Off Beat: How did they do that?

It's sometimes a mystery how law enforcement solves cases, or at least comes up with enough evidence to charge a suspect.

Getting a conviction is another matter, of course.

Take the case of Todd Allen Cole, now facing a murder charge in the July slaying of Scott Malmstrom in Linda.

Malmstrom was stabbed repeatedly, leaving a bloody crime scene, according to court documents.

It didn't seem like it was a case that could be easily solved.

But that's where the CSI stuff comes in — crime scene investigation.

Every crime scene tells a story. The question is can the cops, or in this case sheriff's detectives, decipher it.

It turned out they could, although the Yuba County Sheriff's Department spokeswoman wasn't of a mind to explain any of it after Cole was arrested.

It was all very mysterious to the public, but not to the detectives.

As this newspaper reported: "Department spokeswoman Melanie Oakes said there was evidence linking Cole to the case, but she could not say what it was or whether Cole knew Malmstrom, a registered sex offender whose body was found July 25 at Malmstrom's Beale Star Apartments home on North Beale Road."

Essentially, Oakes was playing by the standard cop playbook: They know everything, but they'll tell you — the public — next to nothing.

It wasn't always that way, but things changed and lawyers got involved and defendant's rights had to be protected and nobody wants a change of venue because that costs money.

So the case against Cole was made like this, according to the "declaration of probable cause" that summarizes why he was arrested. It's filed in court. Anybody can read it. Even Melanie Oakes.

A "latent print" was discovered on a beer can in Malmstrom's apartment. The print was linked to Cole.

Cole, who was on parole, was interviewed by detectives. Cole said he had visited Malmstrom's apartment a few times.

The detectives then took inked footprints from Cole. Why? Because footprints were found in the blood in Malmstrom's apartment.

Cole's footprint and the footprints found at the crime scene were compared by the state Department of Justice.

They matched, according to the court document.

And that's how cases are made.

Cry from the wilderness

If you read the Federal Register, and few of you do, you may have seen a 15-page proposed regulation issued in early September about annual fees to be assessed motor carriers, motor private carriers, freight forwarders, brokers and leasing companies.

The folks at D & H Transportation Inc. in Yuba City were paying very close attention. Here's the comment D &H sent to the feds:

At a time when the california trucking industry is on the brink of extinction due to the rules handed down by the ca air resources board, yet another increase in FEES!!! When will people understand that if the trucking business DIES your store shelves will be VERY EMPTY!!!! ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!!