Is It Dementia or a Legal Maneuver?

* [Former Orange County Treasurer-Tax Collector] Robert L. Citron now contends he suffers from dementia (Nov. 14). If this is true, I offer my sympathy. As I give support to my elderly mother, I learn firsthand about dementia’s challenges. She struggles to remember names of family members, whether or not she has eaten meals, and the location of her personal items. Her fears rob her of the light open curtains could offer, trips away from her care facility, and interactions with other people.

If Robert Citron’s revelation about his mental impairment is a legal maneuver, I would hope that he is given the opportunity to spend time in a skilled care facility so that he may become personally acquainted with and give support to individuals afflicted with such impairments who are coping with the mental and physical demands of daily life.

LAURA L. MOORE

Huntington Beach

* Bob Citron’s litany of predictable excuses, most recently his “dementia” in mismanaging $1.7 billion, illustrates how easy it is to pull off a fraud this size. And the armies of lawyers on all sides could never be happier. As in all phases of government, public service and personal behavior, nobody is responsible for anything.

His “mentally deranged” condition, he says, occurred over a period of four years. Last month the pathetic party line was that Bob was “in decline.” Was he “in decline” when he pleaded guilty to six counts of securities fraud and misappropriation of funds? And how about the fees earned by the derivatives experts at Merrill Lynch? Is demented Bob too infirm to spend his $90,000 annual pension? I’d like to sell him some derivatives.

PATRICK MALLON

Lake Forest

* It is with some humor that I now understand the nature of Robert L. Citron’s malady . . . dementia. From the conduct of the Board of Supervisors, it must have been contagious. And considering the results of Measure R, it appears that most of Orange County is similarly afflicted. They forgot the county’s promise to pay its bonds. Another name for this terrible disease may be “selective amnesia.”

DAVIA M. ZIMBEROFF

Corona del Mar