Two "retired" Madera men, Doug Matheson and Larry Miller, recently hired new attorneys to ask U.S. Magistrate Judge Dennis L. Beck to release four Chinese immigrants who fled China because of that country's forced abortion and birth control policies and for freedom of religion issues. There currently is a habeas corpus petition pending in the U.S. District Court, Ninth District.

Matheson and Miller read an article about refugee Zhou Shiu Yon in World Magazine earlier this year. The men were compelled by Jesus' commands in Matthew 25 to visit Zhou, so they contacted Tim Palmquist of Voice For Life. Since then, they have visited different refugees at least once every week.

Miller and Matheson have developed a new phonetic alphabet system, which they use to teach the refugees English and the Bible.

Update:
Unfortunately, these attorneys proved to be unscrupulous, and did not produce positive results for the refugees (although the refugees were eventually freed through other means). For more information, see the article here entitled "Hope or Hoax."