Sheltered Care Home Development
Published by Al Adomite on July 24th, 2008
Because talking about the Sheltered Care Home never gets old:
Madison County officials’ plans to close the county’s sheltered care home in Edwardsville violate public votes, previous promises and an agreement with the Illinois Department of Public Health, according to a lawsuit filed today on behalf of several of the home’s residents and their families. The plaintiffs want a judge to rule that their rights were violated and bar the county from closing the home.
More from the Telegraph:
“We plan to ask a judge to issue an injunction to determine if residents’ rights are being protected,” said John J. Ammann, a professor at the Saint Louis University School of Law. Ammann said the Clinical Law Offices is a group of law students who represent indigent people. Attorney Thomas E. Kennedy also is a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
Last word from the News-Democrat:
“At this time, we are not asking for monetary damages,” Amman said.
Glad to hear that fact, considering that “monetary damages” means taxpayer dollars.
So let me get this straight: Missouri taxpayers are funding a law school in St. Louis to file a lawsuit against the taxpayers of Madison County over an issue that’s already been decided by a bipartisan super-majority of legislative members representing the public.
I’m even further bewildered about the “violating public votes,” considering the board came back and took another vote when supporters questioned the first vote. But, how bad could it hurt to have a judge try to interpret the minds of the 29 board members?
I guess somebody forgot to tell me that, as a Madison County property taxpayer, I am some how obligated to be a nursing home operator. It’s a subtle reminder that Madison County is one of only two counties in the entire State of Illinois in this business.
Filed under County Issues
July 24th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
When your county is a judicial “hellhole”, why wouldn’t someone file a suit. The legal business in Madison county is one of the top employers, with high pay and high profits. Keep those lawyers, judges and the circuit clerk’s office working. Somebody has to make money and pay taxes in this economy.
Al, as a property taxpayer, there are plenty of other things the county does that obligates you to pay taxes. Services they don’t need to provide or could be provided by the private sector at a lower cost and more efficiently.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:42 am
Where oh where has Partisan Discourse gone?
July 31st, 2008 at 2:46 pm
[...] Meyer of Respublica wrote this morning… Where oh where has Partisan Discourse [...]
August 5th, 2008 at 5:27 am
Two points: SLU is a private school. And secondly, we lost the “hellhole” moniker recently thanks to the new policies put in place by Chief Judge Callis.
Beyond that, all I can say is isn’t it an interesting world we live in?
August 5th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Nate:
Good point on SLU. I forget that they’re private.
As for the “hellhole” stuff, I’m trying to keep my work away from this blog, so I’ll let you and Ron debate the merits of Madison County at ICJL.org (which now has opportunities for comment posting).
And, yes, Madison County politics has seemingly been flipped on its head the past few years. Never thought I’d see such diverse, bipartisan groups fighting each other. Policy-making has generally improved, however, so I’m not complaining.