A friend looking for justice – and safety – in Frederick County Maryland

The text below is from a friend of mine in Frederick County, Maryland.  She was done wrong, way wrong, by the justice system there:

On Monday, May 13, Frederick County District Court judge Dino Flores, and attorney Marjorie DiLima collaborated to release guns back to my violently mentally ill husband. Together, they silenced, objected, and dismissed the facts of the story of how my husband went from a happy, peaceful man on July 26, 2023, to a man who now sleeps with an ax by his bed, expecting the house to be raided every night by people who want to kill him.

Mental illness is a complex problem, with many faces. I have learned much about it over the past few months, reading and consulting with psychiatrists, therapists, mental health support groups, and even nationally known expert, Dr. Javier Amador. While my experience is among the most extreme, I expected that I would be heard fairly and completely. That did not happen. Even when provided with a recorded admission by my husband of shooting at people in our neighborhood, the judge chose to re-arm a dangerous, delusional man. In his statement from the bench, he acknowledged that he may be releasing a potential killer, and that his name could be “splashed all over the headlines” as the judge who allowed it to happen.

A week earlier, at my request, Frederick Health Hospital evaluated the mental health of my husband. They were informed that shootings had occurred, and were provided with a detailed log of the irrational behaviors that I have observed since July. For reasons they cannot share with me due to HIPAA laws, they interviewed and released him untreated, within a few short hours.

This has been heart-breaking and personally devastating for me. I have had to leave my home, my farm, my pets, and the man I cherished for 12 years. After months of direct conversation proved unable to get him the help he needs, I resorted to legal means. This was my last resort, and it too has failed my husband, myself, and the safety of the community.

People of Frederick County, be aware and be safe. Keep your eyes open to danger. Mental illness is on the rise, and we live in a system that scarcely knows how to identify and treat its most destructive forms.

John Lennon

Today ( December 8th ) in 1980 John Lennon was shot to death by a mentally disturbed man.

All my life I’ve heard people talk about where they were when JFK was shot. I could never relate to that, not having been born at the time.

I do remember where I was when John Lennon was shot. I was a sophomore in high school. I remember talking about it in an English class with Mr. Truit and the “cool older kids”. At the time John Lennon had just released his “Double Fantasy” solo album which made me aware of his existence separate from The Beatles.

I remember a discussion about “Imagine” on an old sitcom called “WKRP In Cincinnati” . One of the DJ’s explained how the lyrics meant hope for the future. Lennon, having been influenced by Eastern meditation thought that visualizing such a future might help bring it about and he wrote that song. A station executive in the story read the lyrics and dismissed “Imagine” as communism.

That is always how I liked to think of “Imagine”, as a vision for a future we are all hungry for and how imaging it may bring it about, or a few minutes of joy at that vision.

Banned Books Week 2023

This year read a banned book week falls on:
Sunday 2023 October 01 – Saturday 2023 October 07

Every year for the past 37 years the American Library Association sponsors Banned Books Week: The Freedom To Read

Banned Books Week is an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. Typically held during the last week of September, it highlights the value of free and open access to information. Banned Books Week brings together the entire book community –- librarians, booksellers, publishers, journalists, teachers, and readers of all types –- in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular.

By focusing on efforts across the country to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.

The American Library Association maintains a list of the 100 most frequently challenged books by decade for your reading pleasure.

There is even a web site and a domain dedicated to Banned Books Week called BannedBooksWeek.org

Lastly here is a list of the Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022:

Please read or talk about a book from one of these lists during Banned Books Week 2023.

All freedom and all progress is ultimately rooted in the free flow of ideas.