Editor's note: Department of Justice; How about checking out "Domestic Corruption Practices" within the Probate Court of Cook County? A contributor of information to this blog suggested that a special blog be initiated for one purpose only. All complaints concerning attorneys and judges to the ARDC and Judicial Review of the IL Supreme Court be posted publicly on the blog. It has been suggested that many complaints are "shelved" and not acted upon. This special blog would assist in preventing such inaction. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
28 Sep 2012 at 4:10 PMPosted in:
Crime, Department of Justice, In-House Counsel, Securities and Exchange Commission, Securities Law, White-Collar Crime
Reading Tea Leaves: Defense Bar Freaking Out About the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act
By Joe Patrice
Nothing pisses off a lawyer more than uncertainty. Uncertainty gives rise to the risk of undermining the facade of perfect knowledge that attorneys prefer to convey to their clients. Given this character trait, it’s no surprise that the collective white-collar and corporate counsel community is freaking the hell out about every scrap of information it can glean from the Justice Department about its new Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement policy.
So what exactly has these observant lawyers in a tizzy?
New edits to the DOJ website? What does that mean?!?!?
Speeches by former DOJ attorneys? Could they be hinting at something?!?!?
“I’m shocked, shocked to find improper payments disguised as commissions by a subsidiary to employees at state-owned companies to influence design specifications made in this establishment!“
A wide swath of the legal community is grasping at straws in terror of the unknown, which is a little ridiculous because the DOJ has promised comprehensive guidance in a mere two weeks. That said, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer promised guidance back in November 2011 and not much has happened since.
But white-collar defense attorneys are eager to figure out what behaviors will fill their docket for the next few years. Corporate counsel can’t go to sleep until this is resolved. And transactional attorneys should learn the contours of the law before blowing it off when a client dismisses legal obstacles from local government as something they can “just handle on our end” and then winks.
The FCPA is basically the Louis Renault law. In an effort to stifle corrupt petty officials like the former Casablanca police chief, the U.S. passed the FCPA in 1977, imposing civil and criminal sanctions on companies that bribe foreign officials and violate books and records and internal controls provisions. The DOJ and SEC have joint enforcement authority.
In a nutshell, Congress wanted to put a halt to foreign corruption stifling American businesses by holding American companies liable if they tried to game the system. Since its passage in 1977, the FCPA has… more or less done nothing. From 1977 until about eight years ago, the government did almost nothing with the FCPA. But then the government discovered the FCPA like a child rediscovering a toy from last Christmas and started aggressively playing with it, increasing the number of cases brought from 5 in 2004 to over 60 in 2010. Actions have scaled back since then, with only 13 actions brought as of July 2012, but this continues to represent an era of aggressive enforcement compared to the bulk of the statute’s 35-year history.
FCPA Enforcement Actions: The only thing growing faster than debt and Kardashian spin-offs (image via Gibson Dunn).
But as enforcement has increased, clarity has taken a nosedive — which was a common complaint during the Robespierre regime as well. Companies with multiple international subsidiaries fear prosecution for unscrupulous subordinates they barely control. The books and records and internal controls provision has expanded to include acquired companies concealing violations from their purchaser, a development bringing the law close to strict liability. The fuzzy line between “government official” and “foreign executive” in “Communist” China renders almost every gift a potential crime. When 95 percent of corporate compliance executives recently polled by Kroll Advisory Solutions believed their companies’ exposure to bribery risk has increased or held steady over the last two to three years, it’s clear that a lot of folks feel powerless to avoid the FCPA.
Lawyers seem to think the prognosis is not good for any relaxation of FCPA enforcement or the institution of a new defense to put good faith corporate clients at ease. Lanny Breuer has previously said that he has “no intention whatsoever of supporting reforms whose aim is to weaken the FCPA” and every speech and website update seems to confirm the government is just trying to provide transparency for the expansive vision of the statute they’ve carved out over the last decade.
Still, the freak-out session is entertaining to watch, and it will only be trumped by the proclamations of doom and gloom that will follow whatever formal guidance we get in October.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe Patrice is the author of Recess Appointment, a blog about political rhetoric, and he’ll be dropping in occasionally to write about the intersection of law and politics. To answer the question that you’re probably about to ask, he got his J.D. at NYU and spent ten years working at a Biglaw firm and a white-collar defense boutique. His favorite word is sesquipedalian.
http://abovethelaw.com/2012/09/reading-tea-leaves-defense-bar-freaking-out-about-the-foreign-corrupt-practices-act/
KawamotoDragon.com
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Nadine Gordimer: 'The culture of corruption'
Editor's note: The Chicago media desperately needs Nadine Gordimer to uncover and reveal to the public the "The culture of corruption" within the Probate Court of Cook County. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Nadine Gordimer: 'The culture of corruption'
What happened to the democracy that Nelson Mandela and other South African leaders ushered in?
Talk to Al Jazeera Last Modified: 29 Sep 2012 14:18
inShare3 EmailPrintShareFeedback
Social unrest these days is part of the fabric of South African life. The promise of what was once called the rainbow nation still to be realised.
A different perhaps more ominous chapter has opened in this country - there is widespread public discontent with with what is perceived as endemic corruption, and deep disappointment if not anger at the gross inequality that is still so much part of the society.
How did it come to this? What happened to the democracy that Nelson Mandela and other great leaders ushered in?
Talk to Al Jazeera speaks to South African writer Nadine Gordimer, who for decades has provided a mirror in which the people of South Africa could view themselves.
Since publishing her first short story over 60 years ago Gordimer has produced dozens of novels, essays and plays, with her work being a meander through love and politics in her native land. The characters drawn from those around her - their voices that rang loud through decades of apartheid continue to sound in the years since the end of the white regime.
She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. “Her magnificent epic writing," said the citation, "has been of very great benefit to humanity”.
She became a member of the African National Congress at a time when the movement was outlawed in South Africa and though many of her works were banned, she never stopped writing, never softened the voices of those entangled in the racist maze that was the system of apartheid.
And in the years since the ANC came to power she subjected the new rulers to the same honest and rigorous scrutiny she applied to the white government they replaced.
She continues to probe, to reveal truths that many would rather remain hidden. And above all, Nadine Gordimer continues to reject censorship of ideas in any form, her mantra unchanged through decades that a people can only be free if they are free to say what they want.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2012/09/201292913438182241.html
Nadine Gordimer: 'The culture of corruption'
What happened to the democracy that Nelson Mandela and other South African leaders ushered in?
Talk to Al Jazeera Last Modified: 29 Sep 2012 14:18
inShare3 EmailPrintShareFeedback
Social unrest these days is part of the fabric of South African life. The promise of what was once called the rainbow nation still to be realised.
A different perhaps more ominous chapter has opened in this country - there is widespread public discontent with with what is perceived as endemic corruption, and deep disappointment if not anger at the gross inequality that is still so much part of the society.
How did it come to this? What happened to the democracy that Nelson Mandela and other great leaders ushered in?
Talk to Al Jazeera speaks to South African writer Nadine Gordimer, who for decades has provided a mirror in which the people of South Africa could view themselves.
Since publishing her first short story over 60 years ago Gordimer has produced dozens of novels, essays and plays, with her work being a meander through love and politics in her native land. The characters drawn from those around her - their voices that rang loud through decades of apartheid continue to sound in the years since the end of the white regime.
She was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. “Her magnificent epic writing," said the citation, "has been of very great benefit to humanity”.
She became a member of the African National Congress at a time when the movement was outlawed in South Africa and though many of her works were banned, she never stopped writing, never softened the voices of those entangled in the racist maze that was the system of apartheid.
And in the years since the ANC came to power she subjected the new rulers to the same honest and rigorous scrutiny she applied to the white government they replaced.
She continues to probe, to reveal truths that many would rather remain hidden. And above all, Nadine Gordimer continues to reject censorship of ideas in any form, her mantra unchanged through decades that a people can only be free if they are free to say what they want.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/talktojazeera/2012/09/201292913438182241.html
Former Zeeland attorney to plead in $900,000 scheme targeting clients' funds
Former Zeeland attorney to plead in $900,000 scheme targeting clients' funds
By John Agar
jagar@mlive.com The Grand Rapids Press
on September 21, 2012 at 12:24 PM, updated September 21, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Kenneth Hoesch
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Former Zeeland attorney Kenneth Hoesch has agreed to plead guilty in a scheme to steal nearly $900,000 in clients’ estate planning trusts.
Hoesch, recently found competent to stand trial, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of mail fraud, a 20-year felony, and making a false statement on a tax return, a three-year felony.
The government today filed felony information outlining the plea agreement.
Hoesch, while a licensed attorney, set up estate planning trusts for clients.
“In truth and fact, defendant Hoesch engaged in a fraudulent scheme to deprive his law clients and their intended beneficiaries of money, funds and similar property rights by the commission of a mail fraud scheme …,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael MacDonald wrote in court documents.
He said Hoesch took clients’ assets, and did not place them in trust accounts, or placed them in trust accounts only to withdraw funds for his own use. He also moved clients’ funds to conceal the theft, and issued false reports, statements and correspondence.
Hoesch also concealed the fraud from his former law partners.
Both sides in the case agreed that restitution should be $889,398.
The agreement also requires Hoesch to pay restitution of $835,000 to Grand River Bank. He had provided false and misleading information that resulted in the bank issuing two loans to him, documents showed.
Those loans were secured by real estate.
The government also said Hoesch took $700,000 from a client from 1997 to 2002, which is outside of the statute of limitations.
Both that case and the alleged bank fraud will be used in calculating losses for federal advisory sentencing guidelines.
He is scheduled to plead on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/grpressagar
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/09/former_zeeland_attorney_to_ple.html
By John Agar
jagar@mlive.com The Grand Rapids Press
on September 21, 2012 at 12:24 PM, updated September 21, 2012 at 12:27 PM
Kenneth Hoesch
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Former Zeeland attorney Kenneth Hoesch has agreed to plead guilty in a scheme to steal nearly $900,000 in clients’ estate planning trusts.
Hoesch, recently found competent to stand trial, has agreed to plead guilty to charges of mail fraud, a 20-year felony, and making a false statement on a tax return, a three-year felony.
The government today filed felony information outlining the plea agreement.
Hoesch, while a licensed attorney, set up estate planning trusts for clients.
“In truth and fact, defendant Hoesch engaged in a fraudulent scheme to deprive his law clients and their intended beneficiaries of money, funds and similar property rights by the commission of a mail fraud scheme …,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael MacDonald wrote in court documents.
He said Hoesch took clients’ assets, and did not place them in trust accounts, or placed them in trust accounts only to withdraw funds for his own use. He also moved clients’ funds to conceal the theft, and issued false reports, statements and correspondence.
Hoesch also concealed the fraud from his former law partners.
Both sides in the case agreed that restitution should be $889,398.
The agreement also requires Hoesch to pay restitution of $835,000 to Grand River Bank. He had provided false and misleading information that resulted in the bank issuing two loans to him, documents showed.
Those loans were secured by real estate.
The government also said Hoesch took $700,000 from a client from 1997 to 2002, which is outside of the statute of limitations.
Both that case and the alleged bank fraud will be used in calculating losses for federal advisory sentencing guidelines.
He is scheduled to plead on Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids.
E-mail John Agar: jagar@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/grpressagar
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2012/09/former_zeeland_attorney_to_ple.html
Testing the Mettle of Rockford Probate Court
Testing the Mettle of Rockford Probate Court
by jmdenison
Dear Readers;
As you are aware, this blog is about helping others in probate court. Letting everyone know what works and what does not work. Pleadings, emails and other documents are published here and on other probate blogs (which I might or might not have control over) regarding better tactics to protect YOU and your beloved grandpas, grandmas and the disabled. These are often the poor of the poor, or they will be after probate court gets to them via a fee for this and a fee for that and often two or more attys churning the bill, liening the paid for family home, the savings that were never used on family trips and vacations and vacation homes, etc.-- then granny goes into a nursing home, isolated and never seeing the light of day again. You will note it is rare to see ANYONE from a nursing home going outside ever again. And the food isn't healthy by a long shot. Whole Foods is NOT doing the catering.
Getting back to Probate court in Rockford, after lengthy argument, the court did NOT decide in John Wyman's favor. Oh, the record was clear and the court even admitted notices were not served, but Judge Fabiano said during hearing (and we did have a private court reporter and I do have a record and transcript I will publish ASAP), 1) constructive notice is enough due process for the Wyman family; 2) the entire family knew of the proceeding and did not file anything soon after the fact; 3) laches applied (see my email to SRR below regarding THAT legal theory) and 4) Carol Wyman's injuries in the nursing home where she was severely beaten and sexually abused could not possibly have been the fault of poorly picking a Guardian that was an infamous abuser in his family and the local community (but she did not explain why that was, SRR and KMT said it was not the right time period, but it is my understanding she suffered at a horrid nursing home--one of the worst in Rockford during the July to Sept. 2009 time period and then she escaped.)
The moral of this story is: if you don't like your spouse and no longer have any need or want for them around the house, drug them, take them to a nursing home and get a temporary guardianship over them in court. When they "awake" from all the drugs and start protesting and want to go home, the nursing home will physically hold them down and shoot them up with Halodol (a drug NOT recommended for seniors due to stress on all the internal organs) and then you will never have to deal with your "spousal problem" again. And all with the blessings of the Rockford Probate court and 2 court appointed attorneys.
All this actually happened to Carol Wyman -- and more, get the book "Against Her Will" or just email John Wyman for a copy at johnhowardwyman.com. It's a 5 star book on Amazon you won't be able to put down.
So SRR is supposed to draft up an order for the court to sign on Monday. Because I have been involved in, or have heard of, most of the dirty tricks in probate, I was extremely well prepared and could shoot down just about every single dirty lie, trick, ruse -- you name it, I had the answer for the court.
Did not seem to do much good. SO emergency appeal, so as I get the order.
Take care all and read the email I sent to SRR below regarding what to put in the order for findings of fact and conclusions of law.
JoAnne
now for my email to Sharon Rudy:
Subject: Court yesterday In re Wyman 09 P 127
Date: Sep 29, 2012 1:04 PM
Dear Sharon;
Please make sure you put in the order tomorrow, the following findings by Judge Fabiano:
1) That the case, In re Steinfield held that notices could be excused if the movant had been significantly involved in the case post appointment of a plenary guardian (perhaps you can find the page cite for that holding, I could not)
2) that laches applies to defeat a finding of lack of jurisdiction under the Probate Act (I believe that would be new law because laches is an affirmative defense which is only pled as an Answer to a Claim--but maybe the Illinois App. Ct will change that centuries old law, what do I know?)
3) that the Probate Act allows for constructive notice to be served on all "close relatives". The notice need not be in writing and it need not be personally served or served by mail.
The sisters were served via phone call to one and that was adequate notice.
4) that John Wyman and William Wyman were represented by the OPG or Heckinger in early July and that excused notice. (Willaim Wyman was NOT represented by the OPG except early on in the case when the OPG was only defending him and did so successfully regarding the OOP. The OPG only filed an appearance for that issue and William Wyman will submit an affidavit to the court regarding that issue, but you can put in the order that it was a finding from the hearing because that's what happened).
5) that the sisters had constructive notice by phone or upon information and belief and statements from KTM that she remembers calling one sister sometime before the hearing.
Yes, I think that those were the most important points that both you and Judge Fabiano made yesterday.
As we discussed, my client is willing to post a supercedas bond pending appeal for half the estimate costs of appealing. Please send me a good faith estimate of those costs which may consist of: 1) utilities, taxes, insurance; 2) an estimate of the FMV of the personal property, which I believe is negligable looking at the inventory list.
If the judge is still interested in awarding sanctions, I would like the opportunity to brief that separate issue, so please put in the order a briefing schedule, ie, 1) when you will submit your motion for sanctions, 2) a 3 week response for me and 3) whatever you need for reply and then set it for hearing. You can just call me on my cell or text me for hearing dates and let me know what day and time you will be in court to set that. I believe that is a separate motion that must be in writing, properly served and the respondent is entitled to a briefing schedule.
Also, I did make the statement that the court appeared to making a ruling that "hearsay, innuendo and rumor" satisfied the Probate Court Act notice standards in accordance with Sodini/Steinfeld and you can put that in the order and I don't mind.
thanks
joanne
jmdenison
September 30, 2012 at 11:29 am
Categories: Uncategorized
URL: http://wp.me/p209wH-km
Saturday, September 29, 2012
ESFORMES CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS TO CANDIDATES
Could this link be the reason Morris Esformes remains free today?
http://ns1.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=IL&last=ESFORMES&first=MORRIS
http://ns1.newsmeat.com/fec/bystate_detail.php?st=IL&last=ESFORMES&first=MORRIS
Retired chiropractor returns to being a free man
Retired chiropractor returns to being a free man
By Jameson Cook
jamie.cook@macombdaily.com; @jamesoncookPosted: 09/27/12 12:01 am
Updated: 09/27/12 07:17 am Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on stumbleuponShare on redditShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services
James Chism of Clinton Township, a retired chiropractor, sits outside a courtroom Wednesday before a hearing at Macomb County Probate Court. Macomb Daily staff photo by David Dalton
A retired chiropractor who was under a guardian due to poor health and who became the center of an acrimonious legal battle between his wife and children is free to run his life, a judge ruled Wednesday.
CONTRIBUTE
Story IdeasSend CorrectionsJames Chism, 75, of Clinton Township, who practiced for many years in Macomb County, smiled as he walked out of a courtroom at Macomb Probate Court in Mount Clemens moments after William Monaghan was removed as his guardian. Chism declined to comment. “He’s made remarkable progress,” said his attorney, Patricia Patterson-Courie. “He’s got his driver’s license. He’s passed all of the tests.”
Two neurologists attested in letters that Chism can function and take care of himself without a guardian, said Monaghan, who supported his removal.
RELATED ASSETS
Tests show he has “mild cognitive impairment but that is normal for his age,” Patterson-Courie said. “It’s clear and convincing evidence that he should return to making his own decisions,” Judge Pamela Gilbert O’Sullivan said.
The development did not please his son, Steve Chism, who said he remains concerned about his father’s health. Attorney Richard Kent, representing the children, however, in the courtroom did not object to the removal, noting he had no legal basis.
“He is not free by any stretch,” Steve Chism said in an email Wednesday after the hearing. “I am very sad that the same court that gave my dad a death sentence by authorizing his commitment has now left him at the mercy of” his wife, Karen Chism.
Steven Chism and two of his four siblings, Susan Lucier and Laurie Chism, contend that Karen Chism, who is not their mother, abused their father. The trio, who all live outside of Michigan, last January campaigned publicly here against Karen Chism, picketing at a Mount Clemens mental facility where he was staying and creating a Facebook page. They claimed that his wife of 27 years had him diagnosed with dementia and committed to multiple facilities, and gained temporary guardianship in December around the time she sold his successful chiropractic business for a low price and moved assets into her and her children’s names. He also spent time in a hospital, where he suffered cardiac arrest and appeared to be in a coma. He recovered and was released in March.
Chism added Wednesday, “Isn’t it interesting that Karen placed him under her guardianship last year, saying he had ‘advanced severe dementia’ and now, he has apparently become the first person in recorded history to regain his competency after such a devastating diagnosis?”
http://www.macombdaily.com/article/20120927/NEWS01/120929619/retired-chiropractor-returns-to-being-a-free-man
By Jameson Cook
jamie.cook@macombdaily.com; @jamesoncookPosted: 09/27/12 12:01 am
Updated: 09/27/12 07:17 am Share on twitterShare on facebookShare on stumbleuponShare on redditShare on pinterest_shareMore Sharing Services
James Chism of Clinton Township, a retired chiropractor, sits outside a courtroom Wednesday before a hearing at Macomb County Probate Court. Macomb Daily staff photo by David Dalton
A retired chiropractor who was under a guardian due to poor health and who became the center of an acrimonious legal battle between his wife and children is free to run his life, a judge ruled Wednesday.
CONTRIBUTE
Story IdeasSend CorrectionsJames Chism, 75, of Clinton Township, who practiced for many years in Macomb County, smiled as he walked out of a courtroom at Macomb Probate Court in Mount Clemens moments after William Monaghan was removed as his guardian. Chism declined to comment. “He’s made remarkable progress,” said his attorney, Patricia Patterson-Courie. “He’s got his driver’s license. He’s passed all of the tests.”
Two neurologists attested in letters that Chism can function and take care of himself without a guardian, said Monaghan, who supported his removal.
RELATED ASSETS
Tests show he has “mild cognitive impairment but that is normal for his age,” Patterson-Courie said. “It’s clear and convincing evidence that he should return to making his own decisions,” Judge Pamela Gilbert O’Sullivan said.
The development did not please his son, Steve Chism, who said he remains concerned about his father’s health. Attorney Richard Kent, representing the children, however, in the courtroom did not object to the removal, noting he had no legal basis.
“He is not free by any stretch,” Steve Chism said in an email Wednesday after the hearing. “I am very sad that the same court that gave my dad a death sentence by authorizing his commitment has now left him at the mercy of” his wife, Karen Chism.
Steven Chism and two of his four siblings, Susan Lucier and Laurie Chism, contend that Karen Chism, who is not their mother, abused their father. The trio, who all live outside of Michigan, last January campaigned publicly here against Karen Chism, picketing at a Mount Clemens mental facility where he was staying and creating a Facebook page. They claimed that his wife of 27 years had him diagnosed with dementia and committed to multiple facilities, and gained temporary guardianship in December around the time she sold his successful chiropractic business for a low price and moved assets into her and her children’s names. He also spent time in a hospital, where he suffered cardiac arrest and appeared to be in a coma. He recovered and was released in March.
Chism added Wednesday, “Isn’t it interesting that Karen placed him under her guardianship last year, saying he had ‘advanced severe dementia’ and now, he has apparently become the first person in recorded history to regain his competency after such a devastating diagnosis?”
http://www.macombdaily.com/article/20120927/NEWS01/120929619/retired-chiropractor-returns-to-being-a-free-man
CEO of Abbott spinoff lacks degrees claimed in filings
CEO of Abbott spinoff lacks degrees claimed in filings
SUN-TIMES MEDIA
Last Modified: Sep 28, 2012 03:00AM
Abbott Laboratories gave incorrect education credentials for the executive chosen to lead its pharmaceutical spinoff in regulatory filings between 2002 and 2007, Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting.
Richard A. Gonzalez, named CEO of AbbVie, did not receive a biochemistry bachelor’s degree nor a biochemistry master’s degree from the universities Abbott filings listed, Crain’s reported.
According to Crain’s, Gonzalez did not receive a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Houston, nor a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Miami, contrary to claims in Abbott’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when the longtime company executive was a director.
He started at the company in 1977 and retired from Abbott as president and chief operating officer in 2007, but returned two years later.
Gonzalez, 58, currently executive vice president, Global Pharmaceuticals at Abbott, was chosen to be chairman and CEO of AbbVie (pronounced Abb-vee), the new research-based pharmaceutical firm, which is projected to have $18 billion in annual sales after it is spun off later this year.
Abbott external communications Vice President Melissa Brotz confirmed to Crain’s that Gonzalez did not receive degrees from either university.
The inaccurate information about his education was included in SEC filings as a result of an internal administrative error. She told Crain’s that Abbott learned about the errors “some time ago.” The company corrected the information on its Web site immediately after the errors were discovered, she said.
According to the company’s Web site, Gonzalez is listed as a research biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine and attended the University of Houston, majoring in biochemistry,
“There’s really no issue here with respect to his educational background and his ability to lead AbbVie,” Brotz told Crain’s. “His ability to lead AbbVie is evidenced by his distinguished career over 30 years, culminating in his reaching the highest levels of the company.”
In October 2011, Abbott said it would separate into two publicly traded firms — one in diversified medical products which will retain the Abbott Laboratories name, the other in research-based pharmaceuticals.
AbbVie will include Abbott’s current portfolio of proprietary pharmaceuticals and biologics. The name is derived from a combination of Abbott and “vie,” which references the Latin root “vi” meaning life.
The AbbVie logo and graphic identity will be unveiled when the new company is launched.
AbbVie will have a portfolio of market-leading brands, including Humira, Lupron, Synagis, Kaletra, Creon and Synthroid. The company said it will have a pipeline of R&D assets in specialty therapeutic areas such as hepatitis C, immunology, chronic kidney disease, women’s health, oncology and neuroscience to drive future growth.
http://newssun.suntimes.com/business/15421347-420/ceo-of-abbott-spinoff-lacks-degrees-claimed-in-filings.html#
SUN-TIMES MEDIA
Last Modified: Sep 28, 2012 03:00AM
Abbott Laboratories gave incorrect education credentials for the executive chosen to lead its pharmaceutical spinoff in regulatory filings between 2002 and 2007, Crain’s Chicago Business is reporting.
Richard A. Gonzalez, named CEO of AbbVie, did not receive a biochemistry bachelor’s degree nor a biochemistry master’s degree from the universities Abbott filings listed, Crain’s reported.
According to Crain’s, Gonzalez did not receive a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Houston, nor a master’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Miami, contrary to claims in Abbott’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission when the longtime company executive was a director.
He started at the company in 1977 and retired from Abbott as president and chief operating officer in 2007, but returned two years later.
Gonzalez, 58, currently executive vice president, Global Pharmaceuticals at Abbott, was chosen to be chairman and CEO of AbbVie (pronounced Abb-vee), the new research-based pharmaceutical firm, which is projected to have $18 billion in annual sales after it is spun off later this year.
Abbott external communications Vice President Melissa Brotz confirmed to Crain’s that Gonzalez did not receive degrees from either university.
The inaccurate information about his education was included in SEC filings as a result of an internal administrative error. She told Crain’s that Abbott learned about the errors “some time ago.” The company corrected the information on its Web site immediately after the errors were discovered, she said.
According to the company’s Web site, Gonzalez is listed as a research biochemist at the University of Miami School of Medicine and attended the University of Houston, majoring in biochemistry,
“There’s really no issue here with respect to his educational background and his ability to lead AbbVie,” Brotz told Crain’s. “His ability to lead AbbVie is evidenced by his distinguished career over 30 years, culminating in his reaching the highest levels of the company.”
In October 2011, Abbott said it would separate into two publicly traded firms — one in diversified medical products which will retain the Abbott Laboratories name, the other in research-based pharmaceuticals.
AbbVie will include Abbott’s current portfolio of proprietary pharmaceuticals and biologics. The name is derived from a combination of Abbott and “vie,” which references the Latin root “vi” meaning life.
The AbbVie logo and graphic identity will be unveiled when the new company is launched.
AbbVie will have a portfolio of market-leading brands, including Humira, Lupron, Synagis, Kaletra, Creon and Synthroid. The company said it will have a pipeline of R&D assets in specialty therapeutic areas such as hepatitis C, immunology, chronic kidney disease, women’s health, oncology and neuroscience to drive future growth.
http://newssun.suntimes.com/business/15421347-420/ceo-of-abbott-spinoff-lacks-degrees-claimed-in-filings.html#
Ayanda Nqinana, Coma Patient, Speaks, Recognizes Family After Taking The 'Lazarus Drug' Stilnox
Ayanda Nqinana, Coma Patient, Speaks, Recognizes Family After Taking The 'Lazarus Drug' Stilnox
The Huffington Post
By Meredith Bennett-Smith Posted: 09/10/2012 4:43 pm EDT Updated: 09/10/2012 7:07 pm EDT
.Follow: Video, Ambien Miracle Drug, Lazarus Drug, Medical Miracle, Persistent Vegetative State, Stilnox, Stilnox Lazarus Drug, Zolpidem, Good News .
According to reports, Stilnox has had positive effects on Ayanda Nqinana, a South African man, who had been in a coma for seven years. A South African man who has been in a coma for seven years "awoke" after being given the sleeping pill, Stilnox, which has brought several other patients back from the brink of a death-like stupor.
In 2005, Ayanda Nqinana of Johannesburg was traveling alone along an Eastern Cape road when his car crashed, News 24 reports. The accident left him with severe brain injuries, and doctors said he would probably never recover.
“His eyes, he couldn’t follow any direction. For instance, if you were talking to him, even if you move from this angle to that angle, he doesn’t follow you. He couldn’t talk. Not at all,” Nqinana's wife, Nomfundo, said.
After reading reports of Stilnox's success in the local paper, Nomfundo insisted her husband be given the drug. Less than a week later, Nqinana was awake, able to talk, could recognize family members and remember past conversations.
Stilnox and other sleeping pills with the active ingredient zolpidem have had similar effects in grim cases around the world, including in the United Kingdom and the United States.
It should be noted, however, that Stilnox and other drugs containing zolpidem could have potentially dangerous side effects. All medications should be approved by a doctor.
Discovery of the sleep aid's unintended effects was an accident, however.
In 1994, Louis Vijoen, a 24-year-old switchboard operator from South Africa, was struck by a truck and descended into a deep coma. Five years after the accident, Vijoen's doctor prescribed Stilnox to help help with involuntary spasms. After 25 minutes, Vijoen's mother was astonished to hear her son speak for the first time in years.
Since the drug's effects wear off after about two hours, some patients take multiple doses throughout the day.
Vijoen's doctor Wally Nel, told the Daily Mail he has since prescribed the pill for more than 150 brain-damaged patients and has seen improvements in about 60 percent of them.
But the secret of the pill continues to elude and confuse medical professionals, including those who administer it. Dr. Ralf Clauss, a physician of nuclear medicine at the Medical University of Southern Africa, studied Vijoen's brain after hearing about his story. The results, he said, were simply "unbelievable." However, further research is needed in order to draw any sort of conclusion.
Sally Nielsen is nevertheless one of Nel's converts. Her fiance, Sam Goddard, collapsed on Valentine's Day in 2010, just three months before the two were due to be married. Nielsen fought for the right to administer Stilnox after more traditional rehabilitation treatments slowed, the New Zealand Herald reported. Sure enough, Goddard began to regain the ability to speak soon after taking the drug in 2011 and was eventually allowed to leave the hospital, although his condition requires significant rehabilitative therapies.
According to the Daily Mail, soon after taking the pill, Goddard phoned his parents and said "I'm talking, I'm talking."
In December of 2011, he was taking Ambien four times a day, with the effects lasting for an hour each time. "It is very difficult to comprehend the fact that I can talk now and in an hour or I won’t be able to talk at all," Goddard told MSNBC. "It really sucks."
In a video message that aired on NBC's Rock Center program last December, Goddard thanked his supporters and sounded optimistic about his continued recovery.
Back in South Africa, a homecoming once considered impossible may soon become a reality for Nqinana. Catching up on seven years' worth of missed memories, Nqinana has been holding long conversations with his 9-year-old son, who was only 2 when his father first became unresponsive.
http://labs.huffingtonpost.com/highlights/quote/2170881
The Huffington Post
By Meredith Bennett-Smith Posted: 09/10/2012 4:43 pm EDT Updated: 09/10/2012 7:07 pm EDT
.Follow: Video, Ambien Miracle Drug, Lazarus Drug, Medical Miracle, Persistent Vegetative State, Stilnox, Stilnox Lazarus Drug, Zolpidem, Good News .
According to reports, Stilnox has had positive effects on Ayanda Nqinana, a South African man, who had been in a coma for seven years. A South African man who has been in a coma for seven years "awoke" after being given the sleeping pill, Stilnox, which has brought several other patients back from the brink of a death-like stupor.
In 2005, Ayanda Nqinana of Johannesburg was traveling alone along an Eastern Cape road when his car crashed, News 24 reports. The accident left him with severe brain injuries, and doctors said he would probably never recover.
“His eyes, he couldn’t follow any direction. For instance, if you were talking to him, even if you move from this angle to that angle, he doesn’t follow you. He couldn’t talk. Not at all,” Nqinana's wife, Nomfundo, said.
After reading reports of Stilnox's success in the local paper, Nomfundo insisted her husband be given the drug. Less than a week later, Nqinana was awake, able to talk, could recognize family members and remember past conversations.
Stilnox and other sleeping pills with the active ingredient zolpidem have had similar effects in grim cases around the world, including in the United Kingdom and the United States.
It should be noted, however, that Stilnox and other drugs containing zolpidem could have potentially dangerous side effects. All medications should be approved by a doctor.
Discovery of the sleep aid's unintended effects was an accident, however.
In 1994, Louis Vijoen, a 24-year-old switchboard operator from South Africa, was struck by a truck and descended into a deep coma. Five years after the accident, Vijoen's doctor prescribed Stilnox to help help with involuntary spasms. After 25 minutes, Vijoen's mother was astonished to hear her son speak for the first time in years.
Since the drug's effects wear off after about two hours, some patients take multiple doses throughout the day.
Vijoen's doctor Wally Nel, told the Daily Mail he has since prescribed the pill for more than 150 brain-damaged patients and has seen improvements in about 60 percent of them.
But the secret of the pill continues to elude and confuse medical professionals, including those who administer it. Dr. Ralf Clauss, a physician of nuclear medicine at the Medical University of Southern Africa, studied Vijoen's brain after hearing about his story. The results, he said, were simply "unbelievable." However, further research is needed in order to draw any sort of conclusion.
Sally Nielsen is nevertheless one of Nel's converts. Her fiance, Sam Goddard, collapsed on Valentine's Day in 2010, just three months before the two were due to be married. Nielsen fought for the right to administer Stilnox after more traditional rehabilitation treatments slowed, the New Zealand Herald reported. Sure enough, Goddard began to regain the ability to speak soon after taking the drug in 2011 and was eventually allowed to leave the hospital, although his condition requires significant rehabilitative therapies.
According to the Daily Mail, soon after taking the pill, Goddard phoned his parents and said "I'm talking, I'm talking."
In December of 2011, he was taking Ambien four times a day, with the effects lasting for an hour each time. "It is very difficult to comprehend the fact that I can talk now and in an hour or I won’t be able to talk at all," Goddard told MSNBC. "It really sucks."
In a video message that aired on NBC's Rock Center program last December, Goddard thanked his supporters and sounded optimistic about his continued recovery.
Back in South Africa, a homecoming once considered impossible may soon become a reality for Nqinana. Catching up on seven years' worth of missed memories, Nqinana has been holding long conversations with his 9-year-old son, who was only 2 when his father first became unresponsive.
http://labs.huffingtonpost.com/highlights/quote/2170881
Friday, September 28, 2012
“Why did the GAL’s threatening KDD when all he wants to do is investigate?”
New post on marygsykes
A very well drafted letter from Judy Ditkowsky asks, “Why did the GAL’s threatening KDD when all he wants to do is investigate?”
by jmdenison
Dear Readers;
Mrs. Ditkowsky has been kind enough to share her very well drafted letter with us on this blog. In it, the letter asks the most important question underlying the case, why do the GAL's in a Probate proceeding threaten a third party attorney for merely investigating an alleged wrongful guardianship?
Inquiring minds want to know.
As an attorney, or even an outsider, it doesn't take much to know that when one is threatened, there is assuredly a fat, thick, scab to pick--and I never saw any of the Sopranos episodes! (Heck, I was hoping by the name of the series it was a show about opera, which I love, but then what do I know).
Read on for some very interesting news. I never heard the entire story about the "threats", I know the ARDC did not want the entire story to come out, so this is very interesting.
JoAnne
Dear Senator ______,
RE: Attorney SANCTIONED for SEEKING TO PROTECT A NINETY YEAR OLD LADY from severe repression of her civil and human rights!
My husband, Kenneth Ditkowsky, was threatened three years ago, that if he continued to represent the interests of a large group of relatives, personal friends and neighbors in their concern for the ongoing health and safety of a ninety year old lady, he would be hauled before the Court for sanctions and also the Illinois ARDC. At that point, he had done nothing but investigate what their complaint entailed. I personally was present in my husband’s office when the two telephone calls in which attorney Peter Schmiedel and Guardian ad litem Adam Stern made these threats, and heard them, because he put the calls on speakerphone specifically so that I would hear them. Ken had done nothing improper, and therefore threat of attorney sanctions were totally improper.
However, the threats were not made in vain. Within a year, Ken had been sanctioned, and within six months thereafter, these same sanctions were vacated by the Appellate Court, as having been issued totally without jurisdiction. Ken had been ordered (by the Circuit Court which incidentally had no jurisdiction) not to represent the ninety one year old lady and he NEVER had done so. He had, however, as an attorney bound by the Himmel rule, continued to report violations of her civil rights. He did so continuously, as there was no evidence that his reports had been taken seriously, and he widened the circle to whom the reports were made. He also had a responsibility as a citizen to take action for the protection of a person whose rights were covered under Federal Statute and the fourteenth and fourth and fifth amendments to the US Constitution. He had his own rights under the U.S. and the Illinois Constitution of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association, and the Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances (the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the first Article of the Illinois Constitution).
Then step three was taken by attorney Schmiedel and Guardian ad litem Stern, now joined by Guardian ad litem Farenga. Amazingly, fifteen counts that Ken had misbehaved were brought by the attorney for the administrator of the Illinois ARDC. I use the term misbehaved advisedly. The fifteen counts met no criterion of specificity. Under the U.S. Constitution, a defendant has the right to know exactly what he is being accused of, but the attorney for the administrator ADMITTED in her response to the motion to dismiss that she had no idea what lies, deceptions, or interferences with the administration of justice had actually taken place other than that emails had been sent .
Suffice it to say that the hearing officers attorned completely to the actions of the ARDC and subjected my husband to a hearing. The hearing officer announced that two days and two days only were allotted to this hearing, and then allowed the prosecution to meander on until after four p.m. on the second day. Under the U.S. Constitution, how can a defense be limited to less than an hour of a business day, perhaps a hearing going to late in the evening of a weekend day? Beyond that, apparently there was some “underlying case” which could not be referred to. The “underlying case” could only have been the matter about which the supposed lies, deceptions and “interference with justice” were made.
Despite these obstacles, under oath the prosecution witnesses made significant admissions that they did not follow mandated procedures prescribed by state statute to protect the civil rights of their ward. Furthermore, while each retained the title of Guardian ad Litem after what was a VOID Plenary Guardianship according to the mandatory provisions of the State Statute, neither undertook to actually perform the duties assigned to a Guardian ad Litem, which are to protect the interest of the ward against malpractice by the Plenary Guardian, but instead invented non-existent duties which were to the detriment of their ward. The statement UNDER OATH by Cynthia Farenga was that in most cases the duties of the Guardian ad Litem are over in a few months, while in this case the Guardianship she has been awarded has extended for over three years. Does this mean that Ken has “interfered” with justice by making it possible for Mary Sykes to remain alive at the age of ninety three, having been kidnapped just before her birthday of nine decades under color of statute, been kept isolated from her family and friends, and been consigned to “elder day care”, having lost the comfort of her own home and the waste of all her assets?
There are two CD’s, taken a year apart, of Mary Sykes, after her incarceration under false pretenses in a home and daycare center. Neither shows the feeble-minded individual SWORN TO UNDER OATH by attorney Adam Stern. The first was taken a year after the kidnap occurred; the second, shows the ravages of two years spent under hostile conditions; yet Mrs. Sykes is still aware of her situations, her companion(s) and is lucid. In addition, independent observers of Mrs. Sykes have occasionally seen her at family events and have reported that she has been cogent; there has been no investigation permitted of Guardian Ad Litem’s sworn statement at ARDC hearing, that in his initial interview with Mrs. Sykes, there was no question of her incompetency. Mrs. Sykes is prevented from using the telephone to contact her relatives, but on the very day of the hearing, one was able to speak to her while her captor was not present and Mrs. Sykes was lucid and cognizant of whom she was speaking to (also, she was certainly aware of how to pick up and answer a telephone) despite her advanced age and the nearly complete isolation from all her family except for the plenary guardian, the guardian’s husband, and the granddaughter and the consignment to a day care center offering no intellectual stimulation, much less rehabilitative activity.
The General Accounting Office in 2010 issued a report of the nationwide abuses of the rights to life, liberty and property of elderly people. Has this report been placed into the circular file? It is up to our elected Senators and Representatives to stand up for the citizens of the United States who have had the nerve to live past the Soylent Green age of thirty and for those who who have had the nerve to care about the rights of their fellow citizens in the face of the actions herein complained of!
Mr. Ditkowsky has spent untold time, energy and material resources in the fight to free Mary Sykes. He has exposed, UNDER THE OATHS OF THE PROSECUTION’S WITNESSES in the process of this ARDC hearing, numerous instances of egregious disregard of statutes, court decisions, the U.S. Constitution and the Illinois Constitution. Under the most adverse of circumstances, his defense was able to show the TRUTH of the statements he has been making. He was able to bring into evidence even more evidence of the truth of the statements he has been making.
Nevertheless, the hearing panel did not consider any of this evidence but made their determination before leaving the building, as an order of misconduct was issued first thing the following Monday morning.
Please be advised that Mr. Ditkowsky has never been accused of mistreating the elderly; he has been sanctioned and his reputation impaired for over two years for OPPOSING the mistreatment of one very feisty and resilient old lady. Isaiah, chapter 58 is quoted yearly at this time that the Lord does not care about fasting and sackcloth when innocents are being abused. The armada of Government, however, in this case, is being employed to destroy the reputation of one who believes in the words of the Prophets, of the U.S. Constitution and of the Illinois Constitution, federal and state judiciary and laws and statutes.
I am writing to you in the sincere hope that an investigation into the conduct of this entire matter over a period of over three years will be ordered. This situation begins with the first attempt to chill any investigation into the circumstances of an almost ninety year old lady, on whose behalf almost twenty friends, neighbors, relative and fellow club members signed a petition and raised money for a retainer to pay my husband to look into the legal issues raised by what then seemed like a miscarriage of justice. It has continued through to the actions of the Attorney Registration and Discipline Committee which refused to dismiss an incompetent Motion for sanctions and in which its hearing officers issued an order of misconduct without taking the time to address any of the evidence allowed into the case as a result of the lines of questions introduced by the prosecution, which showed without a shadow of a doubt that neither the Guardians ad Litem nor the plenary Guardian were appointed in accordance with Illinois Statutes, decisions of appellate ( both federal and state) courts, or decisions of the United States Supreme court, in clear derogation of every free speech, right of association and right to petition for redress of grievances of the government. Please investigate how this can happen in 2012 in The United States of America!
I apologize for the length and detail of this letter.
Sincerely,
Judith Ditkowsky
Dear Judy;
You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I loved your letter. Tomorrow I am going to try to help John Wyman and test the meddle of the Probate Court in Rockford. Soon as it is over, I will find the nearest Starbucks and give you all the results.
thanks again for your kind sharing and understanding.
JoAnne
A very well drafted letter from Judy Ditkowsky asks, “Why did the GAL’s threatening KDD when all he wants to do is investigate?”
by jmdenison
Dear Readers;
Mrs. Ditkowsky has been kind enough to share her very well drafted letter with us on this blog. In it, the letter asks the most important question underlying the case, why do the GAL's in a Probate proceeding threaten a third party attorney for merely investigating an alleged wrongful guardianship?
Inquiring minds want to know.
As an attorney, or even an outsider, it doesn't take much to know that when one is threatened, there is assuredly a fat, thick, scab to pick--and I never saw any of the Sopranos episodes! (Heck, I was hoping by the name of the series it was a show about opera, which I love, but then what do I know).
Read on for some very interesting news. I never heard the entire story about the "threats", I know the ARDC did not want the entire story to come out, so this is very interesting.
JoAnne
Dear Senator ______,
RE: Attorney SANCTIONED for SEEKING TO PROTECT A NINETY YEAR OLD LADY from severe repression of her civil and human rights!
My husband, Kenneth Ditkowsky, was threatened three years ago, that if he continued to represent the interests of a large group of relatives, personal friends and neighbors in their concern for the ongoing health and safety of a ninety year old lady, he would be hauled before the Court for sanctions and also the Illinois ARDC. At that point, he had done nothing but investigate what their complaint entailed. I personally was present in my husband’s office when the two telephone calls in which attorney Peter Schmiedel and Guardian ad litem Adam Stern made these threats, and heard them, because he put the calls on speakerphone specifically so that I would hear them. Ken had done nothing improper, and therefore threat of attorney sanctions were totally improper.
However, the threats were not made in vain. Within a year, Ken had been sanctioned, and within six months thereafter, these same sanctions were vacated by the Appellate Court, as having been issued totally without jurisdiction. Ken had been ordered (by the Circuit Court which incidentally had no jurisdiction) not to represent the ninety one year old lady and he NEVER had done so. He had, however, as an attorney bound by the Himmel rule, continued to report violations of her civil rights. He did so continuously, as there was no evidence that his reports had been taken seriously, and he widened the circle to whom the reports were made. He also had a responsibility as a citizen to take action for the protection of a person whose rights were covered under Federal Statute and the fourteenth and fourth and fifth amendments to the US Constitution. He had his own rights under the U.S. and the Illinois Constitution of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Association, and the Right to Petition the Government for Redress of Grievances (the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the first Article of the Illinois Constitution).
Then step three was taken by attorney Schmiedel and Guardian ad litem Stern, now joined by Guardian ad litem Farenga. Amazingly, fifteen counts that Ken had misbehaved were brought by the attorney for the administrator of the Illinois ARDC. I use the term misbehaved advisedly. The fifteen counts met no criterion of specificity. Under the U.S. Constitution, a defendant has the right to know exactly what he is being accused of, but the attorney for the administrator ADMITTED in her response to the motion to dismiss that she had no idea what lies, deceptions, or interferences with the administration of justice had actually taken place other than that emails had been sent .
Suffice it to say that the hearing officers attorned completely to the actions of the ARDC and subjected my husband to a hearing. The hearing officer announced that two days and two days only were allotted to this hearing, and then allowed the prosecution to meander on until after four p.m. on the second day. Under the U.S. Constitution, how can a defense be limited to less than an hour of a business day, perhaps a hearing going to late in the evening of a weekend day? Beyond that, apparently there was some “underlying case” which could not be referred to. The “underlying case” could only have been the matter about which the supposed lies, deceptions and “interference with justice” were made.
Despite these obstacles, under oath the prosecution witnesses made significant admissions that they did not follow mandated procedures prescribed by state statute to protect the civil rights of their ward. Furthermore, while each retained the title of Guardian ad Litem after what was a VOID Plenary Guardianship according to the mandatory provisions of the State Statute, neither undertook to actually perform the duties assigned to a Guardian ad Litem, which are to protect the interest of the ward against malpractice by the Plenary Guardian, but instead invented non-existent duties which were to the detriment of their ward. The statement UNDER OATH by Cynthia Farenga was that in most cases the duties of the Guardian ad Litem are over in a few months, while in this case the Guardianship she has been awarded has extended for over three years. Does this mean that Ken has “interfered” with justice by making it possible for Mary Sykes to remain alive at the age of ninety three, having been kidnapped just before her birthday of nine decades under color of statute, been kept isolated from her family and friends, and been consigned to “elder day care”, having lost the comfort of her own home and the waste of all her assets?
There are two CD’s, taken a year apart, of Mary Sykes, after her incarceration under false pretenses in a home and daycare center. Neither shows the feeble-minded individual SWORN TO UNDER OATH by attorney Adam Stern. The first was taken a year after the kidnap occurred; the second, shows the ravages of two years spent under hostile conditions; yet Mrs. Sykes is still aware of her situations, her companion(s) and is lucid. In addition, independent observers of Mrs. Sykes have occasionally seen her at family events and have reported that she has been cogent; there has been no investigation permitted of Guardian Ad Litem’s sworn statement at ARDC hearing, that in his initial interview with Mrs. Sykes, there was no question of her incompetency. Mrs. Sykes is prevented from using the telephone to contact her relatives, but on the very day of the hearing, one was able to speak to her while her captor was not present and Mrs. Sykes was lucid and cognizant of whom she was speaking to (also, she was certainly aware of how to pick up and answer a telephone) despite her advanced age and the nearly complete isolation from all her family except for the plenary guardian, the guardian’s husband, and the granddaughter and the consignment to a day care center offering no intellectual stimulation, much less rehabilitative activity.
The General Accounting Office in 2010 issued a report of the nationwide abuses of the rights to life, liberty and property of elderly people. Has this report been placed into the circular file? It is up to our elected Senators and Representatives to stand up for the citizens of the United States who have had the nerve to live past the Soylent Green age of thirty and for those who who have had the nerve to care about the rights of their fellow citizens in the face of the actions herein complained of!
Mr. Ditkowsky has spent untold time, energy and material resources in the fight to free Mary Sykes. He has exposed, UNDER THE OATHS OF THE PROSECUTION’S WITNESSES in the process of this ARDC hearing, numerous instances of egregious disregard of statutes, court decisions, the U.S. Constitution and the Illinois Constitution. Under the most adverse of circumstances, his defense was able to show the TRUTH of the statements he has been making. He was able to bring into evidence even more evidence of the truth of the statements he has been making.
Nevertheless, the hearing panel did not consider any of this evidence but made their determination before leaving the building, as an order of misconduct was issued first thing the following Monday morning.
Please be advised that Mr. Ditkowsky has never been accused of mistreating the elderly; he has been sanctioned and his reputation impaired for over two years for OPPOSING the mistreatment of one very feisty and resilient old lady. Isaiah, chapter 58 is quoted yearly at this time that the Lord does not care about fasting and sackcloth when innocents are being abused. The armada of Government, however, in this case, is being employed to destroy the reputation of one who believes in the words of the Prophets, of the U.S. Constitution and of the Illinois Constitution, federal and state judiciary and laws and statutes.
I am writing to you in the sincere hope that an investigation into the conduct of this entire matter over a period of over three years will be ordered. This situation begins with the first attempt to chill any investigation into the circumstances of an almost ninety year old lady, on whose behalf almost twenty friends, neighbors, relative and fellow club members signed a petition and raised money for a retainer to pay my husband to look into the legal issues raised by what then seemed like a miscarriage of justice. It has continued through to the actions of the Attorney Registration and Discipline Committee which refused to dismiss an incompetent Motion for sanctions and in which its hearing officers issued an order of misconduct without taking the time to address any of the evidence allowed into the case as a result of the lines of questions introduced by the prosecution, which showed without a shadow of a doubt that neither the Guardians ad Litem nor the plenary Guardian were appointed in accordance with Illinois Statutes, decisions of appellate ( both federal and state) courts, or decisions of the United States Supreme court, in clear derogation of every free speech, right of association and right to petition for redress of grievances of the government. Please investigate how this can happen in 2012 in The United States of America!
I apologize for the length and detail of this letter.
Sincerely,
Judith Ditkowsky
Dear Judy;
You have absolutely nothing to apologize for. I loved your letter. Tomorrow I am going to try to help John Wyman and test the meddle of the Probate Court in Rockford. Soon as it is over, I will find the nearest Starbucks and give you all the results.
thanks again for your kind sharing and understanding.
JoAnne
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
From KDD–Sykes has TWO GAL’s. What are they supposed to be doing and why aren’t they gone in the case?
New post on marygsykes
From KDD–Sykes has TWO GAL’s. What are they supposed to be doing and why aren’t they gone in the case?
by jmdenison
From Ken, regarding GAL's and guardianships and jurisdiction
The Court must first determine in every case if it has jurisdiction. If it has jurisdiction it has inherent powers to address the matters that come before it in the pending "case and controversy." The key words are "case and controversy" After the appointment of a plenary guardian there is nothing more to do except supervise the plenary guardian.
A guardian ad litem functions as the “eyes and ears of the court” and not as the ward's attorney. In re Guardianship of Mabry, 281 Ill.App.3d 76, 88, 216 Ill.Dec. 848, 666 N.E.2d 16 (1996), citing In re Marriage of Wycoff, 266 Ill.App.3d 408, 415–16, 203 Ill.Dec. 338, 639 N.E.2d 897 (1994). The traditional role of the guardian ad litem is not to advocate for what the ward wants but, instead, to make a recommendation to the court as to what is in the ward's best interests. Mabry, 281 Ill.App.3d at 88, 216 Ill.Dec. 848, 666 N.E.2d 16. The role of the guardian ad litem is thus in contrast to the role of the plenary guardian of the person appointed pursuant to the Probate Act. Under section 11a–17 of the Probate Act, the plenary guardian makes decisions on behalf of the ward and must, in general, conform those decisions “as closely as possible to what the ward, if competent, would have done or intended under the circumstances.” 755 ILCS 5/11a–17(e) (West 2000). See also In re Marriage of Burgess, 189 Ill.2d 270, 278–79, 244 Ill.Dec. 379, 725 N.E.2d 1266 (2000) (guardian must generally “make decisions on behalf of a ward in accordance with the ward's previously expressed wishes”).
In re Mark W., 228 Ill. 2d 365, 374, 888 N.E.2d 15, 20 (2008)
Ken Ditkowsky
http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/
From JoAnne
Dear Readers,
Now one would think that a GAL is supposed to be the "eyes and ears" and not take a side, not isolate a ward, not allow any of her property to be destroyed by the PG's atty, PS, but it happened.
All of it happened.
Nothing was reported to the court, there is nothing in the court's files indicating any concern on the part of the GAL's.
How could this be you ask?
It is most certainly clear that everytime a GAL ticks off someone in the family, they make a bundle. They sell the ward's paid for home for atty's fees, they foment controversy, they get right in the middle of everything.
The other daughter is and has basically been pro se for 95% of this proceeding. The GAL's are counting on that too.
It seems to me, when these controversies are involved, perhaps the senior and her family have a constitutional right to an atty--and the Probate Court should pay for that, not the senior or family when wrongs have been committed. This is especially so when the attys involved will be asking the estate for reimbursement in the case.
It is my opinion that once it became clear there was a conflict of interest with the GAL's and the other daughter, the GAL's should have been replaced and the case reassigned a new judge and the other daughter should have been appointed a pro bono atty if she asked for one. That would have made the proceeding much fairer and ensured justice.
take care
joanne
From KDD–Sykes has TWO GAL’s. What are they supposed to be doing and why aren’t they gone in the case?
by jmdenison
From Ken, regarding GAL's and guardianships and jurisdiction
The Court must first determine in every case if it has jurisdiction. If it has jurisdiction it has inherent powers to address the matters that come before it in the pending "case and controversy." The key words are "case and controversy" After the appointment of a plenary guardian there is nothing more to do except supervise the plenary guardian.
A guardian ad litem functions as the “eyes and ears of the court” and not as the ward's attorney. In re Guardianship of Mabry, 281 Ill.App.3d 76, 88, 216 Ill.Dec. 848, 666 N.E.2d 16 (1996), citing In re Marriage of Wycoff, 266 Ill.App.3d 408, 415–16, 203 Ill.Dec. 338, 639 N.E.2d 897 (1994). The traditional role of the guardian ad litem is not to advocate for what the ward wants but, instead, to make a recommendation to the court as to what is in the ward's best interests. Mabry, 281 Ill.App.3d at 88, 216 Ill.Dec. 848, 666 N.E.2d 16. The role of the guardian ad litem is thus in contrast to the role of the plenary guardian of the person appointed pursuant to the Probate Act. Under section 11a–17 of the Probate Act, the plenary guardian makes decisions on behalf of the ward and must, in general, conform those decisions “as closely as possible to what the ward, if competent, would have done or intended under the circumstances.” 755 ILCS 5/11a–17(e) (West 2000). See also In re Marriage of Burgess, 189 Ill.2d 270, 278–79, 244 Ill.Dec. 379, 725 N.E.2d 1266 (2000) (guardian must generally “make decisions on behalf of a ward in accordance with the ward's previously expressed wishes”).
In re Mark W., 228 Ill. 2d 365, 374, 888 N.E.2d 15, 20 (2008)
Ken Ditkowsky
http://www.ditkowskylawoffice.com/
From JoAnne
Dear Readers,
Now one would think that a GAL is supposed to be the "eyes and ears" and not take a side, not isolate a ward, not allow any of her property to be destroyed by the PG's atty, PS, but it happened.
All of it happened.
Nothing was reported to the court, there is nothing in the court's files indicating any concern on the part of the GAL's.
How could this be you ask?
It is most certainly clear that everytime a GAL ticks off someone in the family, they make a bundle. They sell the ward's paid for home for atty's fees, they foment controversy, they get right in the middle of everything.
The other daughter is and has basically been pro se for 95% of this proceeding. The GAL's are counting on that too.
It seems to me, when these controversies are involved, perhaps the senior and her family have a constitutional right to an atty--and the Probate Court should pay for that, not the senior or family when wrongs have been committed. This is especially so when the attys involved will be asking the estate for reimbursement in the case.
It is my opinion that once it became clear there was a conflict of interest with the GAL's and the other daughter, the GAL's should have been replaced and the case reassigned a new judge and the other daughter should have been appointed a pro bono atty if she asked for one. That would have made the proceeding much fairer and ensured justice.
take care
joanne
Sherman Hemsley's body remains frozen pending DNA test
Editor's note: This Shark wonders what a DNA test would reveal in the Florida Estate of Irving (Fisk) Faskowitz with his "heirs", the Solo-Faskowitz clan? Makes one wonder why the State of Florida didn't use due diligence and contact Irving's brother, David Faskowitz, a legitimate heir. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Updated: 4:12 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Posted: 12:02 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Updated 10-30-2012
Sherman Hemsley died on July 24 from lung cancer, but the late television star has still not been buried due to a legal battle over his estate and his final resting place.
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/months-after-death--sherman-hemsley-not-buried.html
Sherman Hemsley's body remains frozen pending DNA test
TV Icon and El Pasoan still without a final resting place as judge orders a DNA testing
By Genevieve Curtis
EL PASO, Texas —
Two months after Sherman Hemsley's death, his body remains frozen at an East El Paso funeral home as a legal battle continues between friends and family members over the late actor's remains and estate.
Two parties trying to claim Hemsley's body came to court Monday contesting his last will, further delaying any type of burial for the actor.
A Philadelphia man claiming to be Hemsley's brother, Richard Thornton, filed a lawsuit contesting the will.
Hemsley's will left his entire estate to the woman he lived with, his business partner and friend of 20 years, Flora Isela Enchinton. Enchinton said she just wants to carry out Hemsley's final wishes.
"I just want what Sherman would want and I know exactly what that is, that's why he's stayed in this town for so long," said Enchinton.
Enchinton said she knows the TV Icon, probably best known as the wise-cracking George Jefferson, on the comedy "The Jeffersons," wouldn't be happy over the legal drama surrounding his remains and estate.
"How would he feel? Believe me, he would have been screaming right now, he would be putting everybody in their place," said Enchinton.
Hemlsey died of lung cancer at his East El Paso home in July. But his body remains frozen at an El Paso funeral home, until, the people claiming to be his relatives contest his will in court.
"Its certainly unfortunate that the final resting place, and the dignity that is associated with it is going to be set aside for however long," said Enchinton's attorney Alex Neill.
In his June 13 will, six weeks before he died, Hemsley named Enchinton, whom he called a "beloved partner" as the sole beneficiary of his estate. Court documents show the estate is estimated at more than $50,000.
"The will is clear and valid and prepared by a well-respected attorney here in town. It is our position that the will is valid and there hasn't been any evidence to date that makes me change that opinion," said Neill.
The bench trial was postponed after Thornton's lawyer asked for a genetics test to see if Hemsley's DNA matches Thornton's.
The judge agreed but added the testing needs to be done by Oct. 15. Enchinton's lawyer said despite the results of the DNA test, Hemsley's will is legally binding and Bernal is the sole beneficiary.
Another hearing to determine who will take possession of the remains has been scheduled for Oct. 30.
A third man claiming to be an estranged family member has come forward saying neither Enchinton nor Thorton should claim the remains, alleging there is a burial plot for Hemsley in Philadelphia next to his mother.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/sherman-hemsley-trial-postponed-due-dna-test/nSKdK
KawamotoDragon.com
Updated: 4:12 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Posted: 12:02 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Updated 10-30-2012
Sherman Hemsley died on July 24 from lung cancer, but the late television star has still not been buried due to a legal battle over his estate and his final resting place.
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/months-after-death--sherman-hemsley-not-buried.html
Sherman Hemsley's body remains frozen pending DNA test
TV Icon and El Pasoan still without a final resting place as judge orders a DNA testing
By Genevieve Curtis
EL PASO, Texas —
Two months after Sherman Hemsley's death, his body remains frozen at an East El Paso funeral home as a legal battle continues between friends and family members over the late actor's remains and estate.
Two parties trying to claim Hemsley's body came to court Monday contesting his last will, further delaying any type of burial for the actor.
A Philadelphia man claiming to be Hemsley's brother, Richard Thornton, filed a lawsuit contesting the will.
Hemsley's will left his entire estate to the woman he lived with, his business partner and friend of 20 years, Flora Isela Enchinton. Enchinton said she just wants to carry out Hemsley's final wishes.
"I just want what Sherman would want and I know exactly what that is, that's why he's stayed in this town for so long," said Enchinton.
Enchinton said she knows the TV Icon, probably best known as the wise-cracking George Jefferson, on the comedy "The Jeffersons," wouldn't be happy over the legal drama surrounding his remains and estate.
"How would he feel? Believe me, he would have been screaming right now, he would be putting everybody in their place," said Enchinton.
Hemlsey died of lung cancer at his East El Paso home in July. But his body remains frozen at an El Paso funeral home, until, the people claiming to be his relatives contest his will in court.
"Its certainly unfortunate that the final resting place, and the dignity that is associated with it is going to be set aside for however long," said Enchinton's attorney Alex Neill.
In his June 13 will, six weeks before he died, Hemsley named Enchinton, whom he called a "beloved partner" as the sole beneficiary of his estate. Court documents show the estate is estimated at more than $50,000.
"The will is clear and valid and prepared by a well-respected attorney here in town. It is our position that the will is valid and there hasn't been any evidence to date that makes me change that opinion," said Neill.
The bench trial was postponed after Thornton's lawyer asked for a genetics test to see if Hemsley's DNA matches Thornton's.
The judge agreed but added the testing needs to be done by Oct. 15. Enchinton's lawyer said despite the results of the DNA test, Hemsley's will is legally binding and Bernal is the sole beneficiary.
Another hearing to determine who will take possession of the remains has been scheduled for Oct. 30.
A third man claiming to be an estranged family member has come forward saying neither Enchinton nor Thorton should claim the remains, alleging there is a burial plot for Hemsley in Philadelphia next to his mother.
http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/news/sherman-hemsley-trial-postponed-due-dna-test/nSKdK
KawamotoDragon.com
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Let’s see what Probate Court does better–Rockford or the 18th floor
Let’s see what Probate Court does better–Rockford or the 18th floor
by jmdenison
Dear Readers
As you may or may not know, John Howard Wyman has written an excellent book on the Probate court in Rockford, and his harrowing experiences there. If you don't have a copy, please go and get a copy. Out of stress and strife, John Wyman has done a great deal of good.
While I am not going to provide you with much comment on this case because there's no reason--the pleadings speak for themselves, I did want make sure you have the pleadings in case you face a similar situation. Therefore, I am publishing all the documents in that case, namely,
John's original Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction (Sodini)
(to be published later today)
Attorney Sharon Rudy's Brief in Response
(to be published later today)
My Reply Brief, filed yesterday:
JMD Reply Brief--Motion to Dismiss, Lack of Jurisdiction (Soldini)
I will be ordering all the transcripts today.
I am also publishing the hearing date, time and place of September 28th, Court room 217, 400 West State St, Rockford Illinois, Judge Fabiano so all the Probate groups can come out and watch and publish. This should be a major victory for the Probate groups. If the Honorable Judge Fabiano does her job, this should be a dismissal/nonsuit QED.
Judge Fabiano will be our heroine. She can then tell all the other Illinois probate judges to carefully check and question that all adult children, siblings and parents have been given notice of the date, time and place of hearing, in writing, 14 days in advance of the hearing.
thanks
JoAnne
I am publishing this because PLEADINGS SHOULD BE PUBLIC. The Rockford Court house has been given about 80 million dollars so far to get their court records computerized, and so far, nada. Attys cannot upload, the public cannot download and the system, like the Cook County system, is an electronic dinosaur.
I hope to also get all the transcripts and publish them for you in the Rockford case.
While I am actively involved in the case, I will refrain from commenting on it, you can still get the book (on Amazon), and read the pleadings and transcripts because I intend to do the job of the Illinois county courts and make them all public, as they should be.
thanks
joanne
Why Patient Harm Is One of the Leading Causes of Death in America
Why Patient Harm Is One of the Leading Causes of Death in America
by Marshall Allen
ProPublica, Sept. 18, 2012, 3:30
Dr. Makary: The debates about health care reform frustrated me because our complex system of health care and culture of medicine were reduced to simple sound bites. People pushed the idea that changing the payment system would solve the problems. But I observed every day what I see to be the main driver of health care costs: the massive variation in the quality of care – across the country, within cities, and even within good hospitals.
I saw this variation in quality and the alarmingly high error rates, and it hit me that unless we can be open and honest that up to 30 percent of health care is unnecessary, and that 1 in 4 hospital patients are harmed by a mistake, then we’re just going to be continuing to beat our heads against a wall trying to pay for a broken health care system, instead of fixing it.
PP: What type of problems did you observe?
Dr. Makary: I saw cases where a patient was not told about a minimally invasive way of doing a particular surgery because of physician preference or training, and the doctor would just hope that he wouldn’t find out. If that patient were empowered by talking to the right people, or by doing his own research, he would be able to get superior care. It’s no wonder that about a third of all second opinions about surgery yield different opinions.
Medical mistakes are the fifth- or sixth-most common cause of death in the United States, depending on the measure. But few people look at it that way. That’s because we haven’t been honest about it in the past. And we have hospitals that fire doctors and nurses when they speak up.There was a nurse recently fired in Florida for complaining about a doctor doing unnecessary procedures, a report substantiated by an internal report gotten by The New York Times. A cardiologist in Wisconsin was fired for pointing out that EKGs were misread more than 25 percent of the time. We need to change the culture of medicine.
There is New England Journal of Medicine-level data that suggests that almost half of care is not compliant with the evidence. In my own field of cancer surgery, I have seen patients treated in ways that are not supported with evidence.In the case of radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer, there is evidence from large cooperatives overseas that there is a harm to radiation. Many studies show no evidence of benefit to radiation, and yet patients are routinely offered radiation treatment and have the expectation that it’s going to help them do better. I see PET scans offered routinely – an expensive test – that has never been shown to benefit diagnosing pancreatic cancer.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.propublica.org/article/qa-marty-makary-m.d.-author-of-unaccountable
by Marshall Allen
ProPublica, Sept. 18, 2012, 3:30
Dr. Makary: The debates about health care reform frustrated me because our complex system of health care and culture of medicine were reduced to simple sound bites. People pushed the idea that changing the payment system would solve the problems. But I observed every day what I see to be the main driver of health care costs: the massive variation in the quality of care – across the country, within cities, and even within good hospitals.
I saw this variation in quality and the alarmingly high error rates, and it hit me that unless we can be open and honest that up to 30 percent of health care is unnecessary, and that 1 in 4 hospital patients are harmed by a mistake, then we’re just going to be continuing to beat our heads against a wall trying to pay for a broken health care system, instead of fixing it.
PP: What type of problems did you observe?
Dr. Makary: I saw cases where a patient was not told about a minimally invasive way of doing a particular surgery because of physician preference or training, and the doctor would just hope that he wouldn’t find out. If that patient were empowered by talking to the right people, or by doing his own research, he would be able to get superior care. It’s no wonder that about a third of all second opinions about surgery yield different opinions.
Medical mistakes are the fifth- or sixth-most common cause of death in the United States, depending on the measure. But few people look at it that way. That’s because we haven’t been honest about it in the past. And we have hospitals that fire doctors and nurses when they speak up.There was a nurse recently fired in Florida for complaining about a doctor doing unnecessary procedures, a report substantiated by an internal report gotten by The New York Times. A cardiologist in Wisconsin was fired for pointing out that EKGs were misread more than 25 percent of the time. We need to change the culture of medicine.
There is New England Journal of Medicine-level data that suggests that almost half of care is not compliant with the evidence. In my own field of cancer surgery, I have seen patients treated in ways that are not supported with evidence.In the case of radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer, there is evidence from large cooperatives overseas that there is a harm to radiation. Many studies show no evidence of benefit to radiation, and yet patients are routinely offered radiation treatment and have the expectation that it’s going to help them do better. I see PET scans offered routinely – an expensive test – that has never been shown to benefit diagnosing pancreatic cancer.
Please read complete article at link below:
http://www.propublica.org/article/qa-marty-makary-m.d.-author-of-unaccountable
Former Okla. DHS worker charged with wire fraud
Editor's note: FEDs, what makes Ms Daugherty any different from the criminals practicing in the Probate Court of Cook County? Answer: They didn't get caught...yet.
Alice R. Gore Estate value about 1 million dollars: Alice R. Gore, deceased, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County, Judge Kawamoto’s courtroom was hours away from ending up in the Cook County Morgue. Alice's estate was depleted by probate court parasites and there were reportedly no funds to bury her. Her loving family paid for the burial expenses so that Alice would not have to suffer the indignity of being stacked like an Auschwitz inmate in the Cook County morgue. The judge allowed an easily manipulated, court documented, mentally disabled granddaughter to be appointed as Alice’s guardian and yet no sanctions were instituted against the judge or court officers for this blatant infraction of the law.
Strangely, 16 of Alice’s annuity checks, two of which show forged endorsements, disappeared. Alice’s daughter has a copy of a check with her signature possibly forged. The daughter’s attorney has been trying to obtain copies of the 16 other annuity checks for two years without success. Even more puzzling is a $150,000 life insurance policy owned by Alice and not inventoried into the estate by the court. The Probate Court of Cook of Cook County refuses to investigate these blatant infractions of the law. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Former Okla. DHS worker charged with wire fraud
BRIANNA BAILEY, The Journal Record
Updated 8:11 a.m., Monday, September 17, 2012
Daugherty, a former DHS adult protective services specialist, has agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors in which she will plead guilty to the charges and make restitution payments, her attorney Irven Box said.
"She has accepted responsibility for what she did and acknowledged that what she did was wrong," Box said.
Daugherty is expected to enter a guilty plea at a hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. She will also forfeit her state pension as part of the guilty plea.
According to the charges, Daugherty had guardianship over a man identified only as "L.J.A." in court documents. The man was a former Federal Aviation Administration employee who received monthly disability payments from the U.S. Department for Labor for an on-the-job injury sustained in 1976.
Daugherty became the man's court-appointed guardian after he came under DHS care and was admitted to a nursing home in 2009.
As the man's guardian, Daugherty took control of his finances and was added as a trustee to his bank account in May 2009, according to the charges.
After the man died in March 2010, Daugherty closed his DHS case, but did not inform the Department of Labor that he had died so they could stop his workers' compensation checks, prosecutors claim.
She continued the scheme by faxing the U.S. Department of Labor a falsified court order and a letter on DHS letterhead to request that the man's benefit checks continue to be sent to her office after his death, instead of deposited into his bank account, according to the charges. She also used the man's name and Social Security number to open a new bank account under his name at a different bank, where she withdrew his disability money and wrote checks for her own benefit, prosecutors claim.
The DHS learned of the scheme from a call to its fraud tip line, said Sheree Powell, DHS spokeswoman.
The DHS launched a joint investigation with the U.S. Department of Labor into the complaint, but Daugherty retired in August 2011, before the investigation was completed, Powell said.
The DHS gave the results of its investigation to authorities. The agency was unable to uncover any evidence Daugherty had schemed to steal money from any other adults under her care as a DHS worker.
"I think the incident was a clear example that we at DHS will not tolerate any type of criminal activity," Powell said. "It is deplorable for a person who is in a position of protecting vulnerable adults to exploit their position and we simply will not tolerate that."
Daugherty faces up to 20 years of prison and $250,000 in fines.
___
Information from: The Journal Record, http://www.journalrecord.com
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Former-Okla-DHS-worker-charged-with-wire-fraud-3871330.php#ixzz27TqTHdTj
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Former-Okla-DHS-worker-charged-with-wire-fraud-3871330.php
Alice R. Gore Estate value about 1 million dollars: Alice R. Gore, deceased, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County, Judge Kawamoto’s courtroom was hours away from ending up in the Cook County Morgue. Alice's estate was depleted by probate court parasites and there were reportedly no funds to bury her. Her loving family paid for the burial expenses so that Alice would not have to suffer the indignity of being stacked like an Auschwitz inmate in the Cook County morgue. The judge allowed an easily manipulated, court documented, mentally disabled granddaughter to be appointed as Alice’s guardian and yet no sanctions were instituted against the judge or court officers for this blatant infraction of the law.
Strangely, 16 of Alice’s annuity checks, two of which show forged endorsements, disappeared. Alice’s daughter has a copy of a check with her signature possibly forged. The daughter’s attorney has been trying to obtain copies of the 16 other annuity checks for two years without success. Even more puzzling is a $150,000 life insurance policy owned by Alice and not inventoried into the estate by the court. The Probate Court of Cook of Cook County refuses to investigate these blatant infractions of the law. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Former Okla. DHS worker charged with wire fraud
BRIANNA BAILEY, The Journal Record
Updated 8:11 a.m., Monday, September 17, 2012
Daugherty, a former DHS adult protective services specialist, has agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors in which she will plead guilty to the charges and make restitution payments, her attorney Irven Box said.
"She has accepted responsibility for what she did and acknowledged that what she did was wrong," Box said.
Daugherty is expected to enter a guilty plea at a hearing Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma. She will also forfeit her state pension as part of the guilty plea.
According to the charges, Daugherty had guardianship over a man identified only as "L.J.A." in court documents. The man was a former Federal Aviation Administration employee who received monthly disability payments from the U.S. Department for Labor for an on-the-job injury sustained in 1976.
Daugherty became the man's court-appointed guardian after he came under DHS care and was admitted to a nursing home in 2009.
As the man's guardian, Daugherty took control of his finances and was added as a trustee to his bank account in May 2009, according to the charges.
After the man died in March 2010, Daugherty closed his DHS case, but did not inform the Department of Labor that he had died so they could stop his workers' compensation checks, prosecutors claim.
She continued the scheme by faxing the U.S. Department of Labor a falsified court order and a letter on DHS letterhead to request that the man's benefit checks continue to be sent to her office after his death, instead of deposited into his bank account, according to the charges. She also used the man's name and Social Security number to open a new bank account under his name at a different bank, where she withdrew his disability money and wrote checks for her own benefit, prosecutors claim.
The DHS learned of the scheme from a call to its fraud tip line, said Sheree Powell, DHS spokeswoman.
The DHS launched a joint investigation with the U.S. Department of Labor into the complaint, but Daugherty retired in August 2011, before the investigation was completed, Powell said.
The DHS gave the results of its investigation to authorities. The agency was unable to uncover any evidence Daugherty had schemed to steal money from any other adults under her care as a DHS worker.
"I think the incident was a clear example that we at DHS will not tolerate any type of criminal activity," Powell said. "It is deplorable for a person who is in a position of protecting vulnerable adults to exploit their position and we simply will not tolerate that."
Daugherty faces up to 20 years of prison and $250,000 in fines.
___
Information from: The Journal Record, http://www.journalrecord.com
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Former-Okla-DHS-worker-charged-with-wire-fraud-3871330.php#ixzz27TqTHdTj
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Former-Okla-DHS-worker-charged-with-wire-fraud-3871330.php
Quincy lawyer Cashman disbarred by Illinois Supreme Court
Editor's note: This shark has observed that the ARDC has "pets", attorneys who do basically the same misdeeds as Lawyer Cashman, yet the "pets" are unsanctioned. The probate case of Alice R. Gore and ARDC complaints against GAL and associated attorneys thereof is a classic example.
Alice R. Gore Estate value about 1 million dollars: Alice R. Gore, deceased, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County, Judge Kawamoto’s courtroom was hours away from ending up in the Cook County Morgue. Alice's estate was depleted by probate court parasites and there were reportedly no funds to bury her. Her loving family paid for the burial expenses so that Alice would not have to suffer the indignity of being stacked like an Auschwitz inmate in the Cook County morgue. The judge allowed an easily manipulated, court documented, mentally disabled granddaughter to be appointed as Alice’s guardian and yet no sanctions were instituted against the judge or court officers for this blatant infraction of the law.
Strangely, 16 of Alice’s annuity checks, two of which show forged endorsements, disappeared. Alice’s daughter has a copy of a check with her signature possibly forged. The daughter’s attorney has been trying to obtain copies of the 16 other annuity checks for two years without success. Even more puzzling is a $150,000 life insurance policy owned by Alice and not inventoried into the estate by the court. The Probate Court of Cook of Cook County refuses to investigate these blatant infractions of the law. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
P.S. This shark wonders if Alice's GAL will investigate Alice's missing safety deposit key and Eddie's 50 lb bag of antique silver dollars most likely stored therein? Shades of Sykes!
Quincy lawyer Cashman disbarred by Illinois Supreme Court
Posted: Sep 21, 2012 5:03 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 21, 2012 10:03 PM CDT
Devin Cashman By DON O'BRIEN
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
A Quincy lawyer has been disbarred by the Illinois Supreme Court as a result of a complaint to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission.
Devin Cashman, 53, was disbarred on consent. Cashman had been licensed to practice in Illinois since November 1984 and is a partner in his own firm in Quincy.
According to a report posted on the ARDC website, Cashman "misappropriated funds from three clients, including the executors of two probate estates. He also presented a report to a count in one of the probate manners where he falsely stated that estate assets had been distributed to persons entitled to receive them under the decendent's (sic) will."
Peter Roskoff, chief of litigation for the ARDC, said Cashman will not be allowed to practice law in Illinois for at least three years from his disbarment date, which was Sept. 17.
"Reinstatement is not automatic," Roskoff said. "Most people who are disbarred are never reinstated."
The initial complaint against Cashman alleged that he took nearly $200,000 from a client trust bank account without authorization for personal ad business uses and that he didn't show up at a hearing concerning the allegations to make a sworn statement.
Cashman acknowledged all the previous allegations set out in the ARDC's petition, Roskoff said.
º According to ARDC, Cashman agreed in 2008 to represent the estate of the late Elizabeth L. Wilkins. He drew at least $162,571.75 in proceeds belonging to the estate by negotiating checks payable to himself or taking cash from his trust account. Between May 2008 and November 2009, Cashman wrote 16 checks payable to himself or to cash from his trust account from the estate. Cashman used the funds for his own business or personal expenses without the authority of the estate's representative or the court.
º In October 2009, Cashman prepared a final report in the Wilkins case. At Cashman's request, the executor of the will signed the report and Cashman filed it. The report falsely stated that the estate's assets had been distributed to the persons entitled to receive them under the decedent's will.
º In 2010, Cashman was holding funds on behalf of Craig Cherington, executor for the Meta Lichtenberg estate, which was pending in Adams County. From March to June 2010, Cashman used $15,250 of the funds belonging to the Lichtenberg estate by writing seven checks to himself out of his trust account. Cashman used the funds without the authority of the estate's representative or the court.
º In 2011, Cashman was holding funds on the behalf of Elsie Lichtenberg and on behalf of the Lichtenberg estate for the purposes of paying income taxes. Between April 2011 and July 2011, Cashman used $19,250 of the funds belonging to Elsie Lichtenberg and the Lichtenberg estate by writing five checks to himself out of his trust account. Cashman used the funds without the authority of the estate's representative or Elsie Lichtenberg.
Cashman still faces felony theft charges in Adams County. He was arrested in March and charged with theft over $100,000, a Class 1 felony. A conviction for a Class 1 felony would mean Cashman would not be eligible for probation and could be sentenced to up to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He is free on a $50,000 recognizance bond. He recently had his bond modified to allow him to travel to Missouri and Iowa.
Cashman has pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Nov. 16. The case has tentatively been set for the December jury docket.
-- dobrien@whig.com/221-3370
http://www.whig.com/story/19609070/quincy-lawyer-cashman-disbarred-by-illinois-supreme-court
Alice R. Gore Estate value about 1 million dollars: Alice R. Gore, deceased, a disabled 99 year old ward of the Probate Court of Cook County, Judge Kawamoto’s courtroom was hours away from ending up in the Cook County Morgue. Alice's estate was depleted by probate court parasites and there were reportedly no funds to bury her. Her loving family paid for the burial expenses so that Alice would not have to suffer the indignity of being stacked like an Auschwitz inmate in the Cook County morgue. The judge allowed an easily manipulated, court documented, mentally disabled granddaughter to be appointed as Alice’s guardian and yet no sanctions were instituted against the judge or court officers for this blatant infraction of the law.
Strangely, 16 of Alice’s annuity checks, two of which show forged endorsements, disappeared. Alice’s daughter has a copy of a check with her signature possibly forged. The daughter’s attorney has been trying to obtain copies of the 16 other annuity checks for two years without success. Even more puzzling is a $150,000 life insurance policy owned by Alice and not inventoried into the estate by the court. The Probate Court of Cook of Cook County refuses to investigate these blatant infractions of the law. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
P.S. This shark wonders if Alice's GAL will investigate Alice's missing safety deposit key and Eddie's 50 lb bag of antique silver dollars most likely stored therein? Shades of Sykes!
Quincy lawyer Cashman disbarred by Illinois Supreme Court
Posted: Sep 21, 2012 5:03 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 21, 2012 10:03 PM CDT
Devin Cashman By DON O'BRIEN
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
A Quincy lawyer has been disbarred by the Illinois Supreme Court as a result of a complaint to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Discipline Commission.
Devin Cashman, 53, was disbarred on consent. Cashman had been licensed to practice in Illinois since November 1984 and is a partner in his own firm in Quincy.
According to a report posted on the ARDC website, Cashman "misappropriated funds from three clients, including the executors of two probate estates. He also presented a report to a count in one of the probate manners where he falsely stated that estate assets had been distributed to persons entitled to receive them under the decendent's (sic) will."
Peter Roskoff, chief of litigation for the ARDC, said Cashman will not be allowed to practice law in Illinois for at least three years from his disbarment date, which was Sept. 17.
"Reinstatement is not automatic," Roskoff said. "Most people who are disbarred are never reinstated."
The initial complaint against Cashman alleged that he took nearly $200,000 from a client trust bank account without authorization for personal ad business uses and that he didn't show up at a hearing concerning the allegations to make a sworn statement.
Cashman acknowledged all the previous allegations set out in the ARDC's petition, Roskoff said.
º According to ARDC, Cashman agreed in 2008 to represent the estate of the late Elizabeth L. Wilkins. He drew at least $162,571.75 in proceeds belonging to the estate by negotiating checks payable to himself or taking cash from his trust account. Between May 2008 and November 2009, Cashman wrote 16 checks payable to himself or to cash from his trust account from the estate. Cashman used the funds for his own business or personal expenses without the authority of the estate's representative or the court.
º In October 2009, Cashman prepared a final report in the Wilkins case. At Cashman's request, the executor of the will signed the report and Cashman filed it. The report falsely stated that the estate's assets had been distributed to the persons entitled to receive them under the decedent's will.
º In 2010, Cashman was holding funds on behalf of Craig Cherington, executor for the Meta Lichtenberg estate, which was pending in Adams County. From March to June 2010, Cashman used $15,250 of the funds belonging to the Lichtenberg estate by writing seven checks to himself out of his trust account. Cashman used the funds without the authority of the estate's representative or the court.
º In 2011, Cashman was holding funds on the behalf of Elsie Lichtenberg and on behalf of the Lichtenberg estate for the purposes of paying income taxes. Between April 2011 and July 2011, Cashman used $19,250 of the funds belonging to Elsie Lichtenberg and the Lichtenberg estate by writing five checks to himself out of his trust account. Cashman used the funds without the authority of the estate's representative or Elsie Lichtenberg.
Cashman still faces felony theft charges in Adams County. He was arrested in March and charged with theft over $100,000, a Class 1 felony. A conviction for a Class 1 felony would mean Cashman would not be eligible for probation and could be sentenced to up to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. He is free on a $50,000 recognizance bond. He recently had his bond modified to allow him to travel to Missouri and Iowa.
Cashman has pleaded not guilty. A pretrial hearing is scheduled for 1 p.m. Nov. 16. The case has tentatively been set for the December jury docket.
-- dobrien@whig.com/221-3370
http://www.whig.com/story/19609070/quincy-lawyer-cashman-disbarred-by-illinois-supreme-court
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Lake County coroner candidates offer different skills
Editor's note: Link on to comments at the end of web article.
Article posted: 9/23/2012 8:00 AM
Lake County coroner candidates offer different skills ArticleComments (1)Photos (1) Republican Steve Newton, left, and Democrat Thomas Rudd are the candidates running for Lake County coroner.
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Need more information about reprints? Visit our Reprints Section for more details. Contact information ( * required )Name * Company Telephone * E-mail * Article InformationTitle URL Message (optional) Success - Reprint request sent Click to close .Print.By Russell Lissau ..With incumbent Artis Yancey out of the race because of a primary loss, Lake County will have a new coroner after November’s election.
And the two candidates — Republican Steve Newton and Democrat Thomas Rudd — couldn’t be more dissimilar.
Related articles
Rudd, Newton still ahead in Lake County Coroner’s race
Candidate criticizes coroner over Hanna case
Lake County coroner hopefuls have different priorities
Lake coroner candidates talk about improving the office
Lake County Coroner candidates spar over terrorism scenarios
Coroner candidates differ on need of medical degree
Lake Co. coroner candidates report campaign donations
Advertisement
Newton is a former chief deputy coroner who is campaigning on a platform of experience and compassion.
“Having served in the office of coroner for seven years, I have done the job of those I will be in charge of,” Newton, of Antioch, told the Daily Herald. “I have firsthand knowledge of the hurdles and hardships they may face, as I have been there.”
Rudd is a licensed physician who wants to see the coroner’s office abolished and replaced by an appointed medical examiner, akin to Cook County’s system. Short of that change, he believes the coroner should be a doctor even though it’s not legally required.
“My experience as a medical doctor specializing in pathology, nuclear medicine and medical microbiology, as well as an administrator with organizational skill and business management, will provide excellence in the operation of the office,” said Rudd, of Lake Forest.
The coroner’s duties
The coroner’s office investigates six types of cases, including deaths that are violent, suspicious or involve drugs or alcohol. It’s up to the coroner’s office to decide how a person died, the circumstances of the death and why the person died.
The coroner is an administrative post, so doctors who specialize in autopsies are on call for those procedures.
The coroner and deputy coroners also have law enforcement powers. If a sheriff dies, the coroner temporarily takes over the job, as Barbara Richardson did when Sheriff Robert H. “Mickey” Babcox died in 1988.
The coroner also is the only county official who can arrest a sheriff.
The road to election
Newton and Rudd won hotly-contested, partisan primaries in March.
Rudd defeated Yancey in the Democratic runoff. Yancey had been appointed last year to replace Democrat Richard Keller, who resigned following a scandal that also cost him his medical license.
Rudd specialized in pathology and nuclear medicine in his medical career, working at Highland Park and Lake Forest hospitals and then at a commercial medical laboratory. He now works as a part-time pathologist and educator.
Newton defeated Gurnee dentist Howard Cooper in the GOP primary.
A Lake County court security officer, Newton had worked in the coroner’s office for seven years until he was fired in 2007 by then-coroner Keller.
Keller had accused Newton of having an inappropriate relationship with a fellow employee. Newton later married the woman.
Campaign issues
Newton and Rudd talked about their skills, the responsibilities of the coroner’s office and each other in separate Daily Herald questionnaires.
When asked to identify his top campaign issues, Newton, 38, said the coroner should ensure death investigations are handled in compassionate, professional and timely manners.
“This minimizes the hardship placed on the family without sacrificing the thoroughness of a competent investigation,” he said.
Newton also stressed the need for the coroner’s office to cooperate with other investigative agencies and for the office to cut costs.
An audit of staffing and scheduling would be a good start, he said.
When asked about his top concerns, Rudd spoke of the need to “eliminate the hint of conflict of interest in any and all death investigation cases.”
He criticized the coroner’s office for “operating as an extension of law enforcement,” even though that’s established by law, and pledged to make the office more independent.
“I intend to make the office nonpolitical and neutral in its investigation,” said Rudd, 66. “The office will be cordial and collegial but impartial with other death-investigation organizations of the county.”
Rudd also called for the office to be certified by the National Association of Medical Examiners and said deputies should be licensed by the American Board of Medical-Legal Death Investigators.
Doctor or not?
When asked if the coroner should be a medical doctor, Rudd and Newton expressed contrary views.
Rudd’s answer reflected his medical background.
“I have been a physician for over 33 years and have the skill and knowledge of being a medical expert in the cause and effect of diseases,” Rudd said. “I have counseled thousands of patients and their families regarding health, disease and death.”
That experience, Rudd said, is proof he has the temperament to do the job and interact with the public in times of emergency or personal grief.
“I have made thousands of diagnoses on patients, discussed the disease with them and their families and even performed autopsies of some of them and communicated the findings to their families,” Rudd said.
Newton pointed out that state law doesn’t require the coroner to be a physician. And even if the coroner is a doctor, as was Keller, he legally can’t perform autopsies in his own office.
“The coroner is the administrator of an investigative office,” Newton said. “Autopsies are performed and can only be performed by forensic pathologists who are contracted through the county.”
Even though Rudd has a medical degree, Newton said he’s more qualified to be coroner because he has studied criminal justice and has served the community as both a firefighter-paramedic and deputy coroner.
Additionally, Newton said he has “hundreds of hours of specialized training” in death investigation, evidence handling and storage, homicide investigation and other fields related to the job.
Should office exist?
Rudd is so insistent medical training is needed, he believes the coroner system should be abolished in Lake County and replaced with a medical examiner’s office led by a doctor who is appointed, not elected.
“Every major city in this country has a medical examiner’s office,” Rudd said. “And it should be an appointed office to obtain the best candidate.”
Newton disagreed.
Switching to a medical examiner would be costly, he said. More importantly, it would take away citizens’ ability to make the choice.
“I think most (people) would agree: If the coroner, or any elected official for that matter, is not fulfilling their responsibility, the public should be able to work toward having that individual removed from office,” Newton said.
Voters would need to approve a switch from coroner to medical examiner.
Cook County has the only medical examiner’s office in Illinois.
ArticleComments (1)Photos (1) Republican Steve Newton, left, and Democrat Thomas Rudd are the candidates running for Lake County coroner.
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Need more information about reprints? Visit our Reprints Section for more details. Contact information ( * required )Name * Company Telephone * E-mail * Article InformationTitle URL Message (optional) Success - Reprint request sent Click to close .Print.By Russell Lissau ..With incumbent Artis Yancey out of the race because of a primary loss, Lake County will have a new coroner after November’s election.
And the two candidates — Republican Steve Newton and Democrat Thomas Rudd — couldn’t be more dissimilar.
Related articles
Rudd, Newton still ahead in Lake County Coroner’s race
Candidate criticizes coroner over Hanna case
Lake County coroner hopefuls have different priorities
Lake coroner candidates talk about improving the office
Lake County Coroner candidates spar over terrorism scenarios
Coroner candidates differ on need of medical degree
Lake Co. coroner candidates report campaign donations
Advertisement
Newton is a former chief deputy coroner who is campaigning on a platform of experience and compassion.
“Having served in the office of coroner for seven years, I have done the job of those I will be in charge of,” Newton, of Antioch, told the Daily Herald. “I have firsthand knowledge of the hurdles and hardships they may face, as I have been there.”
Rudd is a licensed physician who wants to see the coroner’s office abolished and replaced by an appointed medical examiner, akin to Cook County’s system. Short of that change, he believes the coroner should be a doctor even though it’s not legally required.
“My experience as a medical doctor specializing in pathology, nuclear medicine and medical microbiology, as well as an administrator with organizational skill and business management, will provide excellence in the operation of the office,” said Rudd, of Lake Forest.
The coroner’s duties
The coroner’s office investigates six types of cases, including deaths that are violent, suspicious or involve drugs or alcohol. It’s up to the coroner’s office to decide how a person died, the circumstances of the death and why the person died.
The coroner is an administrative post, so doctors who specialize in autopsies are on call for those procedures.
The coroner and deputy coroners also have law enforcement powers. If a sheriff dies, the coroner temporarily takes over the job, as Barbara Richardson did when Sheriff Robert H. “Mickey” Babcox died in 1988.
The coroner also is the only county official who can arrest a sheriff.
The road to election
Newton and Rudd won hotly-contested, partisan primaries in March.
Rudd defeated Yancey in the Democratic runoff. Yancey had been appointed last year to replace Democrat Richard Keller, who resigned following a scandal that also cost him his medical license.
Rudd specialized in pathology and nuclear medicine in his medical career, working at Highland Park and Lake Forest hospitals and then at a commercial medical laboratory. He now works as a part-time pathologist and educator.
Newton defeated Gurnee dentist Howard Cooper in the GOP primary.
A Lake County court security officer, Newton had worked in the coroner’s office for seven years until he was fired in 2007 by then-coroner Keller.
Keller had accused Newton of having an inappropriate relationship with a fellow employee. Newton later married the woman.
Campaign issues
Newton and Rudd talked about their skills, the responsibilities of the coroner’s office and each other in separate Daily Herald questionnaires.
When asked to identify his top campaign issues, Newton, 38, said the coroner should ensure death investigations are handled in compassionate, professional and timely manners.
“This minimizes the hardship placed on the family without sacrificing the thoroughness of a competent investigation,” he said.
Newton also stressed the need for the coroner’s office to cooperate with other investigative agencies and for the office to cut costs.
An audit of staffing and scheduling would be a good start, he said.
When asked about his top concerns, Rudd spoke of the need to “eliminate the hint of conflict of interest in any and all death investigation cases.”
He criticized the coroner’s office for “operating as an extension of law enforcement,” even though that’s established by law, and pledged to make the office more independent.
“I intend to make the office nonpolitical and neutral in its investigation,” said Rudd, 66. “The office will be cordial and collegial but impartial with other death-investigation organizations of the county.”
Rudd also called for the office to be certified by the National Association of Medical Examiners and said deputies should be licensed by the American Board of Medical-Legal Death Investigators.
Doctor or not?
When asked if the coroner should be a medical doctor, Rudd and Newton expressed contrary views.
Rudd’s answer reflected his medical background.
“I have been a physician for over 33 years and have the skill and knowledge of being a medical expert in the cause and effect of diseases,” Rudd said. “I have counseled thousands of patients and their families regarding health, disease and death.”
That experience, Rudd said, is proof he has the temperament to do the job and interact with the public in times of emergency or personal grief.
“I have made thousands of diagnoses on patients, discussed the disease with them and their families and even performed autopsies of some of them and communicated the findings to their families,” Rudd said.
Newton pointed out that state law doesn’t require the coroner to be a physician. And even if the coroner is a doctor, as was Keller, he legally can’t perform autopsies in his own office.
“The coroner is the administrator of an investigative office,” Newton said. “Autopsies are performed and can only be performed by forensic pathologists who are contracted through the county.”
Even though Rudd has a medical degree, Newton said he’s more qualified to be coroner because he has studied criminal justice and has served the community as both a firefighter-paramedic and deputy coroner.
Additionally, Newton said he has “hundreds of hours of specialized training” in death investigation, evidence handling and storage, homicide investigation and other fields related to the job.
Should office exist?
Rudd is so insistent medical training is needed, he believes the coroner system should be abolished in Lake County and replaced with a medical examiner’s office led by a doctor who is appointed, not elected.
“Every major city in this country has a medical examiner’s office,” Rudd said. “And it should be an appointed office to obtain the best candidate.”
Newton disagreed.
Switching to a medical examiner would be costly, he said. More importantly, it would take away citizens’ ability to make the choice.
“I think most (people) would agree: If the coroner, or any elected official for that matter, is not fulfilling their responsibility, the public should be able to work toward having that individual removed from office,” Newton said.
Voters would need to approve a switch from coroner to medical examiner.
Cook County has the only medical examiner’s office in Illinois.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120923/news/709239913/
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120923/news/709239913/comments
Article posted: 9/23/2012 8:00 AM
Lake County coroner candidates offer different skills ArticleComments (1)Photos (1) Republican Steve Newton, left, and Democrat Thomas Rudd are the candidates running for Lake County coroner.
Interested in reusing this article?Custom reprints are a powerful and strategic way to share your article with customers, employees and prospects.
The YGS Group provides digital and printed reprint services for Daily Herald. Complete the form to the right and a reprint consultant will contact you to discuss how you can reuse this article.
Need more information about reprints? Visit our Reprints Section for more details. Contact information ( * required )Name * Company Telephone * E-mail * Article InformationTitle URL Message (optional) Success - Reprint request sent Click to close .Print.By Russell Lissau ..With incumbent Artis Yancey out of the race because of a primary loss, Lake County will have a new coroner after November’s election.
And the two candidates — Republican Steve Newton and Democrat Thomas Rudd — couldn’t be more dissimilar.
Related articles
Rudd, Newton still ahead in Lake County Coroner’s race
Candidate criticizes coroner over Hanna case
Lake County coroner hopefuls have different priorities
Lake coroner candidates talk about improving the office
Lake County Coroner candidates spar over terrorism scenarios
Coroner candidates differ on need of medical degree
Lake Co. coroner candidates report campaign donations
Advertisement
Newton is a former chief deputy coroner who is campaigning on a platform of experience and compassion.
“Having served in the office of coroner for seven years, I have done the job of those I will be in charge of,” Newton, of Antioch, told the Daily Herald. “I have firsthand knowledge of the hurdles and hardships they may face, as I have been there.”
Rudd is a licensed physician who wants to see the coroner’s office abolished and replaced by an appointed medical examiner, akin to Cook County’s system. Short of that change, he believes the coroner should be a doctor even though it’s not legally required.
“My experience as a medical doctor specializing in pathology, nuclear medicine and medical microbiology, as well as an administrator with organizational skill and business management, will provide excellence in the operation of the office,” said Rudd, of Lake Forest.
The coroner’s duties
The coroner’s office investigates six types of cases, including deaths that are violent, suspicious or involve drugs or alcohol. It’s up to the coroner’s office to decide how a person died, the circumstances of the death and why the person died.
The coroner is an administrative post, so doctors who specialize in autopsies are on call for those procedures.
The coroner and deputy coroners also have law enforcement powers. If a sheriff dies, the coroner temporarily takes over the job, as Barbara Richardson did when Sheriff Robert H. “Mickey” Babcox died in 1988.
The coroner also is the only county official who can arrest a sheriff.
The road to election
Newton and Rudd won hotly-contested, partisan primaries in March.
Rudd defeated Yancey in the Democratic runoff. Yancey had been appointed last year to replace Democrat Richard Keller, who resigned following a scandal that also cost him his medical license.
Rudd specialized in pathology and nuclear medicine in his medical career, working at Highland Park and Lake Forest hospitals and then at a commercial medical laboratory. He now works as a part-time pathologist and educator.
Newton defeated Gurnee dentist Howard Cooper in the GOP primary.
A Lake County court security officer, Newton had worked in the coroner’s office for seven years until he was fired in 2007 by then-coroner Keller.
Keller had accused Newton of having an inappropriate relationship with a fellow employee. Newton later married the woman.
Campaign issues
Newton and Rudd talked about their skills, the responsibilities of the coroner’s office and each other in separate Daily Herald questionnaires.
When asked to identify his top campaign issues, Newton, 38, said the coroner should ensure death investigations are handled in compassionate, professional and timely manners.
“This minimizes the hardship placed on the family without sacrificing the thoroughness of a competent investigation,” he said.
Newton also stressed the need for the coroner’s office to cooperate with other investigative agencies and for the office to cut costs.
An audit of staffing and scheduling would be a good start, he said.
When asked about his top concerns, Rudd spoke of the need to “eliminate the hint of conflict of interest in any and all death investigation cases.”
He criticized the coroner’s office for “operating as an extension of law enforcement,” even though that’s established by law, and pledged to make the office more independent.
“I intend to make the office nonpolitical and neutral in its investigation,” said Rudd, 66. “The office will be cordial and collegial but impartial with other death-investigation organizations of the county.”
Rudd also called for the office to be certified by the National Association of Medical Examiners and said deputies should be licensed by the American Board of Medical-Legal Death Investigators.
Doctor or not?
When asked if the coroner should be a medical doctor, Rudd and Newton expressed contrary views.
Rudd’s answer reflected his medical background.
“I have been a physician for over 33 years and have the skill and knowledge of being a medical expert in the cause and effect of diseases,” Rudd said. “I have counseled thousands of patients and their families regarding health, disease and death.”
That experience, Rudd said, is proof he has the temperament to do the job and interact with the public in times of emergency or personal grief.
“I have made thousands of diagnoses on patients, discussed the disease with them and their families and even performed autopsies of some of them and communicated the findings to their families,” Rudd said.
Newton pointed out that state law doesn’t require the coroner to be a physician. And even if the coroner is a doctor, as was Keller, he legally can’t perform autopsies in his own office.
“The coroner is the administrator of an investigative office,” Newton said. “Autopsies are performed and can only be performed by forensic pathologists who are contracted through the county.”
Even though Rudd has a medical degree, Newton said he’s more qualified to be coroner because he has studied criminal justice and has served the community as both a firefighter-paramedic and deputy coroner.
Additionally, Newton said he has “hundreds of hours of specialized training” in death investigation, evidence handling and storage, homicide investigation and other fields related to the job.
Should office exist?
Rudd is so insistent medical training is needed, he believes the coroner system should be abolished in Lake County and replaced with a medical examiner’s office led by a doctor who is appointed, not elected.
“Every major city in this country has a medical examiner’s office,” Rudd said. “And it should be an appointed office to obtain the best candidate.”
Newton disagreed.
Switching to a medical examiner would be costly, he said. More importantly, it would take away citizens’ ability to make the choice.
“I think most (people) would agree: If the coroner, or any elected official for that matter, is not fulfilling their responsibility, the public should be able to work toward having that individual removed from office,” Newton said.
Voters would need to approve a switch from coroner to medical examiner.
Cook County has the only medical examiner’s office in Illinois.
ArticleComments (1)Photos (1) Republican Steve Newton, left, and Democrat Thomas Rudd are the candidates running for Lake County coroner.
1 of 1 View other photograph collections text size: AAA Share
FacebookTwitterLinkedinMySpaceDeliciousRedditStumbleUponDiggGoogle BookmarkGoogle BuzzPermalinkE-mail
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Interested in reusing this article?Custom reprints are a powerful and strategic way to share your article with customers, employees and prospects.
The YGS Group provides digital and printed reprint services for Daily Herald. Complete the form to the right and a reprint consultant will contact you to discuss how you can reuse this article.
Need more information about reprints? Visit our Reprints Section for more details. Contact information ( * required )Name * Company Telephone * E-mail * Article InformationTitle URL Message (optional) Success - Reprint request sent Click to close .Print.By Russell Lissau ..With incumbent Artis Yancey out of the race because of a primary loss, Lake County will have a new coroner after November’s election.
And the two candidates — Republican Steve Newton and Democrat Thomas Rudd — couldn’t be more dissimilar.
Related articles
Rudd, Newton still ahead in Lake County Coroner’s race
Candidate criticizes coroner over Hanna case
Lake County coroner hopefuls have different priorities
Lake coroner candidates talk about improving the office
Lake County Coroner candidates spar over terrorism scenarios
Coroner candidates differ on need of medical degree
Lake Co. coroner candidates report campaign donations
Advertisement
Newton is a former chief deputy coroner who is campaigning on a platform of experience and compassion.
“Having served in the office of coroner for seven years, I have done the job of those I will be in charge of,” Newton, of Antioch, told the Daily Herald. “I have firsthand knowledge of the hurdles and hardships they may face, as I have been there.”
Rudd is a licensed physician who wants to see the coroner’s office abolished and replaced by an appointed medical examiner, akin to Cook County’s system. Short of that change, he believes the coroner should be a doctor even though it’s not legally required.
“My experience as a medical doctor specializing in pathology, nuclear medicine and medical microbiology, as well as an administrator with organizational skill and business management, will provide excellence in the operation of the office,” said Rudd, of Lake Forest.
The coroner’s duties
The coroner’s office investigates six types of cases, including deaths that are violent, suspicious or involve drugs or alcohol. It’s up to the coroner’s office to decide how a person died, the circumstances of the death and why the person died.
The coroner is an administrative post, so doctors who specialize in autopsies are on call for those procedures.
The coroner and deputy coroners also have law enforcement powers. If a sheriff dies, the coroner temporarily takes over the job, as Barbara Richardson did when Sheriff Robert H. “Mickey” Babcox died in 1988.
The coroner also is the only county official who can arrest a sheriff.
The road to election
Newton and Rudd won hotly-contested, partisan primaries in March.
Rudd defeated Yancey in the Democratic runoff. Yancey had been appointed last year to replace Democrat Richard Keller, who resigned following a scandal that also cost him his medical license.
Rudd specialized in pathology and nuclear medicine in his medical career, working at Highland Park and Lake Forest hospitals and then at a commercial medical laboratory. He now works as a part-time pathologist and educator.
Newton defeated Gurnee dentist Howard Cooper in the GOP primary.
A Lake County court security officer, Newton had worked in the coroner’s office for seven years until he was fired in 2007 by then-coroner Keller.
Keller had accused Newton of having an inappropriate relationship with a fellow employee. Newton later married the woman.
Campaign issues
Newton and Rudd talked about their skills, the responsibilities of the coroner’s office and each other in separate Daily Herald questionnaires.
When asked to identify his top campaign issues, Newton, 38, said the coroner should ensure death investigations are handled in compassionate, professional and timely manners.
“This minimizes the hardship placed on the family without sacrificing the thoroughness of a competent investigation,” he said.
Newton also stressed the need for the coroner’s office to cooperate with other investigative agencies and for the office to cut costs.
An audit of staffing and scheduling would be a good start, he said.
When asked about his top concerns, Rudd spoke of the need to “eliminate the hint of conflict of interest in any and all death investigation cases.”
He criticized the coroner’s office for “operating as an extension of law enforcement,” even though that’s established by law, and pledged to make the office more independent.
“I intend to make the office nonpolitical and neutral in its investigation,” said Rudd, 66. “The office will be cordial and collegial but impartial with other death-investigation organizations of the county.”
Rudd also called for the office to be certified by the National Association of Medical Examiners and said deputies should be licensed by the American Board of Medical-Legal Death Investigators.
Doctor or not?
When asked if the coroner should be a medical doctor, Rudd and Newton expressed contrary views.
Rudd’s answer reflected his medical background.
“I have been a physician for over 33 years and have the skill and knowledge of being a medical expert in the cause and effect of diseases,” Rudd said. “I have counseled thousands of patients and their families regarding health, disease and death.”
That experience, Rudd said, is proof he has the temperament to do the job and interact with the public in times of emergency or personal grief.
“I have made thousands of diagnoses on patients, discussed the disease with them and their families and even performed autopsies of some of them and communicated the findings to their families,” Rudd said.
Newton pointed out that state law doesn’t require the coroner to be a physician. And even if the coroner is a doctor, as was Keller, he legally can’t perform autopsies in his own office.
“The coroner is the administrator of an investigative office,” Newton said. “Autopsies are performed and can only be performed by forensic pathologists who are contracted through the county.”
Even though Rudd has a medical degree, Newton said he’s more qualified to be coroner because he has studied criminal justice and has served the community as both a firefighter-paramedic and deputy coroner.
Additionally, Newton said he has “hundreds of hours of specialized training” in death investigation, evidence handling and storage, homicide investigation and other fields related to the job.
Should office exist?
Rudd is so insistent medical training is needed, he believes the coroner system should be abolished in Lake County and replaced with a medical examiner’s office led by a doctor who is appointed, not elected.
“Every major city in this country has a medical examiner’s office,” Rudd said. “And it should be an appointed office to obtain the best candidate.”
Newton disagreed.
Switching to a medical examiner would be costly, he said. More importantly, it would take away citizens’ ability to make the choice.
“I think most (people) would agree: If the coroner, or any elected official for that matter, is not fulfilling their responsibility, the public should be able to work toward having that individual removed from office,” Newton said.
Voters would need to approve a switch from coroner to medical examiner.
Cook County has the only medical examiner’s office in Illinois.
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120923/news/709239913/
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120923/news/709239913/comments
Novel courts handle low-level crimes across US
Editor's note: It would be hard to envision this "touchy-feelee" court on the 18th floor Probate Court of Cook County. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Sep 23, 2:04 PM EDT
Novel courts handle low-level crimes across US
By FENIT NIRAPPIL
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In most courtrooms, spontaneous applause could get you thrown out.
But in this San Francisco court, it's expected - and strongly encouraged for the defendants.
Bowls of hard candy rest in front of the judge's bench, as a reward for the men and women making their weekly court appearances and attending group therapy. Almost daily, the judge awards one standout a $5 grocery store gift card - while the gallery claps and cheers.
These scenes have played out thousands of times at the Community Justice Center, a novel, 4-year-old court system in the city's rough-edged Tenderloin district. It's one of about 40 community courts around the United States that tackle mostly low-level crimes in troubled neighborhoods using judges - not juries - to send defendants to drug treatment, shelter and social services, instead of handing down fines and time in overcrowded jails.
"We go to the root of the problems rather than just throwing them in jail," said the Community Justice Center's lone judge, Lillian Sing.
But it's not all carrots and no sticks. When obviously drunk or drugged defendants stagger into the courtroom, the judge swiftly sends them to jail for a few days to sober up.
"This is called tough love," Sing recently told one teary-eyed defendant as a deputy handcuffed him. "I don't want to see you die on the streets."
U.S. Department of Justice officials say community courts improve public safety by focusing on the crimes that are less high-profile but affect day-to-day life. They say the courts, along with similar rehabilitative courts, represent a shift away from judges just herding people through the system.
"Judges started figuring out they could help solve problems, so there was a switch to looking at outcomes instead of process," said Kim Ball, a senior policy adviser.
And unlike the thousands of specialized drug courts across America, community courts are designed to provide quicker, cheaper justice while improving life in specific neighborhoods or police precincts. Defendants perform community service in the neighborhoods where they broke the law. Taggers must paint over graffiti. And shoplifters are required to help distribute clothes to the poor.
The movement toward community courts began almost two decades ago in New York City, which established one in Midtown Manhattan to crack down on prostitution, graffiti and other street crimes.
The system has reached its "awkward teen years," after passing its experimental stage and steadily gaining acceptance, said Greg Berman, director of the New York-based Center for Court Innovation, a nonprofit that advises community courts using U.S. Department of Justice funding.
"We've seen these ideas which were derided and dismissed by many in the `90s as totally loopy and beyond the pale become, if not totally mainstreamed, more and more embraced by court systems and criminal justice systems across the country," Berman said.
States with community courts include Minnesota, Indiana, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.
Defendants often are brought into court and therapy several times a week, even for infractions such as sleeping on streets, aggressive panhandling and public urination.
"These are low-level offenses for which, in the past, there may not have been any kind of response from the criminal justice system," said Williams College Professor James Nolan, who has studied rehabilitative courts across the world.
Famously tolerant San Francisco was late to embrace community courts. But the city, along with a handful of others, took the model to a new level by also using the court as an alternative for prosecuting more serious but nonviolent crimes, including vehicle theft and felony drug offenses.
The Community Justice Center opened in a nondescript building amid an uproar from some progressives, who feared it would disproportionately target the poor and homeless.
But criticism subsided as the court helped relieve the caseload clogging traditional courtrooms by handling 4,500 defendants since it opened. And the city has found it metes out swift justice, with defendants on average coming to court a week after they are cited, compared with 45 days for a regular court.
Police Captain John Garrity, whose district is served by the Community Justice Center, says his officers can focus more on serious crime because the court gets the lower level offenders into social services, where they leave less likely to reoffend than they are from short jail stints.
Most defendants see an on-site social worker who creates a treatment plan and connects them to nonprofits and group therapy. Each is expected to comply with the plan or risk getting kicked back to the traditional courthouse, where jail time is more likely.
"Incarceration is not always the answer," said San Francisco's district attorney and former police chief, George Gascon. "It often leads to a cycle of reoffending, especially at the low-level offenses."
While it's been difficult for researchers to determine cost savings, new studies suggest community courts are helping stem crime.
An evaluation of Washington, D.C.'s community court by the Westat research firm found this summer that defendants who successfully completed diversion programs from 2007 to 2009 were half as likely to reoffend as similar defendants in a traditional court.
Russell Canan, presiding judge of the capitol's criminal courts, attributes this to defendants getting more attention.
"The judges are engaging with defendants to see what kind of work they are doing, what their school situation is, what type of social services they need," Canan said. And then they coach and inspire them to make good choices.
Researchers studying a New York court have released similar preliminary findings. San Francisco's court is undergoing a study.
But critics of community courts say recidivism statistics are misleading because many the courts' defendants are low-level offenders, rather than career criminals.
"There's a point at which it's plain overkill," said Steven Zeidman, a law professor at the City University of New York. "We bring in all kinds of things that are so minor: riding on the sidewalk, three kids arrested for smoking one joint together, kids shoplifting a piece of candy."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COMMUNITY_COURTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-23-11-10-36
Sep 23, 2:04 PM EDT
Novel courts handle low-level crimes across US
By FENIT NIRAPPIL
Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- In most courtrooms, spontaneous applause could get you thrown out.
But in this San Francisco court, it's expected - and strongly encouraged for the defendants.
Bowls of hard candy rest in front of the judge's bench, as a reward for the men and women making their weekly court appearances and attending group therapy. Almost daily, the judge awards one standout a $5 grocery store gift card - while the gallery claps and cheers.
These scenes have played out thousands of times at the Community Justice Center, a novel, 4-year-old court system in the city's rough-edged Tenderloin district. It's one of about 40 community courts around the United States that tackle mostly low-level crimes in troubled neighborhoods using judges - not juries - to send defendants to drug treatment, shelter and social services, instead of handing down fines and time in overcrowded jails.
"We go to the root of the problems rather than just throwing them in jail," said the Community Justice Center's lone judge, Lillian Sing.
But it's not all carrots and no sticks. When obviously drunk or drugged defendants stagger into the courtroom, the judge swiftly sends them to jail for a few days to sober up.
"This is called tough love," Sing recently told one teary-eyed defendant as a deputy handcuffed him. "I don't want to see you die on the streets."
U.S. Department of Justice officials say community courts improve public safety by focusing on the crimes that are less high-profile but affect day-to-day life. They say the courts, along with similar rehabilitative courts, represent a shift away from judges just herding people through the system.
"Judges started figuring out they could help solve problems, so there was a switch to looking at outcomes instead of process," said Kim Ball, a senior policy adviser.
And unlike the thousands of specialized drug courts across America, community courts are designed to provide quicker, cheaper justice while improving life in specific neighborhoods or police precincts. Defendants perform community service in the neighborhoods where they broke the law. Taggers must paint over graffiti. And shoplifters are required to help distribute clothes to the poor.
The movement toward community courts began almost two decades ago in New York City, which established one in Midtown Manhattan to crack down on prostitution, graffiti and other street crimes.
The system has reached its "awkward teen years," after passing its experimental stage and steadily gaining acceptance, said Greg Berman, director of the New York-based Center for Court Innovation, a nonprofit that advises community courts using U.S. Department of Justice funding.
"We've seen these ideas which were derided and dismissed by many in the `90s as totally loopy and beyond the pale become, if not totally mainstreamed, more and more embraced by court systems and criminal justice systems across the country," Berman said.
States with community courts include Minnesota, Indiana, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.
Defendants often are brought into court and therapy several times a week, even for infractions such as sleeping on streets, aggressive panhandling and public urination.
"These are low-level offenses for which, in the past, there may not have been any kind of response from the criminal justice system," said Williams College Professor James Nolan, who has studied rehabilitative courts across the world.
Famously tolerant San Francisco was late to embrace community courts. But the city, along with a handful of others, took the model to a new level by also using the court as an alternative for prosecuting more serious but nonviolent crimes, including vehicle theft and felony drug offenses.
The Community Justice Center opened in a nondescript building amid an uproar from some progressives, who feared it would disproportionately target the poor and homeless.
But criticism subsided as the court helped relieve the caseload clogging traditional courtrooms by handling 4,500 defendants since it opened. And the city has found it metes out swift justice, with defendants on average coming to court a week after they are cited, compared with 45 days for a regular court.
Police Captain John Garrity, whose district is served by the Community Justice Center, says his officers can focus more on serious crime because the court gets the lower level offenders into social services, where they leave less likely to reoffend than they are from short jail stints.
Most defendants see an on-site social worker who creates a treatment plan and connects them to nonprofits and group therapy. Each is expected to comply with the plan or risk getting kicked back to the traditional courthouse, where jail time is more likely.
"Incarceration is not always the answer," said San Francisco's district attorney and former police chief, George Gascon. "It often leads to a cycle of reoffending, especially at the low-level offenses."
While it's been difficult for researchers to determine cost savings, new studies suggest community courts are helping stem crime.
An evaluation of Washington, D.C.'s community court by the Westat research firm found this summer that defendants who successfully completed diversion programs from 2007 to 2009 were half as likely to reoffend as similar defendants in a traditional court.
Russell Canan, presiding judge of the capitol's criminal courts, attributes this to defendants getting more attention.
"The judges are engaging with defendants to see what kind of work they are doing, what their school situation is, what type of social services they need," Canan said. And then they coach and inspire them to make good choices.
Researchers studying a New York court have released similar preliminary findings. San Francisco's court is undergoing a study.
But critics of community courts say recidivism statistics are misleading because many the courts' defendants are low-level offenders, rather than career criminals.
"There's a point at which it's plain overkill," said Steven Zeidman, a law professor at the City University of New York. "We bring in all kinds of things that are so minor: riding on the sidewalk, three kids arrested for smoking one joint together, kids shoplifting a piece of candy."
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_COMMUNITY_COURTS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-09-23-11-10-36
Which tank is best: Abrams or T-90?
Editor's note: Vyacheslav, Your ProbateShark tends to feel that the T-90 tank would be better served as a "drone" tank in battle as a humanitarian act to save the lives of its crew. To place brave soldiers lives's in jeopardy in a potential flaming wreck is cruel and unusual punishment. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com
Which tank is best: Abrams or T-90?
18.09.2012 15:09
M1A1 AbramsQuite often in the modern Russian media one can encounter statements that battle tank M1A1 "Abrams" is the best in the world, the "crown of creation", and T-90, is obsolete and not a competitor for the American vehicle. But is this the case?
Hypothetically, we can certainly have lengthy discussions and even simulate a battle between T-90 and M1A1 "Abrams". However, in reality these tanks will never meet on the battlefield. 142 million Russian consumers of "Coca-Cola", jeans and American chicken are too valuable for the American manufacturers to introduce such a radical change by means of a military clash.
From that moment when Khrushchev had purchased in the U.S. American grain for many millions of dollars there were no more doubts that the two economies has become closely linked. No policy is worth breaking these ties.
Rhetoric and mutual threats in this case are not worth much. The "Star Wars," "neutron bomb" and all sorts of missile defense system is nothing more than the tools of information warfare, in which the Americans have succeeded. All the talk about the benefits of "Abrams" is from the same area. In terms of their fighting qualities modern tanks are about all the same, because they originated from the same world tank building experience. Purely national differences, of course, play their role, but they are not as significant when compared with the achievements of science and modern military equipment.
It is believed that the tank M1 "Abrams" is not meant as a breakthrough tank, but as an anti-agent, whose task was to stop the masses of Soviet tanks bursting into the English Channel. Therefore, the tank was developed in a close cooperation with the German engineers, but specific to the American tank school. That is why the main armament of the tank, from modification M1A1, was 120 mm gun M-256, modified German gun Rh-120.
The armor of the first tanks "Abrams" is a multilayer composite armor created in the UK. In the later versions the armor with uranium-ceramics of the first and second generations is used.
Also read: Russian tanks beyond competition no matter what they say
The armor of T-90 tower is of "semi-active" type. In front of the tower there are two cavities at an angle of 55 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the tool, where armor packages consisting of 3 layers: plates, spacers and thin plate are located. The effect of its use may reach up to 40 percent compared to the monolithic armor of the same mass.
In addition, the tank is a complex of explosive reactive armor "Kontakt-5", at the same time protecting it from both cumulative weapons (COP), and from the armor-piercing projectiles (BPS). It provides a powerful impetus to the side, allowing to destabilize or even destroy the core of the BPS before it begins to interact with the armor.
It is interesting that the opto-electronic complex designed to protect it from the damage by tank missile with command guidance systems such as semi-automatic "Tow", "Hot", "Milan "," Dragon ", laser homing type "Maverick "," Hellfire "," Copper-head ", as well as artillery systems with laser rangefinders was first commercially installed on the T-90.
Accordingly, the M1A1 tank turret consists of outer and inner steel armor plates, connected by transverse ribs laid between the packages of metallic and non-metallic materials. Due to its high density (density of uranium is 3.19 g/cm3), these plates at extremely small thickness provide an "explosive" nature of destruction of the elements of the cumulative jet.
The critics of the American tank draw attention to the large gap between the hull and turret of the "Abrams" that is so large that one can hit the area under the tower at a distance. To do this, one can aim for the upper front hull located at a very steep angle, so that in case of a ricochet, the projectile will fall under the tower. In this case, neither the efficient armor of the front body parts, nor the modern turret will help. Weak armor in the sides of the engine and crew compartment makes tank vulnerable to the fire of small-caliber artillery.
In pictures: Tunguska self-propelled anti-aircraft system
Accordingly, vulnerable zones in the armor of the T-90 are the sections on either side of the gun, not covered with explosive reactive armor. There is also a weakened zone on the upper front part of the driver's inspection device. This is a design feature of all domestic tanks, starting with T-64, that for some reason, no one bothered to fix.
However, in a war all the technical indicators that look so good on paper and on the computer screen, but still fit into the pretty charts and graphs, are not worth much. Otherwise we will never be able to explain the fact why the Soviet Union that in the past war was armed with the best in the world T-34, and has produced many more tanks than Nazi Germany, had such high losses in tanks. In addition, the Germans were also fought by England and the USA. Today on the battlefield the human factor is increasingly more dominant.
This factor includes total technical literacy, and to what extent young recruits entering service in the Russian Army and the U.S. can be trained. That is, the question is, who will be the better at managing sophisticated armored vehicles: the experienced pros on a good salary, raised in a home with a swimming pool with year-round heating, or a 19-year-old conscript from the Russian "boonies", possibly a victim of bullying. Here, history shows that the less "advanced" nations were usually able to succeed at first, but eventually they were always defeated.
We should not forget about the mentality that directly affects human behavior in combat. The war is a risky job, and good soldiers costs money. Therefore, no matter how expensive the measures taken to improve the survival rate of the tank on the battlefield, soldiers cannot be neglected as they may feel left out, and it will lower their morale. When the confidence of the tank drivers is low, there is a danger of unwillingness to engage in a battle with the enemy.
The Russian tanks are designed to attack, while U.S. tanks, as already noted, are not a means of aggression, but a powerful antitank weapon, along with helicopters "Apache" and attackers "Thunderbolt-2." The presence of the loader allows them to develop a very high rate in the decisive moments of the fight, and the separate storage of ammunition increases the chances of survival.
Meanwhile, the entire world once saw photographs of the Soviet T-72 tanks, blown up by Chechen fighters in Grozny: inverted towers thrown up by internal explosion, or even completely destroyed.
We can be comparing for a long time which tank has thicker armor and perfect electronics, which has already been done by Kenneth Maxey in his book, but this will not solve the problem.
The way out is in the analysis of the overall macroeconomic situation since 1945. It very clearly shows that almost all of the local conflicts with the weapons created in the USSR and in the West, from the military point of view, ended in a draw. This means that neither side had significant superiority.
In the political sphere, we also see that none of the T-72 saved pro-Soviet regimes from the collapse, and the Soviet Union - from the economic transition to capitalism. The outcome of the invasion of Iraq in 1991 was decided not by tank battles between the "Abrams" and the T-72, but a massive strike with precision-guided missiles at the control center and mass bribery of the elite Iraqi army generals.
In terms of the global policy Russia won the greatest war in human history: saved the world from fascism (and Russian tanks have played a significant role), but as a result lost the world. The winner is absent on the political map today, and no tanks saved it from the collapse. Hence it is not about whose tanks are better, but something else.
When Russia figures out what it is, that's when its tanks will be the best in the world. For now, Russian tanks are far below western ones and this is why they are harder to hit.
Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
Pravda.Ru
Read the original in Russian
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/18-09-2012/122196-abrams_t90-0/
Which tank is best: Abrams or T-90?
18.09.2012 15:09
M1A1 AbramsQuite often in the modern Russian media one can encounter statements that battle tank M1A1 "Abrams" is the best in the world, the "crown of creation", and T-90, is obsolete and not a competitor for the American vehicle. But is this the case?
Hypothetically, we can certainly have lengthy discussions and even simulate a battle between T-90 and M1A1 "Abrams". However, in reality these tanks will never meet on the battlefield. 142 million Russian consumers of "Coca-Cola", jeans and American chicken are too valuable for the American manufacturers to introduce such a radical change by means of a military clash.
From that moment when Khrushchev had purchased in the U.S. American grain for many millions of dollars there were no more doubts that the two economies has become closely linked. No policy is worth breaking these ties.
Rhetoric and mutual threats in this case are not worth much. The "Star Wars," "neutron bomb" and all sorts of missile defense system is nothing more than the tools of information warfare, in which the Americans have succeeded. All the talk about the benefits of "Abrams" is from the same area. In terms of their fighting qualities modern tanks are about all the same, because they originated from the same world tank building experience. Purely national differences, of course, play their role, but they are not as significant when compared with the achievements of science and modern military equipment.
It is believed that the tank M1 "Abrams" is not meant as a breakthrough tank, but as an anti-agent, whose task was to stop the masses of Soviet tanks bursting into the English Channel. Therefore, the tank was developed in a close cooperation with the German engineers, but specific to the American tank school. That is why the main armament of the tank, from modification M1A1, was 120 mm gun M-256, modified German gun Rh-120.
The armor of the first tanks "Abrams" is a multilayer composite armor created in the UK. In the later versions the armor with uranium-ceramics of the first and second generations is used.
Also read: Russian tanks beyond competition no matter what they say
The armor of T-90 tower is of "semi-active" type. In front of the tower there are two cavities at an angle of 55 degrees to the longitudinal axis of the tool, where armor packages consisting of 3 layers: plates, spacers and thin plate are located. The effect of its use may reach up to 40 percent compared to the monolithic armor of the same mass.
In addition, the tank is a complex of explosive reactive armor "Kontakt-5", at the same time protecting it from both cumulative weapons (COP), and from the armor-piercing projectiles (BPS). It provides a powerful impetus to the side, allowing to destabilize or even destroy the core of the BPS before it begins to interact with the armor.
It is interesting that the opto-electronic complex designed to protect it from the damage by tank missile with command guidance systems such as semi-automatic "Tow", "Hot", "Milan "," Dragon ", laser homing type "Maverick "," Hellfire "," Copper-head ", as well as artillery systems with laser rangefinders was first commercially installed on the T-90.
Accordingly, the M1A1 tank turret consists of outer and inner steel armor plates, connected by transverse ribs laid between the packages of metallic and non-metallic materials. Due to its high density (density of uranium is 3.19 g/cm3), these plates at extremely small thickness provide an "explosive" nature of destruction of the elements of the cumulative jet.
The critics of the American tank draw attention to the large gap between the hull and turret of the "Abrams" that is so large that one can hit the area under the tower at a distance. To do this, one can aim for the upper front hull located at a very steep angle, so that in case of a ricochet, the projectile will fall under the tower. In this case, neither the efficient armor of the front body parts, nor the modern turret will help. Weak armor in the sides of the engine and crew compartment makes tank vulnerable to the fire of small-caliber artillery.
In pictures: Tunguska self-propelled anti-aircraft system
Accordingly, vulnerable zones in the armor of the T-90 are the sections on either side of the gun, not covered with explosive reactive armor. There is also a weakened zone on the upper front part of the driver's inspection device. This is a design feature of all domestic tanks, starting with T-64, that for some reason, no one bothered to fix.
However, in a war all the technical indicators that look so good on paper and on the computer screen, but still fit into the pretty charts and graphs, are not worth much. Otherwise we will never be able to explain the fact why the Soviet Union that in the past war was armed with the best in the world T-34, and has produced many more tanks than Nazi Germany, had such high losses in tanks. In addition, the Germans were also fought by England and the USA. Today on the battlefield the human factor is increasingly more dominant.
This factor includes total technical literacy, and to what extent young recruits entering service in the Russian Army and the U.S. can be trained. That is, the question is, who will be the better at managing sophisticated armored vehicles: the experienced pros on a good salary, raised in a home with a swimming pool with year-round heating, or a 19-year-old conscript from the Russian "boonies", possibly a victim of bullying. Here, history shows that the less "advanced" nations were usually able to succeed at first, but eventually they were always defeated.
We should not forget about the mentality that directly affects human behavior in combat. The war is a risky job, and good soldiers costs money. Therefore, no matter how expensive the measures taken to improve the survival rate of the tank on the battlefield, soldiers cannot be neglected as they may feel left out, and it will lower their morale. When the confidence of the tank drivers is low, there is a danger of unwillingness to engage in a battle with the enemy.
The Russian tanks are designed to attack, while U.S. tanks, as already noted, are not a means of aggression, but a powerful antitank weapon, along with helicopters "Apache" and attackers "Thunderbolt-2." The presence of the loader allows them to develop a very high rate in the decisive moments of the fight, and the separate storage of ammunition increases the chances of survival.
Meanwhile, the entire world once saw photographs of the Soviet T-72 tanks, blown up by Chechen fighters in Grozny: inverted towers thrown up by internal explosion, or even completely destroyed.
We can be comparing for a long time which tank has thicker armor and perfect electronics, which has already been done by Kenneth Maxey in his book, but this will not solve the problem.
The way out is in the analysis of the overall macroeconomic situation since 1945. It very clearly shows that almost all of the local conflicts with the weapons created in the USSR and in the West, from the military point of view, ended in a draw. This means that neither side had significant superiority.
In the political sphere, we also see that none of the T-72 saved pro-Soviet regimes from the collapse, and the Soviet Union - from the economic transition to capitalism. The outcome of the invasion of Iraq in 1991 was decided not by tank battles between the "Abrams" and the T-72, but a massive strike with precision-guided missiles at the control center and mass bribery of the elite Iraqi army generals.
In terms of the global policy Russia won the greatest war in human history: saved the world from fascism (and Russian tanks have played a significant role), but as a result lost the world. The winner is absent on the political map today, and no tanks saved it from the collapse. Hence it is not about whose tanks are better, but something else.
When Russia figures out what it is, that's when its tanks will be the best in the world. For now, Russian tanks are far below western ones and this is why they are harder to hit.
Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
Pravda.Ru
Read the original in Russian
http://english.pravda.ru/russia/politics/18-09-2012/122196-abrams_t90-0/
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