Thursday, September 17, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Protecting Your Assets From
Your Own Family
In August, 2007, the Guardian reported on the prevalence of identity the in our society. At that time we revealed that the biggest threat to an individual’s identity and assets is their own family. Who else knows your date of birth, your mother’s maiden name, the first school you attended,
your last address, and even the name of your pets? When a family member uses your information to obtain a loan for themselves, it constitutes identity the and they can be criminally prosecuted.
But there is a growing area of the that is posing an even greater cause for concern for our local residents, particularly the elderly and the disabled – the the of assets covered under a power-of-attorney.
In recent months the Guardian has learned of numerous cases in Westchester communities where a family discovered, upon the demise of a loved one, that their loved one’s estate was depleted using a pre-existing power-of-attorney (POA). Until this month, depleting the entire life savings
of a family member with a power-of-attorney was relatively easy to do in New York State. All the unethical family member needed to do was coerce their loved one in granting them full powers over their assets by signing a POA form in the presence of a notary.
Prior state laws incorrectly surmised that a notary would assure that the POA was being signed by the individual of their own free will. Notaries
Public regularly witness the signing of a variety of legal documents and are supposed to be independent of the parties involved. However, there is no audit mechanism in place in New York State to verify that the notary witnessing the signature was indeed independent and verified the capability of the signer and their willingness to conduct the transaction.
In one case that the Guardian has observed, the notaries involved did not conduct any due diligence whatsoever, thereby allowing the fraud to
happen.
Virtually anyone over the age of 18 can become a Notary Public in New York State – all it takes is a $15 fee and a passing grade on a relatively
simple test, the answers to which are supplied online by local County Clerks’ offices. It is all too easy under current New York State Notary Public laws for a family member to become a notary and “witness” the coerced form signed by the elderly victim.
Dementia victims, individuals suffering from mental and cognitive problems, poorly educated individuals, and even individuals who are incredibly trusting, are particularly vulnerable to this type of the . An elderly individual who is no longer able to take care of their finances and affairs often turns to a family-member for assistance. That family member, once aware of the amount of assets in the elderly person’s accounts, may see an opportunity to obtain those assets all for themselves, rather than waiting to receive their portion, if any, in accordance with the elderly relative’s will.
Once the unscrupulous individual has a power-of-attorney in their hands, they can now make all banking, investment, and real estate transactions for their victim. In each and every case the Guardian uncovered, by the time other family members realized what had happened, the money and even the houses were long gone. The Guardian uncovered cases where local thieves bought automobiles and homes claiming they were for the use of the victim, even moving the victim into the houses for a period of time to “justify” the purchases, and then transferring the deeds to themselves, circumventing any wishes the elderly person expressly noted in their Last Will and Testament for the distribution of their funds and assets.
Both our Federal and State governments inadvertently encourage the elderly and disabled to shift their money out of their own control thanks to Medicaid and disability laws. Individuals who need nursing home care or extensive medical assistance, such as the mentally ill and disabled, cannot
usually afford the high cost of such extended intensive care and must apply to the government for assistance.
However, in order to be able to qualify for government aid, the individual must first “spend down” their assets – they will only qualify for help once they can prove that they have almost nothing left in their own name with which to pay for their care. Once an elderly individual realizes that they are in the early stages of dementia, they will often be concurrently advised by their attorneys and financial planners to immediately start transferring their assets out of their own name to “protect them from Medicare”.
One of the first steps an elder care attorney will take with a new client is to draft a power-of-attorney form for them, entrusting the power over their assets to a family member or close friend. These powers can be drafted on behalf of the dementia victim to be used only once the individual no longer has any ability to act in their own behalf. However, banks and investment firms rarely ask for confirmation that an individual is incapacitated when accepting a power-of-attorney (POA) for a transaction.
The role of the elder care attorney is to assure that the individual is not being coerced in such situations; an attorney will interview the client
separate from the family members to assure that they are acting of their own free will. However, current state laws do not mandate that the power-of-attorney forms be drafted in the presence of an attorney. Anyone with access to the internet can download a free form and coerce the victim into signing it in front of a notary. As the Guardian uncovered, the notaries do not always assure that the individual signing the form is not being coerced. Nor are notaries required to take any training which would help them to identify the signs of coercion.
To deter some of these acts of fraud, New York State recently enacted new laws to expand the protection for individuals drafting a power-of-
attorney. As of September 1, 2009, the new power-of-attorney forms have several new clauses to protect the individual issuing the powers.
The new form’s name alone indicates the changes, the title was changed from “Statutory Short Form Power of Attorney” to “Statutory Short Form and Other Powers of Attorney For Financial Estate Planning”, recognizing the fact that most individuals drafting this form are doing so as part of an estate plan and that the POA should work in tandem with the wishes and directives outlined in the individual’s “Last Will and Testament”.
The new laws do not affect most POA’s already in effect prior to September 1, 2009. However, the law specifically requires new
POA’s for the following types of powers:
§5-1502J for “Construction” authority - for authority over benefits from governmental programs or civil and military service
§5-1502K for “Construction” authority - for authority on health care billing and payment matters; records reports and statements
§5-1504 for “Acceptance of statutory short form power of attorney”;
§5-1510 for “Special Proceedings”
The new state laws expand the definitions used in a POA including “Capacity”. Capacity is now defined by the State to mean “the ability
to comprehend the nature and consequences of the act of executing and granting, revoking, amending or modifying a power of attorney, any
provision in a power of attorney, or the authority of any person to act as agent under a power of attorney”.
In short, the definition as expanded raises questions as to the capacity of a cognitively-impaired, mentally disabled, or victim of dementia, even a mild version, to authorize a POA on their behalf.
Such restrictions may now require legal guardians to be appointed to review a POA for these individuals. While this may appear to be added
protection, the Guardian has revealed in recent months the kickback nature of the guardianship process in our courts, where such appointments routinely are given to attorneys whose only qualification is the amount of their campaign contributions to the judge appointing them. In one local instance, the court appointed a convicted felon to handle the affairs of a disabled young woman who was the victim of Aspersers’. The Surrogate’s Court has never required that this felon account for the $2 million in his care, in defiance with New York State laws. This sad case was reported by the Guardian in February and March of this year. To date, the court has done nothing to rectify this situation.
To circumvent individuals who possess POA’s from “gifting” any funds in their victim’s bank accounts to themselves, the new state law has
expanded its definition of a “Statutory major gifts rider”. According to the law, this rider allows the individual to define who and what they
intend to gift, if anything. The new law mandates that the “statutory major gifts rider and the statutory short form power of attorney it supplements must be read together as a single instrument”. Anyone acting on a POA, and attempting to make a gift to themselves from a bank account or other asset, will now have to produce the gifts rider as evidence along with the POA.
The individual who holds the authorities granted in a POA is referred to as an “agent” since they are acting on behalf of the person who signed
the POA (referred to as the “principal”). The new law has expanded the definition of agent to now include an individual who has a “fiduciary relationship with the principal”. The purpose of this new clause in the law is to avoid circumstances such as the recent organ-selling cases from disabled and poor victims. In this 10-year investigation uncovered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, nursing home and health care employees were providing names of individuals who had no family members to the organ-selling ring who then obtained POA’s and other legal rights from their victims, enabling the crime. The new state law attempts to avoid “third-party” POA’s where the individual appointed as agent has no reason to be acting “in the best interests” of the principal.
A person who has a “fiduciary relationship” with another is someone who is legally expected to be acting “in the best interests” of the
other. While this new law has yet to be tested and applied in the courts, it does appear that the intent of the New York State lawmakers is to have agents prove that the purchases and expenditures they were making on behalf of the principal were indeed “in their best interests”. If not, this law could conceivably allow the other family members to legally challenge those purchases and any depletion of assets and funds.
Note – due to the stranglehold that the New York State Bar Association has over the New York State legislature by virtue of their lobbying
efforts and campaign contributions, only an attorney may offer legal advice in the State of New York. Therefore, this reporter cannot state the obvious here without running afoul of local lawyers, so any inferences we make about this new law have to be couched in terms such as “conceivably” and “perhaps” - not our usual direct style of reporting. But the trusts our readers’ ability to decipher this of the new law for themselves!
The new law specifically addresses what happens to a POA when the individual authorizing it becomes incapacitated – the new forms have
a clause that states “this POWER OF ATTORNEY shall not be affected by my subsequent incapacity unless I have stated otherwise below, under
“Modification”. The principal can elect to revoke the POA completely once they become incapacitated. The law also covers the size of the print that must be used on the POA form and specific cautions to be noted to protect the principal signing this form.
A new “Caution” clause has been added to the POA form: “CAUTION TO THE PRINCIPAL: Your power of Attorney is an important document. As the “principal”, you give the person whom you choose (your “agent”) authority to spend your money and sell or dispose of your property
during your lifetime without telling you. You do not lose your authority to act even though you have given your agent similar authority.
When your agent exercises this authority, he or she must act according to any instructions you have provided or, where there are no specific instructions, in your best interests. “Important Information for the Agent” at the end of this document describes your agent’s responsibilities.
Your agent can act on your behalf only after signing the Power of Attorney before a notary public. You can request information from your agent at any time. If you are revoking a prior Power of Attorney by executing this Power of Attorney, you should provide written notice of the revocation to your prior agent(s) and to the financial institutions where your accounts are located.
You can revoke or terminate your Power of Attorney at any time for any reason as long as you are of sound mind. If you are no longer of sound
mind, a court can remove an agent for acting improperly.
Your agent cannot make health care decisions for you. You may execute a ‘Health Care Proxy’ to do this. The law governing Powers of Attorney
is contained in the New York General Obligations Law, Article 5, Title 15. This law is available at a law library, or online through the New York
State Senate or Assembly websites, www.senate.state.ny.us or www.assembly.state.ny.us.
If there is anything about this document that you do not understand, you should ask a lawyer of your own choosing to explain it to you.” In addition, the new law imposes the following obligations upon the agent named in the POA: “When you accept the authority granted under this Power of Attorney, a special legal relationship is created between you and the principal. This relationship imposes on you legal responsibilities
that continue until you resign or the Power of Attorney is terminated or revoked. You must:
• Act according to any instructions from the principal, or, where there are no instructions, in the principal’s best interest;
• Avoid conflicts that would impair your ability to act in the principal’s best interest;
• Keep the principal’s property separate and distinct from any assets you own or control, unless otherwise permitted by law;
• Keep a record of all receipts, payments, and transactions conducted for the principal; and
• Disclose your identity as an agent whenever you act for the principal by writing or printing the principal’s name and signing your own name as “agent” in either of the following manner: (Principal’s Name) by (Your Signature) as Agent, or (your signature) as Agent for (Principal’s Name).”
While this new law instructs to act in the best interest of the principal and in accordance with any written instructions by the principal, it does not address whether those written instructions will hold up in court.
Many local elderly residents have already shifted the control of their assets to other family members to “protect them from Medicare”, under the
advice of their attorneys. Ethical family members understand that those funds are not their own money and hold them aside to be used for their
loved one’s needs.
Since these funds and assets were transferred to other family members before their death, and are then part of that family member’s portfolio,
these funds and assets are not considered to be part of the estate when the elderly individual dies. To assure that the family member holding the transferred assets does not keep them all to themselves, the elderly family member usually leaves written instructions as to how those funds and assets should be distributed upon their demise.
Unfortunately, those written instructions do not hold up in court. The Guardian has evidence of how one local attorney, a Law Secretary with the White Plains Supreme Court, advised his elderly mother to shift $150,000 of her funds to him to “protect them from Medicare”. When she died eight years later, those funds now legally belonged to her son. The attorney’s mother had left written instructions to address the distribution of these funds including allocating a small portion of them to each of her grand-children. But the attorney chose to ignore his dying mother’s
wishes and kept the funds for himself instead. When the children’s mother took this attorney to court to protest him not acting in his mother’s best interests by defying her written instructions, the mother was sanctioned and fined by the judge for daring to pursue this for her children.
So, while the new POA law may allow for written instructions to be followed, court orders in similar instances show that judges ignore these laws. As the Guardian has noted in previous reports on these issues, the courts offer little support to victims of fraud since so many fraud cases are perpetrated by attorneys and officers of the court to begin with. The best defense therefore that an elderly resident has is to find the most trustworthy member of their family, or circle of friends, to entrust the handling of their affairs to.
The new law is explained in detail by the New York State Bar Association in their online publication at www.nysba.org. The NYSBA has provided
a sixty-nine page analysis covering all of the areas of this new law. Since the changes are extensive and cover sensitive areas such as access to medical billing and government records and, since this article cannot be construed by the reader as legal advice, any local resident concerned about their existing power-of-attorneys, or their need for a POA, should consult with a trusted attorney who is experienced in the drafting, and pitfalls, of POA’s.
Showing posts with label Catherine Wilson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catherine Wilson. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Westchester Guardian/Catherine Wilson.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Problems Facing Victims Of Autism
On August 5, Andy Spano announced that Westchester County was now “Autism Friendly” following the recommendations of an April 1, 2009 report from the Westchester County Autism Advisory Committee. According to this report, there are currently approximately 4,000 individuals
living with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the County.
The Committee defined autism as a “complex, neurobiological developmental disability”. They went on to indicate that its victims have “poorly
developed verbal and nonverbal communication skills, unusual speech patterns, limited interest in social interactions often leading to social
withdrawal. Individuals with autism often struggle to be flexible or tolerate even small changes in routines, experience sensory sensitivities, exhibit
repetitive or ritualistic behavior and often focus on objects rather than on people. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times
more likely to impact boys than girls. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe”.
The Committee made the following recommendations to the County:
• Declare Westchester County as an “Autism Friendly” County;
• Establish a Westchester County Autism Family Resource Center;
• Establish an Adult Advocacy Department;
• Establish a Special Liaison for Adult Autism Services;
• Develop a “How to” manual for businesses to employ adults who have Problems Facing Victims Of Autism ASD;
• Develop a post-secondary educational program for adults with ASD;
• Broker the establishment of a specialized medical/psychiatric treatment facility;
• Establish a Family and Service Provider Training Institute;
• Establish Autism Sensitivity Awareness Training for first-responders.
While the Committee is attempting to address the awareness of autism in our communities, even the experts do not properly address this disability.
School psychologists, counselors, and testing procedures are not geared to diagnosing milder forms of autism such as Asperser’s Syndrome. Parents
of such children are usually forced to initiate testing themselves. However, if a child is not properly diagnosed at an early age, by the time they are
adults they can become bipolar, develop eating and borderline personality disorders, and addictive behaviors. Early intervention is the key to helping victims of autism.
Children with mild forms of autism are often diagnosed as simply having behavioral problems. Early education programs such as day care and preschools do not have the resources to diagnose or address mild forms of ASD. Public elementary schools’ programs to identify and address the needs of an ASD child vary according to the financial resources of the school district.
Financial difficulties are affecting more than just the educational needs of ASD victims. Medical and treatment programs have recently been shut down due to government budget cuts or cutbacks in private funding. Few programs now exist for ASD patients who have developed eating disorder
problems. Private hospitals, such as Four Winds Medical Center in Katonah, have programs that address the problems of the autistic child but such programs are prohibitively expensive.
ASD children are often over medicated or given incorrect medications. Treatment programs to enable such children to develop coping skills are short-term and do not address long-term or future needs. The programs can cost as much as $30,000 for a mere 28 days.
However, there is no guarantee that a facility will accept an ASD patient; programs will refuse acceptance to patients who exhibit violent or extreme anti-social behavior. One parent told the Guardian that St. Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison mixes victims of all mental disorders together,
so that adult ASD patients exhibiting bipolar disorders will be together with eating disorder victims. According to this parent, St. Vincent’s does not offer separate break-out groups for specialized treatment, and no individual therapy for the patient.
As one parent noted, “The local hospitals only offer crisis intervention for adult patients with ASD. ere is no real therapy going on. The hospitals will only keep the patient for a short period, usually only 7 to 10 days, until the patient is “compliant”. As this parent told the Guardian, “‘Compliance’ is a big word. It means the patient will ‘tow the line’ and obey orders, especially when it comes time to sleep”. In order to make
patients “compliant”, many autism victims are overmedicated into submission.
Parents noted that when their autistic children return home from these “crises centers”, they exhibit withdrawal symptoms from the cocktail of medications they were exposed to while in the treatment facility.
Patients with mental issues are often grouped in many of these treatment programs according to gender, rather than cause. Autistic patients who have multiple hospital and treatment center admissions can become “hospital savvy”, they learn from each other. Autism does not always affect
intellect, especially in milder, higher functioning cases. Many patients are very intelligent and gifted.
There are autistic children who can play concert piano pieces by ear. One autistic child in upstate New York is a star basketball player and has mastered the repetitive motions of the sport like bouncing and dribbling. In environments where all patients with mental issues are grouped together, some autistic patients will learn from, or develop and mimic, the behavioral patterns of the other patients. An autistic adult entering a treatment program to develop social and coping skills can leave with knowledge of how to purge their food after witnessing the eating disorder
patients exhibiting this behavior.
Life with an autistic child is heartbreaking. As one mother told the Guardian, “You watch your child grow up never fitting in. All of the social
cues are missing. ere is no natural conversation banter. They do not laugh at jokes. An Autistic or Aspersers’ child will never comprehend the
banter. Even if the child has developed to the point that they can engage in simple conversations, you constantly have to explain yourself and reassure them that a remark was meant as a joke. They never quite get the social cues in life. As a child this can be hurtful. As an adult this can be devastating”.
This parent called for the County’s program to be expanded to educate the public as well as educators and first responders noting that adult
ASD victims are frequently hospitalized for depression and other problems simply because the public cannot understand them.
Autistic children and adults can exhibit mood swings; they can appear fine one minute and not so fine the next. ASD victims do not have coping
skills. If they develop sufficiently to be able to engage in society they also become aware that they are different and often experience depression.
Autistic victims with mild ASD often do not exhibit visible signs of a disability, which creates unique problems. According to one parent, “For a
disabled child to get sympathy, everything has to be visible, such as the use of a wheelchair, or they display ‘drama’”.
This mother spoke of how her child was never invited to a birthday party or a school event, even among the special education groups, noting that “the schools do not step in because they do not want to offend the other parents. My child has never had a friend in her entire life”.
Some autistic children can display incredible talents such as musical abilities, but those talents may not always be encouraged. One parent told the Guardian of how her child was selected for a highly regarded music revue every year in school due to her talent and how one mother objected that a “mentally retarded” child was selected to showcase the school.
As autistic children develop into adults, they need legal protection and an advocate for their rights and needs when their parents and caregivers die.
Sadly, none of the guardians or attorneys appointed by the courts, or even the judges themselves, are educated in the unique needs of an autistic child. One parent showed the Guardian a court order from the Westchester County Court that referred to her adult child as “mentally retarded”. As that parent informed the Guardian, “There is no sensitivity for these victims”.
A court-appointed guardian for one adult victim asked her parent, “She’s not mentally retarded, is she?” That same guardian dismissed a treatment
program in a legal document as a “class”, to which the parent replied, “Did he think she was getting college credit for this?”
Parents with autistic children are often forced to engage in legal battles to advocate the rights of their child in our schools, communities, and hospitals. But a parent battling a school psychologist or doctor in court will have to prove who has the best interests of the child at heart. The legal system will automatically appoint a legal guardian to represent the child’s interests.
But, as the Guardian has noted in prior articles on this subject, those guardians do not have any specialized training in autism and the unique needs of its victims. A parent fighting a school district over the use of medication to make their child more compliant in class will face handing this
decision over to a court-appointed attorney whose only qualification to analyze the issue is the amount he/she contributed to the judge’s campaign.
Once the parent caring for an autistic child dies, that child may be placed into a group home where patients with all mental disorders, including
criminals with violent personality disorders, are lumped together. Last May, a young staff counselor for Sunset House, a psychiatric group home
in Westchester County, was savagely beaten for hours by a resident convict, David Sanchez. According to the police reports, the victim was beaten so severely she suffered a fractured eye socket, a lost tooth, and a punctured eardrum. Yet it is into this environment that our most vulnerable individuals are placed on a routine basis when they no longer have anyone to advocate on their behalf.
Children who exhibit severe autistic symptoms receive treatment early on since their problems are easily recognized and diagnosed. But for those
children who have mild cases of autism, such as Asperser’s, they can be bounced around from treatment center to doctors to psychologists to counselors trying one treatment and medication after another until the correct diagnosis is finally reached. As one parent noted, “These children are pin cushions for the ‘experts’ to keep probing until something finally hits home”. Children with mild forms of autism may skate through their younger years with their young peers. But once those children reach their teenage years, social issues surface. These teenagers are usually ostracized by their peers and experience depression as a result, often attempting suicide.
When placed in a comfortable, secure environment, where they are surrounded by children like themselves, they do best. But once that security
is removed, and their environment is changed, they can immediately fall apart. One parent spoke of how her mildly autistic child attended a treatment program for several months but “fell to pieces” the first day she returned to school because of something someone said to her on the school bus.
The comment did not necessarily have to be a bullying or teasing remark. Autistic children are very “black and white”. They cannot comprehend
nuances or inflections. All local schools now have a “zero tolerance” for bullying and do not tolerate bullying towards disabled children. But
mildly autistic children who appear to function in school can still react to comments that other students, and even adults, would consider to be innocuous.
A simple question of “do you want to go to the concert?” can be interpreted by the autistic child as implying that they should not attend the event and can send their moods spiraling downwards.
Adult victims of autism may have depleted their families finances and no longer qualify for their medical coverage and will have to transfer to Medicaid to have their health needs handled. However, Medicaid is not equipped to handle the medical and treatment needs of the autistic adult.
As one local parent noted, “In order to qualify for Medicaid, you have to be living in the gutter. If the patient makes even $50 too much a month,
they will lose their Medicaid insurance”.
This parent’s child had thirteen hospitalizations in three years because Medicaid does not pay for any long-term treatment plan for the symptoms
that appear in adulthood. Medicaid will only cover short-term crisis intervention programs. Those programs do little to help an autistic adult develop the coping skills they will need to deal with society, let alone develop the skills they will need to adjust when their parents and guardians eventually die. “My daughter only got 15 minutes of therapy, twice a week, in the Medicaid programs. She was given up to fifteen pills a day instead to treat her problems” one parent said.
Adults with mental disorders such as autism face a stigma in our society. Many people still believe that someone with a mental disorder must be dangerous and violent. But as one sibling of a mentally-challenged individual noted, “There are far more dangerous people walking around in corporate offices and courtrooms who are far more capable of hurting huge numbers of people”.
To date, there is little understanding of what causes autism. All that is really known of this disorder is its symptoms which include:
• Extreme difficulty in learning language;
• Avoids eye contact, resists touch, and seems to tune out the world;
• Poor ability to play cooperatively with other children or to make friends;
• Inability to understand other people's feelings;
• Need for a rigid, highly structured routine and distressed by any changes;
• Extreme hyperactivity or unusual passivity;
• Repetitive body movements including pacing, rocking, or hitting oneself;
• Insensitivity to pain or lack of response to cold or heat;
• Impulsive behavior and no real fear of dangers;
• Unusual attachment to inanimate objects such as strings, or spinning toys;
• Frequent crying and tantrums for no apparent reason;
• Peculiar speech, using words without understanding the meanings;
• Abnormal responses to light, sound, and touch and may appear deaf;
• May be extremely distressed by everyday noises;
• Symptoms can change as the child grows older.
According to their report, the Westchester County Autism Advisory Committee members are the parents of children with ASD and all represent
a vast number of individuals and organizations that offer treatment, education, training advocacy and funding opportunities to the autism community.
The goal of this Committee is for ASD patients to “live as independent a life as possible” and they hope their recommendations will eliminate the
“missed opportunities of a fulfilling life for our citizens”.
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Problems Facing Victims Of Autism
On August 5, Andy Spano announced that Westchester County was now “Autism Friendly” following the recommendations of an April 1, 2009 report from the Westchester County Autism Advisory Committee. According to this report, there are currently approximately 4,000 individuals
living with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the County.
The Committee defined autism as a “complex, neurobiological developmental disability”. They went on to indicate that its victims have “poorly
developed verbal and nonverbal communication skills, unusual speech patterns, limited interest in social interactions often leading to social
withdrawal. Individuals with autism often struggle to be flexible or tolerate even small changes in routines, experience sensory sensitivities, exhibit
repetitive or ritualistic behavior and often focus on objects rather than on people. It occurs in all racial, ethnic, and social groups and is four times
more likely to impact boys than girls. Symptoms can range from very mild to quite severe”.
The Committee made the following recommendations to the County:
• Declare Westchester County as an “Autism Friendly” County;
• Establish a Westchester County Autism Family Resource Center;
• Establish an Adult Advocacy Department;
• Establish a Special Liaison for Adult Autism Services;
• Develop a “How to” manual for businesses to employ adults who have Problems Facing Victims Of Autism ASD;
• Develop a post-secondary educational program for adults with ASD;
• Broker the establishment of a specialized medical/psychiatric treatment facility;
• Establish a Family and Service Provider Training Institute;
• Establish Autism Sensitivity Awareness Training for first-responders.
While the Committee is attempting to address the awareness of autism in our communities, even the experts do not properly address this disability.
School psychologists, counselors, and testing procedures are not geared to diagnosing milder forms of autism such as Asperser’s Syndrome. Parents
of such children are usually forced to initiate testing themselves. However, if a child is not properly diagnosed at an early age, by the time they are
adults they can become bipolar, develop eating and borderline personality disorders, and addictive behaviors. Early intervention is the key to helping victims of autism.
Children with mild forms of autism are often diagnosed as simply having behavioral problems. Early education programs such as day care and preschools do not have the resources to diagnose or address mild forms of ASD. Public elementary schools’ programs to identify and address the needs of an ASD child vary according to the financial resources of the school district.
Financial difficulties are affecting more than just the educational needs of ASD victims. Medical and treatment programs have recently been shut down due to government budget cuts or cutbacks in private funding. Few programs now exist for ASD patients who have developed eating disorder
problems. Private hospitals, such as Four Winds Medical Center in Katonah, have programs that address the problems of the autistic child but such programs are prohibitively expensive.
ASD children are often over medicated or given incorrect medications. Treatment programs to enable such children to develop coping skills are short-term and do not address long-term or future needs. The programs can cost as much as $30,000 for a mere 28 days.
However, there is no guarantee that a facility will accept an ASD patient; programs will refuse acceptance to patients who exhibit violent or extreme anti-social behavior. One parent told the Guardian that St. Vincent’s Hospital in Harrison mixes victims of all mental disorders together,
so that adult ASD patients exhibiting bipolar disorders will be together with eating disorder victims. According to this parent, St. Vincent’s does not offer separate break-out groups for specialized treatment, and no individual therapy for the patient.
As one parent noted, “The local hospitals only offer crisis intervention for adult patients with ASD. ere is no real therapy going on. The hospitals will only keep the patient for a short period, usually only 7 to 10 days, until the patient is “compliant”. As this parent told the Guardian, “‘Compliance’ is a big word. It means the patient will ‘tow the line’ and obey orders, especially when it comes time to sleep”. In order to make
patients “compliant”, many autism victims are overmedicated into submission.
Parents noted that when their autistic children return home from these “crises centers”, they exhibit withdrawal symptoms from the cocktail of medications they were exposed to while in the treatment facility.
Patients with mental issues are often grouped in many of these treatment programs according to gender, rather than cause. Autistic patients who have multiple hospital and treatment center admissions can become “hospital savvy”, they learn from each other. Autism does not always affect
intellect, especially in milder, higher functioning cases. Many patients are very intelligent and gifted.
There are autistic children who can play concert piano pieces by ear. One autistic child in upstate New York is a star basketball player and has mastered the repetitive motions of the sport like bouncing and dribbling. In environments where all patients with mental issues are grouped together, some autistic patients will learn from, or develop and mimic, the behavioral patterns of the other patients. An autistic adult entering a treatment program to develop social and coping skills can leave with knowledge of how to purge their food after witnessing the eating disorder
patients exhibiting this behavior.
Life with an autistic child is heartbreaking. As one mother told the Guardian, “You watch your child grow up never fitting in. All of the social
cues are missing. ere is no natural conversation banter. They do not laugh at jokes. An Autistic or Aspersers’ child will never comprehend the
banter. Even if the child has developed to the point that they can engage in simple conversations, you constantly have to explain yourself and reassure them that a remark was meant as a joke. They never quite get the social cues in life. As a child this can be hurtful. As an adult this can be devastating”.
This parent called for the County’s program to be expanded to educate the public as well as educators and first responders noting that adult
ASD victims are frequently hospitalized for depression and other problems simply because the public cannot understand them.
Autistic children and adults can exhibit mood swings; they can appear fine one minute and not so fine the next. ASD victims do not have coping
skills. If they develop sufficiently to be able to engage in society they also become aware that they are different and often experience depression.
Autistic victims with mild ASD often do not exhibit visible signs of a disability, which creates unique problems. According to one parent, “For a
disabled child to get sympathy, everything has to be visible, such as the use of a wheelchair, or they display ‘drama’”.
This mother spoke of how her child was never invited to a birthday party or a school event, even among the special education groups, noting that “the schools do not step in because they do not want to offend the other parents. My child has never had a friend in her entire life”.
Some autistic children can display incredible talents such as musical abilities, but those talents may not always be encouraged. One parent told the Guardian of how her child was selected for a highly regarded music revue every year in school due to her talent and how one mother objected that a “mentally retarded” child was selected to showcase the school.
As autistic children develop into adults, they need legal protection and an advocate for their rights and needs when their parents and caregivers die.
Sadly, none of the guardians or attorneys appointed by the courts, or even the judges themselves, are educated in the unique needs of an autistic child. One parent showed the Guardian a court order from the Westchester County Court that referred to her adult child as “mentally retarded”. As that parent informed the Guardian, “There is no sensitivity for these victims”.
A court-appointed guardian for one adult victim asked her parent, “She’s not mentally retarded, is she?” That same guardian dismissed a treatment
program in a legal document as a “class”, to which the parent replied, “Did he think she was getting college credit for this?”
Parents with autistic children are often forced to engage in legal battles to advocate the rights of their child in our schools, communities, and hospitals. But a parent battling a school psychologist or doctor in court will have to prove who has the best interests of the child at heart. The legal system will automatically appoint a legal guardian to represent the child’s interests.
But, as the Guardian has noted in prior articles on this subject, those guardians do not have any specialized training in autism and the unique needs of its victims. A parent fighting a school district over the use of medication to make their child more compliant in class will face handing this
decision over to a court-appointed attorney whose only qualification to analyze the issue is the amount he/she contributed to the judge’s campaign.
Once the parent caring for an autistic child dies, that child may be placed into a group home where patients with all mental disorders, including
criminals with violent personality disorders, are lumped together. Last May, a young staff counselor for Sunset House, a psychiatric group home
in Westchester County, was savagely beaten for hours by a resident convict, David Sanchez. According to the police reports, the victim was beaten so severely she suffered a fractured eye socket, a lost tooth, and a punctured eardrum. Yet it is into this environment that our most vulnerable individuals are placed on a routine basis when they no longer have anyone to advocate on their behalf.
Children who exhibit severe autistic symptoms receive treatment early on since their problems are easily recognized and diagnosed. But for those
children who have mild cases of autism, such as Asperser’s, they can be bounced around from treatment center to doctors to psychologists to counselors trying one treatment and medication after another until the correct diagnosis is finally reached. As one parent noted, “These children are pin cushions for the ‘experts’ to keep probing until something finally hits home”. Children with mild forms of autism may skate through their younger years with their young peers. But once those children reach their teenage years, social issues surface. These teenagers are usually ostracized by their peers and experience depression as a result, often attempting suicide.
When placed in a comfortable, secure environment, where they are surrounded by children like themselves, they do best. But once that security
is removed, and their environment is changed, they can immediately fall apart. One parent spoke of how her mildly autistic child attended a treatment program for several months but “fell to pieces” the first day she returned to school because of something someone said to her on the school bus.
The comment did not necessarily have to be a bullying or teasing remark. Autistic children are very “black and white”. They cannot comprehend
nuances or inflections. All local schools now have a “zero tolerance” for bullying and do not tolerate bullying towards disabled children. But
mildly autistic children who appear to function in school can still react to comments that other students, and even adults, would consider to be innocuous.
A simple question of “do you want to go to the concert?” can be interpreted by the autistic child as implying that they should not attend the event and can send their moods spiraling downwards.
Adult victims of autism may have depleted their families finances and no longer qualify for their medical coverage and will have to transfer to Medicaid to have their health needs handled. However, Medicaid is not equipped to handle the medical and treatment needs of the autistic adult.
As one local parent noted, “In order to qualify for Medicaid, you have to be living in the gutter. If the patient makes even $50 too much a month,
they will lose their Medicaid insurance”.
This parent’s child had thirteen hospitalizations in three years because Medicaid does not pay for any long-term treatment plan for the symptoms
that appear in adulthood. Medicaid will only cover short-term crisis intervention programs. Those programs do little to help an autistic adult develop the coping skills they will need to deal with society, let alone develop the skills they will need to adjust when their parents and guardians eventually die. “My daughter only got 15 minutes of therapy, twice a week, in the Medicaid programs. She was given up to fifteen pills a day instead to treat her problems” one parent said.
Adults with mental disorders such as autism face a stigma in our society. Many people still believe that someone with a mental disorder must be dangerous and violent. But as one sibling of a mentally-challenged individual noted, “There are far more dangerous people walking around in corporate offices and courtrooms who are far more capable of hurting huge numbers of people”.
To date, there is little understanding of what causes autism. All that is really known of this disorder is its symptoms which include:
• Extreme difficulty in learning language;
• Avoids eye contact, resists touch, and seems to tune out the world;
• Poor ability to play cooperatively with other children or to make friends;
• Inability to understand other people's feelings;
• Need for a rigid, highly structured routine and distressed by any changes;
• Extreme hyperactivity or unusual passivity;
• Repetitive body movements including pacing, rocking, or hitting oneself;
• Insensitivity to pain or lack of response to cold or heat;
• Impulsive behavior and no real fear of dangers;
• Unusual attachment to inanimate objects such as strings, or spinning toys;
• Frequent crying and tantrums for no apparent reason;
• Peculiar speech, using words without understanding the meanings;
• Abnormal responses to light, sound, and touch and may appear deaf;
• May be extremely distressed by everyday noises;
• Symptoms can change as the child grows older.
According to their report, the Westchester County Autism Advisory Committee members are the parents of children with ASD and all represent
a vast number of individuals and organizations that offer treatment, education, training advocacy and funding opportunities to the autism community.
The goal of this Committee is for ASD patients to “live as independent a life as possible” and they hope their recommendations will eliminate the
“missed opportunities of a fulfilling life for our citizens”.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Westchester Guardian/Catherine Wilson.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Lessons To Be Learned From The
Decline Of A Business Icon
For decades it was the largest-selling magazine in the world. It was found in every doctor’s waiting room, and on the coffee table in every senior citizen’s home. It was Reader’s Digest, a name that needed no further introduction anywhere in the world.
It represented knowledge, opportunity, and everyday life. An immigrant or poorly-educated individual could improve his language skills by using the Digest’s monthly Word Power section. Workers could relate to the anecdotes in the All in a Day’s Work columns and pursue their dreams by entering the sweepstakes.
Home owners could get helpful hints and expert knowledge on how to do basic repairs and improvements. Parents could get critical information
on their children’s health and education issues. And, commuters could fit it all on their lap on the subway, tossing it into their pocket afterwards.
The Digest became the butt of jokes by comedians in recent years; it was viewed as too stodgy and un-hip. Few of those comedians remembered
that it was Reader’s Digest who first drew attention to the link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1950’s in a groundbreaking series of articles
entitled Cancer by the Carton.
It was Reader’s Digest that financed Alex Haley’s research for Roots, an extraordinary novel and revolutionary television series that inspired all Americans to explore and honor their ancestry.
The international versions of the magazine allowed millions of people around the globe to learn about our country and about themselves. Millions
of individuals throughout the United States and the world saw the Digest for what it was, a magazine that acknowledged ordinary individuals and honored their achievements.
In an era of celebrity mania, Reader’s Digest celebrated the life of the ordinary person. But the magazine also served a strong conservative political agenda, often fronting ideas and platforms for Republican candidates to American voters. In 1988, Robert Bidinotto, a staff writer for the Digest, wrote an article entitled Getting Away with Murder about a prison furlough program in Massachusetts that released a murderer, William “Willie” Horton. That article was released during the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis effectively ending his race for the Presidency.
The Digest also published segments of Senator Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America several months before it was unveiled in Congress by the Republicans. The Digest, and the Republicans, had several months to “test the waters” and the reaction of the American population to this contract before its official release, six weeks prior to the 1988 Presidential elections.
At the time of this article, Reader’s Digest had a subscription base of over 18 million in the United States, with a readership of more than twice that amount, making it the largest read magazine in the nation. Its impact in America’s heartland was unequalled.
The Wall Street Journal once reported that “only the Bible had a higher circulation than the Reader’s Digest”. That is, until Reader’s Digest condensed the Bible in 1982, an act that brought death threats from the religious right to Digest executives who installed bullet-proof glass in
their corporate offices as protection.
It was not the first time that the conservative magazine encountered the wrath of a religious community. In 1980 the Digest reported on the growth of Scientology, publishing an article entitled Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult. The Digest revealed that Scientology “agents”
were breaking into Justice Department offices and working in CIA and defense areas, drawing ire from that group in the process.
Shortly after George W. Bush was elected President, the Digest appointed the new Vice-President’s wife, Lynne Cheney, to a paid position on their Board of Directors. For decades, reporters and writers, have been reporting on a possible connection between the Digest and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Local Pleasantville writer Benjamin Cheever, skewered the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Digest in his thinly-disguised book, The Plagiarist. But the ultimate irony came when the major target of the conservative right, Bill Clinton, selected a house down the block from the Digest thereby placing the Cheney-Bush-CIA-conservative camp literally on one side of the street, Route 117 in Chappaqua, and the Kennedy-
Clinton-Obama-liberal camp on the other. The struggle for the votes of the American populace was being played out right in Westchester’s own
backyard within feet of each other.
But while the Digest never lost its conservative bent, it did fall out of touch with the ordinary populace. After its peak circulation of 18 million
in the early 1990’s, the Digest followed the lead of the new darling of the magazine world, People magazine, and started putting celebrities instead of ordinary individuals on its covers. Words were replaced by images and graphics on the cover and the number of articles inside were reduced. In an effort to stay relevant in a changing media world, the Digest hired a team of consultants from now-defunct Arthur Anderson Consulting, the same consulting group that “advised” ENRON and handled their audits and financials, to advise them as to how to adapt to the changing environment.
Sadly, the Digest failed at the most basic rule of management, know your business. At the time, the consultants and Digest executives defined their
business as publishing. But there was little evidence to support this claim, there were no Pulitzers or editorial awards lining the halls, or accolades from fellow writers. Indeed, most writers in the media dismissed the Digest as not worthy of their craft. What the Digest failed to realize is that their business was unique. They recognized important and often ground-breaking materials from experts around the globe and condensed it into simple, ordinary language to be understood by the masses.
Rather than presenting a challenge for the Digest, the new electronic media presented an opportunity. Every American in the early 1990’s suddenly needed to know how to use a computer or a cell phone or access the internet. What they needed were simple guides showing them
how. Two other publishing groups saw this opportunity and seized it – the Dummy’s Guides and the Idiot’s Guides. During the 1990’s, these
two publishing groups were among the most successful titles ever published, taking over the niche created, and ignored, by the Digest.
In the mid-1990’s Digest’s executives and consultants determined that their best path for growth was to expand into new media forays and
to fund this expansion by increasing prices from their magazine base.
Unfortunately, the predominately privileged and young Anderson consultants failed to comprehend the economic constraints of a mostly retired
subscriber base whose income would not increase in tandem with the 15% annual subscription price hikes they recommended. The executives at the Digest increasingly relied on these outside consultants, failing to listen to advice from long-term employees who saw the opportunity for growth by condensing materials from new sources.
Life-long employees who started working for the Digest straight from high school or local colleges and worked their way up the ranks found
their jobs in jeopardy as the Digest increasingly hired from Ivy League and upper-echelon schools for management positions. The Digest management saw the glitz of the frenetic dot-com stock era and aimed for it, losing touch with their strong supportive base in the process.
That extent of the Digest’s subscriber base, and their access to the heart of hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide, rivaled the capability
of many small governments. At the beginning of the 1990’s, the Digest computers had a data bank of names, addresses, and customer information
that was second only to the United States Government. The Digest alone accounted for approximately 1 percent of all mail in the United States,
again only rivaled by the government and American Express. In many countries, local postal carriers would conveniently “call in sick” on days that
major Digest mailings or books were due to be distributed. The company’s income and net worth placed it solidly in the Fortune 100 listing during
this era. The infamous art collection that graced the halls of the Chappaqua building and the offices of every employee; a collection that included works by Van Gogh, Monet, and Modigliani, were worth several billion dollars. So how did such a giant in the publishing industry, with so much wealth and so many customers fizzle out so rapidly?
While the current recession might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back here, Reader’s Digest’s problems started long before
now. Bad management and poor decisions led to its ultimate downfall. A coup in the late 1980’s for control of the company resulted in the new management team, led by George Grune, to take the company public. The Digest was founded by De- Witt and Lila Wallace in 1922 and was held as a private company until the coup shortly after Lila’s death. For the first 50 years of its existence, both DeWitt and Lila ran the company with a familial touch. Local employees were bused to work, Fridays in May were declared “too nice to work” by Lila so employees had these days off resulting in Reader’s Digest sales by local merchants on May Fridays.
Until the late 1980’s, the Digest deliberately withheld 15% of each employees’ salary, distributing this amount in annual checks every January.
The result was a forced savings scheme for prudent employees and a bonanza for local merchants who increased their inventory of cars, refrigerators, and televisions in mid-January to accommodate the rush of purchasing by Digest employees flush with bonus funds and eager to
spend them.
Cafeteria food was subsidized, everyone received a copy of the magazine and the Condensed Books, and key employees, including editors, were rewarded with private stock shares of the company. Those stocks were valued with a formula that linked them to the overall stock market, and their value to the employees was adjusted once at the end of each fiscal quarter.
When Grune and his associates decided to take the company public, they made a fatal error, they announced the public offering at the time of the stock market crash of October, 1989. Any long-term employee knew their stock would lose a majority of its worth at the next valuation date of December 31, 1989. For those employees over 50, the decision was easy, cash in the stocks at the higher value and retire, or wait it out and lose over half of what they’d accumulated over decades of work. The senior staff left in droves, taking with them the top four editors and anyone with a wealth of knowledge of the company. Grune and his team made an estimated $10 million each in their public offering but the damage to the company was set in place.
There were few seniors staff left with enough experience to run the ship. A new round of managers were brought in, on the advice of the Anderson
consultants, mainly individuals from major corporate publishing conglomerates. These new managers sought to take the Digest into unknown territory such as television producing, forsaking their company base of loyal subscribers.
However, thanks to the billions in cash in the company’s coffers to fund these exploits, the impact on the company was not immediately noted by most of the Wall Street analysts. In 1990, only one analyst correctly determined that the growth in the company’s bottom line in prior years was due to favorable currency fluctuations and not from growth in subscribers or product sales, all of the other analysts attending the public offering meetings voted the Digest stock a “buy”.
In 1993, at the height of the Digest’s success, their stock was trading at a high of 51½. It fell to a low of 16 in 2007, taking with it the value
in the 401K accounts of Digest employees. The company has since been bought by an investment firm, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC and is now a privately-held company once again.The lessons to be learned from Reader’s Digest’s downfall can be applied to any business; know what your core business really is. Respect your customer base because once you lose them, they’re gone, possibly forever. Listen to your staff and respect their knowledge and ideas.
Don’t fall for glitz whether it’s in the form of a “hot” new idea, venture, or business, or walks through the door in an Armani suit armed with an Ivy League degree. Sometimes simpler really is better.
Reader’s Digest through the years was a major impact in the Westchester economic and cultural scene. Their support of local nonprofit groups was invaluable. The Digest poured hundreds of millions into their Foundation alone to assist non-profits in education and the arts. The modern art wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art would not exist if not for Lila Acheson Wallace.
And every local resident knew someone who worked there at one point. The Digest may be down, but it is not yet out for the count. On August
17, 2009, the Digest announced it was declaring bankruptcy, a move that will allow it to renegotiate with its creditors and reorganize the company.
Hopefully this move will be successful and allow another generation of readers to test their wits at Word Power or laugh at the Humor in Uniform or be there at the birth of a new Roots. But hopefully the Digest will endure if only to remind us of the power of the individual, and, that everyone should have Fridays off in May. Just because it’s such a pretty month.
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Lessons To Be Learned From The
Decline Of A Business Icon
For decades it was the largest-selling magazine in the world. It was found in every doctor’s waiting room, and on the coffee table in every senior citizen’s home. It was Reader’s Digest, a name that needed no further introduction anywhere in the world.
It represented knowledge, opportunity, and everyday life. An immigrant or poorly-educated individual could improve his language skills by using the Digest’s monthly Word Power section. Workers could relate to the anecdotes in the All in a Day’s Work columns and pursue their dreams by entering the sweepstakes.
Home owners could get helpful hints and expert knowledge on how to do basic repairs and improvements. Parents could get critical information
on their children’s health and education issues. And, commuters could fit it all on their lap on the subway, tossing it into their pocket afterwards.
The Digest became the butt of jokes by comedians in recent years; it was viewed as too stodgy and un-hip. Few of those comedians remembered
that it was Reader’s Digest who first drew attention to the link between smoking and lung cancer in the 1950’s in a groundbreaking series of articles
entitled Cancer by the Carton.
It was Reader’s Digest that financed Alex Haley’s research for Roots, an extraordinary novel and revolutionary television series that inspired all Americans to explore and honor their ancestry.
The international versions of the magazine allowed millions of people around the globe to learn about our country and about themselves. Millions
of individuals throughout the United States and the world saw the Digest for what it was, a magazine that acknowledged ordinary individuals and honored their achievements.
In an era of celebrity mania, Reader’s Digest celebrated the life of the ordinary person. But the magazine also served a strong conservative political agenda, often fronting ideas and platforms for Republican candidates to American voters. In 1988, Robert Bidinotto, a staff writer for the Digest, wrote an article entitled Getting Away with Murder about a prison furlough program in Massachusetts that released a murderer, William “Willie” Horton. That article was released during the presidential campaign of Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis effectively ending his race for the Presidency.
The Digest also published segments of Senator Newt Gingrich’s Contract With America several months before it was unveiled in Congress by the Republicans. The Digest, and the Republicans, had several months to “test the waters” and the reaction of the American population to this contract before its official release, six weeks prior to the 1988 Presidential elections.
At the time of this article, Reader’s Digest had a subscription base of over 18 million in the United States, with a readership of more than twice that amount, making it the largest read magazine in the nation. Its impact in America’s heartland was unequalled.
The Wall Street Journal once reported that “only the Bible had a higher circulation than the Reader’s Digest”. That is, until Reader’s Digest condensed the Bible in 1982, an act that brought death threats from the religious right to Digest executives who installed bullet-proof glass in
their corporate offices as protection.
It was not the first time that the conservative magazine encountered the wrath of a religious community. In 1980 the Digest reported on the growth of Scientology, publishing an article entitled Scientology: Anatomy of a Frightening Cult. The Digest revealed that Scientology “agents”
were breaking into Justice Department offices and working in CIA and defense areas, drawing ire from that group in the process.
Shortly after George W. Bush was elected President, the Digest appointed the new Vice-President’s wife, Lynne Cheney, to a paid position on their Board of Directors. For decades, reporters and writers, have been reporting on a possible connection between the Digest and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Local Pleasantville writer Benjamin Cheever, skewered the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Digest in his thinly-disguised book, The Plagiarist. But the ultimate irony came when the major target of the conservative right, Bill Clinton, selected a house down the block from the Digest thereby placing the Cheney-Bush-CIA-conservative camp literally on one side of the street, Route 117 in Chappaqua, and the Kennedy-
Clinton-Obama-liberal camp on the other. The struggle for the votes of the American populace was being played out right in Westchester’s own
backyard within feet of each other.
But while the Digest never lost its conservative bent, it did fall out of touch with the ordinary populace. After its peak circulation of 18 million
in the early 1990’s, the Digest followed the lead of the new darling of the magazine world, People magazine, and started putting celebrities instead of ordinary individuals on its covers. Words were replaced by images and graphics on the cover and the number of articles inside were reduced. In an effort to stay relevant in a changing media world, the Digest hired a team of consultants from now-defunct Arthur Anderson Consulting, the same consulting group that “advised” ENRON and handled their audits and financials, to advise them as to how to adapt to the changing environment.
Sadly, the Digest failed at the most basic rule of management, know your business. At the time, the consultants and Digest executives defined their
business as publishing. But there was little evidence to support this claim, there were no Pulitzers or editorial awards lining the halls, or accolades from fellow writers. Indeed, most writers in the media dismissed the Digest as not worthy of their craft. What the Digest failed to realize is that their business was unique. They recognized important and often ground-breaking materials from experts around the globe and condensed it into simple, ordinary language to be understood by the masses.
Rather than presenting a challenge for the Digest, the new electronic media presented an opportunity. Every American in the early 1990’s suddenly needed to know how to use a computer or a cell phone or access the internet. What they needed were simple guides showing them
how. Two other publishing groups saw this opportunity and seized it – the Dummy’s Guides and the Idiot’s Guides. During the 1990’s, these
two publishing groups were among the most successful titles ever published, taking over the niche created, and ignored, by the Digest.
In the mid-1990’s Digest’s executives and consultants determined that their best path for growth was to expand into new media forays and
to fund this expansion by increasing prices from their magazine base.
Unfortunately, the predominately privileged and young Anderson consultants failed to comprehend the economic constraints of a mostly retired
subscriber base whose income would not increase in tandem with the 15% annual subscription price hikes they recommended. The executives at the Digest increasingly relied on these outside consultants, failing to listen to advice from long-term employees who saw the opportunity for growth by condensing materials from new sources.
Life-long employees who started working for the Digest straight from high school or local colleges and worked their way up the ranks found
their jobs in jeopardy as the Digest increasingly hired from Ivy League and upper-echelon schools for management positions. The Digest management saw the glitz of the frenetic dot-com stock era and aimed for it, losing touch with their strong supportive base in the process.
That extent of the Digest’s subscriber base, and their access to the heart of hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide, rivaled the capability
of many small governments. At the beginning of the 1990’s, the Digest computers had a data bank of names, addresses, and customer information
that was second only to the United States Government. The Digest alone accounted for approximately 1 percent of all mail in the United States,
again only rivaled by the government and American Express. In many countries, local postal carriers would conveniently “call in sick” on days that
major Digest mailings or books were due to be distributed. The company’s income and net worth placed it solidly in the Fortune 100 listing during
this era. The infamous art collection that graced the halls of the Chappaqua building and the offices of every employee; a collection that included works by Van Gogh, Monet, and Modigliani, were worth several billion dollars. So how did such a giant in the publishing industry, with so much wealth and so many customers fizzle out so rapidly?
While the current recession might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back here, Reader’s Digest’s problems started long before
now. Bad management and poor decisions led to its ultimate downfall. A coup in the late 1980’s for control of the company resulted in the new management team, led by George Grune, to take the company public. The Digest was founded by De- Witt and Lila Wallace in 1922 and was held as a private company until the coup shortly after Lila’s death. For the first 50 years of its existence, both DeWitt and Lila ran the company with a familial touch. Local employees were bused to work, Fridays in May were declared “too nice to work” by Lila so employees had these days off resulting in Reader’s Digest sales by local merchants on May Fridays.
Until the late 1980’s, the Digest deliberately withheld 15% of each employees’ salary, distributing this amount in annual checks every January.
The result was a forced savings scheme for prudent employees and a bonanza for local merchants who increased their inventory of cars, refrigerators, and televisions in mid-January to accommodate the rush of purchasing by Digest employees flush with bonus funds and eager to
spend them.
Cafeteria food was subsidized, everyone received a copy of the magazine and the Condensed Books, and key employees, including editors, were rewarded with private stock shares of the company. Those stocks were valued with a formula that linked them to the overall stock market, and their value to the employees was adjusted once at the end of each fiscal quarter.
When Grune and his associates decided to take the company public, they made a fatal error, they announced the public offering at the time of the stock market crash of October, 1989. Any long-term employee knew their stock would lose a majority of its worth at the next valuation date of December 31, 1989. For those employees over 50, the decision was easy, cash in the stocks at the higher value and retire, or wait it out and lose over half of what they’d accumulated over decades of work. The senior staff left in droves, taking with them the top four editors and anyone with a wealth of knowledge of the company. Grune and his team made an estimated $10 million each in their public offering but the damage to the company was set in place.
There were few seniors staff left with enough experience to run the ship. A new round of managers were brought in, on the advice of the Anderson
consultants, mainly individuals from major corporate publishing conglomerates. These new managers sought to take the Digest into unknown territory such as television producing, forsaking their company base of loyal subscribers.
However, thanks to the billions in cash in the company’s coffers to fund these exploits, the impact on the company was not immediately noted by most of the Wall Street analysts. In 1990, only one analyst correctly determined that the growth in the company’s bottom line in prior years was due to favorable currency fluctuations and not from growth in subscribers or product sales, all of the other analysts attending the public offering meetings voted the Digest stock a “buy”.
In 1993, at the height of the Digest’s success, their stock was trading at a high of 51½. It fell to a low of 16 in 2007, taking with it the value
in the 401K accounts of Digest employees. The company has since been bought by an investment firm, Ripplewood Holdings, LLC and is now a privately-held company once again.The lessons to be learned from Reader’s Digest’s downfall can be applied to any business; know what your core business really is. Respect your customer base because once you lose them, they’re gone, possibly forever. Listen to your staff and respect their knowledge and ideas.
Don’t fall for glitz whether it’s in the form of a “hot” new idea, venture, or business, or walks through the door in an Armani suit armed with an Ivy League degree. Sometimes simpler really is better.
Reader’s Digest through the years was a major impact in the Westchester economic and cultural scene. Their support of local nonprofit groups was invaluable. The Digest poured hundreds of millions into their Foundation alone to assist non-profits in education and the arts. The modern art wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art would not exist if not for Lila Acheson Wallace.
And every local resident knew someone who worked there at one point. The Digest may be down, but it is not yet out for the count. On August
17, 2009, the Digest announced it was declaring bankruptcy, a move that will allow it to renegotiate with its creditors and reorganize the company.
Hopefully this move will be successful and allow another generation of readers to test their wits at Word Power or laugh at the Humor in Uniform or be there at the birth of a new Roots. But hopefully the Digest will endure if only to remind us of the power of the individual, and, that everyone should have Fridays off in May. Just because it’s such a pretty month.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Catherine Wilson.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Nothern Westchester
Paving Over Our County’s Heritage
Our region is currently celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River. But for thousands of years before Hudson ever sailed into the New York Harbor, Native American tribes such as the Mohawks and Mohicans lived in the Hudson River Valley. Evidence of their villages and burial grounds dating between 1,000 and 6,000 years ago have been uncovered in Westchester County at Croton Point Park. Sadly, that evidence is being bulldozed and cemented over by the County construction crews as you read this.
The Guardian spoke at length to a group of concerned local residents about their battle with the County to preserve the Native Americans heritage at this site. One local expert on this issue, Bob (named changed to protect his identity) discussed the events leading up to the construction project Paving Over Our County’s Heritage at Croton Point. He said, “The current construction is for a sea wall. The initial plans for this project called for an inspection of the area which confirmed and documented the already-known pre-historic site. Previous development and construction work done at the park in the 1970’s had uncovered this site”.
When the historical significance of the Croton Point site was confirmed in 2005, a Phase II archeological investigation was recommended. Calling for this investigation meant the County was now obligated to inform the New York State Historical Preservation Office of the initial
findings and that the site would then be considered for placement on the state and national historical registers. That status would give the Croton Point settlement and burial grounds the protection and dignity they deserve. Any future development or construction at this park would then be subject to oversight by SHPO and all construction permits would have to be approved by their office to assure that the historical artifacts would not be affected.
Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the County did not pursue a Phase II review of Croton Point nor did they ever seek any historical preservation status for the settlement area and burial grounds. Instead, the County opted to circumvent proper channels for their current construction project and have proceeded without the proper authorizations and permits from the SHPO. The County is even ignoring proper
Federal construction reviews for this sea wall project.
According to a recent notice to the Westchester County Department of Parks Commissioner Joseph Stout from the Army Corps of Engineers, obtained by the Guardian, any “in-water construction activities located below the mean high tide line and associated discharge of
fill material into waters of the United States proposed at Croton Point Park as detailed in your DA permit application dated November 9, 2007, could be accomplished under the nationwide permit program, provided that the work was completed in accordance with the general and special conditions of the nationwide permit program.
It has been brought to the attention of this office that historic artifacts were discovered during the construction operations at Croton Point Park. It appears that your agency had previous knowledge, as indicated on the submitted New York State Coastal Zone Management Program form, that the proposed activity could reasonably be anticipated to affect or be located in, on, or adjacent to, historical resources listed on the national or
state Register of Historical Places. The continuation of work after the discovery of such cultural resources….. constitutes a violation of the
general conditions of the nationwide permit program, and thus non-compliance with the project’s authorization”.
The Army Corps of Engineers in this letter issued a “cease and desist” notice to Westchester County: “Therefore, the Westchester County
Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation is hereby directed to immediately cease from performing further work in the discovery area”. The Corps notified the County Parks Department that “failure to comply with the provisions of this directive will result in further enforcement action by this office, including the possibility of substantial civil and criminal penalties”. (all emphasis added). The original planners involved
with this project correctly followed up with the County on their recommendations.
According to the Guardian’s source, Dave DeLuca of the County Parks Department admitted that the Phase II request was never submitted to SHPO and that he “never read or ‘forgot’ the recommendations in the original Phase I report”. Cynthia Blakemore of SHPO confirmed that the
Phase II report was finally sent to the State in 2009 at the request of SHPO. This report recommends a “data recovery” at the site meaning
the area has to be examined for artifacts and other historical remains. According to Blakemore “the site needs to be examined to determine if it is of historical significance. In order for this site to be nominated to be placed on the State Registry of Historical Places, it first has to be determined ‘why is it significant’? And the owner has to be on board.” Since the owner here is Westchester County, the County has to agree that the site has historical significance. Given that the County is circumventing permit procedures to advance its construction plans at this site, it would appear that the County is placing development over historical significance. According to the Guardian’s sources, the state process would also provide an opportunity to identify the extent of the historical site, what the significance of the site is, and how to redesign any undertakings at the site
or recover the artifacts from the site if a redesign is not possible. Any visitor to Croton Point can see the historical significance for themselves.
Scattered along Teller’s Walk are artifacts from the early inhabitants such as shell remnants of a shell midden. Shell middens are a heap of clam, oyster, mussel or other shells used in campsites. These middens are found near coastlines and major rivers, and generally date to prehistoric
times. A preliminary investigation of the shell middens at Croton Point dates them as being between 1,000 and 6,000 years old. According to local investigators, there is also evidence of a campsite at Croton Point, a village, and even a fort. Local and state archeologists are eager to investigate
this site thoroughly to determine its archeological and historical significance. As one local resident asked “why can’t we have a preservation
site for cultures”?
Other Native American sites in New York have fared far better than Croton Point. In 1998, Native American human remains were found during on a construction site of the American Rock Salt Company’s mine project in Groveland, Livingston County. The Commissioner of Parks at that time, Bernadette Castro, noted, “Representatives from American Rock Salt have properly notified both DEC and State Parks and with these findings, work at the site where the remains were found has been halted and the area protected.”
According to their press release issued upon the notice of these findings “the State parks provided the oversight for the archeological investigation and worked with the mine company to ensure proper treatment of the findings”. Castro assured that the parks department along with the DEC
would determine the appropriate treatment of the remains in consultation with Native American leaders. Castor vowed, “We are committed to working with representatives of the Native American community and the other parties involved to sensitively address the issues raised by this discovery”. Even though the initial discovery appeared to be an isolated find, the mine restricted its construction to other areas of the mine and
established a monitoring protocol to ensure that any future unanticipated discoveries were adequately addressed as construction proceeded.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a permit for the American Rock Salt mine in Livingston County which contained “extensive conditions to protect archeological, historic and cultural resources. These conditions include avoidance of construction at the
southern end of the project, establishment of set-aside areas along Route 63 and requirements for archeological resource investigations t the mine site under professional oversight of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The permit requires the use of State Parks protocols to notify Native American representatives in the event human remains are identified on the mine property. American Rock Salt is in full compliance
with these permit conditions.”
The NYS DEC did issue permits to Westchester County to proceed with this construction, but if these permits circumvented the historical preservation reviews, those permits would now be invalid. Local residents protesting the ongoing work at this site have been shown the DEC permits as so-called proof of the County’s authority to proceed with the construction. Local residents involved with this issue were not able to confirm that the DEC permits were ever forwarded to SHPO, or if the DEC contacted the representatives of local Native American tribes as mandated by Federal preservation laws.
In its submitted $7.3 million budget for the sea wall project [Croton Point Sea Walls Restoration Project #RCP09] to the County Board of Legislators, the County Parks Department promised, “An in-depth archeological study will be a part of the initial study work preceding design,” thus acknowledging the archeological significance of this site. Yet, only an initial study was performed. The in-depth follow-up that was recommended was never done.
So why did the County even acknowledge that Croton Point had archeological significance if they had no intention of following up on the recommendations of their requested report? According to the County budget for this project, it was to be funded entirely by issuing bonds. Could it be that the County knew if they applied for Federal grants for this project, they would be subject to the guidelines of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act? According to the federal guidelines, in any undertaking that affects an historic site, any plans should involve the public
and any other interested parties; in this case, representatives from the Mohawk Tribal Council.
Local residents investigating Croton Point have found evidence of burial areas at the bluff by the entrance to the park. Some burial remains were recovered during previous construction at this park and those remains were initially forwarded to the Museum of Natural History. The Museum turned the remains over to representatives of local Native American tribes for reburial. While those remains were at least correctly identified it
raises the question as to why those individuals could not be left undisturbed in their ancestral lands?
Why did we have to dig up someone’s ancestor just because County residents wanted a ball field? If the County of Westchester does not honor the remains of the dead, how can we expect to be treated by future generations? Imagine having your remains dug up and transferred to a foreign location far away from your loved ones and the area that you loved just because a future generation wants a parking lot? Is this the respect the true
founding families of our area deserve?
Calls to the County Commissioner of Parks, Joseph Stout, on this issue went unanswered by press time. Contacting the descendents of those original tribes proved to be a daunting task. There are no local tribal councils for the Mohawk or Mohican nations. The closest representatives
for the Mohican and Oneida tribes are in Wisconsin which is where they were located to during the government’s early 19th century’s ethnic cleansing of the Native Americans. New York State also abolished their office of Native Americans; there are no representatives for Native Americans at the state or federal government levels. In contrast, Canada has a National Aboriginal Branch in their Federal government and even acknowledges a National Aboriginal Day, June 21, the day of native summer solstice celebrations, in honor of their native peoples.
Despite the Army Corps of Engineers’ “cease and desist” order, the work at Croton Point is not only proceeding but workers at the site confirmed to several local residents that they have sped up the project to be completed in time for the Clearwater Festival at the park in June. However, Thomas Staudter, the Communications Director for the Clearwater Organization, told the Guardian, “We have not asked the County to speed
up any construction work on our behalf. All we need is a safe environment for our participants to enjoy the festival and we can work around whatever work the County may be doing at Croton Point”.
The sea wall project is not the only work planned by the County for Croton Point. In the County’s capital budget, several additional projects are identified:
• A $3.8 million picnic area planned for 2010;
• A $1.7 million RV and tent camping grounds planned for 2010 and 2011; and,
• $2.5 million of general projects is also planned for 2010 and 2011 including improvements to the wine cellars.
Do Westchester County residents really want more picnic tables, camp sites, and a wine cellar at the expense of our Native American cultures? The Guardian intends to follow up its coverage of the current construction at Croton Point and any future projects as well.
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Nothern Westchester
Paving Over Our County’s Heritage
Our region is currently celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s discovery of the Hudson River. But for thousands of years before Hudson ever sailed into the New York Harbor, Native American tribes such as the Mohawks and Mohicans lived in the Hudson River Valley. Evidence of their villages and burial grounds dating between 1,000 and 6,000 years ago have been uncovered in Westchester County at Croton Point Park. Sadly, that evidence is being bulldozed and cemented over by the County construction crews as you read this.
The Guardian spoke at length to a group of concerned local residents about their battle with the County to preserve the Native Americans heritage at this site. One local expert on this issue, Bob (named changed to protect his identity) discussed the events leading up to the construction project Paving Over Our County’s Heritage at Croton Point. He said, “The current construction is for a sea wall. The initial plans for this project called for an inspection of the area which confirmed and documented the already-known pre-historic site. Previous development and construction work done at the park in the 1970’s had uncovered this site”.
When the historical significance of the Croton Point site was confirmed in 2005, a Phase II archeological investigation was recommended. Calling for this investigation meant the County was now obligated to inform the New York State Historical Preservation Office of the initial
findings and that the site would then be considered for placement on the state and national historical registers. That status would give the Croton Point settlement and burial grounds the protection and dignity they deserve. Any future development or construction at this park would then be subject to oversight by SHPO and all construction permits would have to be approved by their office to assure that the historical artifacts would not be affected.
Unfortunately for the Native Americans, the County did not pursue a Phase II review of Croton Point nor did they ever seek any historical preservation status for the settlement area and burial grounds. Instead, the County opted to circumvent proper channels for their current construction project and have proceeded without the proper authorizations and permits from the SHPO. The County is even ignoring proper
Federal construction reviews for this sea wall project.
According to a recent notice to the Westchester County Department of Parks Commissioner Joseph Stout from the Army Corps of Engineers, obtained by the Guardian, any “in-water construction activities located below the mean high tide line and associated discharge of
fill material into waters of the United States proposed at Croton Point Park as detailed in your DA permit application dated November 9, 2007, could be accomplished under the nationwide permit program, provided that the work was completed in accordance with the general and special conditions of the nationwide permit program.
It has been brought to the attention of this office that historic artifacts were discovered during the construction operations at Croton Point Park. It appears that your agency had previous knowledge, as indicated on the submitted New York State Coastal Zone Management Program form, that the proposed activity could reasonably be anticipated to affect or be located in, on, or adjacent to, historical resources listed on the national or
state Register of Historical Places. The continuation of work after the discovery of such cultural resources….. constitutes a violation of the
general conditions of the nationwide permit program, and thus non-compliance with the project’s authorization”.
The Army Corps of Engineers in this letter issued a “cease and desist” notice to Westchester County: “Therefore, the Westchester County
Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation is hereby directed to immediately cease from performing further work in the discovery area”. The Corps notified the County Parks Department that “failure to comply with the provisions of this directive will result in further enforcement action by this office, including the possibility of substantial civil and criminal penalties”. (all emphasis added). The original planners involved
with this project correctly followed up with the County on their recommendations.
According to the Guardian’s source, Dave DeLuca of the County Parks Department admitted that the Phase II request was never submitted to SHPO and that he “never read or ‘forgot’ the recommendations in the original Phase I report”. Cynthia Blakemore of SHPO confirmed that the
Phase II report was finally sent to the State in 2009 at the request of SHPO. This report recommends a “data recovery” at the site meaning
the area has to be examined for artifacts and other historical remains. According to Blakemore “the site needs to be examined to determine if it is of historical significance. In order for this site to be nominated to be placed on the State Registry of Historical Places, it first has to be determined ‘why is it significant’? And the owner has to be on board.” Since the owner here is Westchester County, the County has to agree that the site has historical significance. Given that the County is circumventing permit procedures to advance its construction plans at this site, it would appear that the County is placing development over historical significance. According to the Guardian’s sources, the state process would also provide an opportunity to identify the extent of the historical site, what the significance of the site is, and how to redesign any undertakings at the site
or recover the artifacts from the site if a redesign is not possible. Any visitor to Croton Point can see the historical significance for themselves.
Scattered along Teller’s Walk are artifacts from the early inhabitants such as shell remnants of a shell midden. Shell middens are a heap of clam, oyster, mussel or other shells used in campsites. These middens are found near coastlines and major rivers, and generally date to prehistoric
times. A preliminary investigation of the shell middens at Croton Point dates them as being between 1,000 and 6,000 years old. According to local investigators, there is also evidence of a campsite at Croton Point, a village, and even a fort. Local and state archeologists are eager to investigate
this site thoroughly to determine its archeological and historical significance. As one local resident asked “why can’t we have a preservation
site for cultures”?
Other Native American sites in New York have fared far better than Croton Point. In 1998, Native American human remains were found during on a construction site of the American Rock Salt Company’s mine project in Groveland, Livingston County. The Commissioner of Parks at that time, Bernadette Castro, noted, “Representatives from American Rock Salt have properly notified both DEC and State Parks and with these findings, work at the site where the remains were found has been halted and the area protected.”
According to their press release issued upon the notice of these findings “the State parks provided the oversight for the archeological investigation and worked with the mine company to ensure proper treatment of the findings”. Castro assured that the parks department along with the DEC
would determine the appropriate treatment of the remains in consultation with Native American leaders. Castor vowed, “We are committed to working with representatives of the Native American community and the other parties involved to sensitively address the issues raised by this discovery”. Even though the initial discovery appeared to be an isolated find, the mine restricted its construction to other areas of the mine and
established a monitoring protocol to ensure that any future unanticipated discoveries were adequately addressed as construction proceeded.
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation issued a permit for the American Rock Salt mine in Livingston County which contained “extensive conditions to protect archeological, historic and cultural resources. These conditions include avoidance of construction at the
southern end of the project, establishment of set-aside areas along Route 63 and requirements for archeological resource investigations t the mine site under professional oversight of the Rochester Museum and Science Center. The permit requires the use of State Parks protocols to notify Native American representatives in the event human remains are identified on the mine property. American Rock Salt is in full compliance
with these permit conditions.”
The NYS DEC did issue permits to Westchester County to proceed with this construction, but if these permits circumvented the historical preservation reviews, those permits would now be invalid. Local residents protesting the ongoing work at this site have been shown the DEC permits as so-called proof of the County’s authority to proceed with the construction. Local residents involved with this issue were not able to confirm that the DEC permits were ever forwarded to SHPO, or if the DEC contacted the representatives of local Native American tribes as mandated by Federal preservation laws.
In its submitted $7.3 million budget for the sea wall project [Croton Point Sea Walls Restoration Project #RCP09] to the County Board of Legislators, the County Parks Department promised, “An in-depth archeological study will be a part of the initial study work preceding design,” thus acknowledging the archeological significance of this site. Yet, only an initial study was performed. The in-depth follow-up that was recommended was never done.
So why did the County even acknowledge that Croton Point had archeological significance if they had no intention of following up on the recommendations of their requested report? According to the County budget for this project, it was to be funded entirely by issuing bonds. Could it be that the County knew if they applied for Federal grants for this project, they would be subject to the guidelines of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act? According to the federal guidelines, in any undertaking that affects an historic site, any plans should involve the public
and any other interested parties; in this case, representatives from the Mohawk Tribal Council.
Local residents investigating Croton Point have found evidence of burial areas at the bluff by the entrance to the park. Some burial remains were recovered during previous construction at this park and those remains were initially forwarded to the Museum of Natural History. The Museum turned the remains over to representatives of local Native American tribes for reburial. While those remains were at least correctly identified it
raises the question as to why those individuals could not be left undisturbed in their ancestral lands?
Why did we have to dig up someone’s ancestor just because County residents wanted a ball field? If the County of Westchester does not honor the remains of the dead, how can we expect to be treated by future generations? Imagine having your remains dug up and transferred to a foreign location far away from your loved ones and the area that you loved just because a future generation wants a parking lot? Is this the respect the true
founding families of our area deserve?
Calls to the County Commissioner of Parks, Joseph Stout, on this issue went unanswered by press time. Contacting the descendents of those original tribes proved to be a daunting task. There are no local tribal councils for the Mohawk or Mohican nations. The closest representatives
for the Mohican and Oneida tribes are in Wisconsin which is where they were located to during the government’s early 19th century’s ethnic cleansing of the Native Americans. New York State also abolished their office of Native Americans; there are no representatives for Native Americans at the state or federal government levels. In contrast, Canada has a National Aboriginal Branch in their Federal government and even acknowledges a National Aboriginal Day, June 21, the day of native summer solstice celebrations, in honor of their native peoples.
Despite the Army Corps of Engineers’ “cease and desist” order, the work at Croton Point is not only proceeding but workers at the site confirmed to several local residents that they have sped up the project to be completed in time for the Clearwater Festival at the park in June. However, Thomas Staudter, the Communications Director for the Clearwater Organization, told the Guardian, “We have not asked the County to speed
up any construction work on our behalf. All we need is a safe environment for our participants to enjoy the festival and we can work around whatever work the County may be doing at Croton Point”.
The sea wall project is not the only work planned by the County for Croton Point. In the County’s capital budget, several additional projects are identified:
• A $3.8 million picnic area planned for 2010;
• A $1.7 million RV and tent camping grounds planned for 2010 and 2011; and,
• $2.5 million of general projects is also planned for 2010 and 2011 including improvements to the wine cellars.
Do Westchester County residents really want more picnic tables, camp sites, and a wine cellar at the expense of our Native American cultures? The Guardian intends to follow up its coverage of the current construction at Croton Point and any future projects as well.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Catherine Wilson.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
The Coming Food Crisis:
Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
If you feel lately that your wallet is hurting at the supermarket, you’re not alone. According to the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA), food prices in the United States rose 4% in 2007, compared with an average 2.5%, per year, for the previous 15 years. The USDA expected increases in 2008 to be far greater. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), issued in April 2008 showed expected increases in food prices for last year were another 4.8%.
The dramatic increases in food prices, globally, are creating food shortages and causing riots worldwide. The Guardian investigated what is behind this mounting crisis. The reasons for these increases go far beyond global warming, changing weather patterns, and energy costs.
For the past 25 years, the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged conservation by farmers to limit production of certain crops to stabilize food prices. Under the Conservation Reserve Program, farmers could earn more by not planting certain crops, and the government
could keep the prices of those crops stable.
However, in recent years, the snack food and energy industries have been upsetting this delicate balance. A coalition of ethanol, baking, snack foods and other industry groups are now offering incentives to farmers to grow the desired crops for their industries. Crops such as soybeans, wheat, and corn are now in big demand for uses other than for domestic food consumption. These new markets have pushed up prices.
The USDA incentives cannot compete with the industry payments, overriding the federal government’s long-standing methods of controlling the costs of our nation’s food supply. In addition, the demand for corn, specifically, in recent years to produce ethanol has swayed farmers away from other staples, such as wheat and soybeans. Thus, the rising costs of these staple crops are having a domino effect across the farm
industry itself as higher soybean prices mean higher feed costs for farm animals. The demand for ethanol has increased the cost of corn, ironically increasing the cost of energy for the production and transportation of crops. And, the high wheat costs are affecting our local bakeries and even our pizza shops.
Michael DiNardo, owner of Silvio’s restaurant in Thornwood, told The Guardian that his food costs have increased an average of 50% in the last year alone. “That’s an average increase”, DiNardo stressed. “Some items, such as dairy and fowl, have increased by as much as 200% over last year’s prices. Our tomato distributors have already warned me to expect another increase, and our wheat distributors are warning me of continuing shortages come summer. at’s my livelihood – we can’t make pizza without flour,” DiNardo added.
Rising costs of ingredients are nothing new to the restaurant industry. DiNardo noted that he has usually been able to absorb temporary increases before. “Usually prices increase for a period, like the summer, but then come back down. We try to absorb a temporary increase where we can, but
this is looking like it’s here for the long-term.”
With a long-term problem, the increase cannot be absorbed by restaurants and have to be passed along to consumers. “I’ve already had to raise my prices and I did a major price increase a while ago,” DiNardo said. “When I raised my prices, I was very upset. I live in the community and I
see my customers every day.” The rising costs have also placed greater emphasis on items that were once an after-thought. “Mozzarella used to be the most expensive item I purchased,” DiNardo noted. “But wheat is almost as expensive. It used to only increase a penny or two at a time. But it’s been competing with mozzarella as the most expensive ingredient”.
Local supermarkets are also feeling the pinch of rising prices. Stew Leonard, Jr., President of Stew Leonard’s Supermarkets, spoke to The Guardian about how they are dealing with this issue. “We buy from local farmers so we speak to them on a constant basis. Our dairy farmer has over 3,000 cows on his farm. The cost to heat his barn for those cows has doubled. It now costs him more a day to feed a cow. Since we deal with small local farmers, if they tell me they have to increase their price to me, I don’t want to say no because that could but them out of business. But if we raise prices, sales drop. So we try to wait as long as we can while still being fair to our farmers. The idea for us is to respect our suppliers and to get the best quality for our customers. But our farmers can’t do that if they’re hurting financially. So we work with them to find solutions.”
Farm costs are not the only increases affecting our local supermarkets. Energy costs are taking a toll as well. According to Stew Leonard, rising energy costs are impacting the transportation of the products he is purchasing. It is also affecting non-farm products. Leonard told us, “I spoke to
our fishing boat and he told me that it cost him $500 to fill up his tank 3½ years ago, and that last year it cost him $1,000 to fill the same tank to go out”. Leonard’s solution is to work directly with his farmers, fishermen, and suppliers.
“We try to work with our suppliers and give everybody the best bang for their buck. In an economy like the one we have, you have to keep your prices sharp”. Leonard notes that not every item on their shelves is affected by the food shortages and energy costs. Some items are actually doing
well. Last year the high Euro made wines more expensive, but other countries, including the United States, looked at this as an opportunity to gain market share.
So they lowered their prices to compete. We saw the same trend with cheese. Plus, as food costs increased, and going out to dinner became more expensive, coupled with weak economy, people ate at home more. So supermarket sales actually increased. Leonard’s began getting more requests for recipes while seeing an increase in wine sales.
The rising cost of food is not only affecting our local restaurants and supermarkets, but it is also placing hundreds of thousands of county residents at risk. Christina Rohatynskyj, the Executive Director of Food Patch, told The Guardian that they were seeing the impact of rising food costs first-hand last year. “We purchased a lot of food for distribution, and we saw the changes in costs. Plus, many of our food pantries, and soup kitchens, and other organizations, were telling us that they were seeing more people come in for help. They told us if they had more resources, they could give out more food because the demand is there. As our economy grows worse, there are going to be more people who will need help to stretch their
food dollars.”
The number of county residents who are already hungry or at risk of being hungry is dramatic. Rohatynskyj estimates that “there are approximately 200,000 people in this county who are hungry or at risk of being hungry – that’s one out of every five residents! According
to the 2006 Census, the median income in Westchester County was about $71,800.
That means about 450,000 people, or half of our total population, fall below this income level. An average family of four or five cannot live in Westchester County on an income of $71,800, let alone less than that”. The statistics of who the hungry in our midst are is equally dramatic. “Thirty-six percent of those who are hungry in Westchester County are children under the age of 18” Rohatynskyj noted. “Almost 30% of our residents over the age of 50 fall into this risk area, along with 15% of our seniors over 65. Over 83% of the individuals who come to us for help are United States citizens and only 5% are homeless. Most of the individuals we serve, about 50%, are the working poor. They have a job, but cannot afford to feed their families. For many people in our area, they have to choose every day between paying rent, prescriptions or buying food”.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, increasing food prices, coupled with food shortages, are placing a strain on already impoverished nations around the world. The President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, announced in mid-April 2008 that 33 nations were already at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food. In the United States, most households spent less than 16% of their budget on food. But in developing nations, that number was closer to 50% or even 75% (Nigeria) of their income. The World Bank has noted that the doubling of food prices in the past three years could push more than 100 million people into poverty. The United Nations attributes this increase to poor weather for crops in many countries, increased demand by growing populations, and a substitution of growing crops for food staples for the production of alternative fuels instead. Riots over the shortages of food in several impoverished countries last year had already led to deaths leading
former President Bush to release $200 million in emergency aid.
The demand for alternative fuels led to the production of ethanol which siphoned away the corn production in our country and globally. Ironically, the solution for one of our nation’s problems has resulted in the creation of a greater problem in our midst. One short-term solution to the food crisis would be to increase production locally. Dr. Susan Rubin, founder of the Better School Food organization (pro-filed by The Guardian in 2007),
advocated a return to backyard gardens. “Not only will the food be healthier, but gardening has therapeutic values – it helps relieve stress. Plus, it is a better environmental use of our land than drowning it in pesticides to keep our lawns weed-free,” Dr. Rubin notes.Westchester County Government even offered several workshops in April and May last year at the Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown Heights to assist local residents in composting a backyard organic farm and other topics.
In the meantime, middle class residents, however, are still faced with paying for their weekly grocery shopping bills. Even limiting purchases to mere food basics, without adding cleaning supplies or toiletries or snacks, can mean a minimum weekly bill of around $150 or more for a family
of four. Now that soda is cheaper than milk, local families are already making unhealthy choices to keep their food costs down.
The immediate impact of rising food costs was already evident last year with food riots and sticker shock at our supermarkets. But the long-term impact could be even greater. The threat to our health and our national security has yet to be acknowledged.
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
The Coming Food Crisis:
Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
If you feel lately that your wallet is hurting at the supermarket, you’re not alone. According to the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA), food prices in the United States rose 4% in 2007, compared with an average 2.5%, per year, for the previous 15 years. The USDA expected increases in 2008 to be far greater. The Consumer Price Index (CPI), issued in April 2008 showed expected increases in food prices for last year were another 4.8%.
The dramatic increases in food prices, globally, are creating food shortages and causing riots worldwide. The Guardian investigated what is behind this mounting crisis. The reasons for these increases go far beyond global warming, changing weather patterns, and energy costs.
For the past 25 years, the United States Department of Agriculture encouraged conservation by farmers to limit production of certain crops to stabilize food prices. Under the Conservation Reserve Program, farmers could earn more by not planting certain crops, and the government
could keep the prices of those crops stable.
However, in recent years, the snack food and energy industries have been upsetting this delicate balance. A coalition of ethanol, baking, snack foods and other industry groups are now offering incentives to farmers to grow the desired crops for their industries. Crops such as soybeans, wheat, and corn are now in big demand for uses other than for domestic food consumption. These new markets have pushed up prices.
The USDA incentives cannot compete with the industry payments, overriding the federal government’s long-standing methods of controlling the costs of our nation’s food supply. In addition, the demand for corn, specifically, in recent years to produce ethanol has swayed farmers away from other staples, such as wheat and soybeans. Thus, the rising costs of these staple crops are having a domino effect across the farm
industry itself as higher soybean prices mean higher feed costs for farm animals. The demand for ethanol has increased the cost of corn, ironically increasing the cost of energy for the production and transportation of crops. And, the high wheat costs are affecting our local bakeries and even our pizza shops.
Michael DiNardo, owner of Silvio’s restaurant in Thornwood, told The Guardian that his food costs have increased an average of 50% in the last year alone. “That’s an average increase”, DiNardo stressed. “Some items, such as dairy and fowl, have increased by as much as 200% over last year’s prices. Our tomato distributors have already warned me to expect another increase, and our wheat distributors are warning me of continuing shortages come summer. at’s my livelihood – we can’t make pizza without flour,” DiNardo added.
Rising costs of ingredients are nothing new to the restaurant industry. DiNardo noted that he has usually been able to absorb temporary increases before. “Usually prices increase for a period, like the summer, but then come back down. We try to absorb a temporary increase where we can, but
this is looking like it’s here for the long-term.”
With a long-term problem, the increase cannot be absorbed by restaurants and have to be passed along to consumers. “I’ve already had to raise my prices and I did a major price increase a while ago,” DiNardo said. “When I raised my prices, I was very upset. I live in the community and I
see my customers every day.” The rising costs have also placed greater emphasis on items that were once an after-thought. “Mozzarella used to be the most expensive item I purchased,” DiNardo noted. “But wheat is almost as expensive. It used to only increase a penny or two at a time. But it’s been competing with mozzarella as the most expensive ingredient”.
Local supermarkets are also feeling the pinch of rising prices. Stew Leonard, Jr., President of Stew Leonard’s Supermarkets, spoke to The Guardian about how they are dealing with this issue. “We buy from local farmers so we speak to them on a constant basis. Our dairy farmer has over 3,000 cows on his farm. The cost to heat his barn for those cows has doubled. It now costs him more a day to feed a cow. Since we deal with small local farmers, if they tell me they have to increase their price to me, I don’t want to say no because that could but them out of business. But if we raise prices, sales drop. So we try to wait as long as we can while still being fair to our farmers. The idea for us is to respect our suppliers and to get the best quality for our customers. But our farmers can’t do that if they’re hurting financially. So we work with them to find solutions.”
Farm costs are not the only increases affecting our local supermarkets. Energy costs are taking a toll as well. According to Stew Leonard, rising energy costs are impacting the transportation of the products he is purchasing. It is also affecting non-farm products. Leonard told us, “I spoke to
our fishing boat and he told me that it cost him $500 to fill up his tank 3½ years ago, and that last year it cost him $1,000 to fill the same tank to go out”. Leonard’s solution is to work directly with his farmers, fishermen, and suppliers.
“We try to work with our suppliers and give everybody the best bang for their buck. In an economy like the one we have, you have to keep your prices sharp”. Leonard notes that not every item on their shelves is affected by the food shortages and energy costs. Some items are actually doing
well. Last year the high Euro made wines more expensive, but other countries, including the United States, looked at this as an opportunity to gain market share.
So they lowered their prices to compete. We saw the same trend with cheese. Plus, as food costs increased, and going out to dinner became more expensive, coupled with weak economy, people ate at home more. So supermarket sales actually increased. Leonard’s began getting more requests for recipes while seeing an increase in wine sales.
The rising cost of food is not only affecting our local restaurants and supermarkets, but it is also placing hundreds of thousands of county residents at risk. Christina Rohatynskyj, the Executive Director of Food Patch, told The Guardian that they were seeing the impact of rising food costs first-hand last year. “We purchased a lot of food for distribution, and we saw the changes in costs. Plus, many of our food pantries, and soup kitchens, and other organizations, were telling us that they were seeing more people come in for help. They told us if they had more resources, they could give out more food because the demand is there. As our economy grows worse, there are going to be more people who will need help to stretch their
food dollars.”
The number of county residents who are already hungry or at risk of being hungry is dramatic. Rohatynskyj estimates that “there are approximately 200,000 people in this county who are hungry or at risk of being hungry – that’s one out of every five residents! According
to the 2006 Census, the median income in Westchester County was about $71,800.
That means about 450,000 people, or half of our total population, fall below this income level. An average family of four or five cannot live in Westchester County on an income of $71,800, let alone less than that”. The statistics of who the hungry in our midst are is equally dramatic. “Thirty-six percent of those who are hungry in Westchester County are children under the age of 18” Rohatynskyj noted. “Almost 30% of our residents over the age of 50 fall into this risk area, along with 15% of our seniors over 65. Over 83% of the individuals who come to us for help are United States citizens and only 5% are homeless. Most of the individuals we serve, about 50%, are the working poor. They have a job, but cannot afford to feed their families. For many people in our area, they have to choose every day between paying rent, prescriptions or buying food”.
According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, increasing food prices, coupled with food shortages, are placing a strain on already impoverished nations around the world. The President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, announced in mid-April 2008 that 33 nations were already at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food. In the United States, most households spent less than 16% of their budget on food. But in developing nations, that number was closer to 50% or even 75% (Nigeria) of their income. The World Bank has noted that the doubling of food prices in the past three years could push more than 100 million people into poverty. The United Nations attributes this increase to poor weather for crops in many countries, increased demand by growing populations, and a substitution of growing crops for food staples for the production of alternative fuels instead. Riots over the shortages of food in several impoverished countries last year had already led to deaths leading
former President Bush to release $200 million in emergency aid.
The demand for alternative fuels led to the production of ethanol which siphoned away the corn production in our country and globally. Ironically, the solution for one of our nation’s problems has resulted in the creation of a greater problem in our midst. One short-term solution to the food crisis would be to increase production locally. Dr. Susan Rubin, founder of the Better School Food organization (pro-filed by The Guardian in 2007),
advocated a return to backyard gardens. “Not only will the food be healthier, but gardening has therapeutic values – it helps relieve stress. Plus, it is a better environmental use of our land than drowning it in pesticides to keep our lawns weed-free,” Dr. Rubin notes.Westchester County Government even offered several workshops in April and May last year at the Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown Heights to assist local residents in composting a backyard organic farm and other topics.
In the meantime, middle class residents, however, are still faced with paying for their weekly grocery shopping bills. Even limiting purchases to mere food basics, without adding cleaning supplies or toiletries or snacks, can mean a minimum weekly bill of around $150 or more for a family
of four. Now that soda is cheaper than milk, local families are already making unhealthy choices to keep their food costs down.
The immediate impact of rising food costs was already evident last year with food riots and sticker shock at our supermarkets. But the long-term impact could be even greater. The threat to our health and our national security has yet to be acknowledged.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Catherine Wilson.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Managing Your Money If
You’ve Lost Your Job
In 2009, the unemployment rate in Westchester County almost doubled from an average of 3% to 4% in prior years to a high of 7.5% in February. Almost 36,000 of our neighbors are now out of work, twice the amount from the same period only two years ago. But that
statistic, from the New York State Department of Labor, only notes the actual number of individuals currently on unemployment. It does not show the number of family members affected by the loss of income, the number of workers who have “maxed out” of unemployment benefits, and the impact on local businesses who now have fewer customers. It is safe to assume, therefore, that more than 100,000 Westchester residents have been significantly affected in some manner by job losses in this recession.
Many local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as several private sector organizations, have stepped up to assist those facing job losses and cutbacks. One of these organizations, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a non-government regulator, has distributed a publication through the New York Better Business Bureau with essential guidelines for anyone who has been laid off or is concerned about the security of their job.
FINRA offers a few initial steps to take when facing a job loss:
• Act quickly to reduce spending and resist the temptation to buy on credit.
• Assess your short-term situation and figure out how much cash you have readily available.
• Ask about employment services your employer may offer.
• Inquire about unemployment insurance.
• Avoid taking out loans or withdrawals against retirement savings.
• Get financial advice, especially when considering withdrawing any company stock bonus or profit-sharing plans, to determine how to use any lump sums and severance pay, and to calculate any tax consequences of withdrawals.
• Ask about how your employee benefits will be affected.
• Sign up for COBRA, if needed.
COBRA is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which established health care continuation when an employee loses employer-provided health coverage due to termination of employment.
The employer’s group health plan must offer continued health care coverage to the individual who may be required to pay the full cost for the coverage. The maximum COBRA period is 18 or 36 months.
• For those close to retirement age, inquire about qualifying for the company’s pension plan.
• Beware of fraud and con artists attracted to your company’s closing/layoffs.
Trimming spending means prioritizing your bills by separating them into essential expenses and non-essential.
The essential, necessary expenses include:
1. Shelter: Your primary home/rent bills or mortgage payments.
2. Utilities: Heat, electric, water and one phone line.
3. Food: basics only. Junk food is non-essential.
4. Work-related: Car/transportation costs, child/dependent care.
5. Child support, taxes, insurance, and other “must pays”.
Deferring loan payments is tempting but different types of loans have different consequences for late payments. Missing a COBRA health Insurance payment will result in the termination of this coverage; once terminated, it may not be reinstated. One missed mortgage payment usually will not cause you to lose your home but two payments could trigger foreclosure proceedings. Car loan issuers are even less forgiving – they can repossess your vehicle with the first late payment, although most lenders will wait 60 days to act.
Student loans and credit cards allow for more flexibility with payments; most will wait several months before taking action but may impose
higher interest rates on the outstanding balances. Student loans can be deferred for six months or a year as needed.
Consequences of late tax payments vary by collector but most individuals can negotiate a payment schedule with the Internal Revenue Service, New York State and most municipalities to avoid wage garnishments or property seizures.
The consequences of delaying child support can be wage garnishment or even jail time but, of course, the immediate consequence is to the
children for whom the support is needed. So, while delaying support may seem an economic necessity, it is rarely a feasible or justifiable alternative. Assessing your short-term situation is the next critical step. How long can you survive even just paying the essential bills? What other steps might you need to take to survive? If you do not have a lot of non-retirement savings, a prolonged unemployment period will ultimately mean changing your lifestyle.
Younger workers may have to consider moving back in with mom and dad, older workers may have to consider taking lower paying jobs. Unemployment also increases certain expenses that have to be factored into the household’s new budget: COBRA payments, after the federal
economic recovery subsidy is exhausted, will usually be for the actual cost of the health insurance, not the subsidized rates a worker may have had under the company’s benefit plan; and health insurance plans can charge 150% of the premium cost for extended COBRA coverage
past the initial 18 months allowed. Family health coverage alone can cost $20,000 a year. Vision, dental, and prescription coverage could be
extra. Payments for insurance previously provided by employers such as long-term disability, life, and long-term care; Retirement loans and 401K must be paid back in full within 90 days of leaving the company to avoid income taxes and a hefty 10 percent penalty tax on the loan amount, possibly affecting the borrower on two fronts, e.g., a parent who borrowed significant amounts against these accounts for college may not now be able to get a mortgage to cover this loan since they no longer have a job.
Unless you are 55 or older, 401K and retirement loans are no longer available once you are terminated from a job meaning any future costs these loans were expected to cover, such as tuition, will have to be funded elsewhere Getting income is the next important step. While a new job may take time to acquire, unemployment insurance can, and should, be applied for immediately. A claim for unemployment insurance ideally should be filed in the first week that you have been laid off or partially unemployed. The first week is an unpaid waiting week and unemployment benefits are not retroactive so any delay will cost you money.
Many individuals do not apply for unemployment because they believe they do not qualify or that filing will somehow be held against them.
These fears are unfounded. Unemployment benefits do not affect your credit rating nor is it only for lower income individuals.
Companies pay unemployment taxes for every employee so this is an insurance program designed to assist workers when they lose their jobs through no fault of their own. However, unemployment benefits will not replace your full salary. The maximum unemployment insurance benefit in New York State is only $405 a week.
The New York State Department of Labor recommends that you should gather certain critical pieces of information before you file your
claim to ensure receipt of your benefits promptly:
• Your social security number.
• Your New York State driver’s license or Motor vehicle ID card.
• Your full mailing address including zip code.
• A daytime contact telephone number.
• Your alien registration card number for non-citizens.
• The names and addresses for all your employers within the past 18 months.
• The employer registration number or Federal employer identification number of your most recent employer. This
will be on your W-2 year-end tax forms.
• Your copies of the SF8 and SF50 forms if you received Federal unemployment within the past 18 months.
• Your copy of the DD214 form if you are an ex-service member.
• A blank check from your checking account for the bank’s routing and checking account numbers if you choose to have your payments directly deposited to your account.
• Pen and paper to write down important information.
There are several ways for local residents to file a claim: Online at www.ui.labor.state.ny.us between the hours of 7:30 am to 7:30 pm
Monday through Thursday, Eastern Time; Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm, all day Saturday, and Sunday until 7:00pm. Calling the Telephone Claims Center at 1-888-209-8124 for New York State residents, or 1-877-358-5306 for out of state residents, between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. You may file in English, Spanish, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Creole, or “all other languages”; translation services will be provided. If you have never filed a claim for benefits in New York State, you will be asked to create a Personal Identification Number (PIN).
Hearing-impaired individuals, who have a Telephone Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) equipment, may file a claim by calling a relay operator
at 1-800-662-1220 and requesting the operator to call 1-888-783-1370. Unemployment benefits have recently been increased to assist those
affected by the recession. Workers may now collect 33 weeks of benefits, up from 26 in prior years. The federal government is also offering an additional $25 weekly payment, known as Federal Additional Compensation (FAC), to unemployment recipients.
The economic stimulus package signed by President Obama earlier this year, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will also subsidize 65 percent of the cost of COBRA coverage for unemployed workers. The subsidy is available to assist individuals who were involuntarily terminated by their employers between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009.
ARRA will provide the subsidy for nine months or until the beneficiary is eligible for other health insurance coverage. This benefit, however,
is not available to terminated employees who earn more than $145,000 in the year the subsidy is to be paid. Making sure you are covered for
other potential life events is the next step. Health insurance coverage may be continued through COBRA. Unemployed workers have 60 days to sign up for this benefit. Individuals may have to pay the full cost of this insurance plus an additional two percent administrative fee.
According to the United States Department of Labor who oversees this benefit: “Employers or health plan administrators must provide an initial general notice if you are entitled to COBRA benefits. You probably received the initial notice about COBRA coverage when you were hired. When you are no longer eligible for Health coverage, your employer has to provide you with a specific notice regarding your rights to COBRA continuation benefits. Employers must notify their plan administrators within 30 days after an employee’s termination or after a reduction in hours that causes an employee to lose health benefits.
The plan administrator must provide notice to individual employees of their right to elect COBRA coverage within 14 days after the administrator has received notice from the employer. You must respond to this notice and elect COBRA coverage by the 60th day after the written notice is sent or the day health care coverage ceased, whichever is later. Otherwise, you will lose all rights to COBRA benefits.”
In addition to health coverage, workers should also assure that they are fully insured in other areas. Many workers neglect to replace the
life and disability insurance coverage they had under their previous employers, leaving them and their loved ones exposed. Costs for these
policies can be reduced by purchasing all of these policies through one company and increasing the deductibles on all policies, including automobile and homeowners insurance.
Unemployed workers should be aware of scams and pitfalls. According to FINRA “The announcement of your company’s merger, closing,
or mass layoff may have received national or local press coverage. If all of a sudden you find that you are receiving unsolicited offers for an incredible start-up opportunity, or the investment of a lifetime, beware”. FINRA also advises about the treatment of lump sum or severance
payments that may tempt you to buy something you desperately want. According to FINRA “Do yourself a favor and wait. If you face a long unemployment period, these may be the only funds you will have to make ends meet.” FINRA also advises not to tap into retirement funds to make ends meet unless you have no other options; and, to be aware of the tax consequences if you must withdraw from these accounts.
Even those local workers who still have their jobs would do well to heed FINRA’s warnings. Car manufacturers are preying on workers’ fears of losing their jobs by offering special breaks and refunds if a customer loses his job. According to Microsoft’s “Money Central” web site “Hyundai launched its “Assurance” program, which lets customers return any new vehicles if they lose their jobs and absolves them of any remaining car payments up to $7,500”.
Other companies are following suit. JetBlue is offering full-fare refunds to customers who get laid off before their trips; Jos. A. Bank
will give rebates to customers who get laid off after buying suits. Some rental companies are offering several months free rent; Au Pair in
America will refund program fees, and Norwegian Cruise Line will reimburse the full fare of a cruise to unemployed individuals.
While these programs are spiking sales for these companies, the programs come with catches: To qualify for the rental companies’ offers of
free rent, the individual had to have been a paying tenant for a specified amount of time. Therefore, in these uncertain economic times, workers should follow the same sensible purchasing habits as always and not be lulled by offers that seem “too good to be true”. As FINRA notes in its pamphlets for those already suffering from a job loss “if it sounds too good to be true, you know it probably is.”
As for getting that new job, the best approach is to treat your job search as a job in itself! Set a daily schedule, tell everyone you’re “in the
market”, and don’t assume that handing out lots of resumes will land you a job. It won’t. In this tough market, many employers who are hiring are doing so quietly since any job offerings are met with a landslide of applications.
Job seekers need to develop a network of individuals who can provide information about when a company is hiring; joining a professional
organization, volunteering, or taking a professional seminar, are good ways to meet workers in your field. Joining a local support group will keep your spirits up. But there is some good news on the horizon. After months of reporting job losses and closings in Westchester County, the New York State Department of Labor announced several store and restaurant openings in Mount Kisco and Yonkers for this summer. As CNN recently reported, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while 2.5 million people were laid off in January, 4.4 million new workers were hired.” One of those new hires next month could be you.
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Managing Your Money If
You’ve Lost Your Job
In 2009, the unemployment rate in Westchester County almost doubled from an average of 3% to 4% in prior years to a high of 7.5% in February. Almost 36,000 of our neighbors are now out of work, twice the amount from the same period only two years ago. But that
statistic, from the New York State Department of Labor, only notes the actual number of individuals currently on unemployment. It does not show the number of family members affected by the loss of income, the number of workers who have “maxed out” of unemployment benefits, and the impact on local businesses who now have fewer customers. It is safe to assume, therefore, that more than 100,000 Westchester residents have been significantly affected in some manner by job losses in this recession.
Many local, state, and federal government agencies, as well as several private sector organizations, have stepped up to assist those facing job losses and cutbacks. One of these organizations, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), a non-government regulator, has distributed a publication through the New York Better Business Bureau with essential guidelines for anyone who has been laid off or is concerned about the security of their job.
FINRA offers a few initial steps to take when facing a job loss:
• Act quickly to reduce spending and resist the temptation to buy on credit.
• Assess your short-term situation and figure out how much cash you have readily available.
• Ask about employment services your employer may offer.
• Inquire about unemployment insurance.
• Avoid taking out loans or withdrawals against retirement savings.
• Get financial advice, especially when considering withdrawing any company stock bonus or profit-sharing plans, to determine how to use any lump sums and severance pay, and to calculate any tax consequences of withdrawals.
• Ask about how your employee benefits will be affected.
• Sign up for COBRA, if needed.
COBRA is the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985, which established health care continuation when an employee loses employer-provided health coverage due to termination of employment.
The employer’s group health plan must offer continued health care coverage to the individual who may be required to pay the full cost for the coverage. The maximum COBRA period is 18 or 36 months.
• For those close to retirement age, inquire about qualifying for the company’s pension plan.
• Beware of fraud and con artists attracted to your company’s closing/layoffs.
Trimming spending means prioritizing your bills by separating them into essential expenses and non-essential.
The essential, necessary expenses include:
1. Shelter: Your primary home/rent bills or mortgage payments.
2. Utilities: Heat, electric, water and one phone line.
3. Food: basics only. Junk food is non-essential.
4. Work-related: Car/transportation costs, child/dependent care.
5. Child support, taxes, insurance, and other “must pays”.
Deferring loan payments is tempting but different types of loans have different consequences for late payments. Missing a COBRA health Insurance payment will result in the termination of this coverage; once terminated, it may not be reinstated. One missed mortgage payment usually will not cause you to lose your home but two payments could trigger foreclosure proceedings. Car loan issuers are even less forgiving – they can repossess your vehicle with the first late payment, although most lenders will wait 60 days to act.
Student loans and credit cards allow for more flexibility with payments; most will wait several months before taking action but may impose
higher interest rates on the outstanding balances. Student loans can be deferred for six months or a year as needed.
Consequences of late tax payments vary by collector but most individuals can negotiate a payment schedule with the Internal Revenue Service, New York State and most municipalities to avoid wage garnishments or property seizures.
The consequences of delaying child support can be wage garnishment or even jail time but, of course, the immediate consequence is to the
children for whom the support is needed. So, while delaying support may seem an economic necessity, it is rarely a feasible or justifiable alternative. Assessing your short-term situation is the next critical step. How long can you survive even just paying the essential bills? What other steps might you need to take to survive? If you do not have a lot of non-retirement savings, a prolonged unemployment period will ultimately mean changing your lifestyle.
Younger workers may have to consider moving back in with mom and dad, older workers may have to consider taking lower paying jobs. Unemployment also increases certain expenses that have to be factored into the household’s new budget: COBRA payments, after the federal
economic recovery subsidy is exhausted, will usually be for the actual cost of the health insurance, not the subsidized rates a worker may have had under the company’s benefit plan; and health insurance plans can charge 150% of the premium cost for extended COBRA coverage
past the initial 18 months allowed. Family health coverage alone can cost $20,000 a year. Vision, dental, and prescription coverage could be
extra. Payments for insurance previously provided by employers such as long-term disability, life, and long-term care; Retirement loans and 401K must be paid back in full within 90 days of leaving the company to avoid income taxes and a hefty 10 percent penalty tax on the loan amount, possibly affecting the borrower on two fronts, e.g., a parent who borrowed significant amounts against these accounts for college may not now be able to get a mortgage to cover this loan since they no longer have a job.
Unless you are 55 or older, 401K and retirement loans are no longer available once you are terminated from a job meaning any future costs these loans were expected to cover, such as tuition, will have to be funded elsewhere Getting income is the next important step. While a new job may take time to acquire, unemployment insurance can, and should, be applied for immediately. A claim for unemployment insurance ideally should be filed in the first week that you have been laid off or partially unemployed. The first week is an unpaid waiting week and unemployment benefits are not retroactive so any delay will cost you money.
Many individuals do not apply for unemployment because they believe they do not qualify or that filing will somehow be held against them.
These fears are unfounded. Unemployment benefits do not affect your credit rating nor is it only for lower income individuals.
Companies pay unemployment taxes for every employee so this is an insurance program designed to assist workers when they lose their jobs through no fault of their own. However, unemployment benefits will not replace your full salary. The maximum unemployment insurance benefit in New York State is only $405 a week.
The New York State Department of Labor recommends that you should gather certain critical pieces of information before you file your
claim to ensure receipt of your benefits promptly:
• Your social security number.
• Your New York State driver’s license or Motor vehicle ID card.
• Your full mailing address including zip code.
• A daytime contact telephone number.
• Your alien registration card number for non-citizens.
• The names and addresses for all your employers within the past 18 months.
• The employer registration number or Federal employer identification number of your most recent employer. This
will be on your W-2 year-end tax forms.
• Your copies of the SF8 and SF50 forms if you received Federal unemployment within the past 18 months.
• Your copy of the DD214 form if you are an ex-service member.
• A blank check from your checking account for the bank’s routing and checking account numbers if you choose to have your payments directly deposited to your account.
• Pen and paper to write down important information.
There are several ways for local residents to file a claim: Online at www.ui.labor.state.ny.us between the hours of 7:30 am to 7:30 pm
Monday through Thursday, Eastern Time; Friday, 7:30am to 5:00pm, all day Saturday, and Sunday until 7:00pm. Calling the Telephone Claims Center at 1-888-209-8124 for New York State residents, or 1-877-358-5306 for out of state residents, between 8:00am and 5:00pm, Monday through Friday. You may file in English, Spanish, Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Creole, or “all other languages”; translation services will be provided. If you have never filed a claim for benefits in New York State, you will be asked to create a Personal Identification Number (PIN).
Hearing-impaired individuals, who have a Telephone Device for the Deaf (TTY/TDD) equipment, may file a claim by calling a relay operator
at 1-800-662-1220 and requesting the operator to call 1-888-783-1370. Unemployment benefits have recently been increased to assist those
affected by the recession. Workers may now collect 33 weeks of benefits, up from 26 in prior years. The federal government is also offering an additional $25 weekly payment, known as Federal Additional Compensation (FAC), to unemployment recipients.
The economic stimulus package signed by President Obama earlier this year, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will also subsidize 65 percent of the cost of COBRA coverage for unemployed workers. The subsidy is available to assist individuals who were involuntarily terminated by their employers between September 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009.
ARRA will provide the subsidy for nine months or until the beneficiary is eligible for other health insurance coverage. This benefit, however,
is not available to terminated employees who earn more than $145,000 in the year the subsidy is to be paid. Making sure you are covered for
other potential life events is the next step. Health insurance coverage may be continued through COBRA. Unemployed workers have 60 days to sign up for this benefit. Individuals may have to pay the full cost of this insurance plus an additional two percent administrative fee.
According to the United States Department of Labor who oversees this benefit: “Employers or health plan administrators must provide an initial general notice if you are entitled to COBRA benefits. You probably received the initial notice about COBRA coverage when you were hired. When you are no longer eligible for Health coverage, your employer has to provide you with a specific notice regarding your rights to COBRA continuation benefits. Employers must notify their plan administrators within 30 days after an employee’s termination or after a reduction in hours that causes an employee to lose health benefits.
The plan administrator must provide notice to individual employees of their right to elect COBRA coverage within 14 days after the administrator has received notice from the employer. You must respond to this notice and elect COBRA coverage by the 60th day after the written notice is sent or the day health care coverage ceased, whichever is later. Otherwise, you will lose all rights to COBRA benefits.”
In addition to health coverage, workers should also assure that they are fully insured in other areas. Many workers neglect to replace the
life and disability insurance coverage they had under their previous employers, leaving them and their loved ones exposed. Costs for these
policies can be reduced by purchasing all of these policies through one company and increasing the deductibles on all policies, including automobile and homeowners insurance.
Unemployed workers should be aware of scams and pitfalls. According to FINRA “The announcement of your company’s merger, closing,
or mass layoff may have received national or local press coverage. If all of a sudden you find that you are receiving unsolicited offers for an incredible start-up opportunity, or the investment of a lifetime, beware”. FINRA also advises about the treatment of lump sum or severance
payments that may tempt you to buy something you desperately want. According to FINRA “Do yourself a favor and wait. If you face a long unemployment period, these may be the only funds you will have to make ends meet.” FINRA also advises not to tap into retirement funds to make ends meet unless you have no other options; and, to be aware of the tax consequences if you must withdraw from these accounts.
Even those local workers who still have their jobs would do well to heed FINRA’s warnings. Car manufacturers are preying on workers’ fears of losing their jobs by offering special breaks and refunds if a customer loses his job. According to Microsoft’s “Money Central” web site “Hyundai launched its “Assurance” program, which lets customers return any new vehicles if they lose their jobs and absolves them of any remaining car payments up to $7,500”.
Other companies are following suit. JetBlue is offering full-fare refunds to customers who get laid off before their trips; Jos. A. Bank
will give rebates to customers who get laid off after buying suits. Some rental companies are offering several months free rent; Au Pair in
America will refund program fees, and Norwegian Cruise Line will reimburse the full fare of a cruise to unemployed individuals.
While these programs are spiking sales for these companies, the programs come with catches: To qualify for the rental companies’ offers of
free rent, the individual had to have been a paying tenant for a specified amount of time. Therefore, in these uncertain economic times, workers should follow the same sensible purchasing habits as always and not be lulled by offers that seem “too good to be true”. As FINRA notes in its pamphlets for those already suffering from a job loss “if it sounds too good to be true, you know it probably is.”
As for getting that new job, the best approach is to treat your job search as a job in itself! Set a daily schedule, tell everyone you’re “in the
market”, and don’t assume that handing out lots of resumes will land you a job. It won’t. In this tough market, many employers who are hiring are doing so quietly since any job offerings are met with a landslide of applications.
Job seekers need to develop a network of individuals who can provide information about when a company is hiring; joining a professional
organization, volunteering, or taking a professional seminar, are good ways to meet workers in your field. Joining a local support group will keep your spirits up. But there is some good news on the horizon. After months of reporting job losses and closings in Westchester County, the New York State Department of Labor announced several store and restaurant openings in Mount Kisco and Yonkers for this summer. As CNN recently reported, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, while 2.5 million people were laid off in January, 4.4 million new workers were hired.” One of those new hires next month could be you.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Catherine Wilson.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Should Our Courts Be
Creating Deadbeat Parents?
The current recession has affected many local residents severely. When faced with the loss of a job, clients or customers, or a cut in pay, workers must cut costs and live off of savings, if any, to survive. But for many workers, divorced parents who have child support obligations, cutting back is not an option. If child support payments are not met, those parents will face the loss of their driver’s license,
limiting their ability to work and pay the support even further. Parents who do not pay child support also face contempt of court charges
and fines.
On April 21st, the Westchester Women’s Bar Association’s Matrimonial, Families, Children and the Courts Committees hosted a program entitled “Substantive and Procedural Law Applicable to the Modification of Child Support and Maintenance.”The speakers at this event included Hon. Esther R. Furman, a Support Magistrate in the Family Court in White Plains, Hon. Linda S. Jamieson, a judge in the Westchester Supreme Court, and Hon. Josephine Trovini, a court Attorney and Special Referee in the Westchester Supreme Court.
The invitation for this event was only forwarded to members of the WWBA or anyone astute enough to access this on their website. Local
parents and Pro Se litigants, those unable to afford to be awarded attorneys, usually middle-class litigants, were not invited to get this critical
information direct from the judges’ and magistrates’ mouths.
No notices of this seminar were posted on the Pro Se website for the Westchester Courts or distributed to unrepresented litigants in matrimonial and support issues in Family and Supreme Court.
The Court’s standards for changing child support, called a “modification” by the courts, places the burden on the individual who applies
for the change. Child support may only be changed due to very limited circumstances. The support laws were not written by accountants or
economists, so they do not consider economic reality, e.g. the courts do not recognize inflation as a basis for increasing support, and therefore do not automatically increase child support each year for such increases.
To be able to petition the court for an increase in support due to higher expenses, a parent must submit evidence that their expenses increased. But the courts do recognize inflation as a legitimate basis for automatic increases in other areas.
Court employees, including magistrates and court attorneys, receive automatic cost-of-living increases each year to their taxpayer-subsidized
incomes, regardless of merit. Therefore, from the Court’s perspective, highly-paid court lawyers are automatically entitled to more money each year based on inflation, children are not.
There are other child support areas where our courts defy economic reality and other laws governing economic issues. New York State laws
continue to define emancipation for children as age 21, even though most students are still in college at that age and are not self-supporting.
The federal government is more realistic; the Internal Revenue Service recognizes that a child may still be a student until age 25 and allows
for a parent to claim that child as a dependent until such age; New York State laws, however, continue to contradict the federal laws.
The courts also do not recognize the increased expenses of a teenager as a basis for additional child support nor do they consider subsequent
care-giving responsibilities for other family members, which may limit a parent’s ability to work.
For example, a mother, who received initial child support for two young children possibly a decade ago, could find herself stuck with
living on that same level of support when those children are teenagers facing significant college prep and sports team’s travel expenses at a time when she may also be faced with downsizing to part-time work to care for aging parents.
Chances are that mother’s ex-husband has moved on and remarried, more than likely to a significantly “younger model”. Ex’s new wife, if still in her prime fertile years, will undoubtedly want a family of her own. The courts, in their “logic”, will actually grant the ex and his trophy wife a reduction in his child support payments to his first wife and two children, since additional children are recognized as a legal “change of circumstances”! So, in this not-so-hypothetical situation, not only does the first wife have more expenses for their older children, and less income thanks to caring for her parents, she now gets less child support because her ex can’t control his biological urges. And, consequently, her ex now has more money to spend on the woman who may have been the reason for the divorce to begin with! This common deadbeat dad scenario is all perfectly legal and actually sanctioned by our “justice” system.
Ironically, that same mother could also find her current child support based on her “ability” to earn, rather than on actual economic reality. The courts have consistently ruled that “earning capacity may be based on prior earnings, past employment experience, training, and education”.
So, if that mother used to be a highly-paid engineer, and she now works part-time as a consultant to care for a dying father, she will not qualify for an increase in child support due to her loss in income because the courts will rule that, as a trained engineer, she should be earning more money. She will actually be penalized by our legal system for “honoring her father and her mother”. Our courts clearly do not adhere to those ten basic laws, probably why they don’t hang them in the courthouse as reminders.
One of the attendees at the “Substantive and Procedural Law Applicable to the Modification of Child Support and Maintenance” program reported back to the Guardian on this event. Our source informed us that the above scenario was addressed by the judges and magistrates on this forum. Their attitude?
Esther Furman actually told the audience of lawyers, “If a man gets married again and has more children you have to look at that”, implying that she would grant these fathers a reduction in their child support obligations without noting that dad’s ability to sire additional progeny should not be used as a weapon against his existing children. Furman never noted why it was the responsibility of the children of the first marriage to subsidize the
children of a second relationship by having their child support reduced.
If mom/dad is capable of producing more children, shouldn’t they be equally responsible to work more hours/jobs to pay for those children? And why are the courts implying to the attorneys who appear before them that they support giving the first family “sloppy seconds”?
If parents were held fully responsible for their actions by our laws and our courts, including adultery and multiple child-producing relationships, perhaps our society might witness less of this behavior. None of the members of this forum noted the questionable ethics and inappropriateness of having judges and magistrates giving what amounted to a “head’s up” on their rulings to the attorneys who regularly appear before them.
The female members of the WWBA also never addressed the fact that most of the local parents who can afford lawyers are fathers. Those lawyers would have been in attendance at this program to garner the critical strategic insider information from the judicial officials on the forum.
But the local parents who are able to afford lawyers are usually stay-at-home mothers. Without a lawyer, or a direct invitation to, or knowledge of, this event, these mothers had no way to get access to this same insider information and would consequently be at an even greater disadvantage when facing their “lawyered up” ex-spouses in court. So this program was essentially discrimination against women. And sanctioned by the Women’s Bar Association.
To be a successful deadbeat parent, all you need to do in Westchester County is become a member of the local bar associations. If you can afford their annual fees, you will then obtain full access to their insider information and invitations to similar “meet and greet” events with the judges on your child support case. A “contribution” of $250 last week to the WWBA would have bought you an invite to Judge Sondra Miller’s home; Judge
Miller was the chair of the New York State Unified Court System’s powerful Matrimonial Commission and a Westchester Supreme Court and New York State Appellate Court judge.
Not to be outdone by the women, the Westchester County Bar Association offers many of their programs for free, subsidized by taxpayers. The WCB is announcing on their website that local lawyers may do a free “meet and greet” with the Surrogate’s Court, getting free refreshments and even continuing education credits to boot.
The Westchester County Surrogate’s Court and the WCBA’s Trusts & Estates Section will present an Advanced CLE Seminar on Wednesday, May 6, on Contested Probate Proceedings. This free seminar will take place at the Surrogate’s Courtroom, Room 1800, at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., 18th Floor, from 12 - 2pm. Attendees will receive 2 CLE credits. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Joseph M. Accetta, Esq. at (914) 824-5655. This reporter called Joseph Acceta to request admission to this seminar. Acceta informed us that “this was only for attorneys”. So, according to our courts, only lawyers may have direct access to the judges to hear how cases like theirs will be handled; Pro Se litigants and family members are not allowed to attend, denying them equal access to our courts.
Considering that this seminar is being held in a taxpayer-funded facility, during Court hours, no one may be denied access. If the court wants to limit this to lawyers only, then this seminar must be held off-site in a private facility. Otherwise, this must be open to all taxpayers since it is our
money that is paying for it! The courts have been guilty of this bad behavior in the past; the Guardian wrote of another free seminar offered to attorneys only last August, 2008. Clearly Surrogate’s Court ignored the Guardian’s criticisms of their misuse of taxpayers’ funds noted in that article.
So what does a parent with limited or no financial resources to do when faced with a moneyed parent who has direct access to judges, influencing the outcome of their child support cases? One source is Pace University’s Women’s Justice Center which notes it “sponsors and conducts lectures, seminars, trainings and free legal walk-in clinics on various issues, including domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, divorce, custody, child support, VAWA immigration, teen dating violence, elder law, elder abuse, and other issues”. The Justice Center offers its programs to all, and may be reached at 914-422-4069 or at www.pace.edu.
Catherine Wilson, Bureau Chief
Northern Westchester
Should Our Courts Be
Creating Deadbeat Parents?
The current recession has affected many local residents severely. When faced with the loss of a job, clients or customers, or a cut in pay, workers must cut costs and live off of savings, if any, to survive. But for many workers, divorced parents who have child support obligations, cutting back is not an option. If child support payments are not met, those parents will face the loss of their driver’s license,
limiting their ability to work and pay the support even further. Parents who do not pay child support also face contempt of court charges
and fines.
On April 21st, the Westchester Women’s Bar Association’s Matrimonial, Families, Children and the Courts Committees hosted a program entitled “Substantive and Procedural Law Applicable to the Modification of Child Support and Maintenance.”The speakers at this event included Hon. Esther R. Furman, a Support Magistrate in the Family Court in White Plains, Hon. Linda S. Jamieson, a judge in the Westchester Supreme Court, and Hon. Josephine Trovini, a court Attorney and Special Referee in the Westchester Supreme Court.
The invitation for this event was only forwarded to members of the WWBA or anyone astute enough to access this on their website. Local
parents and Pro Se litigants, those unable to afford to be awarded attorneys, usually middle-class litigants, were not invited to get this critical
information direct from the judges’ and magistrates’ mouths.
No notices of this seminar were posted on the Pro Se website for the Westchester Courts or distributed to unrepresented litigants in matrimonial and support issues in Family and Supreme Court.
The Court’s standards for changing child support, called a “modification” by the courts, places the burden on the individual who applies
for the change. Child support may only be changed due to very limited circumstances. The support laws were not written by accountants or
economists, so they do not consider economic reality, e.g. the courts do not recognize inflation as a basis for increasing support, and therefore do not automatically increase child support each year for such increases.
To be able to petition the court for an increase in support due to higher expenses, a parent must submit evidence that their expenses increased. But the courts do recognize inflation as a legitimate basis for automatic increases in other areas.
Court employees, including magistrates and court attorneys, receive automatic cost-of-living increases each year to their taxpayer-subsidized
incomes, regardless of merit. Therefore, from the Court’s perspective, highly-paid court lawyers are automatically entitled to more money each year based on inflation, children are not.
There are other child support areas where our courts defy economic reality and other laws governing economic issues. New York State laws
continue to define emancipation for children as age 21, even though most students are still in college at that age and are not self-supporting.
The federal government is more realistic; the Internal Revenue Service recognizes that a child may still be a student until age 25 and allows
for a parent to claim that child as a dependent until such age; New York State laws, however, continue to contradict the federal laws.
The courts also do not recognize the increased expenses of a teenager as a basis for additional child support nor do they consider subsequent
care-giving responsibilities for other family members, which may limit a parent’s ability to work.
For example, a mother, who received initial child support for two young children possibly a decade ago, could find herself stuck with
living on that same level of support when those children are teenagers facing significant college prep and sports team’s travel expenses at a time when she may also be faced with downsizing to part-time work to care for aging parents.
Chances are that mother’s ex-husband has moved on and remarried, more than likely to a significantly “younger model”. Ex’s new wife, if still in her prime fertile years, will undoubtedly want a family of her own. The courts, in their “logic”, will actually grant the ex and his trophy wife a reduction in his child support payments to his first wife and two children, since additional children are recognized as a legal “change of circumstances”! So, in this not-so-hypothetical situation, not only does the first wife have more expenses for their older children, and less income thanks to caring for her parents, she now gets less child support because her ex can’t control his biological urges. And, consequently, her ex now has more money to spend on the woman who may have been the reason for the divorce to begin with! This common deadbeat dad scenario is all perfectly legal and actually sanctioned by our “justice” system.
Ironically, that same mother could also find her current child support based on her “ability” to earn, rather than on actual economic reality. The courts have consistently ruled that “earning capacity may be based on prior earnings, past employment experience, training, and education”.
So, if that mother used to be a highly-paid engineer, and she now works part-time as a consultant to care for a dying father, she will not qualify for an increase in child support due to her loss in income because the courts will rule that, as a trained engineer, she should be earning more money. She will actually be penalized by our legal system for “honoring her father and her mother”. Our courts clearly do not adhere to those ten basic laws, probably why they don’t hang them in the courthouse as reminders.
One of the attendees at the “Substantive and Procedural Law Applicable to the Modification of Child Support and Maintenance” program reported back to the Guardian on this event. Our source informed us that the above scenario was addressed by the judges and magistrates on this forum. Their attitude?
Esther Furman actually told the audience of lawyers, “If a man gets married again and has more children you have to look at that”, implying that she would grant these fathers a reduction in their child support obligations without noting that dad’s ability to sire additional progeny should not be used as a weapon against his existing children. Furman never noted why it was the responsibility of the children of the first marriage to subsidize the
children of a second relationship by having their child support reduced.
If mom/dad is capable of producing more children, shouldn’t they be equally responsible to work more hours/jobs to pay for those children? And why are the courts implying to the attorneys who appear before them that they support giving the first family “sloppy seconds”?
If parents were held fully responsible for their actions by our laws and our courts, including adultery and multiple child-producing relationships, perhaps our society might witness less of this behavior. None of the members of this forum noted the questionable ethics and inappropriateness of having judges and magistrates giving what amounted to a “head’s up” on their rulings to the attorneys who regularly appear before them.
The female members of the WWBA also never addressed the fact that most of the local parents who can afford lawyers are fathers. Those lawyers would have been in attendance at this program to garner the critical strategic insider information from the judicial officials on the forum.
But the local parents who are able to afford lawyers are usually stay-at-home mothers. Without a lawyer, or a direct invitation to, or knowledge of, this event, these mothers had no way to get access to this same insider information and would consequently be at an even greater disadvantage when facing their “lawyered up” ex-spouses in court. So this program was essentially discrimination against women. And sanctioned by the Women’s Bar Association.
To be a successful deadbeat parent, all you need to do in Westchester County is become a member of the local bar associations. If you can afford their annual fees, you will then obtain full access to their insider information and invitations to similar “meet and greet” events with the judges on your child support case. A “contribution” of $250 last week to the WWBA would have bought you an invite to Judge Sondra Miller’s home; Judge
Miller was the chair of the New York State Unified Court System’s powerful Matrimonial Commission and a Westchester Supreme Court and New York State Appellate Court judge.
Not to be outdone by the women, the Westchester County Bar Association offers many of their programs for free, subsidized by taxpayers. The WCB is announcing on their website that local lawyers may do a free “meet and greet” with the Surrogate’s Court, getting free refreshments and even continuing education credits to boot.
The Westchester County Surrogate’s Court and the WCBA’s Trusts & Estates Section will present an Advanced CLE Seminar on Wednesday, May 6, on Contested Probate Proceedings. This free seminar will take place at the Surrogate’s Courtroom, Room 1800, at 111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., 18th Floor, from 12 - 2pm. Attendees will receive 2 CLE credits. For more information or to RSVP, please contact Joseph M. Accetta, Esq. at (914) 824-5655. This reporter called Joseph Acceta to request admission to this seminar. Acceta informed us that “this was only for attorneys”. So, according to our courts, only lawyers may have direct access to the judges to hear how cases like theirs will be handled; Pro Se litigants and family members are not allowed to attend, denying them equal access to our courts.
Considering that this seminar is being held in a taxpayer-funded facility, during Court hours, no one may be denied access. If the court wants to limit this to lawyers only, then this seminar must be held off-site in a private facility. Otherwise, this must be open to all taxpayers since it is our
money that is paying for it! The courts have been guilty of this bad behavior in the past; the Guardian wrote of another free seminar offered to attorneys only last August, 2008. Clearly Surrogate’s Court ignored the Guardian’s criticisms of their misuse of taxpayers’ funds noted in that article.
So what does a parent with limited or no financial resources to do when faced with a moneyed parent who has direct access to judges, influencing the outcome of their child support cases? One source is Pace University’s Women’s Justice Center which notes it “sponsors and conducts lectures, seminars, trainings and free legal walk-in clinics on various issues, including domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, divorce, custody, child support, VAWA immigration, teen dating violence, elder law, elder abuse, and other issues”. The Justice Center offers its programs to all, and may be reached at 914-422-4069 or at www.pace.edu.
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