I Love You Forever & Ever
Women and the disabled are facing a great crisis, one which risks taking everything from them, their income, property and control of their future. What I am about to tell you may be frightening as it is a nightmare, one which I experienced my dear mother, La Faye S. Lynch, fall into, as if suddenly plunged into a deep pit full of stagnant water, where she might sink or drown if not given a helping hand and love.
It happened one summer evening in Montgomery, Alabama. I was working at the computer when my German Shepherd dog, Jade, became alarmed. At first I thought Jade wanted to go outside, so I took him to the back door, but he would not go out. Instead he went to my mother's bedroom and wanted inside. The door was locked which was unusual, so I opened it with a wire key, pushing in until the locked clicked and I might enter. I found my mother sitting on the toilet and made inquiry, but she responded only with nonsensical gibberish. Then as I stood their she became unconscious. I caught her, preventing her from falling over into the bathtub,.then lifted her to her bed and called 911. I thought she was going to die right then and there so I prayed, asking God to help, that he might give her life and let her live.
It seemed that many minutes passed by, like an eternity. But I know it was not nearly so long. Then like a miracle she became conscious and I heard a knock on the front door, as the paramedics had arrived. They came into house and took my mother to the emergency room at Jackson Hospital and I followed shortly. Upon arrival I showed the receptionist the Durable Power of Attorney my mother had drafted and signed in 1995, making me her attorney in fact. I had use this document on several occasions in the past, once when she was hospitalized for an intestinal disorder and two other time when she had surgery her hands. But this time it was different, as she did not seem herself, as if she were lost in a cloud and did not comprehend what was happening to herself.
I sat in the emergency room with her for hours. There were green bottle flies buzzing all around the room. It seemed an ominous sign, these flies everywhere in the hospital, often landing upon my mother as I shooed them away. I even grabbed one up in my hand and saved it in a wad of tissue -- one less fly to bother my mother as she lay waiting for the doctor. Nurses came and tried to take blood. They have a difficult time finding a vein and stuck her a half dozen or so times, before getting an old black man to do it the right way. I watched him as he put a tourniquet of rubber tubing around my mother's arm, then tapped upon her skin to reveal the vein before he stuck her. He knew what he was doing and found the vein upon his first try. I thanked him, shaking his hand for a job well done.
The hours dragged on. I sat on the floor beside my mother waiting for the doctor. Finally he came and I was shocked when he examined her to find that she had wrapped her legs in plastic wrap. Also there were fly larvae upon her legs and feet. It was most disgusting to see this! I did not realize until later these fly larvae had in all probability come from the emergency room, as bottle flies can lay live young upon a wound, and my mother's legs were septic. She had been hiding this from me by wearing layers of clothing which also hid the diminished condition of her body, given she had not been eating properly. She had lost her teeth when her crowns broke and refused to go see a dentist; I had supplemented her diet with Boost, a high energy protein drink, but she had complained she did not like its taste. So for a number on months she had not been eating properly and would spend the majority of her time laying in bed, watching Oprah Winfrey and other favorite programs. I respected her privacy and did whatever I could to make her life easier, shopping for her and taking care of all Larry's needs. You see, I lived with my mother and Larry, her son who had mentally retardation, as they had no one else who was willing to make that sacrifice to care for them.
After seeing the horrible condition my mother was in, I went home and prepared a release, authorizing the doctor to do whatever was necessary to save my mother's life. I returned to the hospital the next day, providing this written document to the doctor so that there would be no doubt in anyone's mind that I wanted him to provide her with tube feeding, blood transfusion or whatever other care was needed to save her life. She was in the hospital for about three weeks. After tube feeding and two blood transfusions and being treated with antibiotics, her septic condition cleared up. However, she was not herself. Her mind was not all there. Although the doctor tested her cognition and found it somewhat below the norm, there was not a psychiatric division in the hospital, so her mental capacity could not be fully evaluated. Despite this fact, the doctor recommended she be transferred to a nursing home for further rehabilitation, and I followed his advise.
Once my mother was transferred to a nursing home, one approved by Jackson Hospital, I became increasingly distressed by her treatment. I had been promised a consultation with Dr. Malcolm Brown, but this never occurred. Then I learned that my eldest brother had flown in from Colorado and had my mother's Durable Power of Attorney nullified, appointing himself as attorney in fact and executor of her estate via having her sign a codicil to her Last Will and Testament. I was quite shocked. My mother obviously was not in her right state of mind and her she was someone having her sign legal documents without even consulting me. I immediately visited with an attorney and then had my mother sign a new Durable Power of Attorney as soon as possible. Then I arranged an appointment with specialist to determine what was wrong with her mentally. It was determined that she had dementia!
This was a very important diagnosis, for although I knew that since that night that my mother passed out she was not in her right mind, I did not know what was wrong with her. No one at the nursing home had told me that she had dementia. The neurologist who made the diagnosis immediately prescribe Arecept to slow down the process. Yet she had been in the care of the nursing home almost two-and-a-half months without being treated for this condition! I was shocked again by such negligence. But I was soon to be even more shocked.
The next day, my eldest brother kidnapped Larry by force as I was preparing to take him to see a local attorney which we had previously met with, that proper documents guardian/conservator documents could be drafted. Greg and his daughter, Sharon L. Crenson, had staked themselves outside my home and when Larry and I went out to get in the van, Sharon came over and started screaming at Larry that he was "in danger!" She assaulted Larry forcing him away from the van. Then Greg came over and tried to assault me. I was able to twist around, out of my backpack which Greg had grabbed. It fell to the ground and I ran over to their rental car and tried to disable it to prevent Larry's kidnapping. However, Greg and Sharon were able to maneuver Larry into the rental car by force and sped away at high speed. They were out of sight before I could get in my van and try to follow them. I called 911 and the police told me to wait for them at home, which I did. However, when the police arrived they did not return Larry. I though this was very odd. I also called my attorney to report what had happened.
I was told that I'd have to file a police report, but when I went down to the police station, there was no one who could see me immediately. So I went home and drafted a report and got it notarized. Then the next day I filed a police report and saw my eldest brother with his lawyer at the police station obviously doing the same thing. Since my attorney was not with me, I went to see him, but he was not in his office and I was told by the secretary she did not know exactly when he would be back. So I decided if Greg was at the police station with his lawyer, they were obviously going to try to have me arrested. Hence I went home, got my dog, Jade, who had so keenly alerted me to the fact that something was wrong when my dear mother was ill, an action which saved her life, and took him to be boarded. This proved to be a very wise decision as later that night about three patrol car came to my home, police pounding upon the door saying they had a warrant. My eldest brother, I learned, had filed a fraudulent report, and was petitioning that I be committed. In this way he could prevent my being present at my mother's guardianship hearing and could escape with Larry, taking him out-of-state, before I could have police arrest him.
The law in Alabama, as in many states, is such that anyone, especially a relative, even a hostile relative, can sign a petition to have someone committed, even if they do not have a history of mental illness, drug abuse or other mental problems. So Greg tried to have me committed. I remained locked up over the weekend, my person and privacy violated, so that Greg and Sharon could make off with Larry, taking him to Colorado. This was particularly disturbing, as my dear mother had specified exactly what she wanted to happen with Larry should she ever become incapacitated. She had established a trust account for Larry. I had also done this and was one of Larry's trustees. Taking Larry our-of-state the day after my dear mother was diagnosed with dementia violated Larry's trust and my mother's provisions for Larry. This was an exploitation of two people with disabilities who were not able to speak for themselves. It amounted to a financial rape and robbery that no one tried to oppose or stop except me. Of course I was locked away and could not stop Larry's kidnapping and Greg's scheme to have me declared insane was apparently designed to enable him to get away with this scam through the process of defamation of my character.
Let it be known to all that Greg's scheme did not work. A hearing was held and Dr. William Freeman, the psychiatrist who evaluated me, failed to establish that there was any cause to keep me locked away -- that I was not insane, that there were not any bats in my belfrey. In fact, after what Greg and Sharon did, I think they are the ones who should have been locked away and have their sanity evaluated, as they certainly acted hostile, if not with criminal intent, to kidnap Larry and take him away from his home and family, an act which certainly endangered Larry's life. My dear mother had expressed upon a number of occasions that she did not want "that woman," meaning Greg's wife, Patricia, having anything to do with Larry's care. And my dear mother certainly did not want Greg to have anything to do with Larry's care, given his long history of beating, battering and bullying all his siblings from the time they were born until we were teenagers. In fact, Greg's behavior in kidnapping Larry and in also having my dear mother sign legal documents when she was clearly not in her right mind, when she even had difficulty writing her signature properly, was exploitation of two helpless people. Greg clearly was aware of the fact my mother's signature had changed given her illness. He had her sign legal documents. Greg clearly knew her signature had changed, as he testified at her hearing that her signature on several documents she had signed for me was not her signature, when in fact it was her signature, one which appeared different given her impairment and dementia which effected her ability to write with the same speed, rapidity and flare she had always possessed prior to that ominous night in August of 2003 when she became unconscious and almost died. Greg's actions in gaining power and control over my dear mother and Larry are all forms of exploitation, of bullying, if not down right lies and inaccurate deceptions for the purpose of exploitation of the elderly. I think my dear mother was very wise to make me her attorney in fact way back in 1995, given Greg's history of bullying and trying to get his way by raising his fist, pounding upon his three brother's in anger and even doing such horrible things as trying to kill me by throwing me into a patch of poisonous stinging nettle plants when I was but seven years old! It is frightening to think this same person, who appears to have a borderline personality that can go into rages of temper given the slightest word or opposition to desires, now is Larry's guardian/conservator.
The Probate Court of Montgomery County appointed nonrelative attorneys to be my dear mother's guardian/conservator. She was not even present at her own hearing. Immediately thereafter all the money in Larry's trust account was frozen. I believe this was illegal, given that bank account was a trust account and the Probate Court had made no ruling with respect to Larry. In fact, the Probate Court Judge, Reese McKinney, Jr., said that it would not be necessary to have Larry present, despite the fact he might have given significant and enlightening testimony with respect to his kidnapping. When I learned that all funds had been frozen, I realized that it would be necessary to take immediate action to preserve anything at all which my mother and father had worked so hard for and sacrificed so much for, all for their children. I realized that next the lawyers would be coming for the house, so I immediately took out a second mortgage, paid off much of my dear mother's debt and began making arrangements to relocate. I was correct, I was soon hit by a law suit for the house. These court appointed lawyers had the gual to sue me in my mother's own name, something that she would never do! I was the one who had prayed for her and saved her life! And they were suing me! Talk about greed and insanity, these lawyers were clearly acting in a way my dear mother would never act. I was the one person she trusted with her life to nominate as her guardian/conservator. And now these court appointed lawyers were suing me in her name. It was crazy and a miscarriage of justice if ever there were one!
So I began to hunt for a place to move and as soon as I could find a place, I relocated to another state. I ended up losing much in the process, my home and much property. But after what the courts and their carpet bagging lawyers did, I knew I'd be out on the street unless I relocated. It really was a horrible nightmare, that people would respond this way, acting to exploit my dear mother, her son who had mental retardation and to destroy her family, taking everything. One would think that when a family is suddenly struck with a tragedy such as dementia, that people would all come together and respond with help. One would think that everyone would come together and lend a helping hand, would respond with generosity, love and kindness. But apparently I am the only one who loves my dear mother; everyone else just wanted what they could get from her -- even her child, Larry!
It is really a horrible nightmare that some people are so greedy and selfish. The courts, the lawyers appointed by the court, hostile relatives, all responded with greed, selfishly and without the love, kindness and goodwill one would expect in a tragedy. Make no doubt about it, what happened to my dear mother was a tragedy. What these people did to her and continue to do to her is a form of exploitation. It amount to a financial rape and robber of the elderly and people with disability! That such crimes could be permitted, even endorsed by the court, is outrageous.
That others might learn how cruel my dear mother and Larry were treated, I resolved to tell their story. Yes it is a nightmare, a horror story. Yet this is a story that needs told, for it is happening to many other people who are growing old, who are becoming elderly or disabled. So I established ERA (Elderly Rights Association) at www.byteland.org/era and posted my mother's story, that people everywhere might become enlightened to the plight of our dear and elderly parents and grandparents. We all are growing older and may one day face that same peril of not being able to take care of ourselves. Unless we are given the power now to specify, appoint and designate our own guardian/conservator, then this is left to the courts -- and there is no guarantee they will act in our best interest or as we so designate or desire.
Hence it is urgent that everyone take action and seek to have the laws in all states changes such that each person may specify, appoint and designate their own guardian/conservator. Also the laws need to be changed to prevent hostile relatives from being able to have relatives arrested, falsely imprisoned and subjected to competency hearings, when there is no established history of any mental illness. I was violated by a hostile relative, someone who had beat, bullied and battered me my entire life. For any court to permit this person to file a petition against me with respect to my sanity is itself an insane act! For this court or any other court to then entrust that same person who beat, battered and bullied all of his siblings to be guardian/conservator of any of his brother is just a outrageous miscarriage of justice! Shame upon all involved in this grave miscarriage of justice and exploitation of a person who is disabled! Shame! Shame! Shame upon you all!
There comes a time when the truth must be told. This is one of those times. The laws in this country with respect to the elderly and disabled need to be reformed. It is too easy for hostile relatives as well as nursing homes or other institutions to exploit the elderly or those who are incapacitated. The elderly care system is broken. Indeed, the health care system is broken. Most states do not have the funds to provide adequate health care for the elderly. The result is financial rape and robbery of everything a person owns. This is especially horrible when the states or others act to go against the expressed wishes and desires of an elderly person, or against their written or expressed dictates, for the financial gain of others.
My dear mother is now locked away in a small concrete block room. She has been put away in room 13, a room many others have occupied and died in. She has already seen others die and waits her own death, having been separated from the family she so dearly loved. She is behind electric doors with a guard stationed out front and on duty 24/7. This is not for her protection so much as to prevent her escape. She has been doped and drugged to keep her calm and sedate. She will likely die alone, with but her dreams -- all because in its infinite wisdom, the Probate Court of Montgomery County, Alabama, thought they knew what was best, and did not appoint her most dear and loving son, to continue to act in her best interest as she had so expressed, designated and desired! Shame! Shame! Shame upon all who were so foolish and blind!
Yes, I have contempt for said courts and for all who have participated in the financial rape and robbery of my dear mother, and my brother, Larry. I'm not blind. I can see the greed in other's hearts. I'm not a fool. I can see the evil in other's hearts. Thus I have spoken truthfully and revealed unto all the injustice that has been done to my dear mother and to Larry. Thus I say, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" upon all who have acted to exploit Larry and my dear mother.
Through the establishment of the ERA and telling my mother's story, I've acted to give my dear mother a helping hand, to restore her pride and dignity and to hopefully help others who may be going through similar experiences. Also, I am hoping that by telling what happened to my dear mother and Larry, that this will sound the alarm. The elder care system is broken in America. How we view and treat the elderly and the disabled needs to be changed. Those with power and control have the ability to exploit the elderly, the disabled. Thus those of us who have a heart, who are motivated by love, by care, by kindness and a generous heart, must act with righteousness to protect those who cannot speak for themselves. That is what I have done in telling the story about my mother's nightmare, about her drowning in the pit of dementia -- about her silent scream for help and my echo of that cry. For when we each grow old and unable to shout but a whisper, it is for those who love us deepest to echo our whispers and shout them to the world! Help! Help! Help!
None may hear my dear mother's cry. None may reach out to help her. None may hear Larry's cry. None may reach out the help him. Others may continue the financial rape and robber of the elderly and the disabled. But I will be no part of it. I have echoed my dear mother's cries for help. They are cries shared by many. Unless we listen, unless we hear, unless we act today to fix the broken elderly care system, the broken health care system, then that same broken system, that same greed and callous disregard which have financially raped and robbed my dear mother and Larry will come to hurt and harm the lives of others in the future.
I ask everyone who wants to help to please treat the elderly and the disabled with love, kindness and goodwill. Do not let greed rule your heart. Do not let any feelings or passions of malice rule your heart. Act, rather, with love to do unto others as they have wished and directed, to follow their dreams which may differ from our own, but which are what we must do if we are to let each person truly follow their own heart. If you do not know what someone wants or has planned or directed, then at least endeavor to discover such truth, especially if you are a judge or empowered by the courts with their care. If you do not do this then you have failed, as have those guardian/conservators appointed by the court to care for my own dear mother. To think that they would not have consulted with me in regard to her wishes and desires shows the degree of their disregard and disrespect for what this wonderful woman whom I was blessed to have as a mother so desired. That's what happened when greed rules people's hearts -- corruption becomes the process of the state, corruption enabled by law!
Fortunately in America we still have the power to change the law and to correct injustice. I hope others who take this tale to heart may devote their time, effort and abilities toward changing those laws which enable others to exploit the elderly and the disabled. There is a great need for reformation in this respect. My mother's horror story is only one of many. Least it should become our own horror story when we grow old, we much act now to reform those laws which give Probate Court, license plate judges the power of God, the power of life and death, over the elderly and the disabled. These judges are not all seeing, all knowing. Many are simply popular elected party officials who have no more business making life and death decisions about people on a daily basis then do rats crawling in the sewer!
It is a nightmare to think that some Probate Judge who never knew my dear mother, who had no love for her, who did not know her wishes or her dreams, would have the power of God with respect to appointing a guardian/conservator. This judge has allowed himself to be a pawn in my eldest brother's efforts to defraud the court, to exploit my dear mother and Larry. Yes, justice is sometimes blind. But in this case its eyes were poked out by intentional deceit and efforts to defame and defraud the court. That should be clear from the fact that Greg tried to have me locked away in a nut house when I tried to stop his kidnapping of Larry. Of course the judge knew nothing of Greg's long history of beating, battering and bullying his siblings. But even if the judge did not know this, he certainly must have realized Greg went to a lot of effort to have someone else appointed guardian/conservator for my dear mother. That should have sent up a red flag. Why would anyone do this unless they had ulterior motives? In this case the motive was Larry's kidnapping and what financial and other benefit might thus be gained. It also was the desire to cause me hurt and harm, to carry out a threat to "destroy" my life, one Greg had previously made. Yet why would any judge allow his decision to be manipulated in this manner, when it could clearly be seen Greg was lying, as my mother's signature upon documents he testified to not her her own, clearly proved his lies! She signed all the documents that were presented in court at her hearing; Greg knew her signature had been change by her illness and dementia; so the judge should have realized Greg was lying, as any informed and knowledgeable judge should know that a person's signature likely changes when they are ill and have dementia!
So I wonder if the judge did not have his own reason for not appointing me to be my mother's guardian/conservator. I later learned that this same judge was on the Board of Directory of Jackson Hospital. It was at that hospital that my dear mother became infected with bottle fly larvae. This is also the same hospital that approved the transfer of my mother to the nursing home, the same nursing home where she was doped and not given immediate treatment for her dementia. Could it have been that this judge wanted to avoid a malpractice claim against Jackson Hospital and/or the nursing home? I believe that would be motive for this judge's corrupt ruling. Plus this was the same judge who had signed an order to have me arrested in the middle of the night in response to Greg's fraudulent petition. It would not cast him is very good light to sign such an order one day and then the next day appoint me guardian/conservator of anyone! So you see, the clever plan my eldest brother has conceived to defraud the court worked! I hope he is happy now with whatever money or other gain he may have received.
Yes, I have contempt for the court in these regards. In response I have called for the resignation of Probate Court Judge Reese McKinney, Jr. I do not believe this man should sit upon the bench. If he can not see through the vail of my own eldest brother's deception, then it is likely he is blind to far greater lies others have told in his court. At least now that I've relocated I'm not contributing to this particular judge's salary! He ain't getting any of my car tag or property tag money!
My dear mother's horror story may be of little note nor long remembered. But I hope her life and the sacrificed she and my father made for their children will be remembered. My parents gave much for their country and for their children. It is a bit disheartening that much of what they did and endeavored to establish in a home was destroyed by hostile relatives and a blind court. Yet I have endeavored to also share and keep alive the love my dear mother and father taught to me, for it is through telling this story, through revelation of the truth, that the love embraced and shared by my dear mother and father will be kept alive. I've also shared other insight into my dear mother's life as well as that of my father, an honorable and noble soldier. I hope that through these reflections the love they gave to me will be shared with others, that everyone may come to love and care for those who are their dearest parents, to respect their wishes and desires, to cherish the contributions they have made and pass the love along to their children and their children's children. In the end money is nothing but paper and material possessions are just things which clutter our lives, but the love we share, that is true treasure, and it is that treasure which no one can take away, for it can only be given from heart to heart, freely, openly and honestly!
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