Linda Bowles.
Photo courtesy of worldnetdaily.com
Posted on 05/15/2003 7:59:03 AM PDT by SlickWillard
Linda Bowles. Photo courtesy of worldnetdaily.com |
By Rick Silva - Managing editor
Nationally-syndicated columnist Linda Bowles died April 30 at Merced-area hospital after she committed suicide, the Paradise Post learned yesterday.
No memorial service will be held out of respect for her final wishes.
Bowles, 51, whose column appeared in the Chico Enterprise-Record, the Houston Post, Washington Times, Chicago Tribune, Arkansas Democ-rat-Gazette and WorldNetDaily.com, reportedly never recovered from the loss of her husband Warren. She also appeared on and was a frequent guest host for Liveline with Bruce Ses-sions show on KPAY.
In a statement released by her only daughter Mi-chelle Bowles early Wednes-day night she said, "The coroner's re-port will tell you she purposely overdosed on antidepressants. The reality is she died due to complications of the heart."
"To say she had a weak or failed heart would be untrue," the statement continued. "To say she suffered from a broken heart would be an understatement."
John Arguelles, a deputy in the Merced County Coroners office said Bowles' death is still under investigation.
"We haven't completed our investigation and we haven't ruled on the manner of death," Arguelles said.
County officials say that toxicology reports will come back in four weeks.
Her death comes nearly a year after her husband, Warren, died of an inoperable brain tumor. The illness forced Bowles to discontinue her column for Creative Syndicate on Feb. 25, 2002.
In her column that appeared on WorldNetDaily she told readers "This may very well be the last column I will write … I can't see beyond the battle to the future."
Joseph Farah, the CEO and editor of WorldNetDaily, said yesterday Bowles' death was a loss and she never recovered from the death of her husband on May 31 of last year.
"She told me she couldn't live without him," he said. "I kept telling her that she could, just one day at a time. She was devastated by her loss and, frankly, never recovered emotionally from it."
Farah met Bowles when she was a columnist for the Sacramento Union.
"Linda Bowles was an unusually gifted writer," he said. "She had a way of reaching deep into people's souls with her use of the language. It was our honor at WorldNetDaily to carry her column until the day she suspended it due to the death of her husband."
Former Butte County Sheriff Scott MacKenzie said he met Bowles once at a political function and was impressed by her.
"She seemed to be a straight-forward, very sincere person," he said "who was an honest individual and who wrote exactly what she believed."
He called Bowles' death a "real tragedy and a real loss to those who read it and was a good conservative?"
Republican Assemblyman Rick Keene, who represents the Ridge, met with Bowles a few times for dinner and saw her give a couple of speeches.
"Every time she spoke, she spoke about how special her husband was," Keene said. "She adored him. It's very sad to hear and she was gracious person."
Keene said her columns were good for the political debate in the country.
"She stimulated good debate, pulling no punches and that is rare in this day and age," he said.
The company that syndicated her column to papers like Enterprise-Record, Creative Syndicate Inc., didn't know about Bowles' death until a reporter called Wednesday morning asking about it. No one at Creative Syndicate Inc had any comment yesterday.
Her columns also appeared at TownHall.com and for the Conservative Chronicle. A secretary for the Conservative Chronicle said she was unaware of Bowles' death, but had no further comment and TownHall didn't return phone calls yesterday.
Bowles began her writing career through a weekly political column in California's Mariposa Guide. This opened the door for a regular column in the now-defunct Sacramento Union n where Farah was an editor.
She also wrote, various self-syndicated and freelance articles for newspapers across the country until she met Creative Syndicate's Rick 051, through Farah. That led to that company's decision to offer her a"syndicate contract," which Farah said was "very unusual for a practically unknown writer."
She was known to enjoy irritating liberals, telling Townhall.com that "I believe a large audience awaits a good, thorough whacking of left-wing icons and ideology, done with parody and satire."
"To me, Linda was not only a gifted writer," Farah said. "She was my friend — a valued friend. I am feeling the loss today.""
Not that anyone believes in Christianity anymore, but classical Christian thinking held that people who committed suicide had more or less doomed themselves to eternal damnation, and the church refused to bury them on sacred ground:
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A Churchyard.
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Enter two Clowns, with spades and mattock.
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| First Clo. Is she to be buried in Christian burial that wilfully seeks her own salvation? | |
| Sec. Clo. I tell thee she is; and therefore make her grave straight: the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it Christian burial. | 4 |
| First Clo. How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her own defence? | |
| Sec. Clo. Why, ’tis found so. | |
| First Clo. It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For here lies the point: if I drown myself wittingly it argues an act; and an act hath three branches; it is, to act, to do, and to perform: argal, she drowned herself wittingly. | |
| Sec. Clo. Nay, but hear you, goodman delver,— | 8 |
| First Clo. Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here stands the man; good: if the man go to this water, and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he goes; mark you that? but if the water come to him, and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life. | |
| Sec. Clo. But is this law? | |
| First Clo. Ay, marry, is ’t; crowner’s quest law. | |
| Sec. Clo. Will you ha’ the truth on ’t? If this had not been a gentlewoman she should have been buried out o’ Christian burial. | 12 |
| First Clo. Why, there thou sayest; and the more pity that great folk should have countenance in this world to drown or hang themselves more than their even Christian. Come, my spade. There is no ancient gentlemen but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers; they hold up Adam’s profession. | |
| Sec. Clo. Was he a gentleman? | |
| First Clo. A’ was the first that ever bore arms. | |
| Sec. Clo. Why, he had none. | 16 |
| First Clo. What! art a heathen? How dost thou understand the Scripture? The Scripture says, Adam digged; could he dig without arms? I’ll put another question to thee; if thou answerest me not to the purpose, confess thyself— | |
| Sec. Clo. Go to. | |
| First Clo. What is he that builds stronger than either the mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter? | |
| Sec. Clo. The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a thousand tenants. | 20 |
| First Clo. I like thy wit well, in good faith; the gallows does well, but how does it well? it does well to those that do ill; now thou dost ill to say the gallows is built stronger than the church: argal, the gallows may do well to thee. To ’t again; come. | |
| Sec. Clo. Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or a carpenter? | |
| First Clo. Ay, tell me that, and unyoke. | |
| Sec. Clo. Marry, now I can tell. | 24 |
| First Clo. To ’t. | |
| Sec. Clo. Mass, I cannot tell. |
Excuse me, but did she NOT kill herself? What is the crime in being honest?
I know I am going to get flamed like crazy for this, but Linda Bowles was a first-class moron in taking her own life.
I know she had lost her husband, whom she obviously loved very much. But I have also seen loved ones waste away and die. I have had my own bouts with depression. And not ONCE did I even consider committing suicide. It is the ultimate act of stupidity and selfishness.
If I feel sorry for anyone, it is the only daughter who has now lost both parents; one of which for absolutely no good reason.
Bingo!
Suicide is a no-no for ANYONE! Geesh! Do you have to bring up Catholicism at a sad time like this?
Is that a trick question?
These are US stats.
In Britain, most choose hanging.
(Such as, Badfinger...)
Oh really ...?? The "church" has more people in it today than ever before in history. Evidently, you haven't noticed.
As for getting into heaven. The Bible does not say anything about being kept out of heaven if you take your own life. THAT DOCTRINE IS FROM THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - NOT THE BIBLE!
My experience is that the vast, overwhelming majority of people who call themselves "Christian" don't have the foggiest idea what it is they're supposed to be believing.
As for the bible, it [or It] does say, rather emphatically:
THOU SHALT NOT KILL.It does not say:
THOU SHALT NOT KILL, WITH THE POSSIBLE EXCEPTION OF KILLING THYSELF.
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