Hello, Rick!
RT>Next we have the letter writing campaign, ala Amnesty International,
RT>in which one person is, (by some means or another), selected for the
RT>mailing. The target of such a mailing would be Congress- persons and
RT>Senators, both State and Federal, in whose districts the cases took
RT>place.  Also, local newspapers, talk radio shows, and the TV tabloid
RT>press.  (20/20, American Journal - that sort of tabloid).
RT>Can't forget the Governor of the State, as well as those intermediate
RT>parties along the chain of his command, the District Attorney, the
RT>local mayor, and town and county commissions.  The Wall Street Journal
RT>has taken a position favorable to the falesly assused, particularly
RT>with regard to the Witch Hunts, (its term), of the 1980s.  Hence, I
RT>would suggest that copies also be cc'ed to them as well.
This is an *excellent* idea, and one that could very well work.  It's
not easy to get any of the above intersted in a case; in the case of
the Swan Defence Fund it took one very persistent woman months of phone
calls, letters, information packets (several hundred pages of materials),
etc., to get their interest.  As it was, several reports were squashed
because the subject was not politically correct -- I'm not sure I am
at liberty to pass on the inside reports I have though I wish I could.
This will still be an uphill battle, though perhaps easier now than
then.
RT>Quite naturally, these letters would request an investigation, and
RT>possible re-opening of the case. Between the four available FIDO
RT>conferences, (VFALSAC, VOCAL, FMS, CHILD_ABUSE_ISSUES), the Internet
RT>mailing lists, and the VOCAL newsletters, this could be quite readily
RT>accomplished.  Even as few as one thousand people sending out a
RT>multiple ten or twelve such letters on a monthly basis would be
RT>certain to have some impact.  The question is one of organizing such
RT>an effort.
This could be, but I would be careful on burning people out.  A lot of
the campaign for any particular case should come from the community
where the case originated, people who have a special interest in the
case because it is close to *them*.  (I keep thinking of Wenatchee,
WA, where they had two thousand people sign a petition for an
investigation into the witch-hunt there.)  Additional support could
come from the Nets, but I know *I* would burn out sending a dozen
letters a month for each of several cases -- either that or I'd soon
develop the very-dry form letter just to keep up with my quota.  And
if the ancillary letters were too few, I'd soon be marked by the
targets as a professional letter-writer. :-)
RT>As for who does the selecting, and what criteria is to be applied in
RT>the selection, I'm at a complete loss.  As I am not connected with the
RT>VOCAL organization, I am also at a loss as to how to motivate them to
RT>consider this course, so I'll leave that matter to one or more of the
RT>conference participants.
For those of us who are not local to the case, a fair amount of
information would have to be posted so that we could talk
knowledgeably about the case -- and be reasonably sure that we're
defending someone who is innocent.  This might be one mechanism of
self-selection.
IMHO, it would be destructive to have VOCAL be the selector /
coordinator. Remember that most of VOCAL (my experience) is made of
people with their own cases going on.  They will all clamour to have
their cases be the one chosen for the campaign -- and you can imagine
the result when theirs aren't.  A shipload of people... and only one
lifeboat.
I hate to say it, but I suspect the cases are going to be somewhat
self-selecting, as they have been in the past.  This is a strategy
which might vault more cases over the hurdle, but it's not going to
get every tragedy averted.
RT>I submit that if someone does run with this idea, the upcoming VOCAL
RT>conference would be the ideal place to announce it.
It's an excellent idea, Rick!
 * OLX 2.1 TD * Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
--- Maximus 2.01wb
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