Her parents were pursuing what were perhaps their final legal options for having their brain-damaged daughter's feeding tube reconnected and continued to be turned down.

``Terri is weakening. She's down to her last hours,'' Bob Schindler said after visiting with her Friday morning. ``Something has to be done, and it has to be done quick.''

Meanwhile, demonstrators kept up their vigil and acts of civil disobedience outside the Pinellas Park hospice where Schiavo resides. Nine people, three of them children, were arrested Friday for trespassing in an attempt to bring Schiavo water.

The latest legal attempt to keep Schiavo alive came when the Schindlers' attorneys asked Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge George Greer to reverse his long-standing ruling that Schiavo would not want to be kept alive in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of improvement.

Schiavo, 41, has been in that diagnosed condition since she suffered heart failure in 1990.

Her husband and legal guardian, Michael Schiavo, contends that his wife would not want to be kept alive artificially. Bob and Mary Schindler have opposed him in a seven- year legal battle that has attracted worldwide attention and prompted the intervention of the federal and state governments.

Attorney: Schiavo Tried To Speak

In a hearing conducted by telephone to resolve another emergency motion by the Schindlers, attorney David Gibbs told Greer there is new evidence that Schiavo is conscious to some degree and that she is attempting to vocalize her wish to live.

Barbara Weller, a lawyer with Gibbs' firm, and Suzanne Vitadamo, Terri Schiavo's sister, both said they heard Terri try to say, ``I want to live,'' Gibbs told Greer.

``She managed to articulate the first two vowel sounds, first articulating `AHHHHH' and then virtually screaming, `WAAAAAAA,' '' the emergency motion reads. ``She became very agitated but could not complete the vocalization attempted.''

George Felos, attorney for Michael Schiavo, said the Schindlers were ascribing meaning to their daughter's ``audio reflex'' that causes her to make random sounds at random times.

``This motion is outrageous ... simply an outrageous abuse of the legal system,'' Felos said. ``This egregious motion is crossing the line of abuse of the court system.''

Greer said he would try to issue a ruling by noon today. He denied Gibbs' request that Schiavo be given fluids intravenously while he deliberates.

Greer also denied a new request by Schiavo's parents to remove himself from the case he has presided over for much of its seven years.

Earlier in the day, U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore denied, for the second time this week, the Schindlers' request that he order the feeding tube reinserted.

Whittemore's 11-page ruling analyzed five new legal claims. ``On careful consideration of each count,'' he wrote, ``the court concludes that the Plaintiffs have not shown a substantial case on the merits.''

During a late evening hearing Thursday, the judge repeatedly stressed that he could not give the Schindlers what they wanted unless he believed they could show that their daughter's constitutional rights had been violated.

Gibbs, for example, argued Schiavo was being deprived of her Fourteenth Amendment right to life. That amendment to the Constitution bars states from depriving citizens of ``life, liberty or property, without due process of law.''

Although Gibbs repeatedly focused on the right to life, Whittemore pressed him to demonstrate how Schiavo had been deprived due process of law. ``I can't jump to the core value, the core decision, but for the constitutional deprivation,'' he said.

Judge Calls Rhetoric Ineffective

The judge agreed with Gibbs' contention that Congress passed legislation giving him jurisdiction over the case because Congress intended for Schiavo to live. But Whittemore said Congress also established a framework for his decision, and that was for the court to determine whether her legal rights had been denied.

At one point, Gibbs said: ``Absent the state authority of what Judge Greer did, Michael Schiavo would be charged with murder.``

``That is the the kind of rhetoric of this case that cannot influence me and does not influence me,'' Whittemore retorted. ``You know that, and I want the public to know that.''

The judge was unusually aware of the impact his decisions and statements are having on the public. After the hearing on the first motion before him Monday, Whittemore brusquely told attorneys he wouldn't say how long it would take him to decide the case.

Whittemore's early morning ruling prompted the Schindlers to file an appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta.

In the husband's response, Michael Schiavo's attorneys argued that the Schindlers have abandoned all pretense of the law and are simply making ``a pure emotional appeal.''

The appeals court, which refused a similar plea this week, issued a ruling Friday night affirming Whittemore's decision.

Pleas To Gov. Bush

Seeing Bush as their last hope, the Schindlers issued a late-night plea to the governor.

``You have the power to save my daughter,'' Mary Schindler said. ``It has been seven days. Please, please do something.''

Bob Schindler said Bush had ``put Terri through a week of hell and my family through a week of hell by not acting. And I implore him to put a stop to this. This is judicial homicide.''

Many supporters of the Schindlers say Bush could simply ignore the courts and take emergency custody of Schiavo. Bush said Thursday he is not willing to go beyond the boundaries of his powers.

``We are continuing to do whatever we can and we are pursuing all the options available to us in this case,'' Bush spokesman Jacob DiPietre said.

Schiavo has been without food and water longer than she was in 2003, when the tube was removed for six days and five hours. It was reinserted when Bush and the Legislature pushed through a law that was later thrown out by the state Supreme Court.

Orchestrated Arrests Continue

Entering her eighth day without nourishment on the eve of Easter weekend, Schiavo was ``showing the effects of starvation, more so,'' a visibly exhausted Bob Schindler said.

``She's still responding. She saw her mother and she smiled, but she's not verbalizing,'' he said. ``I hugged her and I kissed her, and I got the lemon face, which was encouraging. I told her she should not give up, because we are not.

``But I think the people who are anxious to see her die are getting their wish. It's happening.''

Michael Schiavo's brother, Scott, told News Channel 8 from Philadelphia: ``There is no winner. Nobody likes to lose a family member. Nobody wins. There's going to be a loss here and that loss is Terri Schiavo.''

Roughly 250 demonstrators lined narrow 102nd Avenue in front of Hospice House Woodside to pray for Terri Schiavo late Friday.

Raymond Simmons, 35, of Tampa, was one of the few who held up signs that read, ``Give Terri Schiavo Peace.''

``I'm not God, but whatever the future holds, let her finally rest,'' he said. ``Stop the circus.''

Against the family's wishes, some continued to orchestrate arrests outside the hospice.

As Joshua Heldreth, 10, of North Carolina, was being handcuffed, reporters asked him whether he was acting on his own.

``I want to do this,'' he answered. ``They're not giving her food or water. It's bad.''

Joshua's father, Scott, 32, stood in the background, praising his son's actions.

``I'm proud of him, but it breaks my heart for the nation,'' Heldreth said, insisting it was Joshua's idea to give Schiavo water.

``Men of God should be out here, but children, 10-year- olds, have to fight the battle.''

Brother Paul O'Donnell, spiritual adviser to the Schindlers, said he and the Schindlers didn't agree with using children to protest.

``For the adults, I don't have a problem with any type of peaceful protest,'' O'Donnell said. ``I just would rather the children not be involved in this.''

Reporters Elaine Silvestrini and Lindsay Peterson, researcher Buddy Jaudon and News Channel 8 reporter Mark Douglas contributed to this report. Material from The Associated Press also was used.