Anchorage Daily News Mat-Su Valley reporter Zaz Hollander reported at the ADN today on this morning's arraignment of Sherry Johnston, the mother of the alleged father of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's newborn grandson, for drug sales.Ms. Johnston was all alone. As one commenter to the ADN article put it:
I hope her son was up on the slope........ Other than that, no rest of the family? That's just sad. Even Papa Pilgrim's family were present at his court appearances.
While one of Tripp Johnston's grandmas was being represented in Palmer by a public defender, and appeared alone in court, Tripp's other grandma (the one with no lack of defenders, public, Party or hired state employees) was preparing for her most recent photo opportunity, at Anchorage's Cuddy Family
Governor Palin Kicks Off ‘Capitol Steps’ Fitness Challenge
Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin and state government employees will gather this afternoon at the Cuddy Family Midtown Park in Anchorage for a photo shoot marking the State of Alaska ’s participation in the Virgin HealthMiles Capitol Steps Challenge.
The fitness competition, which began on New Year’s Day, pits a number of states’ executive teams against each other. Participants are wearing pedometers to automatically log their steps.
After two weeks, the team with the highest average number of steps will receive a $50,000 grant from Virgin HealthMiles to be applied to combating childhood obesity.
Who: Governor Palin and executive branch employees
What: Photo shoot of Capitol Steps Challenge participants
Where: Cuddy Family Midtown Park , behind the parking lot of the Z. J. Loussac Public Library
When: 1:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5
Contact: Bill McAllister, 269-7446
It turns out that the Governor's office had to cop a "change of venue" plea. Eleven minutes before the event was scheduled to happen at Cuddy, McAllister sent out an email, notifying the press and others that the publicity stunt, paid for by you and me, had been moved to the Atwood Bulding, where Gov. Palin was working.
To get from the parking lot of the Cuddy Park to the Atwood Building, with time to find parking, one would have had to drive approximately 15 miles over the speed limit most of the way - the long run down A Street, once you got over from Denali. Or, you could have gone screeching through the parking lots behind Loussac and around the Midtown Post Office, and then managed to make it to the Atwood on A Street, going only 13 miles per hour over the speed limit.
One PA informant reports several cars full of Team Sarah people still sitting in the Cuddy Park parking lot as late as 2:15 p.m.
So, while in Palmer, one alleged grandma was thinking twice about breaking the law, in Anchorage, the other grandma, through her flack Bill McAllister, was leaving reporters (Channel 11 had to hustle) no alternative but to become brand new lawbreakers to catch up to Sarah's most recent last minute whim.