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The whole Terri Schiavo story
15-year saga of brain-injured woman no clear-cut, right-to-die case
Editor's Note: The life and death tug-of-war over Terri Schiavo is a 12-year-old court battle that remained under the radar of most major news outlets until recently. WorldNetDaily was among the first national news organizations to cover the story back when it primarily occupied the headlines of the local press in Southwest Florida, in November 2002.
As the rest of the news world works to catch up on this complex, multifaceted, precedent-setting case, readers have asked WND about errors and glaring omissions in the current widespread media coverage. In addition, much of what WND reported in previous years is now topping headlines elsewhere, leaving readers to question why they're not finding the same details in current editions of WND.
In view of this, WorldNetDaily has decided to mine our extensive archives to compile a comprehensive analysis of the Terri Schiavo story.
Major media organizations paint the pitched battle over the life of Terri Schiavo as a clear- cut debate between pro-life and right-to-die advocates, bankrolled by big money activist organizations on both sides. But the case of the 41-year-old brain-injured Florida woman is anything but clear cut.
The little-publicized nuances of her 15-year saga often get lost amid the smoldering, post-election political warfare reignited by the intervention of Congress on behalf of Terri. But as President Bush pointed out in a statement on Terri Schiavo, "there are serious questions and substantial doubts" in her case.
Chief among these doubts is whether the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube on March 18, which amounts to slow death by dehydration and starvation, reflects her wishes. There is no written directive from Terri Schiavo on the matter.
Terri Schiavo before her disability.
In February of 1990 at the age of 26, Terri Schiavo collapsed at home and oxygen was cut off to her brain for several minutes. The cause of the collapse is disputed. Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband, blames a cardiac arrest induced by a potassium imbalance associated with bulimia. The Schindlers suspect he tried to strangle her, based on court testimony by a neurologist that Terri had suffered a neck injury when she was admitted to the hospital.
No one was aware Terri Schiavo had an eating disorder. The Schindlers told WND that Terri was very conscious of her weight because she had been heavy in high school and her husband put pressure on her to stay thin, reportedly making comments like "If you ever get that fat again, I'll divorce you."
Michael Schiavo denies having made such comments to his wife.
Though severely brain-damaged, Terri Schiavo breathes and maintains a heart beat and blood pressure on her own. While her vision is impaired, she can see and move her limbs. But she needs a feeding tube connected to her stomach to sustain her life.
WorldNetDaily reported the tube was pulled to fulfill the court-ordered request of Michael Schiavo, despite attempted intervention by members of House and Senate committees and the Florida Legislature, and after Florida courts rejected a flurry of eleventh-hour motions by Bob and Mary Schindler to keep their daughter alive.
Bob and Mary Schindler (courtesy Bay News 9)
The Schindler family maintains Terri has consistently exhibited a strong will to live, despite the February 2000 ruling by Judge George Greer of the 6th Judicial Circuit Court in Clearwater, Fla., that she would not want to be kept alive by artificial means. Greer's ruling was based on the testimony by Michael Schiavo, his brother, and his brother's wife that Terri made "casual statements" to them a year before her injury that she would not want to be kept alive artificially. Greer declared that testimony "clear and convincing evidence" of Terri Schiavo's wishes.
Florida law allows for consideration of oral expressions of end-of-life wishes.
Michael Schiavo told the court he and Terri had talked about life support when her grandmother was in a nursing home, unconscious for weeks and on a ventilator. He testified that Terri had said, "If I ever have to be a burden to anybody, I don't want to live like that."
Under Florida law, a feeding tube is considered a life-support device on par with a respirator.
Michael Schiavo (Photo: Baynews9.com)
"My aim is to carry out Terri's wishes," Michael Schiavo told WND after court proceedings in October 2002. "If Terri would even know that I had somebody taking care of her bodily functions, she'd kill us all in a heartbeat. She'd be so angry," he added.
The Schindlers disputed Schiavo's court testimony, and maintain Terri would never have said such a thing, that it would be completely out of character. They also argued that as a devout Roman Catholic, their daughter believes in the sanctity of life.
A girlfriend of Terri's concurred. In court testimony, Diane Meyer shared her recollection of a conversation she had with Terri after watching the 1982 television movie about Karen Ann Quinlan. Meyer said Terri told her she did not agree with the well-known decision by Quinlan's parents to take their comatose daughter off her respirator. Meyer remembers Terri wondering aloud how doctors and lawyers could possibly know what Quinlan was feeling or what she would want.
"Where there's life," Meyer recalled Terri saying, according to the The Buffalo News, "there's hope."
Although initially finding Meyer's testimony "believable," Greer concluded the conversation could not have occurred in 1982, because he believed Quinlan died in 1976. At that time, Terri would have been only 11 or 12 years old and, therefore, would not have made her end-of-life wishes as an adult.
As WND reported, none of the attorneys working on the Schiavo case at the time apparently noticed Greer's mistake in dates; Quinlan did not die until 1985, about nine years after her court case ended and her respirator was removed.
Last month, attorneys for the Schindlers filed a motion claiming Greer made a "reversible error" in discounting Meyer's testimony, which affected his determination of whether Terri Schiavo would want to be kept alive in her present condition.
Schiavo story changes
The Schindlers question why Michael Schiavo only belatedly recalled his wife's "casual statements" allegedly refusing life support. Specifically, they point out he changed his story after winning more than $1.5 million dollars in a medical-malpractice lawsuit against Terri's physicians who, Schiavo successfully argued, should have treated her potassium imbalance before it resulted in cardiac arrest. As WND reported, Michael Schiavo filed a petition in May 1998 to disconnect his wife's feeding tube reportedly to carry out her wishes.
During the malpractice-suit trial nearly six years earlier in November 1992, Michael Schiavo made no mention of his wife's alleged wish to die and conversely pleaded for the opportunity to personally take care of his wife at home for the rest of his life. He sought $20 million to cover the cost of her future medical and neurological care, estimating her life expectancy was 50 years.
Schiavo told the jury he was studying nursing because he wanted "to learn more how to take care of Terri." According to a transcript of his testimony, Michael Schiavo was asked how he felt about being married to Terri, given her condition.
"I feel wonderful. She's my life and I wouldn't trade her for the world," he replied. "I believe in my wedding vows. … I believe in the vows I took with my wife, through sickness, in health, for richer or poor. I married my wife because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I'm going to do that."
Bob Schindler points to the Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where his brain-injured daughter resides. (Photo: David Nee)
"Less than eight months later, [Michael Schiavo] tried to stop her medication for an infection," Bob Schindler told WND. "She would have died but the nursing home where she was at the time overruled him and treated her. … Then he put a 'Do Not Resuscitate' order in her medical chart."
When the hospice staff challenged the order's legality, Schiavo backed away from it.
As for not treating the urinary tract infection, Michael Schiavo testified he was following her doctor's advice.
But his brother, Brian Schiavo, believes he'd lost all hope of Terri recovering.
"I think he finally saw the reality of it," Brian Schiavo told the New York Times.
By 1997, after his mother died, Michael Schiavo began mentioning his wife's alleged end-of-life wishes.
"Which Michael are we to believe?" Bobby Schindler asks. "The one who promised he would take care of his wife for the rest of his life, or the one who says these were Terri's death wishes?"
A woman who dated Michael Schiavo for a year between 1992 and 1993 claims to have insight into Schiavo's apparent flip-flop on Terri's wishes.
Cindy Shook gave a deposition to the Schindlers in April 2001, in which she stated that when she once asked Michael Schiavo about treatment for Terri he responded, "How the hell should I know?We never spoke about this. My God, I was only 25 years old. How the hell should I know? We were young. We never spoke of this."
Based on this purported evidence that Schiavo lied about Terri's wishes, Civil Court Judge Frank Quesada ordered doctors to reinsert Terri's feeding tube, three days into her first court-ordered starvation.
Greer refused to hear the new evidence.
The money
Per the malpractic-trial jury's specifications, more than $700,000 of the $1.3 million awarded Michael Schiavo was placed in a trust fund to cover Terri's therapy and medical treatment. Michael Schiavo was also awarded $600,000 to compensate for his loss. WND reported that more than half of the money earmarked for Terri Schiavo's medical care has been spent on Michael Schiavo's eight-year legal battle to end her life, despite attorneys' public statements to the contrary. Schiavo attorney George Felos was reimbursed for fees totaling $358,434. Michael Schiavo's other attorney, Deborah Bushnell, was paid $80,309. The attorneys say only about $50,000 remains of Terri's medical-care fund.
WND also reported that to the horror of Terri's family in October 2002, Bushnell filed a petition on Michael Schiavo's behalf, seeking authorization of pre-payment for Terri's cremation and burial expenses out of her medical-treatment fund.
It is the money that sparked the rift between the Schindlers and Michael Schiavo, who were close until the medical-malpractice award was delivered in 1993. Michael Schiavo says he was especially close to his mother-in-law and called the Schindlers "mom" and "dad."
The Schindlers and Michael Schiavo lived together, ran fund-raisers together and worked together toward the common goal of trying to get their old Terri back.
In the first two years after her collapse Terri Schiavo received rehabilitative therapy and progressed to the point of saying "no," according to nurses' notes. She would also say, "yes" and "stop that," according to the Schindlers.
In 1991, Michael Schiavo flew his wife out to California for experimental therapy involving electrodes. He returned discouraged with the outcome, however.
Therapy was discontinued and Terri Schiavo was relocated by her husband to one nursing home and then another before ultimately being moved to a hospice in 2000 where she remains. WND reported regulations generally prohibit a hospice from taking a patient who is not terminally ill and expected to live longer than six months to a year. But Felos was chairman of the board of directors of the hospice at the time, according to the non-profit's annual reports, and was likely able to arrange for her admission. He subsequently stepped down from the post.
Then the money arrived. The two sides offer differing accounts of how the decade-old familial bond broke as a result.
The Schindlers believed the money could help Terri recover, given her early progress toward rehabilitation. They say Michael had agreed to also spend some of his award on her treatment and on the cost of taking care of her at home.
"After the money came in, Michael Schiavo refused to follow through on a commitment he made to get Terri special treatment at Shands Hospital in Gainesville," Bob Schindler told WND. "So I went to his father to get him to intercede. I said, 'He's not doing anything for her. Please get him to do something.'"
"I was devastated," Schindler testified in 1993.
When asked if Terri had been given therapy or rehabilitative treatment since 1993, Schiavo told WND he hired an aide between 1994 and 1996 to take her to the museum and to the hair salon in an effort to try to stimulate her.
"Before hospice, there used to be monthly evaluations of Terri by physical therapists, occupational therapists, and every month they said 'Terri will not benefit from therapy,'" he said.
Michael Schiavo attributes the falling out with the Schindlers to their bitterness over not receiving any of the malpractice money. In his recount of a February 1993 argument with them during an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live," Schiavo said Bob Schindler demanded: "How much am I going to get from her money?"
Michael Schiavo on CNN's "Larry King Live." (Photo: St. Petersburg Times)
Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother, told WorldNetDaily Schiavo distorted the conversation that triggered the feud between the families.
"My father was seeking money for Terri's rehabilitation, which Michael Schiavo was refusing to give her," he said, calling Schiavo's accusation "ironic." The Schindlers suspect Michael Schiavo is motivated by money, a claim Schiavo disputes by pointing out he offered three times to donate his malpractice award to charity.
But Bobby Schindler called it a "hollow offer."
"The offer came with the stipulation that my parents agree to let my sister starve to death. Why would we let her starve to death?," Schindler told WorldNetDaily. "This is documented. We have the letter from Felos. We even faxed it to Larry King's producers and warned them he would make this claim. I wish Larry King would have the gumption to ask follow-up questions."
"Vegetable" or neglected patient?
Another chief doubt distinguishing the contentious tussle over Terri's life from a clear-cut, right-to-die case is whether she remains in a persistent vegetative state, or PVS, which is one of the conditions necessary under Florida law to legally permit the removal of her feeding tube.
Serendipitously, the Florida law governing end-of-life care was revised, effective Oct. 1, 1999, to the benefit of Michael Schiavo's petition to remove Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. Prior to this date, it was necessary for two physicians to determine the patient had a "terminal condition" from which there is no reasonable probability of recovery in order to withhold or withdraw their life-prolonging procedures.
The revised law now allowed two physicians to deem the patient is in an end-stage condition and/or a persistent vegetative state, or PVS.
Four short months after the revamped law took effect, Greer ruled in February 2000 that Terri Schiavo was in PVS. Her feeding tube was subsequently disconnected for three days in April 2001 before a series of appeals put Greer's order on hold.
Critics of the Schindlers' long crusade to keep their daughter alive accuse the couple of changing their story just as demonstrably as Michael Schiavo. Specifically, in the original trial hearings a decade ago the attorney representing the Schindlers convinced them to stipulate that Terri was in PVS.
Since the 2000 trial, the Schindlers have gathered opinions from some 33 medical experts, which persuade them that Terri Schiavo's condition is better described as resembling cerebral palsy.
Subsequently, they provided the court with "reams of medical evidence," according to family spokesman Gary McCullough, indicating Terri could be rehabilitated. But the court would not consider it because of the original stipulation.
"It was a huge error on the part of lawyers at the front end," he said. "Judge Greer is simply playing by the rule book … Some other judge should have been able to start from square one."
A three-judge panel of the 2nd District Court of Appeal, after affirming the ruling in one trial, reversed itself and remanded the case back down to the trial court for an evidentiary hearing to further explore Terri's medical condition, the availability and efficacy of treatments for her and their acceptance within the medical community.
Per the appellate court order, five doctors – two selected by Schiavo, two selected by the Schindlers and one appointed by Greer – conducted diagnostic tests on Terri and reported their findings during the October 2002 evidentiary hearing.
The two neurologists petitioned by Schiavo attorney George Felos, as well as the court-appointed neurologist, testified that Terri remains in PVS and available treatment options at the time didn't offer the "sufficient promise of increased cognitive function" in her cerebral cortex to significantly improve her quality of life. According to their testimony, Terri maintains subcortical and brain stem activity which governs involuntary actions such as respiration, digestion and responses to auditory and visual stimuli.
According to court testimony during the evidentiary hearing, PVS is misdiagnosed between 40 and 60 percent of the time.
WND pointed out that one of the two neurologists Felos solicited for testimony, Dr. Ronald Cranford, is a bioethicist and renowned proponent of euthanasia. Cranford calls himself, "Dr. Humane Death." He is a familiar face at right-to-die trials across the country.
WND also reported Cranford is a member of the board of directors of the Choice in Dying Society, which promotes doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia, and was a featured speaker at the 1992 national conference of the Hemlock Society. The group recently changed its name to End of Life Choices.
In 1997, Cranford wrote an opinion piece in the Minneapolis Star Tribune titled: "When a feeding tube borders on barbaric."
"Just a few decades ago cases of brain death, vegetative state, and locked-in syndrome were rare," he wrote. "These days, medicine's 'therapeutic triumphs' have made these neurologic conditions rather frequent. For all its power to restore life and health, we now realize, modern medicine also has great potential for prolonging a dehumanizing existence for the patient."
Felos is also a prominent right-to-die proponent. In 1996 he served as the legal advocate for Estelle Browning's right to die, another high-profile Florida case. In a book about the case, he describes how he "plumbed the depths of death and dying and spearheaded a social revolution to enable death with dignity in the state of Florida."
"Individuals have a right to control their own body and the right to choose what medical treatment they want and what medical treatment they don't want," Felos told WND. "If you've made the decision that medical treatment is no longer a benefit for you and you don't want it, then you do have the legal and constitutional right to refuse it. And I'm an advocate of allowing people to enforce that right."
Still, Felos denies the Terri Schiavo case is part of an agenda.
"This case is not about a movement or a philosophy. It's about carrying out Terri Schiavo's wishes," he said.
On the other side of the aisle, Alliance Defense Fund boasts of its "significant funding" of Terri Schiavo's defense. According to its mission statement, attorneys with the alliance litigate "matters protecting religious freedom, the sanctity of human life, and traditional family values."
The Group supported the Schindlers' legal costs for over a two-year period, during the time Anderson represented the Schindlers. She left the case in September, 2004 and was replaced by David Gibbs III.
The devout Baptist's law firm specializes in defending the religious liberties of "Bible-believing organizations." It's an offshoot of his father's Christian ministry, the Christian Law Association, which seeks to spread the gospel of Jesus and help defend constitutionally guaranteed liberties.
"I believe that God gives each life a calling," Gibbs told the St. Petersburg Times. "I believe that I have been called to help other Christians."
While Schiavo's experts and the court-appointed expert saw no improvement in the CAT scans of Terri's brain from 1996 to 2002, William Maxfield, a radiologist petitioned by the Schindlers, testified Terri has shown improvements in brain tissue and would benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy, a treatment that increases blood flow and oxygen to the brain.
William Hammesfahr, a neurologist petitioned by the Schindlers, testified that Terri shows cognitive function and would benefit from a treatment called vasodilatation, which is similar to that proposed by Maxfield.
"I spent about 10 hours across about three months [examining Terri] and the woman is very aware of her surroundings. She's very aware. She's alert. She's not in a coma. She's not in PVS," Hammesfahr told CNN Tuesday night. "With proper therapy, she will have a tremendous improvement. I think, personally, that she'll be able to walk, eventually, and she will be able to use at least one of her arms."
Portions of a four-hour videotaped examination of Terri by Hammesfahr were shown to the court during the evidentiary hearing. In the video, Terri appears to interact with her mother with a reaction of happiness, follow commands to open and shut her eyes and lift limbs, and tracks a Mickey Mouse balloon across the room with her eyes.
Terri responds to her mother.
Anderson later described her behavior in a statement to an appellate court.
"Terri smiles appropriately, she laughs appropriately, she tracks a balloon with her eyes, she tracks a set of flashing lights with her eyes, she opens her eyes wide on command, she squeezes her eyes shut on command, she turns her head and looks in the direction of the speaker, she follows Dr. Hammesfahr's movements around the room with her eyes, and, perhaps most poignantly, Terri tries as hard as she can to do that which is asked of her," Anderson said.
Schiavo's experts chalked Terri's responses to commands up to "involuntary reflexes." Cranford called the videotape a "cheap trick."
In his closing statements, Felos urged Greer to review the full four hours of tape.
"We see Terri moan, we see Terri make facial gestures. Yes, some of her gestures and moans are involuntary response to the environment. Some are random," he said. "I'm sorry to disillusion anyone. But it's unfortunate that Terri doesn't have the cognition or the ability to recognize and make that expression."
Asked to describe his reaction to the video, Michael Schiavo told WND: "I see a shell of somebody I used to know. Somebody I loved and adored very much. And now she's a shell. … She's existing. That's not life."
"The overwhelming majority of people would agree that there are fates worse than death," Felos
summed up in his closing arguments at the evidentiary hearing. "Can you imagine the agony and torture … if Terri Schiavo had cognition of her condition? Thank God she doesn't," he said.
Terri's sister, Suzanne Vitadamo, offered a contrasting interpretation of the taped medical examination.
"I see a horrific scene of somebody that's been neglected. She hasn't been … given rehabilitation in
over 10 years, but I still see my sister. She's in there. She is severely brain damaged. But she shows us
all the time that she's in there just by her reactions," she told WND.
Appearing live on "The Oprah Winfrey show" via satellite, Vitadamo described Terri's reactions as "purposeful."
Mary Schindler, Bobby Schindler and Suzanne Schindler Vitadamo join Oprah via satellite, Nov. 14, 2003. (Photo: The Oprah Winfrey Show)
"When you go in and say 'hi' to Terri, Terri will in a sense do her best to say 'hi' to you. Or there's a lot of times where if you tell Terri you're going to leave, she'll cry. She doesn't want you to leave. So her reactions are very purposeful."
"She cries, she laughs and she follows me around the room. She laughs at her dad's jokes. Each day is different," Mary Schindler added.
Bobby Schindler told Oprah "there's a real misconception" about Terri's medical condition.
"It's not just the family saying that Terri can be helped. We have over a dozen doctors – half of them being neurologists – that all have either testified or examined Terri and all believe that she could significantly improve if she was just given the chance," Bobby Schindler said. "For whatever reason, Michael [Schiavo] lost hope for Terri back in 1992. And from that point on she has been completely neglected, has gotten no rehabilitation, no therapy."
Schindler was referencing 17 sworn affidavits from medical experts collected by the family since Greer's PVS ruling, disputing Terri is in PVS. The number of affidavits has grown to 33 since this television interview. Three early affidavits came from physicians who saw Terri's videotaped examination during local TV stations' coverage of the court proceedings and voluntarily jumped on the band wagon to try and save her.
A more recent affidavit comes from Sarah Green Mele, a speech-language pathologist on the staff of the top rehabilitation facility in the country, Rehabilitative Institute of Chicago. WND reported Mele declared in a nine-page sworn statement that Terri Schiavo is definitely not in a persistent vegetative state and that she is trying to talk.
Although she did not examine Terri Schiavo in person, Mele reviewed all her available medical records, including those for physical therapy, speech and language therapy and occupational therapy given during the first two years of her disability. She studied the videotape presented at the October evidentiary hearing, along with audio recordings of Terri and her father, in which she vocalizes in response to questions directed at her. The Schindlers posted three audio clips and a series of excerpts from the video on their website in an effort to muster public support.
Among Mele's conclusions:
"… Mrs. Schiavo is clearly aware of her environment and interacts with it, albeit inconsistently. She is able to comprehend spoken language, and can, at least inconsistently, follow simple one-step commands."
"Her eye movements, easily observed on the videotape, are particularly suggestive that she recognized family members and responded."
"Terri is clearly vocalizing. She does not appear to vocalize at random during these examinations. Her vocalizations are generally purposeful and usually in response to specific environmental stimuli, most particularly family members."
Mele noted the family has been trying to coach Terri in basic speech and that she seems to say "yeah."
"Her use of this sound ['yeah'] on the audiotape is apparently in response to her father," she wrote. "It is reasonable to conclude that Terri is trying, despite her motor deficits, to speak as best she can. Terri is clearly a suitable candidate for speech-language therapy."
Encouraged by the physicians' affidavits, but thwarted by the restricted access to Terri imposed by Michael Schiavo, the Schindlers conducted a covert rehabilitation program from November 2002 through February 2003. WorldNetDaily exclusively reported Terri Schiavo received daily, hour-long "tough-love" therapy sessions over cellphone with staff members of a therapeutic company, Galaxy Wave Group.
"In December of 2002, I confronted Ms. Schindler with the 'truth' and told her that unless she helped me in returning her from the comatose state that she was in that she was going to die a horrid death," company president, Joe Champion wrote in a sworn affidavit. "I explained in detail that they would remove the single tube that was providing her nutrition and she would slowly die of starvation. At this point,
it was reported by her father that she sat up in bed and became teary eyed."
At the time, Bob Schindler announced to supporters gathered outside of Terri's hospice that during the cellphone conversation with the therapist, his daughter suddenly bolted upright as if trying to get out of her chair.
According to the therapist, who does not wish to be named, Terri was able to move her hand, her arm, her leg on command. She couldn't speak, but she followed instructions.
"The bottom line is she is not vegetative, the way the husband and the side the court has gone with want to portray her," the therapist said. "She definitely has some brain damage and severe problems, but she is not a vegetable."
Schindler family attorney Barbara Weller similarly reported the severely brain-injured woman cried and yelled out that she wants to live after being told her life-sustaining feeding tube was about to be removed by court order.
Weller essentially told Terri Schiavo, "You had better say you want to live or they will kill you. Just say you want to live."
Terri Schiavo responded with a drawn out, "IIIIII," then screamed out "waaaaaaaa" so loudly that a police officer stationed outside the room came in. The officer then ordered Weller removed from the room, according to prominent pro-life activist Randall Terry.
The event was witnessed by Vitadamo and her husband, Michael.
Legislative, executive branches join in
Ignoring the Schindlers' affidavits, Greer sided with Schiavo in November 2002 and reaffirmed his original ruling that Terri Schiavo was in PVS. He ordered the feeding tube be pulled Jan. 3, 2003. Numerous appellate court and federal court motions delayed this second removal until Oct. 15, 2003.
As WND reported, Terri endured six days of dehydration and starvation before a ground swell of public support for the incapacitated woman prompted the Florida Legislature to pass "Terri's Law," which empowered Gov. Bush to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted.
Gov. Jeb Bush
Some 165,000 e-mails, spawned by a petition drive launched by a devoted network of volunteer Terri supporters, urged the governor to act.
"Like the tens of thousands of Floridians who have raised their voices in support of Terri Schiavo's right to live, I have been deeply moved by these tragic circumstances," Bush said in a statement. "I understand the limitations cited by the judges who have declined to hear the later stages of this case. However, any life or death decision should be made only after careful consideration of all related facts and conditions. For that reason, I appreciate the extraordinary action of the legislature today, and will use the discretion they have granted regarding the restoration of nutrition and water to Terri Schiavo."
Felos blasted the legislation as "absurdly unconstitutional."
In a 44-page brief appealing the reinsertion of the feeding tube carried out per Bush's order, Felos argued "Terri's Law" "eradicates Mrs. Schiavo's rights to privacy and due process," and is an "example of legislative and executive overreaching prohibited by the separation of powers enshrined in the Florida Constitution."
The new law "gives the governor unfettered and unreviewable discretion to 'stay' the withholding of artificially provided nutrition and hydration from Mrs. Schiavo and prevent her from dying with dignity," Felos contended in his brief, adding, "nothing could be more repugnant to the Constitution of the state of Florida."
As it had threatened it would do if the legislature and governor acted to save Terri, the American Civil Liberties Union joined the fray as co-counsel on Schiavo's side against the governor and Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist.
"This dangerous abuse of power by the governor and Florida lawmakers should concern everyone who may face difficult and agonizing decisions involving the medical condition of a family member," said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU.
Bush's attorney, Kenneth Connor, dismissed the separation-of-powers argument, contending Florida courts have ruled lawmakers can act to affect prior court decisions. Connor maintained Terri Schiavo's rights under the Florida Constitution actually were preserved, not violated, under "Terri's Law," which provides extra protection for disabled people who have nothing in writing and whose family members are divided on treatment.
Last May, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court Judge Douglas Baird declared the law unconstitutional, on the basis of Felos' separation-of-powers and right-to -privacy arguments.
A month later, after having passed on the opportunity to adjudicate other aspects of the Terri Schiavo case, the Florida Supreme Court bypassed the 2nd District Court of Appeal and assumed jurisdiction over the "Terri's Law" appeal. WND reported that after hearing oral arguments, the justices rendered a 7-0 decision in September that struck down the law.
"It is without question an invasion of the authority of the judicial branch for the Legislature to pass a law that allows the executive branch to interfere with the final judicial determination in a case," Chief Justice Barbara Pariente wrote for the court.
The United States Supreme Court subsequently refused to hear the case, paving the way for the third removal of Terri's feeding tube last week.
Counting the black robes
As WND reported, the extent of judicial review of the Terri Schiavo case is a bone of contention between the two sides. The Schindlers assert Schiavo and his attorney routinely exaggerate the number of judges who've weighed in on the case knowing that less vigilant members of the media will ignorantly repeat the distortion – and they have.
Specifically, at the time of Schiavo and Felos' appearance on "Larry King Live" in late October 2003, only four judges had been involved in adjudicating the case over the past decade – Greer and three appellate court judges. Yet, Bobby Schindler complained, Schiavo claimed 19 judges had "concluded this is Terri's wish" and Felos said 20 judges "found Michael Schiavo to be a loving, caring husband."
"They're adding up all the judges on the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court even though those courts refused to hear our case," said Schindler.
A sampling of coverage this week indicates journalists continue to repeat the distortion.
When Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" anchor Alan Colmes suggested to the Schindler family the case had been extensively adjudicated and because of that they should accept it as fact that Terri does not wish to live, Vitadamo jumped in to correct him:
"You know, Alan, absolutely not. And you know, one judge, Judge Greer, found that Terri had these alleged wishes. And then you had a couple or three appellate judges that upheld this decision," she said. "There's not a litany of judges that agree with him. I believe Judge Greer was wrong. Those wishes were fabricated. They are hearsay evidence. And I know my sister. She would never in a million years want to be starved to death."
"What I think you're seeing now is a display where the judicial system is, they're flexing their muscles," added Bob Schindler. "They're showing who's in command of this country. And we're not. The public is not, and the people you elect to Congress are not. The judges are. And woe to this country with those people in power. We've lost control."
Felos worries more about execuitve fiat than judicial tyranny.
"It saddens me greatly that we have to run to court to get court orders to protect Terri Schiavo from the abuse by the state of Florida. The conduct of the executive branch of the state of Florida has been reprehensible in this case," he told WFTS-TV.
Judge George Greer
Before the Florida Supreme Court became involved in the constitutionality of "Terri's Law" last fall, Greer was the primary adjudicator of the seven-year case. In addition to his consistent rulings siding with Michael Schiavo, Greer routinely rejected the scores of motions brought by the Schindlers, including their petitions for new swallow tests for Terri. Medical records show she hasn't received any since 1993.
WND has reported Terri's feeding tube might not even be necessary. Because she does not drool but is swallowing and controlling her own saliva, many doctors believe she could be fed by spoon, thereby obviating the need for a feeding tube.
'Illegal' guardian?
Since September 1993, the Schindlers have repeatedly, but unsuccessfully, petitioned the courts to have Michael Schiavo removed as Terri's legal guardian.
Just prior to filing his May 1998 petition to disconnect his wife's feeding tube, Michael Schiavo got engaged to another woman, with whom he lives and has fathered two children. He refuses to divorce Terri, maintaining he's determined to carry out what he believes to be Terri's wishes.
"I moved on with a part of my life. I'm sorry that the Schindlers can't move on with any of theirs," Schiavo told WND.
WND has reported the Schindlers argue, on the basis of his admitted adultery, and alleged neglect and abuse, that Michael Schiavo has a conflict of interest and is unfit to serve as Terri's legal guardian.
"Fidelity is a key component of the respect and dignity that our society expects one spouse to afford the other; yet, this guardian believes that Terri's disability releases him of his legal and moral responsibility," Anderson argued in a motion asserting Schiavo violated Terri's rights to be treated with dignity and respect and her right to privacy established under Florida Statute 744.474. The motion argued Terri deserves a divorce.
The Schindlers' 24-page petition filed in federal court in August 2003 also argued the malpractice-award money created a conflict of interest for Schiavo and accused him of "wasting, embezzlement, or other mismanagement of the ward's property" by spending the money in Terri's medical-care fund on attorneys' fees.
"While exhausting Terri's money for the purpose of killing her, not one red cent could be found by Schiavo to enhance the quality of her life after receipt of the malpractice award. … [A]nd the expenditure of nothing for therapy that would reduce the pain of contractures, enhance Terri's ability to swallow, or facilitate recovery of basic abilities is the grossest form of asset mismanagement," Anderson stated in the petition.
Among the neglect and abuse complaints of the Schindlers is that Michael Schiavo:
- Has not allowed therapy or rehabilitation since late 1992, despite medical records indicating Terri is responsive.
- Has prevented swallowing tests or swallowing therapy since 1993, despite medical testimony Terri can be taught to eat.
- Ordered caretakers not to clean Terri's teeth since 1995, resulting in removal of five teeth in April 2004.
- Placed Terri in hospice in 2000, despite the fact she is not terminally ill.
- Refuses to allow Terri to leave her room. She has not been outside since 2000.
- Has refused to fix her wheelchair since 2000.
- Refuses to allow Terri to practice her Catholic faith by attending weekly mass.
- Ordered Terri's shades down at all times.
- Ordered doctors not to treat Terri when she had a life threatening infection in 1993 and 1995.
- Removes family pictures from Terri's room, denies flowers from family and friends, denies certain CDs to be played for Terri, and refuses to allow her to listen to music with headphones.
- Refuses to release medical information to her parents since 1993, despite a court order requiring him to do so.
- Has limited the visitors list, requiring they must first be approved by him and removes visitors at his own discretion. Schiavo removed the Schindlers from the visitors list a total of eight months between 2001 and 2004.
- Denies all requests for Terri to attend nursing home functions and refuses to allow therapeutic animals to visit with her, knowing that she is an animal lover.
"Michael claims he loves Terri, and he has said it on numerous occasions, but he treats her in a way I don't think most of us would treat our own pets," Bobby Schindler told WND.
"Once malpractice money came in February 1993 she was put on the shelf [in a nursing home]," Anderson declared in closing arguments at the 2002 evidentiary hearing.
Bob Schindler likens his daughter's confinement at hospice to being in jail.
"She has literally been in prison for four years. She's not permitted to go outside. She has no stimulation," he said in an appearance on "Hannity & Colmes" in late 2003.
The Schindlers' charges of abuse and neglect mirror those laid out in an 700-page complaint filed with the Florida Department of Children and Family in 2001. The charges were investigated and DCF officials concluded they were "unfounded with recommendations," according to the anonymous complainant.
Greer ruled earlier this month he would hear a DCF petition containing 30 new allegations of "abuse, neglect or exploitation" the agency said came through its anonymous abuse hot line. The accusations include failure to investigate experimental medical procedures, denial of legal counsel, lack of communication and visitation and lack of therapy.
Felos said the DCF's attempt to intervene in the case "reeks of political arm-twisting."
The Schindlers' federal lawsuit seeking the removal of Michael Schiavo as Terri's guardian references court testimony and depositions from several former caregivers who assert Michael Schiavo had forbidden medical professionals to provide his wife with any therapy or rehabilitation and had attempted to hasten her death while she was a patient.
As WorldNetDaily reported Carla Sauer Iyer, a registered nurse who cared for Terri at the nursing home where she resided from April 1995 until August of 1996 when she was fired after notifying the police about the case, stated in a sworn affidavit Terri used to talk to her as much as she could and frequently used what sounded like the word "pain." She also interpreted Terri's vocalizing at times as crying "help me."
Iyer stated Michael Schiavo used to make comments such as "When is she going to die?," "Has she died yet?" and "When is that b—- gonna die?"
While acknowledging she had no proof, Iyer said she suspected Michael Schiavo injected Terri, who normally has "very stable" blood sugar levels, with regular insulin to drive her into hypoglycemic shock during his visits.
"Terri would be trembling, crying hysterically and would be very pale and have cold sweats," Iyer said in her deposition. "So I'd check her blood sugar. The glucometer reading would be so low that it was below the range where it would register an actual number reading."
In her sworn deposition, certified nursing assistant Heidi Law said that even though Michael Schiavo ordered that his wife receive no rehabilitation or range of motion therapy, she and a co-worker secretly gave her range of motion therapy anyway behind closed doors.
"I and Olga would give Terri range of motion anyway, but we knew we were endangering our jobs by doing so," Law wrote. "We usually did this behind closed doors, we were so fearful of being caught. Our hearts would race and we were always looking out for Michael, because we knew that, not only would Michael take his anger out on us, but he would take it out more on Terri. We spoke of this many times."
Law, who cared for Terri Schiavo at the same nursing home as Iyer from March to mid- 1997, also described Terri Schiavo swallowing liquids and Jello.
"At least three times during any shift where I took care of Terri, I made sure to give Terri a wet washcloth filled with ice chips, to keep her mouth moistened. I personally saw her swallow the ice water and never saw her gag," Law wrote. "On three or four occasions I personally fed Terri small mouthfuls of Jello, which she was able to swallow and enjoyed immensely. I did not do it more often only because I was so afraid of being caught by Michael."
Law also reported hearing Terri Schiavo say "mommy" from time to time and "help me" a number of times.
Schiavo has repeatedly and strenuously denied allegations of abuse and neglect. Felos described Iyer's accusations as "a bunch of garbage." He called the caregivers' claims that Terri spoke to them "a fabrication."
Likewise, Greer dismissed Iyer's testimony as "not credible."
The federal lawsuit was also subsequently dismissed.
The court-appointed independent guardian established by "Terri's Law," Jay Wolfson, described Michael Schiavo as another kind of "nightmare."
"His demanding concern for [Terri's] well-being and meticulous care by the nursing home earned him the characterization by the administrator as 'a nursing home administrator's nightmare,"' he wrote in his assessment.
Conflict of interest?
Another component of the Schindlers' contention of Schiavo's conflict of interest as Terri's guardian is medical evidence suggesting Terri may have been the victim of physical abuse. The report of a total-body bone scan done on Terri Schiavo while she was in a rehabilitation facility in March 1991 – 13 months after her collapse – describes what are known as "hot spots" suggestive of multiple fractures in her ribs, first lumbar vertebra, several thoracic vertebrae, both sacroiliac joints, and both knees and ankles, all deemed "presumably traumatic."
The report states, "the patient has a history of trauma" and "the presumption is that the other multiple areas of abnormal activity ["hot spots"] also relate to previous trauma." It speculates an alternative explanation to trauma would be "neoplastic bone disease."
Unnamed physicians who reviewed the report at the request of Anderson concluded Terri was the victim of severe physical abuse. They noted the presence of "heterotrophic ossification," or bone matter formed around the fractures, suggesting the fractures were not fresh. One physician commented: "Somebody worked her over real good."
Felos called the report, and its associated allegations of abuse "garbage." Citing medical records, he told WND the ossification was due to osteoporosis, which he said could be explained by the combination of Terri's paralysis and the anti-seizure medication she was given.
Felos also said a follow-up X-ray done to verify the cause of the "hot spots" showed "degenerative bone disease, not multiple fractures … and only showed a minor fracture in the femur."
Medical records show Terri has never been evaluated or treated by an orthopedic surgeon for the injuries revealed in the bone scan, which the Schindlers believe may have a profound bearing on her current medical condition. Greer rejected the Schindlers' motion to investigate the matter, echoing Felos' position the bone-scan report was "irrelevant."
"A possible 'minor' compression fraction of the femur occurring over twelve years ago has no relevance to the issue now before this court," Felos argued in his counter motion.
Terri's mysterious collapse
To the Schindlers, the bone scan speaks to their long-held suspicions over the cause of Terri's mysterious collapse in 1990.
After studying the bone scan, world-renowned forensic pathologist Michael Baden posed an explosive theory on Fox News Channel's "On the Record" hosted by Greta van Susteren. WorldNetDaily reported Baden, who is co-director of the Investigative Unit of New York State Police in Albany and former chief medical examiner for New York City, ruled out potassium imbalance and a heart attack as factors in Terri's mysterious collapse and pointed to head trauma and bone injuries as a more likely cause.
Neurologist Hammesfahr testified in the 2002 evidentiary hearing that Terri was admitted to the hospital after her collapse with a "suspiciously rigid neck" and that he'd only seen "this peculiar constellation of injuries," referencing her rigid neck and cardiac arrest, in a case of attempted strangulation.
In testimony given during the 2000 trial, Terri's girlfriend and co-worker, Jackie Rhodes, said Terri had discussed getting a divorce and moving in with her. She testified the couple had a violent argument on the day of Terri's collapse, which prompted her to urge Terri to not stay at home that night – a suggestion Terri disregarded.
Terri Schiavo pre-tragedy.
"There are only two people who know what happened the night that she collapsed. And one of them is trying to kill the other who is too disabled to speak," Anderson told WND.
WND reported Schiavo addressed the allegations of attempted strangulation in his Larry King interview.
"If I strangled her to the point of unconsciousness, her trachea would have been crushed," he said, adding that no physician made notations regarding "marks around her neck," which he said would have been there if the allegation was true.
Still, two starkly different versions of the events immediately following Terri's collapse remain.
According to Schiavo, he heard a "thud" in the hall at 4:30 a.m. and got out of bed to find his wife lying face down on the floor. Schiavo said he rolled her over and saw she was "lifeless" and called 911.
"If Michael rolled her over, then he rolled her back," Bobby Schindler told WorldNetDaily. "He has also stated [in other interviews] that when I showed up he was cradling her in his arms. Now he's changing his story?"
According to Schindler's account, Schiavo called Bob Schindler Sr. first, who then alerted Bobby because he lived in the same apartment complex as his sister. Then, prompted to do so by Bob Schindler, Schiavo called 911. Bobby Schindler said when he arrived on the scene, Terri was face down with her arms underneath her and her hands up by her neck.
"It's etched in my mind," said Schindler, adding that he heard a "gurgling or snoring sound" coming from Terri.
Schiavo, in turn, accuses Bobby Schindler of lying. But when challenged by a caller to Larry King's show whether he was willing to take a lie detector test, Schiavo responded, "I'll refrain from answering that right now."
Felos dismisses the allegations and innuendo of scandal as desperate "delay tactics" mounted by the Schindlers and insists his client is acting out of love and respect for his wife's desire to "die with dignity."
"Who in God's name would subject themselves to what he has gone through for any other reason?" he said. "He always deeply loved her."
Worldwide attention
The lingering doubts and questions in the Terri Schiavo case have galvanized supporters around the world, prompting calls from a wide spectrum of people – from actor-director Mel Gibson to disabled-rights champion Joni Eareckson Tada, to Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson, to the Vatican – to spare the incapacitated woman's life.
Protesters gathered outside the hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., where Terri Schiavo resides. (Photo: David Nee)
One California businessman even felt compelled to offer Michael Schiavo $1 million to walk away from Terri, an offer Schiavo promptly rejected. And a pledge fund set up with the same objective in mind by radio talk host, Glenn Beck, totals more than $6 million.
As the clock ticked down to removal of the feeding tube, and throughout every day of Terri's court- ordered starvation since, pro-life organizations, disability-rights groups, and hundreds of other supporters have staged round-the-clock prayer vigils and protests outside Terri Schiavo's hospice.
Equally passionate right-to-die supporters canvas the airwaves and newspaper front pages, vocalizing their support for Michael Schiavo and condemning the governmental intrusion into what they consider to be a private family matter.
Political pundits have echoed the sentiments of Felos that the politicians should "be ashamed" of their actions to "deprive Terri of her wishes."
Meanwhile millions of casual observers across the country and throughout the world remain transfixed by the hour-by-hour developments in the drama, each either waiting for justice or praying for a miracle.
Editor's note: WorldNetDaily has been reporting on the Terri Schiavo story since 2002 – far longer than most other national news organization – and exposing the many troubling, scandalous, and possibly criminal, aspects of the case that to this day rarely surface in news reports. Read WorldNetDaily's unparalleled, in-depth coverage of the life-and-death fight over Terri Schiavo, including over 150 original stories and columns.
Court documents and other information are posted on the Schindler family website.
Links to all "Terri briefs" regarding the governor's defense of Terri's Law are on the Florida Supreme Court website, public information.


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Wedding Planner & Invitation
"Ceilidh Dancing in Easy Steps"
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Story highlights
- EU talks on bank bonus reforms entering potentially decisive week
- Majority of countries backing curbs so as not to hold up reforms of bank capital rules
- UK remains one of key hold-outs to agree on terms
- UK circulated an informal position paper on Friday suggesting alternative reforms
The most stringent curbs on bankers' pay since the 2008 financial crisis are to be imposed by the EU, as Britain faces defeat in Brussels over an issue dear to the City of London.
Talks on EU reforms to make banks safer are entering a potentially decisive week with London heavily outgunned after almost a year of backroom diplomacy to blunt a bonus crackdown pushed by the European Parliament.
France is now backing the parliament's demand for strict limits on bonuses that exceed salary, and a clear majority -- which now crucially includes Germany -- want to compromise so the bonus dispute does not hold up reforms of bank capital rules.
This hardening of opinion is enabling Ireland, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, to press the three UK-led holdouts to agree terms it can offer parliament on Tuesday. Dublin is confident it already has a strong majority.
British officials are scrambling to secure revisions to the tentative compromise, which imposes a 1:1 bonus to salary ratio, which can be raised to 2:1 with the backing of a supermajority of shareholders.
In a sign of how far the debate has moved, Britain circulated an informal position paper on Friday, seen by the Financial Times, suggesting alternative reforms that "build on the principle of a cap" while removing elements that would backfire.
It strengthens current rules enforced in the UK with an absolute ban on upfront cash bonuses that exceed salary and a requirement for bank shareholders to set a cap on variable to fixed pay.
However, this offer falls well short of parliament's key demand: a tight range-bound maximum ratio covering the entire bonus. Diplomats said the UK's chances of significantly redefining or raising the 2:1 ratio were slim.
Other proposed adjustments have more promise, such as exempting EU-based banks from applying the rules to their offshoots outside Europe and incentivising the use of bail-in bonds. As it stands, the curbs apply to all banks operating in Europe and their international subsidiaries and branches.
The eight-page UK paper argues that the parliament's fixed ratio will encourage "large cash fixed salaries", undermine financial stability and weaken existing clawback rules, which banks are beginning to enforce.
London's ratio can be set at any level and excludes "long-term" remuneration; the form of the pay must track the bank's health, such as equity or bonds that are wiped out when a bank fails.
The UK said: "We've always been in favour of a rigorous regime, but we need to make sure any reforms don't create unintentional incentives that actually achieve the reverse of what is intended."
Top bank chief executives have urged David Cameron, UK prime minister, to oppose the curbs vigorously. "The banks are panicking," said one diplomat involved in the talks. "They always thought the UK and Germany would save them."
The reverberations of a strict cap will run beyond the banking sector. MEPs are already pushing for the tougher version eventually to apply to hedge funds and investment managers, who are subject to existing bonus rules designed for banks.
EU ministers have studiously avoided discussing remuneration in public. But the private diplomacy has been more active. George Osborne, UK chancellor, repeatedly discussed the issue with Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, including in recent weeks.
While Berlin last summer floated alternative, less onerous remuneration reforms, it no longer has the appetite for a long fight with parliament given the urgent need to agree the capital reforms.
Without Mr Schäuble at his side, it is unclear whether Mr Osborne will see the issue as important enough to dig in and require a public debate of finance ministers, where he would risk being portrayed as a champion of big bonuses.


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jvhofeling on Family Tree Circles
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Looking for John Henry Nicholson
John Henry Nicholson was my great grandfather married to Willie Mary Reams. I am looking for any information on John Henry's line.
Also, looking for his son, Jessie William Nicholson's children; Helen (b. abt 1920), Jessie William Jr. (b.1923) and Clarence Arlie (b. 1925)
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Kurt Nimmo
February 14, 2010
Once again, so-called "anarchists," clad in black with their faces masked, have engaged in violent protest and property destruction, this time in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics.
"A loosely organized group of 'thugs' from central Canada promoting anarchy were among 200 anti-Olympic protesters who marched through downtown Vancouver Saturday, smashing plate glass windows at Hudson's Bay and TD bank, overturning newspaper boxes and assaulting bystanders, police say. They used spray paint on cars and transit buses, tore down signs and threw about road construction barricades as they marched down the street," reports CTV.
In 2007, Canadian cops were caught red-handed posing as anarchists during a North American Union summit in Montebello, Quebec. "Protesters are accusing police of using undercover agents to provoke violent confrontations at the North American leaders' summit," the Toronto Star reported. "Such accusations have been made before after similar demonstrations but this time the alleged 'agents provocateurs' have been caught on camera."
Photographs released showed the supposed "anarchists" wearing the same boots as the police arresting them. "Protest organizers on Wednesday played the video for the media at a news conference in Ottawa. One of the organizers, union leader Dave Coles, explained that one reason protesters knew the men's true identities was because they were wearing the same boots as other police officers," CBC News reported on August 23, 2007.
"Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday that three of their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protest at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que." The police refused additional comment.
In Pittsburgh during the G20 in September, police agents provocateurs were exposed during a march against police brutality.
In the aftermath of "anarchist" violence during the London G20 in April, 2009, British MP Tom Brake called for an investigation into whether the police used agents provocateurs to incite violence. "When I was in the middle of the crowd, two people came over to me and said, 'There are people over there who we believe are policemen and who have been encouraging the crowd to throw things at the police,'" Brake The Guardian on May 10.
[efoods]Following a now well established pattern, demonstrations against the 2010 Olympics were peaceful until the "anarchists" arrived. "The protest remained peaceful until about 30 minutes before the Opening Ceremonies," The Province reports today. "Some protesters began throwing large traffic pylons, eggs, broken flagpoles, bags of vinegar and potatoes at officers. There was also pushing within the crowd."
"According to police, some of the demonstrators are from out of province and are here to promote anarchy."
"Police said Saturday's event involved protesters from other parts of Canada and the United States," Reuters added.
Canadian officials, however, were successful in preventing independent journalists from entering the country. On February 11, Chicago Indymedia reported on the detention and deportation of several journalists at the Canadian border. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security apparently worked in tandem with the Canadians to prevent the journalists from entering the country.
Canadian police went out of their way to intimidate activists prior to the Olympics. "For months now, police have been knocking on the doors of known activists and tracking them down in their neighborhoods to 'chat' about their Olympic protest plans," The Vancouver Sun reported last July.
The Vancouver city council enacted bylaws providing sweeping discretionary powers to Mayor Gregor Robertson and City Manager Penny Ballem to do whatever is "warranted," "necessary or desirable" to ensure the Olympics' "safety and security" and "protection of commercial rights," according to the newspaper.
The bylaws authorized police to search people, install closed circuit cameras, confiscate megaphones and "anything that makes noise," and prohibit anyone who would "cause any disturbance or nuisance interfering with the enjoyment of entertainment on city land by other persons."
Despite these draconian restrictions and the interrogation of activists by police, the anarchists slipped through the police state net and were allowed to destroy property as the media and police looked on.


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is in the YouTube title. Read on to find why this is interesting.
On the ATV ride out to the site, we rode right by a deer hunter who was clothed in a camouflaged-colored gillie suit. It is at least possible that Chuck ran across a hunter who walked across the knee-deep creek. However, as I noted in the episode, I think it's strange human behavior to not acknowledge the ATV riders with a friendly wave or a "hello." That just isn't what I find humans do out in the woods. Generally speaking, I find that people make some sort of contact, even if it's just a nod, because out in the wilds, one never knows who might save someone's life. I've stumbled across people in all sorts of dire circumstances while I was out bigfooting. Helping change tires, or even helping to drag cars out of snowdrifts isn't exactly rare in the back woods. It's always a good idea to at least wave to strangers out there. This figure did not even look at Chuck and his friend.
that was left on it, possibly by a bigfoot.
Abram Falls, near Gum Hill, was the location of the sighting, but not of our recreation. Abram Falls is on private land. The area is frequented by teenagers during the summer, and like many teenagers, they party and go swimming at the swimming hole. One person had recently fallen from above the waterfall and either got seriously hurt or died in the fall. We could not get a permit to film at the location because of some sort of litigation (I'm thankfully left out of the pre-production part of the show, and details such as these are not known to me). The recreation site was found by a producer with the help of Anthony himself so as to best approximate the location. I was shown photographs of Abram Falls, and I have to say that they did an excellent job choosing an appropriate spot. The resemblance was uncanny.
Though there is no clear connection between this area and the sasquatch that was observed nearby. Perhaps there is no connection at all, and it's all coincidence. However, could it be that sasquatches have some level of awareness of agriculture? I do not know, but it is an intriguing avenue of thought to travel down. After all, sasquatches are undoubtedly our closest genetic relative, so perhaps it's not too big a logical leap to think that some bigfoot somewhere might have figured out how to transplant wild herbs to specific locations for ease of gathering. For now, I'll just be aware of this detail and look for patterns in the coming years that might support this possibility.
(It should be noted that since this detail has come out, I have contacted two trusted long-term witnesses and asked if any such behavior has ever been noted on their properties. No behavior like this had been. However, in one case the local sasquatches had cleared away brush from where they were routinely fed, but for an unknown reason, and certainly not for agricultural use.)
I heard another report of this behavior from one of the long-term witnesses mentioned above. The long-term witness' aunt was smoking a cigarette on the porch at midnight and saw three or four large, upright figures chasing deer in the woods in the direction of the cliff that leads down to the creek behind their house. In the morning, the woman told the property owner that her neighbors were weird because they were hunting deer without guns, trying to chase deer off of the cliff, running at full speed at night without lights on in the woods. Weird neighbors, indeed! Big, weird, hairy neighbors!
I was asleep, and at 2:24 in the morning my phone rang. Seeing it was Tyler Bounds, I knew it was important, so I picked up. Tyler, in a panicked voice, told me that he had either just hit a person or a bigfoot with his car. He was speeding up through fog banks to get on the freeway at the base of High Knob when he looked up too late and collided with a tall, upright figure standing on the left hand side of the road. Whatever he hit was far taller than his car (later measured to be five feet, five inches tall) and seemingly just standing there. Tyler stopped his car, got out, and ran back to where he hit the figure, but found nobody. He called out to the darkness saying he was just there to help. He told me that at that point he was thinking he hit somebody's grandfather who had dementia or something. Nobody answered, so Tyler freaked out a little harder and continued to call out while searching the area. Nothing was found.
I have to wonder what Tyler collided with, though. He is no camping newbie, and when I spoke to him that night in the wee hours, it was clear that at that point he thought he probably hit a person. He was absolutely sober that night, and had his head about him. At the time, I even suggested to him that it could have been a deer, and he admitted that it was a possibility. He just said that it looked like a man at the time.
The band was smoking, the people were super friendly (even coaxing Bobo into attending church the next day), and the venue was perfect for some good old fashioned country music dancing and fun. It was not only a highlight of the trip, it was a highlight of my life. It was not a concert, but a romp in a living museum on the earliest moments of American country music. I danced my butt off at the foot of the last stage Johnny Cash ever performed on. I hung out with June Carter's granddaughter. I partook in a small bit of history.
More from behind the scenes:


text:
25 Kan. App. 2d 90
(958 P2d 44)
Nos. 77,155; 77,156
STATE OF KANSAS, Appellee, v. DARRELL G. BATESON, Appellant.
Rev'd 266 Kan. 238, 970 P.2d 1000 (1998).
1. To prove robbery, it must be shown that property was taken from another either by force or by threat of bodily harm.
2. A taking is complete when the thief has obtained the complete, independent, and absolute possession and control of the property of another.
3. A thief cannot be said to have taken peaceable possession of money or other things of value in the presence of the owner when the taking is instantly resisted by the owner before the thief is able to remove it from the owner's premises or from the immediate presence of the owner.
4. In this case, the theft was not complete until the door was slammed in the pursuing owner's face. The theft was immediately resisted by the owner, and the thief was never out of her presence until the door was slammed in her face.
5. In this case, since defendant used force to gain peaceable possession of the money, he is guilty of robbery.
6. Compulsion is not a defense to driving while the offender's driver's license has been suspended and there is seated beside the offender a licensed driver who is capable of driving the car in question.
Appeal from Jefferson District Court; GARY L. NAFZIGER, judge. Opinion filed May 8, 1998. Affirmed.
Michael J. Helvey, assistant appellate defender, and Jessica R. Kunen, chief appellate defender, for the appellant.
Lee K. Durham and Peter D. Larato, assistant county attorneys, and Carla J. Stovall, attorney general, for the appellee.
Before LEWIS, P.J., RULON, J., and JACK A. MURPHY, District Judge, assigned.
LEWIS, J.: This appeal involves two consolidated cases and defendant's convictions in both cases. In case No. 95-CR-214, defendant appeals from his conviction for robbery, for which he received a sentence of 61 months. In case No. 95-TR-1371, defendant appeals from his conviction as a habitual violator for driving while his license was revoked. Defendant was ordered to serve a 12-month sentence in the custody of the Secretary of Corrections, and that sentence was to run consecutive to his sentence in the robbery conviction.
Defendant was convicted of robbery in this case and argues, among other things, that the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction.
The crime of robbery is defined by K.S.A. 21-3426 as follows: "Robbery is the taking of property from the person or presence of another by force or by threat of bodily harm to any person." (Emphasis added.)
Defendant's argument on appeal is that the evidence did not show that he forced or threatened bodily harm to take property from the victim. He therefore argues that this crime was, at the very most, a theft and that we should reverse his robbery conviction and remand for sentencing on a theft conviction.
June Huston walked into her office on the day in question and found a stranger leaning over her desk and looking into the drawer where she kept her purse. Defendant was that stranger.
Huston asked defendant what he was doing and received an equivocal answer. She then emphatically told defendant to stay in her office while she checked her purse, and he did so. Huston checked her purse, discovered cash missing, and accused defendant of taking it. Defendant then advised Huston that he had to go, and he left the office and began walking quickly down the hall and up the stairs of the courthouse.
As defendant walked out the door of the office, Huston followed him down the hallways at a distance of 6 to 8 feet. When they reached an entrance to the first floor of the courthouse, defendant went through the entrance ahead of Huston. When Huston attempted to pass, the door slammed abruptly back, hitting her in the shoulder and head and knocking off her glasses. By the time Huston had recovered from her contact with the door, defendant was nowhere to be seen.
After reporting these events to the sheriff, Huston encountered defendant again on the sidewalk. She again accused him of taking her money, and he denied it and offered her a $100 bill. She told defendant to wait for the sheriff, but he declined and left in a car driven by Barbara Tomich.
Later that day, an address book belonging to Huston was found at a construction site, and it contained the missing cash.
Based on this highly summarized version of the facts, defendant was convicted of robbery and sentenced to an upward departure of 61 months.
Defendant's principal argument is that there was no evidence at trial to indicate that force or threat of bodily harm was used by him to take Huston's property.
Initially, we find that a rational factfinder could have concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant stole Huston's money and that defendant pushed the courthouse door backwards into Huston's face in an effort to dissuade her from continuing her pursuit. The question is whether the force applied occurred during the robbery or after a theft had been completed.
To prove robbery, it must be shown that property was taken from another either by force or by threat of bodily harm. State v. Aldershof, 220 Kan. 798, 800, 556 P.2d 371 (1976). A taking is complete when the thief has obtained the complete, independent, and absolute possession and control of the property of another. State v. Long, 234 Kan. 580, 585, 675 P.2d 832 (1984), overruled in part on other grounds State v. Keeler, 238 Kan. 356, 365, 710 P.2d 1279 (1985).
In the instant matter, the evidence indicates that defendant did not threaten Huston, nor did he use physical force in taking the money out of her purse. The only force involved in this case is defendant's act of slamming a door shut in the face of the pursuing victim, thus causing her some physical injury and further causing her to temporarily abandon the effort of recovering her property from defendant.
Was the slamming of the door in Huston's face sufficient force to convert the crime of theft into one of robbery? Ultimately, we must decide whether the taking of the property had been completed prior to the application of force.
We have a number of Supreme Court cases on this issue. However, the resolution of the issue depends primarily on the facts of each case. Our Supreme Court in State v. Long, 234 Kan. at 583, said: "Prior Kansas cases are not in accord with one another and as such do not provide much assistance in determining when a taking is completed."
However, there are some principles of law which we believe apply to the instant matter. In State v. Miller, 53 Kan. 324, 328, 36 Pac. 751 (1894), the court said:
"Nice questions may and do arise as to just when the possession of the owner of articles not attached to his person, but under his immediate charge and control, is divested, and it may well be doubted whether a thief can be said to have taken peaceable possession of money or other thing of value in the presence of the owner, when the taking is instantly resisted by the owner, before the thief is able to remove it from his premises or from his immediate presence." (Emphasis added.)
Some 90 years later, the Kansas Supreme Court in State v. Long, 234 Kan. 580, Syl. ¶ 2, said:
"A thief does not obtain the complete, independent and absolute possession and control of the money or property adverse to the rights of the owner necessary to constitute a taking where the taking of the property is immediately resisted by the owner before the thief can remove it from the premises or from the owner's presence." (Emphasis added.)
This rule was most recently applied by the Supreme Court in State v. Dean, 250 Kan. 257, Syl. ¶ 4, 824 P.2d 978 (1992).
In this case, the evidence shows that the taking of the property was immediately resisted by the owner of the property, who pursued defendant until he slammed the door in her face.
In State v. Dean, the initial possession of the thief was a good deal more secure than it was in the case at bar. In Dean, the defendant ordered and was given $3 worth of gasoline pumped into his car. After the gasoline had been pumped, the station owner asked for payment, and the defendant put his hand in his pocket and made it appear as if he had a gun. Upon sighting the alleged "weapon," the owner was dissuaded from continuing to stop the defendant from leaving without paying for the gas, and the defendant drove away. The Supreme Court reversed the trial court, which had dismissed the defendant's robbery charge following the preliminary hearing, and said:
"In the case currently under consideration, the State contends the facts are analogous to Long. The State claims that although Kwon voluntarily pumped gasoline into the vehicle, Dean could not exercise complete control and dominion over the gasoline until Dean threatened Kwon with what appeared to be a weapon to take the property from the presence of Kwon; thus, the taking was incomplete until force was used." 250 Kan. at 260.
In this case, Huston found defendant reaching into a drawer in her desk. She immediately resisted any further efforts on his part by telling him to stand away from the desk until she checked to see if any money was missing. As soon as Huston announced money was missing, defendant left the room with Huston in hot pursuit behind him. As we read the record, Huston followed defendant down the hall and down the steps of the courthouse, never being more than 6 to 8 feet behind him. In our judgment, defendant was unable to remove the property from the presence of the pursuing owner until he slammed the door in her face. The slamming of the door in her face was an act of force and results in defendant being guilty of robbery. The theft in this case was not complete, defendant's possession was imperfect, and his control of the stolen money was qualified by the immediate pursuit of the owner. See State v. Dean, 250 Kan. 257, Syl. ¶ 3. Defendant was required to use force to make the theft complete, and he is guilty of the crime of robbery.
In reaching this decision, we rely on State v. Long, State v. Dean, and State v. Miller. Those cases all emphasize that a taking in the presence of an owner is not complete if the taking is immediately resisted by the owner before the thief is able to remove it from the premises. In this case, the theft took place in a small office in the courthouse. Defendant was, at all times after he left her office, pursued by the owner, who was seeking to retrieve her property. We have no need to decide whether the money was removed from the premises because defendant did not remove the ill-gotten gains from the presence of the owner until he shut the door in her face and stopped her pursuit. The fact is, the theft was immediately resisted and continued to be resisted until defendant slammed the door in Huston's face.
We hold that defendant's possession and control of Huston's property was incomplete until he slammed the door in her face, which converted what might have been a common theft into a robbery.
We affirm defendant's conviction on the charge of robbery.
Defendant next argues that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of battery.
Defendant requested an instruction on the crime of battery, which the trial court refused and said:
"THE COURT: In this instance the only contact alleged is the door and that is alleged in the context of force, not physical, great physical injury or disfigurement. I don't see how we could apply the battery instruction to this case because if the elements of battery and theft are met, then the primary charge of robbery is indicated, because it contains both elements. For that reason that instruction, lesser included's not given by the Court."
We agree with the trial court. A similar issue was raised in State v. Shortey, 256 Kan. 166, 884 P.2d 426 (1994). In that case, defendant was convicted of aggravated robbery and argued on appeal that the trial court's failure to give a battery instruction was reversible error. The Supreme Court found no error and said:
"In State v. Clardy, 252 Kan. 541, 847 P.2d 694 (1993), defendant was charged and convicted of one count of aggravated robbery. He contended on appeal that he was entitled to a jury instruction on battery as a lesser included offense of aggravated robbery. Defendant denied any intent to rob the victim and denied seeing the victim robbed by defendant's companions. The evidence showed that defendant struck the victim. There was no evidence that defendant took any money from the victim. 252 Kan. at 541-45. We reversed, reasoning:
"'Under K.S.A. 21-3107(3), the defendant in a criminal prosecution has a right to have the court instruct the jury on all lesser included offenses established by substantial evidence. Where there is no substantial testimony applicable to the lesser degrees of the offense charged, and all of the evidence taken together shows that the offense, if committed, was clearly of the higher degree, instructions relating to the lesser degrees of the offense are not necessary. State v. Deavers, 252 Kan. 149, 154-55, 843 P.2d 695 (1992).
"'When an information alleges a robbery was accomplished by force and that bodily harm was inflicted in the course of the robbery, battery will not be a lesser included offense of the aggravated robbery unless there is substantial evidence to prove the lesser offense of battery has been committed. Under the particular circumstances of this case, there is substantial evidence that the lesser degree of the offense charged had been committed, and an instruction on battery as a lesser included offense was required.' 252 Kan. at 547." 256 Kan. at 171-72.
The court goes on to say:
"Clardy is distinguishable on its facts. The victim's testimony herein clearly establishes that an aggravated robbery occurred--as does defendant's own testimony. Under either version, defendant was able to take and intentionally did take the currency and coin changer from the person of Davis as the direct result of the beating he was inflicting upon Davis. We find no error in the trial court's failure to instruct on aggravated battery or battery under K.S.A. 21-3107." 256 Kan. at 172.
In this case, considering all of the evidence, we conclude that the offense, if committed, was clearly of the higher degree and, as a result, instructions relating to the lesser degree of the offense were not necessary.
A key player in the entire scenario was Barbara Tomich. Tomich appears to have been defendant's girlfriend and was involved, to some extent, in aiding defendant to escape from the owner of the property and from the scene of the crime.
Apparently, on the night before trial, Tomich told one of the detectives that she was the person who took the money from Huston's purse. Defendant's attorney argues that he was not aware of this alleged confession until after defendant's trial. He accuses the State of withholding exculpatory evidence and, on that basis, asks that we order a new trial.
"'Prosecutors are under a positive duty, independent of court order, to disclose exculpatory evidence to a defendant.'" State v. Aikins, 261 Kan. 346, 381, 932 P.2d 408 (1997). Due process requires the prosecution to disclose material evidence favorable to the accused. State v. Humphrey, 258 Kan. 351, 355, 905 P.2d 664, modified 258 Kan. 372, 905 P.2d 664 (1995).
To justify reversal of a conviction for failure to disclose evidence, the evidence withheld must be clearly exculpatory and the withholding of the evidence must have been clearly prejudicial to a defendant. In order to be prejudicial, the evidence must have prejudiced a defendant's ability to defend against the charges. The evidence is material only if there is a reasonable probability that had the evidence been disclosed to the defense, the result of the trial would have been different. A "reasonable probability" is a probability sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the trial. 258 Kan. at 355.
The evidence against defendant is simply overwhelming. Huston discovered him in her office, leaning over the desk drawer where she kept her money. Huston then checked her purse and found that her money was missing, and defendant quickly retreated from Huston's office with Huston in hot pursuit. The evidence is so overwhelming that we hold that defendant was not prejudiced by the withholding of Tomich's attempt to confess to the crime. We conclude that even had that evidence been offered by the defendant, there exists no chance that the jury would have returned a different verdict.
This issue was raised by defendant on his motion for a new trial. "Appellate review of an order denying a new trial is limited to whether the trial court abused its discretion." Taylor v. State, 251 Kan. 272, 277, 834 P.2d 1325 (1992). We have reviewed the record in this matter and conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's motion for a new trial.
Finally, defendant seeks to dislodge his robbery conviction by arguing cumulative trial error.
"'"Cumulative trial errors, when considered collectively, may be so great as to require reversal of the defendant's conviction. The test is whether the totality of circumstances substantially prejudiced the defendant and denied him a fair trial. No prejudicial error may be found upon this cumulative effect rule, however, if the evidence is overwhelming against the defendant."'" State v. Castoreno, 255 Kan. 401, 411, 874 P.2d 1173 (1994) (quoting State v. Lumbrera, 252 Kan. 54, 57, 845 P.2d 609 [1992]).
We do not hesitate to hold that defendant was not denied a fair trial because of cumulative trial errors.
This appeal arises from the events which took place late in September 1995. On the day in question, a City of Perry police officer observed defendant backing his car onto a street and "throwing gravel." Defendant then put the car in drive and sped down the street, where he almost collided with the police officer's car.
The officer in the patrol car stopped defendant for reckless driving and asked him for his driver's license. Defendant replied that he had no driver's license. The officer asked him to clarify whether he did not have his license with him or whether he had no license at all. Defendant then said, "No, I have no driver's license."
The fact is, defendant's driver's license had been revoked.
Defendant's explanation for his driving on the date in question is that his adult brother was lost, he was afraid for his brother's safety, and he was, therefore, compelled to drive. He makes this argument despite the fact that Tomich was in the passenger seat beside him all the time he was driving in fear of his brother's safety.
Defendant first argues that a conviction under the habitual violator statute requires a finding of criminal intent and that there was no such evidence because he was compelled by a family emergency to drive while prohibited.
K.S.A. 21-3201(a) provides:
"Except as otherwise provided, a criminal intent is an essential element of every crime defined by this code. Criminal intent may be established by proof that the conduct of the accused person was intentional or reckless. Proof of intentional conduct shall be required to establish criminal intent, unless the statute defining the crime expressly provides that the prohibited act is criminal if done in a reckless manner." (Emphasis added.)
In this case, there is absolutely no question that defendant was aware that his driver's license had been suspended and that it was a crime for him to be driving the vehicle. At one point, defendant was asked:
"Q. Prior to this incident in September did you have any knowledge that your license had been revoked.
"A. I knew they were--I knew they were suspended."
Later, under cross-examination, defendant testified as follows:
"Q. Mr. Bateson, you stated that you knew that you were revoked when you were driving when officer Sloniger stopped you?
"A. I knew that I was suspended.
"Q. You knew that you were suspended?
"A. Right.
"Q. Driving--or suspending your driver's license means you're not supposed to drive; right?
"A. Right.
"Q. And you knew that; right?
"A. Yes.
"Q. And--okay. Now, you stated also that you shouldn't have been where you were at that time. That's because you knew that you were suspended; isn't that right?
"A. I knew that I shouldn't have been behind the wheel, yes."
Defendant has admitted under oath that on the date in question that his driver's license had been suspended. On the basis of defendant's own testimony, there is no question that he possessed the requisite criminal intent in driving a motor vehicle on the streets of the City of Perry, Kansas, when he knew that his driver's license had been revoked.
Defendant asserts that he is not guilty of driving as a habitual violator and asserts the compulsion defense.
The compulsion defense, found in K.S.A. 21-3209, is analyzed in State v. Davis, 256 Kan. 1, 883 P.2d 735 (1994).
We do not intend to prolong the opinion by discussing the compulsion defense. That defense is simply not available to defendant in this case. As we pointed out earlier, Tomich, who had been driving the car earlier that day, was seated in the passenger seat when defendant was stopped by the police officer. There is absolutely no evidence that Tomich could not have driven the vehicle in the search for defendant's brother. In spite of having someone available to drive legally, defendant decided to drive despite the fact he knew he did not have a valid driver's license. The compulsion defense is not available under these facts.
Did the trial court err in failing to instruct the jury on compulsion? From what we have said in the section of this opinion immediately above, we hold that the trial court did not err in failing to instruct the jury on compulsion.
Finally, defendant contends that the notification procedures in the statutes cited above are insufficient to satisfy the requirements of due process.
This issue has been decided adversely to the position of defendant by the Supreme Court in State v. Lewis, 263 Kan. 843, Syl. ¶ 10, 953 P.2d 1016 (1998). In Lewis, the Supreme Court held that the notice provision contained in the habitual violator statutes comport with notice requirements of the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. This renders defendant's argument on this issue without merit.


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