Did anyone hear the news story about Rosie O'Donnell

[miles]

I didn't catch the whole story tonight, but I heard part of a report that Rosie O'Dildo was soliciting contributions for the defense fund of the woman who murdered her five children.

Did anyone else hear anything about it?

 

[HARDKOREBJ]

rosie?

nope?

 

[Bob Peale]

I couldn't find anything about Rosie...

...but I did find this:

Katie Couric, Reporter or Advocate?
By Lisa de Moraes
Tuesday, August 14, 2001; Page C07


Katie Couric doesn't need to leave the "Today" show and join the talk-show circuit to do on-air advocacy work on controversial subjects, à la Oprah or Rosie. She's already doing it on "Today."

Yesterday morning, for instance, at the end of a taped interview with the mother and brother of confessed child murderer Andrea Yates, Couric told viewers where to send contributions to the Texas woman's defense fund; the address also appeared onscreen.

"Any money left over will be given to women's charities dealing with postpartum depression and psychosis," added Couric, who is arguably the most influential journalist in America today. Heck, she persuaded hordes of Americans to get colonoscopies simply by having her own, on-air, in March 2000. Couric's National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, formally launched that same month, raised more than $10 million in just a few weeks, the Associated Press reported. Which is why most major media companies, including Viacom and AOL Time Warner, reportedly are courting Couric to headline news programs or talk shows, as her NBC News contract comes up for renewal.

Couric gave the detailed information about the defense fund -- which was set up late last week -- right after Yates's mother and brother told NBC News correspondent Jim Cummins that they need help paying the legal bills.

"Six people since March, you know -- I just got through paying for my husband's expensive funeral" after his death from Alzheimer's disease, Yates's mother, Karin Kennedy, told Cummins.

Added brother Andrew Kennedy: "The prosecution has unlimited funds. And in a case like this, we're talking about the general expenses of half a million, a million dollars. We don't have that kind of funds."

Still, "Today" spokeswoman Allison Gollust insisted yesterday afternoon that the producers were not worried that inclusion of the defense fund address before the murder case is adjudicated might have given viewers the impression that Couric and/or NBC News subscribe to the idea that Yates was indeed suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis when she drowned her five children, one at a time, in a bathtub on June 20.

Nor are they worried that having Couric tell her 6 million viewers this information might lead them to believe that Couric and/or NBC News believe Yates's actions were defensible if she suffered postpartum depression at the time.

"I don't see how it would suggest that NBC is agreeing or somehow supporting" the defense, Gollust said. "Today" has posted addresses for defense funds before, she said, although when asked if any had been given before a ruling in the case, she said she did not know. Gollust said the show does not have a policy about providing defense fund addresses or 800 phone numbers.

"This is a story that has generated a tremendous amount of interest from our viewers. We thought it was information that might be useful to them," she said.

But yesterday afternoon, after the "Today" segment had rerun twice on MSNBC, NBC News decided to remove the defense fund information before it ran two additional times. "When we realized it might send the wrong message, we didn't include it in the piece," Gollust told The TV Column late yesterday.

The defense fund details also were not included in a cut-down version of Cummins's interview last night on NBC's evening newscast.

Gollust says that running details of the Andrea Pia Yates Defense Fund was not a condition of getting the interview for "Today," and the decision to include the information was made by show executive producer Jonathan Wald, who's been in the post for just three months.

Yates has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity to two charges of capital murder in the deaths of three of the children -- the eldest, 7-year-old Noah; John, 5; and the youngest, 6-month-old Mary. She has admitted drowning all five children, also including Paul, 3, and Luke, 2.

District Judge Belinda Hill had imposed a gag order on lawyers, witnesses and investigators in the case but because she allowed Harris County District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal to announce last Wednesday that he will seek the death penalty, she allowed the defense team to announce it was setting up a defense fund.

Contacted yesterday by The TV Column for comment on the "Today" show segment, Harris County Prosecutor Joseph Owmby said, "The judge issued the gag order to prevent this type of thing from happening. . . . This has been a most enlightening experience to me in regard to the press -- other than that, I can't comment."

Saturday afternoon's violent weather can be blamed for plenty of dark TV screens throughout the Washington area, but local Pax affiliate WPXW was hit even earlier last weekend.

Channel 66 went dark at about 7 a.m. Saturday due to an electrical malfunction in its Fairfax Station office, said WPXW chief engineer Harold Sharland. A Dominion Power electrical feeder leading into the building "burned up," damaging the transmitter that allows the signal to go out, he told The Post's John Maynard.

The station remained off the air for the next 30 hours.

If that wasn't bad enough, WPXW's transmission tower was struck by lightning just before 7 p.m. Saturday. The lightning took out the building's power and phone lines and damaged other internal equipment, said Sharland, who, Maynard reports, sounded like he'd had a really bad weekend.

The Pax signal was back up on reduced power just after 1 p.m. on Sunday and returned to full power yesterday afternoon.

Staff writer Lloyd Grove contributed to the report on the Yates defense fund.



© 2001 The Washington Post Company

 

[p_p_man]

No but I heard this on UK radio...

200,000 Americans went to Cuba for their vacation last year. Even taking into account exiled-Cubans returning to visit families this a huge increase on previous years.

What I found funny and conjured up a superb cartoon subject in my mind is the the US Govt have various officers at airports in Mexico, Spain, UK and throughout America to spot the Cuban bound holiday-maker...

If only I could draw...

 

[miles]

Sounds like it

What about a fund for the surviving father and the kid's relatives? The woman deserves adequate counsel and a fair trial, but this is entirely too weird.

When did Katie Couric become "arguably the most influential journalist in the US?" She may be a journalist, but the only people she influences is the author of the article. She's a morning TV "personality."

I'm not surprised about Rosie O'Donnell. I think she's very funny and needs to stick with comedy. She's not too bright.

 

[*Lazer*]

I think by helping contribute to the defense fund you would be helping the husband and family. They love this woman hard though that might be for some of us to grasp. Not to be obnoxious but this spotlights our mental health system and the need for a hard look at the funding. This woman was psychotic and depressed and everyone around her knew it. How sad that no one was able to intervene and remove the kids from such a dangerous setting. I cannot elp but wonder if that woman had stayed in the hospital for a decent time frame after delivering her baby or had sufficent followup with home visits....... This is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen.

 

[mrbenh]

they don't call Lazer a guru for nothin'

When Lazer talks, we here the truth coming from a compassionate mind. God , I wish there were more nice people like this!!

 

[miles]

Lazer

I understand your compassion,, but how would "funding" have prevented these murders? These were not poor people. Even if they were they would have access to medical treatment. What is being funded?

You mentioned her husband and family knew she was psychotic.

Isn't it a little strange that they allowed a psychotic to be alone with the kids?

Funding my butt. What about responsibility?

 

[ranajja]

hindsight is 20/20

How sad that no one was able to intervene and remove the kids from such a dangerous setting....... This is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen.

I agree. Someone needed to make this call, especially if she had a history of it.

I still can't get past the fact that there were 5 kids, and she methodically murdered all of them. There's still something very strange about all of this.

 

[*Lazer*]

If better funding had been in place there would have been money available to target the at risk moms and perhaps a trained professional observing her in the home would have realized the danger. I am not trying to defend what she did I am seeking to understand and so prevent this from happening again. A history of depression in a new mother should have triggered alarms in several sectors. She fell through the cracks in our system and five kids paid the price. I cannot help but feel helpless and angry at a needless tragedy. A longer postpartum hospital stay with a social work or psych evealuation, home visits and meds could have made a huge difference. It all costs money, thats how funding could have made a difference. Education for all caregivers of pregnant women, public announcements all could still make a difference. Sorry for blahhing on but it just touched me so deeply.

 

[miles]

I know you aren't defending what she did. But again, these are not poor people without medical resources. I don't understand how and why a trained professional would have observed them in the home...you are saying if there had been funding that would have happened. The woman was psychotic. Again, these people had resources....the government doesn't automatically observe mothers to be sure they are fit to be parents.

What you are saying is that if the government paid for her to be hospitalized longer this wouldn't have happened. It seems like you feel like the government should provide these services - in this case even where they could have paid for it themselves.

The lady was crazy. Period. She needed treatment and didn't get it, even though it was available. The family was negligent.

To say "funding" would have prevented any of those factors is completely illogical.

 

[GuyJD]

I didn't hear that one but I remember she was behind Paula Poundstone, despite the fact that Poundstone molested those children. I guess all dykes stick together, regardless what offense they commit.

 

[*Lazer*]

Miles do you have any idea of the costs of psychiatric treatment. How most HMO.s or insurance companies require documentation up the yin yang before okaying treatment. I don't think these people were all that well off. Come spend a night in the emergency dept some night and you will see what I mean. Let me tell you a true story that happened when I was working in the ER. A psychotic woman wearing moose antlers on her head was admitted when the cops found her walking the streets with her baby (two days old) in her arms dead. It was winter and she had nodded off while sitting under an overpass. The baby was dead from hypothermia. The blanket had fallen away from the infant when the mom was sleeping. She had been discharged that very day from a county hospital. She slipped through the cracks and so did her baby. Do you think this is rare? This is extreme but not rare. That is where funding can help. If the nurses had less then twenty five patients apiece that day they would have noticed her behavior. Or the social worker would have realized she was going home that day and had no home.

Do I expect the government to pay for that woman's treatment? You fucking bet I do. I am sucked for thirty percent of my income. I want the psychotic and the old and the sick cared for in an adequate manner. That is why I pay my taxes and if it took more to do it then I would pay gladly. I just want us to error on the side of vigilance not ignorance.

 

[miles]

Lazer*

I've been administering benefits for 9 years.

The guy is a NASA engineer. If they don't have health coverage it's because they chose not to. Either way your argument falls apart. They probably did have adequate coverage - how else could they pay for the birth and medical expenses for 5 kids?

On the other hand, if these people couldn't afford health care, why are they downloading babies like a Pez dispenser?

It's the old blame society bullshit. Remove the family's responsibility. Society or the system isn't to blame here. You haven't mentioned a word about the family's negligence. They knew she was whacked and did nothing.

You can cite all the moose head stories you want, but it doesn't change the facts.

 

[*Lazer*]

The point is Miles that people DON"T step up to the plate. Does it do any good to blame anyone at this point. I agree that it was foolish and dangerous to continue to have babies when she was already in trouble. The dynamics of the family that lets a woman with profound psychiatric illness have baby after baby are dysfunctional. Your argument that they needed to be responsible when they obviously weren't going to is equally dysfunctional. Education is essential to alert people to identify those at risk mothers. That takes money. I am not interested in who is at fault I am not "blaming society". What I am saying is that I want it not to happen again. Education is the key to this and it takes money.

 

[MsHotLegs]

I think most people are missing the point in this tragedy: this woman had 5 kids--5!! She had ppd after the 4th--and no one tried to help her. They all acknowledge she had it but no one made her seek help. And what did her hubby do? Get her pregnant again! Jees! And mental health and insurance? A joke. My super, employer provided health insurance (think BLUE) only pays 50% of what the ins. co thinks is a reasonable rate--which is usually half what the dr. charges. Therefore, the patient ends up paying about 75% and it ain't cheap! I suffered from ppd and while I was never psychotic, it manifested itself in other physical ailments. I actually had a dr. tell me that if I hand ANOTHER baby that would solve my problem! At these days OBs will prescribe anti-depressants to new mothers. But education and financial assistance are the only way to prevent this from happening again. Her whole family and group of friends are responsible for this tragedy too!

 

[teresafannin]

One thing that everyone seems to forget is that you can't force someone to get help. It is very difficult to have someone committed in Texas, they have to cause harm to themselves or someone else. My mother is suffering from terrible depression since the death of my son. She will not see a therapist or go to any kind of support group. The family of the man who murdred my son & 6 others knew that he was seriously ill, but there wasn't much they could do because he hadn't hurt anyone. The mental health system in Texas has lots of problems, insurance is only a small part of it. When I took a 6 month LOA after the death of my son, my company arranged for me to get short term disability pay. The woman in charge of my claim could not understand why I couldn't get out of bed or why I couldn't eat or handle the stress of my job. Luckily, my therapist intervened for me. There are no easy answers in a case like this, it is a tragedy all around.