| 'Save Terri' calls are pouring
in
(Note: And the calls and emails and faxes and telegrams are going to CONTINUE to POUR IN until Terri is safe and out from under the custody of Michael Schiavo! And that's a FACT! This could be any one of US! If something happens and we can no longer communicate our wishes, a living will may NOT be what we want! Craig Waters needs to see another record set in the number of phone calls he gets!) October 23, 2003 By James L. Rosica Democrat staff writer jlrosica@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2304 To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@tallahassee.com Thousands of people from around the country have been calling and e-mailing state offices in Tallahassee, urging officials to save Terri Schiavo. And somehow, many of those messages have found their way to Craig Waters. Waters, the Florida Supreme Court's spokesman, said he's personally taken dozens of calls, including one from a woman from Calgary, Canada, who offered to save the 39-year-old Schiavo, who has been in a Pinellas Park hospice. "She wanted to take (Schiavo) back to Canada to care for her," Waters said. "I told her I had no authority for that kind of request." Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 after her heart stopped because of a suspected potassium imbalance. Since then, doctors have kept her alive with food and water tubes. Her parents and other family members have been engaged in a legal struggle with her husband, Michael, who said Terri did not want to be kept alive artificially. After Michael Schiavo finally won a legal decision to have his wife taken off her feeding tubes, the Legislature on Tuesday approved a special bill giving Gov. Jeb Bush the power to order the feeding tubes reactivated. Terri began receiving liquids intravenously later that day. "I had one woman, from somewhere out West, cry almost the whole time I was on the phone with her," Waters said. "She was very concerned that, as she put it, this woman's life was being ended against her will." The Supreme Court, which so far has not addressed the Schiavo case, has received more than 100 calls about it to its various offices, Waters said. "They're very emotional about the subject," he said. Bush spokeswoman Alia Faraj said the Governor's Office had gotten 165,411 e-mails about Schiavo since Aug. 27 and "thousands of phone calls." Faraj said the office normally gets about 5,000 e-mails a week on average. "We don't have the lines to handle that many calls," she said, adding she didn't know the nature of particular messages but that "people are generally in support of saving Schiavo." Representatives for House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, R-Plant City, and Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, did not know how many calls were received on the Schiavo controversy but said many had expressed their thanks. Waters recalled a time when phone calls about a controversial issue were even more frequent. "This is nothing like the 2000 election cases," Waters said. "My phone became unusable. I'd pick it up to make a call and there would already be someone on the line." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- INFORMATION ON LIVING WILLS The Florida Bar's Web site contains information on living wills, with a link to forms and other information. Also, pamphlets are available on related subjects, including "Do You Have a Will?" and "Florida Powers of Attorney." Go to www.flabar.org, scroll down and look for living wills under the "What's New?" section. |