I happen to be a gay white guy in America. If people don’t know I am gay, I’m given the same privileges any blonde haired, blue eyed white guy is given in America. However, when they find out I’m gay, those privileges are revoked and I find myself facing the same challenges (or worse) any minority in America faces. I did win the gay lottery by being born white but I learned early on that coming out changed everything by erasing all my privilege. I cannot imagine how hard being a racial minority and gay must be in America. I really feel for gay black folks in America… I have the utmost respect for gay black Americans who are out and living their best lives.
I’m sure some of you are already asking this… What would his being gay have to do with any of this? My answer is; a lot. I’ll touch base on this topic throughout my posts because I believe it to be a central part of my experience. Let’s get started by showing how those in The Compound made it clear to me that they knew I was gay… Here is a letter my lawyer sent three lawyers for The Compound residents in May of 2017:
From: Charles
Sent: Wednesday, May 10, 2017 15:34
To: ‘Jacob C. Rasmussen’; ‘Joshua P. Hayward’
Cc: ‘sam@rodaboughlaw.com’
Subject: Improper display
Please take notice that your clients, Patrick and Emily Ascolese, are engaged in an improper display of an advertising sign, a rainbow flag with a Sounders logo superimposed upon it, in a visible location on the Ascolese property. This display plainly violates the following provision of the Declaration:
4.6. Signs: No signs may be displayed on any lot where visible from beyond the lot.
This display may also violate paragraphs 4.9 (External Appearance) and 4.10 (Offensive Activities), the latter because the flag is placed directly in front of the Parking Pad assigned to Paul Drinkwine and Bill Reed, who, it is no secret, are homosexual and, therefore, could be deemed targeted taunting and harassment.
Please instruct your clients to remove the improper display immediately.
<end of email>
Yup, Patrick and/or Emily Ascolese affixed a Gay Pride flag to their fence right in front of my parking spot. The flag remained up for several days after they were told to take it down by our lawyer. Patrick’s lawyer fell on the blade for him and said he forgot to immediately forward the email or something like that. As anyone can see, the email was sent to three lawyers for The Compound. In other words, not one of these three lawyers thought to immediately stop what was clearly being called our as “taunting and harassment” based on my sexuality which is illegal in Seattle. Let’s not mince words here… I think it’s clear not one of those three lawyers had a problem with their clients harassing me about my sexuality. If any one of those three lawyers had a problem with it, I believe they would have had the flag removed immediately.
Patrick’s excuse in court was simply pathetic (IMO). He said something like he had placed the flag on the top of a fort for his kid. At this point in time, I could see through the fence when I pulled into my parking spot. The picture I took shows there was no fort or remnants of one. A gay man is going to see a Pride flag through the fence if it’s on top of a fort on the other side… We’re kind of trained like that. A gay man my age knows to look for Pride flag stickers on business widows so we know if it’s a friendly place to run into if we are about to get the living hell beat out of us for simply being gay. I firmly believe Patrick and Emily attached this flag to their fence to taunt and harass me about my sexuality. I’ve said time and time again that they bait me, this was just one more example of the kind of humans I believe they are… The worst kind! Anyone who baits another based on race, sexuality or any other minority status (including disability) is the dregs of humanity by my books.
I can’t resist digressing briefly… In the previous paragraph I stated, “At this point in time, I could see through the fence when I pulled into my parking spot.” The slats used for the fencing initially had small intentional and uniform gaps in them like a lot of fences do. After the flag incident, Patrick went out and covered up those gaps by nailing slats to the other side of the fence. It looks like crap (IMO). I was also told he broke the fence in an area on the other side of his immediate neighbors due to his shoddy (IMO) craftsmanship. When I got home that night and saw it, I burst into uncontrollable laughter. It struck me as if a paranoid, tinfoil hat wearing, individual had just tried to hide himself from the rest of the world. To this day when I pull into my parking spot, all I see is when I look at that fence is tinfoil held on apartment windows by office tape in the middle of winter and Patrick running around in a hissy fit with a tinfoil hat on.
Getting back on track now… I honestly believe the residents of The Compound, and their lawyers, have no problem using my sexuality to harass me. I also believe they have used my sexuality as a tool in this legal battle and have done so in the most despicable and deplorable manner anyone could.
For well over a year my lawyer said the residents of The Compound were inferring I was making videos of their children naked. I kept wondering what the hell they were talking about and thinking and that there was no low these people would stoop to. The problem was I didn’t know exactly how low these people would stoop! Patrick, Emily, Drew and Kate have exposed me to the reality of how low people will go in legal fights and how some lawyers can and do encourage sociopathic behaviors. How low The Compound residents will go was made clear to me when I was deposed in November of 2018. An excerpt from that deposition is below. One of the lawyers for those residing in The Compound is asking the questions and I am providing the answers:
Q: All right. Do you deny that you made video recordings of a minor child in a state of undress as the child was on my clients’ property?
A: Oh, so you’re really going after the pedophile claim. No, I don’t believe that’s the case. And if I did it would be incidental. Because they do let their children run around publicly naked. So it would be incidental.
Q: And you agree, then, also that you captured videos or make recordings — let me rephrase the question. You’d be making recordings when my clients’ minor child or children were in their paddling pool on my clients’ property?
A: No. But I wish I would have got the one of Kate in the paddling pool. I don’t believe that I do have videos. And I could be wrong. But if I did, it would be incidental. I’m not targeting children.
Q: Did you —
A: And the implication you are making is sick, obscene, and disgusting. And I want that on the record.
Q: Do you recall making video recordings as you would pass in front of my clients’ property while their children were in a paddling pool on my clients’ yard?
A: It would not have been intentional. It would have been incidental. They would have been out there. So if I had, which I can’t recall right now, it would be incidental. They would have been outside. I would have driven by. It would have been captured. I know you’re fishing for some kind of pedophile thing. And it’s sick. It’s disgusting. Just because I’m gay does not mean I’m a pedophile. It’s very clear where you’re going here, and it’s sick, it’s obscene, and it needs to be on the record again.
Q: So, sir, is it your testimony that you don’t know one way or the other whether you were pointing your video camera in the direction of my clients’ properties while their children were outside in my clients’ yard, in their paddling pool?
MR. FROHLICH: Objection; asked and answered. Go ahead.
THE WITNESS: Thank you. It’s been answered.
MS. ALTARAS: You can answer it again.
MR. FERGUSON: You have to answer subject to the objection, sir.
THE WITNESS: Okay. Once again —
MR. FERGUSON:· Would you please read back my question to him. And the reason I’m asking the question again is because you’re not answering the question; you’re giving a speech. So would you please read it back to him again. And let’s try to answer my question.
Question read by the reporter: “So, sir, is it your testimony that you don’t know one way or the other whether you were pointing your video camera in the direction of my clients’ properties while their children were outside in my clients’ yard, in their paddling pool?”
THE WITNESS: Once again, if the children were outside in a paddling pool and I was driving by, recording, they would have been captured. No, I’m not intentionally filming children. No, I’m not a pedophile. And, yes, I believe you’re a disgusting human being for bringing it up.
Q: Mr. Ferguson)· So —
A: For the implication.
Q: do you know one way or the other whether, when you would pass in front of my clients’ house, pointing your video camera onto their property, whether there were times that you did that where their kids or a kid was outside in a paddling pool in their yard?
MR. FROHLICH: Asked and answered.
THE WITNESS: Once again, if they would have been outside as I drove by and I was recording, they would have been captured. So, unequivocally, I do not know. If they were captured, it would have been what’s — the only way I can describe it is collateral damage. Your implication is disgusting.
Q: (By Mr. Ferguson) So then you confirm, then, that you think it’s at least possible that, as you would pass in front of my clients’ house, pointing your cell phone camera towards their property, that you would be making recordings of the children when they were in a paddling pool?
A: Yes.
<end of excerpt>
Time and time again I have said I need to record as I come and go from my property to defend myself from what I believe are fictitious and whimsical claims those in The Compound make about me. I will have more on that in the next post, or shortly thereafter. However, right now need to keep elaborating about the claim The Compound residents and their lawyers keep making that I am recording their children naked…
Gay men my age grew up being called perverts, sexual deviants, child molesters and on and on and on. These false accusations were done to imply that we are less than those who are heterosexual. Those claims and accusations worked until we started coming out of the closet and talking about who we are and the struggles we faced. Unfortunately, these scandalous and false narratives have been burned into the unconscious biases so prevalent today. I believe many people know this and still use these false narratives to undermine and discredit those who fall under the sexual minority umbrella.
I firmly believe The Compound residents and their lawyers love to use my sexuality as a tool in their legal maneuvering. Does anyone reading this think residents of The Compound and their lawyers would have implied a heterosexual white male was making kiddy porn of their kids? I seriously doubt they would have. I believe the simple fact that these people will use my sexuality to trigger biases in their favor shows each one of them is the worst kind of human.
Here’s another excerpt from the same deposition:
Q: (By Mr. Ferguson)· Okay. Look at this next one here, Exhibit 38. This video is File No. PaulCam-2016-28—0801 [sic]. Again, a video taken from a security camera on my clients’ property, looking south towards the easement.
<end of excerpt>
That little nugget is important… I believe most rational individuals would believe this shows those in The Compound set up a video camera named after myself with the single purpose of recording me and monitoring my movements on the property.
Here’s the next excerpt from the same deposition:
Q: (By Mr. Ferguson) So, Mr. Drinkwine, I’m going to show you this next video here. This is taken from our – one of the security cams in front of our clients’ house. This will be Exhibit 42.· The video is titled IllyNaked, underscore, 20160605191120, underscore, 34, underscore, 42834.· This has been produced to you in discovery. I don’t know if you recognize the document number. But I’m going to play a portion of it for you.
(Video playing.)
Q: (By Mr. Ferguson)· Is that your car depicted in this image?
A: Yeah.
Q: Is that what looks like your cell phone peeking up above your driver-side door in between your driver-side side mirror and the door handle?
A: That’s speculation, but sure.
Q: Well, does it look like it to you?
A: I can’t tell. There’s not enough image. There’s not enough of it present in the image.
Q: Okay. How about now? We’re at — still at six seconds on the video. Does that show you a little better there? Do you see a little rectangle that peeks up above the space where the window meets the door?
A: No. It looks like the rearview mirror on the other side of the car to me.
Q: Okay.· So you don’t think you’re recording in this image?
A: I don’t know.
Q: Okay.· How about now? See that little rectangle right there, in the car? We’re at, for the record, seven seconds in the video.
A: I don’t — where? Point to it.
Q: Rectangle right there. That look like your cell phone camera?
A: With your pen? No. It looks like that’s actually the other side, the dark side of the rearview mirror that attaches to the body of the car.
Q: Okay. All right. It’s your testimony.
A: And also for the record, it shows that the naked child is on — is being obfuscated from my view by the parent.
Q: Oh· So you recognize there’s a naked child in this recording?
A: At the tail end, you paused it right where there was a naked child. So yes.
Q: Okay.
A: It looks like — it looks like the mother’s holding a naked child.
Q: Okay.
A: And if the parents know I’m recording and let their children choose to run around naked, that speaks volumes about the parents, not me.
<end of excerpt>
So, there we have it… The Compound residents and their lawyers produced a video of me driving off the property, which was created on a video camera named after myself, of Emily walking their naked child in front of the camera as I drove up the driveway, named the video “IllyNaked”, and they are using it to try and prove I am creating videos of their children naked… SERIOUSLY!?!?!?! Furthermore, their lawyer appears to claim victory because I note their kid is naked when he led the conversation with this video is name “My Kid Naked.” What did I say about the dregs of humanity?
Not only did they produce it but I believe it’s pretty obvious they produced it as well. I (and my lawyers) think it’s pretty obvious this video was stagged. Now let’s revisit an excerpt from a statement Emily Ascolese gave to the court about this incident:
“One encounter with Mr. Drinkwine in early June of 2016 stands out in my memory. I was in my second trimester of my pregnancy with our youngest daughter, and our oldest daughter was nearly two. I was at home during a very hot day caring for our oldest daughter, Illy. Toward the end of the day, to cool off, I filled my daughter’s wading pool with water outside our kitchen window so she could play in the water and I could place my feet in it. We did not go into our backyard because landscaping and construction in the backyard was not finished. My daughter was wearing a swim diaper. Our kitchen window is about 15-20 feet from the driveway in front of our house that leads back to the parking area near out other neighbors’ houses, including Mr. Drinkwine’s. My daughter and I were playing in the pool and the general area. At one point, Illy took off her diaper and toddled off toward Katie and Drew’s house and stared waling up their outside stairs. I followed after her and picked her up from the stairs, and when I turned around to walk back to the pool, I saw Mr. Drinkwine driving toward us up the driveway. I clearly saw him pointing his smartphone camera toward my daughter and me as he drove toward and past us in a manner that suggested he was making a recording of us.”
So here we have Emily telling the court there was a pool filled with water and her kid was playing in it and Emily herself had her feet in it. The problem is there is no pool or a single drop of water present in this video. The pavement is entirely dry as far as I can tell. The kid is obviously dry too. When Emily places the kid down, Emily’s clothing is dry as well. Even the kid’s sandals are dry.
I’m not sure if many of you caught this line from one of the deposition excerpts above: “So, Mr. Drinkwine, I’m going to show you this next video here. This is taken from our – one of the security cams in front of our clients’ house.” Their lawyer initially states it was taken from “our” and then quickly changed direction. This guy is in bed tight with the occupants of The Compound (IMO). This is the same guy who said in an excerpt above “You’d be making recordings when my clients’ minor child or children were in their paddling pool on my clients’ property?” Where’s the pool? Where’s the water? I don’t think it beyond this lawyer to instruct his clients to stage a video like this.
Here’s another excerpt from the same deposition:
A: …– why are you laughing at me?
Q: I’m not.
A: Yes, you are.
This same lawyer had laughed at me several times during the deposition. I needed to get it on the record and my lawyers were proud of me for doing so. This guy – if I can call him that – came across as beyond smarmy and it was more than apparent to me, he simply enjoyed wallowing in smarminess and being awful to another human. IMO… This is the type of lawyer who gives all lawyers a bad name.
The residents of The Compound and their lawyers all keep talking about a pool which is not present and there is zero indication of any water in the video. I believe this goes well beyond sketchy and steps into harassment and using a lawyer to harass. Also, their cars would normally have been parked there and blocked the view but, vehicles were conveniently missing during the creations of this video. What’s more important is that from Patrick and Emily’s home they have a clear view down the pathway on the property which leads to my front door. I believe the simplest explanation for this video is that it was completely staged. I believe they planned it and waited until they saw me exiting my home. As soon as I exited my home, I bet Emily ran out to parade their naked child in front of a video camera named after myself as I drove by so they could play on unconscious biases against gay folks. And, I believe their lawyers are 100% complicit in this, what I see as, revolting human behavior.
In one of the excerpts above I said “…I wish I would have got the one of Kate in the paddling pool.” One day I was driving out and noticed her between the parked vehicles spread-eagle in the kiddie pool. If my memory serves me correctly there were beer cans beside this very small kiddie pool which she was soaking in. Her legs were spread wide open with her crotch facing me. I thought to myself “I did not just see that!” I snuck a peak as I drove by the crack in the vehicles and received horrific confirmation… I DID JUST SEE THAT!!! I remember thinking WTF and looking at the thermomotor in my car which registered 69. I damn near threw up a little in the back of my mouth then and now.
And that my dear readers, are the type of people who reside in The Compound (IMO).
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