Trip to Washington a big success!
By lindsay.bartlett • Sunday, August 3, 2008, 11:50 pm
Mike and Mary Gonzales recently returned from a trip to Washington DC to educate and spread the word about H.R. 940. The following synopsis was written by Mike Gonzales, and gives great detail about the successes achieved on their journey.
The people that went:
-Mike Gonzales
-Mary Gonzales
-Malcolm Kahl, friend and lawyer from Florida
-Rick Townsend, a new friend and father from North Dakota, who lost his 21 year old daughter, Julie, to suicide in 2001. When Julie was found, her computer was on the same site Suzy went to, playing the music “Suicide is Painless”.
-Carol Barsotti, Chico Field Representative for Congressman Herger
We are all in agreement that the trip was far more successful than any of us expected.
Mary and I arrived in DC on Monday evening, July 21 after a very long flight.
On Tuesday morning, July 22, Mary and I went to the offices of the Washington Times where we were interviewed by a reporter for about 2 hours. They also video taped the interview. They ran the story on Thursday, July 24 on the front page. They also had the story on their online site along with a 3 1/2 minute video of the interview.
The real fun started on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. All five of us walked the halls of Congress and Senate offices and buildings from early morning to evening. In all, we had visited 40 Congressional and Senate offices. We met with some Representatives or Senators but mainly with their judicial legal assistants who deal with such matters. The majority of the people we spoke to were shocked at what had happened, that it is still happening and that there are no current laws that deal with these situations. They really listened to us when I told them what happened to Suzy and when Rick told of what happened to his daughter. It made several of the people we met get teary eyed. A common statement heard was that they had never heard of this before or that pro suicide groups existed on the Internet. A lot of the people we met were not really aware of HR 940 and what it is intended for. At each meeting we left an informational packet that contained information on what happened to Suzy, a copy of HR 940, questions and answers about the bill, a copy of the Congressional Research Service report about the constitutionality of the bill, a letter of support from Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE), and copies of the San Francisco Gate Chronicle and Oprah articles. We also left with them several red and white polka dot support ribbons along with a bag of red and white M&M’s that were imprinted with “Suzys Law” or “HR 940″. I can say that after all of our meetings we greatly increased the awareness of HR 940 with members of our government.
We were also supported by a national board member of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). Her name is Gail Griffith and she met with us for several hours on Thursday. She went with us to congressional offices as well. It was great to have her there and for all the support that the AFSP has given us. We also have to thank the SAVE organization for their letter of support.
While walking the hallways, we were again supported by the many citizens asking us what our polka dot ribbons were for. When we explained what happened and why we were there, they asked if they could wear ribbons to support us. Many people said they were going to see their Representatives to spread the word about the bill. Now that is real support!
While we were in DC we had a chance to make contact with the Suicide Prevention Action Network (SPAN) and the Suicide Prevention Resource Center (SPRC), both highly respected suicide prevention organizations.
We were able to gain 3 additional co-sponsors for the bill, and the assurance that many more members of Congress are now aware of HR 940 and the reasons behind it.
Again I have to personally thank Malcolm Kahl and Rick Townsend for taking the time and bearing the expense to fly to Washington DC and help support the bill. We are forever grateful to them.
We also have to thank Congressman Herger for all the help and support he has given us, for authoring HR 940 and for being a really compassionate man. We are also very grateful to Herger’s Field Representative, Carol. Without her knowledge of Capital Hill, we would have been forever lost trying to find the right offices in the multitude of government buildings.
Again this was a very successful trip to bring awareness of HR 940 and the compelling reasons for its support to members of our government.