|
|
|
Children's News & Views 2006 |
|
|
|
Children's News & Views 2006 |
|
|
|
Click headline for full story
December 2006
Parent advocate found in contempt The court says the El Paso County woman practiced law without a license by advising the lawyer of two families. By Howard Pankratz, Denver Post Staff Writer 12-19-06 -- An advocate for parents who have had their children taken away in dependency and neglect cases has been found in contempt of court for practicing law in Colorado without a license. . . . In an unanimous ruling Monday, the Colorado Supreme Court ordered Suzanne Shell, 50, to pay a $6,000 fine. . . . The justices found that Shell twice contacted a lawyer representing two families in the midst of battles with the Fremont County Department of Human Services, in 2002 and again the next year. . . . They ruled that Shell - describing herself as an "agent" and "expert consultant" - had asked the lawyer to file specific documents, make certain legal arguments and propose jury instructions in the cases. . . . The court said that by doing so, Shell was practicing law, which she was prohibited from doing by an injunction and contempt citation in 2001. That year, the state's Office of Attorney Regulation claimed Shell provided legal advice to parents in dependency and neglect cases, drafted pleadings for parents' use, and attempted to represent parents in judicial proceedings. . . . Monday's ruling was written by Allison Eid, the newest appointee to the court. . . . Shell's lawyer, Paul Grant of Centennial, called the decision "just wrong." . . . Shell, Grant said, "doesn't charge a penny" to the families she helps. He said the attorney she contacted in the two Fremont County cases was free to reject Shell's advice, which he did. . . . Grant said Shell's primary purpose is to document abuses of dependency and neglect proceedings in Colorado, and that she wants to make a film documenting those abuses. . . . Over the years, she has lobbied the state legislature and local agencies on such issues. . . . Shell, who lives in rural El Paso County, said Monday she became involved in dependency and neglect cases after Elbert County in 1991 took away one of her children "for a spanking that left no marks." . . . She said she got the child back in four days and Elbert County never filed a petition against her. . . . She said that parents who have their children snatched away from them experience a "profound depth of fear, rage and frustration at the way these cases are handled. . . . "It is psychological kidnapping," she said. 12-11-06 -- The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Texas joined with leading conservative and libertarian organizations to file a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in support of the Gates family, in a case involving a warrantless raid of the Gates home and seizure of their children by the Defendants, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (CPS) and Fort Bend County Sheriff's Office. . . . The Gates' children were taken by Defendants from their home in a jail wagon at the conclusion of the raid on February 11, 2000 and scattered to foster homes, before being returned to the Gates' the following Monday after a court hearing. . . . The brief argues that Defendants violated the Gates' Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable search and seizures, their heightened procedural due process rights triggered by their paramount liberty interest under the U.S. Constitution to direct the upbringing of their children, and their analogous rights as recognized by the Texas Constitution. The brief also maintains that Defendants' routine practice of conducting such warrantless seizures of children, even in the absence of any immediate danger of physical abuse or emergency, is contrary to Texas law. . . . Joining the ACLU as amici curae in filing this brief are the Texas Eagle Forum, the Liberty Legal Institute, the Texas Home School Coalition, and the Libertarian Party of Texas. . . . ACLU of Texas Executive Director Will Harrell stated, “The ACLU of Texas is proud to join with prominent conservative and libertarian groups in this important case. We don’t always agree, but we do agree that the Fourth Amendment requires probable cause and a warrant for non-emergency searches and seizures, and that this interest is particularly strong when the sanctity of the family is involved." . . . Harrell continued, "The ACLU and the other parties to the brief share a concern that CPS, while having a legitimate purpose, regularly oversteps constitutional bounds and that in our free society, there is a dire need for a bright- line restriction on their ability to intrude into the private lives and homes of Texans. The state can ensure that children are not being abused without violating the constitutional rights of their parents, and indeed the very children it seeks to protect." . . . The brief is authored by Marc A. Levin, an Austin attorney and former law clerk at the Fifth Circuit who is known for his commitment to individual liberty. The Fifth Circuit is based in New Orleans and the case is being appealed from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston, Judge Lynn Hughes. The case is No. 06-20763 and is styled: GARY W GATES, JR; MELISSA GATES ; Individually and as next friends to Sarah Gates, Derodrick Gates, Travis Gates, Raquel Gates, Cynthia Gates, Cassandra Gates, Timothy Gates, Andrew Gates, Alexis Gates, and Marcus Gates; GARY WILTON GATES; GEORGE GATES; SCOTT GATES, Plaintiffs-Appellants, vs. TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF PROTECTIVE AND REGULATORY SERVICES; ET AL., Defendants-Appellees To view the brief, please click here.
McDonnell Supports Direct Access to Services CHILDREN'S MENTAL HEALTH
Judge's actions are despicable 12/5/2006 -- I just learned, through a national news network, that an Associate Judge in the 39th Circuit Court in Lawrence County, MO, Judge Larry W. Meyer, just sentenced a 50 year old man to probation for a vicious sexual assault on an innocent 9 year old girl. Is this judge in some sort of competition with Judge Jon A,. Dermott, the judge from Jasper County, who earlier this year gave a suspended sentence to an illegal alien for molesting children, to see who can issue the least punitive judgment against child molesters? Do judges like these two have no sense of decency? Have they no compassion for victims who are least likely to be able to defend themselves from such monstrous crimes, our children? I can only hope and pray that the citizens of Lawrence County develop long memories and will vote to oust this reprehensible and despicable example of judicial misconduct in his next attempt to retain his position in the 39th Circuit Court.
NY Judge's Children's Book on Illegal Aliens Angers Defense Bar, Gardeners
12/5/2006 -- A Brooklyn judge who wrote a children's book in which he appears to compare illegal immigrants to weeds choking the life out of society has come under fire from criminal defense attorneys concerned that immigrants might not be receiving a fair shake in his courtroom. . . . "We are concerned about the judge's capacity to act impartially," said Steven Banks, chief attorney for the Legal Aid Society, yesterday. "We are requesting an inquiry by the [state Commission on Judicial Conduct] which is the proper body to address this matter." . . . The controversy raises the question of how far a judge can go in voicing his personal opinions without compromising his ability to act fairly in the courtroom. . . . Judge John H. Wilson (See Profile), who sits in Criminal Court, insisted that he is only exercising his First Amendment rights. . . . "I have the right to free expression. I thought I was exercising that by writing a work of fiction," he said in an interview. "I find it ironic that the Legal Aid Society, the guardian of freedoms, would express such concern. But it's their right to do so." November 2006 Foster youth's eternal quest for a 'forever family'
IN THE last year, unprecedented attention has been focused on flaws in the foster care system. This is encouraging because the state of foster care demands our sustained attention if it is ever going to improve. But make no mistake. Foster care is by no means an end in itself. The true happy ending for a child who has been removed from his birth parents is a "forever family," whether that means returning to his own birth family in a healthy setting or being adopted. . . . And there's good news on that front: The number of adoptions of children in foster care has risen dramatically, with many states doubling or even tripling adoptions. Of the approximately 300,000 U.S. children who enter the foster care system each year, about half return to their birth parents. Some are sent to live with relatives, and about one in 10 are adopted by families outside their own. . . . Recent estimates show that one-third of American families have seriously considered adoption. More than one million women have taken steps to look into adopting a child, and child welfare agencies across the nation logged almost a quarter of a million phone calls last year from adults considering adopting a child from foster care. Keep your disputes away from the kids
Some of the deepest wounds are inflicted with the least effort. . . . Some of the deepest scars are the hardest to see. . . . We are a generation of paranoid parents, ever on guard against the very real and media-magnified atrocities of child abuse. . . . Fear of the violence and sexual malice that threatens our sons and daughters is so pervasive – and necessary – that a caregiver with no such fear might easily be accused of neglect. . . . Yet, for all of our many precautions, even the most vigilant among us may be ignorant of one of the most subtle and destructive threats to our children’s well-being, an injury which by definition can only be inflicted by a beloved caregiver, a form of abuse that is no less malignant and far more common than any other. . . . This is abuse by parental alienation. . . . The Foundation of “Me.” There is, at the psychological core of each of us, a sense of self, a model of “me” that’s built like a skyscraper one story at a time over the course of development. This structure rests on a foundation of emotional bricks contributed by a child’s primary caregivers from earliest childhood onward.
Attorneys at odds with Wayne Co. judge reassigning children cases (AP) Hoping to speed up juvenile cases in Wayne County Family Court, hundreds of abused, neglected and delinquent children soon will get new representation in court _ a move some attorneys say is illegal. . . . Circuit Court Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly has begun replacing attorneys previously assigned to handle these cases with new teams of lawyers assigned to specific courtrooms, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday. Kelly said the changes will improve legal representation for children. . . . But attorneys who have been representing the children on a case-by-case basis _ called lawyers-guardians ad litem _ say the change will disrupt the continuity of legal representation. And many say they are offended that they will be asked to turn over their files to new attorneys. . . . "It's illegal and it's contrary to the court rules, at a minimum," John Owdziej, president of the Trial Lawyers Association of Wayne County Juvenile Court, said. "The request to turn over your files is really unprecedented."
Lawyer's 'Lies' Sent Me To Bad Pa Complaint Vs. Kids' Charity
11-13-06 -- A 16-year-old Manhattan student says a court-appointed lawyer badly botched her parents' custody case, convincing a judge to send her to an abusive father by falsely testifying about how she felt toward her mom. . . . April Soler, who attends a prestigious Upper East Side private school on a scholarship for underprivileged kids, said lawyer Hal Silverman misrepresented her when he told a Family Court judge she was resentful about her mother's failed suicide try. . . . "That was blatantly not true," said Soler, who claims Silverman, a senior member of the high-profile charity Lawyers for Children and a social worker with the group, never told the judge what she had made clear: that she wanted to live with her mother and she feared her dad's temper. . . . In March 2004, Manhattan Family Court Judge George Jurow awarded custody to Soler's father, Pedro, the super of a building on West End Avenue, tearing April and her 10-year-old sister from their stay-at-home mom, Debora. . . . On Feb. 21, 2005, the father was arrested for hurling a hunk of ham and a peanut butter jar at April. . . . April was returned to her mother after her father's violent outburst. Debora had found work as a paralegal and moved into her own apartment in Spanish Harlem. . . . But the mother and the siblings are still in court trying to get the younger sister, whose name they asked not to be used, back in her mom's custody. . . . Soler's complaints are among several being leveled at Lawyers for Children, a not-for-profit group that gets $2.2 million a year from the state court system and $1.2 million more in private funds to help foster-care kids and those facing abuse or neglect. October 21, 2006 Study warns of Ritalin's effects on preschoolers
Is it safe to give preschoolers Ritalin, the popular attention deficit disorder drug? . . . The first long-term government study of that age group warns of side effects with the stimulant drug, which isn't recommended for children under age 6. . . . There were benefits for children who had severe ADHD, but the researchers said preschoolers on Ritalin need close monitoring because they're more likely than older children to develop side effects. . . . The research was done because of concerns over reports that soaring numbers of preschoolers are being given psychiatric drugs, including Ritalin. . . . The study's message is, proceed with caution, said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health. . . . "We're not talking about fidgety 3-year-olds," said Insel, whose agency funded the study. . . . The research involved children with severe attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with behaviors that included hanging from ceiling fans, jumping off slides or playing with fire. The researchers say the benefits of low-dose treatment outweigh the risks for these youngsters. . . . But critics disputed that. . . . "I hope publication of this does not lead to more overprescribing," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe of the watchdog group Public Citizen. "The safety isn't adequately established, the efficacy even less." Are Drugs Being Misused On Foster Kids? There's Growing Concern That Anti-Psychotic Drugs Are Being Misused On Children In Foster Care (CBS) Colby Holcomb's mom concedes that the 8-year-old, who's been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder, can be a handful at home. But does such behavior merit the treatment Colby received in foster care? . . . Andrea Holcomb lost custody of her son when he was 7, after her ex-husband made allegations of sexual abuse, CBS News national correspondent Byron Pittsreports. These allegations later proved false — but in the meantime, Colby was placed in the Texas foster care system. For 18 months, he was in at least five foster homes. It's a time that still haunts Colby and his family. . . . Andrea says Colby was on at least 20 different drugs when he was in foster care. Yet, she says she has "no idea" why and says it was never explained to her. . . . While in foster care, Colby was also diagnosed as bipolar. According to his medical records, he was taking as many as four medications at the same time that gave him seizures. . . . "I woke up at the hospital with something stuck in my arm," Colby says. . . . He is not alone. . . . "I found babies, 2-year olds, 3-year olds being given mind-altering drugs," says Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas' state comptroller. October 18, 2006 UTAH
When 9,811 of Utah’s married couples called it quits in 2004, they weren’t alone in bearing the painful burdens of divorce. That number more than doubles when considering the additional 9,900 Utahns who struggled right alongside them: their children. . . . About 350 Cache Valley kids faced family splits that same year, and despite many parents’ efforts to protect them from the damage of divorce, it’s likely that few of their experiences were painless. . . . For Susan Campbell of Hyrum, her 1989 divorce manifested its effects in different ways for each of her five children — from diminishing self-worth and loss of friendships to falling grades and failed marriages. . . . “They each talked to me about their pain,” she said, “but they each experienced a different type of pain.” . . . At 20, Campbell’s daughter Cristine (now Cristine Sosa Price of Hyrum), felt the effects of her parents’ 22-year-marriage coming to an end just as she was preparing to begin her own. . . . “It affected my whole experience with marriage,” the now divorced and remarried mother of two said. “Whether consciously or subconsciously, I knew that there were no guarantees when it came to marriage. Divorce was an option — and maybe even inevitable.” . . . But Campbell, then a homemaker with a master’s degree in family and human development, had never considered divorce to be an option until she saw no other alternatives. . . . Despite feelings of failure and despair, she immediately returned to school and earned a Ph.D. and license in marriage and family therapy, which she puts to work at the Family Institute. October 14, 2006 OREGON
'Five pillars of Islam' taught in public school Another school has been "teaching" Islam by having students study and learn Muslim prayers and dress as Muslims, and a lawyer who argued a previous dispute over this issue to the U.S. Supreme Court said such methodologies wouldn't "last 10 seconds" if it were Christianity being taught. . . . "Would it have been 'just cultural education' if students were in simulated baptisms, wearing a crucifix, having taken the name of St. John and with praise banners saying 'Praise be to Jesus Christ' on classroom walls?" asked Edward White III, of the Thomas More Law Center. . . . His comments came after a new protest arose in Nyssa, Ore., where one parent raised objections when the Islamic teachings came to light. The district there, according to Supt. Don Grotting, is teaching a chapter in a history textbook "Journey Across Time" that talks about "how civilization has developed and some of the particular aspects of Islam." . . . "We teach out of the book, and there are some supplemental class activities," he told WND. "The kids do some skits, they could bring a food from the region, you could build a prop that would have depicted (something) maybe during that time period. . . . "If you wanted to you could dress up (as a Muslim) for extra credit," he said. October 5, 2006 CALIFORNIA How to help our judges make their most difficult calls
California's judges are confronted daily with difficult decisions that can forever change the life of a child in foster care. Removing a child from the only family he or she knows and sending him or her to live in foster care presents a choice of Solomonic proportions. . . . A former foster child from California aptly described the role of the courts in shaping their futures: "Once you are in the system, your life is in their hands, not yours." Critical decisions before judges who hear dependency cases include how long children will remain in the foster-care system, whether parental ties should be severed and what educational and health-care services they will receive. . . . Too often, judges are forced to make these life-changing decisions with inadequate information. They need access to data that would enable them to track a child's experience moving through the foster care system, ensure their safety and well-being and identify sources of delay in court proceedings. . . . Foster care protects children who, due to neglect or abuse, cannot safely remain in their own homes. For some, it is life-saving, but it was never meant as a permanent solution. The goal of the foster-care system should be to provide a safe, permanent home for children, either through reunification with their parents or through adoption. . . . But for too many youth, this short-term refuge becomes a long-term hardship. Almost half of children in foster care spend at least two years in the system, moving from placement to placement. This turbulence and uncertainty can have lasting consequences, not simply in regard to our foster children, but for society as a whole. . . . Amazingly, comprehensive information about individual children, their placements in the system and whether they are receiving critical services, is not readily available to those making decisions about their future. When courts lack adequate data systems and case tracking information, they lack accountability for ensuring that children move from foster care and into loving families quickly and efficiently. October 4, 2006 CALIFORNIA Appeal on school's lesson in Muslim culture is rejected
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday by evangelical Christian students and their parents who said a Contra Costa County school district engaged in unconstitutional religious indoctrination when it taught students about Islam by having them recite language from prayers. . . . The court, without comment, left intact a ruling by the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco last November in favor of the Byron Union School District in eastern Contra Costa. . . . The suit challenged the content of a seventh-grade history course at Excelsior Middle School in Byron in the fall of 2001. The teacher, using an instructional guide, told students they would adopt roles as Muslims for three weeks to help them learn what Muslims believe. . . . She encouraged them to use Muslim names, recited prayers in class, had them memorize and recite a passage from the Quran and made them give up something for a day, such as television or candy, to simulate fasting during the month of Ramadan. The final exam asked students for a critique of elements of Muslim culture. GEORGIA
Young Man 15
testifies for lawmakers on Shared Parenting (Atlanta) Monday September 25, 2006 A young 15 year old man through a personal invitation by the Georgia Legislature testified before the Georgia State Senate Committee on the merits of a yet unwritten shared parenting bill. This event is unparalleled in the course of legal reformation that effects Fathers and Non-Custodial Parents. Bill's Sears 15, is a child of divorce. In his own attempt to deal with the tragic situation Bill took his own wounds and founded, "Bill's Arena" (www.billsarena.com). A web site launched in April of 2006 which he created and designed to help children of divorce. Since it's inception Bill has spoken with many kids and parents of divorce. During an interview with Richard Farr anchor of the Nationally Syndicated program, "The Message", Young Mr. Sears when asked what he plans to tell the committee replys, "We have to get a bill passed for shared parenting. It is the best thing." Bill's father Sam Sears says his pride for his son goes beyond words at this time and he hopes he can get Bill to clean his room better after this. When asked by long time activists of the Father's movement about Mr. Bill Sears chance to speak before a prestigious committee the primary reaction is, "From the mouth of babes the truth shall come." TENNESSEE
State Supreme Court Rules Juveniles Not Entitled To Jury Trials
OPINION: State v. Clinton Burns, III - E2004-01632-SC-R11-JV View September 20, 2006 IOWA
Justice wants to see Childrens' Justice Initiative through (This is the third in a series of stories on the New Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court.) The woman who'll take over leadership of the Iowa Supreme Court says she wants to continue the "Childrens' Justice Initiative" that's underway in the Iowa court system. Justice Marsha Ternus says the initiative began in February and is designed to find children in foster care safe homes as quickly as possible. . . . Ternus says one thing they're working on is having one judge hear a child welfare case from start to end. She say a judge is better is better informed on the history of the case, than if new judges come in and out of the cases. Ternus says studies show the child welfare decisions are more timely, as the one judge is up to speed on everything in the case. Ternus says another part of the program involves setting up assessments where an expert visits each court district to observe. MASSACHUSETTS Law firm offers free aid in child abduction cases
Of the roughly 1.9 million children who disappear each year in the United States, a small but startling number of them -- about 204,000 -- are abducted by family members, including parents, grandparents, siblings, and other close relatives. . . . An even smaller number are then taken to foreign countries, but a tangled web of international laws makes efforts to recover them extremely complex. Without highly specialized legal help, the handful of parents whose children have been spirited across international borders stand little chance of getting them back. . . . To help provide that niche legal assistance, the Boston law firm Sullivan & Worcester has launched a project that will do free legal work for parents of limited financial means whose children have been victims of international abductions. Called the S&W International ChildFind Program, it will help families navigate foreign laws, enlist aid from foreign government officials, take cases to trial, and appeal court decisions. NEW YORK
Public Advocate Report Finds Lawyers Leaving ACS In Droves
August 29, 2006 Videos – A Way to Connect with Alienated Children Dad, K. Pat Brady, Rochester, NY, has come up with a unique idea for ‘abandoned’ dads and moms. He’s praying that it’ll catch on and children will start looking on the Internet to hear from their alienated parent.
Check out the video he did for his
daughter and make sure you give it a great rating. Please pass this message on. Do Public Schools Steal Kids' Innocence? Tenn Christian NewsWire -- Are public schools stealing our children's innocence or are parents willingly surrendering it? While some parents maintain that their local school is different, the evidence is overwhelmingly clear, the public schools are no place for Christian children. . . . Recently a Los Angeles pastor, Brian Lewis, filed a lawsuit against his local school district after seeing behavior changes in his daughter following her classroom viewing of Donny Darko, an R-rated movie, without parental consent and allegedly being required to read, Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A., a memoir by former gang member Luis Rodriguez which contains hard-core descriptions of drug use, violence, and sex. The school district's insurance company offered to settle his complaint out of court, but Mr. Lewis declined. In fact, he wants other parents whose children were exposed to those materials without their approval to get involved and make it a class-action suit. FLORIDA
Those who work in what was once nobly known as the Civil Service – and what has degenerated into the “bureaucracy” – are required by law and ethics to be politically neutral. Presidents and members of Congress, cabinet and sub-cabinet secretaries can voice opinions. Even judges are permitted (and often abuse) a privilege of obiter dicta. But career officials are supposed to implement the policies of the people and their elected officials, not publicly advocate what those policies should be. To allow lobbying by federal officials, who after all have coercive authority over citizens, turns the Civil Service from the people’s servants into a taxpayer-funded advocacy organization that can suppress citizens’ opinions or activities it considers incorrect or threatening. “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation,” wrote Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, “it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox politics, nationalism, religion, or any other matters of opinion, or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” . . . So it is disturbing to learn that Thomas Sullivan, Regional Administrator for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), sent a letter last month to North Dakota state Senator Tom Fisher urging the defeat of a proposed ballot initiative. North Dakota citizens are now collecting signatures for a popular measure providing for shared parenting for children of divorce. This would alleviate the problem of fatherless children and ease the impact of family breakup on both children and society. But these citizens must now contend with the opposition of not only the state’s powerful divorce lobby, but also a $47 billion agency of the $500 billion Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). August 25, 2006 I read with great interest yesterday’s article by Arthur C. Brooks on the emerging “baby gap” between liberals and conservatives. If this doesn’t highlight the importance of education to both sides of the political and cultural divide, I don’t know what does. For a long time, liberals and conservatives have argued over who ultimately controls a child’s education — the parents or the state. With parents typically more conservative and the education bureaucracy more left than even the mainstream Democratic party, it is easy to why and where the battle lines are drawn. . . . After decades of litigation, the balance of power is increasingly clear: While parents who can afford to do so have a right to opt out of public schooling (through home schools or private schools), if the kids are in public schools they are essentially wards of the state and can be subjected to all kinds of state indoctrination without parental consent. Just check out cases where students were forced to sit through lewd sexual programs (Brown v. Hot, Sexy, and Safer Productions), take sexually explicit and suggestive surveys at a young age (Fields v. Palmdale School District), and even participate in Wiccan rituals (Brown vs. Woodland Joint Unified School District). For a nice summary of the rights of parents to control their kids’ education, read this. . . . It is difficult to overstate the extent of leftist ambitions in the education process. From the earliest ages (just look at the new push for universal preschool) to the last days of a graduate degree, the left zealously guards not just its legally privileged position as ultimate arbiter of the content of your child’s education but also its dominant numbers in the teachers’ unions (have you seen what they teach in schools of education these days?) and the university professoriate. NEW YORK
Op-Ed - Safe Chat Helps Prevent Unauthorized Access To Children
I read an article that Tom Chandler wrote in The North Country Gazette about the judge in New York who tossed out the case against Jeffrey Koslow who is also lawyer in New York. Hmmm… based on this judge's logic and ruling, then all the "sting operation" cases against prostitution and drugs should be tossed out too. . . . Right?.....because for prostitution cases, they did not actually solicit a prostitute, they solicit an undercover cop. Right? And for the drugs sting operations, it's the same concept, right? They did not buy drugs from an actual drug dealer, they bought drugs from an undercover officer. Right?
http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/073106Reversal.html Wow… What kind of laws do we have in New York? And worst yet, what kind of people do we have to enforce these laws? If we are going to ask our law enforcement agencies to conduct these sting operations and to catch these criminals, then we need our judicial system to do their part and prosecute them. Otherwise this is a waste of taxpayer money. Do we really need to have an "actual" child become a victim before we can prosecute these criminals? August 22, 2006 ARIZONA Maricopa County Attorney critical of Child Protective Services Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas says Child Protective Services and various law enforcement are failing to cooperate on investigations into crimes against children. . . . Thomas says that C-P-S' policy of allowing caseworkers to conduct their own investigations puts children in abusive situations at further risk. . . . Thomas cited the June death of an 18-month-old girl who was allegedly beaten by her mother's boyfriend. . . . According to Thomas, a team from C-P-S allowed the girl back into the mother's custody and appointed the mother's 18-year-old friend as a safety monitor. . . . C-P-S spokeswoman Liz Barker would not comment on the case. CALIFORNIA
School kids appear in homosexual parade
Elementary-age students have marched in a homosexual pride event under the banner of a San Diego public school, amidst triple-X rated behavior by "gay" activists, according to a Christian blogger who reports daily to 7,000 people. . . . James Hartline, who issues "Action Alerts" in response to situations in the city, said he was shocked by the "immoral" actions. . . . "In one of the most appalling displays of gross disregard for the safety of young children, the San Diego City School system allowed a number of small children to march inside of the San Diego Gay Pride parade under the banner of one of its schools," he said. . . . That, despite the fact, "that these children were brought into the midst of a number of businesses promoting pornography and nearly nude men and women in graphic sexualized demonstrations." August 15, 2006 CONNECTICUT No Suspension for Metro Attorney Charged With Sexual Assault, Child Pornography
Sexual assault and child pornography charges pending against Hartford attorney Kweku J. Hanson aren't enough to warrant the interim suspension of his law license. At least not in Hartford Superior Court Judge Lois B. Tanzer's view. . . . Chief Disciplinary Counsel Mark A. Dubois sought Hanson's suspension following his arrest last September on charges of sexual assault in the second degree and risk of injury to a minor. Those charges preceded Hanson's arrest in January for alleged possession of child pornography in the third degree. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him. KANSAS District Attorney says kids get lost in system
Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston is calling the state's child protection agency a "behemoth" that should be re-evaluated. . . . Her comments were made three weeks after police removed a pair of malnourished and bruised girls from their Wichita home. . . . School officials have said they alerted state officials twice about concerns they had that the girls were being abused and Governor Sebelius has ordered an investigation. . . . The six and seven-year-old girls were found last month emaciated in their basement. Their well-fed step-siblings were found upstairs. The girls spent several days in a hospital before being placed in state custody. . . . Foulston accuses the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services of conducting cursory examinations of reported abuses, and she said that has put children at risk. NEW YORK
Op-Ed - Safe Chat Helps Prevent Unauthorized Access To Children
I read an article that Tom Chandler wrote
in The North Country Gazette about the judge in New York who tossed out
the case against Jeffrey Koslow who is also lawyer in New York. Hmmm…
based on this judge's logic and ruling, then all the "sting operation"
cases against prostitution and drugs should be tossed out too. . . .
Right?.....because for prostitution cases, they did not actually solicit
a prostitute, they solicit an undercover cop. Right? And for the drugs
sting operations, it's the same concept, right? They did not buy drugs
from an actual drug dealer, they bought drugs from an undercover
officer. Right? http://www.northcountrygazette.org/articles/073106Reversal.html | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Anthony
E. Bulver, Ava , Ozark Voices Blog