If You're Gonna Put Your Name On The Purchase Order...

(Text of the letter that I just got done sending to Debra.nordling@state.mn.us after discovering it was her name on the purchase order for all those 50 inch flat screen tv's at Moose Lake)

Dear Debra,

I know that you are probably not the person who made the actual decision to purchase the 50 inch tv sets for Moose Lake, but since your signature ended up on the purchase order, I am going to address this email to you.

Please feel free to forward it to any other person you feel might be interested in reading it.

My daughter's offender is currently housed at Moose Lake. This is also the person that I have been fighting to divorce for the past ten months.

I realize that in your world, the actual victim of the crime is not normally taken into consideration. In your world, it is all about the perpetrator and what they need. Allow me to enlighten you as to the other side of the equation.

I have no way to pay for the therapy that my daughter needs due to the post traumatic stress disorder that she suffers thanks to her father. The MN Dept of Corrections Victims Reparations Board was generous enough to pay for ten therapy sessions but since years of abuse can hardly be wrapped up with ten hours of therapy, she is now left out in the cold.

Our family has been driven to the brink of bankruptcy due to the fact that my "hopefully" soon to be ex-husband has fought against the desire of our children to change their last name to get a fresh start from the ugliness that he created. Some day, we will hopefully have a new last name and if we're lucky, we won't be homeless by that time.

I pay my bills. That is who I am and how I was raised. Every payday, I pay all my bills and usually don't have enough to fill my gas tank and feed my children. I have begun to visit the local food shelf.

This is where we are and this is who my daughter's perpetrator is fighting against.

As my children have commented on, after learning about the intelligent purchase for the MN Sex Offender's Program of 50 inch television screens, "Well, I guess we know just how important we are now."

Television is not therapy. Television will not make a darn bit of difference in whether or not any of the people in that facility ever have the ability to interact with society in a "normal" or "positive" manner.

The fact that the governor has removed the television sets is irrelevant. That money was poorly spent and is now gone forever.

I just wanted you to hear "the other" side of the story.

Sincerely,
Tina Shaddox
Soon to be ex-wife of Tracy Shaddox OID 229716

**Added later: This email was forwarded to the public relations person who has informed me that it will be forwarded to the Governor's Office.