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PAROLED

By Charles Manion

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2011 Charles Manion
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4502-9133-0

Chapter One

August 24th, 1983, a day that Stewart Vogel has looked forward to with apprehensive anxiety. He had his day in court twenty-five years earlier. Now in a small room he would meet with five men that would review his parole request and determine if he would continue the life of a semi-non-person, a number with nothing remotely private. He was only a number having his sense of hearing and smell constantly under attack with unpleasant annoyances. Having spent the last twenty-five years of his life in prison, the thought of spending the rest of his life behind the gray walls of Eddyville prison shattered all meaning. The experience of living behind these walls with felons of all ages places a serious tax on the sanity of everyone concerned.

Eddyville prison is a Kentucky State Prison located at the site that had once been Eddyville, Kentucky. Completed in 1885, the large stone and cement structure overlooked the Cumberland River. Hence "Castle on the Cumberland" has been one of its most popular nicknames for at least the last ninety years.

While the prison with its faded gray walls had not changed much in the twenty-five years that Stu has been an inmate, the river and the town have. In 1966 the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed the Barkley Dam near Grand Rivers, Kentucky. This raised the level of the Cumberland River fifty feet at the Eddyville site. In preparation for flooding the area, the small town of Eddyville was moved five miles to the west. So the town left the river and the river became Lake Barkley. The lake is named after or in honor of Alvin Barkley. Alvin served in both the U.S. Senate and Congress as a Kentucky representative and became the vice president of the United States under President Truman. Today the sight of this large castle structure at water's edge is computable to the awesome feeling of San Quentin.

He was up early today preparing himself in every way possible, clean everything and the best shave he had in years. Changes in the Kentucky State criminal code created a window through which Stu could become eligible for parole.

The Warden had arranged the day so the Parole Board would not be pressed and would have as much time as they need to interview Stu. The Board Room had a long oak table, at which the five Board members were seated. Stu was seated in a wooden straight chair about eight feet back from the table. A window air conditioner was humming away. He had not enjoyed the comfort of an air conditioner in the last quarter of a century. Outside of the sick ward there were very few locations where an inmate could be exposed to air conditioning. It was a real plus having the comfort of air conditioning. Stu would have had no problem making it through that warm humid day; he was used to it. For the Board members it might be another story. Without the comfort of air conditioning they might have called the whole day short and in all fairness Stu's day could be lost along with his parole.

The Board's five members were: Henry Mulebaur (age 59), a banker from Owensboro; Robert Silver (age 61), a retired judge from Paducah; Dwight Goodman (age39), an insurance agent from Louisville; Charles Russell (age 67) a retired postmaster from Greenville; and the Board Chairman, Philip Gore (age 54) an ex-state senator.

The meeting opened with the chairman, introducing the other board members to Stu. He went on to explain that this was not a trial, but a review of who Stewart Vogel really was today and would he be a safe person for them to take the responsibility of allowing him to reenter into the outside world. The fact that Stu had been sentenced for a homicide while committing a felony added pressure to the Board's decision. The Governor was running for election. The Governor's opponent would make Stu's release a major political issue if he were to become involved in another major crime. The records showed Stu had always maintained his innocence and had never made any admission of his guilt. Mr. Gore said they did not want to review Stu's trial and any parole based on Stu's innocence would not be considered. With this simple ground rule made clear, the meeting started.

Charles Russell asked the first question.

"Mr. Vogel, according to our records you served with the First Marine Division in Korea. I feel that it would be to your advantage to tell us of your service to our Country during that conflict."

Stu started by thanking Mr. Russell for giving him the chance to tell of his Marine experience. "To start with, everyone joined the Marines for different reasons. My reason was to play baseball. I played first base in high school. During my senior in high school I joined the Navy Reserves. Several of my friends joined during the same period. It seemed like the best way to start seeing the world. We were going to get to travel and be paid in the process. That first summer I went to the Great Lakes Naval Station for boot camp. We were given swimming lessons and trained in firefighting and the use of gas masks. Oh there were classes on knot tying and VD films, but the things I said first are what we did the most of. After I returned from the Great Lakes, Lt. Sam Anderson of the local Marine Reserves came by my home one evening to visit. They needed a good first baseman on their Marine Reserve baseball team. He took care of my transfer too and I received new uniforms. Two of my good friends transferred with me. We went to meeting all that winter. I was out of high school and had my first real job working for Hoosier Movers. I made $1.75 an hour and had big plans for buying a car later in the year. We were all going to summer camp during July of 1950 somewhere in Virginia. As you might remember the North Koreans moved across the 38th parallel in June of 50. Instead of July summer camp our outfit was called into active service. We were sent to San Diego. Here they, I'm sorry gentlemen, am I going into to much detail? It was such an interesting time in my life." Chairman Gore answered. "No, Mr. Vogel, we have the whole day if needed and I do find it very interesting, please continue."

"Well, in California they had a real mess. General MacArthur was in bad need of Marines. They divided us into three groups. The first group included those with prior active duty. They were all gone within a matter of days. The second group included those that had boot camp training. My record showed that I had been to boot, even though it wasn't with the Marines. I was placed in the second group along with my two high school friends. We received a short period of training before we shipped. The third group received complete combat training."

"By the time we arrived with group two, the situation in Korea had gone from bad to worse. The first group of Marines had almost been run over by the North Koreans. When we arrive at Pusan, we became part of the defense of the Pusan perimeter. This was an area that was seventy-five miles wide and fifty miles deep. That was all of Korea that was not in the hands of the North Koreans. Our outfit was on the move full time. We were the backup to the perimeter defense and moved about up and down the battlefront giving whatever we had to help hold the North Koreans back. Moving about so much in a battlefield area we managed to spring more than our share of land mines. I remember a black kid from Chicago was the first to spring a mind. His name was Larry. Nice looking guy, had a real friendly smile."

"I guess it's not good for me to be talking about killing, but I do want to be honest with you....