Public apathy
My favorite topics to opine here are local issues because they affect us directly; but, there is something happening in Boston that is a reflection of the general attitude of people all over the country.
The case of Justina Pelletier. This 15-year-old girl from Connecticut is being held like in prison at Children’s Hospital for over one year. Briefly, she was an active ice skater who developed some illness and was being treated by doctors at Tufts Medical Center for mitochondrial disease.
She was then taken to Children’s in Boston where the doctors disagreed with Tufts’ diagnosis saying that it was a psychiatric disorder, instead. The end result is that her parents lost custody when the Department of Children Services took the case to court. They are allowed to visit with her daughter only one hour each week – supervised by a staff of the Department of Children Services!
Justina provided the names of four of her friends to talk to by telephone but she’s permitted contact by phone with only one of them and she cannot mention anything about her stay there. While she’s chatting, her conversations are recorded and someone is also listening. If she talks about something that they already mentioned earlier, that person comes on the telephone to remind her that they already talked about it.
Meanwhile, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the Boston Marathon bomber was granted permission from the judge to meet with his sister alone, with no FBI presence.
Keep in mind that there’s no accusation of child abuse, sexual abuse and she was being treated by a very reputable institution (Tufts) not through witchcraft.
Justina has been deprived of attending religious services and has not received any education as required by federal law. She is now in a wheelchair.
My question is: Where’s the uproar? Where are the politicians that allow this travesty to occur? We are the problem! We elect wimps and never demand anything from them.
Police Department
For many years many of us have been complaining about wrongdoings at the police department, the physical abuse to which people are exposed at the station and the millions of dollars costing the city in lawsuits. When former chief John Romero left and James Fitzpatrick was appointed interim police chief, we hope that his reputation of being a serious, responsible officer for over 20 years was going to effect change in attitudes.
It was a great disappointment finding out from Officer William Green that the new chief has had no influence on those running the station. It is not up to the City Council to do something about this. The mayor is the maximum authority and has the power to really “clean house” where it needs to be done.
Officer Green testified that he has been a police officer for nine years and has never been evaluated. How do we know now who the abusers are if there are no records of that in their personnel files?
I left two detailed telephone messages for Chief Fitzpatrick and he did not return my calls prior to publication. By the way, the recorded message said, “You have reached the extension of Chief John J. Romero.” What does it require to change that even if Fitzpatrick will be there temporarily?
Discord among the troops
As expected, police officers are divided regarding those accusations. Last Wednesday, after a union meeting they went for a drink at J Brian’s on South Union St. and an argument ensued. Sergeant Fabian Guerrero agreed with Officer Green’s claims of rampant discrimination and Detective Ryan Guthrie threw a punch at him.
Is that also part of the image of Lawrence?
City Council meeting
The Lawrence City Council will be meeting on April 22 to discuss again the appointment of Theresa Park as Planning Director. The controversy continues as to whether the council is divided by political loyalties and those fanatics fail to see the real reason for their denial of approval last week. They agreed that she is a gift to Lawrence and showed their respect when she was being interviewed.
The issue here is that this is a government body that exists to provide checks and balances and the proper procedure was not followed. They are not spoiled brats but giving a lesson to the mayor or otherwise it will be a very long four-year administration.
I am certain that Ms. Park will not become unemployed as a result of this; the council will find a way to accommodate her (the mayor already apologized) and she will be able to continue working.
The only thing I am curious about is how much her salary will be on next year’s budget. I don’t like to speculate or make predictions but at last week’s meeting I heard that the position is worth $140,000.
