The Good News and the other news: Christian, home schooler, terrorist threat? Part 1,2,3,4

Most of Ashton’s pranks came about as the result of discussions which took place amongst a group of internet "friends" who all communicated via Skype. In some cases Ashton did not even know the true identities of these individuals, but instead referred to them by their screen names.

One young man who was involved in the group was eventually caught hacking into the Skype accounts of the other members. As a result, he was booted out and could no longer take part in the group discussions.

However, he eventually contacted Ashton directly and offered to pay him to call in a bomb threat to Purdue University, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Ashton knew well where goodhearted fun ends and illegalities begin and told the other boy that under no circumstances would he make such a call.

That was the last thing Ashton heard of the matter, until the night of March 5, 2009. That evening there was a knock at the door and Ashton answered it, because he saw a sheriff's deputy whom he knew.

When he opened the door, twelve armed Federal agents burst into the house and seized him. Their declared reason was that he had supposedly made the previously proposed bomb threat call from his house at around 9:00 on the evening of February 15, 2009.

The Federal Government has been holding him ever since, despite what appears to be an airtight alibi. It seems that while Ashton was supposedly making the bomb threat from his home, he was simultaneously taking part in a worship service some forty-five minutes away.

On that Sunday night, Ashton, his mother and sister went to church. They had a great time of fellowship and members of the congregation have vouched that the Lundeby family, including Ashton, were there the whole evening.

After church, the family went to Wal-Mart. They returned home at approximately 10:15 pm.

Still, when Mrs. Lundeby asked one Federal agent with the Terrorist Task Force why he and his associates were not going after real terrorists, he responded that they were doing exactly that. He said that such was the reason why they were taking her son.

Ashton claims that he spent the first thirty hours of his incarceration being forced to stand in the corner of a cold cell, surrounded by grown men. While local law enforcement officials have denied this claim, evidence presented later in the course of this series will clearly show that the Government’s claims in this case are of dubious integrity.

So where, I ask, are the bleeding heart liberals who cry seemingly continually on television about the blatant mistreatment of known terrorists? Navy SEALs who bloodied the lip of a known mass murderer recently faced court-martial and the leftist press had a hayday with the story, but an American kid can be subjected to needless physical hardships while awaiting his initial hearing and they crawl into their holes and await further orders from Washington.

Why the sudden media silence following the Government’s press release stating that Mrs. Lundeby was lying? Could it be that I have been correct in my longtime profession of the notion, that we in the media who still believe that the telling of the truth at any cost is both a noble cause and our sacred duty are a dying breed?

I also want to know where the angry mob is who only a year ago marched on the Evansville Federal Building, in protest of political corruption and socialist agendas running rampid in our government? Where are those who vowed to never back down until America was returned to its roots of being governed by the people?

Why has no one among the United Freedom Makers called for a march on Valparaiso? Why are the memebrs of our locally run Constitution Now group not up in arms over this?

Where are my dear friends the Oath Keepers? The Constitution which we so readily pledged to uphold and defend is being shreaded in our very presence and I have heard from a total of one of you!

The press release, issued by the office of US Attorney David Capp of Indian’s Northern District, is dated May 7, 2009 and states that Ashton is being held pursuant of Title 18 Sections 8844 (e) and 5032 of the United States Code. However, I find it quite ironic that they would claim this, since three sections later in Section 5035 of Title 18 mandates that "A juvenile alleged to be delinquent may be detained only in a juvenile facility or such other suitable place as the Attorney General may designate. Whenever possible, detention shall be in a foster home or community based facility located in or near his home community. The Attorney General shall not cause any juvenile alleged to be delinquent to be detained or confined in any institution in which the juvenile has regular contact with adult persons convicted of a crime or awaiting trial on criminal charges. Insofar as possible, alleged delinquents shall be kept separate from adjudicated delinquents. Every juvenile in custody shall be provided with adequate food, heat, light, sanitary facilities, bedding, clothing, recreation, education, and medical care, including necessary psychiatric, psychological, or other care and treatment."

Further, Section 5036 states, "If an alleged delinquent who is in detention pending trial is not brought to trial within thirty days from the date upon which such detention was begun, the information shall be dismissed on motion of the alleged delinquent or at the direction of the court, unless the Attorney General shows that additional delay was caused by the juvenile or his counsel, or consented to by the juvenile and his counsel, or would be in the interest of justice in the particular case. Delays attributable solely to court calendar congestion may not be considered in the interest of justice. Except in extraordinary circumstances, an information dismissed under this section may not be reinstituted." I ask that the reader commit the general contents of these two sections of the US Code to memory, both for the purpose of their personally determining their opinion concerning the case currently under consideration and for their own benefit, should their child ever be taken into Federal custody on such trumped up charges.

Being both disabled and a widow, Mrs. Lundeby had little choice but to accept a State appointed attorney, Robert D. Truitt, to defend Ashton. However, Mr. Truitt admits to having immediately waived Ashton's right to a speedy trial and did so following the stated desires of the prosecution and without having discussed the matter with either Ashton or Mrs. Lundeby.

Apparently, on a later visit to Mr. Truitt’s office, Mrs. Lundeby’s meeting with him was interrupted and he had to leave the room. While she waited, she discovered that Ken Hayes, the Assistant US Attorney responsible for prosecuting Ashton, was in the next room and had been allowed to hear everything which had been discussed concerning the case.

So much for attorney-client privilege. To add insult to injury, several of my sources have informed me that Mr. Truitt and Mr. Hayes are old friends and one indicated that the two even shared an office at one time.

It seems to me that this would, under any normal circumstances, constitute a conflict of interest. My question then is why a mistrial has not been declared and why Ashton remains in Federal custody.

I have also come into possession of a document in which Mr. Truitt admitted under oath and penalty of perjury that he intentionally excluded Mrs. Lundeby from assisting in any manner with her son’s defense. Additionally, it appears that he has committed other acts which violated his sworn duty to provide the very best possible defense to his client.

I have carefully perused said documents and am thoroughly convinced that, when considered in comparison to the aforementioned press release, it proves beyond a doubt that Mr. Truitt did in fact forsake his legal obligation as counsel to the defendant and that Mr. Capp’s office issued the press release in an attempt to assist in the cover up of their coconspirator’s illegal activities. However, as is the custom in this column, I have placed Mr. Truitt’s sworn statement in the hands of you, the readers, thus allowing you to make up your own mind.

Ashton was eventually transported to Valparaiso, Indiana, practically the back yard of every freedom loving resident of Evansville, to the youth detention facility there, and for the past fifteen months has been housed along side several convicted rapists and other less than pleasant individuals. Besides blatantly violating US Code Title 18 Section 5035, his being housed in Indiana makes it next to impossible for Mrs. Lundeby to travel to visit him or to be present at his court dates and, his rights having been waived in the beginning has allowed an indefinite wait while the Federal Government decides what to do with their "dangerous terrorist."

It is evident to many who have considered the evidence, that in Ashton’s seizure the Government was exercising the powers of indefinite detention which it seized with the creation of the so-called American Patriot Act. This is a deduction which, despite continual denial by Federal authorities, several of my sources and now I have come to, each through independent research.

I have long preached against the evils of this Act and how it was designed in a manner which would allow the Federal Government to arrest and imprison anyone, at any time, for any or no reason at all. I have often been scoffed at for this position, usually by individuals who continued to be adamant in their belief that the Act only pertains to "radical Muslims," long after I had gotten them to admit that they have never actually read the law and are merely regurgitating what they have heard from some liberal talking head on television.

The fact is that it is really an (Un)American (Anti)Patriot Act. Under its auspices, anyone, even a fully law abiding, model American citizen can be imprisoned for life, for any or no reason at all, and Ashton Lundeby is a perfect example of its true intent.

During the Grand Jury process, there was a great deal of evidence which should have been presented but was not permitted to be disclosed. The very fact that Ashton has so many people who can swear that he was nowhere near his house at the time of the call should have gotten the whole thing thrown out, but not one of them was ever allowed to take the stand.

The Grand Jury also sought answers to several questions, which information would have shown Ashton to be innocent beyond any doubt. However, neither he nor Mrs. Lundeby was allowed to respond.

Anyone who has considered all of the evidence knows that the true culprit is the kid who was thrown out of the Skype group for hacking members’ accounts. However, said individual has apparently not even been questioned concerning the matter, despite one of my sources having indicated that said individual is now being held on other, unrelated charges.

Sadly, Federal law does not require that a minor be told of his right to have a parent present at his questioning and North Carolina has seen fit to deem any individual above the age of sixteen to be an adult with regard to the criminal interrogation process. However, the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution clearly states that a citizen shall not "be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself," yet Ashton has been repeatedly hounded during his stay in the Valparaiso facility, including one tape recorded session in which I am told he was repeatedly offered a plea bargain which would have seen him released with time served and probation if he would admit to the felony.

Sources also indicate that the Government took it upon themselves to finish the dental work which had been started on him just prior to his arrest. He had had some root canals and needed crowns, but instead they apparently filed his teeth and left him bleeding on a floor for several hours with no pain medication.

Afterward, I am told, they offered him yet another plea bargain and he again refused, stating that he will never plead guilty to something he did not do. Common sense says that there is no way he would still be holding out if he were in fact guilty.

So where, I wonder, are the bleeding heart liberals and the leftist controlled talking heads who pass themselves off as legitimate journalists, while lamenting the "torture" of known terrorists and the denial of "constitutional rights" to illegal aliens and foreign combatants? I mean, after all, Ashton is not a foreigner or a combatant and has not been convicted of anything.

This is a good old boy, American kid, who was heading for MIT until his life was destroyed for no reason. Now he has been denied any form of education for over a year and I am told that the Department of Education can do nothing, since to press the issue would be to interfere in a Federal investigation of a suspected terrorist.

It is my opinion that this whole mess constitutes a test by the Federal Government to see how the American people will react to such blatantly unconstitutional actions against one of our fellow citizens. Sadly, even most professing Christians and patriots have rolled over and looked the other way, for which I am ashamed of the whole lot of them.

I want very much to know what the patriotic people of Evansville and the rest of Indiana intend to do about this situation. What shall be the response of such locally based groups as the Freedom Makers and Constitution Now?

I do not believe that it is a coincidence that the Obama administration targeted a home school family, since the State needs mandatory public education if they are going to effectively control the minds of the next generation and usher in their social-communist agenda in an effective manner. How better to turn the tide of public opinion against the institution of home schooling, than to depict home schoolers as terrorists and the parents who teach them as liars?

It is my guess that the Obamamen have legislation planned for the near future that would either severely penalize those of us who opt to educate their children at home or render home education illegal in a wholesale fashion. I know that there are those here in Evansville and the surrounding area who will call me crazy, stating that the Federal Government lacks the constitutional authority to interfere in the personal choices of parents with regard to their children’s education, but to them I will only say, "Since when does that stop them?"

Nor do I believe that it was by chance that his family is composed of devout Christians, since it is in the best interest of the leftists to label all sincere believers as "radicals" and "dangerous" in the eyes of non-believers and to strike fear into our hearts so that we will not resist their future efforts to implement their sick plans. After all, how far is the act of illegally arresting a teenager whose mother opts to home school him, from that of illegally arresting and detaining every Bible believing individual who dares to speak out against unbiblical activities going on in our society and the government which directs it.?

Finally, I do not believe that Ashton would have become a target, had he had a living father and a mother healthy enough to defend him. After all, it takes a certain type of person, a type called a "lowlife," to raid the home of a poor, disabled widow and steal away her 119 pound child; and it takes a certain form of scum, a type called a "coward," to need eleven of his buddies to assist him in doing so.

Scripture warns adamantly against the mistreatment of widows and orphans. It also commands us as to how we are to care for them, which leaves those of us who are believers no other choice than to make some form of stand on Ashton’s behalf.

For my part, I am going to be sharing the situation with the world through my column, by contacting every political official I have ever interviewed to ask for assistance and I intend to organize a series of seminars and book signings, the proceeds from which will go directly to Mrs. Lundeby to help with Ashton‘s legal battle. My question to you is, "What will you do?"

You may be wondering why we here in Evansville and Southern Indiana should be concerned with the wellbeing of some kid from Oxford, North Carolina, whom we have never even met. Frankly, it is because if we as Americans and believers allow this situation to go unchallenged, then it is only matter of time before the child being taken is mine or yours."

For more information and updates; visit http://www.ashtonlundeby.com