This aired on our news Wed. night.
www.kmsp.com
Click "More Stories", then click "Mandy's Money"
You will not believe what you read.
We should band together to help this girl out of this outrageous deal.
I am e-mailing them to let them know this story is now on DG.
Bernie
Beating to death - help!
Good Grief!!! I have never heard such a thing. Regardless of what she does with the money it's still hers!!! If I had donated to that fund and found that out I would be furious!! Think of all the things that could have made her life a little easier all those years.
People just amaze me!
Bernie, I would love to have that e-mail address myself - to be honest I didn't search for one when I was reading. Is it possible to e-mail the trustees?
Nicole
I tried to read it and can't get anywhere.
I am like Badseed...I don't get the point of the story...Who is Mandy? What money? I guess one would have to go into the archives to read "the rest of the story". Jo
In 1992, at age 9, she was abducted & beaten, then left for dead in a road ditch. Someone found her, she managed to survive. Every bone in her face was broke. When the story came out, people started to send money to help with whatever. Her aunt set up an account in a bank to put the money in. Next the local Lions club had a benifit for her. At that time they took over the account & one of their crooked lawyers made it a trust account. Wrote a bunch of fancy dancy language into it. The trust grew to $60,000, most coming from people sending a couple of dollars. Lots of school children got their pennies together & sent to her. After all these years she has only been able to use $5,000.00 of the money. The trust says after so long if they don't need the money it will go to charity. Guess what ? This crooked Lions club will get the glory of supporting a charity with money sent to help this poor girl.
The Lions club member that was interviewed on TV stuttered & stamered around trying to justify this horrible mess.
I was so da**ed mad by the time it was over I was ready to call the national Lions club, I still may!
If anyone belongs to a Lions club, maybe you can help.
On the KMSP web site there are 3 different articles about this. Okay, I just went to their website & it's updated & I can't find how to get the stories.
Just like they say, Old news is no news.
Bernie
Thanks, Bernie....sounds to me like she needs a GOOD lawyer!! Jo
Thank you for telling the story. I kept clicking the links but they would not go anywhere. What happened to that little girl is absolutely terrible. Now she is getting taken again. How can she NOT need the money? One would think she'd have medical bills, need therapy, possibly have mental problems because of the trauma, not to mention a life ahead of her that may be forever complicated by the ordeal she has been through. It is just awful what people do to others without considering the shoe could be on the other foot.
What a terrible story. What is this world coming to? I think it would be great to get this out to everyone and everwhere possible and all the Lion's Club members raise heck and give up their membership if they don't correct the situation.
Does the local Lion's Club have an email address??? Is it the local Lion's in Lewisville, MN?
We could all, and our friends email them how outrageous this is. Maybe it might be some small help if they saw people all over the US are aware of what they have done. Flood them with email.
Hmm is that spamming? Don't know this computer stuff very well, just know enough not to get in trouble.
Sonnia
This happened in NW Wisconsin. It is the Shell Lake Lions club.
Not only do they have an e-mail address, they have a web site.
I got it by typing Lions club Shell Lake. In Google search of course.
E-mail is wct@spacestar.net
I'm not sure how her condition is, but she is blind in one eye from the ordeal.
Bernie
I submitted it as a news tip to CNN. National exposure might help.
What an outrage.....I have sent this story on to 20/20 and to Dateline....
Deann
http://shelllakewi.lionwap.org/
Hey folks, go to this page. Each of the 'board' members has their personal e-mail address and home telephone numbers here as well.
Nicole
I sent an email to the Shell Lake Lion's Club and this is the reply I received:
Quoting:
To: Concerned People
From: Bill Taubman. Chairman of the Miranda Paffel Trust
Re: Miranda Trust
There is no way that I can respond to all the emails, phone messages and letters that I have received since the airing of the investigative report on the management of the Miranda fund. It has not been pretty. But a few of you were decent enough to include a return address and to you I want to tell the true story.
The report aired by FOX news was a terribly biased report with out any regard for the truth even as they knew it to be. The consequence of this sensationalized news casting is that they have cast a dark shadow over all service organizations and all fundraising efforts in the future to help people in need. Following is information you should find interesting.
First, the Shell Lake Lions Club has absolutely nothing to do with the Trust. They were the catalyst for getting the fund raising efforts underway and since that time have had no role whatsoever. This was told to reporter Trish VanPilsum very emphatically at least three times, including once on tape as part of the interview. Still she reported that they were the responsible organization.
Secondly, why did we set up a Trust? During the interview I chose not to tell the real reason because in would reflect on the family. Now we are taking the gloves off. All of the prime suspects in this case were close to the family, members of the family and the mother herself. It was very questionable whether or not Miranda would live and we did not want the money to go to the persons responsible for the crime. Additionally, had the money went to the family they would have had to use it to pay medical bills that were instead paid by medical assistance. They may have lost other benefits being received under social service programs also. By doing what we did the money would be protected for future needs that may not have been paid for by others. The family had a copy of the Trust and were very supportive of doing it this way.
Third, why haven’t we given her more money? Without researching all the minutes I can only remember one request that we turned down. That was for money to take the entire family, grandparents included, on a vacation to Florida. While Miranda was still in school we consulted regularly with her schoolteachers and counselors asking for ways we could help. We talked regularly with her social worker. We invited the family to bring us ideas. We suggested summer camps. We have offered to pay for schooling to develop her artistic talents and interests. Nothing we have suggested has been acceptable and they haven’t brought any ideas to us.
Beyond the above I would encourage you to follow the media in the days and weeks ahead. There will be some very revealing stories I’m sure, about issues in the family.
Last fall Trustees began some informal talks about ways that we could pass some of this money on to Miranda because it has become apparent that it isn’t any longer needed for the purposes spelled out in the Trust. It isn’t as simple as it may seem. First we would have to get a judges approval to do something other than what was spelled out in the documents. That would have been no problem. But we are concerned about the tax implications. We don’t want her to surrender a third of it to taxes. We are concerned about what this might do to other public assistance programs that she may be involved in yet today. We want to do what will truly serve her the best in the long term. Sadly, this entire process has been derailed for a time because of the controversy that now exists.
The amount of money in the Trust has nearly doubled since we have been managing it. The only encumbrance against it is the $20,000 reward should it be needed. We have no intention of disbursing any of it to anyone other than Miranda at this point. Unlike Ms.VanPilsums report said, the Lions Club has not nor will not ever receive a nickel of it. They have no interest in doing so. That too was emphasized during the interview but was reported differently.
I hope this clears up some issues for you. As one who has spent hundreds of hours both raising the money and administering the Trust this has been a very difficult and disheartening turn of events. Way too many people and organizations have been wrongly maligned and hurt by this irresponsible journalism. If you have questions please get in touch
There's often way more to a story than is presented by the media. The media's job is to hype stories any way they can in order to garner viewers. This will all play out eventually and it will be interesting to see what actually's happened.
I found it kind of funny the articles were pulled off the KMSP website & no follow-up so as we knew what became of the story. All they have now is an address where people can send money.
The answer from Mr. Taubman explains a lot.
This news station gets their stories from tips sent in by people. Then they send out their investigators. Maybe they want things to look the way they want instead of providing all the facts.
Bernie
I received the same letter...again, the media has not got their facts stright....
Deann
wow!
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