Newspapers / The Carolina Times (Durham, … / May 11, 1985, edition 1 / Page 1
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^ ! 00000 M C COL> 9^5l4 osc-ca sc 2’51 CbeCan suae 53 _ number 18 flE (USPS 091-380) DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA - SATURDAY, MAY 11, 1985 Wallace Parker, Jr, TELEPHONE (919) 682-2913 PRICE: 30 CENTS Failures Mark His Life By Milton Jordan Everyone who touched Wallace Parker’s life failed him, including himself. And on a balmy Sunday morning, about two weeks ago tl;at, neglect and failure ex ploded in one of Durham’s most brutal and gruesome killings. Parker, 33, of 1106 Merrick St., is charged with first degree murder in the death of his father, Wallace Parker, Sr. According to police'reports, the young Parker cut his father’s throat, and then severed the man’s head''from the body with a large butcher knife. Durham detective David Johnson' has been reported as saying the killing was “ap parently unprovoked.” Johnson said the father, Wallace Parker^ 64, of the same Merrick Street address, was asleep on the couch in the living room about 5 a.m. Sunday, April 28, when his soii at tacked him with a steak knife. The knife, believed to be the murder weapon, was found about 100 yards from the house. Parker, a former employee of Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, was arrested and jailed shortly after the killing when police found him in front of Oldham Towers, a high rise apartment building on Main St., near the Trailways Bus Station downtown. Wallace, according to court records, has been admitted to Dorethea Dix Hospital in Raleigh for psychiatric examination to deter mine his competency to stand trial for the killing. But the Wallace Parker, Jr. saga is more than the story of a brutal and gruesome kill ing. It is the story of a life doomed to disaster almost from the beginning, victimized by a violent environment that taught him killing was a sometimes necessary way to solve pro blems. It is also the story of a system so large and cumbersome, so impersonal that it could not deal with Parker effectively, could not get him off the street, though he has been diagnosed since 1978 as suffering with chronic mental illness. ' But even more, Parker’s story reveals a tragic trail of errors, unasked quesitons, oversights and just sheer incompetency on the part of several elements of the system, ranging from law enforcement, through the courts and including our vaunted mental health system. It is a story that had to be pieced together from court records, and dozens of interviews with friends, relatives and others who just knew Parker casually. Many of those inter viewed asked not to be identified for fear of being implicated in ‘‘unsolved” crimes. In many ways, this story begins in 1968 when Parker was 17 years old, and was allegedly wounded several times in a North Durham gambling game. It is rumored that Parker’s daddy, a former meat cutter known as “Tank,” supposedly killed the man who had shot his son, but was never arrested or charged with any crime. That allegation could not be independent ly collaborated, but at least six people inter viewed mentioned hearing that “hearsay,” including Parker’s cousin, Wilbert Oliver,' Oliver, interviewed in one of the visiting booths in the Durham County jail, paints a mixed, often confusing picture of Parker, a much troubled man, who was known for staying upstairs in his bed for days on end. “When he was a teenager,” Oliver said, “he was just like any other teenager. He lik ed girls, cars and having fun. He was a little boisterous sometimes, but nothing unusual.” But on the other hand, speaking of Parker, the adult, Oliver said: “If there was a situation that needed straigtening out, he’d straighten it out. He was known to hurt you. The whole family was, especially the men.” It was in his family where things began go- (Continued On Page 3) irlli Carolina Central liniversi- »ill hold its Diamond Anniver- y ICommencement Exercises nda.v, May 12, at 9 a.m. at Kell) Stadium. \ ^Doctor of Humanities jree will be awarded to Miss uline Newton. She joined the gllsh faculty of what was then rhani State Normal School in IdiJShe retired from North rollna College in 1963. Durham’s Last Gruesome Killing Occurred A Decade Ago Durham e\peiieiuos alxnil a dozen ■marders-anrnially,- accor ding to Public Safety Department records, most of them so-called crimes of passion that grow out of arguments, domestic problems and other provocations. Thus the Wallace Parker, Sr. killing produced Durham’s most brutal and gruesome murder in at least 10 years. Parker, 64, was killed Sunday morning, April 28. His attacker severed the man’s head from his body, with what police believe is a boning knife. The knife thought to be the murder weapon was found about 100 yards from the murder scene. Parker. Sr., a former meat packing house employee, was killed as he lay sleeping on the couch in the living room of his apartment at ll06-.Apt. 2, Mer- lick St. J b€-man s oldest son, Wallace Parker, Jr., 33, a diagnosed schizophrenic, has been charged with first degree murder in the killing. Durham’s last killing of this nature occurred on Feb. 19, 1975, when Otis Jackson “Jack" Rigsbee, 27, was found slashed to death in the freezer locker at Liberty .Market, 349 W. Main St. He had been slashed seseral times, and one of the knife wounds had nearly severed his head from the body. The siou had been robbed of nearly S.s.tXXJ in cash and jewelry . Several days later, Durham police arrested Obie Carrington, an employee at the market, and Thomas M. Buskey, charging them with Rigsbee’s murder. A third man, .Arthur Parrish, Jr. was later arrested and charged in the same crime. ■A Superior Court jury found them not guilty, according to Court records. A New Cartoon Feature Called “JoJo” On Page 8 Entertainment Section Most Mentally Ill Persons Receive No Help By Millon Jordan ^ul 75% of the people in suffering from mental >r^rs get little or no regular #iem for their problems, ac ting to several recent .studies Tr(con(jucte(j around the niry, including Durham. people — about IVo of ^suffer with schizophrenia, the most severe mental go on .suffering, day ntil their disorder reaches in the case of jHrenia, “rock bottom” ^iniean an outbreak of given certain other ' in the person’s ate environment. Ning to preliminary fin- [ ihe studies being con- five cities, three of complete, here’s how j^bers work but. nil 1% of any population 'vith .some form, iegree of .severity ^ophrenia. '"Ihe Durham area, that for- 'snslates to about 1,000 in- oiiils, [• 24% of persons ^ mental disorders gel Jiment. F Durham area, that for- 'ksout to about 750 per- mental disorders not and of |eated N story of society’s general indifference to mental il lness, the cost of treating certain .severe forms, such as schizophrenia, the relative pauci ty of resources combined with other aggravating elements, ap pear to be the heart and core of the Wallace Parker, Jr. case. Parker, 33, is charged with kill ing his father, Wallace Parker, Sr. on Sunday morning, April 28. According to police reports, the younger Parker severed the older man's head from his body with a large boning knife. The defendant is currently be ing evaluated at Dorothea Dix Hospital to determine his mental competence to stand trial on the charge. But Parker has been a diagnos ed schizophrenic since 1978 when he voluntarily admitted himself to John Umstead Hospital in Burner. Since that first diagnosis, Parker has been diagnosed twice more as suffering with schizophrenia. Yet he has received almost no treatment or counseling for the sickness. In this, Parker repre.sents the typical case of people in the Durham area who are likely suf fering some stage of schizoprhenia, a chronic mental illness for which there is no cure, and which manifests itself in a variety of ways. But Dr. Ranga Krishnan, medical director at one of Duke Medical Center's psychiatric units, says there are a number of common features that are symp tomatic of the illness. “Persons suffering this illness will hear voices, have delusions, have problems relating to others and will either display no emo tion, or will display inappropriate emotions,” Dr. Krishnan ex plained. ‘‘The illness curtails a person's ability to process infor mation, and this seriously affects the person’s ability to function on a day to day basis.” Though Durham has adequate facilities to help persons with this illness manage it, though they will almost never be cured, several obstacles block most peo: pie from treatment. “Probably four major roadblocks keep people with chronic mental illness from the "treatment and help they need," said Dr. Dan Blazer, director of Duke Medical Center’s Affected Disorders Programs. “These roadblocks include the stigma that is still attached to mental il lness, and the reluctance that family members and friends have to referring someone for help. Many people suffering mental il lness go to a general physician, their regular doctor, and many of them are reluctant to diagnose mental illness and therefore refer patients for help. Additionally, there are not enough facilities to provide treatment, and with various budget cutbacks in the public sector, resources are becoming even more scarce. Finally, many insurance carriers are dropping coverages for men tal illness, and chronic illnesses of this type, particularly schizophrenia, can be a financial drain. Because of that many peo ple never seek help.” Despite those obstacles, ser- \ices are available in Durham. According to Paul Brown, adult services coordinator for the Durham County Mental Health Center, the center provides out patient services, including in dividual, family and group counseling, as well as psychotrophic medication for mental illnesses. The center also provides some outreach services, according to Brown, but still people slip through the cracks. A lot of things have to work right in order for a mentally ill person to avail him/herself of those services. According to Brown, most of the ' center’s clients come in themselves. Others are referred by various agencies, the judicial system, as well as family members and friends. “But even though someone comes in or is referred,” Brown explained, they must want to be treated. It is all solumary. V\e cannot force irealmeni on so meone wiihoul going ihrougli due process procedures, unless someone meets the commiinieni procedure.” So treatment of mental illness hinges on either patients astute enough to seek ireatineiu and stick with it. or a strong family or other support group helping the patient to seek treatment and to stick with it. Without these factors, the community’s hands are virtually lied. Consequently, a lot of peo ple who need help, many of whom, like Parker, suffer chronic mental illness, fall through the gap between the system’s intent to serve, and its ability to serve. In many instances, several mitigating factors lend to widen those gaps inio.virtual chasms of neglect. “In the case of schizophrenia,” said Dr. Krishnan, “the very nature of the illness tends to mitigate against treatment. Schizophrenics don't form solid relationships. They are usually withdrawn and very suspicious. They keep people at a distance.” Other mitigating factors that would decrease a patient’s chances of being properly treated include a weak or disrupted fami ly structure, deficient education. poseriy, as well as cultural, or e\cn leligioiis methods llial allow rclaiises and friends to “litc with” the disease rather than confront it and arrange ireai- ment. Since treatment of this disease can be very expensive, and ereaic a financial drain on the family, this also slops people, espcvially poor people, from seeking the help they need. Wallace Parker, Jr. seemed to live in an environment that displayed mo.st, if not all, of these mitigating factors. Thus, in many ways, he became a faccle.ss entity, living, as it were, in another dimension, relatively close to help, but never able to bridge the gap. , And, according to Dr. Blazer, there could be many other “Wallace Parkers” in the Durham community. “Though they suffer one of the most severe forms of mental il lness,” said Dr. Blazer, “schizoprhenics are one of the most underserved of any group in society. We have the resources to provide the services, but people have to be more aware of the pro blem, and we have to commit ourselves to the proposition that this group is a public responsibili ty.”
The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.)
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May 11, 1985, edition 1
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