Reply #54: JUST ANOTHER SALEM

[Charleyski]

Just Another Salem 

The bailiff took the piece of paper from the foreman of the
jury and handed it to the Judge. He opened the paper and while
staring at it he nodded. The courtroom was silent and the jury
stared straight ahead.
 I have been in many situations where my life or limb were on
the line but I was still in the game and had a hand to play.
But not here, here I just sat waiting for the verdict.

Though I worried about being sent away for five years on bogus
charges, my dread was the Christian mob. They knew I must be
found guilty in order to slow or stop the civil case being
filed in Federal court. Since the start of my daughter's stand
against the public schools disregard for the law of the land,
it was imperative to run us out of the county to make any
civil action non valid. With me in jail for five years running
my family out would be a whole lot easier, or so they might
have thought. 
The courtroom was packed for it is the Bible belt. There was
no love in this courtroom. 
The loving Christians brought their children to hear the
verdict. They brought the town. They brought ministers. I even
saw another Judge in the back of the room. The Judge who in an
earlier hearing while slapping an inch thick stack of papers
on his bench saying with a list of witnesses this big you had
better be a good boy. It was lies then, it was lies now and
the DA knew it! (She was later forced to hand over a written
statement she denied for over a year existed!)
People prayed openly for a conviction. Many holding their
bibles. During the trial the Prosecutions side of the
courtroom was packed. Only my son and Edwin Kagin's wife,
Helen sat behind me, but now there was not enough room in the
whole courtroom.
Yet now the so-called victim, the 325 lbs victim, the ex
Marine, hurrahs, was nowhere to be found. Neither was the
woman assistant district attorney anywhere to be found. 
Whose vindictive, bogus case this was from the start.  

What type of place is this?  Well this is not the place for a
little debate in a coffee shop with the sweet salt air rolling
up from San Francisco bay. This is a place where the children
write on their schoolbooks the south will rise again. This is
a place where they say that black people caused slavery! Where
they burn rock CD's. Mormons are the tools of Satan. That my
daughter is gay cause only homosexuals vote for Kerry and
Christians vote for Bush. Atheists worship Satan! 
Where religious fanaticism is fused with political rhetoric
and political leaders pander to this madness. 
This place has a sickness, a malignant disease and it is
spreading. Edwin saw it first hand.

There has not been many a trial with a Not Guilty verdict in
this county for years. The head DA is good friends with the
self-righteous in the courtroom and greets them all by name.
You know the type.
Many old women in the courtroom are taking notes.  Others have
been taking notes at every hearing for the past year and a
half! They strain to listen not wanting to miss one juicy
word. With the pens and pads they write continuously. The pads
shaking with every push of the pen. Even writing down what my
children spoke amongst themselves.
Blue gray haired old Christian spinsters bitter for wasting
all those fruitful years now just waiting for those pearly
gates. These are truly the wicked. You have seen them before.
With their bogus self-righteousness they strut and sneer. How
far we have not come.
Others had walked out into the hall and warned a police
witness saying that justice must be served, that justice
better be served. The judge called a hearing on the threat. He
warned the crowd that if it happens one more time he would
have no choice but to throw out the case. He was between a
rock and a hard place. He knows my lawyers are watching and
the loving Christians are out for my blood, and they are
watching too.  The law, elections and politics were all in
play. The Judge left the court for his chambers and stayed
away for a quite awhile. 

The Christians, the loving Christians! Praying to a God whose
wings are dripping in the blood of innocent men, woman and
children down through the ages.  Truly hypocrisy is one of
their commandments and the blood of the innocence one of their
sacraments!   
Christian against Christian, Christian against Moslem,
Christian against Mormon. Basically Christian against anyone
or anything that challenges their pathetic little fairy tale. 
Go to any Indian reservation and see the lies and broken
promises by a country with "Under God" in their
pledge. 
I assume I need not have to explain about the loving hymns
sung in church on Sunday and beatings of black slaves on
Monday. But on Monday night the good old Master has a little
tippy toe over to slave huts for a little brown sugar. While
the queen of the manor is in the master bedroom past out on an
opium tonic. Praise the Lord!

Well that was then but now the court was about to hear the
verdict. There was a feeding frenzy about to begin with the
dirty little atheist and his family put in their place with
him in jail and the family run out of town. Like the teacher
told my daughter "This is a Christian country and if you
don't like it get out!"
I could hear my heart beat in my ears and I dreaded the cheers
from the righteous mob that were about to begin. 
The pain of having my family being in the front row to witness
this swirling cesspool of hatred come to its inevitable end
with my head on a pike, sucked the air right out of my lungs. 

It was truly just another Salem. Different time and place.
Same characters with new names. Oh, no gallows or big oak tree
this time. But if they could they surely would. 
How far we have not come. I know, I already said that but do
you really understand what a tragedy it means? The whole
universe is ours if we want it but instead we must gravel in
the dirt having to debate the obvious.

I have been standing against injustice most of my life. It is
my nature. I am a child of the 60's and proud of it. But what
of my poor family? They stood so proud and strong. They are
tougher than I will ever be. I had told them do not cry. Do
not give these bastards any satisfaction. I told my wife if I
see you cry I will surely loose it. I said it is in the
Federal courts we will set things right and send that wall
higher than it has ever been. On the wall behind us was a
painting of the signing of the Declaration.
The judge handed the verdict to the clerk. The only sound was
the paper. The paper in the clerk's hands with the hand
written words that spelled my doom, my family's fate and the
inevitable cheers from the Christian mob.  
With my guts in my throat and no air to breathe. The court
clerk read the decision of the jury.

We the jury find the defendant:
On the charge of Aggravated Assault and Battery:
Not Guilty!
On the charge of Assault and Battery: 
Not Guilty!
On the charge of Assault:
Not Guilty!
On the charge of Battery:
Not Guilty!

Not a word, not a sound. The lynching had been cancelled. 
I took my first free breath in almost two years. I looked at
the jury and mouth the words thank you. I gazed at the floor
as floodgates opened, I dared not move my head that others
might see. Charley don't cry, but free air has its effects.
With all their praying, lies, crooked cops, warning that
justice better be done, packing the courthouse with their
followers, Even a teacher on the jury who had taught at the
Hardesty School. (Our motion to take her off the jury denied.)
Not guilty was still the outcome. The evidence was obvious.
This was a bad case.  And 12 men and women had the guts.

From the start of this legal fight my lawyers said Atheism
must be kept out. That it was a no go in the Bible belt. I was
just adamant that Atheism be brought in. For it is the reason.
It was the motive for all the lies and hate. I felt it was
about time that this dirty little secret of hate, persecution,
Christian madness and hypocrisy is brought out into the light
of day. When I told my lawyers this they all gave me the same
bewildered stare.
So one by one, I dropped one lawyer then two. Then I had a
hard time in finding another one. My third lawyer was still
trying to convince me to keep my atheism out even up till the
day of the trial. I still said no. Somewhere along the line I
talk to the ACLU out of San Francisco. Who let me know my
first civil lawyer was not telling me the whole story. I was
advised by them and many others to complain to the Bar about
him. 
You see he never told me that the prayer in itself is illegal.
That the schools in this area were not following the state and
federal funding guidelines.  When I asked him after finding
out from the ACLU. He said yes it is against the law. I told
him I want to have it stopped. He told me he would not for he
was a Christian and he believed there should be school prayer.
His statement floored me for it bordered on madness.  I said
what you believe and what you do for a client is two different
things and that you took an oath. He still refused. It did not
matter to him that I had already given him $10,000 dollars. He
knows we are not rich. So I wrote a letter to him to complain
about his refusing to take my daughters civil case where it
should have gone from the start. And I asked for my money
back. He sent me a bill for another $5000 saying it was the
charge for reading my letter and wasting his time. 
In my search for a civil attorney it became clear that no one
would touch this case. In all of Oklahoma I could not find an
attorney. My criminal attorney said he would look at it but
only after I paid him his $15000 for the criminal case. He
sent me a letter that the funds for the criminal were coming
too slow and suggested that I seek other counsel for the civil
matter. But even after he got his $15000 he would only take it
if I paid him more. (Now that I have won the criminal case he
wants on the civil. Suffice to say he is off the civil!)
 
Eventually I contacted the American Atheist, which was
referred to me by Edward Tabash, who was referred to me by a
Mr. Robert Tierman.  I told them my problem in finding an
attorney willing to take church and state case in which the
people are blatantly breaking the law. Yet no one will take
it. American Atheist, being out of another state, could not
refer me to anyone. But they said they would try to help.
The ACLU out of Oklahoma City refused. They sent me some
standard letter. It really hurt  that I did not even rate a
return call or a reason. I felt betrayed, lost and confused.
Was this the United States? Where freedom reigns? 

The whole family was under constant stress. Police trying to
get search warrants to the property by having ex-employees
file false statements. Other cops trying to hire ex-cons to
beat me up. The whole town knows of it! The Sheriff trying to
have my bond pulled by the bail bondsman when there was no
legal way to do it. My kids have been out of school since
November. Principal's son saying should he get a gun when he
sees my daughter and my son. DA has yet to reply to our
concerns. The Department of Human Services comes to my place
saying they received a complaint that I starve my kids. It was
even obvious to them the charge was bogus. 
We have become very good at using back roads. The police
follow us around. Traffic tickets that when challenged were
dropped in court. Not to mention the stares and whispers, the
betrayal from employees, one of my healthy dogs dying. Brush
fires starting up upwind.
An FBI agent even said, "You aren't kidding". When
it was obvious someone followed us and was watching our
meeting out in the middle of nowhere. I was told about a few
things. All I can say is that some of the crooks out here now
charged with crimes wore badges and guns! But he could not
help my family and me. Not without witnesses willing to come
forward. One scared witness left the state. The last words she
spoke to me were, Chuck I don't want to end up dead in a
ditch!
Just what you would expect life to be like out here in the
Bible belt!

The roller coaster of emotions we went through every minute,
every day. It was truly a hell. There were days we spoke
little. Other days we spoke late into the night. You get to a
point you become numb, but it doesn't last.  For it is all
aboard and you are on the roller coaster again.
My poor family. They were standing tall. But they would not
even be in this place if it were not for me and my bright idea
about centralizing our business. We all missed the desert. The
free open Mojave Desert. My family did not ask for this. They
deserved better. I saw them all suffering. Many a night I
would sit in the barn alone with a pint of scotch and look at
the high beams and the rope on the wall. 

Then out of the blue my wife received a call from Ellen
Johnson who said they had a lawyer that can help us, an Edwin
Kagin who is their legal director. Well I called him up, and
our civil case is up and running.
Edwin Kagin also by my request came to my criminal case for
the two cases are obviously interrelated. There were also
other reasons.
                                                     
Simply stated without Edwin Kagin, Ellen Johnson and American
Atheist I would be in jail now, or worse. Without them, we
would have no federal case on separation of church and state.
The only group, the only lawyer that would stand with my
family and me to protect the wall and not cringe at me wanting
to put atheism as part of my defense. 
In Edwin's opening statement American Atheist magazine was
shown. The crowd almost rioted. He explained that Atheism was
not a dirty word and that it was a conclusion. That my family
and I are not devil worshippers. We just have no Gods.
It was the basis of the case. It was the danger. It was the
truth. Yet the only lawyer to go there freely was Edwin Kagin.

In a world where superstition is the norm and those who seek
another path are ridiculed or worse. Being an atheist takes
guts. Freedom is never freely given. The good fight is always
there.
Oh you can hide yourself in the latest sitcom or have one or
two more scotch and waters but the good fight is still there.
You can run to your malls and buy yourself crazy with credit
card frenzy. But the good fight is still there. You can look
away and deny allegiance. But the good fight is still there.
These are the times that try men's courage. You can debate
till you're blue in the face. It will not change a damn thing.

Our forefathers are on our side in this fight. Trust me. From
Adams to Madison to Jefferson and Paine they all knew the
dangers of a Theocracy. They wrote the Constitution to assure
it. And within the federal courts we can protect this nation
from a Theocracy.
The wall between the church and state must stand. But the wall
is being battered and cracks now appear.  The Christians are
at the gate attempting to breach the wall and send us back
down the road to an age of darkness, bloodshed and fear.
My family and myself are willing to stand and fight the good
fight. If we lose some skin, so be it. We have no more else to
give. We are financially done.  Thanks to American Atheist,
Ellen Johnson and Edwin Kagin for the first time we do not
fight alone. 
Please stand together with us and fight the good fight. The
fight that our forefathers began. Lets make the wall so high
between Church and State that they who wish to tear it down
will know better and be content with staying in their
churches.
For freedom has never been free!  
There can be no freedom for all if the wall does not stand.

The wall must stand
Chuck, Nadia, Nicole, Czeslaw and Bridgette Smalkowski