Delayed Justice

Not likely.  Even with Supreme Court Justice Betty Weaver’s leaving the Court, it’s not likely that things will calm down.  After all, it’s election season and Justice Robert P. Young is up for his eight-year encounter with voters.  And Justice Weaver’s appointed replacement, Alton T. Davis, is not likely to put up with the kinds of guff Justices Young, Markman, and Corrigan have been sending out to anyone who dares to disagree with them or call them on their facts.

I have been out of the land, watching from afar, as all this unfolded last week.  So far the most notable response has been that of the Republican organization.  Understand that the Governor has the authority and constitutional duty to reappoint Justice Weaver’s successor…something, by the way, that Justice Weaver–excuse me, FORMER Justice Weaver–says needs to changes (all this outlined in her court reform plan; see her personally funded website, www.justiceweaver.com).  At any rate, the response has been baffling.  Jennifer Hoff, who is described as a Republican Party spokeswoman is quoted in all kinds of sources describing Justice David as a “partisan hack.”  Wow, that’s quite something to say of a judge who served on a circuit court for 21 years.  It’s true he was appointed by Govceronor Jennifer Grandholm to the Court of Appeals, but John Engler–when he was governor–appointed Justices Young, Markman, and Corrigan–oh, and former Chief Justice Clif Taylor, too, to the various courts…Appeals and Supreme (and some to both).  Does that mean they were/are hacks as well?  

Perhaps the better question would be Who is Jennifer Hoff?  Her Linked In profile indicates that she is the Director of Communications and Research for the Michigan Republican party, something she began in 2009.  Before that (there’s a three-year lapse in her employment history here) she was working for the DeVos for Governor campaign in 2006.  And before that she served as a Public Relations Coordinator/Press Secretary fot the Michigan House of Representatives–Republican Communications Services.   And before that we assume she was in school at Western Michigan University.  She indicates that she is a member of the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) the Leadership Institute, SSI (??), and, of course, the Republican Party.  She says she’s interested in career opportunities, getting back in touch, and consulting.  But she calls Justice Davis a political hack. ???  Perhaps this excess comes as a result of youthful enthusiasm gone badly awry.

I’m thinking the Republicans having to do with the Supreme Court are in a lot of trouble and haven’t the wit to see their way out of it.  Why else would you turn loose this public relations neophyte?  You don’t start by gratuitously denigrating someone who is of the opposite party.  You don’t insult people needlessly.  Even a public relations tyro knows that.  And you do not call someone with a stellar record on the bench for more than two decades a “hack.”  Jennifer owes Justice Davis a public apology.  But heck, Justices Young, Markman, and Corrigan owe the same to former Justice Weaver for their untruths, half-truths, and pure spite (and all of it is on record). 

Do you think we’re going to see such an event?  An apology?  No, I don’t think so, but the future is unknowable.  It COULD happen.  So could a return to civility on the court.  But I think the only time that could occur would be after Justice Young was voted off and Justices Corrigan and Markman took time to humble themselves.  Will that happen?  The future is unknowable.  It COULD happen.

Richard Dana’s mother, Chad McElwee’s mother, Lee Randolph Priester’s mother, Janeane Lusk’s mother…and a host of other parent and family members were there.  And so were those who support them in their grief and loss including–but not limited to–Sgt. Terry McGee of the Grand Rapids Police Department, Chris Cameron of Silent Observer, Anita Droog of Kent County Victim/Witness Unit, Don, our own Melissa.  

And, yes, any threatening weather had already passed and we were left with a hot, steamy summer day in Michigan.  And Penny Lusk was again offering her services to brighten faces, shoulders, arms and hands.

Penny Lusk paints a hand at the Conquerors' picnic.

Yes, hot dogs, hamburgers, salads, chips.  A picnic.  A picnic with a distinctive purpose.  And that purpose is to remind themselves that even though the worst thing that can happen, especially to parents, already has happened, there is an affirmation of life and purpose and memory.  The Conquerors’ message:

“In all things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”  Romans 8:37.

Even this.

Will the rain hold off?  A reasonable question today, the third anniversary of the murder of Lee Randolph Priester.  Why would it matter?  Because, not so coincidentally, today is the annual picnic organized by his mother, Carolyn, and others in memory of all those families who are served in some way by Conquerors.  This support group is pretty darned inclusive and is meant to be of help to the families of murder victims.  The very fact that we need such a group is wrenchingly sad, but thank God it’s there.  The group’s meetings offer a safe place where tears can flow, where families can get suggestions on ways to move through the aftermath of violence, where people can ask “WHY?”  And the picnic is a time of fellowship.

I think of last year’s event…especially of Penny Lusk taking such care painting faces of young children.  They delighted in her attention and the feel of the delicate brushes as they traced vivid flowers and stars and birds on smooth cheeks.  Penny’s daughter Janeane was murdered March 27, 2008.  Janeane’s murderer, Sid Terrell Jones, was convicted July 1, 2009, a little more than a year ago.

And it’s not just the families of murder victims who attend.  There are police officers, judges, victim’s advocates, counsellors, and other people who want to add their support.

For the murders that are solved there is some measure of knowing.  For the rest, there is the waiting.  In Lee’s case time may now be working for the investigators.  And they are out there.  Last month the Grand Rapids Police Department canvassed the neighborhood where he was murdered and hung door tags inviting people who knew something to come forward.  Here’s the story from The Grand Rapids Press.  The door hangers are a good idea.  And it only takes one brave soul who will stand against the madness.  We KNOW without a doubt that somebody knows somethin’.

For the picnic?  I’ll be there–but early–as long as weather makes it possible.  If you want to support the Conquerors maybe you’ll join them.  Check their website for details.

Surprising it doesn’t happen more often.  Maybe it does and we just don’t hear about it.

In this case, though, it’s likely to be a three-days’ wonder in Cutlerville.  A large tree falls and in the process of cleaning up, lo and behold! the land owner finds bones tangled in the roots.  Is it a home (farm) burial following an natural or accidental death?  Could it be murder?  Are the remains those of Native Americans?  All kinds of conclusions just waiting to be jumped to.  We know better than that, but we do it anyway.  At first examination it might seem to be just a burial.  After all, when we die somebody needs to do something with our bodies; can’t just leave ‘em laying about.  So, mostly during the last couple hundred years we’ve buried our dead.  And sometime they become unburied.  And that gives rise to all manner of speculation.  At the very least we come away with the idea that the repose of the dead has been disturbed.

This story came to my attention courtesy of WGVU’s David Moore, looking at various angles.  He pointed me to the story in The Grand Rapids Press.   It’s likely he’s going to follow up on this, perhaps speaking with someone with expertise in the story of old bones.  I look forward to hearing and reading what he comes up with.

And when the story dies down (so to speak) what then for those old bones?  Perhaps the body’s identity will be known and (s)he will lie in a marked grave.  And then?

Requiascat in pacem.  For a long, long time.

Saturday noontime I spent with a delightful group of writers in Grand Rapids.  And by delightful I do not mean literary lightweights in any sense of the word.  They are hardworking and–for many of them–frequently published authors.  Their genre for at least THIS part of their writing work is Romance (many of them do other writing work, too).  So, Romance writers.  Wow!  I came away with an education and I had to confess that while it would be a sin to be jealous of their successes I could feel them in the room.  What would it be like to have 20 books to my name?  Pretty cool, I’m guessing.

I was a little intimidated at first but won over by their generosity of spirit and their interest in Delayed Justice.  They explained that they often asked police officers, investigators, even the forensic pathologist Dr. Stephen Cohl.  So, I was in good company of being on a list of that caliber…but I explained that while my master’s degree was in journalism, my doctorate was in English…creative writing to be exact.  There was in my mind the idea tucked far back that I was supposed to be doing what they have been doing, but perhaps in a different genre.

And I have been.  Writing fiction, that is.  But not getting published. In fact, not even sending stuff off.  Just writing and holding.

I suppose I’ve slipped back into the idea is that I should do only one thing.  Either this or that.  Where does that come from?  Who says so?  Didn’t I tell students time and again that they should use all the talents they have, even if they’re small talents?  ”You have been given talents for a reason,” I’d say.  ”Part of your task is to find the right way to combine them.  But never, never, never discard them.”  I realize it was good advice.  So I’ve been searching for ways to combine my interests for some time.  That’s the challenge.  Certainly my interest in music informs my film making.  Fiction writing informs essays and journalism.  Somehow it all comes together and makes a kind of sense.  I can’t do what they do, but I can do what I do.

The gathering of writers was a reminder.  Talent is where you find it.  There is a lot of  it out there.  And great talent can come from anywhere, not just the graduate school.  Finally, the world is waiting for the next good idea.

I give thanks for those reminders, the new insights about writing groups, and I especially  give thanks for encountering writers who take such great joy in their work.  That’s what we’re supposed to do!

The 1976 murder of Kathryn Darling now has a charged suspect, Russell Vane.  And police are trying to tie him to the 1979 murder of Diane Holloway.  Oh, these Grand Rapids Press stories are more than passing interesting.  Wonderful and amazing that at long last there are some answers to the kinds of questions that cry out for answers.

And thanks to the officers who have labored unceasingly to find those answers.  We know it takes work, work, and more work, but it also requires cooperation…people having the courage and willingness to speak about what they know.

Think what might happen if everyone who knew the unuttered answer–the secret–to an open murder came forward.  Mmmm-mmm.  What a day that would be!  It would be our Independence Day from the tyranny of homicide.  Just a thought.

The source? FBI Uniform Crime Report as reported by Scripps Howard News Service.  Time frame? 1980-2008.  Reporter/analyst Thomas Hargrove has compiled this series of stories on the state of murder in our country.  And he goes state by state, year by year.  When it comes to Michigan, well…I didn’t know it was quite that bad.  Only 52 percent of homicides in this state have been cleared during all that time.  Nationwide it’s 67 percent.  What accounts for the disparity?  We’re lower than Alabama, heck, we’re even below Washington, D.C., and that’s supposed to be the murder capital of the whole country.  Mr.Hargrove says that it may be the murder rate in Detroit that drags (or has dragged) the whole state down.  Oh, my!  More bad news about a really great city, a city I have grown to love.

Here are the state-by-state stats.

Here are the year-by-year statistics nationwide.

And here is a story about homicides solved and unsolved: Nearly 185,000 homicides since 1980 remain unsolved.

And here’s a story that discusses the solving of murders: Victim’s age, sex, race affect homicide clearance rates.  No surprise that when you do things that are risky you put yourself at greater risk.  But to be murdered for it?  Yup.  It happens.  A lot.

Another story: Many “best practices” known to improve murder investigations.

And yet another, ths time by Elizabeth Lucas: One in nine Americans knows the victim of an unsolved homicide.

More: Some police departments fail to tell FBI when they solve homicides.

Finally, here is a really powerful tool: a searchable database.  So if you want to see what’s been happening in your own back yard, have a look.

Again, my thanks to Mr. Hargrove, Jason Bartz, Elizabeth Lucas, and Scripps Howard.  This is a lot to read, but I think you’ll find it worth your time.  And most of the unsolved cases could be closed if the people who KNEW something about he murders would come forward.  The crime of murder is bad enough in itself…to compound it with silence is unconscionable.    Your chances of being murdered are less today then there were in 1938 (the year of Mina Dekker’s murder)–that’s in murders per hundred of thousands of our population.  I believe what has changed in all the intervening years is a willingness to ignore any moral obligation that accompanies “Thou shalt not commit murder.”

Thank you, thank you, thank you.  For your service, for the willingness and oftentimes the need to lay down your lives.  For the freedoms you have purchased with your blood.

Thank you.

A friend said he stopped by to read the blog and said I was writing as if I were depressed.  Well, not really.  Reflective, maybe and wondering, too, what’s next for all this.  But part of that wondering always happens after a long run of being really busy.  There are two projects that have required a great deal of time.  

The first is getting started on a film about Detroit’s Poet Laureate, Naomi Long Madgett.  Oh, she’s a wonder.  Only 86 and still working her art and working with a wonderful community of poets.  I’m here to tell you that Detroit is NOT dead.  The arts community is a vital part of what has been a leading city in the nation.  Of course there are problems in the Motor City, but they are as likely to be solved with art as with anything else.  That’s the thing: good or bad times, art can flourish.  So, we’re begun on what is likely to be a year-long project. The film is called Star by Star: The Poetry of Naomi Long Madgett.  I’ve been in Detroit for a several trips and we’ve been taping, taping, taping.  More interviews still to come with poets and critics.  And then lots of editing.

The second project is something I’m calling The Road to Andersonville.  Here’s a synopsis of the project:

During the American Civil War Union forces ran low on sharpshooters.  In Michigan the answer was to first change a law of prohibition and then to ask members of the Three Fires Tribes (Odawa [Ottawa), Bodewadmik [Potawatomi], Ojibway [Chippewa]) to enlist.  These were men who lived in peaceful coexistence with their neighbors (including the Whites) and who also had legendary woods and hunting skills.  There was, further, among them the tradition of a warrior society, the Ogitchedaw, whose members were required to see battle in war.  The Native Americans knew they were not likely to be well treated, they knew the intentions of the Whites as they effected displacements of other tribes (only one example of many is the Trail of Tears in 1838).  They knew their way of life was at risk; their accumulating losses of lands and culture were everywhere apparent.  Still, they responded with alacrity and in number: of 147 sharpshooters who came to be tested (by firing at and hitting a five-inch circle at 220 yards) 147 were welcomed into Company K, First Michigan Sharp Shooters.  Not one of the 147 was Ogitchedaw; not one had been in battle.

 These men saw hard service. Of the enlistees from the Elbridge Reservation (near Pentwater in Oceana Co.) 12 of the 25 were reported as casualties in the Battle of Spotsylvania.  As another example, there were 28 Ojibway from the Isabella reservation who enlisted in Company K.  Half of them (14) were either killed or wounded.  Two of them are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. A dozen Potawatomi also joined the ranks.  Some came from southwest Michigan to enlist in Company K.  Others came from Canada.  One fourth of them were either killed or wounded in battle.  One of the wounded was the son of a Potawatomi Chief.  He spent the last years of his life at the Grand Rapids Veterans Facility.

 Some of the Sharpshooters were captured.  Fifteen of their number were sent to a living hell: the prison camp at Andersonville.  (Of 45,000 prisoners, almost 13,000 died of starvation and/or disease [http://www.nps.gov/ande/index.htm].)  Of the 15 from Company K seven died and were buried there.  They have lain at Andersonville without receiving their ceremony.

 A handful of their descendants and others of the modern day Ogitchedaw (perhaps 12 in all) intend to honor their graves.  (For more on the Ogitchedaw, see http://www.sagchip.org/warrior_society/index.htm.)  These travelers plan to motor (at their own expense) from Michigan to Andersonville, GA, in May of 2010 to offer their prayers and pay homage and respect to their spirits. 

We will travel to Georgia and film as much as possible of the ceremonies at the  Andersonville National Historical Site and of activities that surround the event.  In addition, we will conduct a series of interviews with members of the Ogitchedaw, other members of the Three Fires Tribes who serve as historians, and outside researchers and historians, including Chris Czopek, the author of a forthcoming history of the Civil War Warriors, Seven Soldiers; The Story of Company K.  His groundbreaking research includes information about the lives and deaths (and burials) of all 147 men.  He knows the stories of recruitment, enlistment, training, service, the beginning of their becoming Ogitchedaw, discharge, and life after the Civil War (for those who survived).   The plan is to tell the story of the 147 Anishinabe who served in Company K through the seven who are buried at Andersonville and to put in context the meaning of their service.

So, that was the plan of work and we have just returned from Andersonville.  We saw all the graves…12,920 of them from the northern veterans (including the seven [or eight] of the Native Americans from Company K).  There is no question that we were standing on holy ground. There are many other veterans now buried there, too.  Our time there was most meaningful.  

So, now we have the film of what we needed to tell part of the story.  Next, raising funds to do the rest…all the interviews.  And editing. Oh, golly, always more editing.  Another summer’s and winter’s project.

And then there are murders still waiting to be told.  I added that  of Shannon Siders this week.  I hope soon to have a photograph of this young woman.  She was only 18 when she was murdered near Newaygo in 1989.  It’s way past time for this one to be solved and if only the right person would come forward….

You can now watch last week’s debacle at the Michigan Supreme Court.  It’s well worth the time to look at this and to realize that the court not only does not act by its own rules but that it blows off the doors to the Code of Judicial Conduct, too.

Justice Betty Weaver has posted this footage from the Michigan Government Television (is not available on line from that organization) on her own privately funded site (via YouTube).  You might pay particular attention in the hour-long smack down the role that Justice Diane Hathaway plays: She lets the court know they are not playing by their own rules.  As Justice Michael Cavanaugh puts it, the law means what he wants it to mean when he wants it to mean it. To heck with procedures.  And from the three, to heck with the Code of Judicial Conduct.  And the three, Justices Markman, Corrigan, and Young state again and again how deeply shocked they are, how devious Justice Weaver has been, how she’s compromised the Court, and how dreadfully mortified they are.  Meanwhile, they all state for the record that, yes, they each signed the letter to the Judicial Tenure Committee asking for an investigation into Justice Weaver’s conduct.  Justice Marilyn Kelly appears to want everybody to just get along.  It’s not going to happen.

Here’s the deal: once you get the idea that Justice Weaver is not lying, is not not trying to save her own reputation or job, you begin to realize that somebody else is not telling the truth.  …Or somebodies.  This is not a simple disagreement over an interpretation and this is more than shading the truth; this is a flat-out assault with no bad behavior held back.  

For the most part, people in the State of Michigan have regarded all this as a tempest in a teapot.  If you’re in the teapot it’s raging.  And those who are doing the raging have orchestrated this to result in what they hope will be a great embarrassment.  I think they have badly miscalculated their target, but I do think it will be an embarrassment.  

Why does this matter?  If the highest court in this state is compromised by partisan politics or animosity what chance does the average person have how approaches the bench in the hope of a just resolution?

Well, time will tell.