Category Archives: Uncategorized

Best video on a wrongful Jerome Larkin 3 year suspension of a black African Immigrant Atty–Mr Amu

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This is one of the most popular videos on to what extent the ARDC wants attorneys to have a code of silence, to not warn their clients of court fraud in Illinois, and to always take the side of Judges and other attorneys–even though the fact they are not following the law despite being officers of the court.

Important–From Glenda Martinez–A video story you won’t want to miss

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I highly recommend this video as a typical story I learn about at least once or twice per week–and for which the court does absolutely nothing about.

This week I learned one client after asking and begging for one mother to see her son (it has been months and she could not see him, not for Christmas or New Year’s) and a sister.  They were awarded visitation once per week, but the wife never allowed it, said it was never a good time. We have a year of recordings of this. The court just told both the mother will never see her son again, and the sister will never see her brother again. The wife claims this man is too demented to recognize them, so why bother? (This woman is just another living heat donor if you ask me, and has no right to be a guardian).

another video story from Ontario:

And of course, we have the Alan Frake case who is about as drugged as the man in this video.  Al Frake is at Sunrise Nursing home in Park Ridge and son Gary Frake reports they are killing him with sedatives/psychotropic drugs.  This has been reported to Judge Quinn several times and it is always deny, deny, deny.

So thank you Glenda for sending along this shinning example of elder abuse by the “professionals” who are just about always allowed to abuse with impunity.

JoAnne

From Ken Ditkowsky–Pick a month, any month, and see why Illinois is No. 1 in Corruption

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And then ponder why the ARDC wants every attorney in Illinois to adhere to a code of silence and let our clients fall into corruption traps because we cannot warn them and cannot warn the public and we MUST ignore 18 USC sec 4 so that we risk prison and fines for not showing our clients how to report and freely discussing this matter on our fraud in the court blogs.

Go figure.

July 9 2014
Unfortunately for taxpayers, June was a groundbreaking month for corruption in Illinois. In June alone, there were reports of 85 corruption-related stories in the state. Some of the record-breaking highlights include the following:
For the first time in 33 years, the Illinois Legislative Audit Commission exercised its subpoena powers in the issuance of a subpoena regarding Gov. Pat Quinn’s controversial anti-violence program. That’s on top of a separate federal subpoena for the same program. Auditor General William Holland’s office revealed that the state spent nearly a half a million dollars on a flawed study of the anti-violence program while rejecting the opportunity to receive a more rigorous study for free.
The “Dixmoor Five” were awarded the largest wrongful conviction settlement, $40 million, in Illinois history. In 1991, as young teenagers, they gave false confessions to the rape and murder of 14-year-old Cateresa Matthews. After being physically abused and threatened by interrogators. DNA evidence later exonerated them.
Other major stories this month included State Rep. Derrick Smith being convicted of accepting a $7,000 bribe, the head of the Illinois Department of Transportation resigning following patronage allegations, Sen. Mark Kirk presenting evidence of major fraud at Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital involving falsifying of wait-time data, and revelations that political insiders received multi-million-dollar contracts to promote ObamaCare in Illinois.
85. June 30, 2014
The head of the Illinois Department of Transportation resigned Monday following questions about patronage hiring at the agency.
Ann Schneider’s resignation comes after longtime anti-patronage crusader Michael Shakman called for a federal judge to order an investigation into government hiring following a Better Government Association investigation that revealed Schneider’s stepdaughter had been put on the payroll and promoted at the agency.
Schneider was appointed by Quinn in 2011 to head up IDOT. The resignation could lessen a political headache for Gov. Pat Quinn during an election year.
84. June 30, 2014
A Cook County correctional officer pocketed bribes of up to $250 each time he smuggled marijuana, tobacco, shower products and other contraband to inmates at the West Side jail, prosecutors said today.
An inmate and his girlfriend were also charged with bribery.
Jermaine Hoskins, 37, who worked at the jail for more than two years, was arrested Friday after arriving at work. He was charged with official misconduct and bringing contraband into the jail.
In court this afternoon, Assistant State’s Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said Hoskins, a former postal service and Homeland Security worker, told investigators “he saw an opportunity and took it” and used the payoffs to help pay his bills.
83. June 30, 2014
Days after being accused in a lawsuit of working together to defraud investors, Harvey and its comptroller have split – with each offering a different explanation of what happened.
Harvey spokesman Sean Howard said comptroller Joseph Letke was fired this afternoon, while Letke’s firm released a letter saying it quit after the town ignored its advice and treated the firm poorly.
Letke’s departure came five days after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an unusual lawsuit that said Harvey and Letke couldn’t be trusted to woo borrowers because of fraud committed in a past borrowing deal. That failed development deal, exposed by the Tribune last year, has left taxpayers on the hook for as much as $20 million in loan payments for a hotel sitting half-gutted and in foreclosure.
82. June 30, 2014
Illinois State University’s former president was convicted of disorderly conduct and sentenced to probation Monday for his actions during a confrontation with the school’s head groundskeeper last year.
McLean County Judge Michael Stroh sentenced Timothy Flanagan to a year of court supervision, which is a form of probation, and ordered him to perform 30 hours of community service and pay a $300 fine.
Prosecutors said that on Dec. 5, Flanagan screamed at Patrick Murphy, the school’s grounds superintendent, at close range outside the president’s on-campus home in a way that alarmed Murphy. Murphy was fired a short time later but has since been rehired.
81. June 30, 2014
Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran’s office is reviewing a complaint alleging that one of his top officers threatened deputies and command staff during a meeting.
A letter fellow officers sent to the county’s human resources department accuses the high-ranking officer of making the comments during roll call June 18 as he mentioned the firing of a deputy who’d been charged with soliciting a sex act. The officer told those present that changes were coming to the department, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Tribune.
The letter quotes him as saying, “If you don’t agree with the changes coming, you can leave…if you have a problem with this you can meet me in the parking lot when I’m done and we can have a one on one conversation.”
80. June 30, 2014
Before he was paid more than $146,000 for work on Gov. Pat Quinn’s scandal-plagued anti-violence initiative, Benton Cook III says he spent four years as a “media production director” for political candidates.
His biggest client, as it turns out, was his wife, Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, records show.
Brown’s campaign fund paid the video production company based at her husband’s then-South Side home nearly $90,000 over a four-year period ending in 2010, according to Illinois State Board of Elections records. The business, Gideon Video Productions, doesn’t appear to have been licensed with the state of Illinois, the city of Chicago or Cook County.
79. June 29, 2014
A former state’s attorney, legislator and appellate court justice, Tom Homer is ending a decade-long tenure this month as the first watchdog of the Illinois General Assembly — proud of helping move the state into modern ethics reforms but frustrated by handcuffs placed on his office and its ability to investigate and punish wrongdoing.
Since he took the legislature’s inspector general job in 2004, Homer has fielded 163 formal complaints, referring 11 to federal or state law enforcement authorities. Some of those ended in criminal convictions, although the law doesn’t allow him to talk about specific cases.
Twice in recent years, Homer, 67, has published open letters to the legislature suggesting tougher ethics rules.
He believes it should be illegal for legislators to vote on matters in which they have conflicts of interest. He wants more descriptive financial disclosures, reporting of interventions lawmakers make on behalf of constituents, penalties beyond just fines for legislators — such as censure or reprimand — and public reporting of an officeholder’s punishment.
78. June 27, 2014
Chicago taxpayers could be on the hook to refund millions of dollars in fines levied by administrative hearing officers over the years because the city did not require corporate defendants to be represented by licensed attorneys.
The surprise liability stems from a May 20 Illinois Appellate Court ruling in a case filed by Stone Street Partners, a limited liability corporation that owned Gold Coast real estate.
A caretaker had appeared before an administrative hearing officer to contest a 1999 building code violation, triggering a $1,000 judgment.
Eleven years later, the partners got notice of a default judgment and moved to vacate it on grounds they had not been properly served and that the city had allowed the corporation to be represented by a person who was not authorized to practice law.
77. June 27, 2014
The Illinois Tollway on Thursday awarded a $64 million construction contract to a New York-based firm that admitted committing fraud and paid a $7.5 million penalty in connection with an alleged minority hiring scheme in that city.
Judlau Contracting Inc.’s bid was the lowest of four received by the Tollway for construction of new interchange ramps at Interstate 290 and Thorndale Avenue in Itasca.
Judlau’s contract with the Tollway, and the penalty settlement, were first reported by the Tribune Saturday.
76. June 27, 2014
The former police officer charged in connection with two women’s bodies found in suitcases near Lake Geneva has admitted meeting both women online and killing them during their first meetings, according to a criminal complaint.
Steven M. Zelich, 52, has so far been charged with two felonies for hiding the women’s bodies in suitcases and tossing them along a highway during the first week of June. He has not been charged with homicide, despite his admissions, and is to make his first court appearance today, officials said.
75. June 26, 2014
Around 30 people showed up at a Clark County Park District Board meeting in May, hoping to openly speak about recent park-related controversies. After most sat through a two and a half hour closed session, the board returned to open session only to inform the crowd that they would not be allowed to speak to board members.
That’s when John Kraft, a member of a local watchdog group, sprang into action. Rising to his feet, Kraft informed the entire board that he was placing them under citizen’s arrest for violating theIllinois Open Meetings Act; specifically the provision that ensures the public can address their elected representatives at an official meeting.
“It was the way they said ‘no’,” that led him to take the unusual police action, said Kraft, adding that the board again refused to entertain public comments even after he explained they were in violation of the law.
74. June 26, 2014
New questions are being raised about the admission of a Republican governor candidate’s daughter into an elite Chicago public school.
One of Bruce Rauner’s six children was initially rejected in 2008 to Walter Payton College Prep. Rauner says she had top-notch grades, but didn’t meet an attendance requirement because of illness. She later got in. The Rauner Family Foundation later gave $250,000 to a school initiative.
73. June 26, 2014
A federal judge this week blasted Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office, saying correctional officers’ “deliberate indifference” led to the sexual assault of a 16-year-old defendant mistakenly housed with adult inmates in 2008.
Even though the youth told sheriff’s personnel at least five times that he was under 17 — and therefore should have been in a juvenile lockup — he remained in the Cook County Jail for three days, U.S. District Court Judge Amy St. Eve wrote this week.
“Under the circumstances, the sheriff’s officers’ deliberate indifference led directly to the predictable consequence that the adult detainees physically harmed and raped the plaintiff,” St. Eve. wrote in a ruling rejecting the sheriff’s office’s attempts to have a lawsuit in the case thrown out.
72. June 25, 2014
The easiest thing to do with the Jaime Hauad case would be to quietly sweep it under the rug.
After all, Hauad was convicted 15 years ago of killing two Maniac Latin Disciples outside an Avondale bar and sentenced to life without parole. A witness and a surviving victim picked out Hauad in a photo lineup as someone they saw at the murder scene. The reliability of his memory has been questioned because in 2012 he forgot he had testified at 1998 hearing on a motion to suppress.
And yet, last week the Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission came to a disturbing conclusion: There’s strong evidence that police tortured Hauad while he was in custody and some evidence that he may be entirely innocent.
But there’s an unfortunate catch. No matter how much the commission’s members worry Hauad’s case might be a miscarriage of justice, they can’t do anything about it. As interpreted by judicial rulings, the commission is charged with investigating only claims of torture by former Chicago Police Cmdr. Jon Burge and detectives who worked under him. In this case, one of the cops who Hauad said beat him was Joseph Miedzianowksi, who went on to be labeled the most corrupt cop in Chicago history and who is serving a life sentence. The commission has no authority to investigate claims of torture by Miedzianowksi.
71. June 25, 2014
Between 2008 and 2010, Letke and his firms made $1.627 million to serve as Harvey’s comptroller, to do bookkeeping and to give financial advice, authorities said.
But that’s not all. Now Letke is accused of pocketing another $269,000 in “undisclosed payments” from the developer of a Holiday Inn Hotel in the south suburb. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission slapped Letke — and the City of Harvey itself — with fraud charges in a complaint announced Wednesday.
Letke, 55, of Frankfort, and the city used at least $1.7 million in bond proceeds from the hotel project to improperly pay for the basic costs of running the city like making payroll, according to the SEC.
Others appear to have profited from the alleged scheme, as well. For example, the SEC said $100,000 in bond-related cash made its way in 2009 to an unidentified woman who “had no apparent connection” to the hotel project. It allegedly did so with help from Letke and “another Harvey official.”
70. June 25, 2014
Thousands of state anti-violence grant dollars from Gov. Pat Quinn’s scandal-tainted Neighborhood Recovery Initiative went to a south suburban nonprofit to help re-integrate freed teen and young adult prison inmates back into society.
It was a noble idea except for one thing.
The nonprofit that the state paid with anti-violence grant money to handle re-entry services in Thornton Township actually was operating out of a day care center in south suburban Dixmoor.
On top of that, it was later learned, there was really no re-entry program at all — nor any proof that the organization, Project Hope, Inc., did anything for the $15,770 it received from Quinn’s administration to perform re-entry services, state records show.
69. June 25, 2014
As attorneys on Wednesday hailed a record settlement for the so-called Dixmoor Five, one of the wrongfully convicted men was checking out a brick house on a spacious lot in one of Chicago’s southernmost suburbs.
Robert Taylor liked the big garage, trees and safe feel to the neighborhood for his family, including his 2-year-old son.
Taylor, 36, isn’t sure of how big his share of the $40 million settlement with the Illinois State Police will be, but he has no doubt it will change his life.
“Frankly, you know, the money that’s being paid out is almost beside the point,” said Peter Neufeld, a New York City attorney and co-director of the Innocence Project who is representing Jonathan Barr, one of the Dixmoor Five. “What you have here in Cook County is an epidemic. An epidemic of false confessions of juveniles, primarily people of color.”
The five were teens when they were arrested for the November 1991 murder of Cateresa Matthews and were given lengthy prison sentences.
68. June 24, 2014
You might call it a truly stinky clout list, one that provides a much nicer perk than a mere free garbage cart.
In a town where lots of people gets lots of favors at the public’s expense, thousands of nonprofit groups and small apartment buildings improperly have been getting free city garbage service in the past decade, costing taxpayers more than $6.5 million a year, Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson charged today.
A report released by the inspector general found that the city’s Department of Streets and Sanitation provided free garbage pickup to at least 1,393 properties, many of them owned by churches, schools and other charities, and at least a few occupied by aldermanic ward offices. No law authorizes the free service, Mr. Ferguson said in his report.
67. June 24, 2014
On Tuesday, the City Council’s Finance Committee approved the settlement to Brian Baker and his full guardian without a word of explanation or debate. That sets the stage for final sign-off by the full Council on Wednesday.
The accident that forever altered Baker’s life occurred at 1:45 a.m. on June 9, 2009 at the corner of Damen and Waubansia.
Baker, who had just graduated from Columbia College with a degree in sports marketing, was riding his bike after a night out drinking when he collided with the barricade set up to mark a collapsed sewer catch basin.
First Deputy Corporation Counsel Leslie Darling said there were a “number of issues that left the city exposed” to damages. “The barricade’s light was not functional. The barricade was actually in the hole, instead of in front it [where] a bicyclist would be able to see and react to it,” Darling said.
“The city had two months notice of the condition and had scheduled repairs, but there was concern that a jury could find the city had not taken enough precaution to ensure public safety.”
66. June 24, 2014
A legislative panel on Monday voted to issue a series of subpoenas to Gov. Pat Quinn’s inner circle — including his onetime chief of staff and two cabinet members — as an inquiry into a derelict anti-violence program that he launched broadens.
A subcommittee of the Legislative Audit Commission took two votes, both 4-0, in favor of sending subpoenas to a total of seven top-tier Quinn administration associates. Those subpoenas order their testimony in the midst of a high stakes, highly volatile re-election campaign.
It was the first time in 33 years that the commission exercised its subpoena powers, lawmakers said.
Though any reader of our Corruption Watch series would suggest differently, a federal judge decided that Chicago city-worker hiring needs less, not more, supervision. On June 16, a federal judge ended a nine-year run of federal oversight of Chicago municipal hiring; oversight which was originally prompted after decades of “clout” hiring in the city.
As if on cue, over at the Illinois Department of Transportation, or IDOT, Secretary Ann Schneider is under scrutiny for potentially illegal patronage hiring involving her stepdaughter, Ashley Carpenter.
Carpenter was hired in 2006 when Schneider was IDOT’s director of finance and promoted to a full-time “staff assistant” in 2007. Carpenter said she never applied or interviewed for the full-time position, and Freedom of Information Act documents acquired by the Better Government Association reveal she was hired using the “Rutan-exempt” process, which allows subjective factors such as politics to be considered in hiring.
So while the federal government is removing itself from overseeing patronage hiring in Chicago, the practice seems to persist around the state. In fact, it’s getting worse. Old habits die hard.
With that, Illinois Policy has rounded up corruption stories from around the state for this week. From the aforementioned patronage hiring to political insiders receiving multimillion-dollar contracts to promote the Affordable Care Act, we’ve tracked 66 corruption-related stories in June alone.
66. June 23, 2014
Chicago’s Navy Pier — touted as the biggest tourist attraction in Illinois — has long been a patronage haven where political insiders turned for jobs and lucrative deals to sell everything from expensive meals to gumballs.
Who was cashing in used to be a matter of public record. It no longer is, since the state of Illinois and City Hall turned over operation of the government-owned pier to a private, not-for-profit group three years ago for $1-a-year rent.
Navy Pier Inc. doesn’t have to explain how it’s spending $115 million in government bonds that were sold to pay for a face-lift for the 98-year-old pier, either.
Despite Reilly’s assertion, former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s handprints are all over Navy Pier Inc. Documents NPI filed with the Internal Revenue Service show the not-or-profit has four employees making higher pay than Gov. Pat Quinn, who appoints half the members of the McPier board.
65. June 21, 2014
The state spent almost half a million dollars on a flawed study of Gov. Pat Quinn’s now-defunct anti-violence program – the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative – after officials rejected a more rigorous evaluation that would have been free, auditors say.
The $498,351 study by the University of Illinois at Chicago didn’t even examine whether the program helped reduce violence, according to Auditor General William Holland’s office.
State Rep. David Reis, R-Willow Hill, said the study leaves taxpayers in the dark about whether the $54.5 million program made an impact in some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the Chicago area.
64. June 21, 2014
The Illinois Tollway is poised to award a hefty construction contract to a New York-based firm that admitted committing fraud in connection with minority hiring for a tunnel project in that city, the Tribune has learned.
Judlau Contracting Inc.’s $64 million bid was the lowest of four received by the Tollway for construction of new interchange ramps at Interstate 290 and Thorndale Avenue in Itasca.
The interchange is the biggest chunk of work so far in the Tollway’s $3.4 billion reconstruction and widening of the Elgin-O’Hare Expressway, which will be converted into a toll road. Final approval of the Judlau deal is on the agenda when the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority board meets Thursday.
63. June 20, 2014
The City Council’s handpicked inspector general is appealing for more money, manpower and authority with an assist from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s revamped Board of Ethics.
In a letter to aldermen attached to Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan’s semi-annual report, Board of Ethics Chairman Stephen W. Beard warns that, unless the City Council moves immediately to close a legislative loophole, “Chicago will head into a municipal election year with no oversight of contributions made to aldermen or their challengers.”
62. June 20, 2014
A former head of the Illinois Board of Higher Education racked up $6,500 in extra car rental fees and walked away from his post with $32,000 beyond his contract and a “misleading” news release on his departure, according to reports released Friday by the state’s Executive Inspector General Ricardo Meza.
George W. Reid was forced to resign from the board in 2012 for misusing his state-owned vehicle, among other things, but the board sent out a news release indicating he had stepped down for personal reasons.
The board had hired Reid for $193,000 a year, knowing he’d had his contract voided from Kentucky State University after he used university money there to pay for personal items, including a trailer hitch for his boat and a cat scratching post.
61. June 20, 2014
A just-released investigation by Illinois’ Inspector General’s office found that the former head of the state board of higher education abused public resources and wasted state funds, among other findings.
When the State Board of Higher Education announced in 2012 Dr. George Reid was stepping down as its director after only 18 months, a press release stated that it was for “personal reasons.” Reid supposedly wanted more time with his family.
In fact, the Office of Executive Inspector General found that he had been forced to resign, or face getting fired.
60. June 20, 2014
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel has taken more than $59,000 in campaign donations from restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You, Enterprises (LEYE), reports the Chicago Tribune, and then helped LEYE land a deal inside Chicago’s O’Hare airport. In March, Obama’s former Chief of Staff attended a fundraiser hosted at a restaurant owned by Lettuce Entertain You and he received around $26,000 from the restaurant group’s founder Richard Melman and Melman’s family. The donations were given in five $5,300 parts because that is the maximum an individual can give under the state law. The other donations to the mayor’s re-election fund were given by “people and restaurants tied to Lettuce Entertain You.”
A week after receiving the donations from LEYE, Emanuel attended a re-opening ceremony for the terminal at Chicago’s O’Hare airport which features many restaurants from LEYE.
59. June 20, 2014
A lobbying firm with close ties to a key subcontractor hired to promote the nation’s health care law in Illinois is hosting a fundraiser for one of Gov. Pat Quinn’s top political donors, raising questions about “pay to play” politics amid the state’s highly competitive governor’s race.
The Roosevelt Group is hosting a breakfast fundraiser Tuesday for the Democratic Governors Association “honoring Pat Quinn,” according to an invitation sent out last week that lists suggested sponsorship levels of between $20,000 and $2,500. The Democratic Governors Association formed a political action committee last fall to support Quinn’s re-election and has contributed $260,000 to it so far this year. In 2010, the group gave about $1.8 million to Quinn — making it the Chicago Democrat’s second-biggest donor, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics.
Roosevelt Group was co-founded by its two partners, Mike Noonan and Victor Reyes. A third person, Maze Jackson, is a lobbyist for the company. The three own Compass Public Affairs, a political strategy consulting firm that has a $250,000 state subcontract for the “Get Covered Illinois” marketing campaign. The contract, which paid Compass at a rate of $282 per hour, may be renewed when it ends in August.
58. June 20, 2014
Penny Adams, 58, a former Macon County correctional officer, is facing up to 30 years in prison after she was arraigned Tuesday on two felony counts for allegedly giving a cellphone to a jail inmate.
Adams, a 25-year jail employee, was arrested May 16, after investigators discovered that she had been involved in a personal relationship with Willie B. Franklin Jr., 38, of Urbana, who was in federal custody on bank robbery charges. Adams resigned from her jail position the day she was arrested.
She is charged with unauthorized delivery of contraband in a penal institution by an employee, a Class X felony punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison.
57. June 19, 2014
Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on June 18, 2014, Irma Jones, 67, of Centreville, Illinois, after a three day jury trial in the United States District Court in East St. Louis, was convicted by jury after less than one hour deliberation on all three counts of an indictment charging that she engaged in a scheme to defraud the Medicaid program. The three counts included health care fraud, making false statements in connection with a healthcare benefit program, and lying to investigating agents when confronted with her scam. Sentencing in this case is set for October 10, 2014. The charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and up to 3 years of supervised release.
Evidence in Court showed that Jones was a Medicaid beneficiary and that she submitted false claims for Medicaid home health care services claiming that her daughter, who Jones falsely represented was her niece, provided services that were never performed. When investigators from the Illinois State Police, investigating federal charges, questioned Jones about the false billing, Jones lied to investigators.
56. June 19, 2014
In April, Mayor Rahm Emanuel stood in the newly remodeled Terminal 5 at O’Hare International Airport, unveiling the sparkling gateway as the newest evidence of Chicago’s global status.
The project developer predicted international fliers would generate big sales at the new shops and restaurants, thanks in part to the airport debut of famed local restaurant group Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises and its popular Chicago brands, including Wow Bao, Big Bowl and R.J. Grunts Burger and Fries.
Just a month earlier, Emanuel himself was at a Lettuce Entertain You restaurant, records show, for a political fundraiser that earned him more than $26,000 from restaurant founder Richard Melman and his family. The money from the event at Joe’s Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab was part of more than $59,000 donated to the mayor’s re-election fund in March by people and restaurants tied to Lettuce Entertain You.
55. June 19, 2014
A judge set bail at $150,000 Thursday for a former Oak Park public school employee who was charged with stealing 47 iPad minis and other equipment that was intended to be used by students with special needs, according to district officials and authorities.
Markeita L. Beecher-Martin, 25, of Radcliff, Ky., surrendered to Oak Park police on Wednesday after a 10-month investigation by the police department, according to Oak Park Police Commander LaDon Reynolds. She was charged with theft, Reynolds said.
He said the police investigation found that Beecher-Martin was selling the computers on Craigslist.
54. June 19, 2014
A former 12th Ward worker is suing the city and Ald. George Cardenas (12th), alleging she was unjustly terminated in May after she answered FBI questions about “illegal hiring practices and other illegal operations” in Cardenas’ office.
Maria Chavez, who worked in the 12th Ward Public Service Office from May 3, 2003 until May 2, 2014, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Cook County Circuit Court, alleging, among other things, that the city and Cardenas violated the Illinois Whistleblower Act.
The lawsuit claims the city’s Inspector General initially received complaints that Cardenas was using city property and city employees to gather voters’ signatures and notarize petition sheets for his 2012 reelection.
53. June 19, 2014
Federal officials released incorrect and incomplete information about how new O’Hare International Airport flight paths would affect residents during a legally required period of public comment, the Chicago Sun-Times has found.
Nearly three-quarters of the figures in one key table — on the now-contentious issue of what percentage of traffic each runway will carry — were quietly changed online months after public hearings ended, the Sun-Times discovered.
Some changes doubled, tripled and even quadrupled the percentage of flights the runways were predicted to direct over Bensenville, Wood Dale, the city’s 41st Ward and Schiller Park by the time the $8 billion O’Hare Modernization Program is completed.
In addition, the Sun-Times found that the Federal Aviation Administration had the figures to calculate the actual number of flights each runway would carry but never produced those numbers at the legally required public hearings in 2005 on its draft environmental impact study of the project.
52. June 18, 2014
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s former comptroller, Amer Ahmad, has admitted in court in Pakistan that he forged documents to flee overseas.
But he will not be getting a slap on the wrist anytime soon for making a fake Pakistani National Identity Card and birth certificate, an official in the South Asian country said.
Ahmad, who fled to his parents’ homeland this spring, had his bail application for the crimes rejected by a judge in Lahore this week, according to Usman Anwar, the Punjab region director for the Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan’s version of the FBI
51. June 18, 2014
Robert Delaney, whose tearful resignation a year ago as St. Clair County clerk followed allegations by female employees of repeated sexual harassment, was investigated in May after a bartender complained he grabbed her and tried to kiss her.
Delaney denies the woman’s allegation. And no charges will be filed because of a “lack of witnesses and evidence and conflicting statements,” according to a police report.
The 55-year-old, longtime Democrat was accused May 3 by a female employee of Knights of Columbus Council 592’s clubroom hall on Old Collinsville Road. The call to the O’Fallon Police Department came in just after noon as a complaint of “sexual assault” but was investigated as disorderly conduct.
In May, the county agreed to pay five female employees various portions of $665,000 as part of an agreement that none would sue the county over allegations that Delaney sexually harassed them by kissing them, touching them inappropriately or suggesting sexual relations. He also was accused of using language derogatory toward women and racially discriminating against minority employees.
50. June 17, 2014
Illinois lawmakers will decide Monday whether to subpoena a former official in Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration to answer questions about the Democrat’s anti-violence program.
Bloomington Republican Sen. Jason Barickman is co-chairman of the Legislative Audit Commission and a member of the subcommittee that will meet Monday. He says the panel will vote on whether to compel Barbara Shaw to answer questions about the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative.
49. June 16, 2014
Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider said in April she knew nothing about potentially illegal patronage hiring at the state agency she runs.
Now, Schneider is refusing to discuss how her stepdaughter secured a job and promotion at the Illinois Department of Transportation – and whether the proper personnel procedures were followed.
Schneider was appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn in 2011 to run the state agency, which maintains thousands of miles of roads across the state, and helps promote and regulate rail travel and airports in Illinois.
48. June 16, 2014
As an investigation into the Cook County Adult Probation Department ordered by the county’s chief judge begins, a focus will be the department’s little-known and controversial partnerships with the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
Joseph Gagliardo, whose Laner Muchin Ltd. law firm will conduct the investigation, said his team will look into allegations that the probation department has improperly partnered with those agencies and others on searches of homes.
“We are going to look at what’s going on in terms of these other law enforcement agencies,” Gagliardo said. “I don’t know if these instances are isolated or are they common practice.”
Chief Judge Timothy Evans, who oversees the court’s probation department, hired the law firm in May after a Tribune investigation found that probation officers for years have brought the FBI and others into probationers’ homes without warrants, looking for guns, drugs and information on gangs and crime, and leading to questionable and illegal searches.
47. June 16, 2014
In the wrestling business, when a grappler can’t take it anymore, they tap their hand on the mat as a signal of submission that they want to quit the match. On Monday, “tapping out” is just what a tag team of Orland Park public works employees has done.
Two employees have resigned two weeks after the I-Team found them working on the pro-wrestling circuit while on disability from their government jobs.
Since November, Dan Slewoski had been on paid medical leave from his $69,000-a-year job in the Village of Orland Park. And since February, his partner Frank Rollins Jr. had been on disability from the suburban village.
Rollins’ wrestling videos were shot with village equipment and are still on the Internet, but Rollins said “stroke-like conditions” prevented him from going to work with the public works department.
46. June 16, 2014
Illinois Transportation Secretary Ann Schneider said in April she knew nothing about potentially illegal patronage hiring at the state agency she runs.
Now, Schneider is refusing to discuss how her stepdaughter secured a job and promotion at the Illinois Department of Transportation — and whether the proper personnel procedures were followed.
Schneider was appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn in 2011 to run the state agency, which maintains thousands of miles of roads across the state and helps promote and regulate rail travel and airports in Illinois.
45. June 15, 2014
When Mesirow Financial Services — a Chicago company that manages millions of dollars in pension funds for the state of Illinois — and its partners wanted to fight the property taxes on their new skyscraper, they called the law offices of Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.
Madigan’s law firm saved the Mesirow group more than $1.7 million in real estate taxes by persuading Cook County officials to slash the value of the River North building by 60 percent soon after it opened nearly five years ago.
Mesirow no longer owns the building at 353 N. Clark that still serves as its headquarters. But the law firm of Madigan & Getzendanner has continued to save Mesirow money by getting the tax bills lowered for the building’s owner.
44. June 15, 2014
Federal investigators are gathering records across the suburbs regarding a municipal accountant at the center of a botched deal that cost taxpayers $10 million, the Tribune has learned.
According to interviews and records obtained by the newspaper, the U.S. attorney’s office ordered the suburbs of Riverdale, Dolton and Robbins to turn over contracts and payment records involving accountant Joseph Letke, a longtime, go-to financial adviser for several south suburbs. A letter accompanying one subpoena, delivered by an FBI agent, termed the request part of an “official criminal investigation.”
All three suburbs said they are cooperating. The FBI and U.S. attorney’s office declined comment. An email and a phone message left for Letke at one of his firms, Alli Financial, were not returned.
43. June 13, 2014
Michael Todd Norrington, 40, of Carterville, is accused of taking several photographs “under or through the clothing” of a 14-year-old child.
Norrington is the Carterville High School band director.
He was arrested Wednesday, charged with unauthorized video recording and is in custody pending a first appearance at 1:30 p.m. today in Jackson County court.
The alleged offenses occurred Tuesday in Jackson County. The class 3 felony carries a maximum penalty of 3 to 7 years in prison.
42. June 13, 2014
U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk said today he would notify federal investigators of what he called the first well-documented case of fraud at Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital.
At a press conference, Kirk introduced Michael Swan and said records from the VA hospital appeared to show that wait times for the Army veteran had been falsified.
“My worry is that this is part of the systemic culture of corruption inside the Hines VA,” Kirk told reporters. “I will be referring Michael’s details to the U.S. Attorney for possible inclusion in the ongoing Department of Justice investigation of the VA.”
41. June 13, 2014
An employee of the Franklin County Circuit Clerk’s Office has been arrested, State’s Attorney Evan Owens announced Friday.
Kendra Eickelman, 46, is charged with official misconduct and theft.
“On June 12, 2014 at 4:34 p.m., the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s Office was notified by Franklin County Sheriff Don Jones that Kendra Eickelman, an employee at the Franklin County Circuit Clerk’s Office, had resigned and in the process of resigning, had told a fellow employee that “she had taken money…” while employed by Franklin County government,” Owens said.
Eickelman, a three-year employee in the office, was arrested this morning and is in the custody of the sheriff.
40. June 13, 2014
The former No. 2 person in Secretary of State Jesse White’s securities-regulation unit has agreed to plead guilty to federal health-fraud charges.
Marlene Liss, the former $75,000-a-year deputy director of the Office of Securities, signed a plea deal with federal prosecutors in Springfield saying she will confess to being part of a scheme in which she billed the Medicaid program for work as a home-health aide for hours when she was on Mr. White’s clock.
The matter falls under federal jurisdiction because Medicaid is partially funded by the federal government.
39. June 13, 2014
Get Covered Illinois has been hit by two scandals in as many days.
A recent Associated Press investigation into a $33 million federal grant to promote ObamaCare in Illinois revealed that “More than 90 people, including executives from the firm and its subcontractors, billed at least $270 an hour for salary and overhead during the first four months.” Not only do these hourly wage rates for public relations professionals seem excessive, but Illinois spent more on TV marketing and promotion than any other large state, according to the investigation.
On the heels of that story, Crain’s reported that a key subcontractor owned by three top Democrat strategists with close ties to Gov. Pat Quinn, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, Attorney General Lisa Madigan and former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley were not only billing at $282 per hour, but were authorized to take direction directly from the Governor’s office under a special provision of its contract.
38. June 13, 2014
Another former student in Freeburg has filed suit, claiming he was sexually abused by the schools superintendent who later killed himself.
This is the fifth student to make such claims.
The school district already has paid $5.6 million to settle several other lawsuits by former elementary students who claimed then-Superintendent Robin Hawkins molested them. As part of the settlements, the district denies any wrongdoing.
Hawkins killed himself in 2009 as police investigated claims of another male student.
In the latest suit, filed Wednesday in federal court in East St. Louis, a man identifying himself only as John Doe 4 alleges he was sexually abused at the Carl L. Barton Elementary School by Hawkins. The alleged abuse happened on school property from the spring of 2008 to the spring of 2009, when Doe was in the seventh and eighth grades.
37. June 12, 2014
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn received a robust re-election endorsement this week from dozens of Chicago area ministers, including at least two whose religious organizations got money from a much-criticized state anti-violence grant program.
Apostle Carl White spoke highly of Quinn during the endorsement session at a Hyde Park hotel meeting room. What went unsaid: a state audit found that a lead agency in the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative anti-violence program paid $1,000 for a golf outing put on by White’s Victory Christian International Ministries in April 2011.
36. June 12, 2014
A former top aide to Ald. Howard Brookins pleaded not guilty today to federal bribery and extortion charges.
Curtis V. Thompson Jr. was charged in March with accepting a $7,500 cash bribe from a undercover operative posing as a real estate developer seeking a liquor license for a convenience store in the 21st Ward.
Thompson was Brookins’ chief of staff at the time of the alleged payoff last December.
Brookins was not charged and has denied any wrongdoing.
35. June 11, 2014
Young job seekers in Chicago’s south suburbs stood to benefit from almost a half-million dollars awarded by Gov. Pat Quinn’s now-defunct anti-violence grant program that’s under investigation.
But some of that money went to a local government official with ties to Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli, a south suburban power broker and political supporter of Quinn, the Better Government Association found.
A nonprofit affiliated with Zuccarelli received the big grant from Quinn’s Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI) with funds earmarked for mentoring and youth employment programs.
Also benefitting was another organization run by Thornton Township Youth Director Jerry Weems, a Zuccarelli underling and campaign contributor. Weems’ organization was paid almost $10,000 with NRI funds and Weems himself was paid additional salary with state grant money.
34. June 10, 2014
The FBI and two other federal agencies conducted raids in Illinois and two other states at charter schools run by Des Plaines-based Concept Schools, FBI officials said Tuesday.
Search warrants were executed at 19 Concept schools in connection with an “ongoing white-collar crime matter,” said Vicki Anderson, a special agent in the Cleveland FBI office that’s leading the probe.
The U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission also were involved in the June 4 raids, but officials said the warrants remain under seal, and they wouldn’t give any details about the investigation.
If our seemingly endless stream of corruption news wasn’t enough to convince you that Illinois has a serious problem, the numbers are in. Illinois is the fourth-most corrupt state in the country, according to a recent study.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Hong Kong and Indiana University, estimates that corruption on the state level cost Americans in the 10 most corrupt states an average of $1,308 per capita over the 12-year period of 1997-2008.
To frame that data another way, the cost of corruption accounts for 5.2 percent of those states’ average expenditures over that time frame. That’s more than five cents from every public dollar that could have funded essential state services but instead went to lining the pockets of criminals.
Not surprisingly, Illinois is one of those 10-worst states – coming in fourth on the corruption list – preceded only by Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee, using data from 1976-2008. Another study from the University of Illinois at Chicago, which includes an additional two years of data, ranksIllinois as the third-most corrupt state.
“The results of this article suggest that preventing public officials’ corruption and restraining spending induced by public corruption should accompany other efforts at fiscal constraint,” the study’s authors write. Amid talks of pension reform, minimum wage hikes and slashing social services, this study highlights the importance of addressing corruption.
Not only is it an abuse of power and voter trust, corruption is estimated to cost Illinois taxpayers a total of $1.4 billion per year.
So far this month, we’ve tracked 33 corruption stories from around the state; from more VA corruption, to a state senator facing accusations of not living in his home district, to a state representative being convicted of accepting bribes.
33. June 12, 2014
The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against Peoria’s mayor and police chief alleging they violated free speech rights with a raid on the home of a man who created a parody Twitter account in the mayor’s name.
The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Peoria, seeks monetary damages on behalf of 29-year-old Jonathan Daniel.
Daniel set up the account in March. It included Mayor Jim Ardis’ photo, and in crude language, the tweets talked about sex and drugs. As part of the investigation, police officers raided a home and seized computers and phones.
Three people at the home were brought to a police station to be interviewed, as were two other people who were met by police at their workplaces.
32. June 12, 2014
Allegations in a federal lawsuit that crippled the gubernatorial campaign of Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford intensified on Thursday as an ex-worker broadened his claims to include the Mitt Romney for President campaign.
The sexual harassment and political intimidation lawsuit filed by Ed Michalowski, also contends that Rutherford maintained a “clout list” of interns, which allegedly included the names of politicians sponsoring the internship.
“We have no comment right now,” said Rutherford spokeswoman Mary Frances Bragiel.
The Romney allegations are that Rutherford, as Illinois chair of the Republican presidential candidate’s 2012 failed campaign, obligated state employees to work on the campaign or be retaliated against.
31. June 11, 2014
The $47,479 parting gift that former McHenry County Public Health Administrator Patrick McNulty received raised the blood pressure of a County Board committee.
McNulty, who retired at the end of May after 35 years with the McHenry County Department of Health, cashed in about 80 days of unused vacation time, or about four years’ worth, given the rate at which he accumulated it, according to records. While county government in 2006 significantly curtailed how much vacation time employees can carry over, the Board of Health at the time granted McNulty an exemption.
The fact that McNulty’s case is unique, and that allegations of other health department executives having similar deals turned out to be unfounded, was not much of a consolation to the County Board Public Health and Human Services Committee. Member Paula Yensen, who addressed the issue at Wednesday’s meeting after learning of it, said taxpayers gave him “a very nice going-away present.”
30. June 11, 2014
Two former CTA bus drivers are accused of submitting fake death certificates and stealing the identities of former co-workers in an attempt to take thousands of dollars in CTA retirement funds, the Attorney General’s office announced Wednesday.
Donella Anderson Watkins, 41, of Lansing, was charged with wire fraud, identity theft and continuing a financial crimes enterprise. Her husband, Sammie Watkins, 55, of Lansing, was charged with wire fraud and attempted identity theft, according to a release from Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.
The couple appeared Wednesday in Cook County Criminal Court, officials said. Both were bus drivers, according to salary information posted on the CTA’s website. The couple was fired from the CTA in July 2013, a CTA spokeswoman said.
29. June 11, 2014
Young job seekers in Chicago’s south suburbs stood to benefit from almost half a million dollars awarded by Gov. Pat Quinn’s now-defunct anti-violence grant program that’s under investigation.
But some of that money went to a local government official with ties to Thornton Township Supervisor Frank Zuccarelli, who is a south suburban power broker known for turning out the vote and a political supporter of Quinn, the Better Government Association has found.
Thornton Township Youth Director Jerry Weems, a Zuccarelli underling and campaign contributor, got part of his salary paid with state grant money; got nearly $10,000 for his own nonprofit; and even more money — $3,600 — for a company owned by his sister-in-law.
28. June 11, 2014
The FBI and two other federal agencies conducted raids in Illinois and two other states at charter schools run by Des Plaines-based Concept Schools, FBI officials said Tuesday.
Search warrants were executed at 19 Concept schools in connection with an “ongoing white-collar crime matter,” said Vicki Anderson, a special agent in the Cleveland FBI office that’s leading the probe.
The U.S. Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission also were involved in the June 4 raids, but officials said the warrants remain under seal, and they wouldn’t give any details about the investigation.
The raids targeted Concept schools in Illinois — where Concept has three schools in Chicago and one in Peoria — as well as in Indiana and Ohio.
27. June 10, 2014
State Rep. Derrick Smith was convicted today of pocketing $7,000 in a cash bribe in the days before he won the Democratic primary in 2012.
Jurors deliberated about four hours over two days before finding Smith guilty shortly before noon.
Under state law, Smith automatically loses his legislative seat with his conviction on felony counts of bribery and extortion. He was a lame duck legislator anyway since he lost the Democratic primary earlier this year.
Smith, 50, a longtime West Side political operative, becomes the latest in a long line of Illinois public officials caught trying to use his position to line his pockets.
He took what he thought was a kickback in exchange for writing a letter of support for a day care operator in his district to obtain a lucrative state grant, but it was ruse concocted as part of an FBI undercover investigation.
26. June 11, 2014
State Sen. Napoleon Harris owns a house befitting a former NFL linebacker and successful businessman: a $400,000 residence in an upscale subdivision in south suburban Flossmoor.
But Harris says he lives and votes from 10 miles away in blighted Harvey, residing in a townhouse on the pothole-pitted stretch of road that runs behind a strip mall that houses his district office and one of his Beggar’s Pizza franchises.
The two locations are strikingly different for a less obvious reason: The Flossmoor house sits outside the district Harris represents, while the Harvey town house is inside it. The Illinois Constitution requires that state lawmakers live in the districts they serve.
While no one has formally challenged Harris’ residency, records for each of his addresses, and his ambiguous responses to inquiries about who lives at them, leave room for doubt about where he resides.
Harris, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary this spring and has no opponent in the November election, seems all but certain to return to Springfield for his second term representing the 15th Senate District.
25.  June 10, 2014
A former Bloomington police officer’s refusal to answer a question during a trial was cited as the reason prosecutors on Tuesday dropped all charges against the defendant.
On the stand, VanHoveln asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when asked if reports in Drews’ case were forged.
VanHoveln’s lawyer, Stephanie Wong, said he did not respond because the question called for a legal conclusion. Charges against VanHoveln relate to 11 tickets allegedly forged in January and February 2014.
24.  June 9, 2014
An Illinois lawmaker placed his own welfare above his constituents by taking a $7,000 bribe from a day care operator seeking a state grant, a prosecutor said during closing arguments Monday.
An attorney for Rep. Derrick Smith, however, told jurors a campaign worker-turned-informant hoodwinked the Chicago Democrat to justify cooperation payments from his FBI handlers.
“He wasn’t going to commit a crime,” Victor Henderson said about his client. “That was something they fabricated.”
Prosecutor Marsha McClellan pooh-poohed the notion the 50-year-old was led astray against his will.
“There sits a defendant whose public face is one of service, but who privately wanted to use that office … to get cash into his pockets,” she said.
23. June 9, 2014
If Samuel V. Jones wasn’t a law professor, he might have put away his pen and pad when a deputy in Cook County Circuit Judge Laura Sullivan’s courtroom told him, “There is no note-taking in here.”
Instead, Jones ended up giving court officials a refresher course in the First Amendment.
He asked whether he had broken the law or disturbed anyone. He questioned deputies’ authority to confiscate his notes. They had no good answers. After detaining him for 30 minutes, they let him go, notes and all.
So he sat down and wrote about it. In a May 16 essay in the Tribune, Jones described his experience: He was ordered to sit on a bench, surrounded by officers, and told not to write or move. He also described the “abusive conduct” of deputies toward members of the public who were there to witness bond hearings.
It was a poor reflection on the judge and her courtroom, which is precisely the point.
22. June 9, 2014
A week after Curie High School won the city basketball championship, a Chicago Public Schools investigation revealed that seven Curie basketball players had been ineligible for the entire season because the correct paperwork hadn’t been filed.
The Sun-Times’ No. 1-ranked team was stripped of its city title and 24 victories for the season.
Now, a Sun-Times investigation has found that CPS officials can’t say for sure that basketball players at every school — including the top teams — were eligible. That’s because the school district is missing most of the paperwork required to show team and player eligibility, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request show. The district ignored initial requests for the data and later released it.
21. June 9, 2014
A college student who lost part of his leg after a car crashed because of black ice — allegedly caused by a water main leak — will receive a $5 million settlement from the City of Chicago, his attorneys said Monday.
Edwin Hill was waiting at a bus stop at Indiana Avenue and 95th Street on Nov. 20, 2008, when a Ford Mustang spun out on a patch of black ice and pinned him against a city light pole, according to a statement from the Corboy & Demetrio law firm, which represented Hill. The Chicago State University computer science student was heading to night classes at the time. His right leg had to be amputated above the knee because of the crash, his attorneys said.
The negligence lawsuit against the city claimed the ice came from a water main leak on 95th that had existed for months, but the city failed to repair in a timely manner.
Two business owners were ready to testify that the city received previous complaints about the leak, Hill’s attorneys said. The city denied it had written complaints about the leak.
20. June 9, 2014
A Peoria police officer is under investigation after a May 20 incidence in which he killed a pit bull after shooting the dog multiple times. Police went to the home of Terry L. Sally, eventually arresting her on charges of obstructing an officer, disorderly conduct and possession of drug paraphernalia. Her pit bull was shot multiple times after allegedly coming after one of the responding officers. The multiple gunshots and death of the dog has prompted an internal investigation as a group protested in front of the Peoria Police Department on Monday.
Sally has refuted the claim that the pit bull posed a threat to the officers, while Assistant Police Chief Jerry Mitchell reiterated that all Peoria officers receive annual firearms training, including addressing physical threats.
19. June 9, 2014
According to new audit figures, nearly 900 veterans have requested appointment at Illinois’ Veterans Administration hospitals in the past decade but not received them.
Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk says the audit is proof of a “toxic culture of corruption” throughout the department. Among the worst offenders is a VA hospital in Marion, to which 494 patients requested, but did not receive, an appointment.
18. June 7, 2014
Gov. Pat Quinn has asked a federal court to reject Michael Shakman’s challenge to state hiring, saying the Chicago anti-patronage attorney has no authority to raise questions and seeks resolution that would unnecessarily disrupt government and undermine gubernatorial authority.
The Democratic governor’s request, which blames the now-imprisoned ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich for any misconduct in hiring, was filed late Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago.
Shakman, author of a landmark 1972 court decree prohibiting political hiring in Cook County government, renewed his suit against Quinn in April. It claims the administration violated the Shakman decree and another that regulates state hiring by improperly considering politics in employment and promotion at the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Shakman wants an investigation completed and a “special master” appointed to monitor and ensure proper hiring at all agencies under the governor’s control, a move Quinn’s lawyers reject as superfluous and threatening to duties — in this case, hiring — entrusted to government officials.
17. June 7, 2014
Last week, the SEC accused UNO and its charter-school network of defrauding investors who bought $37.5 million in bonds in 2011. UNO officials failed to disclose to bond-holders that they had given grant-funded contracts worth millions of dollars to a company owned by a brother of Rangel’s top deputy, Miguel d’Escoto.
According to the SEC, that deal and contracts with another d’Escoto brother potentially threatened UNO’s ability to repay bond-holders, if the state had demanded the return of tens of millions of dollars already spent building new schools.
After the Chicago Sun-Times revealed the insider deals in February 2013, state officials ultimately froze the remaining $15 million from the $98 million grant but didn’t demand a refund. Rangel and d’Escoto were forced out.
16. June 7, 2014
New emails from prior to the 2010 gubernatorial election shed light on Gov. Pat Quinn’s much-maligned $54 million anti-violence program. The emails show that the administration attempted to move tax dollars into the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative in the weeks leading up to the November 2010 election, which Gov. Quinn eventually won by the narrowest of margins.
Emails from the former head of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, Barbara Shaw, expose her attempting to move money into the Neighborhood Recovery Initiative three weeks prior to the election. However, her efforts were cut short due to “insufficient funds” after the voucher request was made.
15. June 7, 2014
The Rock Island County state’s attorney has asked Illinois State Police to investigate allegations of pension fraud in the county.
John McGhee, adding that the investigation is “preliminary,” met with state police on June 6 to provide them with documents to review. He reviewed the documents before handing the case to the state police. He said Hoskins raised “questions as it relates to those pension accounts dealing with forest preserve commissioners.”
14. June 6, 2014
The City Council’s Progressive Caucus has asked for a public hearing into allegations the Chicago Police Department has exaggerated a drop in crime.
Police Supt. Garry McCarthy has said, despite widely reported shootings in the city, the overall homicide rate is the lowest it has been in decades.
Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd), a member of the council’s Progressive Caucus, wants a closer look at the numbers, and he and six members of the caucus have asked Ald. James Balcer (11th), who chairs the Public Safety Committee, to hold hearings into the city’s crime statistics.
“We want to find what the public view is of crime classification, and reporting practices of the Chicago Police Department, because there’s a lot of issues dealing with the integrity of what the public is being told,” Fioretti said.
13. June 6, 2014
The Federal Railroad Administration has launched a 45-day investigation into safety practices at the Metra commuter railroad system. While none of the three incidents resulted in an accident or injuries, each train engineer involved lost certification for 30 days.
“Three incidents serious enough to warrant decertification and in such a short period of time– warrant immediate action,” FRA Administrator Joseph Szabo said.
12. June 5, 2014
Attorney General Lisa Madigan today announced charges against a former Grundy County official for stealing $44,000 in county funds to spend on personal shopping trips, meals at restaurants and visits to hair and nail salons.
Renae Chronister, 45, of Morris, appeared today in Grundy County Criminal Court before Judge Robert Marsaglia to face one count of theft, a Class 1 felony, and one count of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony.
11. June 5, 2014
Fourteen people in Southern Illinois were charged today with defrauding the Medicaid home services program in Illinois by claiming money they were not owed.
U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton of the Southern District of Illinois announced the indictments today. As a result of ongoing investigations, both personal care assistants and Medicaid recipients were found to have committed fraud.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and up to 3 years of supervised release.
“Many of these individuals just don’t get it – they either don’t care or don’t believe me when I say we will continue to investigate and root out those defrauding the program,” said U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Wigginton in a statement.
10. June 5, 2014
An investigation into allegations that Naperville City Manager Doug Krieger made “racially offensive” comments was recently completed. While the finding verified that an off-color joke by Krieger was promptly investigated and Krieger completed harassment prevention and awareness training, another staff member is the subject of more serious assertions.
The unnamed staff member was taken off city payroll on May 2 and is accused of an array of sexually inappropriate behaviors in a three-page memo. The employees comments reportedly created an anxiety level that routinely caused coworkers to cry or vomit.
9. June 4, 2014
A former Des Plaines police commander accused of padding DUI arrest records to obtain federal grant money for the police department plead guilty to a lesser charge in federal court today.
Timothy Veit, 57, faces a maximum sentence of up to one year in prison after entering a guilty plea to a misdemeanor of violating Title 18 of the U.S. Code involving embezzlement and theft of public money.
The Mount Prospect resident initially was charged with one felony count of making false statements, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
8. June 4, 2014
In response to a video series about special education students filmed inside a Chicago Public School, a group of child advocates have asked the Illinois State Board of Education to investigate possible violations of the children’s privacy.
But the Local School Council chair who invited the filmmakers to Montefiore Special Elementary School, 1310 S. Ashland Ave., without the district’s consent said he wanted to show the need for more therapeutic services in the district and the benefits Montefiore can provide.
A long list of disability-rights advocates — including attorneys and members of Access Living, Equip for Equality and the Learning Disabilities Association of Illinois — asked the state board whether CPS or the school violated the rights of Montefiore students under the state’s Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. They allege episodes captured in the eight-part series by VICE Media, called “Last Chance High” and posted to YouTube starting in March, reveal problems with how some staff treat Montefiore’s 7th through 9th graders.
7. June 3, 2014
It has been a busy day in federal court.
Two state representatives, one current and one who quit, are fighting charges.
State Representative Derrick Smith was heard cussing quite a bit on undercover audio recordings, allegedly making arrangements to write a recommendation letter for a $7,000 bribe.
At one point, he calls himself unorthodox because he also wants to take care of his pals.
Then there was former State Representative Keith Farnham of Elgin pleading not guilty to child pornography charges, but his lawyer said later that could change.
6. June 3, 2014
The pile of 70 crisp $100 bills had been neatly stacked into bundles.
“One, two, three, four, five — damn, stuck together, six, seven,” the federal mole counted out loud, as he handed over an alleged $7,000 bribe to state Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago.
“You don’t want me to give you yours now?” Smith replied as they sat together in his parked car on a West Side street.
5. June 3, 2014
A federal judge in Ohio has ordered that $107,000 be seized from the bank accounts of former Chicago city comptroller Amer Ahmad, who was arrested in Pakistan last month after fleeing the country.
The money, held in two bank accounts controlled by Ahmad, will become part of the convicted former city official’s $3.2 million restitution, according to a ruling issued by U.S. District Judge Michael Watson. Investigators located the money, and a federal magistrate ordered it seized on May 1, days after Ahmad had been arrested in Pakistan.
Pakistani officials have said they arrested Ahmad at an airport in Lahore where they say he was trying to enter the country on a forged Mexican passport and forged Pakistani visa. Those offenses can carry up to seven years in prison in Pakistan, according to the country’s Federal Investigation Agency.
4. June 3, 2014
Metra has removed two engineers from duty after two recent incidents on the Rock Island Line in which passengers reported being alarmed when their trains suddenly tilted precariously, the commuter rail agency said Tuesday.
One passenger told the Tribune that riders “collectively gasped” as the train listed to the side and seemed on the verge of derailing.
“It was scary as hell,” said Paul Bedell, 53, a longtime commuter from Tinley Park. “There was a gradual tilt, to the point where we knew something was wrong.”
3. June 3, 2014
A federal judge has tossed out a sexual harassment lawsuit against Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford — but has given his accuser little more than a week to file a new lawsuit.
Lawyers for Edmund Michalowski, a former employee of the Treasurer’s office who says Rutherford made unwanted sexual advances, described the judge’s ruling as “merely procedural in nature” and said they would file a new complaint before the deadline.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow gave Michalowski until June 12 to re-file.
2. June 1, 2014
Costello isn’t suspected of breaking the law. There is nothing prohibiting a former U.S.Congressman from working as a paid lobbyist. Costello made a good point in the story by explaining that his knowledge and experience have value to his clients, including those he helped while in Congress.
It wasn’t surprising to learn one of his clients was Boeing, which is paying him $10,000 per month as a lobbyist for the aerospace giant. Costello led a group of Illinois congressman to challenge a decision by the U.S. Air Force to award a $35 billion contract for an aerial refueling tanker to a European company. Eventually the decision was reversed and the contract was awarded to Boeing in 2011, a decision Costello publicly praised.
It also wasn’t terribly surprising to learn Costello is part of a lobbying team being paid $25,000 per month to protect Scott Air Force Base from an impending wave of military base closings. He succeeded in past efforts to ensure the survival of Scott and has a deep and broad pool of knowledge about the air base. Scott is a major economic engine for all of Southern Illinois and the region’s business community is wise to protect the air base, wise to hire the best possible lobbyists.
1. June 1, 2014
The city inspector general’s office has settled a complaint by a former employee who alleges she was sexually harassed by a superior and fired for trying to organize a union at a watchdog agency that normally dishes out reprimands for bad behavior in other city departments.
The city Law Department agreed to pay former inspector general investigator Sarah Hofsommer $99,999.99 in exchange for Hofsommer dropping her complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Illinois Labor Relations Board. The settlement was one penny less than the amount that would have required City Council approval.
As part of the settlement, Inspector General Joseph Ferguson’s office did not admit guilt in either case. Law Department spokeswoman Shannon Breymaier said Ferguson “vigorously disputes the claims made.”

Just how dangerous is this blog? AM I STILL THE MOST DANGEROUS BLOGGER IN ILLINOIS? YES!

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Dear Readers;

One of the more interesting tactics the ARDC has taken to, is to repeatedly send me their crappy papers decrying their lack of appreciation for this blog because it tells all that goes on in probate, it told the “secrets” of the Sykes case, that it had no jurisdiction, there was a safe deposit box drilled out by the Guardian, emptied and no one told the judge about that, that $1 million in valuable coins are missing per the records of the estate attorney (Ditkowsky), the judge refused discovery to opposing parties, the case was railroaded.

If there has been attorneys and judges acting badly in probate, you heard it here.  The public has a right to know and be warned, esp. if the court of appeals and Illinois Supreme Court do nothing, the ARDC does nothing and even covers up.

The ARDC was granted subpoena power to solve the missing coins of the Sykes case and instead it moved to quash Gloria’s and my subpoenas in a shameful move.

It railroaded Ken Ditkowsky’s case, shamefully twisting around his letter to Dr. Patel and making a mockery out of justice.

Well apparently opposing counsel Mr. Steve Splitt could not deal with the massive record on appeal, I have seen him in oral argument and he was quite fastidious in Ken’s appeal on getting the vast majority of facts correct and cited to the record.  So now apparently he is in a crunch.

So what is the status of my case?

Well apparently the ARDC has taken to serving me no less than 3 or 4 times, sometimes in person, once even at court in front of a client! (who knows all about their trickery and supports me in all I do, so to them it is proof of the false persecution by the ARDC) with a Petition for my Interrim (Immediate) suspension for running this blog not to their liking:

here is the current status:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwaVNEVkRCZ2RCM1E&authuser=0

And if you read thru the documents, here is the statement that proves according to Jerome Larkin, Melissa Smart, Sharon Opryszek and now Steven Splitt I AM STILL THE MOST DANGEROUS BLOGGER IN ILLINOIS

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwaVNEVkRCZ2RCM1E&authuser=0

Favorite statement (everyone likes this one)

It appearing…that a complaint has been voted against you by the Inquiry Board; that you have violated the Rules of Professional Conduct; that you have engaged in conduct involving fraud or moral turpitude or which threatens irreparable injury to the public, your clients or the orderly administration of justice…[we basically want to suspend you right away.  NOW.  Get the blankety blankety out].

Most of my clients can’t believe it at all, so I’m having them write up declarations for the Illinois Supreme Court.  Here are a few:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwaFZESm96VVpveGc&authuser=0

All of the comments are unsolicited.  I am still waiting for more affidavits and declarations to come back and then I will publish.

I currently have 30 + clients I have promised pro bono work that need it. Will the ARDC and Ill. Supreme Court help these people when I am gone.

I have plenty of patent work to do.  I could have just done that since Nov. of 2011 when I created this blog, just to be selfish, to look the other way.  But I stepped up and took my oath as an attorney and counselor seriously, so I had to help the disableds and their families who had no one to turn to.

So you can you.  Please sign my declaration and return it and I’m sure that one day I can help you too.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6FbJzwtHocwVkh2dUVfbjRFOGM&authuser=0

And if the ARDC suspends me and they get their way, I will promise to blog as much as I can, watch the proceedings in court and talk to the victims as much as I can without giving any legal advice.  One of the issues that the ARDC isn’t counting on is the fact once I am suspended then I can approach people in the hall ways and give them brochures and business cards and ask if they have complaints about the probate system and I will be glad to publicize their own stories.  I hope to collect a lot more stories about probate this way.

I will continue to support the disabled victims of probate and their families and try to find them other low cost or pro bono counsel, tho it’s very hard. There are 83,000+ attorneys in Illinois and few are interested in pro bono work and fewer still will go up against the probate cabal.

While there is a sore need for what I do, there is little chance of help coming to you many probate victims out there.

While the Illinois Supreme Court says it wants to help the little guy, make the courts more just, it appears to be little more than lip service with the fact that the ARDC does nothing, helps in the cleansings and cover ups, SCOI appoints Zimmerman to “investigate” the ARDC problems–an attorney known to do nothing, and the beat goes on.

I can do only what I am allowed to do.  I will continue to blog.  I will continue to pray and hold vigils for victims and their terrorized families.

As for me, I will be happily writing patents as a patent agent and probably working on some of my own patents to make more money.

What I currently do with this blog and in probate is exhausting work with little pay, so working on the blog and patents will be a relief for me, even though I know you all probate victims will suffer for it. I will continue to pray for you.

JoAnne

JoAnne

Survey says Illinois Nursing Homes are the worst….but the money is just too darned good.

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So then why does anyone put an elder in a nursing home in Illinois?

Let me tell you why.  It’s the worst kept secret.

Everyday Guardians in Probate put their disableds into nursing homes–often against their will.  (Wyman, Gore, Drabik, etc.)  This is not the law.  The Americans with Disabilities act 42 USC 12203 says that there must be reasonable accommodations to enable a disabled person to live fully as a normal bodied one.  The US DOJ put out a missive that major efforts, if at all possible, should be made to ensure that disableds age in place. (published elsewhere on this blog).  So what gives?

http://www.rebootillinois.com/2014/10/03/editors-picks/kevin-hoffmanrebootillinois-com/illinois-nursing-homes-rank-among-worst-nation/26106/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=3/3/2015

Big business gives, that is. It costs about $1,000 per month to house and feed a senior on cheap food. The staff to patient ratio is about 10 to 1. So if no one cares, grandma and grandpa go straight to the nursing home, against their will and with the full support of mega nursing home care.

It’s the worst kept secret in the US.

And where is the 18th floor Cook County Probate Court on all of this?  Right in the trenches with big business.  In the Frake case, they have taken a large, strong physical man right before a guardianship, he has suffered unknown pain in his hip (which Ted Rhodes denies), and he is being drugged on psychotropic drugs to the point his son visits and says his voice is barely audible and all dad says to him is he wants to die!  He is now a weak, debilitated, frail man in a wheelchair with leg and arm muscles mostly atrophied just a year or so later after the nursing home call.

The family is aghast (sister Semrow, counsin Mike Messer) but nothing is ever done.  Judge Quinn sends reports of abuse right back to the abusers (Rhodes, Kerry Peck, etc.) and everything goes no where in circles.

Father Frake wants to live at home.  He flew into a rage one day when 2 of the caretakers sent over by Tom Kleinhenz had sex in his guest bedroom.  So who was punished for this?  The workers?  Mr. Kleinhenz?  For sure not. Judge Quinn sent Father Frake to Sunrise Nursing home where he likely suffered a fall, was confined to a wheelchair due to undiagnosed hip pain (son Frake report) and he was also chemically restrained and kept in a wheelchair.  His eyes are dilated, he can barely lift his head and he tells his son he wants to die.  Of course Rhodes/Peck denies all this as Quinn sends reports of abuse back to the abusers!

You can’t make this tragic stuff up.

So the nursing homes will continue to trap and sedate. The probate court will funnel and make the nursing homes owners happy and no one will ever find out if the attorneys and/or the judges own any interests in nursing homes that support this evil, massive, big business.  No one will ever report on the dividends paid to the judges and the court appointed attorneys that make a bee line for funneling the elderly into this profit heavy (and medicare fraud heavy –see gillman and other articles) nursing homes.

Go figure

From a former Ala. State Supreme Court Judge–what happense when judges are for sale (campaign contributions)

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In this particular article, this judge explains how impossible it is to raise the $5 million (yes, that’s millions) to run for the Alabama Surpreme Court and how she felt when she had to collect campaign dollars (mostly from the lawyers and their firms in front of her) in order to win a successful campaign, and then how she felt biased afterward when ruling on cases in an impartial manner.

It brings up the concept of the courts being for sale and being big business.

Will we have to go to 2 court systems–one for big business and one for the individual?  Would that solve the problem?  Right now, according to recent studies, corporations win over individuals 70% of the time, which is a huge change to the 60/40 split of years gone by.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/03/judicial-elections-fundraising-115503.html#.VPk3GOGLVTt

This judge talks openly and honestly about constantly asking for contributions and having to deal with money and lawyers that appear before her.

The problem is obvious to one on the 18th floor of the daley center

joanne

This photo says it all:

ladyjusticeblindedbymoney

Seminars — from Elder Justice Center Cook County at Daley Center

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SENIOR ENRICHMENT SEMINAR REMINDER!

There is still space available for the two attached March “Free” Senior Enrichment Seminars:

            Thursday, March 5, 2015 – (11:30 am – 1:00 pm)

Topic:              “Caring for Grandchildren: Guardianship and Visitation

Location:           Courtroom 2005 – 20th Floor

            Thursday, March 19, 2015 – (11:30 am – 1:30 pm)

Topic:              “Financial Literacy“

Location:           Room CL-115 – Concourse Level

                        Call the Elder Justice Center at (312) 603-9233 to reserve your seat.  

Please mark your calendar for the above seminar dates.  I would also appreciate it if you would begin sharing information on the above seminars with your friends, family and colleagues to ensure that this important information is made available to all who may be interested in learning more about the above topics.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me.

Thank you,

Ernestine Durham

Court Coordinator

Cook County Elder Justice Center

50 West Washington Street

Concourse Level – Room CL16

Chicago, Illinois 60602

Phone:  (312) 603-9233

Email :  ernestine.durham@cookcountyil.gov

From Glenda Martinez, she begs us to just say no to psychotropic drugging of our elders

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Dear Glenda;

Thanks so much for writing the wonderful letter below and sharing it with our readers.  We pray that you and Alan win on appeal and he will come home and away from his abusers.

JoAnne

March 4, 2015

Kathryn McCarten,
Director nurses, Life Care nursing home
Dear Kathryn,

Re: Col J. Alan Smith
As the supervisor for nurses at the Life Care nursing home,  I am sure you have knowledge of the harm that drugging frail and elder patients can provoke severe and deleterious consequences. 

I am therefore sending you these 6 articles at bottom of page, about the harm of the drugging of patients with any kind of psychotropic drugs as it is obvious Col. Alan Smith is being drugged into a stupor with.

 I understand, Alan Smith, for months now, cannot many times respond to voice nor touch due to his being under these drugs.  As you can see by reading some of these articles, this drugging harms the brain, heart, kidneys and other vital organs and will lead to sudden death!

And to further the abusive mandates of the ignorant predatory guardian, Col. Alan Smith has also been inflicted with an unnecessary harmful operation to implant a feeding tube into his stomach, something that is painful, extremely dangerous and has been frowned upon by the general medical community, as an antiquated procedure that can cause grave consequences, infections, and provokes an earlier death in elders.

To top the viciousness of this deviant guardian, Col. Smith is also viciously being kept isolated from family members and friends, from Church Pastors, and even on his birthday and the Holidays, Alan Smith was not allowed visitors to see him nor bring him birthday gifts nor wish him a happy birthday and Holidays. 

No one was allowed to see nor to bring Alan some consolation in this involuntary, harmful, virtual imprisonment and isolation in a nursing home in which all Alan’s direly needed physical, speech and cognitive therapies have not taken place for over a year now;  Col. Smith’s appropriate medical treatment has not taken place while he has been been neglectfully let to painfully languish on a bed leading him towards premature death.

As a professional, responsible and God fearing woman that I believe you are Kathryn, please make note of this communication and please duly pass it on to Dr. Galdames, Dr. Hammond and any other doctors, nurses, staff and the Business director, to be informed why this heavy drugging and harmful procedures need to be stopped immediately and prevent further damage and/or death if continuing.

As you can probably surmise, all this abuse under the supervision of this exploiter criminal guardian, is also taking a toll on me and my prior good health is beginning to suffer greatly.

Please see how Col. Smith can be helped through all this, and our thanks in advance, and may God who sees all,  Bless you and other kind persons at Life Care nursing home.  

We plead not to let this neglect and abuse continue, please.  All my loved one Alan Smith and I want,  is for my husband Alan to return to our happy and healthy life in our home, with all needed affection, emotional and physical care needs carefully met,  under his personal doctor’s and my supervision, in our home.
Col smith has a right to be in the comfort of his own home and oto spend the rest of his life as he so declared on his Durable Power of attorney and his Health Care Surrogate, where he wanted me to make all and any decisions if he became unable to do so.

Col Smith bravely defended this nation in Vietnam and had a brilliant military career, is a decorated medal award winner and deserves the best for having exposed his life to defend this Nation and for all of us. WE CANNOT TURN OUR BACKS ON A MEDAL AWARD DECORATED VETERAN OF OUR NATION.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call me or email me at your convenience, my cell is 786xxxx and my email is glenest03@yahoo.com.  Thank you.



Sincerely, 

Glenda Martinez-Smith
On Wednesday, March 4, 2015 10:13 AM, Alzheimer’s Reading Room <alzheimersread@gmail.com> wrote:
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Alzheimer’s Reading Room
http://alzheimersreadingroom.com
The Alzheimer’s Reading Room Knowledge Base contains more than 4,901 articles. These articles were written to answer and address the most difficult problems and issues faced in Alzheimer’s and dementia care. At its core the ARR is about helping everyone to better understand, cope, and communicate with a person living with dementia.
Copyright © 2013. All Rights Reserved.

And while Illinois is protecting animals better (great idea) how about grandma and grandpa?

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And now while the State of Illinois state’s attorney offices has decided to protect Fluffy and Fido and that’s a great idea, no dog or cat or kitten or puppy should ever be left out in extreme heat or cold all day (unless it’s a breed that does well, for example huskies do well and enjoy extreme cold and like to have plenty of play that is work for them, and Marie Coon Cats can do well in extreme cold.  Likewise short haired chihuahua’s and hairless or Sphynx cats do well 90 degrees or above with water.

But grandma and grandpa have no protection from predators.  Mary Sykes is in a place she never intended and when Ken Ditkowsky brought up the fact that he was advised during estate planning Mary had $1million in valuable collectible coins, the ARDC and courtroom 1804 and the attorneys appointed there worked strenuously to quash repeated subpoenas.

The ARDC refused to use its subpoena powers during my trial and Ken’s trial to find the coins.  In addition, they moved during my trial to quash subpoenas to the bank.

The ARDC is supposed to be a truth and fact finder of highest integrity and ethics, and yet they repeatedly move to quash crucial evidence in an underlying case?

So, I am glad that cats and dogs can now go straight to the states attorneys to protect them from freezing, cold and starvation. That is indeed a good thing.  they cannot speak for themselves.

But what about grandma and grandpa under the current regime of target, isolate, medicate, eliminate?

Watch this woman talk about going to her parents to try to visit, the police are called and there is no protective order against the visit, she tries to film what the guardians and attorneys are doing to her parents, the police falsely arrest her (this is Florida now, they ask her for her expensive video camera (they are not supposed to do this), she says no (better technique, ask  if you will be arrested for failure to do so, if the answer is yes, offer to delete the footage and then delete something else–it’s all illegal), and then document what happened.

These case are so tied in, they are tied in with the police also.  Note this is what happened to me in the Sykes case–asked to delete important footage taken of Mary indicating her higher cognitive thinking.

It is my understanding more footage will be coming.  I will most likely post a page after I have seen it all.

JoAnne

From Iowa–another family member denied visitation on a whim and without a court order

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As we all know, guardians deny visitation up and down, left and right, esp. when they want to put the disabled in a horrible nursing home, or isolate them, or abuse them by failing to diagnose certain conditions (Johnnie Durham, Alan Frake, etc.) and seek medical help.

http://freejimmyfromguardianship.blogspot.com/

Mary Sykes is still being isolated from 20+ former friends and family, for no good reason. Gloria has not seen her own mother she loving cared for and was a best friend with, for years now. All she gets is bizarre court orders, the run around and no where near her beloved mother.

What is really amazing to me, is that everyone knows this, but they let CT continue to be the guardian.  If Gloria complains, they had the report of abuse right back to the abuser (guardian/and guardian’s attorney). The same is being done in the Al Frake case.

This blog would not exist unless there were serious violations of human and civil rights involved and the loss of personal liberties.

And for reporting the blog, Jerome Larkin, head of the Illinois ARDC suspended Ken Ditkowsky’s law license and is trying to get mine!

The law is clear. See the case quotes below:

Only those comments that pose a “serious and imminent threat” of interference with the fair administration of justice can be constitutionally proscribed”
 We can note that lawyers involved in investigations or trials often are in a position to act as a check on government by exposing abuses or urging action. It is not sufficient to argue that such comment can always be made later since immediate action might be necessary and it is only when the litigation is pending and current news that the public’s attention can be commanded.
 Again there is the importance of the time factor in terms of gaining the public’s attention. Ideally, we would want such views expressed in the abstract without reference to the particular case that is pending. Practically, it may not always be possible to differentiate the two. Still, we should recognize the importance of such criticism.
We do recognize the great benefits derived from allowing uninhibited comment by knowledgeable attorneys involved in civil litigation. This is the same type of recognition embodied in the First Amendment.
Chicago Council of Lawyers v. Bauer
http://openjurist.org/522/f2d/242

And yet the guardians and abusers continue to get away with the scheme of target, medicate, isolate and eliminate with a quick cremate to destroy evidence.

I am not to speak of this under the attorney code of silence.  I can’t say that my trial at the the ARDC was a complete travesty of justice, a kangaroo court where transcripts were changed, a Judge had to “suddenly retire” right after, the subject of the litigation had no jursidction and continues to have no jurisdiction (Sykes–call the Sheriff’s department ask for a summons and complaint upon Mary Sykes, there is none), the ARDC 3 main witnesses have been continualy complained about in all major probate new blogs and their conduct decried, yet I am not to say anything.  Ken Ditkowsky is not to say anything about how his trial was pretty much the same, with no proof of lies, these were manufactured in a decision by the powers that be to cover up what the ARDC does not want the public to know–that probate is a target, isolate, medicate, elimate and then a quick cremation business.  We are not to say that the phrase “assets must be sold to help the disabled” is code for “judge, we want a lot of attorneys fees.”  In Sykes and at my trial, the Tribunal did whatever it could, made rash decisions to ban witnesses and evidence–to cover up the fact that a $700,000 home was appraised in Jan. then sold in Mar. for $215k–and all the proceeds went to attorneys fees, or just about all. The attorneys were so greedy, they went after a family member’s money to pay an addition $107k+ in attorneys fees to Fischel in Kahn.

But what did they tell the judge at just about every hearing to ask to liquidate?  The money was needed for Mary’s care.  No it wasn’t.  Most probate attorneys would rather stuff a disabled in a dirty, nasty inattentive nursing home with a staff to patient ratio of 1 to 10 rather than let a dime in attorneys fees escape them and it’s the honest truth.

A truth so dangerous, this IS the most dangerous blog in Illinois and the truth of the Sykes case is the most dangerous truth in Illinios because it directly exposes greed, corruption, lack of honest services, a string of felonies, as Ken says where there is no jurisdiction and Mary is in a place she never put in her advance directives.  As in the Wyman case, it was all against her will.

So today, please take a stand for this poor woman and her beloved diabled brother in Iowa where some out of control, Abuse of Power Guardian has banned her from seeing her beloved brother–all without a court order.

I say we have to pray for us all.

And then some.

JoAnne

Finally, a webinar (complimentary) on bribery and corruption for lawyers! New York Law Journal

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WITH A HUGE THANKS TO THE NEW YORK LAW JOURNAL FOR DOING THIS!  I WILL BE SURE TO ATTEND AND ASK THEY POST THIS ON YOU TUBE!
From: NYLJ <nylj@email.alm.com>
To: kenditkowsky@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2015 1:25 PM
Subject: Join Us for a Complimentary Bribery and Corruption CLE Webinar – March. 3
To view this email as a web page, go here.
NYLJ_logo small
Tuesday, March 3 | 2:00-3:00 pm ET 

Together in Arms: Lawyers and Forensic Accountants Fight Bribery and Corruption

Approved for 1 CLE credit for CA, IL, NJ and NY

Anti-bribery and corruption remain a major risk and concern for multi-national corporations and the focus of continuing DOJ and SEC investigations. Whether conducting risk assessments, due diligence or investigations, or monitoring the effectiveness of ABC compliance programs, when lawyers and forensic accountants team up, they create a powerful alliance that can help client organizations with their anti-bribery and corruption-related matters.

We are pleased to invite you to participate in this webinar where we will discuss, among other things:
  • The unique and technical capabilities that forensic accountants bring to the table 
  • How accounting and control environments are key to assessing the risks of bribery and conducting FCPA investigations
  • The importance of data analytics when identifying risks and developing investigative or due diligence procedures 
  • The challenges companies face around third-party risk management and i ntegrity due diligence as a critical element of an effective compliance program
KPMG_Emailnew
Sponsored By : 
KPMGlogoblack

From Ken Ditkowsky–Time to take action and fight the good fight to save seniors and disableds from nursing home purgatory

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From: kenneth ditkowsky
Sent: Feb 27, 2015 1:39 PM
To: YJ Draiman , Eric Holder , Tim NASGA , “JoAnne M. Denison” , Probate Sharks , Matt Senator Kirk , Nasga Us , “J. Ditkowsky” , “FBI- ( (” , Chicago FBI , “ComplaintAdmin ADA (CRT)” , BILL DITKOWSKY , Janet Phelan , Chicago Tribune , SUNTIMES , Ginny Johnson , Bev Cooper , FOX News Network LLC , Diane Nash , Cook County States Attorney , Scott Evans , Fiduciary Watch , “Y. ACLU” , ISBA Main Discussion Group , Barbara Stone , Illinois ARDC , Glenda Martinez , Edward Carter , Cook Sheriff , Sam Sugar , “tips@cbschicago.com” , RosANNa Miller , “Mr. Lanre Amu — Honest Atty Unfairly Persecuted By ARDC” , Eric Blair , Alyece Russell , Candice Schwager
Subject: Fw: Join Us for a Complimentary Bribery and Corruption CLE Webinar – March. 3

FYI
Time for everyone to know how a criminal bribes a judge, political figure, etc al and how they are detected.    Mr. Larkin even though being over-paid with public funds does not file the ethics reports required by the State of Illinois.   Janet Phelan examined the title records to his home!   They should be required reading as he is has refused to join in calling for an honest complete and comprehensive of elder cleansing and in particular the Sykes case 09 P 4585 and the Gore case.  Methinks they reveal much!   So much so that I’ve written the following letter to the governor detailing where a large amount of money can be obtained for the State of Illinois without raising taxes a dime!
Dear Governor,
The State is in serious financial trouble, yet millions of dollars of unpaid and unreported taxes remain uncollected.    Please allow me to explain.     If you and I get together and we rob the neighborhood Bank our obtaining these funds is a taxable event not only under Federal law, but State law.     Our liability is joint and several.   Thus, if the IRS does not collect the taxes due from me, they do collect it from you.   Of course if the money is returned we are entitled to a deduction for the return; however, we must file, report the gain and claim the deduction.
Yes, I understand that it is impractical to try to collect from a felon who is sentenced to jail for decades; however, in the elder cleansing scenario, i.e. the railroading of a senior citizen (or disabled person) into an illegal and/or ultra vires guardianship, isolating the individual and depriving the said citizen of their human, liberty and property rights so as to redistribute to the guardian for profit and those acting in concert with the said guardian we are talking about individuals who have the wherewithal to pay the taxes due in full.
Taking the Mary Sykes 09 P 4585 (Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois) we have every element of an abusive guardianship complete with all the elements of elder cleansing.    We start with a petition that is insufficient as a matter of law in that it fails to make the required disclosures and was filed in Cook County when the Court, the two guardian ad litem, the Judge et al had all been informed that Mary had been spirited out of the county.     There was no honest attempt to obtain jurisdiction.   The 755 ILCS 5/11a – 10 summons was never served on Mary Sykes.   Worse yet, whatever summons placed with the Sheriff was not intended to be served as knowing that Mary Was not in Cook County, the Sheriff was directed to serve summons in Cook County.   To carry the facade to absurdity the guardian made application for a special process server well knowing that Mary was secreted in the petitioner (guardian)’s home in DuPage County.    Guardian ad Litem Cynthia Farenga even informed Judge Connors (the presiding judge in the case) of this fact.     755 ILCS 5/11a -10 requires service of a particular form summons on the alleged disabled person at least 14 days prior to a hearing on the competency of the disabled person.     As this was not done, jurisdiction was never obtained by the Circuit Court of Cook County.
As a guardianship by its nature is an invasion of Constitutional Rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and the Illinois Constitution care has to be taken so that the Rights of a citizen are not compromised.    Thus, 755 ILCS 5/11a – 3 and in particular 3(b) provides the guardianship is limited to the services that the individual actually needs in order to enjoy the benefits of American Citizenship.     Put another way, the Americans With Disabilities Act provides for the State or provider to do what is necessary to make a reasonable accommodation.    The Rule of Law therefore is designed to protect the alleged disabled person from an unnecessary intrusion on his/her rights and/or a guardianship in which the guardian has overbroad powers or the ability to infringe on the alleged disabled persons rights or property.
Pursuant to statue the disabled person is entitled to be proven to be incompetent by clear and convincing evidence and further it must be determined that the individual is indeed incompetent and to what, if any, extent.    As noted on the MaryGSykes. Com website videos Mary was not incompetent.    She knew the nature and extent of her property (and did her own banking), determined that her older daughter who petitioned to be plenary guardian had found before it went missing $4000.00 from Mary’s bank account Etc.       To protect against exactly what happened the Supreme Court of Illinois has ruled pursuant to 755 ILCS 5/11a – 10(b) that it is jurisdictional that the nearest (closest) relatives of the alleged disabled person receive 14 days’ notice prior to a hearing on incompetency.
Of course, there was no hearing on incompetency and no 14 days prior notice.     Incompetency was ascertained without a scintilla of evidence being presented or required.    An agreement between the two guardian ad litem (Cynthia Farenga and Adam Stern) and the attorney for the proposed guardianship produced an order that was rubber stamped by Judge Connors.   As all these individuals have been engaged in guardianship matters for many years there is no doubt that their actions were in concert and intentional – and they knew or should have known of the jurisdictional infirmity.
Shortly after the clearly ultra vires and sans jurisdiction creation of the guardianship for profit, Mary’s safety deposit box was breached and about a million dollars in gold coins were removed and never inventoried.    This event is a taxable event and like the Bank robbery in my example each of the participants in this robbery of Mary Sykes’ safety deposit box has joint and several liability for the Federal and State Income taxes due.     As the theft occurred in 2009, the gain had to be reported on the Illinois and Federal income tax return for the year 2009 filed in 2010.     (If not reported the statute of limitation does not run until it is reported.)
Let us go a bit further.    Similarly money belonging to Mary was removed from a mattress and valuable antiques were liquidated though never inventoried.    The illegal and ultra vires guardianship made these acquisitions to be also taxable events.    The doctrine of constructive receipt made the reporting year 2009.    The younger daughter of Mary Sykes and other relatives who have knowledge of these values estimate the value at over ½ million dollars.       Recently Mary’s dwelling – which had been previously appraised at approximately $700,000 was ultra vires sold off in what is believed to be a friendly sale for approximately $230,000.00.     The ½ million soon to be realized profit is also ordinary income though it is expected that through anticipated mesne sales the ½ million dollars will be obtained by the miscreants and claimed as a ½ million dollar capital gain.     This anticipated fraud has not occurred yet; however, the theft of the title to real estate should be by the doctrine of constructive receipt relate back to 2009 as ordinary income.
As this is not an isolated event and the very same scenario has arisen in other guardianships for profit in Illinois it is apparent that the tax evasion occurring is wide spread and if the taxes collected were to reach the treasury both the Federal and State would have much more money to pay down pension debt and other fiscal problems of the State.     No new taxes need by imposed on the citizens of the State of Illinois or the United States of America.     All that has to be done is to collect the taxes that the political and judicial elite owe from their endeavors into ‘elder cleansing.’
18 USCA 371 and State Conspiracy laws were enacted to give Johncomelatelys to share in the liability jointly and severally.     Because of the political sensitivity of the guardianship for profit/elder cleansing scenario Jerome Larkin and certain attorneys at the Lawyer Disciplinary Board (in Illinois the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary commission) have taken it upon themselves to join in the 18 USCA 242, 18 USCA 4, 42 USCA 12203 violations pursuant to 18 USCA 371 and 18 USCA 1341 to assault the First Amendment and Title one of the Illinois Constitution.     As the law no longer distinguishes between Accessories before, during, or after the fact (18 USCA 371) it is respectfully suggested that the attempts to silence reports by myself, Ms. Dension and others to law enforcement (18 USCA 4) make Mr. Larkin and those he acted in concert with equally liable for the State and Federal Income taxes due.
NB.   The miscreants want to play – they should pay.   The Illinois Department of Revenue has taxes, interest and penalties all available for collection.   The IRS has taxes, interest and penalties all available for collection.   If there is one set of laws for everyone, then, the highly over-paid public officials who aid and abet the miscreants in discriminating against the elder and the disabled ought to at least pay the taxes on the ‘booty!’ received whether law enforcement enforces the law or not. 

From Eliot Bernstein – Sharp Practice by Lawyers defined

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Joanne M Denison's avatarMaryGSykes.com

Here’s an interesting definition of the word “sharp practice”

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sharp+practice

I am posting this because it seems to fit the problems seen by many of you–opposing counsel that lies, threats, barely (if at all legal) tactics much of which is designed to churn legal bills and do little in the way of “best interests” of the disabled person or those that love and support her or him.

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From Eliot Bernstein – Sharp Practice by Lawyers defined

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Here’s an interesting definition of the word “sharp practice”

http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/sharp+practice

I am posting this because it seems to fit the problems seen by many of you–opposing counsel that lies, threats, barely (if at all legal) tactics much of which is designed to churn legal bills and do little in the way of “best interests” of the disabled person or those that love and support her or him.

From Ken Ditkowsky, how long with the cover ups hold up?

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From: kenneth ditkowsky
Sent: Feb 21, 2015 8:58 AM
To: JoAnne M Denison , Tim Lahrman
Cc: Probate Sharks , Nasga Us , “J. Ditkowsky” , Eric Holder , Matt Senator Kirk , “FBI- ( (” , Chicago FBI , BILL DITKOWSKY , “ComplaintAdmin ADA (CRT)” , Janet Phelan , Ginny Johnson , “ABAJournal.com” , ISBA Main Discussion Group , Bev Cooper , FOX News Network LLC
Subject: Re: Fw: Responding to your inquiry

Yesterday I received a bit of input informing me that the issue is no longer if, but when.  I do not know if the source has any credibility but a great number of people are starting to realize that ‘elder cleansing’ is a serious cancer that if it is not eliminated could cripple – if not destroy – America.    The ‘coverup,’ ‘intimidation,’and ‘ retaliation’ by corrupt public officials such as Jerome Larkin is metastatic.    Larkin not only encourages, aids, abets, acts in concert with the felons, but, provides official protection for their venal activities.  (NB.  In the Sykes case 09 P 4585 there still has been no attempt to vest the Court with Jurisdiction.  In fact, it has not been discussed at all in court, other than to deny that Mary was never served with summons and complaint!)   A  5 ILCS 5/11a – 10 type hearing has never been held!
Apparently a competency hearing is no longer necessary – Mary’s life savings have been redistributed to the miscreants and their cronies – all tax free!  (I wonder if they harvested any Au from Mary’s teeth)
It is quite humorous in that all Larkin had to do to CYA was to demonstrate a scintilla of pretended good faith and join in the call for an Investigation.   Instead, at the request of Cynthia Farenga and Adam Stern, JL set up a kangaroo court to retaliate against the call.   Most seriously, the continued prosecution of JoAnne Denison for owning and operating a blog that joins in the call to do a clean up of dirt in the court system on her blog is not only outrageous but a demonstration of lack of respect for the core values of the United States.   Just how deep the cancer has penetrated will be disclosed in the future –
Larkin and the Illinois Courts are aware that the Supreme Court of the United States has addressed the issues a number of times, to wit:
Private right of action implied by Title IX ( 20 U.S.C.S. §§ 1681 et seq. ) for victims of sex discrimination by recipients of federal education funds held to encompass  claims  of  retaliation  for complaining about sex discrimination.     Jackson v. Birmingham Bd. of Educ., 544 U.S. 167, 171, 125 S. Ct. 1497, 1502, 161 L. Ed. 2d 361, 361, 2005 U.S. LEXIS 2928, 1, 73 U.S.L.W. 4233, 95 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 669, 86 Empl. Prac. Dec. (CCH) P41,871, 18 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 193 (U.S. 2005)
The same principle applies to ADA violations and First Amendment matters. I hope the information that I received yesterday is accurate and will result in at least one massive festering tumor being removed.   The actions of Larkin in mistreating the victims and families of elder cleansing and attempting to silence lawyer cries of corruption are not only disingenuous but reduce him to the below the nadir of society!
Larkin must be made an example of so that in the future public officials who are paid to protect the public realize that the public they are to protect is the victims of dishonest judicial corrupters.    It should be noted that even at this late date, Larkin has not used his agency to investigate the Sykes case, the Gore case *****.   He has been granted wide supboena powers by the Illinois Supreme Court, yet he fails to use them, except to suppress a blog that disseminates facts and information regarding the frauds perpetrated in the Illinois court system.  He has instead used his agency in concert with the felons who prey on the elderly and the disabled.
Elder Americans are under seige!

From Eliot Bernstein–over 2,000+ torture pictures to be released of war detainees

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http://www.inquisitr.com/1844013/over-2000-u-s-government-torture-photos-could-be-released-soon/

While the ACLU sues to ensure that our democracy is functioning the way it should, with complete transparency regarding the actions of the powers that be, apparently BOTH the Bush and the Obama administration have been playing hide the sausage with photos that might be even more disturbing that already released.

Why the CIA pretends that treaties against war crimes, and the Nuremberg trials do not exist is beyond me.

Even children in grammar school seem to know more about how torture is wrong and illegal than grownups with decades of experience in international law and degrees from Ivy League institutions.

Apparently the publication of these photos were held up with motion after motion filed by the government to delay, delay, delay.  What the delays buy them is not understood because they are delaying the inevitable.  And if the government is so heck bent on delaying the release of these videos then why weren’t they properly managing the CIA staff in the first place, and what provisions have they put in place to ensure this does not happen again.

Will the Obama administration release new policy changes with the photos to ensure there is no repeat of this embarrassing and volatile situation.

The government constantly claims release would inflame or incite violence, but I think they should have thought of  that years ago when the war crimes were being committed.  2,000 photos are more than an “isolated incident” from one or two out of control employees.

JoAnne

From Ken Ditkowsky — Larkin believes that Guardianship is still in rem from the dark ages

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to explain.  When a proceeding is “in personnam” personal jurisdiction is obtained by service of a summons and complaint upon a person or corporation.  An “in rem” proceeding (such as a foreclosure) can take place ask long as you have served the property by notice and the court attains jurisdiction over the property or “rem.” (for examply posting on an apartment for eviction or a home for foreclosure but only AFTER you have validly attempted to serve the owners and after a diligent search cannot find them.

In Mary’s case, the court knew where she was, but never served her.  So the only notice was by a court order handed out to a few people.

Of course, this meets none of the standards for either in personnam or in rem jurisdiction, but that does not stop the court appointed/connected miscreants from taking over Mary’s life, property, civil and human rights and sending her to a remote location (Naperville) with a daughter when her last POA said she wanted to live in her home until she died and have both daughters care for her there.

But the property was sold, and at my ARDC trials, one of the main cover ups was to deny that some $160k in attys fees to Peter Schmeidel and Fischel and Kahn–or the bulk of the estate would go to attorneys fees.  The ABA Journal covered this up by pulling comments on their blog from family members who related the lack of service of summons and complaint upon Mary and notice to Mary’s family, which is required to take in personnam jurisdiction over her.  The ARDC covered this up by banning most of my witnesses (experts and fact witnesses) but presenting Judge Stuart, who lied on the stand and then “suddenly retired” soon afterward, Peter Schmeidel who is covering up telling the court all of Mary’s assets have to be liquidated “for her care”, but the vast majority have already gone to attorneys fees ($700k home appraised in January sold for $220k in Mar, then they grabbed daughter Gloria’s assets of some $200k falsely claiming they belonged to Mary, and $60k from the home sale went to attorney’s fees and over $100k from Gloria’s funds went to attorneys. You figure.  The cover up continues with the ARDC having witnesses lie, transcripts changed, audio tapes documenting the changes supressed–it’s all fraud on the court.

Best thing about fraud on the court?  It has NO LIMITATIONS PERIOD.  That’s right, like jurisdiction, it’s a scab over a huge festering boil waiting to be picked — any time, any day.

The hue and cry from probate victims will not stop as long as we have a free and open and democratic society and open internet.  They are banding together and publishing popular blogs ( this blog, Probate Sharks, NASGA, John Wyman’s, Candice Schwagers, Stop Guardian Abuse and others)

Everyday, the ARDC flings more and more paper at me and I don’t care.  All I think of is the suffering and horrors these probate victims and the families have gone thru and will go thru unless and until all this nonsense in the courtrooms stop.

In the ARDC decision, the tribunal insulting stated “the Respondent does not know about basic concepts of law…..”  Sorry I have to disagree with the Tribunal, but their “basic concepts” of lies, coverups, banning crucial witnesses, treating the Sykes family members like dirt–I don’t  need their “basic elements” in my craw.  The Tribunal can keep that for themselves.

I know what a summons and complaint is and notice to all next of kin.  I know the alleged disabled respondent must receive a “notice of rights” in large bold type to take jurisdiction.  It’s the Tribunal that does not know basic concepts of due process and free speech that a 6th grade student must know on her or his US civil rights exam to pass to the next grade.

I don’t see any of the tribunal offering to take on all my cases for pro bono, but I will ask them, and Mr. Sanders can pull his money out of his pocket to sponsor lawyers to do the same thing I do for free or low cost each and every day to protect the human rights, civil rights and elderly of our seniors.  This is karma they have to make up.

Mr. Splitt just asked for an extension of time for his brief to the review board.  He said the “record is too big” to get his brief done.  I wonder when he will finally realized that he is prosecuting an innocent, honest attorney and all this is bad karma for him, and he should just refuse to write the brief and quit.  While everyone deserves representation, what the ARDC wants him to write is a huge pack of lies and a cover up.  When the fraud on the court is finally heard by an open and honest legal forum, hasta lasanga, don’t get it on ya.

Respectfully Mr. Splitt, no extension of time will allow you to search that entire record for some reason to discipline me.  Keep on going, but you won’t find it.  And if you do what the ARDC asks of you to convict a wholly innocent attorney, like Ken Ditkowsky and Mr. Amu, maybe it’s time to just walk off the job.  If your heart is in the right place, the angels will protect you.

Each and every day, I work for low cost or free and do not turn people away.  I help them against the liars and the cheats and the thugs hanging in the court room hallways.  It’s not always easily and I have my critics (the ARDC talking about all the good I do in a huge paragraph, but it ends with “all of that is misplaced.”)  No, Mr. Larking, goodness and kindness and helping others is NEVER misplaced.  I’d rather have a ton of that than the lies propagated during my trial, and the exclusion of crucial witness, the lying and the cover ups

JoAnne

From: kenneth ditkowsky
Sent: Feb 14, 2015 7:36 AM
To: Janet Phelan
Subject: The In Rem guardianship/ or the application of the Dred Scott Decision to Seniors and the Disabled in Illinois and some other miscreant States.


 The Avarice of the guardians for profit is legendary.     Like their sponsors and mentors in the nursing home industry, the corrupt judges and public figures who act in concert with them, and the hanger-ons who pick up quarters that drop from the booty no loose dollar avoids the net.     In the Mary Sykes case and a number of other guardianship cases that we’ve examined and reported to the Justice Department the miscreants ran into a problem – the victim was not incompetent.     In the Sykes case she was so clearly competent that the miscreants could not afford to allow a hearing to occur.     Thus, the record in case 09 P 4585 indicates that there was no hearing – indeed, to meet the standard of clear and convincing (and determine the extent of the disability) not a single word of testimony was uttered!     Of course prior notice of the non-existent hearing was also avoided.   
 
As the foregoing is jurisdictional how does the law rationalize the theft of more than a million dollars as legitimate?     The Court  orders entered by the Judge are void for lack of jurisdiction and thus when and if the tax laws are applied some very heavy clouted people are going to jail and are going to wind up with non-dischargeable tax liability.    Ergo, the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission and Mr. Larkin have exerted extreme efforts to ‘cover up’ the felonies by trying to silence myself and other attorneys who take their oath seriously .      
 
The Dred Scott decision has been resurrected in Illinois to make the Elderly and the Disabled property in the Probate Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois.  (See 09 P 4585) if Tim is correct and personal jurisdiction is not necessary pursuant to this scenario – the seniors and the disabled are PROPERTY.
 
Tim has suggested that the ultimate cover up is going to be and is that the guardianship proceedings are in rem proceedings and therefore personal jurisdiction is un-necessary.     This is same legal theory that the National Socialists used to confiscate the property of their victims in the holocaust scenario.    Stalin just took what he wanted, but, we here in America recognize that history treats thieves badly – thus, a rationalization is necessary.   (In rem proceedings are proceedings against the property themselves).    Thus, to obtain jurisdiction where none can be had, the miscreants AND THOSE WHO THEY ACT IN CONCERT WITH (such as Jerome Larkin) claim that possession of the property gives them all the jurisdiction necessary.
 
 The issuance of a Court order is obscene and void as it would violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.     As theft is a felony, I reported these incidents to law enforcement pursuant to 18 USCA 4.      The miscreants think that reporting crimes is unethical and I now have a four year suspension for doing so!     Thus, pursuant to my First Amendment Rights I am continuing to report this criminal activity by Mr. Larkin and his cohorts and demanding their prosecution in the very same manner that America would address a bank robbery, theft by a fiduciary, tax evasion, fraud etc. 

Dr. Reinstein takes massive kickbacks for risky drugs..psychotropic drugs!

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Today, from the Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-reinstein-kickback-plea-20150213-story.html#page=1

$600k in kickbacks, a prolific prescriber, he once prescribed 490 prescriptions in 5 days!

And we wonder why the Tribunals at the ARDC and Jerome Larkin at the ARDC are engaged in a massive coverup.

They either knew or should have known of the kickbacks–just like Gov. Ryan went down for.

No one ever proved that Gov. Ryan took a kickback from any $200 no test CDL, but he was convicted and sent to prison for many years nonetheless.

Jerome Larkin has received dozens and dozens of client complaints of cottage industry schemes in probate, and ignores them all, sending out nonsensical letter in Sykes, Gore, Tyler, etc.  He and his staff do not file Ethics Reports under the mandatory reporting act of 2009.  If you complain to the Ill. Supreme Court, they send you to Atty Zimmerman, who I am told was placed there to do nothing.  He is a do nothing kind of guy.

Let’s applaud the feds for going after Dr. Reinstein.

Let’s set up a Bastille day for all the elders drugged against their will, forced to live in nursing homes, deprived any independent third party supervisor by court order (Frake), feeding tube in one end laced with drugs because the patient eats to slowly and a diaper on the other and forced to stay in bed or a wheel chair with alarms.

Disgusting, worse the the most horrid state run Chinese orphanages with dying rooms (youtube.com)

joanne

In scary shades of ARDC tribunals who withhold audio when allegations of altered transcripts arise….

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this judge is publically lambasted for doing so.

Take a look at this article:

http://www.wfxg.com/story/28088174/judge-denies-production-of-court-hearing-audio-recordings

The question is, why is the news so negative on him, when my Tribunal thought it had the right to refuse my motion to turn over tapes, and then just told me to submit my own notes, then when I did, they ignored them.

Like the judge in this article, Jerome Larkin has had many past accusations of covering up fraud, ignoring valid client complaint results in severe financial exploitation (in the millions–Sykes, Gore, Tyler, etc.) and also severe injury to disabled persons via the court appointed guardians and attorneys (Sykes being severely ill, Carol Wyman–attempted murder, read the book, Alice Gore isolated and then 29 gold teeth pulled, a feeding tube implanted because she ate to slow and she was infused with psychotropic meds and starved/dehydrated to death, etc.  We now have a list in Illinois.

How is it Gov. Ryan’s brand of corruption (selling CDL’s for $200) results in his imprisonment for years when 5 young children burn up to death, but Larkin’s cover up and refusal to investigate the near murder of Carol Wyman in one of Illinois’ worst nursing homes and then the starvation/dehdration and drugging continues? (Frake).

Which reminds me, I just got an order today in response to my allegations of severe abuse (a once vibrant man is reduced quickly to a wheel chair, a mysterious fall after entering the nursing home is unattended to, then he is drugged to the point his eyes are dilated in daylight, he can’t lift his head up, he says he wants to die–the court covers all this up by saying they will simply limit any visitors (ie, witnesses to illegal psychotropic drugging, etc.) (Frake).  See below.  Carl Kettler of Bright Star — a professional nursing firm that does not believe in abuse, is now banned from coming near Mr. Frake.  Carl Kettler was to be used as a witness.  Imagine he is banned by Judge Quinn?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6FbJzwtHocwVC1FX3l0dVdNOGJhS3dBdURTdkdjRGlSTDh3/view?usp=sharing

JoAnne

Great article on Probate Exception — why is there a probate exception and not a contract exception, partnership exception, etc

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So Barbara Stone and I were wondering, what is this “probate exception” that keeps normally tough and anti corruption Federal Courts from providing a second look at what is going on in Probate Court that sometimes can only be described as utterly down the rabbit hole.

Where does this come from?  How does “probate exception” scare even the toughest of judges when the public is clamoring for a RICO presumption in probate, the Federal Court judges cower and dump anything that mentions probate as a regular course of business.

I mean, by that measure, they should dump all personal property disputes that liquidate and divide assest, maybe there should be a business partnership exception (probate is much like winding down a business, assets are sold and liquidated and disputes between the partners as to valuation and ethics in transactions are carefully scrutinized by Federal Court judges all the time when there is diversity, etc.)  I just don’t see the dichotomy why the Federal Courts won’t step in when the State Probate Courts are ablaze with fraud, problems and issues in some cases with a lot of money.  If the Federal Courts can decide multi million dollar cases, tens of millions of dollars of cases, why do they (fallaciously) claim they “don’t do probate” they don’t “have the expertise” (ie, it’s too hard for them to think about probate), when you know all the judges are mostly brilliant, went to ivy league law schools, and/or they have a bevy of brilliant law clerks.  What gives?

Here is a good article from Tim Lahrman on what this animal is, when did it evolve and what are the various standards from state to state.

Click to access 074602.pdf

Read and enjoy.

So is this a probate exception or just a probate excuse from accusations of abuse of civil and human rights?  Why aren’t the federal courts stepping in when the state courts do nothing to protect civil and human rights.? Why do the federal courts now only want large corporate disputes and have forgotten the real reason they exist–for the citizens and not the mega corporations of the US.

joanne

From Tim Lahrman–a man on the inside of the diability game

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With all due respect to each and everyone of you —–  I am on the inside — I am a ward and have been for 28 years … it has been quite the learning curve and experience, and at times enjoyable being the village idiot — a few years back I tried to buy a large corner lot just off a highway/bypass ramp near my home.  I had visions of building an office building, hiring three paralegals from each state and building an legal advocacy org for the guardianship issue — of course I dream big … but that is how I built the company I lost in my guardianship those many years back —  In sum, ladies and gentlemen — if the journey through guardianship were a long winding pathway — I am well down the path in this journey … I will not look back and join in the experimentation that I have already lived through for 28 years.  I believe I am at or near the end of the path —-  I don’t necessarily like it out here … and I could surely use some help, but what I do not need is hindrance.
Back in the early 1980’s when I was building my company and Lee Iaacco was salvaging Chrysler, I had a quote of his that hung over my desk which read — “Lead, follow or get out of the way” —-  Today my wall bears a picture of Einstein which says —  “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” —  the tagline on my local newspaper blog is a quote by Churchill that says, “The truth is so precious that she must always be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies.”    We all know the truth about guardianship — were we differ is how we frame the legal issues and how we propose to seek resolution —  me, I am on the inside and I am making them live up to what they owe me … I am using the courts and the ADA — the civil rights laws in this country are in fact anti-discrimination laws …. always have been always will be …. they were anti-KKK laws originally and in fact 42 USC 1983 was passed under the “Enforcement Act of 1877” six years after 42 USC 1981/1982 was enacted — anti discrimination laws are for the benefit of “protected classes” of people — (race, age, sex, family status, nation origin etc.) the ADA is a civil rights law that is specific to the class of “disabled” people and their family, friend and associates — you are all protected by the ADA and you are all being discriminated against by association with your disabled loved ones — the ADA is not just about reasonable accommodations —– the ADA is about equal access and the equal opportunity to participate equally in, benefit equally from, and communicate equally effectively as do others with the services programs and activities of any public entity — (emphasis added) (the ADA does not apply to federal entities only state and local)
In sum, I really do not care what anyone says about how to slay this dragon — the civil rights laws will never succeed in stopping corruption — corruption is the by-product of opportunity and like I said to Ken in an email a few days back —–  once the bigot got the Blackman chained to the tree and flogged 20/30 times – fleecing his pockets and terrorizing his family was a piece of cake …
You want to stop guardianship abuse —- call it what it is —- discrimination, and feel free to expose every bigot you come across.  I have provided a template for this public service — simply cut and paste the picture of your favorite bigot and enjoy …..  but know the ADA folks …. it is powerful … and yes you are all victims — on the outside looking in — me, I am on the inside look out, and I am up to my ass in gators —- not really because I can laugh at the gators …. its the damn paperwork ….. (Back to work for me)
In close —-  you guys figure out the logistics —–  I will make myself available to a “gathering” for a “roundtable” — but, it will be my boardroom, those who do not want to listen and learn — please do not bother, I will not show up for heated debate with wild-eyed ideas … the ADA is very specific and I believe I can explain to each of you just how —- the very same things you complain about —- re-cast to a claim under the ADA will provide you all relief.  I will pay my own expenses to meet —-  I will not charge a fee for my time and appearance — I will not provide a bunch of printed material but will always provide sources and citation to anything I would discuss or present —  I am a low low budget dude … I will need sufficient advance notice to schedule my time ….  your call.  I will not attempt to do this on an individual basis with any one or more persons, it is simply too cumbersome and time consuming …  put together a forum to meet — and I’ll make myself available — if you wish —

From the LA Times, if the police arrest you, first thing to ditch is the cell phone?

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From Eliot Bernstein, this article explains how some protestors, who engage in peaceful protest, work to protect citizen’s rights, are first advising to ditch cell phones when arrested.

Technically, an arrest is anytime the police start talking to you and you believe you must respond and cannot walk away.  You should always ask the officer, “may I leave now?”  If the answer is “no” at anytime, you’re under arrest.  And it’s not that I don’t love talking to strange and new police officers, but you have to be sure to talk about the weather, tell jokes, ask if you can help them with anything, ask if they’d like a free knitting or crocheting lesson, but general talk about crimes and criminality is off limits.  I just tell them I’m not a PD or prosecutor, so I don’t know anything about X so I can’t answer any questions, but if they send me interrogatories in written form, I’d be glad to answer them in 30 days.

In any case, keep a lock on your cell phone.  Do NOT leave it unattended.  DO use Google cell phone wiper if it gets out of hands which enables you to wipe your cell phone remotely. DO fill your cellphone with stupid stuff like pet videos and junk no one is interested in.  I like to fill my computer files and cell phone with knitting and crocheting patterns and videos, so that would keep them busy learning the strange instructions like 3tr, 2dc, repeat * to *, use Tunisian hook, pm, etc..  I”m sure they’re think it a great secret code to take hours to unravel.

Regardless, here;s the article and thanks, Eliot:

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-warrantless-smartphone-searches-20150211-story.html

I do, however, think the key to getting better behavior out of our police, which means better behavior from citizens on the street, because police should be the example, is to require them to either go to the law library for 2 hours each week or do 2 hours of online study of caselaw and statutory laws.  It would solve a lot of the problems we are seeing now with police over reaching, abusing authority and then the city, county, states or feds pay for it.

From Mr. Lanre Amu–how did this happen in the US?

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This is not North Korea, this is not the mideast or Egypt with severely dwindling human and civil rights!  In Iran they take away a woman lawyer’s children when she advocates for equal rights!

In the US, Mr. Amu was found guilty of practicing law while black!

’Lanre O. Amu

The Peoples ’ Lawyer

Agbẹjọ́rò

B.C.E. (UMn,’84), M.S.C.E. (UMn ’86), M.B.A.(UIC,’89), J.D.(’95)

Lawyer Amu is Innocent, Reinstate His Law License Now!

A Call for an Independent Investigation of Judicial Corruption!

Watch Youtube: Attorney Amu

This is a Peaceful Petition to Reinstate Lawyer Amu’s Law License Now; to Investigate Corruption in the Judiciary, the Entire Court System, the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC); and to Reform Our Court System for the Betterment of Our Lives. Given the Impact These Institutions Have on the Lives of Everyone in Our Society, We the People Must No Longer Consent to be Held Hostage by the Lawless any Longer. The People Must Organize to Take Action to Eradicate Corruption in these Institutions. Unless We are Hypocrites, Our Consciences Must Alert Us that Neo-slavery, Racism, and/or Institutionalized Oppression are Violations of Human Rights, Barbaric, and Have No Place in America the Land of the Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants!

Judicial Corruption is a Far More Serious Crime by these Elites than an Individual’s Armed Robbery, Rape, and/or Murder, Because a Lot More People are Victims from Just One Single Corrupt Judge! To Eradicate Judicial Corruption, Judges Must be Held to Not Just the Letter, But Also the Spirit, of the Solemn Oath of Office they Took When They Assumed the Position of Judges. Judges Must also be Objectively Held to High Moral, Ethical, and Legal Standards in their Stewardships. Judges Must Have Integrity, be Honest, Accountable, and Transparent in their Decision Making and Dealings.

Have You Ever Wondered Why Our Court System is Often so Intimidating, Complicated With Legalese, Motions, Codes, Rules, Statutes, Acts, Ordinances, Case Law upon Case Law, Long-Winded, and/or Financially Beyond the Reach of the Average Joe Blow Litigant? Answer: If Our Court System is More Straight Forward and Transparent to the Average Joe Blow, there Will be Less Need for Lawyers, there will be less Expense, Less Monies Floating Around, Joe Blow Can Easily Decode Legalese, Understand Fully What is Happening, Spot and Resist Corruption! Don’t Be Fooled! Our Court System Can be Reformed to Root Out Corruption, Cut to the Chase, With Less Expense, and in Less Time! But Does the Will Exist to Implement Such Reforms? Ask your Lawmakers!

In 16 Years of Legal Practice, in Which I Had the Honor of Serving Our Peoples of All

Races, and from all Walks of Life, Concerning their Affairs in Our Courts, I have Come

A Call for an Independent Investigation of Judicial Corruption!

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Across Many Judges with Integrity Who are Capable of Reforming Our Court System if Given the Opportunity. But Sadly, I Have Also Come Across Many Corrupt Judges and

Justices Who Will Rather Perpetuate the System as it is, and Persecute Anyone Who Dares to Expose How Bad the Court System Really is! Under Our Current System, Justices Sit in Judgment of Lawyers, Deciding Who Can or Cannot Practice Law. But Who Judges the Judges When they are Corrupt? Right Now, No One! As Such, There is Virtually No Risk or Cost to Being a Corrupt Judge. But the Financial and Social

Benefits of Being a Corrupt Judge are Real! Unprincipled Human Beings Regardless of Title or Position Will Do that Which is Beneficial to Him or Her as Long as the Risks or Costs Do not Outweigh the Benefit! Reform is Needed Such that the Risks or Costs of Judicial Corruption NOW Outweigh the Benefits! That is the Key to Deterrence!

Unfortunately, Lawyers Like Myself Who “Naively” File Complaints Against  Corrupt Judges Thinking they are Working to Improve Our Legal System Receive the Shock of their Lives! They are Defamed, Ostracized, Harassed, Suspended and/or Disbarred! By Making a Public Example of Us “Naive” Lawyers, these Justices Impose a Conspiracy of Silence on the Entire Bar! Many People and Entities, Including Practicing Lawyers, are Afraid to Publicly Talk About Judicial Corruption Out Fear for Their Livelihood and/or Other Consequences Should They End Up Before The Judges or Justices! These Judges and Justices Close Ranks and Live in Denial of the Obvious. Who Will Alert Our Emperors that they Have No Clothes? Who Will Bell the Cat?

Without Integrity, Honesty, Transparency, and Accountability in Our Courts, Everyone in Our Society is at Risk of Being a Victim! Judicial Corruption Endangers Savings, Property, Liberty, and Even Life Itself. No One is Safe in a Corrupt Legal System! Today, John Q. Public is the Victim of Judicial Corruption, tomorrow it Could be You! The Next Time you see a Homeless Person on the Street, Think Twice Before You Criticize and/or Look Down on that Person. You May be Looking at a Victim of Failings in Our Court System! On the other hand, the Judge You See in Expensive Suit or Black Robe, Whom Everyone Including deputy sheriff is Rising up For, May Well be an Imposter who Deserves to be Unmasked, and Apprehended, if not in US Courts Perhaps at the International Court of Justice at the Hague! These are Some of the Paradoxes, Inconsistencies, and Contradictions of Our Society While Our Elected Leaders Preach so Called American Style Democracy, Human Rights, and Justice Abroad! Why Preach What is not Practiced in Our Society Abroad? Does Charity Not Begin at Home?

Some Examples of the Effects of Judicial Corruption:

* Imagine Being Sued for All you have in a Corrupt Legal System!

* Illegally Fired Employee Denied Justice in a Corrupt Legal System! 

*Pension and Disability Payments Can be Arbitrarily Denied in a Corrupt Legal System!   

* Injured Persons Denied Justice in a Corrupt Legal System!   

* Elderly can be Wiped out in Guardianship in a Corrupt Legal System!

* Patient Injured by a Hospital May Have no Recourse in a Corrupt Legal System!

ACTION! : Copy, Publish, and Help Spread this Paper Widely to Everyone! Spread the Word! By ‘Lanre O. Amu, the Peoples’ Lawyer,773-728-8249 http://www.LanreAmu.com

‘Lanre O. Amu

4550 North Clarendon Avenue, Unit 1404 South

Chicago, Illinois 60640

773-728-8249

Email: loamu@aol.com

Elderly Man beaten at NW memorial Hospital by security guardss – suit recently filed

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http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/349866/suit-man-beaten-guards-northwestern-memorial-cafeteria-basement

Very scary.  An elderly man eaten in the cafeteria was drug into the basement of the hospital and beaten, after he was told to leave the hospital.

One of the problems with security guards is they often have no background checks done, they have little or no training and are not certified in their jobs to prevent issues before they arise.

If anyone knows more details, please contact me.

JoAnne

From the Frake Estate–why is he being drugged with a cocktail of 4 psychotropic meds

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All without meeting the standards of In Re Tiffany, and all over objections of the family members, and the Judge, Carolyn Quinn, just hands back reports of abuse to the abuser!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6FbJzwtHocwTWtIZ3VjWHhnSGc/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6FbJzwtHocwSV9LOExtb1RpZXM/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6FbJzwtHocwYWRhQzFRSDFFckk/view?usp=sharing

What this means is YOU can be stripped of your paid up home, placed in Sunrise Nursing Home in Park Ridge, be given these drugs–if your “crime” is being a pain in the butt:

The ward has no known drug allergies [NKDA] and takes the following medications:
Effexor (antidepressant); Lithium Carbonate (mood stabilizer); Donepezil (dementia); Risperdal (mood stabilizer); Tegretal (mood stabilizer); Metoprolo! (blood pressure); Simvastatin (cholesterol); Ducosate (stool softener) and Vultaran Cream (facial
erythema).

(just for everyone’s edification, Effexor, Lithium, Risperdal and Tegretal are all basically horse tranquilizers.  They are derived from Thorazine, a horse tranquilizer developed in the 1930’s. )

In prior weeks this blog reported excessive drooling and a drool bib.  The court appointed attorneys replied, “drooling is just saliva pooling in the mouth.”  Outrageous.

At first, I was told Mr. Frake received no psychotropic drugs.  Then I pushed for more information, drugs and doctors.  Then I found out Mr. Frake was given  “some but not enough to alter his personality.”  Preposterous.  Then on Thursday I was outraged to find in the annual report, the above cocktail of strong psychotropic meds.  I stayed up all night ran to court early Friday morning to deliver the report to Judge CQ, but she appeared more concerned that the report did not have the proper 2 business day’s notice and she scowled at it as the concerns of the family meant nothing, absolutely nothing and she was tired of having to read these reports. Sigh. Glad I stayed up for that one.  So much tiresome work to produce a quality cover up.

Son Gary reported over and over how his father’s head hung quite low and his father could not raise it upon request, Gary also reported Father Frake’s nearly inaudible speech, his wish to die, the atrophy of muscles in his legs–all denied by everyone else in the court room, but Gary has witnesses.  Father Frake went from a stong, tough, assertive (sometime abusive) man who spoke his mind (not always pleasant), to someone that sits in a wheelchair all day long, head drooping, no high cognitive abilities, saying things he never said before–all on a strong cocktail of psychotropic drugs!

Of course, the court’s vermin blame dementia, but how would anyone know with that cocktail of strong psychotropic drugs/sedatives.

At least In re Tiffany had a diagnosis of mental illness. Father Frake has no diagnosis, at least not in his report.

According to Fla statutes, they declared:

28)(a) “Restraint” means a physical device, method, or drug used to control behavior. A physical restraint is any manual method or physical or mechanical device, material, or equipment attached or adjacent to the individual’s body so that he or she cannot easily remove the restraint and which restricts freedom of movement or normal access to one’s body.
(b) A drug used as a restraint is a medication used to control the person’s behavior or to restrict his or her freedom of movement and is not part of the standard treatment regimen of a person with a diagnosed mental illness who is a client of the department.

Here, Mr. Frake was never even diagnosed with a mental illness to anyone’s knowledge.  He was just a pain in the butt, so Sunrise and their docs shot him up until he shut up and drooled.

I tried to talk to atty JF, who is representing P & B, and he told me he didn’t want to talk about it.  I also tried to talk to him about how the bank–Guardian of the Estate got $69k for managing the Trust of Father Frake for a year–collecting social security checks and a few rents, paying a few bills, but got no comment on that either.  Not a good topic I suppose.

Mr. Alan Frake’s demeanor in the past was not one of passivity.  He could be hostile, rude, obnoxious and prone to outbursts.  So what does Sunrise/the court do?  Drug him until he is stripped of his personality.

The Ward’s mental condition is: Mr. Frake presents a calmer demeanor as compared to what he was demonstrating in 2012 and 2013. His anger, hostility andaggressive behaviors are absent. He no longer has explosive outbursts, and he does not make verbal or gestural threats. His confusion and loss of short-term memory ismore pronounced and in keeping with a patient who presents with a progressive cognitive loss. The ward does not speak in terms of [still] “running his business, getting
quotes or doing jobs”. However, he always asks his visitors “how’s business or how’s your business going”? This part of Mr. Frake, business, lies at his core and will remain with him for as long as he is able to verbalize. (From Annual Report on Ward)

This court’s vermin de jour connected therein, have a long history of ignoring the civil rights and liberties of any person, esp. as illuminated in In re Tiffany, and they head any disobedient elder right to the drug bottle, wheel chair and nursing home.

I have not heard the case In re Tiffany mention anytime in Probate court, so it is a civil rights case keeping the law in pristine condition because it is never used.

From a disabled woman in Mass.–stripped of her new born days after birth!

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From a harrowing plight–

BOSTON (AP) — She was 19, a brand-new mother with a developmental disability. Two days after giving birth to her daughter, the state took the infant away and placed her in foster care.

 

Massachusetts child welfare officials contend the young woman couldn’t properly care for a newborn and insist they acted in the child’s best interests. But the federal government disagrees: It says the state violated her civil rights by discriminating against her because of her disability.

In a new report, the Justice Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services say the state Department of Children and Families — which has moved to terminate the mother’s parental rights — needs to compensate her and give her a chance to prove she can care for her daughter, or it could face a federal lawsuit.

Finally, someone admits that these types of state actions are illegal, discriminatory and a horror show. Let’s pray for this mother and child, that they soon be reunited.

from the article

http://news.yahoo.com/feds-state-wrongly-took-moms-child-2-days-154328655.html

read the whole story

From Ken Ditkowsky–for black history month, Mr. Amu was practicing law while being black!

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The practice of law encompasses not only representing a client but also the maintenance of an environment in which the citizens have confidence in the Judicial System.      Unfortunately, the organized bar and the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (and the Supreme Court of Illinois) have taken the position that what the public does not know about the Judicial system will not hurt them.    Ergo, 18 USCA 371 cover-ups are the Rule and not the exception.
 
To Illustrate, the Illinois Supreme Court has put forth the Himmel decision wherein it decreed that Lawyers much report unethical activity to the IARDC; however, in the Amu case when an American of African Dissent reported corrupt practices of four Judges over about a half decade of practice he was summarily suspended in a racially tinged proceeding for three years.      When I requested an HONEST complete and comprehensive investigation of the very suspicious practices occurring in the Mary Sykes case 09 P 4585 I was suspended for four years even though it was apparent to everyone that the miscreants failed to even bother to comply with the jurisdictional statutory requirements and were in direct violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.     When JoAnne Denison picked up the request for an investigation in her blog, even though the State Statute provided immunity for both she and me 320 ILCS 20/4 and her blog was entitled to the protection of 47 USCA 230 Mr. Jerome Larkin (administrator of the IARDC) sought a three years suspension and an interim suspension.
 
So much for the Rule of Law and so much for the FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION.      Petitions for Cert are iffy at best and rarely granted.     Who cares about the elderly and the attorneys who are dumb enough to comply with 18 USCA 4, Himmel etc. –   They at stool pigeons!      They are interfering with the due course of business of the cottage industry of elder cleansers and as Attorney Black pointed out reminding the public of the dark days when a score of prominent jurists were sentenced to Federal Prison and several score more were required to resign their judgeships.       
 
The Amu case is part of the celebration of BLACK HISTORY MONTH and a reminder of the hypocrisy of not only the people who are temporarily in power as government officials and the leadership of the Americans who happen to have some history emanating from  Africa.       All are aware that Mr. Amu in practicing LAW had as part of his duty to his client to expose corruption within the judicial community.     The nature of and the subtle racism of Mr. Larkin all note that Dr.  Martin Luther King’s journey to free all Americans fell short.   It is still a crime in Illinois to “ practice law while Black!”     A person with a dark hue to his sign according to the Illinois Supreme Court “has to know his place”     How dare he report criminal activities of jurists who have the approval of Jerome Larkin!!!
 
 
It is a shame that the Supreme Court of the United States is not interested in judicial corruption or the vestiges of JIM CROW that are so prevalent in the Courts of Illinois.       This is a real lesson for BLACK HISTORY MONTH!      It is shame that Illinois this year will celebrate Dr. King’s birthday and Black History month with a reenactment of the Dred Scott Decision. 
 

From C-Span, the Congressional Hearings on Elder Financial Abuse

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A good link to see what the Federal Government intends to do about all of these problems:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?324176-1/hearing-financial-exploitation-seniors

While the chair from Maine talks mainly (pun intended?) about family members taking finanacial advantage of elders, it is our experience that combined with these issues are then the probate courts and guardianships take advantage of that senior in their target-isolate-medicate-drain and eliminate programs now bustling in the nation’s probate courts and for which victims are becoming mightly vociferous in their objections to having a feeding tube implanted at one end, a diaper at the other and then the nursing home does little to nothing for $5k, $10k and sometimes even $15k per year.

If that isn’t severe abuse, torture and financial exploitation, I don’t know what else is.  Atty Helen Stone’s case is a classic example of that. Brother takes $625k and she reports it, and a g-ship is opened.  Two miscreants are appointed that drain $1.4 million in 20 months.  Mrs. Helen Stone now has a feeding tube at one end and a diaper at the other.  While paying for a nursing home, she is assigned aides to ensure the case is never documented, that the family is isolated from her, and the feeding tube is laced with a deadly combination of psychotropic drugs never dispensed in accord with Florida law which declares in Section 364 that chemical restraints, incluidng holding a person down to shoot them up with psychotropic drugs is never a part of any approved therapy or treatment for a mental disease or defect–and in Mrs. Helen Stone’s case, she never even had a mental disease or defect.  She should have a guardianship limited to the recovery for financial exploitation and nothing else.

So, we will keep on writing to these Senators and keep on documenting these cases.

Thanks

JoAnne

CALL FOR DECLARATIONS TO SCOI opposing the ARDC’s Petition for JMD’s Interrim Suspension

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For those of you that are familiar with the Petition for my suspension under Sup. Ct. Rule 774 based upon the ARDC’s allegations that I and this blog is a danger to the public and to my clients because this blog contains numerous false and misleading statements or false statements made with “disregard for the truth”, now is your chance to tell the ARDC and the Supreme Court of Illinois that is a preposterous allegation.

Please print out and sign the below declaration if you disagree.  EVEN IF YOU AGREE WITH THEM, AS LONG AS YOU PROVIDE SOME REASONABLE BASIS FOR YOUR DECLARATION, I WILL SUBMIT.

This blog is honest, accurate and truthful.  We do not hide the truth. We believe in human rights, civil rights and liberties, and most of all, free speech.

Go ahead and let me know your thoughts and I will send them along.

thanks

joanne

see below, change as YOU desire.  don’t let the ARDC or the Supreme Court of Illinois let YOU think.  Don’t let them make their speech your speech.  You say what you want, and what you know.  You have YOUR truth, now speak YOUR truth. Change as you want and I will send it to the Supreme Court of Illinois.

BEFORE THE ILLINOIS ATTORNEY REGISTRATION AND DISCIPLINARY COMMISSION

In Re:

JOANNE MARIE DENISON

Attorney-Respondent
Reg. No. 6192441

Commission No. 2013 PR 0001

DECLARATION TO ILLINOIS SUPREME COURT

The undersigned doth deposes and saith:

1.     My name is _________________________ and my address is   ____________________________________________________________________, and this is in regard to the ARDC’s current mission to take away the law license of Attorney Joanne Denison (“Ms. Denison”) for merely running a blog that tells the truth about the fraud on the court and the lack of respect for the US and State Constitutions and the Illinois Probate Act in and without the Illinois Probate System.
2.   ______ I am very familiar with Ms. Denison’s blog and have read about ____ posts on it.
3. _______ I have read the complaint in Ms. Denison’s case and am familiar with it.  I understand that the ARDC desires to take away Ms. Denison’s law license because she blogs about fraud and corruption in Probate and other cases.  I believe it is wrong to go after someone who exposes only the truth.  I have read the blog and Ms. Denison’s blog is extremely helpful to Probate Victims and their families.  I am very familiar with her work, and she does in fact tell the truth.
4.________ I have read the ARDC’s petition for an Immediate Suspension of Ms. Denison’s Law License and I know that she helps many, many people without any payment demands, and many cases she takes are pro bono with no expectation of payment.  No other attorney admitted to the bar in Illinois does that.  Without her assistance, dozens of indigent and lower middle class families would have no help and no hope in these horrific guardianship cases.  She helps everyone that comes to her as best she can.
5. ________ I have been helped by and rely upon Ms. Denison on a pro bono basis or for what I can pay, which is only a small portion of the true legal bill.  Without her, her I would not have any representation.  Prior to using Ms. Denison, I had sought help from approx   ____ number attorneys and paid $_______________–all to no avail in my case.
6._______ I know the Sykes family well or Gloria Sykes and what Ms. Denison says about the Sykes family is true and accurate.
7._______ I have read the Petition for Immediate Suspension of Ms. Denison’s law license and I strongly disagree with it.  This document falsely states that Ms. Denison is a danger to the public and to her clients and that she makes false statements against judges and judicial officials, none of that is true.
8.________ The immediate suspension of Ms. Denison would leave dozens and dozens of clients without help or representation, including myself.
Her suspension must not happen.  She is not a danger to anyone other than those that want to cover up the truth.
9.  Other comments:
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
10.  I give Ms. Denison permission to post my comments and declaration but not the ARDC.
Further declarant saith not.
I hereby declare that the above statements are true and accurate to the best of my knowledge; if called to testify, I would testify as to the same.

Respectfully submitted;

_____________________________________
Name printed: ________________________________
Dated __________________, 2015