Posted on 03/26/2005 3:47:20 PM PST by Cherokee Conservative
The Miami Herald reported Saturday that Florida Gov. Jeb Bush sent a team of state agents Thursday to rescue Terri Schiavo - but it was stopped short by local police.
"We were ready to go," Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre told the Herald.
Doctors say that unless her feeding tube is reinserted, Schiavo, 41, will die a week or two after March 18. That is when a judge ordered it removed, having siding with Schiavo's huband's argument that Terri would have preferred it that way.
On Saturday, the Herald reported that local police in Pinellas Park, the small town where Schiavo lies at Hospice Woodside, were expecting "a showdown" between law enforcement agents.
But the squad from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Department of Children & Families charged with taking custody of Schiavo and reinserting her feeding tube backed down after police told agents of the FDLE that they would enforce state judicial rulings preventing any actions to save Terri Schiavo.
"We told them that unless they had the judge with them when they came, they were not going to get in," a source with the local police told the Herald.
Apparently, the only showdown occured over the telephone.
"The FDLE called to say they were en route to the scene," an unnamed official with the city police told the Herald. "When the sheriff's department and our department told them they could not enforce their order, they backed off."
In ordering the move, Gov. Jeb Bush used state procedures allowing public agencies to freeze a judge's order whenever an agency appeals it. "We didn't want to break the law. There was a process in place and we were following the process," DePietre told the Herald.
On Wednesday, Pinellas-Pasco County Circuit Judge George W. Greer had signed an order forbidding DCF from taking the patient from the hospice, directing "each and every and singular sheriff of the state of Florida" to enforce the order.
But Thursday morning, DCF lawyers appealed Greer's order to judges at the Second District Court of Appeal in Lakeland, legally creating a window of opportunity to seize Schiavo, the Herald reported. The appeal created a stay in the judge's ruling.
It took nearly three hours before the judge found out and took steps to block that legal window, the Herald reported.
In the meantime, "there were two sets of law enforcement officers facing off, waiting for the other to blink," an unnamed official told the paper.
The Florida Department of Children and Families has been besiged by calls alleging Schiavo is the victim of abuse. On Wednesday, the governor and DCF chief Lucy Hadi made it known that they were considering sheltering Schiavo under the state's adult protection law.
According to Herald sources, DCF intended to take Schiavo to Morton Plant Hospital, where her feeding tube had been reinserted in 2003 following a previous judicial order allowing its removal.
Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. She left no living will.
If Terri can't eat or drink, why arrest children trying to give her anything? What are they afraid of? Why can't we see pictures of this wonderful dying process since it is so pretty? Or would this horrible starvation bring sympathy and shed the light of truth on this chilling process that not even a terrorist is subjected to. No doubt these judges will remember and feel this pain in the darkest place in HELL.
I imagine Bush is a little worried about the end result though. Do they get in a shoot out? I guess it all depends on who is more loyal to their "boss", and what the political leanings are of the law enforcement involved in the standoff, etc. There's a possibility it could go bad, go nowhere, or the right side would give up. You have to admit it's a pretty big thing to order force against force with both sides having guns and orders they think they have to follow.
I agree. That's why strong leaders are needed. The arrogance of the other side, in their mocking and threats to Gov. Bush (our elected) need answered somehow.
They will weep what they sow. I will not feel sorry for them and I will not defend them if things get out of hand.
You send in a huge contingent of the biggest, burliest state police you can find and brush the locals aside. You march into Schiavo's room, with a competent nurse and doctor in tow, you get the woman hooked up, and you get her out of there.
Does anybody truly believe there would be a gunfight? That local cops would open fire on state police?? Please.... Some people watch too much TV.
Maybe I watch too much 24, but I believe it could be done with a very few properly equipped and motivated individuals. Hey, most cops are afraid of criminals, so surely big powerful State Militia guys could easily get it done and then these locals cops could write out the reports. Maybe no guts is the problem.
The Pinellas Park PD officers and the sheriff's deputies are not stupid, even if they also not honorable. (Were they honorable, they would have turned in their badges and guns rather than be the protectors of the judicially sanctioned execution of Terri Schiavo.) They recognize that the judiciary is de facto the supreme branch of the state and Federal governments. They are also not under the command of Governor Bush. Past history indicates that those who defy judges lose their jobs and possibly their freedom. Defying Judge Greer may have a high price; the same cannot be said for defying Governor Bush.
The Governor will have to use the National Guard. These local and county cops may want to protect their jobs, but they are also not suicidal.
I would not attempt to make fun of you. And yes you are probably right America has not suffered what the rest of the world has suffered and so you would not see examples since the civil war. You are lucky to be an American. But times are changing, while America brought freedom to other lands the enemies of America carried on within, their time was short, but intelligent politicians do not just look at American history they look at world history the rise and fall of the Roman Empire for instance. Any American politician will known that the death of Terri will loose support for the Republican party, so much so that they could lose the next presidential election (due to people staying at home and people feeling that a ‘move on.org president would awaken the sheeple’) they have a choice to make – yes they may decide to let Terri die and then come out with a pro Christian agenda (for example the removal of Row –v Wade, try and get the Christians back) but this would ring hollow to the party faithful. But I digress in America you have never seen what is happening and so this is all new to you, in Europe we have seen it before and know where it leads – so too do your elected officials – so the smart move is….?
Perhaps I give your elected officials too much credit!
Jeb could call on Dubya to send in some pretty hairy real military forces... I don't think the Greer Posse would do a thing if they saw a tank or two in Clearwater.
I totally agree with your suggestions. I hadn't seen them before...sorry. I hope they do it, but I agree they probably won't. It's up to us to push them. Scary that some people don't think we should ever criticize our own party though. We used to make fun of the Dems for doing that. No matter what Clinton did, they made excuses for him. We sometimes need to criticize our own party if we want them to change their ways or start listening to us. Regarding judicial nominations - it would help to get through some conservative judges. Their unanimous liberal rulings aren't helping us any.
or... would that violate the Posse Comitatus act? (can't use military as police inside the USA)
So much condescention here. I asked an honest question. I've been interested in others opinions throughout this thread. I don't pretend to have all the answers. And I don't watch TV, so that's not it. :)
If the military went in there in huge numbers, the cops probably would back off. Either that or they'd stand there and point their guns at eachother and no one would get Terri out. Like I said, I'm just trying to avoid being like a liberal and am gathering facts and opions before I go into a rage and hate the Bush's. I'm not disagreeing with anyone.
"The judiciary ussurping power has gone on so long it'll be hard to turn it around. There are an aweful lot of people in this country that think it's supposed to be that way. Especially kids coming out of public schools. They think the judiciary SHOULD have the final say in everything and the executive branch must have their approval for anything. Not only do we have to make sure conservative judges get appointed, we have to make people understand that there is supposed to be a balance of power."
AMEN!
I think most people in this country are so ignorant about the division of powers as they think the judiciary is always the final arbiter and no one can touch them.
The brainwashing has gone on for so long I think it may be too late to turn this train wreck around.
We're being ruled by judicial tyranny and have been for years, and there seems to be a lot of people who think this is okay.
I would like to be around when he issues a "court order" stating that he shall go to heaven.
Please excuse all my typos. I have low blood sugar and need to eat. Shaking hands type what they want to.
"There's more to this than meets the eye."
"That's what I keep thinking, too. Except WHY would Jeb Bush, who was actually mentioned as a future GOP candidate for President, throw away his future so easily? He couldn't get elected dog-catcher now."
This all made me think of the FBI files that Hitlery has.
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