To continue with Ms. Al Wetaid’s affidavit:

Ms. Al-Wetaid says –

#13)

(a) “On Friday February 28th, the wife reported to MGH that the health care proxy (HCP) form on record designating Mr. Bennett’s stepdaughter Melissa Aranowitz, signed in 2018, was invalid and that her signature was forged.”

That is not true

Mr. Benett’s stepdaughter’s name is not Melissa Aronowitz, it is Maliça Aronowitz. That reflects the irresponsibility of Ms. Al-Wetaid to the point of not even taking care to know the spelling of the name of the people who she is investigating.

13 (a) Ms. Al-Wetaid claims (On Friday February 28th, the wife reported to MGH that the health care proxy (HCP) form on record designating Mr. Bennett’s stepdaughter Melissa Aranowitz, signed in 2018, was invalid and that her signature was forged.” In fact, Ms. Donaldson gave the Health Care Proxy created for Dr. Bennett by Mr. Donald McInnis on November 18, 2019 a couple days after Dr. Bennett was admitted and they knew surgery was going to happen.

Ms. Aronowitz knew of the Health Care Proxy created by Mr. McInnis. According to Ms. Donaldson she had no thought that Ms. Aronowitz would give the Health Care Proxy which she knew had been superseded by the one Dr. Bennett had created according to his wishes and signed by Dr. Bennett and two witnesses who have known Dr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson for some 20 to 30 years. It was not on either Dr. Bennett or Ms. Donaldson’s mind that Ms. Aronowitz would have done such.

Several days later, MGH spoke to Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett and informed them that two Health Care Proxies had been given to them and that Ms. Aronowitz had given MGH the Health Care Proxy which was the reason Dr. Bennett had Mr. McInnis create the Health Care Proxy they had given to MGH. The Health Care Proxy Ms. Aronowitz gave to MGH is the one which caused the problems Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett had at Beth Israel Hospital months earlier.

Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett together told the MGH person who handles proxies at MGH the story of the Health Care Proxies and what happened in the past.

The MGH person wanted to talk to Dr. Bennett alone. Ms. Donaldson left the room and Dr. Bennett, in a conversation that lasted about 45 minutes, said who he wanted as his Health Care Proxy and answered whatever other questions the MGH proxy person had.

The MGH person was also concerned because the Health Care Proxy created by Mr. Don McInnis on November 18, 2019, had a typo which was not crucial, but to make sure that the Donaldson/Bennett’s would be ‘safe’ it was better to have a Health Care Proxy which was without such a typo.

The MGH person created a Health Care Proxy to replace the one created by Mr. Don McInnis. Her conversation with Dr. Bennett and the Health Care Proxy created on November 18, 2019 were consistent.

The two people who were witnesses to Dr. Bennett’s signature on November 18, 2019 – Mr. Donald McInnis and Ms. Trudi VanSlyck – have made statements included with this document verifying the fact that the November 18, 2019 Health Care Proxy was indeed witnessed by them on November 18, 2019.

Ms. Al-Wetaid goes to great lengths in 13 (c) to attempt to negate the MGH Health Care Proxy by holding it up as something Dr. Bennett was not capable of understanding nor signing. She appears to have accessed Dr. Bennett’s medical records, without anyone’s permission and claims to quote from that medical record to attempt to disqualify the two Health Care Proxies which were combined – each one appointing the same Health Care Proxy according to Dr. Bennett’s wishes. One she ignores and says nothing about, the second one she quotes medical jargon to attempt to claim that Dr. Bennett did not know what he was signing and that the first Health Care Proxy which was not signed by Dr. Bennett and about which he knew nothing, was actually – according to Ms. Al-Wetaid, , the one that reflected Dr. Bennett’s wishes.

Ms. Al-Wetaid takes great care to not say anything about the fact that there was a Health Care Proxy which preceded the one she is holding up which Dr. Bennett signed in November 18, 2019 when there could be no question about whether or not Dr. Bennett knew what he was signing and that Health Care Proxy reflected his wishes. Ms. Al-Wetaid talks about a “new HCP designating his wife as his representative” as having been signed 13 (c) when Dr. Bennett “knew who he was and occasionally knew where he was.” She claims that this “new” HCP was signed by Dr. Bennett and accepted “Despite..a lack of understanding of his care needs and health issues, he was determined capable of appointing new HCP.”

This was all worded to give anyone reading it the impression that Dr. Bennett’s wife was appointed as a new HCP when Dr. Bennett was not in any condition to understand what he was doing when both Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms Clary knew better. At that point they were acting, not as impartial investigators, but as people selectively picking over facts and putting them together in such as way as to present a case which would support the conclusions they made before their investigation started.

In addition, their investigation started before they had any right of any kind to even begin an investigation of Dr. Bennett and his family totally violating all of their rights under the U. S. Constitution and every other document in these United States which protects the rights of its citizens. They then followed Dr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson from mid-2019 through today. That is a total violation of any interpretation of their job description and a violation of the right to privacy of Dr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson and could be interpreted as an attempt to kidnap Dr. Bennett, hold him hostage in a hospital and take whatever assets, information, etc. he might have that they could use. From what we have experienced through this, it is more of a kidnapping than any kind of group concerned about what Somerville Cambridge Elder and Protective Services are supposed to be concerned about.

The investigations that Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary do, where people have contacted us with complaints about their experiences with Somerville Cambridge Protective and Elder Services and a few other such groups around Massachusetts,all seem to have that technique in what they do so the end result is what they want it to be rather than what an honest investigation would produce. From our experience they seem to be more of a mafia group than an investigative caring group.

From 13 (d) Ms. Al-Wetaid goes on to misquote dates citing February 29th as the day Dr. Bennett was discharged from MGH when actually it was March 1st.

From 13 (d) Dr. Bennett was discharged from MGH to Sherrill House for short-term rehabilitation and both he and Ms. Donaldson were looking forward to the experience because of Sherrill House’s historical and current connection to the Episcopal Church and Dr. Bennett’s understanding of Sherrill House and its purposes. Their actual experience with Sherrill House fell short of what they expected.

From 13 (e) Ms. Al-Wet-Aid says that on Sunday March 1st, the wife signed Mr. Bennett out of Sherrill House rehab Against Medical Advice (AMA) after being at the facility for less than 15 hours. Ms. Al-Wetaid does change the number of hours Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett were at Sherrill House. They arrived about 2pm and left the next day about 12:30pm. That is actually about 22 hours.

Neither Dr. Bennett nor Ms. Donaldson wanted to stay at Sherrill House. Some of what they had problems with could be overlooked. Two parts of their objections could not. The first part was the fact that Dr. Bennett arrived via ambulance, as is normal when coming from a hospital, and expected rehab. Instead, he was told to stay in bed for the rest of the day and if he wanted to go to the bathroom he was not to get up and go by himself he was to ring for the nurse. Ms. Donaldson was also told at the same time, that she was not to help Dr. Bennett, she was to wait for the nurse. Dr. Bennett was ready to discover what his program of rehab would be, how soon it would start, etc. Being told to spend the day in bed when he had been able to do more than that in the hospital was not something Dr. Bennett was ready to hear. Ms Donaldson was concerned because when Dr. Bennett rang for the nurse because he needed to go to the bathroom it took some 45 plus minutes for the nurse to come and by that time he had the embarrassment of an accident.

Upon the arrival of Ms. Donaldson on Monday morning to see her husband, she could not because several patients in rehab on his floor had the flu and Sherrill House was under quarantine. When Ms. Donaldson asked what kind of flu, no one knew. When Ms. Donaldson asked if the patients with the flu had been segregated from the other patients at Sherrill House. she was told that was not necessary. With stories of coronavirus circulating Ms. Donaldson was concerned and called Dr. Bennett to talk about the situation. The receptionist told them there was nothing to worry about because Sherrill House had been quarantined just a few months before, patients had the flu and only two rehab patients had caught it.

Given the coronavirus stories beginning to circulate Dr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson decided he would be better off at home.

13 (f) There was no time for anyone to set up anything because Dr. Bennett left Sherrill house after noon on Monday and the police arrived to pick him up at his home Tuesday morning about 10:30am.

14 (a) Dr. Bennett’s wife did welcome the two women into the house. Dr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson were having ice cream on the second floor bed/sitting room. Ms Donaldson went downstairs to open the door when the bell rang. She assumed the two women at the door were ‘friends” because that is how they introduced themselves. She invited them upstairs to the sitting room and invited the two women to join Dr. Bennett and herself for dessert. They did join them in the second floor bed/sitting room, but declined dessert.

(b) Dr. Bennett was in the second floor bed/sitting room as was Ms. Donaldson, as was Ms. Clary and as was Ms. Al-Wetaid. Ms. Clary sat on a green chair in the room, Ms. Al-Wetaid sat on the sofa, Ms. Donaldson sat on a desk chair and Dr. Bennett sat on a white suede chair for a few minutes and then left the room because he realized he didn’t know who they were, the conversation was not of interest to Dr. Bennett, he assumed they were friends of his wife’s, excused himself and left the room.

The claim by Ms. Al-Wetaid that “Mr. Bennett was on second floor and attempted to come down flight of stairs before wife was able to stop him; wife recognizes that stairs are unsafe for him.” That is total fiction apparently made up from Ms Al-Wetaids need to create her case. Dr. Bennett was on the second floor as was everybody else. Ms. Clary and Ms. Al-Wetaid went from the front door with Ms. Donaldson to the second floor bed/sitting room. At the end of the visit as Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary were leaving, Ms. Donaldson, Dr. Bennett, Ms. Clary and Ms. Al-Wetaid all came down from the second floor to the first floor landing where Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett said goodbye to them and they left.

14(c) Dr. Bennett did not join in the conversation in his bedroom sitting area along with his wife. Very shortly after Ms. Clary and Ms. Al-Wetaid arrived, Mr. Bennett went to the workroom across the hall and didn’t rejoin the conversation until Ms. Clary and Ms. Al-Wetaid were leaving.

14 (e) Ms. Al Wet-aid says “wife did demonstrate understanding of high-risk if Mr. Bennett were to fall again.” That is not true since there was no conversation about Mr. Bennett falling. It was a conversation which was about nothing memorable and there was definitely no conversation about Dr. Bennett or falling or anything of the kind.

14 (f) Mr. Al-Wetaid says “During the conversation PSW and PSD attempted to explore plans for follow-up medical care, including PCP appointments, alternate rehab placement, visiting nurse and home care referrals.” That is all totally not true. There was no conversation about Dr. Bennett’s medical-care or follw-up medical care or anything of the kind. Dr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson don’t have such discussions with people they can’t remember who show up unannounced and uninvited. They are polite, thank whoever for coming and make the visit as short as possible. They are always polite and lovely people, but do not engage strangers in such conversations.

14 (g) Ms. Al-Wetaid says “Wife explained that she had fired Mr. Bennett’s Primary Care Physician and wanted to find a new one.” That is not true. Ms. Donaldson did look around for a neurologist before she and Dr. Bennett went to MGH until she heard from Dr. David Pilgrim – chief neurologist at Brigham and Women’s in Jamaica Plain. That search was done by talking to people Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett knew and whose judgment they trusted and who were in a position to suggest a substantial neurologist not to anyone who came along.

The same thing would have been true of a conversation about a new PCP. That would have been done by talking to people they knew, trusted and who would have some exposure to and knowledge about possible PCP’s who were substantial people not to two young women who show up without being invited, who did not identify themselves as to who they really were who introduced themselves as “friends” coming to see Dr. Bennett and happy he was out of the hospital and who were really being intrusive into the lives of Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett for reasons which are and were detrimental to both and from looking at all of this, Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary were doing things meant to be detrimental to both.

In addition, the women surreptitiously came to the Donaldson/Bennett home intending to do them harm under the guise of ‘friends’ dropping by to bring their good wishes to Dr. Bennett.

14 (h) Ms. Al-Wetaid says “PSW and PSD attempted to engage in discussion about Mr. Bennett’s health issues. Wife reported that Mr. Bennett has no health issues and has no prescribed medications.” From what we have uncovered, that is not true. The conversation, according to Ms. Donaldson and the notes in her diary, did not leave the level of comments on the weather. Dr. Bennett did not participate in the conversation having left the room when it started and returning only to say good bye to Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary.

(h) (i.) Ms. Al-Wetaid goes on to say “We found out that he is in fact prescribed two blood pressure medications, a blood thinner and an anti-seizure medication.”

That is a shocker that such a huge lie wold be told by Ms. Al-Wetaid. That “investigation” shows Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary’s inability and refusal and probably without knowledge about how to do their jobs. As we checked, we were particularly struck by the two women’s claims when we asked professional medical people about medications and were told anti-seizure medication would not have been prescribed because that was only given for 7 days after brain surgery and that was done in the hospital while Dr. Bennett was there. To give Dr. Bennett a prescription for an anti-seizure medication, according to the neurologists at MGH and others who work at other places, would have been beyond irresponsible of the doctor giving such a prescription because to give anti-seizure medication for longer than 7 days would have been detrimental to the patient. We double checked the information we received from neurologists at MGH with neurologists in other parts of the United States – one in Chicago, one in Louisiana and one in Boston. They were all in agreement. So clearly, Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary had to make up “facts” to carry their story further and did not bother to check if their “facts” were correct.

Ms. Al-Wetaid goes on to say 14 (h) ii. ” Mr. Bennett is diagnosed with dementia, hypertension, subdural hematoma, evidence of at least four head injuries history of stroke and history of falls.”

That is totally amazing because at that point in time – March 5th the date of this affidavit by Ms. Al-Wetaid, Dr. Bennett’s Health Care Proxy was Ms. Donaldson and she did not give anyone permission to see and publicize his medical records. A concern we have is was this an invasion of privacy and how and why do people like Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary remain in their jobs when they are so careless with information they may have and/or information they make up out of whole cloth and which they make public as the actual truth. They have no doctors names as to who gave them that information; no time frame for the information; no hospital which released such information to Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary who were apparently following the subject of their investigation and publicly sharing any and all information they obtained in the process of this investigation.

Whether true or not, the information they claim as true to Dr. Bennett’s health will be in the public sphere for decades if not longer and all without Dr. Bennett’s permission.

From conversations we have had with neurologists about such things in general the entire group with whom we spoke said the same thing – no responsible neurologist would have given a diagnosis of “dementia” nor some of the other things these two women mention, especially so close to brain surgery to remove liquids from anyone’s brain. The reason they quoted is because what looks like some memory loss could be caused by the fluids on the brain and one would not know a definitive diagnosis until some time after the surgery when the patient recovered. If their memory improved, to have given a diagnosis of dementia would have been a substantial mistake which no neurologist or other kind of physician would have wanted to make.

After the surgery, Dr. Bennett had begun to show signs that this was true since for the couple days he was at home his memory seemed to be intact and in a conversation in MGH as Ms. Donaldson talked to Dr. Bennett’s doctors they had those conversations about how Dr. Bennett was showing some recovery of his memory and they should wait and see what happens as Dr. Bennett recovers.

That possibility was destroyed with the enormous pressure put on Dr. Bennett by the actions of Ms. Al-Wetaid, Ms. Angela Clary and those who helped them carry out this recurring 1930’s Ku Klux Klan style attack on Dr. Bennett.

14 (ii) Again, Ms. Aal-Wetaid either violates Dr. Bennett’s right to privacy by publishing what she claims to be a diagnosis of Dr. Bennett on March 5th when she would not have been given permission to access his medical records and as she gives that she calls as Dr. Bennett’s “diagnosis” she does not give any time frame. When were such diagnosis made? by whom? over what period of time?

14 (i) Ms. Al-Wetaid goes on to talk about a non-existent conversation she supposedly had with “wife” who Ms. Al-Wetaid claims said “had no concrete plans and did not have interest in visiting nurse or home care services.”

We would like to pick up on this with the “fall” Dr. Bennett had which resulted in his going to Beth Israel Hospital in November.

Dr. Bennett was two days out of eye surgery. He had a moulded plastic eye piece on his eye. He stumbled over a chair and fell. It was not a traumatic fall. From the information we were able to obtain, Dr. Bennett fell from about two feet. That information was available to Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary neither one of which were interested in pursuing that line of investigation. In fact, from our information they did not investigate at all – they looked for gossip, stories, what they could find to fit their preconceived results to build a case to fit their need to take power and control over this family as they have over others.

When Dr. Bennett went to Beth Israel, there was no mention of a “brain bleed”. His medical records will show there was no “brain bleed” and Ms. Al-Wetaid knows or should have known, if she did a proper investigation, that the “brain bleed” she claims happened in November, 2019, in fact, did not happen.

As we checked, at the end of Dr. Bennett’s stay at Beth Israel which was one day and one night this is what we found: their conclusion was that the one time he vomited was that it could have come from his fall, but it could also have come from something he ate. They found nothing which would go one way or the other.

It has been verified that he did not have a “brain bleed”. It has also been verified that Beth Israel did not recommend the transfer to BIDMC hospital in Boston because they found a “brain bleed.” It has been verified that the BIDMC transfer was because they had the equipment necessary to diagnose what happened and if there had been such.

It has also been verified that BIDMC did not recommend transfer to a rehabilitation facility. There was no referral to visiting nurse services (physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing). The fall was minor and is now being used by Ms. Al-Wetaid to attempt to put in place a case to attempt to remove Rev. Dr. Bennett from his home with claims that are much exaggerated, that fit the storyline Ms. Al-Wetaid is trying to promote and which are not true and easily verified as being untrue.

We have also confirmed that this entire thing was started by Ms. Aronowitz and that she has had a very bad relationship with her mother for decades.

Most recently, her mother, Ms. Donaldson, put her property up for sale. All of this comes shortly after her mother took the property off the market because she could not handle the way Ms. Aronowitz and her family went through the house against Ms. Donaldson’s wishes and in spite of her constantly begging Ms. Aronowitz to not destroy the house as they were doing, Ms. Aronowitz and her family went through the Donaldson home – ripped things off the walls leaving holes – re-arranged furniture which Ms. Donaldson asked her not to touch – took pictures off the walls against Ms. Donaldson’s wishes – took beautiful antiques and put them in the basement where lamps and lamp shades and other invaluable pieces were destroyed. At the same time, furniture was given away which Ms. Donaldson was keeping because they were pieces with family history – these Ms. Aronowitz and her family gave away.

This is the background of the person who started this bizarre attack on a very substantial Cambridge family with no history of any of what Somerville Cambridge Protective and Elder Services is now creating as the story line for their attack to take them down and destroy their assets. Apparently, getting ready for those assets to go to others. Our question – Whites?

While this is what started this investigation, it was up to the Somerville Cambridge Protective and Elder Services to make sure there was a reason to start this investigation because there is often the case where one family member will move to totally disrupt their family for many reasons. This should be a strong part of what the investigation goes into, but that is not true with Somerville Cambridge Protective Services. From our investigation they apparently almost never do that if the case is one they want to take into their quasi state agency for reasons we are now investigating.

Somerville Cambridge Protective Services moved ahead, without investigating nor questioning why Malica Aronowitz moved against her African American step-father.

We are investigating why they are moving against a family they knew should not have been investigated by them and they also, on information and belief, discovered that there was a reason for the complaint filed by Ms. Aronowitz which had nothing to do with Dr. Bennett nor his health. It was a convenient time and family happening on which they could build a case and take yet another person out of their family without cause and with the structures they built and placed around that family which was not true, but a creation of the Protective Services workers imagination to make sure they had yet another case – and one with large assets – which could be attacked and taken down.

It is also interesting that many of the people so investigated by the Protective and Elder Services groups who are attacked – and whose assets are destroyed and removed, if not most, are minorities, particularly African Americans.

Attorney O’Sullivan knew, or should have known that and Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary knew that the Health Care Proxy they asked the Court to validate had been not been signed by Dr. Bennett yet they moved ahead in spite of that claiming they were doing what was best for Dr. Bennett. The ethics of anyone who is given the very large responsibility of acting as Health Care Proxy for another individual is very important. The Health Care Proxy was established to insure that a person’s wishes were respected and clearly this is yet another area where Dr. Bennett’s rights have been stripped by Somerville Cambridge Protective and Elder Services without a thought and especially without acting in an ethical and moral way.

We have discovered through our investigation that Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary bonded with Ms. Aronowitz to get her involved and supportive of their need to destroy her family and have taken information she gave them, expanded it to fit their storyline and continue to move purposefully as they did when Dr. Bennett went to Beth Israel Hospital for what was a small problem, but was done for the Bennett/Donaldsons need to make sure Dr. Bennett was fine after a fall that was turned into something it was not by Somerville Cambridge Protective and Elder Services.

From our investigation, this is only one of many such transgressions engaged in by Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary backed by Attorney O’Sullivan.

We have much more of the lies we have found in this case. We have been asked to hold off on publishing the rest because this is going to Court.

As soon as we are able to publish more we will because we feel the public needs to know what is going on in their society which could very well influence their future. You may be young today, but you are aging and will have to deal with people like this as your family ages and as you age.

I am sure Ms. Donaldson had no idea her own daughter would create such a problem for the family.

_______________________________________________

by: Marceline Donaldson

I have been told by everybody to just go along – do whatever you have to do to get your husband back. Don’t fight them, they are too strong. They have done this to lots of people. Just go along or your husband will be put in a nursing home and they have done it to many others.

No thank you!

It is called TELL THE TRUTH! Why? Because these folks will continue on and do the same thing to others. It is necessary to confront such horrors because we are all related to one another – what happens to me today will be at your door tomorrow.

Robert and I have fought too many battles to hide, and let this happen to others.

What is holding Robert? What happened really? Well read on because we just discovered the key and we want you to know what happened and how it happened – the behind the scenes story – and it adds up to PERJURY and that needs to be charged against Ms. Nora Al-Wetaid and Ms. Angela Clary. Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett is not the first person they have attacked in such a vile, vicious, way which makes your hair curl with how easily they are able to achieve their goal of destroying those they can’t control.

This will be published in more than one part because it is long. You have to be interested in keeping the society in which you live free to read this to the end. This is the surest way to terrorize an entire society and that is what is happening – with Elder Protective Services and the people who support them. It is also happening around the state with Children Protective Services where children are being taken out of their homes because of misrepresentations and other such ugly things and the rest of us have been complicit by our ignorance. I know I was one of those people, but will never be again.

Lots of people are making tens of thousands of dollars on this scam. Attorneys, “Care Companies” getting clients through their connection to the ‘professionals’ involved and so many more. An industry has and is growing up besides this kind of oppression. It affects many African Americans and other minorities – but it is also negatively affecting Whites.

That does not include those doing a respectable, solid job, but they appear to be few and far between.

We have received many stories.but have only been able to thoroughly check out a few. Those are enough to make you horrified at what is being done to many in this society. And for the glorification of the few doing the deed. We are going to continue in this area and Bettina Network Foundation, inc. will be involved and so will Bettina Network Blog.

Why the Blog? Because the media refuses to cover this area and they do not use their investigative reporting resources to turn a bright light on all of this – they are intimidated also? Or it isn’t lucrative enough?

These folks make the intimidation we fear from places like Russia look small by comparison because of the number of people involved and the way they cover themselves in righteousness.

“Let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like an ever flowing stream.” Be with me, O God, as this strips the cover back so all can see the pus and filth being covered up. Another way we mistreat one another in this society.”

I recently discovered an affidavit in this case which I had not seen before. I was given a couple pages, but not the whole thing. I gave a response to those couple pages which has never appeared anyplace. God bless private investigators – last night I received the entire affidavit.

We are gathering sworn statements from people to put behind this article to prove, without a doubt, the PERJURY being committed in this affidavit.

Most people’s advice has been – keep quiet. Just get Robert out. Don’t you want your husband home? Robert and I have fought too many battles together I know what he would want and it would not be a cover-up. It is that attitude – do not risk, put your head in the sand – which has allowed this to flourish.

Lets look at this affidavit – signed under the pains and penalties of PERJURY.

And I must apologize, I come from a family of educators, artists and journalists, none inclined to short speech or short articles. This is worth the time you spend reading through it all.

Ms. Nora Al-Wetaid signed an affidavit under the pains and penalties or perjury on March 4, 2020. Ms. Al-Wetaid is Protective Services Director of Somerville Cambridge Elder Services. This group needs to be shut down, investigated and restitution made to people who have been their targets.

If you have been following this you will remember that Robert Bennett was picked up at his home on March 3rd by 8 white policemen and others creating a circus like our neighborhood has never seen. Somerville Cambridge Protective and Elder Services had sworn out a “section 12” My beautiful husband had been “sectioned”. That means he was a threat to society because of psychiatric reasons. A psychiatrist or psychologist or some such person has to sign off for someone to be “sectioned”.

A psychologist did, but to preserve her professional credentials she said on that paper – “I have never met Mr. Bennett, I have never examined him, I have never been in his home.” And yet that was acceptable to “section” this quiet, lovely, unassuming Episcopal priest with a substantial career and reputation in the Episcopal Church which was not standing behind him in this action against him. They have all been notoriously silent. Something that happens across the board when this kind of thing entraps another citizen of this country.

I didn’t know what “being sectioned” meant and it took awhile to understand that was demeaning, disgraceful, destroying of life and freedom and this should never have happened, but we live in a house which has sent out siren calls to those who want to move us out of this neighborhood into the one in which we” belong” – Roxbury, MA. So having such a history it took awhile for us to shake that off and look at the reality of what this is really about.

As an aside, there is another African American man who was put into the hospital in the south. What is his housing background? He lives in all white neighborhood – he is the only African American in that neighborhood. We were raised in the same young peoples group so he has been quite “out there” fighting injustice all of his life. He bought the house of the head of the KKK in his town and moved in. His life showed a very prosperous African American family – and so the day would come when his reputation would be fouled, ruined and his family assets reduced considerably to get him out. The people set up to do this were not successful, but they managed to cause much pain and to destroy assets that this family needed in the process. So while not entirely successful something negative happened.

Same situation. Put in a hospital from which it took four weeks to get him out. The state didn’t have to spend money to keep him incarcerated. – insurance money did the deed. A pattern set across the country. And this happened to Rev. Dr. Robert Bennett in Cambridge, MA. in the shadow of Harvard University. A man with a Harvard doctorate and all of the credentials one must have to live in this neighborhood – but he is African American and so the same day came for him as it did for my friend in he south. Only in Massachusetts it was much worse and the people involved attacking my lovely husband were far more skilled in what they did…….

On March 4, 2020, Massachusetts General Hospital lifted the “section 12 against Dr. Bennett which put him in the hospital on March 3rd and sent him home.

On March 4, 2020 Ms. Norah Al-Wetaid signed, under penalties of perjury charges against Dr. Bennett’s wife which would result in Dr. Bennett being re-arrested by the police on March 6th sectioning him again for the 2nd timeand his incarceration in Mass General Hospital from that day to this and counting. Yes, incarcerated – this fits every part of the definition – except people in state or federal prison get to go outside, exercise and they have rights those incarcerated in this hospital system of things with the Protective Services people have no rights at all. their privacy is constantly invaded; they have no right to go outside for any reason; their friends and family are kept away and so much more. It is roughly equivalent to being incarcerated as a terrorist in a third world country. The area of the hospital is much reduced from the kind of rooms, service, etc. one finds in areas like neurology. Beautiful surroundings. In the one – locked doors, security guards and on downscale from there in the other.

Ms. Al-Wetaid had access to the actual facts, but she apparently chose to make a case and lie and so did Ms. Angela Clary. One of their goals was to make sure Dr. Bennett would be kept by the hospital this time. Another was to supply their ‘friends’ with business – Patient Care Companies; physical therapists, occupational therapists, the traditional people who everyone has to use whether they are needed or not.

On information and belief this is not the first time they have acted so irresponsibly causing harm to the person they are attacking and to that persons family.

Because Dr. Bennett was released from Mass General Hospital after the first section 12 was lifted by the professionals at Mass General Hospital, Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary showed and said their intention was not to have Dr. Bennett examined for possible psychiatric problems of which he had none, but they had, according to their own admissions the intention of giving guardianship over Dr. Bennett to someone of their choosing and committing Dr. Bennett to a nursing home. Unknown to Dr. Bennett and his family, they started on this course months earlier and had been investigating Dr. Bennett and his family without cause, for months, with much gusto and no need. 

Sectioning Dr. Bennett and, in this case, adding a Protective Order, even one full of lies, was the easiest and quickest and surest way to incarcerate Dr. Bennett while they manipulated several ways to keep him in the hospital. If simply sectioning did not work then combine it with other ways and re-section him within 48 hours adding other things to that sectioning.

Their time, over those months, was not being spent doing a substantial investigation because of a real problem. They were looking for ways too use and abuse this family – and as they went along others joined because of the assets that could be gotten if this was successful.

How do we know the investigation was not done carefully? One big tip-off is that Ms. Nora Al-Wetaid didn’t even know the names of the people she was going after. She didn’t even take the time or care to get even that straight.

She filed against Robert Bennett’s wife, who she called “Marceline Davidson” and she is called that all through the papers Ms. Al-Westaid filed. – or were filed for her by the attorney who is mostly always involved in these cases Attorney James O’Sullivan. With no proof and lots of lies, Ms. Donaldson was charged with abusing her husband. She was charged with breaking his rib, splintering a bone in his leg, refusing to allow him to take medicines they claimed were prescribed and which, in fact, were not. that included an anti-seizure medicine which was given to Dr. Bennett after his surgery and which would have caused him harm if it had been continued for the weeks Ms. Al-Wetaid claims was needed.

Ms Al-Wetaid claims Ms. Donaldson knowing Mr. Bennett had prostate cancer did not allow him to get treatment and the list gets longer. That in spite of the fact that there was no evidence presented that Dr. Bennett had prostate cancer. It was a good guess since many men Dr. Bennett’s age would have prostate cancer.

That was presented to and accepted by the Court – against a black woman – with absolutely no proof except the Perjured affidavit of Ms. Al-Wetaid. What kind of upbringing did she have to be able to so immorally take on and attempt to destroy two African Americans who spent their lives working for others.

My husband and I have had a good rfelagtionship for some 36 years. Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary took advantage of the racism in this country which presents a stereotype of a black family as being a mess with much violence within. Using that sterotype Ms. Al-Wetaid came along with the help of Ms. Angela Clary and did everything they could to destroy this family.

They did its with lies, easily disproven lies. Most of the lies were disproven by Dr. Bennett’s medical record, which showed no broken ribs, no splintered bones, no cancer. But that has been ignored and not even begun to be investigated. I didn’t know those were the claims against me until last night.

Robert Bennett’s wife’s name is Marceline Donaldson. No one knows who Marceline Davidson is.

Most of Ms. Al-Wetaids claims in the affidavit along with Ms. Clary’s all show that kind of carelessness.

The attorneys for Ms. Donaldson helped to complicate and extend the life of this horrendous act. They were hired to file an emergency motion to release Dr. Bennett according to the way the section 12 with its relief are written. They did not and at that time the courts were not closed because of the coronavirus. So Dr. Bennett’s time in ‘hospital jail’ was extended, complicated and his and his wife’s assets were flowing out like a fast moving river out of their possession into that of all these others.

Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary threatened Dr. Bennett’s family constantly – the last threat was that if they didn’t fill out the application for Mass Health then guardianship over Dr. Bennett would be given to the Jewish Agency for Family and Children and he would be sent to a Hebrew Nursing Home. – that was supposed to be a horrendous threat to the family of Dr. Bennett – a retired Episcopal priest.

Ms. Al-Wetaid claims in her affidavit that Robert Bennett was reported to the Protective Service Department due to concerns of medical neglect by Mr. Bennett’s wife Marceline “Davidson”.

In spite of the fact that both Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary knew Mr. Bennett had been in Massachusetts General Hospital for brain surgery, the first section 12 they filed moved to have Mr. Bennett sent to Mount Auburn Hospital on a section 12 instead of maintaining any kind of continuity with the hospital from which Mr. Bennett had been discharged. 

They were very well aware of that fact – they interviewed Dr. Bennett at Mass General Hospital without permission from anyone. They just went into his room at Mass General and started this interrogation process when he was not even days out of brain surgery and they quote all of that in this affidavit of Ms. Al-Wetaid. Dr. Bennett was barely conscious as a result of his recent surgery when they recount his answers to questions trying to use that as a reason in their case against him. Dr. Bennet wasn’t in any shape to give his consent to the interview or even to be really aware of what was happening. I was his Healh Care Advocate at the time and certainly did not give permission for that to happen when my husband was in such a fragile state.

They – Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary begin to get into the body of their “case” which they created and used to abuse both Dr. Bennett and his family.

Ms. Al-Wetaid claims in her affidavit that Robert Bennett was reported to the Protective Service Department due to concerns of medical neglect by Mr. Bennett’s wife Marceline “Davidson”.

Neither Ms Al-Wetaid nor Ms. Clary have ever acknowledged that Mr. Bennett is an independent individual who was capable of making his own decisions about who he was and about his medical care. Both have constantly portrayed Dr. Bennett as though he was a small child under the care of adults who had total sway over him and he was unable to make decisions for himself or to go places and to do things on his own, which in actual fact, Dr. Bennett did as a matter of course. That assumption is called ‘racism’ and is common amongst people who see black families as being abused by the black women in the family who are somehow so abusively into power and control everyone in the family fears them. That stereotype shows up often during this entire ordeal. Dr. Bennett is never considered as a fully functioning human being – only as an object that they use for very negative reasons.

They claim that on or about November, 2019 Mr. Bennett fell.  It is true -he did fall because he had eye surgery two days prior and was wearing the moulded eye cover to protect his eye.  While they talk about the fall, they eliminate the reason. Why? That does not fit the case they are creating.

Ms. Al-Wetaid’s affidavit ssys “…the concerns were regarding Ms. Davidson blocking access to care and not appropriately responding to medical needs.”

In other words, Ms. Donaldson would not allow her husband to go to the hospital to have his fall checked. The fact that Dr. Bennett did not want to go to a hospital because he didn’t feel it was necessary is not relevant.

Ms. Al-Wetaid says “Ms. Davidson is reported to have not pursued appropriate medical care for this fall until 24 hours later, when Mr. Bennett began vomiting at a secondary location.” Ms. Al-Wetaid extends the time frame from 12 hours, to 24 hours to make her case.

What both Ms. Al-Wetaid have eliminated is the fact that his wife, Marceline Donaldson, asked Mr. Bennett if he wanted to go to the hospital, see his eye doctor or another doctor.  Mr. Bennett refused and wanted to just carry on with his life as usual without going anyplace for medical treatment.  Mr. Bennett did not think he needed such.  Both have ignored the fact that Mr. Bennett is an independent individual who makes his own decisions and has a relationship of respect with his wife.

What Ms. Al-Wetaid eliminates from her story is the fact that Ms. Donaldson called her daughter, because her daughter had pushed Dr. Bennett into the eye surgery whose results caused the fall, to ask where she should take Dr. Bennett. The daughter said to Needham Beth Israel Deaconess. That was not the closest medical care clinic. Ms. Donaldson wanted to take him to Boston Beth Israel, the daughter insisted it be Needham.

Ms. Al-Wetaid said “The clinic diagnosed Mr. Bennett with a brain bleed and recommended transfer to Beth Israel Deaconness (BIDMC) hospital in Boston., Mr. Bennett was not diagnosed at Needham Beth Israel with a brain bleed. Mr. Bennett was treated very badly at Needham Beth Israel – he was kept waiting over an hour for examination and then received it only after his wife complained to the reception desk and after she asked to speak to who was in charge who kept them waiting so long. Before that the receptionists were very surly to Ms. Donaldson, who was accompanied by Ms. Maria Sensale who saw the kind of treatment Ms. Donaldson and Dr. Bennett received at Needham Beth Israel and the way they were treated in the waiting room, including the long length of time they were kept waiting as others went in before them. The clinic people became more cooperative and interested in examining Dr. Bennett after that confrontation and said they did not have the equipment needed to examine Dr. Bennett and suggested he go to Boston Beth Israel where he was sent by ambulance.

Ms. Al-Wetaid says “The clinic diagnosed Mr. Bennett with a brain bleed and recommended transfer to Beth israel Deaconess (BIDMC) hospital in Boston.”That is not true.  The clinic said it did not have the equipment it needed to diagnose Mr. Bennett and suggested he be taken to Beth israel in Boston where they had the needed equipment.  That is where Ms. Donaldson wanted to take Mr. Bennett in the first place.  Listening to her daughter, that delayed treatment of Mr. Bennett by some three plus hours which was not necessary.

Beth Israel in Boston took a CT Scan and did not say anything about a “brain bleed”.  They said Mr. Bennett showed signs of having fallen in the past, but it looked as though those falls happened quite a few years ago.  Mr. Bennett had four small dots on the CT Scan and they didn’t know if that was from a recent fall or one that happened years ago.  They said to watch it – and have the PCP take a look at that when they went for a follow-up exam.

The following statements made by Ms. Al-Wetaid are not true.

Ms. Al-Wetaid says ” BIDMC had recommended discharge from the hospital to a rehabilitation facility>  The wife refused this and the “elder” – Mr. Bennett – was sent home with referrals for visiting nurse services (physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing) which the wife later refused to allow into the home.”

“Ms. Donaldson knew nothing about Beth Israel Deaconness  recommending Mr. Bennett go to a rehabilitation facility.  There were no referrals given to Ms. Donaldson by anyone at Beth Israel Hospital and Ms. Donaldson did not refuse to allow any physical therapist, occupational therapist or nursing person into the house.  No such person ever came to their home.” 

The doctors and nurses at Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital refused to talk to Ms. Donaldson and she tried many times to find out what was happening with her husband.  It was so traumatic that Ms. Donaldson called Mr. Bennett’s son – Mark Bennett in Washington, D. C. because of the way she was being treated and because of the lack of anyone saying anything to her about what was happening with her husband.  She couldn’t understand what was happening and was concerned for her husbands treatment. Dr. Bennett’s son flew from Washington, D. C. because of Ms. Donaldson’s call and her distress over what was happening with her husband and his father.

 
It was discovered after several hours that the medical personnel at Beth Israel would not speak to Ms. Donaldson and totally avoided her because Maliça Aronowitz had given them a Health Care Proxy and let them know that she was the one to whom they should speak – not her mother. 

Neither Ms. Donaldson, nor Mr. Bennett knew about any such Health Care Proxy, they saw Ms. Aronowitz give the doctors some papers, but were not told what they were and everyone totally avoided Ms. Donaldson. 
Ms. Donaldson was so distraught about how she was being treated and not being able to find out anything about her husband she asked for the head nurse, the head of the hospital and several other people trying to know what was happening.  All treated her with disdain, as though she was some kind of intruder and most were not even civil to Ms. Donaldson. 

Whatever was given out about Mr. Bennett’s condition was given to Ms. Aronowitz and not to Ms. Donaldson.  Ms. Donaldson was never told anything about anything.  She knew about the four dots on the CT Scan because she was sitting in the room and refused to leave. 

Both Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary knew this – they both knew Ms. Aronowitz had a Health Care Proxy about which Dr. Bennett knew nothing, had not signed and did not want Ms. Aronowitz as his Health Care Proxy. In spite of knowing that from the beginning of their relationship with Ms. Aronowitz, both have kept quiet about that because they were able to manipulate Ms. Aronowitz into doing and saying what they needed her to do and say so their program of abuse and more could move forward.

Ms. Al-Wetaid says that about which she is most concerned because part of her job is to make sure people are forced into a rehab facility with referrals for visiting nurse services – physical therapy, occupational therapy, nursing – it is standard, charged to your insurance company and has some benefits for Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary. Those conditions must be met with everyone or you are subjected to this kind of investigation.

If your family member and your family have other ways to handle rehab, if it is needed, and all the other services that might be needed, that is not allowed. You cannot use your own resources, you cannot pay for this yourself, this must be done according to people like Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary. Everything must be contracted for by people like Ms. al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary and/or others in charge and paid for by your insurance company, preferably Mass Health. Under no circumstances are you allowed to choose those who so work with you. That must not under any circumstances be a company or people of your own choosing, You are not even allowed to choose between different “Care” companies who offer the same services.

7)  Ms. Al-Wetaid goes on to say that ” on February 14, 2020 “the elder” – whose name is Robert Bennett – experienced a fall and  hit his head again and experienced a broken rib as well.  The wife refused to take Mr. Bennett to the hospital despite family’s recommendations.”That is not true and Ms. Al-Wetaid knows that is not true, but she is making those accusations in spite of her knowledge of their falsity.
Mr. Bennett did hit his head, he did not experience a broken rib as well.  Ms. Donaldson did not refuse to take Mr. Bennett to the hospital.
Mr. Bennett did not want to go back to Beth Israel Hospital because it was a very bad experience for him.  The PCP who Maliça Aronowitz recommended and pushed hard to get them to keep as their PCP was quite uninterested in treating Mr. Bennett and most times was unavailable.
Maliça Aronowitz knew nothing about what was happening with either Mr. Bennett or Ms. Donaldson.  She did contact her sisters and described a desperate situation which she normally does trying to get her sisters to turn against their mother.  That has been her style since she was about 15 years old.  

Ms. Al-Wetaid knows Mr. Bennett did not have a broken rib.  Without anyone’s knowledge or consent, Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary have constantly gone through Mr. Bennett’s records at the hospital, by their own admission. .Those records  – pre-March 3rd show clearly that Mr. Bennett did not have a broken rib.  Having taken it on themselves to check, they knew before they wrote the affidavits that their statements were false.

No one knows how they had access to private medical records, but they accessed Mr. Bennett’s records constantly and for months before this February fall happened.  Neither Mr. Bennett nor Ms. Donaldson gave permission for them to do so.

8)  Ms. Al-Wetaid claims that ” Mr. Bennett’s step-daughter “Melissa Aronowitz” – whose name Ms. Al Wet-aid did not bother to spell correctly – had nearly convinced the wife to take Mr. Bennett to the hospital on February 19th, but the wife again did not follow through”.That is false and Ms. Al-Wetaid knew that was false.

Ms. Donaldson spent the month of February talking to doctors trying to find a neurologist.  Ms. Donaldson also talked to Mr. Bennett’s PCP office about a referral to a neurologist, but Dr. Kehlman was busy, could not talk, did not know a neurologist to refer her to and was preparing to leave on a short vacation so he would not have time to do anything about Mr. Bennett until his return from his vacation.

9)  Ms. Al-Wetaid claims “Mr. Bennett reportedly declined physically and cognitively to the point where the wife became concerned and did ultimately take him to the Massachusetts General Hospital on Friday, February 21st, one week after the reported injury.”

Ms. Al-Wetaid did not know when Mr. Bennett fell.  She did not know anything about what happened subsequent to his fall.  What she claims as fact in this #9 is pure fiction made up to fit the narrative she is creating to be able to have this case to work on.

10)  Ms. Al-Wetaid talks about Mr. Bennett as though she has access to his files at Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition she lies about his condition.  The neurologists at Mass General did not diagnose Mr. Bennett with dementia – they very purposefully moved away from such a diagnosis because with the brain surgery they did not know what would happen after the surgery or if Mr. Bennett had some form of memory loss due to the liquids on his brain from which he would recover or if there was some form of dementia.  Ms Al-Wetaid did not find that in Mr. Bennett’s records, to which she should not have had access.  This affidavit was done while Ms. Donaldson was still Mr. Bennett’s Health Care Proxy and neither one gave Ms. Al-Wetaid access to his medical records.

11)  Ms. Clary had no permission to interview Mr. Bennett as a Protective Social Worker.  Ms. Clary apparently claimed to have conducted her “initial visit” with Mr. Bennett at Massachusetts General Hospital.  To do so while Mr. Bennett was just out of surgery, still not quite himself, had spent time with oxygen and not awake yet – one of the first people he sees after his surgery is Ms. Clary trying to make a case to take him away from his family and asking him questions, etc. while not identifying herself and while Mr. Bennett was in no condition to answer questions let alone take in who Ms. Clary was or why she was there.  In addition, Ms. Clary had no permission from anyone to make such an initial visit.  The viciousness of such an action is clear in itself. To arrogate to yourself the necessity of “interviewing” a patient just recently out of receiving oxygen and shortly before that just out from major surgery describes the lack of empathy and more of this group. The inability of Ms. Clary and Ms. Al-Wetaid to have any feelings and understanding for people they are stalking is clear in the way they pushed and pushed a family in the middle of trauma shows who they are and what they are really about.

12)  Ms.Al – Wetaid says – “Protective Services has also been informed that Mr. Bennett was diagnosed with prostate cancer several years ago and the wife was asked to follow-up on this and has yet to do this.

Ms. Al-Wetaid makes a very strong statement, does not identify her source and the statement is false.  Mr. Bennett was not diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Mr. Bennett is an independent individual who can make his own choices.  Several years ago there was no question about Mr. Bennett’s ability to take care of himself and he did.  If Mr. Bennett had prostate cancer he had a car, money and everything he needed to follow up on this cancer.  If he did not follow up on such a diagnosis that was Mr. Bennett’s choice and he has the freedom in these United States to make such a choice without someone like Ms. Al-Wetaid hanging in the shadows looking to pounce on someone she sees as ripe for the kind of elder abuse she and her agency engage in.  That was Mr. Bennett’s choice to be respected by others.  However, neither Mr. Bennett nor Ms. Donaldson knows where this accusation comes from because neither has ever heard anyone say Mr. Bennett has or had prostate cancer.

13)  Whats is glossed over is the fact that a wellness check was requested and  “no concern was noted at that time”.  Ms. Al-Wetaid obfuscates that by claiming “they did not do a medical evaluation, only quickly observed and checked-in.That was Ms. Al-Wetaid harassing Mr. Bennett and Ms. Donaldson.  They were asleep and were awakened by a policeman at the door doing a “wellness check”.  That is a stalking process with no reason for the stalking.

This continues and gets worse. The next installment will arrive by the end of the day with more such dichotomies and with many more lies told by Ms. Al-Wetaid and Ms. Clary. Ms. Al-Wetaid signs the affidavit under pains of perjury. She quotes Ms. Clary extensively.

To have such actions taking place in a democratic country is a disgrace. That it has carried on for so long – that privacy issues are ignored – that lies are extensive and made to build a case for reasons only these two women and others in their position understand.

This needs to stop immediately.

When you read the rest – the horror of what is above pales by comparison to what comes next.

_________________________________-

by: Marceline Donaldson

My house in Harvard Square is for sale. As a result, as is my habit, I started researching – carefully – the past present and possible future of Harvard Square and all it contains. I wanted to know other peoples experience; historically what could I expect; everything connected with selling a house in a historical district in Harvard Square.

One experience I had of the past 37 years living in Harvard Square came from being African American and moving into an area where we seemed to be the “only ones” or – as my grandmother would say, this is a neighborhood where “we” are “as scarce as hens’ teeth” .

The house was on the historical register when we moved in. It shortly thereafter was dropped from the historical register and in spite of trying to discover why for several years, no answer was forthcoming. I was stalled, dissembled, confused, put off, etc. No racial problem there, just the normal way of treating those who ask seemingly simple questions to which there are no good answers.

In spite of that experience, I found many of my neighbors to be really great, accepting people who included us in their lives and sometimes their work and sometimes helped our work by doing business with Bettina Network, inc. and we sometimes helped them in their businesses.

So with that background and experience I went about this “project of discovery”.

When selling a house you do look closely at everything that could affect the sale and I have gone down several roads in this time of investigation and discovery.

One of the largest scandals in Harvard Square has to do with the purchase and sale of real estate, particularly of private homes.

This area does, after all, contain the “Gold Crown Historical District”. Basically, the goal of such a geographical designation is to keep houses within its carefully chosen area as true to their historical beginnings as possible. The architectural design of the home; the important details which were normal in the time frame of when the houses were built and so much more.

How has that been carried out!

To keep your suspense level as low as possible – it is not carried out. The farce which is the “Gold Crown Historical District” is a huge scandal.

Harvard Square is fast becoming the neighborhood of “Temples to Wealth and Money” – history is shunted off to the side and only appears if it is convenient or provides some kind of prestige to those with too much money, too little taste, and none to a very slight knowledge or interest in architectural history, who are buying homes in the Harvard Square area.

Don’t misunderstand me here – I love to see such “Temples to Wealth and Money”. However, I prefer seeing them in Wellesley, Dover, or other such places where there is much land and neither the houses nor the areas where they are located tout their great “historical” – architecturally historical – beginnings. Heck, I could even see such in Cambridge where there are areas where there is no historical designation applied. But in Harvard Square there are plaques on houses designating the “names”, who lived in the house, when it was built and more. Maintaining your history is as important as building your future.

In actual fact, step inside one of the homes recently sold and they all look alike with very few exceptions. They are a cross between North American and Scandinavian style and design (And not always the best of either of those design patterns.) Walk through the houses and you will see almost nothing that tells you of their architectural, design, history. Most look as though the same Contractor did them all from the same set of blueprints and bought 50 pairs of wall scones and chandeliers or other light fixtures at a bargain and then used them in several neighboring houses.

Very soon, living architectural history in the houses in Harvard Square will be non-existent. “Restoration” is a word used interchangeably with “Renovation” and that “Renovation” is always North American/Scandinavian style and that Restoration is usually a word which is interchangeable with renovation.

Once upon a time Cambridge bragged about having these historical districts, but “policing” only the outside, depending upon the home owners to maintain the historicity of their interiors. That started when money – too much money with too little taste – moved into Harvard Square and we don’t want to alienate those who can pay the property taxes with money to spare.

All the years I have lived in Harvard Square I did not hear about the ugly, petty internecine wars which are today beginning to take place. Those disputes and outright fights which are now common in the areas where the McMansions are becoming common place in Harvard Square.

Today, I have been the center of a few.

One recently relocated family moving into Harvard Square filed a police report against me claiming that my garden overgrew its boundaries on the Mount Auburn Street side and people could not walk on the sidewalk because of all the things growing across that sidewalk. When I went outside I didn’t see anything overgrowing its boundaries, but the policeman who takes care of such and delivers such complaints offered to come over to show me where I was failing. So what was that all about?

I put that aside and just went about my business – having called on several neighbors who did have lots of growth crawling onto the sidewalk to ask what they were going to do about the police notices they received! Turns out – they didn’t receive any. Who did? The African American family against whom one of the newest arrivals in that vaunted Harvard Square community complained because they were appalled that living in such a house was a family that would destroy the reason they moved to such a prestigious neighborhood.

My garden was hacked up pretty good over the winter – don’t know by who. But, to be perfectly immodest, thanks to my gardening skills I was able to pull it back together. I would have preferred to take this spring and summer as times to bring the garden to the next level, but I could not do both.

Looking out my window with my morning cup of coffee, I see the neighbors go by walking their dogs. They don’t take their dogs to the bathroom in front or in back of their own homes, a small number bring their dogs to crap in my garden.

This particular morning there was a new neighbor with his dog – a very beautiful toy dog with long black hair with white hair at the tips. I watched as he put his dog in my garden so the dog could have its morning bowel movement and he would not have to pick up the shit. A set-up for what? To complain about how foul the African American home smells? I couldn’t let that continue so I went outside to say you really can’t let your dog crap in other peoples gardens. According to my information that is called “Criminal Trespass” and also violates a City of Cambridge ordinance that says you must pick up your own dog’s shit and not leave it on the sidewalk or anyplace else, especially you cannot allow your dog to crap in a neighbor’s garden. The same dog when walked by a young woman seems to be trained to crap in my garden, as does a bull dog walked by a middle aged woman who will not make anyplace else. If I am outside the dog pulls back on his leash because he wants to crap where he always does, but he can’t with me glaring at both of them.

When I went outside to meet my new neighbor and ask that he not put his dog in my garden, it is not a dog toilet, he went off on an ugly tangent, demanding I clear the sidewalk of the horrible stuff overgrowing its boundaries and I realized during the exchange that this was the person who filed the police complaint against us. Imagine my surprise. Imagine also my shock when he lunged at me in a very physically threatening way and slammed his foot down on the sidewalk barely missing my delicate toes by less than an inch. I had to reflect a moment – am I still in Harvard Square or is this some other neighborhood I’ve wandered into. After 37 years as a part of this community this was a first.

My new neighbor, so riled up about my garden overstepping its boundaries is apparently the owner of one of the “Temples of Wealth and Money” recently created out of a very lovely historical home built in Harvard Square many decades ago and presently looking as though it ran away from Wellesley because it wanted the prestige of settling into Harvard Square. Anything historical about the architecture having been completely wiped out and replaced with that NorthAmerican/Scandinavian cultural style. It is complete with outsized outdoor grill and all the accoutrements that accompany such a house. The garden, which took the last owner decades to develop was wiped out by a bull dozer, as I watched and cringed, as was a beautiful, very old tree which was a part of the “Sacred Indian Circle” of trees in this area. (Isn’t that a no-no in Cambridge?) Can one cross the palms of someone in government and then take an ax to the beautiful old trees?

Since my neighbor clearly wanted me gone I am sure he cared even less for that Sacred Indian Circle of trees which pre-existed everything in this Harvard Square area.

What doesn’t fit in such a neighborhood? An African American family – especially one not a part of the “more money than sense with no respect for history” group.

I walked all around my neighborhood and saw a lot of construction activity going on and when I looked closely there were bulldozers inside a couple of houses knocking down everything – (yes, inside the houses). These were apparently being rebuilt “better than” with modern materials which didn’t exist back when the houses were built. This happened to the house I am now selling just before we bought it all those many years ago. A small part of the house was “renovated” and during the time we have lived in the house, I had no trouble with the structure of the restored parts of the house, but I have been pulling my hair out about that renovated part because it broke down fast – took about 9 years – looks awful and you can see how inferior the products are which were used in the renovation. Good recurring income for the developer, builder, contractor, architect though.

As I talked to a few of the workers and those apparently in charge of a couple of the houses being “restored” I discovered they had very little to no knowledge of what they were ripping apart; why it didn’t need to be ripped apart; the gloriousness of what they were destroying and the very limited time frame their new renovations would last. They didn’t have a clue how to restore the homes they were sending through daily shock waves. It was depressing.

I also discovered a new industry – a new financial center.

Realtors and Contractors, Architects, etc. have come together so when you put your house on the market for sale – before you take that step they want you to strip your house of all that makes it beautiful and they will upfront the money to the Contractor, Architect, etc. to totally renovate your house so it will sell “fast”. Once sold you will get the balance of the sale price minus what the realtor or contractor has upfronted for the project. As I checked out some of the houses being so treated, it is a scandal and a scam.

Everyone I talked to thought that was fantastic and a wonderful new development in the field. I was appalled. My house will pass to its next owner in the shape it is in currently and that new owner can decide what they want to do. I have a list of suggestions from life within the walls of the house for so many years, but the final decision is theirs.

Giving that new owner the power to make those decisions means if the work done is not up to snuff, they have the guarantees from the builders, renovators, restorers to be able to have them come back and do it again or make the upgrade that didn’t happen, or etc. It also gives the new homeowner knowledge and wisdom about maintaining their home.

That didn’t happen when I moved into my home. I have spent the last 37 years trying to restore the mess that was made and the Contractor person who made the mess totally abdicated responsibility. His allegiance was to the person who hired him – who owned the house before I purchased it – and he and his company totally absolved themselves of having to correct the quick, short cut methods they used under the circumstances which caused us lots of grief. Years of grief and lots of money to make the needed restoration back to where the house was before it was sold.

One serious weakness of our society and probably of others also is the greed wrapped into its institutions. This area of “house flipping”, house renovation before being sold using the realtors money, and more is so riddled with greed it is destroying the housing stock – particularly in Harvard Square, but probably also in other areas where the same thing is happening.

It is time for the Cambridge City Government to get its spine strengthened and add to the outside requirements of homes in historical districts the requirements that the insides also be treated in the same way. Instead, they seem to be losing spine strength and allowing even the outside to be seriously altered and “renovated”, “modernized” and more. After all, that is the reason for the existence of Historical areas. They are not areas set up to show off those Temples of Wealth and Money. Those temples can be built and renovated and rebuilt in other places where they are a better “fit”.. Those historical designations have meaning and a reason for being and it is time we respect that.

The “too much money” people love the idea, the prestige, the loveliness of living in a historical district. They need to make sure that they abide by the spirit and the letter of why the districts were so designated and stop living as though such things are put in place for the “hoi poloi” and not them.\

We need stiff ordinances and/or laws which come down hard on those who burn down their houses to build others because they couldn’t get through the historical commission. I could list many such habits, but you all know them before I even try to enumerate them.

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What follows are some of the ways you can support our work:

Learn More About How We Use Your Donation!

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Project 1 – Estate Sales after the Sale*

*This contribution is to the Bettina Network Foundation, inc which is a 501(c)3 organization and tax deductible.

Project 2 – #WellsFargoBoycott*

This contribution is to the Bettina Network Foundation, inc. which is a 501(c)3 organization and tax deductible.

Project 3 – Growing Bettina Network’s Blog

into a major media outlet bringing to the public news, recipes, thoughts, reviews of businesses, etc. from the perspective of those who belong to Bettina Network’s Lifestyle Community.

Project 4 – Boycott the Twenty Dollar ($20) bill

You can send a check to Bettina Network, inc. P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 to support this blog! Please make your check out to “Bettina Network, inc.” since the blog income is not the foundation income.

If you prefer your gift go to the Foundation, make your check payable to Bettina Network Foundation, inc. The money we receive for the Foundation currently is going to support the Wells Fargo Boycott.

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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.

Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.

Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.

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