Archive for November, 2008
Clara’s Nightmare
November 15, 2008Clara’s Nightmare
November 15, 2008>The Lost Years
November 14, 2008>
Milous Keith was a blue-collar worker for the city of Columbus for 30 years. A Korean War veteran, he amassed an estate worth nearly $1 million through rental properties and savings, a nest egg upon which he’d hoped to retire comfortably. Never did he think his golden years would be the darkest of his life.
A call to Adult Protective Services landed Keith in a locked-down Alzheimer’s ward for nearly two years. Keith said he never saw a courtroom, never talked to a single judge, never spent time with his appointed guardian.
In less than 15 minutes, Keith lost 22 months of his life and most of his fortune to, what some say, is an overwrought probate court system. Others say it’s a failure by family to take care of their own.
In either case, it’s something that could happen to anyone.
“I’m mad as hell,” said Keith, who now, at 79, lives in an assisted living apartment at Traditions at Mill Run Retirement Homes in Hilliard, where he’s allowed to come and go as he pleases within the facility, though he does wear an alarm that alerts staff when he leaves the building.
“The position that I’m in, I can’t get a fair deal.”
Keith has filed a civil lawsuit against the firm Wiles, Boyle Burkholder & Bringardner, two of the firm’s attorneys—Daniel Bringardner and Jim Hughes. The suit claims the defendants acted together to deny him his rights and misrepresented information to the court, such as the value of his home.
Keith’s attorney: “I want his estate be reconstituted and the return of properties that should not have been taken, or at least the equivalent value.”
Judge Belskis takes offense at the idea that the probate court system didn’t properly oversee the case. “The court had to act quickly, Once Keith was assigned a guardian to care for him, it was his guardian’s responsibility to act in his best interest.”
Full Article and Source:
The Lost Years
The Lost Years
November 14, 2008
Milous Keith was a blue-collar worker for the city of Columbus for 30 years. A Korean War veteran, he amassed an estate worth nearly $1 million through rental properties and savings, a nest egg upon which he’d hoped to retire comfortably. Never did he think his golden years would be the darkest of his life.
A call to Adult Protective Services landed Keith in a locked-down Alzheimer’s ward for nearly two years. Keith said he never saw a courtroom, never talked to a single judge, never spent time with his appointed guardian.
In less than 15 minutes, Keith lost 22 months of his life and most of his fortune to, what some say, is an overwrought probate court system. Others say it’s a failure by family to take care of their own.
In either case, it’s something that could happen to anyone.
“I’m mad as hell,” said Keith, who now, at 79, lives in an assisted living apartment at Traditions at Mill Run Retirement Homes in Hilliard, where he’s allowed to come and go as he pleases within the facility, though he does wear an alarm that alerts staff when he leaves the building.
“The position that I’m in, I can’t get a fair deal.”
Keith has filed a civil lawsuit against the firm Wiles, Boyle Burkholder & Bringardner, two of the firm’s attorneys—Daniel Bringardner and Jim Hughes. The suit claims the defendants acted together to deny him his rights and misrepresented information to the court, such as the value of his home.
Keith’s attorney: “I want his estate be reconstituted and the return of properties that should not have been taken, or at least the equivalent value.”
Judge Belskis takes offense at the idea that the probate court system didn’t properly oversee the case. “The court had to act quickly, Once Keith was assigned a guardian to care for him, it was his guardian’s responsibility to act in his best interest.”
Full Article and Source:
The Lost Years
The Lost Years
November 14, 2008Milous Keith was a blue-collar worker for the city of Columbus for 30 years. A Korean War veteran, he amassed an estate worth nearly $1 million through rental properties and savings, a nest egg upon which he’d hoped to retire comfortably. Never did he think his golden years would be the darkest of his life.
A call to Adult Protective Services landed Keith in a locked-down Alzheimer’s ward for nearly two years. Keith said he never saw a courtroom, never talked to a single judge, never spent time with his appointed guardian.
In less than 15 minutes, Keith lost 22 months of his life and most of his fortune to, what some say, is an overwrought probate court system. Others say it’s a failure by family to take care of their own.
In either case, it’s something that could happen to anyone.
“I’m mad as hell,” said Keith, who now, at 79, lives in an assisted living apartment at Traditions at Mill Run Retirement Homes in Hilliard, where he’s allowed to come and go as he pleases within the facility, though he does wear an alarm that alerts staff when he leaves the building.
“The position that I’m in, I can’t get a fair deal.”
Keith has filed a civil lawsuit against the firm Wiles, Boyle Burkholder & Bringardner, two of the firm’s attorneys—Daniel Bringardner and Jim Hughes. The suit claims the defendants acted together to deny him his rights and misrepresented information to the court, such as the value of his home.
Keith’s attorney: “I want his estate be reconstituted and the return of properties that should not have been taken, or at least the equivalent value.”
Judge Belskis takes offense at the idea that the probate court system didn’t properly oversee the case. “The court had to act quickly, Once Keith was assigned a guardian to care for him, it was his guardian’s responsibility to act in his best interest.”
Full Article and Source:
The Lost Years
>Probate Investigation
November 14, 2008>
Knierim said the law requires the courts to pay specific attention to the rights of a person who faces conservation by probate court, particularly when it comes to jurisdiction. People under conservatorship lose virtually all of their civil rights.
Plank, 85, was brought to Connecticut from Michigan under questionable circumstances in May of 2007 by one of her daughters. Plank’s court-appointed conservator, and other family members, have challenged Greenwich Probate Judge David Hopper’s decision to approve her move here.
Plank is not a resident of Connecticut.
Source:
Probate Court Administrator will review a controversial Greenwich case
GREENWICH: Official To Investigate Controversial Probate Case
Motion to Vacate:
Motion To Vacate Decree Appointing Temporary Conservator And To Dismiss Application For Appointment Of Conservator
Conservators Brief:
Conservators Brief In Support Of Report To Change Residence
See also:
Probate-Sanctioned Kidnapping
Probate Investigation
November 14, 2008Knierim said the law requires the courts to pay specific attention to the rights of a person who faces conservation by probate court, particularly when it comes to jurisdiction. People under conservatorship lose virtually all of their civil rights.
Plank, 85, was brought to Connecticut from Michigan under questionable circumstances in May of 2007 by one of her daughters. Plank’s court-appointed conservator, and other family members, have challenged Greenwich Probate Judge David Hopper’s decision to approve her move here.
Plank is not a resident of Connecticut.
Source:
Probate Court Administrator will review a controversial Greenwich case
GREENWICH: Official To Investigate Controversial Probate Case
Motion to Vacate:
Motion To Vacate Decree Appointing Temporary Conservator And To Dismiss Application For Appointment Of Conservator
Conservators Brief:
Conservators Brief In Support Of Report To Change Residence
See also:
Probate-Sanctioned Kidnapping
>Judge Gets Prison Time
November 13, 2008>
Her attorneys were hoping Phillips would just get probation. Prosecutors wanted prison time, arguing she has expressed no remorse for her wrong doing.
The judge ended up giving her a 10-year split sentence with three years’ imprisonment to be served concurrently. Price also ordered Phillips to pay $5,000 in victims’ compensation, court costs, and to repay the $917 difference in the amounts taken from the $1.8 million Piper account and the amount repaid when investigators started asking questions about the estate. Following her incarceration, she will have three years of supervised probation, and will remain on probation for an additional four years.
Judge: “She must serve three of the ten years because greed had taken over and as a public official she had violated the public trust. Anytime you have a public – you’re elected to public office you’re held to a higher standard than a normal citizen.”
Phillips left the Covington County Courthouse in the custody of the sheriff’s department but is free on an appeal bond.
Source:
Former Covington County Probate Judge Gets Three Years in Prison
Phillips gets 3 years in jail – Former judge out on bond pending her appeal
See also:
Others Feel Victimized
Judge Gets Prison Time
November 13, 2008Her attorneys were hoping Phillips would just get probation. Prosecutors wanted prison time, arguing she has expressed no remorse for her wrong doing.
The judge ended up giving her a 10-year split sentence with three years’ imprisonment to be served concurrently. Price also ordered Phillips to pay $5,000 in victims’ compensation, court costs, and to repay the $917 difference in the amounts taken from the $1.8 million Piper account and the amount repaid when investigators started asking questions about the estate. Following her incarceration, she will have three years of supervised probation, and will remain on probation for an additional four years.
Judge: “She must serve three of the ten years because greed had taken over and as a public official she had violated the public trust. Anytime you have a public – you’re elected to public office you’re held to a higher standard than a normal citizen.”
Phillips left the Covington County Courthouse in the custody of the sheriff’s department but is free on an appeal bond.
Source:
Former Covington County Probate Judge Gets Three Years in Prison
Phillips gets 3 years in jail – Former judge out on bond pending her appeal
See also:
Others Feel Victimized
>Registered Guardian Forcing ECT
November 12, 2008>
Human Rights Alert: Involuntary Electroshock
by David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
http://www.mindfreedom.org/
The past Wednesday morning after the historic USA election what were you doing?
I know what Ray Sandford, 54, was doing.
Each and every Wednesday, early in the morning, staff shows up at Ray’s sheltered living home called Victory House in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, adjacent to Minneapolis.
Staff escorts Ray the 15 miles to Mercy Hospital.
There, Ray is given another of his weekly electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) treatments, also known as electroshock. All against his will. On an outpatient basis.
And it’s been going on for months.
Ray says the weekly forced electroshock “scary as hell.” He absolutely opposes having the procedure. He says it’s causing poor memory for names such as of friends and his favorite niece. “What am I supposed to do, run away?” Instead, Ray phoned his local library’s reference desk to ask about human rights groups, and the librarian referred him to MindFreedom International.
Ray called me at our office here at MindFreedom International about two weeks ago. At first I wasn’t sure I believed him.
Of course, MindFreedom International has documented proven cases of electroshock against the expressed wishes of the subject all over the world, including in the USA. MindFreedom succeeded in having the United Nations World Health Organization call in writing for a global ban on all involuntary electroshock.
But this is the first time I’ve been on the phone with someone getting court-ordered forced shock while living out in the community, on an outpatient basis.
This is the ultimate double whammy.
I confirmed Ray’s story by calling two staff at Victory House as well as his court-appointed conservator, Tonya Wilhelm of Luthern Support Services of Minnesota.
Ms. Wilhelm said, “We are following the letter of the law.” She said the State of Minnesota had secured a variety of court orders that require Ray to have forced electroshock against his expressed wishes. Ms. Wilehlm says it’s all legal and she can’t do anything about it.
Krista Erickson, chair of MindFreedom’s Shield Campaign, sees it differently. “This is terrible. This is a serious human rights violation that should stop. I hope MindFreedom members and supporters speak out. Even if Minnesota is following the letter of the current law, the law ought to be changed. And Ray has not had the legal power to appeal to higher courts.”
I pointed out to Conservator Wilhelm that the public — when they find out about forced electroshock — is passionately opposed to their taxpayer money being used to force such brutality on citizens. Ms. Wilhelm did let slip that what is happening to Ray — involuntary outpatient electroshock — is not that uncommon in Minnesota.
But when Ms. Wilhelm found out we at MindFreedom are issuing one of our public human rights alert to you and others at Ray’s repeated request, she said something amazing.
Ms. Wilhelm claimed she had a legal right to stop us!
Ms. Wilhelm told me, “Only I can give you permission legally to say anything publicly about this.”
I pointed out we are not a medical facility, and that if she falsely claims we’re doing anything illegal then this is defamation. Which really is illegal.
Ms. Wilhelm laughed loudly in the phone, said “let our lawyers talk,” and hung up on me. I hope she hung up and read the First Amendment.
Let’s disobey Ms. Wilhelm!
Spread Ray’s alert far and wide!
Speak out against this electrical torture, now!
Because… Remember…
If it’s Wednesday morning, then Ray Sandford is being led from his home — which is supposed to be his castle — to get another weekly forced procedure that can wipe out memories and cause brain damage.
Mind Your Freedom!
Disobey Ray’s conservator now!
Forward this alert to all appropriate places on and off the Internet, IMMEDIATELY!
And take the below actions.
Thank you!
David W. Oaks, Director, MindFreedom International
* * * ACTION * * * ACTION * * * ACTION * * *
E-mail your firm but polite message to Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty
E-mail address:
Or use this handy web form:
* * * ADDITIONAL ACTIONS TO SUPPORT RAY! * * *
1) E-mail a complaint to Luthern Social Services of Minnesota (LSSMN) about Ray’s conservator
Use LSSMN’s web page:
Or phone Luthern Social Services at: 218-726-4888
You can copy your message to headquarters of The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA):
2) E-mail a complaint to Allina Hospital and Clinics, owner of Mercy Hospital
Use this web page:
http://www.allina.com/ahs/help.nsf/page/contact
Or phone: (763) 236-6000
3) Ray is open to visitors and supportive postal mail:
Ray Sandford
Victory House
4427 Monroe St.
Columbia Heights, MN 55421-2880 USA
See also:
Forced ECT is Wrong in Minnesota, World
More on Electroshock: Click Here
Tonya Wilhelm is a registered guardian at Center For Guardianship Certification
National Association to Stop Guardian Abuse 