Knee replacement No. 2 (the left) is scheduled for 7:30 a.m. tomorrow. I had the right one done in July 2016, so I have a good idea of what to expect — which is basically three weeks of hell.
One of the things that irks me about surgeries is the early arrival times many doctors and hospitals set. I was told to arrive at 5:30 a.m. That means I’ll be getting up about 4:30.
I’ve concluded the only reason for the two-hour advance arrival is in case the surgeon has insomnia and decides to go in and do the first surgery at 6:30 instead of 7:30.
I wonder how often that happens…
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You’ll want to know the latest developments in the David Jungerman murder case.
I wrote in December that Jungerman, charged with first-degree murder in the slaying of Kansas City lawyer Thomas Pickert, had requested a mental competency evaluation. I also said I suspected that would push back the scheduled Feb. 25 trial date.
There’s been a flurry of activity since then, and, yep, a judge granted the motion for a mental exam and canceled the Feb. 25 trial date.
In addition, the Jackson County Circuit Court judge who had been handling the case, David Byrn, has handed the case off to another judge, John Torrence. I don’t know the reason for the change, but I hope it works out well for the prosecution. From what I saw of Byrn, he appeared very competent. I know nothing about Torrence. As usual, the judge will play a pivotal role. The defense’s best chance, as I see it, is prosecutorial or judicial error, that is, prevailing on a technicality. It’s extremely important, in this case especially, the trial be free of major error.
The change of judge came as a surprise to me. Another development did not. On Jan. 23, Jungerman filed a motion seeking to dismiss his attorney, Dan Ross. The next day, however, Ross filed a motion to withdraw that motion. To the best of my knowledge, Ross remains Jungerman’s attorney.
Jungerman has always had a short fuse when it comes to his attorneys, and his basic inclination is to represent himself, which he did in the case that resulted in a $5.75 million verdict against him for shooting a man he thought was stealing from his business. It was Pickert who represented the plaintiff and Pickert whom Jungerman held responsible for the loss of his money. Where Jungerman started out just being dumb, he moved on to being reckless and violent.
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Tragedy has once again struck the Deffenbaugh family. An obituary ran in The Star today for Ronald D. Deffenbaugh Jr., son of Ronald Sr., who founded and developed Deffenbaugh Industries, one of the largest waste management companies in the country.
The obit said Ron Jr. died as a result of a house fire that burned much of his body. He lived in Lake Lotawana and was 59 years old. The fire is believed to have started because Deffenbaugh was smoking while on an in-home oxygen tank. Other people in the house, all of whom got out safely, heard a loud noise and found Deffenbaugh on fire.
Many of you will recall that Ron Sr. suffered a broken neck in a fall from a hospital X-ray table in 2007, when he was 66. The accident left him a quadriplegic. He died in 2014, at age 73, as a result of complications from the accident.
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is planning to abolish proposed payday-loan rules that would have offered much greater protection to borrowers. The new rules, announced during the Obama administration, were to have taken effect later this year. The course reversal was put in motion by Mick Mulvaney when he was director of the CFPB, before he became President Trump’s chief of staff.
Mulvaney
An Associated Press story said Mulvaney received tens of thousands of collars in political contributions from the payday lending industry when he was a congressman from South Carolina.
…The back scratching continues among the big boys, at the expense of the people Trump was able to convince needed his helping hand.
Fortunately, this shouldn’t affect the prison sentences of payday lending tycoon Scott Tucker and his attorney, Tim Muir, who were convicted in 2017 of assembling a $2 billion payday loan enterprise that charged borrowers illegal and outrageous interest rates. Tucker, of Leawood, was sentenced to more than 16 years in federal prison. Muir was sentenced to seven years.
That’s all I’ve got today…I’ll be back when the fog from the painkillers has lifted and I’m able to sit at my desk for a spell.
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Jim always enjoy what you have to say.
Good luck with the surgery Jim. Just do the rehab and you’ll be back before you know it.
I played golf five weeks after I had the right one done. That’s my goal this time, too. Thanks, Mike.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. Any posts while under the influence we will disregard.
Thanks for the prospective forbearance, Bob!
Good luck with that surgery.
Hoping you heal quickly and completely and are doing an Irish Jig by St Patty’s Day! Xxoo.
Thank you, Marcie and Cousin Alice. I’m feelin’ the love!
Maybe Torrence is more affordable.
http://drunkenhobo.blogspot.com/2009/06/curtis-mertensmeyer-is-convicted-killer.html
There’s that case, but, on the other hand, he found Bishop Finn guilty of failing to report suspected child abuse in 2012. That was a bench trial.
(And, of course, you can’t believe everything you see on blogs.)
Good luck with everything, Jim. We want you to focus on healing and not worry about work. But you’re going to turn in a few “evergreen” columns to run while you’re out of commission, right? Other than that, we promise not to assign any stories to you, unless we need to. We know we can count on you.
Damn editors…
Happy New Knee!
You bet…Good to hear from you, Marsha.
(You’re probably already asleep, but you can read this later.) Yeah, the early hour sucks but it usually means you’ll get in on time before the schedule starts backing up. Good luck!
Two-hour advance arrival? It used to be the night before.
Here’s to a speedy recovery and walking the fairways without pain come spring.