Journal Notes

I have a couple copies of the new book Frontier Teachers to give away to history lovers who email me and sign up for my newsletter. Let me hear from you.

One of the definitions of the word reconcile is to settle or resolve. I’m trapped in a situation that seems like neither of those options will ever be possible. My brother languishes in the hospital wing of a federal prison with no hope of ever getting better. Calls on his condition come every other day and money must be sent each month to pay for the necessities that help sustain his life. I long for reconciliation, but there seems to be no possible way of ever settling or resolving this event. When he was falsely charged of this heinous crime, the prosecution attributed the arrest record of another man to my brother. Our last name is spelled Enss. The background check was issued for a man with the last name spelling of Enns. Motions to revoke that falsehood from the case read like this, “It is clear that Mr. Enss does not have a prior criminal record. The government sought to introduce evidence of an alleged domestic assault on Mr. Enss’s ex-wife in the early 1980’s. There were no charges filed, there is no arrest report, and there is no other evidence save the bare allegation twenty years later of the ex-wife.” My brother’s former boss submitted this letter to the court.

March 26, 2004

TO: Richmond Police Department
Attn: Chief Terri Williams
102 West North Main Street
Richmond, MO 64085

RE: Criminal Background Investigation

ENSS, Ricki Everett
DOB: 11/15/1963
SSN: 527-79-8528

Dear Chief Williams,

A check of the Sierra Vista Police Department records shows no criminal history conviction data on the above named individual.

If I can be of further assistance, please contact me by calling (520) 452-7500, extension 702.

Sincerely,
Anita Johnstun C-233
Records Clerk. None of the above information made any difference. The prosecution continued to lie in court and say my brother had a criminal background. And there were so many other things:
Two erroneous statements, were used to obtain a warrant from the Grand Jury.
None of the plagiarized poems and/or songs that the alleged victim claimed she wrote were found on the Richmond Police Department computers.
Child pornography was found on the confiscated home computers after my brother moved out of the home.
An FBI Agent gave the alleged victim and her mother money.
Spouse lied on witness stand at Ex Parte Hearing.
Alleged victim admitted to lying before about the case and stated she had no problem lying again under oath.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney’s inappropriate counseling of spouse concerning divorce proceedings, delaying it for over three years.
FBI Agent threatened four family members in court at sentencing.
Assistant Prosecuting Attorney coerced, intimidated and threatened the defendant and his entire family.
Computers were dismantled by unauthorized person and not according to police policy and guidelines.
Victim wrote a recanting letter in 2002 and she and her mother requested that the case be closed.

I’ll get another call today from the prison on the condition and needs of my brother. It comes everyday like a wave and it’s impossible to reconcile. I told him to take a plea and added to this miserable situation. I can’t settle anything or resolve the matter, therefore reconciliation seems to be only a dream. I keep saying I’m going to let this go, but the call comes and I’m right back in it again.

Stately rows of Victorian windows keep watch on the doings of Leadville and Cripple Creek. It was just as I expected it would be. The drive to both Old West towns was beautiful. The trees were a mixture of gold and red. I saw antelope sparring with one another on the open range and watched a thin band of rain fall on a dilapidated cabin near the base of a mountain. I stayed the night at the Hotel St. Nicolas in Cripple Creek. Built in 1898, it was initially a hospital. My room was the nursery at one time. Cattle roamed the streets like they owned it. Which in some respect they do. The open range law is still in existance there. If you want the cattle out of your yard and off your property, it’s your responsibility, not the owner of the cattle, to build a fence to keep them out. While in Leadville I visited Baby Doe Tabor’s cabin near the Matchless Mine. Actually, it’s more of a tool shed than a cabin. Her husband told her never to sell the mine because gold would be found there again in time. Baby Doe died in the one room cabin at the age of 81. She froze to death waiting for another fortune. I stayed at the Delaware Hotel, in the same room Horace and Baby Doe stayed in from time to time. The Tabors weren’t the only famous people to come out of Leadville. An Irish lass married a miner there, and became the Unsinkable Molly Brown. Doc Holiday visited the area too. On the way back to Denver I stopped at the grave of Buffalo Bill Cody. It’s a lovely spot overlooking miles and miles of the state. The only thing detracting from the beauty of the area were numerous rude bicyclist with no sense of courtesy for the pedestrians walking on the sidewalk leading to Cody’s grave. The museum at the spot had one of the outfits Buffalo Bill wore in his Wild West show. Sitting Bull’s headdress was on display there as well. I had a lot of time to think while driving. The was the most unfortunate part of the trip. Wish I could have left those things that continue to haunt me behind in Grass Valley. I’ve come to the conclusion that what people long for is reconciliation of one kind or another. But that topic is for another day. Right now it’s enough to savor the memory of the Colorado Gold Country and the rich history that’s still alive.

I’ll be making my way to Leadville, Colorado later this week. At one time Leadville had it all. It was a booming gold camp in 1860. Silver was discovered in 1878, a bonanza that in ten years had produced some $136 million. I can’t help but think of Baby Doe Tabor’s connection with the infamous mining town. Her husband, Horace Tabor, was a 47-year-old failed prospector-turned-grocer when he bought the Matchless Mine in 1878 and struck it rich. It was to net him $10 million. He had an affair with the opportunistic Baby Doe and the liaison scandalized Leadville and Denver society. Now of days that kind of behavior would barely raise an eyebrow. I hope to take lots of pictures of the area and enhance the sell of the books there. A man who was wrongfully convicted of murder is being executed in Georgia within the week. His family is going through a hundred kinds of hell on earth. I ache for them. I’ve learned much more than I ever wanted to know about wrongful convictions and false accusations that cost good people their lives. Wish there was someway to erase it all from my mind. I don’t think a trip to Leadville is going to do it.

I heard yesterday that Thunder Over the Prairie has made it to the next level of executives at the studio. Which makes it a little closer to actually getting made into a film. I spoke with actor Marty Kove and he was gracious enough to want to give it a read too. Frontier Teachers did okay for the first day out. All in all I was feeling happy about things that were going on. And that hasn’t happened in a long time. I was okay until the tracking feature on my site showed a couple of people, one from Missouri and another from North Carolina posting derogatory remarks about my brother and my family. As always, I don’t know why. I received a post to my site a few months ago from one of their family members who boasted that everyone was doing so well. During the initial investigation into my dear brother’s situation, we were told by the courts that his children did not want to see us and to stay away from them. At my brother’s sentencing hearing they told the court that they “were hurt that their father’s family didn’t want to have anything to do with them.” That was a lie. Just one of many. I spoke with a woman this morning who’s brother was sent to prison on a lie as well. It was nice to be able to talk with someone about the hurt you feel everyday over the matter?and in severe cases, over the loss. There is a sadness deep in your heart?a pain that aches always. It hurts especially so when people who claim to be moving on continue to do the ugly things they do. Think I’ll add that in the book The Deadliest Accusation too. It’s an example of the very little character they have and the pain they continue inflict on people who had nothing to do with what they say happened. Now, back to work.

Frontier Teachers is now in the bookstores. I’ll be heading out to the Book Seller in Grass Valley to pick up a few copies. I did an phone interview about the book this morning with Mike Thomas at KWRE in Warrenton, MO.. It’s always a delight to be on his broadcast. I wish everyone you met in the industry could be as decent. One of the reasons I consider pursuing a different career is the rude response you get from radio and television promotional directors, motion picture agents and publicist. With rare exception (producer- director Howard Kazanjian being one of them) most of the people I’ve encountered in the entertainment industry are rude. I placed a call to actor Tom Selleck’s representatives this afternoon and she was less than kind. Fifteen seconds into the conversation I knew this was not a situation I wanted to be dealing with on a long term basis. I wonder if actors know how they’re being represented? They probably don’t care much. I do know this, should his name be mentioned again in casting I’ll caution everyone concerned to think twice. Life is too short to deal with representatives who can’t grasp that their clients haven’t cured cancer, they aren’t working to teach children to read and write, and they haven’t rescued people from burning buildings. That kind of rude behavior should barely be tolerated from real heroes like doctors, teachers, and firefighters. It’s inexcusable from the representatives of the people who simply act the part of real heroes.

Frontier Teachers is supposed to be in bookstores next week. I haven’t seen a copy of the book in its completed form, but have been told by my editor that it looks good. To all who have written to ask, I’ll be sending out review copies as soon I get them. The trailer for Thunder Over the Prairie is now on You Tube. It will interesting to track how often it gets viewed. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m not always crazing about writing. I like having written. Having written can be very satisfying. I remember sitting in a theatre on campus at the University of Arizona having written a play that had been produced by the school. I was still stinging from my divorce when I wrote Lucy. Writing about the ordeal and seeing it performed was gratifying. I’m not necessarily proud of what I put down on paper then. I was young and foolish and brokenhearted. I find the variety of ways you can express yourself through the written word fascinating. Words and thoughts. They bounce around inside our heads, with only a few making the transition into real life. A few made the transition into Frontier Teachers and Thunder Over the Prairie. I certainly hope they’re well received. A lot is riding on it.

The launch for the book Thunder Over the Prairie will be held in Dodge City on Friday, June 5 at the Dodge City Library and Saturday, June 6 at the Long Branch Saloon in Dodge. I’ll be sending invitations out in March. If you’re a regular visitor to the site and would like to be a part of the festivities, drop me a line and you’ll be added to the guest list. I guess it seems a little silly to be planning a book launch so far in advance, but I want to do everything I can to make this title a success. I have three other books behind this one that are coming out, but I hope Thunder opens new doors. I’m at a crossroads professionally and still trying to catch my breath over the tragedy in my personal life. I should have been a lawyer maybe things would be different. I good lawyer. With the exception of my brother-in-law, I don’t think there are too many of those. I read a newspaper article yesterday about fifteen women who were hired by the University of Illinois to smell pig manure so that researchers can find out what makes pig manure smell so bad. You know who I feel sorry for? The women who applied for that job and got turned down. Guess I’ll stick with the writing.

Lord Byron once wrote about marriage, “Wishing each other, not divorced, but dead; They lived respectably as man and wife.” I can’t help but think about Bill Cody when I read that. I’ve been working on a book about his life and loves and the difficulties he had with this marriage. He wasn’t faithful, but his wife did try to poison him. An act like that is bound to push you into the arms of someone else. According to the transcripts from the Cody’s divorce proceedings William told the court, “We have had trouble off and on during all our married life, first, beginning about two months after we were married.” Two months?! Louisa fought divorce and they were miserable. She liked the money he made however. I guess it bought her the type of misery she could live with. I know women like that. Most of the women in my family married for money, but not a lot of money. You can’t go to a reading of a will in my family without someone asking, “Who’s getting’ the tools? I’m back on the road Monday doing various book signings in the Sacramento area. Don’t think I’ll go in costume this week. The petticoats are too hot to wear. The plains had to be littered with petticoats from women making their way west. I base all my fashion decisions on what clothing is least itchy. Pioneer women didn’t have that luxury. Back to Bill and one story that can’t possible end with “and they lived happily ever after.”

There are many moments in American history to be proud of and remember often. I’ve had the pleasure of being able to write about some of those moments. The graduation of the first woman from medical school, the rescue of the Donner Party, the opening of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Those were truly proud, unforgettable moments. There were some disappointing moments in the Old West as well. I’m working on a proposal about the Sand Creek Massacre right now and the brutal way in which the American Indian was treated. Hundreds of men, women and children were slaughtered by a lunatic dressed in an army uniform. Not the country’s finest moment. But it is a sad fact of history and should not be ignored or watered down because it’s distasteful. I hope I get the chance to write a book on the tragic event that occurred in Colorado in 1864. I continue to work on the book about Bill Cody’s life and loves and about my brother’s ordeal. I can’t forget him and I can’t forgive myself for convincing him to take a plea. I just want to make it right.