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Cold snaps are dangerous! > > Garden Grass Snakes
> > >(also known as Garter Snakes... Thamnophis sirtalis)
> > >can be dangerous... Yes, grass snakes, not
> > >rattlesnakes. Here's why...
> > >
> > >A couple in Sweetwater, Texas, had a lot of potted
> > >plants. During a recent cold spell, the wife was
> > >bringing a lot of them indoors to protect them from a
> > >possible freeze.
> > >
> > >It turned out that a little green garden grass snake
> > >was hidden in one of the plants and when it had
> > >warmed up, it slithered out and the wife saw it go
> > >under the sofa. She let out a very loud scream.
> > >
> > >The husband (who was taking a shower) ran out into
> > >the living room naked to see what the problem was.
> > >
> > >She told him there was a snake under the sofa. He got
> > >down on the floor on his hands and knees to look for
> > >it. About that time the family dog came and cold-nosed
> > >him on the behind. He thought the snake had bitten
> > >him, so he screamed and fell over on the floor.
> > >
> > >His wife thought he had a heart attack, so she covered
> > >him up, told him to lie still and called an ambulance
> > >. The attendants rushed in, wouldn't listen to his
> > >protests and loaded him on the stretcher and started
> > >carrying him out.
> > >
> > >About that time the snake came out from under the
> > >sofa and the Emergency Medical Technician saw it and
> > >dropped his end of the stretcher. That's when the man
> > >broke his leg and why he is still in the hospital.
> > >
> > >The wife still had the problem of the snake in the
> > >house, so she called on a neighbor man. He volunteered
> > >to capture the snake. He armed himself with a
> > >rolled-up newspaper and began poking under the couch.
> > >Soon he decided it was gone and told the woman, who
> > >sat down on the sofa in relief. But while relaxing,
> > >her hand dangled in between the cushions, where she
> > >felt the snake wriggling around. She screamed and
> > >fainted, the snake rushed back under the sofa.
> > >
> > >The neighbor man, seeing her lying there passed out,
> > >tried to use CPR to revive her. The neighbor's wife,
> > >who had just returned from shopping at the grocery
> > >store, saw her husband's mouth on the woman's mouth
> > >and slammed her husband in the back of the head with
> > >a bag of canned goods, knocking him out and cutting
> > >his scalp to a point where it needed stitches.> > >
> > >The noise woke the woman from her dead faint and she
> > >saw her neighbor lying on the floor with his wife
> > >bending over him, so she assumed he had been bitten by
> > >the snake. She went to the kitchen and got a small
> > >bottle of whiskey, and began pouring it down the man's
> > >throat.
> > >
> > >By now the police had arrived.
> > >
> > >They saw the unconscious man, smelled the whiskey, and
> > >assumed that a drunken fight had occurred. They were
> > >about to arrest them all, when the women tried to
> > >explain how it all happened over a little green snake.
> > >
> > >
> > >The police called an ambulance, which took away the
> > >neighbor and his sobbing wife.
> > >
> > >The little snake again crawled out from under the
> > >sofa. One of the policemen drew his gun and fired at
> > >it. He missed the snake and hit the leg of the end
> > >table.
> > >
> > >The table fell over and the lamp on it shattered and
> > >as the bulb broke it started a fire in the drapes.
> > >
> > >The other policeman tried to beat out the flames, and
> > >fell through the window into the yard on top of the
> > >family dog who, startled, jumped out and raced into
> > >the street, where an oncoming car swerved to avoid it
> > >and smashed into the parked police car.
> > >
> > >Meanwhile, the burning drapes, were seen by the
> > >neighbors who called the fire department. The firemen
> > >had started raising the firetruck ladder when they
> > >were halfway down the street. The rising ladder tore
> > >out the overhead wires and put out the electricity and
> > >disconnected the telephones in a ten-square city block
> > >area (but they did get the house fire out).
> > >
> > >Time passed.
> > >
> > >Both men were discharged from the hospital, the house
> > >was repaired, the dog came home, the police acquired
> > >a new car, and all was right with their world.
> > >
> > >A while later they were watching TV and the weatherman
> > >announced a cold snap for that night.
> > >
> > >The husband asked his wife if she thought they should
> > >bring in their plants for the night.
> > >
> > >That's when she shot him.
All the while the children were denied a meaningful relationship with their mother while the father could suppress the children's ability to express their feelings. The trial itself was unbelievably one-sided. The abuser was the only witness he presented to support his case. Much of his testimony concerned the phone tapes he made. He didn't realize that the tapes demonstrated his abuse. He called his victim 15 and 20 times a day as late as 1 AM. Even the court's evaluator who favored the father called the calls excessive and harassing. The mother had 11 witnesses including five experts. The experts included the son's therapist (who was not selected by the mother) and a therapist who treated both parties based on the judge's own order. One of the witnesses was the school nurse who was also neutral but very concerned about the harm to the children of the judge's order. She described the daughter before she was taken from her mother as skipping around school laughing and giggling while holding hands with a friend. After she lost her mother she would walk around school alone, head down very sad.
While the appeal has been pending, the abuser and the court have sought to continue to harass and abuse Genia. I had to make a motion to withdraw from the case in front of Judge Amodeo for medical reasons. His abuse and threats were endangering my health (I had a heart attack several years ago). He demanded medical proof and my medical doctor and therapist sent affidavits saying it was unsafe and unhealthy for me to continue given the particular circumstances in Amodeo's courtroom. The law requires that when a party loses an attorney for medical reasons that she is entitled to at least a 30 day stay to obtain another attorney. Instead Amodeo continued to make her come to court unrepresented to face more abuse. After the 30 days had passed (with no stay) he decided that she had enough time to find an attorney.
On May 5, 2005 the mother was forced to again come to court without representation. Judge Amodeo sought to issue a decision permitting the father to move the children to Texas even before the Appellate Division could rule on the appeal. Genia sought to protect her right for an appeal by objecting. She also mentioned that the judge was lying (which he was). The judge treated this as if it was contempt and ordered the mother, seven months pregnant and with health complications, to jail.
Judge Amodeo's abuse has had a disastrous affect not only on the Shockome family, but on all battered women. Already we have heard that women and staying with their abusers and being beaten by them because that is safer than having the abuser and judge abuse her like they did to Genia. Domestic violence advocates have to warn women in Dutchess County that it may not be safe to seek an Order of Protection.