Court Appearance Update

Today was suppossed to be the day that my attorney argued a motion for supression. If everything had happened like it was suppossed to, then my case would likely have been dismissed today. But, as we all know from past experience, when dealing with government employees (cop & teacher) things usually do not go as planned.

Last week my attorney sent out subpoenas to me, Kindergarten Cop Eric McCain, and Horseshoe Bend kindergarten teacher Beth Shaw to appear in court at 9 a.m. this morning. Well, I was there....and that was it. The cop and the teacher didn't show and as far as I know didn't alert the court to the fact that they would not be there. As a result we didn't get to argue the motion.

I asked my attorney whether or not we could request failure to appear warrants for both McCain and Shaw....we know this is what happens to non-government employees when they fail to appear in court. He said yes, we could, but declined to do so. I didn't press it. He likely knows my heart might physically burst from joy at seeing Beth Shaw and Eric McCain in handcuffs....and he wants me to remain alive long enough to see this thing through to the end.

From what I understand my case will come up before Judge Ray Martin on April 9 and we will argue the suppression motion at that time....or possibly something will be worked out before then.....like the state could drop the charges.

One strange thing did happen though. As I was sitting and waiting for my case to be called the former prosecutor, turned defense attorney, turned back prosecutor walked by and said, "Hey Loretta". I returned his greeting and commented on his return to the 'dark side' of prosecution. He laughed and said he wasn't up here much and started to walk away. Then he came back and leaned down and said, "You should go and see my boss sometime (the D.A., E. Paul Jones) and talk to him about getting a drug court and pre-trial diversion here."

I said I had heard that Mr. Jones was supportive of such things and that when I got all of this mess cleared up I would go by and talk to him.

When I mentioned this to my lawyer he thought the guy must have meant that I should take a pre-trial diversion instead of take it to trial. I told him I didn't think that was what he meant because, I can't really legally go in and talk to the DA while he is prosecuting a case against me. That would be ex-parte communication or something like that. If I were representing myself I could talk to him but, since I have a lawyer, I can't.

Looking back, I am not sure if the Asst. D.A. meant I should go and talk to the D.A. about pleaing out and going through pre-trial diversion, which I have no intention of doing and that is a well known fact to this particular prosecutor, or if he was telling me that the D.A. is interested in my work and wants to discuss with me how to keep non-violent drug offenders out of jail. I am hoping for the latter and leaning towards the latter because talking to the D.A. directly would not be legal and I don't think the Asst. D.A. would tell me to do something illegal.

If this turns out to be the case, then I would say that would be a huge reward for me. All of my efforts in fighting this case and and my activism pushing for real drug policy and prison reform, my campaign for Governor, my constant media presence and my relentless and tireless pursuit to bring common sense into the Alabama judicial system will be well rewarded by me being able to influence a drug court in this county.

I do believe I have gained the respect of mine enemy and that is a major step if real change is ever to be had.

Court Today

Friends and Supporters,

If all goes well then today could mean the end of my legal battles with the state of Alabama (at least for now). I return to court today where my attorney will argue a motion for dismissal. We both feel pretty confident that it will succeed. In the event that it does, my case will be dismissed today.

In the event that today's motion fails I will have to reappear in court on Thursday, March 15, to refuse the states plea deal and demand a jury trial (again). I believe that trial will be set for April 9.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Loretta Nall

Must Be Standard Practice

Student questioned about dad's use of pot

The controversy surrounding a bill to allow the use of medical marijuana hits home for a junior-high student in Brooklyn Park.By Mark Brunswick, Star TribuneShannon Pakonen told a House committee Thursday that his 15-year-old son, Sam, was interrogated this week by a teacher at Brooklyn Junior High School in Brooklyn Park about his father's use of marijuana for medical purposes.

The incident, Pakonen said, demonstrates the need for legislation to authorize medical use of the drug.


Lisa Hunter Jensen, the Osseo School District's director of school/community relations, said the district had only sketchy information about the incident from the school's principal but said the district is investigating the matter further. Telephone calls and e-mails to the school's principal and assistant principal as well as the Osseo School District's superintendent and school board members were not returned Thursday.

Sam Pakonen was pulled out of math class and told to report to his speech teacher, his father said. While there, the teacher asked him about his father. Were there marijuana plants in his house? Did he ever see his father smoke pot? No, he replied.That was on Tuesday. Two days earlier, Sam's father, Shannon, had been quoted in a Star Tribune story about a bill in the Legislature to allow the use of medical marijuana in the state. He was quoted saying he occasionally used marijuana to reduce tics and spasms caused by Tourette's syndrome, a neurological disorder.
Shannon Pakonen had also testified in support of the bill last month in a Senate committee hearing.

On Thursday, Shannon Pakonen relayed Sam's story to members of the House Health and Human Services Committee, which took testimony on the medical marijuana bill and could vote on the measure as early as today. "My son should not have to be treated like a criminal on the basis that he is my son," Pakonen told the committee.

Sam Pakonen was in the audience. After the hearing he retold the story. He said he was told to report to the speech teacher because his physical education teacher reported having difficulty understanding him. He was born prematurely and has several developmental disabilities. While he said he sometimes has difficulty with his speech, the physical education teacher had never made that claim in seven months of having him in his class.

The speech teacher asked the questions about the marijuana.

Measure stirs controversey

Shannon Pakonen, who said he obtains the marijuana from friends and does not smoke it in front of his son, said the actions at the school help illustrate the problems associated with the medical use of marijuana today.

A proposal that would have Minnesota join eight other states in approving such use has bipartisan support in the House and Senate but Gov. Tim Pawlenty opposes the measure, fearing that it sends the wrong message about the dangers of the drug.Other opponents, such as the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota County Attorneys Association, have testified that marijuana could end up in the wrong hands.

Pakonen said he called an assistant principal at the school to complain on Wednesday and was told the physical education teacher was curious because she suffered from chronic pain. He was told that Sam had brought up the issue of medical marijuana. The boy said that never happened. "I think they were trying to make the case to take my son away from me," Shannon Pakonen said after the hearing. "They want to victimize someone. I was going to be punished for exercising my right to speak out."

While unfamiliar with the specifics of the case, Barry Feld, a professor at the University of Minnesota law school specializing in juvenile justice, said police, teachers or other people in authority have a right to ask about allegations of impropriety, particularly if it involves potential child abuse or neglect. "They would certainly be in a position to ask the kid about what goes on in the house," Feld said. But Feld said there are statutes protecting family communications from being used against someone. "It's to encourage kids to talk to their parents about problems," he said.

One of the measure's supporters is Rep. Steve Sviggum, R-Kenyon, a former House speaker who once opposed the use of medical marijuana but has since signed on as a co-author. "This is an example of why we need to pass this kind of bill," Sviggum said after being told about the school incident.


Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636 • mbrunswick@startribune.com
WEB
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This is almost the exact same thing that happened to me.

I exercised my first amendment right to free speech by writing this letter to the Birmingham News. Six days after it was published the kindergarten cop at Horseshoe Bend School interrogated my then 5-year-old daughter about what kind of plants we had in the house, and did she ever seem me roll up anything green and smoke it. Of course, the cop claims she rushed right up to him and volunteered information about "green leafy plants hanging from the ceiling". Yeah...riiiiiiight!!!!!
Later on (this repeated quetioning of my children at school by law eforcement and state sanctioned kidnappers took place for over a year) the questions "do you have food in the house" and "do you get porn in your email" were added to the houseplant and smoking green stuff questions in an effort to build a case to take away my children. That effort FAILED!!

This story even paralells in that they say this kid "brought it up". How grown up....to blame the kid....and a developmentally disabled one at that. It's SICK!

I will be in court tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. where my attorney will argue a motion having to do with this very thing. If all goes well my case will be dismissed tomorrow. Y'all keep your fingers crossed for me.

It's Gonna Be a Long Week

This week is shaping up to be a long one. My grandmother is still hanging in there. I took my kids and my brother down to visit her yesterday for a few hours. She was so happy to see her great-grandchildren. It was good to see her smile.

This week is also Court Week . On Saturday night before I got back from the Compassionate Care meeting in BHAM a sheriff's deputy dropped in to serve my 10 year-old daughter with a subpoena to appear in court on Tuesday. My attorney is arguing a motion related to this 5 YEAR OLD case and Bell was to testify. However, that has changed, as of yesterday, and Bell's testimony will not be required. I am glad. I didn't want her to have to go through being on the stand and cross-examined. That is terrifying to most adults....I can't imagine what it must feel like to a kid. I am still unsure if I have to be in court on Tuesday, when the motion is argued. If we win the motion then Tuesday will be the end of the my court battles. If we lose the motion Tuesday then I will have to appear on Thursday, refuse the states plea deal AGAIN and demand a jury trial AGAIN which will be set for April 9, 2007.

I am hoping it will all be over on Tuesday. This nonsense has gone on quite long enough.

Time to Try Different Approach

My good friend and fellow drug policy reformer, Dawn Palmer, had the following LTE published in the Birmingham News over the weekend. WAY TO GO DAWN!!!

I'd like to encourage everyone in Alabama who reads this to write a response in support of Dawn's letter. LTE's are a very effective and FREE way to bring attention to our issues. The editorial page is the most widely read page of any paper anywhere.

Time to try different approach

I am writing this in response to the article concerning the $3.5 million in marijuana seized recently near Leeds. I think Jefferson County Sheriff Sgt. Randy Christian wrapped up this war on drugs in a nutshell. He said, "It's a cat-and-mouse game. We catch one mouse, and there is another rat ready to take its place."

I think we have lost this war. We need to try another approach. Did we not try another approach with alcohol prohibition? Ending prohibition didn't stop alcohol use, but it cut out the killing from the black market and the deaths from dirty alcohol that was produced for a high profit.

Drugs and alcohol are not going to go away. Let's take a more compassionate approach and let the medical professionals, not the criminal justice system, deal with these problems. This would be a more productive approach economically and socially.

According to an article in the Council on Foreign Relations publication, next year's budget on the war on drugs is expected to be about $12.7 billion. Roughly 65 percent of this sum will be spent on "source control," or supply control, with the remaining 35 percent going toward treatment and prevention. This doesn't even count the money we spend on incarceration and the building of more prisons and jails.

Wouldn't you think we could redirect this money and use it for free health care for all citizens? I think we have had enough war, especially war against our own people. It's time for a different approach.

Dawn Palmer

Tarrant

Friday Doggie Blogging and Shit on My Doorstep

Ok. Now I didn't realize Saul could smile for the camera but...that picture says it all. What a clown!!

Saul has had a busy week this week. He has learned to escape his fence no matter what I do. Twice now he has come bounding around the corner like a kangaroo and treed multiple cats. He is very proud of himself. He has not caught a cat yet though. I have managed to get to him almost as soon as he breaches the fence. He is very good about coming to me when I call.

There is a new dog lurking about and Saul is NOT happy about it. It is a neighbors hound dog and three times this week when I have taken Saul out he has been outside. He looks friendly and wags his tail but I am afraid Saul is kind of anti-social and wants only to defend his territory. The other day the hound was in the woods behind the house and Saul could see him. He went NUTS! I didn't get onto him because I want him to be defensive of his family and territory....but he got so excited that he tried to go through the glass in the living room window so I had to put him in his kennel. He almost broke it apart. When he is in defender zone he is a sight to behold!

Since the arrival of this new dog Saul refuses to go to the bathroom when I take him out. All he wants to do is sniff all of the other spots where the hound has peed. It takes so long to convince him to go.

Yesterday Saul and I went to Montgomery to visit my grandmother who is very ill and expected to pass any day. When we arrived back home yesterday afternoon the intruder hound dog had left a giant pile of shit on our doorstep.



Can you believe that? He just bowed up and shit right on the steps while we were out. It would be hilarious if it were anyone's steps but mine. Despite it being mine though, I still find I can smile at the pure audacity of this dog. It's admirable, really. Saul came up on that pile, took a giant sniff and let out a very deep rumble as if to say..."You're marked buddy." Seeing a dog growl at a pile of shit left by another dog was surreal.

This is going to be a short post. It has been a hellacious week here at Casa Nall. My grandmother (MeMaw) is very ill. She is 88 and her heart and kidneys have given out and the death clock is ticking. She and I were always very close. I was always her favorite and from the time I was born her nickname for me was "Thang!"

I keep remembering all of the neat stuff she used to do when we were kids. She used to save all of her pocket change in metal Band-Aid boxes and Sucrets boxes and give it to me when I would come over. She always had certs and other candy in church to give the kids when we would get fidgety. Whenever someone would tease me for sucking my thumb (I am a 12 year veteran...retired now for 20....although sometimes when I wake up my thumb is wet??) she would defend me and make them leave me alone. She always kept my favorite blanket that I liked to twiddle between my fingers when sitting in her lap and sucking my thumb. She gave it to me when I got pregnant with my first child and I still have it.

Another thing about MeMaw is her mischevious streak. When we would stump our toes and have those huge hunks of skin hanging off the end and be bleeding like crazy she would ask "Did it hurt?" and through tears so hard they made us snub, snort and gasp for breath we would say "y....ye....uh.uh.uh....yyyyeeessss" and she would grin say "I didn't feel a thang!" Don't ask me why for I never asked and she never elaborated...but that was her in a nutshell.

She always had a forked toungue too. Still has one even in her current condition, as a matter of fact. When I was about 11 my grandfather, who we always called Pee Paw, had one of those giant satellite dishes installed. You know the kind so big they look like maybe you could use them to contact aliens across distant galazxies? Anyway, Me Maw gave me the remote one day and I flipped it to MTV where my current heart throb, Jon Bon Jovi, was wiggling and gyrating around on stage. I commented about how good looking I thought he was and Me Maw said, "Where at...under his clothes?"
Yesterday I was watching TV with her and some handsome actor came on the screen. I said, "Now there's a nice looking man...ain't he Me Maw?" and even with a leaky heart, failing kidneys and around her oxygen tube she popped right out with, "Where at...under his clothes?"

God, how I am going to miss her.

Good stuff happened this week too. More people have signed up to help pass the Compassionate Care Act. Two of the new patients and some members of their families will be attending tonight's meeting. I hope to see you there as well.

That's all for now!

Medical marijuana Meeting Friday March 9

Hi Everyone,

We will have our weekly training meeting on Friday, March 9 from 6 pm to 8 pm at Buffalo Wild Wings.

Located at:

Buffalo Wild Wings
840 Colonial Prommenade Pkwy
Alabaster, AL 35007
205-664-0040

The Compassionate Care Act has been assigned the bill number HB 602. It is not yet on the calendar for judiciary committee.

Please bring as many people as you can round up. This meeting we will focus on the content of the bill and retouch on what we did at the last meeting. If you have a printer and can print your own copy of t he bill (13 pages) that would be great. We will have extras for those who do not have printing capabilities.
The bill can be located on the Compassionate Care website under the Compassionate Care Act link.

Hope to see you at the meeting on Friday.

Loretta Nall

The Gossip in Cornfield County

Fire chief alleges he was assaulted by Coosa commissioner

By Patrick McCreless
Alexander City Outlook

Kellyton Volunteer Fire Department Chief Jerry Sewell recently filed a charge of simple assault against District 1 Coosa County Commissioner Randall Dunham.

According to reports from the Coosa County Sheriff's Department, the alleged incident of assault occurred in Kellyton on Friday.

"Randall Dunham was arrested in the Rockford area for assault third," said Sheriff Terry Wilson.

Wilson said the victim reported the incident soon after it occurred. Dunham was informed that a warrant had been issued against him and eventually turned himself over to the sheriff's department in Rockford later in the day.

Sewell said the incident occurred at the Kellyton fire station. "It was me that got assaulted," he said.

The fire chief would not comment on anything further about the incident.

"My lawyer has advised me not to comment," Sewell said.

Dunham also declined to comment on any particulars concerning the alleged assault.

"I've got court on March 28 and a ruling will be made at that time," Dunham said. "I have no other comment at this time."

Assault in the third degree is a Class A misdemeanor and occurs if a person intentionally causes physical harm to another or if a person, through criminal negligence, causes physical injury to another person by means of a deadly weapon or dangerous instrument.

Anyone convicted of a Class A misdemeanor can be sentenced to as much as one year in the county jail or one year of hard labor for the county.
------

Hehehe....Now how bout that for some added local political spice? That's about the most exciting political news since my neighbors in Tallapoosa and Coosa Co.'s discovered that I live here. I asked another clerk at another store what the skinny was and I was told the lick was passed over how the 911 Emergency system was going to be set up. Good thing it wasn't more than one lick or they might have had to call 911.

I know Randall Dunham. I have known him for a few years. He and I occassionally talk politics when I run into him at Kellyton Shop-n-Fill...which incidentally, is also where I know him from. I used to be a cashier there and Kellyton Shop-n-Fill is gossip central for that spot in the road. It's where all the old fellers come to get coffee and jaw at each other til lunch time. You know the kind of place I'm talking about.

I don't know Mr. Sewell but this line,
"It was me that got assaulted," made me laugh so hard I think I injured something.

God....I love Alabama!!

These Bastards are SICK!!!

Special Response Group trains on taking down the worst of the worst

By Patrick McCreless
Alexander City Outlook

Members of the Alexander City Special Response Group were put through their paces during a special training mission on Locust Street Tuesday.

The response group, which consisted of members from the Alexander City and Dadeville Police Departments, as well as the Tallapoosa County Sheriff's Department and Narcotics Task Force all swarmed an abandoned house of Locust Street Tuesday afternoon to hone their skills.

Alexander City Police Chief Avery Morris said the response group conducts special training missions about twice a month.

"Everybody works together," Morris said. "The more everybody trains together, the smoother it goes in the real world."

The training session began with a short brief on the mission, much like what would happen if the event were real.

During the briefing, the team was informed of the suspect, who was played by a member of the Alabama Army National Guard Counter Drug Program, and shown pictures of the home where he supposedly resided.

The suspect was believed to be dealing drugs from the residence and was supposedly armed. The team's job was to forcibly enter the residence, arrest the suspect and then make a sweep of the area for any narcotics or stolen merchandise.

After the briefing, the team made sure they had a search warrant to ensure the raid of the home was legal.

"The search warrant is given to the man who breaches the door," said Lt. Randy Walters of the ACPD.

After arriving at the scene, the team lined up in single file outside the home's front door fully garbed in bulletproof vests and helmets, ready to engage the suspect.

With weapons in hand, the team burst through the home's front door and quickly scanned the entire building and apprehended the suspect.

"There's three objectives ... speed, surprise and violence of action," Morris said.
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"violence of action"...

See....they LIKE violence. Doesn't that alarm anyone but me? And the photo clearly shows these 'gung-ho boys' think they are SOLDIERS instead of small town, neighborhood cops. Can you say Military Police State?

Child Predator Cop Was Armed

Montgomery Advertiser

FLAGLER BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- A former Alabama police officer accused of bringing weapons to what he thought would be a meeting with a 13-year-old girl will be featured tonight on "Dateline N-B-C's To Catch a Predator."

Todd Monroe Spikes was fired from the police department in Florala after his arrest during the online sting.

Police say Spikes drove almost five hours to Flagler Beach, Florida, in a sport utility vehicle filled with video cameras, handguns, an assault rifle and a shotgun to have sex with the girl -- who was really a decoy.

Police say Spikes also planned to have sex with her mother so he could secretly continue to have sex with the child.

Spikes was charged with attempted lewd or lascivious battery, lewd or lascivious exhibition and computer pornography and child exploitation.

Spikes has pleaded not guilty.

Flagler Beach police report arresting 21 men during the four-day sting.
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Police say Spikes also planned to have sex with her mother so he could secretly continue to have sex with the child.

Boy....that makes me feel safer! Isn't there some kind of screening process these folks should go through before we put them in charge of policing the citizenry with guns?

Silver

I've been hanging around my friends at The Mises Institute and they have about convinced me to invest some of my meager cash into gold and silver. I like the idea because precious metals retain their value. Sometimes the Libertarian Party of Alabama will hold contests and the prize is in gold or silver. And, I once saw Dick Clark (our former chair) pay for an Arby's meal with silver and he paid a signature gatherer with gold.

One of the companies I am looking at is Monex. They have been around for over 30 years. You can purchase gold, silver and other precious metals and they will arrange for personal delivery or delivery to a safe at a bank or independent depository.

With the world in the awful shape it is in and the dollar losing value every day I think now is a great time to look into this. If you are interested in the current silver price or prices on other precious metals be sure to pay Monex a visit.

Loretta Nall Heads Back to Court

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Contact: Loretta Nall

Telephone Number: 251-650-2271 or 256-625-9599

Email Address: lorettanall@gmail.com

Web site address: http://nallforgovernor.blogspot.com

Drug Policy Reformer and 2006 Alabama Gubernatorial Candidate, Loretta Nall, Heads Back to Court

Alexander City, AL, March 4, 2007 — 2006 Libertarian Gubernatorial candidate and widely known drug policy reformer, Loretta Nall, will appear in Tallapoosa County Circuit Court, located in downtown Alexander City, at 9 A.M. on March 15, 2007 to continue the appeals process in her misdemeanor marijuana possession case. On that day Mrs. Nall's attorney, Anthony Wilson, will argue a motion for dismissal.

Loretta Nall, who had no prior arrest record and maintains her innocence, was arrested in a November 2002 raid on her home less than a week after her Letter to the Editor of the Birmingham News was published. The affidavit in support of the warrant to search Nall's home used that letter as probable cause.The Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force, which conducted the raid on Nall's home, alleges that the raid yielded 0.87 gram of marijuana.

Nall was convicted of misdemeanor marijuana possession and possession of paraphernalia in February, 2004. Read the trial transcript here.

After her trial in Feb. 2004 Mrs. Nall filed a complaint with the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (second page of complaint is here) alleging misconduct on the part of District Judge Kim Taylor after he commented about the facts of her case to the local media. The Judicial Inquiry Commission sided with Mrs. Nall and reprimanded Judge Kim Taylor for his actions.

In March of 2005 Mrs. Nall appeared in circuit court for her appeal. The prosecution offered her a plea bargain of 8 months in prison without the possibility of probation or parole in exchange for her guilty plea. Mrs. Nall refused to plea out and instead demanded a jury trial. She wrote a scathing article about her court experience which was published at LewRockwell and one week later she was visited by the F.B.I.

Loretta Nall, 32, wife, mother of two children living in her native Alabama, became involved in drug policy reform in September of 2002, after enduring a terrifying helicopter raid by local, state and federal agents looking for marijuana. No marijuana was found.

Loretta Nall has appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine, lewrockwell.com, and numerous daily newspapers across North America on behalf of her campaign to reduce the destructive effects of prohibition. She writes extensively about her experiences. In 2004 Loretta visited war-torn Colombia, South America where she studied the affects of aerial fumigation on the food crops of peasant farmers as carried out under U.S. Plan Colombia. Currently, she is assisting in guiding a medical marijuana bill through the Alabama state legislature in concert with the Drug Policy Alliance.

During her run for Governor of Alabama as the Libertarian candidate in 2006 Nall garnered international media attention because of her anatomy and appeared in the #1 slot on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann.



Her political ads were named Most Honest of the Political Season by Brandweek Magazine. Loretta also had her ads and campaign mentioned on ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today Show. she was a guest on nationally broadcast 'Fox & Friends', numerous satellite and major network radio programs and every newspaper and televison station in the state of Alabama.

For more information about her campaign, including video clips of recent candidate speeches, photos and more please visit the campaign website.

All media is encouraged to attend the court hearing. To schedule an interview please call 251-650-2271 or email Loretta

###

We're Fine

I have gotten a number of emails this morning from folks across the world asking if my family and I are ok after yesterdays widespread tornado outbreak in Alabama. We're fine and thank you all so much for your concern. Wow! It's great to be loved like that!!

In my part of Alabama, in the eastern central part of the state, the weather never really got bad. It rained all day and then last night about 8 pm we had some wind and lightning but nothing like what was experienced in other parts of the state.

In Enterprise, located in South Alabama, 5 high school students were killed and many others critically injured when their school took a direct hit from a tornado that the weathermen are saying was somewhere between F3 and F5. Please keep the families of these kids in your thoughts and prayers. I have lost a child at the infant stage and that was one of the hardest things I have ever had to live through. I can't imagine how much harder it is to get on with your life when the child is in their teen years and there is so much more to remember and miss in their absence.

Thank you all so much for your outpouring of concern for me and mine and for all those affected in my state.

Loretta Nall

The following photos are of the High School in Enterprise, AL.

Flyers for Compassionate Care Meeting

Please download and print this flyer for our Compassionate Care meeting this Saturday. Hand the flyers out to your friends, post them around your town, leave a few at the oncology clinic...you know...get the word out!!

My Doctor SUX!!

I had to go and see my doctor today to follow up from an ER visit on Saturday morning. The ER visit came about because all night Friday night my left hip joint screamed in agony and when I got up on Saturday I could hardly walk, sit, stand or any of the everyday activities that a hip joint is required for. I took some of my anti-inflammatory medicine and waited for it to kick in. After two hours I decided I could take no more and went to the ER. I would have gladly gone to a regular physician, but there is not one open outside of BHAM or MTGY on the weekend and I was not able to drive that far.

At the ER I was told I had tendonitis in my leg. I told them I did not think that was the case as I hadn't done anything to get tendonitis in my leg and that it was not a muscle that was hurting. It was bone....grinding bone, as a matter of fact. I told them about my family history with osteoarthritis/porosis and rheumatoid arthritis and how all of my joints hurt.They took an X-ray and said "it's tendonitis"....but you need to follow up with the orthopedic specialist next week. They gave me a shot of Toradol (NSAID) which helped a great deal, a script for Motrin (why pay more for prescrition brand of something you can get over the counter?)and sent me home.

This morning I called the orthapedic specialist to schedule an appointment. They did not have one until next week but said in the meantime I could get the blood work to look for patterns that indicate rheumatoid arthritis from my regular physician and just have them forward it. I set the appointment for today and I just got back from one of the most frustrating doctor visits ever.

When the nurse was checking me in I went over why I was there and what I needed. I saw this same doctor back in late November for cervical spine pain and told him at that time of my family's history with arthritic diseases. He seemed skeptical. Today he walks in and says, "So, you are having some elbow pain is that right?"

"Yes. Elbow pain and knee pain and back pain from my cervical spine down to thoracic spine where the ribs meet the backbone. This is a follow up from an ER visit on Saturday."

"Yes...well I think you have tennis elbow. Lots of muscles connect the fingers to the elbow...blah...blah...blah. So, it's probably related to the work you do."

I let him finish this spiel and then I asked him, "So, what kind of work do you think I do?"

He looks down at his sheet of paper and draws a blank because there is nothing written there.

"Well your sheet doesn't say so I don't know."

"Don't you think that before you diagnose me with repetitive motion symdrome, tendonitis or tennis elbow that you should know if I do work that involves repetitive motion? Don't you also think maybe you should do some sort of physical exam? Have you not looked at the sheet I filled out detailing my family history with arthritis? The pain in my elbows is bad enough that it is difficult and painful to pick up a coffee cup in the morning and drive for more than 45 minutes. I do not have a job that involves any sort of repetitive motion. I work in the political realm which requires some typing, lots of driving and lots of talking but nothing that requires repetitive motion. And if it were tennis elbow then why do I also seem to have it in my neck, back, my knees and now my hips? Does tennis elbow cause joints all over my body to swell up and get so hot you could almost fry an egg on them?"

"No. Let me write you a prescrition for Loratab 7.5. That will take care of your pain."

"No Doctor, keep the dope please. I do not like opiate based narcotics. They make me itch, they make me nauseous and the incapcitate me to the point that I cannot get my work done. I am not here trying to score drugs. I am here for you to draw blood and perform lab work that looks for a pattern in determining whether or not I have rheumatoid arthritis. That is all I want you to do. Not dope me, not misdiagnose me, not refuse to perform even a basic examination because you think I don't have insurance. I do have insurance, as you will see on the form, and all I want you to do today is draw blood and send it to the lab."

And finally, that is what he did.

Why is it that doctors go to school for all those years and then not employ what they have learned once they get into practice? How can you possibly diagnose someone without doing a physical examination? Why is it that they offer you narcotics right off the bat? That should be the last line of defense in pain management. I just don't get it. Why do they treat people this way?

I won't be seeing this doctor again. Hell, he ought to pay me for diagnosing myself (as he apparently so no need to expend any effort towards that end) and for telling him how to properly do his job....and I've never even been to medical school.

Compassionate Care Meeting March 3, 2007

Alabamians for Compassionate Care
PRESENTS
Citizen's Lobby Training Day
When: Saturday, March 3, 2007

Where: The BottleTree Cafe
3719 3rd Ave. South
Birmingham, AL
WEBSITE

What Time: 3 PM to 5 PM

Who Can Attend? Anyone in Alabama who wishes to see a medical marijuana bill passed this legislative session.

What Will We Be Doing?: The purpose of this meeting is to train citizens on how to lobby their legislator on this issue both in person and on the phone. We will also discuss how to write an effective letter to your legislator and to the local media on the issue of medical marijuana, as well as lay out plans for a legislator education day at the state capitol after the session starts on March 6.

Alabamians for Compassionate Care is a grassroots organization working to pass legislation that would protect doctors who recommend marijuana as medicine and the patients who use it, from being prosecuted under state law. Cancer, AIDS, and other terminally ill patients should not go to prison for trying to ease their suffering. For more information please email us at alabamacompcare@yahoo.com or visit our website at Compassionate Care You may also reach us by calling 1-877-528-5647




Click to join compassionate-care email list

Sen. Hillary Clinton Coming to Selma

Montgomery Advertiser

SELMA -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be in Selma on Sunday to speak, walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge and accept an award for her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Sen. Clinton, D-N.Y., will speak at a church just down the street from where U.S. Sen. Barack Obama will deliver an address.

It is expected to be the first time the two major candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination will appear so close to each other at the same time.

Obama, whose appearance was announced earlier this month, is to speak at Brown Chapel AME Church at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Sen. Clinton is to speak at Selma's black First Baptist Church at the same time. The two churches are only a few yards from each other on Martin Luther King Jr. Street
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I remember the first Bloody Sunday re-enactment I participated in back in 2004. There did not seem to be a great deal of attendees present and only a couple of nationally known politicians and civil rights leaders. It shocked me to see that. If I were a black person living anywhere in the US I would try to make that event every single year. It is too important an event in Black History and American History to let attendance dwindle to such small numbers.

I am very glad to see Hillary and Barak coming to town.

Friday Doggie Blogging...On Sunday

This photo shows the blue coloring on Saul's muzzle.

Welcome readers to this weeks editon of Friday Doggie Blogging on Sunday. It was a very busy week and exciting here at Casa Nall and blogging was one of the things that got put on the back burner.

The steroids have made Saul fill out to approximately the size of a mammoth. Made him eat like one, too. His ribs and chest are massive and he is just now 6 months old. The rash has cleared up. No more gnawing at his feet and legs and constant scratching of his other furry parts. It has to be pretty miserable to itch like that. He still hasn't had a bath because he is too big for me to bathe in the house and it is still too cold to bathe him outside. He smells like a big bag of corn chips.



Earlier this week I had to load Saul up and take him with me to a meeting in Tuscaloosa. His pen is finished, but I only allow him in it when I am here to look in on him from time to time. He is a great dog to travel with. For now, he has to ride in his crate because he has not learned to check his excitement and stay off of the driver. He just get's too excited. In his crate he is so silent I have to check on him to make sure he is ok. He never makes a sound. The last two times I have taken him riding he has not gotten car sick. He drools a little, but that's it.

I've also noticed that he will not go to the bathroom while traveling. I stopped right outside of Tuscaloosa at a rest area to give him a break and all he did was walk around and sniff every other dog's little packages. Same thing on the way back. By the time we got home his eyes were floating and he spent a few minutes taking one of the longest pee's ever. I know some people who cannot use the bathroom away from home.....I didn't know dogs could be that way too.



This week Saul learned how to catch his ball in his mouth as opposed to fetching it. It came about by me bouncing it on the floor in front of him. At first he would stamp his front feet and woof at the ball. After a few times he caught it in his mouth. I decided to toss it to him and see what happened. He caught it on the first try. What's funny is he will actually bring the ball back and drop it at your feet because he likes to catch it so much. He also gets so excited when it's time to play catch that he jumps backwards and does a little half-turn and hangs his tongue out the side of his mouth....every time. With fetching, he will get the ball but you have to wrest it from his deadly, toothy, grip in order to throw it again.

A couple of nights ago my husband got to witness a game of catch for the first time. This dog has lightning fast reflexes...I mean like greased lightning. He rarely misses the ball, can leap up and catch it, catch it sideways, low, a curve ball...you throw it and he can catch it. Watching him leap and snap and his incredible focus on the object makes me realize even more what an amazing animal he is. That mouth and head are just incredible precision machines.

Snoot is my nickname for him. Don't ask me why we name a dog one thing and then call it something else. I thought Saul would look better on the registration papers than Snoot I guess....but Snoot is what I call him. The other night he became "Investigator Snoot" because of his reaction to anyone touching me. My daughter had sat down by my chair to give me a massage and as soon as she put her hands on me here came Snoot checking out the situation. Nose all up in the middle of it. Daddy Nall said, "Damn, he is really on the job investigating who is touching his mommy." When he was sure everything was ok he went and settled back down with his chew toy, which was a milk jug at that particular moment. Then the other day Alex and Bell were horseplaying and Alex thought he would sit on Bell...Snoot had other ideas about that. One 'woof' and they cut out the horseplay.It's almost like he is enforcing discipline, which is just hilarious. I wonder if he would accept a scooby snack to babysit?

We found out today that he does not like the sound of the air conditioner. Since it is warm today we decided to turn ours on just the fan setting. The dog went ape. Barking and snarling and growling. Full attack mode. I touched the air conditioner and turned it off and on to show him that there was nothing to be afraid of. He would have none of it. I don't know if the sound was just strange to him, too loud, or maybe sounded like a big monster about to gobble all of us up, but puppy was ready to eat it up, regardless. Eat first...ask questions later. Since his barking is loud enough to rupture your eardrums he won that particular battle for today. In a few months I suspect he will be parking his big hairy self in front of it, loving every single sound it makes and potentially trying to turn it on himself say around August.

Sentencing still critical

February 24, 2007
Editorial
Montgomery Advertiser

Its conclusions are anything but new, yet it is important for Alabamians and their political leaders to take note of a new report from the highly regarded Pew Charitable Trusts on the seemingly uncontrollable prison population here and in many other states. The nonprofit organization does first-rate research and its observations are well worth heeding.

Alabama's prison overcrowding problem is all too familiar. It's been a pressing issue for years. The facts, as ugly as they are familiar, bear recounting.

The number of inmates serving sentences from Alabama now stands at about 28,400. About 1,200 of those are serving time in private prisons in Louisiana, sent there because our state's prisons have no place for them.

More than 27,000 inmates are in Alabama prisons -- in a system designed to handle about 13,000. It's been this way for so long that one suspects many Alabamians have come to see it as the norm, perhaps even to assume that there's little wrong with operating in this way.

There is a great deal wrong with operating in this way. As the Advertiser's Nigel Duara reported, Alabama's heavy incarceration of nonviolent offenders, in particular drug offenders, helps drive the overcrowding problem.

Since 1999, their numbers in the system have increased at twice the rate of violent offenders, and the average sentence for drug offenses is almost 60 percent longer than it was 20 years ago. This is a recipe for trouble -- unless a state is willing to embark on a enormously expensive prison building program that will create the capacity to handle so sizable an inmate population.

A far better approach, fiscally and in every other respect, is more sensible sentencing that sends to prison the offenders who should go to prison, but channels other offenders into less costly and more productive programs. Sticking a nonviolent drug offender in a prison cell is an expensive option.

The Pew report suggests a binding sentencing policy, something more than the well-intended but toothless voluntary standards offered by the Legislature. Although those standards are a decided improvement, the fact that no judge has to abide by them greatly reduces their effectiveness.

It's important to allow some judicial discretion in sentencing, but Alabama's sentencing structure has sentencing ranges that vary too widely. This can result in severely disproportionate sentences for similar offenses, and contributes to prison overcrowding.

According to a statistician with the Alabama Sentencing Commission, if the sentencing guidelines were followed in every court, the prison population would stabilize at about 1,000 inmates below the current level, rather than rising by another 2,000 by 2011. Consider the implications of that for our state.

The case for sentencing reform has been easy to make for years now. The Pew report is one more in a long string of arguments for it.
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It's great that Pew Charitable Trusts came down and got these numbers together and issued these recommendations....but damn, I have been telling the state government this information for free for years and issuing the same recommendations. Stop locking up people who did nothing more than smoke a joint, top locking up people who have harmed no one other than perhaps themselves. It isn't the governments job to protect citizens from themselves.

I Want My FTR!!!

All,

Around the first of this year Alabama Public Television royally screwed up my favorite show, For the Record with Tim Lennox. Before this change FTR came on 5 nights a week and was Alabama's only statewide news broadcast. It was also the only place one could tune into the news and hear insightful commentary and educated positions on the issues. It was the only news that was actually thought provoking and Tim Lennox is one of the only old-school journalist with ethics left in this state.

FTR was cut back to a Friday brodcast and a Sunday broadcast and I swear, if we can't get it back to what it was my brains are going to melt and run out of my ears. Network News blows. It is all about entertaining viewers and not about real news. If I see one more story on Britney Spears or Anna Nicole Smith someone might get hurt.

Help prevent me from losing my mind by writing Allan Pizzato at this email address or by calling him at 1-800-239-5233. Please tell him we want our FTR back to 5 nights week and to never, ever change it again.

I Want My FTR

Thanks,
Loretta Nall