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California - Lawyer falls to death at hotel - Police suspect Paul Sanford committed suicide
Monterey Herald ^ | December 28, 2006 | JULIA REYNOLDS

Posted on 12/28/2006 8:19:59 PM PST by HAL9000

Excerpt -

In what police describe as a "probable" suicide leap, a prominent Monterey Bay Area attorney fell at least nine floors to his death at the Embassy Suites Hotel Monterey Bay in Seaside the morning before Christmas.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. Sunday, officers found the body of Aptos attorney Paul Sanford in the west end of the hotel lobby, where he had landed on a large ventilation grate.

Police Capt. Steve Cercone said horrified guests were eating breakfast in the atrium at the time, and a number of witnesses saw Sanford fall from somewhere between the 9th and 12th floors.

"I'm at a loss for words," said Sanford's friend and business associate, Monterey attorney Shawn Mills. "Paul really had his fingers in a lot of different pies. He was from the East Coast, and I used to call him our 'West Coast Kennedy.'"

~ snip ~


(Excerpt) Read more at montereyherald.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: airamerica; airamericaradio; aptos; itsrainingmen; komy; krxa; michaelnewdow; montereybay; newdow; paulsanford; plame; pledgeofallegiance; sanford; seaside; suicide; talkradio; thepledge
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To: AnAmericanMother

Labels: Air America Radio, In memoriam, KOMY, KRXA, Paul Sanford


21 posted on 12/28/2006 8:41:44 PM PST by kcvl
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To: HAL9000

Sounds like a guy who would have a great number of folks around that would be more than willing to chunk him over a balconey. I find it hard to believe that a guy with the kind of ego this guy had decided to off himself suddenly. If he did kill himself some might agree that if it becomes a trend for lawyers to do the same that might not be too bad a thing.


22 posted on 12/28/2006 8:43:34 PM PST by isthisnickcool (If you can't light a fire in the vacuum of space what's the deal with the Sun?)
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To: kcvl

I'll be nice and not say what I think of the dearly departed credentials.


23 posted on 12/28/2006 8:45:31 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: HAL9000

one less lawyer is a good thing


24 posted on 12/28/2006 8:48:05 PM PST by kvanbrunt2
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To: Arizona Carolyn

Local law professor Paul Sanford says he's "doing terrific" after appearing alongside atheist Dr. Mike Newdow before the Supreme Court last week as Newdow argued that "under God" is a divisive addition to the Pledge of Allegiance.

"It was somewhere between humbling and intimidating to get that close to history. I felt a burst of adrenaline," said Sanford, noting that this was the first case that Newdow (whom The New York Times categorized as a "nonpracticing lawyer") has ever handled.

Describing Newdow's performance as "composed, brilliant and passionate," Sanford said some might categorize Newdow as "a zealot," but the participation of zealots has been "critical to the success of social movements."

Sanford said it was "a challenge for Mike" to contain that zeal and be neither strident not intimidated by being within spitting distance of the justices, and that the California atheist prepared for the task by sitting in on the court ahead of time.

"He saw that the justices are human beings, who sit in huge chairs that make them look smaller,' said Sanford, as he gleefully recalled how it was Newdow who managed to make Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist look smaller, after Rehnquist asked Newdow if he knew the vote when Congress adopted "under God" in 1954.

"When Newdow said it was unanimous, Rehnquist said that didn't sound divisive, at which point Newdow replied, "That's only because no atheist can get elected to public office," at which point the audience erupted into applause, which apparently is almost unheard of in the decorum-bound chamber."

Still, Sanford, who was ordering milk in Peet's last time we saw him, isn't cracking open the bubbly, at least not just yet.

"Mike is predicting an 8-0 win. I hope he's right, but I think it's more likely than not that he'll lose. He knocked back every argument the justices threw at him, but they seemed to be looking for excuses and reasons why he should lose the case."

Sanford, who was by Newdow's side to handle the running dogs of the press and choreograph Newdow's appearances on the The Larry King Show, CNN, ABC and MSNBC, et al., recalled how "they all send cars. It's rather heady stuff for two people who don't live in the city, it's tiring in a city with traffic, but it's been the most meaningful and empowering experience of my career."

That said, Sanford asked Nüz if he looked "terrible" in the photo that ran in the March 25 issue of The New York Times.

Not terrible, but definitely a tad concerned--which is hardly surprising given that he and Newdow are flanked by a crowd wielding signs that say, "One Nation Under God," "In God We Still Trust" and other non-atheist-tolerant things.

As Sanford puts it, "It was a wild, wild scene."


25 posted on 12/28/2006 8:49:44 PM PST by kcvl
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To: HAL9000
Got to tie up all the loose ends.


26 posted on 12/28/2006 8:49:51 PM PST by operation clinton cleanup
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To: Revolting cat!

Beat me to it.


27 posted on 12/28/2006 8:52:19 PM PST by beelzepug (the Nikonoclast)
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To: kcvl
I was the last official news director for KOMY 134o am Watsonville. Owner Phil Rather closed the station in the early 90s and sold the land for affordable housing. KOMY lay dormat for many years. I knew Zwerling and interviewed with him following the closing of KOMY He had recently bought KSCO. He couldn't afford me, although I had the ratings for morning news.. He had other plans anyway and later implemented that format...

Later I heard that Zwerling bought KOMY, but that it was returned to air as a one watt station. A relic of its former self, but still on the air. Local news was not part of the format that I knew of.... So in essence that makes me the last official news-director with a press card of KOMY...

How some dirtbag lawyer could use MY press credentials at the White House is beyond me---and to ask such a bizzare question...jjeez

28 posted on 12/28/2006 8:52:49 PM PST by abigkahuna (Step on up folks and see the "Strange Thing"--only a thin dollar, babies free)
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To: HAL9000

No. 02-1624, Elk Grove Unified School District et al. v. Newdow et al.

Argued March 24, 2004



Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed for American
Atheists by Paul Sanford;


29 posted on 12/28/2006 8:52:55 PM PST by kcvl
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To: HAL9000

OK, be nice!

(darn, too late;)


30 posted on 12/28/2006 8:53:19 PM PST by Frank_2001
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To: kcvl

IMO, he sounded like a nutcase.


31 posted on 12/28/2006 8:54:03 PM PST by Arizona Carolyn
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To: HAL9000

My brother is a detective - he says that these are listed as "jumped, fell or was pushed" until they have some idea what happened.


32 posted on 12/28/2006 8:56:35 PM PST by RebelBanker (It is, however somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.)
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To: HAL9000

33 posted on 12/28/2006 8:58:01 PM PST by Daaave (The flesh eating jinn of Komari.)
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To: HAL9000

Paul Sanford - 2004: "God is dead."

God - 2006: "Paul Sanford is dead"


34 posted on 12/28/2006 8:59:07 PM PST by Eagles6 (Dig deeper, more ammo.)
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To: RebelBanker
Police said that before Sanford fell, hotel housekeepers saw him pacing the hallway of an upper floor. Cercone said Sanford's car was parked next to the hotel, and he was not checked in as a guest.
35 posted on 12/28/2006 8:59:47 PM PST by kcvl
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To: kcvl
Soooooooooo who was he meeting?

Besides his maker...

36 posted on 12/28/2006 9:01:40 PM PST by null and void (Propaganda doesn't have to make sense. Hell, it often works better if it doesn't.)
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To: SmithL
OK, how did he offend Hillary?

Logged off at work too soon, knew I'd be beaten with the obvious Arkancide tie-in........... 8-}

37 posted on 12/28/2006 9:01:53 PM PST by doorgunner69
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To: kcvl
A passionate believer in "a dynamic Constitution," Sanford always carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution in his pocket, Mills said.

A passionate believer in "a dynamic Constitution," Sanford always carried a copy of the U.S. Constitution, [handwritten in pencil] in his pocket, [along with a big fat eraser for times when it gets inconvenient as originally written] Mills said.

That's better.

38 posted on 12/28/2006 9:02:40 PM PST by piasa (Attitude Adjustments Offered Here Free of Charge)
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To: lndrvr1972

Reads as though his love for the west coast got to him.....very closely and with a high impact....


39 posted on 12/28/2006 9:03:05 PM PST by Cvengr
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To: HAL9000

Paul Sanford, Coward.


40 posted on 12/28/2006 9:03:50 PM PST by Artemis Webb (All Truth is God's Truth...regardless of the source.)
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