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Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 08:38:00 -0400 (EDT)
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From: Patricia Neill <pnpj@db1.cc.rochester.edu>
Subject: IP: Shirley Allen - November 15, 1997 - Allen rejecting treatment
To: jadinardo@lucent.COM
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State Journal-Register
Springfield, Illinois
November 15, 1997
Stepdaughter: Allen still rejects treatment
By Jefferson Robbins
Staff Writer
Shirley Allen continues to refuse psychiatric treatment, her
stepdaughter said Friday, raising fears she'll be hospitalized for
six months or longer.
Allen, 51, held police at bay for 39 days from inside her home near
Roby while they tried to serve a court order forcing her into
psychiatric evaluation. Since being overpowered by state police and
brought to St. John's Hospital Oct. 30, she's refused medication for
her alleged mental illness, said her stepdaughter, Kate Waddell.
Under the state mental health law, if psychiatrists find that Allen
continues to exhibit signs of mental illness, a judge can order her
hospitalized for up to 180 days. She could be released sooner than
that if she's judged well, but if her symptoms persist, the
confinement could be renewed at the end of 180 days.
Waddell said that possibility bothers her and the rest of Allen's
family.
"I don't think that anyone ever intended for this to happen," she
said. "This is not what her family wanted. I think they were just
worried about her health, really worried."
Allen's court-appointed guardian, Taylorville attorney Lindsey Reese,
said Allen has barred him from commenting about her condition or her
treatment.
"I just talked to her about an hour ago, and she told me to keep my
mouth shut," Reese said.
Confidentiality law also prohibits Allen's attorney, Athens lawyer
Bill Conroy, or the assistant state's attorneys involved with her
case from talking specifically about it.
Waddell said Allen's first court hearing, held at St. John's Nov. 6,
established that she has enough money not to require a
court-appointed attorney. Conroy will be paid out of Allen's own
pocket, Waddell said.
Allen also has requested that a jury make a ruling on her sanity
rather than a single judge, Waddell said. Defendants in mental health
cases, dubbed "respondents," have the right to demand a jury.
A judge has ordered that Allen be examined further by other doctors
before her next court hearing, scheduled for Monday, Waddell said.
Reese declined to say what might occur at that hearing.
"We're just trying to move the case forward as best we can and trying
to get her out of there as fast as possible," he said.
Meanwhile, fees for Allen's medical care and legal needs may become
daunting. Despite the fact that her psychiatric care was ordered by
the courts - first by Christian County Judge David Slater, when
Allen's family petitioned him in September, and then by Sangamon
County Judge Robert Hall after she was captured - she must pay her
own medical bills.
But Allen has no health insurance, Reese said, and her
hospitalization costs could reach $500 to $1,000 a day.
"The bill just goes straight out of the money she's saved up all her
life," Reese said.
Allen's rural home was the site of an armed standoff from Sept. 22
until her capture Oct. 30. When Christian County sheriff's deputies
came to serve Slater's original court order, Allen allegedly locked
herself inside and took up a shotgun to ward off police.
Deputies called the Illinois State Police, who oversaw the standoff
until its conclusion. One tear-gassing, a pepper-spray attack,
constant attempts at negotiation by loudspeaker, and an incursion by
a police dog failed to pry Allen out of the house. She dodged the
effects of both gas attacks, ignored attempts to speak with her and
shot the dog, wounding but not killing it.
She was finally captured after she ventured out onto her rear deck,
and troopers shot her with rubber bullets.
As a result of the deadlock, Reese's first duty after being appointed
guardian of Allen's welfare Oct. 31 was to clean up her damaged home.
The broken windows have been replaced, he said Friday, but - despite
a thorough cleaning - the stink of pepper spray used by state police
remains pungent throughout the house.
Reese said he isn't sure if the spray saturated the carpet and
furniture.
"I need somebody who's a little more knowledgable on the removal of
pepper spray," he said.
Waddell, 47, is the daughter of Allen's late husband, John Allen. It
was Allen's siblings, many of whom live out of state, who first
petitioned for the psychiatric exam Allen resisted for so long.
"I don't want to see her in a hospital," Waddell said. "I really
don't. I want to see her back to being Shirley, but who knows how
long it will take?"
* Origin: Stargate Oregon - North Bend, Oregon USA (1:356/3)
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