You thought we were done adding to the record of spittle-flecked insanity in Sarah Palin's wacked-out crusade against her former brother-in-law? Not hardly! How can you stop when there's telling context like this, taken from the 2005 Alaska State Troopers' investigation into Palin's complaints about Wooten having allegedly shot a moose illegally?
[Again, the players are Mike Wooten (MW) and the interviewer, Sergeant Ron Wall (RW). They're joined by Public Safety Employees Association Representative John Cyr (JC).]
RW: Well MIKE the the first question I-I would have for you is basically can you ah...I had to write them down here. Ah can you basically explain if ah...you're [sic] version of this ah on the moose?
MW: The moose? Sure. Probably I don't know 2 maybe 3 years ago now. I'm not sure how long back it was. Umm MOLLY [Sarah's sister, and then Wooten's wife] drew a cow moose permit for the valley area and umm we because of my work schedule and what not didn't get a chance to go out hunting. We did some road hunting a little bit here and there. Umm and CHUCK [Heath, Molly and Sarah's father] was giving MOLLY a hard time about getting the tag filled. And umm made a statement to her that he was going to take her out and go hunting and fill the tag if I didn't and MOLLY came home all upset crying and saying, "You need to take me out. We need to get a moose because my dad won't leave me alone. And he's harassed me about it and I do not want to go hunting with him under any circumstances. It's not fun. He makes it miserable and I don't want to go." And I said, "Okay." You know. "We'll do what we can." So I called up (Clears throat) CHRIS WATCHUS. A friend of mine that had a boat. And I said, "Hey CHRIS MOLLY's got a cow moose permit and we want to go hunting. Can you take us up river and see if we can find a moose?" And an he said, "Yeah no problem MIKE." So we went over to ah...we were at CHUCK and SALLY's house for dinner the night before we were gonna go hunting and CHUCK started razzin' MOLLY about filling the permit. And basically umm and I told CHUCK. I said, "You know what CHUCK, why don't you just, just leave her alone. It's her permit. It's not yours. If we don't go hunting, we don't go hunting. It's not that big of an issue."
RW: Okay.
MW: And he said ah he said, "Well if you don't take her out there and fill that permit I'll fill it for you." And I said, "Well we're gonna go hunting tomorrow." And he said, "Well there's only..." Like, it was 3 days left in the season or something. And he's like; "Well there's only three days left. Nothing like waiting 'til the end an..." You know riding me on and on and I said, "Well we're gonna go hunting tomorrow. We're gonna go up river. We'll probably, probably see a moose." You know, "...should be a good, good deal. When I get off work we're meeting my buddy at 3:00 o'clock and we're gonna take his boat and we're gonna go get a moose." And ah the next day we meet up with CHRIS. Get in his boat. Go up river and ah we were up river probably 15-20 minutes saw a moose. A cow moose umm...CHRIS shut off the boat and he said, "We're good to go we're on river power. Boat's not pushing us anymore." You know "Go ahead and shoot the moose." And I told MOLLY. I said, "Do you want to shoot the moose?" And she said, "No I don't want to shoot the gun." And I said, "Okay I'll shoot the moose for you then." She said, "That's fine. I'm not shooting it." And I said "Okay." So I got my gun out and I shot the moose. And then we cleaned it up and MOLLY called CHUCK and said, "We got a moose." And he was all (inaudible) and happy about it and when we got back to CHUCK's house (clears throat) he said ah, "Where'd you guys get it?" I told him we were up the river and found it. Shot it and umm he was all happy and helped me butcher. And a matter of fact he did most of the butchering cause I had to work. And ah not...I mean that was it. We filled out the tag. We turned it in and that was...I mean that was the end of our hunting for the year.
RW: So you told MOLLY to shoot the moose?
MW: Yeah. I told her. I asked her. I said, "You." You know "you want to shoot it? It's your moose." And she said, "No I don't want to shoot your gun." And I said, "Are you sure?" And she said, "Yeah I don't want to shoot it you shoot it." And I said, "Okay." So I shot it.
RW: Did you hunt any more after that on your tag or any other tag?
MW: I didn't. No. No. That was it.
RW: That was the end of...
MW: We got one moose and that was it. That's all we need one year for 1 moose will last my family a year an a half-two years. That was it.
RW: Okay the weapon you used was your 300?
MW: Mmhm.
RW: Ah how many times has MOLLY shot that weapon before?
MW: Oh she never shot it.
RW: Is that scoped?
MW: Mmhm.
RW: I guess my question would be is why would she go out to shoot a moose if she had never shot the weapon before? I mean I would... personally I wouldn't take my gun hunting (inaudible).
MW: To shut her dad up. And that's the only gun I have to hunt with.
RW: Okay. Well if that's the answer (inaudible).
MW: That's the answer. Yeah shut her dad up.
RW: Okay. Alright.
MW: And the only gun I have is the 300. That's it I don't have any other hunting rifles. So... matter of fact when, when, when the moose was killed. We got the moose. MOLLY looked at me and said, "I'm calling my dad right now. So I can shut him up."
(Pause to take notes)
RW: Okay did you ah review the statutes ah in relation (inaudible) before applying for the regulations or applying for the permit or going hunting?
MW: As far as what?
RW: Ah what you could shoot and who could shoot it and so forth?
MW: I just applied for the permits that CHUCK told me to put in for. I said, "Okay." He even gave me the numbers.
RW: Okay.
MW: The number of the permits. They're they're listed in my DM405 and the Caribou ones are something like TTC or something like that and he told me every year what to put in for and I put in for them.
JC: You hadn't lived up here for very long at that time had you?
MW: Probably 6 years.
JC: Had you been hunt, ah I mean that...I just wondered.
RW: Okay. Now after that animal is taken I understand that you have to sign a permit or something saying that you actually took the moose. Did MOLLY do that?
MW: The form that you turn in to the fish and game people?
RW: Yeah.
MW: Yeah.
RW: Okay. And she signed it saying she, she took the moose or you took the moose?
MW: Ah I don't know what the...I didn't read the form I just clipped out the the you know the time and or the date and month that it was taken and and she signed it and we took and turned it in.
RW: (Inaudible) There you go. Is that a ah hunt to your knowledge that could have been proxy? I mean the... you understand what I mean right?
MW: As far as I know any hunt can be proxy. I don't know. I mean I'm not...
RW: I mean is she eligible to be...for somebody else to take a tag. Take her and fill her tag?
MW: I don't know. I don't know.
RW: Okay.
MW: I don't know.
So how bizarre is that? Sarah's dad, Chuck Heath, browbeats his daughter Molly into applying for a moose permit even though she has little or no interest in hunting, and then berates her for not going out to shoot a moose. Then the threatens to go out and shoot one on her tag whether she goes along or not, prompting Wooten to agree to go out hunting with her the next day and take care of it himself.
I mean, I still have a lot of questions about just what Todd is really all about and how much influence he has over Sarah. But maybe people need to be asking some questions about Sarah's dad Chuck, too. I mean, who is this wild man? Forcing his adult kids to go out on hunting trips they have no interest in so that he can butcher the meat? Threatening to steal their hunting permits and go out without them if they won't bring home the meat themselves? Running down wolves on his snowmobile? Crazily chasing wolverines around the wilderness for target practice? Who is this guy?
Anyway, crazy though he might be, Wooten complies and takes Molly out to shoot the moose Chuck demanded, succeeds in bagging one, takes it back to Chuck's house where Chuck happily butchers it, keeping the family in mooseburger for two years.
Then, when things later turn sour, Chuck and Sarah are on the phone weeping and wailing to the AST that Wooten needs to be fired because he illegally shot a moose.
What a bunch of crazy fucking assholes.
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