Epilogue/Sermon

The years passed and the girls both graduated, Bridget last year and Sally the year before.

Sally took a job in Little Rock but quickly tired of that place and moved to Springfield to take a job with one of the local industrial giants in the area. She likes it fine and visits about one weekend a month.

Bridget took a job in Kansas City because it was the closest she could get anything in the art field. She's not really happy up there, but she's working in a field that she loves. She visits about once every three months, or so.

I settled into a life of a person retired from the service. Yep, I'm still paranoid. I fish and hunt when I want to. I do some work on web sites, basically just give me something to do. I've turned down offers to take in more foster children. I only did it for the girls and I don't want to take in strangers. If I had a wife, it might be a different story. I'm just not cut out to handle kids by myself.

Most of the reforms got passed by the Congress and they WERE signed by the president. Yes, he dodged the bullet on the impeachment trial, but only because they were afraid of Gore. That is according to what Frank had told us. Earl and I still believe that the congress just didn't have the guts to convict him. I wrote to all of my representatives (with my address, I can get away with influencing the ones from Arkansas and Missouri) and urged them to vote for a conviction. All but one did and he didn't run for re-election. I was saddened and ashamed when he wasn't convicted. How could they not convict him with the evidence they had? Oh well, another sad chapter in the history of the self governed.

Earl, Bubba and I still get together quite frequently, now that the girls have moved away. We have a good time and still go on some adventures, but nothing that is worth bragging about. We aren't dodging bullets and our demons are visiting us less and less as the years pass.

Frank did some contract work for the CIA, but didn't like the atmosphere that had been established under Clinton. And Bush is not using contract guys. So he is doing some lobbying in the D.C. area, I think just to keep from climbing the walls.

Gary was flying for the DEA in South America. He narrowly missed getting shot down while spraying cocoa fields.

Dave and Bob got married. That was a surprise to all of us. But we all attended the ceremony and wished them well.

So, life goes on. I doubt if we will ever have another mission like the "snatch and grab" of Snelling, but I hope we never have the need to. Hopefully, the nation has learned its lesson. I somehow doubt it though. They are predicting another Clinton will be in the White House in 2008. If she is, it will not be with my vote.

SERMON/SOAP BOX

I guess the message I would like to get across it that an individual can make a difference, IF that person is persistent enough and is willing to stand up for what they believe in.

Parts of this story are true. It did not happen like it was written. That would be way too boring to be interesting. As much as I would have liked for it to be, I did not have the resources to abduct a person, hold them for a period of time and question them until I got the complete story. But I sure as hell wanted to.

What really happened was that I testified at a regional congressional hearing in Harrisburg, PA on a Tuesday, in August of '93. At that hearing, I distributed a copy of all the articles I had written for the Association's publication on the proposed health care plan of the Clinton's to all the panel members. During the hearing, I completely embarrassed someone who was on Clinton's side by telling him he didn't know what he was talking about. Then, I proceeded to prove to him I was correct in saying he didn't know what he was talking about. Finally, someone on the panel, that was listening and questioning the people testifying, told him that I knew what I was talking about and he'd best keep quiet if he didn't want to embarrass himself any farther. One of the things I pointed out to him was, Clinton had been governor of Arkansas for 10 years and the method of insurance he was suggesting for the nation was not legal in Arkansas. PPO's, which is a hybrid HMO, were not approved in Arkansas until '94.

The next Monday, I received a notice of audit from the IRS. I fought it with all the resources I had available to me. I appealed their findings as high as I could without going to court, which I could not afford because it would have required an attorney.

I wound up paying in excess of $5,000. That was in July of '96.

After I paid the assessment, I started my revenge. I contacted my congressional representatives and laid out the circumstances. I was at sort of a disadvantage though. I had moved from Pennsylvania to Arkansas and the representatives didn't know me down here and the ones from Pennsylvania weren't in a position to help anymore.

After several letters, I got a reply from the representative who had contacted the IRS. They enclosed a letter from the IRS stating that it "was just a coincidence" that I was audited at that time. It was also a "coincidence" that my major contractors were audited at the same time.

I also got a copy of a letter from the FBI, stating that they did not believe my file could possibly have been in the White House. After several more letters, I finally gave up. I could never get the FBI to say, "no, your file was not found in the White House." They just refused to say that.

During all this time, I was suffering from severe depression. There were a lot of reasons for that. First, I was fighting with an online service provider and wound up suing them for what they did to me. (I can't detail that fight) Secondly, I was having a lot of problems with my mother and had to wind up putting her in a nursing home. Thirdly, when Clinton came into office, my consulting business almost vanished. My income went from about $70,000 per year in '92, to about $32,000 in '93, to around $15,000 in '94. Everyone was saying how good Clinton was for the economy, but I sure didn't see it. I believe if I had not been suffering from depression, I would have made out a lot better, but hindsight and all of that.