Missing 15-year-old took $1K, left cellphone and note saying he didn’t want to be found
MOUNTAIN LAKES, N.J. – Authorities say a missing New Jersey boy took $1,000 out of his savings, a backpack and his bicycle before he disappeared the day before Halloween.
Thomas Kolding left his cellphone and wrote a note saying that he didn’t want anyone to try to find him, according to the Morristown Daily Record.
Kolding was last known to be at his family’s Mountain Lakes home Oct 30, according to a news release from the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office. Officials believe he took the train to New York City, but where he went after that is not known.
Investigators say Kolding had wanted to travel to California.
The boy’s father, Nicolai Kolding, told the paper he worries that a recent argument about grades might have pushed his son – a high school freshman taking honors courses in math and science – over the edge.
“He is a wonderful, resourceful, and far-too-adventurous young man who we are worried about beyond words,” his mother, Aleksandra Kolding wrote on Facebook. “Please keep spreading the word and tell all to look for a very LARGE BLACK BACKPACK he has on him – I think that’s the telltale sign for those that don’t recognize him.”
Now missing for a week, Nicolai Kolding told the Daily Record that his middle son hugs Thomas’ bed every morning and that they just want him home.
Kolding, who is 5-foot-3-inches tall and weighs about 120 pounds, was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket, gray winter skull cap and carrying a large black backpack.
Woman wakes up from back surgery to find her kidney had been removed
WELLINGTON, Fla. – Imagine going to the hospital to have back surgery, only to wake up and learn one of your major organs was mistakenly removed.
That nightmare was a reality for one West Palm Beach woman at Wellington Regional Medical Center, according to WPTV.
“It was an ordinary day,” described Maureen Pacheco, who was 51 when it happened back in April 2016.
Pacheco was suffering from back pains from a car accident and after a lengthy process and diagnosis from her doctors, she was checked into Wellington Regional to have back surgery to help with the pains.
“There was no red flags or anything,” she said of the day she went into the operating room.
But she ended up leaving the hospital without one of her healthy kidneys. One of the surgeons, Dr. Ramon Vazquez, mistook it for a cancerous tumor and removed it from her body without her consent.
“He just took my life and just dismissed it,” said Pacheco.
Pacheco recently settled in a lawsuit against her doctors — Dr. John Britt and Dr. Jeffrey Kugler — and Dr. Vazquez.
However, a complaint by the Florida Department of Health is still ongoing. Adding to the frustration, Pacheco says Dr. Vazquez wasn’t even her doctor — his job was just to cut her open so her physicians could perform the back surgery.
“If he would have looked at the MRIs that were given to him, he would’ve realized it,” she said.
According to the state’s health department website, Dr. Vazquez has an active medical license.
The site shows him practicing at with Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center, St. Mary’s Medical Center and Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach, and Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach.
“Physicians do get second chances,” said Pacheco’s attorney, Donald Ward III of Searcy Denney Scarola Barnhart & Shipley, PA in West Palm Beach.
“It’s unlikely that he would lose his license over something like this. What is most likely is that he would face a fine and possibly be required to do some continuing medical education so that he could learn not to make the same mistake in the future,” he added.
Ward said Dr. Vazquez would have to pay that fine out of pocket because he didn’t have malpractice insurance.
“What is not common is for you to meet that general surgeon the morning of and be told that if something were to happen to you, that general surgeon doesn’t carry any health insurance whatsoever,” he said.
Dr. Vazquez’s attorney, Mike Mittelmark, said his client settled the matter for a nominal amount due to the uncertainty of litigation. He added that in no way did Dr. Vazquez admit liability by agreeing to the settlement.
“I wish no ill will against him. Everyone is entitled to their livelihood but you should have consequences when gross mistakes and negligence are made,” said Pacheco. “I just wish that he learns a lesson from the consequences.”
Pacheco said no amount of money will fix the complications she faces for the rest of her life.
“It’s always in the back of my mind — lifelong kidney transplant or dialysis,” she said. “Now, I’m always fearful.”
Wellington Regional Medical Center issued this statement in response to WPTV’s request for comment:
Dr. Vazquez is not and has never been an employee of Wellington Regional Medical Center. Dr. Vazquez was an independent physician with medical staff privileges at Wellington Regional as well as other hospitals in Palm Beach County. Dr. Vazquez is no longer on the medical staff of Wellington Regional. Wellington Regional took all necessary and appropriate steps to review the circumstances of this most unfortunate incident. In the over 30 year history of Wellington Regional Medical Center, an incident of this nature has never occurred before or since.
Dr. Vazquez could not be reached for comment.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/07/woman-wakes-up-from-back-surgery-to-find-her-kidney-had-been-removed/
Viral photo of voter wearing T-shirt with noose, Confederate flag stirs outrage
OLIVE BRANCH, Miss. — A North Mississippi voter’s election day attire – a T-shirt showing a noose hanging over the Confederate flag with the words “Mississippi Justice” – is generating controversy on social media.
The voter who took the picture doesn’t want to show his face, because he’s not sure what the person wearing the shirt is capable of, according to WREG.
“How could someone feel comfortable coming out in public, let alone to a polling station with a shirt like that,” the photographer said. “I thought he was a worker because he was behind the counter. But come to find out, he was an express voter.”
Both voters filled out their ballots at the Pleasant Hill Road polling location in Olive Branch.
“My brother pointed out the shirt, and I’m like, ‘That’s a noose!'”
The man who took the photo said he walked in with a sense of pride, ready to exercise his right to vote, but the noose and rebel flag took that away from him.
“They try to intimidate you to keep you away from the polls, and I think that’s the exact reason we need to go.”
He says the hateful message got to him, but he held it together – until he got home. That’s when he posted the photo on Facebook.
“What makes you feel that comfortable? He knew what he was doing,” the voter said.
He says after he posted the picture, everyone had something to say. But as he stood in line, “everyone was silent. No one said anything.”
An initial claim on social media identified the T-shirt wearing man as a poll worker, but District 2 Election Commissioner Barry Chatham told the Clarion Ledger that wasn’t true.
Voting officials told WREG they were really busy and that poll workers didn’t even see the shirt.
“All agreed if someone had came in wearing that shirt, they would have remembered,” Chatham told the paper.
Officials say they realize it made people uncomfortable. But they had nothing to do with what a voter decided to wear to the polls. According to the Secretary of State, the only election day clothing rules are you can’t wear clothing bearing a candidates name or picture into a polling place.
J-Dilla Crate Diggers Documentary
I’m taking ya’ll to REAL HIP HOP SCHOOL TODAY RIP DILLA
Rapping deconstructed: The Best rhymers of all time
Although I really enjoyed the short documentary on hip-hop but I get kind of sad and maybe even frustrated because the very people (black teens and young adults) that should know about the ritch history of hip hop does not understand or even know about or even care.
Voters choose dead pimp over Democratic opponent
Deceased brothel owner Dennis Hof managed to win an election for a Nevada state assembly seat in Tuesday’s election.
Hof, who died last month at his Love Ranch cathouse, garnered more votes than his Democratic opponent, Lesia Romanov, according to the Nevada Independent.
Although polling sites were plastered with signs declaring him dead, results showed that Hof had 68.3 percent of the vote versus Romanov’s 32 percent.
The budding politician was found deceased after a rally with porn star Ron Jeremy and former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The assembly seat will be declared vacant, since the winner is dead, and the county commissioner will begin a process to fill the seat.
via: https://nypost.com/2018/11/07/dead-brothel-owner-dennis-hof-wins-nevada-election/
82-year-old grandma votes for the first time, then dies
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – An 82-year-old Texas great-grandmother cast an early ballot Thursday – her first ever – just days before she died.
Gracie Lou Phillips had dedicated her life to raising a large family, granddaughter Leslie Rene Moore told KXAS, and had grown up with misconceptions about voting.
But this year she was determined to vote in the midterm election.
“She finally registered to vote for the first time in her life,” Moore said. “She kept telling everybody ‘I’m voting. I’m going to vote this year and my vote counts.’”
Moore wrote on Facebook that her grandmother proved that voting is important “no matter your age.”
Despite being in hospice while fighting pneumonia, Phillips headed to the polls in Grand Prairie with the help of her granddaughter, who told CBS that poll workers, upon seeing her grandmother’s oxygen tank, brought the ballot out and covered the vehicle’s windows so the 82-year-old could vote without leaving the car.
Four days after voting, Phillips died in her sleep. She was at home with family, Moore told Time. She said in a Facebook post that she will “hold dear the memories and lessons that she gave me over the years.”
“I have learned from my Grannie how important voting is and that there is no excuse not to do so. I have voted … have you?” Moore posted on Facebook Monday.
10-year-old girl accused of stomping 6-month-old baby to death
CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis. — A 10-year-old girl charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the death of a 6-month-old baby told investigators that she panicked after dropping the infant, and stomped on the child’s head to stop the crying, according to a sheriff in western Wisconsin.
Handcuffed and wearing a leather restraint around her waist, the girl sobbed as she appeared in Chippewa County Circuit Court on Monday. A judge set bond at $50,000. State law requires the case, at least initially, to be held in adult court, according to prosecutors.
First responders were called Oct. 30 to a licensed home day care in the Town of Tilden near Chippewa Falls. The baby was found to be unresponsive and bleeding from the head, according to officials. The baby was rushed to HSHS St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chippewa Falls, then airlifted to Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare hospital about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the west in St. Paul. He died Nov. 1.
Chippewa County Sheriff James Kowalczyk said a doctor called his office to inform investigators that it was his belief the baby’s injuries were not an accident. Investigators interviewed four people at the home and the girl , who lives with foster parents at the house, “confessed to her involvement in the situation,” Kowalczyk said.
According to the sheriff, the girl said she dropped the infant, hitting his head on a footstool and causing the baby to cry. The girl told investigators that she panicked and stomped on the child’s head, Kowalczyk said.
The girl’s biological parents were with her in court. Authorities said she had been removed from their home in September and placed in foster care. The reasons for her removal have not been disclosed.
Defense attorney Kirby Harless asked for a smaller bond, saying there was no reason to believe the girl wouldn’t appear for future court proceedings.
“She would like to return home, and given her age, that may be appropriate,” Harless said.
via: https://pix11.com/2018/11/06/sheriff-10-year-old-girl-accused-of-stomping-6-month-old-baby-to-death/