A tale of two familes: the Johnstons and the Palins - Sentencing of Diana Palin

December 18, 2008

Sherry L. Johnston was arrested by Alaska State Troopers at her Wasilla home Thursday December 18, 2008 and charged with six felony counts of misconduct involving a controlled substance.

November 20, 2009

Sherry Johnston was sentenced Friday to three years in prison for dealing the prescription painkiller OxyContin.

Johnston received less time than the normal five to eight years for a second-degree felony drug charge because the amount she was dealing was so small.

Johnston is slated to serve her sentence at Alaska's only female prison, Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River. She has been at Hiland since she pleaded guilty in August.

Her attorney, Rex Butler, has filed paperwork with the state Department of Corrections to get Johnston out of prison and on an ankle-monitoring program for her three-year sentence. If she qualifies, Johnston could serve her time at her home in Wasilla.

With a criminal history of only one misdemeanor DUI charge in 1993, Corrections officials say she is a good candidate for the program.

Butler said his client was selling some of the drugs to get money to pay for other pain medications that her insurance company was cutting her off from.

April 13, 2009

Jailed at Mat-Su Pretrial Facility since Wasilla police arrested her April 2, Diana Palin pleaded not guilty during a brief appearance in Palmer Superior Court this morning.

Police say she broke into a home on West Mill Site Circle owned by Theodore Turcott to steal cash. Turcott told investigators he'd lost nearly $2,600 in two prior burglaries, so when he saw an unfamiliar car pull into his driveway, he waited in a bathroom for Palin and confronted her after she headed straight for a cabinet where he kept his money, according to a police affidavit filed by Officer Jentry Crain. Palin's 4-year-old daughter came into the home as her mother was being detained by Turcott, who was armed, police and prosecutors say.

On April 2, police arrested Palin for that day's break-in and also for a burglary March 31 in which nearly $400 was taken from Turcott's home.

The grand jury on Friday indicted Palin for those break-ins, and also for one March 26 in which $2,200 was stolen, according to court documents.

January 29, 2010

Palin received SIS (Suspended Imposition of Sentence) and therefore will serve no more jail time.

She WILL continue her substance abuse treatment at Akeela House, where she will receive services on an outpatient basis.

These two women broke the law. Both crimes involved drugs - one crime was small time drug dealing with mitigating circumstances and the other was burglary to finance the purchase of drugs, where the woman took her 4 year old daughter with her.

Sherry Johnston belongs to a family at odds with the Palins and was sentenced to three years in jail.

The Johnstons: Levi, Sherry and Mercede

Diana Palin is... a Palin (!) and was sentenced to nothing, apart from some rehab program as an outpatient at an expensive facility.

Diana with some of the Palins

Is anybody surprised?

+++

Explanation of the above pictures, showing Diana Palin with other family members:

1. Screenshot of Diana Palin's myspace account before it was made private.

2. Photo of Diana Palin holding Trig at the pool of the Biltmore Hotel Resort in Phoenix, Arizona, most likely taken on November 5, 2008. In the background Sarah Palin's sister Molly with one of her sons.

Please also read our extensive report about Diana Palin with more details about the background of her case and her family HERE.

Sherry's chronic pain, and what didn't happen when Cindy lied...

We have a guest post by our dear Mrs Tarquin Biscuitbarrel. She analyses and compares the fates of two women in very different circumstances.


Social and economic class still determine how Americans will be treated in a court of law. It's downright painful to see an attorney deliberately make the divide between rich and poor yawn wider, as Thomas Van Flein did in the now-uncovered custody battle over Tripp Johnston, when he matter-of-factly linked the following sentences:

"Ms. Johnston is a convicted felon. She is also a chronic pain patient and undergoes daily, regular, and sustained narcotic infusions." As though "felon" is equal to "chronic pain patient"! "The side effects of such narcotics are well known, but often include sleepiness. The baby cannot be left with Sherry Johnston without someone there to supervise, as Ms. Johnston could fall asleep or be too drowsy to appropriately monitor the baby. Further, in the light of the illegal drug dealing by Ms. Johnston, there is the risk that she may re-offend, keep medications around the house which could be accessible to the baby, have illegal drug users come to the house (or she could take the baby in her car during a drug sale), or otherwise engage in behavior (criminal or negligent) which could result in a variety of harms to the baby."

There's another blonde, middle-aged mother of young adults who's been much, much more intimately involved with the diversion of narcotic drugs than Sherry Johnston, over a much longer period of time. And she hasn't spent a day in jail, nor a minute with a monitoring bracelet around her ankle, and nobody has implied that she's not fit company for anyone's child. Her name is Cindy McCain.

Let's crank up the Wayback Machine and go back to the early 1990s. At that time, Cindy McCain was director of a medical charity called the American Voluntary Medical Team. Not only did Cindy steal large quantities of Vicodin and Percocet from AVMT, prescriptions for much more were written in the names of her employees without their knowledge or consent, and diverted into Cindy's handbag. One of the doctors who wrote the prescriptions lost his medical license. Senator McCain professed to be completely unaware of his wife's drug dependence until the story threatened to go public.

Tom Gosinski, who worked for AMVT until he was terminated by Cindy McCain, kept a journal of her "drug meltdown" from July 1992 through January 1993. He liked Cindy, was genuinely concerned about her, and was amazed that her parents and husband were unaware of her heavy intake of narcotics. He had suspected that prescriptions were being written in his name, so he called the Drug Enforcement Administration and asked what he should do in such a case. Report it, they replied. So he did, and Cindy canned him. Only after he learned that he would not be eligible for unemployment benefits--the AMVT, as a non-profit organization, had the ability to "opt out" of the unemployment insurance system--did Gosinski sue for wrongful termination.

At this point, John McCain got on the phone to John Dowd of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, the attorney who helped ease him out of his mess with the Keating Five incident. Dowd cooked up a deal for Cindy with federal prosecutors. McCain also called Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley and complained that Gosinski was trying to extort money from Mrs. McCain. The Senator called in political consultant Jay Smith, in order to "reframe" Cindy's wrongdoings in the most flattering possible light. On August 19, 1994, just days before the records were to be made public, Jay Smith brought Cindy to meet with a selected group of journalists, where she said that her "confession" was intended to quell rumors and to encourage others with drug problems to turn their lives around. The first round of stories is adoring, with no mention of extortion or Gosinski.

According to Amy Silverman of the Phoenix New Times, who covered this story extensively (with the best headline ever: "Opiate for the Mrs."), there remained a number of gaps in the narrative. Cindy McCain told the reporters that she went into residential drug treatment early in 1994, but she told investigators she had undergone treatment in 1991 and 1992. "Whom did she lie to--investigators or reporters?" Silverberg asks.

* If Cindy McCain did undergo treatment before 1994, as she told investigators, the Senator's claim that he didn't learn of his wife's addiction until January 1994 simply defies credibility.

* Cindy McCain and Jay Smith lied about her status with federal prosecutors. She told a Tucson reporter that she already had completed a pretrial diversion program. Smith told another reporter that the case had come to "resolution." In fact, Cindy McCain hadn't even been accepted into a diversion program.

* Jay Smith misled the Arizona Republic when he said that Gosinski had tipped federal DEA agents as retribution for failing to get a cash settlement. In fact, Gosinski was talking to the DEA 11 months before he ever filed his wrongful termination claim.

* Tom Gosinski no longer has a civil lawsuit against Cindy McCain. It died of neglect in the summer of 1994.

But this is all olllllllld news, isn't it? Not quite. Gosinski reappeared during the 2008 campaign to tell his story once again.

And in the fall of 2009, Cindy McCain--flatteringly coiffed and photographed--confided to People magazine about her "secret struggle" with migraines, severe migraines that she says she has suffered "for over fifteen years." Back when Cindy was briefly in the soup for diverting thousands of tablets of Vicodin and Percocet, she reportedly had "back trouble."

So okay, now Cindy has migraines. And for how long? "Over fifteen years." Gee, that would take us back to... 1994?

Cindy McCain is revealing "her painful condition in the hope of raising awareness and encouraging more research. She says one of the first challenges was finding the words to describe how painful the headaches can be. When she first told her husband, a former POW during the Vietnam War, she used a word she knew he would understand.

"'Torture,' she says. 'Being tied to a chair for four days, I can't imagine how unbearable that pain must have been, but yeah, I can, because a migraine may come close."

Wow. Just wow. Mrs. McCain also claims that "for years she tried to downplay the pain, not wanting to burden her family." Assuming that a migraineur has any contact whatsoever with his or her immediate family, how could they not know that they have migraine? Nobody's upper lip is that stiff. Cindy McCain does not say what it is that she takes to relieve migraine: A number of highly effective non-narcotic remedies have come on the market in the past fifteen years, but they don't work for everyone. And certainly "finding the words to describe how painful the headaches can be" isn't the main problem for most people. Migraine sufferers who are fortunate enough to have medical insurance still have to find someone to treat them, a physician who is willing to offer a variety of treatment modalities until something clicks, something works. This takes time, and this takes money. People who don't have insurance are, quite simply, screwed to the wall. If they follow the stated Bush-Cheney health plan and head to their nearest emergency room, they may be labeled a "DSP," medical shorthand for "drug-seeking patient." They might be treated there for acute pain, if they are lucky, but the discharge instructions invariably will tell them to "follow up" with a private physician.

Ask me how I know. I've had migraines all my life. When I experienced the first one I remember, I was three years old. The migraines became intractable--meaning "constant"--some sixteen years ago. It took several more years to find a doctor who would treat me aggressively and appropriately. I've been worked up, brushed off, and scoffed at by a wide variety of Washington-area medical specialists before getting the help I needed. I've even been called a "DSP" by an ER physician who was quite chagrined that his patient understood what he was saying about her. And yet, I'm one of the lucky ones, because I do have insurance, and I do have relief on hand at all times (in childproof containers, securely zipped into an inside pocket of my handbag), so that I'm only partially disabled by chronic pain, rather than fully disabled. I "undergo daily, regular, and sustained narcotic" treatment, although I take my medication orally, rather than through an infusion pump like Sherry's. And for years, while taking Schedule II-regulated, narcotic analgesics, I've also taken care of my own children full time, as well as looking after my friends' children on innumerable occasions, without ever once falling asleep, nodding off, or having--as Van Flein assumes--drug-addict friends hanging around my house like flies at a picnic.

Migraineurs across the Internet seem a bit bemused that Cindy McCain feels she needs to "raise awareness" of migraine as a potentially disabling medical condition, but they conclude, well, we suppose it's all for the good. "Migraine headaches were, as everyone who did not have them know, imaginary," wrote Joan Didion forty years ago ("In Bed," The White Album). "All of us who have migraine suffer not only from the attacks themselves but from this common conviction that we are perversely refusing to cure ourselves by taking a couple of aspirin, that we are making ourselves sick, that we 'bring it on ourselves.'" So if Cindy McCain wants to raise awareness, in her brave, brave, I-don't-want-to-bother-my-family way, I guess we don't have anything to complain about. Except that I don't think the situation is quite as simple as the way she is framing her argument. And it helps if her readers, or listeners, don't have the pesky, flypaper memories that some of us do. Some of us remember when Cindy McCain was diverting oodles of drugs. Even Rush Limbaugh paid for his cigar-boxfuls of OxyContin.

With her vast fortune and her husband's contacts, it's inconceivable that Cindy McCain would have been unable to obtain the best medical care this country has to offer, for whatever pain problem she has now, or has had in the past. What we don't know if whether Cindy McCain had, in fact, a legitimate pain problem in the 1990s, or whether she was diverting narcotics for her own use, to self-medicate or to abuse. Her husband's Senate office managed to obtain a diplomatic passport while Cindy worked with AMVT, so her bags were never searched at the airport. In 1999, when John McCain previously nursed dreams of winning the White House, Salon noted, "Cindy McCain's staged, teary drug-addictions have been vintage John McCain. His MO is this: Get the story out--even if it's a negative story. Get it out first, with the spin you want, with the details you want and without the details you don't want."

Sherry Johnston does not have $900 an hour--the current rate an attorney like John Dowd would charge--to reframe her botched hysterectomy in a more flattering light. She has no media consultant to advise her on make herself appear to be an appropriate caregiver to Tripp Johnston. What Sherry does have, and most likely will always have, is chronic pain. When she broke the law, she suffered disproportionately for the magnitude of her crime. However, when Cindy McCain broke the law, her husband's advisors looked around and found another scapegoat, Tom Gosinski. I wouldn't trust Cindy, would you? But I would trust Sherry, though I've never met her. We have something in common, something bigger than we are. We have chronic pain, and children we love. Sherry has a grandchild, too.

Mrs. Tarquin Biscuitbarrel
.

Palin-Johnston custody trial: Some inconvenient facts - The case of Diana Palin - NEW PICTURES! - UPDATE 2

Thomas Van Flein knows how to do his duty.

In his petition for custody on behalf of Bristol Palin, he dutifully points out all negative facts which could speak against Levi Johnston (including messages from Levi's fake twitter account). For example, he strongly emphasizes the fact that Levi Johnston's mother, as everyone knows, had been convicted for dealing drugs and writes:

"Ms. Johnston is a convicted felon. She is also a chronic pain patient and undergoes daily, regular, and sustained narcotic infusions. The side effects of such narcotics are well known, but often include sleepiness. The baby cannot be left with Sherry Johnston without someone else there to supervise, as Ms. Johnston could fall asleep or be too drowsy to appropriately monitor the baby. Further, in light of the illegal drug dealing by Ms. Johnston, there is a risk that she may re-offend, keep medications around the house which could be accessible to the baby, have illegal drug users come to her house (or she could take the baby in her car during a drug sale), or otherwise engage in behaviour (criminal or negligent) which could result in a variety of harms to the baby. For these reasons, any visitation schedule for Mrs. Johnston should be conditioned on a neutral third party supervisor, paid for by Ms. Johnston."

Screenshots (click to enlarge):



Accordingly, we here at palingates feel that we have to do our duty, too!

Which is to continue to expose the truth behind the deceitful facade which Queen Sarah has created!

There is one subject on which our team has done extensive research, starting several months ago, and we have patiently waited for the right time to publish these inconvenient facts. This right time has come now, as the Palins use the conviction of Sherry Johnston as an argument in the custody battle.

I am talking about the subject of Diana Palin.

Diana Palin is the half-sister of Todd Palin. Apparently they share the same father, Jim Palin. We are not aware of the identity of Diana Palin's mother at this point.


Diana Palin in November 2008:

Diana Palin around November 5, 2008 at Biltmore Hotel Resort in Arizona, holding Trig Palin. In the background Sarah Palin's sister Molly with one of her sons. Diana Palin posted this picture on her myspace-account.


Diana Palin in April 2009:

(click on pictures to enlarge)

On April 2, 2009, Diana Palin, Todd Palin’s half-sister was arrested after police say she broke into a Wasilla home for the second time in a week to steal money. The ADN reported the story on April 3, 2009 and followed up on April 13, 2009 with a report about the indictment by a grand jury on burglary, theft and trespass charges related to three break-ins at a Wasilla home:

"Police say she broke into a home on West Mill Site Circle owned by Theodore Turcott to steal cash. Turcott told investigators he'd lost nearly $2,600 in two prior burglaries, so when he saw an unfamiliar car pull into his driveway, he waited in a bathroom for Palin and confronted her after she headed straight for a cabinet where he kept his money, according to a police affidavit filed by officer Jentry Crain. Palin's 4-year-old daughter came into the home as her mother was being detained by Turcott, who was armed, police and prosecutors say.

On April 2, police arrested Palin for that day's break-in and also for a burglary March 31 in which nearly $400 was taken from Turcott's home.

The grand jury on Friday indicted Palin for those break-ins, and also for one March 26 in which $2,200 was stolen, according to court documents."

Since then, not too much else has been reported, although the court dockets for Diana Palin's criminal trial show that the proceedings are still "in full swing". From the court dockets it is also apparent that Diana Palin was granted a privilege which Sherry Johnston didn't enjoy: Confidentiality. In December 2009, a "confidential presentence report" was presented to the court.

In addition, Diana Palin also didn't have to wear pink handcuffs which are designed to humiliate the accused person - unlike Sherry Johnston.

The visible dramatic deterioration of Diana Palin's appearance from November 2008 to April 2009 and the repeated burglaries can in my opinion only be explained the the abuse of hard drugs. This graphic, detailing the horrible effects of the use of methamphetamine, shows what I am talking about.

However, we don't know for certain which drugs Diana Palin has taken, as no reports seem to be available - convenient for Sarah Palin, who of course didn't mention Diana Palin in "Going Rogue". What doesn't fit into Sarah's picture of a model-family has to be erased from memory.

However, "Alaska Dispatch" thankfully reported more details on October 2, 2009:

"Palin's bail was set at $10,000, but she served five months in jail, the majority of the time at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center in Eagle River.

Josh Fannon, Palin's attorney, successfully filed multiple requests to delay her court appearances, and on May 19 wrote, "Ms. Palin has appointments with a treatment center at Hiland and if she is moved for a court hearing she will miss her appointments."

Fannon declined to talk about Palin's case except to say that, "Without commenting on her, some people stay there for longer because of classes or treatments or other objectives they might have."

The Wasilla Police Department declined to comment, as did Sarah Palin's spokeswoman Meghan Stapleton.

On Aug. 29, Palin was released into a residential program at Akeela House, an Anchorage nonprofit that provides treatment for alcohol and substance abuse. Under her terms of release, she must finish the residential program."

+++

How close was Diana Palin to the rest of the Palin family?

More screenshots from her myspace-account give us some hints - Diana Palin with Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, Willow Palin, Wendy Palin, Miranda Palin - and Piper Palin! In addition, Diana Palin also posts a group picture which shows Bristol Palin and Lauden Bruce (daughter of Sarah Palin's sister Heather).

Click to enlarge:


Apart from that, we have another screenshot from her myspace account which is one of my favourite screenshots of all times:



Diana Palin:

"I really love dysfunctional families. Especially mine - crazy thing is - the more you go through - the better it gets. That is if you hang in long enough!!"

This has to be the first blatantly honest statement I have ever heard from a Palin. It's really like a breath of fresh air...

How do we know that the picture in which Diana Palin holds Trig was taken at the beginning of November 2008?

The ultra-conservative Washington Times reported on November 6, 2008:

"Superstar Gov. Sarah Palin spent Wednesday poolside at the luxurious Biltmore Hotel Resort and Spa, surrounded by her children, would-be "first dude" (aka husband Todd), and a slew of family and friends. Dressed in a pair of gym shorts, a Pittsburgh Penguins T-shirt and some big, dark sunglasses, the Alaska governor drew a nonstop flow of the curious, and graciously posed for photos with fans bold enough to speak to her (some poolgoers simply stopped by, took a few snaps and left) Her unruly mob of children, led by the precocious Piper, 7, spent much of the day slipping down a huge water slide. "Piper! Piper!" the other kids yelled as she led a gang up the steps to the top of the slide. They hardly slowed for lunch, and apparently, the governor over-ordered... (Palin's sister walked over to your blogster and said, "Do you by any chance want a cheeseburger? Sarah ordered way too much food and I hate to see it go to waste." Your blogster ate said burger, dubbed by another reporter on hearing the story a "Palin Burger." No, it wasn't moose)."

Here are two pictures from the pool at Biltmore Hotel Resort in Arizona:




Here is the comparison with the picture of Diana Palin holding Trig:


Sarah Palin's sister Molly and her son (who, as we believe, is called "Heath Wooten") are also pictured here, together with Sarah Palin, Willow and Bristol:


The picture above which was taken on September 14, 2007 shows, by the way, Bristol Palin while she was pregnant with Trig. But that is an entirely different story...

EDIT: In the comments, the question came up whether the picture above really was taken on September 14, 2007. The answer: YES, it was. This photo album on flickr will answer all your questions regarding this picture.

+++

UPDATE:

I had mentioned that we didn't yet know the identity of Diana Palin's mother. This has changed, therefore an update is necessary, also thanks to our resourceful readers! In addition, the research of Diana's mother's background led us straight into the "twilight zone" again, surprise, surprise! It seems that this is what you inevitably have to deal with if you research facts surrounding "the Palins" (poor Michael Palin - Monty Python, of course - he will ask for a name change if this is all over...).

Ok, here we go:

Diana Palin's mother was Elayne Ingram.

One of our readers (thank you!) sent us the text of the two marriage announcements of Diana Palin, which were published in the ADN:

Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Monday, June 20, 1994

Diana Dee Palin and Howard Peterson III were married May 14 at Matanuska Lake in Palmer.

Both Diana and Howard are Wasilla High graduates. Their parents are Howard and Gloria Peterson of Wasilla; and Elayne Ingrim of Barrow and James Palin of Wasilla.
___

Anchorage Daily News (AK) - Monday, August 25, 2003

Diana Dee Palin and Scott James McLean were married June 7 in Cooper Landing.

Diana is the daughter of Elayne Ingram of Dillingham and Faye and Jim Palin of Wasilla. She is a 1992 graduate of Wasilla High School and is employed as a major account executive at ACS Wireless. She enjoys fishing with her husband and reading.

Scott is the son of Linda and Mike Quamme of Grand Forks, N.D., and Jim McLean of Prescott, Ariz. He graduated from Red River High School in Grand Forks and works as a ramp agent for FedEx. Scott enjoys fishing, coaching, hockey and flying.

The couple met through parents of players on Scott's hockey team.

The ceremony was at Kenai Lake Baptist Church in Cooper Landing, the bridegroom's favorite fishing area. Willie Johnson officiated. Wendy Palin was matron of honor, and Kraig Rygg was best man. Bridesmaids were Melanie Hoff, Ashley Barney and Laura Young, and Denali Peterson was flower girl. Groomsmen were Donny Taylor, Corey Anderson, Brian Olson and Cody McLean, with Keanan Vivian as ring-bearer.

The reception was at Kenai Princess Lodge. The couple honeymooned at a riverfront cabin on the Kenai River and enjoyed fishing.

Therefore we know that Elayne Ingram and James (Jim) Palin are the parents of Diana Palin.

On a sidenote: Blanche Kallstrom and the same James (Jim) Palin are the parents of Todd Palin.

Let us continue:

In addition, we have the obituary of Jeremy Andrew Lewis, who died in July 2005 "at home in Glennallen", just 23 years old. The obituary in the ADN reads:

GLENNALLEN

Jeremy Lewis, 23

Lifelong Alaska resident Jeremy Andrew Lewis, 23, died July 22, 2005, at home in Glennallen.

A graveside ceremony will be at 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Lake Nerka in Dillingham, where he will be laid to rest next to his mother. A potluck will be afterward at the home of his aunt, Shirley Murphy. Call Diana Palin-McLean at 1-907-715-8165 or 1-907-745-3036 for details.

Mr. Lewis was born Sept. 17, 1981, in Glennallen "to loving parents Elayne Ingram and Paul Lewis, and four adoring big sisters," his family wrote. "Throughout his life, he was a resident of Dillingham and Glennallen, where he loved to play hockey, listen to music and hang out with friends and family. He left this world too soon. ... He is deeply missed and will be thought of every day, forever."

He is survived by his father, Paul Lewis; sisters, Dana Bartmen, Margaret Wallona, Laura Lemons-Young, and Diana Palin-McLean; grandmother, Lillian Ingram; and many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Arrangements are with Evergreen Memorial Chapel.

There are several things to mention here:

Jeremy Andrew Lewis was the son of Elayne Ingram and Paul Lewis.

Paul Lewis was the third husband of Elayne Ingram. The name of the first husband we don't know yet, the second husband was James (Jim) Palin.

Why do we know that?

Because Elayne Ingram had four daughters. The youngest daughter was Diana Palin (see below). Elayne had three daughters in her first marriage. Therefore James (Jim) Palin apparently was her second husband.

In addition, Jeremy Andrew Lewis was therefore Diana Palin's half-brother.

What did he die of, at the age of 23, at home? I rather don't want to speculate.

From this obituary we can also see that Elayne Ingram is not alive anymore, as Jeremy "will rest next to his mother."

But now comes the most interesting part:

Elayne Ingram gave a long, taped interview in 2001 to the "Center for Alaska Native and Health Research", which is still available online (audio and transcript).

In this interview, Elayne describes in detail her battle with alcoholism and also the alcoholism of her husbands.

In the interview, Elayne said:

"(...) Then I got married at age 19 and had my first daughter at age 20. And at that point in time we still weren't heavy drinkers. But we moved out to Oregon and when my husband at the time was with his buddies then the drinking escalated. I still don't feel like I was an alcoholic at that point in time. I was definitely a battered wife at that time. And I ended up leaving him briefly and then going back to him. We finally divorced after three kids. After I saw that in that marriage that somebody was going to die, because the beatings by then were so bad that I weighed 96 pounds, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, my mind was racing. I had attempted suicide I thought if I committed suicide that would be a way out but then at the last minute I envisioned my kids growing up with him and that thought was horrifying. It was at a point where I figured it was going to be me that died and somehow, someway God gave me the strength to get up one morning and just pack our stuff and then away we went me and the kids. But I was so emotionally distraught at that point in time. I don't know, I didn't have the strength personally to do what I did. You know to get out.

Shortly thereafter I was remarried. I dated this guy who could provided better financially for us. Hindsight is 20/20 and we lived so poorly in my first marriage that I was looking for security. And I found it. And then I worked on the pipeline. And when I became financially secure I left him. By then the drinking… it was alcoholic drinking by then.

DANTE: For both of you?

ELAYNE: For both me and my second husband … It was, the drinking had escalated and by then I had four kids. It seemed like every time I got a divorced I ended up with one more kid and less money than when I went into the marriage. (...)"

In conclusion, following Elayne Ingram's own words, her second husband, James (Jim) Palin, who is also the father of Todd Palin, was an alcoholic, at least during the time when he was married with Elayne.

Never a boring moment with the Palins. I don't enjoy researching these tragic details, but I feel that it is our duty to do it, as we are currently the only ones who seem to be interested to get to know the truth about Sarah Palin's "model-family".

+++

UPDATE 2:

One of our wonderful readers found a page from the Daily Sitka Sentinel from November 20, 1995 which proves that the name of Elayne Ingram's first husband was Larry Lemons.

Screenshots (click to enlarge):





.

Mercede Johnston "hates all lawyers" and is "sick of these bullshit lies"

Mercede Johnston, the sister of Levi, has a habit of leaving spontaneous messages on myspace which prove to be very revealing. For example, in January 2009, she left a message on the page of Melissa Wilfong, complaining that Sarah Palin considers Mercede to be "white trash", which afterwards received a lot of public attention.

Then we have of course the famous "Triggybear" pictures with a suspiciously tiny Trig. The pictures popped up on Mercede's myspace and after they were discovered, Mercede switched her myspace-page to "private" immediately. Much later an even more mysterious addition to the Triggybear-series appeared on the Tyra Banks show - instead of Mercede cuddling Trig, it was Levi who was cuddling him on the same day as all the other pictures were taken. The Triggybear-pictures have never been mentioned or explained by the Johnstons in public, although they must be aware of the controversy surrounding them.


(Click to enlarge)

+++

EDIT:

In the comments, the question was raised at which location the "Triggybear" pictures were taken and some of our readers wondered whether they might have been taken in a hospital. However, that is not the case. It was already established several months ago that the pictures were taken in Sarah Palin's kitchen in Wasilla. Here are two pictures of Sarah Palin's kitchen in Wasilla - you will see that the interior looks very familiar. Note the chairs in the second picture:

Here is Sarah with Mercede:


Mercede with Bristol:

+++

Mercede strikes again - until seven hours ago, for about six days, she had posted the following sentence above her "status" line on myspace:

"I hate all lawyers, I am so sick of these bullshit lies."

In addition, she described her mood as "aggravated".

Screenshot (click to enlarge):

So what does this mean? Everybody knows that the lawyer of her mother Sherry and her brother Levi is Rex Butler, so was it him who lied? Or did she refer to other lawyers? Did she say this in regard to the sentencing of her mother, or in regard to Levi's upcoming custody battle? We can only take educated guesses. In any case, it seems certain that some things are not going as smoothly as Mercede had hoped.

Sherry Johnston was sentenced to 5 years in prison, 2 suspended. A bit harsh for a first time offender, wouldn't you say?

When I wrote the Prisongate posts, a person called Berry Jack came up. He was convicted and sentenced to seven years for theft. That was after he tried to sue Sarah Palin and the state of Alaska because he was repeatedly raped while awaiting trial, then denied counselling. They lost him in the system during the lawsuit, but conveniently found him to face charges and a disproportionate sentence.

Does anybody see a pattern?
.

Levi on Larry King

Levi on Larry King Live was a bit of an anti-climax. The questions from the public were weak, Levi was nervous, but there was one interesting slip @ 4:15: Levi said Sarah Palin was shocked like any mother who was told her daughter was pregnant at the age of si...eighteen. He started to say sixteen and corrected to eighteen, which still isn't right, as Bristol was seventeen when the conversation was supposed to have happened.

Bristol was sixteen at the time of the other pregnancy, the one that really fires our curiosity.

Here are parts 1 and 2. If anybody notices any other discrepancies, let me know. I have a splitting headache today and may have missed some details...





Mercede looked so much better than on the Tyra Banks Show, this hairstyle suits her a lot more. Go Mercede!

Levi was a bit too cautious but very cute, he has a raw quality...

Go Levi!
.

Rex Butler

I received a comment on the Sherry Johnston post which pointed out that her new attorney, Rex Butler, is not very popular with Sarah Palin.

Needless to say, Sarah is not popular with Rex or the African American community of Alaska.

I found a very detailed article where the author closely examines Sarah Palin's record on race and civil rights. It contains references to several examples of the Governor's disregard for ethnic communities, from African Americans to Alaska Natives.

It is very long and and provides excerpts of 11 other articles, each with a link to the original source. It's a must read!

Having learned more about Rex Butler, I must add a 4th alternative to the three offered in the original post: the attorney is aware of Sarah Palin's petty and vindictive nature and decided to side with the underdog, giving Mrs Johnston a chance to have proper representation.

This option gets my vote.

Full article on LLFCC site.
.

I've never had a problem with drugs

Sherry Johnston went to court on Friday 13 escorted by a shiny new lawyer, prominent Anchorage defense attorney Rex Butler, and left with a new trial date: May instead of March.

Sherry, one of the grandmothers of baby Tripp (where is Tripp?), pleaded poverty when she last appeared in court, all alone. She also pleaded not guilty to the charge of supplying Oxycontin.

Our Sarah is the other grandmother, as we know...

Sherry said she still owed money on medical bills after receiving treatment for a bad back or a bad hysterectomy or both. Asked by the judge if she had a job, Johnston replied, "No ma'am, I'm disabled." As part of her public-defender request, Johnston provided the judge with a written statement of her financial situation. Now it turns out she won't need a public defender.

OK. The shiny new attorney can be explained away by one of the following three alternatives:

1. Selling Oxycontin is very profitable
2. Sherry has a generous benefactor
3. Rex Butler has a heart of gold and doesn't need the money

Which do think is the most likely?

Full report from ADN

The title of this post is part of a quote by Keith Richards, of the Rolling Stones: "I've never had a problem with drugs. I've had problems with the police. "
.