Update from A Perfect Cause's Wes Bledsoe Fri 11/7/2008

Here’s to ending the week on an excellent note!

Committee Meeting

Yesterday’s Long-Term Care Facilities Advisory Board Ad Hoc Committee meeting to address policy on reporting criminal acts to law enforcement was a great success!

Together with the Board’s committee members, Dept. of Health officials, industry representatives, families (Curnutt, Kipps, and Goings), Shannon from the YWCA, Deana, and yours truly… we came to agreement on the policy which A Perfect Cause proposed, with relatively minor modifications that enhanced what we originally proposed.

Not only does the policy address the immediate reporting of ALL criminal acts to law enforcement, it also addresses crime scene preservation, and rape / sexual assault examinations!!!

At the end of the meeting, board members, and Dept. of Health officials commented on how successful the meeting was and that it was one of the best committee meetings the board had ever conducted. This is very exciting as this gives us even more opportunities in the future to address and resolve other critical issues.

Today, the Attorney General’s office agreed to review our modified policy recommendation and provide us with additional legal and wordsmithing support!

Crow Case

Ms. Crow was not able to offer any new information during her interview with the Norman Police Dept. on Wednesday. However, we did fight for… and did secure… the opportunity for her to be interviewed and to attempt to ID her assailant. So on that note… it was a victory!

One another note… It appears the reward we offered for information about what happened to Ms. Crow, the leads we received, and the information we were able to share with the state is leading to some very exciting… albeit disturbing news!

We should receive the state’s investigative report in a few days… from what we’ve been told… the report is “big, VERY BIG!” Again that nursing home is Whispering Pines in Norman, OK.

So it is getting cited for numerous deficiencies, which also opened some criminal investigations.

I’ll let you know as soon as we hear more.

Capitol Hill

Deana and I attended both the Republican and Democrat Watch Parties in OKC on Tuesday evening. As soon as we entered the Republican Watch Party we literally ran into Congresswoman Mary Fallin’s Chief of Staff from DC. In talking with the Congresswoman’s Chief of Staff and later the Congresswoman… both offered and acknowledged their support to present Oklahoma’s Sex Offenders Long Term Care Facility Law to Congress in the upcoming session!

Plus, if we can get some help, we can possibly add reporting criminal acts to law enforcement into the bill. The help we need is to ID the laws and policies addressing the immediate reporting of criminal acts to the police. What we’re finding is… the few laws we’ve been able to explore outside of Oklahoma are calling for staff to contact state agencies… not law enforcement when criminal acts occur in facilities.

More Legislative News

We also ran into Oklahoma State Rep. Kris Steele at the same watch party, where he gave us a huge welcome and extended his offer to carry more legislation for us in the upcoming state session. Again, Kris Steele is an amazing man… and one I am personally thrilled to have the opportunity to work with on these very important issues.

Later at the Democrat Watch Party, Oklahoma State Rep. Anastasia Pittman offered to co-author and / or sponsor bills for us.

At both parties, we were extremely well received… including very warm greetings from many of the reporters and videographers who were present.

Upcoming Meeting

So my friend, we really are making some head way.

We can of course do much more… with your help.

So please plan to attend our next meeting on Nov. 20 at 6 pm CST at our office… and invite your family, friends, and associates to come with you.

If you cannot attend, but want to help… please let me know and we can find a project where you can help us.

In the meantime, thank you for your thoughts, prayers, and support!

This is an exciting time… and I’m glad I can share these exciting experiences with you!
Thank you for all!

Wes

Wes Bledsoe
Citizens’ Advocate & Founder
A Perfect Cause
1501 N. Broadway Blvd., Bldg B
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
C – 405.308.3858
C – 405.802.2903
Wes@APerfectCause.org
www.APerfectCause.org

Our Mission - To End Needless Suffering & Preventable Deaths

"A Perfect Cause must produce a perfect effect."
Science of Mind, Dr. Ernest Holmes