Here We Go Again...Another Celebrity Conservatorship Case

By Diane Dimond

Yep. Another famous one-name celeb is about to immerse herself in the often smarmy and predatory world of conservatorship. Move over Britney, this time its Cher who has turned to the courts to help her save her son, Elijah Blue, from the drugs and destructive behavior which have defined his life. On January 5 Cher is expected to file a petition temporary conservatorship of Elijah in a California court. I’m here to tell you temporary in this type of court almost always turns into a permanent situation. Once a judge establishes any kind of conservatorship (called guardianship in most states) it is next to impossible to escape the arrangement.

Cher may be relegating her son to forever live under court control. I just hope she was fully informed about the pitfalls of conservatorship. After many years investigating this routinely exploitative system I sure hope Cher realizes what a morass she may be signing up for! Does she realize that this ill-regulated and largely unsupervised system is populated by financial predators just waiting in the wings for juicy, lucrative cases like this? Simply say the words, “Cher’s son” and dollar signs pop into their eyes.

Source:
Here We Go Again...Another Celebrity Conservatorship Case

See Diane Diamond's book on guardianship/conservatorship abuse:
We're Here to Help: When Guardianship Goes Wrong

Free Marcus Katz - A Curated Collection of Yelp Reviews - A Novel

Woven into his odd, chatty Yelp reviews of restaurants, stores and services, 22-year-old Aspie Marcus Katz chronicles in vivid detail how, after the death of his doting mother, he is railroaded by the Los Angeles probate court into an abusive conservatorship.

When his bullying conservator tries to warehouse him in a run-down, dead-end group home, intending to drain his inheritance, Marcus runs away to Oregon, pursued by his conservator, on a risky, ill-advised road trip to meet up with fellow Aspie Durinda, a devoted fan of his now viral Yelp reviews.

She lives with others also on the autism spectrum on a collective farm in rural Oregon. It is here that Marcus hopes to make a stand and finally take control of his life.

Available through Amazon

Marked for Destruction - A True Story

by Officer John Caravella (retired)

What Adele Fraulen might have thought to be nothing more than a meaningless bad dream one night in 1935 would actually come true. At age 79 she would find herself living a nightmare — a struggle for her life, simply because she innocently trusted the wrong professionals to help with her portion of a Million Dollar inheritance; they would steal her very existence.

Her neighbors, Chris and Patricia Zurillo, would realize that Adele’s life was going terribly wrong and dedicate themselves to freeing her from captivity. “Marked For Destruction” is a rare book that exposes an ever-expanding crime against our elderly.

Don’t miss this opportunity! In an attempt to reach and help as many people as possible with the true story of Adele’s victimization of elderly abuse and fraud, it has been decided to give a free download copy of the book to anyone who clicks the button below.

On behalf of Adele’s friends, Chris and Patricia Zurillo, whose photo is displayed on the site and linked to this posting, it is felt that the importance and timeliness of this story warrants making it as available as possible.

CLICK HERE to download a free text copy of "Marked for Destruction"

Protecting Mama: Surviving the Legal Guardianship Swamp

by Leonie Rosenstiel

Léonie, whose mother suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, struggles with an implacable, court-appointed guardian against the backdrop of centuries-old family myths and miscommunication.

Mama wants their story told, but the courts demand that secrecy enshroud all guardianship records—forever.

After years of struggle and Kafkaesque frustration, and with the help of a brilliant, unconventional attorney,

Léonie goes to war with the establishment in an attempt to help others find their way through the swamp of legal guardianship.

Now Available at Amazon

Please note, the author of this book would appreciate it if readers would post a review of this book at Amazon's site:  https://www.amazon.com/review/create-review/?channel=glance-detail&asin=B09MV3XMMB&ie=UTF8&

New Book by John Caravella: "Scams, Tricks and Deceptions"

When John Caravella retired from police service 25 years ago, he took on consumer fraud investigations for various agencies. He also published a book titled, "Marked for Destruction" which chronicles the deliberate targeting of a elderly Florida woman named Adele Fraulen upon her receiving an unexpected inheritance:


"What Adele Fraulen might have thought to be nothing more than a meaningless bad dream one night in 1935 would actually come true.

At age 79 she would find herself living a nightmare -- a struggle for her life, simply because she innocently trusted the wrong professionals to help with her portion of a Million Dollar inheritance; they would steal her very existence.

Her neighbors, Chris and Patricia Zurillo, would realize that Adele's life was going terribly wrong and dedicate themselves to freeing her from captivity.

“Marked For Destruction” is a rare book that exposes an ever-expanding crime against our elderly."

John's interest in various forms of scams (including those which are especially successful against the elderly) led him to unfair, fraudulent or deceptive new car purchases and inspired him to write a new book, "Scams, Tricks, and Deceptions - a Guide for New Car Buyers."

NASGA is pleased to promote Mr. Caravella's latest book, and to take the opportunity to once again promote "Marked for Destruction"  --- one of NASGA's all-time favorite books on guardianship abuse.

Both books are available at the Marked for Destruction Website

Book: Defending Your Loved One: Avoiding the TRAPS of CONservatorship

Sgt. David finds himself at the mercy of his psychotic ex-wife Sybil. Suffering a traumatic brain injury and trapped in a body that he no longer knows as his own, he tries to battle back only to realize that not only is he physically compromised, but also his mental capacity has failed to the point that he cannot fight the enemy on his own. Coming to grips with his new normal, he enlisted the help of family, friends and strangers.

You will read the account of an elderly woman, Rose, who was essentially kidnapped and taken away by those who were entrusted to help her, and lock away from her loving husband and preyed upon by the very system that was designed to assist the elderly in their time of need. Or the account of a lonely man with diminished capacity and estranged from his family but looking for companionship, only to have a new “relationship” revealed to be a well thought out scam unique for the cunning and deception employed to plunder an unsuspecting persons estate. These are the stories of innocent people ill prepared to deal with traps laid to ensnare them and with few answers available that could help them out of the maze of deception. What these families endured was not only unconstitutional, but also criminal. This is what this book is about, the complicated and nefarious world of conservatorship and caregiving.

As unpleasant as the thought, we may one day be incapacitated and unable to make medical and financial decisions for ourselves. No matter how well you may plan in advance, there may be those impatiently waiting on the sidelines for just the right opportunity to take advantage of an unfortunate situation, including, sadly individuals and institutions you may have thought had your best interests at heart. Your very life could hang in the balance and not being apprised of the perils that await the naive and unprepared could mean the difference between having the loved ones you wanted around you at your most vulnerable to being snatched away at a moments notice, a ward of the state and your estate bled dry. This is what this book is about. Because we lived the nightmare and made it through the other side to tell the stories so that you can avoid the pitfalls that lie ahead. 

This book contains real stories of how families can become victims of greedy scammers and how would be conservators can lay waste to your finances with the help of the system with just a few well-placed phone calls. This book will help you navigate the land mines and roadblocks that we had to face from vultures perched to feast on the bodies of those who cannot defend themselves. 

You will find out the real fight is ultimately for freedom. Freedom to vote, freedom to marry, freedom to eat what you want (or don't want) and most of all freedom to choose your own destiny from this nightmare called CONSERVATORSHIP. With the help of the book, you will become the VICTOR, not a victim.

Available on Amazon!

Tonight on T.S. Radio: 65 Minutes

Join us this evening at 7:00 PM CST as Teresa Tozo Lyles speaks about her book, “65 minutes: a tale of torture and murder in guardianship”, discusses the guardianship of Teresa’s mother and the events that led up to it, and the aftermath.

Summary:
The book is mostly about my mom, but it is also about my relationship with my mom. She was put under guardianship in May 2011 after a 65 minute competency hearing, where she went without her attorney. In Alachua County, Florida, this is against the law. Our county is not “pro se.” I confirmed this with the State Attorney and a probate attorney. My mom died on May 24, 2015 in a nursing home that was operating illegally without a license:

1) In 1999, my father died after an illness from lung cancer due to asbestos poisoning. After he passed, I worked with a Miami based law firm to file multiple law suits on behalf of my dad for my mom. My 2 sisters refused to be a part of the process. Within a year, my mom was receiving settlement checks.

2) My mom, aunt and uncle moved to the Gainesville area in December 1999.

3) In 2001, I started my Ph.D. at the University of Florida

4) In 2004, I went through a very bad break up after being married 25 years and 3 children. I was still in grad school. I got no child support for 5 1/2 years. My mom, aunt and uncle helped my children and I get through these difficult times, while I tried to get on my feet.

5) In 2007, my uncle passed, and then my 2 sisters began talking about putting my mom and aunt in a nursing home. My 3 daughters and I were the primary caregivers for both ladies.

6) In 2009, my mom gave me a loan to buy a truck after my old car died. My sisters found out and began to harass me about the loan.

7) My sisters continued to make attempts to put my aunt and mom in facilities in 2009, 2010. In late 2010 and early 2011, one of my children got very ill, and was basically in ICU for a long period of time. It was during this time that they began their plot to put my mom under guardianship. They hired a local attorney to begin the process.

8) In April 2011, I was contacted by DCF for the first time. There were three calls all together. They were called by my older sister and her abusive boyfriend at the time. They claimed I was abusing my mom, and taking her money. DCF dropped all charges and found them unsubstantiated. This was the same for the 2nd and 3rd calls.

9) In June 2011, she was appointed an emergency temporary guardian, who was personal friends with one of my sisters, and who also had the SAME attorney as the one that my sisters had hired. This is cause for recused. In September 2011, she was appointed a permanent guardian. My mom had a will, but it was ignored.

10) My mom’s wishes were to stay her in home, but she was drugged and removed from her home on May 25, 2012 and taken to the lock down portion of the facility . I had no idea where they were taking her or what day they were doing it.

11) After only 26 days in the first facility with drugging, taking away her glasses and her dentures, my mom was taken to the ER for the first time with dehydration, a UTI and malnourished. She called me from the ER on my cell phone. According to all three guardians, these actions were “in my mom’s best interest.”

12) The first guardian was asked to resign in June 2013. During this time, the harassment continued, and constantly trying to prevent me and my children from seeing my mom. During this time,I lost visitation because I refused to agree to “speak English only” to my mom, and also because I approached my mom in church and gave her a kiss.

She continued to be drugged, including issuing a “Chemical Restraint.”

13) A new guardian was appointed in August 2013, she moved my mom to another facility, which was ant infested and in a horrible neighborhood in the next county. I didn’t know where my mom was for 48 hours. This 2nd guardian died in January 2014. She had a terminal illness and was on multiple medications, which was never disclosed in court and according to law, she was not eligible to become a guardian. I did not see my mom for 6 weeks from Nov. 12 to Dec 25, 2013 without a court order.

14) My mom’s 3rd guardian was appointed in April 2014, which mean my mom was without a guardian for about 3 months. She continued to be drugged.

My mom fell about 30 times in the time she was out of her home, including multiple head injuries. While she was under my care up until 2011, she never went to the ER for a fall.

15) 9 months prior to my mom dying, this 2nd facility lost it’s license to operate, but they kept paying the guardian, and kept taking my mom’s money to pay this facility. The co-owner of this facility was a convicted felon, who also happened to be a friend of the 3rd guardian.

16) In March 2015, the guardian attempted to convince a medical team at the local hospital to put my mom under Hospice, but they refused. Three days later, the guardian contacted the local hospice, and put my mom under hospice care. I was not “put on the list” of family to speak to hospice. I was unable to even speak to hospice about my mom.

My mom’s money was running out, so they needed to kill her quickly.

17) 5 days before she died, I was threatened with arrest, which they had done numerous times during the guardianship.

Let me know if you have any questions.

~Teresa Tozzo-Lyles, Ph.D., CHES

LISTEN LIVE or listen to the archive later

See Also:
NASGA:  Carmen Tozzo Hernandez, Florida Victim

Book: "Court Appointed"

by Priscialla Audette

Books about death are invariably about life. In her book Memento Mori, Muriel Spark says: ''Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs.''

In that vein, this book deals with the ever-present reality of death while concurrently embracing life.

It celebrates the lives of the greatest generation while alerting aging baby boomers to be aware of what is waiting for them around the next corner. As the clients in this book journey through the final stages of their lives toward death and the feeling that time is running out, Hope, the protagonist, conversely journeys toward a richer and fuller life. As cliched as this sounds, this thoughtful book encourages readers to celebrate life and to live each day as the gift it is.

Available through Amazon

Tonight on T.S. Radio: Danny Tate and "Fugitive from Injustice"

Hosted by Marti Oakley:  5:00 pm PST … 6:00 pm MST … 7:00 pm CST … 8:00 pm EST

“Under the deception of protection, Danny Tate was robbed of his freedom, family, home, livelihood, assets — and the trust he had for the justice system which protected itself and nearly destroyed him. This horrifying case of on-going injustice illustrates the urgent need and speaks loudly for the national call for reform of unlawful and abusive conservatorships and guardianships.”
~ Elaine Renoire-President, NASGA (National Assoc. to Stop Guardianship Abuse)

Hosted by Marti Oakley

Danny Tate returns to the show! Big things are happening in Nashville as the trafficking of human beings through the probate system starts to crumble. As most of you know, Danny is/was a highly successful songwriter and composer in Nashville, targeted by his own brother for exploitation. The brother, with the help of some really twisted legal experts, nows lives quite lavishly on the proceeds of Danny’s work, continues to collect every dime he can get his hands on from Danny’s estate.

They stole his music, his home and ultimately his children from him, documented in his autobiography…Fugitive From Injustice available now on Amazon.

We will also be talking over the recent S 178 Elder Abuse & Exploitation Prevention Act that was floated out there on the public and misrepresented as a “fix” for elder exploitation by professional guardians, conservators and attorneys who abuse the system for personal profit. If you thought this bill was going to impede the money train or hold these people responsible, you are sadly mistaken.

LISTEN to the show LIVE or listen to the archive later



Fugitive From Injustice is available through Amazon

Recommended Website and Book: ExploitationElderly.net

Joe Roubicek has investigated over a thousand exploitation of the elderly crimes over the past 25 years, primarily during his 20 year career with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department. Throughout his career he has testified in numerous criminal trials and depositions. He also testified in the 1990’s as an expert in related probate hearings.

Joe Roubicek has testified as an expert witness in investigations regarding exploitation of the elderly. You can request a consultation here and request information about retaining expert witness services from Joe Roubicek at this link.

Joe has compiled this website with information that can help those who are dealing with exploitation of their loved one(s), friends or neighbors. There is a link above that will bring you to suggested Training Materials and another link for Resources which will help you.

Source:
ExploitationElderly.net

Joe's book, "Financial Abuse of The Elderly - A Detective's Case Files of Exploitation Cases" is available through Amazon

"Marked for Destruction"

A Shockingly Powerful Story; A True Crime Exposed.
by Officer John Caravella /retired

What Adele Fraulen might have thought to be nothing more than a meaningless bad dream one night in 1935 would actually come true. At age 79 she would find herself living a nightmare -- a struggle for her life, simply because she innocently trusted the wrong professionals to help with her portion of a Million Dollar inheritance; they would steal her very existence. Her neighbors, Chris and Patricia Zurillo, would realize that Adele's life was going terribly wrong and dedicate themselves to freeing her from captivity.

“Marked For Destruction” is a rare book that exposes an ever-expanding crime against our elderly.

Source: MarkedForDestruction.com

From the Author:

AN ESSAY: REFUSE COURT EXAMINATION ORDER - FREEDOM FROM INTERFERENCE

Imminent danger to the alleged incapacitated person, who is criminally and civilly innocent, begins with a court ordered pre-trial examination by an examining committee.

Court ordered examinations, and examining committee members, are controlled by statute. If indicated, the committee's examination must be comprehensive and include:

1. A physical examination;
2. A mental health examination;
3. A functional assessment;
4. A diagnosis, prognosis, and recommended course of treatment.

Read the Essay: Freedom From Interference

Tonight on T.S. Radio: The Return of Danny Tate

Danny Tate’s autobiography of his life under conservatorship is available through Amazon. An autobiography focusing on the years the author has been subjected to conservatorship abuse. The reader will be shocked that this is happening in America today. Without a crime, Danny Tate was forced to live on the lam as a fugitive.

(the following written by) by Brantley Hargrove:
"Danny Tate wasn’t in court in early December to plead for the return of his constitutional rights. He couldn’t be — not unless he wanted to be handcuffed and thrown into a lockdown psychiatric ward at Vanderbilt University Medical Center a third time, or shipped to some out-of-state in-patient rehab. 

So instead of appearing in court as his fate was hashed out by opposing attorneys — both of whom, in a bizarre legal quirk, were clocking hours on his dime — Tate was at the Adventure Science Center with his little girl. It had been a little more than two years since Tate’s brother had petitioned the court for a conservatorship over him. 

This legal arrangement — in which the court declares someone incapacitated and a ward of the court after being presented with “clear and convincing evidence” — is akin to civil death. 

The ward loses control of his finances, his property, even his ability to enter into legally binding contracts. The conservatorship allowed David to seize control of every aspect of his brother’s life, from the royalty money he earns from album cuts, to the equipment at the studio where he composes talk show jingles, down to his cell phone, his car and his email account. Legally, Tate became a ghost."
Tonight at 8:00 Eastern

LISTEN to the show live or listen to the archive later

Fugitive From Injustice is available at Amazon

Telling Their Life Stories; Older Folks Find Peace in Looking Back

Photo Credit:  Christopher Capozziello for The New York Times

ISABELLA S. BICK’S parents, both Jewish physicians, never talked about the past after the family moved from Fascist Italy to the United States in 1939. She was 8 at the time and quickly learned it was best to keep her feelings of loss and loneliness to herself.

Her silence ended — and those emotions broke free — when Ms. Bick, now 84 and a psychotherapist living in Sharon, Conn., began writing bits and pieces of her life story a few years ago. In one vignette, she describes the trauma of moving with her parents and younger brother into a cramped apartment with her father’s Russian family in Troy, N.Y.

Her parents dealt with their grief by refusing to speak Italian at home or to reminisce about their life in Europe. So young Isabella did not tell them about the schoolmates who taunted her or the teacher who shouted at her. She was determined “to invent an American little girl” as quickly as possible, reading poems aloud each night until she lost her accent.

In bed, though, she slept with the brown lambskin coat that she had worn on the ocean voyage to America. Ms. Bick writes that she had “endowed Coat with very special magical qualities” and that she dreamed of returning to her home in Tuscany and her beloved nanny. “With Coat close to me, I felt I could hide my Italian self, not yet totally lost, and not yet reveal my still unformed American self — I could hold on precariously to both — for a little while longer.”

Like many older people who write their life stories, Ms. Bick found some peace in looking back. “Writing is painful because it brings back memories,” she said in a recent interview. But when she began writing, Ms. Bick said, she recognized “that there was this joyous little girl” whom she could finally “reclaim.” And she described “an awe that I survived some of the things I went through.”

Ms. Bick, who has three children and three grandchildren, considers her stories a gift to future generations — and to past ones. “I am keeping my parents and grandparents alive,” she said. “And, as an egotist, I am keeping myself alive. I am remembered.”

Full Article and Source:
Telling Their Life Stories; Older Folks Find Peace in Looking Back

65 Minutes - a Tale of Torture and Murder in Guardianship, by Teresa Lyles

This is a true story of the horrors in Guardianship Court where Teresa Lyles, PhD lost her mother to an abusive system and several abusive "guardians" who allowed her precious Cuban mother to be drugged, isolated, tortured, forced to live in a locked down facility, where she eventually died, after being forced into a guardianship she did not want and did not authorize.

She wanted to live in her own home or with her Protective Daughter, Teresa.

Ms. Lyles discusses her early family life, how much she was loved, and how much she wanted to love her mother and care for her in her own home. But that was not to be, for her mother was put through the horrors of an abusive Guardian and Guardianship court and a maze of uncaring Judges and Lawyers who simply were in it for the money billing at hundreds of dollars per hour.

The Guardians also just wanted the money and all complaints of abuse, chemical restraints, and where Mother wanted to live, were always ignored. Available thruough Lulu publications See Also: NASGA: Carmen Tozzo Lyles - Florida Victim See Teresa Lyles' Video Tribute to Her Mother

Last Unicorn Author Peter S. Beagle Mentally Competent Says Lawyer Hired to Prove Otherwise

The lawyer who was hired to prove The Last Unicorn author mentally unfit has resigned, declaring the suit brought against him by his children to be without merit. This is the latest ripple in a seemingly ongoing saga involving Beagle, his erstwhile manager Connor Cochran, Beagle’s children, his longtime girlfriend Peggy Carlisle, and an increasingly upset and angry fanbase that has been going on for most of the century.

A bit of background is in order: in 2001, Peter S. Beagle was going through a very bad patch: debt, divorce, and a dearth of royalties. Cochran promised to revive interest in Beagle’s works and monetize them. To do so, he started a boutique publishing house specifically for Beagle’s works. Merchandising deals came in the process of time, though exactly where the money went is somewhat in doubt.

Peter S. Beagle

The whole thing came to a head in 2013 when Cochran took Beagle on a tour of cinemas, showing a restored version of Rankin-Bass’s 1982 Last Unicorn animated film. Mr. Beagle, who later described the tour as a “death march”, spent his time doing meet-and-greets, Q&A sessions, and signing merchandise. Lots of merchandise. This reporter was there when the tour came to the Alamo Drafthouse in Kansas City, MO, and remembers multiple tables of merch on display, and a line that snaked around itself both before and long after the movie.

It was during the tour that things really began to get serious. Mr. Beagle said he was more-or-less run non-stop, on a schedule that no one in his 70s should have to contemplate. Cochran, on the other hand, said that he gave Beagle adequate rest. People began to notice a real friction between the two, as well as between Cochran and Carlisle. Disturbing eyewitness accounts cropped up, including this rather infamous account of a volunteer “roustabout” at one of the tour stops. Allegations of financial irregularities, of merchandise paid for bot not received, began to crop up as well.

Things came to a head in November 2015 when Beagle filed a suit against Cochran alleging elder abuse, fraud, defamation, and a variety of other issues. Cochran filed a countersuit, claiming that Beagle’s allegations were invalid due to his supposedly deteriorating mental condition.

Full Article and Source:
Last Unicorn Author Peter S. Beagle Mentally Competent Says Lawyer Hired to Prove Otherwise

See Also:
Fans Against Fraud

The Last Unicorn Author Locks Legal Horns With His Manager

The Sad Strange Legal Battles of Last Unicorn Author Peter S. Beagle

The Truth About Connor Cochran and Working on The Last Unicorn Tour

Support Peter S. Beagle

Book: "Momma, Help Me Please"

Momma Help Me Please is one woman’s story of how love and perseverance kept her daughter with C.H.A.R.G.E. Syndrome alive for 22 years and the tragedy that stole her away one unfortunate Valentine’s Day.

This incredible book is full of miraculous miracles embedded in a dream that one day Deirdre D. Gilbert’s daughter would live a “whole” life.

Her courage and incredible faith in God, kept her fighting for her daughter’s right to breathe. As Jocelyn neared the fulfillment of her mother’s wish, an unimaginable twist in her story brings a mysterious end to her battle for life.

This “Momma’s baby” left an undeniable impression on everyone she met and reading their love story will literally leave you … breathless.

Available on Amazon

Joe Roubicek: Joe's Cases: Respect vs. Ageism

In 1939 the dark comedy play Arsenic and Old Laceopened on Broadway and became an immediate hit. The New York Times reviewer wrote that “It is so funny that none of us will ever forget it.”

Indeed. The plot involves two spinster aunts who lure lonely old men into their home to poison them with glasses of homemade elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and “just a pinch of” cyanide. Then their nephew, Teddy, (who believes he’s Teddy Roosevelt) buries the bodies in the cellar. The ladies say that they are doing this “for charity.”

Arsenic And Old Lace is based on a notorious serial killer who murdered the elderly for profit. We make no connection to the plight of the elderly victims because the focus is on the killers. In this same sense, because society tends not to focus on the elderly, their victimization is largely ignored. Unless there is obvious evidence of foul play, law enforcement, the health care sector and society in general, have a tendency to believe that the elderly (versus other age groups) always die of natural causes. This often wrong assumption can be partially attributed to something called “ageism.”

Ageism is the tendency to perceive older persons in many negative ways, including being debilitated, unworthy of attention and “less alive.” When an older person forgets a name, they are senile. When a younger person forgets they are forgetful, or are having a “senior moment.”

Ageism perpetuates prejudice, discrimination and mistreatment of elders and psychological studies have found that it actually shortens the lifespans of elders.

Respecting our elders on the other hand, gives them longevity and brings us humility. A Yale University study found that those with positive self-perceptions of aging lived 7.5 years longer and moreover, older adults exposed to positive stereotypes have significantly better memory and balance. And how do we respect our elders? We can be patient, spend time, listen, tell them we love and appreciate them, and look for their wisdom because it’s there, say’s Mark Twain …

“When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

Full Article and Source:

Joe's Cases:  Respect vs. Ageism

Joe Roubicek: Joe's Cases: Rich Grandma, Poor Grandma

How badly would you like to win the lottery?

Gertrude Townsend, an 87-year-old woman from the “bad part of town,” went from rags to riches when she won 2.68 million dollars in the Florida Lottery. Her family held her hostage while stealing the spoils and attorneys battled for guardianship on her dime, to determine who would control the fortune.

Mark Twain said history does rhyme and nest eggs are still wiped out by pretentious “do-gooders.” Poor Grandma!

Lotto Grandma Lives In Poverty, Feels Heartbreak
August 15, 1998|By TESSIE BORDEN Staff Writer

FORT LAUDERDALE — Winning $2.68 million in the Florida Lottery did nothing to improve 87-year-old Gertrude Townsend’s life.

In fact, detectives say, the windfall brought her only unpaid bills, a bedridden existence and the heartbreak of a grandson who stole her money.

On Thursday morning, that grandson, Eric Jones, was arrested as he tried to cash a $650 check in Townsend’s name at the Nations Bank branch at 1300 Southeast 17th St. Police charged Jones, 25, with grand theft, passing a forged check and financial exploitation of the elderly.

“She’s technically a millionaire,” said Fort Lauderdale Detective Joe Roubicek. “But her phone is getting turned off. She’s living in squalor.”

Full Article and Source:
Joe Roubicek:  Joe's Cases:  Rich Grandma, Poor Grandma

Joe Roubicek: Joe's Cases: Anything for Money: A Predator's Tale

Ina hated that incessant ringing as she lay in bed with her bedroom light on in the middle of the night. I’m 93 years old, for God’s sake, she thought. I can’t take this anymore. With a trembling hand she picked up the receiver. “Hello?”

Heavy breathing, then cries and screams. “Aaaaaggg help! Aaauughhh!” It sounded as if someone were being tortured.

“Who is this?” … Silence … “Leave me alone!”

More heavy breathing.

Ina hung up the phone and unplugged it from the wall.

Next morning, she washed, made her coffee, and returned to the bedroom to plug the phone back in, something she had done every day for the past week. But no sooner had she plugged it back in when it began ringing. Since it was daytime and the nuisance calls only came in at night, she answered the phone.

“How are you this morning?”

Ina recognized the Caribbean accent of Sharon Wilcox, a woman she had recently employed. In fact, she had expected the call.

“What do you want?” Ina asked.

“I need more money, Ina.”

“I’ve already given you plenty of money, Sharon. It’s time you left me alone.”

“You know, Ina, I still have the key to your garage. You mustn’t make me use it.”

“This is the last time, so you better stop calling me.”

“I’ll need $500,” Sharon said.

“And then you’ll leave me alone?”

“I promise. I’ll stop by this afternoon to drop off your key and say goodbye, okay?”

Ina agreed and Sharon Wilcox, her former devoted caretaker, came to the house that afternoon, picked up a $500.00 check, returned Ina’s garage key, a key that ultimately already had cost Ina $2,000 to retrieve it.

Maybe the calls would stop. Maybe Ina could have some peace.

Full Article and Source:
Joe's Cases:  Anything for Money:  A Predator's Tale

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird author, dies aged 89

Writer whose 1961 novel became a defining text of 20th-century literature and of racial troubles in the American south has died in Monroeville, Alabama

Harper Lee, whose 1961 novel To Kill a Mockingbird became a national institution and the defining text on the racial troubles of the American deep south, has died at the age of 89.

Lee, or Nelle as she was known to those close to her, had lived for several years in a nursing home less than a mile from the house in which she had grown up in Monroeville, Alabama – the setting for the fictional Maycomb of her famous book. The town’s mayor, Mike Kennedy, confirmed the author’s death.

Until last year, Lee had been something of a one-book literary wonder. To Kill a Mockingbird, her 1961 epic narrative about small-town lawyer Atticus Finch’s battle to save the life of a black resident threatened by a racist mob, sold more than 40m copies around the world and earned her a Pulitzer prize. George W Bush awarded her the presidential medal of freedom in 2007.

But from the moment Mockingbird was published to almost instant success the author consistently avoided public attention and insisted that she had no intention of releasing further works. That self-imposed purdah ended abruptly when, amid considerable controversy, it was revealed a year ago that a second novel had been discovered, which was published as Go Set a Watchman in July 2015.

The house where Lee lived for years with her sister Alice sat quiet and empty on Friday. The inside of the house appeared unchanged from when she lived there – antique furniture was stacked with books, audio cassettes and gift baskets.

Her neighbor for 40 years, Sue Sellers, said Lee would have appreciated the quiet. “She was such a private person,” she said. “All she wanted was privacy, but she didn’t get much. There always somebody following her around.”

In recent years Lee’s health had declined. Seller said the last time she spent any real time with Lee they went to breakfast together. “The whole way home she drove her big car in the turn lane,” she said. “She couldn’t see. I was scared to death.”

The last time she saw Lee was a few months ago at the Meadows nursing home. Sellers brought flowers. “She just hollered out: ‘I can’t see and I can’t hear!’” Sellers said. “So I just told her goodbye.”

Lee was born in Monroeville in 1926 and grew up under the stresses of segregation. As a child she shared summers with another aspiring writer, Truman Capote, who annually came to stay in the house next door to hers and who later invited her to accompany him to Holcomb, Kansas, to help him research his groundbreaking 1966 crime book In Cold Blood.

Capote informed the figure of the young boy Dill in Mockingbird, with his friend the first-person narrator Scout clearly modelled on the childhood Lee herself.

Lee was the youngest child of lawyer Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. Her father acted as the template for Atticus Finch whose resolute courtroom dignity as he struggles to represent a black man, Tom Robinson, accused of raping a white woman provides the novel’s ethical backbone.

Last year’s publication of Go Set a Watchman obliged bewildered fans of the novel to reappraise the character of Finch. In that novel, which was in fact the first draft of Mockingbird that had been rejected by her publisher, Finch was portrayed as having been a supporter of the South’s Jim Crow laws, saying at one point: “Do you want Negroes by the carload in our schools and ­churches and theaters?”

Within minutes of the announcement of the novelist’s death, encomiums began to flow. Her literary agent Andrew Nurnberg said in a statement: “We have lost a great writer, a great friend and a beacon of integrity.”

He added: “Knowing Nelle these past few years has been not just an utter delight but an extraordinary privilege. When I saw her just six weeks ago, she was full of life, her mind and mischievous wit as sharp as ever. She was quoting Thomas More and setting me straight on Tudor history.”

Michael Morrison, her publisher at HarperCollins US, said: “The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer but what many don’t know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility and kindness. She lived her life the way she wanted to – in private – surrounded by books and the people who loved her.”

In Lee’s home state of Alabama, a center of the violent upheavals over civil rights that immediately preceded the publication of Mockingbird, literary experts reflected on the power of the novel to shift the ingrained assumptions of white Alabamans. Jacqueline Trimble, president of the Alabama Writers’ Forum that bequeaths the annual Harper Lee award for literary excellence, said that the book had a profound effect on white residents of the state.

“She was able to take the politics of the civil rights era and make them human. She showed people that this was about their neighbors, their friends, someone they knew, not just about the issues,” Trimble said.

Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, tweeted a quote from Mockingbird: “The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Full Article & Source:
Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird author, dies aged 89

See Also:
"To Kill a Mockingbird" Author a Victim of Elder Abuse