Bear Wilner-Nugent, respondent’s attorney for 2009: A Reed College graduate with nearly a hundred trials in his time as a public defender, I chose him because of his keen intelligence, sense of humor and familiarity with relevant subcultures such as Reed, Burning Man and Tribe.net

Catherine Lynne Carter, petitioner: A daughter of privilege and the daughter of Reed graduate Lynne Carter (who died when CLC was approximately ten years old), Carter attended the exclusive and elite Bishops School in La Jolla, California, before coming to Reed. At Reed she was an English major and I am uncertain whether or not she ever graduated. CLC & RGB met during her first year at Reed and were friends before becoming romantically involved after RGB left Reed. Immediately after Reed, she worked a few generic tech support jobs and briefly tried to start a design business. Her class position is such that she probably does not need to work, but her father would rather she do something, for appearances.

Glenn A Slate: Glenn Slate is relevant to this narrative only as Marti Dell’s boyfriend during the crucial years of 1998 and 1999. Also an attorney, I know of him primarily through what CLC told me of him at the time. Dell allegedly conveyed that Slate was sensitive to “psychic vibrations” and so could not live in the city. He reportedly owned several guns and often carried weapons. He and Dell were also reportedly into alternative sexual practices, and it is my belief that Slate was pressuring Dell to try and gain sexual access to CLC, which I found distasteful.

Judge David Smedema: I don’t know much about judge Smedema other than that, in retrospect, he was very concerned with the facts of the case and wanted to see justice done according to the letter and spirit of the law. He was arguably kind to me in a difficult circumstance, fair-minded and detailed in his fact-finding when faced with a pro se ignoramus such as myself.

Judge Kristena LaMar, mediator: I have heard excellent things about judge LaMar and her mediation work over the years, but was deeply unhappy with how she and her staff personally handled our December 2008 mediation. The judge seemed to have no concept of what a blog was (as distinct from email), mistook the picture of Kevin Balmer with a pistol for me and, when CLC completely failed to appear, kept me sequestered in a conference room for over an hour without even the courtesy of seeing me. I wrote her a letter afterwards, expressing my displeasure, shortly after which she retired. I shall assume that she was simply tired near the end of a long career, and try not to hold this one incident against her, in light of the good work she has done with family court and mediation over the past twenty years.

Judge pro tem Cheryl Albrecht: Albrecht approved CLC’s petition for a TPO in 2006, despite the existence of only a single, non-threatening contact with petitioner’s boyfriend, which is not how the statute reads. Although I appreciate that Albrecht was acting out of great deference to the general realities of domestic violence in our culture, this uncritical acceptance of CLC’s narrative in the total absence of more substantive evidence was clearly in error. I am confident that, had I been able to afford a lawyer, this first order would have been dismissed on its face, saving years of frustration and thousands of dollars. I understand from several people that she is generally a good and fair judge, who has since been elected as a “real” judge.

Judge pro tem Steven Todd: As a pro tem judge, Todd was given tedious stalking cases and was less interested in facts around the 2006 hearing than the compelling narrative of irrelevant half-truths that Callahan presented. Whether from ignorance, muddled thinking or a desire to placate the socially more advantaged, Todd’s ruling was a relatively safe play in favor of the pretty white girl and her two handsome knights against the scary-looking guy with a beard, pro se. This is indicated especially near the end where he basically apologizes for ignoring pesky details of the law and explains that “permanent” doesn’t really mean “permanent” and that petitioning for vacatur was not a big deal. At this second hearing, after Smedema, I had not understood that it was my job as the respondent to read the law to the judge, and I agree with another Oregon lawyers’s candid assessment of him as a “pro-tem wannabe” and “tool.”

Judge Ronald Cinniger: As a senior, semi-retired judge, Cinniger was a good judge for us to have drawn for the 2009 hearing. He clearly had taken the time to read the transcripts and briefs ahead of time, and immediately saw through Callahan’s constant misdirections and inflation of the limited exhibits he had to present. He was not distracted by melodrama and seemed approximately as impatient with Callahan as he was with me. His quick bench ruling surprised me, but was clear, concise and decisive at the end of a tediously long hearing.

Kaleb Napoli (name modified for privacy): Boyfriend of RGB’s ex-wife, [Kimberly Rhiannon], beginning in late 1995 or early 1996. RGB was upset at this deception and had expressed his thoughts of violence toward [Napoli] to CLC during their friendship and later romance.

Kimberly Rhiannon (name modified for privacy): RGB’s ex-wife, whom he divorced in 1996 after learning of deception involving [Kaleb Napoli].

Kevin David Balmer, petitioner’s boyfriend 2004-2008 (?): An artistic man with a great interest in film, costuming and community organizing, Balmer has a 1998 BA from Georgia State University and has worked for Consolidated Freightways since 1998. He was involved with a former colleague of mine in the “diggable city” project, as part of a degree program at Portland State University, which he completed in 2006. It is my retrospective judgment that his pistoled posturing quickly got him in over his head with me, and that he “hid behind the skirt” of Catherine Lynne Carter because he was afraid to speak with me or request some sort of protective order for himself. Such passive-aggressive bullshit deeply annoys me. Although we share many interests and might have become friendly acquaintances, I fundamentally do not consider Balmer a serious person.

Marcus Dale Bowman, respondent’s brother: Briefly dated CLC in the spring of 1996, when RGB and CLC were still friends and before they became romantically involved (with Marcus’ knowledge and acceptance) later that fall. Marcus was in an automobile accident that seems to have led to a closed-head brain injury, causing erratic behavior before he took his own life in March, 1997, while CLC & RGB were living together.

Martitia Mary Dell, petitioner’s first attorney: Another daughter of privilege, Dell graduated with a degree in art history from the University of Washington in 1981. After working for a few years as a real estate paralegal in Florida and Washington DC, she returned to the northwest and got her law degree from Lewis & Clark College in 1993. From there she bounced around between various jobs doing drudgework for title companies, tried her own law firm for a while, sold heating equipment for a few years and returned to private practice again in 2008. Adopted as a bit of a stray cat by a friend of mine (who then introduced her to CLC based on their mutual interest in sewing), I believe that she clearly violated legal ethics by never formally agreeing to represent CLC in her capacity as an attorney, and certainly violated legal ethics by not disclosing to me in our “friendly” conversation of October, 1998, that she was acting as her attorney. It is my belief that Dell’s actions around CLC at this time were largely influenced by her mentally unstable boyfriend, Glenn A Slate, and that she promoted CLC’s fears as a way to become more important to both GAS and CLC. In addition to being a poor lawyer, she is an execrable human being and a disappointment to her family.

Nancy Cooper, petitioner’s second attorney: I don’t know anything about this woman at all but, by her demeanor in court, assume that she was a friend of Dell’s who took on the case pro bono, as a professional courtesy or for a very small fee so that Dell could testify. She may or may not be related to a slimy, lawyer friend of Dell’s named Brooks Cooper, who once fucked over a dear friend of mine, before he was even a lawyer! Given that Brooks Cooper presents as a man, it would probably be the better part of honor for me to punch him in the face should he dare approach me.

Robert Callahan, petitioner’s third attorney: A paralegal I spoke with once described Callahan as a “checkbook and pulse” lawyer, and I believe he primarily specializes in criminal defense of drug charges. The way he argued his cases in 2006 and 2009 leads me to believe that he clearly understood how flimsy they were and how little he had to work with. His primary strategy was to tell a simplistic story and stretch out irrelevant evidence as much as possible in an attempt to distract from everything but his simplistic, even melodramatic narrative.

Rory Grey Bowman, respondent: A working-class native of Vancouver, I attended Reed College on scholarship and worked for the entire six years it took me to complete, before becoming a charter member of the Teach for America national teaching corps upon graduation in 1990. When marriage and a lay-off interrupted my plans to get a graduate teaching degree at Portland State University, I worked as a security officer at Reed until I could attend a similar graduate program at Washington State University, Vancouver. I taught briefly in the Vancouver School District until after my brother Marcus’ suicide, burned out and left in 1998 with a diagnosis of severe depression. Since then I have worked as a technical writer and Macintosh computer consultant with my own business. I have been involved with martial arts of some sort since 1982, including USA Boxing coach certification, the Instructor’s Candidate Course in mixed martial arts at Straight Blast Gym and a lifelong membership in the United States Judo Federation.