A Windy Warm First Sunday Of April In Texas Thinking About Scared Bullycrats In Fort Worth And Libya

It is being a bit windy the morning of the first Sunday of April. I don't know if it is the wind or the balmy 67 degree temperature, or what, but something has the birds tweeting up a storm of twittering bird noise.

I saw no mention of Libya this morning in the 4 online newspapers I check in on. Just a second, I'll click on CNN or FOX NEWS online.

Well, FOX NEWS does note that NATO is taking command while Qadaffi holds on, but the headline that caught my eye that I did not see in the 4 online newspapers I regularly check was "Two Found Dead at Japan Nuke Plant."

Switching the subject to the Paradise Center Scandal.

The only information I seem to be getting is via comments made to this blog and the Paradise Center Scandal blog.

Yesterday Anonymous made an interesting comment about the current state of the Paradise Center/MHMR Affair...

By Anonymous on Up Late On The Warm First Saturday Of April In Texas... 

The state's Dept. of Health Services has to have an inspection of this "clinic" before it can officially reinstate MHMR's business partner Bravo Health as a Medicaid+PLUS HMO provider. 

All these costly expenditures are NOT about the consumers or the patients. It's about MHMR and its executives' jobs and possible lawsuit from Bravo for misrepresenting to them that Paradise Center was "an MHMR program" with all those free workers and high attendance numbers.

This email spin came from the executive offices inside Hulen Tower, thus better grammar and more polished than the previous ones by low level managers and techs. How do I know this? I work inside Hulen Tower.

P.S. MHMR is stuck with all the properties they tried to steal from not-for-profit organization Paradise Center. McDumnut and his gang are befuddled and scared about what's coming next. The Paradise folks obviously are in the driver seat while these bullycrats (many of us love the label) are in the hot seat. Their only saving grace is the lack of media scrutiny. For now. 

True? Are the MHMR Bullycrats befuddled and scared? Are they in trouble for misrepresenting their relationship with the Paradise Center? Is a state inspection pending? I don't know. But I suspect Anonymous knows what she or he is talking about.

And now I'm going to cease thinking about anything for awhile and go swimming before it gets too HOT.

Up Late On The Warm First Saturday Of April In Texas

I awoke after the arrival of the sun on this Saturday, second day of April.

I had my windows open all night. It is 55 degrees at the present moment. I suspect swimming will be pleasant this morning.

I keep getting emails asking me what's up with the Paradise Center Scandal and wondering if they've found a new home yet.

I don't know. I have heard nothing.

Except for snarky, mean-spirited comments from MHMRTC insiders bragging about how wonderful the operation is working in the old location of the Paradise Center.

Below a typical MHMRTC comment, actually it is slightly atypical because I can only spot a couple grammar errors. Usually the MHMR people are borderline illiterate.

The Anonymous MHMR person said....

Currently the building is being freshly painted. New water fountain installed now. Other repairs made. Sofas were poorly made. MHMRTC is replacing with sofas that are built to wear better with lots of use. Regarding pool table it is a professional Brunswick. This does not have to be picked up on one end for the players to get the balls to roll down like the one at the old paradise center did. The new pool table is continually being used by clients and peer leaders. Pool Tournaments continue as before. Regarding Ben other people are opening the door. It is up to staff on his returning. It has been five weeks since the new Drop In Center started. And still Paradise Center cannot even get a storage for their own stuff. That does not say much for Paradise Center or there Board. 

I'm going swimming now.

Stepping On The Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man While Thinking About NATO High Command And MHMR Bullycrat Thuggery

That's my left foot stepping on the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man, today, a couple minutes past noon.

I don't think the Tandy Hills has gotten the memo that the Prairie Fest will be happening on the hills in 3 weeks, on Saturday, April 23. The Tandy Hills needs to start sprouting out a lot of wildflowers if it is going to be at its usual highly colorful standard of the previous Prairie Fests.

It was in the low 80s when I did my hill hiking. It is 86 right now at 6 minutes after 2 in the afternoon.

The power went out while I was out. I don't like resetting all the flashing digital time keeping devices.

I had myself a frustrating morning, computer-wise.

Frustrations due to trying to make a video. Usually making a video is fairly easy. But not this time. At one point my computer got totally hung up. I don't remember the last time that happened.

But, by the time I took off for the Tandy Hills I had the video clip in Windows Movie Maker, ready to turn into a video. I'm hoping to have no more problems.

I have not heard a peep from the Paradise Center people. So, I do not know what the current status is. Some of the blog comments from the MHMR bullycrat thugs to this blog and The Paradise Center Scandal blog have been downright scandalous with their nastiness. And illiterate grammar.

Yesterday's blogging titled "On Top Of Mount Tandy Thinking About MHMR Thugs, The Main Street Arts Festival And The American Way As Opposed To The Fort Worth Way," generated a couple interesting comments, one from NATO High Command, the other from FW Way $un-American....

BREAKING NEWS....NATO and the U.N. issue ultimatum for The Axis of Exploitation Moncrief, McDermott, and Granger to surrender themselves to the FBI or Homeland Security before they send in commandos from allied democratic nations to free the people of Fort Worth and Tarrant County, Texas. These perpetrators of crimes against decency and democracy must turn themselves an# their cronies in by High Noon today the First day of April 2011. Citizens are also deputized to apprehended these people wherever they're found today April the First of 2011.

By NATO HIGH COMMAND

________________________________________

This so called Fort Worth Way has a dark background because it refers to the "understanding" between those in power and the disadvantaged citizenry, particularly the long disenfranchised black communities in Como, Stop Six, Terrell Heights, etc. The clever white ruling group made this "behind the scene" method of dealing with discrimination and grievances so as not to have "messy" and loud Democratic processes like public protests, debates, discussions, and voting. So to keep the poor whites and colored folks "in their" and not draw attention, the FW Way allows a patron to patronage relationship to exist whereby certain acceptible leaders of these powerless groups could quietly go to the powers that be and humbly ask for certain concessions or "rights" in exchange for making sure "your people behave". It's a patronizing and condescending approach that naturally allows for abuses, corruption, and the violation of what most clear headed Americans, and non-Americans, usually consider the American Way..which is often messy, loud, and even contentious. But that is how free people behave (Dallas for instance) and how freedom-seeking people act ---see Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, AND PARADISE CENTER IN FW. THE FW WAY IS DEEPLY INGRAINED IN THE CULTURE AND WOULD EXPLAIN THE RAMRODDING OF GAS OPERATIONS IN EVERY ZONE OF THE CITY, THE FLEECING AND EMINENT DOMAIN ABUSING BT THE TRV SYNDICATE, AND THE UNMITIGATED ABUSE OF THAT INDEPENDENT NONPROFIT CALLED PARADISE CENTER.

By FW Way $un-American

I'm thinking it's time to go back to making a video now.

The Shirtless Shadow Of The Tandy Hills Thin Man With Some Possible Good Paradise Center News

Yesterday I was under dressed and cold when I did me some hill hiking in the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Today, at noon, the temperature was in the mid 70s and, as you can clearly see, today it was the Shirtless Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man that went hiking.

It is now around 3 in the afternoon and 83. I think I'll open a window.

Thunderstorms were predicted to be arriving at this point in time. Currently I don't see that happening.

I stayed as long in the pool, this morning, as I did yesterday. But today this did not lead to a bad case of out of control shivering.

I've been told that the owners of the Rainbow Lounge have offered space to the good people at the Paradise Center, so they can re-open in a new location, after Tarrant County, in the form of something called MHMR, kicked them out of their home a couple weeks ago.

The Rainbow Lounge has also been the victim of Fort Worth government hooliganism in the form of a brutal Gestapo-like raid that left many injured and one or two hospitalized.

I don't know if anyone responsible for that bizarre raid on the Rainbow Lounge was ever brought to justice and punished. I also don't know if anyone responsible for that bizarre raid on the Paradise Center will ever be brought to justice and punished.

In America justice would be the eventual outcome. But, unfortunately, America is not where the Rainbow Lounge and Paradise Center are located.

County Commission Gal Explains Fort Worth's MHMR-GATE SCANDAL In Detail

The Paradise Center Scandal now has a blog covering the ongoing scandal.

A few days ago in response to a blogging about the Paradise Center Scandal, which I had renamed the MHMR-Gate Scandal, someone Anonymous hoped that I knew what I was talking about. And that the public needed and deserved to know about this "so-called scandal."

Wikipedia's definition of "Scandal"....

A scandal is a widely publicized allegation or set of allegations that damages (or tries to damage) the reputation of an institution, individual or creed. A scandal may be based on true or false allegations or a mixture of both. From the Greek σκάνδαλον, a trap or stumbling-block. The metaphor is that wrong conduct can impede or "trip" people's trust or faith. Some scandals are broken by whistleblowers who reveal wrongdoing within organizations or groups.  Sometimes an attempt to cover up a possible scandal ignites a greater scandal when the cover-up fails.

This afternoon I heard from someone calling herself County Commission Gal. Read what County Commission Gal has to say about the MHMR-Gate Scandal and you will easily see that the MHMR Tarrant County shenanigans clearly are a scandal. And those shenanigans are scandalous.

From County Commissioner Gal...

I don't want to risk losing my job, especially as retirement nears, so I won't use my real name.  I heard talk last week around the county administration offices about Paradise Center and like many people wanting to know more about this interesting but disturbing story I was forced to use a search engine to find some kind of reporting.  I was rather shocked to see only the brief piece in the FW Weekly about the protest. And the posts on your blog. 

Again I don't want to have problems with my job as a County employee, with extensive experience in government operations and analytical work.  But I want to honor my brother's shortened life and memory by sharing with the only information dissemination source about this scandal--yes, from all my years of experience and from reading the evidence presented to the County Executive and the Commissioners, it looks like a pretty major and costly scandal.

I am using my own computer and time to share with the public what appears to be the hard truths about disturbing issues surrounding this scandal, which is so ugly that it appears even the County government is trying to dismiss it and hoping that it just goes away.  Because these courageous Paradise Center folks are weak and powerless in almost every way. Their main powers are their resolve to demand that they not be exploited and treated as second or third class citizens. Their hope of holding on to their hard earned resolve and rights as citizens rests in the truth getting out (hello, media/journalists) and the public raising a chorus of questions and protests until the wrongdoers are held accountable.

Because I am convinced that this is so very important for our friends and neighbors suffering from severe mental illness and that it serves the public interest, I will share some selected facts I know about this scandal.  Based on written material I've seen and from discussions I've heard (plus some of my own research of publicly available information, the essence of this scandal is that MHMR Trustees approved of the CEO and his executive team's scheme to bring in needed "revenue" (vs. funding, which are from grants or government budgets) by cleverly exploiting the well established community center operated by the "consumer-run" non-profit organization Paradise Center Inc. in the following main ways:

-- MHMR signed a contract with the private profit-driven HMO group called Bravo Health  to begin enlisting MHMR clients who qualify for Medicaid. 

--Medicaid pays pretty good for services that help people with severe and persistent mental illness recover from their disabling illness and to reintegrate back into society (e.g. classes or training groups to learn how to take care of their hygiene needs, paying their bills so they won't lose their housing and end back up on the streets as homeless people, managing their medical and pharmaceutical needs such as making and keeping appointments and getting prescriptions filled and organizaing their many medications in pill boxes to ensure that they follow the psychiatrist's treatment plan and control the negative symptoms of their mental illness, how to budget their limited income, buy groceries and eating healthy meals, making friends and a support network like most people have and take for granted, etc.).   

--Bravo and MHMR would "share" employees and infrastructures in order to maximize profit for the company and revenue for the taxpayer-funded government agency.

--The executives told their "bosses" the Board of Trustees, who are appointed by the Commissioners Court to be their surrogates in overseeing a governmental agency under the "sponsorship" (see their websites) of Tarrant County government, in meetings last summer that this business agreement/contract "is projected to bring over $600,000 of revenue in the first year".  That's not small change any way you look at it, especially if MHMR doesn't have to provide the costly outlays to set up such a state-approved "program" to help their very sickest/debilitated clients increase their likelihood of staying in their own place in the community instead of on the streets, in shelters, or the most costly inpatient hospitalizations or in the criminal justice system.

--The reason that MHMR could expect to gain such a large "revenue" and not really having to do much of the work was the assumption that the extremely low overhead would continue by using the 8,000 man hours of volunteer work by the Paradise Center team to operate a well-known and well-loved community center for the people with chronic and severe mental illness. 

--The "foundational grant" that MHMR had signed contracts to provide for the most basic operational needs of Paradise Center the organization and its community center is a shockingly low $150,000 per year, which covers the paltry salary package of the well-educated (two masters degrees from the world's largest and most influential seminary) and extremely competent professional staff whose decades of unblemished record working with the sickest of the sick (i.e. the psych hospital or "ward") made her 9 and 1/2 year work a success that produced significant and very positive results for many people who participate in the array of services, programs, and opportunities offered by Paradise Center.

--Apparently due to her personal and professional ethics, Teresa Davis resisted 5 months of harsh and really shameful pressure tactics by the MHMR executive team, including holding toilet paper and other products for the Center's four bathrooms that serve the 80 or so average unique people who attend the tiny community center as ransom to force her to attend another two hour long meeting where 3 or more MHMR executives would gang up on her using verbal and emotional assaults to break down her will and ethical stance,  to go along with their false representation (to Bravo Health and the state agency that oversees Medicaid/HMO) that "Paradise Center is just another one of our many programs" and that she was just another one of their 1,300 employees subject to their complete control and domination.

--MHMR knew that it was critical for this influential person to go along with this falsehood since the contract, and the detailed proposal to the state for approving their partnership to provide Medicaid billable services with the profit-driven HMO, had stated that everything about Paradise Center and its operations (i.e. legal status as an independent 501/c/3 non-profit organization, it's Charter and By-laws which vests the authority for its operations and other important issues in the all-volunteer Board of Directors) was under the direct control of MHMR.  

--Contract law experts could see the problems easily: we have three separate legal entities/organizations here and two of them had entered into a contractual business partnership but intentionally not letting the other, smaller and weaker, legal entity Paradise Center Inc. know about their deal. Very serious legal and financial consequences would jump out, to all three parties and the state agency overseeing Medicaid/HMO, when the Bravo Health team comes in and takes over most of the internal operations of the community center operated by Paradise Center Inc. with the complete assurance that it is "a program of MHMR" their business partner.

--Paradise Center Inc. leadership team and their 500+ official members would surely raise objections and whip out their legal documents and contracts that would expose the lie concocted by MHMR's leadership team and Trustees.  Bravo Health, a major HMO who is new to this market, would then likely ask MHMR's team to do some serious explaining, privately and/or in the courts since lawyers with knowledge of this scheme said it would be a basic fraud case.

--Paradise Center and its well-loved community center is crucial to the calculation of the projected profit and revenue by the two business partners because most of the people with mental illness do not like to attend required meetings, classes, or training sessions because they remind them of their time locked up in restricted institutions like psych hospitals/wards and even prison where "the mental patients" or "inmates" were under complete control of those in power over them.  

--A major factor in Paradise Center's success and "popularity" (80 people choosing to walk for miles or take tedious 1-2 hour long bus rides in all kinds of weather  to come be around friends and participate in fun and helpful activities daily is extraordinary) is the warm atmosphere and "culture of acceptance and support" that Teresa Davis had worked over her 9 and 1/2 years to promote and inculcate, which had become an expected characteristic as new people come asking to join and participate based on recommendations by friends, family, and various professionals.  THIS IS A KEY PART OF THE SCHEME: unwitting people who come to their community center were seen as "fish in the barrel" for the Medicaid-billable rehab services as "the authority" pulls those qualified for such financially profitable activities in to nearby meeting rooms for 30-minutes or longer rehab services.

--This is a clear case of arrogance, bullying, as well as deceptive and exploitive behavior.

--For MHMR's leadership team, the expected easy money and the potential consequences of the legal issues just described, made it imperative that Ms. Davis be gotten out of the way, whatever it took. The community center and organization operating successfully out of 505 S. Jennings had to be successfully passed off as completely MHMR's by a date certain, knowing that the already delayed enrolling period was quickly approaching on 05/01/11. If they could convince the state agency that everything is kosher and thus their business enterprise was now "operationally ready" to start doing business and billing Medicaid.

--Thus Ms. Davis's resiliency and principled stance had to be overcome somehow: the shockingly devastating and extremely foolish act by MHMR's Trustees, CEO, executive team, and legal counsel in "terminating your employment immediately" on 02/17/11.  

--The very next morning the MHMR-Bravo team took over the community center and busily walked around looking at their design plans for the facility, discussing how to keep people coming in such large numbers (bought pizzas and gave out free drinks all days to the 30 or so unknowing people who showed up), and more importantly trying to figure out how to find people to replace the exiled Paradise Center Inc. leadership team and their 8,000+ hours of volunteer work to make THEIR community center and organization the "jewel of the community" and an "easy" prey for their scheme to exploit the name/reputation, "warmth"/culture, and free labor of the people with serious mental illness in order to maximize the HMO's profit margin and to empower and enrich the executives of MHMR. Trustees praise and give them raises for such a "creative" business solution, especially in this budget-reducing era.

--They don't get or don't care about the cruel irony of their willfull actions and motivations: exploiting and abusing the very people that they righteously declare to the public and taxpayers they are committed to helping "improving quality of life" and dedicated to prevent them from being abused, neglected, or exploited by those with more power and sophistication.

 Tell the truth and the whole truth, Mr. Durango.  Please help me protect my anonymity.

_____________________________________

To protect County Commission Gal's anonymity I edited out her detailing of her personal reason that motivated her to look into the MHMR-Gate Scandal. I thought those details would make her identifiable. Suffice to say, she has a relative who died who would have benefited had he been able to access the type of help provided by the Paradise Center before MHMR destroyed it.

On Top Of Mount Tandy Contemplating Blogging The Details Of Fort Worth's MHMR-Gate Scandal

As you can see, standing on top of Mount Tandy under the Fort Worth Space Needle, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, it was cloudy at noon, this first Friday of March.

Stutterin' Stu did the hill hiking with me today. I quickly remember why I don't usually go hill hiking with Stutterin' Stu.

Engineer mentality. First it was some purple berries could not possibly be poisonous. Then it was analyzing the Tandy Bamboo Teepee, as if a forensic examination was taking place. Stutterin' Stu did discover some odd cuts in the bamboo that added to the mystery.

As the Stutterin' Stu forensic Bamboo Teepee examination continued, I could take it no more, so I took off solo to get to experience the benefits of being in the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area.

While I was doing my solo hiking and contemplating, I contemplated a blog comment I got a couple days ago from someone calling him or herself "Anonymous." Regarding the Paradise Center Scandal, now known as MHMR-Gate, Anonymous said...

"WOW. This could something BIG. I sure hope you know what you're talking about, Mr. Durango. We the citizens and the general public need and deserve to know more about this so-called scandal because MHMR is a trusted and large public organization. Plus many of the weakest and most vulnerable people in our society are directly affected, for better or worse. Do tell. PLEASE."

Well, anyone who pays attention could tell Anonymous that I rarely know for sure what I'm talking about. I am fairly good at creating the illusion I know what I am talking about. It's a gift.

So.

Regarding MHMR-Gate. This afternoon I got email from someone calling herself  "County Commissioner Gal" detailing the MHMR-Gate Scandal in extremely specific detail.

I am trying to confirm that it is okay for me to blog County Commissioner Gal's email. When or if I get that confirmation I'll hit the publish button. Then Anonymous will have him or herself the details of the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

The Paradise Center Scandal Has Morphed Into MHMR-GATE

I'd been calling the shady dealings done to the Paradise Center by the Tarrant County Mental Health Mental Retardation Agency the Paradise Center Scandal.

I now think it more accurate to call this particular scandal the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

Because, near as I can tell, the scandal emanates from the MHMR agency.

Paradise Center, its clients and Teresa Davis are the victims.

I heard from a concerned social worker, this morning, that rumors are flowing around MHMR, via employees, that the CEO, Jim McDermott, and his underlings are acting nervous and paranoid.

Likely the CEO has now been made aware of the legal implications of his actions. Some caseworkers have grown uneasy with the orders being given by MHMR's CEO and top management.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has still not reported on the MHMR-Gate Scandal, as far as I know. Today FW Weekly's weekly issue hits the newsstands. We'll see if FW Weekly has an article about the MHMR-Gate Scandal.