The Final Page
To whom it may concern:
Did anyone watch "the practice" on 3-12-2000? It doesn’t really matter whether it is murder or careless driving, an unjust conviction ruins innocent people’s lives. It has ruined mine. And you don’t care! Or do you? No, I am not going to go out and take hostages, but the actions of an inept conviction happy district attorney, an inept judge biased to believe only (bad) law enforcement officers, and a power hungry inept state patrolman who lied on the witness stand, have all taken away more than a year of my life. If I cannot support my loving son, I feel no more purpose to my life, and the only thing keeping me from ending it entirely right now is my fear of death itself. But you don’t care, do you? You think I might as well get shot dead like the man on "the practice" who really was innocent of the crime he lost twelve years of his life over.
How many years of my life must I lose because of the stupid things people who wield power do? A driving record is not a "rap sheet", and as seen in "the practice" even a legitimate "rap sheet" is not sufficient evidence to convict an innocent person. From this viewpoint in time, it looks like the rest of my life is the only satisfaction you infidels want. I pled with Westphal (Inconsiderate). I pled with Takahashi (IDIOT). I pled with Brandenburg (Insensitive). I pled with DMV officials (Incompetent). I cannot afford $100/hour for an attorney, and you power and money hungry people know it!!! What can I do to get through to you hard-headed bums!!!!
My first appeal to the uncaring dullards at the DMV ended with me feeling so despondant, I struggled for the strength to end it all. I couldn’t, and now all I have is well over a thousand dollars due a hospital where they told me a person contemplating suicide because they have no hope, and they have no hope because they have no money, must spend thousands of dollars on drugs to get over their depression. No, they need for idiots to stop stealing their life and money; then they wouldn’t be so depressed. But then, where would the greedy counties and doctors and lawyers and prosecutors get their money?. Where will this money come from? I don’t have any money because you insensitive fools have taken away my income, and fined me, and jailed me, and persecuted me, and and and... Oh why even bother?
In my latest attempt to reason with this brood of vipers at the DMV, the hearing officer decided that the only evidence allowable to show that their records were in error had to come from their records, even though I had evidence from county voting records that the DMV’s records were in error. Well, DUH! If the DMV’s records are in error, then allowing only those erroneous records as evidence only perpetuates the blunder! You are a bunch of uncaring, insensitive, blithering idiots!
The following is the text of my current desperate appeal to the DMV. Hardly a chance of success, mostly due to the uncaring ineptness of those who have persecuted (not prosecuted) me. Perhaps it is more coherent and less ranting than the previous paragraphs, because it is written with the intent to influence. The preceding was written from the emotions of the heart. I can’t stop this pain. Someone else must stop it for me. Take up the cause or kill me. But stop hurting little by little, dragging the life out of me.
Here follows what I hope is rationality:
I, Thomas A. Blickhahn (Tom) am currently (now "was") employed by T L Curtis (Ted) as an independent contractor doing residential real estate appraisals. I am a licensed appraiser and have been doing this for the last two years. Most of our work is in the front range area, which means that if I cannot drive, I cannot
receive very many assignments. This is detrimental to my income and Ted’s business.
The reduced income I am experiencing as a result of my reduced work load is proving to be an undue hardship on my family, and working with Ted is my best hope for income. Although I feel that I am a smart and very qualified individual, I have had trouble obtaining employment in this region of the state in the past. Perhaps it is just this point, the high level of my qualifications, that has deterred other employers in the area
from hiring me. They may fear that I simply would move on to better work when it becomes available. The problem is, better work simply doesn’t exist in Morgan county. I spent the four months immediately preceding my association with Ted collecting unemployment and was unemployed for at least one other four month period in the last ten years.
I am devoted to my son, Michael, and feel strongly about staying nearby. Michael is a special child and requires dedicated attention. He lives most of the time with his mother who left me for a boyfriend just a few years ago. The provisions of my divorce require me to provide child support and health insurance for Michael. Working with Ted provides me with not only the opportunity to be productive for my family, but to be close to them as well.
Regarding my driving record, others have ridden with me in the past and report finding me to be a quite capable, conscientious, courteous, and patient driver. In our work we generally drive from 1000 to 2000 miles per week. I have upon occasion exceeded the speed limit a wee bit when I was rushed to get to an appointment on time. I never drove in a reckless manner simply to get to where I was going. It just seems as though at just the one moment I do edge over the speed limit, someone is there to write me a ticket for it. However, when I have been stopped for something I have done, and I really have done it, I have not
contested the charge because I feel this would be dishonest. Unfortunately, this honesty has probably inflated my record, as it is my experience viewing others in court that most individuals try to contest or plea bargain their citations, resulting in fewer points and fewer convictions.
However, there is one charge of careless driving I did contest because a state trooper wrote the ticket on a windy day while I was driving a small, lightweight Geo Metro. It seems most people tend to believe me regarding this incident and are amazed at the insidiousness of the situation. Several other individuals have
drawn upon their own experiences driving the same car on a windy day to find that what I say happened that day is probably true. They have all found that it is nearly impossible to keep the car from moving significantly from side to side in a cross-wind, although a driver does not lose complete control of the vehicle.
It is my feeling that this ticket was bogus. I even caught the trooper lying on the witness stand and the judge ignored this fact in delivering a guilty verdict. I suppose the judge reasoned that just because a supposed officer of the law says something happened, it did. Just look at the several other situations which have occurred around our state recently involving officers of the law. Just who do you trust?
My anger over this miscarriage of justice probably contributed to the two reckless charges which occurred this past year. Both times I was threatened by road raging drivers who cut me off repeatedly, and then flipped me off. I had tried calling the *CSP number on my cell phone, but wasn’t sure anyone was taking the situations seriously. Perhaps out of fear that the state patrol would never do anything to someone who had done something wrong other than myself, I reacted differently than if I had felt I could trust the law enforcement personnel. I think that, if given another chance, I would behave differently, especially if I felt someone were on my side.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions, or need further clarification.
Sincerely
Thomas A. Blickhahn
By the way, if you have any questions as to who I am, check out the following websites (They are biographies on my father and grandfather who were judges in the San Luis Valley before they died), and then use your back button to return to this page:
websites moved - these links will be updated when new information obtained - sorry for the dead link. (9-25-08)
Gramps
Father
You disgrace them when you disgrace me.
Brandenburg, you had to have known them.
How embarrasing in heaven (if you make it there) to have to tell them how stupid you have been...
As of 10:00pm 3-20-2000 I began a hunger strike.
As of 8-22-2000, upon my acquittal on the charge of driving while suspended, I suspended my hunger strike. I only had water and "whole food" vitamins for 5 months. Now is the time for the DMV to wake up and see the error of their ways! I will continue to fight until this issue is resolved and I am exonerated of the fallacious charges against me. The following is an e-mail I sent the Governor on Easter Sunday, 4/23/2000:
Happy Easter, Governor Owens:
My name is Tom Blickhahn. I am a registered
Republican who voted for you in the last election and my
father was a very well known member of the Republican
party in Colorado before his death in 1972. I believe he
was a delegate or alternate to the national convention in
San Francisco when Goldwater was nominated for President.
He was also a well known judge (appointed district judge
by then Governor Love) and attorney in the San Luis Valley,
as was his father before him. There are biographies on both
of them at the courts web pages elsewhere on the Colorado
web site. I had been registered as a Democrat for a short time,
but that was only so that I could vote in a primary for my
good friend, Carlos Lucero, when he ran for the Senate a
few years ago. I have since changed my registration back
to Republican.
I had always wanted to be an architect, and went
to Georgia Tech while the architecture school at CU was
going through an identity crisis. I was attempting to pay for
school with student loans, two part-time jobs, and the meager
amounts I received from my father's social security. Between
a lack of funds, and a few instructors who felt it was their
duty to winnow out those they didn't care for rather than
instruct, I had to leave my studies there after completing
3 years of a 6 year program. I was later able to return to
school at Adams State in my hometown of Alamosa and
got a degree in Theatre with a minor in Art, and one class
shy of a minor in Physics. I am a licensed residential real
estate appraiser, which is about as close to being an
architect as I have been able to achieve. However, due
to an injustice at the DMV, I am no longer able to persue
this career. I am not an imbicile. Neither am I a liar. I am
an honest Christian who finds the condition of our society
deplorable, but prays constantly for our repentance and
redemption. However, the State of Colorado is treating me
(and perhaps others) quite unjustly.
I have tried upon numerous occassions to reach
your office. I am sure no one is getting information of what
is going on in this situation to you personally, and I am sure
someone is probably screening out this message as well,
but I must continue trying. I have been on a hunger strike
since March 20th when a hearing officer with the DMV
proved that bureaucrats are the most insensitive and
autocratic creatures (not humans) on the face of the
planet; also the most unintelligent and incompetent
handlers of evidence, information, and logic as well.
I obtained county records that showed proof of their
error, and only because that proof came from sources
outside of the department, the hearing officer disallowed
the document as proof that their records were in error.
Well, excuse me. If the DMV's records are in error, then
of course there will be nothing in their records to prove
the error! Let's use our brains here, and stop being so
focused on screwing up the lives of our citizens any
way we can that we fail to see what is most plain and
sensible.
I direct you to my free web page(this one).
I give the Governor instructions on how to get to this page
After over a month, I am still on my hunger
strike, as much out of finance as it is out of protest now.
I continue to take vitamins, eat a couple slices of bread
or a bowl of oatmeal each day, or just a bite of whatever
meager amount of food I still have on hand. Did you know
that even though I never really liked peanut butter before,
it's not so bad by itself one spoonful at a time when you
are starving. I don't know how much weight I have lost,
but this is an excellent diet, although I don't recommend
it for everyone. I now fit back into several of my older pairs
of pants. I drink several glasses of water each day. I am
sustaining life, barely. My legs ache today, and I am taking
a one-day respite from the fast. I did eat a grilled fish fillet
with my son last night, and my ex-wife is preparing Easter
dinner for me today. Not only is my hunger strike out of
protest, but I am now very flat broke. I cannot pay my
taxes, I cannot pay my electric/gas bill, I cannot pay for
my basic cable TV (out here with no cable, you have no
TV at all), I cannot pay for groceries for myself, I can
barely feed my son and dogs, I could not afford gas
for my car even if the DMV would let me drive it, I
cannot pay my phone bill. This internet connection
was pre-paid for a year when this all began, so don't
think I am wasting money for this. The web page is free;
Yahoo just requires that I allow them to put advertising
on all the pages in order to leave them up. This week
I have have obtained a job, but at about half what I
was making as an appraiser (which is about a tenth
of what our lieutenant governor makes), and with over
three months of bills stacked up, the pay from my new
job won't really help, either.
I hope that, before I die, someone takes this
whole thing seriously enough to at least talk with me and
learn all the facts. Such bureaucratic uncaring is just the
thing that leads to some of the terrible situations we have
seen occurring in the last few years. No, I am not a violent
person. I would never shoot anybody up, or take hostages,
or otherwise endager others. But this sort of treatment has
allowed me to understand those poor unsaved, misled
individuals who have. What lessons have we as a society
learned from instances such as Oklahoma City or Columbine?
That people need to feel respected, accepted, justified; or
rather, treated justly. But government bureaucrats HAVE
NOT learned this lesson. They continue to roll over people
as if they were just so much manure in the way. Please, if
not out of concern for my plight and my non-violent protest,
but if only to prevent further atrocities from occurring at the
hands of others who are not quite so sane, please listen to
the cry of your citizenry.
May God bless you on this celebration of the resurrection of His Son.
I am sincerely and faithfully yours;
Tom Blickhahn
221 Clifton Street / P O Box 725
Brush, CO 80723-0725
If you are here now, and want to help, let me know ... Send an e-mail to:
tom@blickhahn.us
The best way to help is by flooding the DMV, the legislature, and the governor’s office with as much show of support for this type of cause as possible.
It should be noted that as of August 22, 2000 I was acquitted by Morgan County Judge Michael J Schingle on the charge of driving while suspended. I will be putting up the text of his decision soon.
Let’s see if the DMV can be as smart as the new judge!
(7/20/02: This text is getting pretty old and some things have changed, but the feelings the errors at the DMV provoked have not changed. I am currently working part-time at the Brush News-Tribune, and Mike [he’s 13 now and that means he prefers to be called Mike, not Michael] is getting Social Security and Medicaid for his conditions, but the money I have doesn’t go far, and the only thing to save me from financial collapse was the death of my mother in December of 2000. I and my siblings have truly been living off the proceeds of the sale of the properties she owned. My “job” does not provide living income … like I said, some of the circustances may have changed in the last few years, but the pain and suffering do not go away. And things really haven’t gotten any better!)
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