>Evelyn Schwartz Passes

>Evelyn Rose Schwartz was born April 10, 1916 she lived to be 94, passing away at around 12:30 Am at the Chardon Nursing home in Ohio, on Sunday the 27th of February, 2011.

When I (Betty) met Evelyn she was an active 88 year old woman living in a home she was very proud of; being cared after by her caregiver Dean. Evelyn’s driving days were finally over – she had two dogs that she treasured and she was happy and content.

What I loved about her was she was a lady to be much admired. She had accomplished a lot in her life and had a lot of self worth about her. A really wonderful lady. One of her best friends was Dottie Buzeck who had moved Tennessee quite a few years ago. When Dean and I cared for Evelyn going into Manor Care nursing home, we met another woman (who worked there) who would become a very dear friend of Evelyn as well, Linda. So even in her last years, she still was surrounded by loving friends. Altho many have passed on as each year older; she saw more deaths. She has a lifetime of friends surrounding her – as you can see by some of us being here paying our last respects to her passing today. Evelyn understood life is about change, and one needs to accept there is a heaven, and loved ones are now in a better place. We know she is up there in heaven with all her family and friends who are privileged to be there too. Her family and friends can be proud of her.

Sadly several who love her, hadn’t been able to see her for numerous months of late. However, we can say, she died knowing she was surrounded by love – as Dean, Linda and myself, Betty, were with her at the nursing home- visiting her- the night before she died.

Source:
Last Evening With Evelyn – She Died the Next Morning Knowing She was Loved

See Also:
Ohio: Evelyn Schwartz’ Belongings Dumped

>Owner’s Death Means Caretaker Might Keep Home

>A 74-year-old man fighting a Medicaid-related eviction order might not have to move because the homeowner died and willed her house to him, an attorney said.

Alma Ruth O’Brien, 94, had shared her Northwest Side home with Murrell Lewis for nearly 38 years and planned to leave him her entire estate.

But because she went into a nursing home in 2009, O’Brien’s court-appointed guardian said Lewis had to buy the house, pay rent or leave so that it could be sold to comply with Medicaid asset rules.

O’Brien’s death changes the debate, said Lewis’ attorney, David Belinky.

“They’re going to have to close the guardianship, and I assume (Lewis will) be named executor,” Belinky said. “It’s a little weird right now.”

The guardian, Columbus attorney Amy Himmelrick, couldn’t be reached for comment yesterday.

She has said that Lewis made matters worse by refusing to cooperate with her and with adult protective services, which started an investigation after a doctor said that O’Brien’s health was deteriorating under Lewis’ care.

Belinky said he isn’t sure how much money is owed to Medicaid, the program that pays for health and nursing-home care for the poor and disabled. He and Lewis say it might not be much, as O’Brien had a monthly income of about $5,000 in retirement and insurance benefits and so barely needed Medicaid.

Attorney fees and other costs from the guardianship likely would need to be paid from the estate.

Full Article and Source:
Owner’s Death Means Caretaker Might Keep Home

>Judge Asks for Charges Against Her to be Dismissed

>A judge indicted in the Cuyahoga County corruption investigation was in an Akron federal courtroom, asking that charges against her be dismissed.

Judge Bridget McCafferty’s lawyers entered several motions. Two were to dismiss charges and two to suppress evidence. The judge will rule on those motions at a later date.

McCafferty is charged with allegedly lying to the FBI about conversations she had with former commissioner Jimmy Dimora and former auditor Frank Russo concerning cases in her court. In exchange, she is accused of receiving campaign contributions. McCafferty denies those allegations.

McCafferty was indicted at the same time as fellow judge Steven Terry, who has been charges with conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

Source:
Cuhahoga County Judge Asks for Charges to be Dismissed

See Also:
Ohio: Two Corruption Defendents Ask for New Lawyers

>Bailiff Charged With Drunken Driving, Gun OffensesW

>Cuyahoga County Probate Court bailiff Marc Garofoli is charged with driving under the influence, carrying a concealed weapon and improperly handling a gun in a motor vehicle.

The case is being handled by a prosecutor from Summit County and was assigned to Common Pleas Judge Ronald Suster. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 18.

Garofoli, 37, of Moreland Hills, is free on a $5,000 bond and has occupational driving privileges. He works for the Probate Court’s Presiding Judge Anthony Russo, the brother of former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo.

Full Article and Source:
Judge Anthony Russo’s Bailiff Charged with Drunken Driving, Gun Offences

>Advocate Tom Fields Fights for Elder Rights

>Tom Fields’ father lay dying in a hospital bed in Florida on a morphine drip for cancer.Fields, a Mentor resident, believes that during his final hours his father was the victim of financial elder abuse by people close to him.He said his father’s wishes about his property were altered as a new will was written.”People took advantage of my father and got him to sign a document,” Fields said.”There was no protection against this. A protocol could have stopped that.”Fields is now an independent advocate fighting to get laws passed to protect families in similar situations.

“People took advantage of my father and got him to sign a document,” Fields said.

“There was no protection against this. A protocol could have stopped that.”

Fields is now an independent advocate fighting to get laws passed to protect families in similar situations.

“Nothing here in Ohio holds abusers accountable,” he said. “My main focus is to keep people out of the court system, which is basically taking advantage of people who are victims.”

Fields’ first step was writing the Ohio Department of Aging to ask it to create task forces looking at elder abuse issues and how to prevent them.

He also proposed a step-by-step list of protocols for hospitals to follow to prevent financial abuse.

Full Article, Video and Source:
Mentor Man Fighting for Elder Rights

>Ohio Lawyer Gets Six Years

>David R. Rhodehamel is a trustworthy friend and a good family man, his supporters wrote in letters to a Franklin County Common Pleas Court judge.

But after hearing portions of the letters read Monday at the sentencing hearing for the 45-year-old lawyer and former Columbus property manager, Richard Mattlin stood and offered an opposing viewpoint.

“He plots and he plans and he schemes,” said Mattlin, whose 92-year-old mother was a victim in the theft and forgery case in which Rhodehamel was convicted. “He’s evil.”

Judge Beverly Y. Pfeiffer weighed comments from both sides before sentencing Rhodehamel to six years in prison and ordering him to repay $796,774.

“I don’t know, and may never know, what type of person Mr. Rhodehamel really is,” Pfeiffer said. But she was struck by a letter from Betty Mattlin, who wrote that she considered Rhodehamel “a good person with personal warmth until he defrauded me.”

“That sums it up,” the judge said. “A position of trust was used to take advantage of someone.”

Rhodehamel, who expects to lose his law and real-estate licenses as a result of the convictions, apologized before sentencing.

“I never intended to do harm to Betty Mattlin,” he said. He blamed his actions on a lack of attention to detail.

In November, a jury convicted the Upper Arlington resident of two counts of theft, one count of forgery and six counts of money-laundering. He could have been sentenced to as much as 54 years in prison.

Full Article and Source:
Lawyer Gets 6 Years in Prison for Defrauding Elderly Client

>Despite No Finding of Guilt, Restitution and Fees Top $67K

>David J. Venerose Jr. ran unsuccessfully for Youngstown City Council in 2003.

Today, he’s simply running into one legal problem after another — with a Valley court and two businessmen seeking thousands of dollars from the unemployed man.

In two of the most-serious instances, Venerose maintains he did nothing wrong.

But some maintain otherwise in a twisting tale within Mahoning County political circles.

The tale includes a juvenile-court job he was fired from after a few months, a sheriff’s background check that failed to find a 2003 conviction, and mismanaged finances for a Struthers business and an elderly Boardman woman with dementia.

For the latter episode, Venerose, 40, of Sheridan Road, Youngstown, must reimburse $67,560 to the guardianship estate of 89-year-old Geraldine Burke in a settlement completed Dec. 3.

Venerose and his mother, Edith, were, according to court records, Burke’s primary caregivers for several years and had gained control of her assets in October 2008. Neighbors of Burke’s, concerned about her well-being, got county officials to investigate her care and the Veneroses’ actions. That eventually led to formal complaints of improper care and missing funds, although Visiting Probate Judge Denny Clunk dismissed Edith from the complaint.

Full Article and Source:
Legal Troubles Spiral for Caregiver

>Ohio: Judges can be Social Media "Friends" but Should be Discreet

>Judges in Ohio can be a social media “friend” to lawyers appearing in their courtrooms but should be careful not to violate ethics rules, the state’s apex court has opined.

A Twitter page is displayed on a laptop computer in Los Angeles
According to the opinion issued by Ohio Supreme Court’s Board of Commissioners on Grievances and Discipline, a judge “must maintain dignity in every comment, photograph and other information shared on the social network” and following the ethics guidelines for social networking “will require a judge’s constant vigil.”

The opinion lays down the precautions a judge should take while fraternizing with lawyers on the pages of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and other social media sites.

For instance, judges can’t comment to anyone on social networking sites about cases they’re handling and are prohibited from visiting the social media sites of any witnesses in a case or using those sites to gather information. Judges are also not allowed to “give legal advice to others on a social networking site.”

Full Article and Source:
Ohio Judges can be Social Media Friends but Should be Discreet

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Wooden Will

When attorney Larry Shafer walked into Probate Court at the Licking County Courthouse recently, he saw a first in his 30 years of practicing law: He was confronted with a will written on a piece of wood.

The last will and testament was written by Marilyn S. Rhodeback, of Johnstown, in 1996.

Rhodeback was living in Florida at the time, and her husband recently had died.

Her daughter, Debra McHugh-Clark, also of Johnstown, said her father had died without a will and Rhodeback knew she had to get her own affairs in order.

The closest thing she could grab was a piece of shelving, about 14 inches by 14 inches, that was left over from a shelf recently built for a microwave.

During the intervening the years, Rhodeback made changes to the document, dated it and had her sisters sign the final version earlier this year. Rhodeback, 73, died in her Johnstown home April 7.

But about 10 days before that, while she was in the hospital, Rhodeback called McHugh-Clark and asked her to bring the will to the hospital.

Obeying her instructions, McHugh-Clark went to the house, thinking her mother was talking about a dry erase board. She couldn’t find what she was looking for and had to call her mother.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think that an actual piece of wood was what she was talking about,” McHugh-Clark said.

Full Article and Source:
A Wooden Will: Johnstown Woman’s Last Wishes Recorded in Unusual Form

>Ohio Caregiver Ordered to Make Restitution

>A former caregiver for an 89-year-old woman suffering from dementia has been ordered to make $67,560 in restitution to her guardianship estate in installments.

The judgment entry was filed by visiting Mahoning County Probate Judge Denny Clunk of Alliance against David Venerose of Youngstown, after Venerose and the woman’s guardianship estate reached a settlement.

“As a result, the complaint is dismissed, and there is no finding of guilt by this court,” Judge Clunk wrote.

The woman moved from her Boardman house to a Youngstown nursing home in February 2009.

Source:
Caregiver Ordered to Make Restitution