Caged Tomato by Leslie Van Houten

This print from a wood cut, #1/21, by Leslie Van Houten is currently for sale on eBay.  It will be up for bid until May 8th unless someone gets it at the buy-now price of $5000., the starting bid is $2,500.  I bet a psychiatrist would have a field day interpreting the imagery on this piece by Leslie.

The price includes wood cut prints by other prisoners, too, as well as one by the prison instructor.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Portfolio-of-Wood-Cuts-1-by-Leslie-Van-Houten-1-21-Charles-Manson-Murders-/330915368581?

I am struck by how artistic some of the Family members actually are/were, whether it be drawing, writing, embroidery or music.  I can't say that all their endeavors are great works of art but they do show talent.

The World's Most Interesting Man

Next on the Docket...

June 5'th Parole Consideration Hearing for Leslie Van Houten

                " The lack of criminality within her family, her recent ongoing participation and organized activities, the lack of current alcohol or drug problems, her positive attitude regarding her conventions of society, her positive outlook regarding future supervision and treatment, her lack of antisocial mindset. After weighing all of the data from the available records, the clinical interview, and the risk assessment data, it is opined that Ms. Van Houten presents a low risk for violence in the community. And again as I indicated, this was done by Dr. C. Carrera, C-A-R-R-E-R-A, and it was done in March or probably February of 2010."
                         
              - DEPUTY COMMISSIONER BENTLEY- from Leslie's 2010 Parole Hearing Transcript.
  
               
                     " Okay. My deepest apologies are given to the family members and friends of Mr. and Mrs. LaBianca. I apologize to you for all the harm and pain I caused your family. Not only did Mr. and Mrs. LaBianca deserve full lives, you should have had them here to share the day-to-day joys and sorrows. I am so sorry. Additionally, I would like to state that I accept full responsibility for my actions as were noted in the Statement of Facts. I understand the enormity of attempting to start a race war during the turbulent 1960s, and I make no excuse for what I have done. My actions August 10th, 1969, were contemptible and they were without justification. I apologize to The People of the State of California along with the people of this country for the fear they experienced until I was arrested and for my disgraceful behavior during the trial of 1971. I equally apologize to those whose cultures and ethnicities I offended by my ignorance and my arrogance. As a rehabilitated woman, I would like to state that the insight I have gained is not meant to excuse any of my acts. Insight is understanding the whys of behaviors so that it will not be repeated. I appreciate this opportunity to make amends to the many I directly and indirectly have offended and harmed. Thank you. "
                          
                - Leslie Van Houten- from her 2010 Parole Hearing Transcript.

          Whilst reading up over at Cielodrive.com (which is filled with interesting Manson information for those of you who like to read up on details and facts) I noticed that LULU has a parole consideration hearing coming up next month. Now that struck my curiosity button for a couple of reasons. First- LULU has always been the one who people thought had the best chance to get out. Especially LULU.  Secondarily, I gotta tell you that LULU has always been my personal favorite. Not becuase she was the cutest or the one I liked the best, but in my personal opinion she is the most interesting. Her steadfast and direct focus on getting out at a certain point has been apparant in every one of her interviews and parole hearings that I watched for the first 20 years of her incarceration after her Death Sentence was commuted. I watched interviews with Leslie when she was in her late 20's where she is laughing and smiling and telling the interviewer exactly how much longer she will be serving according to the " matrix". Some hoped to get out, others fought to get out. LULU EXPECTED TO GET OUT.  I have read the Karlene Faith Biography about her which tells how much the prison staff respects her and allowed for her to be smuggled in Ice Cream, and allowed her other little pleasures and special considerations. I have studied the emails from the " Friends of Leslie Van Houten", and understand all the support she has had over the years and maintains today. I have read the positive Psych reports and know her mostly spotless post incarceration record. And do you know what???
 
In the words of the immortal Clarke Griswold- " I could give a frogs fatass less"

LULU must stay put and pay for the life's SHE PERSONALLY ASKED TO PARTICIPATE in taking!
 
I have noticed over the last ten years or so that she is finally starting to get it. The reality has sunk in. Bruce getting so close the last couple of tries, and then getting shot down at the last stop has to gnaw at her pretty badly. You now see a person who finally understands the severity of what she has done, and has arrived at the process of discovering the totality of the consequences. But not until fairly recently. So, if you ask me- she is just starting to serve a proper punishment. In reality it still isn't a real justice for the victims families, because unfortunately, the sadness Leslie is finally experiencing is not so much for the loss she has caused to others as much as the mourning of the wasted life she cares about the most..... 
 
Her own....

Tex Watson Files Last Minute Appeal on Release of Tapes

Eviliz reports ahead of the mainstream media:

Como Captured After Jail Break

murderpedia.org

POLICE NAB MANSON PAL IN  JAILBREAK

 

 

Kenneth "Curly" Como, a reputed member of Charles Manson's hippie-style clan, was captured today seven hours after a daring predawn escape from a 13th floor cell at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles.

 

Sheriff's deputies said Como, 31, was arrested in a residential are of West Hollywood where he had been the object of a massive door-to-door manhunt in a six-block residential area.

 

Deputies said Como was found hiding in a small shed behind a garage by Deputy Roger Anderson.  Anderson said Como offered no resistance and had no weapons.

 

The deputy said he just opened the door of the shed and shouted: "Freeze! Come out."  He said Como uttered a brief obscenity when he surrendered.

 

Mass Search

 

The shed was located behind a small wood-framed house occupied by Mrs. D.B. Trad, an elderly, partially blind widow who was in her home behind locked doors when Como surrendered.

 

Nearly 100 sheriff's deputies and policemen had taken part in the search, accompanied by a small army of newsmen and cameramen.  It was their second search of the area- one was made before dawn- and scores of residents still in their bathrobes and slippers watched from their doorsteps.

 

Como was awaiting trial on charges of armed robbery and assault.  He and four other reported Manson Family members were arrested Aug. 21 following a brief shootout at a Hawthorn Calif. surplus store in what police said was an attempt to steal guns.

 

They said Como escaped from the facility in a waiting car.  The car was spotted by a police mobile unit in Hollywood and a brief chase ensued until the stolen car crashed.  Police said Como escaped on foot through an alley and a person in the car, Sandra Good, a clan member, was arrested for investigation of aiding and abetting an escape.

 

An all-points bulletin was issued for Como and two other alleged Manson Family members, both women.

 

The Sheriff's department issued an all-points bulletin for Como and deputies conducted a house-to-house search for him in a sealed off two-block square area of West Hollywood, where he has escaped.

 

Deputies also arrested five more persons, in addition to Miss Good, all said to be Manson clan members.  They were booked for investigation of conspiracy to aid and abet an escape.

 

They were identified as David Lee Stauffer, 20; Susan Bartel, 20; Katherine Lutesinger, 19; Lynn Alice Fromme, 23; and Nancy Pitman, 23.

 

Los Angeles police said prior to his arrest in the Hawthorne robbery incident, Como had escaped once before while being brought from Folsom to testify at Manson's trial in the slaying of a Malibu musician.  Como had been serving a term for armed robbery, police said.

 

 

Star News Pasadena CA October 20, 1971

Kenneth Como was born in Morrison County Minnesota November 22, 1939 to Ernest and Mae Como.  He died September 4, 2004 in California.  The Social Security Death Index does not give the county where he died.  The last known address for him was in Rialta CA.

According to the 1940 US Census Como had three older sisters and his father was employed as a foreman for WPA Park Improvement.  The family was living in Little Falls, Minnesota.

Pics of Blue after being released from the pokey

From our German friends~

Susan Atkins Sues

All I can say is Susan Atkins has some pretty big cajones.... for a girl!

Article from Inside Detective April 1972

Thoughts on the Tex Tapes

                    So.... What Says Tex? Thoughts on the Tapes.....       

"My Definitive Statement"
  
"I have no knowledge of any murders committed by the Manson family, other than those which have already been prosecuted by the authorities."
 
"I have never personally heard any Manson Family member speak of any bodies being buried at Barker Ranch."
 
Charles Tex Watson- May 2008. (A Prisoner Outreach with Abounding love- Website of Charles "Tex" Watson)

“Bodies Buried?”
 
"This is what CNN asked me when they requested an interview on March 26, 2008. I turned down the phone interview and a visit, but I responded to their questions by mail. I do know that no one had been buried by the Manson Family at Barker Ranch when I fled Manson two weeks before they were arrested on October 10, 1969. The only runaways I knew at Barker Ranch were Stephanie and Kathryn, a.k.a. “Kitty”. As reported above, they were picked up by the California Highway Patrol. There are only two faithful members of the old Manson family left. It stands to reason that if there were bodies buried at Barker Ranch, at least one of the rest would have come forward with reliable information during the past forty years."     

Charles Tex Watson- May 2008. ( A Prisoner Outreach with Abounding love- Website of Charles "Tex" Watson)

Well now we can all stop worrying right?  Tex said in 2008 he knows nothing, and he would never  change his story- would he? He was a man of God by this time, and surely he would not betray his faith and all encompassing love of the lord by telling another lie???  

Hmmm.... On the other hand- maybe we should NOT take him at his word. Tex has always been a self serving and looking out for himself first and foremost type of bastard. What  would he have had to gain by revelaing more than he had to? Personally- I wouldn't put a two and half timer on these tapes revealing didley scadoodle. I think the guy always had the attitude that ultimately it wasn't his fault and that life made him act the way he did, and casued him to wind up in the Circumstances he found himself in. To keep confessing makes him less a compassionate kid and more the monster he really was. I don't think he wanted people to know that, and I am not sure at that point it had sunk in to him yet how he was viewed from the outside. He probably still thought he could play the sympathetic role- hence the initial period when he feigned like he was a mute and dying...  But every once in awhile- I get hope and read something which makes me wonder what if???
 
What if those tapes really do say something? Would Tex really talk?????
 
Here are a few more words from Tex's online Biography (Will you Die for Me?) to ponder:

"Boyd was no cynic. He knew I was guilty and his intent was not to get me off. He simply believed firmly that under our system of justice every person-no matter how obvious his guilt or how horrible his crime-deserves a fair trial."
 
"Bill was a mild, soft-spoken man with glasses, the beginnings of baldness, and a conservative taste in his clothes. He was also, as the next nine months would prove, a tenacious fighter for what he believed was right".

"We had our first meeting the morning after my arrest, in a dingy little upstairs room at the jail, a room which would become very familiar to me over the next nine months. My parents were present, and I continued to insist that I had no idea what the warrant was all about. (Chief Davis had not yet held his press conference-it took place at 2:00 P.M. Los Angeles time.) It was only after they had gone back to Copeville that I called Boyd back and told him that there was one thing that had happened in California-I had been involved in the Tate LaBianca killings. Lawyers, like poker players, need poise - and Bill Boyd handled the moment well. We would need to talk a lot, he said."

              

           Did Tex find someone to admire and trust?  A confidant?  Maybe... Just Maybe....

Crazy For Lovin' You...

Charles Manson's 2nd Wife Leona

 

 



 

The pictures are from Leona's junior year of high school in Colorado.  The year is 1956 and the group picture is the pep club.

Charles Manson and Leona Musser were married in the Spring of 1959 in California.  They had one child, Charles Luther Manson.  I had originally thought that Charles Luther's middle name was probably after Charlie's Uncle Luther but in researching I found that Leona's grandfather was named Luther and both her father and brother had Luther as a middle name. 

Leona filed for divorce Jan. 6, 1964. The grounds for the divorce were conviction of a felony, by Manson, and extreme repeated acts of cruelty.  Manson was served the papers for divorce later in the Spring while imprisoned at McNeil Island, Washington.