Terri Schiavo Before dehydration
Posted on 03/28/2005 12:51:40 PM PST by FR_addict
DAY 1: FR_Addict and husband
After driving 11 hours, we arrived about 12:30am on Thursday morning. We were able to park very close to the vigil. Perhaps 30 people were there.
We went around and met some of the people there. The police told us to move behind the barricade, which we did.
It felt surreal to be there after all this time.
I decided to talk to the police to find out what they were thinking, so half-joking and half-serious; I asked why don’t you guys go on a “sick out”. One of the police said they couldn’t. I said you could always quit. He said they couldn’t. I said what do you mean, you’re not in the military and his answer was they were “paramilitary”. I said something about what was happening to Terri. The other spoke up and said something about it was all part of the job. I talked about my son, my father, and my granddad all being in the military and hoped they would refuse an unjust order. Then a woman who was standing there started yelling at me about being stupid. Why should they quit their jobs and I had no right to talk to the police that way.
She said a lot more. I mentioned the nurse who quit, but she verbally attacked me again and said I had no right to ask them to quit, so I walked away.
Before I hear from others that agree with her that I had no right to ask the police to quit, I would like to say that a very similar thing happened to my husband and I, 20 years ago. He was working for a nuclear power plant during construction and implementation stage and discovered an unsafe procedure. The engineers indicated that he should keep quiet about it, that it wasn’t a big deal. He didn’t and refused to sign a letter that the power company was demanding all the employees sign. I supported him 100%. If he didn’t sign, he wouldn’t be able to work there anymore. Sometimes, you have to stand up for what is right. This is a decision that each of us makes in our lives at one point or another and I wasn’t trying to put the police down, just asking. We heard later that the nuclear power plant did change the design of that system.
I was surprised at the vehemence of the woman at the vigil. I finally figured out she was probably one of their wife's or something, even though she was standing over on Terri’s side, because that’s mainly who she was joking and talking with. My only other comment is, I wish she hadn’t interrupted so I could ask why he considered his job “paramilitary”.
We met some very nice people there, but I really did expect a larger crowd. But one thing is that there are people coming and going all day and all night.
One gentleman was describing what one of the newscasters had said about Terri. He said he was a Christian and never used a term like the one he yelled at the television that night. He whispered to my husband what the word is and it is one that we here all the time on television. I felt like I was with very gentle people, who wouldn’t harm a hair on anyone’s head.
We continued to talk politics with a few of the others there, and left about 1:30am to check into our motel.
DAY 2 at hospice. Thursday morning
Things seem to be a little confusing down here. Not a lot of people this morning or afternoon. People are trying to help the best they can. Someone needed the ex-Sheriff’s phone number. He had been arrested a few days before at the hospice for symbolically bringing Terri water. I had one of the freepers find it for me. We put them in contact with the retired sheriff.
Did any jobs that were asked of us.
Met a woman whose son had an injury similar to Terri’s: This is his story. Her son had hurt his foot at work. Then a medication error put him into a coma. He had 8 strokes in 3 days. Doctors said he would be a vegetable and blind. His vision is almost 20/20 now. He is not a vegetable! He comprehends 100%, but he has a feeding tube like Terri.
Saw Suzanne thanking people. I wanted to talk to her, but didn’t want to bother her, plus the media was almost knocking people down to get their shots.
Had to leave. Husband was getting a bad sunburn.
Went back arond 6pm. More people, but we ran into Michael’s supporters. I was so upset. They were trying to pretend they were a lot more than they were by holding their signs up in front of Terri’s supporters.
They were very ghoulish with signs: such as “Michael is my hero”. My husband was so upset he grabbed a sign and started taking territory from this bunch. He held that sign up for a few hours until I asked a young couple who had just arrived if the guy would relieve Phil. He was glad to do it. Beside he was a lot taller and didn’t have to hold the sign up as high. Michael’s supporters started chanting anti-Terri comments. We started saying “Give Terri water” Some of the leaders came around and asked us to chant nicely. We changed it to “Please Give Terri Water.” I wanted to drown Michael’s supporters out. I was shouting for Terri so loud everyone was looking at the woman with the loudest voice. I almost lost my voice tonight.
Terri’s supporters were trying to talk reasonably to Michael’s crowd. One of his supporters said that we hadn’t seen Terri but they had. They had gone in to see Terri. Evidently, Michael had taken his ghoulish supporters in to gawk at Terri.
I met a woman from “NotDeadYet” . She was very interesting. She had major disabilities. I didn’t support all her views, but we definitely had common ground on Terri. Her mother had been arrested the day before. She spent 5 hours in jail. She didn’t find out that Michael worked for the jail until she was arrested. It did make her nervous, but she never saw him. A lot more police there tonight.
Left around 9:30 People still coming in. Michael’s supporters were gone by then.
There was a bus going to Tallahassee. I figured the younger people would enjoy the overnight bus trip and would help Terri better than us old folks.
DAY 3:
More people today. Good Friday.
Met some interesting people; A gentleman who was taking care of an older lady with Althiemers was very upset. He was so frustrated he was yelling for people to help Terri. We started talking to him. He had cared for the 87 year old woman that was with him for a few years. Her family didn’t want her. He wanted to go give Terri water, but he couldn’t because the woman would not have anyone to take care of her.
Many disabled people were showing up. The lady from NotDeadYet said, you don’t see the disabled on Michael’s side.
Met people from South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Illinois, California, etc. Very few from Florida.
One gentleman was very striking. He seemed so gentle. He was there alone. We were talking to him at least an hour before we found out he planned to be one of the supporters arrested for offering Terri water. We asked him what his plan was. He didn’t have much of a plan. He had some money for the bail, but we asked him if we could pay the bail. Since we weren’t going to jail, we would be honored to pay his bail.
He gave us his wallet, the keys to his truck, and everything he had except his driver’s license. We said we would be there to get him out.
We watched the people as they tried to bring Terri water get put in jail. It was very symbolic and beautiful. Two twin 13 year old girls were the first to offer water, followed by their mother. Others followed. We watched our guy get arrested. You could see the tears in his eyes. I kept thinking about his comment, he had to go to the bathroom and didn’t get a chance. We watched the 10 year old boy get arrested. After it was over, we bought a map to figure out where the jail was.
I forgot my id, but the shift let me in, since I was with my husband. After we got there Chet Gallager of OperationSaveAmerica arrived with Kathy, who was there to bail out her friend, also named Kathy. The two Kathys had come in from California and her friend wanted to make a statement with offering Terri water.
Chet left to check on the children. We prayed with Kathy. She was very sweet. Chet came back because they were going to let someone out that they had kept for a few days. Flip, one of the other leaders of Operatiion Save America, was released.
As we were set to pay bail, we asked them to give the option to our guy whether he wanted to be bailed out or stay in jail until the next day when a judge might hear his case. He decided he would like to have the bail paid. That means he will have to come back in a few weeks. We had told him that Michael worked at the county jail and he thought the guy that came out of the doctor’s office was Michael. I’m not sure if he had seen Michael or someone else, because he didn’t own a television and had not really seen him before. He described someone that was the same general size as Michael and it did sound like him, but we don’t know if Michael was working or not that day.
Anyway after we gave the money we waited around with Kathy. We were going to leave and come back but it was a shift change and the new shift change guard said I probably wouldn’t be allowed back in without my id. So, Phil went and got the radio and we listened to that, while Kathy continued to pray.
After about 3 to 4 hours, we saw the twins and their dad. I complimented them on standing up for what is right. One of the girls told me it was mostly boring. Typical teenage reaction.
I started talking to the twins and found out a lot more about their experience. The girls became more animated and told me the handcuffs hurt. I was surprised with their little arms, but she said the cuffs kept rubbing against their wrists. They were fingerprinted and had to talk to either a psychologist/psychiatrist, who asked them questions such as had they ever murdered anyone, did they think of maiming anyone, do they have nightmares, etc. The father had been 4 hours away, sick in bed. The mom and kids had asked if it was okay and he thought there would be someone there to help them. He thought his wife was probably already out, but found out he had to bail her out too. Evidently, he didn’t have to pay anything for the girls, just his wife. He also said they would be moving to Ohio before she had to appear in court so that meant she would have to fly back to Florida.
Finally, our guy came out. He was probably relieved to see that we hadn’t absconded with his money and truck, since we were strangers to him. Not everyone was let out by the time we left.
We went to eat dinner with our guy. We dropped him off at his truck. He planned to return to Georgia that night. I admired him for his commitment. We went back to the rally.
After finding out that there were still some who hadn’t been bailed out, we were a little upset and talked to some of the leaders. After we talked about it, we realized that the organizers had been running full speed ahead and we should give them a break. We decided to give them more money tomorrow for anyone that went in.
DAY 4: Met new people, mostly out of state again. More disabled people came.
Chet came to talk to us and apologized for the disorganization. We told him we talked about it and realize that they were just doing the best they could with so few people to help organize. We gave him some money for bailing out any others. We also gave some money to Ed, another leader from another organization to use for bail.
A few volunteered today to bring Terri water, but backed out. I sure didn’t blame them. I don’t believe anyone went to jail that day. Saw Bobby Schindler again, didn’t want to interrupt him so I just waved to him. He waved back. Saw him a few times talking to people in the crowds.
There are prayers and service throughout the day. We participated in the Candlelight vigil. It was very beautiful. We met Mr. Schindler and Suzanne’s husband and shook their hands. Phil said he felt more privilege than if he had shook the hands of Pres. Bush or Gov. Bush.
Phil was interviewd by the local press. He did a good job and was able to express his opinion on the judicial tyranny that was occurring and that we needed to fight this tyranny. He was very disappointed that the executive branch and the legislative branch were not protecting our rights.
DAY 5:
We had to leave so that Phil could go back to work and the trip is 11 hours. Neither of us wanted to leave.
We were sitting in our hotel room and saw two of the leaders get taken to jail. It was the first time I've cried since I've been here.
We helped bail out strangers that made the personal decision to face jail because of the unjust laws and judicial decisions in this case.
The people at the vigil are various individuals and groups of caring people from all over America trying to work together to make a difference. You don't see the big names here, just the little people. They could use the support from others that are so affected by Terri and her family's suffering.
I don't even know all the main groups involved, but I did have the opportunity to meet these two pastors that were arrested today. I don't even have the name of one of the pastors. One was Chet Gallagher of OperationSaveAmerica – http://www.operationsaveamerica.org
I have some of the numbers of individuals that went to jail, but don’t want to post them. Also OperationSaveAmerica could probably use some more help. Yesterday, they were going to go to Michael’s House and pray there. It turned out Michael had a room at the hospice and wasn’t there.
I’m sure everyone heard what Randall Terri and Rev. Mahoney said about the subpoenas. They planned to protest to Congress about not following through on the subpoenas. What a bad precedent that Congressional Subpoenas can be ignored.
I don't think there is anything wrong with asking the police about whether they've considered quitting or calling in sick. Didn't Hitler's mass extermination start by people who were "just following orders"?
We can't let this experience fade this summer.
Let it burn for as long as it takes to change our leadership, mainly the judicial system, but also the RINOs who won't stand up to them.
Thanks for being there. I would like to say that you represented FR well, but from what I can tell, many people on FR think she needs to die, and the sooner the better.
And as you know, we have an earthquake and a possible tsunami that happened thousands of miles away that we need to worry about and speculate about. Judicial tyranny in our country is nothing to concern ourselves with, I mean, we have better things to do. sarcasm off/
Once again, thank you.
There is nothing wrong with asking the police about quitting. IMO I would reckon that most LEO would probably consider that particular assignment a rather crappy assignment. They are sworn in and have taken an oath similar to the military. If an order (unlikely) came down the chain to go into the hospice and rescue Terri most would be moving at lightning speed. I know I would anyway.
Rice cake and evaporated water.
That a LEO would consider himself to be "paramilitary" is pretty disturbing. He probably doesn't really know what the definition of paramilitary is.
Am I to understand, FR, that there is psychological profiling going on before being released from jail?
Thanks so very much for your excellent reporting.
God how I wish I were there too.
Thank you very much for your first-hand account. I certainly don't have a problem with the conversation you had with the police. I would have come to the same conclusion you did regarding the woman who got so upset. Paramilitary? Could mean they are reserves of some type, but I don't know. I'm just sickened by this whole thing. I'm ashamed of Gov and Pres Bush, and I never thought I'd say that.
Awesome post. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing up for Terri. I have emailed Jeb and have not heard back. May God not judge us for the actions of a few.
God bless
"Nah, callin' it your job don't make it right, Boss."
Move along! Nothing to see! Move along!
/Sarcasm off
Sounds like you did a good job representing FR. Respectful yet pull no punches. Someone has to ask these questions. I am afraid hope for Terri is lost yet let us not let her suffering go to waste. We need to remember this and act accordingly! Vote and call your representatives folks! Let's not let this die or be killed like Terri!
Did you meet my buddy Dave from Ohio? Was he effective in his work? He was the guy in the hat with the cross on it.
picture of Terri a couple of years after the accident. Does this look like a vegetable? This picture was taken a couple years after the "accident" - before all therapy was forbidden.
Wow, thanks so much for the report and the sacrifice of you and your husband. God bless you.
What amazes me is that the media keeps saying that there is little support in America for Terri, yet they have covered the story night and day, obviously aware that Terri supporters must represent a major percent of their audience. It is, however, a shame that more could not be there. Including myself.
Thank you and your husband for your contributions - spiritually, physically and financially. God Bless you good people.
ping
"In hoc signo vince"
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