Curtis was her husband and he attended NC State while also working a part-time job.

Steven Randolph was Latrese's friend and lover who attended NC Central. He lived with the accused Robert Reaves in a basement apartment of Reaves' house. Also living in the house was Reaves' sister Wilma Mae Thorpe aka Poochie (spelling unknown as of this writing). Wilma, according to Wake County Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Lindow's opening statement, will testify that her brother did not go to church that evening like he stated.

Velma (last name unknown as of this writing) is a friend of Steven Randolph and supposedly had minor run-ins with Robert Reaves. According to the opening statement made by Ms. Lindow, Velma received threatening phone calls and phone records show that Robert Reaves had made a call to Velma's number. Velma also had her tires slashed but they did not state that Robert Reaves was found to have done this.

Kimberly Parker a friend of Latrese Curtis received a call at 2 a.m. from Latrese. Latrese did not speak but Kimberly could hear the sounds of someone walking on what sounded like gravel and cars passing by.

Testimony given by Darin Curtis explains the day before when he last saw Latrese. He awoke at 6:30 a.m., Latrese left for school around 7:15 a.m. and he left for work about 10 minutes after that. He talked to Latrese later that day around 5:00 p.m. and he told her he had a Beta Alpha Phi meeting at 7:00, and she said she was going to go to the library. Darin left the meeting when it let out at 8:30 p.m. to go home. He again talked to Latrese at 10 p.m. when she said she was going to leave the library, grab a bite to eat and then head home. Mr. Curtis went to bed around 11:30 p.m.

The next morning at 6:30 a.m. he awoke to find that Latrese was not home. He called her cell phone but got her voice mail and did not leave a message. He did not think anything was wrong, he thought maybe Latrese went to her parents to eat and she spent the night there. On his way to work he took I-540 passing the crime scene. As he was passing and noticed the tarp, thoughts came to the back of his mind regarding Latrese. He then went back home where he made more phone calls looking for Latrese. He went online to AT&T's site to look up Latrese's call history. He found one number that was called a lot that evening so he tried the number and asked how that person knew Latrese. The man on the other end kept asking if Latrese was okay and Darin Curtis hung up the phone. Turns out that man was Steven Randolph.

When the defending attorney cross-examined Darin Curtis he asked, how long does it take to get home from Central? Darin estimated it to be 45 - 60 minutes. He asked Darin what time he went to bed, with Darin replying 11:30. The attorney then asked what time Mr. Curtis got up the next morning and Darin answered 6:30. Defense asked if Darin had seen his wife's car on the news and he stated he did not. Darin said he was on the scene at 7:45 a.m. when asked by the defense what time he initially arrived at the scene. Darin also responded to questioning that he went back home and then went back to the scene after making phone calls. He was asked by the defense if he went to GEICO.com at 8:58 a.m. to check on the car insurance of Latrese and Mr. Curtis denied this. He also was asked if he checked Latrese's voice mail and he denied that allegation. He also said he had no knowledge of Latrese's affair until it came about during the investigation.

Frank David a detective with Wake County Sheriff's Department for 14 years testified that he interviewed Mr. Darin Curtis that day and pictures were taken of Darin's head, torso, top and bottom of hands and there were no injuries to him. The pictures used during this testimony were State's Evidence 12-15.

Lunch break until 2 p.m. was called.

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May Memorial Library is located at 342 South Spring Street, Burlington, NC. For more information regarding this event you may call 336-229-3588,

Bill Sparkman 51, was found hanging in Daniel Boone National Forest. Mr. Sparkman at the time was working in this rural section of Kentucky taking the census, and whether this is related to what he was doing or just a means to distract for the real reason, the word "fed" was found written on his chest.

There is speculation that the reason might not be political but that Mr. Sparkman happened upon one of many drug areas in the region and saw something that he shouldn't have. If this was the case it really could not have been one of the smartest moves a drug dealer could make, as a census workers is a federal employee and hence the FBI gets involved instead of the local police department.

I am not suggesting one way or the other, I actually have my own ideas but will not mention them here. I am only putting forth common commentary (what few there have been) of various news channels. Only time will tell us what happened and hopefully they catch who did this horrible thing.