DALLAS - They’re not criminals. They’ve broken no laws. But they’re being held against their will by the State of Texas. Why? It’s a tragic story about what can happen when you are alone in the world and lose control of your rights, your money, and your ability to complain.
Jean and Michael Kidd never imagined their retirement would play out like this. “I feel like I am not in America,” said Michael Kidd. “I can’t believe I have been hi-jacked off the street, virtually from the hospital, and imprisoned,” Kidd told FOX 4.
have no children or relatives nearby. In November Michael fell and broke his hip. He was taken to a Plano hospital and into surgery. After a few days, the hospital called the state Adult Protective Services to report Jean had been in the waiting room for days and Michael Kidd worked as an engineer at KDFW for 23 years. He retired in 2001 with a pension, retirement account, and social security. Last month, he called the station for help. The Kiddswasn’t eating. What happened next is a complicated, legal tale told in hundreds of pages of documents filed with the Collin County Probate Court.Caseworkers paint a picture of two incompetent old people, age 67 and 70, suffering from dementia. Reports say the Kidds have mismanaged their finances and used poor judgment, that Michael is verbally abusive and even attempted to assault Jean. Michael says Jean has memory trouble but denies everything else. A judge determined the Kidds were incapacitated and unable to care for themselves. The state took over the Kidds lives, sent them to the Countryside Nursing Home in Pilot Point, and is now burning through their money to pay for their care.
The monthly tab for a couple at Countryside is about seven thousand dollars. Court records show, for five months’ care, the guardian paid eleven thousand dollars out of the Kidds’ accounts. The state’s Medicaid program kicks in the rest. “I could be at the Hilton for this kind of money,” Kidd told Oliver.
The state appointed a financial guardian in Greenville to manage the Kidds money and pay their bills. When they asked for an accounting, the state refused. Representatives for the state stated the Kidds did not have the mental capacity to even ask for their own financial or medical records. Yet, much of their personal information is public record. The state tried to get a temporary restraining order to stop FOX 4 from reporting the Kidds’ story, saying the couple does not have the authority to consent to an interview and that our report will cause them irreparable harm. Judge Weldon Copeland ruled against the state. He said he would welcome a neighbor or family member to serve as a guardian but no one has come forward. The state is the last resort.
“We have to buy this out of our own money,” says Michael. The state gives each of the Kidds a measly sixty dollars a month of their own money. They use it to keep a small refrigerator stocked with healthy food. Jean has lost twenty pounds and two teeth and says no one has seemed to notice. They have no personal belongings in their room other than the television. All of their remaining possessions sit in their house in Richardson.
The Kidds did have court-appointed representation from attorney, Bert Starr. Starr would not comment but court records show he billed their account for ten hours of legal work. The work Starr performed on their case was cut from the record.
“How could this happen in a country that talks about and brags about freedom,” says Michael Kidd. “And yet this is how we treat our old people. This can happen to any of you.”
The state has the responsibility to make sure the Kidds are safe.
-source
The followup story,
DALLAS - The state is playing hard ball with an elderly couple who claims they are being held against their will. Michael and Jean Kidd just want to get out of the nursing home and back into their house but Fox 4 has learned the home may not be around if the state follows through with its plan.
The Kidds lost their freedom and now it appears they may lose their greatest asset, their home. A trustee’s deed filed in mid August shows the Kidd’s Richardson home is scheduled to be auctioned Tuesday.The state determined the Richardson couple was incapacitated or unable to care for themselves after Michael went to the hospital with a broken hip. Jean suffers from memory loss. The state took over all of their finances and placed them in a nursing home.
“I think we have way overstepped our bounds,” said Senator Nelson. Nelson says she was appalled to see how the state is taking care of the Kidd’s home. The power was shut off, leaving a mess in the kitchen. There is a broken window and the yard is overgrown. And now the state is trying to unload their neglected house for $156,000.00.
Collin County appraised the home this year for $191,000.00
Of course the words that should send a chill down your spine are, " the State has the responsibility to make sure the Kidds are safe."
No, the state shouldn't have that responsibility.
Unfortunately many a shortsighted person has endowed it with such power over the decades and generally applauds it for wielding that power most of the time.
For example child labor laws seem like such a basic and moral thing, yet the fact remains that it allows the government the authority to oversee how the family life is ruled (displacing the parents). So Christians don't complain when the state orders you to stop teaching your children Christianity. After all if The State has the "right" to supervise their physical health then they certainly have the "right" to supervise their mental health as well.
In response some would argue that some parents are bad parents. That may be so, but remember, all government is bad government, no exceptions. The general thinking among the Founding Fathers was that government, at best, is a necessary evil. When you give power to The State you are giving power to an institution that is inherently evil in its construct. (and no, I'm not advocating anarchy. Government is necessary. I'm just pointing out that it needs to be kept in check by an ever watchful voting block)
George Washington stated that democratic government "will either be a fearful servant or a terrible master." There is no in between. It will either serve the people in fear or rule over them with malice.
Yet how many reading the above story will grow angry with righteous indignation at this episode, but will nevertheless nod approvingly at laws that enforce desegregation in housing and schooling?
You see, when the government tells you that you cannot discriminate it has removed your ability to exercise Freedom of Association. It is already telling you where and how you can live.
So if The State can tell you who you must live, work and vacation among when you are 35 or 40, don't be too surprised when it seizes your property and sticks you in a Home when you're 70.
The American people have no right whatsoever to be outraged over the treatment of the couple in the story.
After all, there are unqualified minorities currently sitting in positions of power and influence solely because the government exercised the same authority (through affirmative action and the like) that it used to take away every personal belonging an older couple had, up to and including, their freedom.
So choke it down America. When you pay lip service to "equality" and applaud the power used to enforce it, you make yourself an accomplice to empowering that which, in accordance with its nature, devours truth, light and freedom.
.
.
.
And a note....the report on the couple indicates that they have no children and no neighbors have come forward to assist them.
That is just more of the price paid for diversity in America.
Nothing illustrates the vapidity of mainstream intellectualizing about immigration than the ironic story of social science superstar Robert D. Putnam.
Last month. Putnam finally published an article about his lavishly-funded 2000 survey of 41 American communities that found that ethnic diversity, especially immigrant diversity, damages trust and "social capital."Putnam's survey results briefly surfaced in the media in 2001, when I wrote about it in a VDARE.com column entitled " Diversity Causes Bowling Alone." I offered personal anecdotes to illustrate Putnam's finding that living in an immigrant neighborhood makes residents less likely to volunteer.
After that, however, Putnam maintained virtual radio silence on the subject of his huge study for five years, until he gave an indiscreet interview to John Lloyd, a columnist for the Financial Times, in the fall of 2006. Lloyd wrote:
"His research shows that the more diverse a community is, the less likely its inhabitants are to trust anyone – from their next-door neighbour to the mayor. … 'In the presence of diversity, we hunker down,' he said. 'We act like turtles. The effect of diversity is worse than had been imagined. And it's not just that we don't trust people who are not like us. In diverse communities, we don't trust people who do look like us.'"
-source
The couple in the story reside in Texas, one of the most "diverse" states in the union and where Whites are just 47% of the population, and dropping.
...
