Law, Order, and Finance

“Hope is about 100 miles (160 kilometres) from Point Roberts, Washington state, the last place Jenkins was reported to have been seen before entering Canada. Police believe he took a speedboat from Blaine, Washington, across a bay to Point Roberts, Wash., and then walked across the Canadian border.” Thus reporteth the Associated Press.

Point Roberts is now so famous that I have had two California friends/relatives get in touch with me to find out about how we’re doing. That is, have we survived the brief visit to Point Roberts of some Calgary guy who is alleged to have killed some Hollywood model after appearing on a TV reality show. Well, with that kind of drama, I suppose Point Roberts is a natural next step on one’s escape route. And then a stroll across the border into Canada before going on to Hope to commit suicide. I guess Hope would be the next natural step, although Bountiful might be an alternative choice. All that border guarding and this is the result? A Canadian guy who has inspired a manhunt takes a speedboat to Point Roberts and then walks across the border? I presume he was not traveling with stone fruits or contraband beef.

[Later addition: It occurs to me that if he knew enough to get to Point Roberts from Blaine, he might have known enough to walk across the border at some locale NOT the border station.]

I guess we were lucky to have been up here in the Sunshine Coast so we didn’t have to risk being stuffed into the trunk of a car or whatever by the alleged Mr. Jenkins.

During the same interval, or a little more, the plucky little Sterling Bank has come to yet another crossroads that has left it looking unclear about the next step on its journey. Early this year it announced no dividend for the common shareholders. Last week, alas, it had to announce that it was not going to pay any dividend to its preferred shareholders either, nor to its junior debt holders, and its fans responded by knocking it down another 20+ percent. Now, at barely half the price of Citigroup, it looks like it has a chance to get back to its low of $1.01. That’s a destination that sounds a little Hopeless. On the upside, it hasn’t yet received a ‘cease and desist’ order from the FDIC, which means it is not on the FDIC list of 300 deeply troubled banks. That drama continues.