Blue Moon Howl for Child Safety!

On Thursday, December 31st. at 6pm, the public is invited to participate in the inaugural Blue Moon Howl for Child Safety on behalf of Heavenlee-Angle Johns.

The Blue Moon Howl for Child Safety will take place at 645 Wabash Avenue in downtown Terre Haute at the Crossroads Plaza in front of the parking garage.

The event will last approximately 15 minutes and is intended to bring more public awareness of the dangers of not having a child properly restrained in a certified and properly installed child safety seat.

The full moon of December 31st is known as a Blue Moon since it is the second full moon in a calendar month. Participants will be encouraged to howl at the full moon in honor of those who have perished or been critically injured as a result of improper child safety seat use in automobiles. In addition, the howling honors those who serve as rescue personnel and see first-hand the results of these injuries.

Heavenlee-Angle Johns was critically injured in an automobile accident on December 13th and is currently recuperating at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. She was permanently and totally paralyzed as a result of the accident, which was compounded by the fact that, according to Indiana State Police reports, she was not secured in a proper child seat and was restrained only by a factory-installed lap belt.

The Blue Moon Howl for Child Safety is sponsored by C.H.A.N.C.E.S for Indiana Youth and the Safe Kids program, the Terre Haute Children's Museum, Ryves Youth Center at Etling Hall, the Indiana State Police and the family of Heavenlee-Angle Johns.

It is the first of what will be a series of events over the next 12 months designed to promote child safety seat awareness and inform the public of the dangers of not securing children in a properly secured and inspected child safety seat.

The event is free and open to the public. It will take place irregardless of weather conditions. Everyone is encouraged to attend and support the family of Heavenlee-Angle Johns, rescue personnel of the Wabash Valley and anyone who has lost a child to unintentional, yet preventable childhood injuries recieved in an automobile accident.

Justice for Heavenlee (Updated)

On Sunday night, Dec. 13, at about 9:13 p.m, our granddaughter Heavenlee Johns was critically injured in an auto crash. The following story tells it better than we can:

Young child suffers life threatening injuries in Sunday crash

Before this event, she looked like this:



Following the crash, she looked like this:





Update: She will never walk again or move anything again except her mouth and eyes. She has a 50/50 chance of breathing on her own again but most likely infection after infection will set in and eventually end her life. As of now, we await a decision by the mother regarding life support continuance.

This is direct result of negligence on the part of the driver, Cynthia Bullock and her daughter, Eugenia Bullock, mother of Heavenlee, both of whom failed to secure our granddaughter in a child safety seat, as required by law (see link below).

IC 9-19-11-2

If this enrages you anywhere near as much as it does us, please join us in demanding justice for Heavenlee by contacting Terry Modesitt, Vigo Pounty Prosecutor 812-462-3305
We desperately want both Cynthia Bullock and her daughter, Eugenia Bullock, mother of Heavenlee held accountable for their negligence and irresponsibility.

The Mayors' Office is another good place to voice your concern for justice. Mayor Duke may be contacted at:

812-232-9467
or by email at: Mayor@terrehaute.in.gov

You may also contact the local Child Protective Services and urge them to insure Heavenlee is given some measure of justice.

Director: Pamela M. Connelly
The DCS Office in Vigo County; Region 8
812-234-0100
Fax: 812-234-3182

We recall with horror the debacle of Judge Barbara Brugnaux and her treatment of Courtenay Scott, who spent no time in prison for the reckless homicide death of 2-year-old Alexis Williams. Scott was sentenced to two years probation for the class-C felony she committed May 22, 2002.

We thought with her ouster by means of the public vote, that the local judicial system would return to a more balanced output in its treatment of suspected and/or convicted child abusers.
This situation now provides the citizens of Vigo County the chance to remind those within the law community that we remember well and will not forget those who have suffered at the hands of negligent caregivers.

Please join us in insuring justice is served for even the most innocent of our own.

James & Amanda Wallace

Death of a Mentor!

I learned today that last week, David Cassady, former Director of Education for The Children's Museum of Indianapolis was found murdered in his home, apparently the victim of a murder-suicide involving his wife Ruth.

Rather than go into details, which at this point is extremely difficult for me to do, I post the link to this most awful story.

"Police investigate apparent murder-suicide"

This thing bothers me horribly as I worked with David Cassady for nearly 4 years while I served as Planetarium Educator for SpaceQuest Planetarium at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. For me, David was a mentor and someone for whom I greatly admired and struggled to emulate.

In my early days as Planetarium Educator, it was David Cassady who took me under his wing, so to speak, and guided my learning process, taking me from a scientist/astronomer to one of educator. This was a difficult process which was made much easier thanks exclusively to David Cassady.

When I wanted to build a 1/3 scale replica of Stonehenge for teaching simple machines and Physics; when I wanted to host a public event about astronomy called Celestial Celebration; when I wanted to do outreach for Riley Children's Hospital; when I wanted to create a costumed character named Dr. What? for interacting with kids; when I wanted to change the planetarium logo; when I wanted to expand the museum's web presence with Cosmic Quest, Build-A-Space Station, NASA TV, Liberty Bell 7 Memorial; when I wanted to write & produce any planetarium program about anything; when I wanted to bring in Moon Rocks; when I wanted to do an adaptation of War of the Worlds using only MAP(Museum Apprentice Program) youth; it was David Cassady who said... How much? How long? How can we make it happen?

Never once did he deny me my ideas, no matter how unusual. He embraced my vision and permitted me to not only succeed in many cases, but to even fail once or twice.
He never criticized my efforts but would instruct me gently when things went awry and taught me how to succeed.

From him I learned how to inspire children. From him I learned how to mentor youth. From him I learned how to see past the brick walls of defeatism and reach for the lofty goals. From him I learned that we learn as much from failure as we do from success. From him I learned the value of a childs perspective.

Nearly everyone who worked with David Cassady felt as I do about this amazing individual. I would have gladly set myself on fire and crawled through a mile of broken glass while listening to an endless loop of "Elvira" had he only requested it. Such was my admiration and devotion to someone for whom I consider a critical mentor in my life.

I would not be the educator I am today were it not for David Cassady.

I won't pretend or claim to understand what happened that night; what drove Ruth to do what she did; how they came to be so desperate that this seemed their only option.

I only know that someone I cared about, someone I admired, someone I respected is no longer a member of this mortal coil.

I will miss his laugh...

James C. Wallace II

55,937 Words plus 505 Books Equals a Stunning November!

During the course of the month of November, Magician of Oz was involved in a project/competition known as Nanowrimo. An odd anachronism to say the least. To be precise, Nanowrimo stands for National Novel Writing Month. To quote the Nanowrimo website:

"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."

I decided to participate in this unique endeavor and sought to complete volume three; Family of Oz as my writing project. After a rough start the first week, it was apparent that Princess Ozma would have nothing of it. Seems she will not allow the muse to be forced. As such, I must work by her schedule, not mine.

After some serious thinking and such, I wound up going off in an odd direction and wound up writing a story about a green-handled rolling pin and its life in a Hoosier kitchen. It soon found itself adrift in an auction barn awaiting its fate after its owner passes on. Each ensuing chapter tells the story of a different person or couple and how he/she/they end up at the auction. By story's end, the final chapter tells of the furious bidding and the winning bidder, who takes the green-handled rolling pin to its new life.

It's strange where these stories come from...

I'm pleased to say that with some dedication to the goal, I was able to reach a final word count of 55,937 words. I'm told that's impressive by most standards, but for me, that's pretty standard. I tend to write at a very furious pace when the muse strikes and generally write by chapters instead of just by word count. It's my way...

In addition, I just completed one of my final book signings for the year and found that combining both Amazon.com sales, Lulu.com sales, book signing sales and Kindle sales, I achieved the 505 total book sales mark.
I am humbled by the support of Oz fans across the country and offer my sincere gratitude to all who have purchased Magician of Oz.
During my trip to Book Expo America 2009 in New York City last May, I kept hearing the number 500 as the benchmark against which all self-publishers measured their success. It seems that only 1% of all self-publishers reach that goal. Having done so, I now deem my work a success and consider my goal of fulfilling Princess Ozma's Royal Command well on its way to completion.

As Shadow Demon of Oz awaits its publication date of the Vernal Equinox of 2010, Princess Ozma willing of course, I look forward to the upcoming holidays and offer my sincere gratitude to Her Royal Highness, Princess Ozma for her continued faith in her most humble servant.

Par Ardua Ad Alta!!! ~ The Wizard of Oz

James C. Wallace II
Royal Liaison to Princess Ozma