Another week of rain and followed by hot, hot temperatures! After the rain, lawns were in need of mowing, but with this hot spell, hopefully they don’t get the burnt look.
I had a telephone visit with Karen Jorgensen the other early morning! Her sister, Tammie was asked by West Middle School to represent them at a National Teachers’ Meeting last week at Atlanta, Georgia. There were other teachers from that school and other S. City schools that went, also. At first they were going to drive down and then the heat wave hit, so they decided to fly. (Tammie doesn’t like to fly, but had no choice!)
The school had given them a hotel room and each $55 for meals for each day they were there. They found out that $55 wouldn’t always cut it for 3 meals a day. (It didn’t sound like the hotel had breakfast.) She and another person found a cheap place for breakfast and she also got the cheapest meal for the other meals. However, some of the guys (the first day) ordered steak and paid over $100 for that one meal! It was good they had extra money along! It goes to show that our area isn’t the only one that is high priced for meals out.
We went to the Library for Mr. Magic’s show. He really was a good magician. Writing articles on magic is one of my hardest ones to write. It is hard to explain in words what the magician does that we cannot see. The kids really liked this program.
Friday night Bethany, Steve, and I celebrated Zachary’s birthday that was Wednesday, June 15 by eating out at a restaurant in Sioux City. This place will be my last one as there weren’t that many people eating there (generally we would have to stand in line) probably because the prices were high.
Zachary had gotten me two peony bushes that each arrived in a bag the size of a sandwich bag! I thought peonies had roots that were lots bigger than that. When I finally got some dirt to put the flowers I had bought at the school’s greenhouse, I couldn’t find those two bags. The next day I asked him if they had blown away. No, he had planted them! I have no idea where and how deep he put them in the dirt_did he put water in with them? I have a feeling they will not amount to anything. Actually, he doesn’t know a weed from a flower so I wish he had let me tell him where these should have gone.
The person who was supposed to take Beth’s place at the Library, decided not to take it. So, we are looking again.
Friday’s report on the death of the 19-month-old toddler that died (2018) was still pointing toward the boyfriend as being the reason she died. The mother said she and Davis (boyfriend) had known each other since 2014 and began dating in March of 2018. Davis moved in with her and the baby soon after that. Everything seemed to be going well. In May of that year they were having problems in their relationship. They disagreed over money and their daily marijuana use and occasional use of cocaine. The mother said she decided in July they needed to curb their drug use but Davis didn’t want to. As the summer progressed, Davis assumed more child care responsibilities and by Aug. 1, the baby’s health had begun to deteriorate as with an injured right arm, infections, loss of appetite, lack of energy, increased crying, and hair loss. Davis began pointing out mysterious bruises that he blamed on workers at a daycare (the baby had only been two days in August at the daycare.)
Davis was arrested in November of 2019 after a 15- month police investigation. If he is found guilty of first-degree murder, he would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. (The fact they were both on drugs, would that have anything to do with “maybe” they shouldn’t have been in charge of this baby. The baby had been taken several times to doctors because of her declining health. It is too bad that Social Services didn’t look into all these visits. The two on drugs didn’t deserve to have charge of that baby.)
To show you what is going on that no one checks on was what I saw on late television recently. This woman was trying to find out who the father of her 15 month old twins were and had two men taken to court to find out. It was then that she said she had her first baby at age 14 and now had had 9 children that included the twins. The person she was talking to was shocked and asked her how she was supporting these children. Did she have a job? “No, I am a stay-at-home mother to the ones I have.” Then she was asked what that meant. “Social Services has taken some away from me and put them in foster homes.” But as far as supporting what she had, she said, “you, all are!”
The person inquiring asked what she meant. “When my mother went to have me aborted, someone talked her out of it. So, I arrived and now I feel because I was allowed to be born, you all are to blame for what has happened to me and therefore you can help raise my kids!” (One of the men were the twins’ father, so with his child care support, we will hopefully have to pay less.) I have heard of many excuses, but this one was one of the worst ones yet.
Governor Reynolds signed into law Senate File 522, which sets criminal charges ranging from misdemeanors to felonies punishable by up to 25 years in prison, based on the severity of the crime_for abusing, assaulting or for financially exploiting a person age 60 or older. The bill passed unanimously in both legislative chambers in the 2022 session.
At least one in 10 Americans age 60 and older experience elder abuse each year nationwide, according to FBI data and the National Council on Aging. Previously Iowa was the only state in the nation where elder abuse was not a crime. The Iowa Department of Human Services, noted a nearly 26 % increase in dependent adult abuse reports from 2020 to 2021, with more than 10,900 reported cases of alleged abuse or neglect.
Just what kind of neglect is explained as abuse? Most of the time it is hidden as the senior doesn’t dare say anything as the one doing it makes them believe they cannot live without help from them. They are scared and take the abuse. It might be verbal as well as physical. Many involve finances where the senior ends up with nothing left as the abuser is constantly helping themselves to the senior’s finances. This might make more banks keep watch on those accounts that seem to be getting smaller.
Keep in your thoughts and prayers those who have lost loved ones to death and their lives have been changed, have health problems some of which are terminal, are struggling to make ends meet even though they have a job, encourage those jobless to find a job, and help those who are distant from friends and family to build a bridge instead of a wall. To you that have received a harsh answer to a question you might have asked someone, I will leave the outspoken person who didn’t think before opening up his mouth, with this quote: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up trouble.”