Jesse Jackson Asks Final Effort

PINELLAS PARK - The Rev. Jesse Jackson made a personal visit Tuesday to the family of Terri Schiavo, asking God and politicians to save her.

"Without water or food, without even ice cubes for her lips, for 12 days she is still alive," the civil rights activist said after praying with Schiavo's parents and other relatives. "That should send a message to all of us," Jackson said.

Early today in Atlanta, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted Schiavo's parents the right to file a petition for rehearing for an injunction that could allow their daughter's feeding tube to be reconnected.

Schiavo's mother, Mary Schindler, made a personal appeal Tuesday evening to Michael Schiavo and his live-in girlfriend, Jodi Centonze, who have had two children together.

"Michael and Jodi, you have your own children - please, please give my child back to me," Schindler said. Flanked by family, she made the request in front of the hospice where Terri Schiavo is cared for and then walked away without taking questions.

Earlier, as Jackson spoke to a throng of reporters outside the hospice, a protester rushed toward the entrance.

Dow Pursley, a 56-year-old marriage therapist from Scranton, Pa., got as far as the vestibule outside the front doors, each hand clutching a water bottle. There, he was tackled by a Pinellas Park police officer and a Pinellas County sheriff's detention deputy.

When Pursley would not put his hands behind his back, he was given a shot from an electric stun gun from a distance of five to 10 feet, Pinellas Park police Capt. Sanfield Forseth said.

Pursley was charged with attempted burglary and resisting arrest without violence, becoming the 47th protester arrested since Schiavo's feeding tube was removed March 18.

There was also a bomb threat at the hospice later Tuesday, but a bomb-sniffing dog found no explosives. The caller said that if Schiavo died, the explosive device would detonate, Forseth said.

Jackson, a former Democratic presidential candidate and founder and president of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, characterized his mission Tuesday as aimed at bringing together people from across the political spectrum, to save Schiavo's life. He said her plight was markedly different from removing a cancer-stricken patient from life support because Schiavo only needed food and water to stay alive.

Jackson also stopped short of criticizing Michael Schiavo, Terri's husband and guardian, who won court approval to remove the tube on the grounds his wife would not want to live in her current state. Jackson said Michael Schiavo would not allow him to pray at Terri's bedside.

Schiavo's mother was glad Jackson had come. "He gives me strength," she said.

Jackson said he contacted five black Florida state senators to urge them to fight for the reinsertion of Schiavo's feeding tube.

Those who reported being contacted were Les Miller, D-Tampa; Gary Siplin, D-Orlando; Tony Hill, D-Jacksonville; and Frederica Wilson and Larcenia Bullard, both D-Miami. All five voted against a bill that would have granted severely brain-damaged patients food and water if their families were in dispute over care.

Siplin told The Associated Press he told Jackson the issue had been "thoroughly discussed."

Senate Democratic leader Miller added: "I have voted. It's time to move on."

Bullard was not persuaded by Jackson either.

"I told him that I'd personally prayed, grappled with, shed tears and lost many hours of sleep over this, but that I'd made my decision," Bullard said. "And though it may not be what many people like, no one has shown me it should change.

"I think it's very sad that [Terri Schiavo] is being exploited like this, ... and I don't think she would be pleased," Bullard said.

Bob Schindler, Terri Schiavo's father, said Tuesday after a visit with his daughter that she was failing but that her bodily functions were working. She "looks pretty darn good under the circumstances," he said.

Later, about 9:30 p.m., Paul O'Donnell, a Franciscan monk and Schindler family spokesman, said relatives told him Schiavo was still conscious, her pulse was 100 and she was breathing rapidly.

About 9 p.m. Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., met with the Schindlers outside the hospice. Santorum told them he had called politicians at the state and federal levels to try to help Terri Schiavo, but he said, "I'm not particularly hopeful."