FreeRepublic EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Witness Regarding Arkansas Tainted Blood Scandal Movie

Tona DeMers | 1-18-03 | Doug from Upland

[doug from upland]

A few hours ago, I had the pleasure of having a conversation with attorney and Arkansas Blood Scandal witness Tona DeMers of Pensacola, Florida. She is on her way to Little Rock as a witness and is hopeful that the expose of this terrible scandal, "FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL," will not be prevented from being shown at the SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL in Park City, Utah.

In 1991, DeMers was an inmate attorney in the Compliance Office under the Arkansas Board of Compliance. She has a great deal of knowledge about the inside workings of how prisoners in Arkansas who were infected with AIDS and Hepatitus C gave blood that subsequently infected and killed people in several countries. She was deeply involved with the film in both interviews and editing. Governor Bill Clinton was up to his eyeballs in the scandal and benefitted in the form of campaign contributions. He stepped in on two occasions to keep the dangerous program going. Arkansas was the last state to use prisoner blood.

Michael Galster recently succeeded in obtaining an injunction to keep the film from being publicly shown, including at the Slamdance Film Festival.

DeMers was on the original team with attorney David Bowden representing the producer of the film. She hopes to be able to appear before the 8th Circuit Federal Court as a witness and convince the court to step in and remove the injunction. The first public showing of Factor 8 was supposed to be today.

From the Festival info:

Slamdance has invited 19 feature films to compete in their tenth annual festival taking place in Park City, January 17-24. Eleven of those films are fictional narratives with the rest being documentaries. Joining the features will be 21 shorts in competition.

Screenings will be split between two different venues this year - Treasure Mountain Inn (Slamdance HQ) and the brand new Madstone Theater Location in Trolley Square. Screenings at Madstone will focus on competition docs.

"FACTOR 8: THE ARKANSAS PRISON BLOOD SCANDAL" - (USA, 85 min., Documentary, 2003) WORLD PREMIERE - This film investigates the sale of tainted blood from infected prisoners to Canada, Europe and Japan, thus spreading AIDS and Hepatitis C. Directed by Kelly Duda.

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FReepers, help spread the word. Please add tainted blood links to this story. If you know talk show hosts who would like DeMers on the air, please let me know. Clinton must pay a price for what he has done.

[doug from upland]

Ping

[doug from upland]

Blood scandal links -- CLICK.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Tainted blood ping. I'm sure I've forgotten others who should be pinged (please help!).

[TheBattman]

Ping....

[HangThemHigh]

Help me out here.

Michael Galster is the Tainted Bllod" guy, right. Why is he opposing the showing of this film?

OK, I see the link now. He is claiming the film was stolen from him. It's a shame this legal bickering may prevent the showing.

[doug from upland]

The attorney told me that there was never any business agreement between the producer and Galster. Who in Arkansas is pulling the strings to convince a judge to grant the injuction? Why didn't Galster even have to post a bond?

[FormerlyAnotherLurker]

What is the "Arkansas Board of Compliance?"

[kingu]

I'm horribly confused here -- Did Galster hire this guy to do a film or not? Perhaps I missed it on another thread where this was revealed, but it just seems rather odd.

[Leonard210]

http://www.factor8movie.com/

It's not completed yet, but here's the website for your records.

[CyberAnt]

And .. hopefully, this movie will take some of the wind out of Hillary's sails.

[T'wit]

>> In 1991, DeMers was an inmate attorney in the Compliance Office under the Arkansas Board of Compliance. She has a great deal of knowledge about the inside workings of how prisoners in Arkansas who were infected with AIDS and Hepatitus C gave blood that subsequently infected and killed people in several countries. <<

1991?? I believe that's about four years before the RCMP traced contaminated blood back to Arkansas. Something here doesn't add up. Let me see what I can find out.

[T'wit]

>> Did Galster hire this guy to do a film or not?

Mike hired Kelly as an investigator and paid for everything.

[doug from upland]

Created by the federal courts because the Arkansas prison system was judged unconstitutional. It was the only such prison system in the country to receive that "award."

[backhoe]

Budge's Links to the Tainted Arkansas Prison Blood Story Page One Page Two Page Three Page Four SEARCH: "Blood Trail" ... "Tainted Blood" Clinton Timeline Blood Trail Timeline Who, What, Where … Posts by adanaC: BLOOD MONEY: What Canadian Donors Didn't Know (1976) HEPATITIS AGENT: They've Named It For What It Isn't (1978) Poisoned Blood Left Thousands to Suffer Unaided (early 1970's) RCMP Will Not Lay Charges Against Government Bureaucrats Who Destroyed Crucial Evidence LIDDY DOLE'S RED CROSS RUNS AMOK (New American) THE BLOOD BROKERS PART 1 -- HOW BLOOD, THE 'GIFT OF LIFE,' BECAME A BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS THE LOOSE WAY THE FDA REGULATES BLOOD INDUSTRY FEAR OF AIDS SPURS CHANGE RED CROSS: FROM DISASTER RELIEF TO BLOOD AMERICA: THE OPEC OF THE GLOBAL PLASMA Series Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: September, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 22:14:30 PDT by Wallaby MUST READ: Is the Blood Trade Responsible for the AIDS Epidemic? (Compiled by Wallaby)

Budge's Links to the Tainted Arkansas Prison Blood Story Page One Page Two Page Three Page Four SEARCH: "Blood Trail" ... "Tainted Blood" Clinton Timeline Blood Trail Timeline Who, What, Where … Posts by adanaC: BLOOD MONEY: What Canadian Donors Didn't Know (1976) HEPATITIS AGENT: They've Named It For What It Isn't (1978) Poisoned Blood Left Thousands to Suffer Unaided (early 1970's) RCMP Will Not Lay Charges Against Government Bureaucrats Who Destroyed Crucial Evidence LIDDY DOLE'S RED CROSS RUNS AMOK (New American) THE BLOOD BROKERS PART 1 -- HOW BLOOD, THE 'GIFT OF LIFE,' BECAME A BILLION-DOLLAR BUSINESS THE LOOSE WAY THE FDA REGULATES BLOOD INDUSTRY FEAR OF AIDS SPURS CHANGE RED CROSS: FROM DISASTER RELIEF TO BLOOD AMERICA: THE OPEC OF THE GLOBAL PLASMA Series Source: PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Published: September, 1989 Author: Gilbert M. Gaul Posted on 07/12/1999 22:14:30 PDT by Wallaby MUST READ: Is the Blood Trade Responsible for the AIDS Epidemic? (Compiled by Wallaby)

[doug from upland]

I am still gathering info. I don't think he ever had a contract hiring him to do a film.

[kingu]

If I pay a guy, there's an implied contract there. Shouldn't it be simply a matter of producing canceled checks? Ahh well, lawyers will muck it up for quite a while, I expect. In any event, the guy was wrong not to mention the person who did the most research on the matter.

Either way, I want the film out there.. If it doesn't show at this year's SlamDance, then there's always next year - or a pick up from one of the cable channels. Not to mention that it's getting media coverage now, which the story wasn't a few weeks ago.

[T'wit]

Kelly was hired to investigate (his father is a PI) and to shoot the video relatedly. Mike paid for everything; Kelly didn't have a nickel to his name. I understood at the time, as others did, that Kelly was producing this for Mike. But he was a good two years late with the project. I'm not privy to what happened next but will guess that Mike chewed him over the lack of results, so Kelly walked off with the film. That's a guess, but an educated guess. I do know that he broke contact with all concerned, including me.

The lawyer did not figure in these matters at the time. At least her name never came up in my hearing (and I was pretty close to things).

Let me see what I can learn about it. Meanwhile, I can't say whether the video "should" be shown until one can be satisfied that it's accurate. (One colleague who reviewed a lot of the footage earlier said it was disorganized and not very good.) I'd rather nothing be shown than get the wrong story out.

[Budge]

Kelly came in very late. He does not own any rights to the film.

[Askel5]

Thanks for posting the Bloodwork, backhoe!

More links at the old "Bloodhound (askel5)" homepage.

I see Budge is here already ... pinging a few more old handles.