Tammy Joy Kennedy has made a name for herself.
Since opening Nerve Signal Interference Removal (NSIR) Technologies School of Alternative Healing in May 2002 in the Broadway Tower, the self-described healer has expanded her client base up to 100 people.
She has her own Web site and recently had her own television show on PEGASYS, a community access broadcast station. Her services are advertised in the 2003 SBC yellow pages under "Chiropractic Physicians" and have drawn raves from some of her clients.
"I would go to her before I would go to anyone in the medical field," said Genevieve Guenther, a client.
This isn't a business success story, however.
Kennedy's work, visibility and public statements have drawn the ire of licensed chiropractors in Enid who are going public now in their dismay that she continues to charge and advertise for services they say are nothing short of unlicensed chiropractic care.
State chiropractic board and association members in Oklahoma City are involved in the dispute.
"This is absolutely disturbing. She (Kennedy) continues to make a mockery and offend licensed chiropractic care definitely," said Beth Kelly, executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Chiropractic Examiners.
And what does Kennedy say?
"They keep trying to say I am a practicing chiropractor. I am not. It would be stupid to do that. They would put me in jail. I am a nerve signal interference specialist," Kennedy said.
Following in grandfather's footsteps
Kennedy said in an earlier interview with The Enid News & Eagle she was a protégé of her late and revered grandfather, Dr. Earl F. Craton, one of the first people to lease space and open an office in the newly built Broadway Tower in 1931.
Craton died here in January 2002. He had studied chiropractic at Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, graduating with degrees in 1925.
He received the Texas Chiropractic College's Centennial Award in 1995.
Craton believed the secret to relieving distress and pain rests with the Atlanto-occipital joint where the head comes together with the spine.
He felt the bedrock to effective pain treatment was setting and working to align that particular joint and chiropractic school curriculums should be revamped upon that premise, Kennedy said.
Kennedy was a recipient of her grandfather's diagnosis and care.
She threw her hip out during her teenage years. A boy cracked her skull in junior high when he hit her over the head with a heavy book. She got hit by a 2,000-pound bull and has suffered traffic accident injuries. She said she feels no physical pain whatsoever from those traumatic incidents, thanks to Craton's care.
"I saw Grandpa's vision. He educated and helped save my life. He planted a fire in me that still burns today," Kennedy said.
Dr. Tom Derstine, executive director of the Chiropractic Association of Oklahoma, and Enid chiropractor, Dr. Russell Anderson, know about the Atlanto-occipital joint, and they think Kennedy is submarining into dangerous waters.
Anderson said adjustment of the Atlanto-occipital joint is an illegal practice except in very rare and specialized instances. It is a very delicate chiropractic adjustment that requires education and training.
"You can't learn it by osmosis," Anderson said.
Derstine described setting the Atlanto-occipital joint as "an old technique" popular in the 1940s and 1950s.
Describing it as "very aggressive" and something that can be "traumatic," Derstine said setting the groundwork first, such as getting and using X-rays and getting a patient's case history, are prerequisites before anyone goes working the joint.
"A lot of abnormalities can be involved. Someone is going to get hurt. I doubt if she (Kennedy) is using X-rays. What is she going to do, for example, if someone goes into an epileptic seizure?" Derstine said.
Kennedy said in her interview she can't access or use X-rays because she is not a doctor. It's a Catch-22 situation, she said.
"Because I am not a doctor, I can't order X-rays," Kennedy said.
She has been on TV and wanted to go
door-to-door to solicit her services
Kennedy had her own weekly show, "Red Fuzion" that aired on PEGASYS in November for two episodes before being suspended by the PEGASYS board for "commercial content," said PEGASYS executive director Wendy Quarles.The suspension is effective for a 90-day period, at which time Kennedy's PEGASYS membership will be reactivated.
Quarles said the suspension was based on segments of Kennedy's program that were found to be commercial endorsements community television prohibits.
Enid attorney and city commissioner John Hodgden, who has conferred with local chiropractors going public in their complaints against Kennedy, said he has trouble with the concept of a free speech agenda PEGASYS or other community television stations pronounce.
"This is a lady illegally operating as a chiropractor. When do you draw the line? I don't think it's proper for someone having a show if they perform an illegal act," Hodgden said.
Kennedy described the conflict with PEGASYS as "a very gray area," saying she respects Wendy Quarles and that she (Kennedy) is the victim of power politics.
"The day they gave my show the boot was the same day PEGASYS renewed its contract with the city. I've been trying to be positive with the community. There are miracles out there, but people with great power are pulling strings to keep the public away from my granddad's work," Kennedy said.
City attorney Carol Lahman said she remembered reviewing an application for door-to-door solicitation Kennedy had applied for with the city.
The application was rejected because "the police department told me they had some concern about her legal record. I do remember they (police) talked to me," Lahman said.
According to Oklahoma State Courts Network Web site, Kennedy was named as a defendant in two protective orders filed in Garfield County District Court. She was ordered by the court in 1994 to return property that belonged to the state.
Neither city clerk Linda Parks nor police information officer Capt. Byron Hill had documentation pertaining to the solicitation application, but both remembered it.
Kennedy said she checked with the city's code office about a year earlier and found no regulation that would prohibit NSIR from continuing business.
How will the dispute end?
The state's chiropractic board of examiners is currently conducting an investigation into Kennedy's business through the direction of state attorney general liaison Grant Moak.
"It's in proper hands. We're moving along with the paperwork and updating the board. We've been building our evidence," Kelly said.
That doesn't faze Kennedy.
After being informed by the attorney general's office in November 2000 she was found not to have a license to practice chiropractic, she was advised to stop until she had completed the accredited academic requirements and been issued a license.
Kennedy got her request to address the board in person in January 2001 and argued what she was doing was not chiropractic.
"There are healing fields that are not licensed," Kennedy said.
Meanwhile, Hodgden and Anderson, talking on behalf of other Enid chiropractors, are stewing.
"How does she continue to operate, especially after a cease and desist order was issued in 2000?" Hodgden asked.
"I don't know why," said Anderson, who filed the initial complaint against Kennedy that led to the attorney general's review and advisement in 2000. "That's the point. The attorney general's office is dragging its feet."
Anderson said he fears the Oklahoma chiropractic field would be the target of litigation if something injurious were to occur in the way of client care at NSIR.
Kennedy has heard the argument and responds.
"I understand you think I may hurt someone in the name of chiropractic. Rest assured, if I do I will be doing it alone. There's a double-edge sword here. If I help someone, it will not be in the name of chiropractic," Kennedy said.
The dispute has not been solely a war over words. Emotions have been high. Anderson said he called Enid police to have Kennedy removed from his office when they initially exchanged words.
Pastor Alan Seibel of Davis Park Christian Church applied for a protective order in March 2001, naming Kennedy as a defendant.
He and former Oakwood Christian Church minister Gary Templeton are listed under library services on Kennedy's Web site.
Derstine said publicity generated by the dispute has been bad for chiropractic as a whole in Oklahoma.
He speculates on what appears to have come to a standstill.
"Our problem is that this does not come under the jurisdiction of our board. We can't do anything," Derstine said.