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In October in the mountains of Montana, the air is cool, but the landscape is beautiful. The colors have, by then, long since changed and you can’t help but be in awe of the quiet stillness around you. I grew up in Montana and while I’m not someone who spends a lot of time in the great outdoors, I can appreciate why they call it God’s country. However, a trip to the Lolo National Forest in October of 2005 shattered any image I had of the peaceful wilderness. All because of a cabin changed forever by Joseph Duncan.

I have written hundreds of news stories in my career - many of them, I don’t remember at all. But in some cases, I remember specific lines that I wrote that - to me - define the story. In the story I wrote about a visit to that cabin, I wrote, “As the leaves start to change in the Lolo National Forest, it’s easy to see why some call this God’s country… a glimpse of heaven, high in the trees. But, for two Coeur d’Alene children held captive here for weeks, this forest became hell on earth.” I remember that line - because I remember feeling that exact emotion as we drove up an old logging road to the cabin. I was with a photographer named Brian - and, I was glad to be with Brian for a lot of reasons. He’s a friend, first of all. He’s also the biggest, strongest photographer we have. If I broke down up there (mentally/literally!), I wanted Brian there with me. While we drove up to that cabin, though, I told Brian I needed to tell him why we were going there. I needed him to know what happened in that cabin, so he would understand my reaction when we got there. Brian has two young boys and he didn’t want to know. I told him anyway (he probably has never forgiven me for that).

When we pulled up to the cabin, it took a few minutes for either of us to get out of the car. When we did, we each walked our separate ways and stayed by ourselves for a few minutes. Brian did not immediately take his gear out of his car and start shooting. I have always admired him for that. I don’t know what Brian was thinking about that day - we never talked about it. But, I’m sure he was thinking about his sons. I didn’t have kids, so I thought about Dylan. I thought about what happened there and I tried to imagine how Dylan must have felt - not during the torture, but when he first got to the cabin. It’s a teetering, abandonded mining cabin. The wood is weathered and it’s empty inside. On site - especially for a little boy - it must have been absolutely terrifying. By the time we got there, some of the cabin elements had been removed, presumably for evidence. It wasn’t really cold that day, but the wind up there blew a little colder than it did on the rest of the mountain. We shot our video, we spent a few more minutes alone in silence and we left. It was the quickest, quietest shoot I’ve ever been on - and, I’m glad.

I’ll never forget that shoot - and, I’ll never forget that cabin. There are countless others all over the Montana woods and I will never look at another one the same. What was built as a refuge for miners became a torture chamber an innocent little boy had no prayer of escaping. Today in court, jurors are going to see the “other” videos shot at that cabin. The video they’ve been dreading since hearingt the opening statements. I pray for each one of those jurors, all the court officers and the members of the public who came to the trial today. At least my memory is just of an empty cabin and what’s in my imagination. They’ll see the real thing - and, they’ll never be the same.

When US District Attorney Tom Moss gave his opening statements last week for the Duncan federal sentencing hearing he made it very clear this case is about Dylan Groene. While I have not lost sight of that focus, I admit it’s easy to get wrapped up in how Ducan reacts in court, what odd questions he asks witnesses, how jurors react, ect.  Today, it became so clear why we must remember and continue to remember why we are here.  Today, Jurors were showed pictures of Dylan’s remains and a section of his skull camp found at campsite #1.  All that is left of Dylan’s body are 1, 752 tiny bone fragments.  It’s hard to comprehend.  We have always known, for the most part, the horrific manner in which Dylan died- but it makes such a deeper mpact when you actually see all those tiny pieces- pieces that were once a living, breathing young boy. 

For a week or so now, we’ve been doing a live blog about the Joseph Duncan sentencing. Our photographer, Tim Martin, is sitting in the media room, writing about what’s happening as it happens. We’ve had tremendous response, with people from all over the country and even relatives of Duncan’s victims logging on to follow the progress. We’re getting a lot of repeat questions about the case and it has a tendency to distract from what’s going on in court. So, I’m writing this page of Frequently Asked Questions - ones that pop up most on the blog every day. I hope it helps - and, I hope you’ll join in on the live blog.

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Q: Why is this case happening in Boise? A: It’s a federal case and that’s the biggest federal courthouse in the area. This became a federal case when Duncan crossed state lines with the Groene children. Also, Dylan’s murder happened on federal land.

Q: Didn’t Duncan already get sent to prison? Why are we going through all of this again? A: Duncan pleaded guilty in Kootenai County (state charges) to killing Brenda and Slade Groene and Mark McKenzie. For that case, he got three life terms in prison. However, Kootenai County prosecutors said if Duncan doesn’t get the death penalty in the federal case, they’ll bring him back to Kootenai County for sentencing and they will seek the death penalty. Duncan’s attorneys agreed to this and the judge signed off on it.

Q: Doesn’t Duncan want to die? Why are we going through all of this? A: Duncan has said in the past that he wants to die. However, the feds can’t just execute him because he says that’s what he wants. Also, a judge can’t sentence someone to death. A jury has to decide.

Q: Isn’t Duncan insane? How can he be allowed to defend himself? A: When Duncan asked to represent himself, the federal judge ordered several mental evaluations to see if Duncan was mentally competent. Those doctors determined Duncan had “no known mental condition” - so, he was allowed to act as his own attorney. He won’t be able to use “inadequate defense” as part of an appeal - and, his original defense team is standing by, in case a judge orders them to step in.

Q: Why can’t we see what’s going on in court? A: Cameras and other recording devices are not allowed in federal court. In this case, there’s a separate media room, where reporters who aren’t in court can listen and file their stories (but, they can’t record what’s going on).

Q: Isn’t Duncan facing charges for other murders? A: He’s already charged with a child murder in California (10 year old Anthony Martinez was killed in 1997. Duncan’s fingerprints and confessions have linked him to that crime). He’s also a suspect in the murders of two sisters in the Seattle area in 1996. He’s never been charged with those crimes, but reportedly confessed to killing the girls.

Q: Even if Duncan is sentenced to death, won’t he just sit on death row forever? A: Not necessarily. He gets one automatic appeal. Generally, the time spent on federal death row between sentence and execution is shorter than it is in state cases. The feds have executed 3 people since 2001.

Q: How long is this sentencing going to take? A:  It depends. In this first phase, the jury has to decide if Duncan’s case fits the criteria for the death penalty. They have multiple factors to consider (past crimes, pre-planning, etc.) Attorneys for each side call witnesses and present evidence in this phase and do closing arguments, like any other case. Then, the jury will deliberate and decide. If they decide that this case fits the criteria, they go on to the second phase, in which they decide if Duncan should get the death penalty. In this phase, we’ll hear more emotional testimony from family members, etc. Duncan has not indicated that he plans to present any defense or any witnesses in either phase. He has the right to do that, though, until he rests his case.

Q: How are the surviving family members doing now? I don’t know all these names, who are the family members? A: Brenda Groene was mom to Shasta, Dylan, Slade, Vance and Jesse. Duncan killed her in May 2005 in order to kidnap Shasta and Dylan. She has a large extended family in the area that has rallied around Shasta since she was found. Mark McKenzie was Brenda’s boyfriend. He was also killed in the Wolf Lodge home. He was a father-figure to the children and has a large family in the area that has supported Shasta as well. Slade Groene was 13 years old when he was killed in the Wolf Lodge home. Steve Groene is the childrens’ father. He is Shasta’s guardian and has been in court almost every day of the trial. Steve has had extensive health problems, but has stayed active in  the case throughout. Jesse and Vance Groene are Shasta and Dylan’s oldest brothers. They were in the Coeur d’Alene area when the murders happened and frequently spoke out while the search for their siblings was underway. Jesse was in jail when the murders happened and has had some problems off and on since the crimes occured.

Q: What about Duncan’s family? A: Duncan’s family has not spoken publicly since his arrest, except for his brother, Bruce. Bruce went on a national talk show after Duncan was arrested and did not defend his brother’s actions at all. He passed away suddenly about two years ago and no one from the family has spoken out since.

I hope this helps. For even more background, please read this background piece I wrote a couple weeks ago. I will also answer any and all of your questions if you email me: MelissaL@kxly.com

I don’t think I’ve ever shared this here before, but I am a proud native of the wonderful city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was born there - at the official hospital of the Milwaukee Brewers (who were good back then, I swear). I moved away when I was four, but went back at least once a year throughout my childhood. Then, I returned to Brew City to attend college at Marquette University. I am a proud defender of that city and all its’ attributes. It’s a city full of festivals, different cultures, cheese and - yes - a LOT of beer. It was also the setting for one of America’s iconic sitcoms… and, today, the prodigal son of Milwaukee came home!

That’s the Fonz… in Bronze! More than 500 people turned out along Milwaukee’s Riverwalk today to see the original Fonz Henry Winkler unveil the 5′6″ likeness of his former alter ego (and, in true Milwaukee fashion, they handed out free frozen custard to the crowd). Organizers had to raise nearly $100,000 to make it happen, but I’m so glad they did. Milwaukee is known for only a few things: beer (and, there are plenty of breweries to visit to pay homage), bratwurst (you can get a good brat pretty much anywhere) and Happy Days. Now, at least there’s a place you can pay tribute to the original King of Cool.

I especially love seeing this picture of where the statue is located. It’s right on the Milwaukee River - where I spent most early mornings in college as a coxswain for the Marquette University Rowing Team. It will be a nice point of reference for those coxswains: once they hit the Fonz statue, start your turn - or you’ll never make it under the Wisconsin Bridge.

I can’t wait to see it myself… with a brat in my hand, of course.

Primary elections are supposed to be like nominating conventions in that party loyalists choose the person they believe will be the best candidate to carry the party standard into the Fall general election.

In most states that’s what happens, but not in Washington. I don’t know if it’s because people have no sense of political party affiliation, or if they just don’t want to be bound by party labels, but historically in this state, people have preferred to vote outside party constraints.

Therefore, generally speaking, parties don’t nominate their candidates for office….anybody can.

About all a political party can do is to disavow candidates running on their label, if they do not approve or support them. They have little to do with their selection. This is clearly placing the cart before the horse, and it is far removed from the purpose of primary elections, which is to nominate.

In Washington, we don’t care about that, we just want to vote for anyone who attracts our fancy. That means that parties, (and by extension, the philosophies they embrace), are without significance in our primary election. Therefore some guy who calls himself a Democrat, but really isn’t, or some woman who says she’s a Republican, but never has been, can be chosen to run in the general election whether or not the party whose personal the candidate assumes, objects.

There’s something wrong with this picture, and merely dismissing all this with the brush off that “we prefer to chose whomever we like”, doesn’t fix the damage. Sending the top two vote getters to the general election is not at all like nominating candidates to carry the party standard.

Why do we think we get a better result this way?

Last night we ran a story about local Guardsmen getting ready to head off to Iraq. The 81st Brigade of the Washington Army National Guard is heading to Camp Anaconda north of Baghdad for their second combat tour in four years.

The story focused on one man, Captain Clayton Colliton, who will be returning along with the brigade as a company commander in the 81st Brigade. The story was one of pride of a son - Clayton - in service to his country and pride of a father - former Spokane City Councilman Jeff Colliton - who served in the military himself and has watched his sons all participate in a family business that goes back to the time of his great-grandfather’s service.

Here’s the rest of his story because you see in some ways Clayton Colliton saved my life one day back in October of 2004.

It was early October and my platoon - 1st Platoon Charlie Company 1st of the 161st Infantry - was heading out on a combat patrol down to Jisr Diyala, a backwater suburb a dozen klicks south of Baghdad, Iraq. I can’t use the words I’d like to describe Jisr Diyala because this is, after all, a family-friendly blog.

I was in an armored personnel carrier - an M113 - at the tail end of the platoon column. SPC Erik Bombard was the driver, SGT James Roush was the track commander. Also in the track were SPC Noel Marshall, our platoon medic, SSG Kurt Hosman and SPC Jesse Fierro among others.

We were driving out of the Green Zone and had just left the 14 July Bridge checkpoint at the southern end of our little slice of heaven in downtown Baghdad and were heading down a street that paralleled that Karrada Street shopping district when a drain plug popped out the bottom of the track. Unfortunately that drain plug was the only thing holding in all the hydraulic fluid for our track and, unfortunately, we needed hydraulic fluid to control two things: Our Steering and Our Brakes.

Imagine Erik Bombard’s surprise when our track started drifting into oncoming traffic and he found out the hard way he had neither. He had the steering controls cranked all the way to the right and still the track was slewing to the left.

Suddenly the controls responded to Bombard’s commands and the track veered right. Hard Right.

I was sitting in the back with the rest of the guys in Kurt Hosman’s squad, oblivious to what was going on when suddenly the track crashed, nearly toppling over on its side, with chunks of bricks and mortar raining in from the open top troop hatch. As you can see from the picture at the top of the post, we had crashed into a brick wall.

SGT Roush was ejected from his position - where that open hatch is atop the track - and thrown about a dozen feet into the middle of the street. We later joked that we should file charges against him for abandoning his post but he suffered a tour-ending skull fracture; his injuries were no laughing matter.

Here’s the scary thing. Our track’s crash knocked all power to the vehicle including our radios. We were at the tail end of the platoon column and the rest of the platoon didn’t notice we had crashed and kept driving down the road out of sight. We were a handful of guys, one critically injured and needing to go to the hospital, stuck with an immobilized armored personnel carrier and out of communications with everyone else.

We were in the middle of Baghdad and on our own.

Doc Marshall started treating Roush while the rest of us started getting ourselves organized around our dead track. There wasn’t much more we could do except hope an American unit would come by and give us a hand.

Within a few minutes a column of gun trucks came up the road headed toward the Green Zone. It was Lieutenant Clayton Colliton and “Stetson” - our battalion’s Scout Platoon. Lt. Colliton got out of his Humvee, we gave him a quick rundown on what was going on. While his Scouts got out and helped provide local security and assisted Doc Marshall with treating Roush, Colliton got on the battalion net to let our platoon know where we were and what happened.

Now if you ask him today Captain Colliton probably won’t recall this seemingly insignificant event. All he did, he might say, was use his radio to help out a squad of grunts that had broken contact with the rest of its platoon.

But being out there on our own with a damaged track and a wounded soldier and no radio to this day I’m not sure what would have happened if Colliton and his Scouts hadn’t been driving by.

So thank you for your help Captain Collliton. You guys stay safe up there at Anaconda.

Scouts Out.

Thanks to KXLY4 and Stadium Sports of Spokane, my “30 in 30″ shirts are ready! 

They’re for sale for only $15.  All proceeds will go to Cancer Patient Care.   Email me at davee@kxly.com to learn how to buy one and where to pick it up.

To learn how you can sponsor my efforts and get involved, check out my donation page.  Be sure to type “Dave Erickson” in the “IN HONOR OF” space.

        My mom tells me that I never really liked to play with dolls. She says I’d pick them up, rip off their clothes and then walk away leaving them lying on the floor. That was the extent. Apparently, I wasn’t too interested.

Week two of the Joseph Ducan federal sentencing trial is now underway.  Today, we learned in depth the various spots Duncan stopped while traveling through WY, MT, MO and WA.  One of those spots was Barbara Hampton’s home near Lovell, WY.  Duncan marked her home on a GPS system he was carrying around, and later recovered by the FBI.  Her home,along with several others all had one thing in common: playground equipment in the yard.  I don’t think the pattern in coincidental. In fact, it appears Duncan was on the prowl for his next vicitm.  Barbara took the stand today to verify that her house was in fact a “mark” on Duncan’s GPS system.  Can you imagine thinking you could have been his victim? Knowing what he is capable of and then finding out he was scoping out your place? It’s a terrifying thought.  Even so, today’s testimony was a break from the gory details we were consumed with last week.  I am thankful for the break. 

I was driving into work this morning listening to Dave, Ken and Molly on ZZU. They were talking about a new list from Blender magazine that lists the presidential nominees’ top 10 songs. I was a little shocked by what I read - and, I think you might be, too. Check it out.

Seriously, McCain? Dancing Queen is your number one song? I somehow can’t picture McCain rocking out to Abba - and, especially not Dancing Queen. I have to say, with a few exceptions, I’m not too keen on either list. I do agree with Obama’s choice of the Fugees’ “Ready or Not” as his number one. Either way, it inspired me to make a list of my own. I’m going to hate myself - because once it’s on paper, I can’t ever change it! See if you can guess who my favorite artist is!!!

10. Running to Stand Still - U2

9. You Don’t Treat Me No Good No More - Sonia Dada

8. Danny’s Song - Loggins and Messina

7. Can’t Take My Eyes Off You - Lauryn Hill

6. Say Goodbye - Dave Matthews Band

5. I’ll Back You Up - Dave Matthews Band

4. Wanna Be Startin’ Something - Michael Jackson

3. Billie Jean - Michael Jackson

2. PYT - Michael Jackson

1. Man in the Mirror - Michael Jackson