Just at the end of the inauguration, I thought about all the digs on Bush in Obama's speech and how everyone is so happy to be rid of him. I'm not here to get into that discussion. I'm ready to move on from Bush also, but we personally owe him a huge debt of gratitude. He did something good for this small NE Ohio family.
Just about when Mom was at her wits end with lawyers being bought out from under her, the probate court taking favors from the other side, and all the other events that couldn't be proven but were obvious, she made one leap of faith and contacted the White House.
One time she got through and started telling Grandma's story. The White House rep on the other end asked her to hold on and transferred the call to someone who couldn't give his name but identified himself by agent number. This man listened with interest and urged Mom to write a letter and fax it to the White House. He gave Mom the President's direct fax number.
No we didn't believe it was actually his direct number either, but what did she have to lose.
"Dear Mr. President,
I know that your time needs to be spent focusing on National Security, international policies, and victims of natural disasters so normally I would never even consider bothering you with something like this, but sir, I have nowhere else to turn.
My mother is an 83 year old Alzheimer's patient and she has been exploited by someone that she thought was a trusted friend. I have reported this to the (local) police, the Cuyahoga county sheriff's dept., Adult Protective Services, Senior Adult Services, and Cuyahoga county Probate court. I have given all of them a two inch thick folder of evidence and documents that I have acquired over the past 9 months. When I call to check on the status of the case I am treated with absolutely no respect, I get the impression that I am bothering these people. The police tell me that they've sent the case file to the prosecutor but the prosecutor's office cannot find it. Adult Protective Services doesn't care that my mother has been conned our of her house and everything she's ever owned or that she is forced to live with strangers against her her will, as long as she is clean, well fed, and is getting proper medication that's find with them. Senior Adult Services makes excuses for Adult Protective Services and their ridiculous policies, and Magistrate Shankman of the Cuyahoga County Probate court has no respect for me because I choose not to be represented by an attorney. I explained to him that the last attorney I hired had misrepresented me to the probate court and that he had advised me to "start greasing some palms like my mother's "trusted friend" does and maybe things will start going my way" and that I refused to be part of anything like that.
My belief is that there is a lot of corruption and incompetence (in that order) in the Cuyahoga County justice system. I believe that if you have enough money and the right connections that you can get away with anything and I am disgusted that is the case in this country. All I am trying to do is make sure that a criminal is brought to justice and that my mother's house and property is returned to her. I also want other Americans that might be involved in a similar situation to be able to get honest and competent help in a more efficient way than I've experienced.
I really don't expect you to roll up your sleeves and involve yourself in this but if there is any way that you could put me in touch with someone that can (and will) help it would mean everything to one little 83 year old lady and her family here in Ohio."
Shortly after faxing the above letter, Mom gets official mail from the post office.
"On behalf of President Bush, thank you for your correspondence.
We are sending your inquiry to the Department of Health and Human Services. This agency has the expertise to address your concerns. They will respond directly to you, as promptly as possibly.
The President sends his best wishes."
Another week or so goes by and she gets this after being contacted by someone by phone.
"This letter is in response to your correspondence to President Bush regarding your concern, that your mother is being exploited by former family members. One of my staff, (name removed 1), after having talked with you, at your recommendation, also spoke to (name removed 2) of Adult Guardianship Services. (Name removed 1) indicated that they have accepted your mothers case, to provide free legal care, to hopefully remedy this situation. You are to be complimented for your devotion and commitment to your mothers care."
Everything happened so quickly and we have people who really care on this case. It has still been over two years since this correspondence with the President and other parties but they are still working hard for us.
Thank you so much President Bush.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
A Short Visit
As you can see the visit to the house was a wonderful experience for Grandma, but there's more to tell.
At one point throughout this whole ordeal fighting to get the house back in Grandma's name, the man who stole the house (we've called him Joe in the past and will continue to call him Joe here) said "if you don't back down on this, you'll be sitting on a pile of rubble." It appears he's trying to make that threat come true.
The deeper we have gotten into this legal battle the more Joe knows we aren't backing down and he's not going to win. Last winter the heat was on in the house only enough to keep the pipes from freezing. This year is a totally different story.
When everyone got to the house for the visit, Joe's lawyer was already there at the front door, and the window on the door was completely broken. The lawyer said he had a hard time getting the door unlocked and accidentally broke the window. That made no sense at all. How do you break a window unlocking a door? And even if he put his other hand on the door to give it a shove it wouldn't have been on the window. The window and the door handle aren't close enough to each other to have putting your hand on the window something you would naturally do to unstick the door. If he did put his hand on the window then why wasn't he cut? So, we feel that he broke it on purpose.
The video already mentions how many things are missing from the house. By breaking the window Joe and his lawyers can say during the visit we saw the window was broke. All the items in the house are missing because we must have come back another day and let ourselves in to take that stuff ourselve. Or something. I'm sure they broke it for some reason. That's how dirty these guys play.
Additionally, the heat was completely off in the house. In the dining room there was a horrible water stain on the ceiling and wall where in over 100 years there had never been one before. It's obvious the heat was shut off and the house was not winterized. A pipe or pipes burst somewhere and it's going to be a huge mess when all the ice melts. Any homeowner knows you have to winterize a house if you're going to turn the heat off. Joe has owned his own house, and had rental property. He's stupid but he can't be that stupid. I'm sure in the end he'll try to play stupid like he didn't know about the pipes. However, it's very clear this was an act of intentional negligence.
There is a little more I have to say about this video and our whole experience. I had quite a time editing this video to get it to fit on YouTube. I'll spare you the technical details but this was difficult to do. I had been working on it since Christmas and I couldn't fit any more of the original video in. So, I had to upload it to YouTube as is. The worst part about that is not having the face of the man doing most of the video taping in view. I really wanted to get every single important part in the uploaded video but I couldn't and I feel horrible. But it's kind of a good thing because it gives me a chance to shine a spotlight on a very important person in our lives throughout this whole ordeal.
At one point throughout this whole ordeal fighting to get the house back in Grandma's name, the man who stole the house (we've called him Joe in the past and will continue to call him Joe here) said "if you don't back down on this, you'll be sitting on a pile of rubble." It appears he's trying to make that threat come true.
The deeper we have gotten into this legal battle the more Joe knows we aren't backing down and he's not going to win. Last winter the heat was on in the house only enough to keep the pipes from freezing. This year is a totally different story.
When everyone got to the house for the visit, Joe's lawyer was already there at the front door, and the window on the door was completely broken. The lawyer said he had a hard time getting the door unlocked and accidentally broke the window. That made no sense at all. How do you break a window unlocking a door? And even if he put his other hand on the door to give it a shove it wouldn't have been on the window. The window and the door handle aren't close enough to each other to have putting your hand on the window something you would naturally do to unstick the door. If he did put his hand on the window then why wasn't he cut? So, we feel that he broke it on purpose.
The video already mentions how many things are missing from the house. By breaking the window Joe and his lawyers can say during the visit we saw the window was broke. All the items in the house are missing because we must have come back another day and let ourselves in to take that stuff ourselve. Or something. I'm sure they broke it for some reason. That's how dirty these guys play.
Additionally, the heat was completely off in the house. In the dining room there was a horrible water stain on the ceiling and wall where in over 100 years there had never been one before. It's obvious the heat was shut off and the house was not winterized. A pipe or pipes burst somewhere and it's going to be a huge mess when all the ice melts. Any homeowner knows you have to winterize a house if you're going to turn the heat off. Joe has owned his own house, and had rental property. He's stupid but he can't be that stupid. I'm sure in the end he'll try to play stupid like he didn't know about the pipes. However, it's very clear this was an act of intentional negligence.
There is a little more I have to say about this video and our whole experience. I had quite a time editing this video to get it to fit on YouTube. I'll spare you the technical details but this was difficult to do. I had been working on it since Christmas and I couldn't fit any more of the original video in. So, I had to upload it to YouTube as is. The worst part about that is not having the face of the man doing most of the video taping in view. I really wanted to get every single important part in the uploaded video but I couldn't and I feel horrible. But it's kind of a good thing because it gives me a chance to shine a spotlight on a very important person in our lives throughout this whole ordeal.
Here's Larry helping Grandma through the houseSince this nightmare in our family began Larry has been there as the rock we depend on. He gave Mom the support to help her fight this. And now going on 2 years, ever since Grandma came to live with him and Mom, he has been Grandma's caregiver every single day, 24/7. Larry is incredibly loving, attentive, and patient with her. He talks to her, feeds her, helps her in every way attending to her every need. He stays at home with her all the time as her and our family's guardian angel.
Leaving the houseIt is apparent in these photos and by his voice on the video just how wonderful he is with her and how blessed we are to have him as part of our family.
THANK YOU LARRY! WE LOVE YOU AND WE DON"T KNOW WHAT WE WOULD DO WITHOUT YOU!
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