#simonds

Jamie Fraley was a 22-year-old woman from North Caroline. She struggled to gain weight and had mental health problems for most of her life leaving her dependent on friends and family. Despite these problems, Jamie was described as intelligent, sweet and spirited. At the time of her disappearance, she had enrolled in college and hoped to become a counsellor and to help others.

In 2006, Jamie began dating Ricky Simonds, a local with a history of drug abuse and prior arrests for theft. In 2008, when the pair were engaged, Simonds was arrested and held in jail. Jamie wrote to him daily and waited for his release.

Two doors down from Jamie's apartment lived Ricky Simonds Sr and his girlfriend Kim Sprenger. Simonds Sr had been arrested for strangling his ex-girlfriend, he had been charged with manslaughter but had been released early. Simonds Sr was a maintenance worker in Jamie's apartment complex and had developed a friendship with her, it was suggested that he flirted with Jamie who did not reciprocate these actions.

On 8th April 2008, Jamie called her aunt and visited her health provider due to intense stomach pain. She took medication and continued her day which included dog-sitting for Kim Sprenger. By the evening Jamie was still feeling unwell; Sprenger offered to help her to get a prescription for pain medication. Jamie also got a lift to the hospital with Simonds Sr, he dropped her off outside.

Jamie spent about 3 hours in the ER before calling a friend to collect her. Several witnesses saw her re-enter her apartment at around midnight. The next morning, Jamie's health care provider knocked on Jamie's door but got no answer, she assumed Jamie had gone out and left. For an unknown reason, the health care provided did not tell Jamie's family until two days later, possibly because it was not uncommon for Jamie to go a few days without checking in. On 11th April, Jamie's family found out she had not been seen or heard from in two days. They reported her as missing.

Police found no signs of a struggle at Jamie's house although did notice her purse and keys were still there which suggested Jamie may not have intended to leave the house for long. They found dried vomit and the laces from Jamie's favourite pair of shoes were missing. Jamie's family desperately attempted to call her mobile phone and eventually a man picked up and explained he had found the phone ringing in the middle of the road. It was speculated that the phone had been thrown from a moving vehicle. Jamie always had her phone with her and the disappearance began to be treated as suspicious.

Police began questioning neighbours, all of whom expressed worry and co-operated fully except for one; Ricky Simonds Sr. He was noted to be 'cold' and provided limited information. Police grew suspicious of him and obtained a warrant to track his movements. Instead of finding Jamie, they found he seemed to be stalking Kim Sprenger, his now ex-girlfriend. They warned Kim who told them she was afraid of him and that he was violent, she gained a restraining order against him.

On 7th June 2008, Kim Sprenger noticed a foul odour in her car. On 9th June she checked her trunk and found the decomposing body of Ricky Simonds Sr and called the police. Under the body, officers found a knife and theorised Simonds planned to ambush Kim and kill her but had accidentally locked himself in the trunk and died from heatstroke. Several of Simonds' friends recalled him saying he was going to give Kim 'the surprise of her life,' shortly before he was last seen alive.

The Virginia House of Delegates was a house divided, with 50 Republicans, 49 Democrats, and one more seat that Democrat Shelly Simonds won by a single vote. After the recount was complete, “all ballots had been counted or set aside following State Board of Elections rules, and officials picked by both candidates agreed the recount was complete.” Because both parties agreed at that point and had no further challenges, that should have been the end of it and the results should have been certified the following morning, resulting in an evenly split state legislature.

Instead, the next morning her Republican opponent, David Yancey, ran to court to argue that one more ballot should have been counted in his favor.

The ballot in question (see it here) voted for both Simonds and Yancey, and was therefore discarded as an “overvote.” Yancey argued, however, that the voter had drawn a line through the bubble next to Simonds, so the voter must have intended to vote only for him.

BRIEF HISTORICAL DIGRESSION: The Republicans are the same political party that argued forcefully--and successfully--in the 2000 Bush-Gore election that numerous Florida ballots were ambiguous and invalid, regardless of the intent of the voters. These included not only the infamous “hanging chad” ballots, where the voter punched through but the chad remained attached by one or two corners, but even a ballot with no punches but the name GORE written across it in giant capital letters.

Back to the current day: The court sided with Yancey, awarding him the ballot and resulting in a tie vote. And in the subsequent random drawing to decide the outcome, Yancey won, giving the Republicans their majority.

“‘It does seem like a sad ending to the story to have to end on a game of chance,’ Simonds said.”

New Post has been published on https://www.stl.news/random-drawing-scheduled-tbreak-tie-disputed-house-race/58241/

Random drawing scheduled to break tie in disputed House race

RICHMOND, Va/December 29,2017(AP)(STL.News)— As Democrats and Republicans continued partisan sniping Friday over a House seat that could determine the balance of power in the Virginia House of Delegates, state elections officials moved to break the deadlock by scheduling a random drawing to pick the winner.

The Virginia Board of Elections said it will pick the winner’s name in the Newport News-based 94th District next Thursday, unless a recount court decides to intervene.

The race between Democrat Shelly Simonds and Republican Del. David Yancey has seesawed since the Nov. 7 election. Initially, it appeared that Yancey had won by 10 votes, but a recount put Simonds ahead by a single vote.

A three-judge recount court later declared the race a tie after agreeing with the Yancey campaign that a disputed ballot was a vote for him. On Wednesday, Simonds asked the court to reconsider, but the panel has not yet responded.

The fight over the seat has been intense as Republicans try to hold on to a majority in the House after a bruising election in which Democrats erased the 66-34 advantage held by Republicans, as voters vented anger toward Republican President Donald Trump.

During a conference call with reporters Friday, GOP House Leader Kirk Cox — who hopes to become the next speaker of the House — criticized Democrats for causing “politically motivated delays” in deciding the 94th District race.

“Democrats have sought to delay and obstruct at every turn,” Cox said.

“They’ve sought to litigate their way to victory.”

Cox called Simonds’ legal action a “deliberate strategy to make it more difficult for the House to organize smoothly” when the legislature reconvenes on Jan. 10.

He said that even if the winner’s name is pulled Jan. 4, the House will not be able to seat the winner by the opening day of the legislative session if the loser asks for a recount. That would leave Republicans with a 50-49 majority as the session opens.

Simonds said Yancey is to blame for the delay.

“We won the recount … it should have been over, and the next day, the Yancey team pulled a stunt. So this delay is squarely on him,” she said Friday.

If Simonds ultimately wins, the House would be evenly split, 50-50, between Democrats and Republicans. If Yancey wins, the Republicans would have a 51-49 edge.

The state Board of Elections had been scheduled to pick the winner’s name out of a glass bowl on Wednesday, but postponed the drawing after Simonds filed her legal challenge.

The result is one of two House races still in limbo.

A lawsuit is pending over ballots in a hotly contested race in the 28th District in the Fredericksburg area.

A Poem by Sandra Simonds

The Woman with the Foreign Accent

                    When I ask her where she is originally from she says, “Vermont.” “Vermont?” I ask. “Yes, Vermont,” she says folding each dinner napkin into a swan and letting each one slip from her hands as if letting slip vowels or consonants freeing them from a conquered language, loosening them like feathers from the borders, county lines, dotte…