Inkster judge tossed from bench on August ballot

Lansing— Michigan Supreme Court justices ruled Tuesday that embattled Inkster Judge Sylvia James be removed from the bench.

The justices agreed with the findings of the Judicial Tenure Committee and ruled Tuesday in a 17-page document that James misappropriated court funds by spending thousands on self-promotions; committed administrative improprieties, including an improper dress code; violated a court anti-nepotism policy; and lied to investigators working to uncover wrongdoings.

"The cumulative effect of respondent's misconduct, coupled with its duration, nature and pervasiveness convinces this court that she is unfit for judicial office," the justices' opinion said. "Although some of her misconduct, considered in isolation, does not justify such a severe sanction, taken as a whole her misconduct rises to a level that requires her removal from office."

Only seven Michigan judges have been removed by the state Supreme Court since 1980. About a dozen judges have been removed since 1969, when the Judicial Tenure Commission — the investigative body of the high court — was created.

Neither James nor her attorney, Mayer Morganroth of Birmingham, could be reached for comment Tuesday. James, who had served as the lone judge of Inkster's 22nd District Court since 1998, was placed on paid administrative leave on April 13, 2011. The tenure commission filed formal charges of judicial misconduct in October 2011. She officially was suspended with pay that December and found guilty of misconduct in April. The justices'ruling is effective immediately and James is off the payroll.

Judge Richard Hammer of Garden City's 21st District Court took over as chief judge for both courts following her suspension.

Despite the ruling, James could be back on the bench as early as Jan. 1. She is one of eight candidates for the judgeship in the Aug. 7 primary. If she finishes first or second in the primary, she'll be up for re-election in November.

That scenario wasn't lost on Chief Justice Robert P. Young and Justice Stephen J. Markman, who dissented in part with the majority opinion, saying James also should have been suspended for one six-year term.

"Although the majority's ordering removal from office addresses the immediate harm caused by Judge James, it is an inadequate response and fails to address the likelihood of continuing harm," the dissenting opinion read.

"Given Judge James' lack of remorse and continuing refusal to acknowledge that she, too, is bound by the laws of this state, there is no reason to believe that Judge James will not continue to place her own will above the will of the people."

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Inkster judge tossed from bench on August ballot

The Forgotten Ones - Compassion for the Elderly

Hazel is a 91-year-old woman who not long ago lost her sight.

She grew up in Fayetteville, where she taught Sunday school. She enjoys talking about the Bible and having people read verses to her. She likes music, especially gospel songs.

She has no family.

Oscar, an 89-year-old Monroe County native, has lived in West Virginia all of his life. He is able to stroll with the aid of a walker. He enjoys playing the harmonica and singing for the other nursing-home residents.

He has no family.

These are typical profiles of the people who living in nursing homes because they require the specialized care that they can’t receive in their private homes. They are the ones who don’t have much to look forward to in the way of visitors, greeting cards or phone calls from family members and old friends.

And yet, there is tenacity within these people, and feistiness, and a sense of self with little or no concern over appearance, status, or accomplishment — or any of the driving forces that seem to define how most of us gauge ourselves.

These senior citizens could tell us much about the art of growing old.

Most of them display a peculiarly gracious attitude toward their bout with time.

But the days just before any special occasion or holidays seem most severe.

Troubled feelings creep in — feelings of isolation, aloneness, separation; feelings of loneliness, helplessness and boredom — reminding us that these are the constant companions of far too many nursing home residents.

Week by week, hour by hour, minute by minute — many nursing home residents know how it feels to have everything taken away from them — everything but their aloneness.

Loneliness, helplessness and boredom don’t even begin to describe the agony some senior citizens feel when their thoughts are dominated by an aching desire to just go home.

What can be done to soothe an aching spirit for those who have left behind all the things that make their life meaningful, things that give them a purpose for living?

A little mail for nursing-home residents goes a long way in spreading cheer.

“Our clients would love to get a card or letter or cassette tape from caring people,” a local nursing home administrator explained. “It makes them feel that someone outside the facilities they are there and that they are important. It helps build the citizens self worth.”

Which is where all of you come in.

Pick a name. Better yet, pick up the phone, call a nursing home, and ask for an address.

And send a greeting card or a valentine.

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Facebook: The Forgotten Ones - Compassion for the Elderly

Wake case shows perils of family members as financial guardians

RALEIGH -- In late March, Robert Anthony Watkins ran into his father’s burning home, yelling “Dad!” as he helped firefighters rescue Oscar “Pete” Watkins from a rampaging fire.

During the next two months, as his father, 75, recovered from devastating burns, Robert Watkins was awarded legal guardianship of Pete Watkins’ affairs, only to have the status removed by the Wake County Clerk Of Court’s office less than two weeks later.

Robert Watkins, 51, has a record of criminal convictions that includes multiple felonies. And according to filings in the case, he had begun dipping into his father’s holdings, estimated at more than $450,000, mostly in the form of the downtown building he once ran as Watkins Grill, now the Oakwood Grill.

Efforts to reach Robert Watkins were not successful.

His brief guardianship career is an example of the potential pitfalls of the process, said Lorrin Freeman, Wake County Clerk of Superior Court. Watkins slipped through the cracks of a system that handles nearly 500 such appointed guardianships a year – and uses criminal background checks to test their fitness as guardians, Freeman said.

“We basically are giving an individual control over somebody’s life,” Freeman said. “That includes everything from what medical care they get, to where they live, to what they can buy, to whom they can associate with.”


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Wake case shows perils of family members as financial guardians

St. Joseph County probate judge accused of misconduct

SOUTH BEND— A long-serving St. Joseph County probate judge is accused of misconduct on the bench in connection with alleged remarks made to a woman in a guardianship hearing for a deaf teenager last year.

The Indiana Commission on Judicial Qualifications has filed one count of misconduct against St. Joseph Probate Court Judge Peter Nemeth, it announced Tuesday.

Nemeth has served as the county's probate judge since 1993 and is retiring at the end of this year.

The commission's complaint alleges that Nemeth made inappropriate comments to a woman in court as a potential guardian for a deaf 18-year-old when she asked for a court-provided interpreter for the teenager.

The commission said Nemeth first denied her request to supply a sign language interpreter for the woman, and instead ordered her to provide one herself.

He later appointed one when the woman referenced portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the complaint said.

During the May guardianship hearing, the woman testified she had not worked or paid taxes in the past 10 years, the commission said.

The commission alleges Nemeth later suggested to the woman she should not have asked the court to pay for an interpreter when she had not paid taxes for years.

Nemeth on Tuesday said he will fight the charge against him.


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St. Joseph County probate judge accused of misconduct

See Also:
N. Ind. judge accused of making improper comment

The Forgotten Ones

“So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.”
~ Morrie Schwartz

* Remember the lonely and forgotten elderly in your community. Please volunteer. ♥

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Facebook - The Forgotten Ones: Compassion for the Elderly

Elder financial abuse in Illinois on rise

Downers Grove retiree Robert Govenat was on the computer every day, watching prices of his stocks go down.

It was November 2007, and a bear market was threatening.

"He was about to have a nervous breakdown or a heart attack," recalls his wife, Jan, a retired third-grade schoolteacher.

Over lunch at a hot dog place in Darien, a longtime friend and financial planner Algird Norkus told Govenat that he had an alternative investment for select people: It would keep the couple's principal safe and pay 13.5 percent annual interest.

Govenat went along. Eventually, the couple would lose nearly all of their life savings — $225,000. Govenat also steered his mother into what ultimately turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, and she lost more than $200,000, most of her assets.

Norkus pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud. In March, he began serving 63 months in prison. He also was ordered to pay $4.6 million in restitution to nearly 70 victims, many elderly, including Robert and Jan Govenat, and Robert's mother. His plea agreement said he commingled investors' moneys, in part to make payments to other investors and in part to benefit himself.

"Don't trust anyone," Jan Govenat, 71, said Tuesday when asked what she learned from the experience. "I can't tell you how many times I've said that to friends since this happened." She also regretted not sharing their change in investment strategy with their two adult children.

Robert Govenat, 72, gets choked up discussing what happened with the savings of his mother, now 99 and living in a retirement community. "I'm not proud of what I've done to my mom," he said last week with a quivering voice.

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Elder financial abuse in Illinois on rise

Misconduct charges against judges make news much quicker than those against lawyers

News of the professional-misconduct charges against state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola didn’t surface until about a month after they were filed.

The state Supreme Court Office of Discipline doesn’t breathe a word about charges lodged against lawyers until attorneys respond to the charges and hearings on the complaints have been scheduled.

In Piccola’s case, the office filed the charges June 29, but didn’t make them publicly available until July 30.

Even then, the office doesn’t go out of its way to alert the public about charges. It posts hearing dates and the names of those being charged on its website, but it doesn’t give background information on the charges unless asked, and it doesn’t issue news releases on the matters.

That isn’t how it works with the Judicial Conduct Board of Pennsylvania, which disciplines judges.

As soon as charges are lodged against a judge, the information goes public.


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Misconduct charges against judges make news much quicker than those against lawyers

Probate fight over Mo. hotel magnate continues

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- The legal fight over 93-year-old Springfield hotel magnate John Q. Hammons remains unresolved nearly 18 months after a group of close friends filed suit over concerns about his care.

A Greene County judge quickly sealed the probate court case, but online court records show it remains active.

Meanwhile, the John Q. Hammons Hotel Management Co. and the woman chosen by Hammons as his successor face two new lawsuits alleging improper business practices.

A New York real estate company accuses CEO Jacqueline Dowdy of exaggerating the company's worth to secure an $80 million construction loan.

And a holding company that owns more than half of the 78 hotels managed by Hammons says Dowdy broke a contract by taking over the company.

Hammons Hotel Management officials call the claims "baseless."


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Probate fight over Mo. hotel magnate continues

See Also:
Eight Petition for Guardianship for John Q. Hammons

Veteran's guardian found in contempt

The court-appointed guardian of a now-deceased Vietnam veteran has been found in contempt of court and threatened with an indefinite jail term while a specially appointed master tries to unravel what became of thousands of dollars of the veteran’s assets.

In a case that a participant says is one of a kind, the former guardian, George Phillips, has been ordered to repay the estate of his uncle, Harold C. Hill, for thousands of dollars in rent payments while Hill was a permanent resident at the Alvin C. York Veterans Medical Center in Murfreesboro.

Phillips was, in effect, paying himself since he was Hill’s landlord.

Dozens of payments from Hill’s bank account have been challenged dating to 2005, when he was first placed in a guardianship.

“The disbursements made for utilities were almost 10 times the amount of the actual utility bill for the apartment the ward (Hill) resided in,” one court filing states.

“I’ve been doing this for a while, and this is a first. It seems that every time we look, something else turns up,” said Michael Knowlton, the attorney representing Regions Bank, which took over the guardianship after Davidson Probate Judge David Randy Kennedy removed Phillips early this year. Regions Bank had previously become involved at the request of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.


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Veteran's guardian found in contempt