Go To Home PageInclusion Daily Express


INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS

http://www.InclusionDaily.com

Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights, self-determination
and the movement toward full community inclusion around the world.

Today is Wednesday, March 7, 2001
Vol. II, Edition 059

QUOTES OF THE DAY:
"He'd always give me a birthday card."

--Drug store owner Brenda Hansen, talking about customer John Rickard, who visited her store nearly every day (Third story)

"We love him like the other 600 people who live here."
--Bob Clark, administrator of Conway Human Development Center, talking about one institution resident whom staff have documented over a dozen episodes of "sexual aggression" toward others at the facility during the past few months (Fourth story)

-----

LAWS:
***RICHARDSON'S EXECUTION ON, THEN OFF, THEN ON, THEN OFF***

POTOSI, MISSOURI--After an evening of legal "ups" and "downs" the most recent reports this morning indicate that Antonio Richardson was not executed overnight.

Richardson, 26, has been on death row since being convicted of the 1991 rapes and murders of two sisters. His supporters say he has mental retardation and "the mind of a ten-year-old".

Richardson was scheduled for execution at 12:01 this morning. But early last night, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the execution stopped. The Appeals Court wanted Richardson's life spared, at least until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the case of John Paul Penry, a convicted murderer from Texas who also has mental retardation.

At 9:55 p.m., after hearing a petition from the Missouri Attorney General's office, the U.S. Supreme Court, reversed the Appeals Court ruling and reinstated the execution. Officials at the Potosi Correctional Center moved forward to execute Richardson by lethal injection as planned.

Finally, with just a short time left before the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court reversed its own earlier ruling, thereby blocking the execution for the time being. The high court said it wants to use the Penry case to clarify how much opportunity jurors in death penalty cases must have to consider the defendant's "mental capacity".

Richardson was 16 years of age when he committed the crimes. Only one other execution in the last 40 years in the U.S. involved someone who committed the crime at age 16 or younger.

---

PARTICIPATION:
***"CHALLENGED" CLIMBERS CLEARED FOR EVEREST***

KATHMANDAU, NEPAL--Ministry of Tourism officials on Monday announced that they have selected ten teams that will attempt to climb Mt. Everest, the world's tallest peak this season. Two of those teams -- one from India and one from the United States -- include members who are "physically challenged".

India's team will be led by Baba Munindra Pal, a seasoned climber who has one leg and uses a crutch. The Times of India reported that other climbers in Pal's seven-member team have physical disabilities.

"Pal has been climbing smaller peaks in India. So we granted permission without any hesitation," a Nepali official said.

If he reaches the summit, Pal's accomplishment would equal that of Tom Whittacker, an American mountaineer who uses an artificial leg and climbed Everest in May of 1998.

A ten-member U.S. team which includes Erik Weihenmayer, 32, has also been selected for the current season, which ends in May. Weihenmayer, is from Denver, Colorado, and plans to be the first blind person to reach top of the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) mountain.

Weihenmayer plans to climb the tallest mountain on each continent.

---

COMMUNITY LIVING:
***PAPER PAYS TRIBUTE TO "MOST PASSIONATE READER"***

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA--Doug Grow of the Star Tribune wrote a tribute of sorts about John Rickard, a long-time reader and critic of the paper who died ten days ago.

Rickard, who had Asperger syndrome, a type of autism, often sent pages of criticism to reporters and politicians alike.

Most of his letters were typed on a manual typewriter with such passion "that the keys would leave holes in the paper".

People who knew Rickard said he was a loving man. "He'd always give me a birthday card", said Brenda Hanson, the owner of a local store Rickard stopped at nearly every day.

"He'd call and say July 13 [Rickard's birthday] and my birthday were the two most important days of the year."

Here is Grow's column:
http://www2.startribune.com/stOnLine/cgi-bin/article?thisStory=83715723

---

INSTITUTIONS:
***FACILITY FAULTED FOR NOT CONTROLLING RESIDENT (OR, "WASN'T IT JOHN LENNON WHO SAID 'ALL YOU NEED IS DOCUMENTATION'?")***

CONWAY, ARKANSAS--They say he is "severely retarded".

But somehow, the young man who is also described as having autism, manages to get away from "one-on-one" staff assigned to him. He just waits until the staff member is distracted -- then he's gone.

That's when he gets into trouble -- the kind of trouble that has brought him a great deal of attention lately at Conway Human Development Center (CHDC), an institution housing 600 people with developmental disabilities.

During a recent investigation, state officials found more than a dozen incident reports detailing times the man engaged in "sexual inappropriateness and documented unsolicited sexual approaches toward 10 of 10 sampled clients".

Investigators also say that during a 14-day review, the man had "one-on-one" staff for just five days and one evening, even though his "behavior program plan" called for constant direct supervision.

State investigators were following up on a complaint filed three weeks ago by a family member of one of the other residents.

The institution has until April 22 to stop the man's behavior and to present another plan to keep him from misbehaving again, or risk losing federal Medicaid payments.

CHDC administrator Bob Clark told the Log Cabin Democrat that the young man did receive the 24-hour supervision, but that staff assignments were not well documented.

"Documentation is the key," Clark said. "We are aggressively looking at what else we can do to assist him."

"We love him like the other 600 people who live here," Clark added.

---

ONE YEAR AGO:
(FROM THE MARCH 7, 2000 INCLUSION DAILY EXPRESS)
***DAY TREATMENT PROVIDER FOUND GUILTY OF FRAUD***

WASHINGTON, DC -- In 1994, Denise Braxtonbrown-Smith's company began providing day treatment services for adults with developmental disabilities who had recently been moved from a large institution into the community. Her agency also claimed to have provided psychiatric care and other similar services, even though it was not a mental health center.

Yesterday, Braxtonbrown-Smith was convicted of fraud for bilking Medicaid for $1.6 million in false claims submitted for services that were not rendered. She was also convicted on 13 other felony counts including tax evasion, conspiracy, and mail fraud.

According to this morning's Washington Post, Braxtonbrown-Smith, who now is in divinity school, faces up to 7 ½ years behind bars for the crimes:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-03/07/115l-030700-idx.html (link still active)


Get your news here!

Inclusion Daily Express
3231 W. Boone Ave., # 711
Spokane,Washington 99201 USA

Local: 509-326-5811

News@InclusionDaily.com
Copyright © 2002 Inonit Publishing