Here's the email I just sent to gchandler@ncl.org:
Greetings from Fresno CA where we were an All American City in 1967 and in 2000. Regarding Clearwater, Florida, which is being considered to be awarded the title All American City - please deny their request. Clearwater is the scene of a great crime against humanity. Terri Schiavo, who is a severely disabled woman, was almost starved to death.
If it hadn't been for Gov. Jeb Bush's emergency intervention, Terri would be dead now, having sufferred a hideous painful slow agonizing death by being deprived of food and water. For the record, it is a crime to withhold food and water from farm animals. Does this sound like something that would be done in an All American City?!
The Pope has declared it an act of great sin to remove the feeding tube from a person who depends on it for sustenance. Are the Catholic residents of Clearwater aware that the Pope has condemned the practice of starving people to death by removing their feeding tubes?!
Is the general population of Clearwater aware that Terri Schiavo is being treated in an inhuman, cruel manner? Terri is not in a coma; she is not brain dead; she is not on a respirator. She is a living, breathing human being. Her "husband in name only" Michael Schiavo treats her like an animal. He has tried for about ten years to kill her by dehydration and starvation.
Anyway, Clearwater, Florida, is a place I want to stay as far away from as I can. There are people living there who think it's okay to starve Terri Schiavo to death. I think most people don't know the facts. If they did, they'd be as outraged as I am. The media has done a pretty good job of keeping people in the dark.
Please do NOT recommend Clearwater Florida for this award. Please! They don't deserve it. It would make a laughing stock out of that city. Many protesters would converge. The word is spreading far and wide. We detest any place where people like Terri Schiavo are treated worse than animals.
Thanks for listening.
Saundra Duffy-Hawkins Fresno, CA