I'm making this web page to document the life and times of my older brother Bobby. The opinions on this page are my own. They are backed up with decades of documentation. I can publish those pages here at any time. The capacity of this web server can easily handle the traffic. Just so you know...I grew up being optimistic. My experiences with how the MR are treated in Georgia has soured my outlook on life and humanity.
My brother has been in "service" limbo ever since we took him home last year. Here are some before and after photographs of Bobby. Before 1, Before 2, After 1. Both of the "before" sets were taken prior to his admission at Georgia Regional. I took the "after" set at or around 6-15-2008 in the Georgia Regional facility (Building Eight). Bobby was admitted February 2008. He lost a great deal of weight in a very short time from Thanksgiving to Christams 2007. In his christmas photo(s) from 2007 you see him happy and plump. My brother's weight had dropped sharply to 120 pounds by February 12th, 2008 while in the custody of Georgia Regional. The reason he was admitted was because he refused to eat and had behavior outbursts. To this day he is still just skin and bones! My mom hugged him and she felt his bones through his flesh.
There are so many details to understanding how my older brother could have ended up like this. There are many folks to blame for this. They know who they are. The truly sad thing is what happened to him is the norm versus the exception. Georgia is the last in many things. How they treat the MR happens to be one of them.
This page was originally created 6-15-2008. It serves as a reminder of how the MR are treated in Georgia. My brother has been to many placements through "community service providers" and has received nothing but inferior care from each one. Otherwise there would be no need for us to repeatedly remove him from their "care" and bring him home to a safe environment. Ever since GRC (Georgia Retardation Center) was shut down the people who once lived there have been at the mercy of others. My brother tells me of times when staff beat him, starved him, locked him in a closet, locked him in the basement, locked him in a shed in their backyard, etc. Earlier, staff often found him at night curled up in the corner on the floor, crying and asking to go home to the angels. These things never happened to him when he was at GRC or when he comes home. For all the Federal and state matched funds the MR get this is all he has to look forward to in Georgia??
Then when my mother tried to protect Bobby she got sued for four years by Whitney Fuchs in an Anti-Slapp entanglement. I suspected him of having financial backers. We would have won if our lawyer hadn't bailed on us. He had a sudden change of heart and instructed my mother to accept mediation on the issue. I, however, am not under any such ruling and know the full details of the matter, except for the mediation meeting itself. Apparently Mr. Fuchs does not have the same restrictions and can present the facts of the case anyway he likes. While my mother feels she won the case she is unable to speak about it. At the time that the four year trial started she was 67 years old, and now has just been diagnosed with Leukemia. The InterNet website mentioned in the case was a Yahoo Group. Of the eight members of that Group one was my mother and two others were myself. Yahoo Groups are electronic bulletin boards (BBS). I saved its contents to optical disc.
What does SLAPP mean? Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). This went through four courts, coverage can be found in the files of the Associated Press and the AJC (Atlanta-Journal Constitution). Do you want to learn more about what happened? Using any search engine you like try typing in "Berryhill, Anti-Slapp", "Georgia Community Support & Solutions, Inc. v. Berryhill (Ga. App.)", "Berryhill v. Georgia Community Support & Solutions", "Shirley Berryhill", "Torin Togut", "Torin Togut/Shirley Berryhill", "Witterman Law Firm", "Georgia Supreme Court", "Whitney Fuchs". "Whitney Fuchs, anti-slapp", Below are links to further documentaion such as:
The ACLU.
The First Amendment Center
McGraw Hill has published a title called "Civil Law & Litigation for Paralegals" which sited a portion of my mother's case as training material. Skip forward to page seven of this document to read the "case in point" entry.
The Georgia Supreme Court Case No. S06C0038 (same document as the ACLU link).
Updated (02-07-2010)
My brother has been in "service" limbo ever since we took him home last year. Here are some before and after photographs of Bobby. Before 1, Before 2, After 1. Both of the "before" sets were taken prior to his admission at Georgia Regional. I took the "after" set at or around 6-15-2008 in the Georgia Regional facility (Building Eight). Bobby was admitted February 2008. He lost a great deal of weight in a very short time from Thanksgiving to Christams 2007. In his christmas photo(s) from 2007 you see him happy and plump. My brother's weight had dropped sharply to 120 pounds by February 12th, 2008 while in the custody of Georgia Regional. The reason he was admitted was because he refused to eat and had behavior outbursts. To this day he is still just skin and bones! My mom hugged him and she felt his bones through his flesh.
There are so many details to understanding how my older brother could have ended up like this. There are many folks to blame for this. They know who they are. The truly sad thing is what happened to him is the norm versus the exception. Georgia is the last in many things. How they treat the MR happens to be one of them.
This page was originally created 6-15-2008. It serves as a reminder of how the MR are treated in Georgia. My brother has been to many placements through "community service providers" and has received nothing but inferior care from each one. Otherwise there would be no need for us to repeatedly remove him from their "care" and bring him home to a safe environment. Ever since GRC (Georgia Retardation Center) was shut down the people who once lived there have been at the mercy of others. My brother tells me of times when staff beat him, starved him, locked him in a closet, locked him in the basement, locked him in a shed in their backyard, etc. Earlier, staff often found him at night curled up in the corner on the floor, crying and asking to go home to the angels. These things never happened to him when he was at GRC or when he comes home. For all the Federal and state matched funds the MR get this is all he has to look forward to in Georgia??
Then when my mother tried to protect Bobby she got sued for four years by Whitney Fuchs in an Anti-Slapp entanglement. I suspected him of having financial backers. We would have won if our lawyer hadn't bailed on us. He had a sudden change of heart and instructed my mother to accept mediation on the issue. I, however, am not under any such ruling and know the full details of the matter, except for the mediation meeting itself. Apparently Mr. Fuchs does not have the same restrictions and can present the facts of the case anyway he likes. While my mother feels she won the case she is unable to speak about it. At the time that the four year trial started she was 67 years old, and now has just been diagnosed with Leukemia. The InterNet website mentioned in the case was a Yahoo Group. Of the eight members of that Group one was my mother and two others were myself. Yahoo Groups are electronic bulletin boards (BBS). I saved its contents to optical disc.
What does SLAPP mean? Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). This went through four courts, coverage can be found in the files of the Associated Press and the AJC (Atlanta-Journal Constitution). Do you want to learn more about what happened? Using any search engine you like try typing in "Berryhill, Anti-Slapp", "Georgia Community Support & Solutions, Inc. v. Berryhill (Ga. App.)", "Berryhill v. Georgia Community Support & Solutions", "Shirley Berryhill", "Torin Togut", "Torin Togut/Shirley Berryhill", "Witterman Law Firm", "Georgia Supreme Court", "Whitney Fuchs". "Whitney Fuchs, anti-slapp", Below are links to further documentaion such as:
The ACLU.
The First Amendment Center
McGraw Hill has published a title called "Civil Law & Litigation for Paralegals" which sited a portion of my mother's case as training material. Skip forward to page seven of this document to read the "case in point" entry.
The Georgia Supreme Court Case No. S06C0038 (same document as the ACLU link).
Updated (02-07-2010)
