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would you believe it? i've just seen a documentary about the elephant man on channel 4, and it seems we may be related. he was born in leicester (me too) and they tried to find his closest living relatives to get a DNA sample and see if they had any deseases like his. they found a Pat Selby in Thurmaston (not far from where i used to live). she is descended from the Potterton side of joe merrick's family. Selby is quite a common name in leicestershire, but most of us are loosely related.



news link



oh - joe merrick's uncle was from Syston - that's where i lived. fancy that.



i guess that explains these strange growths i keep finding.

i read this in the forum. its nothing really new - it happens all the time, but it makes me so angry.



October 4th, 2007 - Little River, South Carolina. Rhonda and Steve Grouber were arrested for practicing witchcraft, and child endangerment. Her son remains in juvenile detention as the courts won't release him into her custody because she is accused of casting spells on two police officers, and being part of the Pagan Motorcycle Gang.



Lt. Kevin Duke wrote out the warrant that he presented to the judge, including her involvement with the Pagan Motorcycle Gang, which was a corruption of her actually being the Pagans Night Out Coordinator for her area.



And if that isn't enough, when the police searched her home, they seized her on-line herbal business computer, as well as her husbands business equipment and computers, rendering them without their family lively hood.



What started out as a neighbor dispute quickly escalated when an angry neighbor called the police about her fear of Rhonda being a witch, and making false allegations of threats made by Ms. Grouber and her son.



Later that night Ms. Grouber and her son were sitting in jail cells. Not able to charge her with the crime of practicing Witchcraft, they held her for the maximum forty eight hours that the law allows without charging her, rendering her unable to attend her sons arraignment. Her son who has been in juvenile detention since the 10th of September, turned 17 on October 3rd. They will not release him to his mother as she has been deemed unfit due to her religious choices. Nor will they release him to his step-father.



Her son, Spencer Richardson, was said to have been arrested because he had an assault rifle in his possession. Though once in court the officers admitted it was just in the same room as he was. This is in conflict with the warrant Lt. Kevin Duke swore out, where he states Spencer was arrested having the gun in his possession, and drugs in his system. Both counts used to get the warrant issued have been recanted in court, and no drugs were found in the home or Spencer's blood system.



Spencer is a three year ROTC member, and was on the rifle team and Commander of the ROTC Athletics team. He has even attended Marine Boot Camp where he was has been trained in basic military courses including weapons. He was to attend officer school on his 18th birthday. However the courts will not release him because his family owns fire arms. Spencer Richardson was suspended from school based on these charges.



His family has appealed to the community to show him support by writing to him at:



Spencer Richardson

c/o Dept Juvenile Justice

1725 Shivers Rd

Columbia, SC 29212



His parents has been denied visitation because they are not approved for visitation. Even though the case worker has put their name on the list, it always comes up missing when they come to visit. Chastity Doyle, his caseworker, has been as helpful as she can be to the family. She is very new to the idea of paganism, and has been supportive and open minded.



During this time of war, all of our enlisted men and women, despite their religious affiliations, are asked to fight, and possibly lay down their lives, for the noble cause of democracy. All Americans, no matter how they choose to commune with the Divine, are constitutionally afforded the same rights, which include freedom of religion. Freedom of religion means all religions.



Recently, as a nation, we have witnessed the positive affects community support can have when unfair incarcerations happen because of civil rights transgressions. As we all witnessed in the case of the Jena 6, targeting anyone based on race, or as in this case religion, merits a combined community out cry. When any one of us are discriminated against, we are all discriminated against.



Please respond responsibly. Please lift up your voices to help this family. We ask you to write, email, fax, and or call the following numbers on behalf of Spencer, Rhonda and Steve, as a vocal member of the pagan community. In a small town, tucked away in an otherwise quiet southern state, it might be easy for officers and officials to forget the rest of the world might be looking in on their actions.



We ask you to be a positive force that resonates the truth that there are many of us, and that we are watching.



"Never Again the Burning Times" survives as more than a mantra, for only as long as it is defended by deed. These are those deeds.