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Posted on 03/30/2005 6:01:21 AM PST by Born Conservative
Dr. Dow Pursley, Ed.D, returned home from teaching an ethics class Monday night at Baptist Bible College and Seminary and told his wife Joanne he was flying to Florida to protest against Terri Schiavo's impending death.
The family counseling professor booked the first flight out of town -- a 4 a.m. red-eye Tuesday -- and the couple of 37 years then spent the balance of the night praying.
Advertisement Click Here! Later Tuesday morning Dr. Pursley, 56, was shocked with a Taser stun gun and arrested by Pinellas Park (Fla.) police on charges of attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence after he tried to bring two bottles of water to Mrs. Schiavo's hospice room.
Dr. Pursley, of the city's Hill Section, never reached Woodside Hospice's doors, police said.
"He said he needed to be there, and I said 'I understand,' " Mrs. Pursley said of the couple's conversation late Monday night.
They never talked of any specific actions, and she figured he was going to protest with prayer, she said.
"It was very late," she said. "We just prayed."
She did not know of her husband's arrest until a Times-Tribune reporter called her Tuesday afternoon seeking comment.
Still, she said the arrest hardly surprised her. She described her husband as a "passionate" man of "conviction" and "action" and said he was "overwhelmed" Monday night about Mrs. Schiavo's impending death.
"He is driven by his conviction about the sanctity of life," she said.
Of his decision to bring Mrs. Schiavo water, she added, "He was compelled to do what he did. That was between him and God."
Dr. Pursley is the 47th protester to be arrested, and the first to be shocked with a Taser stun gun since Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube was removed 13 days ago. Efforts to reach Pinellas Park Police spokesman Sanfield Forseth about the use of force were unsuccessful.
Mrs. Pursley said she spoke with her husband Monday afternoon from Pinellas County Jail, where he was remanded in lieu of $20,500 bail. Police said a hearing on his case is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. today.
A supporter in Florida has since posted Dr. Pursley's bond, and he will be released later today, Mrs. Pursley said.
The father of three and grandfather of six has received full support from his family, Mrs. Pursley said, as well as numerous calls and prayers from faculty and staff at the Clarks Summit college where he has been a full-time professor in its graduate school of Counseling Ministries for the past five years.
Mark Robbins, spokesman for the college, said Dr. Pursley's actions did not reflect the college's position on the Terri Schiavo case.
"He was not representing the school at all," Mr. Robbins said. "He was acting on his own behalf."
Mr. Robbins said Baptist Bible College and Seminary has no official position on the right-to-die case.
"It's a complicated issue," he said. "We certainly pray for and have sympathy for the Schindler and Schiavo families."
Asked if Dr. Pursley could be reprimanded for his arrest, Mr. Robbins said it was too soon to tell.
"It's hard to speak to what may be discussed a week or a month from now," he said. "We encourage our faculty to be involved in the community. Obviously each person takes that to a matter of degree. Dr. Pursley is a man of action and conviction."
Mr. Robbins added the college's administration has yet to contact Dr. Pursley.
Dr. Pursley is the clinical director of counseling programs at Baptist Bible College and Seminary. He received his master's degree in psychology from the University of Central Arkansas and his doctorate in education from the University of Arkansas.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Really? Where do you read that in there?
And, I wonder what godly crime did Jesus commit that he was crucified for? Or were the disciples wrong for letting him be led away? Seems I recall one of them tried to stop the guards from taking Him, and he was rebuked.
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What the relatives of the others in the hospice should care about is that the level of caring is such that a young woman is dying of thirst. I am not insensitive. I care about the most important matter at hand. The Nazi comparisons in THIS CASE are inevitable and accurate.
Laws what laws? You don't have to obey unjust laws. This guys is a hero.
The adulteress who was being stoned to death comes to mind.It was the law that she be stoned to death,yet Jesus rescued her from that fate.
The Gospels transformed the crime the Romans committed into an act of martyrdom for Christians. It does not mean the Romans were in the right. Jesus suffered horribly for it and in the end good came of it. In the short term, evil can win but in the long run of history, what will happen is God's kingdom will be established here, on Earth.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
-A8
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
A sip of water will take care of a body's daily requirements for fluids?
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
You shouldn't be surprised. American cops are just as willing to commit murder as German cops. These cops are just as indoctrinated to their duty to give the state Blind Obedience as any German cop ever was. They are incapable of looking at their actions for what they are: They are giving direct assiatance to the murderers of Terri Schiavo. Every cop standing outside that hospice is already a murderer. The Catholic bishop, of course, will say nothing, even though Catholic teaching on the question could not be clearer.
"...These protestors are a real pain to people who live in the area..."
Translation: "We missed the early bird special on account of these cotton pickin protestors!"
It's around the corner as we speak, or type.
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