THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 18, 1994 TAG: 9411170199
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NANCY LEWIS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
A Virginia Beach mother who has fought for four years with the Community Services Board over the rights of her grown, handicapped son will finally get her day in court Nov. 30.
At issue in the defamation suit filed against the board and its director are several questions:
Is Jewell McGee a woman driven by concern for her handicapped son or is she just a ``disgruntled'' and ``misdirected consumer,'' as Community Services Board Director Dennis I. Wool has allegedly described her?
Was McGee's son, Joseph ``Buster'' Lawrence III, in fact beaten and robbed by staff while living at Baker House, the city's home for mentally retarded adults?
McGee's attorney, Samuel R. Brown II, said the defamatory action is the result of statements made by the executive director more than four years ago in a letter to King Davis, former commissioner of the state's Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services.
Wool characterized McGee's complaints as irrational and ``diatribe'' in the May 1, 1990, letter, an unsigned file copy shows.
While ``the substance of the letter'' is that McGee ``is off her rocker,'' according to Brown, the facility was in fact cited for at least 19 violations as a result of official investigations the state conducted after McGee and other parents lodged complaints early in 1990.
Violations included keeping records in pencil, staff borrowing of money from client accounts and withholding food.
McGee has ``a very good case,'' said Brown. ``The letter - the framework it's written in - he's wrong.''
The jury trial tops four years of attack and counterattack by McGee and the board. And the battle may not end when the verdict is in, Brown said, adding that the trial could bring to light statements made by a woman who claims to have seen Lawrence beaten.
When assault charges against two Baker House staff members were dismissed for lack of evidence in December 1990, McGee was unaware that someone had reported watching Lawrence's beating, Brown said.
Former Baker House cleaning woman Lori Davis told the Community Services Board at a recent public hearing that she had seen Lawrence assaulted. She said that she had reported the incident to her employer soon afterward.
She also described ``abuse'' and ``filth'' at the facility. ``Animals at the SPCA are getting better treatment than these people. . . . I don't know where the cover-up starts or ends, but children are being abused, sexually assaulted,'' she said.
Lori Davis said she was ``terminated'' after she reported the incident.
The abuse case could be reopened if Brown succeeds in getting Lori Davis' testimony entered as evidence in the upcoming defamation trial, he said.
McGee also claims that her son was raped by another client while at Baker House. Lawrence gave his mother a graphic account of the assault, she said.
Results of the police investigation of the rape allegations were turned over to the Community Services Board and discounted, said McGee.
``It's hard to prove a case when the victim is a Buster Lawrence,'' said Brown, referring to the difficulties inherent in taking testimony from the mentally disabled.
Assistant City Attorney Steven Emmert, who will defend Wool and the board in the upcoming trial, declined to comment on the case. McGee is seeking $500,000 in damages.
KEYWORDS: HANDICAPPED LAWSUIT ASSAULT SEXUAL ASSAULT MENTALLY
RETARDED GROUP HOME VIRGINIA BEACH by CNB