RSDavis
03-27-2008, 09:42 AM
You Guys Totally Rock!!!!
by RS Davis
The Freedom Files (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=194780914&blogID=371183634&Mytoken=BC2D081E-ED1F-40F1-BA893F051603757A28894945)
http://www.ketv.com/2008/0320/15648151.jpg
Hello Freedomphiles! Do you see that picture? That’s a picture of smiling Jayci and Jason Yaeger, from a different and happier time, before he was in prison and before she had brain cancer.
We can’t bring that back, but there was one thing we could do. We could help this dying girl get her last wish, to see her daddy one more time before she slips this mortal coil. I wrote (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=194780914&blogID=370473427&Mytoken=F13E7A4A-A2A0-4988-8AB26CF4EA8B941B26556747) a Freedom File asking you to email the warden at her father’s minimum security federal prison, and you sure did.
By my count, at least 50 people have written emails. That’s just from my readers, and just the ones who bothered to tell me. Here is some of the response:
"The warden must be a monster." - A.P.
"RS Davis, my e-mail requesting compassion in this matter has been sent, and I shall be haunted for quite some time by the photo of that young girl, who after all is about the age of one of my daughters. What times we live in. Thank you for posting this sad commentary on our current prison/industrial complex." - A.G.
"I Wrote One. It ended in ’May God have mercy on your soul.’ What Kind Of Pig Denies A Dying 10-Year-Old Girl A Chance To See Her Father One Last Time? It disgusts me." -Travis
"RSD...per usual...excellent work! I’ve circulated this story through out my office and have pretty much made it mandatory for my employees to write letters (not that I had to do so)." - E.H.
"Thanks, Rick, for lighting a fire under us on this. My email went through as well. Isn’t this the kind of situation that congress people can step in and advocate on behalf of the family if they are savy enough to ask?" - N.M.
"I made sure my e-mail, whether ’bulked’ or not, was restrained and respectful in tone. My prayers to this child and her family---and that includes her father, who is guilty of a non-violent drug offense." - AG1937
What was so excellent about this was that support came from all accross the political spectrum, from conservatives, liberals, libertarians, socialists - whatever. This story was universally appalling.
Well, one douche said, "If you can’t do the crime..." but that was it, the only voice of dissent. One conservative shared his letter with us:
"I am a conservative, law-and-order kind of guy. But there are obviously times where discretion is the better part of valor. Your discretion can allow the father to see his daughter and then return to complete his sentence. I see no reason that this request cannot be accommodated. Neither do I see any reason that this request is not under "extraordinary circumstances." It is for exactly cases like this that the furlough exceptions should be granted."
One Christian wrote this:
"IF you are a Christian of any real faith you will give this child what she NEEDS to pass in peace as she leaves this world. You will give her mother the one thing she needs to live the rest of her life with one less torturous thought in her mind involving the painful death of her daughter so young. You will give the grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends what they need to have to not be haunted by this death for all their days."
A libertarian wrote:
To Whom it My Concern:
When your day of Judgment has arrived, and you meet Jesus, and Jayci is sitting on His lap, what will you say?
God is Love,
Evren Seven
And all that from just my little corner of the blogosphere. Calls went out all across it, bringing to life a nation of impromptu activists. Email inboxes were flooded, phone lines ablaze, and the warden heard us all, Freedomphiles in fact and in spirit across fifty states. KETC7 reports (http://www.ketv.com/news/15717572/detail.html#):
An imprisoned father went to his dying daughter’s bedside Wednesday, a visit federal authorities allowed only after being deluged with letters and phone calls from across the nation...
...On Wednesday afternoon, prison guards drove Jason Yaeger to a Lincoln hospice, where he spent several hours at her bedside. No one else was allowed in the room except Jason Yaeger, Jayci and the escorts.
Sources said Yaeger did leave the girl’s side to consult with hospice counselors and get some direction on how to speak with the girl about what she was going through.
Prior to Wednesday, the prison warden had allowed Jason Yaeger three visits to his daughter, but had denied requests for a longer furlough or an early transfer to a halfway house in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The warden told Yaeger it was not viewed as an extraordinary circumstance.
Letters and e-mails from across the nation have reached the Yaeger family and appealed to the prison to allow the man to see his daughter.
Now, it was only a few hours, and I’d like to see something more long-term set up, but this was a good start. Thanks to each and every one of you for your help. And remember this day every time you think you can’t change the world.
You just fucking did.
by RS Davis
The Freedom Files (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=194780914&blogID=371183634&Mytoken=BC2D081E-ED1F-40F1-BA893F051603757A28894945)
http://www.ketv.com/2008/0320/15648151.jpg
Hello Freedomphiles! Do you see that picture? That’s a picture of smiling Jayci and Jason Yaeger, from a different and happier time, before he was in prison and before she had brain cancer.
We can’t bring that back, but there was one thing we could do. We could help this dying girl get her last wish, to see her daddy one more time before she slips this mortal coil. I wrote (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=194780914&blogID=370473427&Mytoken=F13E7A4A-A2A0-4988-8AB26CF4EA8B941B26556747) a Freedom File asking you to email the warden at her father’s minimum security federal prison, and you sure did.
By my count, at least 50 people have written emails. That’s just from my readers, and just the ones who bothered to tell me. Here is some of the response:
"The warden must be a monster." - A.P.
"RS Davis, my e-mail requesting compassion in this matter has been sent, and I shall be haunted for quite some time by the photo of that young girl, who after all is about the age of one of my daughters. What times we live in. Thank you for posting this sad commentary on our current prison/industrial complex." - A.G.
"I Wrote One. It ended in ’May God have mercy on your soul.’ What Kind Of Pig Denies A Dying 10-Year-Old Girl A Chance To See Her Father One Last Time? It disgusts me." -Travis
"RSD...per usual...excellent work! I’ve circulated this story through out my office and have pretty much made it mandatory for my employees to write letters (not that I had to do so)." - E.H.
"Thanks, Rick, for lighting a fire under us on this. My email went through as well. Isn’t this the kind of situation that congress people can step in and advocate on behalf of the family if they are savy enough to ask?" - N.M.
"I made sure my e-mail, whether ’bulked’ or not, was restrained and respectful in tone. My prayers to this child and her family---and that includes her father, who is guilty of a non-violent drug offense." - AG1937
What was so excellent about this was that support came from all accross the political spectrum, from conservatives, liberals, libertarians, socialists - whatever. This story was universally appalling.
Well, one douche said, "If you can’t do the crime..." but that was it, the only voice of dissent. One conservative shared his letter with us:
"I am a conservative, law-and-order kind of guy. But there are obviously times where discretion is the better part of valor. Your discretion can allow the father to see his daughter and then return to complete his sentence. I see no reason that this request cannot be accommodated. Neither do I see any reason that this request is not under "extraordinary circumstances." It is for exactly cases like this that the furlough exceptions should be granted."
One Christian wrote this:
"IF you are a Christian of any real faith you will give this child what she NEEDS to pass in peace as she leaves this world. You will give her mother the one thing she needs to live the rest of her life with one less torturous thought in her mind involving the painful death of her daughter so young. You will give the grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends what they need to have to not be haunted by this death for all their days."
A libertarian wrote:
To Whom it My Concern:
When your day of Judgment has arrived, and you meet Jesus, and Jayci is sitting on His lap, what will you say?
God is Love,
Evren Seven
And all that from just my little corner of the blogosphere. Calls went out all across it, bringing to life a nation of impromptu activists. Email inboxes were flooded, phone lines ablaze, and the warden heard us all, Freedomphiles in fact and in spirit across fifty states. KETC7 reports (http://www.ketv.com/news/15717572/detail.html#):
An imprisoned father went to his dying daughter’s bedside Wednesday, a visit federal authorities allowed only after being deluged with letters and phone calls from across the nation...
...On Wednesday afternoon, prison guards drove Jason Yaeger to a Lincoln hospice, where he spent several hours at her bedside. No one else was allowed in the room except Jason Yaeger, Jayci and the escorts.
Sources said Yaeger did leave the girl’s side to consult with hospice counselors and get some direction on how to speak with the girl about what she was going through.
Prior to Wednesday, the prison warden had allowed Jason Yaeger three visits to his daughter, but had denied requests for a longer furlough or an early transfer to a halfway house in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The warden told Yaeger it was not viewed as an extraordinary circumstance.
Letters and e-mails from across the nation have reached the Yaeger family and appealed to the prison to allow the man to see his daughter.
Now, it was only a few hours, and I’d like to see something more long-term set up, but this was a good start. Thanks to each and every one of you for your help. And remember this day every time you think you can’t change the world.
You just fucking did.