A Cop even Hollywood couldn't invent...

Rogues Blog #12:

Meet Cloyd Steiger - Homicide Detective with Seattle PD, a 31-year vet of the department and former "SWAT Dog" who rides a big Harley Hog (for leisure) and packs a Glock Model 22 that fires a .40 caliber round. He spent 2-1/2 hours with me on Friday! What a character! Put a white beard and red suit on him and he could be Santa Claus, with a laugh as big as Puget Sound and stories to match. Here's one: he arrested a bad guy suspected of shooting his neighbor in the head. The goof denied it, of course, but as Detective Steiger checked out his car he found a chunk of the victim's brain on the back seat. "Lucy," he said to the bad guy, "You've got some 'splainin' to do." Cloyd and his fellow detectives celebrate each collar with a round of Eagles Rare Single Barrel Kentucky Whiskey, what they call the "Bourbon of Proof." Cloyd's job, as he describes it, "is selling time shares at Walla Walla" (and other WA prisons), which means "getting somebody to tell me something he doesn't want to tell me voluntarily." He's one of the best in the business and will play a central role in the wild, climactic shootout at North Beach in "Rogues."

Detective Cloyd Steiger

Ruffles RIP... and I AM...

Rogues Blog #11:
Beginning in 1970 the pioneer in orca research, the late Dr. Michael Bigg, began what would become by far the most important tool in field research on killer whales - photographic identification of individuals. He named the "stable" groups, known as pods, residents... and those "ratty little groups" (as Bigg called them) "transiting" the area as transients. The former eat fish, the latter eat mammals.

Last week Ruffles - the whale believed believed to be the oldest male orca among the resident J, K, and L pods (Puget Bay and surrounding area) - went missing and is believed dead. Researchers believe he was about sixty years old. A sad day! Here's a link to a video of Ruffles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJHA79h__QM

No estimate of his size was given, though most males are in the 4-6 ton range. The rogue killer whales in "Rogues" are 20x that size... and they're coming your way!

On a separate note... if you haven't seen the documentary "I AM" I highly recommend it... incredible film. Here's a link: http://iamthedoc.com/

Until next week... 

Rocks of Ages...

Rogues Blog #10:

The photo below doesn't do justice to literally thousands of works of art (in my opinion) which wash up every day on the shores of the Salish Sea (Strait of Juan de Fuca) - rocks of all shapes and sizes with marvelous colors, texture, and character. Running to nearby North Beach several times each week, I have accumulated  quite a collection for my writing retreat in Port Townsend (who says it never snows here?). North Beach, by the way, is the setting for the chaotic finale to "Rogues."

North Beach - Port Townsend

How Do You Capture A 6-Ton Killer Whale...

Rogues Blog #9:
... well, legally you don't. And that's a good thing! But in "Rogues" a conniving, "greed-is-good" billionaire (Mitchell Chandler) blackmails a feisty commercial fisherman (Zora Flame) to do just that. And what kind of vessel does it take? I found precisely the boat for the job at Platypus Marine in Port Angeles, a 45-minute drive west of Port Townsend. She's a 58' Delta seiner which boat guru - and columnist for "Peninsula Daily News" - David Sellars explained might be the toughest boat on the water. "Bullet proof" he called her. David has been extremely helpful in explaining to this landlubber the ins and outs of boating. That's him in the picture with Platypus's Dan O'Keefe during a tour they gave me of the facility. Impressive place! The middle pic is of the big seiner (rigged with seine nets, thus the name), and as you can see they are like icebergs: a lot more below surface than above. So Zora leases a seiner like the one below and the adventure begins. The other vessel pictured was once owned by a struggling entrepreneur named Aristotle Onassis. Zora/Zorba? Hmmm...

Dan O'Keefe and David Sellars

Northwind

58' Delta seiner

The Shed Boys...

Rogues Blog #8:
The story is told of a group of slow-talking singer-songwriters who drifted into Port Townsend awhile back from parts unknown (west Texas some say). These good ole boys were full of piss and vinegar and when they weren't jammin' on street corners for nickels and dimes they were out courting rich, lonely old widows. A few of the wealthier ladies opened their homes, their bedrooms, and eventually their bank books to these crooning rascals. They became known as "The Shed Boys"... and legend has it they're still around, perhaps hanging out at the Better Living Through Coffee Coffeehouse like the group of pickers pictured below. In "Rogues" one of these rapscallions - wearing his "Love A Curmudgeon" t-shirt - has his world rocked when the heroes of the book (five, 100-ton killer whales) make an appearance in Port Townsend Bay (fifty feet from the window). And the Best Picture Oscar goes to... "The King's Speech."

Memory's Vault...

Rogues Blog #7:
Fort Worden State Park is 443-acres of fir trees, winding trails, and long abandoned concrete artillery batteries with spectacular views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Named after Admiral John L. Worden, Commander of the Monitor in its Civil War battle against the Merrimac, the former Army post is now a popular recreation, artistic, and educational retreat. One section of the park - Memory's Vault - features poems by Sam Hamill... moving tributes to nature and the beautiful surroundings. My favorite is below. Alas it was the last poem Marine Biologist Katrina Kincaid would read in "Rogues."

"Black March Eclogue"

Although it is midsummer,

the great blue heron

holds the darkest winter in its hunched shoulders,

those blue-turning-gray clouds

rising over him

like a storm from the Pacific.

He stands alone in the black marsh

more monument than bird.

He watches the heart of things

and does not move or speak.

But when at last he flies,

his great wings cover the darkening sky,

and slowly,

as though praying,

he lifts

almost motionless

as he pushes the world away.

View of Mt. Baker from Fort Worden

More Hamill at Memory's Vault

A Killer Called Hope...

Rogues Blog #6:

In 2002, the body of a female orca was found stranded on the North Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Just offshore, a healthy, young male hovered close by, refusing gentle attempts to guide him into safer deep water. Although the male was saved, it was soon discovered that the female's body carried one of the highest loads of toxic chemicals ever tested, far outside the usual levels found. These were PCBs (lab created chemicals) and DDTs (first developed as pesticides). 

The full skeleton of this magnificent 22 foot, 8,200 pound killer whale was dug up from a farmer's field recently and is currently being assembled at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (where "Rogues" marine biologist Katrina Kincaid works), including 159 bones and the upper and lower jaws containing 22 and 24 conical teeth respectively. Students named her Hope. She is one of only five orca skeletons on display in the U.S. See pics below. Unfortunately, these high levels of pollution are happening in oceans around the world. 

The Killer Whale Called Hope

Hope's body loaded on flatbed

Learn... get involved in saving the oceans!

Hope's lower jaw