The Forces Mounted
to hold the Fort.
'Stand Tall!
Be sharp!', was the rallying cry ...
'Get up! Stand
fast! Hold! Don't now reply!'
The dust clouds
approached ...
And in came the
hoards.
Overwhelming
and frightening ...
Massive, now
engorged.
They screamed
from the depths ...
From below the
Fortress walls, but!
All were now
deaf ...
Upon the mounted
and towered, earthen, wall.
'Come down, give
up!
Surrender thyself!
Give in!
Look out!
You have nothing
else!'
But from the
towers ...
They threw back
their responses.
Made up of words
...
To rebuff their,
now, stoutness.
'How can you
not ...
Listen to prophets?'
They screamed
from below ...
'We look only
to profit ..'
'Get out!
So now, ...
We can have 'all'
of your land!
From Fortress
to horizon,
Then back here
again.'
'You'll pay!
We win!
There's nothing
you can do!'
But down from
the walls ...
Fall start falling
words - much like a glue.
They are a little
...
Bit different
than most.
They are, but
the words ...
Spoken by 'hordes,'
not by 'hosts.'
The hordes cringed
...
And cried out.
And yelled, 'How
is this fair?'
'That you slay
us with our own words now ...
That we wrote,
And have since,
Repaired!"
Like hot oil
from Quazimoto.
It dripped on
the hordes.
And back they
began,
To Stumble and
fall,
More threw words
...
But targeted
their might.
Knowing others
get lost ... ,
When the cause
is for right.
Back they moved.
And soon into
a rush.
The Centuries
stood silent.
They watched
with a hush.
But off the hordes
ran.
All tarred and
feathered.
With their words
that they spoke of,
Now gripping
like leather.
'Use this time
...
To gather more
ammunition!'
Was heard shouted
about ...
From inside their
position.
Again, the dust
clouds are there.
But something's
now different ...
They are no longer
advancing ...
They're moving
backwards without precision.
So here we stand
...
And now for the
years.
They know of
our methods ...
But still can't
reappear.
They grumble
and mumble ...
As they move
away from it all ...
'Your fault!,'
'No!,' 'Your fault!.'
They start to
blame all.
'They were to
lie down!'
'And surrender
thyself.'
'Who said? Who
thought?'
Some shouted
down the rout.
With the words
that they used ...
To make their
careers,
Now were cast
down like stones ...
Better, ...
Much like arrow,
'incoming,' from previous years.
Kevin Donnelly
5 August, 1999"
Kevin was my brother:
Who sent his
poem to a sister, one year to the day he died.
A sister wrote
back
" ... Keep up
the great work, poetry and the good fight yourself ...:
Kevin responded
"Just came off
the top of my head. Not too good but it reflects how I feel.
The hordes are all the drug companies, and folks who think we are an easy
mark - for the most part we are, but I can't tell the community "hey folks!
This is like
shooting fish in a barrel to them ... go belly up and float. I have to
try and inspire. What a group to inspire huh? I'm getting mine back in
spades. :>) "
Kevin was a brother:
Who became involved
in a neighbor’s building code violation, before his time.
Who purchased
an American flag, alone, flying it in his front yard the day he received
the civil lawsuit’s verdict, in his favor - “upholding the laws of the
citizens,” before his time.
Who, at that
time, alone, believed ‘that faith in our great country’ would be reinforced
as to ‘why’ he was battling so hard and for so long - for others now, not
him, before his time.
Who wrote letters
to Elizabeth Dole, then head of the Red Cross, President Clinton, John
Glenn, John McCain,
to the AMA, The
Nursing Association, The Dental Association, JAMA, The Tatoo Association,
Veterans Groups, professional groups, personal support groups - hoping
to share facts about Hep C, before his time.
“Float like a
butterfly, Sting like a bee!
Rumble young
man! Rumble!
Muhammad Ali,
“War Cry,” The Greatest, My Own Story
Kevin was a brother:
Alone, he spent
hours returning e-mails, phoning others, before his time.
Alone, he wrote
form letters to politicians for others to use that were tailored to each
office and to each election, before his time.
Alone, he compiled
facts, statistics, vital information to build a website for veterans and
families, before his time.
Alone, he helped
people to receive Veterans Benefits, placed calls to elected officials,
shared his home number on the net for others who needed help, then returned
calls to many, including many, many mothers of vets, before his time.
Alone, he phoned
medical personnel, mailed ‘care’ packages, some with eyeglasses, important
items for other terminally ill Hep patients, before his time.
Alone, he became
involved with people he would never meet, and assisted with their requests
for transplants, before his time.
Kevin was a brother:
A sister listened
to a brother share that one day a vet, who was going to commit suicide
phoned him (as did many others) … before his time.
Kevin asked where
he lived, what his hobbies were and asked if he had family or was alone,
before his time.
The vet shared
that he was dying alone, sitting alone each day by the ocean, watching
only the waves and the seagulls, too ill to participate in life outside
his windows, before his time.
Kevin learned
that the vet enjoyed writing music and then asked this vet to compose and
write a ‘theme song’ for his book “The Panama Story,” and a theme song
for all veterans with Hep C, before their time.
Kevin was a brother:
Who wrote a letter
and e-mail to the Defense Department, Charlie Y. Talbott, OATSD, PA, Room,
2C757, The Pentagon, Washington, D.C. 20229, Wednesday, 29 December 1999:
"Dear FOIA
Officer:
This is
a request filed under the Freedom of Information Act.
I request
that all documents containing information regarding the following topic
be provided to me:
Relating
to the 1942 Yellow Fever and HBV contaminated vaccine given to US Army
Soldiers in 1942.
In order
to help to determine my status to assess fees, you should know that I am
an individual seeking information for personal use and not for commercial
use.
I am willing
to pay fees for this request up to a maximum of $ 100. If you estimate
that the fees will exceed this limit, please inform me first.
Reason
for wavier: Researching Yellow Fever
Thank you
for your consideration of my request.
Sincerely,
Kevin Donnelly"
Kevin was a brother:
Who forwarded
an e-mail he composed, Tuesday, 4 January 2000 (he had been in an ER ward,
days earlier, on his last Christmas Eve and Christmas morning):
"Just a
note .... I have now finished consolidating most of the time line info
- that I have been collecting from the ppast two years.
But I'm
time lined out by now, but, it is a must if we are to have a better understanding
of who, what, when and the where's - concerning hepatitis today.
I posted
the CIA info to show what the spies were doing while this was all going
on. I see no CIA HCV connection - only (Max) Theiler's work with
Yellow fever for HCV and radiation involved from the start with HBV.
I must
now figure out how to best send out the "Master Time Line" with all the
other time lines integrated into it. It is fascinating and reads
like a trail through the 20th Century - the good and the bad of it.
This is
all a process like honing a knife - slowly, the picture emerges.
Only, it
involves areas that many would rather not face or have to deal with - for
some, this may be the best time to finally put this behind us.
Some say,
in order to move forward you must know where you've been - personally,
I just want the truth.
Kevin
:>) "
“Mathematics possesses
not only truth, but supreme beauty,
a beauty cold
and austere, like that of sculpture.”
Betrand Russell
Kevin was a brother:
Who had a sister
respond:
"Your timeline
... is appropriate and 'timely.'
My only
comment/remark to share with you - my brother, my ‘Einstein’ … is that
... this Hep C trail/history and facts reads like slavery.
People
don't want to own up to the plantations ... yet the cotton and genes are
in the family albums... but because families/politicians were/are embarrassed,
the civil rights of millions was delayed ... your work reminds me of civil
rights and slavery ... the shame and money is too large to ignore and too
significant to shun. Love ..."
Kevin was a brother:
Who wrote a sister:
"Being the messenger
of bad news is never good ..... :>) "
Kevin was a brother:
Who shifted his
research and focused his view, in his time.
Who delved further
into the details, continued to assist veterans and family members who reached
out to him, and continued to work with the medical data, the medical facts,
attempting to share more, to do more, to find more, in his time.
“The nature of men is always the same; it is their habits that separate them” Confucious, Analects
Kevin was a brother:
Who, in addition
to fighting his own illness, alone, living alone in ‘the’ home, helping
others and researching the Hepatitis facts, stats and data, also had another
battle … in his time.
Kevin was brother:
Who sent these
e-mails to a sister, March 17, 2000:
“Subject:
My Day In Court:
“Well, today
I finally am supposed to have the trial for the pool next door. To
bring you up to date - the day I had a liver biopsy (March, 98) and came
home was the day the hole was dug next door for the pool. After 3
weeks of watching it fill and kids playing nearby, I wrote to the Mayor
- who wrote back that the pool was an illlegal pool that did not have any
permits.
Fast forward to June 98, where after taping the code violations, as advised by Tina's friend, an attorney, with the palm-corder, a policeman came to my door and predicted that 'I' would commit a crime.
At the same time
he was at my door predicting a crime, paperwork was being filed in the
County Court House charging me with harassment. The minute the cop
left the property, I called and spoke with the vice-commander of the local
precinct and called Internal affairs. (stepchild) and (stepchild)
were home at the time and were witnesses, but nothing was ever done by
IAD, or the precinct - in fact, we started to have minor vandalism to the
house - beer
bottles thrown
at the driveway, at night, etc...
One week after the cop incident a letter arrived for me from an attorney offering to represent me. I threw it away then, thought it odd that a lawyer was looking to represent me in any criminal matters.
I called his office out of curiosity and was told that he got my name from the Court House. I asked what for, and he said I should call the Court House that obviously I was on their list. I called. The girl said my paperwork had been given to a police liaison.
That is when I found out that I had a 'first' court date and that a court order of protection had been granted to my neighbor, his wife, and their children, to include their home and his place of work- even though I don't even know where he works.
I was not supposed to know then they were going to arrest me for being a no-show. I call the DA's office for some answers and he sends a gorilla out to the house at 6pm one night with no name tag or rank on, but in a Sheriff's car and in uniform. Yet, he's obviously a 20-30 year man. DA's muscle. Says how tall are you? I say 6'1" - he hands me the paperwork that was never sent to me. A year later I learned that that is when I was officially arrested.
We hire a big
firm and they look at the videotape and see the father of the wife next
door calling Tina and (stepchild) to the window and then pulling down his
pants, among other things. Lawyer says we'll have a press conference,
demand this guy
get arrested, handle the criminal case then go after them on a civil basis
for all the property damage to our yard from their pool. Then everything
changed....
I went 5 times to court and each time the DA, or the Judge, or my attorney requested a delay, that put it off a year. I was passed from one lawyer down the line to the most inexperienced - all assuring me that police could come and do this, plus I could be arrested, as I was (they tell me) without ever having your right's read to you or for you to even know. My attorneys assure me that the police and all can do as they please but I have no right to defend our home - not even if we are both (military) officers who have served. …
So, months go
by, a letter or two from the attorneys, always ripped opened before coming
here. I call attorneys; they will not call back. January, I
call a lawyer to make sure they will be there the next day, and they ask
if I will. I say yes and they say well if it were not for my illness
then this
would have been
done already....etc... The next morning before I leave I call again
to make sure they will be there - they ask if I will. I say yes.
I arrive at the court house and wait, and wait. Nothing. I call lawyer's office, they say to go see Judge. I do, after waiting. She says your lawyer was in here this morning saying you were not coming and that an arrest warrant had been issued.
Stunned, I explained that I have been coming to court for over 18 months always asking for my day in court and always told to wait. Another date is set. Kid lawyer shows and says let's cut a deal. I say no way because the neighbor has been telling the others that I have cut a deal and therefore that proves I was guilty of something. Meanwhile, ‘said neighbor,’ is now running for political office. Yes, Mr. poolman now wants to ensure that the laws are followed by all.
So, the lawyer
gets pissed with me because after almost 2 years of threats and property
damage I will not roll over - In fact, I am now demanding in his face to
have my accusers on the stand- I want to face my accusers I am
telling him.
The response is "you'll go to jail.”
Judge sets a discovery date, a month ago, and excused me from it. After 10 days of no word from the lawyer, I finally call and ask for my court date. They will not give it to me - my own attorney.
I threaten to call the State Ethics folks to get my court date and finally I am put through to the secretary - who will not give me the Court date. At last I say that I will drive out to the court house myself to learn what the date is if I must - finally, she says, 17 March. I say "you've had that info for 2 weeks and never let me know?" That was a week ago. I also asked where my witnesses, evidence, and everything else that goes with a trial are. No response. I call all this week to find out if we are still on for today - no response, no return calls. Yesterday at 5pm I call and say I've been waiting all day and need to know, they say, yeah, you're on for tomorrow.
So, it's tomorrow.
Last week someone ran over our 9 foot blue spruce in the front yard at
the dinner hour. Someone who obviously felt that if they were caught
then they'd only have to show a badge. Nazi Germany is where I am.
Tina took off
Tuesday and Wednesday to go with a girlfriend to Boston. Last night
she took off from work to go out to dinner, and tonight she is to doing
the same.
I asked if she was coming to Court and she said she has to work and can not take off.
So, I have no legal representation to speak of, no evidence, no witnesses, and no family will be there. It will be me against 50 people next door saying he's ill and military.
Tina says I did this to myself- all of this. HCV and all.
The first thing any jury will see is that I am alone and have no support whatsoever.
It seems I'm being railroaded for having the nerve to want to not see our property destroyed. Property that I landscaped grain by grain, over almost a decade’s time.
I can deal with cold heartless government agencies and viruses that kill, but a cold heartless wife has been the most painful of all. To have been treated like a caged animal these past two years has hurt. Tina and the (stepchildren) have not skipped a beat in their lives - not one. I see no one for days and it has been that way for 2 years now.
So, now you know what I get to face today - the unknown, same as every other day. But, on the other days I use right's that folks have died for - me, I just get to do the dying.
If I'm not here for a while then you'll know that things did not go well today in court. What else can I say? Kevin”
Kevin was a brother:
That morning
a horrified sister read the e-mail, phoned … no answer at the residence,
in his time.
A sister phoned
a sibling who said he had spoken to Kevin earlier that morning, in his
time.
A sister e-mailed
and monitored the computer before phoning later to speak and to listen
to a brother account for his day in court, in his time.
Kevin sent an e-mail later answering questions a sister had asked about the court, elected officials, people that ‘might’ him help that day 3-17-00:
Kevin responded
to her questions:
“Office that
he is thugging for is - local Village Board member.
The Conservatives give us 2 choices this year here - you can vote for them, or vote for them. Just like in the old USSR!
Congressman?
LOL (laughing out loud)
There's not even
any opposition candidate! Now that's how you win elections. That's
from the Al Damato and Gulliani school of thuggery.
Last guy who ran against the Suffolk machine ended up having his personal life revealed on the front newspapers. "Opponent dirties diaper as infant" etc.....
Last Fall when
Gulliani was going to lose a local board seat member, he had the New York
City Police go door to door looking for those illegals that might try to
vote. I'm serious. This is all like HCV - up to 10-20 million
may have it in
the USA, but someone has decided we did not need to know- even if it was
going to cost us our lives. It's a scary society - the virus is the
easy part.
The neighbor is
part of the "Dream Team" - I want to put a sign over my crushed blue spruce
for all to see saying:
"The Mean Team!
- or else!!!!!"
All I need now
are the soldiers to come for me in the night - then it would be Russia,
1930. :>)”