My LTTE (VOP) resulted in a 5:10AM freeper phone call

[zbdent]

Akron Beacon Journal's Voice of the People printed my letter (their title):

Cowering in Crawford



In 2001, a fake report went out that Hillary Clinton snubbed a group of Gold Star Mothers. This report instantly traveled across the globe via right-wing e-mail blasts. To this day, this story still appears in e-mail boxes.

Unfortunately, it was a lie. Even the Gold Star Mothers were forced to debunk it on their Web site. Fortunately for some rabid haters of all things Democrat, the story still makes its rounds.

At this writing, there is another Gold Star Mother sitting by a road in Spider Hole... er, Crawford, Texas. She is mere miles from the president, and yet he refuses to meet with her to answer her questions. When she did meet him, mere weeks after her son's death, he casually brushed her and her family off with a smirking, ``Who are we honoring today?'' (Apparently, the families must have been there to honor George W. Bush.)

In a rabid attack far more vicious than the ``liberal media'' ever used, the right-wing media have smeared her as being unpatriotic. She has even been threatened with arrest because she posed a ``security risk.''

Why? Is she armed? (Texas is a ``concealed carry'' state, right?)

It is all too easy to claim that these attackers of Cindy Sheehan are brainwashed. But the truth is, they know exactly what they're doing and have no qualms about it. As soon as their guy is even questioned, the attack comes full force. And the president cowers in his spider hole.

-----------------------------------------------

So, of course, I get a phone call at 5:10am. A time usually reserved for a message such as "Are you sitting down? _____ died . . ."

Guess that the freeper must have had the audio edition of the paper read to him . . .

[Kerrytravelers]

1. Or possibly works for the newspaper.

That is a terrifying thought. Oh, boy.

[zbdent]

5. After thinking about the phone call

Basically it went like this:

ring. ring.

Me: "Hello?"

Freeptard: "Hey, I liked your letter, especially the part"

Me: CLICK!!!

ring. ring. ring. ring. Answering machine picks up, dial tone.

After thinking about it, I thought, well, maybe it was someone in agreement with me.

But then, I thought, if they were in agreement, they would have said so at a respectable time.

This was not a "confirmation" of the call. This was some idjit who had the paper read to him.

Okay, so that's twice now that I have had people react with nasty phone calls . . . I must be striking a nerve . . .

:evilgrin:

Mrs. ZBDent was not pleased with the wakeup call . . .

[hlthe2b]

7. can you hit "record" next time?

If they say anything even remotely threatening, you can make their life infinitely more difficult with a tape presented to local police...?

[samdogmom]

2. I love your LTTE! Thank you. n/t

[Trajan]

3. IF you EVER stick your real name out there ..

MAKE SURE your phone number and address are unlisted ....

It is simply too dangerous these days .... Rightists are amoral, wild-eyed zealots ....

[hlthe2b]

8. I don't think you have much choice with editorials but to give...

full (real) name. But, it is a given that I never list my first name in the phone book--only initials. If I did not have a common surname (in a big city), I'd definitely go with unlisted.

[soup]

4. Very good letter.

Love the spider hole reference.

So was it dead air or did the caller actually say something? Do you have caller ID? Last number redial?

[zbdent]

6. See # 5 for conversation - other Qs answered

No caller ID - a simple answering machine put off most telemarketers.

I could use last number redial.

There's also a nice little feature that you can report harassing or intimidating phone calls, as long as you punch in *57 before another call comes in. But that's the only freeptard I've had this round.

[zbdent]

9. Update: 4:45pm - as expected

I get home to a message on the machine.

Hard to make out - I'd like to say he's drunk, but it's just a cheap-ass phone he's using. Not same guy.

Either:

"Sounds like you're pretty on top of the (garbled)"

or, more likely:

"Sounds like you're a pretty unpopular fellow"

Ah, me public . . .

[zbdent]

10. 6pm

On answering machine:

"You make a bold statement, then you cower behind an answering machine." Pause. click.

[salin]

11. same voice on these late afternoon phone calls?

[zbdent]

12. Doesn't seem it

Enquired with the local Police about call tracing if this goes beyond the normal "one day" thing.

[zbdent]

13. 6:48pm - call was unintelligible

no, it wasn't that the caller was babbling gobbledygook - the connection was so bad, you couldn't make out a word he(?) said.

[salin]

14. so, based on your previous response - each call

seems to originate from a different caller. Ugh. Good "call" - checking with the police to see when one might do traces. I do hope, however, that the calls stop before tomorrow.

If not - why not a follow up letter - per the calls in response to the last letter.

[zbdent]

15. Not exactly how I want to proceed - here's why

Acknowledging the calls in the VOP will just egg them on.

However, the editor had noted that a few letter-writers had received intimidating phone calls after their letters appeared.

I will be notifying the editor that I, too, encountered similar treatment.

Besides, you are limited to 1 letter appearing every 30 days.

[zbdent]

16. Last "call" - 9:50pm Sunday night

after that, no more.

However, I did have to go to work - no messages or calls as of 5:45am today (Monday).

[zbdent]

17. Just when you thought they gave up

4:30am - four times, the phone rang, then hung up after the answering machine kicked in.

As soon as the fourth time shut off, I took the phone off the hook for a while.

(Well, I do get up at 5am, so it's not sooooo much of an inconvenience).

I've suggested to the Akron Beacon Journal that they give some sort of warning to people who write anti-Bush/Republican letter so that they can turn off their phones at night.

I also am going to request that my name be withheld on further correspondence. I will provide my name & other stuff to the Beacon Journal for "verification purposes", though. I have yet to be called "for verification purposes" by the ABJ.

[zbdent]

18. Activated "call trace"

Wonderful feature, if I decide to press charges.

$4.50 per use - can even trace "blocked" calls that get around the "Caller ID" feature. Also catches the phone calls where the phone rings a few times but the person hangs up before the answering machine picks up.

No monthly charge.

I intend to use this to expose a pattern of harassment . . .

[zbdent]

19. Wednesday afternoon - call trace successful - notified local police

Nice police officer came over to take my statement.

Found out that he's a big Bush fan, claims the 1st amendment, but could see why someone would want to argue about the merits of my letter.

He commended me for putting my name to it, but suggested that I use a fictitious name later.

He gave me good pointers, which I will address in a different post. I will also use these if necessary.