From the August 2005 Idaho Observer:

Goodbye, George. May justice reign in the next world

George Sibley

A letter from George Everette Sibley arrived August 6. It was dated August 1 and postmarked August 2. The state of Alabama executed him August 4. It was the strangest letter either Ingri or I had ever received—until we opened it up. George commented on the July edition of the paper per his semi-regular pattern over the last couple of years. He also thanked us for trying to encourage others to help the Alabama governor stay his execution, included 20 stamps for future mailings and commented that he hoped to be writing to us again. That kind of class, dignity and thoughtfulness is uncommon in our modern world. All I can say is God must have decided that George, who began exposing corruption in Orlando and researching sovereignty issues before Waco and Ruby Ridge, had contributed enough to the cause of freedom, from behind the razorwire, and allowed the evil bastards to take his flesh so that his soul could find the peace it deserves.

The story of what happened to George is rather long and is available electronically as is the 4,000-word appeal George sent to Alabama Governor Bob Riley. If you would like to see them, send us an email with "George Sibley" in the subject line (Note that The IO office will have a skeleton crew until Sept. 15).

It has always been George’s nature to positively effect the world around him. Therefore I am going to use the memory of George as a means to state a few things that have been on my mind regarding the penal colony that has become our formerly free country.

Over the years we have been blessed with the elation that comes when one of "our" prisoners is released. The opposite emotion comes when we find out one of "our" prisoners is going to die-for crimes they did not commit.

First it was Steve Boggs who was sentenced to die when the evidence shows he did not kill three Hispanic Jack In The Box employees in Phoenix on May 19, 2002. After corresponding with Steve for about a year, we found out he received the death penalty at sentencing. Something has to be done for Steve Boggs. He is one of us, a good guy who understands the innerworkings of government and he did not kill anyone.

Then we found out about George Sibley. We have been corresponding with him for over two years and just found out that he had been on death row for 12 years and was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection August 4.

George’s letters to us have always been insightful, spiritually-centered and extremely well-written. We didn’t know why he was imprisoned—we generally do not ask prisoners why they are in prison as, for many reasons, it’s best for them to tell us when they are ready. George never said too much about what landed him in prison and we did not go out and "Google" his name. We just looked forward to his letters and the marvelous insight they provided.

Then we received an email from a woman promoting a petition drive to stay George’s execution. That prompted us to investigate the Sibley case. In doing so we have been able to discern the cause-and-effect of events that resulted in George’s death penalty. Following is a sketch of those events:

George and Lynda had met at Libertarian functions in Orlando in 1992. Lynda was in the process of being divorced from a wealthy, older man with whom she had a nine-year-old son. In the amicable divorce, Lynda had custody of the boy and kept the house. George and Lynda began working on projects together—a pro-liberty newsletter, a local radio program exposing local corruption and held meetings to discuss sovereignty issues such as "right to travel."

Soon they fell in love and got married (without a state license). The ex-husband became unhappy with the divorce arrangement and wanted to talk to Lynda. George, a peaceful, level-headed individual, agreed, but wanted to be there, too. At one point, the ex got very angry and charged at Lynda, who whipped out a pocket knife which gave the ex a minor cut. The three, recognizing that emotions got out of control, agreed to resume the discussion another time. George and Lynda left after helping the ex bandage the wound.

The police came and arrested George and Lynda at 2:30 a.m. The ex was suddenly claiming that the two had broken into his house and attacked him. They were found guilty at a kangaroo trial and were free while awaiting sentencing. A sheriff’s department insider who liked George and Lynda and respected what they were trying to do, called up and explained that they had made some very powerful people angry and that they had better leave the area. He said that they would each get three years in prison and would never get out alive. They believed the caller.

So they and the nine-year-old boy left the state. Several weeks later, Lynda needed to make a phone call and used a phone booth at the WalMart in Opelika, Alabama. While George and the boy were waiting in the parking lot, a nosy woman noticed that it appeared as if the family was living out of their car and that this was not a healthy way for a young man to grow up. She found off-duty cop Roger Motley and told him about George and the boy. Motley, who was reportedly a very corrupt cop who had been confined to a desk, reluctantly approached George and asked to see his driver’s license. George, who knew that Motley had no idea (this was 1993) he was a fugitive from Florida, calmly explained that he did not have one because he was not a commercial driver but did have some other ID and paperwork proving his right to travel. Motley did not want to hear about George’s right-to-travel, but spotted the concealed handgun George was carrying. He immediately drew his service weapon and behaved as if he were going to shoot. George took evasive action and both began shooting (neither hitting the other). Lynda heard the shots and came running, with her handgun drawn. Motley whirled around and, before he could shoot, she shot him right in the chest. He got up, hopped into his car and drove away. He later bled to death.

George and Lynda began driving and soon they were surrounded. They let the boy go so he would not get hurt and remained in the car for over five hours. Their entire lives were flashing before their eyes and they talked about everything while keeping the police at bay by threatening to shoot each other. Finally, the police said they would give them five more minutes and then they would fire tear gas and take them out, dead or alive. Not wanting to abandon the boy in this way, even if they were to spend the rest of their lives in prison, they came out and faced the music. Both received convictions at kangaroo trial and the death penalty at sentencing. Lynda was executed by electrocution in 2002. As of August 4, 2005, George still had an appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court and additional remedies yet available to him through the Alabama Supreme Court.

Those remedies, of course, are moot now.

For those who regard (now former) Chief Justice Roy Moore as a hero for his stand on keeping the Ten Commandments in his courtroom, Judge Moore was in a position to prevent these patriots from being executed or even, possibly, order new trials for both George and Lynda—and did nothing.

Above is the last letter George will ever send to us. However, for as long as The IO remains in print and for as long as prisoners keep writing to us, page 20 will be reserved for the them. I only wish that I had more hours in the day that I could dedicate to corresponding with the good men and women behind whom corporate monsters masquerading as public servants have wrongfully closed prison gates. There are about a million of people now in state and federal prisons who are either non-violent or wrongfully convicted. The government wants us to forget about them. Therefore, we should not.

The Idaho Observer has a (sadly) thriving prison "ministry." We send copies of the newspaper to prisoners for barely above the cost of postage and we dedicate a page each month to letters generated from "behind the razorwire." The mostly men prisoners inspired to write commonly display excellent communications skills coupled with expertise in certain areas and remarkable insight. It is an honor to publish the thoughts and observations from these reflective free men whose fate landed them in government cages.

There are many good people prison right now who understand information contained in The IO and appreciate the hope its editors hold for the day when honorable men and women assume control of public policy. So many, in fact, our correspondence-intensive ministry is expanding to proportions that are difficult to keep up with. But as long as we are being written to we will write back (as often as is humanly possible)—for two main reasons: We love these guys and their letters tell a story of America that remains hidden from view behind guard towers and razorwire.

Prison is the government’s grand disappearing act: It can take ordinary people who suddenly become the subject of headlines and popular public opinion to total obscurity in the time it takes to close the doors on them.

Somebody has to be there for these guys. There are a million of them who did nothing to harm another person or his property. That means there are a million stories each day that could prove in a real court the following claim: Our government is run by men and women who, in their allegedly public capacity lie, falsify evidence, perjure themselves and fix due process in order to convict, incarcerate and execute our innocent/non-violent brothers, sisters and neighbors.

We should all be paying more attention to prisoners and what they are telling us. They are living the nightmare that has become life in America—the secret America as administrated by fawning, ladder-climbing monsters who harvest people by taxing/regulating/citing/fining or imprisoning them to be part of the prison labor pool.

By all reports that matter, half the guys in prison are innocent of their conviction or heavily sentenced for non-violent offenses and do not belong behind bars. (If) released, they bear the scars and social stigma of being convicts; they cannot vote, hold public office, possess weapons or do anything to make government angry in violation of parole, probation or three-strikes rules.

This America needs to be exposed. The best way is to talk to the prisoners through letters and begin sharing the contents of those letters with anyone who will listen. If you want to help us and the imprisoned expose the real America—the one where any one of us can be made to disappear at any time for almost any fabricated reason—contact The IO and we will gladly help you find a prison pen pal.August 1, 2005

Dear Don and Ingri:

Thanks for the July edition of The Idaho Observer, for your kind thoughts and prayers and your efforts to cause the governor to issue a reprieve. Enclosed are 20 stamps since my friends have responded to my request for stamps in abundance.

Do avoid the word "vehicle" when referring to an automobile or car. That word indicates a device in commerce—check my "Right of Mobility" article.

The SSN article is good, especially since it confirms my suspicion that Selective Service also depends upon the SSN. Revoke you signature from the application, for the cause of fraud—non-disclosure of enslaving features of the SSN.

I am not in favor of the "Fair Tax" scheme, either. No tax on the people was in place, other than fleetingly, until 1913., and it’s not needed now if the government is reduced in scope to its originally-intended functions.

My situation now: My petition for rehearing in the Supreme Court of the U.S. has been distributed to the justices for consideration; the Supreme Court of Alabama denied my stay petition, which denial will be appealed—tomorrow—to the Supreme Court of the U.S. and; Governor Bob Riley hasn’t yet stated whether he will grant a reprieve. And Carla Crowder of the Birmingham News today ran a garbage article, including quotes from some parasite named Mark Pitcavage [some may remember Pitcavage, an electronic personality no one we are aware of had ever actually seen, from a few years back when he named himself the supreme commander of the North American theatre of militia operations or some such nonsense] which portrays Lynda and I badly. It is libelous, at least in part. I gave Crowder no comment. Pitcavage invented some "group" he falsely said Lynda and I belonged to. We’ve been lied about from the first.

I am hoping to be able to write again.

God bless,

George Everette Sibley