The FCC is NOT stealing it, nor was I trying to compare the FCC to anything like a serial killer. NO NO NO. This was my concern about putting this up.

Unfortnately the government is a broad term and the plaintiff (SAMHSA) and the judge (FCC) are both branches of the government and it does get confusing.

I’m only suggesting that the FCC has to realize how important it is not to undermine the value and usability of all toll free numbers by allowing ANY organization even the government to simply TAKE numbers they want. That hurts everyone.

This does not mean we have won but the fact they even granted an extension is proof the system can work.

Now we have 90 days to prove we are viable, and the “taking” of our number is wrong.

It is also another month for comments to be filed.

The FCC has refreshed the record so previous comments will not count.

I am certain the SAMHSA will gin up their contractors to write letters of support so we will need folks in the toll free industry to come to our aid. Us today and possibly your toll free tomorrow.

The non profit that started the poison control hotline had its toll free number taken as well. They did nothing wrong but it became so successful the feds decided they could run it better. 800-222-1222

How many others are at risk. 1-800-RUNAWAY is a number the feds have tried to claim they own even though they do not. Yet they have funded it virtually 100% since 1971.

United together we can stop this violation of the 5th amendment to the US Constitution.

Our lawyers, key national leaders in the mental health community and our respected Board members have tried to get meetings with the SAMHSA to work out an arrangement for the good of all the parties.

Instead of meeting with us they instead filed behind our backs two days before Thanksgiving without a courtesy notice to our lawyers hoping the filings would go unopposed and get approved.

Thanks to our vigilant lawyers they spotted the FCC filing and responded.

Not every organization has the legal support we do or the will to stand up to two federal agencies and AT&T to defend itself.

If they succeed here it will serve as a precedent and a reminder to anyone who dares to stand up for their Constitutional rights.

I thank Bill Quimby for having the guts to stand with us in this fight and all of those who sent in comments. For the record there were 348 comments filed in 72 hours. 341 for our organization keeping 1-800-SUICIDE and 7 against.

The 7 were all contractors for the SAMHSA or have received financial support from them. No disclosure was made to this connection.

Not one of our 341 have received a penny from our organization and most were consumers who had been helped by the line in the past. Most had donated money to help support our organization (average $10).

They could only muster 7 comments with all the millions they spend to unfairly compete with us. That is how wrong and blatant this effort to crush our organization and take its prime asset is.

I urge you all to file comments before January 22nd 2008. The site is:

http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/ecfs/upload_v2.cgi

Type 95-155 for the proceeding number.

Please note that the proceeding number has changed so all comments filed before will not count towards this refreshed comment period.

Best always,

Reese Butler
President and Founder
Kristin Brooks Hope Center
National Hopeline Network 1-800-SUICIDE 784-2433
202-536-3200
202-536-3206 fax
615 7th Street NE
Washington, D.C. 20002
www.hopeline.com
reese@hopeline.com

Your comment was removed because it looked like it might be comment spam and clearly didn’t add anything or sound like you had any understanding about the situation.

If you want to repost anything, please try to write something that contributes more rather than just saying they should do what helps the most people. If it helped more people to take your home and make it into a homeless shelter, should they do that?

Bill Quimby