2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries

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> DENNY HAYES STR FOCUS? * EXCLUSIVE! * "..if I single someone out.." ===================== THE PRICE OF COPYRIGHT VIOLATION ================================ STReport has obtained directly from DENNIS HAYES his very own statements concerning his arrest and ultimate conviction for copyright violation. Names of individuals and companys mentioned have been removed or blocked out. by Dennis Hayes aka "Denny" Hayes Part I ====== This is the statement I prepared to read at my sentencing, but was advised not to read, because the judicial system doesn't like you saying bad things about them. I've also added a comment at the end. I've tried to make sure it's as truthful as I can. If there are any mistakes, it wasn't intentional. Of course everything is from my point of view. I can't pretend to be someone else, and think like them. Many are going to read this, and say I got what I deserved. Ignorance is bliss. To affect what happens to me has nothing to do with me writing this. My sentencing is over, and what I say here makes little difference with respect to me. But if anything, I say here, can help keep anyone else from going through this, it was worth it, and will make me feel what I have gone through had some purpose. S T A T E M E N T Your honor, I've been informed that I should make a statement in my behalf. I've had a long time trying to decide what to say, but it's hard to decide what to say. I'm not an attorney, and don't know what will help me or hurt me, and I doubt that it makes any difference what I say. If I say something good about myself it comes out that I'm trying to pretend to be an in- nocent bystander. If I comment on the many problems I've had to date, I'm looked at as a complainer, and most of us have problems in life. If I say nothing, my family has to suffer. If I comment on the questionable tac- tics used to prosecute me, I'm passing the buck, and not accepting blame for my actions. And in reality most of the agents I've met are surpris- ingly intelligent, and fair. I even thought of mentioning one who has tried his best to be fair, but I'm afraid if I single someone out it might put him in bad light. Anyway, he knows who he is, and he has my thanks. Since I'm not sure what is best said, I'm just going to say what I feel, trying not to hurt anyone, and let it fall where it may. And since the pre-sentencing investigation report started when I was in grade sch- ool, so will I. I'm a technically oriented person who started school, and really en- joyed learning new things. When the rest of my peers were playing base- ball, I was studying. And for this effort I had the words honor pupil written on the side of my report card every year. The problem was, and is, there is no reward for this effort. The kid who can knock a home run, and lean against the wall looking cool, without saying a thing gets all the attention. In reality he probably says nothing because he can't put two syllables together to form a word. There are many other advantages to not appearing smarter than anyone. When my oldest daughter was in the first grade, she could already read, because I had spent the time to teach her. Her teacher complained to me that I should stop teaching things to her ahead of time, because it made it hard for the teacher to teach her, when she already knows, the things she is trying to teach to her. I guess they want everyone at the same level now. Just a couple weeks ago she came home, and said she had to redo a report she had turned in, because she had done it on a computer, and was told it wasn't fair to the kids that didn't have one. I guess she also shouldn't use her brain, if the rest of the class doesn't have one as good either. So around the sixth grade I decided that if I didn't appear too smart I might be accepted a little more. That was easy, just fail a few tests on purpose. The problem was it didn't work. I just didn't think like most people, and I didn't like baseball, or football. Also, in most other areas I didn't think the same. And I didn't take what was told to me by others without trying to find out what was really true. Which is probably a large factor that brought me here. I joined the navy after graduating from high school, and entered electronics school. I graduated in the top 10% of my class, and was jumped to the next rank. In college I didn't understand the importance of a degree. I just loved electronics, and wanted to learn everything about it that I could without wasting time on subjects like English, and Psychology. Or maybe I was just impatient. So even though I've had many hours, I never matric- ulated, and therefore never received a degree. After school I started working for a company as a non degreed engi- neer, at $3.10 per hour. Very quickly I was considered the oddball elect- ronics wizard of the company. This upset the former wizards, who tried to make it as hard as they could for me. After three, and a half years, I had all the political beating I could take, so I quit, and took a job as assistant chief engineer with a new company, which was, four years later, bought out by the same guy that started Days Inn Motel chain. During the transfer they had a flood which put them out of business. So I was left without a job. I then started working for consulting engineering firms on assignment to large companies like Procter & Gamble, Monsanto, AM Kinny, etc. As I started having a family, I wanted to make a better living for them, and myself. Large Fortune 500 companies required a degree, and you really didn't need to know much. And smaller companies didn't pay much. They liked being able to hire someone who is good, and who they didn't have to pay much. It's a shame that you get paid for the piece of paper rather that what you know, and can do. Prior to having a family, I really didn't care though, I loved what I was doing, and the money didn't matter. So I decided to start a company with a friend of mine. The problem was, I didn't realize how lazy he was, and after some customers cancelled their orders, because he didn't finish his part, I started my own company, designing, and building robotics, and test equipment for large corpora- tions. That was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made. I worked over 100 hours a week, and made little money. Large corporations seem to get where they are by walking on small companies, and throwing them away when they ask a fair shake. I had a meeting on the eleventh floor of a local chemi- cal corporation tower, where they admitted they owed me thousands of dollars, but were not going to pay, because they had hired some new young hot shots who wanted to do the job by themselves. The former head of the department had been forced into an early retirement at the age of 59, which later caused him a heart attack. When I mentioned that I would have to take them to court, I was informed that since all the orders, they had given me, were rush orders, they hadn't sent me any paper work. In fact I don't ever remember getting paper work on any jobs I ever did for them. Every job was a rush job, and if you wanted any future orders from them you did what they ask. Of course I consulted an attorney, and of course he told me that I would be a fool to take on a company of that size. I made the mistake one time to take a company to court, who owed me a large amount of money, and I saw what happens. I won't go into detail of what the job was, if you are like most attorneys, high tech stuff is out of your realm, and it would take too long to explain. But to make it simple, it was an assembly job, something any low tech person could do. I did this job, on 30 day open account payment, which is quite usual in the electronic world. I sent the first half open account. But before the second half of the order was completed, I was informed by another company, that they had a bad reputation for not paying their debts. So I made the second half COD. True to form they didn't pay for the first half. After months of run around phone calls about the person being respon- sible for payment being out of town, etc, I decided to take them to court. They counter-sued, saying the units I'd done were defective. And without notifying me, or giving me the opportunity to repair any supposed defect, they said, they had repaired them at a cost of twice what I charged them for the whole order. My attorney felt since they were caught in many lies in court, and they admitted they never contacted me about any defects, we would win. Two weeks later the decision came down that I owed them all they asked for, and I got nothing. What happened, who knows. Since Cincinnati is not a very good place for a high tech business, and I'd had quite a few other bad debts, I was forced into bankruptcy. But not being the kind of person who gives up, I started again with a business manufacturing printed circuit boards, and consumer products. I guess this was like jumping from the frying pan to the fire. At one time Cincinnati had about a dozen specialty electronic design companies in town. Now there is only one I know of. They have all realized there is no money in it. So I'm sure it's not just my ability to run a business. People save up a little money and get the idea to sell some widget or something. They hire someone like me to design it for them, not knowing that the product has little importance. And after the reality hits they drop the project like a hot potato owing me a large amount of money. I tried getting money up front, but they use it up then they have me bill them for the rest at 30 days, which stretches to 90 days, or more before I realize they have run out of money. At that time I've worked over three months for nothing. It's a shame but most people don't know quality. They buy advert- ising, name, and flair. I have a friend who is the head of the design department of the largest local toy company, who tells me the product is 7th on the list of importance with his company. Marketing of course is first, and the list goes down from there. You can quickly see you don't need a good product. If you have a good marketing program you can sell manure for $5.00 a gallon as fertilizer, face cream, or whatever. It's a shame, but I now find my skills aren't really needed. After a few years of this, I see I'm heading for another bankruptcy, I feel I'm getting old, I then lost someone I cared a lot about, and I find myself wandering around Drug Palace trying to find something I can kill myself with, with assurance that it will work. Fortunately the medicines that work for sure are prescription only. Also, I began to realize that it would put a big strain on my family, and I didn't want to do to them what my mom did to me, so I called University Hospital and told them something was wrong with my head. They put me on a new anti-depressant drug test program, which turned me into a zombie. Our living conditions were really bad. My furnace went out, and I couldn't afford to replace it. So for three winters I asphyxiated my family and myself with kerosene heaters, which didn't even do much, except make us all cough a lot from the fumes, when it was really cold. So we often wore coats to help keep us warm. They started foreclosure on our home three times, but somehow we ended up coming up with enough money to stop it. I later finally lost it. At one point they turned our electricity off. The kids were sitting in the tub using the hot water left in the hot water tank to warm them up, until it ran out. I had no money but I was expecting a check for a little job I'd done, so I turned the electricity back on again myself. A few days later I received the check, and paid the electric bill. Then many months later, a representative of CG&E and a county sheriff came to my house with a warrant for my arrest for theft of utilities, even though my electricity was paid up to date. After talking to my attorney they agreed to drop the charges, if I would pay around $500.00 for a crack in the meter that I'm not sure I even caused. I paid it, and a few weeks later CG&E re-instituted the charges, saying the person who agreed to drop them didn't have the authority. Since the utility companies have recently pushed through a law (which I doubt that many know about) that makes it a felony to do anything aga- inst them, I was charged with a felony. I was encouraged to plead guilty to a lesser charge, and was put on one year probation. And then my wife left me, stating that she had enough of being poor, and later divorced me. Maybe she is better off. Life like this is tough. So after a few months I had enough of the pills I was taking, and threw them in the garbage. I now partially understand how my mother, after graduating with honors at the top of her class took 30 sleeping pills and killed herself. When I was younger, I would never have believed it could get this bad. As I think about it though, I guess it makes sense. If you don't have the burning desire to accomplish much, you face very little disappointment. For the next two or three years I could not function. I'd sit on the couch crying sometime, in a daze sometime, thinking a lot, and trying to function off, and on. And I wasn't a very good provider for my family. We would be on welfare, then I would do a little job, then we were back on welfare, etc. Somewhere in there I bough a small game computer, and learned how to push it beyond its limits. I thought games were a waste of time, so when I heard a company was coming out with a device that plugs into the slot on the computer meant for game, but would allow me to run word processors, spreadsheets, etc I checked into it. I found the device needed a set of two computer chips from a MacIntosh computer, so I called around, and ended up borrowing some money, and buying about a dozen from different places. I figured since the supply seemed low, I could sell the remainder at a little markup. Later I ran an ad on a computer bulletin board, that I had some chips for sale, and if anyone was interested they could leave me a message. I received over 300 requests for the chips. Then I started thinking. I knew I could copy the chips for my fri- ends, and myself. That way I could sell the rest of the chips I had and make a few dollars. So I bought some blank chips, copied the chips, and sold the ones I'd bought. After a while everyone, I hadn't shipped to, was calling to find out why I didn't ship them any. I told them that I only had purchased a dozen sets, and they were all gone. So I decided to order some more chips, copy them, and send everyone a set. This continued until I had orders coming in faster than I could make them. At this point I started wondering about the legal problems I might get myself into, so I contacted from 5 to 10 attorneys (including my present attorney) to find out what could happen. Some said they didn't know for sure, and others said I could be sued by Apple for copyright infringement. Not one ever mentioned anything about criminal prosecution, even though I told them exactly what I was doing. One of the investi- gators recently told me, I should have known it was a criminal violation to do what I was doing, because there are many indications in life that it is a criminal offence, like the notice on video tapes. I told him that there is so much false propaganda in society that I felt the only way to find out for sure was to check with the people who should know. I guess I learned something there. A year and a half ago, I was asked by the company who made the device, which my chips plugged into, to show people how it worked at a computer show in Chicago. At that show, about five business men came up to me and asked me where you get the chips to make the device work. I told them that they could order them from me. At that point they informed me that two of them were attorneys, and the other three were from Apple Computer. Since they didn't seem upset, and seemed only curious how a cheap game computer could run software created to run on a MacIntosh, I assumed they didn't really object. If they had ever even implied that they wanted me to quit, I would have done so. I had already made more money than I ever expected too. It also seemed in line with Apples normal policy. They encouraged schools to use MacIntosh software by selling MacIntosh com- puters to the schools at almost cost. They have many times published that students would get used to using Mac software, and then recommend MacIn- tosh computers when they got into the business force. Allowing kids to use game computers accomplishes the same. It's curious that when everyone is questioned about a victim of my crime, they really can't find one, so they dance around the question. In reality I doubt that there is a vic- tim. The users are happy they have access to information they wouldn't be able to afford. And in more ways than one it is boosting Mac sales. In fact I had a policeman from New York who bought a set of ROMs from me to use in his sons computer, and later showed it to his department who ended up buying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of MacIntosh com- puters for their department. I had another person buy a set for one of his children's computer. He kept them for four months, and called me one day to ask if he could return them and get some money back. When I asked him why, he informed me he was a doctor, and had went out and spent over $10,000.00 on a top of the line Mac IIci. I told him to send his ROM chips back, and I would give him all his money back. And these are only a few that I know of. Until I was charged, I had sold over 5,000.00 sets of ROMs to every kind of person from the US Treasury Dept, and the Veterans Administration to school kids who were using their game computer to do their homework. But I doubt that many people who can really afford to buy a MacIntosh computer are going to buy a game computer with all of its problems. It was funny though, when I was asked what the US government could possibly be using the ROMs for, as if they never would skirt around the law. I don't mean to pick on government workers, but even though they may not want to admit it they are just like the rest of us. Getting what they can for as little as they can, and trying to do the best they can in a situation where the cards are stacked against them. I know they have been cutting the budget, but I believe the government can afford something besides a $300.00 game computer. It won't ever be public, but I think I know what really happened. Some people working for the government wanted to play with one, and just got the government to pay for it, and since the FBI knows about it, he probably is already in trouble. See they are as bad, and sometimes worse than the rest of us. It makes you wonder how many other personal toys, the public is paying for. Mentioning this is not an attempt to point the finger, and say they do it too......... Well on second thought maybe it was, otherwise I wouldn't have mentioned it. But, I am still guilty of making them. Without me they would have probab- ly had a friend copy the program into an EPROM or something. In fact from what I have counted, only about a forth of the people have been buying ROMs like the ones I made. Most people in the computer world probably either make them themselves, since it is so simple, or get a copy of the program on a computer disc, which is even easier. All this may sound like Greek to a person who doesn't spend much time with computers, but swapping computer programs, is the norm in the com- puter world. To date, I've never met a person who wouldn't ask for a copy of a program I had, or more often agree to swap a copy of a program he had for one I had. There are many hundreds of computer boards around the US, and other countries, who offer a 5 or 8 to one exchange. Of course they are all copyrighted, and anytime you copy one you are breaking the law, but given the option to do without or pay the $200 to $20,000.00 or more for a program they aren't really going to use in business, they would probably do without. For most it's really more like collecting baseball cards, since very few, I talk to, ever seem to know much about the programs they already have. It takes much effort, and most people are lazy when it comes to using their brains to learn something new, or just don't have the time. It's the few that do, that go on to become the whiz kids of the future. If they don't have access to the information, this country is doomed. Try to compare it to going to the public library in which almost all books are copyrighted. Now try to find a floor of the library without a copier. What's that copier for. Now, and in the future more and more data is being put on computer discs. In the distant future the library as it is today will probably disappear. Can you imagine what it would be like if you as an attorney, or a student had to buy every book you used at the library. I understand that there is a law that says you can now copy part of a book but not the whole book, but there is no way you can copy part of a computer disc, and be able to use it. Or to really compare apples and apples, attorneys and many other professionals are using what they copy to make money, so you could say they should have to buy the book. Well, in reality if they find they use it a lot, they usually do. And in the computer world, if they use a program a lot, they also usually do. It's so much nicer to have the support of the author of the program, and be able to call them and get help by giving them your buyers' author- ization number off the box, when you need help. And if you know very little about computers, what I did was sort of like providing the viewer to look at these programs. And if you have the viewer, you look at MacIntosh programs, and if you find a use for them you buy them, and Apple, and their developers therefore make money. And if they have a real use for the programs, they usually get discouraged by the problems of the game computer, and you go out and buy a real MacIntosh, which makes Apple even more money. I still can't understand why, if it is now the business of the FBI, to stop the pirating of software, why do they know about these pirate boards, and not stop them. And I can guarantee they know about many of them. From watching, and talking to them it seems it's only against the law if you make money doing it. That's cute, you can supposedly cheat a company out of all the money you want, but if you make too much money doing it, the FBI is going to take it away, put you in jail, and not give a cent to the people who have been ripped off. There are some other things they have done, in my case, which I wont mention because it might hurt people needlessly, which also let me know this is true. Also, in my case they say they are not even sure Apple lost any money. I think I may have figured out the amount too. I watched an agent get chewed out in front of me for telling his boss that I had a million dollars, when I only had less than a $400,000.00. It seemed he was irritated that they came after me before I made enough money for them. Which was also in bad taste. He could have waited until I wasn't around. I actually felt sorry for the guy. Contrary to what Apple might try to say, real businesses aren't going to buy game computers to use, and the game computer doesn't run all the software, or have color, anyway. I also doubt that many of these mostly kids who are using game computers could afford the over $3000.00 price for a Mac. And the idea as was mentioned by Apple's attorneys that they would worry about repair of the bad chips they might get back, is also ridicu- lous since they admitted the part only cost them $1.00, and if every chip I ever sold failed they could replace them all for less than $5,000.00. To date I've only had about a dozen people call and say their chips didn't work, and I just sent them a new one. In reality, when I checked them most of them weren't really bad at all. They must have been plugging them in wrong or something. It's very rare for a chip that has no moving parts to ever go bad. I admire IBM who when Compact Computer Company did exactly what I did, by copying the chips from IBM's MS DOS PC computer, told Compact Computer they didn't care, and that they felt it would help MS DOS computer sales. And I guess it worked. Today MS DOS computer sales count for over 60% of all 'S computer sales. I'm curious what would have happened if IBM had taken the position of Apple computer. I wonder if they would have charged the owners of that large corporation with something, and then tack on charges that carries 26 years in jail. I doubt it. Another interesting thing is that the copyright, that I'm accused of violating, is presently in litigation in California. And the ROM chips I was selling aren't even for sale anymore, by Apple. If you own a MacIn- tosh computer, and have a chip go bad, tough luck, it's out of warranty, and you go out and plunk down another $3000.00 for another one. They probably won't admit this, but I've sold quite a few hundred sets to repair centers for Apple, who say they can't get them from Apple anymore at any cost. As for the litigation I mentioned, it seems everyone is in litigation. IBM has encouraged Microsoft Corporation and Hewlet Packard Corporation to make a program that works like the MacIntosh ROMs to be used in the IBM MS DOS computer, so Apple is suing them. This upset many people, including Apple Records who is now suing Apple Computer for using their name and going into the music business without their permission. And Zerox is suing Apple Computer for copying part of the same program which is in the ROMs that I'm accused of copying. They say they created it to be used in a computer that they later decided not to produce, and Apple has copied it without their permission. Also there is a group of engineers within Apple who calls themselves the New Promethius League who are dissatisfied with the bully tactics used by Apple, and are giving away the program I was selling to anyone who asks for it at no charge. Apple appears to be trying to monopolize a computer that they didn't really totally create themselves, and is making many people in the com- puter world very unhappy. They drastically over charge for it, and sue anyone who is possibly a threat. Now they have the FBI doing their work for them, so they don't look worse than they already do. You can buy an IBM with the same power for less than a third of the cost. It's very interesting that you can run most of their software on a game computer that sells for a little over $300.00 and until recently they sold the lowest cost Mac for over $3000.00. Fortunately computer publications aren't so sympathetic, and are informing people of what is going on. Also, fortunately for the consumer, so many people are angry that I doubt that Apple will be able to hold out in the long run. In a way I hate to see it. The Mac is a really nice computer and I'm going to hate to see developers steer away from it. But maybe it will make them clean up their act. In reality, I doubt it. I've been asked many times by companies wanting to create a clone of the Mac if I could sell them 256K ROMs from the top of the line Mac II family. It's actually as easy to copy as the ones I sold, and I could get twice the money, but I like the Mac computer, and don't want to do any- thing that would harm Apple. Not for Apple themselves, but the consumer like myself would be harmed. My interest in playing with Mac software is what has helped bring me out of the deep depression I was in. I have also met a friend who lives in Pasadena, CA who is in the same boat. His wife died, and at the age of 60 sitting around waiting to die he developed an interest in Mac software, and now lives in his computer as I do. That was until the FBI took his ROM set away from him. He could never have done it without the emulator by Gadgets Inc, and the ROMs I sold him. The computer would have cost more than his car. This same Apple Inc. has now contacted the FBI to use them to stop me, when all they would have had to do is ask me to stop. And all the reports show that the FBI has really done everything by themselves, so as to not involve Apple. I even believed it for a while. In order to not hurt the persons who finally let me know what really happened, I won't mention how I found out to the contrary. Now I'm forced to plead guilty to char- ges, or I will be charged with multiples of the same charges for each transaction, and other charges, which carry more time than me and my great grandchildren have to live. But the real reason I plead guilty was that I didn't want anymore local publicity than has already been published, and I've been told you can't beat the IRS or the FBI, anyway. So far it has appeared in only one local paper, and the way it was worded, mentioning guns without saying that they were legally registered, and using words like money laundering which most people believe has something to do with drugs, has caused many people to believe I must be involved with the Mafia. My oldest daughter cried herself to sleep one night, when her best friend's father told his daughter that she wasn't allowed to talk to her or come to our home anymore, because my criminal gangster friends might come after me sometime and hurt his daughter. And her dad is supposed to be an intelligent engineer at General Electric Company. I wonder what the not too intelligent people are thinking. But since writing this, and receiving my sentence I have decide that, hiding things lets them hurt you more. It does seem a little out of proportion to tack on laws that carry a 25 year sentence to a charge that carries a maximum sentence of one year. And even though I understand that ignorance is no excuse, it's interesting that when I went to question people to find out who created all the lies on the search and seizure warrant, I questioned my bank manager who along with denying that he said what was stated on the report, went on to tell me that he was asked why he didn't report me when I was making so many transactions under $10,000.00. He told me that, he told them, he knew the form had to filled out for transactions over $10,000.00 but he didn't know it was against the law to do anything under that amount. One of my attor- neys, after reading the law, said heck the way the law is written, I might have been guilty of violating it, in the past. I told him to lower his voice, or he might be charged next. I don't know how they can expect people to follow the rules, if no one seems to know the rules. It has been implied though not stated that I was going to hide my income from IRS. This is total bunk. In the search warrant it was repor- ted that I told bank managers, and other people, on many different oc- casions, that I was trying to cheat on my taxes. I talk a lot, but I don't think I would be that crazy, even if I really had the intent. And all of them denied it, when I later asked them. Since I'm hoping the prosecution hasn't gone as far as to make things up, it's either that someone tried to score some points while talking to an agent, or they misread my attempts to hide my actions, and told themselves, that was what I was doing. There probably is no way to ever find out. At another bank where it was stated that, I said the same thing, I have only talked to the young teller, and I really believed her when she said no one ever talked to her. I'd guess the information was third hand from her boss, who I have never talked, too. So many people have supposedly said it, that it appears as if it's coming from a script. I could go on and on about this, which serves no purpose. I guess it's is just that when you do unusual or questionable things people read into it what they want, too. I even had the probation officer who came to make a pre-sentence investigation report on me write in his report that I told him I was going to cheat on my taxes. Now this is really nuts. I had told him when he was here that I had no intention of cheating on my taxes. After he left, I called him to tell him something I had forgotten, and ended up telling him again, just to make sure he un- derstood, that I had no intention of cheating on my taxes. When a copy of his report came to me a few weeks later, it said I told him I was going to cheat on my taxes. Since I had the right to object, I called my attorney and had him get it removed. That is, I hope, I never saw the final editi- on. It's as if this fixation is in everyone's head. In all honesty, the investigator I talked too, was very fair in his report. He probably was obligated to say this or something. I really don't know. All I know for sure is that I doubt that I would have the nerve to falsify my income tax, knowing I would probably be audited, and I would have had no way of kno- wing how much information they would have known. I told an FBI agent recently, that knowing my personality, it's possible that I would have pushed the limits a little, but didn't even get to find out, and really even doubt that. At one time I had thought of giving them an extra $50,0- 00.00 beyond what I owed them, just to insure they wouldn't come after me. But, as my dad, who was head of a local branch of the Ohio State tax bureau for many years told me, with the IRS rules the way they are, I probable would still have been charged with something. I had more money than I needed, and was trying to straighten things out. I did many stupid things that may have indicated I might try to cheat. But everyone knows, it is serious stuff to make a lot of money, and not pay income taxes. If I had to guess what I would have done, from past filing experience, I probably would have done, what I did in previous years. Take the book you get from IRS, go down page by page, looking for the category things I had bought, fell under, and if it looked as if I could deduct it, I would. Because every thing written can be interpreted may different ways, I probably would have deducted too little or too much. I wonder if anyone even believes me, even my attorney may not, though he probably really doesn't care, he's just doing his job the best he can. In fact that seems what everyone is doing, while covering their tail at the same time. It's real frustrating when you know your own thoughts, but can't find a way to explain them to others, without them reading in their own thoughts. And even if you could, the system is set up so, that most of them can't even do anything about the chain of events anyway. Here I am not being charged with trying to rip off IRS, but yet since the pros- ecutors feel that was what I was going to do, they have used other charges which can convict me without actually having to charge me with what they think I was going to do. Something is definitely wrong with this system. As my secretary, my friends, my family, and myself have many times told the FBI, and if anyone is really interested, I felt that some day I might be sued by Apple as attorneys have told me, so if it happened I didn't want them to be able to find my money. In fact most of my money came from out of this country via bank transfers, which appear on my bank statements which would be available at any audit. I admit I wrote checks to myself to remove the money from the bank, but I don't believe this is against the law, and I also cashed most of the US checks written to my name, which is also not against the law, or the bank wouldn't have let me do it. During two bankruptcies I've had creditors go into my account and take all they could find. At one time I had no money for groceries, so I borrowed some money from my brother, and like an idiot put it in my check- ing account. The next day one of my creditors took every penny. I ended up going to welfare to get an emergency food voucher. I admit I didn't file income tax for a few years. I wasn't making any money, and in my depressed state, not really wanting to live anymore, filing income tax was low in priority. I'd also asked what the penalty for not filing was. and I was told that I would have to pay an additional penalty based on what I owed them, which in my case was nothing. I un- derstand, unless you make a certain amount, which I'm sure I didn't, you aren't required to even file. But I bet, if you asked 10 attorneys, you would get either an I don't really know for sure, or 10 different stories. They don't even know all the laws. I understand, however, as consistency follows through, there is a law that says you must file, and another one that says you don't need to. And you have to guess which one to use. The biggest mistake I made appears to be that I took cash from my checking account then purchased cashier's checks for an amount under $10,000.00 to buy things. It seems there is a law which says it is il- legal to try to avoid the $10,000.00 reporting amount. I even admitted to the FBI and IRS that I was trying to avoid it so it would be hard for Apple to find my money if they ever came after me, and no one ever told me this was illegal. Near the end of the year in which I started making money, I hired a secretary to type into my computer all the receipts and information I had accumulated in the past few years. After a few months I found she had written a check to her self for $800.00 and had forged my name, so I asked her to leave. I later looked at what she had been typing into the com- puter and found it was mostly garbage. She was in pre-law at the Univer- sity of Cincinnati and even though she took the job, she didn't like being a lowly secretary. Since I had to start over and it would be too late to file income tax for that year, I decided to put it off until the next year. Around the middle of the next year I hired another secretary to retype the information into the computer. She was running a little late so I filed for an extension on my taxes. Before the extension was up I was raided by the FBI and the IRS, who didn't know I'd filed an extension. After they looked it up they told my attorney that the $1000.00 I had put on the extension form, indicated that I was planning on paying only $1000- .00 in taxes. This is ridiculous. I hadn't filed income tax for quite a few years, and had no idea of what I was going to have to pay. You just have to put something down anyway. I had hundreds of thousands of dollars going through my checking ac- count, and I'm going to try to claim I'm only going to owe $1000.00. As the joke goes I may be stupid, but I'm not crazy, or am I. If I was ever audited, which I sure would have been, after not having filed for so many years, they would surely ask for my bank statements, which would show this. And I don't really believe any rational person could believe this. But again they didn't charge me with income evasion. And too many people, whom the IRS talked too, also knew I was trying to bring my taxes up to date. (E.g., My ex-wife, my secretary, my daughters, my father, etc.) Why don't they just come out and say that everything you do with money, has to be reported to the Federal Government, whether you pay taxes on it or not. And let everyone know it. What happened to the constitution, and things like right to privacy etc. They can now stop cars, and search them wit- hout reason or suspicion. I guess the homes are next. And with what they did with the CNN tapes, it looks like it's not far off. Of course in that case they had to give the tapes back because they created too much of a ruckus doing it, and CNN is pretty big and powerful also. In reality I had more money than I knew what to do with. I was giving it away by the handfuls. While I was in Tijuana, Mexico, across the border from San Diego, I gave away over $10,000.00 to skinny poor people on the street. At my bank I overheard the teller ask an old man if he was sure he could live for the next week on the $7.25 he had left. And here I was cashing a check for over $7,000.00. So on the way out I took a hand- ful of $100.00 bills and stuffed them into his shirt pocket, and said Merry Christmas, even though it was in the middle of the Summer. I didn't know what else to say. I gave away so much I really can't remember where it all went. I bought all my kids new bedroom sets, while I slept on a stack of old mattresses, using an old busted dresser, I've since thrown away. And the FBI knows all this to be true. Even with all the money I was mostly depressed, and really didn't want much except a better computer which I bought. If I tried to do some electronic design it seemed to bring to mind my past failures, and I got really nervous and shaky for some reason, and couldn't wait to quit. I tried learning to fly, and bought an old plane because I was told that most small plane manufacturers were going out of the business, which would make small planes more valua- ble. But I soon got bored with flying and didn't even finish my license. It was funny when my ex-wife told me that the FBI had asked her if I took trips out of the country with my plane. I guess in their eyes, everyone who breaks the law is into drugs. Even in my home they thought a bag of plaster of Paris from one of my kid's hobby sets was some kind of drug. In reality I was afraid to fly my plane without an instructor. After over 50 hours, I could take off and fly it but I don't land too well. I guess I'll never be a pilot. The guns I bought turned out to be a bad idea because of the stigma surrounding any type of weapon. I didn't know anything about guns. But when I saw on the news that they had put a ban on any more imports of certain kinds of guns, and later my brother talked me into going to a Bill Goodman gun and knife show, I realized that they were sure to go up in value. And it turned out as I expected. The guns I bought are now worth over three times what I paid for them. And they were all legally regi- stered, with $200.00 sent to the US government for each, with all the fin- gerprints, wavers signed by the local sheriff and 90 day investigation done properly. But they didn't charge me with illegal guns. They just took them because I bought them with illegally gained money. And every report has mention of them. I also had a VCR, and a TV, but no one men- tioned them. If they mention you have things as money, guns, or airplanes it helps them make you look more like a gangster or something else bad. In advertising it's called sensationalism. It's using anything that gets a reaction from Joe public to achieve your goal. Most of my days were spent on the phone helping people learn to use Apple software, since that was the only thing I still seemed to enjoy. I guess the feeling that you get when you help someone learn something is the only enjoyment I could still get. I spent my days helping the people Apple should have been helping, and they put me in jail. Boy, that's a kick in the teeth. I've tried to get help from Apple myself. If the phones not busy, and you get through to someone, they assume you are an idiot, and rush you off the phone as fast as they can. In my case, I find I know more than most of the people I talk too. Today no one knows the rules, and everyone is afraid to say anything. I asked an attorney recently if the way I was selling a computer scanner could be against the law, and he told me that if I thought it might be against the law he didn't want to know about it. I had a meeting with the FBI, where I was questioned about consulting with many attorneys concerning any trouble I could get into for violating Apples copyright. When the question came up, my attorney quickly announced that he had told me he didn't know the law concerning copyright violations, as if he was defending himself. I talked with three attorneys to find out if they could help me with this case, and was told the FBI and the IRS are so powerful that unless I still have lots of money, or am squeaky clean I couldn't win. One of the FBI or IRS agents told me they have a 97.8 percent conviction rate, which I guess means I'm to assume is because the are proficient in getting the real facts and evidence. From all the inac- curate information I've seen them using, I find this hard to accept. When they came to search my home, they ran me off the road in a junk car that looked as if it had a bunch of gangsters in it. Then yanked my 11 year old daughter out of the car hurting her arm. Not seriously, however. They appeared to be excited because their plans of catching me at home were foiled by me taking my daughter to her ice skating class. I guess they have procedures, and were only doing their job the way they were trained. I can't fault them with that. I'm sure they didn't know what to expect. I own guns, so I guess I could have been a crazy. Actually I've only shot one of them once, on a farm. They make too much noise, and you can't hit what you are aiming at. The other ones I had reconditioned, so they would be attractive to, collectors, and dealers. And I don't mean drug dealers. They served me with a search and seizure warrant filled with manufac- tured evidence. By whom I'm not sure. Most paragraphs ended with a statement that quote "The information provided has been proved to be accurate and reliable by independent investigation." And since most, were statements that I supposedly had made, how do you prove them reliable unless someone else was standing there at the time, which they weren't. Also for me to have supposedly walked up to a bank manager and say I want to structure my transactions to avoid paying income tax would really be insane. And, as I mentioned they denied it. There are also many things which have been done, which are obviously illegal, but to mention them would put individuals within the system in bad light, which is not what I'm trying to do here. I'm sorry if it appears that I'm trying to excuse my actions by at- tacking the system which is charged to uphold the law. But they have exaggerated, maybe even fabricated, and used whatever necessary to prosec- ute me, for laws that most people don't know exist, and probably couldn't understand if they read them, so I feel I have the right to bring it all out. Obviously I can't blame anyone for what I did. No one twisted my arm. It's just that they have a law for almost everything you do, and everyone is afraid to stand up against the system. Even the people within the system. They tried it in the 60s, and lost. And they keep passing more laws. I'm waiting for them to attach at 25 year law to jaywalking. The way the laws are worded I bet, if you made any money doing it, they could find a way. And the law they used was obviously passed to be used against drug dealers. Every other paragraph says something about drugs. The only thing I know about drugs is what I see on television. I tried marijuana once in the early 60s but I don't like the feeling of losing control of my faculties. I won't even have more than one drink when I eat out. And lately with the laws the way they are, I'm afraid to have even the one. It really upsets me to think that, so many people, are so dissatisfied with their life that they need to use substances to escape from the realities. With all the pressures I've been under lately it would be so tempting to want to escape. I realize it may help me escape, but it makes life harder on those around me who are trying to deal the best they can with life which is tough enough. Now I'm being forced to help go after and prosecute other people who don't even know they are breaking the law, and are also not really hurting anyone. I'm being asked to help convict xxxxxx. Heck, I hear Apple didn't even know they weren't real until they busted one open xxxxxxxx and I never talked about it. I'm not saying this to help xxxxx. It's a shame, but he doesn't realize that, if you get their attention, they're going to get you. They decide if you broke the law or not. The FBI is getting everyone these days. I saw the other day on the news, where they walked into a hotel room and took tapes from CNN, without even a search warrant. No wonder we get along with the USSR so well these days. There doesn't appear to be much difference between the FBI and the KGB, except that I don't believe the FBI beats people. Of course I'm not sure the KGB does anymore either. But it's possible that I'm wrong on both counts. This I find very distasteful, but if I don't help them I'll get more charges, which affects my family. We seem to be trying to clear up all the crime in the world, with a big fervor. What will we have, if we ever accomplish it. For one thing many unemployed attorneys, agents, and judges. We'll all drive the same kind of car, because to think or be different from the next guy will be a crime. As people begin obeying most of the heavy laws, we will start charging people with looking funny, so the attorneys, and law enforcers can hold on to their jobs. First we will build more jails to hold all the violators, until half the population is in jail. Then as they start to obey all rules we will make up things that people are doing wrong. Even- tually we will be the robots that the futuristic movies talk about. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it. The Germans were almost able to do it with the Jews, but if history tells us anything, eventually the people are going to be upset. I made some mistakes, and I'm not really blaming anyone. I didn't know copyright violation was so serious, and the rest are just laws created for one thing then used for another, because they feel I was probably going to cheat on my taxes. But that is the way the chips fell, and I'll take my punishment, and try again for the forth time. I often wonder if I'm not really crazy, to keep trying when the obstacles are stacked so high. They say a new business has a one in 3000 chance of making it. And their definition of making it is that they just continue to stay in business. I bet the odds against making a profit are even higher. For me, now it will be even harder. I have a credit record that looks as if a bomb dropped on it, and now I'm a felon. Well, only about 20 years left and I'll be too old to try. But again my grandfather was a millionaire, lost it all betting on the ponies, as he called it, and at 98 he was still trying to get back to where he was. I don't know if I can take another 40 years of this. E N D O F S T A T E M E N T The above was a statement prepared by D. Hayes to be read to the Judge at the conclusion of Hayes' trial and sentencing. Part II of this article will appear next week, in it, the actual charges levied against D. Hayes are detailed and explained. _________________________________________________________ > DENNY HAYES STR FOCUS? * EXCLUSIVE! * "..if I single someone out.." ===================== THE PRICE OF COPYRIGHT VIOLATION ================================ STReport has obtained directly from DENNIS HAYES his very own statements concerning his arrest and ultimate conviction for copyright violation. by Dennis "Denny" Hayes Part II ======= Well, as I stated, that's the statement I wrote, but was later advised not to read, because the government doesn't like you to say bad things about them. I was charged with copyright violation which carries a maxi- mum of one year in jail. A charge of, what is called, structuring which carries 5 years max was added, which says any money transactions you do, can't look as if you intend to not pay taxes, whether you intend to or not. And a final charge of money laundering which carries 20 years in prison max, because I bought things with my money, even though most of it came from my checking account, and into my checking account legally, and was on bank records. For you intellectuals interested in the law, here are the charges, and the laws supporting them: * * * * * * THE CHARGES LEVIED ------------------ COUNT 1 - Money Laundering of Monetary Instruments: That from on or about October 1988, up to and including July 17, 1990, in the Southern District of Ohio, Dennis W Hayes, did knowingly, willfully and with intent to engage in conduct constituting an attempt to or evade or defeat payment of income tax (Ref 7201), conduct and cause to be con- ducted, financial transactions affecting interstate commerce, knowing said financial transactions were conducted with property, to wit: United States currency, and checks that were the proceeds of specific unlawful activity, that being the infringement of a copyright. This is a violation of USC 1956(a)(1)(A). Ref: 7201 Attempt to evade or defeat tax (I wasn't charg- ed with this). Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon convic- tion thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000.00, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with court costs of prosecution. Ref: 18 USC 1956(a)(1)(A) Laundering of monetary instruments. Whoever, knowing that the property involved in a financial transaction represents the proceeds of some form of unlawful activity, conducts or attempts to conduct such a financial transaction which in fact involves the proceeds of specified activity with the intent to promote the carrying on of specified unlawful activity, or with intent to engage in conduct constituting an attempt to evade or defeat payment of income tax, shall be sentenced to a fine of not more than $500,000.00 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than twenty years, or both. Comment: This is one of the laws pushed through under the excuse that we need to stop the drug dealing gangsters. It's even under the controlled substance act. But we see where they use it. In other words if you make illegal money, it's one violation, and if you do anything with the money you make, it's a greater violation. It's interesting that an attempt to evade or defeat the tax carries only 5 years, but looking as if you might not pay your taxes carries 20 years. Actually I've found that actually not paying it (IRS Code 7202) also only carries a 5 year sentence. * * * * * * COUNT 2 - Copyright Infringement: From on or about October 1988, up to and including July 17, 1990, in the southern district of Ohio, the defendant, Dennis W. Hayes, did will- fully and for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain infringe the copyright of Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Califor- nia #TX1640052 protecting the computer program stored on a 128K ROM com- puter chip, in that the defendant, Dennis W. Hayes, did cause the pro- tected computer program to be copied onto blank computer chips, without authorization of the copyright holder, in violation of Title 17 USC 506(a) and Title 18 USC 2319(b)(3) Ref: Title 17 USC 506(a) Copyright infrin- gement. Any person who infringes a copyright willfully and for purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain shall be fined not more than $10,000.00 or imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. Comment: This one I'm obviously both morally, and legally guilty of, even though I was told I could only be sued by Apple. * * * * * * COUNT 3 - Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirements: On and between June 8 and June 29, 1990, in the Southern District of Ohio, the defendant, Dennis W Hayes, for the purpose of evading the repor- ting requirements of USC 5313(a) requiring domestic financial institutions to report currency transactions of $10,000.00 or more to the United States Department of Treasury, did knowingly, willfully and intentionally struc- ture and assist in structuring a transaction with one or more domestic financial institutions in that the defendant, Dennis W. Hayes, purchased and caused to be purchased with United States Currency, four cashier's checks in the amount of $9,000.00 each, payable to the Union Bank of Switzerland, in violation of 31 USC 5324, and 5322(a). Ref: 31 USC 5324 Structuring transactions to evade reporting requirement. No person shall for the purpose of evading the reporting requirements of section 5313(a) with respect to such transaction structure or assist in structuring, or attempt to structure or assist in structuring, any tran- saction with one or more domestic financial institutions. Ref: 31 USC 5322(a) Criminal penalties; A person willfully violating this subchapter or a regulation prescribed under this subchapter shall be fined not more than $250,000.00, imprisoned for not more than one year, or both. Comment: To make a law that you have to tell the government about all your financial transactions whether you pay your taxes or not, sure seems like a violation of the Constitutional right to privacy. But from a moral point of view it's not a bad law, as long as the information is used fairly and evenly, but if past history is any indication, and as in this case, it will be used as a means to increase the sentence for a crime above what the creators of the primary violated law intended when they laid down the sentence for the violation, and any other purpose which suits the governments needs. * * * * * * The following is the statement of damages from the Pre-Sentence Investiga- tion report: The primary victim in this case is the Apple Computer Company. How- ever, the impact on Apple is unknown and may never be quantified. Accor- ding to a representative from Apple's legal department, the defendant's behavior is not widespread. Nevertheless, Mr. Mark Aaker, attorney for Apple, suggested for each counterfeit part that Hayes sold, potentially represents one MacIntosh computer not sold by Apple. The attorney was quick to point out, However, that he was unable to produce the percentage of those individuals who would have spent over $2000.00 for a MacIntosh computer had they not had the opportunity to buy the defendant's relative- ly cheap set of computer chips that would "convert the purchaser's inex- pensive computer" into one as powerful as the MacIntosh. A second victim impact expressed by the attorney for Apple concerned the fact that Hayes has virtually flooded the market with his fake com- puter chips. As a result, this may cause Apple a severe service problem in the future when individuals, thinking they have actual Apple computer chips, begin to send the faulty ones in to Apple for warranty work. Mr. Aaker indicated that at present such losses cannot be estimated. Finally, Mr. Aaker related that the primary harm caused by Hayes was that he provided an opportunity for others to do the same thing, and therefore, advanced "the bad intent of others and facilitated additional fraud." The US Government was a secondary victim because of lost tax revenue due to the income generated by Hayes. The government, however, has not charged Hayes with any tax violations. Comment: They admit they don't know if there were any damages to Apple except that if I get away with what I did someone else might do the same, or that Apple might worry about repairing a part that only cost them one dollar. And I really don't understand how the government was damaged, since they didn't wait to see if I was going to pay my taxes or not, and they took over $300,000.00 from me, which left me broke. I'd say they were the winners. * * * * * * Hayes Summation =============== In the past few months, I've seen so many laws like these, which the average person doesn't know about, that when I now hear a person say, I'm doing nothing wrong, they can't get me for anything, I start to feel sick. To summarize, the lawmakers of this country are passing laws, under false pretenses, in an attempt to drastically increase the penalties. Thereby circumventing the penalties written into the original laws, for violations of these original laws. Then in an attempt to make the application of these laws fair, they are then structuring the application, to suppress the normal human moral opinions of both the law enforcers, and defendants, while at the same time, using these same opinions to pass and enforce these very same laws. Your guilt and sentence is now decided by the prosecution, who decides what you are charged with, with a little adjustment for your past history, and how much you are willing to help them nail (accuse & convict) others. And with a big adjustment for your wealth and popularity. And the democr- atic controls of appeal are by-passed, by their unaccountability. The only hope you have is to get your attorney to attempt to negotiate the sentence down from the 1000 year sentence you start with. And you are supposed to feel satisfied with a big reduction to 26 years max on a charge that should have had a max of 1 to 5 years to start with. The investigators are just doing their job, and the judge then has to follow guidelines he may not even agree with. Give it a few more years, and we can replace the judge with a computer. You will never be able to replace the system with a computer however. If you did, it would charge everyone with every law they violated, and over 75% of the population would be sentenced to over 1000 years in jail, and the average life span isn't up to that point yet. They look around, and say, but we are making life better for everyone. No, they are making life better for the people who can hire a team of attorneys to guide them through the obstacles, and at the same time dest- roying the incentive for anyone below them to be creative, take risks, and thereby improve society. If they are really doing what they say, then why are recent reports saying the gap between the rich and the poor has tri- pled in the past two years. And, they can't seem to understand why people take drugs to escape, or why the teenage suicide rate is up. They can't understand why there is so much apathy in college today, yet they can see what it has done to Russia. The students themselves in a two hour special on TV said why try, they tried to improve things in the 60's and they wasted their time. And any gains they may have made have since been taken away. Look, I know the drive for one person to impose his wills on another, has always been here, and I doubt that it will ever change. We don't understand, therefore like, anyone who is different than us, which causes us to want to knock them down. Why can't we let people alone unless they are hurting someone. And if they are really hurting someone, make them show it, or at least file a complaint. Not just prosecute someone for breaking laws because it sounds like something to do, or that someone is making more money than another. If the law is intended to protect the people, why do the charges, and the sentences depend so heavily on how much profit the individual makes, as if the real crime is making more money than the next guy, rather than on the damages caused. Or is the system too inept to find the damages caused. Under this system, I understand I received an additional year because I made over $300,000.00. If it is your idea, of an attempt to make things fair, boy are you missing the boat. They get away with it because, no one really cares enough, or is too scared to say anything until it affects them directy. Well, give it time, and it will. And you can take that to the bank. To make matters worse, my charge didn't even fit into the system. When I was officially arrested, they tried to enter me into the crime computer, and there wasn't even a category for me. So they put me under miscellan- eous something. The people charging, and defending me don't even unders- tand the computer world. Other than the word processors their secretaries use, they do everything with paper, pencils, and voice recorders. They couldn't make a rational judgement on anything having to do with comput- ers, if their life depended on it. In my case, they had to hire outside help to try to explain to them what I was doing. And I know for sure they still don't really understand. They use terms like rails for the plastic tubes which computer chips come in. They talk about the cost of repairing a computer chip as if it were a machine you could take apart, and fix. They took all the logic chips I used in designing products, while I was in the design business, since they didn't understand the difference, and because they looked like the other ones I had. I even had a box of Atari floppy drives, and it seems their expert didn't know what they were, because they had to ask me what they were. This I really can't believe, however. It sounds more like a com- munication problem to me. And my attorney told me they didn't have a precedent on my crime to base anything on. By the sentence, it appears I fit in with murderers, and drug dealers, somewhere. Let's see, I violated a copyright, and I did things that made it look as if I might be able to try to cheat on my income tax which everyone knows was an attempt to hide my finances from Apple. And I actually didn't file for a few years prior, although I made no money. The maximum sentence for copyright violation is one year. The maximum sentence for actually lying, not paying, and cheating on your taxes is five years. And somehow I ended up with a twenty-six years charge, while Pete Rose, who actually cheated, and admitted it got 5 months. Hmmm.. Must be some new kind of math. But I guess I'm not quite as bad as Al Capone, however. He received 11 years. Now I've been sentenced to five years in prison, after which I have to spend two years on probation, and I must see a psychiatrist for ten months of the two years. What this is for I'm not sure. I'm guessing it's because I thought about killing myself a few years ago. But if that is what they are worrying about, why do they want to wait five years to see if I'm this nuts. It makes me wonder who is really nuts. Well I hate to bust their bubble, but I've been knocked down, kicked, stomped on, and rolled over so much, I don't believe anything they could do would ever again make me want to do that. I have my moments when I really get upset, and now I've got ulcers, but the more they stomp, the more determined I get to fight back. I was told, by my attorney, that I received an additional two to four of the years for deciding not to help them ruin other people's lives who were helping many and hurting no one. In fact I called xxxx secretary, and told her to tell xxxxxxx to watch what was said because the FBI was probably investigating..., they told me they could bring additional char- ges against me for obstruction of justice. I wonder what Daniel Webster would say about this use of the word justice. xxxxxx, being the xxxxx he is, called the FBI, and told them I had called, to make himself look good. The only thing I have left is my own self respect. They have taken every- thing I own, my money, my house, my car, and now the best part of my life (my daughters). They will grow through the most important part of their life without me. I may have made some mistakes, but I hurt no one, and helped thousands, and for that they want to destroy me, and my family. But I am not going to help them, in any way, do the same to anyone else who is not hurting anyone, even people like xxxxxx. If you think this is really a free country, you need mental help. You are free, as long as you are a puppet, and don't upset any of the big boys. Folks we may as well bend over when the big corporations tell us too, then spread when they tell us too. If you try to fight the system, you lose. I wonder if I had a copyright, and Apple violated it, if Apple would go to jail. But, I did have an emotional collapse a few years ago, and set myself up for it. Though the fact that they could have done what they did anyway, scares the hell out of me. I have three wonderful daughters. Summer (13) who through my encou- ragement, has pursued her dream of becoming a gymnast, since she was 6, and is now a level seven on a 1 to 10 scale where a level 10 is preparing for the Olympics. She will now have to quit, because my ex-wife will not be able to afford it on her income without me. She also runs straight A's in school even though she has only an average IQ, because I spend the time to help her. My ex-wife isn't too sharp in math, science, etc, so I'm sure these grades will drop. She is also the most emotional, and I really don't know what missing me will do to her. The next oldest is Shanna (11). She also gets mostly A's in school, but where Summer has to work hard in gymnastics, Shanna is a natural athlete, and has been taking skating since she was 2. I watched her do a Christmas ice skating show for the public downtown on Fountain Square yesterday, and she was so good I had a hard time holding back the tears, knowing she will now probably have to quit. Now there's Maegan (8). She's the artist. She doesn't seem to like Athletics much, but give her a piano or keyboard, and she'll really surpr- ise you. Fortunately, I don't think she will need to stop. Piano lessons aren't that expensive. I have to grit my teeth to say it, but, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christ- mas, Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas, and Merry Christmas." That is one for each year I must spend in prison. And don't let anyone fool you by thinking I'll only get a year or two. There is no parole in federal prison anymore. You get a few months off for good behavior, but that's it. And I'm told, if I agree to help them destroy the lives of others, I might get a little more time off. I have to report to the prison on 1/8/91 for five years. But, I'm told, the least I could get is 2 1/2 years, and just to save my butt a little I'm not going to do this to other people's kids. I'm sorry if this makes me appear unpatriotic, but I don't feel too patriotic at the moment. Merry Christmas again, and see ya in a few years. I wonder what com- puter systems will be like in five years. The way I feel now, I'm not sure I ever want to see one again. Dennis W Hayes 7048-47 Waterview Way Cincinnati, OH 45241 Phone 513-779-7998 ______________________________________________________