Fighting the Devil - Jeannie Walker, Author
3:45 PM Posted by MAC
Delightful Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
(Jennie Walker's favorite)
1/cup Canola Oil or: 1/2 cup (1 stick butter) plus 6 tbsp butter (softened)
3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1 tsp. vanilla
8-12 drops imitation almond extract (real almond extract can be substitued- 6 drops
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups Oats (quick or uncooked)
1/2 cup raisins (raisin lovers use 1 cup)
Optional: 1/2 tsp salt.
While
oven is heating to 350 degrees, mix together canola oil, vanilla,
almond extract, beaten eggs and sugar until
creamy. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda & salt together. Add
creamy ingredients to dry flour mixture-mix well then add oats &
raisins and mix well again. Drop rounded dough by tablespoon onto an
ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown or
light brown, depending on your preference. Makes approximately 4 dozen
small cookies.
Happy appetite! Try not to eat too many-they are so delicious they can become habit forming.
Fighting the Devil – Review by Martha A. Cheves, Author of Stir, Laugh, Repeat, Think With Your Taste Buds and A Book and A Dish
I
had to put a gown and mask on. Lou Ann and Debbie helped me do that
and I walked in and I saw Jerry had some tubes, one running up his nose
and I believed he had a little…uh…a hospital gown on. His hands and
feet were tied to each side of the bed with some sort of restraint.
Jerry raised his head up and looked at me when I walked in. He said,
“Gamble!” I said, “Yeah, Jerry! What in the world are you doing up
here?” He said, “Oh, I’m sick. They’ve been doing all kinds of tests
on me.” I said, “Well, you’re gonna have to get well so that you can
get out. You gotta get a lot of
things going, you know.” He said, “Gamble, you
gotta help me get out of here! They’re trying to kill me. I’m gonna
die! I’ve got $35,000 missing. They took it. Those two women took
it. They’re trying to kill me. They fed me … Lou Ann and Debbie,
they’re trying to kill me. You gotta help me get out of here! You
gotta help me! Cut me loose! Gamble, cut me loose!”
This
was just one of many pleas from Jerry Sternadel after he had been
admitted to Bethania Hospital, not once but for a total of 3 times
before dying of arsenic poisoning on June 12, 1990. Most people ignored
his pleas after talking to his wife Lou Ann and his company bookkeeper
Debbie Baker. They assured anyone who asked that Jerry was getting
better and would be coming home soon.
Arsenic
poisoning creates one of the most horrible
deaths as it eats away at the bodily systems until the body
shuts down. Symptoms are severe gastric distress, esophageal pain,
vomiting, and diarrhea with blood. The skin becomes cold and clammy and
the blood pressure falls. If death isn’t immediate, the skin becomes
jaundice and is unable to void. There may be moments of paralysis and
if death is delayed by several days, the arsenic will hit the liver and
kidney. Convulsions and coma are final signs and death usually comes
from circulatory failure. This is a horrible way to die! A bullet to
the head would be more humane.
But,
this is the death that Lou Ann and Debbie chose for Jerry Sternadel.
Now came the task of proving they were the ones guilty of administering
the poison and how. Jeannie Walker, who is not only the author of
Fighting the
Devil, but also Jerry’s first
wife and mother of Jerry's only children, spent years working with the police and interviewing friends of Jerry. She even hired a
private detectives, all to prove the two women were guilty of murder and
have them stand trial. Will she succeed?
When
I read Fighting the Devil, I was amazed at the court systems within
Texas at that time. There was actually a law that would allow a jury to
find a defendant guilty of murder but still be able to receive parole
and a fine! Apparently the law was written for those who kill their
abusers after years of abuse. But will it work for someone as cunning
as Lou Ann and Debbie? This book made me aware of the trials the actual
victims are put through. Yes…the victims are actually put on trial as
their character is dissected and torn apart. Then there’s the jury.
Spending time in a locked room with 11
other people trying to decide if someone is guilty or not and then
deciding what sentencing they will receive can, I’m sure, get to you and
make you actually rush through your decision just to get it over with.
The
actual case of Jerry Sternadel’s death kept me reading even as my anger
for the system grew. I have to admire Jeannie Walker for her
determination to find closure for her children and their families. This
case caught the attention of the producers of Oxygen channel’s Snapped
series and was aired on February 17, 2005. The case is still open and
justice is still being sought. I personally hope that for Jerry’s
family and friends, closure will soon be found.
Review Stir, Laugh, Repeat at Amazon.com
Labels: A Book and A Dish, arsenic, Book Reviews, Fighting the Devil, Jennie Walker, Martha A Cheves, Murder, poison, Stir Laugh Repeat, Think With Your Taste Buds, true crime
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I'm from Georgia, moved to North Carolina by way of Florida. I've been in Charlotte for 14 years and love it. The recipes in my book Stir, Laugh, Repeat are all tested by "Food Testers" of which I now have 24. They try a dish and rate it from 1-10 with only those scoring at least an 8 making the book. My website is a holding place for my 2nd book Stir, Laugh, Repeat... Again. Please visit my site to find new recipes and tips. All recipes are easy, using common ingredients and according to my testers, great!
January 30, 2012 6:43 PM
Love the honest reviews of books Martha reads. She is a God-send to Authors and friends alike. Thanks Martha for being YOU!