Dear Supporters of this petition: 

I had the occasion of meeting with Zaiden's mother and grandmother this week. These circumstances have certainly been difficult for both of them, and for Zaiden adjusting to being in custody.  They are grateful to have your support for this petition. 

I anticipate being able to discuss this petition with a church next Sunday, perhaps others in the future. I hope to contact a few pastors about this in the upcoming week. I trust that this will help us to get more supporters for this petition. 

We can use signers from anywhere, but I think those that will have the most effect are signers from the city of Marion and Grant County. Please continue to share this petition with your family, friends, and colleagues. 

I have been asked how long I will continue this petition. If Grant County prosecutor Scott Hunt agrees to what this petition is asking, I will conclude the petition on that same day. Right now, I want to grow the number of signatures, probably for another six weeks, at which time I will deliver the signatures we have then. I ran an online petition in 2016-2017 which took seven months to succeed, and unfortunately, not every worthy cause succeeds. But I have hope for this effort. Let's see how responsive the prosecutor's office will be to this effort. I will likely email his office in the upcoming week to let him know that this petition is online. This effort benefits from sharing and people being aware of it, so please don't keep it a secret. 

There is one other point I want to clarify. I've used change . org for my previous petitions, and they do get more press and legitimacy from their reach. They do ask signers for contributions. However, you do not have to make a contribution to sign a petition and to share it on social media. When a signer does contribute to Change, they use it to publicize the petition further, but I have not necessarily found that their publicity gets more signatures. I think it is more effective to share the petition on your own social media because you will have the personal connection to your friends. 

As always, thank you for supporting this petition. If you pray, please play for Zaiden, his family, and the family of Byron Dennis, the man who was killed on March 11. 

Sincerely, 

Jack Heller