Formed in 2009, the Archive Team (not to be confused with the archive.org Archive-It Team) is a rogue archivist collective dedicated to saving copies of rapidly dying or deleted websites for the sake of history and digital heritage. The group is 100% composed of volunteers and interested parties, and has expanded into a large amount of related projects for saving online and digital history.
Saturday 2 September 2023
Wednesday 16 August 2023
the truth about Richard
This story haunted me and it still does. It's really distressing to know that I saw so clearly, in 1 short hour, what this young woman's life was about yet didn't, and couldn't, do anything to change what happened.
Read on.
This is a true story - at least it is my interpretation of events. It happened about 20 years ago. I just rediscovered it in my personal writing folder so thought I would share it. I didn't share it then because it was too raw and I was worried someone would recognise the characters. I figure this much distance should make it ok to share now. At first I wasn't even sure I had written it, but although it took me a while to remember the people and the context, the images came flooding back.
Blue eyes, blonde, body of Adonis. He is beautiful to look at, but I know what he is the moment I see him. Wife, blonde. Both obsessed with appearances, body image, into weights. I visit the house once. Suburbia, asbestos fence, the salmon brick I despise so much. It is cold, alien. Everything that should be in a home is there but nothing belongs. The couch, the dining table, a barbeque area out the back, complete with corrugated plastic for when it rains. I am left with her. She is allowed to talk to me because I am female, no threat. I don’t know what to say to her, there is no-one there, nothing I can hang onto, a bland shell. I am distressed just being there.
She has a five-year-old son. The boy isn't his. He controls every aspect of this child’s being with a vicious measured oppressiveness. The child is terrified of him.
They have some business to attend to, I am left to amuse myself for a while, told I can read the magazines. They are about body-building, there are so many of them, nothing else to read, a large stack. I try to look at them, just to fill in time. They alienate me further.
Some time later she goes missing, at the Gap. There is some story that they had been fishing and she lost her footing. He has all the stage props there to convince the police, fishing gear, clothing, torches? They went early, it was still dark and that is why she lost her footing. There is a search of the Gap, the back yard of the house. There is an enquiry. A body is never found. He gets away with it.
Local myth says she had decided to leave him. No one really believed she ever went to the Gap that day, that instead she is buried under the grey cement patio slabs in the back yard. I imagine her there, being walked on every day. At last he has her where he wants her.
Three years later Richard committed suicide, which in my mind confirmed his guilt and sent him off to purgatory. I remember being relieved to discover a conscience, to find that he was not a complete monster. But later it occurred to me that maybe he hadn't done it. Maybe the fact that many people like me were convinced he had was simply too much to bear - which is also why I have waited years to post this.
Maybe nobody will never know what really happened. The only people that did are gone.
Peta went fishing on an Albany cliff with her husband in 1997. She has not been seen since.
Heather McNeill, August 15, 2023
Young Albany mother Peta Weber vanished 25 years ago while on an early morning fishing trip with her husband.
Her partner, Richard Weber, had said the couple dropped their children, aged two and seven, at his parents’ house around 5.30pm.
Before dawn the following morning – June 21, 1997 – they headed to The Gap, south-west of Albany.
The popular tourist attraction is a coastal area strewn with cliffs. A public viewing platform erected above the ocean is often subject to windy conditions and high seas.
According to Richard, the pair were fishing around 6.45am when 25-year-old Peta said she needed the toilet and walked away.
He told police he never saw her again, and around 7.30am, he waved down a car on a main road to drive him to where he could get mobile reception to contact police and report his wife missing.
An extensive three-week land and sea search failed to locate Peta. Her disappearance was treated as a missing person’s case until 2017, when police declared it was being treated as a potential homicide.
No one has ever been charged.
Richard died by suicide in 2000 while he was being covertly followed by police.
On Tuesday, a coronial inquest was launched to determine whether Peta was alive, and if not, what could have caused her death.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Jon Tiller, revealed details about the case never before publicly released, including how it appeared Richard had dropped the children to his parents’ house alone, and that no one other than Richard reported seeing Peta after this drop-off.
“The police investigation was referred from Albany to the homicide squad in 1998 for review, which identified Richard as a significant person of interest,” he said.
“From a very early stage in the police investigation into Peta’s disappearance, suspicion was centred on Richard. He was believed to have a motive, means and opportunity.
“Richard was interviewed several times and consistently denied any involvement in Peta’s disappearance, maintaining that he last saw her walking away at the fishing spot.”
Peta’s disappearance occurred as the couple’s marriage was deteriorating and she told a friend the day before that she planned to leave her husband and move in with the friend.
“In early 1996, Peta confided in close friends about incidents where Richard was abusive toward herself and John [her son from a previous marriage],” he said.
“By late 1996 ... some believed Peta was afraid of Richard. There is evidence he was very controlling of Peta and limited her access to finances, friends and the outside world.”
Tiller said Peta and Richard married in 1993 and had a daughter, Abigail, together in 1995.
“Peta stayed at home caring for both John and Abigail while Richard worked. Peta had a small circle of close friends and was known as a kind, caring and beautiful person,” he said.
“Richard would regularly go fishing off the coast and Peta would sometimes join him, although ordinarily only when her son John was also going.
“She knew how to fish but had told friends she didn’t enjoy the pastime and would sometimes remain in the car while Richard fished.”
Peter’s suicide (Ed. I think they meant Richard's suicide) occurred three years after Peta’s disappearance, after the breakdown of a new relationship.
The inquest will hear evidence from the police officer who undertook the initial investigation, and from the one who conducted the 2015 review.
WA Today: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/peta-went-fishing-on-an-albany-cliff-with-her-husband-in-1997-she-has-not-been-seen-since-20230815-p5dwoj.html
This is a true story - at least it is my interpretation of events. It happened about 20 years ago. I just rediscovered it in my personal writing folder so thought I would share it. I didn't share it then because it was too raw and I was worried someone would recognise the characters. I figure this much distance should make it ok to share now. At first I wasn't even sure I had written it, but although it took me a while to remember the people and the context, the images came flooding back.
Blue eyes, blonde, body of Adonis. He is beautiful to look at, but I know what he is the moment I see him. Wife, blonde. Both obsessed with appearances, body image, into weights. I visit the house once. Suburbia, asbestos fence, the salmon brick I despise so much. It is cold, alien. Everything that should be in a home is there but nothing belongs. The couch, the dining table, a barbeque area out the back, complete with corrugated plastic for when it rains. I am left with her. She is allowed to talk to me because I am female, no threat. I don’t know what to say to her, there is no-one there, nothing I can hang onto, a bland shell. I am distressed just being there.
She has a five-year-old son. The boy isn't his. He controls every aspect of this child’s being with a vicious measured oppressiveness. The child is terrified of him.
They have some business to attend to, I am left to amuse myself for a while, told I can read the magazines. They are about body-building, there are so many of them, nothing else to read, a large stack. I try to look at them, just to fill in time. They alienate me further.
Some time later she goes missing, at the Gap. There is some story that they had been fishing and she lost her footing. He has all the stage props there to convince the police, fishing gear, clothing, torches? They went early, it was still dark and that is why she lost her footing. There is a search of the Gap, the back yard of the house. There is an enquiry. A body is never found. He gets away with it.
Local myth says she had decided to leave him. No one really believed she ever went to the Gap that day, that instead she is buried under the grey cement patio slabs in the back yard. I imagine her there, being walked on every day. At last he has her where he wants her.
Three years later Richard committed suicide, which in my mind confirmed his guilt and sent him off to purgatory. I remember being relieved to discover a conscience, to find that he was not a complete monster. But later it occurred to me that maybe he hadn't done it. Maybe the fact that many people like me were convinced he had was simply too much to bear - which is also why I have waited years to post this.
Maybe nobody will never know what really happened. The only people that did are gone.
UPDATE 12 January
It seems I am not the only one still troubled by Peta's disappearance. I did some Googling and found a 2017 article by the West Australian newspaper entitled Cold Case Squad Probe Disappearance. I didn't know when I did this post that it was only this year that the police reopened the case and openly state now that it may well have been a homicide.
It seems I am not the only one still troubled by Peta's disappearance. I did some Googling and found a 2017 article by the West Australian newspaper entitled Cold Case Squad Probe Disappearance. I didn't know when I did this post that it was only this year that the police reopened the case and openly state now that it may well have been a homicide.
Comment by a reader:
2023
Jump forward to August 15 2023 and I am watching the 6.00 o'clock news on a commercial TV channel. I wasn't really paying attention but realised towards the end of the segment that it was about Richard and Peta. This is the article in WA Today.
Heather McNeill, August 15, 2023
Young Albany mother Peta Weber vanished 25 years ago while on an early morning fishing trip with her husband.
Her partner, Richard Weber, had said the couple dropped their children, aged two and seven, at his parents’ house around 5.30pm.
Before dawn the following morning – June 21, 1997 – they headed to The Gap, south-west of Albany.
The popular tourist attraction is a coastal area strewn with cliffs. A public viewing platform erected above the ocean is often subject to windy conditions and high seas.
According to Richard, the pair were fishing around 6.45am when 25-year-old Peta said she needed the toilet and walked away.
He told police he never saw her again, and around 7.30am, he waved down a car on a main road to drive him to where he could get mobile reception to contact police and report his wife missing.
An extensive three-week land and sea search failed to locate Peta. Her disappearance was treated as a missing person’s case until 2017, when police declared it was being treated as a potential homicide.
No one has ever been charged.
Richard died by suicide in 2000 while he was being covertly followed by police.
On Tuesday, a coronial inquest was launched to determine whether Peta was alive, and if not, what could have caused her death.
Counsel assisting the coroner, Jon Tiller, revealed details about the case never before publicly released, including how it appeared Richard had dropped the children to his parents’ house alone, and that no one other than Richard reported seeing Peta after this drop-off.
“The police investigation was referred from Albany to the homicide squad in 1998 for review, which identified Richard as a significant person of interest,” he said.
“From a very early stage in the police investigation into Peta’s disappearance, suspicion was centred on Richard. He was believed to have a motive, means and opportunity.
“Richard was interviewed several times and consistently denied any involvement in Peta’s disappearance, maintaining that he last saw her walking away at the fishing spot.”
Peta’s disappearance occurred as the couple’s marriage was deteriorating and she told a friend the day before that she planned to leave her husband and move in with the friend.
“In early 1996, Peta confided in close friends about incidents where Richard was abusive toward herself and John [her son from a previous marriage],” he said.
“By late 1996 ... some believed Peta was afraid of Richard. There is evidence he was very controlling of Peta and limited her access to finances, friends and the outside world.”
Tiller said Peta and Richard married in 1993 and had a daughter, Abigail, together in 1995.
“Peta stayed at home caring for both John and Abigail while Richard worked. Peta had a small circle of close friends and was known as a kind, caring and beautiful person,” he said.
“Richard would regularly go fishing off the coast and Peta would sometimes join him, although ordinarily only when her son John was also going.
“She knew how to fish but had told friends she didn’t enjoy the pastime and would sometimes remain in the car while Richard fished.”
Peter’s suicide (Ed. I think they meant Richard's suicide) occurred three years after Peta’s disappearance, after the breakdown of a new relationship.
The inquest will hear evidence from the police officer who undertook the initial investigation, and from the one who conducted the 2015 review.
WA Today: https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/peta-went-fishing-on-an-albany-cliff-with-her-husband-in-1997-she-has-not-been-seen-since-20230815-p5dwoj.html
Image: Getty Images/Crime Stoppers
Original post: Richard https://michellefrantomblogspot.com/2018/01/richard.html
Monday 14 August 2023
The "Good" Old Days
This is the song I am currently dancing to in my room. It seems counter-intuitive that I sing along to the lyrics - I mean, given what we are heading into with the impending apocalypse.
I have always loved dancing. It's harder to do now that I am older, but as a younger person I was a bit of a maniac on the dance floor. When I remember to do it, dancing still makes me feel good and I forget about all the crap that's going on.
This is what John Paul White says about this song:
“It’s really me wondering....“what era of America are people wanting to get back to? I’m having a hard time thinking of one we haven’t progressed from, or shouldn’t progress from. As a father, I see the world through their eyes and I’m wondering what we’re leaving for them, what they’re heading into, and how it can be improved upon – and how it can be improved upon for every single person on this earth and not just a select few. This song is my counter-argument to Making America Great Again.”So tell me - what songs are you dancing to lately?
Friday 28 July 2023
global boiling
Today the UN chief finally ditched the global 'warming' euphemism and shifted to 'global boiling'. Thank fuck for that. Next question - how the hell does the UN think that making these declarations actually helps?
Saying over and over again that we are in a crisis is completely pointless. Calling on fossil fuel companies to change their behaviour is pointless. The oil is produced for people, PEOPLE WHO WON'T STOP USING IT. People who still think they have a right to take an overseas holiday, fly around the world for important meetings, take cruises on ships that burn up God knows how much energy being built, then providing their customers with a luxurious 'experience'.
Wealthy humans are chasing 'experiences' all over the world. They refuse to rethink their lifestyle. They believe they deserve it, even if it is at the expense of future generations - their kids, their grandkids. Grey nomads and flood or COVID refugees have taken to the road. Australians are buying more fuel guzzling monstrosities than ever before, so they can tow their toys and have 'experiences'.
Nobody in the rich western world wants to give up anything. Try telling all those people climbing out of poverty in India or China or Africa that they should lower their expectations. They won't. Why should they?
This problem is too big. Many people think their individual contribution to global boiling is insignificant, so they don't bother. They are also so used to getting what they want and think they need, they just keep on doing what they've been doing.
The UN needs to stop giving the world vacuous updates. It's not helping. It's not doing anything. Calling for governments, who have no real power, to DO more. Do what? DO WHAT???? As soon as they try big business gives them a clip over the ear, and their citizens vote them out.
We could start by turning off the lights in cities and towns at night. It's low hanging fruit yet we haven't even talked about it. How can governments stop their citizens from going on overseas holidays, buying big fuck you 4WDs? How? They can't even provide homes, healthcare or support for victims of domestic violence.
I drive 15km to the beach to maintain sanity. Should I stop doing that? I live a very low impact life as it is. Does it matter anyway? For every small thing I do, there are a million selfish or wilfully ignorant bastards out there giving up absolutely fuck all.
I don't know how people with children are coping. My guess is they are so busy meeting their kids' needs on a daily basis they don't get time to think about it most of the time. And when they do, they push it out of their minds or go quietly insane in the wee hours. I want to ask them how they are doing, but it seems like a cruel thing to do, so I don't.
The UN chief was right about one thing. This is just the beginning. Hang onto your hats, your loved ones - and learn to meditate.
Cartoon: Jim Pavlidis, The Age.
Tuesday 27 June 2023
'Paths'
I know nothing about this performer(s) - Wamdue Project so here is some Googled info.
'Brann is known for his work under the monikers Wamdue Project and Ananda Project. Chris Brann started producing music in 1994, teaming up with DJ Deep C (Chris Clarke) and Udoh (Chris Udoh). The trio started producing tracks together under the name Wamdue Kids, releasing house music EPs on Detroit label Acacia Records
I just love this song - sung by Jessica Tonder.
Saturday 29 April 2023
'Tree Hugger'
This is 'Treehugger' by music producer Janapriyan Levine. I discovered this tune today while watching yet another video of a cute French bulldog named Cabbage skateboarding.
This is what Soundcloud have to say about him:
'Janapriyan Levine is a California based music producer most known for helping to create the Facebook Sound Collection. His extensive list of collaborators includes grammy award winning song writers and many of South East Asia's premier vocalists.'
It's very cruisey. I love it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. This link will take you to many more of this musician's tunes.
It's very cruisey. I love it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. This link will take you to many more of this musician's tunes.
Sunday 9 April 2023
It's so hard to change
I think most of us accept that we aren't perfect. Unless you are a narcissist you are probably like me in that there are key aspects of yourself you would like to change. If so you might regularly beat yourself up about it like I do. Although I am a high achiever, so maybe my level of self criticism is driven by that.
One of the liberating things that came out of COVID is the public recognition of the prevalence of mental health issues in our society. Before COVID I don't remember commercial TV presenters talking about things like low-level anxiety and listening to TV 'expert' psychs on the couch reassuring the public that it is common to wake around 2 or 3 am and forensically examine your deeds and conversations of the day. I don't know whether I invented the term 'cringe factor' but I use it to refer to my tendency to cringe at some of the things I have said to people, and my ungracious responses to things that have happened during the day. I want to be better. I want to be more gracious, more patient and less angry. But it's so hard to change.Many years ago I was in a relationship that was quite destructive. My partner at that time had some bad life habits, but I did too. I remember during a huge argument I went to see a friend who was a Jungian psychologist and through tears of frustration I asked him why I kept making bad choices in my life and why, even though I could see that's what I was doing, I couldn't stop doing it! I know why now but at the time I was confused and at a turning point. He said something to this effect: 'Keep noticing, every time, what you are doing. One day - you will just stop'. At the time it didn't help much, but he was absolutely right.
After a while I saw the dynamics of that relationship very clearly and ended it, only to get into a short marriage that ended in divorce. The issues were quite different, however extricating myself from that was equally complicated and devastating for both parties so obviously I still hadn't learnt what I needed to. Fortunately since then and for the past 22 years I have been in a good relationship that has been mutually beneficial.
Resolving one critical aspect of life was a relief however my constant and regular relapses of behaviour in other areas have been and continue to be a source of anxiety. In order to change behaviour, I have to understand it first. There are strategies to manage anxiety and fear. First you have to notice what is going on. Then you have to remember that this is a pattern - you've been here before - so you know from experience that nothing lasts forever. Believe it and accept where you are. The most important thing to do through the whole process, which may take minutes, hours or days as you go around and around in circles - is remember to breathe and let go of self judgement.
If you ever get to a point where you accept bad and good states of mind equally - you have probably evolved into an enlightened being! I'm a long way from that.
The bad news is I am still as imperfect as I ever was. The good news is that as I have aged, I have found ways to better 'manage' my state of mind - sometimes....
Image: Balloon Girl by author.
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