Humanity

I came across this story while reading the morning news. It was so sad. They had this woman dead and buried. Guess she surprised them huh?


Dying woman recovers, says relatives "robbed me blind"
by Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian
Thursday August 27, 2009, 8:18 PM

Faith Cathcart/The Oregonian
Evelyn Roth says the only personal item she still has in her possession is the 25th anniversary diamond ring her late husband gave her. She says her relatives couldn't get the ring off her finger when she went into the care center. "I could sit around and sulk and feel bad, but what good would it do?" she says.Shortly after two women gained power of attorney from a dying 83-year-old relative, they took all of her possessions and sold her house of 56 years, police said.

The pair pocketed the $235,000 from the house sale and cleaned out the elderly woman's bank accounts and savings, sharing the money among themselves and family members, police and prosecutors say. They also arranged and pre-paid for her funeral.

However, Evelyn Roth made an amazing recovery and had no idea what her relatives were up to.

Now the two suspects, Roth's cousin Virginia Ann Kuehn, 66, and her niece Kathleen Sue Jingling, 53, face a 35-count felony indictment charging them with first-degree criminal mistreatment, aggravated theft and first-degree theft. They've pleaded not guilty.

Roth, a sprightly white-haired woman with a ready laugh and remarkable memory, showed up at Multnomah County Circuit Court for her relatives' arraignment this week. Portland Officer Deanna Wesson, who investigates elder abuse, wheeled Roth up to the judge so she could explain what happened.

"They robbed me blind," Roth said. "Everything was for money, just to get money, money, money. That's not the way it should be."

Roth said she pursued criminal charges because she's lost her savings and all her possessions to relatives who betrayed her trust. "I think they need to be taught a lesson. ... I feel like I helped raise Virginia. That's why it hurts so bad."

Jingling's lawyer, Daniel Lorenz, said his client may have received poor advice from another attorney and is working "to put matters in as good a situation as possible." Kuehn's lawyer, Pat Birmingham, declined to comment.

Roth, a Portland native, had lived on her own in her Southeast Kelly Street house since her husband, Bob, died 26 years ago.

She had worked for 35 years as the U.S. Bank branch near Southeast Milwaukie and Powell Boulevard. She loved the job and got to know her customers well. She also taught Sunday School at the Trinity Baptist Church.

In February 2008, she fell ill. A doctor removed a cancerous growth from her esophagus. Kuehn took her to the hospital for the outpatient surgery and drove her back home. But no one ever checked on Roth after that.

The day after the surgery, Roth fell and wasn't discovered until four days later. Phillip Klein visited the house, concerned because his friend hadn't shown up for their weekly dinner date.

Police found Roth on the floor, severely dehydrated, confused and suffering from delusions. She was hospitalized for two weeks and then placed in a nursing home. Through the spring of 2008, she continued to receive radiation treatments for cancer.

On April 24, she signed over the power of attorney to Kuehn and Jingling. She remembers them wheeling her to a nearby bank to get it notarized.

"I kept insisting, 'I want to take care of my bills. I can take care of myself,'" Roth recalled. "They said, 'We have to be able to take care of you if you get sick.'"

Four days later, Kuehn and Jingling each wrote $12,000 checks to themselves out of Roth's account, Wesson said.

About the same time, Jeanine Boldt-Ginn, the daughter of one of Roth's close friends, helped her mother track Roth down. They found Roth at Care Center East and became reacquainted.

Roth's health steadily improved, surprising her doctors. By the fall 2008, Roth began hearing from her neighbors that a "For Sale" sign was up outside her home, and her relatives seemed to be cleaning it out.

Roth didn't believe it. "I said, 'Well, they can't sell it because I haven't signed anything.' I had no idea what was all going on, just what the neighbors saw."

Police said Kuehn and Jingling sold the house for $235,000 in October 2008, deposited the money into Roth's bank account and then promptly spent all of it, writing checks to themselves and other family members. They cleaned out $35,000 in her checking account and cashed her two annuities totaling $88,000.

They also cleaned out all of Roth's belongings -- her antique china and glassware collection, her silverware, the mahogany furniture her husband made, their wedding pictures, a 7-foot-tall grandfather clock.

They sold her Buick Park Avenue.

Boldt-Ginn, who remembers having Roth as her Sunday School teacher when she was 5, and her husband, Jim Ginn, worked tirelessly to help Roth unravel what had happened to her belongings. They got county adult protective services investigator Irma Mitchell-Phillips and police to investigate.

"My mom said, 'I know the Lord brought us back here so we can help you,'" Boldt-Ginn recalled.

When Wesson interviewed the accused, they said they had sold Roth's house and belongings to avoid probate. Jingling kept saying that Roth's doctors had "guaranteed us" that Roth would die, Wesson recalled.

Wesson described the suspects as cold and callous, who never showed concern for Roth's well-being.

Police, prosecutors, county investigators and others who've met Roth said they're amazed at how she kept her spirits up, despite her losses.

She said she wants to see her relatives go to jail.

"I guess I'm just a stubborn old lady."

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Just a silly question...

OK, from time to time I like to ask a question on my blog. Here goes: Why do YOU think people gossip? The reason I am asking this is because I realize that so many people spend so much of their time talking about other people. I used to be a horrible gossip. Than one day I realized it simply was one of my bad habits and I made a serious effort not to talk about other people. My son was the one who taught me. A few years ago he heard me on the phone and he said "Mom, you sure do talk alot about other people". That was my moment. When he and I converse it is with the condition that we don't talk about other people. Baggy Pants is a funny duck. He holds firm to certain beliefs. He is 19. Just like everyone, he has good and bad qualities. The good ones that he does have though, I admire tremendously. So that is how I broke my gossiping habit. Please respond as I am very curious. Gossip is harmful in the workplace and among families. I await your replies. Peace.

Nerves a jitter

Well this Sunday I am leaving to go job hunting for two days. I did what I always do. Google all the restaurant in my zip code, get the numbers and than call and find the name of the hiring managers, and if they will be in when I will be in town. So far I have three interviews set up. Believe it or not, this technique has always worked. When people come in any restaurant and apply for a job and just drop an application off, they usually will not get hired. The hiring manager has to SEE you and the decision is usually made right than and there. I wish more people understood how important that is. Plus in my line of work, many servers don't want an experienced server hired as they know it will or might cut into their money. So they toss your application. Yup, that's how competitive the business is. Some restaurants you have an incredible potential to make quite a nice bit of money, and if you walk in with 20 years experience, the slackers don't want you hired. So I am following my usual formula and pray it works again. The one place I worked at years ago and 3 women who worked with me are still there, found them through face book and they will vouch for me. I have the place to live all lined up, one months rent so I will be ahead for a month. I just know how quickly 30 days pass and I want to have a job upon my arrival. My current boss knows I am planning on going back home when the opportunity presents itself, I haven't been deceptive. She understands and said I can use her for a reference. So please keep me in your prayers this upcoming weekend and pray that I will have a job to go with my new apartment. I am very stressed. Moving from the security I have now is scary. I want to do more than just exist however. My dad always told me you can survive or you can thrive. I want to thrive. I feel a spiritual angel watching my back. I know this angel very well. If you believe, anything is possible. Faith has become my best friend as I have matured. So far, I have yet to ever have a better one. Peace.

STINK

detstink@gmail.com http://themanwhowalksalonewalksfaster.blogspot.com/
I am here to let readers who are interested that a fellow blogger has published a book of poetry and prose. I just received mine in the mail today. He has captured the essence of Detroit so wonderfully and through the eyes of a survivor. It is brutally honest and beautiful. So I am sharing the info in case any bloggers would like to purchase a copy. It is reasonably price at $9 and I mailed my money and received my book in 4 days. His writings are intimate. I shall treasure this book as I have been reading his blog for many moons now and consider this man a friend of mine. So here is all the info...Good reading awaits. Thank you Walking Man for making my day today. Your book is now on a shelf with my other bound treasures.

History...

Tonight as I ease my aching feet, I thought you might appreciate some history lessons. Here goes:

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"
But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot...........they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:


Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . .. . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs (thick straw) piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip an d fall off the roof. Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer...

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring !

My time to shine...

I have been reading alot of people's blogs who are involved with Al-Anon. I have a very difficult mother. Bitter, 65, and friendless. I am learning that some of the principles in AA I can use to apply to my situation. When someone reaches 65 they are set in their ways. They are not going to change. The way I respond to her is what must change. She literally makes my chest tight. So for Lou, Subdural Flow Blogger, thank you for sharing the principles of Al-Anon. My mother has serious mental health issues and she is aging. I do what I can, but now, when it starts to interfere with my own personal happiness, I stop. She is capable and able to make the necessary phone calls to SSI, doctors etc. I told her she is retired and that is now her job. To make sure her money continues to come in. For the last year I have been on phones for hours straightening out her messes. Just like you do a drug addict. I will no longer do that. I am 42 years old and am trying to find my way in this world after a huge loss. I don't need an additional burden. The place I am contemplating taking would enable us to live totally independent of one another. I would have a basement apt. with my son. She would be renting a room on the third floor. No more sharing a fridge, cooking etc. I know this sounds cold to some, but my mother has always been very emotionally abusive in a passive aggressive type way. When that doesn't work she screams. I will no longer participate in the bullshit. I learned that other people can make you sick. I want to be healthy. I need to heal. I am still coping with a tremendous loss as is my son. He needs someone to lean on and guide him. I can't do that if I am unhappy and emotionally stressed. Life can end in the blink of an eye. I want to thrive, not just survive. i want my youngest son to do the same. It is time to "DO ME". Peace!!!