Wednesday Night Free Dinner At Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo

When I don't hear from the good people at Paradise Center I know all is going well in their world.

It has been months since I've heard a Paradise Center peep, except for weekly emails about Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo.

This morning the incoming email included a Camp Bowie Bingo invite for free dinner, tonight, as in Wednesday, September 12.

Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo must be doing real well, with it now expanded to weekdays, in addition to weekends, and offering free dinners.

I am currently scheduled to be at TCU this early evening. I was going to follow being at TCU with biking to check out the new Phyllis Tilley Bridge, it being a massive pedestrian crossing structure that spans the mighty Trinity River, giving Fort Worth a much needed pedestrian connection between downtown Fort Worth and West Fort Worth.

Now that I've gotten this dinner invite from Camp Bowie Bingo I may add heading a bit further west to this evening's agenda.

When Are The Bloggerman & Catwoman Going To Camp Bowie Bingo?

Almost every week since Camp Bowie Bingo opened for business I have had the good intention to make a visit.

A couple weeks ago the Camp Bowie Bingo Mistress, Miss Teresa, informed me I could visit Camp Bowie Bingo to check it out and take pictures without needing to play Bingo.

I have also had the good intention to visit the new location of the Paradise Center, but have not made it there.

This morning I saw a comment on the Paradise Center Scandal blog from X-Cowtowner chastising me and the Catwoman for not playing bingo.

This is what X-Cowtowner had to say.......

Say, Bloggerman. When are you and the Catwoman gonna go play bingo at that new Camp Bowie Bingo so you can take pictures and tell used readers living far away your impression of the venue?? You've always been really good about reporting what you had experienced. You've done plenty of reporting on the excesses, incompetencies, and corruption that are part and parcel to living in your area of Texas {and my place of birth}. How about a positive and uplifting report about these courageous Americans? 

I am fairly certain that the Catwoman X-Cowtowner refers to is CatsPaw.

I did make an attempt to go to Camp Bowie Bingo on its pre-Grand Opening practice night. But, I drove up and down Camp Bowie Boulevard unable to locate Camp Bowie Bingo. I understand there are now signs marking the location so easily confused people, such as myself, can find the place.

Camp Bowie Bingo has a website where you can find out when and where to go play bingo. Camp Bowie Bingo is also on Facebook, where you can find up to date Camp Bowie Bingo info.

Hiking The Tandy Hills Before Sunday's Big Storm & Tonight's Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo

Yellow Blooms Sticking Up On The Tandy Hills

If the weather predictors are correct I only have a couple days to get in some good hill hiking before a BIG STORM drops a lot of wet on the Tandy Hills and North Texas on Sunday.

So, I had myself some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation on the Hills of Tandy today in the noon time frame.

I do not recollect the Tandy Hills ever looking so lushly green as they are currently looking.

I neglected to mention that I hiked the Tandy Hills late yesterday afternoon.

Of late I've come across some strange things on the Tandy Hills.

Yesterday when I arrived at the top of Mount Tandy I startled a couple sitting on a slab of cement, with their two pit bulls. They'd hiked from the View Street entry to the hills. Their first time hiking the Tandy Hills.

Rather adventurous, I thought, to make it from View Street to the base of the Fort Worth Space Needle. The man of the couple said he was a little concerned about finding their way back due to the seemingly confusing maze of trails. I described an easy way to find their way back, via crossing the escarpment of Tandy Falls.

A few minutes after giving those directions I crossed that escarpment and headed up the hill to the trail that leads in from View Street. I was near the top when I was startled by the loud noise of an animal coming up fast behind me.

It was Stenotrophomonas.

Stenotrophomonas has not made any blog comments for awhile, not since the Tandy Highway Sanitary Sewer Flood, if my memory serves me correctly. I'd wondered what had become of Stenotrophomonas. I think Stenotrophomonas has become some sort of fitness nut since I last saw him, judging by the speed with which he runs up steep hills.

When I arrived on top of Mount Tandy today there was an AT & T van, parked outside the fenced area around the Fort Worth Space Needle. And a Volvo parked up against the cable that blocks easy entry to the Tandy Wagon Trail.

As I was heading back up Mount Tandy, after completing my hiking regimen, I came upon a guy who said he was lost. He said when he started his hike he parked by what he said was a power company van. I suggested AT & T and that he likely parked at the top of the hill I was heading up.

I did not remember the car parked there was a Volvo, so I could not ask if he was driving a Volvo. The guy was insistent that he did not park at the top of Mount Tandy. And that he'd not parked on View Street.

There ain't a lot of other options. It is several hours later, I hope that guy is not still wandering around trying to find where he parked his car.

Changing the subject from lost souls to bingo.

Tonight is Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo. It is Free Food Friday, where you get 2 hot dogs, chips and a drink. And I'll get another chance to win another bike.

Friday Night's Practice Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo Grand Opening Did Not Go Well For Me

I Think This Is The Camp Bowie Bingo Parking Lot

Well. I have had myself a fun Friday night. I don't remember the last time I drove Camp Bowie Boulevard at night.

I remember the last time I drove Camp Bowie Boulevard in daylight was when my mom and dad were here.

With my mom and dad I drove the bumpy brick section of Camp Bowie Boulevard.

My mom did not like the bumpiness and asked why it does not get fixed. I told my mom it is very perplexing, but somehow the locals have convinced themselves that this bumpy brick road is unique.

My mom said something like "the locals must not get out of town much."

There are very good reasons I think the way I do.

Tonight I exited I-30 at the Camp Bowie West exit. This is past the part of Camp Bowie Boulevard that is made of bricks and is, instead, a modern paved road, with little bumpiness. Except for one horrible pothole that may have done structural damage to my vehicle.

I'd been told that the Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo operation was actually in Benbrook, not Fort Worth. This indicated to me that it was located past the booming Camp Bowie zone east of Alta Mere Drive.

I figured it would be easy to find the Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo operation.

I figured wrong.

I drove Camp Bowie West, under I-820, plus a couple miles more, before turning around. Without finding any bingo.

I called my dispatcher to find the location. I indicated where I was. I was told that Camp Bowie Bingo was slightly west of Williams Road, east of Las Vegas Trail. I drove east, past Las Vegas Trail, saw no Williams Road, soon came to Alta Mere Drive and realized there was no way Camp Bowie Bingo was east of Alta Mere Drive.

And so I gave up on my plan for Friday night Bingo.

But, making lemonade out of this lemon. I now know the location of the semi-recently opened Camp Bowie Fuzzy's Taco Shop. Plus Mama's Pizza's new Camp Bowie location. And I saw a lot of people outside on the Riscky's BBQ patio, which looked fun, on a warm January Friday night.

But. I saw no Camp Bowie Bingo. And I tried harder to find it than I usually try to find anything.

I am almost 100% certain I was the stupidest person trying to find Camp Bowie Bingo tonight, and no one else had any problem finding it.

I hope everyone had themselves a real fine time and won a lot of bingos. Even though I did not.

Tomorrow I Am Going To The Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo Practice Grand Opening & Hope To Figure Out How To Bingo

Tomorrow, Friday, January 20, Paradise Center is having their Practice Grand Opening of Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo.

Paradise Center's Camp Bowie Bingo is located at 8105 Camp Bowie Boulevard West.

Tomorrow's Practice Grand Opening opens at 7pm.

Following tomorrow's Practice Grand Opening, the Official Grand Opening is Friday, February 3.

After the Official Grand Opening, Paradise Center Camp Bowie Bingo regular operating hours will be Thursday and Friday, 10:30am-2:30pm and Saturdays 12:00-4:00.

You can follow Paradise Center and find Camp Bowie Bingo info on the Paradise Center Facebook page.

Playing Bingo is very stressful for me, what with my Adult Attention Deficit Disorder (AADD), but, I will be there tomorrow and hope someone is there to help me play bingo.

The last time I played bingo my Grandma helped me. That was way back in the last century.

The Paradise Center Has Given Me Something To Do On Friday Nights

Good news from Paradise Center this morning.

The good news from Paradise Center this morning finally gives me something fun to do on a Friday night.

Read the good news from Paradise Center on the Paradise Center blog.

See you there on Friday the 20th for the Grand Opening.

The 3rd Day Of 2012 Thinking About Paradise & Adolf Hitler

The view is steamy, via the pre-dawn view through my primary viewing portal on the world, on this 3rd day of the 1st month of the New Year of 2012.

I believe the steamy window has been steamed because of the temperature differential between the inner and outer world. I'm almost 100% certain that is the cause, due to it being only one degree above freezing in the outer world at my location on the planet.

My recovery from being in dire pain seems to be nearly complete. This pleases me due to the fact that I am not much of a fan of being in dire pain.

Changing the subject from being in dire pain to being in paradise.

I learned this morning that the Grand Opening of  Paradise Center Bingo is going to be Friday, January 20, 2012 at 7:00 pm.

I hope to be there for the Grand Opening where I hope to irritate the hell out of the difficult to irritate CatsPaw.

Paradise Center is now moved to their new permanent home at 8109 Camp Bowie West Boulevard.

Changing the subject from one paradise to another.

Yesterday's Mount Rainier nightmare, part of which had people stranded for their own protection at the Paradise Inn in Mount Rainier National Park, was yet one more instance where a veteran returned from the Iraq War, in dire need of getting mental health help, did not get the help he needed.

Which brought the Iraq War home to the park ranger, Margaret Anderson, mother of two, shot and killed by Benjamin Colton Barnes, the Iraq War Veteran found dead, facedown, in Paradise Creek.

I suppose the ultimate responsibility for the murder of Margaret Anderson goes to George W. Bush for instigating a war that did not need to happen. But that would be like blaming Adolf Hitler for all the people who died in World War II, which would be so unfair to do.

I am being ironic and sarcastic, to make it clear, for you literal types who need that pointed out to you.

The Morning Of The 4th Friday Of December Ashamed About Corrupting The Morals Of People

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell on the morning of Christmas Eve eve, I see a swimming pool being refilled and a sky that appears to be full of clouds, possibly in preparation for Christmas Eve's possible falling snowflakes.

Currently, in the outer world, possibly in preparation for those possible snowflakes, the air is being chilled, with the chill level at this point in time being 36 degrees.

Changing the subject from my favorite one to bingo.

I do not believe I have previously mentioned on this blog that the Paradise Center has moved to a new location. And that the Paradise Center is now licensed to operate a charity bingo game in the big bingo hall next to their new location on Camp Bowie Boulevard.

So, with that being said I was a bit surprised at a very earnest comment this morning from a concerned Christian named Anonymous......

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Trying To Hike The Muddy Trails Of The Tandy Hills While Being Confused By My Closed-Head Injury": 

Y'all are helping to promote gambling and corrupting the morals of people, esp. them mentally ill people with that paradise cult you seem to be so supportive of. Then again closed head injury and mental illness ain't that much different, is it? No self respecting Christian would help promote or participate in such sinful activity as Bingo, conducted in their dirty smoke filled cramped dens they call bingo halls. Shame on you. 

I don't think it was very Christian of Anonymous to make fun of my closed-head injury in this manner. Or to refer to the Paradise Center as a cult.

But, I am sure, like all good Christians, that Anonymous means well, even though he seems to be a tool of the Devil.

This is the point in the morning where I used to say I was going swimming now. I don't know when I am ever going to be able to say that again.

Trying To Hike The Muddy Trails Of The Tandy Hills While Being Confused By My Closed-Head Injury

The Stunning Skyline Of Beautiful Downtown Fort Worth

I quickly figured out I was premature in my return to the post-deluge Tandy Hills today, when I found too much standing water and sections of muddy trail.

So, I got my salubrious hill hiking in using the cross country over the prairie mode. That worked out well.

Looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth today it appeared to have shrunk from the last time I viewed that particular row of massive skyscrapers.

I got back from the Tandy Hills and woke up my computer to see that Elsie Hotpepper had taken umbrage at me being anonymously picked on due to my erratic behavior caused by the lingering effects of the closed-head injury I suffered years ago when I fell, head first, off a ladder, in a barn, in Mount Vernon, in Washington.

I have a bit of a headache right now, due, I think, to an incident this morning that is sort of embarrassing, and which I don't care to detail.

Speaking of embarrassing, I am embarrassed to admit I goofed up on going to the Paradise Center Christmas Party. I had fully intended to do so. The Paradise Center invited me weeks ago. But, somehow I had it in my closed-head injury head that the party was on Friday. I learned, via Facebook, this morning, that I was erroneous.

The Paradise Center Christmas Party is taking place right now.

I need a social secretary to keep track of these type things. It is too much to expect me to keep track of such things on my own, what with that aforementioned, closed-head injury.

Speaking of which, does anyone know what a closed-head injury is, who could enlighten me? I suppose I could Google for the info. But, that'd require remembering to do so.

Going Swimming On The 3rd Monday Of October Before An Arctic Blast Arrives

You are looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the morning of day 17 of October.

The 3rd Monday of the 10th month of 2011 is starting off with a clear blue sky.

Soon, apparently, according to the weather gurus, north winds will begin to blow, with Tuesday's high getting only in to the 60s. With overnight lows in the lower 40s and maybe even down to the upper 30s.

Brrrr.

On a non-weather related note. I'd not heard from the Paradise Center lately, but I did this morning. Things are going great for the PC People. Rumors of Paradise Center closing are false. But, Paradise Center will be moving to a new and improved location. I will try and get around to being more detailed about what's up with the Paradise Center later today on the Paradise Center Blog.

In the meantime I'm going swimming before the winds from the Arctic arrive and make that activity uncomfortable.

If You Like Soap Opera Mixed With Politics You've Come To The Right Place

I was blogging this morning about good news about the Paradise Center's little sweetheart's Elizabeth's successful heart procedure, when I clicked on the link to the Paradise Center website and found myself being talked about.

I found what was said to be nice and amusing....

We know this is out there.  Some of the comments are outrageous, unethical, unprofessional, and false.  We don't read it very often, because alot of the mean things are written by anonymous people ABOUT US.  And when we do read it, we get upset.  We don't like the negativity.  We're focusing on the here and now and our bright future.  So, if you like soap-opera stuff mixed in with local politics, click below and have some fun.

http://Paradise-Center-Scandal.blogspot.com

That blog and the following blog are written and hosted by Durango.  None of us at Paradise Center have ever met or talked to him.  We're pretty sure that's just his internet name.  But he is a local blogger with his finger on the pulse of what's happening in and around Fort Worth.  We think you'll find some interesting information about Fort Worth, and if you look closely, about Paradise Center.

http://durangotexas.blogspot.com

Thanks, Durango, for keeping our story alive!

You are welcome, Paradise Center.

On the Paradise Center website the sentence that says, "None of us at Paradise Center have ever met or talked to him," now has a line struck through it, because people at Paradise Center have now met me.

The Paradise Center's Elizabeth's Heart

I got a blog comment this morning from someone calling him or herself "Anonymous" that those of you who have been following the Paradise Center Scandal and who know the story of Elizabeth, will find of interest.

This is what Anonymous had to say......

Durango, I was told by two people from Paradise Center that Elizabeth had surgery to repair the hole in her heart. The couple said she had the procedure in Childrens Hospital at Dallas. Thought you might want to check it out and let folks know who love and follow Paradise Center happenings.

I hope Elizabeth and her mom and dad are doing well. This family has been through a lot the past couple years. The Battle to Save Carter Avenue from having an un-odorized natural gas pipeline run under the homes of Carter Avenue, which was a battle successfully waged by Elizabeth's dad, Steve, also known as Fort Worth's Lone Ranger.

And then the family got hit by the Paradise Center Scandal via the unscrupulous underhanded dealings of a corrupt Tarrant County Agency, MHMR-TC and its equally corrupt, irresponsible, unethical, inhumane co-horts in bad behavior.

I will try and find out where get well cards can be sent to Elizabeth. I suppose the Paradise Center address would work. That would be 525 South Henderson Street, Fort Worth.

Visiting Fort Worth's Paradise Center With CatsPaw

I have returned to Durango Headquarters from my visit to Paradise Center with CatsPaw.

I had my camera with me. But, I did not feel right about asking if I could take pictures. That always puts people on the spot. I usually only take pictures if I am surrepititious about it. I had no idea if the Paradise Center folks would be shy about pictures, so I thought it best just to keep the camera in my pants.

Fort Worth's Lone Ranger, Steve Doeung, took some pictures when he arrived towards the end of our visit. At that point in time, due to Steve's camera-free example, I realized it would have been okay for me to go into picture taking mode, but that point in time was when CatsPaw and I were leaving.

I don't know why I am going on and on about pictures, except to explain why I took none, when usually I am a picture taking maniac.

Teresa gave CatsPaw and me very nice Paradise Center t-shirt's. Mine is 2XXL, which means it fits me well. Unlike the medium sized shirts my mom sends me. That would be me in my Paradise Center t-shirt in the picture. I am smiling because Elsie Hotpepper said she'd pay me $100 if I smiled in a picture.

Visiting the Paradise Center, up close and personal, I can say they need no more TVs or computers.

However, is there anyone out there in the Fort Worth zone with a BIG HEART and plumbing skills who could help do some simple plumbing involving installing a sink?

Anyone out there in the Fort Worth zone with a BIG HEART with some building skills who could help knock out a wall to make a bigger common area room?

Anyone out there in the Fort Worth zone with a BIG HEART with some ability to help build a simple outdoor shaded area?

Anyone out there in the Fort Worth zone with a BIG HEART and a picnic table they would like to see go to good use?

Today I could clearly see, with a little help, and a little work, Paradise Center could easily be a paradise, inside and out.

I can't remember the last time I felt my spirits lifted by so many uplifting spirits.

Including CatsPaw.

You can find information about Paradise Center, contact info and location on the Paradise Center website.

You can learn all about the Paradise Center Scandal and the dirty deeds done in Tarrant County by those who need to be held accountable for their dirty deeds, by visiting the Paradise Center Scandal website.

Paradise Center Has A New Website & Is Accepting Donations While The Paradise Center Scandal Grows More Scandalous

The Paradise Center, Inc. website is back up and running.

And is now accepting donations.

The Paradise Center Scandal keeps getting curiouser and curiouser. It seems those who thought they were the "powers that be" never considered it a possibility that Paradise Center, Inc. might have the tools to fight back.

But, fighting back is what Paradise Center, Inc. has done. And at 2 months into the scandal, I can tell you, the fight has only begun.

Already there is some organizational shaking up going on in an agency or two in Tarrant County. There have been multiple demands for the firing of MHMR-TC CEO, Jim McDermott.

On the Paradise Center Scandal blog there have been around 400 comments made. I've been appalled multiple times over the meanspiritedness and downright nastiness of those making comments from the MHMR-TC side. Appalled at the nasty character assassinating, appalled at the juvenile verbiage and bad grammar. Just overall appalled.

I have not been the only person appalled at what some of these people have said. Reading through the Paradise Center Scandal blog it becomes sort of a soap opera.

At times I have trouble figuring out pieces of information I get sent. And then I'll realize how the new information fits into the scandal. It is like putting a puzzle together at times.

Paradise Center will be having an Open House in their new location sometime soon. I'll let you know when that happens so I can see you there.

The Shadow Of The Skinny Dipping Thin Man Wondering Why The Fort Worth Police Did Not Help The Paradise Center

The Shadow of the Skinny Dipping Thin Man sort of indicates I am up way before the sun this fine Tuesday morning in Texas.

It was only 50 degrees when I stepped outside to retrieve my swimming suit. The water will be quite a bit warmer than the air when I go swimming this morning. This creates the illusion it is a heated pool.

I read no mention made of any Chesapeake Energy drilling site gas leaking in Arlington in any of the local newspapers online. Does this mean there was no 911 call with no one requiring medical treatment?

Or is this just one more example of how badly this area is served by local news sources? I highly doubt that the information I was sent yesterday was false about Monday's storm causing a major Chesapeake Energy malfunction.

I also did not read in the local news anything about the Paradise Center finally taking possession of the POD storage unit in which MHMR had supposedly placed the Paradise Center's possessions, with the Paradise Center discovering, yesterday, that the POD did not contain all their possessions. Which had MHMR allowing Paradise Center people back in to their former home for the first time since the illegal eviction, in order to recover the remainder of their possessions.

Why weren't the police called when MHMR kicked the Paradise Center out of their building without following any sort of due process? Why weren't the police called when MHMR would not let the Paradise Center retrieve their possessions?

Yes, I know, it's not the Fort Worth Way to call the police and expect any sort of policing regarding this type of crime.

A Yellow Flower Blooms On The Tandy Hills While The Paradise Center Re-Opens

Today there was pretty much nothing wet that would make one think it rained an inch or more on the Tandy Hills during Monday's Thunderstorm.

Monday's short bout of wetness seems to have activated some new wildflower activity. Like the yellow wildflowers you see in the picture, that appear to grow out of a rock.

These particular yellow wildflowers may be my favorite. The blooms are relatively large, wildflower-wise, about 3 or 4 inches across.

I mentioned yesterday that I might soon have good news to report regarding the Paradise Center. I got the go ahead to spread that good news this morning. And so I did on The Paradise Scandal blog. You can read the long version there. Short version, they have found a new location for the center and are moving in.

I called the Phoenix zone whilst driving to the Tandy Hills today. I called my sister in Chandler. My mom and and were at my sister's. I got an email a couple days ago, from my sister, because they'd had their first 100 degree day and my mom wanted me to make it there by early May at the latest.

Or wait til September or October. I think my mom remembered I live in Tornado Alley and spring is tornado season.

The plan is for me to fly to Phoenix and then drive back to Texas.

Did I mention that that bright yellow wildflower, at the top, is a perfect metaphor for my currently sunny disposition?

Well, it is.

On The Tandy Hills With A Gorilla & No Answers Blowing In The Wind

That is today's new Tandy Hills wildflower you're looking at on the left.

I was late to the hills today, due to a lot of distractions.

When I don't get my usual aerobic stimulation and its resultant endorphin fix, I get cranky.

Today Elsie Hotpepper sent me an invitation to go saloon hopping next Wednesday. Saloon hopping in the middle of the week seems borderline decadent to me.

The Paradise Center Scandal continues to astonish me with the amount of comments and level of vitriol. The people commenting who associate themselves with the MHMR-TC agency come across as so incredibly dumb, logic and grammar challenged.

While the proponents of the Paradise Center sound so reasonable.

Today one of the dumb Anonymous MHMR-TC con comments had a double-negative that rendered it amusing, meaning the opposite of what the commenter intended. I'll go see if I can find the double-negative sentence.

Okay, there have been a lot of comments from Anonymous today along the theme that MHMR is moving on and will no longer be commenting on the Paradise Center issue.

Anonymous said, "Well, Folks the Grownups are not feeling a need to no longer speak with you."

Not feeling a need to no longer speak? Which means you are now feeling a need to speak.

Anyway, it's been a day. Started off good with a nice soothing swim.

Driving back from the Tandy Hills I saw something on top of my neighborhood Firestone store, next to my neighborhood Chevron that appeared to be a perfect visual metaphor for the MHMR Bullycrat thugs.

A big gorilla waving a shark in the air.

I have no idea why the big gorilla is there. Or how it got the shark. But it sure looked weird blowing in the wind.

I wish there was an answer blowing in the wind to all that perplexes me.

But there isn't. Windows open. Wind blowing. No answers.

Looking At The Forlorn Skyline Of Dull Downtown Fort Worth While Thinking About How To Compile The MHMR-Gate Scandal

In the picture we are on the Tandy Hills looking west at the forlorn skyline of the dull downtown of Fort Worth, Texas.

As you can see, today at noon, the forlorn skyline of dull downtown Fort Worth is under a gray, hazy sky. It has brightened up a bit since noon.

Usually I describe this view as looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Then a couple days ago, someone asked me if I really think the Fort Worth had a beautiful downtown with a stunning skyline.

Or was I being sarcastic?

I thought the sarcasm was obvious, but I guess I need to start using my sarcasm font when the sarcasm is not sarcastic enough for easy discernment.

The Tandy Hills hiking was nice today. Not too hot, not too cold.

Despite yesterday saying I wouldn't, this morning I braved the 8 degrees of freezing temperature and went swimming. Just like yesterday, due to the air being way colder than the water it made it almost seem like a heated pool.

Change of subject to the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

A "Sick-n-Tired Employee," of the Paradise Center or of MHMR asked me....

Mr. Durango,

Could we suggest that you, if feasible, combine all the various postings and comments about this foul smelling scandal in one section or something like that so that we and the public could examine more closely this major scandal?

Well, this is a blog, I don't really have the ability to arrange the blog postings. It doesn't work like a website. I suppose I could webpage the various bloggings and postings. But that would take some time to do. I'll think about it.

Daylight Savings Time Has Me Up Too Early Thinking About Fort Worth's MHMR-Gate Scandal

Due to Daylight Savings Time messing with the time I am up way before the sun this second Monday of March of 2011, as you can see looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the blue oasis below.

It is only 44 this morning and very windy.

I think the videos I have been watching of the tsunami in Japan have been causing me some bizarre water related nightmares. Every morning the news out of Japan seems to be worse than the morning before.

Total switch of subject from a Mother Nature disaster to a man made one.

I keep getting blog comments regarding the MHMR-Gate Scandal. This has been going on for several weeks now. A strange pattern has emerged with the comments. The pro-Paradise Center comments have been articulate, level-headed and well-written.

While the anti-Paradise Center, pro-MHMR and its CEO Jim McDermott comments have been mean-spirited, vitriolic, inarticulate, badly written and sort of nonsensical.

Like the comment I got this morning from the Ubiquitous Anonymous to the blog post titled "County Commission Gal Explains Fort Worth's MHMR-Gate Scandal In Detail....."

I agree with the short tv report on WFAA two weeks ago that a disgruntled employee and a few followers was picketing outside Paradise Center. Anon I agree that Fort Worth Star Telegram does not find this news worth reporting. The clients are not suffering. Ther are having fun with new staff and new peer leadership. Sebrina and Dale are back from Teresas little group. Paul is back and back to ordering supplies. Lynn has condensed alot of the paperwork to a smoother running center. Two of the male clients volunteered to keep the four bathrooms clean on a daily basis. Time to move on like the clients have. 

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram has shrunk back so deeply that it really does not function as a real newspaper anymore, leaving a town with a population over 700,000 with no real newspaper of record.

Let me see if I can sum up a short version of my understanding of the MHMR-Gate Scandal.

MHMR CEO, Jim McDermott and his staff came up with a scheme to use the Paradise Center to generate revenue. The woman who ran the Paradise Center, Teresa Davis, refused to agree to things she knew to not be true. Ms. Davis was then fired, with the reason given that she failed to attend a meeting.

At the same time Ms. Davis was fired, MHMR locked up the Paradise Center, denying Ms. Davis and her staff entry.

Inside the Paradise Center building were a lot of possessions of the Paradise Center which did not belong to Tarrant County MHMR.

Eventually, after complaints and protests. MHMR removed the Paradise Center possessions to a POD storage container.

The actions of MHMR was a major disruption for a lot of people who depended on the Paradise Center.

There is a lot more to this scandal than my short version. To me it is sort of like the Watergate coverup. The fact that Tarrant County officials seem to have done nothing to rectify this wrong, just adds to the scandal.

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.

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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.