Elder abuse nightmares driving state petition push for visitation reform
An Alabama woman is calling on state lawmakers to pass a bill to protect the rights of adult children of elders under the guardianship of others to visit their aging parents. Carrie Ford – who started a petition on Change.org Saturday addressed to Sen. J.T Waggoner and Rep. Ronald Johnson – says in her appeal she was prevented under current state law from seeing her father, who as a ward of the state had been left in a bad way and isolated from his family. In recent years, I wasn’t allowed to go through the gates at Liberty Park to visit my father, Robert G. Ford, MD. I was stopped by security,” wrote Ford. “I had not seen my father in over 2 years, until March 9th, when my sister and I became aware that he was left in a 12,000 foot square house alone, and he has Alzheimer’s Disease.” She wrote he was subjected to squalid conditions with no recourse. “My father had no working phone, no food in the pantry or frig, no bed that he could access, no toilet paper, no hot water and no heat. He stayed at a local hospital for 6 weeks,” Ford’s appeal continues. The story is familiar to elder law observers around the nation. Ford invoked the Kasem Cares – founded by the daughter of radio legend Casey Kasem – which advocates for just the kind of reforms Ford is calling for, including guarantees that children of elder patients will have access to their parents. Kasem Cares has gotten results recently, passing versions of their model “Visitation Bill” in Iowa, Texas and California. Ford hopes she can get the same kind of momentum going in Alabama. “You can do your part to end the silent epidemic of elder abuse by taking the pledge to stand up against elder abuse,” Ford wrote. “There are 10,000 people who are turning 65 each and every day (Pew Research Center), and we are rapidly approaching a time where nearly 50% of the population will be 65 or older. Together, we can end the silence of elder abuse by standing united and raising our voices against this growing problem.” As of press time, the petition was 32 percent of the way to its goal of 100 signatures.
2016 Republicans use Donald Trump, TV to make debate cut
Rick Perry is attacking Donald Trump‘s credibility and branding the billionaire businessman “a cancer on conservatism.” Rick Santorum, a conservative stalwart, popped up on a TV program popular with liberals. Lindsey Graham set his cellphone on fire. With the first debate of the Republican presidential campaign approaching, the White House hopefuls are trying everything they can to improve their polling position. A candidate needs to place in the top 10 in an average of national polls to meet the criteria Fox News Channel has set to take the stage Aug. 6 in Cleveland. Those kept out risk being overlooked by voters and financial backers heading into the critical fall stretch before the nominating contests start early in 2016. “If you’re not on the stage you’re irrelevant, you don’t matter,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz. “Unless you have some serious ad dollars, it’s not a glass ceiling. It’s a concrete ceiling.” At of this past week, former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki, ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum and South Carolina Sen. Graham were outside the top 10. Others close to the edge including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and ex-Texas Gov. Perry. That would relegate them to a second-tier debate, only an hourlong airing before the prime-time event. “In your heart of hearts, you want to see me debate Hillary Clinton,” Fiorina, the only woman in the Republican contest, said with a grin, drawing applause from more than 100 people at an Ames country club Thursday. “I would of course love to be on the debate stage, but we’re going to keep going with or without it,” she told reporters afterward. “The boys are going to fight, and I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.” One guaranteed participant is Trump, despite incendiary comments about Mexican immigrants and Arizona Sen. John McCain‘s war record. Trump’s remarks have drawn a backlash in a party trying to expand its Latino voting bloc and where national security is an influential constituency. Boring in on Trump is one approach some rivals hope will help them to break through as the debate nears. Perry unloaded on Wednesday when he called Trump’s campaign a “barking carnival act” and “toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness and nonsense.” Perry pollster Greg Strimple said the goal of the speech was part of a long-standing effort to raise his profile, not to get him in the debate. “We had long-planned a speech defending conservatism,” Strimple said. “When Donald Trump made his negative comments, it provided us the perfect comparison.” Perry’s supporters are buying national cable ads that could boost his numbers ahead of the debate. On Friday, backers of Christie announced a new ad to air on Fox News. Graham, even further behind in polling, called Trump a “jackass” after the real estate executive said McCain was “not a war hero.” McCain served as a Navy pilot during the Vietnam War, who was captured after his plane was shot down and held for more than five years as a prisoner of war. Graham then starred in a video produced by a conservative website demonstrating how to destroy a cellphone after Trump publicly disclosed Graham’s number during a campaign appearance in South Carolina. Curt Anderson, a strategist advising Jindal’s campaign, wrote in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal that the Republican Party was sabotaging itself by controlling the debates too much, after concluding that marginal candidates dragged 2012 nominee Mitt Romney too far to the right. “They have come out to limit the number of debates we can have, they dictated who can have it, where you have it and who will moderate it,” Anderson said in an interview, adding that his complaints were unconnected to Jindal’s campaign. “The only thing left is to dictate what can be said in it.” As with Perry, an outside group supporting the Louisiana governor is buying ads on national cable just in time for the debate. Santorum spokesman Matt Benyon said Santorum’s TV appearances, including on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show,” were timed to take advantage of the candidate’s time in New York this past week, not to boost his poll numbers. “Would it be great to be in the debate? Absolutely,” Benyon said. “But to change your campaign strategy to focus on one date in August is a pretty shortsighted idea.” Republican consultant Reed Galen said candidates may have a better chance to introduce themselves to voters in the less-crowded second-tier debate than competing with Trump and the other contenders in the main debate. Still, he understood the drive for prime time. “You get more licks in AAA-ball,” Galen said. “But the majors are the big show.” Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers
A round-up of Sunday editorials from Alabama’s leading newspapers: The Anniston Star – It’s just $400,000, anyway, to the Alabama Legislature By the editorial board of The Anniston Star The Alabama Legislature, divided to the core, couldn’t pass a General Fund budget this spring that Gov. Robert Bentley would support. Bentley hated the one they did pass and threw it back at them, saying, in essence, it wasn’t worth the paper on which it was printed. The result: added expenses of as much as $400,000 — the cost of this summer’s special session, according to The Star’s Tim Lockette. It’s technically not overtime costs, but that’s what it feels like. If Montgomery had done its job a few months ago, Alabama wouldn’t be on the hook right now for an additional six-figure expense. Funny it was this week to hear lawmakers tell The Star about “evergreen appropriations” — House and Senate requests for more cash — and that a $400,000 bill isn’t that big of a deal in the big picture of Alabama state finances. Well, legislators no longer have the luxury of evergreen appropriations (they banned them this spring) and $400,000 is still $400,000. The Birmingham News – See inside Alabama’s oldest hardware store The plan was 31 towns, and 31 stories. But every town has so many more stories to tell. It is so often so hard to choose. While in Huntsville this week to speak to Ruth Gräfin von Saurma — a countess who worked for Wernher von Braun and has lived a remarkable life — I was wowed by the Harrison Brother’s Hardware store on the square (next door to all my good Huntsville pals at AL.com). It was a traditional old hardware store, a place opened in 1879 by the Harrison family and passed along from generation to generation. John Harrison’s death in 1983 appeared to doom the store, until the Historic Huntsville Foundation, a non-profit that tries to preserve the architectural and historical resources of Huntsville and Madison County, bought the place and saved it. Volunteers man it. People contribute remarkable old tools and trinkets, architectural remnants and more. The foundation sells art and Alabama products, but tries to keep it as original as possible. It draws you in because it is cool. And it teaches you a little history without making you think about it. The guiding principle, Historic Huntsville Foundation Executive Director Donna Castellano says, is “preservation before profit.” I’ll buy that. The Decatur Daily – Sure, blame it on the South again In the eyes of many, we are responsible for the vast majority of what’s wrong with America. A recent story by Politico magazine contends the South drags down U.S. rankings in the world because of poverty, violence, social mobility and racism. It says if not for the South, the U.S. would be much more like Canada, Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand. It uses statistics to back up the conclusion, and at some level, yes, we get the point. But too often, the difference is only by degree. Yes, the South is poor. Yes, we are rural, conservative and sometimes stubborn to the point we ignore science in favor of tradition. But to the accusation we are the cause of U.S. overall shortcomings, we’d like to issue a rebuke. Politico defines the South as 16 states carving a line that separates Texas and Oklahoma from New Mexico and Kansas; and Arkansas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Delaware away from Midwestern and Northeastern states to the north. Time magazine, the Huffington Post and the Atlantic during the past decade have blamed us for U.S. obesity, poverty and “general stupidity,” according to a blog by The Washington Post’s Thomas J. Sugrue. The problem in taking these statistics at face value is they simply quantify what we’ve known since Reconstruction: The South has a disproportionate share of poor, and that alone leads to a number of other statistics one can lump together to create a portrayal of fault for any number of social ills. What drives poor health? Obesity. What drives obesity? Ignorance. What drives ignorance? Lack of education. What drives lack of education? Money. It’s not the other way around, and there’s no escaping this one ill creates an endless supply of symptoms. Dothan Eagle – Redneck? We don’t think so Dothan received a dubious distinction this week when it topped the list of the 10 Most Redneck Places in Alabamacompiled by a website featuring what many would call “click bait” – links designed to drive web traffic to a particular site. Those of us who live here and love it may take offense. After all, “redneck” – despite its humble origin to describe hard-working, salt-of-the-earth folks whose sun-scorched necks signified long days in the sun – has become something of a pejorative, calling to mind oafish hayseeds who don’t know how to behave. However, it gives residents an opportunity to think of the things that make our city such a great place to live. It has elements of a larger city, but has a small-town feel. The schools have a good reputation. There are significant efforts to attract new jobs, and construction is booming. The city opened two new libraries last year at a time when many communities are seeing library services reduced. Our medical facilities rival those in much larger cities, and we have a medical school that’s drawing more applicants than it can serve. We’re moving into high-tech, with the possibility of more growth driven by a recent upgrade to become a 100-gig city, which is quite a draw for tech companies. And, hey – we’re getting a Zoe’s Kitchen. So those who would poke fun at Dothan can make all the jokes they want. They’ll only look foolish in the end. After all, our schools have outstanding graduation rates, and the majority of folks who come here want to find a reason to stay. If that’s redneck, then “Yeee-haw!” The Enterprise Ledger – With such leaders, maybe we should all go off grid If I was from,
