Speakout 7/19

Thursday, July 19, 2007

I do not understand how public defenders can withhold information and cut deals for their clients when there is clear evidence the person is not guilty. Especially when the state's own Missouri Crime Lab report bears proof of innocence. Where is the justice in that? It used to be innocent until proven guilty, now it is guilty until proven innocent. And if you are not fortunate enough to afford an attorney, you are just out of luck. My son was charged and convicted with a crime that the Missouri Crime Lab report clearly proved him innocent. But because he had no money to hire a lawyer, he ended up forced to take a plea deal from the court. Now he sits in prison for a crime he didn't commit. Again, where has the justice gone? It is time we fight back and not just roll over and accept what the courts hand out to us because of our inability to pay!

I'm sure there are other grandparents out in this area that are having the same problem that I am having. I have my hands tied behind my back. I am a widow and live on a limited income. I have a family member that has a husband and three children, and have very good jobs now. I was raised to help your kids the best you could because they did not ask to be brought into this world. Even at my age, my father always helped me if I had a problem. My point is that I have three grandchildren that have been held over my head because I have stated that I will have to take my daughter to court over a matter of purchasing major items and also loaning her borrowed items. I am unable to even get the borrowed items back. I have an item stolen from my deceased husband. I have called the sheriff's office. They tell me it is a civil matter and I need to hire an attorney. I called an attorney. The cost for suing, and even the borrowed and stolen items, would cost me approximately $3,000. When I asked for these items back, they laugh and ignore me. Yes, I have gotten mad and I have taken part of the responsibility. I admit that I have said things that we're not nice to them but I will not turn the other cheek. I have not seen my grandchildren in a long time. I have since cut the children off. I have been told that there are not grandparent's rights. I live for my grandchildren. They get to see their paternal grandparents, and what they have done for them I don't know. If there is anyone out there, please reply to SpeakOut. I want to do what is right. But don't hold grandchildren over a grandparent's head when it has been their own choosing to ask for help. They've never been denied anything and have stolen things.

This is to the guy in the blue pickup truck that dropped the puppy off in Kewanee on County Road 634 Sunday afternoon. You need to at least get a hold of somebody when you drop a dog off that is emancipated and ate up with mange. The puppy was about four months old, you could see every bone in its body and it didn't have any hair on it. My husband got your license number and it would be greatly appreciated if you would put the dog's name in the paper. We are taking care of it, but you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

I live on Woodlawn Avenue, down there by Kingshighway, and I'm not going to say where I live because I don't want anyone complaining to me. But there's some people who live in an apartment right down from me and these people have all kinds of people coming in all hours of the night. They play loud music and if they keep it up, I'm going to call the cops. This is just a warning and I hope they heed it. I'm tired of it. They know who they are.