Advocate helps older senior adults deal with crime
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The Rev. Edna Morgan (right)
counsels Oneita Fisher, who is afraid to leave her home due to crime in
her neighborhood in Pine Bluff, Ark. UMNS photos by John Gordon.
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By John Gordon*
April 23, 2007 | PINE BLUFF, Ark. (UMNS)
Surrounded by suspected drug-dealing activities, Oneita Fisher feels like a prisoner in her own home.
"I'm to the point now where I feel like I just can't take it
anymore," says the 69-year-old Pine Bluff resident. "I'm afraid to
leave, and I'm afraid to come home if I'm away. There's a lot of
vandalism, and I have personally had my car stolen several times."
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The Rev. Edna Morgan staffs the Healing Place Ministries telephone hotline for senior citizen crime victims.
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Fortunately, Fisher has a friend in the Rev. Edna Morgan, a crime
victims' advocate for the elderly and the head of Healing Place
Ministries, housed at First United Methodist Church in Pine Bluff. The
ministry is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Justice, the
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries and the United Methodist
Board of Discipleship.
Some 23 million crimes are committed every year in the United States,
according to the Justice Department, and elderly people are especially
vulnerable.
Many older senior adults live in a constant state of fear in
crime-infested neighborhoods, Morgan says. "They are afraid to go out
and empty their wastebaskets. Some of them are letting their
wastebaskets pile up in their homes."
Morgan offers counseling for older crime victims, and she has started
a monthly support group for them. She also works closely with police
and prosecutors to help make victims aware of help that's available,
such as reparations to cover medical bills, funeral expenses and other
costs of crime.
"When the elderly come in, they are very, very upset," Morgan says. "In fact, they've usually reached their last straw."
Ripped off by relatives
Morgan works with elderly residents in the Pine Bluff and Little Rock
areas who are victims of neighborhood turf wars, burglaries, robberies,
insurance fraud, identity theft and consumer fraud. Relatives, she
says, are responsible for most of the abuse.
"Their children and their grandchildren steal their identity, taking
their charge cards, writing checks on their checking accounts," she
says. "We've had several victims who've had $10,000, $20,000 (stolen),
and even one who had her house - the deed to her house, the entire house
- stolen from her by her children."
“Our community should wrap their arms around the elderly and care for them.”
–The Rev. Edna Morgan
A stranger, however, was responsible for robbing Carolyn Ghotra, 57,
and her husband at gunpoint. Ghotra says one robber hit her in the eye
with a gun while another tied up her husband.
Though they survived the crime, emotional scars remain for the
Ghotras, who are part of Morgan's support group. "I think the fear is
always going to be there; it's not something that leaves you," she says.
"You have flashbacks, you know, keep thinking that they're coming
again."
A root cause: drugs
Fisher says she is alarmed by the frequent sounds of gunfire outside her home.
"All of a sudden you hear 10 or 12 bullets going off and they are
racing down the street, and it's very near, it's very close to you," she
says. "It's very scary because bullets will come inside a house."
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Pine Bluff, Ark., police officer Robert Treadwell talks to a crime victims'
support group.
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Officer Robert Treadwell of the Pine Bluff Police Department says
officers and landlords are making progress in pushing drug dealers out
of neighborhoods.
"Ninety percent of the problems are drug-related," Treadwell says.
"You get a person that's addicted on drugs and, of course, they're
unemployed because most jobs require drug testing. They have to spend
time trying to figure out how they're going to get these chemicals."
Morgan spends just as much time fighting for the rights of elderly crime victims.
"Our community should wrap their arms around the elderly and care for
them," she says. "They made our country, and we owe it to them to
love them and to care for them and make their last years their best
years."
*Gordon is a freelance producer and writer based in Marshall, Texas.
News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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Resources
Healing Place Ministries
Aging: Resources
Elder Abuse, Neglect, and Exploitation
Helping Outreach Programs to Expand II (HOPE II)
Center on Aging and Older Adult Ministries
Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church
United Methodist Endorsing Agency |