THE CITIZEN
c
HARBOR
Th re . no food in S erry
Die erson s cu pbo rd. There i
no mon y in her pu e to p y
the· rent ta e care of d ily
eed or provide medical care
for her children.
Effecti February 5· of
thi year Sherry and her .
children ere cut off of id
to Dependent Children, food
tamp and medicare.
Being cut off of aid' only
th mo t recent in chain of
nt that has convinced Sherry
there i no ju ice in the Am ri
Y tern.
Th ory of her b re cup-
bo rd be an in June, 1980.
T ffy Die e on, now 7
playin at 1718 Coun I
in Berrien Home hen
cond floor torm windo
fell on th child hitting her OD
th bac of the he d and upper
b ck.
Sherry hired' ttorney Tho
rn ent of Grand Rapid.
The attorney flied it in Berrien
Circuit Court in February, 1981,
king dama es on behalf of
Taffy.
A search of the court fil
re that the ttomey for
Berrien Hom ' insur ce com
pany ne r re ponded to the
·t.
Yet fe months later,
erry y h r ttom y con-
tacted her with the ne that
the insurance company nted
to ttle out of court for
e
•
� ')'owet-"�
* its \,rOm{, �
fO$itWe�
1-5 f\/ �RU- w
kkckfeopk
to A;mMS the, fO�
mui�.
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12 000.
Attorney Kent, Sherry say ,
urged her to ccept the ttle
mente Convinced that Taffy had
uffered neurological damage,
Sherry anted in ead to pro
ce d ith jury trial.
It i t this point tha
Sherry problems began.
She y she fired ent and
began to 100 for another attor
ney.
r reluctance to ttle for
the 12 ()()() figure commu
nicated to the Probate Judge
pre . ding over the c ,J udge
Donald J. Dic
In an order dated Augu t
23 1982 Judge Dic ordered
S . Jo ph ttomey Dean Jen
ning as conservator for Taffy
and ordered Jennin to e
the $12000 and p y all attor
ney involved.
Of the 12,000 ttlement,
S4 136 went to ttorney ent;
802.10 went to Seymour,
Conybeare law firm of St.
Jo ph for rving guardian
d litem; and 500 went to
Dean Jennings, conservator.
Jennings told Th.e Citizen
he '�ust happened " to be in
court that day and that' how
he as appointed.
I t the guardian d
litem, attorney lames Straub
ho recommended to the Judge
that Sherry be remo ed a
con rvator and th settlement
be m de.
Str ub rote that he "ha
en other c s with benefit
,
1·
•
n
o
y
of coon I with similar or
m dical history ttled for simi
lar sum of money. Of cour ,
the vagarie of liti ation may
re ult in greater verdict should
the case go to trial or of course,
could result in a le r rdiet. ,.
J ennin received the
$12,000 chec October, 1982.
Jennings ys he m de num
erou attempt to get from
Sherry social curity number
for Taffy to open bank
ccount."
In the court me is notice
from the Judge to Jenning
dated Dec. 9, 1983 that Jen
nings had not filed the annual
ccount of Taffy funds.
A&am on February 13,
1984, th Judge notified Jen
ning that the annual account
had not been filed and set a
hearing d te on the matter.
Jennings id he wrote
Sherry on Dec. 16, 1983,
asking for a social curity
number. He wrote gain on
February 28, 1984; arch I,
1984 and April 16 and gain
on July 23, 1984.
Sherry want to know why
Jenning aited until the court
ed for an accounting before
he attempted to open bank
account for the remainder of
Taffy's mon "I.
The ocial curity num-
ber given Jennin , Sherry
say , but again he delayed open
ing the account another four
months, doing in December
1984.
When that bank
w opened, Sherry'
round of ills began.
DSS sa the bank ccount
and rued off letter J uary
24, 1985 - le than 30 days
after the account w opened
- warning Sherry that she
w going to 10 her ADC,
food amp and medicaid.
Why? Because of the funds
in the bank in Taffy's name.
Sherry appealed the DSS
1985 pup
USKEGO - The ee
of the Young Child will be
celebrated April 7-13, 1985.
Th public is invited to attend
a puppetry celebration at Hac -
ley Public library to com
memorate this wee .
Hackley Public library and
the uske on A ociation for
the education of Young Chil
dren are spon oring pup
petry contest to be held at
H ckley Public library on Satur
day, pril 13, at 2 p.m. Stu
dents in gr de one through
eight may participate.
purp of the conte t is to
lect the puppet pre entation
which is th most skillfully
presented and the most enter
tainin .
Hackley Public Library will
provide ta e for the use of
the pupp teer. It i not neces-
ry to brin ta e unl y u
h e to do
•
decision, but it did no go d.
She had a ts that exceeded
1000
Jennin wrote to DSS on
Feb. 5, telling them that Sherry
h d no control over the account.
He also told DSS that the court
would not allo daily living ex
pen to come out of the
ttlement.
DSS responded in letter
from Bob Blazo, Preventive
Service orker dated arch
14. In hi I tter Blazo tells
herry that should get
Legal Services to petition the
Probate, Court for th funds.
Blazo then dvises Sherry
to have the Legal Service at
torney to argue in court gainst
using t fund for day to day
expen
If Legal Service can get
the court to deny Sherry'
request for the fund to u
for living expen s then DSS
will rein tate Sherry's benefits.
"They too the ca a y
from me in the first place,"
y Sherry. "They didn't want
to he what I h d to y. 0
why do I h ¥ to petition the
court about ho they're u d.'
She note that ironically
one of the re on the court
r mo d her from th con r
tor po ition and gave it to
Jennin a the court's fear
e would spend ome of the
money for payin bill.
eanwhile, Sherry has
truggl d for 60 days without
ADC, food stamp or m dicaid.
She credits Rev. Delano Bo -
man, p stor of Union emori 1
A. .E. Church, who its on the
board of Berrien Homes, ith
keeping a roof over h r head.
Food pantrie at Catholic
Community Center and the
Salvation Army ha kept her
and her family from hun r.
She continu to try to
find a w y out of h r dil mn .
She has een 23 Twin City
ttorney , but none will touch
the case. She will meet with
Legal Services.
But is th re any justice?
Sherry Dickerson doe t thin
there is.
e on parade
The conte t will be limited
to the fir t ten entrants (or
groups) who call.
Award of 5 will b given
in the following categories:
best solo, best group, best
manipulation of puppets most
original performance funniest
performance, be t story and
best liked by audience.
In ddition H ey Public
library and the American li-
brary ciation are sponsonng
" tion of Readers" ph to-
graphy conte t for children and
adults. Deadline pril 20.
Detail ava il able t Hackley
Library.
Benton Harbor Library
BE TO HARBO. - Pre-
School StoryTim will be held
on ednesday pril 3rd from
10: 15 to 11 :00.
The library will be 10 d
on Friday April 5 and on
Saturday. pril 6 in ob rvance
f the Easter holid y.
e picture b 0 added to
the J uni r collection includ :
" n E, .ning at Alfie '
Shirl y Hu e � "Wha'
oise" b 'chelle Lemieux;
'Sophie' Buc et" by athenne
Stock: and ' The Runa ay
Due "by David Lyon.
dded to the dult
collection re: Lay BareThe
Heart" J m Farmer;
ite oise " by Don Delillo;
lstice' by Jo ce Caro Oates;
Greater Lov by r
ter: and "The Ra in
. idley.
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