"JAIL no BAIL" still in Alabama

January 28, 2015.

Passing Thoughts

And so now I can tell you that we had a feast of feast when Greg flew home back in November.  He left Florence on November 14, 2014 and because of travel time and moving from CST to EST, finally walked into his home November 15, 2014.  He had missed his traditional November 11 ceremony back at the Hamilton grimmet factory.  The tradition he had started, carried on in spite of his absence.  I had to think back to earlier days, at a Hamilton dinner party, where rumour had it that Greg had erected a monument for all of the people he had killed in the grimmet factory, even an educated physician got a war memorial confused - thinking it was a statue to remember industrial accidents at the plant.  At the time, I was sorry to think that an educated person would even think it was possible that a capitalist would celebrate industrial accidents but that was the atmosphere in Hamilton 20 years earlier.  In fact, the cenotaph was a result of Greg's conscience.  Back in 1994 after he had purchased MBI,  he renovated the reception/foyer area, and while the space was under construction, some framed 'pictures' were leaned against a wall in his office.  While on the phone one day, he noticed that the pictures were lists of names and saw that some had black crosses beside them, the list was MBI employees who had served in WW II, and the names with the crosses, were the ones who never came home.

It was out of respect, and to honour our values of freedom, and the liberty to pursue happiness, that Greg built a war memorial, funded privately and placed within the MBI property, it was much criticized at the time, and certainly, misunderstood.  Natalie, Karina and I, attended the first  November 11th  Rememberance Day ceremony, but then, after those death threats - we no longer attended.

So we have come full circle.  Greg was arrested on November 12 2013, a day after Remeberance Day November 11, and he was finally free after paying a 'fine' on November 14, 2014.  Today's big news story was the apology from the prosecution over the arrest of the lunch counter protestors in the South back in the 60's when 'jail no bail' was the policy, and based on Greg's experience in Alabama it was clear that old habits do die hard.  By ignoring the bond and restricting him from traveling home to prepare for trial, the result was the same as being put in jail.  The thought that power in the state was held in the hands of a small group of insiders who misled a Grand Jury, and to never even be able to see on what basis the charges were laid, underscores my suspicion that the people of Alabama are still being cheated out of knowing the truth.  I just know that a full year had been stolen from our lives and that the actual facts would never come to light since the point was to extort money and inflict punishment before going to an open court.  No one would know about 2,000,000 pages of documents.  No one would hear that the $30 million bond was ignored.  No one would hear about Greg having to hire ACS cronies.  No one would learn about any of the incriminating evidence against ACS, because it would be so damaging.  I also know that there could have been good jobs available to those people who want jobs, because the economy has recovered from the greed of Wall Street and the mortgage crisis that led to the collapse in 2008.
ACS knew there was no fraud and so could not accuse Greg in civil court but instead, needed to strike after the civil case was time barred.  Only state securities charges would allow the sealed and secret Grand Jury, all done through the legal system of the state.  Laws carved out through the sacrifices of young men maimed and dead men who run into battle to preserve liberty and freedom.

But then again, that is only my personal opinion, I am only bitter about one thing - that all joy was sucked out of my life for a full year, and once pushed into a hole, it takes a bit to crawl out of it.
I could have spent more time in giving the Universe the truth, but I quickly realized, at around day 8 of my blogging, that I would benfit more from getting back to joy and laughter rather that dwelling on the details of this tale.  It was a helluva year, and I will spend my time now  fighting for the rights of those poor kids stuffed into the Tuscumbia jail,  that only jail Greg saw in Alabama, seven men and roaches in a 10 x 12 cell,  and Cook County jail in Chicago, but I am sure that there are plenty more disgraceful prisons in every state.  It is a shameful truth that the racial epithet is used by jailers, white and black non stop behind the walls of prison.  The reality of those 10 days has stayed with our family.  We were converted and now we understand.  I wrote to the White House, and I did not get a reply, except I was put on the auto e-mail list to donate money.  I wrote to John Boehner and I did not get a response.  This was a story that would be of interest to both sides of the table.  I contacted the ACLU and there was no interest, so after a while you 'pays your money and you gets going'.

And that is how I learned it will take a lot more to bring light to injustice.