Althouse: "Afraid of an imperfect world..."

October 10, 2006

"Afraid of an imperfect world..."

... and now suing for half a million dollars. She's back!

19 comments:

Vader said...: I can see the city suing her. But why her fiance?; 10/10/06, 9:28 AM
J said...: It's a secret plot by Karl Rove to make us afraid of Nancy Pelosi.; 10/10/06, 9:49 AM
Anonymous said...: If I was this guy **shudder** I'd sell the house to get the half a mil she's looking for. Then I'd max out my credit cards and borrow another half a mil. Then I'd rob a few banks and get another half a mil or so.

Then I'd put it all in a wheelbarrow, and push it over to wherever this woman was living, and offer every dime to her if she'd just promise never to talk to me again.

Then I'd turn myself into the police for the robberies, and provoke a fight in the prison yard so I could spend the next ten years or so in solitary.

Just to make sure.; 10/10/06, 10:23 AM
Laura Reynolds said...: Yeah Nancy Pelosi.

Isn't she way past her 15 minutes.; 10/10/06, 10:32 AM
al said...: I had forgotten about her. I figured she had run off somewhere and nobody cared.

It's a secret plot by Karl Rove to make us afraid of Nancy Pelosi.

I'm already afraid of her.; 10/10/06, 11:28 AM
bill said...: I have friends who have run across her at the supermarket. They say she seems just as crazy in person as she comes across in the news stories.

tcd: The city should sue her

No they shouldn't. They searched for her because that is their job. She went away for a couple days, her family got worried and called the police. For the city to sue her, you're essentially saying no one can go anywhere without leaving a detailed itinerary. That would be polite, but makes for uncomfortable public policy and laws.

Her community service was for making false statements to the police. This was only a 3-4 hour period and had no effect on the search. I think Wilbanks and her family reimbursed the city for at least a portion of their expenses. This was the polite thing to do.; 10/10/06, 11:51 AM
J. Mark English said...: Hello,

This is a great blog. I'm going to be sure to link yours to mine. Would you mind doing the same for me?

Thank you very much.

My site:
www.americanlegends.blogspot.com

Take care,
Mark; 10/10/06, 12:38 PM
bill said...: tcd: Of course, you may think that the lady, being white and wealthy, deserves more attention than some missing black child.

Now you're sounding like a crazy, bug-eyed person from Duluth, GA. Going into hiding is not illegal. She didn't fake her death. She didn't fake a crime scene to make it look like she was abducted. She went away for a couple for days. You, tcd, it seems want to criminalize someone's going away for the weekend without telling their roommates. Her parents panicked and the police started looking; basically, if not for the social standing of her parents, it's doubtful the Duluth police would have started the investigation as soon as they did. But that doesn't matter -- her going away was not a criminal matter. Her false statements were a criminal matter. Most of those statements were made to the Albuquerque police who declined to charge her. She recanted within hours and her false statements had no impact on the search. For her false statements to the Duluth police, she was charged, sentenced, and time was served.

Yes, it's unfortunate the Duluth police department spent all that money and volunteers wasted all their time on a crazy white lady when it could have been used searching for all the hundreds of missing minority children in North Fulton (all abducted with very cute teddy bears, so I've heard), but sometimes that's what happens. There was nothing illegal about her taking a bender, her parents filed a missing person report in good faith, and the police investigated. So it goes; luckily, she wasn't really missing and the story had a happy ending. Except for her still being batshit crazy.

If, instead of lying to the police, she'd just said "hey, I freaked out for a couple days and now I'm ready to go home" she would be guilty of nothing. Nothing. That's not making excuses for her actions, just stating that wanting to sue her is pure vindictiveness and bad policy.; 10/10/06, 12:50 PM
Paddy O said...: Really, her biggest crime wasn't being crazy or costing the city money. It was being the "white woman" vanished story of the week the media decided to pick. Turns out she didn't vanish. Made the media look silly, and so the media gets back at her.

Not a single one of us really cares about this woman, why she left, what the situation is. We only care because she excites some latent emotions.

We're offended even though she has done absolutely nothing to offend us personally besides making decisions we disagree with.

Maybe her fiance is a real jerk who she was right to run away from at first. Maybe he had a false front full of lies that hid his true self, and she now realizes the kind of person he is.

We dislike her because the media chose her to toy with our emotions. We're offended that she didn't turn out dead or attacked.

But, it is an interesting story, not because of her but because of how much it illustrates the modern media frenzy and our, my, participation in it all.; 10/10/06, 1:20 PM
altoids1306 said...: I have to admit, human train wrecks are fun to watch from afar, painful to witness up close.

This has the added bonus of lawyers, greed, and colossal stupidity.; 10/10/06, 2:46 PM
bill said...: you just wrote 3 protracted paragraphs to rationalize why her behavior was and should be excused.

No, no behavior rationalizing or excuses. I'm saying other than the false statements, she did nothing illegal and there's nothing to sue her over. I think Paddy O. diagnosed it: You're offended that she didn't turn out dead or attacked.

And that's a nice sarcastic dismissal about missing minority kids.

That was a dismissal? I thought I was gently pointing out your bigotted concern for only black children.

So, were you glued to CNN during this national tragedy?
No. I'm not interested in crazy white lady goes missing stories. I live in Atlanta so it was hard to completely avoid the story, though.

What would you sue her for? Other than the false statements, how is it any different from you running off to Vegas for week, not telling anyone, and your family freaking out and calling the police?; 10/10/06, 3:01 PM
Joe Giles said...: Talk about an unsympathetic plaintiff. I would think that the average jury would award this guy anything he wants, including her still-beating heart (if they could find it).

Let's pass the hat in the hope that she'll disappear for good this time.; 10/10/06, 5:31 PM
Revenant said...: Would you agree that she was wrong for running away and remained hidden even while a massive & costly search was ongoing?

I'll agree it was wrong of her to run away.

I definitely do NOT agree that it was wrong of her to "remain hidden", because she didn't remain hidden. She disappeared the evening of the 26th and phoned the police the afternoon of the 29th, less than three days later.; 10/10/06, 5:38 PM
bill said...: tcd, you want the city to sue her because you are obsessive, vindictive, and have issues with class and race. The outcome of your desire would be that every person would be required to check in with the authorities before going on a trip. Feel like running off to the lake for the weekend? Better let the cops know. God forbid your neighbors think you've been abducted by aliens and call the police. Next thing you know tcd will be suing your ass because you're ill-mannered.

I'll ask again: what would you sue her for?; 10/10/06, 8:36 PM
Meade said...: I wonder if there'd be the same public interest in this story if the roles were reversed -- groom gets cold feet, runs away, claims to have been abducted and sexually assaulted, and now sues for his half of the book deal...

Would anyone spend $43K to search for him in the first place?; 10/11/06, 7:04 AM
Tim said...: So, the saga continues.

Yawn.

What I wanna know though, is why did it take until May for the dude to break up with her?

I don't care if he's learned from this not. Someone needs to beat him around the head with clue bat...just to make sure.; 10/11/06, 8:01 AM
Revenant said...: How about letting your close relatives or friends know that you are going away so that they don't file a false missing persons report and waste public funds & resources to look for a non-missing person? Is that too much to ask?

Yes.

Look, the family panicked and filed the missing persons report. *They* might owe the city money, assuming that you want to start billing people for that sort of thing.

But she didn't ask anyone to look for her, so she doesn't OWE them for looking for her. It is as simple as that.; 10/11/06, 2:16 PM
reader_iam said...: A confession: I've always thought Bill's handle was, well, boring. I mean, really--Bill? That's the best he could come up with? For Pete's sake, it's not like you can't choose any handle you want in the blogosphere.

I vote that he change his yawner of a name immediately to defenderoffamewhores. Much, much more interesting--and it will also match the latest addition to his blog's masthead.

LMAO.; 10/11/06, 3:26 PM
bill said...: Revenant, you're welcome to join me at The Fame Whore Defender. Details still to be worked out, such as proper hyphenation. Reader_iam is nominated as the FWD editor.

tcd, for not showing proper respect for a woman whose only mistake was not dying during primetime, is not welcome and will be deleted. This site is meant to be a celebration.

Ann, apologies for the pimpage.; 10/11/06, 6:43 PM