Good Riddance to Arapahoe House w/ added links

Today I am thankful that I had the opportunity to cross a name of off my sh!t list.

Arapahoe House is finally shutting down after 42 years.

Hooray!!

One would think that I supported this organization because I studied drug and alcohol counseling.

I did.....

but they were partially responsible for my running for office in 2011.

Let me explain....

Arapahoe House had an agreement with the city to take in impaired people after hours.  This would keep the jail from filling up.

The problem was that Arapahoe House kept intoxicated people of every gender and every sexual persuasion in the same room...

without adequate supervision.

Due to this,

sexual assault was rampant.

I heard from volunteers who were raped.

I heard from clients who were sexually assaulted.

I became incredibly angry when I heard that a woman was arrested for reporting her sexual assault

She said the word "cunt" while describing her assault.  Sexual assault is an ugly act.  The words used to describe this act are often offensive.

This offended the police officer who beat the young woman up and had her arrested for saying the word "cunt."

The victim was arrested and started an 18 month journey through the legal system for

verbal assault on an officer (or what I call contempt of cop).

My take on it was that the city attorney wanted the victim drug through mud to keep her from suing Arapahoe House and the city for allowing the sexual assault to happen while in their custody.

I sung my most irate song to anyone who would listen.

I think those in power wanted me to shut up so they finally helped this woman.

I didn't stop there.

I called the CEO of Arapahoe House to ask what it would take to build a second room in his facility.

He called me and tried to jump down my throat.

I'm a hypnotist.

I ended the call by letting him know that I spent about 40 hours a week at Denver Cares (the alcohol facility located in Denver).

I also let him know that we may need to regulate such facilities harder.

He begged me not to hang up on him.

I wished that his facility would shut down.

I didn't cast a spell.

I just made a wish.

*******

I had nothing to do with their shut down.

They want money from the taxpayers to stay afloat.

Due to their abuse of the citizens, they don't deserve our money.

They deserve to go the way of the dodo bird.

I ran against two women that year.

All three of us gave a speech at the local mental health facility.  The President of Arapahoe House was in attendance.

One of the candidates, bless her wonderful, intelligent soul, suggested that we needed to make Arapahoe House obsolete and create our own detention facility.

This candidate is actually an instructor of Drug and Alcohol counseling.  She is a former senator.  She doesn't take baloney from anyone.

I think her comment is what made the most waves.

It only took three months for the city to drop the charges against the victim.

A word to the wise - don't mess with the sisterhood.

*******

Now, my thoughts are turning to the scam my ex ran.

He claimed to be stuck in an alcoholic and rehabilitation program for the next 8-27 months.  He claims he cannot work while in the program.  He stated he couldn't leave.

The facility wrote a letter to my lawyer saying that he was in there for alcoholic detox.  My ex claims he never drank. I believe him.

Now, that I signed to lower his child support he wants to leave the facility to deliver the documents to the court house twenty miles from where he claims to be.

I was tricked.

He's also asking questions of my attorney that I really shouldn't be paying to have answered.  He needs to hire his own lawyer.

I'm going to hire another one that will talk to me directly.  I think I received bad advice from the paralegals  They told me that I should challenge my ex's petition.  I told them that he claimed to be in rehab and they kept telling me to challenge him and kept asking me for money.  After I gave them $3,650, they told me to accept his deal.

I feel like the paralegals strung me along to pad their pockets.

It's too late to solve my issue using mundane methods. 

There are other ways to fix problems like this.

I'm wondering......

should the court allow parents to request the services of third parties to go in and verify that one has a drug and alcohol program prior to accepting it as fact?  I mean if one of the parents has a substance abuse problem, it may not be in the best interest of the children to keep the same custody schedule.

This is strange.  I mean....seriously...I have NEVER heard of an alcohol detox/rehab program taking between 8-27 months.  I have NEVER heard to someone being enrolled into these programs solely for depression (unless they were alcoholics).

I have always heard of rehab as a voluntary living situation (unless it was court ordered).  Child support is not typically lowered due to voluntary living situations.

Yes, I was torn between getting my JD and my Ph.D.  I chose psychology after meeting numerous lawyers having trouble finding jobs.

I'm thinking about ways to solve the problem.  I am talking to non-custodial parents who are struggling with the system.  They are having a tough time believing that my ex has 50/50 custody and refuses to visit.  They are also having a tough time believing that they could lower their child support due to a mental health issue.

I am also talking to custodial mothers.  Today one told me about a guy who just works under the table.  The office of child support enforcement doesn't want to help her because the money is uncollectable.

Why are taxpayers paying for the department then? 

Either they do their jobs....or they don't!

Maybe that is the key - maybe the government only picks the low-hanging fruit.  It can't be that way.

The games are not good for the taxpayers.  The taxpayers shouldn't have to fund attorneys that help people push the burden of their responsibilities to taxpayers (by that I mean their legal fees and welfare).  The law is clear - both parents should provide for the children to the best of their abilities.

Why does a lie equate a lesser ability to provide for kids?  If he had a physical disability, or suffered through an event, I could understand that.  He claims to be in a 27 month alcoholic rehab program for depression!

I never heard of that before (me....who has a MA in psychology and studied alcohol counseling for many years).  I share my office with a licensed alcohol counselor.  She hasn't heard of it either.

This is weird.  It truly is.

It would seem that allowing non-custodial parents to shirk their responsibilities for so long could potentially have implications for taxpayers should the custodial parent go on welfare.  Men, typically, have a harder time accessing welfare than women.  I'm shocked the father's rights people don't see that.

CO-PEP only helps non-custodial parents (who have arrearages) find work.  They don't help prevent a man from falling behind.  They only help deadbeats!  Why?

It's a shame they don't help custodial parents. 

The non-custodial parent will pay less in child support if the custodial parent works.  Why aren't the father's rights groups all over that?

Oh well....I just want to keep taxpayers from aiding and abetting manipulative men (and women).

It seems like rehab is a common child support loophole that is exploited.  People don't have to prove that they are in rehab or why.  It doesn't seem to impact custody as well...in many cases, it should....it really should.  If mom or dad are using again, children should be kept at arms distance.

You can bet that I'm going to be on the lookout for the smell of alcohol should my ex come to my door.  By being in rehab for alcohol abuse, it would seem like he is admitting he has a problem....even if he lies to me about it.

I'll probably never believe a word that comes out of his mouth again.

I'll never give him another dime.

He'll probably never get another benefit of the doubt.

I'm tired of the games.  I know that this is his way of getting and keeping my attention. 

The meanest thing I can do to him is stop giving him the time of day.

That is exactly what I need to do for my own sanity. 

His dramas don't deserve to take up residence in my mind if he's not paying rent.

I shouldn't worry too much.  He'll probably disappear.

There are times when we have to shut well-meaning programs down. 

Remember........It's not helping when you hurt people in the process.

Don't hurt people that you intend to help!

Love ya,

S.

Next Day Edit:

I was challenged to produce proof about Arapahoe House.  I saved the links to the story and some snippets.  They've been seemingly scrubbed from the web.

This is from KDVR: kdvr.com/news/kdvr-sex-assault-victim-says-aurora-falsely-charging-her-to-avoid-lawsuit-20110906,0,7698919.story/

Here is the saved snippet from 09/06/2011:

Sex assault victim says Aurora falsely charging her to avoid lawsuit

... "And now, her attorneys say the Aurora City Attorney is piling even more charges on Freeman to try to keep her from suing." "'Now they're adding more charges like assault and things more serious because they're worried about civil liability,' says her attorney, David Lane." ... "... in court transcripts, released Tuesday, an Aurora city attorney tells the judge, 'There's also a civil liability for the city regarding this,' adding, 'that is a consideration that comes from up above as far as how we want to posture this case.'" "'That means his bosses are telling this poor city attorney to pile on charges, 'we've got to get her convicted of something or we're facing a lawsuit,' which is absolutely unethical,' Lane says." ...

This woman was sexually assaulted at Arapahoe House.  This was because they did not separate people of different sexual biology and orientations.  

******

Let me dig for the second link.  It was at Westword.  It spoke of counselors being physically assaulted.  The comments featured former workers claiming to be raped (those seem to have disappeared).

Found it!  This is from 1998.

http://www.westword.com/news/used-and-abused-5058871

The Westword article also speaks to the fact that people are not separated and that females cannot be protected from intoxicated men.

Arapahoe house had many years to correct the problem.

They chose to ignore it.

I even tried to talk sense into them back in the days I wanted to be a LAC and played the role of a wanna-be politician.

Arapahoe House must end NOW!

Yeah...I know.  The President is trying to get money from the state by threatening to close its doors if it doesn't get more money.

It doesn't deserve more money.

It deserves to close.


P.S.S.  I used to save tons of my research links to now defunct websites.  I do have an older Toshiba with many saved links on it (one from the 90's that had all external parts.....it's that old).  It also contains transcripts from depositions with Aurora officials.

If I need to, I can always dig around that ol' drive.

Nothing dies on the internet....nothing.  The only thing Arapahoe House can do now is close and rebrand.

This time......remember to separate people and don't press authorities into trumping up charges when  reporting sexual assault!  I'm literally surprised Arapahoe House wasn't sued out of existence.

Cheers!