Ptomaine Grotto

Residents need to understand their rights and responsibilities and insist upon properly constituted residents’ associations. Residents (except for a pandering elite) receive none of the benefits of donations nor accrued interest. They continue to contribute in the form of rent and exorbitant, and probably illegal, food charges without realizing any benefit from profits. The administrator consistently overrides medical advice to deny lawful exemption from the food program to the detriment of the health of residents. To the directors, income apparently means more than residents’ health.

Federal regulations clearly provide exemptions from the mandated food program yet Council House distributes disinformation about them to stop residents from claiming them. The record shows at least ten refusals of food program exemptions backed by medical certification. This demonstrates the constant refusal to follow federal regulations in order to produce income.

Council House does not employ a dietician neither does it use a consultant. The cook prepares meals that several residents cannot eat because of dietary restrictions recommended by their physicians. Others who do not like the food, pay the mandated Council House tab. In fear of complaining, they then go to local hospitals and pay again to get food prescribed by their doctors and prepared under the auspices of professional dieticians. Stephen M., Council House administrator, consistently refuses to grant legitimate exemptions to residents and even overrides medical certification.

HUD prohibited all new mandatory meals programs several years ago because they infringe on residents’ freedom to prepare or purchase meals or to use outside meal services. HUD has in the past cited administrators who invade personal privacy by refusing to allow residents to dine with whom they chose.

At Council House, HUD holds a mandate to regulate a former mandatory meals program under a grandfather clause which exempts projects already involved in regulated meals programs from having to disband them. However, administrators must operate them under the new rules. [01] The new rules provide for a variety of discretionary exemptions for residents from the meals program yet Council House omits them from its meal service agreement.

The administrator has deprived some residents of their right to opt out of this insidious program. The regulations provide for a variety of exemptions from the program yet he has deliberately omitted the discretionary exemptions from the meal service agreement. Residents need to understand their rights and responsibilities through discussions that normally take place at properly constituted residents’ associations. Then they will not have to rely upon false statements made by him.

HUD regulations neither require residents to sit in assigned dining room seating nor do they grant administrators the authority to insist that they do so. Part of the existing problem among residents in the Council House dining room relates to unlawful mandatory seating and the ethnic friction that it has caused.

Audrey F. Dumbar enforced a seating assignment program that has caused hardship to many residents through racial insults. It has caused several of them to pick up their plates and take them to their apartments. The cook has, on occasion, refused service to some residents for not occupying their assigned seating instead of taking meals to their apartments.

After one occurrence, Dumbar and Sharon LeMire forced themselves into a residents apartment then conducted a search and seizure operation. They accused him of theft when they found a plate on which he had taken his meal to his room earlier that day. They then searched the apartment for other items. They found no other Council House property except for two saucers under plants given to him by another resident. They then took away some personal possessions that he had owned for many years after going through his drawers without his permission. When he complained, Stephen Mitchell unlawfully forced him to find other accommodation.

No senior citizen should have to suffer such abuse or have to sit next to a person in public rooms whom they find objectionable. For example, no black person should have to sit next to people who use the derogatory Yiddish term “shvartzer”or shvartzeh.” If bigots wish to create ethnic ghettos in the dining room then they can ask for reserved tables for themselves and others of their persuasion. The administration should not force ghetto bigotry upon others by assigning seats.

Several residents with long experience in the food industry have said that they repeatedly found the kitchen unsanitary with frozen food left out overnight then re-frozen - a ptomaine grotto producing weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, Washington state does not have regulations governing dietary needs - it relies upon unenforceable federal mandates.

Administrators of residences without meals programs responded to a HUD survey that absence of those programs had little or no adverse effect on elderly residents. The residents either prepared meals in their rooms or could obtain meals nearby. The survey showed that many people considered mandatory meal programs detrimental to the quality of their day-to-day lives. They all voiced dissatisfaction with the taste and variety of the food. Council House residents need to understand their rights and responsibilities regarding use of the meals service then discuss the issues and vote upon them at properly constituted residents' association meetings not controlled by management.

Even Felippe Jacques (Marquis de Sade), in a rare moment of sanity, criticized Council House management by writing about the Council House “nutrition” program:

This program is an economical and psychological failure. It is a drain on the resources and energies of the management. It also has turned into a financial burden for a vast majority of residents living with dreadfully small budgets. It has been a psychological dud since they imposed it upon the residents who, almost unanimously, detest it. The food is bad and the ambiance in the dining room is an experience that most intelligent people would avoid if they could. They designed Council House for independent living. That means accommodation for seniors leading an autonomous life by looking after themselves and cooking their own meals. Otherwise, why did they build kitchenettes in the apartments? Logical argument implies that once residents reach the stage of their lives when they can no longer fend for themselves, they no longer qualify for residence.

Administrators of residences without meals programs responded to a HUD survey that absence of those programs had little or no adverse effect on elderly residents. The residents either prepared meals in their rooms or could obtain meals nearby. As with some residents at Council House, the survey showed that other people generally regarded mandatory meals programs as detrimental to the quality of their day-to-day lives. They all voiced dissatisfaction with the taste and variety of the food.

Nmesis.

© Copyright 2003 by Paul Trummel
All Rights Reserved: 09 Feb 03/16:02 GMT
Edition: #801-26-50/05-1001-23:39
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