2002 Little Notes
December
November
October
September
July/August
June
May
April
March
February
January

Letters

Confessions
Talk About Movies
Roamin' Catholic
Follow Me




Contents © 2002
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

MARCH 2002 LITTLE NOTES

---

"In 1998, there was a baby found in the trash in Chula Vista, and, normally, when you read something like that, you go, 'Oh my gosh, how terrible,' then you go on with your daily life. I called the medical examiner's office and they said that if the baby isn't claimed it's put in an unmarked grave at Mt. Hope Cemetery. So I asked who could claim these children, and he said, 'Anybody who wants to as long as we know where they're going to be buried.' So I set to work to see how I could be the guardian for the children that are abandoned in our county. I had read a couple of months earlier about a lady in Yucaipa who started a Garden of Angels. I talked with her, and she came down and met with some of us."

Davey started making the caskets (there are volunteers who now make them according to a uniform format).

"When I started, I was taking unidentified children, the ones found in dumpsters and the like, but when I talked to the public administrator about how to do this, she asked me, 'What about the abandoned children?' She explained that besides unidentified children, there are abandoned children, whose parents left their bodies at the hospital after the 20-week gestation period, which is the cutoff for the county that a parent needs to take care of their child's remains. By law, the body has to stay for 30 days at the hospital so the parents can come get them. I asked how many of those there were and she said there could be up to 50 a year. I thought, 'I only have room for 110, so that would fill the cemetery in two years.' So we decided that since they had a surname that we would cremate those children and bury them in the Garden of Innocence, too. They don't go in caskets, but their remains are scattered on a handmade comforter and we lay rose petals on top of the ashes and we fold the blanket around that as if we were folding it around a child. Then each baby gets a toy, a rose, and an angel made of calico and cinnamon sticks."

Davey has set up a system to be sure that she knows when San Diego County babies are abandoned. "When it's left a the hospital, they are put on hold for 30 days--that's the hospital trying to get the parents to come back. After that, they turn the child over to the medical examiner, who certifies the child as abandoned. At that point he passes the records to a public administrator, who now calls me.

"Originally, the cemetery donated the space, but we had to pay in advance for the opening and closing which came to about $130 per grave, so we had to raise $14,000. Just before Christmas I signed another note for $32,000 to buy all the land around the garden. Once you enter by that sidewalk, both sides will be dedicated just to these children, so that nobody else can ever be buried there. This will provide for an additional 100 graves on one side and 400 cremation sites on the other side with an option to purchase an additional 400 cremation sites in three years."

Virtually every child has a non-denominational memorial service. The public is invited to the services, which are announced on their website. "On December 29, we buried our 29th baby and 29 Knights of Columbus showed up in full regalia to serve as a color guard to escort the baby to its final resting place." As many as 70 people have shown up for services.

Davey, 53, works as a real estate agent and lives in Vista. She has two grown sons and two grandsons. Those interested can contact Davey toll-free at (866) 760-1776 or view the Garden of Innocence website at www.gardenofinnocence.com.


THE OWNER OF THE CONTROVERSIAL WEBSITE usQueers.com that called for a "slow, painful death" for well-known pro-family conservatives was sentenced January 29 in San Diego County superior court to five days in jail and three years probation on a kidnapping charge. His probation terms include an order to stay away from computers.

usQueers.com webmaster Bruce Allan Ross was convicted of taking hostage David Powell, a minister at First Southern Baptist Church in San Diego, last June 18. During the incident, Ross displayed a jagged bottom of a glass bottle, threatened to hurt Powell, and threatened to commit suicide by cutting the artery in his own neck, according to a June 19 report by Baptist Press. San Diego police officers subdued Ross by firing bean-bag bullets and unleashing a police dog on him.

At the time of the kidnapping, pro-family leaders were not aware of Ross' usQueers website. They discovered it in November, while Ross was awaiting court hearings on the kidnapping charge, after its existence was revealed on the Free Republic website.

Ross's website called for "a horrible death by any means" for "het (heterosexual) supremacists," including former President Ronald Reagan, Sen. Jesse Helms, Sen. Strom Thurmond, Pat Robertson, Gary Bauer, Paul Weyrich, Rev. Lou Sheldon, Dr. James Dobson, and other religious and conservative leaders.

Although the website carried a disclaimer saying, "usQueers.com does not authorize, ratify or directly threaten acts of violence toward the people or organizations on this list," a note immediately following the disclaimer asked viewers to supply personal information about its targets, including their home, office and church addresses, phone numbers, car license plate numbers, and "just about anything which could be useful in spotting these dangerous het supremacists when they are wandering around loose."

On November 26, Ross appeared on San Diego radio host Rick Roberts' show with another person targeted by usQueers.com, Peter LaBarbera of the Culture and Family Institute. During the broadcast, Ross expressed his wish for LaBarbera to die of a heart attack.

During Ross' sentencing, defense attorney Terry Zimmerman acknowledged that the prosecution had recommended a jail sentence but pled with Judge Peter Deddeh not to incarcerate him. She pointed out eight people who accompanied Ross to the courtroom on his behalf and told the court, "Powell (the victim) doesn't necessarily want Ross to go to jail."

Zimmerman said, "The website is a separate matter" and "The people that called into the radio show are not parties" to the kidnapping incident. "It wasn't that Mr. Ross didn't express remorse on the radio; he said it wasn't the issue."

Prosecutor Wes Sherman argued in favor of a jail sentence for Ross: "You don't need to be a mental health professional to see when someone (wants to kill people)."


MORE CATHOLIC THAN YOU ARE. AB 1326, a bill by assembly member Dennis Mountjoy (R-59) that stated, "The promotion of homosexuality in public education is prohibited"was defeated January 17 in the education committee. Poway assembly member Charlene Zettel (R-75) voted for it; South Bay assembly member Juan Vargas (D-79) voted against it.

In a letter the same day to Vargas, director Phil Magnan of Chula Vista-based Life Source Ministries wrote: "I am outraged that you voted against AB 1326. You are definitely not a Catholic, definitely not pro-family, and definitely anti-God. Children should not be taught perversion in the public schools. What right or authority do you derive from to assert this perversion? In case you didn't know, God condemns homosexuality. It is sin and an abomination. Your capitulation to the gay movement shows that you are not a representative of the people but a puppet of Satan. I am more of a Catholic than you are, and I am an Evangelical.

"...Tell me, when did you give up the Church's teachings? Was it when you were in seminary or when you tasted power in office and allowed yourself to be the prostitute of the gay and abortion movement? You disgust me and everyone that truly fears God and obeys His commands. I am warning you in the name of Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead, turn from this course of destruction and turn to Christ for forgiveness; otherwise you will die in your sins."


"NEW ONE-TIME EXPERIMENTAL COURSE Being Offered! " exclaimed a January 18 message from University of San Diego "Pride" president Melissa Espinal to members of the school's "pride-l" discussion list. "Education 194: Finding Common Ground: Using Adolescent and Children's Literature to Explore Issues Related to Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Straight Identities."

"Hey PRIDErs," wrote Espinal, "This class has 7 signed up, but needs at least 3 more to run. Please sign up and don't let this opportunity slip away. Let's show USD that a class like this is worth fighting for!"

The course is to be taught by USD associate education professor Donna Barnes and Willie DeJean, a Rancho Bernardo High School teacher and USD doctoral student.


THIS NOTE RECEIVED from a friend of News Notes on February 8: "Before the February 6 meeting to explain the renovation of Sacred Heart church in Ocean Beach, I passed out flyers to the audience. The flyer, labeled 'Renovation Alert.' had an excerpt of a Wanderer article detailing the unusual personal relationship and financial windfalls enjoyed by Father Rod Stephens, the renovation's 'liturgical consultant' from Orange County. Below the excerpt were two questions in bold type: 'Is this how you want your parish's money spent?' and 'Are you willing to trust this person to renovate God's sanctuary?'

"After passing out the flyers, I sat down. Father Ronald Hebert, Sacred Heart's pastor, came stomping toward me. Hebert informed me that he had called the police and I had better leave immediately. When I replied that I had done nothing to merit ejection, Hebert held up the flyer and called it a disruption. I then asked why it was disruptive to tell the truth. Hebert said that the flyer was not true and warned me not to pass out more, to which I agreed (at that point everybody already had one). I asked Hebert why traditional Catholics were treated like lepers, while those who tried to destroy the church were welcomed. Hebert replied, "Because of this!" holding up the flyer. I asked Hebert, "Why did you prey on the ignorance of parishioners to deface the church?" Hebert shot back, "What do you know? You've never read any liturgical documents!" to which I responded by asking Hebert if he had read the recent revisions to the General Instruction to the Roman Missal. Hebert waved his hand and warned me again not to pass out more flyers. When I asked if I was going to be forbidden to speak, Hebert said, "If there is a question-and-answer period, you may -- but you're not going to present your thesis!"


HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS protested Dr. Laura Schlessinger during a January 20 appearance at Borders Books in Mission Valley to sign her latest book, Ten Stupid Things Couples Do to Mess Up Their Relationships." During the event, male homosexuals kissed inside the store in front of Schlessinger's table. When told by one of her bodyguards to "Go do it outside," one of the homosexuals said, "We can do it wherever we want because it's not illegal."

Another homosexual told Dr. Laura, "I just want to say that I think the biological mistake is probably your fashion sense. That's a horrible jacket." She responded, "Thank you." One Dr. Laura fan apologized for the homosexuals' behavior, "Sorry you have to put up with that other stuff."

Anti-Schlessinger picketers stood outside the store chanting "Don't buy hate" and holding signs that said "Shame on hate" and "I love my lesbian daughter." Others yelled at patrons who left with Dr. Laura's book: "There aren't any pictures [in the book], honey," "There's big words in there," "Did you get a dictionary, too?" and "Maybe your husband can read it for you."

The homosexuals' protest was organized by Sherry Wright, public policy director for the San Diego Lesbian and Gay Men's Community Center, in response to an e-mail message dated on or about January 13 from Clayton Tschudy, a Borders employee who resigned after learning that the store had invited Dr. Schlessinger.

Tschudy's message was circulated, in part, by Jeffrey Wergeles, director of gifts and grants for KPBS public television, using his KPBS e-mail address. During a January 15 telephone interview with a News Notes reporter, Wergeles denied knowing who wrote the message and said "I nothing to do with it except to receive it and forward it to some other people."


PRO-FAMILY LA MESA BUSINESSWOMAN Sylvia Sullivan is vying against incumbent East County business consultant Ernie Dronenburg for the San Diego County Board of Education District 3 seat.

The board oversees more than 40 school districts throughout San Diego County, including the Grossmont Union High School district which was rocked by two separate shooting incidents last year at Santana and Granite Hills High Schools.

During a February 4 debate between Sullivan and Dronenburg on the Roger Hedgecock show, Sullivan pointed out, "Ernie Dronenburg, my opponent, had the opportunity when Prop 22 was around to vote a resolution in favor of it. Secondly, when the Boy Scouts were on the line, he had an opportunity to vote a resolution to honor the Boy Scouts at a time when the Balboa Park issue was at stake. And both times, he refused to do that, and I'm sorry to say that what we're seeing is lip service in the public but votes that are quite different in the office."

Dronenburg defended his refusal to vote for the resolutions, saying "Politics is something I try to keep out of the county board. That's why I didn't support anything in the form of a resolution that doesn't directly relate to educating the kids, for example, the Boy Scouts issue.

Dronenburg has been endorsed as "acceptable" by the pro-homosexual San Diego Democratic Club, as well as the California Republican League, the Labor Council of San Diego County.

Sullivan named the California Republican Assembly, Californians for Life, Senator Ray Haynes, Assemblyman Jay LaSuer, former Assemblyman Steve Baldwin, El Cajon mayor Mark Lewis, El Cajon city councilman Bob McClellan, and La Mesa city councilman Barry Jantz.


IN THE OCTOBER 25 2001 EDITION of the Southern Cross, reporter Vincent Gragnani reported that "Sacred Heart Parish [Ocean Beach] recently completed the first phase of a renovation project that brings the church closer to its original mission style."

Ironically, parishioners who were silenced in the renovation process can recall that the original interior (now destroyed) had never deviated from its original mission style. Further, anyone who has visited one of the original California missions and seen their Spanish baroque reredos, always surrounding the tabernacle, and their passionate, bloody statues would find the drab screen hiding the tabernacle plastic and the two bronze statues a joke by comparison.

TOP