This year's race dedicated to Arnie!

A wonderful woman called our office in January, 2007. Her brother, who was in a Michigan prison, asked her to notify HFP that one of our clients was being abused by guards. As we questioned her, we learned that her brother was sick and mentally challenged, and wasn't being treated properly by the prison system, either. And so we added Arnie as a client, and assisted his sister Mary Ann in fighting for his release.

I sat next to a jubilant Mary Ann in a Michigan courtroom in May of 2007, when a stubborn judge relucantly agreed with a higher court that Arnie should be released! And thus began a special relationship!

Facing continued physical as well as mental issues, Arnie died in September, 2008. But he was a free man!

Mary Ann has been a dear friend and staunch supporter of HFP, and when we announced the fall drag racing fund-raiser coming up, here was her response:

Doug, I don't care if you win one or 10 races, or none at all. My brother Arnie was in love with cars and loved to work on them. When you drive in this race, would you please take Arnie's spirit along with you? Just invite him to 'ride along' and help keep your car going, that is all I ask. For that, I'll send you $100. (My heart is still broken to lose him. Damn MI prison system for harming my sweet, gentle, ill brother!) I pray I live long enough to help foster humanity in this inhumane system. Love and blessings, Mary Ann

AND SO, THE DRAG RACES AT MID-MICHIGAN MOTORPLEX BY THE SPUNKY GOLD RUSH THIS SEPTEMBER, 2009, ARE DEDICATED TO ARNIE!

Anyone care to match Mary Ann's gift?

All contributions are tax deductible.

HUMANITY FOR PRISONERS
P.O. Box 687
Grand Haven, MI 49417

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Half-a-race!

The HFP Drag-Racing Fund-Raiser had the potential of being extremely successful, and could have raised several thousand dollars. Let's just say it was partly successful. For background purposes I'll explain that I was racing a 1963 supercharged Studebaker Lark that has a reputation of being one of the fastest stock Studebakers in drag racing today. The engine was built by one of the finest Studebaker engine mechanics in the country, and the car many times has achieved quarter-mile runs in less than 14 seconds! We promised to make at least ten passes in the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags at Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Michigan, this past weekend, and we asked for pledges ONLY ON THOSE RUNS REACHED IN LESS THAN 14 SECONDS. On Friday, here's how we fared: Run #1 13.936 @ 101.24 mph Run #2 14.027 @ 101.30 mph Run #3 14.091 @ 100.88 mph Run #4 13.805 @ 102.84 mph Run #5 14.058 @ 101.26 mph By the 5th run we discovered that ...
Read more

Gregory John McCormick: 1964-2008

Itchy is dead. The lifeless body of this talented rock musician, whose band Shock Therapy was a popular group especially in Europe, was found in a field in Detroit last Wednesday, November 5. The Wayne County Coroner's office informed father Glenn McCormick that the body of his son Gregory, better known to all of us as Itchy, bore no signs of trauma. Glenn said that Itchy, who had been living at his father's dental lab in Detroit, had been drinking to excess for some time. While the toxicology report has not been released yet, the general consensus seems to be that he drank himself to death. Our agency, while still named INNOCENT, first got involved with Itchy in 2005. The Detroit native, who called Germany his home, got involved in some unfortunate activity that placed him in the Michigan State prison system on a charge of arson of a dwelling. It was really just a bonfire in an alley, but an alleged parole violation placed him in prison for 1-20 years. I personally sat w...
Read more

Three lives, connected by a divine thread

My kids say it should be a book! The Doug, Pat and Mark story is a doozie!   About 25 years ago, while fighting to free Maurice Carter from prison, I read a newspaper column written by Pat Shellenbarger of the Grand Rapids Press on the topic of eyewitness identification. I contacted Pat re that story. That led to a friendship between Doug and Pat that continues to this day.   In subsequent months, Pat would go on to assist me in an investigation into the Maurice Carter case that eventually led to solving the crime.  That particular episode became a chapter in my book about the Carter case, SWEET FREEDOM, published in 2006.   Fast forward to 2009, A New York businessman claims wrongful conviction, and while serving time in a Michigan prison is handed a copy of my book. Mark Hartman, who was also convicted in Berrien County, was amazed at the similarity of these two stories and tried to reach out to me. His letters bounced.   Persisting in his efforts to c...
Read more