Posted on 03/25/2005 7:46:32 PM PST by madprof98
PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 25 - The somber ranks of protesters swelled on Friday outside the hospice in which Terri Schiavo lay dying as two more last-ditch legal appeals wound through the courts on Friday and the sense there grew that this religious and political drama was rapidly coming to a grim conclusion.
"Terri is weakening and she's down to her last hours," the woman's father, Robert Schindler, told reporters beneath a glowering sky. "Something has to be done, and has to be done quick."
The question of whether the severely brain-damaged Ms. Schiavo should be allowed to die, as her husband, Michael Schiavo, says she wanted, or instead be turned over to the care of her parents, who want to keep her alive, has reached from this small, secluded hospice to the state's Capitol, the Vatican, the White House and the halls of Congress.
Robert Schindler and his wife, Mary, said doctors told them their daughter would most likely live 7 to 10 days after the removal of the feeding tube, which came out a week ago, on March 18.
The drama's coincidence with Good Friday and Easter weekend made protesters gathered here ever more fervent. At one point this afternoon as the crowd sang "Amazing Grace" and "Onward Christian Soldiers," demonstrators holding plastic cups of water for Ms. Schiavo stepped one by one across the police line at the hospice and were taken into custody.
Still battling despite a series of legal setbacks that went all the way up to the United States Supreme Court, lawyers for the Schindlers filed a motion Friday before Judge George W. Greer of Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court, who had ordered the tube's removal, with what they said was "highly significant new information" indicating that Ms. Schiavo is more able to communicate than had been previously believed.
Barbara Weller, one of the lawyers, said she had been in the woman's hospice room on the day the tube was removed.
The motion before Judge Greer said that "at one point during her visit, Mrs. Weller attempted to elicit a direct statement from Mrs. Schiavo regarding her end of life wishes." It went on, "Mrs. Weller told Mrs. Schiavo that this whole matter could end if Mrs. Schiavo could articulate one sentence: 'I want to live.' In the presence of Suzanne Vitadamo, Mrs. Schiavo's aunt, she attempted to verbalize the sentence. She managed to articulate the first two vowel sounds, first articulating 'AHHHHHHH,' and then virtually screaming 'WAAAAAAAA.' She became very agitated, but could not complete the vocalization attempted."
The Schindlers argued that their daughter seemed to be trying to say "I want," and that her feeding tube should be reinserted to determine whether she could communicate.
George Felos, Mr. Schiavo's lawyer, called the motion "outrageous" and "an abuse of the legal system," saying the issue of whether Ms. Schiavo can communicate had been addressed in previous hearings. It is nothing more than a reflex caused by touching her, he said.
Judge Greer said he would rule on the motion by noon Saturday.
Although the court filing did not come until late Friday afternoon, whispers that Ms. Schiavo had tried to speak rippled through the crowd of protesters and were already beginning to appear on placards.
"Terry: I Want to Live," read one sign. "Terri asks Mom for food," read another.
In a second legal maneuver, this time in the federal courts, the Schindlers' lawyers asked the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, in Atlanta, to overturn a ruling by Judge James D. Whittemore of Federal District Court, denying their charge that that Ms. Schiavo's right to due process had been denied. On Friday night, the court declined to overrule Judge Whittemore.
As has been the case since crowds first began to form early in the week, nearly all of the protesters outside the Woodside Hospice House were siding with the Schindlers. "I believe what is going on here is a sinister act," said Marilyn Aleman of Orlando. Her sign, pointedly directed at Mr. Schiavo, "Divorce is an option, murder is not," flapped in a stiff, muggy breeze.
A handful of other protesters quietly waved signs asking that Ms. Schiavo be allowed to die in peace. "There's another side to this," said Raymond Simms, who described himself as a veterans' advocate. "No one, not even the government, should be allowed to interfere in the decisions between a husband and wife."
Pastors in the crowd urged calm and forgiveness, but tempers were clearly on edge. "It's easy to get caught up in anger here," said Pastor Rick Barnard of My Faith House of Prayer in Morris, Ill., as he led a noon service outside the hospice. "We need to ask the Lord for the grace to forgive even those who oppose us."
At the same time, many of the chants and slogans were taking on a gruesome edge. "Her skin is peeling," read one sign. "Terri's nose and lips are bleeding," said another.
Some protesters were even looking beyond Ms. Schiavo's death. "No cremation," said one sign. "We want an autopsy."
Mr. Schiavo and Judge Greer remained the main targets.
On Friday, however, much of the anger was also being directed at Gov. Jeb Bush and his brother, President Bush, for not taking further action to keep Ms. Schiavo alive, despite their efforts to prod the courts and their calls for legislators to "err on the side of life" as President Bush phrased it earlier this week.
"President Bush, Governor Bush: Fear God More Than Man," read one sign waved by protesters toward the burgeoning colony of cameras and reporters stationed across the street.
"To be certain, Jeb Bush has done a great deal on behalf of Terri, but how will history remember him if Terri dies?" asked Andrew Doran, a spokesman for Crossroads, Pro-Life, one of the groups holding a vigil. "Likely, as a weak, moral coward who did not have the courage to save a helpless, dying woman from those who so vehemently wished to take her life."
Randall Terry, the veteran anti-abortion advocate and head of a group called the Society for Truth and Justice, handed out what he said were five legal opinions showing that the governor did have more powers than he seemed willing to use.
The governor has told reporters that he had asked the state's lawyers to search for any legal avenue to put Ms. Schiavo back on her feeding tube, but had found none. "I cannot go beyond what my powers are," Governor Bush told reporters.
A cluster of cameras formed around the police barricade at the entrance to the hospice around 1 p.m., alerted by religious leaders that they would try to send volunteers across the police lines in an effort to deliver water to Ms. Schiavo.
"It's good, it's good, my son is going to be a man," said Scott Helbreth of Charlotte, N.C., as he watched his 10-year-old son, Joshua, take his place in line carrying a cup of water.
Mr. Helbreth said Joshua had read about Ms. Schiavo and asked his father to drive him to Florida. "I am so proud of him," Mr. Helbreth said. "Only in America do we have children like this."
The crowd sang hymns and one by one protesters took their place in front of the cameras, made a short statement, then stepped across the police line and were taken into custody. When it was Joshua's turn, he seemed cowed by the hulking camera crews, muttering quiet answers to their shouted questions. He didn't know how he felt. He just wanted to do the right thing. He wasn't afraid.
Joshua took two steps across the line, then looked up at a pair of police officers, each one thrice his size. They spoke to him quietly, placed a hand under each of the boy's arms and led him toward a police car.
"What a statement this makes," Mr. Helbreth said. "We have a culture of death in this country, but this strikes a blow for the culture of life."
Dennis Blank and Lynn Waddell contributed reporting from Pinellas County, Fla.,for this article.
She could be pardoned, she would have rights. She would be tried by a jury, not a judge. She would not be starved to death because it's cruel and unusual.
Judge Greer is a baptist who was recently asked to leave his church.
c post 42
greer was NEVER a baptist....but I am SO delighted that church discipline was invoked!!
Re 43....can u point me to that story so I can relish his embarassment?
He obviously takes "'til death do us part" very seriously.
So seriously, in fact, that for him death (of his spouse) is the only option.
i think the church asked greer to leave by the sounds of what LLB stated. Church discipline. The chUrch is not supposed to let a little greer yeast infect the whole loaf of bread.
Boot his death loving a$$!!
Hate evil....cling to what is good.
"He's blind as a bat spritually."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He's blind as a bat physically as well.
He's legally blind, cannot read evidence put before him, has to have clerks read it for him. Cannot even drive a car.
He has made a number of errors in assigning bail in his courtroom, according to someone who works in his courthouse, who was on one of the radio talk shows last week.
I hope that someone erects a statue of Terri right in front of Nazi Greer's home and the courthouse. A statue on private property that can't be removed. I wonder what Greer and family ate and drank today? I bet he eats a big Easter meal.
What will kids think? I'm sure someone somewhere is working on how to convince kids that dying by dehydration is a sublime experience. Aaron Brown asked a guest tonight, "Is Terri in pain?" The answer was no, no, no, Terri lacks the cognitive facilities for pain at this point.
I must be having a nightmare. Soon I will wake up and realize it was just a bad dream.
Or truly merciful depending on which side of the issue one stands.
We humans don't live to be a thousand years, so what's the big deal about letting Terri Schiavo live and be cared for by her family for a few more years? It's Terri's existence, her life itself and not its quality, that her family wants to cherish. We don't have the privelege of a long life-span in this universe compared to a redwood tree (thousands of years) or a star (millions of years)...we should be grateful for every minute of our lives. Live life to the fullest. Why terminate it, for God's sake, we only live once.
One of the nurses stated in her affidavit she saw an empty insulin container in the trash can.
Was this the same nmurse who claimed she fed Terri milkshakes...and the same nurse who claimed that all her coworkers were killing patients...is this the same nurse who was deemed a total nutcase by the courts?
Well, that cannot be because it would be a matter or record somewhere.
If you have documents proving that, surely you could enlighten us all with them?
She's a loon.
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