Justice for Edna rally a success!

Sporting Justice For Edna t-shirts and carrying signs featuring multiple photos of Edna and William, animal welfare advocates, from all over Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland came out to support Edna and her guardian, William Whiting in front of Verizon.

For those of you who were unable to attend, Whiting has allowed us to share his statement that was read during the press conference. The statement is as follows:

I am here today to talk about cruelty.

Cruelty is a learned behavior…
…be it corporate or ghetto.

Cruelty is passed down from one generation to the next.
I had a beautiful, gentle little dog named Edna.

I was never cruel to her, nor her to me.

Edna followed me everywhere,
and stared at me all the time.

She was a rescue dog from the Morris Animal Refuge.

Edna had separation anxieties, and made it her business to know where I was at all times.

That’s why I panicked when she vanished on Halloween night.

Edna gone-missing was out of character.

I searched for her for ten days and nights, hanging posters with my cell phone number on antiquated cedar telephone poles that string together a number of adjoining Philadelphia neighborhoods.

With friends, I did everything we could collectively think of.
To this day, there are no confirmed sightings of Edna.

On November 10th, at 2 minutes before midnight my cell phone rang. I found myself talking with a pair of juveniles claiming to be 9 and 15 years old.

They told me they had my Edna, and were torturing a dog into the phone so I could hear.

These boys were attempting to extort money from me, demanding a curious $100 more than the $500 reward posted.

After stating a garbled location, they hung up before
I could fully understand their whereabouts.

I called 911 on my landline while the cell call was still in progress.
BOTH of my numbers are with Verizon.

The police investigation of this crime was hampered by Verizon’s policy of charging law enforcement for searching phone records - even when there’s a legal warrant in place.

Inadvertently this creates red tape while valuable time is lost.
I read somewhere Verizon enjoyed $88 billion dollars in revenue last fiscal year - but still charged the police for time-sensitive information when I, (a valued customer) needed them.

I personally called and pleaded with Verizon. The answer I received was “The police know how this works.” I’d have had better luck requesting a warrant-less wire-tap.

Last month I paid Verizon $450 for the pleasure of their service.

In the world I come from, if any good citizen is called upon to offer important information to the police, they do so, and without presenting an invoice.

Enough said.

Low-life informants charge for tips during criminal investigations, but I cannot think of an acceptable reason why any good corporate citizen would not provide the police with timely information…free of charge.

I can’t in my wildest dreams, imagine the fabled ‘Greatest Generation’ having tolerated that kind of corporate conduct in times of trouble, past.

I have with me, a petition signed by over 5,000 people world wide. Thick as the Verizon directory.

Within that petition Verizon and Philadelphia score very low marks on subjects like:

Animal cruelty.
Corporate greed.
And youth out-of-control…

There’s a lot of prime marketing research Verizon might find useful. Words from a huge cross-section of peoples’ concerning Verizon’s ‘corporate conduct’ during Edna’s kidnapping.

Back to Edna. The SPCA and PETA, posted a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

A suspect was arrested.

A pretrial hearing was set for January 31st. A 15 year old male was remanded to the custody of parent-guardians who failed to present him to the court.


The juvenile, named Victor Rodriguez, was placed under a bench warrant, and located, hiding in Virginia.

Under pressure from the DA‘s bench warrant investigators, he turned himself over to police. He is now in a guarded facility.

An urban fifteen year-old from the badlands is not a child in the conventional sense. Rodriguez AND the gangland kids I talked to that night, are the sort of individuals Verizon’s foot-dragging have assisted in four months of prolonged escape.

What was done to Edna - Verizon - comes back to you.

As recently as the weekend before last, I received menacing phone calls from kids who played violent, disgusting music at me, or called merely to harass me, day or night.

Note to V E R I Z O N:
I am still a customer.

My tormentors have restricted-numbers - presumably on cell-phones. Cheap and disposable.
The preferred telephone of crime.
Phones, the likes of which Verizon and other communication companies profit.

Nearly anything loathsome is possible with one of these devices. Its a good share of the industry.

If Verizon‘s CEO, William B. Peterson had the courage to come out from under his desk, I’d challenge him to voluntarily change their internal phone/law policy.

In Mr. Peterson’s absence, I am presenting this gift-wrapped copy to Eric Rabe, who has been appointed to courier-it to the missing Mister Big.

Verizon - corporate giant that you are - co-operate with law enforcement swiftly and free of charge. No spin-meisters. No public-relations talking-heads. Just take responsibility for your business practices and implement mandatory changes.

If you do not, we are prepared with copies of this petition for local, state and federal law-makers to review. Forget your Lobbyists too.
I want two simple, but divergent things:

First, I want to see crimes of cruelty to domestic house pets taken seriously, and NOT because I’m trying to waste anyone’s time - but because this is historically where violent criminal behavior begins.

Secondly, I want Verizon to play a key role in obtaining that objective.

I want Verizon to blaze the path in becoming the first in their industry with the courage to take an active, cooperative role in keeping their own customers, communities, neighbors AND animals safe. Pro-bono.

Through pressure, Rodriguez eventually turned himself in.

Verizon, how much pressure do you require?

Is there such a thing as a corporate conscience?

Corporate America and juvenile delinquents have several things in common, sharing both ruthlessness and greed.

Simply put, it comes down to the same answer for Victor and for Verizon - Step forward, and do what’s right.

Verizon, you’re next. Never charge law enforcement for warranted information ever again. Its the right thing to do, and do it promptly.

In closing, to quote any number of Edna’s petition signers - “VERIZON - CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW…?!!!”

Fox News came and covered the rally, as well as Stu Bykofsky of the Philadelphia Daily News. Fox aired footage of the rally on their 5 o'clock news. If the video because available, we will link to it. Click here for Stu's coverage of the rally!

Whiting and Rally Organizer's would like to thank the following vendors who made this rally possible and donated/discounted their services:
- Printing courtesy of creativecharacters.com
- Photographs of Edna courtesy of joebowmanphotography.com
- Additional photography by FormulaZ, New York
- T-shirt printed by JP Tees

Whiting and Rally Organizer's would also like to thank all of the animal welfare advocates and their furry friends who came out in the cold to show their support! The number of supporters that came out was AMAZING! They would also like to give special thanks to Stu Bykofsky of the Philadelphia Daily News for covering Edna's case over the last couple of months. Mr. Bykofsky's multiple articles on Edna have helped to raise much needed awareness to Mr. Whiting and Edna's plight.

Please continue to visit the PA community for more news on Edna's case and to learn about Whiting's next steps in seeking justice for Edna.

Pictured above: Animal welfare advocates holding signs at the rally and listening to Mr. Whiting's statement.

Reprinted with permission
Photo courtesy of Steph, News Associate and County Rep
Posted by Nicole, PA Team Leader