HomeMy WebLinkAbout94-00591
f
IN REI
G. DALE ZEIDERS,
,
AN Alleged Inpapapitated
person
IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
CUMBERLAND COUNTY/ PENNSYLVANIA
ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION
NO. 21-94-591
CITATION
WE COMMAND, YOU THAT LAYING ASIDE ALL business and excuses
whatsoever, you be and appear in your proper person before the
Honor.able Judges of the Common Pleas Court/ Orphans' Court
Division at a session of the said Court there to be held, for
the County of Cumberland to show pause why he should not be
adjudged an i.npapad tated person and an emergenpy / plenary
guardi.an of his person and estate should not be appoi,nted,
r.etur.nable
,1994/ at
_o'plopk, /
.M., prevailing time and why he should not be adjudged
an i nnapacJtated person and a permanent, plenary guardi.an of his
person and estate should not be appointed/returnable-----------,1994
at
o'plonk, M. prevailing time both in the Orph~ns'
Court Division,.
The time and plape of hearing on the petition for Appointment
of an Emergenny Plenary Guar.dian of tho person and estate of the
alleged inpapani,tated person are fixed for July 21, 1994, at 3130
o'plock, P.M./ prevailing time in the Orphans's Court Divi,sion
Court Room 1, Carli,sle, Pa. 4th Floor.
The Alleged incapanitated person shall be given notipe of the
hearing on appointment of an emergency guardian of his person by
serving him personally with written notice of the same, the
Citation and his Order of Court/ and a copy of the foregoing
Petition,together with anexplanation of the nontent and terms of
page 2
. ,.
the PeHti,on, pri,or to the ti,me of such emergency hear.J,ng.
The Court finds that the followi,ng addi ti onal notJ,pe to others
of the heari ng on appoJ.ntment of an emergency guardi an of the
alleged incapacJ.tated person is feasible in the circumstances and
di reats that same be made upon the followi,ng persons J.n the
following manner: NONE.
The Court finds that strict pomplianne with 20 Pa. C.S. A./
septdon 5511 (E) ( relating to pontents of the Petition) are not
feasible under the cirpumstanaes and arewaived for purpose of the
hearing on appointment of an emergency guardian of the alleged
jnaapacitated person.
The Court further fJ.nds that strict pomplianne with 20 Pa.
C.S.A. SeClton 5511(a) (relaHng to notHi,cation conperni,ng the
right to aounsel and the appointment of counsel for the alleged
incapacitated person) are not feasible under the Cljrpumstances and,
are waived for purposes of the hearing on appoJ.ntment of an emergency
guardian of the alleged incapacitated person.
The time and place of hearing on the Petition for Appointment
of a Permanent Plenary Guardian of the per.son and estate of the
alleged inpapacitated person are fixed for
,1994,
at _o'cloak, .M./ prevaUi,ng time i,n the Orphans's Court
Division,
Fa.
At least twenty (20) days written notice of the hearing on
appointment of a permanent guardian of his person and estate
shall be gJ.ven to G. Dale Zeider.s, the alleged incapapitated
person, by ser.ving him personally with written notipo of same, the
Citation, and thls Order of Court and a ClOpy of the foregoing
petition, together with an explanation of the pontent and terms
of the Petition. Additionally / at least twenty (20) days written
noti pe cf the Petitlon and hearing on appoi ntment of permanent
...' :..t' ~.. ... 4' ~'''~
~
"
"
I'
"
,I,
"
"
",
"
"
"
,
,
"
,
"
'I
" "
" ,
, ,
'\, I' "
" ",
,
" "
"
",.'
..
'.'\'
,I
"
.
,j','
,t.;1
"
1/
"./
,I',
"...
/
"
\ 4/'
"
,
'j
I,
'"
"
"
"
i '~-l.~...,&i"-"
'\ ~ \i 1',1 'i' '''!'V I:,'" ;:'/.-1 ~"I'"l:,~'l
,
,
ii:,:r~-t'fI'~'f(;t1}~.lrtW?'.l\lMi'i"r\)J~n~ ~"'l'fflf",t~_~11,t
. ..- ';';'11, Ii ' ,"
,\':, i." "\,
'"
'I,
q,
,,,
"
,"';',
!iJ,~' "
f;/I"
, '/
I,
"
"
"
" '"
'" I' ,",
"'1,' '"
, ,;. I
i', , ~(5
.' ..~\:." i' ..> ) ;
" ,..; ",'" '...., . ~ ,\, ' . ..
'...':'/, ',L.,","",',; .,\ ' , , , .
~liAlWiWS~~i'-'iA;t;f,\<i;,'l!1!.'.i.ijt.;:,:;j7l;(';i\",;r.'I'iili~\llr( '\jjf
',TUCKIlR ARBNSBERO, p.O.
110 PlNI8TAIIT "
HARRI8IURO, PINNSYLVANIA 11101
'I>
~"""'(J"
'I," . ,. '
" .1:;, " ",,' ,_
'i~q/(,
I. 'I, .
~, f \ "j I ' . ,\ J t
'r"t..,," :.1.f.,. ",
l,i.
"
':'1,-
!~i 1",
'I
, ,
"
"I,.
/,
',.
I,
<~
"
I'
",
"
,
,
"1'41
I
I'
II
/
"
"
':
'j,
'I i,
1'/1
"
"
.
"
,',
" " f"
I' I ,,~ \
,
, ':.\ \, " I
"
, ~ jf
"
~,.. I
V' ,t
.' .,
,
I,
,"
I'
'"
'I';'
"
"
,,'
.
"
I",
!,'i't<,
,
I'
I'
;1'
I'
,H
,
"
",
I"
"
"
"'fl,
'I
,
". "",
t,""
I'
I~, -,
'J
,',1,
'.'"
I
1\"
f.'
"
'1
"
,I.,
"
'1';
I,
'"
"
,
"
"
'....'1'
If
,,'
"
",
"
,
"
'41,",
.~
"
'\
1,'1
J'
,,'
ti .'
',;
,",
"
,I!'
"
"
, ,
,.
'\'
,\
/,
.
--"~...-_...._...
'-'. ........-
-~"~...4.~ _ 114~~.~"'~"
'I"~
\.
Orphan's Court Division, j~/Jud ~JOm I / LA 12.1. ".t J, . I
PA i.tiJ. f1a:J1C.. .
The alleged inoapaoitated person shall be given notioe of the
hearing on appointment of an emergenoy guardian of his person by
serving him personally with written notioe of the same, the
citat.ton and his Order of court/ and a oopy of the foregoing
Petition, together with an explanation of the oontent and terms of
the Petition, prior to the time of suoh emergenoy hearing.
The Court finds that the following addit.ional notioe to others
of the hearing on appointment of an emergenoy guardian of the
alleged incapacitated person is feasible in the oircumstanoes and
diJ;'ects that same be made upon the following persons in the
following manner: NONE.
The Court finds that striot oomplianoe with 20 Pa. C.S.A.
Section 5511 (E) (relating to contents of the Petition) are not
feasible under the ciroumstanoes and are waived for purpose of the
he~ring on appointment of an emergenoy guardian of the alleged
incapacitated person.
The court further finds that striot compliance with 20 Pa.
C. s. A. Section 5511 (A) (relating to notH ioation conoerning the
right to counsel and the appointment of counsel for the alleged
incapaoitated person) are not feasible under the circumstances and
are waived for purposes of the hearing on appointment of an
emergency guardian of the alleged incapacitated person.
The time and place of hearing on the Petition for Appointment
of a Permanent Plenary Guardian of the person and estate of the
alleged incapacitated person are fixed for
. ,
1994/ at
Court Division,
O'OlOOK, __.M., prevailing time in the Orphan's
/ PA
At least twenty (20) days written notice of the hearing on
appointment of a permanent guardian of his person and estate shall
be given to G. Dale zeiders, the alleged incapacitated person, by
serving him personally with written notice of samet the citation
and this Order of Court and a copy of the foregoing Petition,
together with an explanation of the content and terms of the
Petition. Additionally, at least twenty (20) days written notice
of the Petition and hearing on appointment of permanent guardian
shall also be given to the following: all persQns residing within
the Commonwealth who are sui juris and would be entitled to shaL.e
in the estate of the alleged incapacitated person if he were to die
intestate; to the persons or institution providing residential
services to the alleged incapacitated person; and to the following
other parties in interest: NONE. Such notice of the permanent
hearing to persons other than the alleged incapacitated person
shall be made either personally or by registered or certified mail.
PER CURIAM
4<-<1 Ie,' ft;/
J:
vl,;J' ,
fl~
~O~L~~L ~OD
...lb1' q&.f ~' "
r-t1.1I"@ }1>~"
. ,
fiduoiary in any estate in whioh the alleged inoapaoitated person
has an interest. She further avers that she is qualified by her
family r.elationship to the alleged inoapaoitated person to aot as
his guardian.
4. The alleged inoapaoitated person resides alone and
unsupervised at 1584 Holtz Road, Enola, PA 17025. The Petitioner
and the alleged inoapaoitated person's other daughter, Rose Baker,
visit on a regular basis and perform hOU5'ekeeping and other
neoessary caretaking services for the alleged incapacitated person.
5. Recent ly, the Pet! tioner has become aware of certain
behaviors and activities of the alleged incapacitated person whioh
indioate that he is no longer able without the continued care,
assistance and supervision of others to meet his daily requirements
for nourishment, personal and medioal care, shelter, self-
protection and safety as follows:
a. he is unable to cook for himself in that he often
fails to remember that he has begun cooking an item and burns
the item(s);
b. on numerous occasions known to Petitioner, he has
left his home with items oooking on the stove and which items
burned and could ignite a kitchen fire in the future;
c. he does not attend to personal hygiene on a regular
basis nor does he wear clean clothing with regularity;
d. he is unable to hear without the assistance of
hearing aides and he refuses to wear them on most occasions.
Petitioner has entered Zeiders' home on numerous occasions
without his being aware of her presence as a direct result of
Zeiders' refusal to use his hearing aides;
e. he is unable to see with suffioient clarity to make
out the differences in money denominations, to write checKs,
or to recognize porsons at a reasonable distance;
f. despite Petitioner's and her sister's best efforts
to keep Zeiders' residenoe clean and neat, his residence is
generally dirty, disorganized, and there has been evidenoe of
rodent infestation in the dry foodstuffs and elsewhere;
g. he is unable to distinguish between hi s various
medioations, unable to read the labels thereon, and has often
mixed-up a~j/or failed to properly take medications required
for maintenance of his health;
h. he has loaned money to acquaintances for their
gambling debts and other similarly questionable purposes to
the detriment of his financial estate;
i. he has begun failing to recognize his own daughters
and other close family members;
j. despite his inability to ambulate without the
assistance of two canes/ Zeiders has on two reoent occasions
walked 1/~ mile down a steep and uneven driveway in order to
meet with an acquaintenoe who had arranged to piCk him up at
that location;
k. Petitioner believes that Zeiders has oonsumed
spoiled food on several occasions and has fallen ill as the
direct result thereof;
l. Zeiders insists that he regularly receives visits
from individuals who have not been to see him for a period of
months or, in some cases, years;
m. Zeiders does not use disposable toilet tissue butt
rather, oleans himself with a washcloth which he cl~ims to
rinse out following each use;
n. he falls regularly down an embankment located on the
property where he resides;
o. he has attempted to climb on the roof of his mobile
home and has attempted to use a chain saw despite his vision
problems;
The incidents related above have occurred as indicated on one or
more than one occasion within the past six months.
6. Despite repeated requests from family members and
others, the alleged incapacitated person refuses to be examined by
a physioian or other medical professional. specifically, on or
about June 21/ 1994 the Cumberland County Area Agf.>ncy on Aging
requested that Zeiders be examined by a speoialist at the Hershey
Medioal Center and Zeiders agreed to the evaluation. On or about
June 22, 1994 an attorney olaiming to represent Mr. Zeiders oalled
the Area Agenoy on Aging and indioated that Mr. Zeiders was now
refusing to attend the evaluation at the Hershey Medioal Center.
7. The alleged inoapacitated person is ninety-seven
(97) years old and is widowed.
8. The alleged incapaoitated, person also has the
following additional relatives I
HwIul Relationship Address
LORNA SHEETZ DAUGHTER 1582 HOLTZ ROAD
'ENOLA, PA 17025
ROSE M. BAKER DAUGHTER 115 HEATHER DRIVE
HBG., PA 17112
SHARON FOLTZ GRANDDAUGHTER 114 HILL LANE
MECHANICSBURG, PA
17055
LINDA SHEETZ GRANDDAUGHTER 1841 MARKET STREET
HBG., PA 17103
ROBIN LYTLE GRANDDAUGHTER 982 LEWISBERRY ROAD
LEWISBERRY, PA
SUSAN GARCED GRANDDAUGHTER 2339 N. FOURTH ST.
HBG., PA 17110
YVONNE AYALA GRANDDAUGHTER 628 WICONSICO STREET
HBG. / PA 17110
9. To the Petitioner's knowledge, the alleged
inoapaoitated person hast at present, no guardian of his person or
estate. The Petitioner herein was appointed as attorney-in-fact
for the alleged incapacitated person by Power of Attorney dated
July 7, 1986. A copy of the Power of Attorney is attached hereto
and incorporated herein as Exhibit 'lA".
10. It is Petitioner's belief that on or about June 13,
1994/ Mindy Sue Deatrick, a female companion of the alleged
incapacitated person, transported him to the offices of a lawyer
for advice on handling his financial affairs. Petitioner is
conoerned that such lawyer has already undertaken to revoke the
Power of Attorney appointing her as attorney-in-fact and further,
that such attorney will institute guardianship proceedings to have
Mindy Sue Deatrick or some ot.her non-relative of the alleged
incapaci tated person appointed as guardian of the person and estate
of the alleged incapacitated person. Further, it is Petitioner's
belief that the failure to appoint an emergency guardian of the
person and estate of the alleged incapacitated person will result
in irreparable harm to his person and estate.
11. Based on che information set forth above, it is
Petitioner's belief that G. Dale Zeiders, is totally inoapacitated
within the meaning of 20 PA. C.S.A. S5501, et seq., with regard to
matters concerning his person and sstate.
12. Based on the information set forth above, Petitioner
also helieves and, therefore, avers that the failure to appoint an
emergency plenary guardian of the person and estate of the alleged
"
~. ".f .
incapacitated person, for the purpose of making medical and
psychiatric decisions, including, but not limited to, arrangements
for a psychiatric evaluation, placement in an appropriate
residential care facility and the financial arrangements therefore,
will result in irreparable harm to the alleged incapacitated
person.
13. The following additional persons or institutions
currently provide residential and other services to the alleged
incapacitated person: NONE.
14. The Petitioner has investigated less restrictive
alternatives to the relief requested herein, but such are not
feasible due to the alleged incapacitated person's condition.
15. The Petitioner has been handling the alleged
incapacitated person's financial affa!.rs since July 7/ 1986 by
virtue of the above-described Power of Attorney. To the
Petitioner's knowledge, the alleged incapacitated person has a
gross estate of approximately $25,000 and has the following /
approximate net income: Approximately $500.00 per month from
monthly Social Security benefits.
WHEREFORE, your Petitioner respectfully requests
appointment as emergency plenary guardian of the person and estate
of G. Dale Zeiders until such time as a hearing may be held upon
the appointment of a permanent plenary guardian of his person and
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
..
.
THI COURT I You m.y proc.ed.
MS. ST. CLAIR I I would like to call Mr. Brad
Griffie to the .tand, pl.....
Wh.reupon,
BRADLEY L. GRIFFIE
having been duly sworn, testified a. follows I
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
o Could you state your name and business .ddre..,
please.
A My name is Br.dley L. Griffie, and my bu.ine..
address is 200 North H.nover Street her. in C.rli.le.
o Are you the attorney with whom Mr. Zeiders met
oonoerning thft revocation of his power of attorney?
A Yes.
o When did you meet with him?
A I met with him 011 June 13th. I met with him
twioe on that d.y .bout the revocation of his pow.r of attorney.
o Who brought him into your office?
A Mindy De.trick.
o You say you met with Mr. Zeiders twice on that
particular d.te concerning the revoc.tion issue?
A Yes. First, my paralegal came back to my office
.nd advised me there w.. .n order gener.lly th.t he w.nted to
di.cuss revoking hi. power of .ttorney. I went out and .poke
3
1
2
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
lS
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
2S
..
.
with Mr. Zeiders over the oounter just to oonfirm what h~ was
talking about. He indioated he had a power of attorney naming
his daughter, his adopted daughter, as his power of attorney,
and he wanted to revoke that.
At that point, I asked him if he had a oopy of
the power of attorney with him, and he indiaated he did not have
a oopy in hie possession. As I reoall, I told him that we oould
secure a oopy for him by writing to her or he oould get a copy
from her, and he told me that he thought it was recorded at the
oourthouse, whioh, o~ oourse, sometimes powers are reoorded and
sometimes theyaren't.
At that point, I did not have the time to go to
the oourthouse that very minute to look for it. I indioated if
he wanted to he oould go to the oourthouse to try and get a oopy
of it and we could help him from there. Ms. Deatriok indicated
that she would take him up if he wanted to come up here to the
oouI'thouse.
Q Do you know whether he did go to the oourthouse
then?
A He did, and he came baok with a photooopy of the
reoorded power of attorney.
Q Then what ooourred after he came baok?
A This was a little bit later in the day. I,
again, was available to meet with him. I took the oopy of the
power of attorney, met with my paralegaJ and instruoted her how
4
.
.
1 to prepare the revocation. I then took Mr. Zeiderl privately
2 into one of our offices and sat down to talk with him. When I
,
3 was advised that he was nihety-seven years old -- and, really,
I'
4 any elderly person that comes into the office to do .omething
5 like that, I always meet privately with them and make sure that
6 what they're doing has nothing to do with the person they/re
7 with and also that it is truly their desire to do what they're
8 telling you they want to do. So, I met with him privately while
9 the revocation was being prepared.
10
Q
Were you able to determine whether this was, in
11 fact, hiD desire to revoke the power of attorney?
12
13
14
MR. DiLEONARDO: Objection, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Overruled.
A
Whenever I met with Mr. Zeiders, the first thing
15 I wanted to do was make sure he was able to tell me about hi.
16 relatives and who the power of attorney was, give me some idea
17 of what his estate wa., as you would do with a will or even the
18 preparation of a power of attorney. I wanted to make sure that,
19 he understood his situation. I understand from Mr. Zeiders that
20 both -- I understood at that time that both his daughters are
21 adopted. I understand that he has two ohildren who have
22 predeoeased him. He talked to me about loans or gifts or money
23 he had made to his daughters. When I asked him about his assets
24 or his estate, that's when we started getting into a discussion
25 as to why he wanted the revooation of the power of attox'ney.
5
.
.
, 1
Mr. Zeiders was aware at that time that he had a
2 CD or CDs. He wasn't sure whether it was one CD or more than
3
one, but he understood it totaled around $25,000.00.
lIt was his
I
4 understanding that it had his daughter's name on it, as well.
5 The power-of-attorney name was on the CD, as well. He also had
6 a checking account, which, again, he indicated he thought she
7 had a right to sign ohecks for him. From the tastimony we've
8 had, I guess maybe they owned that jointly. But he knew she
9 oou1d sign checks on his account.
10 There is also -- there are a couple of things
11 that he raised with me, a couple of questions that he raised
12 with me, about some other assets. Mr. Zeiders has outlived one
13 of his life insurance policies. When he was eighty-five, there
14 was a -- he explained to me there was a disbursement of funds
15 from a life insurance policy that he had. He indicated to me,
16 to the best of hin knowledge, that the funds from that were
17 being held in a joint account with -- and I'm going by my
3.8 recollection now - - I remember he said one of his daughters and,
19 I'm thinking, one of his granddaughters. Mr. Zeiders testified
20 about that the other day, about the insurance proceeds. He had
21 a question about that, because he had little or no information
22 on where that money was.
23
Mr. Zeiders
one of hia problems with wanting
24 the revocation had to do with the lack of information he had
25 about his assets. As I went on discussing this with him, he
6
.
.
1 indicated that he felt hil daughter wal putting him further and
2 further into seclulion, taking his bank Itatements, no longer
3 being willing tc share the bank Itatements with him nor let him
4 see them himself. He had no idea how much mcney was still in
5 his checking account. That had been going on because his mail
6 was being intercepted by his daughter. He was disturbed that
7 his daughter was showing less and le~s and leIs attention to
8 him.
9 He became even more concerned then. He advised
10 me that they were going to the point where they wanted to
11 dictate who he could see and who he couldn't see. He indicated
12 that the Deatricks were friends of his and he just wanted them
13 to be able to come visit. In fact, as I recall, he said it was
14 getting to the point like he was in a jail there in hi. trailer.
15 People weren't allowed to come see him. His daughter didn't
16 come see him. They weren't telling him Anything about hi.
17 money.
18 I felt, at that point, that he carta!nly knew
19 what he waG doing a. far as revoking the power of attorney. I
20 did dilcuss with Mr. Zeidars whether he wanted another power of
21 attorney. He was vary clear thl\t he ablolutely d1,d not/ at
22 least at this point. He falt distrust over what had happened
23 with his daughtar, and he just didn't feel that he wanted
24 anybody else to have that authority again. But I felt that I
25 had Mr. Zeiderl' confidence and indicated to him that we're
7
.
.
1 available any time he wanted to talk about that, because at some
2 point he may want to do that. In fact, he indicated at some
3 point he may want to, but right now he didn't. My paralegal
4 then came in with the revooation. She's a notary. I, again,
5 asked Mr. Zeiders -- repeated my question about what he was
6 doing and that he wanted to do this. He indicated, again, that
7 he did in front of the notary, and we had it notarized.
8 BY MS. ST. CLAIR:
9 Q Then you did prepare the revooation?
10 A Prepared the revooation. He signed it in front
11 of me and my notary. At that point, he did indioate -- we
12 indioated it best to be reoorded sinoe he had the power of
13 attorney recorded and we would take care of that for him. I
14 think I instructed Mr. Zeiders to go ahead and let his daughter
15 know th&t he did this, and when we reoeived the reoorded
16 dooument baok from the courthouse, we would forward a photocopy
17 to her of t.he reoorded dooument.
18 Q Did you have any other ocoasion to meet with Mr.
19 Zeiders oonoerning his financial affairs?
20 A He had made arrangements, actually, with you to
21 revise his will, prepare the will. I happened to be the
22 attorney in the office available when he came in to sign his
23 will. Our praotioe is to try and have one of our staff members,
24 a notary and one of the attorneys, be available to sign as
25 witness on wills. When Mr. Zeiders was there, I went out and,
8
.
.
1
again, spoke to him.
I
At that point, aotually, I didn't know
2 what was in the will.. I reviewed the will myself. Then I had
3 Mr. Zeiders repeat to me what he wanted in his will. He
4 independently repeated exa~tly what was in the will, and I was
5 satisfied that that was how he wanted that prepared. He wanted
6 that information to remain confidential with us.
7 At that timet after we had signed the will, he
8 raised a couple of questiona about these proceedings. Pirst of
9 all, he insisted on paying for his will in cash -- he ~ounted
10 out of his pocket -- because he was very upset about that
11 accusation in the petition for those proceedings. He raised
12 with me, again -- reminded me, again, about the life insurance
13 proceeds that were disbursed around his eighty-fifth birthday
14 that he had no knowledge about.
15 Mr. Zeiders also indicated to me he had some
16 concern -- he had a policy of AARP which provided for some type
17 of payment for nursing home or hospital benefits. I can
18 remember it so clearly because Mr. Zeiders laid his recol13ction
19 was it was for 156 days, which, as he said, is kind of a weird
20 number of days, not 90 or 180. He was hoping that that policy
21 was still in effect, but, again, he had no information on that.
22 Those were several issues that he wanted me to discu.s with you
23 in preparation for today.
24
MS. ST. CLAIRI I have no further questions, Your
25 Honor.
9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
.
THB COURT I Croll-examine.
MR. DiLBONARDOI I have no queltionl.
THE COURTI I don't have any.
MS. ST. CLAIR I Next, we would call Larry
Deatrick to the etand, Your Honor.
Whereupon,
LARRY DBATRICK
having been duly .worn, teltified al follow. I
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
Q State your name and addresl for the record,
p1eale.
A Larry Deatrick, R.D. 1, Box 59, Icke.burg, Pa.
Q Now, you mentioned Ickelburg. II thi. the
location where Mr. Zeid6rl currently relides?
A Yes, it is.
Q Wera you present, yesterday throughout the
teltimony that was presented?
A Yel, I was.
Q You heard testimony concerning the $1,650.00 loan
which was given to you by Mr. Zeiders, is that correct?
A Yes, I did.
o Why was it that Mr. Zeiders loaned that money to
you originally, to you and your wife?
A He knew we were working on the balament, and he
10
.
.
1 a.ked UI why we didn't put our new window. in. He wa. with
2 Mindy one day. She went to get lome oar part. or .omething, and
3 they got to disouDsing it. He just told her he wa. going to
4 give it to her to get those windows.
5 Q When was that? When did that ooour,
6 approximately?
7 A I'm not sure of the date at all. It wa. la.t
8 fall. Yeah, last fall.
9 Q At some point, then, after the loan wa. made, did
10 you express oonoern about your ability to repay that loan and
11 use that money?
12 A I was a little bit upset. I didn't really want
13 him to do that, but he did it on his own. I said, well, I
14 didn't know how we would get it baok or when. He said, don't
15 worry about it. Then I said, well, I'll tell you what we oan
16 do. You buy a lot of wood from us. We'll just trade you wood.
17 You won't pay us anything for wood we bring to you.
18 Q To your knowledge, has any or all of the money
19 been repaid to this point?
20 A Well, we took six oord of wood last year whioh
21 would have amounted to $510.00. Then when we get extra money,
22 Mindy has given him $100.00 here and there. I think the balanoe
23 is down to about 650 or something like that.
24 Q Have you borrowed any other money from Mr.
25 Zeiders sinoe that time?
11
.
.
1 A No. I don't like doing that.
2 Q Mr. Deatrick, do you and your wife have children?
3 A Ye., three boy..
4 Q Three boy.. What are their age.?
5 A Fifteen, thirteen and ten.
6 Q How would you de.cribe the children'.
7 relation.hip with Mr. Zeiders since he's come to -_
8 A He's like their grandpa.
9 Q So, they get along fine?
10 A Real good.
11 Q Now, with regard to the trailer that Mr. Zeiders
12 ourrently lives in, who owns that trailer?
13 A I do.
14 Q You purchased it?
15 A Yes, I did.
16 Q Did Mr. Zeiders give you any of the money that
17 wa. u.ed to purchase it?
18 A No, he didn' t.
19 Q Does Mr. Zeiders pay any rent to you?
20 A No. I told him if he comes up there to .tay, he
21 won't pay me nothing.
22 Q If it would be Mr. Zeiders' intention to continue
23 living on your property, how would you feel about that?
24 A Great. Whatever he wants is good for me.
25 Q He would be welcome to remain there?
12
.
.
1 A YIl8, he would.
2 Q Have you made any provisions for where he would
3 ,live during the wintertimeT Would he romain in the trailer?
" A Yeah. We have a our houle is really \\sed. It
5 u.ed to be a place of business. We've been fixing it up as we
6 go. We have one room that' A not complete yet. It's about
7 thirty-five by forty. I'm going to remodel that, and that will
8 be his room to do whatever he -- to live in. Then there's a
9 door that joins our house that he oan walk from hi~ room into
10 our living room and use the facilities or the kitchen or
11 whatever.
12 Q If I might uk, why is it that you and your wife,
13 who are not related to Mr. Zeiders, have taken an interest in
14 his well being and his care?
15 A I just got to like him. I mean, I went down and
16 I took wood to him. A couple of times he said about stacking
17 the wood, and the boys and I, we stacked his wood. We just got
18 to like him. He got to like us, and we got to like him. It's
19 like he told me, he said, I don't know how we became such good
20 friends in eight years, but we did, and, he said, I'm glad we
21 did.
22 Q Does Mr. Zoiders aocompany you and your family
23 when you go out?
24 A Oh, yeah. We went to my wife'. brother's
25 birthday party which lasted all weekend long. We took him there
13
.
.
1 on Sunday. He met the whole family. They talked to him. They
2 liked him. He laid, linoe he'l been with UI, he'l met more
3 people in the la.t two to three weeks than he's met in a long
4 time, talked to more people.
5 Q Now, if Mr. Zeiders wanted you to serve as hil
6 attorney in faot, under a power of attorney, or to lerve a. hi.
7 guardian, what would be your thoughts on doing that?
8 A Whatever he wants suits me.
9 MS. ST. CLAIR I I have nothing further, Your
10 Honor.
11 THE COURT: Cross-examine.
12 MR. DiLEONARDO: Thank you, Your Honor.
13 CROSS-EXAMINATION
14 BY MR. DiLEONARDO I
15 Q You said you've known Mr. Zeiders for
16 approximately eight years?
17 A Yes, I did.
18 Q And would you say that -- when would you lay that
19 you beoame good friends, in the way that he desoribed it to you,
20 in that time?
21 A In the last three years, we've really beoom~
22 0108e, I'd say, probably.
23 Q Has there been -- have you been oonstantly
24 delivering five, six, seven, whatever, oordl of wood out to hil
25 house?
"
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20.
21
22
23
24
25
.
..
A Y.., I have.
Q And you and your .on. have b.en .tacking it for
him?
A Ye., we have. Bometima. he don't want u. to,
becaulII he want. to do that on his own.
Q Icke.burg is in -- well, I don't mean thil al a
dilparaging remark to Perry County, but even for Perry County,
Ickelburg is in a remote portion of Perry County?
A It's right at the base of the Tuscarora Mountain.
Q What's the closest hospital?
A Carlisle.
Q Pardon me?
A Carlisle.
Q How far is it, timewise, to Carli.le?
A Timewise?
Q Yeah, timewise.
A Probably thirty minutes.
Q Thirty minutes in normal condition.. What about
in bad weather? I don't mean the worst weather, like we had
this winter, but, you know, bad weather?
A Maybe another ten, fifteen.
Q In conditions like we had this winter, how long
could it take to travel to Carlisle?
A That deponds what the roads are like, you know.
That could be anywhere, though.
15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
--
Q Som.time. it could even b. imp....b1., is th.t
corr.ct?
A Ye.h.
Q Wh. t do you do for. living, Mr. De.trick?
A Drive truck.
Q Do you drive long h.u1 or do you drive 10c.1?
A It depends what you c.11 10c.1 .nd long h.u1. I
go .. f.r .s Connecticut.
Q I would c.11 that long h.ul. You're driving more
th.n the lOa-mile r.dius.
A I'm out and back every d.y, though.
Q Pardon me?
A I'm out and b.ck the same day.
Q So, you never have any overnight
A No. I just got in this morning.
Q Okay. With respect to your wife, she work. with
the wood business that you people operate, is that correct?
A She does most of the delivery work.
Q When do those de1iverie. take place?
A Whenever the people want it.
Q Th.t's good. When do most people want wood?
A Well, it varies.
Q I. it usually in the .~er or in the f.ll .nd
winter?
A All year.
16
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
"-1,\',
.
.
o Do you d.1iv.r mostly in the .umm.r or in the
fall and wint.r?
A All year.
o So, there's a pr.tty steady demand?
A Yeah. But, I mean, it might only b. like a
two-hour trip, you know. You go and drop a load and oome right
baok.
o Your demand doesn't inorease ae the oold weather
approaoh.s?
A Yeah, but we hardly ever -- I drive truok, 10 I
have to out and split the wood, and my boys help, but then Ihe
usually doee the delivery. Only about one load a day.
o Your ohildren, are they all sohool age?
A Yes, they are.
o They all go to Bohool still?
A YeB.
o Where do they go to sohool?
A West Perry.
o IB that walking dietanoe from your hom.? Do they
take a Bohool bUB?
A It's about six miles, seven miles from the hous..
o They take the Bohool bue, th.n?
A Right.
o They leave approximat.ly what time in the
morning?
17
.
.
1 A 7115.
2 Q What time do they get back?
3 A 4:00.
4 Q During the school season, they'll be gone from
5 the house frcm 7115 till 4100, is that correct?
6 A Right.
7 Q And those times when you have hauls, you could be
8 gone for the better part of the daylight hours, as well?
9 A No. I run at night.
10 Q You run at night, so you would be gone through
11 the evening hours?
12 A Right.
13 Q And deliveries, you're saying, with your wife
14 take place in the day?
15 A Pardon m~?
16 Q Deliveries with the wood that your wife takes
17 care of take place during the day?
18 A Right.
19 Q Which is when, I assume, you catch your sle.p and
20 your rest for the next evening's work?
21 A Right, part of it.
22 Q With respect to the thirty-five-by-forty room
23 that you were talking about, is that room on the first or second
24 or third floor of the
25 A It's a ranch-style home.
18
..
..
1 Q II there a baeement underneath it?
2 A Yes, there is.
3 Q II this in the lower or what I would call the
4 baeement level?
5 A It's on the ground level, upper levtil. It's not
6 the basement. It's the upstairs.
7 Q I understand. We'll call it the ground level and
8 the basement. So, it's on the ground level?
9 A Right.
10 Q Is your home one of those ranch style that hae
11 two levels? Does the land fall away from it in any way in the
12 back so that there would be - - so that the ground level would
13 actually be above grade?
14 A Right. The basement is exposed in the back.
15 Q Is this room in the front or the back?
16 A The whole length.
17 Q It's the whole length of the back or the front?
18 A It g088 from front to back.
19 Q Oh, so it's the whole length of one lide. II
~O thlre an opening in the back of the houle?
21 A No, there isn't.
22 Q Is there a door in the back?
23 A No. There's two doors, one off the eide into my
24 houle and a front door to the outeide.
25 Q So, that room opens into your own?
19
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24,
25
.
,.
A Right.
o I did hear you correctly when you te.tified that
you've purcha.ed a travel trailer?
A Ye./ I did.
o And Mr. Zeiders didn't contribute any money. to
that?
A No.
o Did he give any money. to anybody el.e directly
to that rather than to you?
A No.
o Did he ever tell you that he did?
A Pardon me?
o Did he ever tell you tbat he did?
A Did he ever tell me that he did?
o Yes.
A No.
MR. DiLEONARDO I No further que.tion..
BY THE COURT I
o When did Mr. Zeiders come to live with you?
A I think it's been about threft weeks now.
o Was it Bometime in June?
A It was around .. I think it was around July 3rd.
o How did thiB come about that he actually left hi.
place and came to live with you and your wife?
A He told me that he .. one day he laid, if I had a
20
..
.
1 place to go, I'd get out of there. I .aid, well, pap, if you
2 ever need any plaoe to go, I/ve got the plaoe. It's up to you.
3 Then he just deoided that this whole episode with thBm trying to
4 dig up dirt on u. and make us look bad, and they wrote that
5 letter .aying he was not allowed to see us and we were not
6 allowed to go to his house, that just started up everything. If
7 ~t wouldn't have been for th&t, it would have just been a
a friendship forever and ever. Thin would have never ooourred.
9 He told me that, and I know that.
10 Q So, did he ask, then, to oome and live with you?
11 A Yes, he did. He said, if you'll have me, I'm
12 ooming up.
13 Q That was on July the 3rd?
14 A Right.
15 Q Do you own your own tractor-trailer rig?
16 A No. I run for ASP' Truoking.
17 Q Where do they have their terminal?
18 A It's on the Carlisle Pike, right there by Keen
19 Trucking. We're close to New Kingston.
20 Q How long have you worked for them?
21 A Sixteen years.
22 Q This is a question that I had yeaterday. I don't
23 know if I asked Mr. ZeiderR this or who. But now he is living
24 with he'. living in a trailer that you purohaaed?
25 A Yes, a camper.
21
1
2
3
4
5
~
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
.
.
o Obvioully, there .. doe. that have electricity?
A Ye., it doe..
o Al.o, he e~t. with you and your family, i. that
right?
A Yel, he doe..
o Do I underltand that neither you nor your wife
expect him to pay for anything while he'. there?
A I don't care. He'l no .. he'l no burden. We
make a meal. U.ually there'. lome left anyway, you know, 10
it'. not cOlting anything, really. I mean, I'm the type of
per.on, I ju.t like to help people out. I've got four or five
bOYI that oome to the hou.e all the time. The one boy wal here
ye.terday. He don't ever want to go home. They like it there~
I don't alk their parenti for no money.
0 How old are you?
A Pardon me?
0 How old are you?
A porty- five.
0 How old h Mrl. Deatrick?
A Thirty-nine.
0 Oh, I know what I wanted to uk. When wa. it
that thi. letter wa. lent to you? Did you, per chance, have a
copy of that?
A Ye./ I do.
THE COURTI Mark that Re.pondent'l Exhibit No.1,
22
..
--
1 pl.....
2 (Whereupon, Re.pondent.' Bxhibit No. 1 wa. marked
3 for identification.)
4 THB COURTI That'. all I have. Any further
5 que.tion. by either counsel?
6 HS. ST. CLAIR: I have one brief que.Hon, Your
7 HOllor.
8 REDIRECT BXAMINATION
9 BY HS. ST. CLAIR I
10 Q Hr. Deatrick, you testified that the neare.t
11 hospital to your looation would be in Carlisle. Are there any
12 medical centers or olinios that would be nearer to you?
13 A Yeah. There'. one that's about .even and a half
14 mile. from the houle.
15 Q And there are doctor. in the area, a. well?
16 A Yes, there are.
17 MS. ST. CLAIR I Nothing further.
18 RECROSS-BXAMINATION
19 BY HR. DiLEONARDO:
20
21
22
23
24
25
Q How muoh did you pay for the trailer?
A Fivll thousand.
Q Is that from a dealer or private .a1e?
A Pardon me?
Q Is that fl'om a dealer or a private .ale?
A Private.
23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
.
I~ Do you know the name of. the person you bought it
from?
A Greer, I think, is his last name.
MR. DiLEONARDO I Finally, Your Honor, could I see
Respondent's 1 for a moment, please.
(Brief pause.)
MR. DiLEONARDO I No further questions.
THE COURT I Thank you, sir. You may step down.
Any additional witnesses?
MS. ST. CLAIR I No additional witneases, Your
Honor.
THE COURT I Any rebuttal testimony?
MR. DiLEONARDO I Yes, Your Honor. Detective
Thomas Fry from the East Pennsboro Polioe Department.
Whereupon,
DET. THOMAS FRY
called as a witness in rebuttal,
having been duly sworn, testified as followsl
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MR. DiLEONARDO I
Q Detective Fry, would you please state your name,
rank and your employmont for the record, please.
A My name is Thomas Fry. I'm a detective with Ealt
pennlboro Townlhip Police.
Q Detective Fry, in your oapacity al a detective,
24
\,
,.
--
1 were you contacted cr consulted or visited by Mr. G. Dale
2 Zeiders?
3 A Yes. On July the 6th, about 5100 in the
4 afternoon, he came into the police station to speak to ~e.
S Q Is Mr. Zeiders in the roo~ today?
6 A Yes. lie's seated right there.
7 Q Was anyone with Mr. Zeiders at that time?
8 A Yes. Mindy Deatrick was with him.
9 Q Is the penon who identified herself u Mindy
10 Deatrick in the roo~ today?
11 A She's seated back there, yes.
12 Q The person sitting beside the person who just
13 testified, Larry Deatrick?
14 A That's correct.
lS Q Now, with respect to the visit at 5100 on July
16 the 6th, could you please tell ~e if any portion of that visit
17 involved discussion of a travel trailer?
18 A Mr. Zeiders told me that he had put a deposit on
19 a travel trailer and he wanted to get the rest of hiB money back
20 to purohase it.
21 Q Mr. Zeiders t.old you that he had put the money
22 down on the travel trailer?
23 A He said he took it out of what was left in his
24 checking acoount.
25 Q And he put that money down, and he wanted to get
25
..
--
1 the re.t of hi. mon.y to pay the r..t of the balance of, the
2 trail.r, i. that corr.ct?
3 A That'. correct.
4 Q That'. what h~ told you?
5A That's what h. told m..
6 Q And considering that to b. the c..., why did h.
7 come to .ee you to get the r.st of the money, c.n you expl.in
8 th.t?
9 A Well, ye.h. He olUlle to file . criminal oompl.int
10 with our dilP.rtment th.t his money h.d been t.ken from him.' He
11 h.d -. h. told me he w.s .dvised by hi. .ttorney to report it to
12 the polioe, .nd he olUlle down to the polio. dep.rtment .nd didn't
13 m.ke.n offioi.1 report with u. on the 0....
14 Q And he indic.ted th.t his money h.d been t.ken or
15 was being withheld from him?
16 A That's oorrect.
17 Q Who did he say had don. the t.king or was
18 withholding hi. funds?
19 A His daughter.
20 Q Did you have an occasion to meet with Mr. Zeid.r.
21 on a second instanoe?
22 A No/ I never met with him again.
23 Q Did you have oooasion to disouss thh matter with
24 Mindy D.atrick on a second ooo.sion?
25 A Yes. I believe it was the Monday following the
:.16
,.1.,"
.'.\"1;'
T'I'
",r.I.\
.
.
18th, the Monday or Tuesday after that, she oalled me at the
2
3
po1ioe station from the -- well, she Isaid she was at the bank.
She was talking about the case. Mr. Zeiders was there, beoause
4 I heard him ta1kingl also, I was asking him some questions. We
5 had some dialogue.
6
Q
Based upon your conversations on July 6th with
7 Mrs. Deatrick and Mr. Zeiders, you were .atisfied that you were
8 speaking with Mindy Deatrick on the telephone?
11
12
13
14
15
16
A
Q
baokground?
A
Q
the matter of
time?
A
Yes.
What, speoifioa11y -- did Mrs. Deatriok disouss
the payment of the travel trailer with you at that
There was disoussion oonoerning the money. The
17 travel trailer was brought up as part of it. I don't know that
18 the oa11 was primarily about the travel trailer.
19
Q
During whatever p~rt of the disoussion was about
20 the travel trailer, did Mrs. Deatriok indioate to you whether
21 Mr. Zeiders needed that money to pay the balanoe owed on the
22 travel trailer?
23
24
25
A
Q
A
Yes.
What was it that she indioated?
That he needed the ba1anoe of the money to pay
27
1
2
, ,
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
~
the travel trailer off.
Q At any time during your di.cu..ion with Mr.
Zeider. on July 6th, did Mr. Zeider. and Mr.. Deatrick -- or at
any time in the telephone oonversation did either Mr. Zeider. or/
Mr.. Deatriok tell you that the Deatrick. were, in faot,
puraha.ing that trailer?
A No.
Q At all time., wa. the .tory told to you that Mr.
Zeider. wa. purcha.ing the trailer?
A Ye., that'. oorrect.
Q Now, with re.pect to the cQriminal complaint, did
you oonduct an inve.tigation of that?
A Ye., ,I did.
o Pur.uant to that inve.tigation, on your
.ub.equent oonversation with Mrs. Deatriok, did you a.k Mr..
Deatrick to inquire of Mr. Zeiders whether Mr. Zeider. had, in
fact, asked his daught~r, Lorna Sheet:, for the money before he
had filed the criminal complaint?
A Yeah. The .eeond time I talked to her -- and
thi. was after I had an interview with the au.peet in thi.
ea.e -- I a.ked the que.tion. It wa. pointed out to me that he
never a.ked for it, so I wanted to find out if he did, and I
a.ked her to ask him if he ever a.ked his daughter for the
money.
Q And what wa. the an.wer?
28
",,!l_.)..,, ! ,I' ~Pl.'i 'i'; .I"
--
"
1 0 So, that is a photocopy of your oheck made out to
2 your father, correct?
3 A Yel, the front and t.he back, and it'. ligned by
4 him.
50 It's endorud by him?
6 A It's endorsed by him and my Ii.ter.
7 0 And you made the check out yourself?
8 A Ye., I did.
9 MR. DiLEONARDO I Your Honor, I would submit this
10 as Petitioner's Exhibit 2.
11 (Whereupon, Petitioner's Exhibit No.2 wa. marked
12 for identification.)
13 BY MR. DiuEONARDOI
14 0 The chGok i. for $6,000.00, correct?
1!1 A That'. correct.
16 Q Pive thoulllnd of that oheck is to repay your
17 father for what?
18 A He put a down payment on my new home, which he
19 stated at the time that he was going to move in with me.
20 0 At the time that you were looking for a home, had
21 you selected that home and just didn't have enough money?
22 A No.
23 0 What exaotly happened?
24 A Well, No.1, I don't need a three-badroom home
25 with a bath and a half, II. living room, 0 dining room, a kitchen
30
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--
,.
1 leaned toward him to make it ea.ier for him.
Q I .ee that you al.o walk with the a..i.tance of a
2
3 cane?
4
5
6
7
8
A Ye.. Not all the time, though.
Q You're able to negotiate .teps?
A Yes.
Q You work at the State Capital, is that oorreat?
A Ye., sir.
Q Are there steps that you have to negotiate there
for your job on a daily b.sis?
A Yes, sir.
Q And you have no problem with that?
A No problem.
Q So, the primary reason why this home wa. one
.tory is because your father indicated he wanted to live with
you?
A Yes.
Q And the primary rea.on why you needed the
$5,000.00 was beoau.e you had accumulated payment on a .mal1er,
square footagewise, condominium with a smaller lotI and in order
to purchase the larger home, you needed the extra money?
A Yes.
Q Has there been a greater mortgage payment that
was a.sooiated with that than would have been as.ooiated with
the condominium?
32
1
2
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
lS
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
2S
.
.
, A Oh, yes. I/m paying 800 and some dollars a
month.
Q With the condominium, it would have been what?
A It would have been about half that.
Q Pour or five hundred dollars?
A Right, four or five hundred.
Q Do you remember speaking to me and saying --
A Yes, sir.
Q I have no further questions. Is there anything'
el.e you want to add?
THE COURT. Let's not have people add something.
Let's ask questions.
CROSS-EXAMINATION
BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
Q Ms. Baker, at some point, your father changed his
mind about moving into your residence, is that correct?
A Not to my knowledge.
Q So, you think he still wants to move into your
house?
A Just months ago, he asked me do I have the room
ready for his bed, and I told him yes. I said he'. welcome any
time.
Q Now, the check that you mentioned that you've
presented as an exhibit here, was that presented direotly to Mr.
Zeiders or was that presen~ed to your sister?
33
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
a1
22
23
24
25
"
--
A 'l'hat wa. pre..nted to my father.
o Wa. it explained wh~t the amount wa.?
A When I -- when he put the down payment on my home
for the $5,000.00, he made me sign a note. He made my daughter
dgn a not. for $1,000.00. When I gave him the oheok and told
him I wa. paying both of them off, he took them out of the book
and tore them up.
o Okay. But my que.tion wa., thi. wa. pre.ented to
hi,m and explained what it wu a payment for?
A Yes, yes.
o Ms. Baker, how old are you?
A Sixty-two.
o Now, in addition to the $6,000;00 that we're
talking about here in repayment, i.n't it true that you had
other loans from your father over the oourse of __
A No.
o You had no other loans?
A No.
BY 'l'HB COUR'l' I
o Are you an employee of the Commonwealth of
pann.ylv.nia?
A Yes, sir.
o How long have you worked there?
A I worked thirty-four year., and I retired. 'l'hen
I went baok a. an independent legi.lative oon.ultant.
34
--
--
1 Q Did you buy this property in 1991, the same year
2 that the oheck was dated?
3 A Ye.. I bought it in Ootober. This Ootober, I'll
4 be there, I think, four year. or five year..
5 Q Three years. You bought it in ' 91. This
6 Ootober, it will be '94. So, it would be about three years?
7 A Okay, loan oorreot what happened. When I
8 retired, I asked my father -- I told him -- I said, could you
9 wait till I get my first lump-sum oheok from retirement? That's
10 the reason for the differenoe in the month.. I went out under
11 the early retirement. This Ootober, I will be there four years.
12 Q Four years?
13 A Yes/ sir.
14 Q So, you bought it in '90, but you didn't get the
15 oheck fz'om hb. until ' 91?
16 A That's oorreot, sir, yes.
17 Q I don't know when you got the cheok.
18 A April the 22nd.
19 Q When did you get the oheok from him to buy the
20 house, was that in 1990?
21 A That was in Ootober of '90/ yes, sir.
22 THE COURT I I don't have any other questions.
23 Any other questions, Counsel?
24 MS. ST. CLAIR I No, Your Honor.
25 THE COURT: Thank you. You may step down.
35
-
.
1 THE COURT I Any further testimony?
~ MR. DiLEONARDO I No further rebuttal testimony.
3 THE COURT I That concludes the testimony. I'm
4 going on vacation next week, so I don't anticipate this opinion
5 'is going to be filed next week. I'll try to get it done, maybe,
6 the following week.
7 MR. DiLEONARDO: Your Honor, I would like 80me
e guidance from the Court. I am holding, at the x'equest of my
9 client, funds which everyone haB admitted here belong to Mr.
10 Zeiders. I don't wish to do anything to anger the Court, nor do
11 I wish to do anything inappropriate with it, but I would like
12 the Court's guidance on it. Would you like me to continue
13 holding it during the pendency and continue to contact counsel
14 to make sure Mr. Zeiders has enough money for his day-to-day
15 existence?
16
17
18
19
20
~1
~2
23
24
25
MS. ST. CLAIR I Your Honor --
THE COURT: Let me say thim. My only decision i8
to whether or not he should be adjudicated an incapacitated
per80n. This business about joint fund8 and what happened to
that, that has nothing to do with my decision, 80 you guys are
going to havo to resolve that yourself.
MR. DiLEONARDO: Your Honor, although you've been
very patient with met if I may indulge the Court one more moment
on that issue. The point is --
THE COURT I The point is that she took a joint CD
36
..
~
1 and calhed it in, and now Ihe hal the money.
2 MR. DiLEONARDO I ~hat'l not correct.
3 THB COUR~: ~hat is what happened,
4 MR. DiLBONARDOI No, Your Honor. ~he CD wa.
5 converted to a cheok, and the cheok ha. not been cashed.
6 THB COUR~: Well, it was converted to a check. I
7 have nothing to do with that. ~h.t's a decision she made, and
8 it has nothing to do with my decision whether he's an
9 incapacitated person or not. ~hat'l something that's going to
10 have to follow from whatever decision I render. So, what she
11 does with the money until then, she didn't consult me about
12 doing it when she did it, and I'm not going to get involved now
13 as to what she should do with it until I hand down my decision.
14 MR. DiLEONARDO I Okay. Fair enough.
15 THE COURTl Well, I don't want to make any
16 comments at this time. I'm very sorry that things in life oome
17 to this point, but that has nothing to do with my decision. So,
18 we'll stand adjourned. I won't get this done next week, ladiel
19 and gentlemen, but I will try and get the opinion handed down
20 the week of August 1st, that week or no later than the following
21 week. With that, we'll stand adjourned.
22 (Whereupon, the hearing wa. conoluded at 9150
23 a.m.)
24
25
37
"
-.
"
" ,
'i.
,
"
'OR TBB'PITITIONlR
, ,
,Lorna Gene Zeid~r.
Judy Good
Pri.ailla Whitman
'OR THI RISPONDBNT
, G . Dale Zeider.
,
,I'
'OR THI PITITIONlR
d'
Ix. No. 1
affidavi~
l:
I'
"'/
;'
I
,,,
.'
I
,
I,
" I
"
,
;. ,)'
,
, ,
,
,I
"
.'
, I.;
"
.'
",
\'
~
",
"
'INDIX TO WITNlSIU
DIRBCT CROSS RIDIRBCT RICROSS,
,6 32 46 ..
51 66 .- ..
73 79 83 ..
"
83
"
102
..
..
I'
"
.'
INDIX TO IXBIBITS
IDINTIPIID
6
"
,
,
fl'
I,
,j'
""j
,I,
i,.J
\',
I,'
,'.'
"
\'
'I
"
I'
II'
"
"
,
if'
"
"
"
'I.. l'
j,;"
"
'\
"
I;,
,,'
1\"
"
'"
"
I \ ~
"
I fl' I'
'j' ',-.j,
, '
"j
"
I'
,,,
"
,,'
2
, "
~
~
1 THB COURT I Now, for the record, I would ask
2 counsel to identify themselves. Who's repreaenting the
3 petitioner?
4 MR. DILEONARDO I I am, Your Honor. My nue
S is John G. Dileonardo, and I'm with the law fir.m of Tucker
6 Arensberg, and I'm representing the petitioner, Lorna
7 Sheetz, in this matter.
8 THB COURT: And is that the petitioner, Lorna
9 Sheetz?
10 MR. DILEONARDO I Yes, she's se.ted beside me.
11 THE COURT I And representing G. Dale Zeiders,
12' would you state l'our name for the record?
13 MS. ST. CLAIR I Yes, Your Honor. Michelle
14 St. Clair from Griffie and Associates. I'm representing Mr.
15 G. Dale Zeiders today.
16 THE COURT I Do I understand that you are
17 opposing the appointment of a guardian I is that correct?
18 MS. ST. CLAIR: That's correct, Your Honor.
19 Your Honor, might I add at this time that we would requeot
,20 that this hearing be conducted at an elevated level. Mr.
21 Zeiders does have a slight hearing problem and he's having
22 some difficulty with hiG hearing aids, adjusting to the room
23 here today. So we would ask to keep the level of speech up
24 a little bit.
25 THE COURT: I'll ask the people who speak to
3
, ,
~
fIII\
1 .peak ,into the miorophone. tim oertain if we do that he'll
2 be able to hear.
3 I MS. S'l'. CLAIR I 'l'hank you, Your Honor.
4 '!'HE COURT: And I guess with that we're ready
5 to prooeed. Is there going to be any expert te.timony
6 ,pre.ented today?
7 MR. DILEONARDO I Yes, Your Honor, there will
8 be expert testimony presented today from, depending on Your
9 Honor's druthers, one or two representative. of the
10 Cumberland County Area Agenoy on Aging.
11 '!'HE COURTl What about medical testimony?
12 MR. DILEONARDO a It was suggested to Mr.
13 Zeiders at a meeting with the Cumberland County Area Agenoy
14 on Aging that he attend and go through a full geriatrio
15 evaluation. Initially he agreed to do so and then refused
16 to go through the evaluation process.
17 'l'he statute requires, with respect to
18 evidenoe, that persons are per.mitted to teBtify who by their
19 experience and training are knowledgeable on the affliction.
20 and conditions that affect the elderly with respect to their
21 ability to make decisions and to safely care for their
22 persons and their e.tates.
23 '!'HE COURT: I think all tho guardianship
24 proceedings I've had we/ve had a dootor by deposition or in
25 person.
4.
~
~
1 MR. DILEONARDO: I'm sorry. That is oorreat,
2 Your Honor, and that is why we requested a tamporary
3 guardian, and why in the petition the very, very first thing
4 we asked for was for this Court to order that Mr. Zeiders
S submit himself to an examination.
6 We would suggest the agency ~uggested by the
7 Cumberland County ,r.rea Agency on Aging. If the Court hal a
8 different druthers with respect to an independent
9 examination, then that's the case.
10 The problem, Your Honor, as annunciated, Your
11 Honor, is not one that I'm not aware of and not one that I
12 would have liked to address another way. It is, however, a
13 catch 22 situation. The individual has refused to go to a
14 physician. It was suggested by the agency, and that's why
15 we're here. And that's why we're providing the best expert
16 tostimony we can provide.
17 THE COURT: Well, I might order him to go,
18 but we'll wait and see. Go ahead.
19 MR. DILEONARDO: That's correct, Your Honor.
20 And you oould order it now and suspend the prooeedings, if
21 that's what you wi shod to do.
22 THE COURT: We'll hear the other testimony
23 now while we're here, and we'll prooeed.
24 MR. DILEONARDO: Your Honor, a housekeeping
25 matter first, and in oomplianoe with the statute, I'd like
. .
5
',.. ,
~
1 to lubmit to Your Honor evidenoe of servioe of the petition
2 and oitation as required by Your Honor'. order.
3 THE COURT I Okay. We'll mark that
4 oolleotively Petitioner'. Exhibitl Number 1, and we'll just
5 hold up a minute.
6 (Whereupon, petitioner'l Exhibit No. 1
7 w.. marked for identifioetion.)
8 THE COURT: Okay. We're ready to prooeed.
9 MR. DILEONARDO I Thank you, Your Honor. I
10 would oal1 the potitioner to the stand, Lorna Gene Sheetz.
11 Whereupon,
12 LORNA GENE SHEETZ
13 having been duly sworn, testified al folloWl1
14 DIRECT EXAMINATION
15 BY MR. DILEONARDO:
16 Q Mrs. Sheet~, would you state your name for
17 the reoord, pleale?
18 A My name im Lorna Gene Sheetz.
19 Q And, Mill Sheetz, where do you reside?
20 A I re.ide at 1582 Holtz Road, Eno1a,
, 21 Pennsylvania.
22 Q And briefly would you de.oribe your re.idenoe
23 and your residenoe area?
24 A Well, I don/t live along a hard road. I live
25 lix hundred feet up in the mountain on thirteen and a half
6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
'21
22
23
24
25
~
~
aorel of woodland.
Q And is your re,idence that you and your
hUlband occupy the only residence on the thirteen and a half
acre.?
A No, it is not.
Q What other residences are on the thirteen and
a half aores?
A There's a little yellow house on the flat
below me, and my father's mobile home where he re.ided il on
the .ame flat a. the little yellow house. I live on the
flat above them.
Q So, as I understand it then, there'D a flat
below your residence that you share with your hUlband?
A Yes.
Q And on that flat is a yellow houD. on a
foundation?
A Yes.
Q And across the six hundred foot road you
mentioned is where your father's mobile home is lituated?
A Yes.
Q And that's the mobile home your father
occupies, is that correct?
AYe..
Q Okay. And who currently owns that mobile
home?
7
""
~
1 the thirteen and e half acres, did your father ever have an
2 intere.t, an owner.hip intere.t in that property?
3 A He had wanted to buy the land at one time.
4 Q Let me uk you it another way.
5 A Okay.
6 Q Did your father ever own that property?
7 A No, no.
8 Q He had an interest in it though?
9 ' A He had an intllreat, bu\;, no.
10 Q He was interested in owning the property?
11 A Right.
12 Q Okay. But he never owned it?
13 A No.
14 Q And that was your -- you and your husband
15 purohased that property?
16 A Yes.
17 Q And you told your father he could plaoe his
18 mobile home on it and live there?
19 A That is correct.
20 Q Now, that was in 1980?
21 A Yea.
22 Q All right. And he had lived there until
23 approximately the present time, is that correct?
24 A That is correct.
25 Q Now, in the recent paat, let's .ay the pa.t
9
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
, 13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
six months or so, have you observed any behavioral aotivity
on the part of your father or other actions on the part of
your father whioh have given you cause for concern that he
may be beooming unable to continue to care for himself as a
pereon or for his financial affairs?
A Yel.
o OkAY. Before you explain what thole oonoernl
,were, would you tell me if you were ever -- if you ever held
the power of attorney for your father?
Yes, I did.
And that was . limited power of attorneYI is
A
0
that correct?
A
0
A
0
No, that was full power of attorney.
It was a full power of attorney?
Yes.
And a copy of that power of attorney is
attached to the petition that you reviewed in this matter,
is that correct?
A Yes.
o All right. Now, with respect to that power
of attorney, it was granted on the date indioated on it,
correct?
A Yes.
o And that was approximately what year, if you
remember?
10
~
~
1 will start a fire and burn himself to death.
2 Q To the best of YOU1' knowledge has he ever
3 left his residence with items still cooking?
4 A Yes, he has. One day he left with my husband
5 to go to the store, and as ha was looking in the meat
6 counter. at the hot dogs he said, oh, my goodness, the hot
7 dogs are on the stove oooking. And when they arrived baok
8 to the mountain, fortunately -- very fortunately there was
9 no fire, but the black smoke was just rolling out of his
10 houn.
11 Q All right. And have you ever had occasion to
12 observe his personal hygiene?
13 A Yes, I have.
14 Q And what have you obselved in that regard?
15 A Well, my father runs barefooted most of the
16 time, and I've noticed how uncleanly his feet are and that
17 he can't really take care of his feet and wash th~ to keep
18 them clean. We bought him a chair for in the bathtub so
19 that he could sit down with a longhanded brush so that he
20 would have a way of not having to bend over to do it 80 that
21 he could do it much easier.
22 Q All right.
23 MS. ST. CLAIR. Your Honor, might we ask the
24 witness to speak up. Mr. Zeiders is having some trouble
25 hearing.
12
~
~
1 MR. DIl,BONARDO: Your Honor, I would
2 enoourage that the witne.1 allo ule the miorophone. I would
3 a110 IUggMlt, however, that part of Mr. Zeiderl' problem
4 might be when you're Ipeaking to him, it's diffiou1t for him
5 to hear two people at the lame time.
6 MS. ST. CLAIR I He oan hear your quel tionl.
7 He oannot hear the responses.
B BY MS. DILEONARDO I
9 Q Hiss Sheetz, before we oontinue on the illue
10 of your father's hygiene, let me ask you if your father il
11 able to hear without the asdstanoe of hearing aidl?
12 A No, my father oannot hear without the aid of
13 hearing aids.
14 Q And does he need a hearing aid in one or both
15 ea:n?
16 A He needs hearing aids in both ear..
17 Q And does he routinely -- in your experienoe
lB has he routinely been wearing the hearing aids in both ears?
19 A No, he does not. He wears them in one ear at
20 a time.
21 Q Does he wear - - but he always wear. one or
22 does he sometimes -- or does he usually wear no hearing
23 aids?
24 A Most of the time he doesn't wear a hearing
25 aid. When we go down to his plaoe to talk t~ him, then he
13
~
~
1 will put them in. Oth.rwi.e h. doe.n't bother wearing them
2 during the oour.. of the day.
3 Q And have you been with Mr. Zeider. when he'.
4 gone to .ee hi. audiologi.t or a physician with re.peot to
5 hi. hearing 10.. problem?
6 A Yes, I have.
7 Q And on that occa.ion are you aware of whether
8 hi. audiologist or physician has .ugge.ted to him that any
9 further damage could occur if he refused to wear hi. hearing
10 aids?
11 A Yes.
12 Q And what i. the damage, if you remember, that
13 would ooour if he refused to wea~ his hearing aid.?
14 A It's nerve damage to his ~ar, and al.o it ha.
15 to d~ with the brain oells.
16 Q So are you saying that the audiologist or
17 physioian told him that by not
18 MS. ST. CLAIR: Objeotion, Your Honor.
19 There's no basis for the.e questions.
20 THE COURT I Technioally it i. hear.ay, and I'
21 gue.s -- I don't know what signifioance -- thi. mayor may
22 not b. relevant, but I agreo that it'. objeotionable a. to
23 what thi. audiologi.t said. He's not here, and you oan't
24 oro..-exemine him. So I'll sustain the objeotion.
25 MR. DILEONARDO: That's fine.
14
~
~
1 BY MR. DILBONARDOI
2 Q With relpect to Mr. Zeiderl' personal
3 hygiene, you indicated that you had lome probleml with that
4 with relpect to his washing. What about wearing clean
5 clothes?
6 A No. He wears his clothing for a long time
7 before he walhel it.
8 THE COURT I By the way, how old iI thil
9 gentlemsn? Nobody's indicated that.
10 BY MR. DILEONARDO I
11 Q How old is your father?
12 A My father is 97.
13 Q Now/ you've indicated that Mr. Zeiders
14 appears to be unable to clean his home recently in the way
15 he used to be able to keep it clean in the palt. What
16 steps, if any, have you taken to clean his home or to assilt
17 him in cleaning his home?
18 A I, myself, cannot assist him in cleaning
19 because I have degenerative arthritis of the spine, and in
20 tho near future I could have a hip replacement.
21 Q How old are you, by the way?
22 A I lIJIl 70.
23 Q Okay.
24 A I have tried to get him a girl to come in and
25 clean, and he refuses to have anybody come in and clean hil
15
\
1
2
3
4
S
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
lS
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
2S
~
~
houle. I talked to him about having lomebody come in and do
the cooking for him, and I have oontacted Department of
Aging to talk to ffr. Apa about this, and I was waiting for a
phone call from Mr. Apa. Okay. And he had to get baok to
me, but this is when Priscilla Whitman entered into taking
over his case.
Q So other matters intervened, including this
matte~?
A Yes.
Q And your original requelt to the Department
of Aging for someone to bring meals to your father hal not
been finished yet?
A That's correct.
Q All right. Now, with respect to your
father'. eyesight, is he able to distinguilh between, let'l
lay, denominations on currency?
A No, he is not.
Q Okay. Is he able to distinguilh the lines on
a check sufficient to write his name on the signature line?
A No. You must point the line out to him, and
then he just uses his imagination as to where the line il at
to lign the chec~.
Q Is he able to distinguish -- does your father
take any medications?
A Ye., he does.
16
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
a Okay. And is he able to di.tingui.h between
variou. medioations?
A 80metimea I don't think he'. able to beoause
he mixes the bottles all up. When they come in the
pre.oription bottle he'll take them out of that a~d pour
them into another bottle or he pours them into a tin oan or
tin box thst he has that he keeps presoriptions in. A lot
of times they drop on the floor and lay there, and then he
doe.n't evon know that they're there.
a In your experienoe doe I he take medioation on
the lohedule with which he's required to take it?
A No, because he doesn't have to take it. The
only medioine that he has take is nitroglyoerin beoause he
has angina, and his presoription for that is several year.
old. He's never had it refilled. 80 he'l taking outdated
medicine.
He takel vioodin beoause he has deoaloified
spine, and he takes that on a regular basis when his baok is
bothering him. Outside of that and ecotrin, that's about
all of the medioation that he takes.
a With relpeot to medioation., did there oome a
time when you took your father to lee a physioian for an
infeotion he luffered from?
A Yes.
a Where was that infeotion?
17
~
~,
1 A Ha had it in hil ribl.
2 Q All right.
3 A And the doctcr gave him an antibiotic to
4 taka, and I explained to my fathar that ha mUlt taka all of
S thi. drug in crder for the antibiotic to work.
6 Q And
7 A And each day we would ei thftr go down or wa
8 would oall him on the phone to remind him to take it, but a
9 week after the medicine should have been taken I went down
10 and found three of the pills on the floor. He didn't even
11 know they were there.
12 Q All right. Has your father ever indicated to
13 you that he has begun loaning money to acquaintances for
14 gambling debts or for gambling purpose.?
lS A Yes, he has. He has loaned money. He ha.
16 not said who the gambler is, but for years he has told all
17 of us that he loaned money to a gambler.
18 Q I. your father able to walk without the
19 a..i.tance of canes or a walker or .omething like that, long
20 di.tances?
21 A No.
22 Q Okay. Did your father indicate to you that
23 he haa on two recent occa.ions walked from hi. residence
24 down to where the six hundred foot road you talked about or
2S the .ix hundred yard road you talked about meet. the public
18
1
2
3
"
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
U
13
1-6
"," 15
,,)
','h 16
1,','
i'\1
".' 17
"'II
":'1 18
"I
'r.', 19
(I
r,o ., 20
I' i.
21
22
23
24
25
~
"
highway?
A Ye.. He ha. walked down there on two
oooa.ione, .0 he .ay..
Q So he has told you. And i. that a level
road?
A No. This i. a mountain road, very Iteep,
very rugged. In lome plaoes there'. two to three foot
ditoh.. on tlle lide of the road.
Q Has your father ever indioated to you that he
regularly reoeive. visits from individuall whom you know
oould not have been there for a period of several yearl?
A Yes, he doe..
Q Okay. Could you relate .ome of the.e
individuals?
A Well, one of them i. my ex-.on-in-law who
u.ed to reside with him. He .aid that he oome. about every
other week.
Q And does he?
A No, hft doe. not.
Q With re.pect to your father'. cooking, you've
indicated that you did not believe he can cook for him.elf.
Ha. he ever destroyed any cookware, to the be.t of your
knowledge?
A Ye./ he ha..
Q How has that occurred?
19
~
~
1 A Wall, for one thing, we bought him gla..ware
2 to u.. in hi. el.ctric oven, and we allo got him microwave
3 .tuff to b. u..d in the microwave. So he put. the microwave
4 article. in the eleotrio oven and meltl them. He has also
S put the glasl items on top of the gal stove and had them
6 explode.
7 Q Now, did you warn him when these item., gla..
8 items, were given to him that these were not stove top .afe?
9 A Yes, I did. I told him theme were for his
10 microwave or his eleotrio oven.
11 Q And did you ask him what happened to thele
12 glaslware iteml?
13 A Well, sometimes he says that somebody has
14 stolen them.
lS Q All right. Has he ever indioated that
16 someone else burned them on the top of the stove?
17 A Yes, he indioated that my granddaughter, who
18 residod with him for a while, had destroyed the.e, but .he
19 found them melted when she went into hi. hou.e to clean hi.
20 cupboard. and she threw them out.
21 Q Did she perhaps explode the gla.. item.?
22 A No, she did not.
23 Q Are you aware whether your father, with
24 re.pect to personal hygiene, uses disposable toilet ti..ue
2S or not?
20
1
2
3
"
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
'19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
A No, he does not.
a Do you know what he u.e. for hygiene after he
goes to the bathroom?
A A wash oloth.
a And what does he do with the wash oloth
thereafter?
He rinses them out, and hangs them up to be
A
u.ed "gain.
a And have you seen them there?
A Yes, I have.
a And ar$ you aware if -- on this flat area, i.
it completely flat? Are you aware of whether this flat area
were his mobile home is -- is it oompletely flat or are
there 80me embankments?
A There's embankments on both side..
a And has your father ever fallen down on tho,e
embankments?
A Yes, he has fallen down. He ha. a greenhou.e
on the lower level of the one embankment, and he has fallen
down the hill against the greenhouse.
a In the reoent, say six to twelve month., have
the.e falling down periods inoreased in frequency?
A Yes. He olaims that he has blackout .pell.,
and he falls and lays there for sometime. as long a. a half
an hour.
21
~
~
1 Q All right.
2 A He does this in the house too. He falls
3 going in the Iteps or step rather.
4 Q Do you have reason to believe that your
5 father has oonsumed food which is spoiled?
6 A Yes, I do.
7 Q Why do you have reason to believe that?
8 A Beoause he keeps it in the refrigerator 10
9 long, and there were several times that he gave me food to
3.0 bring home, like a jar of mayonnaise he kept on the pantry
11 Ihelf, and I threw it out. He gave my a jar of prego that
12 he had in his refrigerator that he had taken a tablespoon or
13 so out, and several weeks later he gave it to me.
14 When he was getting Meals on Wheell he would
15 take the sandwiohes and let them layout for houri and then
16 put them in the refrigerator, and five days later he would
17 try to give t.hem to us to take home and eat.
18 Q And did he try to eat them himself on
19 oooasion?
20 A No, beoause he didn't like this food.
21 Q And did he canoel hiB Meals on Wh.els.
22 A YeI/ he did.
23 Q And with respeot to your luggeltion that a
24 cl.aning perlon olean his house, while we'r. on the lubject.
25 Did you do more than suggest?
22
~
~
II
1 A Oh, yell. I talked to him about it a lot of
2 times, and I'm not the only one who talked to him about it.
3 My granddaughter talked to him, my sister. AI a matter of
4 faot, we got him a oleaning woman, and she was there for
5 four hours and never got out of the kitohen, and he told
6 her, don't oome baok anymore.
7 Q So he fired her?
8 A Yes.
9 Q Has your father attempted in I:he reoent past
10 to olimb onto the roof of his mobil& home?
11 A Yes. I have warned him for yean. He always
12 told me he was going up to do something to the roof, and I
13 asked him not to go up beoause of his age, that he oould
14 fall and injure himself.
15 Q In faot, in the reoent past, again, six to
16 twelve months, has the:!:'e been a ladder observed propped up
17 against his mobile home?
18 A Yes.
19 Q Whioh he has admitted was put there .0 he
20 oould olimb onto the roof to perform some function?
21 A That is oorreot.
22 Q And has your father in the recent pa.t
23 well, this time let'. say the past 24 months, has he
24 puroha.ed a ohain law?
25 A Yes, he has.
23
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
'~
~
Q And did ho t,ell you that he purch...d the
chain .aw .0 that he oou1d out wood?
A Well, he cuts anything with it. It doe.n't
have to be a log. If it's a staok of wood he'll cut it with'
the ohain saw.
Q To out wood or. other things?
A To out wood.
Q All right. And did you indioate to him at
that time that you and your husband had a ohain saw?
Yes, I did.
And that if your husband was able, he would
A
Q
cut the wood?
A
Q
wood?
A
Q
That is correct.
He indicated that he wanted to out hi. own
That is correot.
At the time that he indicated this could he
.ee well enough to denote the differenoe between a dollar
bill, a five dollar bill, a ten dollar bill?
A No.
Q At this time oou1d he see well enough to
write hi. name on the ,line of a checkbook without
aslistance?
A No.
Q At this time cOl.\ld he walk without the
24
~
~
1 a..i.tanoe of a walker or two oanes?
2
3
A
No.
Q
,
But he insisted to you that. he wanted a ohain
4 saw so that he oould cut logs?
5
6
A
That is oorreot.
Q
With respeot to your father's physioal
7 oondition, has he begun to oomplain that he feels ill,
8 generally speaking, ill feelings in the stomach, perhaps
9 headaches, and he asks someone to oome down and be with him?
10
11
12 rooent past?
13
14 mountain.
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
A
Yes.
Q
Have these inoreased in frequenoy over the
A
More so then when we first moved to the
Q
Okay.
But when my ex-son-in-law lived with him, I
A
would get calls at 3100 in the morning, come down. Your
fa ther is ill. I'd go down and say, let me take you to the
hospital. No, I don't want to go to the hospital. If I'm
going to die, I'm going to die right here in this hou.e.
Q So your father has refused -. when he was ill
22 enough for you to be called down, his daughter, he refused
23 to go to the hospital at your suggestion?
24
25
,",.,,,
,> ',1'
A
That is correct.
Q
And when you observed him did you want to
2S
\,
"
~
'{II'\
1 A Yes.
2 Q So it would be natural for her to be . perlon
3 who i. ~oming over?
4 A Oh, yes.
5 Q So it would be natural for him to a.,ume
6 that/ is that correot?
7 A Yes. As a matter of fact, I have a oleaning
8 girl, and on occa.ion I'll send her down to my Dad's hou.e
9 with something. And when she oomes in he'll say to her, i.
10 that you, Jenny? He tAkes her for Jenny every time sh.
11 oome. in.
12 Q And the mobile home -- the door to the mobile
13 home opens essentially into the living room/ is that
14 oorreot?
15 A Yes.
16 Q And t.he Hving room, is it a very large ,room
17 or is it relatively
18 A It's a fairly nioe size for a mobile home.
19 Q And what size would you say that i.?
20 A Well, I'd say it has an exten.ion on it.
21 So the mobile home itself is 12 foot wide, and I'd .ay it
22 probably has between a 5 and 8 foot extension onto that 12
23 foot. So it's a normal size room.
24 Q So the living room, you would .ay, i. a
25 normal size room, 15 by 15?
27
~
~
1 AYe..
2 Q So he could be no more than 15/ 20 feet away
3 from the door, i. that correct?
4 A That is correct.
5 Q And at that point in time he can/t .ee who'.
6 entering, i8 that correct?
7 A That is correct.
8 THE COURT I Before I forget it, how many
9 children did your dad have?
10 THE WITNESS I He has two of U8, and we were
11 both adopted. I was adopted as a small baby, and my sister
12 was adopted later in life.
13 THE COURTI So there are two children, and
14 both children are still living?
15 THE WITNESSI Yes.
16 MR. DILEONARDO I Mi.. Rose Baker is the other'
17 child, Your Honor.
18 BY THE COURT I
19 Q Okay. And obviously his wife is dead?
20 A Yes, my llIother died in 1980.
21 Q' 80?
22 A Yes. As a matter of fact, she died in
23 January, and I'm not quite sure of the month, but I think it
24 was around in May, I had asked my father, did he want to
25 come and live with me? And he said --
28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
Q Now/ wait a minute. I have one other
que.tion. What did your dad do in his life time as far as
hi. work wal concerned?
A Well, I'm trying to remember him back a. a
amall child. Later in life he bought the boat housea in
Harrisburg.
Q The boat houses there on the island?
A Yes.
THE COURT: Okay. Go ahead.
MR. DILEONARDO I Thank you, Your Honor.
Your Honor, paragraph 8 of the petition might give you an
idea of his closest relatives as well as lome of the other.
details.
BY MR. DILEONARDO I
Q With respect to your father and the call you
made to the Cumberland County Area Agency on Aging to see if
you could get some meals assistance for your father,
eventually al a result of that call, and perhaps other
calls, did you have a meeting in late June of 1994 with the
Cumberland County Area Agency on Aging?
A Yes, I did.
o And present at that meeting was your father?
A Yes, he was.
Q Were you present?
A Yes, I was.
29
~
~
1 A Yel, it wal.
2 Q And, finally, based upon your 70 year. or so
3 experience with your father, do you believe that he i.
4 currently able to make the deoisions, that he has the
5 ability to make the deoisions neoessary to oare for hi.
6 person and or his finanoial affairs?
7 A No, I do not think he has the ability.
8 Q And you've signed a dooument with this Court
9 indicating that you would be willing to serve as a guardian.
10 Do you remember signing that?
11 A Yes, I do.
12 Q All right. And do you presently know of any
13 oondition which you may reoently have become aware of or
14 anything that would prevent you from serving as guardian?
15 A There's no oondition.
16 Q And oan you tell me in your own wordl, this
17 is my last question, exaotly why you feel this extraordinary
18 step is neoessary?
19 A Because I'm afraid harm is going to come to
20 my father. I love my father very muoh. I want to knuw that
21 he'. going to be in the care af somebody to help him.
22 MR. DILEONARDO: I have no further que.tion.
23 of this witness, Your Honor.
24 THE COURT: Cross-examine.
25
31
~
~
1 CROSS BXAMINATION
2 BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
3 Q I think you mentioned early on in your
4 testimony that your father lived on this property that you
5 own until recently. Has he moved from th~t property?
6 A I do not know because he has not told me.
7 Q Have you checked the trailer that he
8 previously lived in to see if he was still living there?
9 A Oh, yes. I go down every day to check to see
10 if he's there. He had given me keys to get into his mobile
11 home.
12 Q Has he been there during any of your visits?
13 A There have been one or two occasions that I
14 have watched him come into the house. How many times he's
15 been there, I do not know. Because the air conditioner's on
16 in the house, I cannot hear vehicles coming up the lanes.
17 Q Aren't you, in fact, aware that your father
18 did move from this property? Didn't you, in faot, see him
19 moving his belongings?
20 A Well, until my father tells me that he has
21 moved -- there's still clothing in his house. There's
22 furniture there. There's food in the refrigerator.
23 Q But you did see him remove things from the
24 property, oorrect?
25 A No. I'm aware -- well, I did see them come
32
,
"*'
~
lone day for about fifteen minutes and remove lome things,
2 but where I wal situated at on my front porch -- you have to
3 remember there'. fifty to a hundred foot tre.s in front of
4 me. So my view wasn't very well.
5 Q Okay. Now, with respect to the power of
6 attorney that you talked about. You had power of attorney
7 sinoe 1986, correct?
8 A Yes .
9 Q And you indicated that you had some knowledge
10 that this may have, in fact, been revoked at a certain time?
11 A Beg your pardon? I didn' t hear.
12 Q You had some knowledge that you thought this
13 power of attorney that you previously had, had been revoked I
14 is that oorreot?
15 A Yes.
16 Q Okay. Didn't your father, in fact, inform
17 you on the ocoasion that you went to the Offioe of Aging
18 that he had revoked the power of attorney?
19 A He mentioned it.
20 Q So you did know that?
21 A Yes, but I had already checked at the
22 oourthouse that day.
23 Q But you
24 A To find out that he had revoked the power.
25 Q So you did know that he revoked your power of
33
fM'\
~
1 attorney?
2 A Aooording to the courthouse, yel, but my
3 father, he hadn't said a word to me prior to that.
4 Q But he did tell you at the Offioe of Aging?
5 A We didn't go there until the 21st, and he did
6 this on the 13th. So he had 8 days that he oould have told
7 me that he did it.
8 Q Okay. Thank you. Now, you mentioned varioul
9 things that your father does that, in your opinion, make him
10 suitable to have a guardian appointed for him. The first
11 one you mentioned was that he has left food on the stove and
12 it was burned. Have you ever done that yourself?
13 A When I'm in the house. I might be right in
14 the house. I have burned food, yes, if I have it turned too
15 high, but I've nev~r left the house with food on cooking.
16 Q Have you ever asked your father why he takes
17 his hearing aids out?
18 A He says they annoy him.
19 Q If they annoy him wouldn't it be natural to
20 take them out?
21 A I'm sure it is, but every time we come to
22 talk to him we have to ask him, please, get your hearing
23 aids. He'll sit down and try to talk to us without having
24 these hearing aids in, and then we have to scream at him.
25 Q When you ask him to put hi. hearing aid. in
34
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10.
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~.
~
doe. he do that?
A Sometimes. Most of the time. he does.
Sometimes he oan't find them.
Q Okay. Now, you mentioned that you had
ordered Meals on Wheela to be delivered to your father, i.
that correct?
A That is oorrect.
Q And he cancelled that, is that oorrect?
A Yes.
Q Did he make the telephone call him..lf to
canoel it?
A No. He &liked me to oall them and tell them.
.Q SO you knew that he wanted to have this
cancelled, correct?
A Yes.
o Did you oancel the Meals on Wheel. then?
A Yes, I did.
o So you took his word that he wanted to have
them cancelled and you cancelled them?
A Yes.
o Now, something else you mentioned was the
medications. You said because of your father's lack of
ability to see sometimes he mixes up medication., but then,
on the other hand, you mentioned that he only takes a few
different medications. How many medioation. doe. he take?
35
1
.2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
,...
A He take. vicodin, and when he gets pain from
the angina he will take that. He takes medioation for
oramps in his legs. He takes that every night before he
goes to bed.
Q And that's the only two medications that he
takes?
A And he has some arthritis in his right foot,
so the dootor suggested that he take ecotrin.
Q Does he take all of these medioations on a
regular basis?
A I don't know because not living with him I
would not know. I know on times he has taken the vicodin,
whioh is 750 milligrams, and he has taken two of them at a
time, whioh is 1500 milligrams of vicodin at one time.
Q How do you know that he does that?
A Beoause he has told us.
Q So you believe him when he tells you things?
A Yes. I would have no reason to question my
father.
Q Okay. Now, these gambling debts that you
talked about, you said that your father told you that he
loaned money to various people or one person for gambling?
A Yes.
Q When was that that he told you?
A Since he's been living there in the mountain;
36
~
~
1 He did it on a regular basis. I don't know if he's doing it
2 today, but he would send me to the bank to get him three,
3 four hundred, five hundred dollars out so that he could put
4 it in his safe when this gentleman oame so that he oould
5 loan him money.
6 Q Iln' t it actually a fact that these gamblers
7 that he loaned money to, that occurred many years ago when
8 he operated the boating business?
9 A He's done it sinoe he's lived on the
10 mountain.
11 Q You've seen him?
12 A No, I have not seen him. I only go on what
13 my father tells me because I have no reason to believe that
14 he would lie to me.
15 Q Okay. And, again, wi th regard to these
16 various walks that you said he's taken down the hill, this
17 is only based on what he has told you, c~rrect?
18 A That is correct. Well, I haven' t seen him
19 walk down the hill, but I have gone down to his mobile home
20 to go do his store shopping and he's not there. He goes
21 away. He doesn't tell us where he's going or when he's
22 coming baok. And I'd ask him how he got thera, and he lays,
23 I walked down the hill.
24 Q How often do you visit your father or did you
25 visit your father when he still lived there?
37
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
him to the dootorl. I take him to the bank, any plaoe he
wants to go. If he calls me, I take him.
Q And this is even with your various medical
conditions?
A Yes, it is.
Q Okay.
A As a matter of fact, I've gotten up out of
bed already to take him to the store.
Q Now, you referred to your father's habit of
not using toilet tissue when he goes to the rest room.
Isn't it true that a doctor told him that beoause of his own
medical oondJ.tions that he should use a wash oloth?
A I'm not aware of that.
Q You're not aware of it, but is it possible?
A And I take him to the urologht. He has
canoer --
Q Okay.
A -- of the prostrate, and I take him every six
months for a checkup.
Q When was the last time that you had him
there?
A
right now.
About six months ago. He's due a checkup
Q Now, Miss Sheetz, after you learned from
various sources that your power of attorney had been
40
.
~
~
1 revokld, did you visit the blnk and withdraw funds?
2 A Yes, becau.. I am on his checking aocount.
3 Q And whlre are those funds presently?
4 A They are wi th my lawyer.
5 Q And they're being kept by your attorney?
6 A Yes.
7 Q And these are fund" belonging to your father?
8 A YIIl, they are.
9 MR. DILBONARDO I Al though the e88ential facts
10 are true, I'll objeot to the form of the question only from
11 the standpoint of withdraw of funds as if it was an account.
12 I think the .eries of events you were talking about, she was
13 answering at lea.t, had to do with a Certifioate of Deposit
14 which Miss Sheetz did, in fact, have transferred from a
15 Certificate of Deposit to a bank check. The bank check
16 being made out precisely as the Certifioate of Deposit was.
17 THE COURT I Why don' t you ask her wha t Ihe' s
18 really done. She said she withdraw funds from a cheoking
19 account, and I don't know .-
20 BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
21 Q The funds you withdrew from the bank, wal it
32 a checking acoount or a Certificate of Deposit?
23 A I did both.
24 Q You did both?
25 A Yes, I did.
41
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
A Oh, no.
Q Do you know how muoh was in it when you took
the twenty-five hundred out?
A There was around thirty-eight hundred
dollars .
Q Okay. Now, the CDs that you took, where are
they?
A There were in my safoty at home. He gave
them to me for safe keeping.
Q And did you actually cash them in?
A No.
Q Does he have the CDs that you've had?
A No. I do not have them anymore.
Q Does he have any savings accounts?
A Not to my knowledge.
Q Does he have any stocks or bonds?
A Not to my knowledge, no.
Q So his primary financial assets were a
ohecking acoount and these Certificates of Deposit?
A That's oorrect.
Q Prom January of 1994 until your dad left,
whenever that was, did you write all his checks?
A Yes. Except whenever he wanted to go to the
bank, he had somebody take him to the bank, and then he
would draw out -- he had a checkbook and I had a oheokbook.
43
\
~
~
1 So he could never keep a definite balanoe. My father never
2 kept a balance of what was in his cheoking account.
3 Q Bank mtatements would always come to your
4 fath8r?
5 A They oame to his address. He could not rGad
6 them, and I started in 1992 .- I'm sorry, 1993 bringing the
7 bank statements up to my house. I would tell him how muoh
8 money wal in his cheoking account. Periodically he'd send
9 money to the bank, and they'd write in large letters on a
10 piece of paper how much he had.
11 Q What inoome does you~ dad have?
12 A Social Security.
13 Q That's all?
14 A That's all.
15 Q Do you know what he gets?
16 A He gets $529.00 a month.
17 Q Is that a direct deposit?
18 A Yes, it is.
1~ Q Does your dad own any real estate?
20 A No, he does not.
21 Q So really at this point the only money your
22 dad could squander might be what he has in his ohecking
23 aooount beoaule you've got all of the money from the CDs, is
24 that right?
25 A That's right.
44
~
~
1 MR. DILBONARDO. I'm sorry. My apologi.s,
2 Your Honor.
3 aBDIRBCT BXAMINATION
4 BY MR. DILBONARDO.
5 Q With respect to your father'l financ.s, did
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 Certificate of Deposit is made out precisely the same way as
14 the Certificate of Deposit was?
15 A That is correct.
16 Q And with respect to this Certificate of
17 Deposit, was Judge Sheely the first person who asked you
18 questionl about that?
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
you -- you have not spent the twenty-five hundred dollars?
That is still intact, is that correct?
A That's correct.
Q And the check has not been negotiated in any
way, shape or form?
A No, it has not.
Q And the check that you got for the
A No. My father had asked me about it.
Q Prior to that, in between your father asking
you abou t it and Judge Sheely asking you about it did
somebody oome to your home to ask you questions about that?
A Yes.
Q Who was that?
A A Detective Fry from BaRt Pennsboro Polioe
46
~
~
1 Department came.
2 Q And what did Detective Pry tell you?
3 MS. ST. CLAIR a Objection, Your Honor. It'.
4 hearsay.
5 BY MR. DILEONARDO a
6 Q What did you understand from Deteotive Pry'.
7 visit?
8 MS. ST. CLAIR a It's the same question, Your
9 Honor.
10 MR. DILEONARDO a Not exactly.
11 THB COURT a I'll accept what Deteotive pry
12 told her not: for the truth of it, but the faot ~f whether it
13 was said. Go ahead. Were you charged with taking his
14 money?
15 THE WITNESSa No. My father askwd Detective
16 pry to come and talk to me about this money, and I
17 explained -- well, I didn't explain. My lawyer was there,
18 and he explained that the monies are safe. That I did not
19 negotiate the monies, and that they're in safekeeping for my
20 father.
21 THB COURT a You haven't been charged with
22 anything criminal, have you?
23 THB WITNESSa No, no, Your Honor.
24 BY MR. DILBONARDOa
25 Q At that time did Detective Pry alk you if
47
'1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
Q Do you know what date the oheck we. written?
A April the 6th, 1993.
Q . I.'m sorry? 1993?
A Yes.
Q Did you ever ask your dad about that check?
A Yes, I have.
Q And what did he tell you that was for?
AHe said he loaned it to them for a
replaoement window, and on the same day he also paid out of
hi. pooket a hundred and twenty-five dollars for a speeding
violation. He told me that.
Q I don't know if she's going to testify here
or not, but who is she, to your knowledge?
A They're the people that deliver his wood.
Q He got to know them that way?
A Yes.
THE COURT a All right. Anything else?
MR. DILEONARDO a Yes.
BY MR. DILBONARDO I
Q At a subsequent time did the story of what
the $1650.00 was for change?
A He told me that they were going to pay it
back in wood.
Q And subsequent to that did the story change
again?
SO
--
---
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
~o
21
22
23
24
25
A Then he told me that h. would get his load of
wood, and that they would pay the balance off with ca.h.
TH! COURT I Was this trailer .ol.ly heated by
wood?
THB WITNESS I No, no. H. ha. ga..
THB COURT I Bottle gal?
THB WITNESSI Bottle gal, ye..
THB COURT. And what type of a wood stove
do.. he have or where is it?
THB WITNESSI It's in his living room.
THB COURT I Living room. Okay. All right.
Thank you. You may step down. Watch your Itep when you go
down. Okay. You may call your next witne...
MR. DILBONARDOI Thank you, Your Honor. Th.
petitioner would oall Miss Judy Good to the stand, pl.a.e.
Whereupon,
JUDY A. GOOD
having been duly sworn, t..tified as follow..
DIRECT BXAMINATION
BY MR. DILBONARDOI
Q Would you state your name for the record,
ple..e?
A My name il Judy A. Good.
Q And, MilS Good, what is your prof..sion, and
how are you employ.d?
51
1
2
3
4
!)
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--.
~
A I'm employed by the Cumberland co,jnty Office
of Aging as a hearing agency supervisor.
Q And, Miss Good, oould you please detail for
me your educational background?
A I'm a registered nurse, and I have a Baohelor
of Scienoe from Shippensburg in nursing. And I've been
employed by the Offioe of Aging since 1976.
Q All right. And in the OfUce of Aging would
you pl.ase detail your responsibilities and your duties over
the various ye.rs? That's a tough one. I told you I was
going to ask you that.
A Well, I was originally hired to assess
applioants for the Cumberland County Nursing Home to
determine their appropriateness for placement of that
faoility, and we gradually expanded and altered over the
years. And I now supervise all of the ca:t'e managerl in our
agenoy in various field specialties.
I supervise protective services. I supervise
the options two program, which is kind of a take off of what
I originally did. That's an assessmont program for
appropriate placement, be it personal care, nursing home, or
what.ver. And, of course, the regular care management that
we all do.
Q What is regular care management?
A Well, it consists mGinly of referrals that we
52
.
--
~
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
get from various .ources for elderly people who may be in
need of some a..i.tance in their home or wh~tev.r, and it
.ncomp...e. a multitude of services from leg.l .ervice. to
home .upport activities to personal care aotivities, elderly
day care, I could go on.
Q And during this time have you attended any
oontinuing education courses or specialized training cour.e.
with respect to the assessment of and the oare of the
elderly?
A We have --
Q Seminars also.
A I'm sorry?
Q Seminars also.
A Okay. We've had a multitude of training, a
lot of it from Hershey Medical Center, a lot that has been
provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, on
proteotive services, the a88essment process, and that goel
on soveral times a year.
Q All right.
A Like for two or three daYI at a time. And
then .pecialty th~.ngs. Likfl special progr&lll' for
Alzheimer's became verl' prevalent and better known. We have
had exten.ive training on Alzheimer's and related
condi tion..
Q And with respect to your a..e..ment duties
53
~
~
1 and with relpect to your oase management duties, do you
2 regularly review the physioal conditions of elderly who come
3 to your attention?
4 A Oh, yes.
5 Q And do you regularly review their behavior
6 patterns, their adaptive behavior, their social skills?
7 A Yes.
8 Q And do you regularly review their mental and
9 emotional condition?
10 A Yes.
11 Q And in the assessment prooess itself for a
12 nursing home, as you described it?
13 A Om-hum.
14 Q Doesn't that involve whether a person would
15 need limited or intermediate or skilled care?
16 A Yos.
17 Q Okay. And those are terms with respect to
18 long term care facilities, are they not?
19 A Yes.
20 Q And the differenoe between whether .omeone
21 nieds intermediate or skilled care dependl on how much that
22 per~on can or cannot do for themselves, is that oorreot?
23 A Yes, to an extent. I think I need to add
24 that Ikilled care also includes any specialized treatment.
25 or procedures that the individual requires. That
54
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
automatically makes it skilled care. They may be pretty
self-suffioient otherwise, but if they have any special
treatments, any physical therapy, anything like that it's
automatically skilled oare now.
Q It is now?
A And the regulationl ohange, and you have to
change with them.
Q And with respect to your 18 years since you
r.ceived your registered nursing lioense, have you basically
dedicated yourself to the care and assessment of the
oonditions of the elderly?
A Yes.
Q And your oontinuing education courles and
seminars that you've referred to, have they all dealt with
geriatric care?
A Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
Q And you are currently in oharge of all of the
caseworkers at the Cumberland County Office of the Area
Agency on Aging, is that correct?
A Teohnioally there's two that are supervised
by another supervisor.
Q With that brief governmental exoeption, that
is the case?
A
Q
Yes.
And during the course of your dutie. are you
55
.
.
1 in oharge of regularly alsessing the oondition of elderly
2 people with the legislatively mandated duty to ensure
'3 that.. to keep th~ from harm to the best extent that your
4 offioe is able to do so?
5 A Oh, absolutely.
6 MR. DILEONARDO a All right. Your Honor, at
7 this point I would move that Miss Good be accepted as an
8 expert witna.. with respect to assessing the oondition of
9 the eldorly, Ipecifically with respect to assessing the
10 mental, emotional, and physioal condition, the adaptive
11 .ocial behavior and skills of an elderly person as required'
12 by Section 55180f 20 Purdons.
13 THE COURT a Would you like to cross-examine
14 her on these qualifications?
15 MS. ST. CLAIRa Yes, Your Honor.
16 THE COURT a Go ahead.
17 MS. ST. CLAIR I I would oertainly objeot to
18 . that title in terms of her being a suitable person to
19 testify under Section 5518. That particu~ar section say.
20 that Ihe must be qualified by training and experience in
21 evaluating individuals who are incapaoitated, the type
22 alleged, and we haven't even established if she'. an expert
23 on any particular or general type of thing.
24 And then she has to be an expert or qualified
25 through tr.aining and experience to address the person's
56
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23 .
24
25
~
---
mental, emotional, and phYlioal condition, adaptive behavior
and sooial skills. She's an R.N. Perhaps she's qualified
in that regard to some extent to judge a ourrent physical
oondition. I don't think that has anything to do with long
term adaptability or anything of that nature.
MR. DILEONARDO I Your Honor, by way
THB COURTI Wait a minute. I think she's
certainly qualified to express opinionl based on her
eduoation and experience along those lines. Now, what I'd
suggest we do is do it on a question by question basis, and
if you feel that the question that is being asked calls for
an opinion that she's not qualified to render, then you may
objeot at that time and we'll decide it then.
Obviously, she'. not a physioian. She's not
a psyohiatrist, and anything along those lines that require
luch opinionl she wouldn't be qualified to give. ~d I
don't even know at this point how often she has leen Mr.
Zeiders or what she's done or anything else.
MR. DILBONARDOI Thank you, Your Honor.
BY MR. DILEONARDO I
Q With respect to the Zeiders situation, are
you familiar with the situation involving Mr. G. Dale
Zeiders and Lorna Gene Sheetz?
A Yel, I am.
THB COURT I When did you first see him?
57
--
~
1 Zeider.?
2 A In term. of review, could you clarify?
3 Q Review other information?
4 A Oh, y... Um-hum.
5 Q Specifically have you had an opportunity to
6 review this information with your caseworker, one of the
7 oaseworkerl reporting to you, prilcilla Whitman?
8 A Yes.
9 Q And specifically are you aware if Mi.s
10 Whitman visited Mr. Zeiders at his home on Holtz Road in
11 Cumberland County?
'12 A Yes, I am.
13 Q And in the general courle of Miss Whi~n's
14 duties, is .he required to report to you the findings that
15 she make. with respect to varioul a..eslments and visitl
16 whioh she makes?
17 A Yes.
18 Q And did she 10 report in thil inltance?
19 A Yes.
20 Q And what did she report?
21 THB COURTI Is that her sittin\1 back there?
2~ MR. DILBONARDOI Yes.
23 THB COURTI I think we better hear from her
24 what she reported.
2S MR. DILBONARDOI That's fine.
59
'"
~
'1
2BY MR. DILIONARDO.
3 Q Based upon your observations, ba.ed upon your
4 interaotion. with Mr. Zeiders, and based upon your
5 experienoe and training, were you able __
6 MS. ST. CLAIR. Objection, Your Honor.
7 There's no basil for an opinion whatsoever.
8 THE COURT I You've got to wait until he
9 finishes his question. Go ahead. Do you remember what you
10 were asking?
11 MR. DILEONARDO I I ramember.
12 THE COURT. You hadn't finished it. Now
13 finish it.
14 MR. DILBONARDOI That's fine.
15 BY MR. DILBONARDO.
16 Q Now, Miss Good, based upon your experience
17 and training, based upon your observation of Mr. Zeiders,
18 and based upon your interactions with Mr. Zeider., are you
19 able to form an opinion as to whether Mr. Zeiders euffere
20 from a disability or condition, unspecified cause, or, if
21 you can, epeo~fy a oause, which causes him to have a
22 diminished oapacity or causes him to be inoapable of making
23. deciBione concerning his person or hiB estate?
24 THB COURT I I'J.l let her answer that.
25 THB WITNESS. Yes.
[.
60
~
~
1
2 BY MR. DILBONARDO.
3 Q And what is that opinion?
4 A Well, based on my observations and disoussion
5 with him, he did not appear to have a clear underltanding
6 and oomprehension of the matters we discussed.
7 THB COURT I And what were those matters?
8 THE WITNESS I Various problems that he seemed
9 to be having. We tried to address some of the concerns and
10 the issues regarding him living alone without some
11 lupportive servioes, the types of things that he needed to
12 sustain him and so on, and I just felt that I waln't getting
13 through.
14 I mean, he would respond, yes, yes, you know,
15 as you do when YOII're talking -- someone'll talking to you,
16 but it didn't seem to penetrate. And I tried to read -- I
17 had to read something to him, a document to him because he
18 was unable to read it himself. And he just did not seem to
19 oomprehend or understand what it was about at .11.
20 BY MR. DILEONARDO I
21 Q And based upon that opinion, did you make any
22 suggestians to Mr. Zeiders relative to what you thought he
23 might be able to do, and based upon your ooncerns?
24 A Yes.
25 Q And what was that suggestion that you made?
61
~
~
1 A I suggelted that he have a complete workup,
2 what we refer to as a geriatric assellment, which involves
3 examinationl by varioul professionall in different
. speoialized are.1 to determine if, in deed, there were any
5 problems, and if, in deed, there wal anything that could be
6 done about any of them.
7 Q And now with relpeot -. let me alk you that
8 same qulltion. Do you utill have that opinion today
9 based upon your experience and training and your
10 observations and interactions with Mr. Zeiders, do you still
11 believe, is it still your opinion, that he should be -- that
12 he should reoeive a full geriatrio examination?
13 A Yes.
14 Q And by a full geriatric examination do you
15 mean a physical examination and a mental examination of the
16 type performed by the location that you suggested, is that
17 correct?
18 A Yes.
19 Q And the location you suggested i. what?
20 A Herlhey Medical Center.
21 Q And did you suggest that because you have any
22 Ipecial relationlhip with them with respeot to, you know
23 do you have any -- is there any interoonnection between them
24 or did you luggest this based upon the quality of their
25 work?
62
,...
--
1 A I luggested it based upon the quality of
2 their work. We have used various different 10calel, and
I 3 they'seemed to be far away mOlt comprehensive.
4 Q And on the date of June 21st when you made
5 thi. sugge.tion to Mr. Zeiders, did he say that he would go?
.6 A Yes, he did.
7 Q And did anything oocur contrary to that on
8 June 22nd?
9 A Yes, it did.
, 10 Q And what occurred on that date?
11 A. My oare manager reported to me that she had
12 receivod a phone call negating the previous agreement.
13 Q And subsequently as a relult of that you did
14 not schedule the examination?
15 A That's correct.
16Q Now, based upon your experienoe and training,
17 and your observations and interactions with Lorna Sheetz,
18 have you been able to form an opinion as to whether she
19 would be a suitable guardian if this Court were moved
20 suffioiently by the evidence to appoint a guardian?
21 THE COURT I Well, that's for me to decide not
22 for hor. Who's a suitable guardian --
23 MR. DILBONARDOI I understand, Your Honor,
24 and I don't mean to invade your province. Let me ask the
25 question another way.
63
--
--.
1
2 BY MR. DILBONARDOl
3 Q Are you aware or do you have an opinion or
4 are you aware of any in:armities or disabilities, whether
5 they b~ physical or personality disorderl or mental or
6 emotional disorders which this Court should be aware of in
7 considering whether to appoint Miss Sheetz as a guardian?
8 THE COURT I Did she ever examine her?
9 MR. DILEONARDO I Your Honor, I can ask her
10 this.
11 BY MR. DILBONARDOI
12 Q Was Miss Sheetz present at the same meeting
13 for the same length of time that Mr. Zeiders was present on
14 June 21st?
15 A Yes.
16 Q And did you have approximately the same
17 opportunity to observe and interact with Mis. Sheetz at that
18 time as you did with Mr. Zeiders?
19 A Yes.
20 BY THB COURTl
21 Q Wait a minute. What do you feel a guardian
22 of the person should be able to do? If I appoint her, what
23 Ihould she be able to do, in your opinion?
24 A I think she should be able to make sure that
25 he has the best possible oare available to provide for him
64
~
~
1 the best quality of life.
2 Q Does IIhe have to do physical things, in your
3 judgment, to perform as a guardian of his person?
" A Not nectlssarily, no.
5 Q YO\\ don't think 1l0?
6 A No.
7 Q What about -.
8 A When we speak of physioal thing. we're
9 talking about like providing
10 Q Walhing?
11 A -- hands on oare kind. of things. No, I
12 don't think she needs to do that.
13 Q What about handling his financial affairs?
14 From talking to her do you have an opinion?
15 A My peroeption?
16 Q Yeah.
17 A My perception was that at the time, and I
18 have no .- had no reason to alter that, was that she was
19 trying to look out for his belt interests and make lure that
20 what he had would be used t:o take care of him. That's all.
21 That's all I oan say.
22 THE COURT I Go ahead.
23 MR. DILEONARDO. Your Honor, I didn't want to
24 ask the questions that direotly, but that'l exactly what I
25 was getting at. And I have no further queltions of this
65
--
~
1 witn....
2 THE COURT I Cross-examine.
3 CROSS BXAMINATION
4 BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
5 Q Miss Good, on that occasion on June 21.t, I
6 believe, that you had the opportunity to Ipeak with Mr.
7 Zeiders, how long did that session run?
8 A I'd say it was approximately two to two and a
9 half hour..
10 Q Were you speaking with Mr. Zeiders during
11 this entire period?
12, A Oh, yes.
13 Q So --
14 A He was part of the disoussion.
15 Q Was it a disoussion involving a whole group
16 of people or was it a one on one discussion between you and
17 Mr. Zeiders?
18 A No. I wouldn' t say a whole group. It wa.
19 Mr. Zeiders and his two daughters, his care manager,
20 Priacilla Whitman, who's already been mentioned, and hi.
21 son-in-law.
22 Q Wa. this the only occa.ion you had where you
23 .poke with Mr. Zeiders conoerning these various matter. that
24 you .poke about?
25 AYe..
66
--
~
1 A I don't do medical examination., I think in
2 the contact that you're referring to. I'm not licensed to
3 do that.
4 Q And this one meeting that you had with Mr.
5 Zeiders, wal that the only meeting you had with the.e
6 various other individuals who were there?
7 A Yes.
8 THE COURT I I wasn' t sure, Mrs. Good. Who
9 called you and said that he refused to have this evaluation?
10 How was that relayed to you?
11 THE WITNESSI I didn't get the oall. The
12 call went directly to Priscilla Whitman, our care manager.
13 THE COURT I Do you know who called her?
14 THE WITNESS: An attorney. I don't know the
15 name.
16 THE COURT I An attorney. And then nhe told
17 you this?
18 THE WITNESSI That's correct.
19 BY MS. ST. CLAIRI
20 Q Now, this evaluation that you said you would
21 reoommend having done, who would be responsible for paying
22 for that?
23 A Medioare pays for that.
24 Q Okay. When you spoke with Mr. Zeiders, and I
25 gue.. you spoke with his daughter, Misl Sheetz -- Mrs.
68
.
~
1 Sheetz about thele various matters, did you know -- did you
2 become aware that the mobile home that Mr. Zeiderl w..
3 living in at the time was in his daughter's name rather than
4 in his name?
5 A I can't honestly say. I can't recall that
6 that specific item was discussed. I can't remember that.
7 Q I believe you testified that you were the one
8 that originally decided that it would be good to sat up a
9 meeting of this type that you had, is that correct?
10 A Yes, I suggested it.
11 Q You suggested it. And did you indioate to
12 Mr. Zeiders what was the purpose of the meeting?
13 A! didn't personklly. I suggested to my oare
14 manager when she tried to arrange the meeting I thought it
15 would be a good idea for all parties to sit down and hear
16 whatever grievances or diffioulties they were having, and
17 perhaps we could resolve it.
18 MS. ST. CLAIR I I have nothing further of
19 this witness, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT I Any other questions?
21 MR. DILEONARDO I I have nothing further of
"2 thil witness, Your Honor.
23 BY THB COURT I
24 Q Just as a matter of information to me. If
25 you were going to accept him in the County Home, and you've
69
--
--
1 Zeid.~., is present and able to testify.
2 We are willing to Itipulate that she would
3 answer my questions, your queltions, and Mr. ~eiderl'
4 attorney's questions in precisely the same manner, if I
5 would ask her the lame things. And we are willing to
6 Itipulate to that testimony if Your Honor il willing to
7 aocept it in that form.
8 THB COURT I I'm sorry. Her name is Rose?
9 MR. DILBONARDO I Rose Baker.
10 THB COURTI B-a.k.e-r?
11 MR. DILEONARDO I Yes, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT I And the stipul,ation is that she
13 would say the same things in responle to the qu.ltionl that
14 her lister did if she were asked those questionl?
15 MR. DILBONARDOI Yes, Lorna Sheetz, that's
16 oorrect.
17 THE COURT I Do you stipulate to that?
18 MS. ST. CLAIR I Yes, we would stipulate to
19 that, Your Honor.
20 THB COURT I Fine.
21 MR. DILEONARDO I And with respect to
22 Priscilla Whitman, Your Honor, to reduce the amount of time
23 that Mi.. Whitman would be t8ltifying on the stand, MilS
24 Whitman would be asked a series of questions identical to
25 the onel I alked Miss Good.
71
~
.-- .
.1
2 DIRBCT BXAMINATION
3 BY MR. DILBONARDO I
4 Q Mils Whitman, would you state your name for
5 the record?
6 A My name is Priscilla M. Whitman.
7 Q All right. And, Mill Whitman, would you give
8 me a brief eduoational baokground?
9 A I have a Baohelor's degree in social work,
10 and I have a Master's uf Soience and Human Relations.
11 Q And when did you receive your Master's?
12 A I received my Master's in May of 1987.
13 Q And when did you receive your Baohelor's?
14 A In May of 1977.
15 Q And do you work with the Cumberland County
16 Area Agency on Aging?
17 A Yel, I do.
18 Q And how long have you worked there?
19 A I worked for the Cumberland County Offioe of
20 Aging for eight and a half years.
21 Q And did you hear the stipulation whioh I
22 disoussed with Judge Sheely ooncerning your testimony being
23 identical to the testimony of Miss Good?
24 A Yel, X did.
25 Q And were you present during the testimony of
73
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--
--
Miss Good?
A Yes, I was.
Q And would you answer .- if the same question.
whioh I posed, which counsel for Mr. Zeider. po.ed, and
whioh Hi. Honor posed wer.e asked of you would you an.wer
those que.tions in the same manner?
A Yes, I would.
Q And you would adopt that testimony a. your
II
own?
A Yes, I would adopt that teltimony.
Q Now, with respect to Mr. Zeider., did you
have oooasion to see Mr. Zeiders other than on June 21st,
1994?
A Yel, I did.
Q Would you briefly outline how that oame to
be?
A Okay. I had received a referral that came
into the office requesting a caseworker to go vilit Mr.
Zeiders because he had a concern that he wanted to talk
about with a caseworker. And that came in on May 31.t,
1994.
Q And who made the requelt, if you know?
A The referral source wa. Mindy Deatrick.
Q And what was the nature of the referral?
A The nature of the referral wa. that the
74
..
--
1 olient would like to be able to have Mindy and her fa~ily
2 oome visit him at his residence. And the family,
3 apparently, was not allowing that.
4 Q The family being Miss Sheetz?
5 A Mill Sheetz.
6 Q Now, with respect to that referral, did you
7 set up a visit with Mr. Zeiders at hi. residence?
8 A Yes, I did.
9 Q And when did that take plaoe?
10 A My meeting with Mr. Zeiderl was on June 1st,
11 1994.
12 Q And how long did you meet with Mr. Zeiders?
13 A I met with Mr. Zeider., I would say, for an
14 hour and a half to two hours.
15 Q And during the course of that one hour and a
16 half to two hours did you disculs the general situation that
17 was the subject matter of the referral with him?
18 A Yes, I did.
19 Q What types of things did you di.cus., if you
20 oould briefly tell us?
21 A We disoussed, well, the roferral at first.
22 He kept laying he didn't understand why the.e people oould
23 not come on the property. He explained to me that a letter
24 had been sent to this family, and this family he had known
25 far ten years. And he just didn't under.tand why his
75
~
~
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
:1.5
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
family, meaning his daughters, would do something like this.
So that was thy basic part of our conversation.
BY THB COURT I
Q Run that by me again. lie was wondering why
his daughterl would not permit who to come on his property?
A Mindy Deatrick.
Q Spell that first name. How do you spell
that?
A I believe it's spelled M-i-n-d-y.
Q Deatriok?
A Deatriok. D-e-a-t-r-i-c-k.
Q So that's what the converlation initially was
about, and, obviously, you didn't know the answer to that
because you didn't know either party before that, right?
A That's correct.
THE COURT I Go ahead.
MR. DILEONARDO I Thank you, Your Honor.
BY MR. DILEONARDO I
Q And did Mr. Zeiders at that time tell ynu
that his daughter or daughters had indioated that they would
make arrangements for him to visit with the Deatricks off of
the property owned hy the Sheetz's?
A Yes, he did. He told me that they would be
willing to take him down to the end of the lane or meet
Mindy wherever, but he really didn't want that. He didn't
76
--
..
1 understand why they could not come up to his residence.
2 Q All right. And during the oourse of your
3 disous.ion were you able to -- and based upon your
4 experience and training, wer~ you able to form an opinion or
5 impre.sion as to whether Mr. Zeiders wa. oomprehending the
6 oonversation you were h&ving with him?
7 A I had great difficulty in talking with him.
8 I don't know if it's because of his hearing, but, YIS, I did
9 have some concerns just in general convers&tion whither or
10 not he was oomprehending because he kept repeating over and
11 over certain things or then he would state one thing and
12 then later on kind of contradict it.
13 Q Now, you've dealt with hearing impaired
14 people before, have you not?
15 A Yes, I have.
16 Q And do you feel that every hearing impaired
17 person does not comprehend what you're talking about?
18 A No.
19 Q So you had experience in dealing with hearing
20 impaired persons?
21 A Yes.
22 Q And yet with thi. experience you .till
23 believed that Mr. Zeiders had difficulty comprehending what
24 you were talking about as opposed to hearing what you were
25 talking about?
77
~
--
1 A That's oorreot.
2 Q Were you present during the meeting of June
3 . 21st? ,
4 A Yes, I was.
5 Q And were you able to form an impresdon __
6 would you agree with -. I know you adopted the testimony,
7,. butspecifioally do you agree with Mi.. Good how long that
8 meeting lasted?
9 A Yes, I do.
10 Q And during the OourRe of that disoulsion,
11 were you able to form an impression as to whether you
12 believed Mr. Zeiders waR oomprehending what was oocurring at
13 that prooeeding?
14 A No, he was not.
15 Q Okay. In your opinion
16 A In my opinion, no, he was not.
17 Q All right. So you were able to form and
18 opinion, and your opinion is he was not?
19 A That'soorreot.
20 Q And have you performed any further
21 investigation or have you oompleted your investigation
22 rather relative to the oomplaint phoned in by Miss Deatriok
23 . conoerning the visitation at the Holtz Road property?
24 A No, I have not. He apparently is not there.
25 MR. DILEONARDO I Okay. Thank you.
78
..
..
1 THI COURT. Croll - examine.
~ CROSS BXAMINATION
3 BY MS. ST. CLAIR.
4 Q Mi.. Whitman, 10 your visits to Mr. Zeiders
5 at his home is limited to that one particular day, !s that
6 oorrect?
7 A '!'hat's correot.
8 Q And you were there in his home to discuss the
9 situation ooncerning his family not allowing Mindy Deatrick
10 to come onto the property?
11 A That:'s correct.
12 Q How did you know that he was concerned about
13 this situation? Did he tell you that?
14 A Yes. After getting the referral I called Mr.
15 Zeiders to make sure that's exactly what he wanted, was a
16 caseworker to como up and talk to him about this problem,
17 and he said yes.
18 Q So he comprehended what you were talking
19 about when you called on the phone?
20 A Yes.
21 Q When you went to visit him were you talking
22 directly to Mr. Zeiderl on that occasi~n?
23 A Yes, I was. I was sitting al close as you
24 are to him right now.
25 Q Was there anyone else present?
79
,.
---
1 A No, there was not.
2 Q So your understanding of the situation and
3 the problem he was experiencing came solely from what he
4 told you?
5 A That's correct:.
6 Q And you were able to understand what the
7 problem was in his mind, is that correct?
8 A Yes.
9 Q So is it a fair assessment to say he made
10 sense when he talked to you?
11 A Not oompletely, no.
12 Q He made sense to the extent that you were
13 able to determine what the problem was, correct?
14 MR. DILEONARDO I Objection. Asked and
15 answered.
16 THB COURT I Over:t'ule the obj ection.
17 THE WITNESS I I wasn' t qui te sure what the
18 problem was. I mean I know that he had a problem that thele
19 people could not oome up, but he didn't understand the
20 reasoning why his family, you know, was allowing him not to
21 have this visitation, but just the fact that he repeated it
22 over and over, and what I knew of it in trying to answer it,
23 no, he did not seem to comprehond.
24 BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
25 Q Were you able to explain to him why his
80
A
Q
people?
A
Q
with him?
A
Q
A
.-.
,.
81
.
.
1 Q You say h. did have shoel on?
2 A He had shoes on, but no socks. His general
3 appearance, I would say, wal fair. There was a slight odor.
4 Q What about the trailer? Was it dirty?
5 Clean?
6 A The trailer wal fairly clean.
7 Q Did he get up and move around at all while
8 you were there, and, if so, how did he do thil?
9 A Okay. He did ambulate while I was there. In
10 fact, we even walked outside. He did not use a cane. I wal
11 a little conoerned because of his gait being somewhat
12 shuffled or unsteady.
13 Q He walked out from the trailer to the
14 outlide?
15 A That's correct. We looked at his tomato
16 bUlhes, whioh he told me he had planted. And he Ihowed me
17 the Ihed that needed -- the shed that had oome down due to a
18 Itorm, and, you know, he wanted to know if I knew anybody
19 that oould take it away.
20 Q And, again, the sole realon then why you went
21 to see him -. excuse me. Did he call you?
22 A No, he did not. Mindy Deatrick had oalled
23 me, and that is why I then called the client to make sure
24 that's what he wanted.
25 THB COURT I I don't have anything elle.
82
--
"
'1
2 RBDIRBCTBXAMINATION
3 BY MR. DILIONARDO.
" Q Did you identify your.elf when you arrived at:
,5 Mr. Zeider.' home?
6 A Ye., I did.
7 Q And at the oonclusion of t:he meeting do you
8 know whether Mr. Zeiderl remembered who you were?
9 A No, beoa\\88 he asked lIle on the way out what:
10 my name was. And also in sitting that 010.. to him he told
11 me that he oould not see my face so that h. oould not
12 recognize me again unless I was, you know, very o~o.e to
13 him.
14 MR. DILBONARDO. No further que.tion..
15 THB COURT I Thank you.
16 )IR. D:l:LBONARDOI The petitioner ha. no
17 further witnes.es, Your Honor, and we reserve the right
.18 aft:er the ca.e to cloling comment.
19 THB COURT I You may prooeed.
aOMS. ST. CLAIR I Yes, Your Honor. At thh
21 time we'd like to call G. Dde Zeiden to the .tand.
22 Whereupon,
23 G. DALB ZBIDERS
24 having been duly sworn, te.tified a. follow..
25 DIRECT EXAMINATION
83
..
--
1
2
3
..
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 a.ked you, do you understand why you're here today?
13 A I understand.
14 Q Why are you hear today?
15 A I can't get it all.
16 Q You can't hear.
17 MR. DILEONARDO I Mr. Zeiders, can you hear
10 me? Can you hear me?
19 THB WITNESSI Yeah, I hear you. You're
20 saying, do you hear me.
21 MR. DILBONARDOI Good. Why are you here
22 today?
23 THB WITNESSI I'm here becaulle my daughter
24 want. to have control of my money and me. That's all.
25 THB COURTI If you want to cOllie up and talk
A What?
Q Do you under.tand why you're here today?
A Yeah. I do now, yes.
Q Okay. Can you explain what you believe
you're here for today?
A Come again.
Q Why do you think you're here today?
A I can't hear.
Q Can you hear mil any better now?
A I hear better without that.
Q Okay. We'll do without it then. Okay. I
85
" 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--
~
to him oloser, you can.
BY MS. ST. CLAIR I
Q Mr. Zeiders, I'm go!Lng to ask you question.
from right here. Can you hear me?
A Oh, yes.
Q Okay. Good. Now, do you know which daughter
filed the petition to have a guardian appointed for you?
A Lorna. Lorna Gene Zeiders.
Q Now, how long have you lived in Perry County
with the Deatrioks?
A I don't know how long I've been up there.
It'. only about two weeks.
Q Okay. And do you live alone up there or do
you live with the Deatricks?
A I live in a separate part. It's a trailer,
and I eat my meals with them.
Q You eat your meals with the Deatricks?
A Yes, and I do my bath and everything over in
their place.
Q Okay. What about oooking? Do you oook for
, yourself?
A No.
Q Who cooke for you?
A Mrs. Deatrick.
Q And what about laundry? Do you do your own
86
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
"
..
1 laundry?
2 A
3 Q
4 house too?
She does my laundry.
And you said you take baths and things at her
A
I do every regular thing.
Q Okay.
A The place is so big and it's so wide.pread
that they have different pl.ces that you oan go to do it,
and there's one plaoe down in the basement. There's a
shower, toilet, everything down there. That's where I go.
Q Okay. Now, how do you know Mr. and Mr..
Deatrick? How do you know Larry and Mindy Deatrick?
A Eight years ago, about eight year. ago I
bought wood from them, and they brought it down. Bach year
I bought more wood from them, and we became friends.
Q Now, you said you live in a separate trailer
of some sort up there. Why do you live in a separate
trailer rather than in the house?
A Because I like it. They lort of think that I
like that too.
Q Can you talk a little bit more into here 10
everybody uan hear you?
A Okay.
Q So you live there because you like it?
A Yes. And not only that, a man my age cannot
87
..
A
1 go into a home with young children like thole three and a
2 younger couple. They don't match. We don't match.
3 Q tJm-hum.
4 A For instance, when they turn the TV on, it's
5 rock'n'roll or something. That's entirely out for me, and I
6 like to get away from that.
7 Q So you enjoy being in a separate little
8 houle?
9 A I enjoy being by myself.
10 Q Was it your decision to move over to the
11 Deatricks house over in Perry County? Did you deoide to do
12 that?
13 A Yes.
14 Q Okay.
15 A Yes. I praotically asked them if they'd give
16 me a place up there to stay.
17 Q Did anybody force you to go over there?
18 A Absolutely not.
19 Q Do you like living over there?
20 A I love it. It's the only place I've ever
21 been treated like I'm treated up there.
22 Q Okay. Now, the trailer that you have up
23 there, do you clean the house for yourself? Do you clean
24 your own houle?
25 A I sweep it. There ain't much elle. And
88
--.
--
II
1 maybe I'll make a breakfast for myself in the ~orning
2 instead of going over to their plaoe, and I olean up.
3
4 oan't hear you.
5
6
7 house?
8
9.
10 aro~d?
11
12
Q
You need to keep speaking into that or they
A
I olean my own things.
Do you have a key to Mr. and Mrs. Dea tricks
Q
A
I do.
Q
So you can go in there when they're not
A
I oan go in their house at any time.
Now, your hearing aids. You have two hearing
Q
13 aids in right now, is that correct?
14
15
A
Yes.
Q
Can you hear without those hearing aids? Can
16 you hear without your hearing aids? Don't take them out.
17 Can you hear without them?
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
A
I oan hoar some without it, YIS.
Q
Do you ever take them out or turn them off?
Do you take them out sometimes?
A Yes, I take them out.
Q Why do you do that?
A I take them out because sound roars in them,
and I don't like that. And I take them out beoause I get
quiet time out.
89
.
.
1 take it.
2 Q Can you tell the differenoe between these
3 pills that you take?
4 A Oh, yes.
5 Q How do you do that?
6 A Well, the size of them and they're different
7 in shape.
8 Q How has your health been sinoe you moved over
9 to the Deatricks house?
10 A Good. Very good.
11 Q Would you say it's improved or has it gotten
12 worse since you moved?
13 A Well, I don't know. Now I oan throw my arms
14 up and I can lift them over this way, and previously I
15 couldn't do that. And overall I'd say I'm improving.
16 Q Good. Now, do you remember hearing your
17 daughter when she testified about your loaning money to
18 people for gambling?
19 A That's a lie.
20 Q Now, can you describe to the Court what type
21 of -- did you ever loan money to people who were gambling
22 for gambling debts?
23 A Oh, back, let's see, oh, I'd say about 40
24 years, yes, 35, 40 years when I had the boathouse on the
25 river fellows would come to Die and say, Pap, oould I have
93
,.
,.
1. $25.00, $50.00 or whateve~, and they'd hand me title to
2 their boats.
3 Q They gave you title to their boats?
4 A They gave me the title to the boat., and I
5 handed it to them. Some of them I never even ..ked for
6 that. I wouldn't take anything from them becau.e I knew
7 their word was good.
8 Q Have you loaned any money to any .trangen
9 reoently?
10 A None. I haven't seen any .trangers lately.
11 Q If a person oame up to you on the .treet and
12 asked you for money. would you give it to them?
13 A No.
14 Q What would you do?
15 A Well, I'd ask him what he wanted it for. He
16 might .ay well, all of them will say, I'm hungry. I want
17 lomethihg to eat, and I'd say, where'. the neare.t
18 restaurant? We'll go there, and I'll buy you .omething.
19 And that'. all it would ba to it.
20 Q Okay. But you wouldn't give them any money?
21 A I wouldn't give them no money.
32 Q Have you loaned -- over the variou. years
23 have you loaned any money to any family members?
24 A My daughter, my granddaughter. Two
25 granddaughters got money from me.
94
"
"
1 Q Which granddaughters are they?
2 A Well, one named Robin, sbe got $7,000.00.
3 Q Om-hum.
4 A She got $7,000.00 from mI. And my daughter
S tellM me tbat it's back to four thouland, but in my mind
6 it's .till five thousand dollars.
7 Q UM-hum.
8 A And I never got a penny of the interest that
9 wa. .uppo.ed to be paid.
10 Q Okay. So you loaned money --
11 A And another thousand dollar. to -- that wa.
12 .upposed to go to school out in Minnelota, I believe, for
13 her to finish her some form to get a doctorate.
14 Q Okay.
15 A And that is still pending.
16 Q Now, do you have a oane right now? ))0 you
17 walk with a cane?
18 A I walk with a oane when I'm in a place that I
19 have to.
20 Q Okay. Did you bring a cane here today?
21 A I brought a oane in the oar becau.e I wa.
22 walking up there, but I haven't used a oane since the oar
23 came down here. I walked in here, and I walked down there,
24 and I walked up here.
2S Q Om-hum.
95
, ,
"
\
I'- ~''''''._
"
..
1 ~ I walked, oh, maybe six, seven hundred yards
2 up therebaok and forth just for exercise.
3 Q UlII-hum.
4 A I don't need a cane.
5 Q And you're talking about at your home, you
,6 walk out there?
7 A Up where I am with the Deatricks.
8 Q Okay.
9 A Now, if it's rocky, like on that hill where I
10 walked down the hill there at 1584, I needed two canes, and
11 anybody elee needs a cane to get down that hill.
12 Q Did you use your oanel when you walked down
13 that hill?
14 A I used two canes going down that hill.
15 Q Okay. Now, when you eat your meals, is there
16 anything that you oan't eat? Is there anything you're
17 allergic to or you can't eat?
18 A Anything oooked with onions in it. Anything
19 else I'll eat.
20 Q What h&pp~ns when you eat cooked onions?
21 A I get liok.
22 Q Have you gotten siok on cooked onions before?
23 A I haven't had any cooked onions for years.
24 Q Okay. That' III good. Now, did you hear when
25 Lorna said that you don't ule toilet paper when you go to
96
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
.
the rest room?
A That has been my oase for about, oh, about
six, seven years.
Q Why i. that?
A Because my spine well, the dootor 'Iid,
you've got a flagpole for a spine. And I can't tuuoh
myself. So there's only one thing you do. He say's, get
something in there. So that's what I do.
Q And that's what you do. Okay. And did the
doctor tell you to do this?
A The doctor said that's the only thing I oould
do.
Q Now, do you remember the first time you oame
into the -- you oame into Griffie and Associatea, into our
office?
A
Q
A
what is it?
Q
A
Q
of attorney?
A
Q
Yes, I do.
What did you come in for?
I came in there to take care of the -- oh,
Was that for the power of attorney?
Power of attorney, that'l it.
Okay. What did you want done with the power
I wanted it to be revoked.
And which power of attorney was that?
97
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 .
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
..
-.
A ~orna Gene's.
'Q And you wanted to have it revoked?
A % wanted to have it revoked.
Q Was that your decision to do that?
A It was my decision to do that because I oould
see where ahe had started off on a path that was going to
l.ad to nothing but trouble, and then we got trouble anyhow.
Q Do you remember telling -- are you the one
who told Mindy Deatriok to call the Office of Aging?
A Yes.
Q You did?
A We were talking back and forth, and she
mentioned the Office of Aging. And I said, well, give them
a oall because I can't dial their phone like the one I have.
Q Why did you want her to oall them?
A Because my daughter and -- well, both
daughters had gotten a letter together between them to have
the Deatricks forbidden -- they couldn't come up to get me
out of the house. They couldn't come to vi.it me, and .he
told ~e that I couldn't even -- I was ordering ooal and I
oouldn't oven get the ooal, not coal but wood. I oouldn't
even get the wood up there, that she wouldn't allow it. She
said she'd have them arrested.
Q So you were worried about that, is that
oorrect?
98
.1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
.
A That'. one of the only reasons we stayed away
from them a. long as we did.
Q Okay. Now, do you remember meeting at the
Office of Aging? Did you meet with some people at the
Office of Aging?
A Yes.
Q And why did you understftnd you we~e meeting
with these people?
A I had an arrangement -- Lorna made
arrangements for me to have somebody oome in and cook dinner
for me, and they never showed up. And I asked Lorna about
it, and she told me that it would have to be arranged.
There was going to be a meeting, and that would take care of
it.
Q So that's why you thought you were there that
day?
A That's why I went, to take care of my ~eals.
Q And did you discuss taking care of your meals
when you got there?
A Not a thing.
Q What did you discuss?
A Anything but. All about what the Deatrick.
done and what they didn't do and what they were going to do.
Q Did they ask you to undergo an evaluation at
Hershey Medical Center?
99
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
--
Q But did you agree to do that originally when
you first went there?
I A When I first went there there wasn't any
question about it. I never knew anything about it. All I
knew was I was going there to find out why the guy didn't
come and oook my dinners.
Q Okay. Now, later on did you ohange your mind
about going to the Hershey Medical Center for an evaluation?
A I called the attorney.
Q Um-hum.
A And he told me, sign nothing. Agree to
nothing. That's what he said.
Q So did you say at that time that you didn't
want to go to the medical center?
A I didn't want to go to a medical center. I
didn't want to go anywhere.
Q Mr. Zeiders, how old are you?
A Ninety-seven.
Q And when'. your birthday?
A 4/30/97.
Q 4/30/97. What doe. the a. in your name stand
for? a. Dale ZeideJ:s, what does that G. Itand for?
A Gilbert.
Q Gilbert. Do you think you need to have
someone appointed to be your guardian?
101
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
.12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
"
.
A I don't see why. Prom here up, I'= okay.
Prom here on down, I've got troubleD.
Q Okay. Now, if the Court today were to decide
that somebody should be a gtlardian for you, do you have
someone in mind that you think would be a good guardian?
A Yes, I do.
Q Who's that?
A They've given me a home and are taking care
of me right now.
Q And who's that?
A Larry Deatrick.
Q Is there anything else you'd like to say to
the Judge here today?
A Not a thing.
MS. ST. CLAIR I I have nothing further, Your
Honor.
THE COURTl Crosl-examine.
CROSS EXAMINATION
MR. DILBONARDO 1
Q Mr. Zeiders, can you hear me okay over here?
A I can hear you.
Q Do you mind if I -- can you hear me better
here now?
A Yeah.
Q I just want to ask you a couple of questions.
102
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
!I
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
..
.
Okay. Did I understand you oorreotly to say that your'
daughter told you th.t the meeting with Aging was about your
meals to be cooked in your home?
A I asked her when ** there was some delay
between the time, and I asked her when this fellow was going
to come and see me, and she said that will all be taken oare
of in time. And then she told me that thil meeting was up
here.
Q Mr. Zeiders, who told you that the m.eting
was on June 21.t? Was it your daughter Lorna? Was it your
daughter Roso or was it someone from Aging who told you that
there was going to be a meeting on the 21st?
A I believe both of them gave my an inferenoe
of that.
Q Wasn't it really the Department Qf Aging **
excuse me, the Area Agency on Aging? Wasn't it Priscilla
Whitman who loheduled that meeting with you?
A No.
Q She never oalled you?
A No.
Q No. Not at all?
A No. I had one meeting with ** onecontaot
with Priscilla, and that was the day she oame there and we
talked, and I told her that the Deatricks were outlawed and
couldn't come up there and visit me, oouldn't take me away
103
II
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
~
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
.
.
at all, ftnd that'. the only thing.
And that wal the question I ~ai.ed with her,
that I wanted that condition removed so my people oould come
in and talk to me or take me anywhere if I wanted to go
lomewhere. That's the only thing that was spoken about with
Priscilla.
Q And that's the only time you saw her at your
house?
A That's absolutely the only time. She never
showed up another time. So she asked me in the meeting
whether I would go to Hershey.
Q Okay. So it was her who alked you to go to
Hershey?
A Yes.
Q It wasn't Miss Good?
A She asked me first to give Lorna baok the
power of attorney. That was the first thing. And then she
asked me if I would get down to Hershey for a meeting.
Well, I had been already through this thing, and the way my
lon-in-law talked at this meeting, and the things that oome
up that I knew were -- there just weren't any faot. or any
truth in them, I decided that I had no bUliness in that
meetiny.
Q I see. Now, let me see if I have thi.
straight. At the meeting your daughter of 70 years lied,
104
Q
A
of property.
Q
A
septic tank.
Q
A
Q
A
Q
.
.
106
"
,..
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
A Oh, we had done some odd jObs around. there.
We bought som. oement and .tuff like that.
Q . You lBean for the shed?
A Hu?
Q You mean for the shed?
A Yeah.
Q Okay. That was insurance proceed., weren't
8 they? In other words, that was a bill that you submitted to
9 your insurance oompany? That's the only reason he gave it
10 to you?
11
12
13
A
No, no, no.
Q
So you didn't submit a bill?
That was just handed to him. That wa. all.
A
14 He got the money. He spent it. He paid it to the store. I
15 paid for it, and that's it.
16
Q
So the shed that was damaged and replaced,
17 you didn't submit that to your insurance company?
18
19
A
What was that?
Q
There was a shed damaged, and, a. a matter of
20 fact, you showed it to Miss Whitman, the damaged shed on
21 your property, and then you showed her the new shed?
22
A
Oh, that. I didn't do that. They made that
23 olaim.
24
25
Q
.Um-hum.
A
Lorna made it. She put in that claim. They
107
"
.
."
1 collected the oheck, and they took the cheok and they bought
,2
3
"
5
6
7
8
a CD and put it in Rose Baker's name and in Lorna's name.
0 Um-hum. I
I
A They took the oheck. I didn't see the oheok.
The insurance company told me it's to oome to me personally.
Q The four hundred dollar check?
A I don't know how much that h.
0 All right. So you're saying that the shed
,9 check, your daughter stole?
10
A
I don't say they stole it, no. Bverything
11 wa. in good shape between us people until this daggone
12 consideration about them barring these people from coming up
13 and getting me. That's where the whole thing comes from.
14 Q The whole thing oome. from barring the.e
15 people to come and see you?
16
17
18
A
That's it.
Q
And you believe
And me loaning him a hundred and some
A
19 dollars.
20
21
Q
Not $1650.00?
A
Well, that's what I mean. Yeah, that'. what
22 I mean, the 1650, if you put it all together.
'23
Q
You gave away a hundred and twenty-five
24 dollars for the speeding ticket. That was a gift, correot?
25
A
Right. I gave H .. a gift.
108
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
"
,.
Q And you gave that to Mill DeatriQk on th..
same day that she oame to piok up tho $1650.00 check,
aOl'rect?
A She came to Harrisburg to get some automotive
part.. She got a ticket for speeding. She oame up and was
talking to me up there about it. And I knew about a window
in the cellar. We talked that over several times.
And when the man that made the window finally
completed it, and he sent the word to him tl1at it wa. ready
to go, I figured that that man -- he wal a busineslman too,
and he needed his money for his duties and for his work. So
I had this money, and why couldn't I just let him use that
little bit of money for the time?
Q $1650. OO?
A When I loaned my granddaughters seven hundred
dollarl or s~ven thousand one way and then another thousand.
And I gave them all -- gave all of them a stock to buy their
home., but not Sharon, excluding her, but I gave the other
girls .- I gave them all their starting bill., three
thouland dollars, to start buying a home.
Q And did you get repayments from some or all
of the..?
A No.
Q ROle Baker, your daughter, never paid you
back?
109
of
. ,.
"
..
1 A Rose Baker never got any money from me that
2 she didn't pay back.
3 Q Okay.
4 A Well, four hundred dollar. right now .he
5 didn't give back.
6 Q So you didn't loan Rose the down payment for
7 the house .he livel at on Heather Drive?
8 A No, not that one. No, in deed.
9 Q Did you go with h~r to help piok out the
10 hou.e on Heather Drive?
11 A She came to get me to go along to ..e if it
12 was a house that wouldn't fall apart.
13 Q And do you know how many bedrooms is in that
14 hou.e that won't fall apart?
15 A No. I don't know how many. I think there'.
16 three.
17 Q And, in fact, does that home have as many
18 bedrooms as it hal because you told Miss Baker that you were
19 going to oome live with her at some point?
20 A I told her that if I liked the place there, I
21 would come to live with her if she wanted me.
22 Q Okay. And, in fact, then did you not loan
23 her money to buy a bigger house than Ihe could afford with
24 her down payment?
25 A No.
110
.
.
,",
II
~ Q And then .he paid you back?
2 A No. I loaned her no money on that house. I
3 gave her a thousand dollars a littlft over a year ago to buy
4 a lawn mower so that .he wouldn't come in to me -- every
5 time she oame in Ihe complained that her back was hurting
6 and everything, and I said, okay. And I gave her a thousand
7 dollars to go buy a lawn mower. I gave it to her. I didn't
8 loan it. I gave her a thou I and dollars to go buy that lawn
9 mower.
10 Q Isn't it a fact that on numerous ooca.ions
11 either Misl Baker or Miss Sheetz explained to you that the
12 reason why they did not want the Deatriok. to oome onto the
13 property owned by Mr. and Mrs. Sheetz was because they
14 feared that Mr. and Mrs. Deatriok were shall we say had a
15 tenden,oy to file lawsuits?
16 A That is the big thing, and if you follow back
17 on that, Milter, you'd find out that that was a lie about
18 the tendency to file lawsuits.
19 Q But they did tell you that?
20 A They told me that there had been 11 lawsuits
21 filed.
22 Q I'm not here to tell you whether the
23 Deatrioks have a tendency to file lawsuits or not. What I
24 .uggest to you is that earlier to your attorney you
25 .uggested that the only reason why, that had been afforded
111
..
"
1 t.o you by your daughters, was that they didn't like the
2 Deatrioks and that they wouldn't explain to you why they
3 oouldn't come on your land. In fact, they did explain?
4 A That's right.
5 Q You may not agree with that, but they did
6 explain it to you, didn't they?
7 A No, they didn't explain it to me, not a bit
8 of it. The only explanation I got was a copy of that letter
9 where it said that if Mindy Deatrick and Larry didn't pay me
10 back the difference between what I had received already and
11 what oash would have been there, they was going to file a
12 suit against them.
13 Q That relates to the fact that you, in faot,
14 told your daughters at least two different stories
15 oonoerning that $1650.00 check, correot? At one point you
16 told one of your daughters that it was a loan for the
17 windows. At another point you told them it was an advanoe
18 payment for wood. And yet at a third point you told them it
19 was somewhat in between the two. Or don't you remember?
20 A Let me give it to you.
21 Q All right.
22 A The window, I was loaning -- I was going to
23 loan it to him. And then they raised the question about the
24 way things were at the present time how they were going to
25 pay me back, and then I suggeated, you pay me back with
112
--
--
1 wood;
2 Q With wood?
3 A That's what it was. Sure, beoaule I buy
.4 wood. I had to buy over $500.00 worth of wood every year.
5 Q How many corda of wood do you use e year?
6 A I used well over five oordl thill last time.
7 Q You used five oords of wood?
8 A Yeah.
I~ Q And they charged you a hundred dollars a
10 nord?
11 A Oh, no. They oharged me $85.00 a oord.
12 Q So you used $400.00 worth of wood a year?
13 rive oords of wood, $425.00. rive cords of wood at $85.00 .
14 cord is $425.00?
15 A My wood bill was $510.00, and the
16 granddaughter that was living with me was supposed to pay
17 the half of that, and that bill wal $510.00.
18 Q rive hundred and ten dollars?
19 A rive hundred and ten dollar..
20 Q So you had five cords of wood delivered to
21 your place every year at one time?
22 A He always brought wood to me. I gave him a
23 business. I started to give him the business beoause he
24 would -- he gave me a certain number of billets of a certain
25 size and weight.
113
\,'
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
.9
3.0
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
--
Later on I mentioned about building a plaoe
to .cover the wood, and he oame with more on top of that that
I didn't pay for. . And, well, last year'. wood that came
down to me, I oould split with one crack of my .plitting
arm.
Q Okay.
A They made all that ~~ood ready for me, and
that's the reason why I was so friendly with them.
Q And with respect to the meeting on the 21st,
again getting back to that.
A Yeah.
Q Oetting back to the list of individuals. You
have suggested that the Area Agenoy on Aging, Mi.. Whitman,
was not being truthful with you when she .ugge.ted what the
meeting was about. You suggested that your daughter, Lorna,
was not truthful to you about what the meeting was about,
and you suggested at the meeting that your daughter, Rose
Baker, mentioned untruthful thing. about you, and then
finally you suggested here that the purpo.. of that meeting
was to get control of your money?
A ~d that's what I think it was.
Q But, Mr. Zeiders, didn't you willingly give
oontrol of your money to these people?
A I had complete confidenoe in Lorna.
Q And if they hadn't --
114
'.','j", '
... ...,.'-.................,~....: - .......... .. ....~..._.. . .~.., ..........~...~...~d...;;..'.'-.. ;
,..
.
1 A And I gave her the right -- I gave her the
2 right to write a oheck on my aooount for anything, and if
3 she would have wanted it -- if she would have needed it and
4 asked me I would have given it to her.
5 Q And, Mr. Zeidere, my point ii, if they wanted
6 oontrol of your money all they had to do wae say nothing to
7 you ooncerning thoir own fears, isn't that correct?
8 A Let me tell you. I was talking about this
9 thing, about this money business, and Roee Baker told me
10 that Lorna was only a~ting to proteot the money so that
11 there'd be money there if I went into a home because the
12 state has reoently passed a bill that if I didn't have
13 enough money to cak~ CQre of myself that Lorna and Rose were
14 going to have to foot the bill.
15 Q So --
16 A That's why.
17 Q You believed they were trying to proteot your
18 money?
19 A I think they were protecting themeelvee as
20 muoh as the money.
21 Q And do you or do you not admit that had they
22 just not objected to your aeeociations that you would have
23 oontinued without a problem to let Mies Sheetz have oontrol
24 of your money, isn't that right?
25 A If ehe wouldn't have pulled this thing, we
115
--
--
1 could have been just as we've been for the entire leventy
2 years .
3 Q Right. So all they had to do was do nothing
4 and they had your money?
5 A I said, all they had to do wa~ let me alone.
6 Q And they had your money?
7 A Hu?
8 Q And they had your money, correc t?
Sl A She had my money all the time.
10 Q So, in fact, Mr. Zeiders, ian' t it more
11 realonable to believe that your daughters were acting out of
12 care and concern for you rather than manufacturing a tislue
13 of liel about someone you've known less than 8 years when
14 you 1 daughters have been your daughters for 70 years, and
15 MilS Baker, you raised from a ohild?
16 A Listen, you said I was manufacturing a tissue
17 of lies.
18 Q That's precisely what I said.
19 A I wish you would go back and oertify, find
20 out how much of that was lies, and it's all on their side.
21 Q Mr. Zeiders, the fillet of the matter is -- the
22 faot of the matter is that the first time th.t you suggelted
23 that your daughters have lied to you have been lince your
24 olole allooiation with the Deatricks. The fact of the
25 matter is that the first time --
116
~
~
1 MS. ST. CLAIR I Objeotion.
2 THB COURT I Wait, wait. Now, what type of. .
3 que.tion. are you asking this 97 year old man?
4 MR. DILEONARDO I That's fine. I'll a.k him
5 another question.
S BY MR. DILBONARDOI
7 Q Mr. Zeiders, let me ask you this. With
8 re.pect to the meeting of June 21st, did you not -- did you
9 not of your own acoord agree to go to the Hersh.y Medical
10 Center for an evaluation?
11 A Only like I told you, when I became aware of
12 the faot that that wasn't a meeting for me getting food --
13 A Um-hum.
14 Q That's the way it was put to me. That was
15 why I understood I was going to a meeting. And we came up
16 to the courthouse, and we were in the oourthouse. And Lorna
17 was about 20, 25 minutes with the director all by
18 themselves, and then they came in and sat down, and boy did
19 they ever have it wrong.
20 Q And at that meeting you're saying that you
21 did agree to go out for some other reason though, just to
22 end the meeting?
23 A I t:old her, Priscilla, that they had been
24 lying. They were t:alkil1g about the power of attorney, and I
25 laid, they're both lying. I said, there'. no truth in it.
117
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
:15
~
---
Q All right.
A There wasn't a daggone bit of truth in the
stuff that they put out at all, and I defy them. I defy
anybody to go -- even go to the three men that they had paid
$600.00 to go baok and try to get something on the
Deatricks, and they didn't get anything.
.J tIm-hum.
A And when she put that to me I said,
Prisoilla, I laid, they're lying about those people. She
said, they're not lying. She said, Mr.. Deatrick did lie to
you about the bills. They couldn't find any lies beoaus.
there's nothing anywhere on record.
Q tIm-hum.
A And one of the men that was on that
investigation, he said, there wasn't anything that he knows
about.
Q tIm-hum.
A So I just came to a decision that the guy
that diotated that letter diotated the letter the way he
wanted it.
Q All right.
A To get the $600.00 the.e girl. paid him.
Q So he made up his stories too?
A I don't know. I know it wal not the truth.
Q Okay. With respect to your current living
118
, .
~
--
1 Q So you contributed no moneys toward. the
2 purohase at all?
3 A No.
4 Q And have you had to contribute any other
5 monies in any way, shape or form?
6 A For whllt?
7 Q To the Deatricks for anything?
8 A No. I have to go buy my gallon of milk,
9 bread, things like that. When I want to snack, I make a
10 snaok of my own.
11 Q Sure. And do you remember going to the
12 Dauphin Deposit Bank and withdrawing over a thousand dollars
13 out of your checking account on the day the mobile home was
14 purchand?
15 A No.
16 Q What did you do with that thousand dollars?
17 A I have 80me of that thousand dollars yet.
18 Q Okay. You didn' t give it to the Deatrioks?
19 A I didn't give them no money.
20 Q And .0 you have no ownership interest in that
21 mobile home?
22 A Absolutely none.
23 Q All right. Do you remember going to make a
24 report with the Ba.t Pennsboro Township Police?
25 A Yes.
120
1 Q Okay.
2 A They prevented me from going up there and
3 getting my papers, all the paper. that I had, all the bank
4 reports. I asked her, oh, three, four, five times for a
5, bank -- just one of the bank reports and never got a bank
6 report.
7
8
9
10
11
.12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--
"
Q UDl-hum.
A Never got anything. I a.ked them about a
balance and never got a balanoe.
Q Okay. Did you used to write cheoks
occadonal1y?
A Yeah. I write checks. I wrote checks up
until the time that she started this thing.
Q And did you yourself write checks without
knowing the balanoe?
A No. I always carried a big balanoe.
Q Okay. And with respect to the vi.it to the
Bast Pennsboro Township Police, did you not tell them that
. your daughter had converted a Certificate of Deposit to her
own use and was keeping the money away from you?
A I didn' t say that.
Q What did you say?
A I didn' t say that in that way.
Q What did YO'l say?
A Hu?
121
1
2
3
"
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--
"
I never got one of them.
Q Bank statements were delivered to you in your
mailbox, wer.~'t they?
A Yeah, but she get. the mail, all the mail. I
don' t know if anybody sent me anything that was worth
anything or not.
Q How did you get to Attorney Griffie's offioe
on June 13th to revoke the power of attorney?
I oalled Larry.
Deatriok?
Yeah.
And who brought you to the Bast Pennsboro
than your daughters house to talk about your
A
Q
A
Q
Police rather
CD?
A
Q
To talk about my CDs?
T.he monies at the Dauphin Deposit Bank and
your insurance policies?
A Well, the only time that I would have come
down was Miss Deatri~k brought me down to the bank.
Q Who brought you to see Detective Pry?
A That was the same day.
Q Okay. And did you go to lee Detective Pry a
uoond time?
A No.
Q Okay. You didn't go to see him a seoond
123
1
2 .
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
---
time?
A We talked on the phone to .omebody.
Q Okay. You didn't come into his office a
second time?
A No, sir. That wal the first time, .nd he
said he would get those papers for me. And th.t'. the only
time I was in that office.
Q Did he ever get them for you?
A No. I never got them. I don't know
anything. All of the oancelled checks .nd everything is in
that girl's hands.
Q And did you attempt to go to the b.nk .nd ask
them to reconstruct your account for you?
A Reoon.truct it? JUlt wh.t do you me.n?
Q Obtain copies of .11 of the reoord. th.t they
had sent you in the mail?
A Tney told me it w.. going to oost me a
hundred and twenty doll.r., I think, to get ten ye.r. of
records. I wasn't worried about th.t. I w.sn't worried
about ten years back. What I wented to do wa. get the
papers and the ohecks and things th.t .re here now, .nd I'd
give those things to a certified p\wlic .coountant then to
find out what's what.
Q Okay.
A That'. the only thing I would do with them.
124
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
..
.
Q Mr. Zeiders, is it todsyyour bolief that you
would re.ist, oontinue to resist .eDing a physioian to have
an evaluation conducted?
A Why?
Q There are numerous reasonl annunciate~ by
your daughters. And his Honor's correotly pointed out that
I
I should not be aryuing with you, but basically you resist?
A I'm telling you it's wrong.
Q How far away from the Deatrick hOUle, by the
way, i. the mobile home?
A Hum?
Q How far away is thD Deatriok house from the
mobile home?
A It's up against the one end of it.
Q It' s up against the one end?
A Yeah.
Q So how far from your door of the trailer to
the Deatricks' house?
To their door?
Yeah.
Oh, about fifty, sixty foot.
And this is a trailer. So it's raised up off
A
Q
A
Q
the ground?
A
Q
It'. off of the ground.
About two feet maybe with some steps to oome
125
1
2
.3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
~
~
I
down ?
A I have step. in the front.
Q Where are you going to live this winter?
A Hu?
Q Where are you going to live in the winter?
A Well, I don't know. I hope to get some of my
money, and if I got .owe of the money that I h~d I would
have lived with them, with tho.e people, beoause theY':l:'e the
ones that have showed me oonlideration.
Q
Your daughters never did that to you?
A
Hu?
Q
Your daughter. never did that to you?
~hey wouldn't have donft what they done now if
A
14 they would have oon.idered me. It hurt.. I'm telling you
15 it hurts beaaue. up to the time of this thing, she .ent that
16 cra.y letter that say. in there becauae I gave somebody a
17 hundred and tw.nty.five doll&r. or loaned a friend that
18 money -. up to that time we were perfeot.
19 But when .he gave an inference that I had no
20 bu.ines. loaning her money. I didn't have control. That's
21 an inferenoe I didn't oontrol the money. And that's when I
22 went off. Okay. I can't .ee why.. and I'll tell you
23 something else. ! don't think .he done it by herlelf. I
24 think she wa. pushed pretty well.
25
Q
And who do you think pu.hed her?
126
A
Q
A
Q
A
that.
Q
Mrs. Sheetz?
A
Q
flIIIIl
..
127
--
~
1 exploded?
2 A That pan exploded in another one of their
3 lie.. That one pan it wasn't no pan. It wal glas..
4 Q A glass pan. You're correct.
5 A It was glass. And that was my granddaughter
6 that made .omething and put it on the stove and was fooling
7 with the dog, and that thing blew up. And I was out in the
8 other part of the house, and I came out to see what it was,
9 and she said it blew up.
10 And I told her -- told my daughter about it,
11 an~ that was the beginning of the end of my granddaughter
12 living with me. And that's when all the dirt was in my
13 place, when those three dogs that she had were in there. I
14 found hair in my soup, on the table.
15 Q And do you deny you have left your residence
16 with food burning?
17 A I never go out of that house leaving food
18 burning.
19 Q So when your daughter Lorna testified that
20 that occurred, that's anoth.er lie?
21 A Hu?
22 Q When }'our daughter Lorna testified that that,
23 in fact, oocurred, that's another lie?
24 A Me going out?
25 Q When Lorna testified that you left your hou.e
128
...
~
1 and left food on, that'l another lie?
2
3
A
That's a lie.
Q
i
With respect to your cleaning of your plaoe,
4 did not Mrs. Sheetz and Miss Baker repeatedly offer to
5 have -- to even pay for oleaning people to oome into your
6 residence?
7
A
They had wanted to have a girl come in. She
8 came in one day, and she worked in the kitchen and went and
9 got started in the dining room. And at $9.00 an hour, that
10 didn't fit my pooketbook. Nine dollars an hour. And for
11 what she done, she oould have done in three or four hours.
12 And as far as the other part of th~ house is c~noerned, I do
1::1 my own sweeping. I run my own sweeper, and I do my own
14 washing too.
15
Q
And you've indicated that for a long time,
16 would you say over a year, your daughter hadn't come to see
17 you for sometimes two weeAs?
18
19
20
21
A Not llollletimes. One time I said.
Q Okay.
A One time it was 11 days she wasn't there.
Q When was that?
A I don' t mark those things down and keep them.
Q Okay.
A I don't keep them. It was weeks that I
didn't see my daughter. Now, I'd see her husband come in
22
23
24
25
129
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
--
'*'
and look around and go out again, and maybe talk to me a
couple words.
Q Now, you're aware that y~ur daughter ha. had
surgery on her knee, correct?
A I was hollering at her for year. to go get
that thing fixed up, and then she's got som. more to get
fixed up.
Q And you're aware that we had a very severe
winter this year from December through March, is that
correc t?
A Yes.
Q You had food delivered to you every week, is
that correct? Your daughter arranged to have food delivered
to you at least on a weekly basis, is that correct?
A Who?
Q Lorna?
A Where?
Q At your place on 1584 Holtz Road? Did you
get it?
A In that bad weather?
Q How did you get the food?
A I had my own food. When I go to the store I
buy not one oan and two cans, I buy a whole row. I had
three rows about that wide, and I had it:. filled with food.
I didn't need to go out for food.
130
..
--
1 Q So you didn' t go out for food?
2 A I didn't have to. But they'd oome down, and
3 I'd alk th~ to get me lome milk and bread. I didn't have
4 any trouble with tho.e people that way.
S Q So, in other wordl, they did provide for you
6 and oheck on you on a regular ba.is and make lure you had
7 fr..h milk t.hroughout the entire winter?
8 A Throughout the entire winter?
9 Q Yeah.
10 A I didn't eee them for two week. the entire
11 winter.
12 Q Yet they clIII\e and brought you --
13 A They were snowed in, and eo was I.
14 Q Absenoe of being enowed in you .aw th~ on a
lS regular balis, is that correot?
16 A When I needed something I called up and
17 they'd bring it to me.
18 Q Without fail.
19 A What?
20 Q Did they ever fail?
21 A No, no. Maybe I had a big order and I had to
22 take the wheelbarrow down to the entrance where the road
23 joius &nd load up the wheelbarrow and bring it up to the
24 houle. That girl never let me down on food.
25 Q Okay. And is it pOllible that on oooalions
131
~
.
1 either your daughter Rose Baker or your daughter Lorna
2 Sheetz would vilit you and that you would either be .Ileep
3 either in your ohair or in your bedroom and not know they've
4 been there?
5 A Well, it would be poelible for lomebody to
6 walk in, yes. If I go out in the room out there and I lay
7 down or sit down in a ohai~ and put my head back -. and I've
8 alwaYI got my eyes shut when I'm at home beoause they water
9 10 muoh, and I sit in a lazy boy ohair. And I sleep a lot
10 in that lazy boy chair, but they can com~ in the house.
11 They oan walk over, and they all know that if they jUlt
12 touoh me I'm wide awake. What's the question about?
13 Q That was the question. You an.wered it. It's
14 possible for them to oome in?
15 A It's possible, yeah, beoause that door wa.
16 never looked.
17 Q And you heard your daughter, Lorna Sheetz,
18 testify that on oooasions when you've been ill you refused
19 to go to the hospital, is that correct?
20 A Once. Once I called up and I had pain in my
21 stomaoh, and I wa. in that big lazy boy chair at the time.
22 And I called up and got her to come down, and she c~e down
23 and sat in another chair. And then finally she got up and
24 went back home again. And I was still in that chair.
25 Q Okay. Mr. Zeiders, do you have any
132
..
--
1 information, independent information, indioating' Jhat your
2 daughtera have not been telling you the truth with reapect
3 to certain it~e?
4 A Well, here's a good one. In the meeting' they
5 had over there my daughter Rose told th~ that I went out
6 the door onto a balcony.
7 Q Om-hum.
8 A What happened, Rose, for your information,
9 you know it anyhow, was when you come out the door you go to
10 your left and down the steps to the pool and big area down
11 there, big entertainment area, and out this side here waa an
12 open spot. And the end of this thing had no cross piece on
13 it. It had no block on there, and they said I could come
14 out here and walk out here.
15 Q Um-hum.
16 A I could come out of this door and go down,
17 but this i. open back here becauee they bring all the
18 equipment down that they have down on the pool aide, and
19 they bring it up.
20 Q Om-hum. And the reuon why your daughter wa.
21 conoerned about that in that room was because you had
22 indicated to her that you were going to live in that room if
23 you moved up with the Deatricks, isn't that correct?
24 A No. How would I ever live in that room?
25 Q I don't know. You're saying that you didn't
133
~
~
1 indicate to Mrs. Baker that you were going to live in that
2 room?
3 A I have a room off tha hallway, and her
4 bedroom went off, and her big living room goes off, and then
5 you oome baok right across the hall. It goe. up here where
6 there was a kitchen, and I had a bedroom right there, a
7 bedroom with a bed and everything.
8 Q And what was your reason for bringing' Mill
9 Bak~r up to the Deatrick residence?
1.0 A I brought her up there to find out where all
11 their lie. came from. They came down there, my daughter and
12 my granddaughter, oame down there and gave me a cookeyed
13 story about what a bad person Mrs. Deatrick wa..
14 Q um-hum.
15 A And they told me that she had 11 .uits to get
16 money from people, and I didn't believe it then, but from
17 then on I made up my mind I was going to find out. So I
18 asked Rose to take me up and find out. And I went up and I
19 asked them, did you ever sue people up here to get money?
20 She WAS about ready to blow the roof. There wa. no record
21 of it. The only recorded lawsuit up there was when her arm
22 was hurt.
23 Q om-hum.
24 A And another time there was a fellow who put a
25 lot of plumbing in for her.
134
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
.
a om-hum.
A And a friend of her. who knew what happened
oame in and law it and he laid, that'l terrible. And he
ripped it all out.
a om-hum.
A He ripped the whole thing out, and he done
the job right for her.
o But you brought ROI. up to lee the plaoe
where you would be living, and the place whsre you would be
living wal the room that ROle saw the bani.ter?
A No, Ihe didn't.
o The reason why ROle saw that plaoe that you
say .he didn't see correotly was because that wa. a room you
told ROle you were going to live in?
A No, no, no. I did not tell her anything like
that.
o So if ehe told that to me --
A It waln't..
a I underetand. I underltand what you're
laying.
A My room is right here, and that'l at lealt
30, 35 feet from the banilter.
a Okay. So it was
THE COURT I Okay. rive more minute.. rive
more minutel, and we're done.
135
--
..
1 THB WITNESS, The room wa. there, and it had
2 been there for a long time. That bed was in there for a
3 long' time, and you couldn't get to my room out off of thil
4 bani.ter or off the balcony.
5 MR. DILEONARDO I All right. I have no
6 further questions.
7 THE COURT: I have just a couple.
8 BY THB COURT I
9 Q Can you look at me?
10 A Yeah.
11 Q Do you know what month it was that you
12 stopped the Meals on Wheels? Do you remember when that wal?
13 A No, I don't. That'l been quite a while baok
14 though.
15 Q Why did you stop it?
16 A Why did I stop it? The food that was coming
17 up there wa.n't all together what I wanted.
18 Q Did you cook your own meal. than?
19 A I cooked Rome things for my.elf. I ate all
20 my 10UPS and stuff I bought out of a can.
21 Q I .ee. All right.
22 A I used to make saue~kraut for mYlelf, and I'd
23 make a .tew with potatoes, cabbage, and things like that.
24 I'd make that, and I never had any trouble with th~.
25 Q Did your daughter Lorna ever bring you meal.
136
1
2
3.
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
,,..
--
down to your house?
A No.
Q Did you ever go up to her hou.eand eat?
A Yes. I was up at their plaoft about four
time I .
Q Have you opened up a new oheoking account
. now?
A Yes. I opened up a cheoking account beoau.e
I figured they couldn't do the same thing they did with the
others.
Q
you?
A
aocount.
Q
A
Q
aocount?
A
Your social security check, that's mailed to
It's mailed to the bank. It goe. into that
To your new account?
No. The old aooount. It'. in there.
So what money do you have to put in thi. new
I got some money. I had money in my pooket
at.the time, and now I don't know how much I got in there.
I don't worry about it beoause I don't use money anymore.
Q But your sooial security oheck still goes
into the old checking account?
A It would, yes.
Q Okay. Have you gotten a new power of
137
1 . attorney?
2 A
3 Q
4 A
5 Q
6 A
7 Q
8 A
~
~
No. No, I haven't.
Have you changed your will?
Ye..
When did you write a new wiU?
About. week or so ago.
Was that at Mr. Griffie's office?
Absolutely.
9 Q And why was it that you went to live with the
10 Deatriokll?
11 A Up there?
12 Q Yeah.
13 A Because they treated ma right. That family
14 il a good samaritan family.
15 Q Did they ask you to coma up and live with
16 them?
17 A They told me months ago, a year ago I oould
18 live with them any time I wanted to come up there. And
19 Lorna told me that we would have thi. altercation. And my
20 .on-in-law told me that I was a trouble maker, and, Your
21 Honor, I never did that boyan ounce of trouble. I'm
22 treated well, and couldn't be treated any better up there.
23 Q Just one or two more qu..tions. The
24 Deatrioks have bought the trailer where you live, il that
25 correct?
138
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
~
~
" Ye..
Q And the Deatrioka al.o provide you meal..
You go to their houle and eat, il that oorreot?
A y..h.
Q And doe. Mrs. Deatriok do your wa.hing for
you?
A Ye., sir.
Q And does she do the cleaning in the trailer?
A I do my cleaning in the trailer, and ahe doe.
lome of it too.
Q Doea she work anywhere?
A She cuts and she saws, chain laws wood, and
Ihe Iplits wood. She hauls loads and deliver. it allover
the pllloe.
Q Now, if you'r& going to live up there under
thele ciroumstances, it would only be right that you pay
them something for doing this. Have you reached an
agreement with them as to how much you would pay them a
month or lomething?
A They tell me they won't take nothing.
Q You haven't paid anything at all up until
now?
A
take anything.
gallon of milk.
I haven't paid th~ a penny, and they won't
I can't give them money when .he buy. me a
She won't taka it.
139
--
--
1 Q Okay.
2 A That's not all. Your Honor, they have boy.
3 that come in, and there's always two or three bOYI there of
4 different families that eat and ~leep there.
5 Q Where do they live? Can you tell me where
6 their place is? Maybe I'll ask them. Can you tell me where
7 in Perry County it is that they live?
8 A Where in Perry County?
9 Q Do they live in Landisburg or New Bloomfield
10 or where is it that they live?
11 A The Deatricks?
12 Q Maybe they'll be testifying, and I'll ask
13 them. Do you intend to stay up there now with them?
14 A I would love to live with them. I know I can
15 stay there. I know I can be happy there, and I'd be well
16 cared for.
17 Q What about ooming back to your old trailer?
18 Would you like to come back there and live?
19 A With them?
20 Q Yeah.
21 A Not the way they treated me, no. I don't
22 have no faith in them anymore. ! tried to do everything I
23 oan for those two girls.
24 THE COURT I Any further questions?
25 MS. ST. CL~IRI No questions of this witnesl,
140
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
I 19
"
,
I 20
"
,
I 21
I
22
23
24
25
I' ,
'0.\'
. .----........'-.".....,,_...
,'~ ...
~
~
Your Honor.
'1'HB COURT. Thank you. You may Itep down.
Ladiel and gentlemen, I don't want to make a marathon out of
thil. I'm r.ady to quit for the day. I'm willing to come
back tomorrow morning and fini.h it. I don't know what
oounl.l's sohedulel are. Do you know what your 80hedule i.
firlt tM.ng in the morning?
MR. DILEONARDO. I oan be her..
MS. ST. CLAIR. Your Honor, I would reserve
the right to present further testimony, but baled on the
teltimony of Mr. Zeiders I would move to dilmil. the
petition. I don't think there is any need -.
THE COURT. I'm not going to make that
d.cision. If you wish to call further witn..lel, I will
oome baok tomorrow morning and hear them. If you don't wish
to oall further witnesses, then you'll rest the oas..
MS. ST. CLAIR. We will present further
t.ltimony tomorrow, Your Honor.
'1'HE COURT. Okay. How about 9.00 tomorrow
morning? Do you propose to oall the Deatriok. or one of the
Deatriokl?
MS. ST. CLAIR I Mr. Deatrick and Mr. Griffie.
THE COURT. Okay. Then w.'ll Itand adjourned
until 9100 tomorrow morning.
(Whereupon, oourt adjourned at 7100 p.m.)
141
, '
IN RBI G. DALE ZEIDERS,
AN ALLBGED INCAPACITATBD
PBRSON
I IN THE COURT OF COMMON PLEAS OF
I CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
I
I ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION
I
I NO. 21-94-591
IN REI PETITION FOR APPOINTMENT OF GUARDIAN
BEFORE SHEELY. P.J.
OPINION AND ORDER OF COURT
In the present action, petitioner asks this oourt to declare
G. Dale Zeiders inoompetent and appoint a guardian. A oompetenoy
hearing was held before this oourt on July 21, 1994, from whioh
we made the following findings of fact.
FINDINGS OF FACT
1. Petitioner, Lorna Gene Sheetz, is the daughter of G.
Dale Zeiders, the alleged inoompetent peraon, and residee at 1582
Holtz Road, Enola, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
2. G. Dale Zeiders, the alleged inoompetent, is a ninety
seven (97) year old individual ourrently residing at the home of
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Deatrick in Perry County, Pennsylvania. Mr.
Zeiders has known the Deatricks for eight (B) years.
3. Mr. Zeiders testified that he understood the nature of
the proceedings being held, i.e., "because my daughter wants to
have oontrol of my money and me." (N.T. at B5).
4. Mr. Zeiders testified that it was his decision to move
to Perry County and that nobody foroed him to do so. (N.T. at
8B).
NO. 21-94-591 ORPHANS' COURT DIVISION
5. Mr. Zeiders was subjected to extensive cross-examination.
and remained coherent and competent throughout the questioning.!
DISCUSSION
,
Petitioner filed this a~tion pursuant to Chapter 55 of the
Probate Estates and Fiduciaries Code, 20 Pa.C.S.A. S 5501 et seq.
In Seotion 5501 of the Code, "incapacitated person" is defined
aSl
... an adult whose ability to
receive and evaluate information
effectively and communicate
decisions in any way is impaired to
such a significant extent that he
is partially or totally unable to
manage his financial resources or
to meet essentiRl requirements for
his physical health and safety.
20 Pa.C.S.A. S 5501
The evidence presented at the competency hearing was
insufficient to establish either that Mr. Zeiders is unable to
manage his finances or that he is unable to manage his personal
life. The testimony given by Mr. Zeiders quite clearly
demonetrated that he is extremely happy living in Perry County
with the Deatrick's and that he is doing so of his own volition.
He is still able to move around on his own, and the Deatricks
provide meals for him as well as doing his laundry. While we
believe that petitioner acted in good faith when filing this
action, we do not believe the evidence was sufficient to
adjudicate Mr. Zeiders incompetent.
! Mr. Zeiders was subjected to over an hour of cross-exam
questioning, amassing thirty eight (38) pages of transcript.
2
'.
Presence.
o Presence of the alleged incupacitated person at the hearing
is mandatory unless the court is satisfied, after reviewing
a deposition, 'Iestimony, or sworn statement by a physician
or licensed poychologist that the individual would be
harmed by being present at the hearing. The law also
allows for hearings to be held at the residence of the
alleged incapacitated person.
Counsel.
o The court must now be notified at least seven days prior to
the hearing if counsel has been l'etained. In appropriate
caSBS / as determined by the court, counsel shall be
appointed.
Proof.
o The standal'd of proof for gUnl'dianship cases is now clear
and convincing which is consistent with case law in this
area. Clear and conVincing evidence is a standard used in
civil law which requires that proof be provided to a Judge
that would lead him or her to have a firm belief or
conviction that an individual is incapacitated and in need
of a guardian,
o To establish incapacity, thQ petitioner (person seeking to
have another declared incapacitated) must provide testimony
in person or by depoBition from qualified individuals, No
longer is it acceptable to present evidence from people who
are not trained and expedencocl ill diagnosing or treating
the type of incapacities alleged by the petit.ioner. This
component is especially important in the aging population
since so much has heen learned about the aging process
that, unfortunately, is not common knOWledge.
'l'esti mony
incapacitated
ensure that
incapacitated
as to the capad ty of the alleged
person is subject to cross-examination to
the com tis fu 11 y appr i sed of the
person's condition,
~ Limi ted Guardianship.
o The guardianship law now clearly prefers limited
guardianship for both estate and person and requires
Fipecific findings of fact in this regard. No longer is
guardianship an all or nothing proposition, A plenary or
full. gual'dian will be appointed only upon a finding of
total incapacity und need for plenary gUBt'dianship
services, A limited guardian will have authority only in
those areas enumerated by the r,:ourl'. with the individual
l'etaining all othor .I ogal l'.ightn,
\
.
'''.
..
*'
Review HearingQ,
o After a guardian has been appointed, the court can hold a
review hearing at any time bl.!.!< mllst ho 1 rI " h.."..l "9 if tR>\!
guardigp or any interested party petitions and alleges the
following I
(a) A significant change in the person's capacity.
(b) A change in the need for guardianship services.
(c) Guardian has failed to perform his duties,
Guardian Reporting.
*-
o The guardian must now file with the .c.9_\!rt_,~,_Jlworn report:. at
least once within the fi'i:Bt'12 monthll and at le~,L.Bl1mJJ1.U.Y
thereafter, --"'This report differs for guardians of the
estate and guardians of the person in that a guardian of
the estate must describe how financia 1 expenditures have
been made while the guardian of the person must report on
the social, medical and other relevant conditions of the
incapacitated person.
Who May be Guardian.
o Individuals, corporate fiduciaries, nonprofit corporations,
guardianship support agencies or county agencies may be
appointed as guardians, Residential service providers or
any other person with conflicting interests may not serve
as guardians unless no other alternative exists,
Emergency Guardian,
o An emergency guardian of the petson may be in effect for up
to 72 hours wi th an extension of no more than 20 days
wi thout a full hearing, An emergency guardian of the
estate may be appointed for a 30 day period before a full
hearing must be held.
Effective Date.
o The law takes effect on June 16, 1992 and wi 11 apply to
guardianshipa filed on or after that date. If a
guardianship petition has been filed but no appointment of
a guardian has occurred, the procedural protections
enumerated in the Act wi II apply, Existing guardianships
may be modified upon petition of any interested party.