A (Disturbing) Phone Call From Joseph Allen June 15, 2009
Posted by bobchatelle in Innocents, Rants.trackback
Dear Friend of Justice,
Yesterday Jim D’Entremont and I went out to western Massachusetts, with Bee Baran and his partner, David. We stayed with his niece, Crystal, and her husband Jeremy. We were treated to a wonderful family dinner at Jeremy’s parents. Bee’s parents and his brother and sister-in-law were also there.
Shortly before dinner, I received a phone call from Joseph Allen. (See this link for more information.)
As always, I was glad to hear from him because he is one of my favorite people. But he had two disturbing pieces of news.
One, he has developed a painful infection in one of his toes. But he can’t find a doctor to treat him because he has no money and no health insurance. A family member is going to try to find a free clinic where he can be treated.
The other disturbing thing is that he and his family were invaded by a woman screaming hatred and threats. A neighbor vidoetaped the ugly incident and they hope that the police might take some action.
Joseph’s troubles made me think of all of those people who have not yet received any measure of justice. My organization — the National Center for Reason and Justice — currently sponsors 25. This represents a tiny fraction of the people who have come to us for help. We just don’t have the resources to investigate many cases.
This week I have especially been thinking about the Amirault family. Gerald Amirault was arrested a few weeks before Baran and the hysteria around that case helped lead to the accusations against Baran. But Massachusetts Courts refused to grant any relief to the innocent Amiraults. I am convinced that this was primarily for political reasons. The villains in this case — such as former gubernatorial candidate Scott Harshbarger and current Attorney General Martha Coakley — are major political powers in this corrupt state.
But I can at least hope that the ending of the Baran case might yet lead to further victories of justice over corruption, ignorance, and greed.
-Bob Chatelle
There is no way adequately to thank you for what you do for all of us in these matters. The denial of justice is an unforgivable thing, and you not only secure justice for some, but you remind us all of the innumerable cases of justice denied. All of your admirers, I suspect (and hope), fight in diverse and perhaps sometimes different domains for what they separately consider justice and reason, but you have chosen an arena and a set of cases that truly required (and require) the most extraordinary determination and courage. I’d add one thing to your triad of “corruption, ignorance, and greed,” and that is the evil of a political careerism willing to build its base on the suffering of innocents.