On Monday, November 1, 2010, a peaceful brown bag (to avoid police retaliation) protest was conducted on the sidewalk in front of Prescott City Hall. Mayor Kuykendall in an interview said he welcomed this exercise. See Protesters condemn ‘bullying’ in Castaneda arrest/search warrant
(Editor's note: The following posts are reprinted from the Prescott AZ Insights blog.)
By Jack D. Wilson
What a dichotomy, a town with a slogan of Everybody’s Hometown and a good-ole-boys lunch club called the Monday Morning Mafia. It seems that old habits die hard, so when a group of citizens organized as Prescott Citizens Against Bullies to legally protest over-the-top police tactics, bullying and retribution, it was not well received by the local power brokers.
One of the organizers of Prescott Citizens Against Bullies is KayAnne Riley. She is a single mother and a former Marine. She works at the Yavapai Humane Society as their Marketing & Communications Manager. She was the original media contact for Prescott Citizens Against Bullies; however, she was pressured at work because of her support of that group on her own time and with her own resources.
Mayor Kuykendall denies involvement
A member of the Yavapai Humane Society (YHS) board had a 10 a.m. meeting on Thursday, Oct. 28 with the YHS Executive Director regarding KayAnne Riley’s participation in a planned protest march.
The Mayor allegedly told this board member, HIS GOOD FRIEND, that KayAnne’s continued participation in this was AFFECTING THEIR FRIENDSHIP!!!!
and also that...
“The entire City Council sees this as a Yavapai Humane Society problem.”
Following that, KayAnne, a single mother, was told that she was being placed on two days unpaid administrative leave to ensure the Yavapai Humane Society had distanced itself from the Prescott Citizens Against Bullies and their planned Brown Bag Protest on Monday, Nov. 1. The YHS Executive Director later told KayAnne that she must have misunderstood as it was paid administrative leave.
The YHS has a contract with the City of Prescott. Prescott Mayor Marlin Kuykendall was interviewed regarding this and denied any involvement, which means that his story is in direct conflict with what the YHS board member allegedly communicated to the YHS Executive Director.
The latest act of retribution – when will it stop?
However, on Tuesday morning, Nov. 2, KayAnne Riley was told by her boss, the YHS Executive Director, that she was on “indefinite” paid administrative leave. That action makes the claims that “I am not involved” sound hollow and points out the good-ole-boy network is alive and well in Everybody’s Hometown (everyone except those that shake the status quo, that is).
The incident that triggered the protest occurred on Oct. 13 when police used a ram to enter the home of former Elks Opera House Manager Dawn Castaneda. According to a police spokesperson, after knocking twice and waiting 20 seconds, said the officers used a ram to open the door, although he said the police did not break down the door. The spokesperson acknowledged that the six or seven police officers who were involved in the search entered the home with their guns out, although he said, “They weren’t pointed at anyone.”
The police admitted they had Castaneda under surveillance, but still felt compelled to break her door down and terrify her kids with guns drawn on them. They used seven sworn officers, six with guns drawn and the last with a battering ram, to execute a simple search warrant based on accusations of credit card misuse amounting to $6,000. There were four children in the house at the time, two of grammar school age and two of high school age, the oldest being 17. Most parents teach their children not to open doors for strangers. It is easy to understand why a 17-year-old might not have understood what was happening in 20 seconds.
(Jack D. Wilson first visited Prescott in 1995 and has been a resident since 2000. He took a sojourn into politics and was the mayor of Prescott Arizona from Nov. 2007 – Nov. 2009. He now writes a couple of blogs and is President of the Prescott Frontier Days Community Service Foundation.)
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