#prior to this chaplains had to be married to serve | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

angelqueen04 · 4 years ago

Text

Hamliza Month, Day 12

@megpeggs @historysalt

Tryst Summary: Eliza knows she’s about to do something improper. The thing of it is - she doesn’t really care. Note: This entry is set in the same story-line as Day 10: Reunion, set several hours later.

Eliza stared at the closed door in front of her, gathering her nerve. It was quite late. The servants had all retired for the evening, and Eliza had already seen Cornelia off to bed. There was no one in the front hall to see her standing outside of the guest chamber that had been made ready for Alexander’s use, a folded quilt draped over her arm.

This wasn’t proper, she knew that. While her parents tended toward indulgence of their children, they most certainly would have drawn a line at one of their daughters being alone in a bedchamber with a man, even if they were engaged and to be married within the next week or two. Eliza knew very well that her mother would have been horrified that Eliza was even contemplating such an action.

The thought of her parents’ reaction did not serve as a deterrence, however. Eliza narrowed her eyes as she continued to eye the door, and she straightened to her full height. This wedding was for her parents’ sake. They had been deprived of witnessing Angelica’s wedding because of her elopement with Mr. Carter, and so they had turned their frustrated hopes and plans upon Eliza’s marriage. Eliza had agreed to it, if only for the sake of peace in the family, but truth be told, she would have gladly married Alexander months ago in that military camp before an army chaplain.

And really, if something did happen, did her parents have any room to complain, considering their own conduct in their youth?

Now feeling sufficiently justified in her actions, Eliza determinedly stepped forward and knocked on the door before she lost all of her courage and bolted back upstairs to her own room like the good girl she had been raised to be.

There was a faint shuffling inside the room, but after a moment, Alexander called out, “Come in.”

Swallowing past the sudden tightness in her throat, Eliza turned the doorknob and pushed the door open. She stepped inside, and quickly found Alexander. He sat at the small table, his spectacles perched on his nose as his pen flew over a sheet of paper in front of him. She quickly noticed that he had stripped himself down to just his linen shirt, his boots, and his trousers. The shirt fell open at the neck, giving her a faint glimpse of his chest, and her heart began to pound.

Alexander must have noticed that something was amiss when she did not speak, because he stopped writing and looked up. Upon seeing her, his eyes lit up in surprise. “Betsey? I thought surely you would have retired by now.”

Eliza cleared her throat, inwardly scolding herself for acting like a ninny. Stepping further into the room, she moved closer to the bed. “I brought you another quilt,” she told him, moving to lay it at the foot. “It can be quite drafty in here in the colder months, even with the fire. Papa has had work done on this room for years, and yet no one can never quite get it right,” she said. Before she could stop herself, she babbled on, “I suspect he will eventually stop using this room as a guest chamber and will find some other use for it and –”

Alexander’s gentle laugh cut her off and she turned to look at him again. He’d laid his pen down now, and had also removed his spectacles, dropping them carelessly onto the table. “Thank you, dearest,” he said in a low, soft tone.

Eliza could feel heat creeping up her cheeks as his gaze lingered on her. While part of her delighted in his attention, another part could not help but feel nervous. Trying to hide her anxiety, she turned her attention back to the bed. Next to the quilt she had just placed there sat Alexander’s blue officer’s coat. Impulsively, she picked it up, intending to hang it on one of the pegs in the corner of the room. As she did so, Eliza spotted a few tears and frayed edges. “Oh,” she said, “I can fix those! I –”

Suddenly, Alexander was there, mere inches from her. How had he moved so fast, and so quietly? Eliza marveled as he carefully took the coat from her hands and tossed it on a nearby chair. “It’s fine, Betsey,” he said, his voice still pitched low and quiet. He took her hands in his and raised them to his lips.

Eliza wondered if this was what it felt like to be a rabbit caught in a snare. She felt caught in Alexander’s gaze, unable, even unwilling, to look away again. When he lowered her hands, he continued to hold them in his own, brushing his thumbs over her fingers. She could feel herself growing ever warmer from the contact.

“When I saw you today, it was like seeing the sun for the first time in years,” he said. “I thought I was dreaming, for how could someone so fair be real?”

She raised an eyebrow, and shook her head. “I was a mess,” she protested. “Completely unfit to be seen!”

But he was adamant. “You were beautiful,” he maintained, and then he grinned at her. “You’re still the most beautiful creature I have ever beheld.”

“Flatterer,” she chided, but with no heat.

Alexander shrugged, completely unapologetic. “I’ve missed you so much these past months,” he told her. “You’ve occupied my thoughts so often that I was the subject of much teasing among the other officers.”

Eliza laughed. He had hinted as much in his letters to her, that she was distracting him even in their separation.

“And oh,” Alexander continued, “I had little to console me, since you wrote to me so infrequently!” He reached out, tucking a stray hair behind her ear. Then he leaned closer and whispered, his breath hot against her ear, “Did I not tell you I would punish you for such delinquencies?”

She shivered. It was true, he had said as much in one of his many letters. Eliza did not deny that she to wrote him far less frequently then he did to her, but there were perfectly logical reasons for that. Since Angelica’s marriage, it had fallen on Eliza and Peggy both to be their mother’s help-meets in seeing to the management of the household, and that occupied much of her time. There was also the preparations for their own marriage to consider. Much of the summer had been full of sewing, embroidering, and filling her hope chest with items that would come with her when she and Alexander established their own home.

However, that had not kept her imagination from running wild over the hints and promises Alexander had expressed in his letters. “There was much to do,” was all she managed to say.

He did not step back. Instead, his lips left her ear to brush along her cheek, moving closer to her lips. He did not kiss her, however, even though she ached for him to do so and he well knew it. Eliza could see the knowing glint in Alexander’s eyes. He was deliberately denying her.

“Much to do?” he repeated in a murmur. “So much to do that you had no time to think of me?”

Eliza shook her head. “I didn’t say that,” she replied. “I thought of you every day.” Oh, she had. And not all of it was fear for his safety. More than once, she had poured over his letters, reading them over and over again. She had devoured his words of love, but it had been the undisguised passion that had most occupied her. Alexander was explicit in his wishes and promises for their life together as man and wife, and his expressions had left her flushed and breathless more than once as Eliza imagined him keeping those promises.

“Did you, now?” Alexander asked. He leaned his forehead against hers, and Eliza’s skin prickled. He smiled slowly, knowingly. “And just what did you think, my charmer?”

Eliza knew herself to be naturally impulsive. It was why she was here now, in Alexander’s room, knowing what could very well happen. But this teasing was going to drive her mad if it did not end soon. And judging by the smirk on his face, Alexander knew it. Yet still he persisted in playing with her.

Narrowing her eyes, she replied boldly, “I thought of you, like this… and more.”

Alexander’s eyes widened at her forwardness, clearly surprised, and Eliza seized on the chance to turn the tables on him. Tugging her hands free of his, she slid them up his arms and to his shoulders. She could feel his hard, fit body beneath his linen shirt, could feel just how warm that body was, and it thrilled her. “I thought of your hands,” she continued, her voice lowering, “touching me.”

The comment was a command, and they both knew it. Obediently, his hands came to rest on her waist.

“I thought of your lips,” Eliza added. Now her tone dropped to just above a whisper as she closed what little distance remained between their bodies. “Kissing m –”

Eliza couldn’t really be certain who kissed whom. All she knew was that suddenly, their lips met with an urgency that sent a shock through her body. Was this what the scholars called ‘electricity’? Was this the substance that Dr. Franklin had studied? She didn’t know any of that, but Eliza did know that she wanted to feel it again and again, for the rest of her life, at Alexander’s hands.

She was so consumed by her desires that it did not register to Eliza that Alexander had nudged her into moving until she felt the backs of her skirt and legs brush up against the bed. She didn’t hesitate to sit – her knees were trembling so much they would not have held her upright for much longer anyway – and she kept a firm grip on Alexander’s shirt, ensuring that he followed her.

Goodness, but Alexander was good at this. Eliza could not claim any extensive knowledge about kissing, and thus had little prior experience with which to compare him to, but this… this was wonderful. His lips were a little chapped, but the sensation of them moving against her own was amazing and –

Oh! There was that his tongue teasing along the seam of her lips?! None of the few boys she had kissed in her younger days had ever tried something like this! Nor had Angelica ever mentioned any such thing! Eager to know more, Eliza parted her lips, happy to follow Alexander’s lead.

The sensation was not something Eliza had the words to describe. She could only feel, could only revel in it. She could only follow her body’s urgings, and so tightened her grip on Alexander’s shirt again and allowed herself to fall back fully onto the bed, bringing him down on top of her. His weight pressed her against the mattress.

In time, the need for air caused them to part, and Eliza found herself staring into Alexander’s eyes. They had a bright, almost feverish shine to them and his breath came in deep gasps. “My God, Betsey,” he groaned, dropping his head against her shoulder, “you are a sorceress! You’ve bewitched me!”

Eliza ran her fingers through his hair, tugging it loose from the ribbon holding it place. She was no witch, she knew. She was simply a woman in love with a man. She told him as much, and he laughed. “Oh yes, ‘tis love that has driven us to this point!” And then his lips were on hers again.

She could say without reservation that she loved kissing Alexander Hamilton, and she loved everything else that seemed to come with it. Eliza shuddered in delight as his own fingers began to run through her hair, knocking her cap loose and freeing the pins that held her dark locks in place.

It was around then that she noticed that her body was moving against him, nearly of its own accord. And if she was any judge, it was having an effect on Alexander. His hips were nudging against her thigh, and she could feel the evidence of his desire.

Eliza was a virgin, of course, but she was not unaware of what went on between men and women. She was the second child of a large family. Her youngest sibling was only four years old, and there was still yet another one on its way! It was no mystery that her parents enjoyed a loving, physical relationship. What was more, her mother seen to it that all three of her eldest daughters were educated in the mechanics of the act of physical congress. “The more you know,” she had told them, “the less frightening it will be when you begin your wifely duty. And if you’re wise enough in your choice of husband, you’ll be in the hands of a man who will care about your pleasure as much as his own.”

Eliza couldn’t say for certain if Angelica had chosen wisely, for her sister did not share that much detail about her married life, but she had never seen any signs of unhappiness whenever Angelica looked upon Mr. Carter. In any case, Eliza knew that she had definitely chosen rightly.

She shifted beneath Alexander, trying to slide one of her legs further under him, so that she might cradle his hips between her legs. But it was difficult, thanks to her cumbersome skirts and petticoats, and she almost growled in frustration.

The movement caught Alexander’s attention, and he pulled back from her, looking down. “Ah,” he said. He hesitated, indecision crossing his features for a moment, only to then be washed away by resolve. Then he rolled off of her completely, sitting up on the bed beside her.

Confusion filled her. Why was he stopping? She didn’t want to stop, and she could tell he didn’t either. What was going on? “Alexander?”

He turned toward her. He must have seen her mystified expression, because offered her a reassuring smile. “I think it best we stop now, Betsey.”

There was no hiding the regret in his tone. “Why?” she demanded. “We are engaged! Our marriage will happen within the next few weeks! Why should we deny ourselves what we both want?”

“I do want you, my love,” Alexander agreed, leaning back down on the bed beside her and resting his weight on one of his arms. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek. “I want you more than I have ever wanted anything else in all my life.” He kissed her forehead, a gesture more tender and soothing than passionate. “But I will not have anyone casting aspersions by sniggering about how I could not wait until we said our vows to claim you.”

There was something in his voice, something that made her wonder. “Who would dare say that?!” she said, suddenly furious. “No one in society would dare so much as whisper such a thing, not when so many couples from all walks of life have been known to anticipate their wedding night! My own parents –”

“I know, darling,” Alexander said, cutting her off as he caressed her cheek. “But it is a new world we are entering. The war won’t last much longer, and if we can hold out, we will have a new nation to build. One that is far more integrated than the colonies are now. Society in Albany and New York might not think much of such things, given longstanding customs, but what about a larger society, one that draws together people from other regions, who would have different views? People that we will have to stand and consort with?”

Eliza stared at him. She had not thought of such a thing. And part of her didn’t care to. What did she care what some impertinent dandy from South Carolina might think? And what business of theirs would it be if she took her betrothed to bed before their wedding ceremony? It was no one’s affair but their own.

But as she gazed up in his eyes, she could see Alexander’s resolve growing. He would not be moved, no matter how she pressed him. He had regained control of himself, and he wouldn’t be ruled by his instincts any longer.

Disappointment filled her, but Eliza resigned herself to it. “Very well,” she said, conceding the argument and looking away. “If you think it for the best, then we shall go no further.” She sat up then, pushing herself toward the edge of the bed, intending to leave him and return upstairs to the room she shared with Cornelia.

He likely sensed her distress, because Alexander followed her movement, sitting on the edge next to her and catching her before she could stand up to depart. “Hey,” he said softly as he caught her hands, urging her to turn in his direction.

She didn’t want this to turn into an argument, so she gave in and looked at him, letting him see her sadness. But as she looked at him more closely, Eliza could see Alexander’s own sense of upset, could see just what the decision was costing him as well. But neither of them said anything, and Alexander leaned forward to kiss her one last time. She met him halfway, pouring the last of her passion into it, letting him feel just how much she desired him. Perhaps it was petty of her, but Eliza wanted him to know what he was resisting, what he was giving up until the work of gathering her many, numerous relations was done.

It was Alexander’s turn to shudder under the force of her emotions. When they parted, he sighed, “Oh, you naughty minx, how you tempt me.”

Eliza smirked, and then rose up to go. Her cap had fallen from her head and onto the bed, so she reached out and took it. She didn’t bother trying to put it back on, knowing her hair was probably in quite the state. Instead, she said, “Goodnight, Alexander.”

“Goodnight, Eliza,” he replied. She had almost made it to the door when he spoke again, halting her in her tracks. “Eliza?”

She looked back over her shoulder questioningly, and found him giving her a wicked, mischievous grin. “If it helps, my darling, think of the wait as the punishment I promised you.”

Eliza blinked, not understanding him at first. But then their previous conversation returned to her and a mixture of indignation and amusement shot through her. Impulsively, she turned to face him fully and, after balling up her cap in her hands, she threw it at him. The material was thick enough that it had enough weight to go the distance, and it hit him square in the forehead.

She left then, grinning as she closed the door behind her on the sound of Alexander’s laughter.

-----

Just FYI, if you've ever visited the Schuyler Mansion, the room I've given to Alexander is now, I think, set up as the dining room. There is a YouTube video located here that covers a tour of the mansion, and the historical interpreter talks about how, in earlier years, that room may have been a bedchamber before it was transformed. That suited my purposes perfectly for this story, so I ran with it.

#my fanfiction #hamliza month #hamliza #elizabeth schuyler hamilton #alexander hamilton

43 notes · View notes

eriks-journal · 6 years ago

Photo

Sultanate Government Personnel Data

Name: Eirikir Lumiere (Erik) Mynhier Codename: Desertbreaker Service: Immortal Flames Unit: Second Flame Brigade, Air Squadron Red (Nickname: The Red Wings) Rank: Flame Captain Age: 39 Race: Hyur Highlander (50%), Midlander (25%), Elezen Wildwood (25%) Marital Status: Married (Cliodhna Eoghan, First Flame Lieutenant) Children: Vanya Caladhiel, (First Flame Lieutenant), Lenna Faris Mynhier Nationality: Thanalanian (formerly Gyr Abanian) Special Notes: Prosthetic Right Eye, Devout of Halone, Sabophobic

Profile History

{The following is a historical record and psychological profile Eirikir Lumiere Mynhier, here after refered to as “Subject” or “Mynhier”.}

Mynhier was born in the Gyr Abanian capitol city of Ala Mhigo in the year 1544 to Ulrich Mynhier (FILE NOTE: Subject’s father was a member of the Corpse Brigade, investigation into possible compromise found no unusual activity.) and Heather (nee. Fortemps) Mynhier.

In 1557 Subject was present for the Imperial invasion of Ala Mhigo. (FILE NOTE: Despite severe trauma at the hands of the Garlean Empire as well as numerous direct and clandestine encounters which have see the Subject receive many commendations, Subject’s spouse is a known former Imperial Operative currently allied to the Sultanate Government, made possible by an arrangement from Immortal Flames in exchange for tactical and technical information.) It was during the city’s counter offensive Subject’s father was killed.

One of the Subject’s two known siblings (Tietra Mynhier) was lost during the invasion. Subject’s mother extracted Mynhier, as well as, according to record, Subject’s maternal grandfather (Tellah Fortemps {FILE NOTE: Data Classified}), as well as two children from another family who lived in the Subject’s household, Cian Cadmus (FILE NOTE: Second Flame Lieutenant, MIA, medical test confirm Cain Cadmus shares fraternity with Mynhier through the Subject’s father.) and Lenna Cadmus. Subject’s mother was also responsible for bringing all listed to Gridania and negotiating sanctuary for the survivors with Stillglade Fane.

In 1560 Subject left The Black Shroud and relocated to Ul'dah, joining a mercenary unit (Crimson Watch) based there. Subject served with distinction both before and after sanctioned ties were established with the Sultanate Government. After sanctioned status, the unit’s specialty of covert action attracted the attention of the Thanalanian government, and the Subject’s record was reviewed and marked for possible commission with the implementation and resurrection of the Immortal Flames.

During this time the Subject’s was implemented in operations including the invasion of Castrum Novum (Operation Details: CLASSIFIED), as well as the Battle at Carteneau (Operation Details: CLASSIFIED). The results of the Carteneau lead to the full sanctioned status of the Crimson Watch, with full integration of the unit and the majority of its staff into the Immortal Flames. Subject’s rank prior to the integration (First Lieutenant) was carried over (First Flame Lieutenant). Subsequently the death of the Commanding Officer of the Crimson Watch, Ser. Juliette Monroe (Sultansworn, Posthumous: Flame Captain) as a result of the battle, making the Subject’s rank Flame Captain and granting command of the unit via Field Promotion.

The Crimson Watch was reorganized immediately, and re-designated Immortal Flames Squadron Red (later Immortal Flames Air Squadron Red), know by the unit’s handle designation “The Red Wings”. The primary missions following Immortal Flames integration were and are covert in nature, however over time the unit has changed and expanded in mission with the introduction of the unit’s five airships as well as technology and expertise obtained from the unit’s clandestine activities on behalf of IF Command and the Sultanate Government.

(UPDATE): Following the events of Operation: Black Eagle (Operation Details: CLASSIFIED), Subject and his remaining unit were granted permission to open selective recruitment.

Educational Data

The Subject has through both military experience as well as academic pursuits, has become very well educated. Maintaining a large base of general knowledge, Subject counts their primary subject mastery as Aeronautics, Military Tactics, Alchemy, and Geological Survey. The subject also maintains basic knowledge in Mammet Theory, Void Theory, Undead Theory, Conjury, and Industrial Manufacturing.

As of this date, Subject maintains a Master rank in the Alchemist Guild of Ul’dah. This rank was achieved following the Calamity. After his induction to the Immortal Flames and promotion to Flame Captain, Subject felt it was wise to “round himself out” beyond military knowledge and began to pursue teachers and classes in his spare time. It was during this time he began his studies in the Alchemist Guild, reaching the rank of Master five years later. (NOTE: Subject’s rank in the guild allowed him to enter his daughter into the guild, who has since become a medical doctor) Subject’s chemical specialty is in a non-medical branch, industrial chemicals and compound reactions.

Both Aeronautics and Military Tactics are an obvious result of his military career. Aeronautics was due in large part to his Unit’s high use of airships. While his Military Tactics, his knowledge of various weapons, as well as large and small strategies are all a result of various commanders, trainers, and leaders through his career.

Geological Survey however is both military and academic in origin. Geology became important to his duties for a year when his unit acted as an engineer corp aiding in natural disasters. To further his knowledge he sought study with the Miner’s Guild, gaining a mastery of land surveying and a basic understanding of geology in general.

Of his lesser knowledge, Mammet Theory is his favored subject. Beginning study at the Goldsmith Guild of Ul’dah as early as seventeen years old, due entirely to his encountering of, and befriending of the mammet Montblanc. Void and Undead Theory are required learning for any armed member of the Sultanate due to the high rate of encounter in Thanalan. Subject studied both subjects in the Arrzaneth Ossuary and the Sultansworn Headquarters respectfully.

His knowledge of Conjury is due entirely to his mother who was a member of the Conjurer’s Guild in Gridania for three years and a long practicing Conjurer before that.

Operational Data

The Subject maintains multiple duties tied to his service indirectly. These duties include, but are not limited to maintaining security of high level cargo, consulting the various Guilds of Ul’dah on request of Flame Command, maintaining open supply and diplomatic lines with contacts in the “Brothers of Ash”, and maintaining active support services (commissary, exchange, chaplain, shipping, postal, banking, and medical services) in his base of operations, Baron Hall.

Technical Data

{Due to the Subject’s unit’s technical expertise, Subject has been augmented using experimental technology based off of Garlean technology, due entirely to combat injuries.

Subject is also in possession of various devices, also based almost entirely by Garlean technology. The exception being two devices which use aethernet and linkpearl technology respectively.}

“Heart Of Stone”

Due to a series of injuries to the Subject, both physical and aetheric, the Subject’s heart had become to damaged to function. Requiring a replacement, a device was developed by the Alchemist Guild under the direction of Lieutenant Eoghan of the Immortal Flames, and Doctor [REDACTED]. Using the aetheric adaptation system used in the Subject’s artificial eye, combined with Garlean medical science, an artificial heart was developed that solves both the issue of pumping blood as well as regulating aether. The heart, nicknamed “The Heart of Stone” by some who worked on the project at the Alchemist Guild, is a marvel of engineering, science, and magic. The inclusion of the new heart has allowed all of the Subjects other augmentations to be re-tuned to the heart allowing for enhanced effects due to a more compatible and direct connection to the Subject’s aether well.

The Subject’s circulatory system is now automatically regulated for top efficiency, allowing the Subject to maintain almost superhyur levels of endurance by means of automatic annalists and corrections of blood pressure, oxygen, and lactic acid levels. This allows the Subject for example to maintain athletic activities for much longer without the need to stop then another of similar build and health.

As for the aetheric regulation, that function is straight forward. Acting like a mammet core or any power regulator in most forms of magitek, the unit prevents and controls power “peaks and valleys”, allowing the Subject full control over their body’s native aether reserves.

Grimlock

During the battle of Ghimlyt Dark, Subject’s injuries and previously damaged aetheric control left him with few options to defend himself. By luck he survived with the aid of a discarded gunblade. Upon return to Ul’dah, and following his medical recovery, the self same gunblade, updated and modified by the Red Wings’ Chief Engineer was gifted to the Subject.

The gunblade, named Grimlock, is an augmented M-XIV Scaevan model, modified to the Subject’s unique physiology. Modifications include use of the Subject’s artificial aether regulating heart for quick cartridge charging, targeting protocol via his artificial eye, an “aether lock” to prevent use of the weapon by anyone but the Owner, as well as other functions deemed classified by Flame Command.

Outsider

The Subject’s secondary weapon is based off of a Mark-II Garo design. Used as a backup sidearm, the Outsider as its called is far more compact then firearms common to Eorzea. The weapon operates in tandem with a utility pack, as is the case with even common firearms. Like the Grimlock, this weapon interacts with the Subject’s unique body augments in similar ways, including power supply, targeting and owner locking. Of note the utility pack has been enhanced to allow for mammet modification in combat situations

Montblanc

The Subject’s assistant and oldest continually present companion is the mammet Montblanc. The Subject found the mammet during his first mission with the Crimson Watch. Investigating a merchant caravan that had been attacked, Subject found the mammet broken and deactivated. Using free time to study Allagen writings on them and taking up study in the Goldsmith Guild, Mynhier managed to reactivate the mammet a year after finding him. Since then the small being has been a faithful all be it silent partner, due to its damaged and non-operational voice module.

Montblamc’s role in the Red Wings and the Immortal Flames as a whole is as Mynhier’s assistant and company clerk. The mammet is well suited to its purpose, being an expert in correlating, filing, and record keeping. Also it has seen a steady increase in combat due to a device the Red Wings developed that allows for interesting combat applications.

Crystal Eye

Subject lost their right eye due to a combat injury. An eye was crafted under classified contract with the Alchemist and Goldsmith Guilds under the supervision of the Immortal Flames. The eye is based on aetheric theory and a salvaged Garlean medical scanning device. Called the Long Yield Bilateral Resonance Apparatus or L.Y.B.R.A. for short, the device allows the user to scan a target and receive basic medical information. Though originally for medical use it also has combat potential, such as detecting living organisms hidden by magic, technology, or solid objects with an active range of twenty-five fulms. Once the eye is in place in the socket, its crystalline form self glamours by attuning to the Subject’s aetheric aura, making it look real. The aetheric link also allows the eye to function as a normal eye, granting the Subject 20/20 vision in his right eye.

Hearing Aid/Internal Linkpearl

An implanted linkpearl in the Subject’s right ear that allows for full hands-free use of his pearl, as well as at will enhanced hearing, allowing the Subject to hear at a high distance or pinpoint on a single voice in a crowd. Originally augmented due to hearing loss from a ruptured eardrum, the pearl itself was engineered to be undetectable by common scanning devices, and encrypts communications going in and out. The pearl also has basic tap features, allowing the user to tap into non-encrypted channels. This however requires government sanction.

The Red Wings Crest

A company emblem patch worn by members of the unit. Inside it however is a complicated aetheric construct device that utilizes both stored and ambient fire aether to construct what resembles a bird made of fire. The construct is nearly silent and resistant to conventional forms of detection. Though it seems living the construct is not. The ambient aether is used in the formation and no matter how much is present, no amount of aether can extend the charge in the patch. As a result the patch only has enough energy to maintain the construct for six minutes descending, and four minutes ascending, making the constructs only viable as a “ship to shore” transport. After use the patch recharges off the ambient fire aether in the present environment. At maximum charging, ambient charging takes four hours. Charging on a charge device requires only one hour.

Tipping Scales Earrings

A pair of earrings emblazoned with the seal of the Immortal Flames. Both earrings together form a small but powerful explosive device. The right holds half of the chemical mix and the charger, the left the other half and the fuse. Removed and pressed back to back creates the explosive which the Subject can use effectively to enter or exit a structure, remove small threats, or start a larger chain reaction as needed.

Tipping Scales Bracelet

A multi functional device that allows the Subject to conjure holographic displays allowing him to see critical data on the fly. Also embedded is a small emergency device that allows the Subject limited access to the Aethernet Teleportation System. The device is limited as in it can only be used in short range (around five hundred yalms) and only to return to an airship equipment with a receiver. It also only maintains enough of a charge for a single one-way use.

Tipping Scales Ring

A simple ring embedded with a simple heating element powered by a few grains of fire aether crystals. A common issue to Immortal Flames Officers, the self heating ring is used to sign and seal important documents. Subject’s ring has been modified, allowing the ring to burn at a much higher temperature, allowing it to act as a cutting tool.

CLOSING FILE REMARKS

It is the opinion of this profiler, after reviewing all relevant data that Subject Mynhier is fit for active duty and command. However due to numerous trauma both physical and psychological, it is my recommendations that the Subject be examined fully for any signs of functional deterioration.

Also a full review of First Flame Lieutenants Eoghan and Caladhiel in regards to possible corruption due to their unusual backgrounds as well as any undo sway they may have over the Subject. This seems prudent due to the Subject’s access to classified intelligence.

(UPDATE): Following the events of the Horsemen conflict, Subject’s aether was returned to his original levels, however a large degree of instability as been left. This disability has not effected his physical agility and strength, it has however effected the effectiveness of his aetheric combat skills. Subject has been noted to display random moments of drastic overpowered or under-powered effects and even sudden loss of power. This left Mynhier to his sidearm Outsider and his brute strength following a failure of his aetheric skills in sword and shield, his preferred form of combat. The failure occurred during the Battle at Ghimlyt Dark, nearly leading to Subject’s death, forestalled only by the quick acquisition of an Imperial gunblade.

Injuries during the stated battle have lead to further augmentation of the Subject. Weakening of the Subject’s aetheric control during the Horsemen event as well as the above stated injuries from combat (a grazing of the left atrial chamber of his heart) lead to an elegant solution by the Alchemist Guild and Flame engineers lead by the efforts of the Red Wings’ Chief Engineer. A magitek based artificial heart. Acting as both a biological pump for the Subject’s circulatory system as well as regulator for the Subject’s natural aether.

Due to this unusual situation, it is suggested that Subject be medically evaluated every three moons by the Alchemist Guild and not by his primary physician.

#ffxiv #rwings #balmung #roleplay

5 notes · View notes

maximumphilosopheranchor · 7 years ago

Text

Johannes Spithovius Monasteriensis

“He was the son of Englebert Spithoff of Münster, hence the sobriquet Monasteriensis. His date and place of birth are unknown, but his family had some connection with the Netherlands. His brothers lived in Amsterdam and he referred to Netherlanders as his countrymen, among them the London printer Reyner Wolfe, who came from Gelderland. Spithovius was initially a pupil of Philip Melanchthon at Wittenberg, but in 1542 he matriculated at the University of Copenhagen, where he proceeded as magister in 1544 and became Professor Paedigogicus in 1545. In 1549, however, he was dismissed from his chair for marrying a woman of dubious reputation. He did not return to Copenhagen until the autumn of 1554, when he was appointed Professor of Greek and, in 1557, Professor of Physic as well. He died in early middle age on 30 December 1563, possibly from the plague. During the nineteenth century, evidence began to emerge that Spithovius had spent the years 1549 to 1554 as one of the ‘flock of Hatfield’. The earliest published source is Princess Elizabeth’s only extant household disbursement book (covering Michaelmas 1551 to Michaelmas 1552). Spithovius is named in two entries: a payment for books on 18 May 1552 and a reward of £4 on 4 April. Agnes Strickland quoted the first entry in the biography of Elizabeth in the later editions of her Lives of the Queens of England, but without further comment. Spithovius is also mentioned in the exchange of letters between Dorothea of Denmark and Elizabeth I in 1559, which is calendared in the first volume of the Calendar of State Papers, Foreign Series, Elizabeth. The second and third volumes of the Calendar contain three letters from Spithovius to Cecil, written in 1560, in which he recalled his earlier service to the queen. Thanks to these references, some late nineteenth-century Danish historians noted that he had been in Elizabeth’s employ, but he has been completely overlooked in the extensive literature on her education. Spithovius wrote to Melanchthon from Copenhagen on 30 November 1554. This letter is both the only item of correspondence between them to survive and the fullest account of his English years. He informed Melanchthon that he had just been recalled to Denmark by Christian III, having served Elizabeth as tutor in Latin and Greek for five years. The princess was under great pressure from her sister to violate her conscience by participating in idolatry. Since she was familiar with Melanchthon’s works and admired him, Spithovius suggested that he send her a letter of consolation in her adversity. He concluded with his confidence that she would become the means for the restoration of the English Church. A few further details of Spithovius’ membership of Elizabeth’s household can be supplied. Thanks to his reference to his five years in her service, it can be suggested that he was the unidentified tutor recommended by Martin Bucer to Elizabeth’s chaplain Edmund Allen on 27 August 1549. Bernardino Ochino had recently proposed a tutor for her, who had not proved satisfactory, and in his stead, Bucer suggested a young man who had arrived in England ‘some weeks since’. This man had letters of recommendation to Archbishop Cranmer from Melanchthon and another ‘man of great learning’. Since Cranmer was unable to employ him, and Bucer doubted whether a university post could be found, he might well suit Elizabeth’s purpose. Spithovius replaced her best-known tutor, Roger Ascham, who left her service early in 1550 after trying to do so earlier. A single surviving letter from Spithovius to Ascham (25 December 1561), referring to their friendship and previous correspondence, suggests that, whatever the circumstances of his departure, Ascham did not regard Spithovius as a rival. In May 1560, Spithovius asked Cecil to remember him to his old friend ‘the Treasurer’ (of the Household), Sir Thomas Parry, who had been Elizabeth’s cofferer during the decade prior to her accession. Apart from his statement to Melanchthon that he had only recently arrived in Denmark and that it was at Christian III’s request, we know nothing of the circumstances of Spithovius’ departure from Elizabeth’s service. Mary’s proclamation of 17 February 1554 ordered all alien heretics to leave the realm, and any immunity that membership of Elizabeth’s household might have conferred would have been annulled by her imprisonment following Wyatt’s Rebellion. In April, Christian III appealed to Mary to release Miles Coverdale, and he may have recalled Spithovius at the same time.”

Adams, Simon and Gehring, D. S. (2013) 'Elizabeth I's former tutor reports on the Parliament of 1559 : Johannes Spithovius to the Chancellor of Denmark, 27 February 1559.', The English historical review., 128 (530).

#Simon Adams #D. S. Gehring #article #Johannes Spithovius #Elizabeth I #Elizabeth I of England #Elizabeth Tudor #Elizabeth's education #Elizabeth's lesser known tutor

2 notes · View notes

the-record-newspaper · 5 years ago

Text

The killing of Rhoda Hinson Part 20

The 2015 photo of Rev. Charles McDowell and his wife, Kim, was taken from his now defunct Facebook page.

By LARRY J. GRIFFIN

Special Investigative Reporter

For The Record

Charlie [Charles Mc Dowell] certainly was NOT a leader of God’s word…!! Charlie was a womanizer. — Congregant from Wilkies Grove Baptist Church who was a parishioner during Charles McDowell’s pastorate. All the above emphases are those of the individual who wrote the comments.

Rhonda Hinson and Betty Rucks McDowell Carter had one ironic commonality—they shared the same December 13th birth date. Born on a Wednesday in 1938; Ms. Carter—the then wife of Charles McDowell, and mother to Rhonda’s boyfriend, Greg—was 24-years older than the 19-year-old whom her son dated for two-years.

While serving as a pastor’s wife at Wilkies Grove, Betty was held in high esteem, according to a couple former church members who commented recently on the Remembering Rhonda Hinson Facebook page. One congregant averred, “Betty…was a wonderful Christian woman. Most of us loved that lady dearly.”

Another lifelong parishioner observed that she “…was a very smart women [sic] and always full of life…She came back to visit at our church on several occasions after moving to S.C. She was always welcomed with open arms. She was never depressed, was a hard worker in the church, and visited a lot of people. She was just a good and godly woman.”

But Ms. Carter’s marriage to Pastor McDowell eventually devolved into a troubled relationship eventually culminating in divorce.

“My wife and I were having marital problems in 1985-86. There was no way to save our marriage so we decided to separate,” Charles McDowell purportedly recollected in a July 29, 2019 missive to a respondent on the Remembering Rhonda Hinson Facebook page who had previously referred to him as, “an evil man, and very manipulating and plays the victim card.”

“First,” the reverend continued, “I resigned my church [Wilkies Grove Baptist] (1986); second, my wife packed up and move [sic] in with our daughter [Charlene] who lived in another city. I moved to Asheville. I had a friend in Asheville. He was a chaplain at the VA Hospital in Asheville. I worked part time as a chaplain at the VA Hospital and worked in the insurance field.”

The year? 1987—around the time that a mailbox in Long View was rented by an anonymous informant who continued to receive salacious mailings, bearing the name, Charles McDowell.

But in his recent letter, Pastor McDowell failed to mention the 1980 ad that he submitted to the Charlotte Observer, seeking female companionship and his relationship with one woman—Mary Kearns McRae Lowder—who answered it. According to Special Agent John Suttle’s interview summary, Ms. Lowder averred that he [Charles] “lied to her initially about being married and other things about his personal life. She described him as being ‘weird.’”

A former parishioner remembered that:

“His affair left many of his congregation in shock when it was discovered he was separating with his wife Betty after announcing he was resigning as pastor to the church [Wilkies Grove] he was serving at the time… No one suspected of his affair but someone seen them at a fish camp in Marion in the parking lot kissing just before he resigned. Right after that we learned he and Betty were separating. I think Betty was in shock of all of it. If she suspected she never let on that she knew about the affair.”

A day after Mr. McDowell penned his letter—July 30th—one of his Wilkies Grove congregants posted a corroborating observation on the Remembering Ronda Hinson Facebook page, “Charlie was certainly NOT a leader of God’s word!!….Charlie was a womanizer.”

At the inception of the murder investigation, the former Mrs. Charles McDowell was first interviewed by law enforcement less than two months after the killing of Rhonda Hinson—Feb. 16, 1982.—at Hickory Steel, where she was employed. She provided insight relative to the sequence of events inside the McDowell household during the late evening of December 22nd and early morning of December 23rd.

Professedly, the family retired at 11 p.m. Greg retired to his bedroom earlier, stating that he would be expecting a phone call from Rhonda. Betty averred that the phone rang about 12:30 a.m., waking them up. She couldn’t go back to sleep and implied that she was awake when the phone rang at 2:30 a.m., and Charles answered. (Later, she revised her statement to say that she remained awake for some time but had drifted off to sleep before the phone rang at 2:30 a.m.)

According to a written record of her statement, Betty recollected that Charles answered the phone and handed it to Greg. Her son came into their room and said, “Rhonda was not at home and asked them what Sherry’s phone number was. She did not know so Gregg [sic] called the Hinsons and got Sherry’s number. Gregg called Sherry and found out that Rhonda had been there when she had called him.”

Afterwards, Betty claimed, Greg asked her to call the hospitals, and she did. He importuned his dad to go out looking for Rhonda; he finally agreed, driving his 1981 beige, four-door Chevy Citation. In his July 29th letter, Pastor McDowell explained his rationale for his search for Rhonda Hinson:

“Greg asked me to go look for her…‘maybe she was in a car accident.’ I told Greg that the Hinson’s [sic] should go out and look for their daughter, but Greg said that they would not…and he begged me to go. I asked him to go with me, but he said that if she was in a car accident, he could [not] take seeing her. So finally I said I would go…”

“Charlie did not get home before Valdese PD called and told them [Greg and Betty] what happened,” Betty recollected. “Charlie called…from the Hinsons’ [later] and told [us] to come over.”

Betty McDowell Carter’s 1982 statement does not coincide with various established case facts and statements made by both Greg and Rev. McDowell, and even a subsequent conversation that she had with Judy Hinson.

One significant discrepancy is the claim that Greg called the Hinsons to obtain Sherry Pittman’s [Yoder] number that he subsequently dialed. According to telephone records obtained from Central Telephone by law enforcement, there was not a phone call to the Hinsons, originating from the McDowell residence, during the time-in-question on the early morning of December 23rd. In fact, the only call placed from the McDowell house to the Hinsons’ was three-minutes in duration, recorded at 6:06 p.m., the evening of the 23rd.

A second variance was noted regarding the time at which Betty indicated Rhonda called Greg that night. In her 1982 statement, she stipulated that the phone rang about 12:30 a.m. Likewise, when her son spoke to Bobby Hinson at 2:19 a.m, December 23rd, he told his girlfriend’s worried Dad that he thought Rhonda was at home when she called him at 12:30 a.m. However, during a recorded conversation with Judy Hinson on April 5, 1987, the former Ms. McDowell maintained that the phone rang about midnight—a 30-minute modification.

Perhaps the most insightful incongruence involved questions relative to Rhonda’s calling Greg from Sherry Pittman’s [Yoder] residence. The time discrepancy, notwithstanding, Betty stated—in both her 1982 statement and her 1987 conversation with Ms. Hinson—that her son had no prior knowledge of his girlfriend’s whereabouts when she phoned the early morning of December 23rd. In both instances she claimed that Greg believed that Rhonda was at home when she placed the call. Erroneously claiming that he had obtained Ms. Pittman’s phone number from the Hinsons, “Gregg [sic] called Sherry and found out that Rhonda had been there when she had called him,” his mother recounted in 1982.

However, Charles McDowell—in his July 29th missive—contradicts the asseverations made by his ex-wife and his son. In his words:

“Sometime during the night (I don’t remember the time) the phone rang and Greg answered it. I did not hear his conversation. I went back to sleep. Later that night the phone rang again…it was Mr. Hinson asking to speak with Greg. I told Greg he was wanted on the phone. I did not hear the conversation with Mr. Hinson. In a few minutes Greg came into our bedroom and told us that Rhonda was missing. He explained that Rhonda told him that she was leaving her girlfriends [sic] home and driving to her home but she never arrived.”

Surprisingly, Mr. McDowell was not the only person to aver his son knew Rhonda Hinson was at the Pittman residence when she phoned him. In a 1997 interview with Greg McDowell at his Hickory office on—ironically—December 23rd, Detective James Pruett asked the 34-year-old engineer to “…recall his memory on the matter and he recited his version of the story.” Detective Pruett provided a written record of that interview for the case files. He wrote:

“…The main discrepancy was he admitted Rhonda called him from Sherry Pittman’s home. He stated several times he knew Rhonda was at Sherry’s. His story to officers immediately following the incident was one of he thought she was at home when she called.”

Whether wittingly or inadvertently, Charles McDowell, in his letter dated July 29th of this year, also corroborated an earlier recollection that Sherry Pittman offered relative to her friend’s midnight phone call to her boyfriend. She said she overheard Rhonda say that, “I am leaving to go home now.”

Other than Sherry Pittman [Yoder] and her mother, Birdell, only one additional person knew that Rhonda Hinson was on, what turned out to be, a fateful car ride home—Greg McDowell.

0 notes

pope-francis-quotes · 6 years ago

Text

8th April >> (@Zenitenglish By Jim Fair) #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis Appoints New Bishop of Cork & Ross, Ireland. Fr. Fintan Gavin, of the Clergy of the Archdiocese of Dublin.

Pope Francis has appointed as bishop of Cork and Ross, Ireland, Fr. Fintan Gavin, of the clergy of the Archdiocese of Dublin, currently archiepiscopal chancellor. He will replace Bishop John Buckley, whose resignation was accepted by the Holy Father.

The bishop-elect was born in Dublin in 1966 and was ordained a priest in 1991. He holds a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

He has served in a number of roles, including chaplain and professor at the Saint Gerard School in Bray, and the Community School of Killinarden. Upon returning from Rome he was chaplain, assistant priest in the chancery of the archdiocese, and since 2017, chancellor of the Chancery of the Archdiocese of Dublin.

“Father Gavin will be missed in our Diocese where he is known for his experience, knowledge and personal warmth,” said Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin. “I am personally very pleased that his contribution has been recognized by Pope Francis and that he will have an opportunity to bring his gifts and wide pastoral experience to the Diocese of Cork and Ross. He will be missed by all of us in Dublin but I know he will minister to the very best of his ability for the people of Cork and the wider Irish Church at the Bishops Conference level.”

“As President of the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, I extend my very best wishes and blessings to Father Fintan Gavin who has been appointed today by Pope Francis as the next Bishop of Cork & Ross,” said Archbishop Eamon Martin. “In recent years I have come to know Bishop-elect Fintan as a gentle, friendly pastor, and a hardworking priest and canon lawyer. I look forward to working closely with him at the national level.”

Bishop-elect Gavin is the second eldest of seven brothers and sisters. His family roots are in Marino, Saint Vincent de Paul Parish, on the Northside of Dublin. His grandparents and ancestors were from Midfield, Co Mayo, Newtown, North Co Dublin, and Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh. He played hurling and football with Saint Vincent’s GAA Club, Marino, and was a member of Marino Athletic Club. Prior to his seminary formation in Clonliffe College, Dublin, Bishop-elect Gavin had begun training as a residential social worker in Our Lady’s Hostel, Eccles Street, Dublin, from September 1983 – August 1984.

Bishop-elect Gavin was a priest-teacher at Saint Thomas’ Community College, Bray, Co Wicklow (1991-1994); Chaplain, Saint Gerard’s Junior and Senior School, Bray, Co Wicklow (1991-1994); Parish Chaplain, Holy Redeemer Parish, Bray, Co Wicklow (1991-1994); Priest-teacher, Killinarden Community School, Tallaght, Dublin 24 (1994-1996); Parish Chaplain, Parish of the Sacred Heart, Killinarden, Tallaght (1994-1996). On the nomination of the Archbishop of Dublin, post-graduate doctoral study, Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome, residing at the Pontificio Collegio Portoghese, Rome (1996-2002); Vice- Chancellor, Archdiocese of Dublin (2003- 2017), Parish Chaplain, Saint Andrew’s, Westland Row, Dublin (2002-2010); Parish Chaplain, Our Lady of Victories, Ballymun Road, Dublin (2010 -present), Chancellor, Archdiocese of Dublin (2017- present); Chaplain in the Dublin diocese to the Italian speaking community (2015- present); A member of the ‘Embrace’ Team, inter-church marriage preparation in Dublin (2002 – present). Member of Dublin Diocesan Advisory Committee on Incardination of Priests (2010 – present); Member of the Case Management Committee of the National Board for Safeguarding of Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (2016 – present).

While serving in the inner city parish of Saint Andrews, Westland Row, Dublin, Bishop-elect Gavin collaborated in the initiative of the very successful ‘Second Chance Saturday’, Vigil Mass for Sunday, for those who had drifted from Church. This pastoral initiative invites and encourages people to give their faith a second change, reaching out through street ministry and offering social time and hospitality after Mass. Bishop-elect Gavin has led groups of young people to International World Youth Days in Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, and Krakow. He has participated as a chaplain to the Dublin Diocesan Children’s Pilgrimage to Lourdes each year during Easter Week, travelling with a group of children with special needs and their helper-volunteers to Lourdes, France, and collaborating with leaders who plan, fundraise and train together as helpers in advance during the winter and early spring months.

He worked with the music director over the last nine years, developing the Gospel Choir in Our Lady of Victories Parish, Ballymun Road, Dublin, who, with a young adult group, animate a Mass for Young People in the parish every Sunday evening. The choir was chosen to lead the liturgical singing during Pope Francis’ meeting with engaged and newly married couples at Saint Mary’s Pro-Cathedral, Dublin, during the 9th World Meeting of Families in Ireland in August 2018.

The diocese includes Cork City and part of County Cork. It has a Catholic population of 220,000 across 68 parishes and its patron saints are Saint Finbarr and Saint Fachtna.

8th APRIL 2019 16:08CATHOLIC CHURCH

0 notes

thewebofslime · 5 years ago

Link

Andrew’s tribute to the chaplain at Canadian prep school he attended prompted the man’s alleged victims to finally come forward Britain’s Prince Andrew, Duke of York, attends a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Bruges on September 7, 2019 in Bruges. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP) (Photo credit should read JOHN THYS/AFP/Getty Images) By MARTHA ROSS | [email protected] | Bay Area News Group PUBLISHED: September 18, 2019 at 7:10 am | UPDATED: September 18, 2019 at 8:35 am Pollsters have ranked Prince Andrew as the least popular royal; he’s known for being boorish, self-centered and tone-deaf to criticism. Even a positive quality attributed to him — loyalty �� has often gotten him in trouble, most notably when it came to his desire to stay friends with Jeffrey Epstein. In fact, Andrew stuck by the now-deceased Epstein even after the multimillionaire financier was first investigated for sex trafficking and was convicted in 2008 of solicitation of a minor. Prince Andrew, Duke of York, and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (Photos by Getty Images and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office) “You’re such a puritan,” Andrew told a friend who urged him to cut ties with Epstein, according to a 2011 Vanity Fair report. “Leave me alone. Jeffrey’s my friend. Being loyal to your friends is a virtue. And I’m going to be loyal to him.” It turns out that registered sex offender Epstein is not Andrew’s only longtime friend who was accused of sex crimes against minors. A 2017 investigative report by the Canadian magazine Maclean’s showed that the Duke of York also stayed loyal to an Anglican priest who was the chaplain at the elite prep school he attended as a teenaged exchange student 40 years earlier. That priest, Keith Gleed, was later accused by at least five former students of sexually abusing them when he worked at Lakefield College School in Ontario from 1974 to 1980, when the school was an all-boys academy and when Andrew attended the school. Indeed, it was Andrew’s tribute to Gleed at a 2008 ceremony at Lakefield that prompted the former students to come forward to detail abuse allegations they had long kept secret, Maclean’s reported. Andrew had come to Lakefield in 2008 to deliver a hand-carved baptismal font for the school chapel, Maclean’s said. The font was carved from a rock from his mother’s Balmoral Castle in Scotland. During the blessing ceremony, Andrew and others fondly remembered Gleed as “the confidant of the troubled, the defender of the bullied and a true friend to all.” But Gleed, who died in 2001, was anything but a defender and “true friend” to certain boys at Lakefield, according to Maclean’s. “He was a pedophile who preyed on vulnerable young students and took his secret to the grave,” Maclean’s reported. In lawsuits filed by two of Gleed’s alleged victims, one man said he was “pained and haunted by the knowledge that a pedophile like Father Keith was permanently honored with a baptismal font on the school’s premises,” according to Maclean’s and local news site Mykawartha.com The alleged victim, identified by Maclean’s and Mykawartha as Gregory, said that reading about Andrew honoring Gleed with the font left him devastated. “This reinforced ideas in me that no one would believe me, that I was insignificant, and that the abuse of me would not matter,” he said. In its defense to the lawsuits, Lakefield said it did not know about the allegations against Gleed when he was their chaplain or when Andrew paid tribute in 2008. The allegations were detailed by the students’ lawsuits and a third-party investigation launched by the school several years after Andrew’s visit. The investigation concluded in 2015 that the disgraced chaplain violated “the trust and authority” of his position and “afflicted harm on innocent students by engaging in sexual misconduct.” However, it appears that the Anglican Church of Canada may have been aware of Gleed’s abuse of before his death, reported Mykawartha.com. The church received a sexual assault claim in the early 1990s, which prompted the church to strip Gleed of his official capacity as a priest, the site said. Andrew, through Buckingham Palace, declined to comment on the allegations against Gleed when contacted by Maclean’s in 2017. Two years later, Andrew and the royal family are mired in a scandal involving the duke’s friendship with Epstein, which continued at least through the end of 2010. The registered sex offender died by suicide Aug. 10 in a Manhattan jail where he was awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. The Epstein scandal has left many in the British public and media expressing outrage and dissatisfaction with Andrew’s brief comments, in which he said he was unaware of the financier’s alleged crimes and denied that he himself had sex with one of his alleged underaged “sex slaves.” Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed in a 2011 interview and in a 2015 lawsuit of being forced by Epstein to have sex with Andrew three times when she was 17. Outside a Manhattan court room last month, Giuffre told reporters that Andrew “knows exactly what he’s done, and I hope he comes clean about it.” Some charities for whom Andrew is a patron have sought to distance themselves from the duke. Prince Charles reportedly is angry that his younger brother, the eighth in line to the British throne, has dragged the family into his Epstein tawdriness, Vanity Fair reported. For the royal family, there also have been embarrassing revelations about Andrew inviting Epstein to stay at Balmoral Castle in 1999 and to attend birthday parties at Windsor Castle for himself and Prince William in 2000 and for Princess Beatrice in 2006. Nonetheless, it appears that the royal family officially is sticking by Andrew, with Queen Elizabeth allowing herself to again be photographed with him on Sunday, riding in the back of a car to church near Balmoral Castle, the Daily Mail reported. Andrew reportedly is Elizabeth’s favorite son. The queen made a similar church-ride gesture toward her son the day after Epstein’s death. On the other hand, the royal family has not posted to its social media accounts any photos or news about Andrew at official engagements, not since the end of August when he attended the Royal Regatta in Devon. A tweet about Andrew at the regatta invited a deluge of critical comments. Andrew often said his six months at Lakefield school were “life-changing,” Maclean’s reported. Lakefield is one of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious private schools, charging up to $57,000 per year for students who live on campus. It went co-ed in 1989 and counts among its alumni Felipe VI, King of Spain, Emmy-nominated actor Will Arnett, and a number of Canadian politicians. The Duke of York has retained strong ties to Lakefield, has attended school reunions and visited in 2012 when he was named honorary chairman of its charitable foundation, the Peterborough Examiner reported. Andrew also stayed in touch with the “funny and charismatic” Gleed, who had been well-known on campus for leading morning services and for being a residence supervisor, Maclean’s said. When Andrew married Sarah Ferguson in 1986, Gleed led a group from Lakefield who attended the wedding at Westminster Abbey. Andrew also traveled to Canada to visit the priest in the hospital shortly before his death from cancer in 2001, a “testament of true friendship,” according to Gleed’s obituary in the school newsletter, Maclean’s reported. Two of Gleed’s victims claimed in lawsuits that Gleed befriended them and listened to them talk about their troubles at home or at school. The victim identified as Gregory said he was in Grade 9 when he began meeting with Gleed. During those visits, Gleed gave him sherry and often hugged and stroked his head. During their last meeting, Gregory said he woke up on the floor disoriented with Gleed lying across him. Gregory said he later realized he had been raped, a trauma that he dealt with by developing a drinking problem. He also was regularly plagued by suicidal thoughts. “Being abused by Father Keith fundamentally changed who I am,” Gregory told Maclean’s. “Since the abuse, I have felt there was something intrinsically wrong with me. I have felt ashamed. I thought that I’d be blamed and no one would believe me.” Another victim said Gleed began molesting him when he was in Grade 6. As a result, he developed behavioral problems that led to him being asked to leave the school. After leaving Lakefield, Gleed served in a number of Anglican parishes in the Toronto area. Maclean’s reported that the memorial font delivered by Andrew was removed from the chapel in 2014. In response to the lawsuits, Lakefield denied it had any knowledge of “any alleged impropriety on the part of Father Gleed” prior to Andrew presenting the baptismal font. “Once the allegations were brought forward, (the school) immediately put in place the necessary resources to support the victims and the independent third-party investigation it initiated,” the school said. Lakefield also made counseling available to victims who came forward, shared information about the allegations with parents and alumni and encouraged all parities to participate in the investigation. “The safety and well-being of its students is always the school’s highest priority,”

#TheWebOfSlime

0 notes

douglasacogan · 6 years ago

Text

Sad start to what should become happier compassionate release tales after passage of FIRST STEP Act

Though the (clumsy) increase in good-time credits has received considerable attention since the passage of the FIRST STEP Act (see prior posts here and here and here and here), I find the change to the administration of so-called compassionate release rules to be among the most fascinating elements of the new legislation. If legislative enactments can have "sleeper provisions," I would call the compassionate release changes the sleeper provisions of FIRST STEP. This four-page FAMM document, titled "Compassionate Release and the First Step Act: Then and Now," reviews some basics of the changes made by the FIRST STEP Act for those eager for a short accounting of before and after.

Today's New York Times covers this issue through one particular sad story under the headline "A New Law Made Him a ‘Free Man on Paper,’ but He Died Behind Bars." This article is worth reading in full, and here are excerpts:

At a federal courthouse in Tennessee, a judge signed an order allowing an ailing inmate to go home. But he died in a prison hospice before he heard the news.

At his wife’s home in Indiana, as she was getting a wheelchair, bedpans and other medical equipment ready for his arrival, the phone rang. “It was the chaplain,” said the wife, Marie Dianne Cheatham. “He said, ‘I’m sorry to have to tell you.’ And my heart fell through the floor. I knew what he was going to say.”

For years, terminally ill federal prisoners like Ms. Cheatham’s husband, Steve, have in theory had the option of what is called compassionate release. But in practice, the Bureau of Prisons would often decline to grant it, allowing hundreds of petitioners to die in custody. One of the provisions of the new criminal justice law, signed by President Trump on Dec. 21, sought to change that, giving inmates the ability to appeal directly to the courts.

Mr. Cheatham, 59, did just that, filing a petition last month so that he could leave prison in North Carolina and go home to die. He became one of the first to be granted release under the new law. But then came the harsh truth that made so many families pin their hopes on the law’s passage in the first place: Days and even hours can mean the difference between dying at home or behind bars.

Created in the 1980s, compassionate release allowed the Bureau of Prisons to recommend that certain inmates who no longer posed a threat be sent home, usually when nearing death. But even as more and more Americans grew old and frail in federal penitentiaries, a multilayered bureaucracy meant that relatively few got out.

A 2013 report by a watchdog agency found that the compassionate release system was cumbersome, poorly managed and impossible to fully track. An analysis of federal data by The New York Times and The Marshall Project found that 266 inmates who had applied between 2013 and 2017 had died, either after being denied or while still waiting for a decision. During the same period the bureau approved only 6 percent of applications. Many state penal systems, which house the majority of American inmates, have their own medical release programs with similar problems.

“It is a system that is sorely needing compassion,” said Mary Price, the general counsel for Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which advocates criminal justice reform.... The law’s passage has caused a scramble to use the new appeal process for compassionate release, said Ms. Price, whose organization has worked to arrange lawyers for some of those inmates. “There’s a road map now for this, and a way home for people that we’ve never seen before,” Ms. Price said.

Before the First Step Act passed, Ms. Cheatham followed its fortunes closely, hoping it could lead to a shortened sentence for her husband, whose health was deteriorating. Last fall, he was diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer and told he had only a few months to live. In mid-December, he applied for compassionate release, Ms. Cheatham said.

The new law requires that prisoners be told within 72 hours of a terminal diagnosis that they may apply for compassionate release, and that the Bureau of Prisons aid those who wish to apply but cannot do so on their own. After a few weeks, Ms. Cheatham had heard nothing back. The Bureau of Prisons declined to answer most questions about Mr. Cheatham’s case, but did say that it had not received his application for compassionate release until Jan. 11. According to the judge’s order, the request was filed on Dec. 13.

A senator’s office said the government shutdown would make it difficult for them to provide immediate help. Finally, she called a federal public defender in Tennessee, where her husband had been sentenced, who told her about the new process allowing an appeal after 30 days. Within a few days, on Jan. 25, they filed a preliminary motion for immediate release.

It was to be a homecoming to a home Steve Cheatham had never seen. The Cheathams had met and married after he was already in prison, serving a nearly 16-year sentence for a series of bank robberies in 2006. According to an F.B.I. agent’s account, Mr. Cheatham passed notes to tellers at three banks in Tennessee, making off with about $13,000. The agent made no mention of any weapon....

On Jan. 30, the formal request for compassionate release was filed, and the next day, a judge signed the order to send Mr. Cheatham home. Ms. Cheatham got the news shortly after 1 p.m. “My heart just was so full of joy,” she said. “I called everybody I could think of to tell them,” including the prison chaplain, whom she asked to deliver the good news to her husband.

Later that afternoon, the chaplain called back. Mr. Cheatham had died before he could tell him about the judge’s order. Ms. Cheatham was devastated, but expressed her hope that on some level, Mr. Cheatham may have sensed the news. “At least,” she wrote to a supporter, “he died a free man on paper.”

Some of many prior related posts:

New report assails (lack of) compassionate release in federal system

Effective commentary urges greater us of "compassionate release"

DOJ review confirms government waste and mismanagement of BOP's handling of compassionate release

Inspector General report highlights problems posed by aging federal prison population

Spotlighting BOP's continued curious failure to make serious use of "compassionate release"

Another sad account of how US Bureau of Prisons administers compassionate release program

Notable new push to push for expanded use of compassionate release programs

Lamenting latest data on how federal Bureau of Prisons administers its compassionate release program

Recommending FAMM's great new report "Everywhere and Nowhere: Compassionate Release in the States"

Effective (and depressing) report on compassionate release (or lack thereof) in Wisconsin and nationwide

from RSSMix.com Mix ID 8247011 https://sentencing.typepad.com/sentencing_law_and_policy/2019/02/sad-start-to-what-should-become-happier-compassionate-release-tales-after-passage-of-first-step-act.html via http://www.rssmix.com/

0 notes

benrleeusa · 6 years ago