Thursday, November 4, 2010

Change Needed Desperately Now!

When Henry Ford gave us the first Model T car, it was an open air vehicle. (Occasionally infants died from too much wind!)

Today, not only Fords, but all modern cars are hermetically sealed. They are bake ovens. In a very few minutes, life ends, babies, dogs and the elderly unable to escape the vehicle, die.

Is it because care givers are bad people? No way.
Is it because car-makers are evil? Of course not.
Is it because car-seat manufacturers don't care about babies they try to protect? Of course they care.

But good people sometimes let bad things happen because they do not realize there is danger. No one has underlined the problem for them. Minds are on other things. Distracted humans are error prone. So why are we delaying to rush to the rescue?

Everyone knows a dead child is more important than a dead battery!

Mandatory Warning Systems are demanded now by car buyers, SO NO MORE BABIES DIE IN THE BACK OF THE FAMILY CAR .

NEEDED NOW: LOUD BELLS AND WHISTLES even when a child, dog or elderly person is mistakenly left in a car.

No parent or care giver can imagine the horror of death under such agonizing conditions. Distracted, exhausted parents are often unaware that the baby was forgotten in the back of the car. No bells and whistles gave out an SOS.

Lets change now, in the name of humanity, our Conscience Call is to end deaths in cars forever.

For more information contact Janette Fennell President and Founder of Kids and Cars. http://www.kidsandcars.org/

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Conscience Calls

Heal A Hurting World

Dear Friends:

You and I are needed to rescue ourselves and our planet from selfishness and indifference. In the name of plain decency and simple fairness we can take a stand.

At this writing there is a grieving father in Florida in prison for twenty years for leaving his baby daughter in the back of the family car. A tragic mistake too often repeated, yes, but nonetheless a mistake. California, humanely, did not send its grieving father, a college professor, to prison nor even impose probation. But in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the heat of the moment, Antonio Balta, an uneducated immigrant, was handed the stiffest sentence of any father in America, twenty years. He has already served over 6 years of the 20. Now is the time to free him, as governor Charlie Crist leaves the governorship.

The 2007 Florida law HB667 sponsored by Representative Joe Gibbons mandates a maximum of five years in prison for similar accidents. Mr. Gibbons agrees that Balta should be released.

How can we help? We can phone, email and/or write to Florida Governor Charlie Crist to request a review of Mr. Balta's too-severe sentence. We believe Antonio Balta should be released, since he is not a criminal, but a grieving father. He had no prison record and no drugs or alcohol were involved in his tragic mistake. In the more than 6 years he has been incarcerated he has a proven record as a model prisoner and a master carpenter. Please, dear friends, ask governor Crist to release Antonio Balta now, as he leaves the governorship.

Office of Governor Charlie Crist
State of Florida
The Capitol
400 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-000
charlie.crist@myflorida.com
Citizen Services Hotline: (850) 488-4441
Executive Office of the Governor Switchboard:
(850) 488-7146
[Office hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time]

Monday, November 1, 2010

Free Antonio Balta

At this writing there is a grieving father in Florida in prison for the accidental death of his baby daughter in the back of the family car. A tragic mistake too often repeated, yes, but nonetheless a mistake.

California, humanely, did not send its grieving father, a college professor to prison, nor even impose probation. But in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Antonio Balta, an uneducated immigrant, was handed the stiffest sentence of any father in America, 20 years!

Now is the time to free Antonio Balta.

It takes a leader of the stature and generosity of governor Charlie Crist to get our nation aware of it's responsibility to treat all it's people fairly.

Instead of being granted the traditional probation or exonerated as other fathers were, this blue collar dad was sentenced to 20 years without appeal, even though no drugs or alcohol were involved and he had no criminal record.

The imprisonment of Antonio Balta is a blight on the good conscience of our country. Antonio is a Peruvian immigrant who worked as a horse groomer at the Hallendale Racetrack. At the time of the accident he had very limited English and little understanding of our court system. No drugs or alcohol were involved. A reserved and quiet man, with no criminal record, he was overwhelmed by the tragedy that had overtaken him and without early legal counsel he could not make an effective defense for himself.

He is now into the 7th year of his 20-year sentence at Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell Fl. His incarceration is wasting a million dollars of Florida's critical needed funds.

As governor Crist leaves office now in 2010 here is an inspiring opportunity for him to free Antonio Balta and show the nation a way to more humane and pragmatic leadership.

http://www.soulsite.com/freebalta/