April 13th, 2010

I did a radio interview yesterday with a gentlemen who dislikes westerns. It was an uncomfortable 15 to 20 minutes defending the genre, Dodge City, and the wisdom to write about such a well-known story as Dora Hand’s. It was awkward, but I guess it comes with the territory. The last few days I’ve been quite irritated with the officials at the prison where my brother is housed. He was beaten a few years ago and has no teeth. I’ve been trying to do something about it, but to no avail. I have had conversations with the officials and offer to pay for the teeth, but they simply laugh at me. They don’t see that they are doing anything wrong and that they are treating my family like criminals. It’s evil. I guess that comes with the territory too. It would be wonderful, bliss actually, if I never had to think about my brother’s situation again. Getting passed all that’s happened is next to impossible when he has health issues. He’s been beaten and raped and his tremors get worse each time I see him. He won’t be around much longer. Which in many respects is a blessing. I’ll be with him in a few weeks. I’ll have to go through a series of security measure to see him including being locked down myself a couple of times. I was told yesterday that I refuse to see that my brother deserves this. I marvel at how easy it is for people who do not have to experience anything like going into a federal prison on a regular basis to make such a comment. Let’s just suppose he does deserve to be in prison, (and the actual facts of the case which have never been heard prove differently) how does my mother deserve to look into the face of her son who has been beaten beyond recognition? How does my father deserve to see that his son has no teeth and that his mouth is misshapen as a result of the severe beatings? The individual who noted so assuredly that my brother is getting what he deserves also quoted Scripture. Specifically, Phil: 4-8, “whatever is true, pure, and right.” Compassion is true, pure, and right. There’s no question I hold on to my anger, loathing, and contempt. The system is broken. I’m my brother’s guardian and would have it no other way, but having to see what I see on a regular basis changes a person. Make no mistake about it, after I look at my brother’s face and see those around him who are struggling in the same manner, it isn’t justice I want. It’s a reckoning. Now, on to this day in Western history. 1894-the bitter rivalry between Bud Frazer and his former deputy, Killin’ Jim Miller, boiled over in Pecos, TX. Miller got off a shot that wounded a spectator and Frazer emptied his six shooter into Killin’ Jim’s chest and walked away from the fight. But Miller survived that shooting by wearing a heavy steel plate under his coat.