Seven Letters To Attorneys

"Fourth Letter To Attorneys"

January 18, 2008

re: Susan Smith and insurance fraud case


Dear Sirs,

These are two of the other incidences I told you about, concerning abuse in the shelter and a civil rights violation. I don't remember if Mr. Duranleau even addressed the first situation I have written about concerning the false accusation. I believe I also wrote a letter of complaint concerning the second event I describe. Mr. Duranleau's response to this letter of complaint was that the situation was to be determined by the people in charge, namely Josh, the very person who refused to take any action to discipline the women who had threatened violence against me.

Sincerely,

Susan F. Smith
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February 5, 2006

Dear Mr. Duranleau,

I want to relate to you another incident that happened to me at Oxford Street, directly concerning staff. I believe that this is connected with the noise problems in the dorm, which I have briefly reported to you earlier. I am still working on the more complete report of the noise issues to send to you.

I got railroaded out of the shelter last night, February 3, 2006, due to a false accusation against me by two of the staff at Oxford Street.

Before I was able to check in for the night, one of the staff took me aside and told me I was supposed to talk to Josh before I checked in. I believe it was Pat who told me I needed to wait. I waited in the laundry room until Josh came to get me. I went into the office with him. He told me that he wanted to talk to me about a particular incident that happened that morning. I assumed that he was meaning an incident in which I accidentally spilled some coffee creamer on a person's clothes, and on a mat. I told Josh it was an accident, and that it was all taken care of.

Then Josh told me that this was not the incident he was talking about. He told me that one of the staff had informed him that I had verbally attacked one of the women this morning. He said some girls threatened to hit April, and threatened to do more to her later on. I told him that I didn't do anything like that. He continued on, telling me I needed to sign a behavior contract. He said he was getting all the people who were suspected of being involved in the incident this morning to sign a behavior contract about verbal abuse. I told him I didn't do anything, that I was not a part of any group of women who verbally attacked and threatened April.

I told Josh that whoever said that was lying. I asked him to make them come in and tell me this to my face. It was Pat. He brought her in. She looked straight at me and told me that I did this thing. She said she had never in her career heard so much venom from someone. She insisted several times that she was in the bathroom, and saw me and heard me say things to April.

I was shocked. She absolutely insisted several times. I asked Josh to get one of the other girls who were involved, to see if they would tell him I was or wasn't a part of it. He refused. He said he wanted to work with each person separately. I asked him a few times to go ask someone who was present this morning. He refused. Yet, he insisted I sign a behavioral contract, and he said this was for all the people who had been involved in the incident. I told him I wasn't a part of it, and that this wasn't fair, because my signing the behavioral contract made an implicit acknowledgment that I was a part of the event this morning. If I refused to sign a behavioral contract, of course, I wouldn't be able to sleep there. I went out of the room and into the dorm, and asked someone to verify that I didn't do anything like that. There was no one in the room except for Gail, Ginny, Dianne, and maybe one other person. Dianne said she wasn't there. Ginny didn't say anything. Gail said she didn't hear anything, meaning, I assume, that she didn't hear me say anything of the sort.

Even though Gail had now testified on my behalf, Josh wouldn't accept any kind of argument that I hadn't done anything. If I didn't sign the behavioral contract, I couldn't stay there. Josh refused again to listen to reason, or to the fact that one person testified on my behalf. I asked him whether my past history held any weight, as he knew I normally was polite and relatively soft-spoken, and had never threatened anyone like that since I had been staying there at the shelter. At this point he said something about how this wasn't a court of law, implying that standard rules of procedure and the presentation of evidence didn't apply.

That was pretty much it - it was a lengthy argument, in which I told him I didn't do anything, and he insisted that I had to sign the behavioral contract, as he wanted everyone involved to sign it. Did he have anyone else sign it, actually? Or was this exclusively for me? He insisted that each person was to be dealt with separately - he wouldn't tell me who else was involved - and he insisted that since Pat was staff, so she must be the one telling the truth, in spite of the fact that Gail had said something on my behalf.

It needs to be noted, how many times I told Josh that I wasn't involved, and that Pat was lying, and how many times Josh refused to budge on this position about my guilt and my needing to sign the contract. Josh refused to listen to reason, or give me any benefit of the doubt, nor was he willing to ask the other participants to verify what had happened. This impasse was the main part of the discussion, and the discussion lasted well over an hour. Josh refused to take what I said into consideration. I asked him several times to try and get ahold of April, wherever she was, and have her verify the facts.

It felt very unsafe signing that contract, especially in light of the other incidents that had been happening in the dorm and the homeless community. There seemed to be a group of thugs who have moved in, trying to bring terror to the people in the community, and I was a target, because I refused to back down to them. Signing a behavior contract would leave me defenseless against these people who are verbally vicious and aggressive, and whose attacks and threats of violence have been for the most part overlooked by staff. That is a very dangerous situation for me to be in.

I ended up staying out all night. I walked down to Maine Medical Hospital, because I heard I could sit somewhere and not be bothered. This was not the case. I found a place to sit, but I was kicked out after about an hour. I ended up walking back up to Monument Square and sitting for a couple of hours on one of the benches. At around four, I went down by the ferry, and sat there and dozed until five, when they unlocked the door. Then I dozed inside until eight. It was a difficult night. I was very sad and upset.

I left the ferry terminal at around 8:30, and showed up at Preble Street right at 9:00 a.m. Just as I was walking up to the building, April showed up from the soup kitchen. I caught her immediately, and had her verify that I wasn't a part of the event of this morning. She appeared surprised when I told her I had been accused. I told her that Pat had accused me of being a part of the incident, and I told her about the behavior contract, and how I had stayed out all night. I had her go in with me to Preble Street, and tell them that I wasn't a part of it. She did. I had one of the staff at Preble Street telephone over to the shelter, to settle the issue about the behavior contract, and the false accusation. The staff called and left a message at the shelter, to have someone call them and clear it up, and she also left a message with Donna, the Preble Street supervisor.

Before I went over to the shelter after lunch, I went up again to talk to the staff who had called and left the message at the shelter. She told me no one called her back. I went over to the shelter. When I went in, another staff person, Marion, stopped me at the door, and told me again that I couldn't stay in the dayroom without signing the contract. I told her that I had been cleared, that April had talked to one of the staff at Preble Street, and that this woman had called and left a message at the shelter about the incident with April, and that I should be cleared.

Marion told me that the staff at Oxford Street don't have access to Josh's voice mail. She told me that they didn't get any message on their own voice mail pertaining to this. I am certain that the woman at Preble Street left the message on the correct voice mail, and it was around three o'clock when I talked to Marion. Marion also told me that this was an issue that Josh needed to deal with, and he wouldn't be there until Monday. I told her that the situation was crucial, as it concerned my having a place to stay, and this was Josh's responsibility, whether or not he was present. I had to wait outside, while Marion called Josh. Marion came back outside, and told me that Josh called her back, and told her that regardless of who testified on my behalf, even though it was the central person in the incident, since Pat was staff, since Pat accused me of this, then this is how it was going to be.

Pat falsely accused me directly to my face, fabricating a complete story around an incident that seems dubious to begin with. Personally, I don't remember any scuffle of any kind that morning, outside of the incident with the coffee creamer. I don't remember that Pat went into the bathroom at any time that morning, for any reason. I also talked to the two apparent participants involved in the situation, and I got conflicting stories from both of them. Duncan told me there was a short angry argument with name calling between the April and the other woman, Duncan, and that was it. Duncan told me there was a larger argument between other girls and April, after the short outburst between the two of them, of which Duncan was not a part.

Josh refused to allow other witnesses to testify on my behalf, and refused to accept the testimony of a person who had spoken up. Because of this, I was forced either to sign a behavior contract, by implication confess to something I didn't do, or I was forced to leave and find shelter elsewhere. Josh refused to allow me at least the benefit of the doubt, even after the key participant April, had testified on my behalf. Josh refused to take action to find out the truth of the incident, even after the Preble Street staff had called to talk to him about it. Marion even denied having received the message on their voice mail, although I heard the woman at Preble Street leave the message.

All this is criminal activity that put my life in jeapordy. This brought on a hardship Friday night, and put me in a situation where my life was in danger, because I had to sit out in the cold alone through the night.

Thankfully, Marion helped me to find shelter on Saturday night at the Milestone.

Unfortunately, they informed me at Milestone, that if someone who was intoxicated came in, and there wasn't enough room, they would ask me to leave. This could have happened at any time during the night, and I would be back out on the street again.

This action on the part of Josh and Pat, was not only highly irresponsible, it was criminal, and I am reqesting that something be done about it. Both Josh and Pat are a danger to the shelter residents.

Thank-you very much.

Sincerely,

Susan F. Smith
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September 27, 2007

Dear Sirs,

This is one last incident at the homeless shelter I want to relate to you before I finish today. I looked through my letters, and either I haven't looked far enough back, or I never wrote down the incident in its entirety. This is all from memory here.

This incident happened around December, 2005. At this time, the women were sleeping in the first floor dorm of the Oxford Street Shelter. There seemed to be a group of women, mostly young, in their twenties, who started showing up at the shelter. They seemed to be intent on making a lot of noise at night. The shelter staff didn't seem interested in making them be quiet, and they would stay up until one or two in the morning, with little slumber parties and food.

It appeared to me that the rest of the clients were very reluctant to speak up about these women, because certain of the women stayed silent, when in other circumstances they would have complained. So, it was left to me. Although the staff was in the next room, and obviously could hear the noise, nothing was done. When people complained, for the most part these girls would turn around and insult the person who was complaining. When staff was told about it, they would come in, and the girls would either quiet down and then start back up, or they would tell the staff that they weren't doing anything. Sometimes the staff would take their part, and would tell me, being the person complaining, that these girls had the right to stay up and talk all night if they wanted.

It became apparent that these younger girls were being managed by an older woman named Norma, who seemed to be the only older woman in this group, but who seemed to be taking their part in all the incidences. Norma was a scrapper, and would start insulting people who complained about the noise.

After a few nights of this ongoing slumber party, it became obvious that this was a professional job, with the intention of incrementing violences and aggressions until something very serious happened, with nobody able to do anything about it. I also felt that the aggressions were being directed ultimately against me. It appeared to me that the staff had been intimidated out of taking any significant action against these girls, or Norma.

There was one incident in this string of events, where one of the girls was making noise and using a flashlight. I complained about the noise, and when the staff came in, the girl denied doing anything, and said she was just reading with the flashlight. The next day, I was walking to the soup kitchen, and Norma and this girl were standing outside the door of the soup kitchen. As I was approaching, Norma started verbally threatening me, for my confrontation the night before about the noise, saying that I was starting trouble, and if I wanted trouble, she was going to make some.

At that time, the girl admitted to somebody about the fact that she had, indeed, been making noise. Yet Norma went on insisting that I was starting trouble because of the flashilight. The incident was so alarming that another person standing there wanted it reported, because it looked dangerously threatening of foul play and potential violence. I am reporting this small incident, just to give you the idea of the maneuvers I started sensing with this group of girls, aimed at silencing all protest against their aggressions. And I sensed a real danger of more and much worse aggression to come.

There was one evening during this event, when I totally lost my cool, and started screaming at these girls, because nobody was doing anything, and we were all being kept up until one or two or later, and not being allowed to sleep.

Although there were sufficient complaints against these girls, Josh didn't do anything to reprimand them, or threaten to kick them out, which is standard policy for situations such as this. Not only were there no threats of recrimination, these events and complaints against the girls were not even being written down. I know, because I checked the log one evening, to see if anything had been written down about a particular incident, and nothing had.

There was one incident that was evidence of criminal intent. I used to get up around 5:30 a.m. I think on this particular morning, the slumber party had stayed up all night, and I don't think I had gotten much sleep at all. The girls were still up at 5:30 a.m., and after I had gone into the shower, apparently they started talking about going in and roughing me up while I was in the shower. This caused enough alarm, apparently, with some of the residents, that at least one of them went into the shower room to make sure nothing happened.

Later, at least one of these residents who had overheard the girls, reported this threat to several of the staff, including Chris, Josh, and a woman named Christine who I don't believe is still there. I believe these are the people this was reported to. The woman also reported this incident to me, and I relayed it also to Josh and to Jason. This may have been when I checked the log about reports on these girls, and found none.

Normally, when violence is threatened against a resident by another resident, that particular person is kicked out for good. Since the report came from a third person, it should have been expected that at least an inquiry should have been made to see what had happened.

Understandably, since I was not in the room when the threats were made, the threats were definitely real, and this should have given even more reason to follow through on an inquiry about the threats. Normally, in these circumstances, if the victim of the threat does not come forward, but the issue comes to the staff second hand, they will dismiss it as not significant. This is how violences and aggressions go by unaddressed, by this loophole in the system rules.

Nothing was done about this threat of imminent violence. Not only was nothing done, it was not even recorded in the log, as something on which to base future disciplinary actions against the girls.

Shortly after this threat of violence, maybe even the same day, I saw on the inside of the bathroom doors, a little poem that threatened rape, and was very degrading. I assumed it was against me: "Stop your bitchin". The next line said, "Suck it up, buttercup", and then it got worse from there: "Wash your shitty crotch too! Nobody wants to smell your dirty pussy." On the mirror in the bathroom they wrote, "I smell fish". The handwriting was unusual. The door was painted over either that day, or very soon afterward.

I came to realize later that this was most likely Norma's handwriting, and I have seen similar messages in other places to people at large in the same handwriting. I saw the message recently in the public library on a toilet paper dispenser, saying "wipe your ass". I have good reason to believe that Norma has serious issues with female crotches.

There is more to this incident, although what I have written is most of it. Another woman not a part of this group came in shortly after this group dispersed, and threatened somebody with violence. This particular woman was kicked out permanently, no questions asked.

This is all I am going to write about today. Again, thank-you for giving all of this your serious attention.

Sincerely,

Susan F. Smith