CARNIVAL WORKER MOLESTS 8 AND 5 YEAR OLD GIRLS

If you've ever seen the movie "Joe Dirt", you'll remember the scene where he works at a carnival, picking up chicks, "trying" to act sexy, but comes off as gross and plain-old sleazy. Is Joe Dirt this guy's hero?

Don't KISS and TELL!

CROWN POINT, Ind. -- A carnival worker convicted of kissing a girl and licking the face of another on a fair ride has been sentenced to six years in prison.


Police said Judex Colon III, 25, of Chicago was operating the Ghost Pirates ride at the Lake County Fairgrounds on Aug. 3, 2007, when he stopped the ride and accosted the girls, ages 8 and 5.


The younger girl said Colon kissed her on the lips. The older girl said he held her hands down against the safety rail and licked her face. Lake County police said Colon admitted he kissed the girls because they seemed scared while on the ride. (Source)

Afterward, the girls reported he said, "shhh," and ran his hand perpendicular to his neck.

Photo Courtesy of "Happy Gilmore"

Relatives of the girls told police they saw Colon put out a cigarette and walk into the first section of the ride, look back at them and smile. The girls emerged three or four minutes later.

The owner of All Star Amusement, Richard Wyatt, told police investigators the operator would only enter the ride if a cart got stuck. Freeing a cart would take a maximum of three seconds, and the entire ride lasts about 1 minute 10 seconds.

In a statement to police, Colon said he "accidentally" kissed the two girls while they were on the ride and later said he "just kissed them out of habit." Colon said he sometimes goes inside the ride if children seem scared and assures them that everything is OK. "He added that they probably pushed their cheeks up against his lips and that it may have felt like a kiss to them," Colon is quoted as telling police.

(Second Source)

NADIA KAJOUJI'S SUICIDE COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED

(Map--Source)

Since I am American, I do not know the health privacy laws of Canada. However, I do know that once a person turns 18, there is no legal obligation for a doctor to reveal or release one's medical records, or even to inform parents or family that their patient has a serious health problem and needs support and additional treatment. Yet, according to Canadian law, and Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's privacy commissioner, a University CAN disclose health information to parents.

BUT WHAT WAS DONE? NOTHING...

Here's an example: The Virginia Tech massacre. Seung-Hui Cho, who killed 32 people, not including himself, and who seriously injured dozens of others was clinically depressed and was seeking treatment; yet due to the HIPAA laws in the United States ("Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act"), no one was informed of his condition.

Look how that ended up. Thirty-three dead and an entire university and community in shambles. What could have been prevented? Why did no one speak out? Even an insurance company has the rights to one's medical records!

These laws are to protect that person's privacy, but there has to be a line drawn in this case and excepts must be made. These conditions are a matter of life and death. It's not as if Nadia was getting an abortion, or in a drug rehabilitation program, where that is kept strictly confidential. But in cases like this, when one is threatening or thinking of suicide, someone must be held accountable for keeping silent.

In my opinion, the University and the lack of their actions are responsible for the death of Nadia. If her doctor would have come out and told her parents that she needed more psychiatric care than what she was receiving, she might still be here. If the University took a moment out of their "busy schedule" to talk to Nadia's family, she might still be here.

This specific Canadian law was put in place to protect people. Not to hide and end up with the grizzly consequence of one's death, or the death of many.

It's time that our society (not just Canada, but the U.S., and the international population as a whole) wakes up, re-evaluates our understanding and education regarding mental health and address it instead of ignoring it by sweeping it under the rug, like so many did in the 1950's-1960's.

This is a disease.
A disease that takes the lives of 1 million
people worldwide per year.

I feel angry and empathize with Nadia's family. Something should have been done. Sometimes one has to "screw the rules". Sometimes rules are meant to be broken. In this situation, it should have been broken...out of the conscience of her doctors or therapists.


She was in dire need of help, but did not receive adequate treatment. For crying out loud, she was corresponding over the internet with a perfect stranger for help! What does that say? How does that reflect our attitudes and priorities? It only shows ignorance, a continuing stigma, and the fact that society, the law, physicians, and health insurance companies DO NOT CARE about those afflicted with depression or other mental illnesses.

If you are reading this and have or are currently suffering depression or any other mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder, I'm sure you've heard this many times: "Snap out of it!" "Pull yourself up with your boot straps and get on!" "Go exercise!" The list goes on and on.

I am angry with the "system" and the "powers that be". It's disgusting and against all decent human rights. When people need help in situations such as this, hiding or ignoring the problem will only make situations worse and more people will die as a result.

International Suicide Statistics--As of 2005

• Global suicide rates have increased 60% in the past 45 years.

• Over one million people die by suicide worldwide each year. On average, one person dies by suicide every 40 seconds somewhere in the world.

• Canada is ranked 40th out of 100 countries with the most suicides.
  

• Worldwide, suicide ranks among the three leading causes of death among those aged 15-44 years.

• For every suicide there are at least 20 suicide attempts.

• Self-inflicted injuries represented 1.8 percent of the global burden of disease in 1998 and are expected to increase to 2.4 percent in 2020.

• Suicide rates among young people have been increasing and they are currently the group at highest risk in one third of all countries.

• At least 100,000 adolescents die by suicide every year.
  

(Source)

U.S. Suicide Statistics (2004-2005)

• In 2004, it was the eleventh leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for 32,637 deaths.
  

• The United States is ranked 43 out of 100 with the most suicides.

• The overall rate was 10.9 suicide deaths per 100,000 people.

• An estimated eight to 25 attempted suicides occur per every suicide death.

(Source)

Ontario commissioner clarifies medical
privacy rules in wake of student's death

The parents of Nadia Kajouji could legally have been informed by the university that their daughter was being treated for depression, says Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's privacy commissioner.

Nadia Kajouji, an 18 year old Carleton student from Brampton, Ontario, had been last seen in her dorm room on March 9, 2008, and at the time of her disappearance, her parents were unaware that she was being treated for depression.

UNIVERSITY COVER UP?
PRIVACY COMMISSIONER OUTRAGED

Carleton University officials said privacy laws did not allow them to disclose that information to her family, but that isn't true," stated Cavoukian. "That is fiction," she said. "I'm so upset about this that I've just written a letter to the presidents of the universities and colleges in Ontario advising them of the fact sheet that we issued in 2005 advising them of my repeated attempts to set the record straight."

She said it's not easy for a university to decide to disclose such information to a parent, but the law does allow you to do it.

Kajouji's family and friends undertook a massive search effort after her disappearance. Police investigated the incident, but always maintained there was no reason to suspect foul play. A preliminary autopsy on the body also showed no signs of foul play.

The family later learned that their daughter had been taking medication for depression and had talked to a friend online about suicide. (Source)

Mohamad Kajouji, Nadia's father says he's angry university officials didn't tell him his daughter was facing high levels of stress and was undergoing counseling prior to her disappearance. "I was very angry to be very honest with you - at the university, at security and at her doctor..."

(Source)

MISSING CANADIAN STUDENT NADIA KAJOUJI FOUND--SUICIDE

As I've written before in other posts (See HERE and HERE), Nadia's story hits home to me...it hits VERY hard. It hurts my heart, my stomach, my brain. I have/had family members commit suicide who have struggled with mental illness their entire lives...all ultimately ending in their early and unnecessary demise.


I personally understand the toll it takes on a person and the pain they go through. There are always signs...they DO cry out for help, but untrained people don't recognize these signs. I certainly DO NOT blame anyone in Nadia's life for not seeing these things, but I understand how it happens.

Suicide is different from murder. A family of a murder victim has to grieve in a different way than a family whose loved one takes their life. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about a University of Michigan Student Rylan Cotter, who was found dead, and was ultimately discovered that she had taken her own life.

Depression or Bipolar Disorder?

Depression and bipolar disorder go hand in hand. They are different illnesses, yet they are the very similar. In bipolar disorder one may feel "manic"...on top of the world. No one sees that as a problem because they are happy, motivated, and full of energy. It's when the "crash" that follows that becomes literally lethal. I can only describe it as one who is high on speed and suddenly without warning crashes. They will sleep for hours on end. They will not get out of bed. They cry constantly. They don't believe that anyone understands.


No one knows what is wrong because just the other day they were happy, full of life and on top of the world. Being able to come out and tell someone they need help is terrifying. No one wants to be labeled. It is like a drug addict admitting they are on the course of death. There are drug interventions...I believe there should be interventions for depression as well.

I'm not saying Nadia may have had bipolar disorder, but in any case, both diseases are very similar and absolutely serious. The general community and health providers need to pay more attention to this disease. There are too many negative stigmas and trying to trust people to explain how they are feeling is almost out of the question. Who wants to be called 'crazy', 'psycho', or they 'have issues'? It just makes the person feel worse, they become more introverted and isolated, and it can spiral into what could eventually happen. DEATH.

This is what I wrote about Rylan Cotter on March 8, 2008:

Not long ago, I did a piece SEE HERE about Rylan Cotter. Another college woman found dead. Another mystery. Who were her friends? Who did she hang out with? Was it a random serial-type killing, or an act of rage from a boyfriend or ex?

This news is a no win situation. Yes, it is a good thing that she was not murdered, yet it is not a good news for her family to learn that she took her own life. If she had been murdered, and the killer was found and justice was served, the family might have some sort of closure. But with a suicide, the family is probably even more tormented because they are thinking, "What could I have done?" "Why couldn't/didn't I recognize something was wrong?"


For any family to lose their child, sibling, cousin, aunt, uncle...any relative, is worse than if that person were to die in an accident. It is something that haunts you. You will never know why, never know what was going on in their head. You will never know if there was anything you could have done differently had they known they were going through something that lethally serious. Happy people don't kill themselves.


This unfortunate closure to this Rylan's life hits home to me. Two years ago, my only uncle committed suicide at the age of 51, alone in his apartment. It was a couple days before anyone found him. He shot himself in the head, and the authorities found the movie "Crash" in the DVD player...the last thing he was watching before his demise. I know this haunts my mother, and it certainly haunts me.


I pray for Rylan's family, offer my condolences, and can only say, take it one day at a time. The pain will never go away, but you will be able to go on with your life. She will be the one that you will always hold dearness to your heart.

I feel the same way for Nadia and I hope that her family and friends will seek support and try to understand that it is not their fault. It is the fault of society and health providers that do not have the training or understanding of this deadly disease.

I pray for Nadia. She seemed like such a beautiful and wonderful person. My heart goes out to her and I hope that she has found peace and happiness with God, although she will be missed greatly.


Maybe her story will help others find help...maybe her story will alert others to recognize signs of this deadly atrocity.

Please see this link for more information and signs of mood disorders. Educating yourself and others can be a matter of life and death.

http://www.dbsalliance.org/



'I believe in my heart it's her'

Nadia father laments..."For me, it's been like a nightmare," he said. Deborah Chevalier, Ms. Kajouji's mother, was so distressed by the news, she was taken to the emergency room. "To my wife, it came as a very big shock," said Mr. Kajouji. "She's in pretty bad shape."


He said he wasn't surprised by the news, as the family discovered in the course of their search that Ms. Kajouji had been taking anti-depressants, struggling with school and undergoing counseling.


The family had said recently that on the day she disappeared, she had written about killing herself in a lengthy online conversation with a U.S. woman. She then told a roommate she was going skating, but she left her wallet behind. There had been no trace of her since."We are all human we should be able to help each other, apparently she was crying for help but no one gave a hand for it, that is so disappointing," said Mr. Kajouji.

(Entire Story Here)

Rest in Peace, Nadia. You will never be forgotten.