Posted on 05/25/2007 6:09:18 PM PDT by SmithL
NASHVILLE -- Embattled state Sen. Ophelia Ford said Thursday she will remain in office at least through her first term ending in 2010 and flatly denied any suggestion that she has a drug or alcohol problem -- as her brother, Shelby County Commissioner Joe Ford, has implied.
But just as Ford, D-Memphis, moved to put a string of controversies behind her, news of another bizarre episode surfaced later Thursday: a Nashville taxicab driver told police that an "intoxicated" Ford pulled his shirt collar so hard while he was driving her to her hotel from a downtown bar and restaurant that it tore off a button and another woman with her had to pry Ford's hands loose.
"That is totally untrue," Ford, 56, said Thursday night. "I am absolutely not a violent person."
The cabbie, Habib Abdi Hashi, 32, declined to file simple assault charges but told police he reserved the right to later.
Earlier Thursday, Ford discussed her health and the incidents in her first real interviews -- with The Commercial Appeal and The Associated Press -- since she missed several Senate session days and votes, then fell off a bar stool at her Capitol Hill hotel May 15, which resulted in a hospital trip. The previous day, she launched into a tirade against state Children's Services officials testifying before a Senate committee.
She blamed all of her problems on the "chronic anemia" that she said first surfaced when she was pregnant 34 years ago and then again last summer following a yearlong effort to win a Senate seat and then to hold it when Republicans ousted her after vote fraud surfaced in her Memphis-to-Millington district.
But she said she has no intention of resigning. "I will be here in the Senate. And I will be here when my four years is up, and then if I decide not to run again then -- I've got a long time to determine that. But Ms. Ophelia Ford is going to be here and there is nothing you can say or do to take me away. I don't care what the media says."
She said the Nashville hotel employee was "absolutely wrong" when he told ambulance dispatchers last week, after the fall in a concierge lounge, that she was "extremely intoxicated."
"I had just gotten there. I think they were absolutely wrong and misinterpreted. ... I had not been drinking," she said. But she said that her condition can be misinterpreted as "kind of intoxicating, when, if you pass out." She said she had taken medicine that day.
Ford blamed her frequent absences from legislative sessions this year on the anemia that she says doctors diagnosed last August during a two-week hospital stay. She's had three blood transfusions since then, she said.
Ford said she's not aware of the precise kind of anemia she has. She said she would not permit her physicians to speak with reporters about her condition.
The freshman senator sat calmly during the interview but was visibly upset with her brother Joe Ford's calls for her to enter "rehab" because of possible addictions. She said that despite his repeated public discussions about her in the media, he has not returned her calls nor has he called her.
"I've called him and called. And I wonder how can you guys get him. And then I can't. I don't know where Joe came up with that from. You know, he's a recovering alcoholic and drug addict probably for over 15 years. And you know, it's all out in the open. He talks about it even. But they have seemed to have taken my illness lightly. Just because I'm weak. I don't know. I have no idea where Joe would get a thing like that from."
Ford is listed as prime sponsor on 22 bills this session but only two have won final approval -- one of them to name Harriet Tubman Day and another on tax-return preparers. Despite that, she said she is representing her Senate District 29 constituents.
"I'm going to get things done for my constituents too. And I believe that they will understand. If you don't feel well, you don't feel well. But that hasn't stopped me from getting back with them and not going to either."
-- Richard Locker: (615) 255-4923
Police report filed
A Nashville taxi driver told police that an "intoxicated" Sen. Ophelia Ford pulled his shirt collar while he was driving her and another woman to Ford's hotel Tuesday night from a downtown bar and restaurant.
According to a Metropolitan Police incident report, driver Habib Abdi Hashi told police he had transported Ford about 4 p.m. Tuesday, then was called to pick her at the Wildhorse Saloon about 9:13 p.m. Hashi told officers the "suspect was intoxicated and was brought out to the cab under a blanket to keep the media from seeing her," the report says.
"The victim stated that... the suspect grabbed the collar of his shirt from behind and pulled it back, tearing a button off of the shirt. Victim stated that the female who was with the suspect grabbed the suspect's hands and pried them loose."
Hashi took the women to the Holiday Inn Select near Vanderbilt University. "Victim stated that he had to help the suspect to her room," then took the unidentified woman back downtown.
Police said Hashi told them he did not want to press charges "at this time, but reserves the right to in the future."
Hashi told police that Ford left her shoes in his cab.
Ford, 56, acknowledged that she went to the Wildhorse Saloon with a friend but said the driver's allegations are "totally untrue. I'm not a violent person."
Police spokesman Don Aaron said there would be no further action unless Hashi presses charges.
ANEMIA FAST FACTS
WHAT IS IT?
The body relies on a protein called hemoglobin in red blood cells to move oxygen from the lungs to the body's cells, muscles and tissues. A person is anemic when levels of hemoglobin or red blood cells fall below normal.
SYMPTOMS
"Fatigue is a major component," said Dr. Ray Osarogiagbon, a University of Tennessee Health Science Center assistant professor of hematology-oncology. Ophelia Ford is not his patient and he isn't familiar with her case.
Other common symptoms are shortness of breath, weakness, dizziness, pale skin and a rapid heartbeat.
CAUSE
Usually a symptom of an underlying medical problem, Osarogiagbon said. Problems include kidney disease, cancer, infections, pregnancy, menstruation, bleeding and nutritional deficiencies, including those associated with alcoholism. It can also be related to rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, medication and inherited disorders.
Ugh. She looks like one of the females from The Planet of the Apes.
Hispanics are white. If you are Hispanic, you have been here for the same exact amount of time as Nordic Europeans. The English and the Spaniards crossed the Atlantic in the same decade during the end of the 15th century and the only race that has resided in the Americas longer than anyone are the Native Americans. Besides, who cares who was in LA longer, that place sucks.
Thank you for reviving a 15 month old thread, causing my brain to reboot.
Left-wing Hispanics have successfully created a new race for themselves, the so-called “Brown” race. From their “Brown” pedestal they mostly denigrate Whites while poking fun at their Black brothers-in-chains.
My response in post #20 was a subtle jab at the original poster who said that Latinos were in LA long before Whites or Blacks. Such a claim is hogwash as “Latinos” are White.
I particularly enjoy the “Latinos” who claim they are part of the Native American experience and thus are the true owners of large parts of the Southwest. All the while the racists in Mexico to this day will not employ nor educate the Native Indians so prevalent in Mexico.
Thus the City of Angels.
Wrong, The City of Los Angeles was formed by the "SPANISH" Governor Felipe de Neve in 1781.
LATINO is a wrongly adopted name, because none of the Countries claiming that name have roots in the Latin language, which was the language of the Roman Empire.
If anyone has a claim to be a "of Latin heritage" Italy, France,Germany,Romania,Belgium,Spain etc. will be the names coming to mind, not Mexico, for sure.
Just because Spain's Armada conquered and discovered new Lands and Continents, by lending their language to the indigenous of their territories, it won't make those countries "of Latin Heritage".
JMHO...by the way, I speak, write and read Latin!
Whoa! I was only using the term Latino in deference to the poster.
I grew up in the L.A. area, and had lots of California history in the early grades.
BTW, what took so long to jump my post, that was actually about Ophelia Ford.?
The Latino thing was just a side note.
Well, I responded to your side note, which was wrong in the assumption you presented!
LAUSD I presume!? I figured that much.
As for Ophelia Ford's matter, it looks like the Senator Lady is a drunk/addicted and trying to shove it under the rug.Period!
I now live in the Memphis area.
The Ford's never shove anything under rug. They are wide open with their criminal activities.
Listen, I do apologize for my remarks to you. I have a strong aversion towards LAUSD, because of their sub-par performance and teachings of the students!
They are coming across like a semi-political indoctrination machine for the Democrat Party to me, therefore I have very little respect for that institution.
There is nothing semi-political about it. They, unsurprisingly, are left-wing, liberal, progressive Democrats that want nothing more than to teach kids everything except:
1. Reading
2. Math
3. Writing
4. English
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