The "train deaths" http://www.idfiles.com/ttd.htm In this update: * New address for the train deaths website * FBI reopens investigation into the murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry * Pat Matrisciana's appeal brief * Note to webmasters with links to train deaths website ----------------------------------------------------------------- Update August 4, 2000 IDFiles.com IDMEDIA.COM IS MOVING TO IDFILES.COM by Jean Duffey Last August, Pat Matrisciana lost the libel suit filed against him by Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane for naming them as murder suspects in our video, Obstruction of Justice: The Mena Connection. Linda and I reluctantly asked for donations to help Pat pay his legal fees and were overwhelmed with generosity, but we also had to deplete the Kevin Ives Civil Justice Foundation account. Losing the trial was an emotional blow, plus several months passed without signs of progress on the case. We were broke and discouraged. In November, our spirits were lifted when, after more than two years of research and writing, Mara Leveritt�s book, The Boys On The Track, was released. We continuously receive e-mail from supporters and well-wishers who express the impact reading the book has had on them. Mara, Linda, and I have been asked to speak about the book at the CIA-Drugs Conference in Los Angeles on the evening of September 22. Details of that event will be forthcoming. In April, Mara�s unrelenting FOIA requests for FBI files turned up 17,000 pages. This was an encouraging turn of events, but we didn�t have the money to pay for such an enormous file. We were barely meeting the expenses of maintaining our website, so when Mark, our webmaster, received a generous offer to buy our domain name, idmedia.com, we accepted. We can now pay for the 17,000-page FBI file, plus another 6,000 pages discovered by David Hoffman, an investigative reporter who called Linda just last week. Simultaneous to the sending of this update, our website domain will become idfiles.com [ http://www.idfiles.com ]. The new name is more descriptive of our site, and we are pleased to have been able to get it. Our new e-mail addresses are listed below. MARA LEVERITT � THE CONSUMMATE REPORTER Ignoring the FBI�s denial that any file exists on the murders of Kevin Ives and Don Henry, Mara has persistently sought its release under the Freedom of Information Act since 1997. In April, Arkansas Congressman Vic Snyder visited the Washington D.C. Office of the FBI on Mara�s behalf. Shortly thereafter, the FBI disclosed the existence of nearly 17,000 pages pertaining to the murder investigation [ http://arktimes.com/mara/051900mara.html ]. Mara submitted a request for us to purchase every page. She received a response advising that it would take six months for them to copy and send the file. The delay is a stall tactic, but we have learned to be patient. When we receive the file, Linda, Mara, and I will read every unredacted word and will have Mark post any significant document on our website Mara has her own exciting, new website, maraleveritt.com [ http://www.maraleveritt.com ], named The Boys On The Tracks. Constructed and maintained by Mark, the site is a significant collection of government documents about the murders of Kevin and Don, Berry Seal�s drug smuggling, and the federal cover-up of the Mena guns-for-drugs operation. Mara has been seeking FBI files on Seal and Mena since 1995. The government�s stall-tactics, excessive redaction of materials, and noncompliance in the name of National Security have only made Mara more determined to discover what the government is hiding. The documents that Mara has obtained give an account of the government�s cover-up in its own words. "Alder Berriman Seal is a documented major narcotics trafficker . . . currently engaged in criminal conduct with others in the importation, procurement, sale, concealment, distribution, and transportation of narcotics . . . . A prosecutable case against this organization would have a substantial impact on the illegal distribution of drugs . . . and . . . disrupt drug smuggling into the United States." [ http://www.maraleveritt.com/memo-major-trafficker-800-jpg.htm ] One would think that the government would be anxious to put a guy like Seal out of business, but one would be wrong. Seal was given immunity from prosecution and allowed to continue his smuggling under the guise of a sting operation, but absolutely no one connected to the Mena operation has ever been prosecuted for anything. The cover-up of Mena drug smuggling was led by Asa Hutchinson and J. Michael Fitzugh, former U.S. Attorneys for the Western District of Arkansas. That sham investigation mirrors the cover-up of Saline County public official corruption led by Chuck Banks, former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas. Mara�s website is an archive of federal government misdeeds evidenced with their own documents. The powers that be are controlling present-day public opinion by controlling the information media, but they will not be able to control the opinion of historians. Mara�s site is preserving the truth with government documents that would otherwise have never been revealed. THE FBI � PUBLIC ENEMY #1 The Arkansas FBI does what it wants, when it wants, and how it wants, sometimes unethically, sometimes illegally, and always with impunity. Their recent behavior is as blatant as ever. In May, FBI Investigator Cheryl Schaller phoned Sharline Wilson. Schaller and Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Harris wanted to interview Sharline about Dan Harmon. Schaller would only say that they wanted "to tie up some lose ends." Not trusting the FBI, Sharline called Attorney John Hall and me. John contacted Harris who said the interview was about "the boys on the tracks." Sharline agreed to the interview but wanted me to be present with her and John, so I flew to Little Rock to attend. Sharline was concerned that the FBI had decided to pursue the testimony John Brown gave at trial last summer on behalf of Jay Campbell and Kirk Lane. Brown testified that Campbell and Lane should not have been named as suspects in the murders of Kevin and Don. He testified that, in 1993, he had obtained a signed confession from Sharline that she participated in the murders with Dan Harmon. Sharline maintains that the confession is false and that Brown forced her to sign it. Further, the FBI eliminated Sharline as a suspect when the confession could not be corroborated with a polygraph test. Linda and I are concerned that the FBI is more interested in looking for a scapegoat than conducting a forthright investigation to find the real killers, so my presence at the interview was as an attorney for Sharline and as a watchdog on behalf of Kevin and Don. I was, however, barred from the interview. When I arrived at the U.S. Attorney�s Office, Pat Harris said the FBI refused to conduct an interview in my presence. Since Sharline has the right to have one or more attorneys of her choice with her in an interview, the FBI chose to cancel the interview if Sharline insisted on my presence. If I didn�t know before, there is no doubt now, just how much the FBI despises me (a distinction I earned by exposing their misconduct). I didn�t realize, however, how petty and unprofessional they are. Linda and I have studied every record of the seven opened and shut investigations of the murders and should be a primary source of information for any investigative efforts. However, contrary to all reason, we are being avoided like the plague. Sharline did not want to seem uncooperative, so after discussing the situation with John and me, she decided to go into the interview with John. The interview lasted more than two hours, and seemed to accomplish nothing. Sharline was relieved it was over, only to be jolted by a call a few weeks ago from Schaller asking her to submit to an interview under hypnosis. Schaller blatantly violated Federal Rule of Professional Conduct 4.2, which prohibits an agent from directly contacting a party known to have an attorney. Schaller violated federal rules by not going through John Hall or me to contact Sharline. I won�t hold my breath, though, waiting for her to be reprimanded. Apparently head of the latest FBI investigative sham, Schaller has called every "Mike" who may have known Kevin and Don. She says she is looking for the boy who was with Kevin and Don the night they were murdered. The boy Schaller is seeking is dead, and she would learn that and a lot more if she would interview Linda or me. One of the Mike�s contacted by Schaller told her she needs to talk with Linda Ives (assuming the obvious had escaped the trained investigator). Schaller�s response; "The last agent who talked to Linda Ives got into trouble." What kind of nonsense is that? Who ever heard of an investigator getting into trouble for interviewing the mother of a murder victim? The FBI has truly lost any semblance of dignity, integrity, or good sense. And what�s this latest bogus investigation about anyway? Is it to keep us from getting those 17,000 pages or to have an excuse to heavily redact them? Is it because Agent Phyllis Cournan, (the agent who generated the 17,000-page investigation) is suing the FBI for sexual discrimination, citing incidents that occurred during that investigation? (The FBI will not have to answer questions at Cournan�s trial that relate to an open investigation, so any testimony in that area from Cournan or the agency will be barred.) Cournan lawsuit found at: http://www.are.uscourts.gov/wconnect/wc.dll?usdc_racer~get_case_jb~4:99-cv-483~~All+Documents~on~PUID=NOBILL There�s no way of knowing anything for certain other than the FBI is using another agent (perhaps an unwary agent) to cover their butts without regard to what is legal, ethical, forthright, or fair. It�s what we have come to expect from the FBI. JOHN BROWN � PUBLIC ENEMY #2 After trial, Pat�s attorney filed a motion with the judge to overturn the jury verdict. The judge denied the motion, citing the testimony of John Brown as the reason. Just prior to trial, Pat visited with Brown who promised to take the stand and "straighten everything out." I pleaded with Pat not to trust Brown, but Pat made the critical mistake of doing so and lost his lawsuit. We don�t know why John Brown has become the enemy or even when. He claims to have been asked by the FBI to spy on Pat from the beginning. Whether or not that�s true, and I doubt it is, Brown took advantage of Pat�s kindness by borrowing a substantial amount of money and never paying back a dime. You can�t get much sleazier than that. When Agent Cheryl Schaller first called Sharline for an interview, Sharline asked if the FBI believes any of Brown�s assertions about her. Schaller assured Sharline that the FBI doesn�t trust Brown, and that they don�t put any stock in anything he says. Yet, Brown claims to be an insider and says the FBI informed him about their new investigation. Either Schaller is lying or someone in the FBI is leaking unauthorized information to Brown. Or maybe Brown got wind of the investigation and is bolstering his ego by claiming to know all the latest developments. Who knows? It�s impossible to keep up with the lies and liars without a scorecard. The one thing I know for certain is that John Brown will be exposed in the end. MATRISCIANA'S APPEAL BRIEF WAS FILED WITH THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT On April 26, John Wesley Hall, Jr. filed a brief for Pat with the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. We expect oral arguments in St. Louis to be scheduled in October. The brief is excellent and may very well succeed in overturning the verdict against Pat. Linda and I plan to attend oral arguments, and I will write an update of the event. Appeal brief posted at: http://www.idfiles.com/appeal-brief.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE TO WEBMASTERS: Our new address is http://www.idfiles.com. All subpage names are unchanged. If you have links to the train deaths website and would like to point them to the new address, just substitute idfiles.com for idmedia.com Your links are essential and of course they are appreciated. If I have neglected to link to your site, just let me know and I'll do so ASAP. Thanks, mark [EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------- Contact: * Jean Duffey: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * Linda Ives: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ----------------------------------------------------------------- mark [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------<e|- <FONT COLOR="#000099">Get a NextCard Visa, in 30 seconds! 1. Fill in the brief application 2. Receive approval decision within 30 seconds 3. Get rates as low as 0.0% Intro APR and no annual fee! Apply NOW! </FONT><A HREF="http://click.egroups.com/1/7874/6/_/475667/_/965411914/"><B>Click Here!</B></A> --------------------------------------------------------------------|e>-
