Michael Mitchell - Criminal or Rescuer?

About the Book

What will ‘Hurricane Michael’ bring to the shores of Florida in the year 2012, geographical coincidence, or certain judgment? In March, 2005, my son, without telling anyone went to Florida. His objective was to rescue Terri Schiavo. In July of that same year, he turned 21 in a cold and lonely Clearwater jail cell, where, among other things he was made to sit in a chair for 25 hours straight, and like Terri, went without food himself for 7 days. In his bitterness and in his desperation, he prayed that God would send a storm to where he was. To most this was simply a legal matter. To me the ‘People of the State of Florida vs. Michael Mitchell’ became a ‘Declaration of War’. If Governor Bush himself had tried to bring Terri so much as a cup of cold water to wet her lips he would have had to bring the National Guard with him. That, for all practical purposes, would have meant ‘civil war’. I said, in a letter to the Public Defender, “There is a Wonderful Counselor who has never lost a case, and in the end He will vindicate my son.” After more than a year behind bars, Michael is free on probation because the Public Defender was true to his word, and I thank God for that. But the thing about hurricanes is that when they are particularly devastating, their names are retired and they are given new names. As I left Florida, I heard a radio announcer say that one chosen in 2005 was ‘Michael’. I have not been able to verify that information, but Wikipedia does say that Hurricane Michael will rise from the Atlantic in 2012. A co-incidence? Read this book and decide for yourself. How far do you go to save an innocent woman´s life? When I heard about Terry Schiavo’s plight and how heartbroken her parents were, I silently prayed that God would send somebody to help them. I had NO idea that my son would be among those who would respond to the call. Neither did I know of the extent to which he would go. On the day that he was arrested he made a statement that was heard around the world. He said, “If you’re not on Terry’s side, you’re not on God’s side.” I’m not saying that there aren’t two sides to every story. This is our side; I know there are others. I still recall the horrible incident in the news more than 20 years ago, when a policeman used his firearm to hold off hospital attendants so that he could remove his baby girl from life-support after she had been rendered practically lifeless by swallowing part of a birthday balloon. He had been told that if she lived she would be a vegetable. So with gun in hand and tears flowing down his face, he held her in his arms until she died, because he didn’t want her to be faced with that kind of existence. Fifty years ago, Rockford had two hospitals that were adjacent. I still recall the incident of a Rockford woman who in the throws of her labor pains, became disgruntled with one hospital because they either didn’t believe her baby was ready to come, or for some other reason were being, as the story is told, “particularly insensitive”. That woman walked across the parking lot to the other hospital where her baby was born practically on the spot. That baby was my little sister, and the woman was my mother, and that incident has always helped me to believe that hospitals are not always right. Terry Schiavo’s feeding tube was removed once before; however it was restored by the order of the Governor of the State of Florida. If I were Terry’s mother, I would like to say that I would have never given them a second chance to remove that tube, that I would have found another place for her, hopefully, where they believed a little bit more in the sanctity of life, and were able to help me fight for that belief, especially in this particular case. For my baby I would like to say that I would not only reach out to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment, but I would grab hold of his ankle and hold on so that he would have to

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