MEDIA COVERAGE

United Way response in General Ross case

Samaritan behavior labeled 'ludicrous' and 'unprofessional'

by Ed Rice

Winchester Town Crier
September 7, 1995

From her summer home on an island off the coast of Maine, Susan Lyman noted last Thursday that her letter [which she granted the Town Crier permission to publish] from September of 1994 to the top-ranking New Bedford United Way executive proved to be "totally unsuccessful."

It was Lyman, who admits she's "pushing 80 [years of age] but that's all right," who attempted to mediate the dispute between the Samaritans of Fall River and representatives for Winchester resident John Ross and his wife. One of those representatives was Sister Michaelinda Plante, former principal of St. Mary's School in Winchester, who had earlier attempted to resolve the turmoil.

As she explained in detail, in her letter to United Way official Craig Dutra, the June 15 meeting deteriorated early and was doomed to failure, specifically due to Samaritans of Fall River director Ellie Leite's "unbelievable and ludicrous" behavior.

"The whole thing [meeting] was preposterous. She [Leite] called me a liar, saying that I knew Mrs. Ross. She screamed at me, in a blazing rage. She was out of control and so unprofessional. I couldn't believe this was an official representing a United Way agency. It was pathetic," Lyman recalled.

Lyman added that, ultimately, it was Leite's "ridiculous" behavior which led her to wonder about possible unethical or illegal behavior on the part of the Samaritans. The former chairwoman and creator of the New England division of the American Suicide Foundation stated Leite's behavior led her to think of the Shakespearean quote: "Me thinks thou doth protest too much."

Lyman again condemned the harassing anonymous calls and "threatening" letters she said she received from Fall River, stating that she believes the purpose of these calls and letters was "to get me to back off, to get out of their lives and this situation."

Asked about the nature of the "threatening" remarks in the letters, Lyman said the intent was that she "should remember what happened to sister." A couple of them, she said, were signed "Samaritans of the World."

Lyman sent copies of two of the letters to The Herald News of Fall River. In an article by reporter Sean Flynn, one letter was quoted in part: "Sister Michaelinda has now suffered the consequences. We insist that you end your involvement in this Ross saga at once. If you do not accede to our demands, we will be forced to take extreme action against the American Suicide Foundation."

The 1949 Radcliffe graduate, who also earned degrees from the Harvard-Radcliffe program in business administration in 1950 and a Harvard master's of education in 1963, said she was disappointed in the change in attitude of Samaritan board president, Mrs. Pamela Pollock.

"After the meeting I said to her 'Perhaps you and I could talk.' And she agreed. She said 'Mrs. Leite isn't ready yet. She has to vent.' But later she refused to accept any communications from me," Lyman stated.

Lyman said Mrs. Pollock considered her suggestion that the Samaritan board "had lost control of the situation and needed a little help" as a form of "harassment."

Agreeing with her called that it seems "strange" a United Way agency would return $27,000 in donations (the amount generated in a praise campaign by the Rosses), Lyman said such an action was "totally irrational and really ridiculous." She said the Samaritans wouldn't be forfeiting any United Way supporting funds and that any agency under the United Way canopy "should be delighted to receive such financial support."

Because "more and more powerful people" (like Catholic Church officials and local public officials) became involved in the situation, Lyman thinks the Samaritans realized trouble was coming because "there's something sour under the rug."

Of Sister Michaelinda, who has filed a defamation suit against the Samaritans trying to restore her reputation and have her job returned to her as assistant superintendent of the Fall River diocese, Lyman said simply, "She's full of courage and a victim in this whole thing. That guy (Bishop O'Malley) poisoned the situation when he fired her."

As Lyman told the Herald News of Fall River: "I think the lawsuit is perhaps the only way to save the Samaritans in Fall River, and frankly, to get to the bottom of all this. To me, clearly there is an attempt to cover up something. That is my feeling and the court case will hopefully bring it out."

© copyright 1995 The Winchester Town Crier. Reprinted by written permission of Ed Rice, former editor.

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