Having just received word about this and having a copy and permission to share by the author, Em Peyton, here it is; I will update and provide further details as they are shared with me:

“Now comes Emily Peyton, Pro SE, Independent Gubernatorial Candidate, a resident of Windham County in Vermont, in the power vested in my person by the 500 signers of the petition to place me on the ballot, and makes the following complaint against the named defendants above.

Whereas: it can be safely assumed that these signers desired to hear my views, and I have the duty and the responsibility to at least these 500 people of Vermont to participate in public forums, to openly criticize our methods of governance and offered such solutions as I have long and deliberately pondered and studied, at the expense of my personal productive time.  Further the newspapers that discriminate against me, and the radio stations that do the same and the forums and  debate hosts that (plan to) exclude me, and the television news that suppress any mention of my platform through the assumption that my movement to the Governor’s seat is bound to fail for the lack of funds, or for my choice to serve as an independent and not affiliate with either the Democrats, Republicans, or Progressives, or for my perceived incompetence due to my choice not to participate in campaigns for political office heretofore, or for my gender, or for whatever reason they may have for presupposing failure to win the election as reason to fail to cover my platform completely, is guilty of practicing unfair and illegal suppression, censorship and bias , which in turn causes damage to the people of Vermont by withholding the full complement of information that the People of Vermont absolutely need in order to make a full and informed decision prior to their vote in a few short months in November  2010.

Whereas: the media, the press, the newspapers have their freedoms of press specifically;  to openly and fully criticize government, and to question the authority that is vested in that governing body, to keep the system transparent, honest and fair. They should not be abusing that freedom to withhold information of one candidate form the public through censorship, suppression, ridicule, or lack of complete coverage.  THE COST OF COMPLETE COVERAGE OF AND FOR EACH CANDIDATE IS NOMINAL, thus each candidate that has taken it upon themselves and received the support of the required numbers of people as signers to be legitimately placed on the ballot should have equal inches of coverage in the newspaper, in her own words as well as the colored words of the journalists and editors of said newspapers.  The Radio station should give equal numbers of interviews and equal time of news stories, now should Deb Markowitz through her position as Secretary of state be free to exclude candidate form any advertisements with the stamp of her office upon in, nor should she utilize the money of the people garnered through their taxes to prepare materials to distribute for her reelection, nor should Peter welch, or any other candidate who is currently earning a living as a public servant be permitted to utilize the money of the People of Vermont  for the creation of materials to perpetuate their status as servant.

Whereas: Emily Peyton is aware that the FCC rule is supposed to establish an atmosphere of fairness in the media with regard to election coverage, however, as in many laws created by lawmakers to give the appearance of fairness while actually perpetuating an unfairness, the rule, by its exceptions affords no fairness whatsoever.  Its purpose therefore is empty; creating the appearance of fairness where none exists.  

Whereas: corporation’s ore not People, and cannot enjoy the freedoms of speech and press as a flesh and blood real Person; they do not take the responsibility of a flesh and blood person nor the risks of having their entire person subjected to incarceration and interment. Therefore since their entire body cannot be placed into custody for the wrongs (they, as flesh and blood persons, as a group or a clique) – in other words since they cannot in their entirety be jailed at a moment’s notice they do not take the risks that a flesh and blood person must and therefore should not be afforded the privileges that a soul of flesh and blood shall.

Whereas: the department of Corrections acts illegally to prevent the flow of complete information to the people of Vermont who are held against their will in incarceration. They, the People who are incarcerated have the right to the information that will allow them to vote according to their desire for leadership, and given the propensity to the press and media to predetermine elections through the coverage of a few career politicians or lack of coverage for the humble candidates, and the exclusion of the same by hosts of public forums is unfair, and illegal.

Whereas: the flow of information is crucial to a free and informed society. Our freedoms depend on it. Too often we have permitted external authority to limit these freedoms in the form of lawmakers, always that external authority if perpetuated by members of the bar and inordinately wealthy People.

Whereas: the fact that and how I, complainant Emily Peyton  am willing to serve  People and because I have the mandate to do so by and through the 500 who have chosen to sign the petition to get on the ballot for Governor  creates in an of itself the duty and responsibility to participate in every public debate and forum. Those 500 people, it can be safely assumed, desired to hear her. They want access to her views, her viewpoints, her solutions, plans and intentions. They should not be prevented from the aid of her wisdom when they approach the ballot box in November.

Whereas: I hereby request a trial by jury, and damages in the sum of the 20,000,000.00; twenty million dollars. This sum is large because the future of our state (and Nation) is hanging in the balance. Our state and its relationship to the nation is in such a critical stages is its overall relationship to the very Earth itself, that no amount of money can repair the damage that will follow should the named defendants be permitted to carry on their censorship, suppression, minimization or repression of platform information from the people who must use their sole and single votes to collectively repair the future of the state to be in accordance with their  desire through the representation they choose to carry out their goals.

 Whereas:: the complainant, Emily Peyton claims herein the duty and the responsibility to make this claim public and the duty to return the power of governance to the People as much as possible to restore the voice of the meek and restore a healthy balance of respect that has been put out of whack by the consistent, and determined and pernicious and greedy, and unfair, and outrageous, and gross usurpation of wealth AND freedoms from the meek people.

Whereas: these same ruling classes have brought our very world to the brink of extinction, our entire earth is imperiled for they have behaved with greed too often where compassion belonged.  They have prevented industry and technology from coming into fruition that would free the people from indebtedness to corporate power in its myriad of manifestations; they have dominated the media, and performed in full intention means of brainwashing the people, they have perverted the political process to include only those willing to perpetuate the inequity through ownership of the media by a very, very slim segment of people, in fact barely a handful. Their domination of the agricultural scene is killing the earth and her meek; they have created a total corruption of the experience and honor of being human.

Whereas: through the two party system and its participation the ruling class and the overly wealthy have divided the will of the People and perpetuated the transfer of wealth to an ever narrowing pinnacle of individual people. The candidate who is rightfully, correctly and legally on the ballot must be protected from this. She deserves line for line, minute for minute, moment for moment, and seat by seat every equality of coverage and equal participation that candidates who ARE party to the escalator that is  transferring wealth upwards from the meek to the greedy though taxes, laws and fees, and unfair policing have enjoyed .

Whereas: It is her duty to fight for this right to serve the people through the mandate vested in her by the 500 signers of her petition!  All damages that will be done to the people of this if they are prevented from the aid of her suggestions, her solutions, intentions, plan, platform, and tools of empowerment gleaned through her own personal experience and wisdom that she now offers to the People is incalculable – particularly at this late hour in the fate of our land and our Earth.

Whereas: It is imperative at this late hour, and at this specific juncture that the People of Vermont have complete access to, regardless of their residence, of a clear and total description of her wisdom, tools, intentions, plans and solutions that their choices of leadership have to offer.. Our very survival as People, as alive, flesh and blood persons depend on the application of alternatives to how our society functions and interacts with the world. The press and the media have a right to freely describe those positions but they do NOT have the right to suppress its delivery.

Whereas: time is of the essence. This suit is to wholly, completely, totally and indelibly, as well as thoroughly, exponentially, and inescapably notify the defendants of Emily Peyton’s complete earnestness and seriousness in carrying out her duty to (at the very least) those 500 signers of her ballot by virtue of whom and because of their support she is lawfully a member of the choices available to the People of Vermont in November for the office of Governor.  

Whereas: In my bid for governor I will pursue justice in this superior court venue, although that is an oxymoron, since the wealth and its perpetuation is vested in that same outlet for expression, nonetheless is it my duty and responsibility to at least the 500 signers and to the People I already serve in my best efforts to address the unfairness with all means available to me, therefore I am thankful that the civil courtroom exists and I am thankful to people who have come before me who have dedicated their efforts to fairness and equity. I am further thankful for the gift of expression that makes me able to express this unfairness, inequity and angst in words, and the spiritual guidance to do so;  I pray that I may speak  herein for  the frustration, anger and sorrow of the People who have abided and suffered because of these unfairness’s for too long.

Whereas: I wish that the norm would be to give all of the candidates literally equal space and time as a foundation of the freedoms afforded to the media and our speech; so that healthy criticism can reconstruct our societal methods of self-governance and these dangerous imbalances can be undone and redressed. Therefore i make this complaint in Superior Court of Vermont, without much faith that the court itself will deliver a fair hearing of the matter, yet the record will reflect my effort and sincere desire to serve the People and share the full extent of my wisdom through the newspapers, the radio programs, the public forums and debates and the television news.

Whereas: These services must be viewed as information’s highways or interstate roads, or airspace for the traveling of information. My information, plans, intents and solutions and the help that my services represent to the People of Vermont must be afforded the same access that other candidates with differing plans and platforms have – regardless of their political party, leaning or spiritual beliefs. Otherwise it is discrimination. Otherwise it would be as if those candidates are permitted to embark on a journey that I am precluded from at the outset. Otherwise I am hobbled to the gate as the other runners move out, as other candidates have access to the voting public through the highways and byways of the flow of information through the forums, debates and media means, than I, complainant Emily Peyton shall as well.

Whereas: the papers, radios, and televisions and public forums and debates must be absolutely fair and equal in their application of due space, time and coverage, The complainant envisions a fair election where each rightful candidate has exactly the same and similar opportunity to use those information highways as the other candidates regardless of her political persuasion, economic status or gender. So long as she engages in civil discussion, her platform should be widely available to those who must scrutinize it- the People of Vermont! Otherwise discrimination (because of political beliefs, spiritual beliefs economic status, what have you) has occurred.

Whereas: It is particularly troubling to myself, Emily Peyton that the People who are currently incarcerated are prevented from access to said information and the candidate is blocked from distributing the information of her platform directly and is expected to depend of the very media and press that refuses coverage to begin with in order to communicate her platform to the People held against their will in prisons of Vermont.  I am concerned that the incarcerated even more than the freer People are prevented from the aid that my service to the public means because  of the existing bias by and for well-heeled career politicians who utilize money  to their advantage-  including money taken from the people through taxation as a method to advertise their reelection.

Whereas: the regular person has no means to understand a regular person (such as myself, Emily Peyton) who desires and wishes to serve him by her proffered service as a public servant and Governor UNLESS and UNTIL AN EQUAL, FAIR, AND COMPLETE COVERAGE of her positions is PROTECTED, ENCOURAGED and IMPARTED by the press and hosts of the forums and debates.  I, complainant Emily Peyton, am terrified that our freedoms have already been completely subverted by the ruling greedy class in our country, and that their greed has set our planet on a road to self-destruction in our foreseeable future, if not sooner. And that, these same mentioned greedy perpetrators are in fact psychopathic in their thirst for money and power.  It is clear to me, Emily Peyton, that the Earth requires of us to respect the works of nature and to discontinue the process of abusing the natural resources, and that all the “isms”-‘ capitalism, socialism, Communism, need to be replaced immediately with activism on the part of Earth’s inhabitants to save the Earth and ourselves !

I, complainant Emily Peyton to fully doubt that a member of the ruling class (in the person of a Superior Court Judge) will apply the function of the courts to address this complaint describing existing unfairness and prevent more harm as a matter of negligence such as I have decried, but let it be known for the record that I, Emily Peyton, will search everywhere for the means to restore the balance of things. As time is of the essence and because I refuse to be a victim, I do not now choose  to “sit out” the elections process to see what already can easily be predicted will occur without preventative action and transformation of current practice.  Therefore I serve this complaint on every body of press and host of debate and body of government that has shown a proclivity to suppress, or have suppressed, or say they will suppress, censor and unfairly limit the access of platform information that the People of Vermont need to place their one and only vote for governor in clear light of the full complement of options open to them.

Whereas: It will be easy enough to remove defendants if they prove themselves up to the honor of the service of providing information through the means and methods of the information highway they have at their disposal.  AS soon as each completes said omissions then they will be removed from my complaint.  I, Emily Peyton, hereby refuse to be a victim of the exclusions that prevent the People of Vermont from healing the wrongs that have occurred, and from taking the actions that we must to heal the Earth and DO IT PRONTO! I

Whereas: I, Emily Peyton do believe, that the 500 people who signed my ballot petition are asking and deserving of fairness in delivery of the plans,platform, solutions and intentions I have for their Vermont, in specific I am certain that they want a servant who will stand up to greed an name it, who will stand up to the imbalance and name it and who will hold the servants of such greed accountable to the greater humane condition of compassion, fairness, generosity and equanimity. IT IS NOT HARD TO BE FAIR.

Whereas: it is not hard to be fair; it is not hard to partition a pie into 9 pieces, or a loaf into 9 slices. As there are 9 candidates (I believe) for governor, it is not hard to have 9 columns side by side in the news sources, have 9 interviews one by one on the radio, and have 9 news stories on the TV. 9 people on a stage with 10 minutes each. It is not rocket science.

It IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, fairness is well within our reach and I , Emily Peyton am absolutely tankful for the court through which  to express my complaint and the mail through which to deliver my complaint to the defendants, and the sheriffs by whom to serve it if need be . I am thankful for those who take it upon themselves to voluntarily and fairly correct the censorship to prevent the furtherance of this complaint so that this election will be made complete to the participant, who is after all the voter, the People of Vermont, in full and complete terms.

Whereas: Democracy itself, through representation cannot happen UNLESS the candidates are respected and honored by the media and the hosts of forums and debates for their new solutions and platforms and allowed entry onto a level playing field. Entry, by the way, that should have been guaranteed by the delivery of the required signers to get on the ballot. Just as you would not expect  (even) a rookie football player to kick the ball from outside the stadium, or a baseball pitcher to throw over the plate form outside the ball park,( or a horse to run in a race while chained to the starting gate, or a high jumper to pole vault without the pole, or a swimmer to swim without the water or a hockey player to score a goal from a the locker room,  or a soccer player to kick the ball from off the field,) So you cannot expect to have any sort of fair election through democratic means without a full vetting of all candidates for the People’s benefit.

Whereas: each media source, host of public forum and debate must allow these candidates to participate as a matter of  democracy. THAT News sources and media, host of public forum and debate CURRENTLY should advertise about CANDIDATES AND EXCLUDE SOME BY THEIR OWN CHOICE IS PREVENTING THE AID THAT A HUMBLE LEADER WOULD PROVIDE FOR THE PEOPLE.  THAT IS, IN ITSELF NEGLIGENCE OF DEMOCRACY. THEREFORE AS SOON AS A CANDIDATE IS RIGHTFULLY ON THE BALLOT THESE SAME HOSTS AND MEDIA SOURCES SHOULD PREPARE FOR COMPLETE SPACE TO DESCRIBE THE PLATFORM OF THAT CANDIDATE AS A MATTER OF DEMOCRATIC RULE.

Whereas: WITHOUT THIS MEASURE OF COMPLETION OUR DEMOCRACY IS ENTIRELY LOST.  

Whereas:   AND THE LOSS IS IRREVERSIBLE.      

Whereas: THE GREED THAT  HAS MOTIVATED THE INFINITE (AND SOMETIMES EMPTY  LAWS (AS IN THE CASE OF THE FCC RULE FOR EQUAL TIME AND COVERAGE) AND THEIR UNEQUAL BIAS APPLICATION BY THOSE PEOPLE GREEDY FOR POWER OVER OTHERS HAS FORFEITED OUR DEMOCRACY, AND INDEED TO EARTH ITSELF.

Whereas: There are multitudes of people who are not so afflicted with this addiction to money or power, and they wish to take over and heal the EARTH.  Our democracy should make room for them to do so if it is a democracy at all, if it is not, let the people be hereby notified that our democracy has fallen.

Whereas: As I, complainant Emily Peyton, am willing to serve People will all my heart, passion And wisdom why should I be blocked, prevented, censored, and suppressed from reaching the People I wish to serve and WHY SHOULD the media predetermine me as  insincere, incompetent or too poor or too ODD to serve ?  If I have the balls to run why shouldn’t I be subjected to the scrutiny of the People who have maybe the most important decision to make in the modern history of the planet?

Whereas: This is the matter I put forth for consideration and request a trial by the jury of my peers and by a trial for the public good.

Whereas: in the impossible event that money is exchanged as a result of the outcome of this case, let every cent of that money be applied to the creation of organic farms in the state of Vermont, the creation of AN EXTENSIVE GRID FOR rail service, and the creation of a HEMP industry, and the movement of every household off the grid and away from centralized energy sources owned by corporations,( unless those corporations are collective cooperatives) and to fund home schooling for those who desire to undertake it, and for the elimination of cruelty to animals through compassionate methods of farming and killing and for  the restoration of our fertile, (pesticide, chemical, and synthetic fertilizer-free)  soil. Bless our soils.

Whereas: I, complainant Emily Peyton,  have purposefully avoided pseudo-legal lingo, so that the words I use are clear to all, and every last lay person may lay in the meaning and rest assured that what is said is said.

 Whereas: I thank the court and the People of Vermont for their time and consideration of this simple matter and once again I request a juried trial and monetary compensation in the amount of 20,000,000.- for  damages as have been described in the body of this complaint – however let it be said  that this money is meaningless, to be clear.  It is my prayer that this work, this lawsuit will aid in the reparation of our society harmed by addiction to greed- to that end I am happy to give my meager resources to engage in it.  

Emily Peyton

Independent for Governor”

Living in Boston, Richard Dyer was thrown out of his home at 14, by his father. His parents were decent, caring people but it would seem, had reached the end of the proverbial rope and had no alternatives.  The same could be said for Rick himself; throughout his teens and early 20’s, he earned one felony conviction after another, his crimes being driven by his addictions to drugs and alcohol.  For several years, his time was split between prisons and shelters.  His mother showed her ongoing love and support during those times, probably in the only way she had left; by showing up at the court holding cell with a clean shirt and tie, no matter what.

In speaking with Rick, the most common human response toward someone who is suffering, compassion, was frequently replaced by disgust and intolerance.  He was labeled, and harshly so, for behavior that he himself wanted to change and was viewed as a loser despite his pleas for help.  We’re all well versed in responses to bad behavior, criminal behavior; but most of us have no clue when it comes to judging human potential in these circumstances. We fail to see the person.  We foolishly see only one response; prison.

However, it would seem that for Rick,  there was at least one person willing to use a degree of logic and see the person as much as the behavior; A judge (in Brighton, Ma.) would opt for treatment programs despite the recommendations from prosecutors and probation officers for harsh sentences.  I imagine this judge (Charles Artesani) could see not only the potential of the young man who repeatedly stood before him, but must also have recognized that he was looking at someone who could beat the odds stacked against him.  

Bit by bit, Rick was also given some snippets of wisdom.  One of the more significant came from a Black Panther, a fellow prisoner who told him that a key to success was in education, and gave him information about scholarships and named the reasons he’d qualify.  A nurse, in response to Rick having commented about feeling badly over a life sentence that had been dished out to a partner of past crimes,  pointed out to him that he was doing “life” on the “installment plan”.  Throughout his arduous journey, these and other caring examples, short and to the point as they were, infrequent as they probably were, stayed with Rick and remain with him today.

Rick hung onto the words of the few caring people he met along the way, and eventually pulled them all together and found his way out of the bottomless black hole called “corrections”. With a G.E.D earned while in prison, he went on to graduate with honors from Boston State College.  Full steam ahead on a pathway that first came into his view,  thanks to the words of a Black Panther,  he forged on after graduation to first make a failed round of applications to law schools, but reapplied the next year and admitted to Northeastern.  By the time he had earned his degree at Northeastern, he had another thing going for him; a new history of education and sobriety.  

Armed with this and with the help of others he had met along the way, including a lawyer who had previously defended him and that one insightful judge, Charles Artesani, Rick applied for and received a governor’s pardon in 1983 (Gov. Dukakis).

As an attorney, Richard Dyer is now fervently helping some of the very people still living the life that he was able to escape.  Still suffering the trauma and experiences of prison, he is able to see what so many people fail to see; relapse is part of recovery; no man is an island and human potential cannot continue to be ignored. Success can become a reality if we all believe in each other, no matter what, and go on to communicate that belief to those who need it most. The means to achieve the end needs to be more readily within reach for those who don’t already know they matter,  and that they, too, can be treated, educated or trained and move ahead toward individual successes of their own.

Rick has many advocates for a judgeship of his own, and what a dream this would be for the lives he would be able to touch as a judge.  He has shown us that if not for the bits of faith and sincere words of direction, much of it right in the courtroom, he could have easily been forever swallowed into a life behind bars.  He has also shown us what works; acknowledgment of the person behind the behavior. Human potential.

Countless people are living life sentence in Vermont and elsewhere, once they’ve earned a felony conviction, and there is no escape for most of them.  There are lost opportunities in education, employment and even housing for people with a record.  They’ve been ostracized, banned and barred from success in most cases, for life. Many of those with addictions are simply abandoned altogether,  and left to die. This should not be allowed to continue.  

A pardon for ongoing sobriety or betterment through education subsequent to felony convictions for crimes that are drug or drug related should be commonplace, especially when the pathway to such change is made without any help, but accomplished entirely alone.  Not only has a prison sentence already been served for felony convictions, but the sentence unfairly continues for a lifetime, even for those who have managed to overcome addiction or educate themselves.  

In June of 2007, there were 2,165 inmates in the Vermont system, which includes 5-700 incarcerated in the for-profits prisons in other states: http://www.whitehousedrugpolic…

Investors are profiting on the incarceration of Vermont inmates and there are plans to send even more into these for-profits systems.

2,221 is the most recent count I can find http://www.pewcenteronthestate…

•Vermont Incarceration rate grew 80% (1996-2006) vs. 18% national increase

•23% more growth projected 2007-2018

•Cost estimate as high as $206M

•Property and drug offenders are more than half of 2000-2006 felony prison growth – (NOTE: Property crimes are generally addictions driven; This percentage is counting felony offenses only; what happens to the percentages when misdemeanors are included? A rise to 80% and higher!)

•77% substance abusers; only 13% treated http://www.ussc.gov/AGENDAS/20…

Notable quotes:

MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2008 from the U.S. Senate, Committee on the Judiciary, In the OPENING From PATRICK LEAHY:

During “2005 to 2006; Violent crime in Vermont rose nearly 10 times–let me emphasize that, 10 times–the national average”

and from PETER WELCH:

What I’ve learned is….Rutland is not at all alone in this struggle with drugs and the violence and the crime that is associated with it. It really does extend to all corners of the State.

From BRIAN DUBIE: February 18, 2008;

I was shocked when the plant manager told me that 7 out of 10 people who interview for jobs there fail the company’s drug test. Last Friday, I learned that a Franklin County company sees the same rate of drug test failure among job seekers. We know that education, deterrence and treatment of drug abuse are a big part of the solution. Drug abusers need compassion and help.

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/C…

Living in Vermont, given the recent discussions concerning drugs and crime on our streets and in our neighborhoods, isn’t it time to plan a different response toward those people we seem to view as disposable?  Chasing them from one neighborhood or area and into another is not solving a problem.  Neither is incarcerating hundreds and hundreds of our population.

Addiction and the consequence of logic will result in the realization of human potential.  Here in Vermont, this potential exists for thousands.  It is said that no one succeeds alone and that no man is an island; I therefore (and logically) conclude that no one fails alone, either. We are all accountable to some degree for sticking to an archaic notion of what corrections really means, or should mean. If we are not demanding of change, then no change will come.

We must keep those with drug and drug related crimes out of our prisons and into treatment and educational and training facilities.  We can’t afford to see people as disposable, as the cost for doing so goes far beyond the projected 206 million in real money, not to mention real and deserving lives. Even if the totality of loss could be counted in dollars, 206 million is just the beginning. We have no meaningful results to show for all the money being thrown into the system as it currently exists.

Not looking to be criticized or accused of being naive, perhaps it’s a bad idea to introduce a prison called Halden, in Norway, but I can’t help but feel a stinging wake-up slap in the face when I read about Halden and realize the stark difference not just in the system they have, but in the attitude of those who are in their system, both inmates and employees.  These are the attitudes that bring hell and damnation to anyone in this country who would agree or approve of a focus on human rights and rehabilitation, but they are attitudes and actions that work.  The guiding principles of their penal system is that repressive prisons do not work and treating prisoners humanely and recognizing their potential makes the defining difference between their system and ours.

“We want to build them up, give them confidence through education and work and have them leave as better people.”, says the person in charge of the newest prison.  They focus on human rights and respect and they don’t see that as “unusual”.  It is said that although our country tracks recidivism differently, even an imperfect comparison shows that their system works.

I understand that change is difficult, and I certainly do not have all the answers, but I do know there is an answer and it exists somewhere within the words that have been written or quoted here, and within rare and amazing people like Richard Dyer.

Besides being committed to advocating and representing people like himself, Richard Dyer speaks on a regular basis at drug and alcohol programs, schools and juvenile seminars to kids and adults from all walks of life about what hope and opportunity look like.

Help spread the hope..and bring the change we sorely need.  Bring Richard Dyer to Vermont.

Not a polite thing to do – I apologize in advance; but I’m desperate for ideas and support in helping my son.  A bizarre story – prepare for it.

I belive it’s one of Medicaid fraud, abuse, exploitation and neglect – but why? what could be the motive?

I know everyone is busy; and just dumping a link might not be terribly acceptable; but my initial story is here: Any mystery sleuths have at it – I don’t know what is going on or why; but maybe someone already has a clue, some direction, a pro bono connection or ideas that I could bring to Montpelier:  

http://www.ibrattleboro.com/ar…

As I’ve just posted on iBrattleboro in response to the recent Wardsboro tragedy, I submit the same to fellow readers of Green Mountain Daily:

This entire topic speaks to my heart.  Vincent Van Gogh once wrote in a letter (1898) to his brother, Theo; “As for me you must know that I shouldn’t precisely have chosen madness if there had been any choice.  What consoles me is that I am beginning to consider madness as an illness like any other, and that I accept it as such”.  The word “madness” in this case is interchangeable with any other mental health label.

It’s all about ignorance and stigma, fear of what we don’t know and generalizations of what mental illness is all about.  A NAMI quote often used is “The most shocking thing about mental illness is how little people understand it.”   (Two meaningful ways to interpret that quote.)

With the utmost respect for the family of this woman and her two children, I have to say that I find it unbelievable that there were no indications of any underlying illness.  It is more that no one recognized them for what they were, or, if the signs were recognized, what became most important was the reality that many people feel they must keep this type of illness a secret.  The stigma is unbearable for most people.  Credibility is lost, blame is often times assigned, and the resulting reactions and opinion of the families, friends and society in general is one of fear, disgust or cruel indifference.

This is the root of the problem  We cannot expect a man or woman in uniform to be able, in one short interchange, to instantly (or close to it) undo all of these historic and deeply rooted discriminations, denials and indifferences that have been suffered often times, for a lifetime.  Although a mental health professional may be better equipped to try, we all must appreciate the fact that a person who has suffered a long period of time will have already concluded from past experience, that a few moments of compassion, even if that compassion gives any hope that things will one day be better, is fleeting at best.  I’m not implying that nothing can be done to save others from suicide intention, only speaking from a viewpoint that brings an entire history on both a personal level, and a societal level, to that point of running into a church, or a river, or a medicine or gun cabinet.  

I would easily be able to assume that any person who is doing something out of the ordinary, in certain situations, is suffering from mental illness and in a crisis.  To expect that any person can talk someone into or out of an act of one sort or another while in a crisis is expecting the impossible.  I feel we’ve all been mislead into thinking it’s a reasonable expectation.  While it can sometimes work out (I recall someone with a weapon in Brattleboro where the police were in fact able to bring things to a safe and meaningful conclusion) it is certainly nothing that ought to be relied upon as an end all to a crisis being experienced by an individual that for the most part, the responders do not know.

I’m not sure what to do about that.  I don’t know what to do about people who are in treatment and despite that, choose suicide.  I can only guess. But, it’s long overdue that we all find ways to embrace all sorts of people and their labels into our lives because I’m feeling that it’s the utter isolation (regardless of the reasons) that shrink a person’s world into one decision to live or die.  Seems to me that when a person’s whole world has become so small, the decision can be an easy one to make.

About  45 years ago, I lost an older sister to suicide.  She had been discharged a week earlier from a hospital.  I had been helping her with her two young children for a short while, and I had over heard a number of conversations she had with other people, that when I look back on, were in fact her final attempts to deal with her underlying disorder (fill in the blank) in some practical ways,  while at the same time, living her life with the responsibilities of parenting and keeping up the appearance of normalcy as best she could.

In the aftermath of her suicide, blame was going around in circles; it was her upbringing; it was her insensitive husband; it was this and it was that. I heard some of this directly from a person who had no idea I was her sister.  I heard about how, even if she had been saved from her suicide attempt, that she’d no longer be seen as a credible or significant member of society. I heard ways in which her children would be ostracized as they grew into adults, and labeled as somehow different from the rest of us even without a label, just for who they had as a mother.

Meantime, still living here with my parents and surviving siblings, too much emphasis was put on hiding this tragedy from our own neighbors; and for those who did find out the truth, that she did not die in some other tragic way (like a car accident; we were supposed to say), we were all held suspect.  Feared and given labels of a different sort ; there must be something “wrong” with all of us – there must be unspeakable things going on in our home – there must be someone to blame for the terrible flaw that no one could see or we, her family, all somehow drove her to her final act.  And all the while, as everyone reacted to this terrible event, they were all showing me the very reason my sister ended up in a world so tiny that her choice may have been one of the easiest of her lifetime.  

No therapist or psychiatrist could have helped her with that reality.  No policeman ,or even an entire swat team, could have saved her, either.  It’s us as a whole; it’s all of us together. Not one single person could have changed a thing.  

As long as the stigma remains so vibrantly alive and the practice of fear, blame, shame and lack of understanding that is born from that, continues to encapsulate lives into tiny, confining spaces, we will continue to hear of these tragedies.