Posted on 07/02/2007 5:17:03 PM PDT by doug from upland
LIFE AFTER TERROR (son of FALN victim; Clinton pardons)
NY POST (via email from Joe Connor) | January 2005 | Joe Connor
Posted on 08/06/2005 8:35:38 PM PDT by doug from upland
LIFE AFTER TERROR
By JOSEPH F. CONNOR
YOU sometimes hear how the first World Trade Center attack was a warning that the city ig nored. But it wasn't the first: Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of the New York terrorist attack that killed my father, Frank T. Connor the Jan. 24, 1975, bombing of Fraunces Tavern.
The killers struck on a warm, clear and pleasant winter's day. My dad, a 33-year-old officer of Morgan Guaranty Trust, was having lunch with clients. The bomb killed him and three others in unspeakably gruesome ways. One of his colleagues was decapitated; silverware from the table was lodged in the torsos of the others. This is the grotesque reality of terrorism.
A man goes to work one day, and out of nowhere his life is taken from him and his family. I was 9 years old, my brother Tom, 11.
The cowardly attack was meant to kill many more than those four innocents but immediately before the blast the bomb was kicked out of the way by an unsuspecting restaurant employee shifting the brunt of the explosion away from the main dining area and directly into my father's table.
All these years later it is still hard to accept that his lunch party actually moved to "a better table" only minutes before the explosion.
This is the inexplicable randomness of terrorism.
The attack turned out to be the deadliest of the 130-plus bombings by the FALN, terrorists who claimed Puerto Rican independence as their cause. In due course, the group's members were caught or driven into hiding.
Those were different times. Our family never received so much as a phone call offering help from our state or federal representatives or the Red Cross. There were no lawsuits. When a family acquaintance offered his legal services, we dismissed him as an ambulance chaser.
But in many ways, we were better off "forgotten." We had friends, family, faith and each other for support. We cried together alone and focused our energies on looking ahead doing all the things that my dad would have wanted for us.
My Irish-born mother Mary earned her GED and went on to graduate from college in 1986. Grandma Connor, through the grief of losing her only child, dedicated herself to my mother in raising my brother Tom and me.
The first question I remember asking the day of my father's death was, "Is grandma still our grandmother?" The definitive way in which my mother answered, "Yes, of course she is" reassured me that our family would stick together. That set the tone for our lives going forward.
We never felt like victims. Like my mother and grandmother, Tom and I were pushed to self-sufficiency, and rose to the challenge, focusing on school and sports, graduating grade school, high school and college, beginning careers, marrying and having children.
We are driven by never letting my father's memory down. Not to overcome the obstacle of his death would have diminished the meaning of his life and we loved him far too much for that.
We put the notion of terrorism aside until August 1999, when the wound was reopened.
That's when President Bill Clinton offered executive clemency to 16 core members of the FALN.
Hillary Clinton was then eyeing the Senate seat soon to open up in New York, and pardons for the FALN were a longtime priority for many prominent city Democrats. We were outraged our father was being betrayed for cheap politics. We "went public" as a family for the first time. Enlisting the same energies that saw us through the previous 24 years, we fought to keep those thugs in prison. We failed there 14 of the 16 accepted clemency and were released that September. We were successful in that we did not back down; the issue should haunt the Clintons in the years to come.
Because times have changed in many ways the next time terror hit our family, it hit the entire American family.
Like our father 26 years before us, Tom and I commuted every day through the World Trade Center. On 9/11, we were horrified eyewitnesses to the planes hitting the towers and to working people just like us falling or jumping to their deaths.
I thought I might die that day only blocks from Fraunces Tavern. But I managed to get home to Danielle and the kids. They would not grow up without their dad, like I did.
Tom and I got out but our closest cousin, and our father's godson, did not. Steven Schlag worked on the 104th floor of the North Tower. Killed at 41, he left a wife and small children like our father.
Like so many who waited with us in hope for word on our father that January evening in 1975, Tom and I sat in vigil at Steve's house that horrible September 2001 evening, waiting for word from him.
I remember staring bleary-eyed at Steve's father Donald (my father's first cousin and as close to a brother as he could have been), suffering through this nightmare yet again. Through my own tears and shock I tried to lend hope, while knowing there was none.
Our family has endured and learned from the effects of terrorism for 30 years. We know there are no magic words to make it better. But I want to offer some words of hope to those families more recently affected: Even now, more than three years after the fact, you are on a lifelong, daily struggle. It may feel overwhelming at times, but you can overcome by drawing on your lost loved one, each other and your faith in God for strength.
Thirty years after Fraunces and a grown man, I still grieve every day for my father, but push on as our whole family has since his death, never letting him down and always keeping his memory alive.
I can think of no better way for my father, Frank Thomas Connor, to be remembered than as a symbol of hope for those facing the struggle we began 30 years ago.
Joseph F. Connor works in the financial services industry.
Washington, D.C. 20530
January 20, 2001
Name | Home Town | Offenses |
ALLEN, Verla Jean | Everton, Arkansas | False statements to agency of United States |
ALTIERE, Nicholas M. | Las Vegas, Nevada | Importation of cocaine |
ALTSCHUL, Bernice Ruth | Sherman Village, California | Conspiracy to commit money laundering |
ANDERSON, Joe, Jr. | Grove Hill, Alabama | Income tax evasion |
ANDERSON, William Sterling | Spartanburg, South Carolina | Conspiracy to defraud a federally insured financial institution, false statements to a federally insured financial institution, wire fraud |
AZIZKHANI, Mansour T. | Huntsville, Alabama | Conspiracy and making false statements in bank loan applications |
BABIN, Cleveland Victor, Jr. | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma | Conspiracy to commit offense against the United States by utilizing the U.S. mail in furtherance of a scheme to defraud |
BAGLEY, Chris Harmon | Harrah, Oklahoma | Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine |
BANE, Scott Lynn | Mahomet, Illinois | Unlawful distribution of marijuana |
BARBER, Thomas Cleveland | Hampton, Florida | Issuing worthless checks |
BARGON, Peggy Ann | Monticello, Illinois | Violation of the Lacey Act, violation of the Bald Eagle Protection Act |
BHATKA, Tansukhlal | Income tax evasion | |
BLAMPIED, David Roscoe | Ketchum, Idaho | Conspiracy to distribute cocaine |
BORDERS, William Arthur, Jr. | Washington, D.C. | Conspiracy to corruptly solicit and accept money in return for influencing the official acts of a federal district court judge (Alcee L. Hastings), and to defraud the United States in connection with the performance of lawful government functions; corruptly influencing, obstructing, impeding and endeavoring to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice, and aiding and abetting therein; traveling interstate with intent to commit bribery |
BOREL, Arthur David | Little Rock, Arkansas | Odometer rollback |
BOREL, Douglas Charles | Conway, Arkansas | Odometer rollback |
BRABHAM, George Thomas | Austin, Texas | Making a false statement or report to a federally insured bank |
BRASWELL, Almon Glenn | Doravilla, Georgia | Conspiracy to defraud government with respect to claims; perjury |
BROWDER, Leonard | Aiken, South Carolina | Illegal dispensing of controlled substance and Medicaid fraud |
BROWN, David Steven | New York, New York | Securities fraud and mail fraud |
BURLESON, Delores Caroylene, aka Delores Cox Burleson | Hanna, Oklahoma | Possession of marijuana |
BUSTAMANTE, John H. | Cleveland, Ohio | Wire fraud |
CAMPBELL, Mary Louise | Ruleville, Mississippi | Aiding and abetting the unauthorized use and transfer of food stamps |
CANDELARIA, Eloida | False information in registering to vote | |
CAPILI, Dennis Sobrevinas | Glendale, California | Filing false statements in alien registration |
CHAMBERS, Donna Denise | Memphis, Tennessee | Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and to distribute cocaine, possession with intent to distribute cocaine, use of a telephone to facilitate cocaine conspiracy |
CHAPMAN, Douglas Eugene | Scott, Arkansas | Bank fraud |
CHAPMAN, Ronald Keith | Scott, Arkansas | Bank fraud |
CHAVEZ, Francisco Larios | Santa Ana, California | Aiding and abetting illegal entry of aliens |
CISNEROS, Henry G. | ||
CLINTON, Roger | ||
COHN, Stuart Harris | New Haven, Connecticut | 1. Illegal sale of gold options 2. Illegal sale of silver options |
COOPER, David Marc | Wapakoneta, Ohio | Conspiracy to defraud the government |
COX, Ernest Harley, Jr. | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | Conspiracy to defraud a federally insured savings and loan, misapplication of bank funds, false statements |
CROSS, John F., Jr. | Little Rock, Arkansas | Embezzlement by a bank employee |
CUNNINGHAM, Rickey Lee | Amarillo, Texas | Possession with intent to distribute marijuana |
DE LABIO, Richard Anthony | Baltimore, Maryland | Mail fraud, aiding and abetting |
DEUTCH, John | Described in January 19, 2001 information | |
DOUGLAS, Richard | False statements | |
DOWNE, Edward Reynolds | Conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion; securities fraud | |
DUDLEY, Marvin Dean | Omaha, Nebraska | False statements |
DUNCAN, Larry Lee | Branson, Missouri | Altering an automobile odometer |
FAIN, Robert Clinton | Aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false corporate tax return | |
FERNANDEZ, Marcos Arcenio | Miami, Florida | Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana |
FERROUILLET, Alvarez | Interstate transport of stolen property, money laundering, false statements | |
FUGAZY, William Denis | Harrison, New York | Perjury in a bankruptcy proceeding |
GEORGE, Lloyd Reid | Mail fraud | |
GOLDSTEIN, Louis | Las Vegas, Nevada | Possession of goods stolen from interstate shipment |
GORDON, Rubye Lee | Tampa, Florida | Forgery of U.S. Treasury checks |
GREEN, Pincus | Switzerland | |
HAMNER, Robert Ivey | Searcy, Arkansas | Conspiracy to distribute marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute |
HANDLEY, Samuel Price | Hodgenville, Kentucky | Conspiracy to steal government property |
HANDLEY, Woodie Randolph | Hodgenville, Kentucky | Conspiracy to steal government property |
HARMON, Jay Houston | Jonesboro, Arkansas | 1. Conspiracy to import marijuana, conspiracy to possess marijuana with intent to distribute, importation of marijuana, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute
2. Conspiracy to import cocaine |
HEMMINGSON, John | Interstate transport of stolen property, money laundering | |
HERDLINGER, David S. | St. Simons Island, Georgia | Mail fraud |
HUCKLEBERRY, Debi Rae | Ogden, Utah | Distribution of methamphetamine |
JAMES, Donald Ray | Fairfield Bay, Arkansas | Mail fraud, wire fraud, and false statement to a bank to influence credit approval |
JOBE, Stanley Pruet | El Paso, Texas | Conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and bank fraud |
JOHNSON, Ruben H. | Austin, Texas | Theft and misapplication of bank funds by a bank officer or director |
JONES, Linda | Conspiracy to commit bank fraud and other offenses against the United States | |
LAKE, James Howard | Illegal corporate campaign contributions, wire fraud | |
LEWIS, June Louise | Lowellville, Ohio | Embezzlement by a bank employee |
LEWIS, Salim Bonnor | Short Hills, New Jersey | Securities fraud, record keeping violations, margin violations |
LODWICK, John Leighton | Excelsior Springs, Missouri | Income tax evasion |
LOPEZ, Hildebrando | San Isidro, Texas | Distribution of cocaine |
LUACES, Jose Julio | Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | Possession of an unregistered firearm |
MANESS, James Timothy | Conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance | |
MANNING, James Lowell | Little Rock, Arkansas | Aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false corporate tax return |
MARTIN, John Robert | Gulf Breeze, Florida | Income tax evasion |
MARTINEZ, Frank Ayala | Elgin, Texas | Conspiracy to supply false documents to the Immigration and Naturalization Service |
MARTINEZ, Silvia Leticia Beltran | Elgin, Texas | Conspiracy to supply false documents to the Immigration and Naturalization Service |
McCORMICK, John Francis | Dedham, Massachusetts | Racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, and violation of the Hobbs act |
McDOUGAL, Susan H. | ||
MECHANIC, Howard Lawrence | 1. Violating the Civil Disobedience Act of 1968
2. Failure to appear 3. Making false statement in acquiring a passport |
|
MITCHELL, Brook K., Sr. | Conspiracy to illegally obtain USDA subsidy payments, false statements to USDA, and false entries on USDA forms | |
MORGAN, Charles Wilfred, III | Little Rock, Arkansas | Conspiracy to distribute cocaine |
MORISON, Samuel Loring | Crofton, Maryland | Willful transmission of defense information, unauthorized possession and retention of defense information, theft of government property |
NAZZARO, Richard Anthony | Winchester, Massachusetts | Perjury and conspiracy to commit mail fraud |
NOSENKO, Charlene Ann | Phoenix, Arizona | Conspiracy to defraud the United States, and influencing or injuring an officer or juror generally |
OBERMEIER, Vernon Raymond | Belleville, Illinois | Conspiracy to distribute cocaine, distribution of cocaine, and using a communications facility to facilitate distribution of cocaine |
OGALDE, Miguelina | Glendale, California | Conspiracy to import cocaine |
OWEN, David C. | Olathe, Kansas | Filing a false tax return |
PALMER, Robert W. | Little Rock, Arkansas | Conspiracy to make false statements |
PERHOSKY, Kelli Anne | Bridgeville, Pennsylvania | Conspiracy to commit mail fraud |
PEZZOPANE, Richard H. | Palo Heights, Illinois | Conspiracy to commit racketeering, and mail fraud |
PHILLIPS, Orville Rex | Waco, Texas | Unlawful structure of a financial transaction |
POLING, Vinson Stewart, Jr. | Baldwin, Maryland | Making a false bank entry, and aiding and abetting |
PROUSE, Norman Lyle | Conyers, Georgia | Operating or directing the operation of a common carrier while under the influence of alcohol |
PRUITT, Willie H. H., Jr. | Port Richey, Florida | Absent without official leave |
PURSLEY, Danny Martin, Sr. | Goodlettsville, Tennessee | Aiding and abetting the conduct of an illegal gambling business, and obstruction of state laws to facilitate illegal gambling |
RAVENEL, Charles D. | Charleston, South Carolina | Conspiracy to defraud the United States |
RAY, William Clyde | Altus, Oklahoma | Fraud using a telephone |
REGALADO, Alfredo Luna | Pharr, Texas | Failure to report the transportation of currency in excess of $10,000 into the United States |
RICAFORT, Ildefonso Reynes | Houston, Texas | Submission of false claims to Veterans Administration |
RICH, Marc | Switzerland | |
RIDDLE, Howard Winfield | Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado | Violation of the Lacey Act (receipt of illegally imported animal skins) |
RILEY, Richard Wilson, Jr. | Possession of cocaine with intent to distribute | |
ROBBINS, Samuel Lee | Cedar Park, Texas | Misprision of a felony |
RODRIGUEZ, Joel Gonzales | Houston, Texas | Theft of mail by a postal employee |
ROGERS, Michael James | McAllen, Texas | Conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana |
ROSS, Anna Louise | Lubbock, Texas | Distribution of cocaine |
RUST, Gerald Glen | Avery, Texas | False declarations before grand jury |
RUST, Jerri Ann | Avery, Texas | False declarations before grand jury |
RUTHERFORD, Bettye June | Albuquerque, New Mexico | Possession of marijuana with intent to distribute |
SANDS, Gregory Lee | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | Conspiracy to distribute cocaine |
SCHWIMMER, Adolph | Conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, conspiracy to export arms and ammunition to a foreign country and related charges | |
SERETTI, Albert A., Jr. | McKees Rocks, Pennyslvania | Conspiracy and wire fraud |
SHAW, Patricia Campbell Hearst | Wilton, Connecticut | Armed bank robbery and using a firearm during a felony |
SMITH, Dennis Joseph | Redby, Minnesota | 1. Unauthorized absence
2. Failure to obey off-limits instructions 3. Unauthorized absence |
SMITH, Gerald Owen | Florence, Mississippi | Armed bank robbery |
SMITH, Stephen A. | ||
SPEAKE, Jimmie Lee | Breckenridge, Texas | Conspiracy to possess and utter counterfeit $20 Federal Reserve notes |
STEWART, Charles Bernard | Sparta, Georgia | Illegally destroying U.S. Mail |
STEWART-ROLLINS, Marlena Francisca | Euclid, Ohio | Conspiracy to distribute cocaine |
SYMINGTON, John Fife, III | ||
TANNEHILL, Richard Lee | Reno, Nevada | Conspiracy and restraint of trade |
TENAGLIA, Nicholas C. | Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania | Receipt of illegal payments under the Medicare program |
THOMAS, Gary Allen | Lancaster, Texas | Theft of mail by postal employee |
TODD, Larry Weldon | Gardendale, Texas | Conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. in violation of the Lacey Act and the Airborne Hunting Act |
TREVINO, Olga C. | Converse, Texas | Misapplication by a bank employee |
VAMVOUKLIS, Ignatious | Exeter, New Hampshire | Possession of cocaine |
VAN DE WEERD, Patricia A. | Tomahawk, Wisconsin | Theft by a U.S. Postal employee |
WADE, Christopher V. | ||
WARMATH, Bill Wayne | Walls, Mississippi | Obstruction of correspondence |
WATSON, Jack Kenneth | Oakridge, Oregon | Making false statements of material facts to the U.S. Forest Service |
WEBB, Donna Lynn | Panama City, Florida | False entry in savings and loan record by employee |
WELLS, Donald William | Phenix City, Alabama | Possession of an unregistered firearm |
WENDT, Robert H. | Kirkwood, Missouri | Conspiracy to effectuate the escape of a federal prisoner |
WILLIAMS, Jack L. | Making false statements to federal agents | |
WILLIAMS, Kevin Arthur | Omaha, Nebraska | Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute crack cocaine |
WILLIAMS, Robert Michael | Davison, Michigan | Conspiracy to transport in foreign commerce securities obtained by fraud |
WILSON, Jimmie Lee | Helena, Arkansas | Converting property mortgaged or pledged to a farm credit agency, and converting public money to personal use |
WINGATE, Thelma Louise | Sale City, Georgia | Mail fraud |
WOOD, Mitchell Couey | Sherwood, Arkansas | Conspiracy to possess and to distribute cocaine |
WOOD, Warren Stannard | Las Vegas, Nevada | Conspiracy to defraud the United States by filing a false document with the Securities and Exchange Commission |
WORTHEY, Dewey | Conway, Arkansas | Medicaid fraud |
YALE, Rick Allen | Belleville, Illinois | Bank fraud |
YASAK, Joseph A. | Chicago, Illinois | Knowingly making under oath a false declaration regarding a material fact before a grand jury |
YINGLING, William Stanley | Interstate transportation of stolen vehicle | |
YOUNG, Phillip David | Little Rock, Arkansas | Interstate transportation and sale of fish and wildlife |
He did it to combat Global Warming, duh!
< /thick sarcasm >
Clinton also pardoned a major league scumball named Mel Reynolds. He was doing an underage campaign worker and was set up on a FBI sting thinking he was going to have a threesome with a Catholic girl. WARNING WARNING WARNING -— THIS IS VERY GRAPHIC — http://www.usk.org/nonews/headline/mel.html
doug - I always get uneasy with tit for tat threads - tell me you didnt post this in response to Bush’s actions today
I always get uneasy when someone uses the word tit in a thread. Tell me you didn’t post that.
Told ya...
LOL - yeah - I thought some might think it was a Beavis and Butthead tip of the hat after I hit enter
Im just surprised it was you
huhhhuhuhuhuhh
Yes, of course, this was in reaction to the commutation. I want to hear nothing from the Dems about this. They need to STFU.
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