MSD victim’s dad counseled by President-elect Biden

Two dates are at the center of Fred Guttenberg’s recently released Find the Helpers — Sept. 11, 2001 and Feb. 14, 2018.

The small but affecting book recounts the lives and heart-rending deaths of Guttenberg’s brother, Michael, a first-responder at Ground Zero who as a result later died of pancreatic cancer, and his daughter, Jaime, a 14-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who was among the 17 slain in the mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.

But for Guttenberg, another date promises hope: Jan. 20, 2021 — Inauguration Day, when Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.

Biden’s election and the transition away from four years of the presidency of Donald Trump promise more than wishful thinking for Guttenberg. The 54 year-old Broward man has spoken often with Biden, who is notable among the “helpers” at the heart of Guttenberg’s book.

“For me, the Vice President has been a helper,” Guttenberg writes in the book, released in September by Mango Publishing. “He has given me the advice that I needed to go forward from the worst moment in my life, often speaking to me about mission and purpose. That advice has formed my life and my advocacy since.”

In the aftermath of the MSD shooting, Guttenberg and his wife, Jennifer, started the nonprofit Orange Ribbons for Jaime to advocate for gun safety. Guttenberg has been ubiquitous and vocal in his activism.

He has testified in U.S. Senate hearings and been invited to speak at the Democratic National Convention this past summer as well as speaking his piece at nationally televised town halls, marches and vigils, occasionally clashing publicly with Washington political figures, like Florida’s Republican senator Marco Rubio, who back de- regulating gun ownership.

Invited to attend Trump’s last State of the Union address this past February, Guttenberg was escorted out of the House chamber after standing shouting at the president, who had taken time to express his support for continued liberalized Second Amendment rights.

Biden “has an understanding of what Americans go through,” Guttenberg said in a recent interview.

Biden’s plan to address gun violence is detailed and, as Guttenberg notes, backed by a majority of Americans. Among the proposals are repealing a law that protects gun manufacturers from legal liability, banning the sale of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines paired with nationwide buy-backs, closing loopholes in background checks before gun purchases, and allowing states to implement “red flag” laws.

Biden also wants to enact legislation to support survivors of gun violence and their communities.

“He plans to treat gun violence like the public health emergency it is,” Guttenberg said. “His commitment is real.”

Guttenberg says in Find the Helpers that his life’s goal is “to break the gun lobby,” and to help elect lawmakers who support gun safety and defeat those who don’t. How his aims will dovetail with Biden’s plans, Guttenberg doesn’t yet know, but his voice is hopeful and resounding with the inspiration that suffuses his book.

“I can’t say what my role will be, but I intend to have a role,” he said.

Find the Helpers: What 9/11 and Parkland Taught Me About Recovery, Purpose, and Hope

by Fred Guttenberg

Forward by Bradley Whitford

Mango Publishing, Sept. 22, 2020

Hardcover, 198 pages (18,000 copies currently in print)

Available at Amazon (hardcover and Kindle), Target.com, Barnes & Noble
and Indiebound.org.

List price: $19.95

Notable reviews by U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, Alyssa Milano, Debra Messing, former Congressman David Jolly, and Glenn Kirschner, legal analyst and former U.S. Army prosecutor.

Find the Helpers was named among the Best Political Books of 2020 by MarieClaire.com and has been noted in newspapers across the country, including the Virginian-Pilot, Twin Cities Pioneer-Press and Columbus Dispatch, in addition to the South Florida Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.

‘Jaime’s Law’ to be re-introduced to Florida legislature

Florida Phoenix

Legislation has been filed for next year’s session of the Florida Legislature that would close a loophole that can allow people barred from owning firearms because of criminal histories to nevertheless purchase ammunition without a background check.

The proposal (HB 25) is similar to a bill that failed during last year’s session. It’s called “Jaime’s Law,” after Jaime Guttenberg, aged 14, one of the 17 people killed in the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.

“As a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, nothing is more important to me than preventing another tragedy like what our community experienced from ever happening again,” bill sponsor Dan Daley, a Democrat from Coral Springs, said in written statement.

“Jaime’s Law is a huge step in the right direction towards ensuring that weapons and ammunition stay out of dangerous hands. It’s also common sense and does not restrict the rights of legal gun owners,” he said.

Bartenders are required to card people who order beers, he noted. “Why isn’t a vendor required by law to ensure that someone seeking to purchase ammunition is legally allowed to do so?”

Daley filed similar legislation last year, as did Sen. Lauren Book, also a Broward Democrat, but it failed.

Existing law requires licensed gun dealers to run background checks on buyers and to refuse purchasers who have felony convictions, histories of domestic violence, or mental illness. But the law doesn’t apply to ammo sales.

Daley’s bill would require that purchase records for law-abiding people remain confidential. It cites an existing ban on any gun registration lists. The Legislature when passing that ban declared such a list “an instrument that can be used as a means to profile innocent citizens and to harass and abuse American citizens based solely on their choice to own firearms and exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed under the United States Constitution.”

Following the Parkland shootings, the 2018 Legislature voted to let
some school personnel carry guns on campus and the next year to allow teachers to carry under some circumstances.

Gun reform advocate Fred Guttenberg, Jaime’s father, has endorsed the proposal.

“With approximately 400 million weapons already on the streets, we must make it harder for those who intend to kill to do so,” he said.

“Prohibited purchasers of weapons are also prohibited from buying ammunition, but there is no mechanism in place to keep that ammunition out of their hands. We must close this ammunition loophole and this bill is a step in the right direction to do it. Jaime’s Law will help save lives immediately.”

Visit www.floridaphoenix.com for more news on state politics.

December 9, 2020December 2, 2020

Delray mom writes kids book on wearing masks

Delray Beach resident Shannon Q. McDonald, a mom of two young children, wanted to find a way to tell her kids about face masks in kid-friendly language, while also making them laugh at the same time.

To do so, she wrote Remember to Smile, a children’s picture book for kids ages 2-6 years old that describes and illustrates different styles of masks and when to wear them.

“I have a 3- and 5-year-old, and as a parent, I look for ways to explain some of the new COVID-related realities they are seeing in an age-appropriate way,” McDonald says. “I wanted something that was fun, but still carried a message about one of the most visual changes they are encountering in schools and daycares – face masks.”

As more and more places require masks, and young children have to experience so many new, confusing, and sometimes scary things, Remember to Smile adds playfulness and laughs around masks. With the help of some giggles and an adorable wiener dog based on the author’s family pup, Remember to Smile will help children become more comfortable with the idea of face masks, and encourage them to keep smiling, even if it has to be hidden from sight at times.

“Things look a bit different these days as we go out and about, especially for those little ones that are attending daycare or school this Fall,” McDonald said. “As our kids start to see and wear masks, it can be somewhat confusing. I hope that regardless of the various viewpoints about mask-wearing right now, people understand that this is a reality for our children. The most helpful thing we can do as parents is helping them to feel more comfortable and at ease when seeing anyone wearing them.”

The book is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon as a paperback, hardcover or e-book.

October 2, 2020October 1, 2020

Coral Springs man speaks, writes on family’s triple tragedy

Limelight – an intense white light created by heating a cylinder of quicklime, used for dramatic effect in 19th century theater.

As an actor and producer, Coral Springs resident Joseph Velez, 57, never expected that one day his own family would be the focus of such an unforgiving glare.

With film credits ranging from Robert De Niro’s 2019 “The Irishman” to the
2010 locally filmed A&E TV series “TheGlades” to the hit Netflix show “Stranger Things,” Velez was used to seeing himself on-screen playing fictional roles.

But in a kind of twisted triple indemnity motivated by insurance fraud, Velez found himself in the middle of three very real deaths — one his own mother — all allegedly plotted by his half-brother.

They were deaths with a gun, a plastic bag, and the killer’s own two hands. They were deaths with a common motive — insurance money. They were deaths of people all known by the suspect, the half-brother, who is now serving a life sentence, but only for one of the killings, that of his own 15-month-old son, Prince.

Velez, a former Marine who served three tours in Afghanistan during Operation Desert Storm, is writing a book and producing and hosting a podcast about the cases.

The story unfolds over the span of a decade, beginning on Mar. 19, 2003, when a young mother, Shawn Katrina Mason, was shot and killed in her Manassas, (Prince William County) VA., condominium.

Five years later, in Nov. 2008, an older woman, Alma Rosa Collins, also of Prince William County, was found dead with a plastic bag over her head. The death was ruled a suicide but Velez doesn’t believe it.

Alma Rosa Collins was his mother.

Police had one person in custody after the killing of Mason, the half-brother of Velez, Joaquin Rams, born as John Anthony Ramirez. He was released for lack of evidence.

Prince Elias McCleod Rams was found dead in Manassas in October 2012, at the home of his father Joaquin. Rams and the boy’s mother, Hera McCleod, were divorced and a court had granted Rams unsupervised visits.

Rams was Mason’s ex-boyfriend. He was the son of the second victim and the father of the third. It was later learned Rams had life insurance policies with his name as the beneficiary of all three of the victims.

Hera McCleod, now an activist for children’s rights in Seattle, wrote in a
blog, “Trusting the Virginia police ended up being one of the biggest mistakes of my life. Instead of helping to keep my family safe, they helped my abuser.”

It’s inconceivable to Velez that authorities ruled his mom’s death a suicide. Velez and his mother’s sister, Elva Carabello, strongly dispute the finding.

In the death of Collins, Rams collected insurance of more than $150,000. He had taken out three policies totaling half-a-million dollars on his then, new-born son, and was receiving Social Security benefits from the death of Mason, the mother of his first son, Joaquin, Jr.

Rams, now 48, was arrested in 2013 for the murder of his son, Prince. After a 12-day bench trial, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He is serving time in the Red Onion State Prison, a supermax facility in Virginia. Authorities are taking another look at the other two deaths.

For Velez, writing a book and producing the podcasts has been a journey tougher than his three tours in Afghanistan.

The book is titled, “Shadows Of My Soul – Objects in the Mirror are Closer Than They Appear.” The podcast for iHeart Radio, Spotify, and Apple iTunes is called “The C.O.D.E. (Cause of Death Explained) of Silence.”

Velez also founded The B.A.R.E. Project (Butterflies/Angels/ Rescue/Echo) to honor his mother, Alma Rosa Collins, Mason, and Prince McLeod.

“We must honor them and the countless other innocent lives that have been taken that never had a chance to speak out for help,” he says.

Visit Shadows of My Soul on Facebook to stay up-to-date on the latest news. The book will be available on Amazon.com. The podcast, “The C.O.D.E. (Cause of Death Explained) of Silence” will be available on iHeart Radio, Spotify, Apple iTunes, and other streaming services.