Sunday, March 11, 2012

Addressing some of the points


Let me note that this is not a return attack on Debbie Tate. Most hold the opinion that silence is an admission to guilt so I’d simply like to address some of the points posted on the site.

I’ll begin with the most egregious, digging up Sharon’s grave. Let me be clear, I did not have Sharon's casket opened, just the grave so that Patti could be buried with Sharon, Doris, and the baby. And, yes, I have the letter from Roman giving me permission to do so. Does anyone really believe that Holy Cross would allow me to not only open a grave but to bury Patti in Doris and Sharon's plot without written consent from Roman--or at the very minimum a court order? As we wrote in the book, the grave has been opened twice since Sharon's burial--once for Doris to be buried next to Sharon, once for Patti to be buried with both.

The second thing that I will state at this time is in reference to the Holy Cross paperwork for Patti's funeral because it is indeed true--yes, I stated that I was Patti's stepsister and power of attorney--2nd part true-- but I did not call myself a Tate. I did this because sadly the archdiocese would not recognize my relationship with Patti as family. Since Roman was signing over the right to bury Patti there, it had to be a family member that signed the forwarding documents and since I was the one paying for and arranging her funeral I lied--sue me. If you've ever had to make funeral arrangements for the one person you hold most dear to your heart you'll understand that you're not always thinking clearly and you do what you have to do to get the job done. I never thought a private purchase receipt for my partner's funeral would become public record. And, quite frankly it breaks my heart that Patti's funeral arrangements have been brought up on that site for public debate. On Patti's death certificate, which I knew was public record and an official document, I signed "Friend".

The numerous points made to prove Patti and Debbie were close? Yes, Patti was a kind and forgiving person so, year after year after year she continually tried to mend the relationship with Debbie only to have Debbie slap her in the face for trying—literally, well, more like a punch on the one occasion that she dislocated Patti’s jaw. In any case, yes, this did include making her part of the wedding party. But if we had to bring Patti’s real friends and children in as witnesses in a court of law, she’d lose this argument in a heartbeat.

Account of Paul Tate: At no point did Brie or I claim to write/copy verbatim from any one of the Tate family’s unpublished manuscripts. Never did we state that words were taken directly from PJ’s manuscript. I state very emphatically in the introduction: “I unearthed a treasure of the Tate family’s home movies, audio and video recordings, journals, and letters dating back to 1961, as well as a massive archive of police and court documents from Sharon’s murder case…. It took months to catalog it all,... By using what I’d found, as well as the personal knowledge shared over the years with me by P.J., Doris, Patti, and Brie, I decided to write it from each of their unique and extraordinary perspectives.”

What this means is that we COMBINED many sources—personal conversations, tape recordings, and yes, we referenced old unfinished manuscripts to form one cohesive narrative. The numerous attacks on Debbie’s site in comparing PJ’s manuscript, Five Down on Cielo, to what’s in Restless Souls is a useless endeavor because only a single paragraph was lifted from it. The rest came from conversations with PJ 20 years after it was written.

Patti Tate Account: I have the dated floppy disks to prove when Patti and I began writing her autobiography. The rest about Robin Olsen, I will leave to Col Scott’s Blog to expose—so far he’s doing a very fine job. I’ve protected myself very well on this issue and have signed documentation from Patti. Amongst other things, I have Patti’s signed contract with our agent in 1999. I also have a registered Writer’s Guild Copy of our collaboration at the time. Why would Patti, a decent, honest, and kind person, turn around and sign a contract with me if she’d promised Olsen that they would write a book together? Something’s very wrong here and it’s not me.

As for the rest of the trivial accusations like the cloudy day at Doris’ funeral? I don’t care if they have a documented weather report that there was a freak snowstorm in LA the day of Doris’ funeral, it was written from Patti’s perspective/memory and that’s how SHE remembered it.

Did I try to push through legislation that would allow non-family members to make impact statements at the parole hearings? No. This bill—AB 219—was a long time in the making at the time that Patti died. It was about to be passed through when PJ Tate made a written request to the state of California that I be his representative at the parole hearings for Sharon’s killers. When Debbie caught wind of this she immediately began protesting that I not be allowed to speak on PJ’s behalf and that she would be the sole representative for the Tate family at the parole hearings—which is why Brie too was denied her right to make an impact statement at Atkins 2005 hearing. The people in Sacramento that were trying to help, hoped that AB 219 would be passed by the time of Atkins next parole hearing so that Debbie's protests could be silenced. Did I want it passed? Absolutely, so I could carry out PJ’s wishes. Did I personally lobby for it? No. At the time, technology wasn’t very advanced. In order to keep PJ up to date, I printed my correspondence between the people in Sacramento and myself so he could read them. Those copies are still in my possession...As a side note, at Atkins hearing that year, the impact statement of Paul Tate's that Debbie began reading and Steve Kay finished reading, was the impact statement I had prepared and planned to read had I gone to the hearing.

Would I take a lie detector test over the final questions posed on the website? Absolutely—and I’d pass.







15 comments:

leary7 said...

Once again, Alisa comes across as a highly intelligent and reasonable person. I have tried to stay 'open minded' in the A/D debate but...
And the book is just a great read.

Suze said...

Well said, Leary. Alisa obviously doesn't grind any axes, she just speaks the truth with civility and class.

Alisa, thank you for this post. I know you probably didn't want to but it needed to be done.

leary7 said...

ah, civility - such an elusive mistress in blogworld.

Danielle said...

Alisa's words give pause for thought.

I have an interest in crime and justice and am a relative newcomer in terms of interest in the Tate family. YouTube footage of Doris, Debra and Patti speaking at parole hearings piqued that interest.

I was unaware that there was any animosity between the authors and Debra until the book's launch. I expected Debra to feature in the book.

Her omission created speculation that I suggest the authors would have foreseen. The message to Debra is clear: you are not one of us (but she is a Tate) and we will speak on behalf of your family (even though you're the only surviving member of it).

There may be EXCELLENT reasons for this. Alisa sounds kind and reasonable.

However, Debra spoke lovingly of her family in her statement and this is contrasted with the sewerage system of internet bile that seems to be directed at her. Do these people think that Sharon Tate would thank them for deriding her sister so?

As such, my only issue with Alisa's statement is her encouragement that we look at another blog site for more information. I checked it out. Once you get past his abusiveness and constant 4-letter bombs and weird penchant for referring to himself in the third person, you're left with nothing but the need to have a shower and surround yourself with good people.

Here's a tip from someone who does not know the Tate family and is a regular 'Joe Public' - blog sites such as that are not a great advertisement for your cause. Alisa and Brie seem much more articulate and decent than that.

AlisaStatman said...

Danielle said...
The message to Debra is clear: you are not one of us (but she is a Tate) and we will speak on behalf of your family (even though you're the only surviving member of it).

I'm so sorry that you think that we were making the statement "you are not one of us but we will speak on behalf of your family' because we actually felt that by using the various POVs we were allowing the family members to speak for themselves...And please, lets not forget that Debbie isn't the only surviving family member, as Sharon's niece and Patti's daughter, Brie is a surviving family member too.

Danielle (also) said
As such, my only issue with Alisa's statement is her encouragement that we look at another blog site for more information. I checked it out. Once you get past his abusiveness and constant 4-letter bombs and weird penchant for referring to himself in the third person, you're left with nothing but the need to have a shower and surround yourself with good people.

Again, I'm so sorry if the Col's blog offends you, but I did not recommend that anyone go there, I simply stated that he was doing a fine job of exposing Olsen for who she really is. And, under normal circumstances, I would agree with you 100%, but following years and years of abuse from Robin Olsen--whose words against me pale in comparison to what Col Scott has said--I have done just what you suggested. But over the years, Olsen has come to my home and threatened me, she has left threatening messages on my answering machine, she has tried to bribe Patti's children into giving her personal items belonging to their mother, in 2000, following Patti's death, she sold $10 viewings of photos & videos of Patti, she began a campaign to take Patti's children from my custody based solely on the fact that I was gay, and she has made horrible allegations about me for 14 years that have torn my heart apart. Yet, through it all, I have taken the high road and not said a peep. I'd like to ask you how long you might last before you hit the proverbial wall and finally take a stand to defend yourself and attempt to stop the negativity this woman has been perpetuating for so long? I hit mine last week, when she (as administrator to Debbie's website) made threatening and disturbing phone calls to family members (yes, there are others besides Brie & Debbie) that Brie and I are close with right before she made Debbie's press release. 14 years is long enough and I will not allow her negativity to spew down over Restless Souls.

Suze said...

"The inbreds at Lynyrd Skynyrd are too inebriated to follow this shit anyway."

Bwaahahahahahahaa!!!!!

eviliz said...

Suze said...
"The inbreds at Lynyrd Skynyrd are too inebriated to follow this shit anyway."

Bwaahahahahahahaa!!!!!

Now now let's behave.
Actually, let's not. Others have no qualms about dissing me and spreading lies and false info. I am not directly speaking of just Skynyrds. No need to mention the "Judas blog" or others by name, they know who they are.
As for the Colonel, he has never done anything to personally offend me. I feel I have a good love/hate relationship with him.

prefeteria said...

Dear Alisa,

As an impartial observer, it seems likely that there are likely truths in each of your points of view. However, you couldn't possibly be surprised by this response, could you? You must have known that Debra Tate was not going to take this book release lying down.

AlisaStatman said...

prefeteria said...
As an impartial observer, it seems likely that there are likely truths in each of your points of view. However, you couldn't possibly be surprised by this response, could you? You must have known that Debra Tate was not going to take this book release lying down.

I'm sorry, but what is there to take lying down? Her exclusion? A loving tribute to Doris, PJ, and Patti? Seeing through their goals to have their stories told? Carrying their positive force into another generation in the form of a book? What I'd expect from Debbie would be a blanket statement such as, "I do not support Restless Souls. I'm currently writing a book about my family, so save your money til mine comes out." What I didn't expect was flagrant, lying attacks written by her mouth piece Robin Olsen...Debbie has had her entire life to write a book. If she's doing one now, I'm not sure why Restless Souls has anything to do with that project but I wish her every success in publishing her own story.

ColScott said...

Preferteria

She should have. Now we go to CMG to whom she has licensed Sharon's licensing rights- which she doesn't have. Any monies paid her she has to pay back and hopefully CMG pursues a criminal case.

We look further- DID she have her sister's dresses? WERE they stolen?

We find out what Robin Olsen's job is. We let them know about the homophobia this woman spews.

I guess what I have been saying for years now and idjits still attack me for attacking the poor sister- Debra Tate was lucky she was getting away with the shit she pulled. She got away so long she forgot, I really believe, that she was lying and breaking the law.

If all I want is the truth, why attack the sister of the victim? Because she went to town and acted like she was the sheriff and closed sites down and removed pictures and SHE DIDN'T HAVE ANY RIGHTS- HER OWN FAMILY HAD REJECTED HER RIGHTS.

So any researcher (and let's not be light here- liz is a researcher, as am I as are many of you)is trying to get to the truth and they get a huge tub of goo dumped on them trying to stop them- wrongly! This cannot be allowed to stand.

And how come there are nude fotos that PJ had of his 16 year old daughter Debra frolicking up at Cielo for 4 persons, none of them Sharon but one of them Pic Dawson, the first suspected killer?

I want to know much more about that than why Patti hated her. I hate her and I haven't even met her!

starship said...

Ah...the nude photos of 16 year old Debra with Pic Dawson...the Col has brought these up before...

Where are they? Why are they significant? When did PJ receive them? From who? Who had them all along? And I know my inbred stupidity will probably get me in trouble here, but where was Sharon? She hardly ever really lived at Cielo, so are we to believe that 16 year old Debra was hanging around Cielo and cavorting nude for Voy and Gibbie and Jay and whomever? Did she have her own car? Didn't she live up the coast further north? Did Doris and PJ allow this sort of thing?

PJ didn't disinherit Debra until much later on in life, correct?

laurasdeals said...

Alisa,
I can think of no legal reason why such a document should be made public - do you know the legal reason why such a thing would be public record? Ive always assumed that a private purchase would remain private.

In regards to the 'missing' that PJ "found it difficult to get Ms. Statman to release the remaining materials"...

PJ didnt seem the type of person that would find anything 'difficult' in regards to Sharon so I find it hard to believe he just sat back and allowed Alisa to keep such important documents without a fight.

She implies that he was ill and not able to handle the task of getting the items back but thats another thing that doesnt really make sense - could he have not simply called any one of his numerous friends that would have had the legal ability to remove the items?

AlisaStatman said...

laurasdeals said...
Alisa,
I can think of no legal reason why such a document should be made public - do you know the legal reason why such a thing would be public record? Ive always assumed that a private purchase would remain private.

I honestly have no idea.

laurasdeals said...
In regards to the 'missing' that PJ "found it difficult to get Ms. Statman to release the remaining materials"...

Ridiculous statement, PJ owned the house until 2005--nearly 6 years after Patti's death, if there was something he wanted from his home, all he had to do was walk in and get it...This also goes along with another statement made on Debbie's site in which she asked if I denied I had some items. The answer is absolutely I did--at PJ's request, for reasons I will not go into at this time except to say that, that phone coversation took place 9 days after Patti's death.

laurasdeals said...
PJ didnt seem the type of person that would find anything 'difficult' in regards to Sharon so I find it hard to believe he just sat back and allowed Alisa to keep such important documents without a fight. She implies that he was ill and not able to handle the task of getting the items back but thats another thing that doesnt really make sense - could he have not simply called any one of his numerous friends that would have had the legal ability to remove the items?

First of all, while PJ Tate suffered from heart problems, he was not seriously ill until the last eight weeks his life--he passed from congestive heart failure--before that time, he took obvious steps to settle his affairs as he saw fit: Doing a will, selling his CA house, hired an attorney, and assigned an executor to his estate. Doesn't it seem conceivable that in that time, if there were still items remaining in his CA home that he wanted extracted from that home he would have done it--especially before selling it? Gotten his lawyer or executor to retrieve the items? Or at the very least, had I resisted, gotten a court order to do so? Again, Debbie's accusations defy the voice of logic here.

AustinAnn74 said...

Reading Restless Souls right now. This book has made me cry. I can't begin to fathom what the families went through. After reading this, it is no wonder they never released Susan Atkins on parole. The Manson family were/are truly ANIMALS. Anyone who worships CM, and that stupid ATWA has got a screw loose.

Anonymous said...

mmmm, I guess the only comment I would like to make is in defense of the Col, which I am sure he doesnt need me to defend him. BUT, the Col IS the truth seeker, and is unswayed by nonsense, instead he points it out. We have all read the Col colorful replies, it is usual always to dispell fakers and liars. Get in the way of the truth and the Col will run you over. But between him and Evilz I have learned more about this case than I ever knew. Even though I had the nerve to think I was pretty smart on the Manson murders.