ESCAPING AViolent Partner Can Seem Impossile For Thousands Of Women

ESCAPING A VIOLENT PARTNER CAN SEEM IMPOSSIBLE FOR THOUSANDS OF WOMEN
‘All the time my husband was beating me, he was telling me this was the day I was going to die ...‘

For Lakeesha Sexton, and the tens of thousands of women like her, escaping a violent partner can seem impossible. But a revolutionary one-stop centre in San Diego - which has now been cloned in Croydon - is bringing police, lawyers and care workers together in an attempt to break them free.

Read the rest of this excellent article here >>

"The Only Way the State could take Custody of Troubled Child was to Charge Her Mother with Abandonment, Abuse or Neglect. The Mother was Crestfallen".

By SHERRI ACKERMAN The Tampa Tribune

TAMPA - Betty Keel found herself at the door of a West Tampa strip club, four days after her teenage daughter took out the trash and never came back.

Shyrontay had run away before, later confiding in her mother about dancing at Hollywood Nites and selling her body for money to survive.

"How old is she?" the doorman asked Keel, blocking her entrance. "Fifteen? No, she's not dancing here."

It was shortly after 11 on a Friday night. The 50-year-old mother and grandmother was tired and disgusted. She had just come from Simone's, another strip club on Nebraska Avenue where Shyrontay said she also danced. The manager let Keel inside to see for herself. No Shyrontay.
"I'm beat," Keel said, climbing back into her sport utility vehicle. "She's worn me down. It's like she get this demon in her. She become somebody else."

On the day she disappeared, Shyrontay was one of 570 especially troubled children across Florida - those reported missing from among the thousands whose problems are serious enough to warrant state intervention.

When she called the Department of Children & Families in January 2006, Keel had hit rock bottom. She begged the state to take Shyrontay, but she had no idea what it would cost her.
"In order to get help, you've got to tell DCF Shyrontay can't come home," Keel recalled a caseworker telling her. "You've got to say you're not taking her back."

The only way the state could take custody of Shyrontay was to charge her mother with abandonment, abuse or neglect. Keel was crestfallen.

"I didn't abandon my baby," she told workers.

Title and Bold by Blogmaster for emphasis story abridged read the entire story in the Tampa Tribune Here >>

BY THE NUMBERS

603 Average number of children missing at any given time from state care in Florida during 2006

169 Average number of children missing at any given time in the SunCoast Region, which includes Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties

50 Percentage of cases in which children are found within three days

95Percentage of cases in which children are found within three months

Source: Department of Children & Families

Researcher Catherine Hammer and reporter Chris Echegaray contributed to this report. Reporter Sherri Ackerman can be reached at (813) 259-7144 or sackerman@tampatrib.com.

IF YOU SEE HER

Shyrontay Keel is listed on the Florida Department of Children & Families' missing children's list online. If you see her, call your local law enforcement agency or Hillsborough Kids Inc. at (813) 225-1105.

NEED HELP?

If your child is missing, call local law enforcement immediately to make a report.
•Tampa Police Missing Person's Unit: (813) 276-3516
•Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office: (813) 247-8200
•Hillsborough County has a crisis hot line that offers parent resources: Call 211.
•National Center for Missing & Exploited Children: (703) 274-3900
•Missing Children Information Clearing House: 1-888-356-4774 (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
•Child Protection Education of America, in Tampa, works with parents and law enforcement agencies to help find missing and exploited children: Call (813) 626-3001 or 1-866-872-2445.

Misleading The Public -

Long wait goes on for ultimate Comeback Kid - Ted Williams

By Kevin Paul Dupont, Globe Staff

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- There is no resting place for Ted Williams. A legend on America's ballfields, Williams was brought here upon his death nearly five years ago, and while some look to the day he can be brought back to life, there is no headstone, no grieving place, no serene patch of greenery where family, friends, or fans can spend a contemplative moment, explore a sense of connection with the late Red Sox slugger.

"I visit my brother and father every day in my mind," Claudia Williams, the slugger's daughter and John Henry's sister, wrote in an e-mail. "I wish, hope and believe and have faith in our decisions. I do not question my/our decision. It is timeless, because it was made out of love, and at a point in our lives where the three of us could not have been closer.

According to one expert, the day when the Williamses might be reunited could come later this century. For now, Ted and John Henry are among only 161 people worldwide -- all but four of them stored in three US cryonic facilities -- who await their rebirth in the deep-chilled state of cryostasis.

Former Alcor employee Ben Best, now president of the Cryonics Institute in Clinton Township, Mich., emphasized in a recent phone interview that little has changed in the science the last five years. Nonetheless, experts and devotees believe technological advances will have people such as Williams and his son back walking among us in the next 50-100 years.

"I'd say 100 years, maximum, but a lot of people believe it will never happen," said Best. "Of course, if I believed that, I wouldn't be doing this."

As for a scientific lab lacking the feel or serenity of a bucolic resting place, Best noted that through cryonics, "Something greater exists -- the possibility that we can come back. I think that should count for a heck of a lot more."

Claudia Williams, who lives in Florida, expressed much the same sentiment.

"My family rests where our hopes and beliefs are," she wrote. "I believe in science. My dad and John Henry believe in science. I would never question someone's religion and criticize their beliefs. No one else should either! It's a human's right -- regardless. It is however, and has been throughout time and history, an easy target to condemn, kill and segregate people for their differences."

"I drive by the place twice a week," said Helgeson, "and I just can't believe Ted Williams's head is hanging in there. Either someone in his family is a lunatic or has a lot more faith in science than I do."

Abridged >>

Mr. Helgelson I think it's the latter, they have more faith in science than you do ! You and Thomas Edison would not have been very good friends.

What The Experts Say

"Few people not directly involved in gerontological research are fully aware of the exciting developments in the study of aging and what I feel is the very real prospect of devising effective means of postponing age-related disease and functional decline and yes, prolonging life."

Andrzej Bartke Ph.D. Prize Record Holder

Epicatechin And Exercise As Memory Boosters?

Epicatechin And Exercise As Memory Boosters?

WASHINGTON, DC May 29, 2007 – A natural compound found in blueberries, tea, grapes, and cocoa enhances memory in mice, according to newly published research. This effect increased further when mice also exercised regularly.

"This finding is an important advance because it identifies a single natural chemical with memory-enhancing effects, suggesting that it may be possible to optimize brain function by combining exercise and dietary supplementation," says Mark Mattson, PhD, at the National Institute on Aging.

The compound, epicatechin, is one of a group of chemicals known as flavonols and has been shown previously to improve cardiovascular function in people and increase blood flow in the brain. Flavonols are found in some chocolate. Henriette van Praag, PhD, of the Salk Institute, and colleagues there and at Mars, Inc., showed that the combination of exercise and a diet with epicatechin also promoted structural and functional changes in the dentate gyrus, a part of the brain involved in the formation of learning and memory. The findings, published in the May 30 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience, suggest that a diet rich in flavonols may help reduce the incidence or severity of neurodegenerative disease or cognitive disorders related to aging.

STEM CELLS

STEM CELLS , BANK YOUR BODY !

Stem cell banking hit the news recently as Richard Branson announced the latest Virgin venture, Virgin Health Bank, a company that offers new parents the opportunity to preserve cells from the blood of their newborn child's umbilical cord. Stem cells are the cells from which all other cells form - everything from the teeth and skin to bone and the heart.

Although the research is still in its infancy, many in the industry believe that stem cells are the future of medicine. 'Stem cells literally have the ability to turn back time,' says medical scientist, Dr Cuross Bakhtiar of London's Harley Street Cosmetic.

'They have the potential to regenerate blood cells damaged by heart attacks and even improve sight damaged by retinal degradation.'

Dr Donald Gibb, an obstetrician in private practise in London's Harley Street, has seen the number of parents looking to bank stem cells increase over the past few years.

'For several years now I've made my patients aware of the possibility of banking stem cells when their child is born and I would say roughly 20 per cent of them do so.' He believes this number could well increase further.

If you missed out as a child but want your own stem cells banked, this can be done, although those found in adult bodies, in various locations including the brain, skin and liver, are thought to be less potent that those taken from umbilical blood.

Various cell banks such as Cells Limited, based in Middlesex offer adults the option of storing their own stem cells, usually syringed under local anaesthetic from the bone marrow of the hip and then frozen.

We are on the verge of a revolution in medicine:

"We are on the verge of a revolution in medicine: understanding, treating, and ultimately preventing the causes of degenerative aging. But medical revolutions only happen if we all stand up in support of funding and research. We did it for cancer. We're doing it for Alzheimer's. We can do it for aging - and create an era of longer, healthier lives!"

The Engineer's Viewpoint: Treat Change as Damage and Fix It

Man gets 12 years for Stealing From Elderly

By DEEDEE CORRELL THE GAZETTE June 1, 2007 - 12:18AM

The Rev. Warren Butler died without realizing he’d lost everything.

Stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, the Cañon City Baptist minister went to his grave March 31 not grasping that a man he considered his friend had stolen thousands of dollars from him and his wife.

But his guardian knew, and Thursday she spoke on his behalf at the sentencing of a Fremont County man convicted in a case that some say illustrates the growing issue of elder abuse.
“He took their identity, their freedom to live in their home, the money they saved for their last years of life,” Eva Mares said. “Because of what he did, Warren died in a nursing home instead of his home.”

Danial Leroy Williams, 57, was sentenced Thursday in Fremont County District Court to 12 years in prison, the maximum possible sentence.

Williams was convicted last month of stealing thousands of dollars from the Cañon City couple after they gave him power of attorney.

The case’s conclusion comes as El Paso County officials designate June as Elder Abuse Awareness Month.

As many as 10 percent of older adults are victims of abuse, but only one in eight cases is reported, according to the Colorado Coalition for Elder Rights and Adult Protection.

Judges and attorneys in Colorado say they are seeing an increasing number of cases with the questionable use of powers of attorney.

A power of attorney is a document in which one person designates another to act on his or her behalf. It gives the recipient authority over one’s financial affairs.

In the Fremont case, authorities said that’s how Williams, a church acquaintance, gained control of the Butlers’ affairs.

About 10 years ago, he started running errands for them and “slowly began to exert more and more control” over their lives, according to an affidavit.

By 2003, the Butlers — who didn’t have children and whose relatives live out-ofstate — were exhibiting signs of Alzheimer’s.

In 2005, Williams took the couple to a bank, where they signed documents giving him power of attorney.

Williams then allegedly started spending their money and had them sign over their house to him. In all, he was accused of taking nearly $215,000.

After his arrest last summer, Williams pleaded guilty, but Fremont County District Court Judge Julie Marshall rejected a plea bargain, and Williams stood trial in May.

Thursday, Deputy district attorney Bryan Hunt said the judge noted that once Williams placed the Butlers in a nursing home and took over their house, the Butlers’ most precious belongings — including Warren’s World War II Army uniform in which he wanted to be buried — were found in a Dumpster outside their home.

Their relatives recovered the photos and uniform, in which Butler was buried in Tennessee.

His wife, Opal, is in Tennesse living with relatives, Mares said.

Because Opal still has some bank account numbers written on a slip of paper in her purse, Mares said, she remains convinced that she’s got her money.

Gory Details Emerge on Second Day of Elder Abuse trial

By Matthew Hill

FAYETTEVILLE — Participants in the trial of a Fayetteville woman accused of elder abuse that led to the death 18 months ago of a woman who lived on her property were subjected Thursday to often gruesome testimony from seven witnesses presented by Fayette County prosecutors.

Kaplan classified King’s injuries to police as “heinous abuse” following his autopsy of her body on Dec. 19, 2005. King died two days earlier following a week of treatment at Raleigh General Hospital.“Ms. King was living in sloven conditions,” Kaplan asserted. “She lived in a condition of neglect for a long period of time. There was chronic grime under her fingernails, her teeth had rotted, and there was a smell of putrefaction (decay) like a dead animal.”King’s hair could easily be pulled from her scalp, Kaplan explained, adding such findings can indicate malnutrition. “I could see her shoulder blade under her left armpit. Four of her five toes (on one foot) were blackened, probably from frostbite and insufficient heat,” he declared. “The underlying problem for Ms. King was being incapacitated and mentally retarded. She had not been taken care of and suffered from prolonged neglect.”

Brian Tanner, a paramedic for General Ambulance, said King was completely naked when he found her on Dec. 10, 2005, and that her trailer reeked of a putrid smell. “My partner vomited when we stepped outside,” he told assistant prosecutor Jennifer Hewitt. “She was in obvious pain whenever I touched her. She seemed confused, frightened and in pain. She seemed not to have been bathed in a long time. She said things that made no sense,” he said.

Tallman recalled she was somewhat “aggressive” in dealing with Parsons at the emergency room. The doctor said she was struck with incredulity over Parsons’ statement that she charged King for rent and cashed her checks.“‘You make her pay rent?’” Tallman remembered asking Parsons. “I threw my hands up and said, ‘Can you not smell (the odor from King’s bed sores)?’”

Abridged >>

Near Misses Allowed Man With Tuberculosis to Fly

By LAWRENCE K. ALTMAN and JOHN SCHWARTZ Published: May 31, 2007

A series of “understandable” near misses accounted for a Georgia man’s odyssey to Europe in which he might have exposed fellow passengers on a series of commercial flights to an exceptionally dangerous form of tuberculosis, federal officials said yesterday.

See entire article in NY times here >>

Elderly abuse trial opens in Fayette Circuit Court

HillRegister-Herald Reporter

FAYETTEVILLE — Fayette County prosecutors presented two witnesses Wednesday in their case against a Fayetteville woman on charges of elder abuse that led to the death 17 months ago of a woman who lived on her property.Jewell Parsons, 44, of Crooked Run Road, was indicted in January in the death of Naomi L. King, 68, in December 2005.

Parsons was arrested in February 2006.She faces one count each of intentional neglect of an elder person, misappropriation or misuse of funds of an elder person by means of deception and embezzlement by misuse of a fiduciary relationship.

Abridged >>