Every day, we wake up with a choice. We can choose to embrace the day as a new opportunity to learn, grow, and make a positive impact on the world, or we can let fear, doubt, and negativity hold us back. It's easy to get caught up in the challenges and obstacles we face, but it's important to remember that these challenges are what shape us into who we are. Each obstacle is a chance to learn something new, to become stronger, more resilient, and more capable than we were before. But we don't hav
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Miracle on the Court
I can feel the fathers emotion, especially when he says I don't cry. I must admit I did too!
Mikka Cline faces a child abuse charge after scuffle with a wheelchair bound boy
Dallas Police say a 23-year-old Waco woman has been arrested after a scuffle with a wheelchair-bound 13-year-old boy at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.
Mikka Shardai Cline, of Waco, was charged with injury to a child in connection with the struggle over a soccer ball on Tuesday night.
The boy’s uncle said he was trying to retrieve the ball, which he had purchased for the boy, from a bush on hospital grounds. Cline and her sister were also trying to get the ball.
Dallas police tell CBS 11 the boy had a pre-surgical medical halo screwed into his skull.
Police said that when the uncle handed the ball to the boy, Cline’s sister tried to get it from his lap but was blocked by the uncle. Cline tried to grab the ball, swinging her fist twice toward the boy. It was unclear whether she was swinging at the boy or trying to knock the ball out.
A second swing struck the boy’s halo, causing him pain, according to the police report. Cline was being held in the county jail on $1,500 bond.
All in favour of beating this shyt out of these heffas, raise your hands. The fugg is your grown ass doing trying to snatch a ball from a child with a damn satellite screwed into his damn skull? Even if the shyt was on accident, this just does not compute in any way shape or form.
Angela Simpson kills "snitch," has no remorse
Phoenix woman Angela Simpson was charged with murder in August of 2009, after killing 46-year-old handicapped man Terry 
Neely, then dismembering his body and burning it in a trash can in a church parking lot.1 Simpson stated she met Neely at a bus stop and killed him as he was a snitch, or police informant. In an interview, Simpson showed little remorse for the killing, only upset that she would not be around to kill other snitches. Simpson also stated that she believes she may be mentally ill.1
Dying woman was robbed
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 ac
counts 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."
NBA Washout David Vaughn Back From The Depths of Despair
ORLANDO -- David Vaughn would doze off at night thinking about the thick, fluffy towels and those cool-to-the-touch, soft white sheets that he used to pull up around his chin when he slept so soundly at the posh Ritz Carlton, his home-away-from-home when he played in the National Basketball Association.Unfortunately, he would wake up soon afterward, realizing he was back to reality, living on the streets in Orlando, sleeping with one eye open, in places that often embarrassed him.
There was that dank, dusty storage shed that a friend rented for $39 a month and gave him the extra key so he could at least get out of the rain at night. Nobody bothered him there but the cockroaches.
There was the homeless shelter, which wasn't always available because it was first-come, first-served and it usually filled up fast with grown men wheezing or crying or snoring and people always asking questions.
Then there was the clean and comfortable local hospital, where he eventually ended up because the infection from the multiple spider bites on his toe had grown so out of control and spiked his fever that doctors wanted to amputate his grotesque-looking foot before it cost him the entire leg.
That's where he woke up one day to find his estranged wife crying beside his hospital bed, begging him to come home again, even if it meant violating the court order that prevented him from being within 500 feet of her.
Living on the street almost killed him.
Praying for forgiveness literally saved him.
"I feel lucky to still be alive,'' Vaughn said last week when we met at the downtown public library, heaven for an avid reader and a day-time haven for anyone living on the streets. It's where he felt comfortable enough to sit and talk about his life after basketball, about his downward spiral, about hitting bottom nine months ago in that hospital room, and his rebirth through the last several months."I went from the pinnacle of having it all, to the pits of having absolutely nothing, and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel.''
-- David Vaughn
"I went from the pinnacle of having it all, to the pits of having absolutely nothing, and seeing no light at the end of the tunnel,'' he said. "I was a mess, but I didn't want to end up in hell. And now I'm on my way back.''
Vaughn, 36, wasn't much different in 2008 than the thousands of homeless people living in cities across America, except he had fallen out of the penthouse, a former first-round draft pick of the Orlando Magic in 1995 who washed out of the league after four years, and with no idea where to turn next.
Vaughn came from the University of Memphis, a big, strong power forward who shined in college basketball, but struggled to carve his niche in the NBA, never living up to expectations. He played in Europe for a couple years afterward, bounced through a few teams, even returned home to try the Harlem Globetrotters for a short period.
But he lost his passion for the game, then lost everything else, including his wife, two children and his self esteem.
His original three-year guaranteed contract with the Magic didn't come with any guarantees of a successful life. The contract didn't come with a course in life management skills, and he had none when his basketball career finished. He had no degree after three years in college, and no real desire to get one.
"We're fortunate that he's still with us, after all he has been through the last few years,'' said Kyle Rote, Jr. his former agent who has kept in and out of contact with him and his wife. "A lot of guys would be dead. I've always said `it's a lot harder to get out of big-time professional sports than it is to get into it.' You get sucked into that lifestyle, and there's no easy way out.''
Despite all the low moments -- the domestic violence arrest and two jail stays, the failed drug tests, the broken up family, the broken down body, the depression that followed, and the year on the streets -- Vaughn's story does not have a sad ending.
It's a comeback story with a happy new start. It's a story about a good family man now whose life has come back together as he looks for a new job, looking forward to being there for his two kids and his wife and for himself, a rock for them to lean on instead of a dope for failing them.
There is no bitterness in his voice, only the joy that he has found in the last nine months and the hope for a bright and simple future. He speaks confidently about his plans and he smiles a lot.
"I have no regrets, except for what I put my family through,'' he said. "I'm a lot smarter now. I made it to the NBA, which was a dream of mine. I just didn't know what to do when I got there. The money doesn't last forever. It comes and goes. I made a lot of bad choices. Now I just want to get a decent job, drive a truck, be a security guard, maybe coach a little. I'd be happy with that life. My wife stuck with me through the hard times -- and I'm grateful -- and we made it through the storm.''Vaughn's NBA career included two seasons in Orlando, then another two split between Golden State, Chicago and New Jersey. Through four seasons, he played in just 118 games, averaging only 9.8 minutes a game. He then played parts of three seasons in Europe.
The money he made in basketball – the most was $600,000 in each of his first three seasons – is long gone. He bought more cars than he could ever drive, a house too big for himself when he was single, too many clothes and too much jewelry, sending too much money to relatives back in Memphis.
When his basketball career ended in 2003, he came back to Orlando looking for work. He unloaded trucks at a grocery store. He moved packages at Federal Express. He tried his own one-man moving company. He worked for three years at a furniture store driving and unloading trucks. He was good at it, too, but he was laid off when the store stopped their delivery service.
Even when he lived on the street, he often was working. He just wasn't making enough money to support both him and his family that he couldn't legally see. They had a small apartment. He had the street. His paychecks usually went to them.
"We look back now, at all the trials and tribulations we went through, and say `wow. We made it through,''' said Brandi Vaughn, his wife and mother of his two children. "It was a battle. When he was playing basketball, we had it all, but we were foolish. We separated, but I never divorced him, even when the judge said I should. We fought the good fight, and we made it through.''Vaughn today is collecting unemployment, getting $250 per week, still looking for another job. He and the family live together in Southwest Orlando. He likes nothing better than watching his two sons playing football in the courtyard outside their apartment.
They have little money, but they never have been happier. He thinks back to the '90s when he played in the NBA, living large and acting wild like a child with too many quarters in an arcade.
"I used to come to this library a lot when I had nowhere else to go,'' he said. "If I had any advice for the young guys coming into the league today, it's prepare for a future beyond basketball. If you're not careful, everything can disappear.''
Nicole Richie Checks Into Hospital
It seems like Nicole Richie has been pregnant for 18 months, but she may finally be ready to give birth to baby #2.Richie, who is expecting her second baby with boyfriend Joel Madden, reportedly checked into a Los Angeles medical center at the end of last week.
Joel recently confessed that him and Nicole can’t wait to welcome their second child into the world, but they're staying mum on the sex of the baby.
Madden said, “We're excited about it. It's going to be great." Nicole’s father, singer Lionel Richie, recently confessed he hopes the couple will have a son.
He said: "It's very exciting. Joel is hoping for a boy, but knowing Nicole she's hoping for a little girl again. They're not telling me what sex the baby is because I'll tell everyone! Nicole is the mom of moms. She's in love with the whole concept."
We can't wait to find out if she had a boy or a girl...and what name she chose. Congrats to the happy couple!
Monday, September 7, 2009
New giant rat species discovered
LONDON, England (CNN) -- Scientists have discovered a new species of giant rat in a remote rainforest in Papua New Guinea.
The newly discovered rat is similar in size and weight to this one found by scientists in 2007.
Measuring 82 centimeters (32.2 inches) from nose to tail and weighing around 1.5 kilograms (3.3 pounds), the species is thought to be one of the largest rats ever to be found.
The discovery was made by a team from the BBC Natural History Unit inside the crater of Mount Bosavi -- an extinct volcano in the Southern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea.
"This is one of the world's largest rats. It's a true rat, the same kind you find in the city sewers," said Kristofer Helgen, a biologist from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was part of the expedition team.
Initial examinations of the rat -- provisionally named the Bosavi woolly rat -- suggest that it belongs to the Mallomys -- a genus of rodents in the muridae family which are the largest living species of rodent.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)