Happy Arrest Day 2008!

jim said...

[quoting Elm] "But to tell you the truth I never saw this coming. I was just as shocked as the rest of you. "

Some were not so shocked. : )
May 16, 2007 10:47 PM

Happy Arrest Day everyone! Today we deck the halls with "Old Blue" superimposed with jumpsuit orange...all in celebration of this, the 1st Anniversary of the arrest of Harlow and Joe!

First order of business: the Arrest Day Awards!

In the catagory of "Most Embarrassing Pre-Arrest Quote"...we have a split decision! The winners are 1) V.J., for nominating this quote (from the Bitchless Blog):

"Frankly I am amazed that the Bryan Kocis murder investigation appears to be focusing on Harlow Cuadra...I am so glad Harlow has a good lawyer, I would wish Harlow good luck. But, Harlow and his attorneys do not appear to be that concerned."

What's interesting is, v.j. made this nomination BEFORE the recent revelations concerning Harlow's attorney, making this Bitchless quote even more unintentionally hilarious...way to go V.J.!

Also sharing this award is 2) Rob, for nominating this classic quote (from Elm's Rants From a Mysterious Place):

"I have tried to be impartial on my blog and not favor one side or the other[,] but to tell you [the readers] the truth I am on one side and that is the side of the truth. That has been my position from the very start of all this. I have not favored any one group and I don’t intend to start. I have posted questions and theories based on the limited facts in this case and [speculated on] who might be a suspect. But I have not taken sides . . . ."

Great job, Rob!

On to the Poetry Award...and the winner is [envelope ripping]...Ernie, with "The Corrigan Quest!"

"This Corrigan boy
Oh Boy! Oh Boy!
He’s just to good to be true
He’s just what we need
Our financial seed
We just have to know what to do

This Corrigan lad
Too Bad! Too Bad!
He’s got so much trouble to face
He’s tied up in tort
By this vicious old sort
And no money to fight his just case

This Corrigan man
We Can! We Can!
We must see our plans come true
As they thought through their plight
Satan spoke to them that night
“You know what you must do”

Well done, well done.

And finally the Essay Award...goes to ME! w00t!

Also, I'd like to award Christopher "Bud Foxx" Maddox a Lifetime Achievement Award For Excellence in Public Service Blogging. Congratulations, and rest in peace Bud.

And as already announced, the Lifetime Achievement Award For Most Idiotic Blogging, On All Subjects (Not Just Kocis-Related), Past, Present and Future, in These and All Other Time and Space Dimensions...Goes to Kent Barclay.

And now, I guess a few appropriate words on this most joyous occasion. You all may be wondering how jim is going to celebrate this wonderous event. Well, what I am going to be doing today is NOT reading this blog! No, if you guys want my advice...the best way to truly celebrate Arrest Day 2008 is to read other blogs (and their voluminous yet highly amusing-in-retrospect comments). Here are some great historic links from 365 days (or so) ago:

http://elmysterio.blogspot.com/2007/05/arrest-has-been-made.html
http://elmysterio.blogspot.com/2007/05/velvet-mafia-reloaded.html
http://www.jasoncurious.com/desk/2007/05/harlow-joe-arrested-for-murder-of-bryan.html
http://www.jasoncurious.com/desk/2007/05/harlow-joe-arrested-for-murder-of-bryan.html

Julien had a great arrest thread up on his blog too, which is sadly no longer available. I someone can dig up an archive of it, somehow, I'll post it here too.

I've been skimming through these posts the past day or so, and it's remarkable; both in the number and the intensity of the comments on this fateful day, one year ago. Most expressing shock, surprise, dismay, joy, anguish, acceptance, denial...and in rare cases, people saying I-told-you-so. :-)

(You also see Kent Barclay's numerous frantic attempts to insinuate himself into the case by making up phony stories of interviews and conversations with Harlow the day before. He failed; prosecutors rightly disbelieved and ignored him, and excluded him from their huge 385-person-long witness list. In favor of desk clerks and Chinese food delivery boys. I don't normally recommend this but...read in moderation, these comments can be amusing-in-hindsight as well!)

It's also interesting to compare how much attention this case was getting a year ago, vis-a-vis today. I mean, look of the length of some of those old comment threads, hundreds of comments long. It's rare a blog post in the Kocisphere nowadays gets 50 comments. As Harlow and Joe's guilt has become so rock solid certain, people have drifted away. Really, at this point, the only suspense is what sentence Harlow and Joe will get, and whether any Harlow supporters will now be arrested and charged for aiding and abetting.

Another theory: I guess once it became clear Brent and Grant were not criminally involved, alot of peoples' interest in following this case utterly disappeared. I can't recall the last time Jason Curious ever ran a Kocis case story on his blog, for example. I think it was the Rolling Stone article post, but I am not certain...

Oh well, however you all decide to mark this day...I once again wish you all...Happy Arrest Day!

Update: Color scheme modified as per Brynawel's suggestion. :-)

Update 2: And there is even more reason to celebrate today!