August 27, 2009

In the last several days, I have seen the number of visitors to the blog decline. The numbers have dropped by almost half.

I find this very disheartening.

It reminds me of a year ago when this incident happened. Initially my phone rang constantly at all hours of the day and night; and then after several weeks it became less and less. Now, I can go for days and my phone not ring once.

I understand that people are busy with jobs, children, school and so forth. I understand that the world does not revolve around the blog - or me, or Patrick.

I would not truly wish this on anyone but -

I wish that for one week everyone had to endure what Patrick has endured for almost a year. Sitting in a cell, without any knowledge what the future holds for him, and with no control over his own life and destiny.

I wish that everyone had to endure what I have had to endure for almost a year; I live in the scene of the crime. Every night when I go to sleep, I know I am sleeping on top of 30+ bullet holes; every night when I pull the shades, for the rest of the evening I have two bullet holes that stare me in the face. We won't talk about the rest of the bullet holes that are a constant reminder to me, there are a lot.

Every time I have to go to the post office, the only way for me to get there is to drive by the RV park where this nightmare happened; and I see precisely the spot where we were, and the spot in the parking lot that I sat while a war zone was exploding; and I remember the dead silence that fell, and I had the fear of death consume me. Those all come back to me when I do something as simple as going to get the mail.

Then there is the dread of going to Wal-Mart. That's the last place that Pat and I went together. Isn't that a wonderful memory to carry in my heart, knowing that could be the last memory I could have of us being together in a free world - Wal-Mart; what a pleasant memory.

And Patrick and I have no end in sight, we don't know if we will ever be together again in a free world. We may never get our lives back.

Think about that for a minute - we may NEVER get our lives back.

Early on I feared that after a while that I would lose the attention necesary to make this fund-raising campaign successful, I hope that I have not.

I have tried to find items of interest to post, I have read and written about my findings and I have sometimes let my emotions get the best of me when defending my husband and my passionate love for him.

Please, try walking in my shoes, and see if you can keep your emotions in check 24/7. Sue - an Army of one; I am fighting with every ounce of my energy and soul to save my husband.

I am alone; I have been alone for almost a year. Patrick is in his own hell of solitude sitting in a cell day after day. Everything he ever knew about life has been ripped away from him without mercy.

He may never know that life again.

Pat and I need the support of each and every one of you; the moral support and what is also extremely important, the financial support. Those donations need to keep coming in, our time is running out. We must be able to secure these experts for Pat's defense.

I never thought I would be someone begging for money for anything, but I am. I am begging for money to save someone's life. Do you understand that Pat Lamoureux's life could be over? Sending him to prison is a death sentence, we must not let this happen.

Some will read this and think I am being rude or pushy, perhaps I am. But please stop and think for a minute; what if this was YOUR husband, YOUR son, YOUR brother. AH HA! Don't think 'well my husband/son/brother would never do something like this!' Funny, a year ago right now, I would have said the same thing.

So in trying to think that thought, think how earth shattering and life changing it would be if it did happen; think what you would do, how hard you would fight, and how much you would BEG for help to save the life of that person.

Think about that for a minute. You too,would continue to beg for help from people that have already helped; you would beg with your heart and soul for that help because you would know without that help, the person you love will lose their life to prison.

I have begged for a $5.00 check - $5.00, if that was all that could be afforded. And I am still begging you, please help me save Pat's life.

I know that there are some people following the blog that believe that Pat DESERVES to go to prison that he DESERVES to be punished severly. They have publicly stated this.

May God forgive you for those thoughts and through his powers give you the ability to find human compassion within your soul. To believe a good man should be deserving of such punishment is to judge someone very harshly; "Judge not, lest you be judged."

We are not alone: The Wars Bring PTSD Home to Other Countries - Reports from Britain and Canada

Britain's Military Is In 'Stress' Meltdown
11:51am UK, Tuesday August 25, 2009
Pete Norman, Sky News Online

Britain's armed forces are at risk of massive mental health problems because of their stressful work and a lack of support, an ex-SAS soldier says.

Ex-trooper Bob Paxman, 41, has broken the SAS vow of silence to reveal the risk soldiers face fighting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"The military have got a massive problem on their hands and they haven't faced up to it yet," Paxman said.

"They have certain types of counselling but these processes are basically based in the 1960s," Paxman said.

The Ministry of Defence denies their facilities are outmoded.
(click here for the complete story)
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Ex-SAS-Bob-Paxman-Talks-About-PTSD---Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder---With-Charity-Talking2Minds/Article/200908415368253

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

PTSD: Veterans share the trauma
By ALEX LEDUC, Freelance,
"The Gazette", August 25, 2009

MONTREAL, CANADA ­ - They spend every day listening to real-life horror stories told by Canadian Forces veterans

As they listen, counsellors Pierre Trépanier and Gérald Jean are keenly aware that a tale that hits too close to home could trigger their own traumatic memories.

According to Trépanier, OSISS staff are overwhelmed at bases like Valcartier near Québec City and Petawawa northwest of Ottawa, where soldiers are returning from Afghanistan.

One in seven such soldiers return with psychological issues, according to a McGill University study conducted in 2007.
(click here for the complete story)
http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/PTSD+Veterans+share+trauma/1692824/story.html

What happens when you put good people in an evil place called prison?

Does humanity win over evil, or does evil win?

“We have become a nation of prisons, but how are we going to take care of our prisoners? We cannot. What is the true cost of continued Nevada prisoner warehousing? It cannot be calculated. Can a Nevada prison sentence become a death sentence? Yes, it can, and in many cases it has.” (April 14, 2009, to the Nevada Prison Board by Mercedes Maharis, MA, MS, MA, Lifetime member of Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), Washington, D.C.)

Merecedes Maharis also voiced the opinion that excessive force being exercised inside Nevada prisons is worse than that of the conditions at Abu Ghraib.

At the April 14, 2009 Nevada Prison Board Meeting, accounts of prisoner abuse and neglect were presented. Stories of beatings; inmates teeth being extracted instead of dental treatment being performed; long time prisoners developing Hep C, the only way they could have caught it was from the medical staff reusing needles in the medical clinics; guards are reported to be sadistic and routinely exercise excessive force; reports of long-time prisoners attacking and devouring new inmates through domination by fear and sexually assaulting new inmates; reports of a prisoner who was left to die in his cell of gangrene, he rotted to death. The result: Prisoners become withdrawn, depressed and show signs of extreme stress and begin behaving in pathological ways.

Nevada prisons defy logic and common sense, and evidently house a high level of human abuse from the staff towards the inmates.

“The system is broken” stated Assemblyman Segerblom on April 2, 2009, at the Nevada Corrections Committee (NDOC) meeting.

According to Ms. Maharis, reports show that two hundred twenty-six Nevada prisoners died between January 1, 2000, and June 4, 2007. More recent figures are not available; tracking this information is not a priority to the Nevada Department of Corrections. This must mean that death certificates are not being filed, because death certificates are a matter of public record.

Ms. Maharis, also reported that Randell G. Shelden, UNLV (University of Nevada Las Vegas) criminologist and author, has thrown in the towel. Why? He does not believe that change will ever come from inside the Nevada prison system.

I learned the following information from the website Nevada Prisoner Voice and I confirmed this information through Nevada’s Government Directory: The NDOC does not employ any psychiatrists and only 36 psychologists.

Many of you know that I worked in the healthcare industry for many years. We all know that medicine has become specialized, with specialities even having sub-specialities.

The NDOC does not employee any psychiatrists and only 36 psychologists. Psychologists cannot prescribe drugs to treat mental illness, but psychiatrists can, and the NDOC does not employ psychiatrists; who is writing prescriptions for these inmates with mental health issues? A medical doctor?

Asking a medical doctor to manage psychotropic medications would be like asking an orthopedic surgeon to manage psychotropic medications. It is not their specialty; they are not qualified to write those types of medications. Medicine has become specialized, and doctors are familiar with medications in their specialities. To write medications outside those specialities could, and should, jeopardize their DEA licenses.

That being said, who is effectively caring for inmates with mental health problems? Who is writing these prescriptions?

(http://telephone.state.nv.us/directory/employees/LocalFrames.asp. If you go to this site and in the “title” box on the left type in psychiatrist, the result will be ‘no records found’ and entering psychologist will return 36 records for the search.)

I have repeatedly stated that it is well documented in the literature that incarceration causes Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; with just this little bit of information I have provided, it should be easy to see why. You take someone already diagnosed with a high level of PTSD and subject them to this environment, what will happen? Do you think their PTSD is going to improve?

I remember someone telling me that prison would make Patrick a better person; somehow I don’t see that happening.

When I think that this prison system could be Pat’s future, it makes me physically ill. Evil people belong in prison. Joseph Patrick Lamoureux is not an evil person. What happened on September 19, 2008 was not a crime, it was a tragedy.

I understand the severity of the charges against Pat; which means I also understand the necessity of making certain that each and every expert witness for his defense be present for his trial.

I can only pray that human compassion will elevate in each and every one of you after reading this. The findings of the ACLU about the current conditions that Pat is being detained in was stressful enough; to have a better understanding of the Nevada Department of Corrections Prison System is almost more than I can handle.

Why should you donate to Pat’s legal defense when you are barely making it yourself; or perhaps you have already donated. Whichever scenario you fit in, I urge you to read this post again, and as you do, remember what a Veteran is: A Veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to, and including his life’. He put his life on the line for your life.

PLEASE – let your good conscience and human compassion guide you; we must keep Pat from being subjected to the future that looms before him. If all you can afford is $5.00, sending that $5.00 is not going to destroy your life; not receiving it might destroy Pat Lamoureux’s life.

Without the funds available to get these expert witnesses, Pat Lamoureux will go to prison. Let me say that again; Without the funds available to get these expert witnesses, Pat Lamoureux will go to prison.