Author: scarsonwiki

Ability Set v3: Punkgoat is REAL and this better be his ability set or I’ll riot (of course not really)

scarsonwiki Deadlock Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Check out the oringal post here: https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/ability-set-v3-punkgoat-is-real-and-this-better-be-his-ability-set-or-ill-riot-of-course-not-really.72994/

With Punkgoat becoming more and more of a reality for me, I’m just gonna post v3 of my PunkGoat Ability Set. Some changes, and clarifications for his moves.

Punkgoat – “Up the Punx”​

“It ain’t easy being a Punk (Rocker), but being a Goat-like deity helps, I guess. It’s mostly the beer and cigarettes, though.”

Fun fact (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biquette)

Reference images:

Gun: Monocussioner (Shadows of the Damned’s pump shotgun; see picture below); two handed, which would make Punkgoat the first shotgun hero (excluding other unreleased heroes) to hold his shotgun with two hands. Alt fire similar to Shiv’s.

Stamina: 2 bars

1: Headbutt/banger

–Headbutt: Channel to increase damage over time.

  • Can Headbutt early, dealing partial damage and fading slow
  • Punkgoat cannot move while channeling
  • Channel is uninterrupted by Bodycheck (possible tier)

-Upon full channel, Headbutt the first enemy directly in front of Punkgoat, causing the target to be briefly grounded

  • Airborne enemies are shot straight down if hit by full channeled Headbutt and briefly grounded (skill check and get dunked)

After three can crushes, changes toHeadbanger

-Headbanger: Punkgoat starts shaking their head violently (but rhythmically), creating a cone AOE that pushes enemies backwards during the duration. Enemies in very close proximity are dealt damage (by the horns). Can move around but not dash or use movement abilities/items. Colliding with terrain stuns Punkgoat, except in Mosh Pit.

2: Bodycheck/hurl

–Bodycheck: Dash forward immediately stopping and shoving the first enemy hit in the opposite direction. Both Punkgoat and the target take gun damage.

  • Can only be used on the ground and will always go in a straight line. E.g. if Punkgoat Bodychecks on an edge, he will go the distance in a straight line before falling.
  • Can also affect allies (possible tier)
  • Does not affect troopers, but shoves them away.
  • Target will always go the distance proportional to the distance Bodycheck travels. E.g. point black, target goes the distance Punkgoat would’ve traveled. Full range, target ends up point blank. Half distance, target gets knocked back half distance.
  • If the target collides with terrain, briefly stunned. (possible tier)

After three can crushes, changes toBodyhurl

-Bodyhurl: Hurl your body forward slamming into enemies. Always goes full distance and takes targets with him. Both Punkgoat and the targets take gun damage. Self-damage is proportional to enemies slammed. If done during Mosh Pit, Punkgoat is healed instead of damaged, but still cannot go outside of Mosh Pit.

  • Airborne enemies caught will be dragged down with Punkgoat and briefly grounded
  • If done in the air, enemies struck are briefly grounded.

3: Can-Crushing Cranium

-Chug a can. Crush it against your forehead. Maintain Alcoholism by going on a bender. After chugging three cans within a time limit, transform into a Baphomet like figure (mostly cosmetic) with changed abilities.

-Charge ability, press to drink cans.

  • Starts with 1 can, up to 3 through tiers, max 5 with Extra Charge and Rapid Recharge.
  • Crushing a can starts a timer.
  • Upon three can crushes, receive a buff and different abilities that can be used once per duration.
  • Cans refresh timer/duration, but after three cans become less effective the more cans crushed, up to a maximum amount.
  • Can crushing can be interrupted and will waste a can if it is.
  • Cans are fixed; cans recharge once out of charges or once duration ends

-Time to chug is unaffected by cooldown reduction or Rapid Recharge, but can procurement is.

  • Time to chug can only be reduced by firerate.
  • Possible tier: time to drink between cans cooldown

-If duration ends after 3 can crushes, become silenced, slowed and reduced resistance/vulnerable to damage for a brief duration based cans drunk during duration.

-If duration ends before 3 can crushes, become slowed.

-Special counter to show you how much you drank in a match

4: Mosh Pit:

-Welcome to the Mosh Pit.

-An arena is formed.

  • Punkgoat’s movement abilities/items are silenced and can only melee in the Pit.
  • Can only use Can Crushing Cranium. Punkgoat can use changed abilities after three can crushes, but is still limited to using only once.
  • Punkgoat, and enemies and teammates in it become trapped, but the arena can be jumped out of, or slid out of. Punkgoat, however, has a duty to the Pit.
  • Enemies hit by a heavy melee or abilitiy are shoved backwards.
  • If an enemy collides with the edge of the mosh pit, the terrain or other enemy heroes/troopers, they will bounce back instead of being stunned
  • Troopers are also affected.
  • Everybody just bounces off each other
  • Allies are immune.
  • Everyone can parry.
  • Duration scales with Spirit power. The more spirit Punkgoat has, the longer he can rock out.

-If anyone slides across on top of the Mosh Pit, they will crowdsurf.

-If Can-Crushing Cranium buff duration ends during Most Pit, heaven forbid, Punkgoat also receives the damage they dealt during the Pit.

Punkgoat is a disruptor, looking to create their own tempo and rhythm during a fight, whether it be in a 1v1 skirmish or a team fight, or ganking or being ganked. Able to ocular patdown and visually threat assess a target. Headbutting to neutralize and set up a threat for a Bodycheck into terrain away from a teammate, or knocking that teammate away from the threat. Or maybe, chug three cans of your favorite drink and go on a bender. Haphazardly hurling your body into a crowd, into the heart of a fight, headbanging to the cries of their agony. Of course, one could always show them the way of the Pit, and Mosh off the mayhem of bodies. All good things come to an end though, and the consequences of binging can leave Punkgoat vulnerable to, perhaps, well-deserved payback.

The misunderstood deity’s playstyle revolves around, maybe, I like to think, being a functional alcoholic. At least, it started as a joke then became its own thing that I’ve greatly enjoyed. One of my favorite aspects is that in addition to having a “mode shift” type playstyle, the abilities that are changed also shift styles. Where before three cans Punkgoat acts a kind of bouncer, after three cans Punkgoat becomes more of a bully. I wanted to give Punkgoat this weird duality of having some kind of opposites that also complement each other. While Headbutt makes you immobile and you can stun, headbanger allows you to move and knockback. Whereas Bodycheck you can only use on the ground and will stop after hitting a target, Bodyhurl will always go the distance and take anyone along with ‘em. While Can-Crushing Cranium grants benefits, it will also leave you with a nasty hangover if gone on long enough. While you can trap people in the Mosh Pit with you, do you really wanna be trapped somewhere where you, yourself, are as well? In this way, I also wanted the abilities to be self-destructive a little in their own right. Headbutt: you’re stuck. Headbanger: you can really only move. Bodycheck and Bodyhurl also dealing damage to yourself since you’re colliding your body with all kinds of varied occult.

I think it really fits well with the idea of Punk and Baphomet.

I also wanted to try and replicate the feeling of being in a Mosh Pit. Albeit, perhaps, a widely more fantastical and more violent Mosh Pit. Or maybe, being at a punk rock show. At least the spirit of it. As an example, there is a general, maybe, unspoken rule that if someone falls in the Pit, everyone around immediately tries to pick that person up. I mean, it’s common sense? Right? But, I guess, you wouldn’t expect that in a pit of people colliding into each other. And really, there is a type of kindness despite the attitude. So, that’s also one of the cores of Punkgoat for me, how can kindness be shown with violence during the violence?

So, Punkgoat as a character really fascinates me. Seeing a comment mentioning how Punkgoat would most likely be Baphomet with Punk aesthetics is not only perfect, but the theme and ideals of both match pretty well, at least in what the ideals may represent. Baphomet, or the image, usually associated with sin/occult/demon may actually be a representation of balance, or a Union of opposites, the perfect blend between man/woman, animal/human. The greatest similarity is that just like how almost every Punk will argue about what being Punk means, Baphomet also seems to have contested interpretations. But not only that, if Baphomet is the “perfect” balance, then Punk is finding the perfect balance between how society wants us to act, and how we ourselves want to act. Aka, confirming to society while also expressing individuality. I’m being highly idealistic, of course.

And, of course, I’m drawing on personal experiences here. In my day to day, I seem like a regular person, save for the band shirt every once in a while. But at a show? In the pit? It’s different. Not only that, but another similarity, since Baphomet is seemingly misunderstood, is that Punk is seemingly misunderstood as well. Most Punks can come off as intimidating, but, for myself, they are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. And yet, in the pit? It’s different.

V1 Since Punkgoat seemingly doesn’t have a moveset yet, if this isn’t it or like it, I might actually riot.

scarsonwiki Deadlock Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Check out the oringal post here: https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/since-punkgoat-seemingly-doesn%E2%80%99t-have-a-moveset-yet-if-this-isn%E2%80%99t-it-or-like-it-i-might-actually-riot.63473/

Punkgoat

“It ain’t easy being a Punk (Rocker), but being a Goat helps. And the beer and cigarettes, too, I guess.”

Fun fact

Punkgoat is a disruptor. Causing chaos in the Mosh Pit, Headbanging at an enemy, or rudely Bodychecking an ally. His playstyle kind of revolving around being a functional alcoholic. Managing time around the duration of Can-Crushing Cranium and the inevitable hangover (vulnerability) once it ends. The abilities, I hope, encouraging a close-range, intimate type of playstyle

1: Headbutt/banger

–Headbutt: Channel to increase damage over time.

  • Can Headbutt early, dealing partial damage.
  • Channel is uninterrupted by Can-Crushing Cranium or Bodycheck

-During channel, cannot move but can dash, Leap and use movement-items, and wall bounce

  • Meaning, Headbutt can be activated during those movements, but once on the ground will stop moving.
  • But can turn around

-Upon full channel, Headbutt the first enemy directly in front of Punkgoat, causing the target to have a fading slow

-If full channel Headbutt strikes while Punkgoat is in the air or leaping, enemy will be briefly grounded, once grounding ends, enemy will have a fading slow.

  • Airborne enemies are shot straight down if hit by a full channel Headbutt, briefly grounded, and fading slow once grounding ends.

–Headbanger: After Headbutt, Punkgoat will start shaking his head violently (but rhythmically), creating a cone AOE that pushes enemies backwards during the duration. Enemies in very close proximity are dealt damage (by the horns)

  • Can move during Headbanger, but unable to dash or use movement items

-Can-Crushing Cranium reduces cooldown at a fixed rate, diminishing the longer the duration lasts and/or how often its refreshed by Can-Crushing Cranium

2: Bodycheck

-Dash forward immediately stopping and shoving the first enemy hit in the opposite direction.

  • Can also affect allies
  • Does not affect troopers
  • Target will always go full distance
  • However, shove distance is reduced by the distance Bodycheck travels.
  • If the target collides with terrain, briefly stunned.

-Any enemy hit from the shoved target will also shove them in the opposite direction back but distance is reduced.

  • Troopers are affected by this secondary effect
  • Bodycheck cooldown is reduced by secondary affected heroes/troopers to a fixed amount

3: Can-Crushing Cranium

-Chug a can. Crush it against forehead. Maintain your Alcoholism by going on a bender

-Charge ability

  • Starts with 1, can have a total of 3 through the tiers. Max 5 with Extra Charge and Rapid Recharge.
  • Provides stacking bonuses up to 3 times
  • Cans refresh duration, but become less effective the more cans crushed, up to a maximum amount.
  • Cans will reduce bonus effects after a certain time has passed and/or certain amount of cans have been crushed
  • Only one roar and one Leap allowed per duration.

-Upon 3 can crushes, Can-Crushing Cranium becomes activatable to let out a roar.

  • Roar grants allies temporary improved resistances or barriers, or heals.
  • Or maybe it does need to do anything

-Upon 3 can crushes, Punkgoat can automatically Leap towards an enemy once within a certain range.

  • Punkgoat has to be running towards target, and looking directly at it
  • Leap can trigger Headbutt grounding
  • Leap can be avoided by moving away or dodging

-Time between can crushing is unaffected by cooldown reduction or Rapid Recharge, but can procurement is.

  • Time between can crushing can only be reduced by firerate.

-Once duration ends, become silenced, slowed and reduced resistance/vulnerable to damage for a brief duration.

-If buff wears off during Mosh Pit, greatly reduced resistances and greatly increased slow and silence.

-Counterplay: CC reduces duration

-Special counter to show you how much you drank in a match

4: Mosh Pit:

-Welcome to the Mosh Pit.

-An arena is formed. Some might even call it a pit.

-Enemies and teammates in it become trapped, but the pit can be jumped out of.

-Any enemy Punkgoat collides with is shoved in the opposite direction (or maybe limit this to only Bodycheck)

  • If an enemy collides with the edge of the mosh pit, the terrain or other enemy heroes/troopers, they will bounce back instead of being stunned
  • Troopers are also affected.
  • Everybody just bounces off each other
  • Allies are immune.

-During Mosh Pit, Bodycheck will shove teammates out.

-If anyone slides across on top of the Mosh Pit, they will crowdsurf.

I hope you all enjoy, and I appreciate any feedback and questions. If anyone thinks of combos, please do share them. I have a few I’ve thought up of. Thanks for reading.

V2 Since Punkgoat seemingly doesn’t have a moveset yet, if this isn’t it or like it, I might actually riot.

scarsonwiki Deadlock Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Check out the oringal post here: https://forums.playdeadlock.com/threads/since-punkgoat-seemingly-doesn%E2%80%99t-have-a-moveset-yet-if-this-isn%E2%80%99t-it-or-like-it-i-might-actually-riot.63473/post-127592

Punkgoat v2

“It ain’t easy being a Punk (Rocker), but being a Goat-like deity helps, I guess. It’s mostly the beer and cigarettes, though.”

Fun fact: Biquette the Punk Rock Goat

Punkgoat is a disruptor, looking to create their own tempo and rhythm during a fight, whether it be in a 1v1 skirmish or a team fight, or ganking or being ganked. Able to ocular patdown and visually threat assess a target. Headbutting to neutralize and set up a threat for a Bodycheck into terrain away from a teammate, or knocking that teammate away from the threat. Or maybe, chug three cans of your favorite drink and go on a bender. Haphazardly hurling your body into a crowd, into the heart of a fight, headbanging to the cries of their agony. Of course, one could always show them the way of the Pit, and Mosh off the mayhem of bodies. All good things come to an end though, and the consequences of binging can leave Punkgoat vulnerable to, perhaps, well-deserved payback.

Reference images (Credit to Amir Faysal check out his store here, and Encyclopædia Britannica):

Gun: Monocussioner (Shadows of the Damned’s pump shotgun; see picture below); two handed, which would make Punkgoat the first shotgun hero to hold their gun with two hands. Alt fire similar to Shiv’s.

Stamina: 2 bars

Abilities


1: Headbutt/banger

–Headbutt: Channel to increase damage over time.

  • Can Headbutt early, dealing partial damage and fading slow
  • Punkgoat cannot move while channeling
  • Channel is uninterrupted by Bodycheck

-Upon full channel, Headbutt the first enemy directly in front of Punkgoat, causing the target to be briefly grounded

  • Airborne enemies are shot straight down if hit by at least 3/4ths channeled Headbutt and briefly grounded (get dunked)

After crushing three cans, changes to Headbanger
–Headbanger: Punkgoat starts shaking their head violently (but rhythmically), creating a cone AOE that pushes enemies backwards during the duration. Enemies in very close proximity are dealt damage (by the horns). Can move around but not dash or use movement abilities/items. Colliding with terrain stuns Punkgoat, except in Mosh Pit.

2: Bodycheck/hurl

–Bodycheck: Dash forward immediately stopping and shoving the first enemy hit in the opposite direction. Both Punkgoat and the target take gun damage.

  • Can only be used on the ground and will always go in a straight line.
  • Can also affect allies
  • Does not affect troopers, but shoves them away.
  • Target will always go full distance
  • However, shove distance is reduced by the distance Bodycheck travels.
  • If the target collides with terrain, briefly stunned.

After crushing three cans, changes to Bodyhurl
–Bodyhurl: Hurl your body forward slamming into enemies. Both Punkgoat and the targets take gun damage. Self-damage is proportional to enemies slammed. If done during Mosh Pit, Punkgoat is healed instead of damaged.

  • Airborne enemies caught will be dragged down with Punkgoat and briefly grounded
  • If done in the air, enemies struck are briefly grounded.

3: Can-Crushing Cranium

-Chug a can. Crush it against your forehead. Maintain Alcoholism by going on a bender. After chugging three cans within a time limit, transform into a Baphomet-like figure (mostly cosmetic) with changed abilities.

-Charge ability, hold to drink cans.

  • Starts with 3 cans, max 5 with Extra Charge and Rapid Recharge.
  • Crushing a can starts a timer.
  • Upon three can crushes, receive a buff and different abilities that can be used once per duration.
  • Cans refresh timer/duration, but after three cans become less effective the more cans crushed, up to a maximum amount.
  • Can crushing can be interrupted and will waste a can if it is.
  • Cans are fixed; cans recharge once out of charges or once duration ends

-Time to chug is unaffected by cooldown reduction or Rapid Recharge, but can procurement is.

  • Time to chug can only be reduced by firerate.

-If duration ends after 3 can crushes, become silenced, slowed and reduced resistance/vulnerable to damage for a brief duration based cans drunk during duration.

-If duration ends before 3 can crushes, become slowed.

-Special counter to show you how much you drank in a match

4: Mosh Pit:

-Welcome to the Mosh Pit.
-An arena is formed.

  • Punkgoat’s movement abilities/items are silenced and can only melee in the Pit.
  • Punkgoat can use abilities after three can crushes, but is still limited to using only once.
  • Punkgoat, and enemies and teammates in it become trapped, but the arena can be jumped out of, or slid out of. Punkgoat, however, has a duty to the Pit.
  • Enemies hit by a heavy melee or abilitiy are shoved backwards.
  • If an enemy collides with the edge of the Mosh Pit, the terrain or other enemy heroes/troopers, they will bounce back instead of being stunned
  • Troopers are also affected.
  • Everybody just bounces off each other
  • Allies are immune.

-If anyone slides across on top of the Mosh Pit, they will crowdsurf.

-If Can-Crushing Cranium buff duration ends during Most Pit, heaven forbid, Punkgoat also receives the damage they dealt during the Pit.

The misunderstood deity’s playstyle revolves around, maybe, I like to think, being a functional alcoholic. At least, it started as a joke then became its own thing that I’ve greatly enjoyed. One of my favorite aspects is that in addition to having a “mode shift” type playstyle, the abilities that are changed also shift styles. Where before three cans Punkgoat acts a kind of bouncer, after three cans Punkgoat becomes more of a bully. I wanted to give Punkgoat this weird duality of having some kind of opposites that also complement each other. While Headbutt makes you immobile and you can stun, headbanger allows you to move and knockback. Whereas Bodycheck you can only use on the ground and will stop after hitting a target, Bodyhurl will always go the distance and take anyone along with ‘em. While Can-Crushing Cranium grants benefits, it will also leave you with a nasty hangover if gone on long enough. While you can trap people in the Mosh Pit with you, do you really wanna be trapped somewhere where you, yourself, are as well? In this way, I also wanted the abilities to be self-destructive a little in their own right. Headbutt: you’re stuck. Headbanger: you can really only move. Bodycheck and Bodyhurl also dealing damage to yourself since you’re colliding your body with all kinds of varied occult.

I think it really fits well with the idea of Punk and Baphomet.

I also wanted to try and replicate the feeling of being in a Mosh Pit. Albeit, perhaps, a widely more fantastical and more violent Mosh Pit. Or maybe, being at a punk rock show. At least the spirit of it. As an example, there is a general, maybe, unspoken rule that if someone falls in the Pit, everyone around immediately tries to pick that person up. I mean, it’s common sense? Right? But, I guess, you wouldn’t expect that in a pit of people colliding into each other. And really, there is a type of kindness despite the attitude. So, that’s also one of the cores of Punkgoat for me, how can kindness be shown with violence during the violence?

Un-Privated “The Chino Escape Case of 1972”

scarsonwiki Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

I got a few inquires as to why I removed this piece, as well as a few requests to bring it back. Like Stanford Professor H. Bruce Franklin, I’m not really interested in “re-hashing” this part of my life. Not out of malice, or fears, or anything like that, but because I’ve moved on. The perks of getting older, haha. However, due to the few interests I’ve received about it, I’ve decided to re-post it to share this interesting event from an interesting time period.

The Chino Escape Case of 1972

scarsonwiki Misc Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

The Chino Escape Case of 1972

Reporting from UC Riverside—

The Chino Escape Case is a particularly odd case to have graced the 1970s in that there is little documentation in the archives of the cities involved and only a few articles to help a young duo surmise what actually happened. The case involved four defendants, Andrea Holman-Burt, Jean Hobson, Bob Seabock, and Benton Douglas Burt who had allegedly helped in the escape of a Chino Penitentiary prisoner, Ronald Wayne Beaty on October 6th, 1972. These people were from the Palo Alto/ Hayward, Ca area and were part of the radical Maoist organization Venceremos, which was headed by Stanford Professor H. Bruce Franklin. The ambush and subsequent escape occurred at night when Beaty was being transported to a hearing in San Bernardino County that, oddly enough, had been canceled the day before. The two guards transporting Beaty were unarmed and one, Jesus Sanchez, was killed in the ambush while the other, George Fitzgerald, was critically injured. Authorities claimed that Beaty had four accomplices and subsequently went into hiding for roughly two months.

In December, the San Francisco police were tipped with two calls which detailed Beaty’s route for the day. Beaty and Jean Hobson were stopped on the Bay Bridge on the 11th and in the car trunk the police found grenades, rifles, semi-automatics, and handguns. When Beaty was alone with the FBI, he gave a detailed report of the engineers of the escape plan, naming Professor Franklin as the mastermind. He also mentioned that he had been planning his escape with members of the Venceremos group since 1971 when he met Benton Douglas Burt, a fellow jailhouse lawyer, in Chino penitentiary.

Beaty’s testimony had left the group members in disarray, since he had given around eleven names to the FBI. The months that followed involved heavy attacks on the homes of Venceremos members many of whom were arrested but later released on bail due to lack of evidence of their involvement. By January, the charges had been dropped for Franklin and a few others, but not for the main four. The four main defendants were charged by the Grand Jury with murder, lynching, and assault on an officer in late December.

To get a better understanding of the case we searched in two directions: toward the radical media and toward the mainstream media. Through our university’s inter-loan resources, we found zines and newspapers published by the Venceremos members and defendant support teams within UC Davis’ archives. The zines called the arrests a “government frame up” and claimed that Ronald Beaty had contacted the group after his escape from Chino. They acknowledged that members of the organization had personally written letters to Beaty while he was in prison, but that they had not met him until he arrived in San Francisco. The zines also mentioned that Beaty also did his fair share of slanging in and out of prison, and that he more than likely had paid accomplices to help with the escape. The physical evidence that helped Beaty’s testimony were two letters written to Beaty by Jean Hobson that had been left in the prison guard van. The support committee claimed that these letters were plotted by Beaty to later help him in shortening his prison term by complying with the FBI and naming his accomplices.

To try and get the story straight, we contacted Professor H. Bruce Franklin, the professor who organized radical groups into Venceremos while teaching at Stanford University. We asked Professor Franklin, who now teaches at Rutgers in Newark, to help us make sense of the case and the holes that we were now considering. Through our correspondence, we learned of his trials and that there was no credible evidence for his conviction except Beaty’s word. He also told us that Beaty admitted to lying about Franklin’s involvement in February, 1974. The bulk of his email, however, was about COINTELPRO. Sure, we had heard about the clandestine project that was created alongside the FBI and worked against political activism in the 60s and 70s. Yes, we knew how it dismantled organizations like the Black Panthers via silencing their key leaders, but the reality was that we did not get too heavy of a history lesson in regards to the coercive tactics used by the government to wreak havoc on the progressive movement of our elders. Franklin referred to the FBI’s recent placement of Assata Shakur on the Most Wanted List, relating their charges and the links between them. We understood what he was trying to bring us toward, but in no way was he receptive to the idea of “re-hashing” the case for us and instead offered that he would prefer discussing the effects that COINTELPRO had on his life.

Although talking more with Franklin would give us better insight on COINTELPRO, our real issue was still the defendants. Franklin did not want to discuss their lives considering it inappropriate to do so. We understood where he was coming from and dropped the subject looking instead for case records and more articles. As it turns out, neither the Riverside Superior Court or San Bernardino Court carry record information for cases older than ten years. However, we did find information through newspaper articles in different university archives. One from the San Francisco Examiner dated December 24th, 1972 stated that a man going by a few names, the one most likely to be his own: Roberto Solis, was an accomplice of Beaty’s that was identified by the San Bernardino County authorities as the “third man” involved in the ambush of the prison van, matching the description right up to his steel-rimmed oval eyeglasses. Fitzgerald, the surviving guard, as well as Beaty told the FBI that the third man went by the name “Dom” which was coincidentally Solis’ fake name at the time, Dominguez. The article states that the authorities connected Solis to Beaty through the weapons found in his room at a commune that matched weapons burglarized from a home in Portola Valley of which a member of Venceremos had allegedly been house-sitting. In his room, authorities found engineered drawings of the Soledad prison from which Solis had escaped from on July 5th, 1972. The San Francisco Examiner reported that Fitzgerald could not identify any of the main four defendants once they were shown to him under custody. Now, it seemed plausible that the two acted without the defendants help.

The San Francisco Chronicle published an article titled, “Venceremos: Role in Escape Denied,” of which different spokespersons denied that they had anything to do with the ambush. The author wrote that prior to the escape, the Venceremos had praised Beaty in their newspaper as a “revolutionary for the people through his jailhouse activism.” Then the article suggested that Jean Hobson and Beaty were romantically involved and that in his two months of hiding the pair was in Arizona. Hobson had quit the organization “at least two months ago” stated a member of the group, which linked in the time frame of Beaty’s escape. Hobson and Beaty returned to the Bay to work things out with Venceremos only to be caught on the Bay Bridge.

Another article published on December 28th by the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that Beaty pled guilty to his role in the prison van ambush and killing of Sanchez. The article states that a spokesperson from Venceremos said that Beaty was an “enemy of the people,” that he should “fear for his life,” and that the police were using him to crack down on their militant organization. Beaty was sentenced to life in prison and was granted his request for the location of his sentence to remain secret for fear that the group that had once applauded him could now hurt him.

We were growing more confused, and had to take a step back to truly consider the time period—the radical 60s—as an era of both retaliation and repression. So many community-based groups had developed as militant organizations, with the prime example residing only a few miles above Venceremos headquarters; The Black Panthers. Therefore, it would seem that a key component to why the government arrested several young, white, activists from Palo Alto, Ca, all with similar political consciousness (ie: part of the Anti-Vietnam War Movement and Prison Movement), is not because they were an inherent threat to the state, but in actuality, a devised warning to all other political activists of the time, such as Angela Davis, Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and all other Black Panthers to stop or be jailed. Also, the authorities’ objective may have very well been to dissuade young people from joining organizations like Venceremos. Whether or not members of the Venceremos organization worked with Beaty to help him escape, it seems that they were effectively used as examples of the types of repercussions radicals would face if they followed in their footsteps.

In January, the four defendants were charged with murder, lynching, assault on an officer and then convicted at the end of the month. Professor Franklin’s charges were dropped for lack of concrete evidence on January 5th. Most of the other activists arrested were let out on bail and three others who refused to testify were subpoenaed before the Grand Jury on the 30th. Andrea Holman was only eighteen at the time and in February she and Benton Doug Burt, who was 30 at the time, were married while in custody. The Venceremos zine reported that within five months in jail their charges had been dropped and then re-indicting four times. Defense lawyers were not allowed into any of the Grand Jury proceedings and the four were put under “ultra-high security,” meaning no private communication of any sort, even with their lawyers.

Our search did not lead us toward any specific findings about what happened to the four defendants. How long were they jailed? Where are they now? We have no clue. Still, we do not know what side to believe. Was this all a COINTELPRO devised frame-up? Or were the actors in a militant group escape plan caught and effectively jailed as threats to the state and had to be reprimanded? When we consider our own time, we wonder if history is repeating itself. We see leaked reports of the efforts of COINTELPRO and we see the dystopian reality of NSA monitoring as well. We all can see the efforts of the 99% and how they too have faded into a quiet nostalgia. We all can see that there are injustices going on in our country but nothing is done about it. Instead, this quiet nostalgia is where our eyes should be for that hopefulness that could’ve built a better world. It makes us wonder if history has to be doomed to repeat itself, if we, just by acknowledging the failures of political organizations like Venceremos, will also fail against the powers that control and dissuade us from equality. It makes us wonder if we can break the cycle, but then we silently lean back into our chairs and move on with the rest of our day.

And we are scared.