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Susan Bobby; Valparaiso, Indiana
Recent Drug War news items from Indiana
Susan Bobby is aged 46 and the mother of two sons named Tim (24) and Shawn (29). She became involved with TNC in early 1997 after both of her sons were arrested on "B" felony drug possession/distribution charges. Matt, a friend of both Susan's sons had been arrested and agreed to set up Shawn and Tim in order to get a sentence reduction. It is a common practice of law enforcement to use entrapment as a means of securing enough arrests to justify their existence.
Shawn and Tim were each charged with dealing .24 of a gram of heroin and were also threatened with 20 years of imprisonment. Susan is grateful that her sons did not agree to set anyone else up, but this did not endear her sons to the local law enforcement.
Tim is still serving prison time, which stems from his original arrest of .24 gram of heroin. He was on conditional release for Naltrexone implant, which began in January 2000, and ended when he went back to prison in April 2001. He overdosed and thus violated his probation and the judge gave him 2 years. He has to serve 1 year in state prison. Tim was originally sentenced to 6 years in prison and will have spent 54 months in jail or prison since his original incarceration in October 1995, when he gets out in April 2002. Tim is not on Naltrexone any longer and won't be going back on it when he is released. Tim plans to try counseling again and hopes that his commitment will be permanent.
Susan's saving grace was finding the November Coalition. With the help of good lawyers, money and family support, Tim's brother Shawn got probation and has moved to another county and is doing very well on Methadone maintenance.
Currently, Susan lives in a three-story, 100 year old home but is in the process of trying to sell the house so she too can move out of Porter County. Susan has two older sisters, one of which is a lawyer in the Chicago area who has helped so much with Susan's sons' cases in regards to advice and care.
Susan's mother, who is 82 years old and also lives in the area, has attended all of Tim's and Shawn's court hearings. She loves her grandsons very much and through their suffering has become fully aware of the evil in the War on Drugs. It gives Susan heart that the huge voting block of senior citizens can be brought around to understanding that the War on Drugs is a failure, despite all of the government propaganda.
Aside from gardening, drawing and painting, Susan's other hobbies include writing editorials about the War on Drugs and calling into talk radio. She's also started writing a book about her family's firsthand experiences with the War on Drugs and it believes it is very healing.
Susan's father was an alcoholic, her ex-husband was a heroin addict and then years later both her sons became heroin addicts as well. She is so grateful for the various treatment programs, doctors, family and friends that have helped her during these difficult years but remains resentful and angry towards the law enforcement and this country's War on Drugs. She believes they have done nothing but profit off of what should have been a family and medical issue only. She states that she will not die happily until the War on Drugs is exposed as a horrible, vile and criminal failure, just like alcohol prohibition and slavery.
The Razor Wire, March/April 2000, Vol. 4 No. 2
Dog Stars In Chicago Vigil
We held the first vigil in Chicago at the James R. Thompson Building at 100 Randolph Street. This building is in the center of downtown Chicago, houses many government offices, and sees a lot of foot traffic. There were seven of us, plus a photographer, and my sister's dog Odie, dressed up as the 2,000,000th prisoner, got lots of attention when he wasn't too cold and sitting on my mother's lap!
I used vacation-time to take my son, Tim, to Detroit, Michigan for a small operation to implant an anti-opiate drug, Naltrexone, in his stomach. This is a condition of his release from jail two weeks ago and was done on the Monday before the vigil. We traveled five hundred miles in one day. We were all tired, but distributed more than 1,000 pieces of literature: Razor Wire newspapers, Newsletters, Blue vigil brochures, and lots of copies made from pages of the 'Drug War Facts' booklet I got last September in at our regional leader's workshop. The great majority of people were very supportive and stopped to read the laminated pictures of prisoners and their stories. They cannot believe what is going on in this country!
The laminated pictures were a big draw for bringing people in close, and I need to get more of these for the next vigil. Many people had a family member in prison, or they, themselves, had been in jail or prison for drugs. I think if we could harness the voting power of all these people adversely affected by this evil, we could make real changes soon.
My older son, Shawn, especially enjoyed trying to attract the expensively-dressed corporate-types and he would get them to listen, take some literature, and perhaps he opened their minds just a bit. He hooked a couple prosecutors who were highly offended by the whole thing, but stayed to listen and argue for awhile. Their arguments sounded so stupid when spoken out loud that even they (the prosecutors) had to be embarrassed hearing them. One took a newsletter, another left in a huff, and we just laughed.
A free-lance photographer, Yarka Vendrinska, was there for most of the vigil and took lots of pictures. I took a few shots also and will send them to you soon. I am so glad to be part of this effort with all of you.Rececnt Drug War news items from Indiana
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