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December
2006
Justice Is Coming...
Fathers-4-Justice -- Boston video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTLRD3AtjnM&eurl=
Please go to YouTube and watch the video, add it to your favorites,
leave a comment.
Fathers-4-Justice Rocks Boston
Media Contact: Judi Smith-Phelps, (614) 448-3276 --
judi.smithphelps@oh.f4j.us
Boston Custo-Tea
Party Photos
 Hundreds
gathered at Faneuil Hall Square in Boston on December 10 as
Fathers-4-Justice™ U.S. (F4J) protested the Massachusetts family
court system which routinely strips fit mothers and fathers of their
fundamental right to parent their children. . . . According to F4J
Massachusetts Coordinator George Mason, "In 2004, Massachusetts
voters responded in overwhelming favor to a non-binding ballot
question of whether or not state legislators should enact a law for
shared parenting." Mason adds, "In 2006, millions of parents and
children continue to suffer at the hands of judges who abuse their
discretion thereby destroying families." . . . Sunday's
demonstration included a massive march through the streets of Boston
where the protestors made stops at multiple historic landmarks to
listen to a variety of speakers whose lives have been devastated by
unjust family court rulings. Several moms and dads took to the
megaphone to offer their own chilling personal . . . accounts to the
crowd and passers-by. F4J national board member Judi Smith-Phelps,
aka Superwoman, describes America's family courts as "hell on Earth"
and says that F4J and others are fighting back to demand parental
quality, which she says is in the best interest of every child. . .
. F4J is a 501(c)(3) non-profit volunteer army of mothers, fathers,
grandparents, and others dedicated to fighting for truth, justice
and equality in family law.
Additional Information: George Mason, F4J Massachusetts Coordinator,
(508) 735-6615
george.mason@ma.f4j.us / Website:
www.f4j.us
Domestic Violence Against Fathers, Children Ignored With Rights Violated
and Denied All Too Often
12-11-06 --
Children's rights,
father's rights and domestic violence against fathers is all too often
ignored by the Judicial Branch of our constitutional Democracy and the
need for judicial accountability is now greater than ever. Bill
Stoneking's efforts in releasing his first book, "The Diary of a Patient
Man, A Father's Struggle" is one man's efforts to address and bring
solutions to this problem father's face every day. . . . Chicago, IL (PRWeb)
December 10, 2006 -- Having gone from being a legislative adviser in
Lombard, IL (DuPage County) to a victim of Domestic Violence and Court
Corruption in Clay County Missouri, father turned author Bil Stoneking
pens his traumatic story of condoned and court supported domestic
violence against himself and his daughter. With his and his daughter's
rights violated to no end, Bill Stoneking brings you this compelling
true story "The Diary of a Patient Man, A Father's Struggle" (Oct. 26,
2006, ISBN: 978-1-4303-0198-1) in a effort to raise public awareness to
the obvious conduct of abusers in family court and how Judges who ignore
and facilitate this unacceptable behavior need to be held accountable. .
. . With trial court evidence, witness testimony and the judge's
statements from court transcripts presented throughout his book, you see
the horror played out very publicly in an obvious Kangaroo Court. From
perjury to fabricated evidence, Bill Stoneking details for you the
obvious bias and prejudice tyrannically suffered on fathers and their
children and how a father was slapped down by the court for saying "No"
to domestic violence.
November
2006
UNITED KINGDOM
Fathers rights rooftop protestor accuses judge of aiming gun
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Jolly Stanesby, dressed
as Santa, on the roof |
11-28-06 --
A judge could face police questioning after claims he aimed a gun at a
member of Fathers 4 Justice who was staging a protest on his roof. . . .
Judge David Tyzack was accused of brandishing the weapon at a campaigner
who climbed on top of his country residence dressed as Father Christmas.
. . . The campaigner, Jolly Stanesby, claims he was threatened by the
judge as he unsuccessfully ordered him off the Ł1million property. . . .
But although Judge Tyzack admits holding the gun, he insists it was
because he believed an "injured bird" had landed on his roof. . . . And
he says that when he realised it was a man, he put his gun away and
called the police.
IOWA
Teen defies deadbeat stereotype
By The
Associated Press
11-14-06 -- Nate Watson was 16,
and he was scared. . . . Watson had just learned his girlfriend was
pregnant. Nearing the end of his sophomore year at North High School, he didn’t know what
to do. He thought about dropping out of school and getting a full-time
job. He cried on his mother’s shoulder. He went on long, soul-searching
walks by himself. . . . The next nine months went by quickly, Watson
said. He moved in with his girlfriend, Jessica Fattig, and waited on her
every need. He cooked and cleaned and brought her buckets when she had
to throw up. He endured her mood swings. He ran to the store to pick up
foods she was craving. . . . Watson felt too young to be a father. But
he saw plenty of young men around his neighborhood and in school who had
children but didn’t care for them. Being that sort of “deadbeat dad” — a
term that spews from Watson’s mouth with disdain — was the last thing he
wanted to be. . . . Two days after Christmas 2004, Jessica started
feeling contractions. They rushed to Broadlawns Medical Center. Watson
held Jessica’s hand as doctors performed a Caesarian section. . . . A
baby girl, Jalia Lynnae Watson, arrived.
TEXAS
911 response too late in foster dad's murder?
Rebecca
Lopez / WFAA-TV
11-14-06 --
After a foster father was allegedly
strangled by the biological mother of one his foster children, questions
have been raised if he may have been able to be saved by a quicker
emergency response. . . . Police said they believe Angela Johnson killed
Danny Stearns after he accused her 16-year-old son of stealing money. .
. . But as the confrontation occurred, the man who called 911 that day,
David Lyles, said it took three calls before officers came to the scene.
He said at that point, it was too late. . . . Lyles said he knew
something was wrong when he saw a 4-year-old boy dart across six lanes
of traffic. . . . "A little boy ran across the street in front of my
car," he said. . . . After he saw the frantic boy, Lyles said the boy's
words confirmed his fears. . . . "He said, 'There is a man trying to
kill my mother, and my mother has a knife," he said. . . . At
11:38 a.m., he made the first 911
call and told operators a child was claiming someone was being killed.
When officers didn't arrive six minutes later, he called again.
Rejecting our fathers, hating our
country
11-02-06 --
"He
was a bully and a coward," Tom Cruise recently told Parade Magazine,
talking about his own father. "He was the kind of person where, if
something goes wrong, they kick. It was a great lesson in my life – how
he'd lull you in, make you feel safe and then, bang!" . . . "For me it
was like, 'There's something wrong with this guy,'" said the famous
actor, then drawing the "life lesson" most children with father problems
draw: "Don't trust him." . . . I sympathize with Tom Cruise more than I
can say, although my distrust problem was not rooted in an abusive
father but in my parents' divorce. I spent three difficult years in a
boarding school for "emotionally troubled youngsters," although who
knows,
Pleasantville Cottage School may
have actually saved my life, giving me the stability my mother hoped for
until she remarried (she left my father when I was 5). Yet, being
separated from my parents was unbearable, and I remember running away
from school regularly, trying to get back to
New York
City where
they both lived. I was 8 years old. . . . It is hard for many adults to
remember the agony of their childhoods, but for those of us who do
remember, it digs deep – "distrust" is a mild word. I'm sure I haven't
yet fully recovered from those feelings. Let's face it: The anger that
we inherit from suffering the sins of our parents does not go away
easily. . . . And yet, there is something about an abusive or uncaring
father that digs particularly deep when you hear about it. I think it's
because ultimately we need our fathers to be our protectors. When they
are not, and especially when they themselves are abusive, we can easily
grow to hate them. . . . From that moment, life gets very painful, and
very complicated – because the problem doesn't stop with our fathers.
MARYLAND
Court Says Consensual Sex Can't Become Rape
By Ernesto Londońo, Washington Post Staff
Writer
While deliberating
on a rape case in December 2004, a Montgomery County jury asked the
judge the following question: If a woman agrees to have sex, but while
having intercourse changes her mind and withdraws consent, is she being
raped if the man doesn't stop? . . . Circuit Court Judge Louise G.
Scrivener told jurors they would need to determine that themselves,
relying on the instructions they had been given. The jury returned a
guilty verdict. . . . The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland this week
overturned the conviction -- kicking the case back to Circuit Court --
and delved into the thorny legal issue of revocation of consent in rape
cases. In a 51-page opinion, it faulted Scrivener for not telling jurors
that under Maryland law the scenario described does not constitute rape.
. . . The appeals court decision could lead to a new trial, or possibly
a dismissal of charges, for Maouloud Baby, who was 16 at the time of the
incident and is now 19. He is serving a five-year sentence. . . . "He's
lost these formative years of his life," said his attorney, James F.
Shalleck. "You don't get your time back from the court."
October 21, 2006
America's Father Hungry
Mike
McCormick and Glenn Sacks, NewsWithViews.com
Are fathers irrelevant? Are they really
the useless buffoons we see on TV? The irresponsible deadbeats the local
DAs say they are? The controlling abusers we see in domestic violence
PSAs? . . . That's not the way Tim Russert's readers see them. . . .
Russert’s new book Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from
Daughters and Sons is a surprise runaway hit, reaching #1 on both the
New York Times bestseller list and on Book Standard’s Overall
Bestsellers Chart. In 2004, Russert published Big Russ and Me about his
father, and says he received an “avalanche” of letters from men and
women who wanted to tell him about their own dads. Wisdom is largely a
sampling of those 60,000 letters. *** The fathers in Wisdom are largely
men of modest means who sacrificed greatly to provide for their
families. Wisdom begs the question why, in one generation, have so many
fathers apparently thrown off all their responsibilities and abandoned
their children? . . . The answer is simple--most of them haven’t. ****
According to a study of 46,000 divorce cases published in the American
Law and Economics Review, two-thirds of all divorces involving couples
with children are initiated by mothers, not fathers, and in only 6% of
cases did the women claim to be divorcing cruel or abusive husbands.
Divorcing women instead cite emotional reasons, such as a perceived lack
of closeness or of not feeling loved and appreciated. Most of these men
didn’t fail as fathers--they only failed at the often difficult task of
keeping their marriages together. . . . Once a marriage falls apart,
fathers often struggle to maintain a regular presence in their
children’s lives. While shared parenting protects children's loving
bonds with both parents, many family courts instead allow men only a few
days a month with their children. Moreover, many divorced mothers resist
co-parenting because they are unable to put aside or see beyond their
anger and disappointment. According to research conducted by Joan Berlin
Kelly, author of Surviving the Break-up, 50 percent of mothers claim to
"see no value in the father's continued contact with his children after
a divorce." Does this stunning finding only reflect poorly on fathers
and not also on mothers? ****The typical Wisdom family is supported by a
hard-working dad whose sacrifices are understood and appreciated by his
children. Though his work obligations sometimes cut him off from his
kids’ everyday lives, his place in the family is honored and respected,
and he still manages to make a huge impact on his children. . . . Today
that Wisdom dad has often been exchanged for a dad who’s not in the
home, and who works to support kids from whose lives he is largely
barred. For our children, it’s been a lousy trade.
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"Exposing the Corruption in the Massachusetts Family Courts"
--
Written by Kevin Thompson
"Debtor's prisons" were
outlawed; now we have "contempt of court" prisons
No trial or due process is necessary -- a judge simply
declares you "in
contempt of court"
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October 18, 2006
The Relationship of Biology to Legal Fatherhood:
Two
New Cases Show Courts Struggling to Find a Coherent Approach, As
Non-Biological Fathers Fight for Their Rights to Children
By
Joanna Grossman
Science has made it easy to determine
genetic fatherhood with a high degree of accuracy. But should those
results always dictate which man has legal rights and obligations with
respect to a child? . . . The importance of biology to so-called "legal"
fatherhood has clearly evolved as genetic testing has become more
accurate and accessible. Yet, the law has so far stopped short of
equating biology and legal fatherhood for all purposes. . . . It is
still the case that other factors - ranging from a man's behavior
towards a child, to his legal relationship with the child's mother, to
the timing and forcefulness of his attempts to prove paternity, and her
efforts to conceal it -- can all be used to determine whether a man with
no genetic tie to a child might nonetheless be the child's "legal"
father. . . . Courts continue to struggle with evaluating biological and
social claims to fatherhood - as is illustrated by two recent decisions,
one from Tennessee and one from Kentucky. The decisions are especially
instructive when considered in combination, for they reach opposite
conclusions about the legal status of a man who is or was married to a
woman but not the biological father of a child born during their
marriage. . . . In addition, these two cases show men acting contrary to
stereotype: Rather than eschewing the status of father to "another
man's" biological child, these men are fighting for the right to be
fathers to the non-biological children they have raised. These fathers
are welcome exceptions to the stereotypes of men shirking the
obligations of paternity, or allowing sexual jealousy to destroy their
relationships with "another man's" child.
October 14, 2006
10 Tips for Dads after Divorce
By Grant
Griffiths, Kansas Family & Divorce Lawer
Dealing with special occasions after
divorce can be especially tricky. . . . When you’re sharing custody
after a divorce, birthdays and holidays can be tough, especially in
the early days. But take heart. As each year passes, you and your
family will become more comfortable with the new family structure
and will create new rituals and ways to enjoy special times
together. . . . Here are some other tips for making birthdays and
holidays pleasant for everyone concerned.
(Click to read it in full).
1. Be Flexible
2. Be Proactive and Plan Ahead
3. Be Kind and Generous
4. Keep your word
5. Include the kids in your planning
6. Create two holidays or birthdays
7. Avoid the indulgence trap
8. Take care of yourself if you're alone
9. Build new family traditions
10. Nurture your blended family at
holidays
When it comes to parenting time,
co-operation is better than conflict but if for any reason you need the
court to resolve any conflict over holiday parenting time then don't
leave it until the week before Christmas to call the court and hope a
judge will see you at the last minute, as chances are you will be
disappointed. Grant's suggestion to plan ahead is a good one.
The war on fathers
By David
Kupelian, World Net Daily
"Father knows best." .
. .
How do those three words make you
feel? Turn them over in your mind a couple of times and be aware of
the subtlest of feelings. Be honest. . . . Do they make you feel
slightly squeamish? A little discomfort in your solar plexus? Is
something deep down inside you repelled by those words? . . . If so,
you're not alone. Contempt for male authority – as if to say, "Give
me a break, father sure didn't know best in my life" – is everywhere
around us. We're swimming in it. You see, men, boys and masculinity
itself have been under withering national assault for decades. . . .
"Father Knows Best," of course, was a popular TV show during the
'50s, when I was a little boy. Set in the wholesome Midwestern town
of "Springfield," insurance agent Jim Anderson (played by Robert
Young) would come home from work each evening, trade his sport
jacket for a nice, comfortable sweater, and then deal with the
everyday growing-up problems of his family. Both Jim and wife
Margaret (played by Jane Wyatt) were cast as thoughtful and mature
grown-ups. Jim could always be counted on to resolve that week's
crisis with a combination of kindness, fatherly strength and good
old common sense.
Today, more often than not, television
portrays husbands as bumbling losers or contemptible, self-absorbed
egomaniacs. Whether in dramas, comedies or commercials, the patriarchy
is dead, at least on TV where men are fools – unless of course they're
gay. On "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," the "fab five" are supremely
knowledgeable on all things hip, their life's highest purpose being to
help those less fortunate than themselves – that is, straight men – to
become cool.
October 5, 2006
Modern-Day 'Poll Tax' Costs GOP Votes
by Barry
Weinstein
--
Mr. Weinstein is an activist who was once the innocent target of New
Jersey prosecutor Nicholas Bissel. The indictment against him was
dismissed with prejudice.
The Democratic Party’s instituted
policies and pandering to the radical woman’s movement are
responsible for at least 1 million non-felons—divorced American men
commonly known as fathers—who are today being denied the right to
vote. How is that possible? It is done by the imposition of a
new-fangled “poll tax” by activist judges. . . . Here is the short
of it. Right now, there is estimated to be 1 million individuals in
county jails on any given day. Curiously, no statistics regarding
non-felons in prisons are kept by the Justice Department. . . . The
issue is now playing out all across America’s 3,141 counties and
parishes. These individuals who have not committed any crime are the
target of activist judicial discrimination based upon their sex.
They have not been accused of a crime. They have not had a trial by
jury of their peers. In fact, they have not been convicted of any
crime. They are in jail until they—even if they cannot comply—pay a
judge’s arbitrarily established sum in order to be released from
jail. This is a clear violation of the 13th Amendment and federal
statues against peonage, slavery as well as involuntary and
indentured servitude, respectively. This mirrors ransom as well, as
I see it. This is not a joke! . . . Unless the money is paid, the
person will remain in prison for an alleged debt, unconstitutionally
I say, deprived of his liberty. According to press reports, there is
one individual in a Pennsylvania county prison for more than 11
years. He has not had a trial by jury or been accused of a crime;
the judge wants money he does not have.
Kim Basinger Arraigned
by TMZ
Staff, Filed under: Celebrity Justice
Kim Basinger has been arraigned on
contempt charges. Former Hubby Alec Baldwin triggered the case by
alleging that Kim is guilty of a laundry list of violations in their
ongoing custody dispute. Among Baldwin's allegations -- that
Basinger blocked his visitation rights, blocked his rights to speak
with his daughter on the telephone and failed to notify him when the
child suffered an injury.
Click here
to view the court documents.
October 4, 2006
VAWA: America's Most Anti-Family States
David R.
Usher, NewsWithViews.com
The latest report by
RADAR
(Respecting Accuracy In Abuse
Reporting), titled “An Epidemic of Civil Rights Abuses:
Ranking of States’ Domestic Violence Laws”
provides us with a new perspective on VAWA: we treat the average
terrorist better than we treat the average husband facing a false
allegation of spousal abuse. . . .It is now well-known (but often
ignored by beltway candy-men) that VAWA (the Violence Against Women Act)
is used more commonly as a tactical divorce weapon than for its intended
purpose. We also know that physical family altercations are initiated
slightly more often by women than men, but almost zero federal funds are
used to help men facing a violent spouse. . . . Some states have lowered
the bar of law so low that anything is considered “domestic violence”,
such as a simple statement of fear with no supporting narrative or even
one whit of evidence. A 1995 study in Massachusetts found that less than
half of all issued restraining orders contained even an allegation of
violence. . . . This convenient weapon of mass destruction powers the
feminist divorce industry. It has lead to massive violations of the
fundamental civil right for good men to be in the family and to parent
their own children, and placed cities-full of innocent children at risk
for serious child abuse (about 66% of which is committed by natural
mothers who have serious chemical abuse or mental disorders). . . .
RADAR estimates that approximately two to three million persons are
outrageously evicted from their families every year, without so much as
a reasonable evidence-based trial. Half of these do not even include an
allegation of violence. . . . The latest RADAR report makes an
astonishing finding: there are no states where domestic violence laws
have a “low risk” of being abused. . . . Seven states have laws placing
them at “extremely high risk” of abuse: Alaska,
California, Missouri,
New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and
Virginia.
September
29, 2006
Michigan's Equal
Parents Rally Photos
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2006/09/29/michigans-equal-parents-rally-photos/
WASHINGTON
Taxi driver pays full fare to state
Editorial – The Seattle Times
THE Washington
Supreme Court issued a ruling last week that has a feel about it of
debtor's prison. It is not prison really, but debtor's firing. . . . The case,
Greg Amunrud vs. DSHS, was about a taxi driver who fell behind
in child-support payments for his son. He was supposed to pay $350 a
month. He started at $150 and, over time, paid less. The question
before the court is whether state government could punish him by
taking away his license to drive a cab. Justice Barbara Madsen said
it could. Madsen, joined by justices Gerry Alexander, Susan Owens,
Bobbe Bridge and Mary Fairhurst, said
the government had good reason to want divorced or unmarried fathers
to pay child support. One way to get them to pay was to threaten to
take away their right to work. The program was effective, and the
state should be allowed to keep it. . . . Justice Richard
Sanders, joined by justices Jim Johnson and Tom Chambers, argued
that if the state wanted this man to pay his bills, it made no sense
to take away his right to earn money at his trade, which he had been
practicing for 20 years. . . . Further, said
Sanders, "We do not license drivers to assure they are current in
child support payments; we license them to promote highway safety."
The suspension of Amunrud's license had nothing to do with the
purpose for which he was licensed. . . . It makes good
sense to enforce the law against parents who persistently fail in
their full obligation to make support payments. But this should be
done without taking away a person's job, and without giving the
state an extra hammer over all licensed professions relative to
unlicensed ones.
Decision from
FindLaw:
Sep. 21, 2006
Greg Amunrud v. Board of Appeals and the Dept. of Social & Health
Services
76590-1
Sep. 21, 2006 Greg Amunrud v. Board of Appeals and the Dept. of
Social & Health Services (Dissent)
76590-1
September
20, 2006
PENNSYLVANIA
Bizarre divorce saga: A man, a woman and missing
millions
Erin McClam, Associated
Press
| |
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| |
Photo Courtesy of
Bobbie Applegate
H. Beatty Chadwick and his wife, Bobbie,
pose in a cathedral in Brasilia, Brazil,
during a 1984 business trip. |
Slight, scholarly and
enigmatic, H. Beatty Chadwick is doing this day what he
has done for the past 4,093: He is sitting in a county
jail outside Philadelphia. . . . It is a place meant for
run-of-the-mill crooks just passing through on their way
to comparatively luxurious state prisons. Certainly not
for anyone to stay 11 years - not for the central figure
in one of the most bizarre divorce battles in American
history.
It hinges on a charge of
civil contempt designed to force Chadwick to turn over
$2.5 million the courts say he hid overseas all those
years ago. Except he won't. Or can't, depending on whom
you believe. . . . So Chadwick sits. . . . "He's an
anomaly," says his lawyer, Michael Malloy. "They don't
know what to do with him." . . . The case has produced
an Everest of court papers - a dozen pleas to the
Delaware County courts, nine to state appeals courts,
nine to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, 12 to federal
courts, two of those to the U.S. Supreme Court. . . .
But before all that, there was a marriage: Chadwick, a
39-year-old successful corporate lawyer, to Barbara Jean
Crowther, just 22, in 1977. Not surprisingly, they
disagree about the very nature of their union. . . . H.
Beatty Chadwick insists the marriage was placid, happy -
at least until she became depressed in their later years
together. He says he loved her very much. He smiled on
her newfound hobby of painting. . . . But in past
interviews, she has described a home life controlled
intensely by her husband, with rationed toilet paper
(six sheets per bathroom visit) and sex (7:30 a.m.,
Tuesdays and Thursdays). . . . She told Philadelphia
magazine in 1994 that he once kicked her and caused her
to fall down a flight of stairs and lose a child she had
been carrying for 18 weeks. . . . H. Beatty Chadwick
says it is all fiction, much of it dreamed up by his
ex-wife's high-powered divorce lawyer, Albert Momjian.
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.
"Whitney Muh Dear" --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lsx0JCBpMbc
Please pass this
message on.
PENNSYLVANIA
Judge to Decide on Father's Reunion with Daughter
6ABC
A father will try to convince a
Montgomery County judge Tuesday morning that his daughter should be
returned to his custody. . . . 7-year-old Rachel Librett had lived
with her mother for the last three years. Claudia Librett ran off
with her to Canada, when Michael Marran was awarded joint custody.
Librett told Rachel that her father had died in prison. . . . The
judge delayed a reunion between Rachel and her father last Tuesday
because he wanted to make sure that Rachel is ready to see her dad.
. . . "The system is frustration," said Michael Marran after the
hearing in Montgomery County Court on Tuesday. "There's not much you
can do."
August 25,
2006
New American Bar Association Article Points to Crisis in False
Paternity Judgments
By Mike McCormick and Glenn Sacks
Child support
enforcement programs are supported by all sides of the political
spectrum, from women’s advocates on the left to traditionalists on
the right. While this popularity is sometimes understandable, it has
also allowed glaring and inexcusable abuses to fester and grow. Of
these, none is more egregious than when men are forced to pay 18
years of child support for children who are not theirs, and who in
many cases they’ve never even met. . . . In “The Innocent Third
Party: Victims of Paternity Fraud,” a new article in the American
Bar Association's Family Law Quarterly, Washington DC attorney
Ronald K. Henry details how this problem developed, and proposes
some common sense solutions. The problem is relatively new, and
stems in large part from the federal Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Act of 1996, which restructured the welfare system.
. . . The Act mandates that a mother seeking welfare benefits for
her child must provide the name of the child’s father so the state
can recoup its costs by securing a child support order.
August 22,
2006
TEXAS
Three men, a baby and the state
By Scott
E. Williams, The Daily News
Thousands of child-support evaders,
often called “deadbeat moms and dads,” are on the loose in Texas. .
. . Despite a DNA test stating the contrary, the attorney general’s office counts Aaron
Grace among them. . . . In July 2001, Grace was 21 and thought he
was a father. His longtime girlfriend, a
Texas City resident, had given
birth to a girl. He signed an acknowledgement of paternity at the
Galveston hospital where the child was born. . . . Two days later,
the child’s mother told Grace he might not be the father. . . .
Grace, a Katy resident, said the revelation that the woman had been
involved with two other men who could be the child’s father began a
five-year ordeal that continued Friday. . . . That was the day he
appeared in County Court No. 3 before visiting Judge Frank Carmona
to dispute an associate judge’s temporary order that he pay child
support. . . . Unable to afford an attorney, Grace represented
himself. Sitting behind Grace was Ricardo Sanchez, a Harris County man who wanted the
responsibility state officials were trying to keep on Grace’s
shoulders — Sanchez wanted to be declared the child’s father. . . .
Sanchez, one of the other two men the woman reportedly had been
involved with, had a piece of paper with him to support his claim.
The paper contained a genetic test result from a Michigan lab, which
found a 99.94 percent chance that Sanchez was the child’s biological
father. . . . The third man was unknown to Grace, except for a
nickname. . . . Sanchez came to Friday’s hearing armed with evidence
showing he had health insurance for the child and had the child
listed on his tax statements. He said he wanted the responsibility
of being the child’s father. . . . Still, the state pursued its case
against Grace, asserting that he waited too long to contest his
paternity. Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman Janece Rolfe said
she could not comment specifically on the case, but said enforcing
state law was the office’s function.
August 12,
2006
Father Files $3 Billion Suit Against State Of Oregon
Alex S.
Gabor
What may become a severe blow to the
welfare state of Oregon, the father of two minor
children who live in Eugene has filed a civil rights lawsuit against
the State of Oregon, naming over a dozen of its employees, including
Governor Kulongoski, and the three major credit bureaus for civil
damages amounting to $3 billion. . . . The civil case pending in
California Central District Court, Western Division alleges
violations of the father's civil rights, slander, and intentional
infliction of emotional distress. . . . The plaintiff is asking for
$3 billion in various compensatory, punitive and aggravated damages.
. . . It all stems from the Plaintiffs ex wife who filed fraudelent
bankruptcies twice in ten years, went on welfare, and embezzled
hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Plaintiffs business
corporations, caused his businesses to collapse, ruined his public
image and business reputation, then lied to the State of Oregon to
again collect welfare almost a decade later, according to the suit
filed on July 10th, 2006. . . . The suit names the three major
credit bureaus, Experian, Transunion, and Equifax alleging that a
fraudelent child support claim filed by one of the Defendants ruined
the Plaintiffs chances of buying real estate during the hottest
market in history.
Respect a Man's Choice, Too
By
Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
In Kai Ma’s recent AlterNet column “The
Difference Between a Womb and a Wallet” (7/26/06) she
applauds a U.S. District Court judge’s quick, contemptuous dismissal
of Matt Dubay’s “Roe v. Wade for Men” lawsuit. Dubay sought
to wipe out the child support payments he is obligated to make to an
ex-girlfriend who, he says, used a fallacious claim of infertility
to deceive him into getting her pregnant. . . . In opposing “Choice
for Men,” Ma asserts that a “woman’s decision to terminate a
pregnancy is not the equivalent of a man’s choice to financially opt
out of fatherhood.” She cites the pain and discomfort of pregnancy,
and the way motherhood “may limit our mobility or careers.” These
problems are very real; however, so are the problems created when
men are saddled with child support obligations. . . . According to
Men’s Health magazine, 100,000 men each year are jailed for alleged
nonpayment of child support. Federal Office of Child Support
Enforcement data reveal that 70% of those behind on payments earn
poverty level wages. The “Most Wanted Deadbeat Dad” lists put out by
most states are used both for police actions and to hunt and shame
“deadbeats” through newspaper ads and publicity campaigns. These
lists are largely comprised of uneducated African-American and
Latino men with occupation descriptions like “laborer,” “maintenance
man” and “roofer.”
August 8,
2006
The Health of Fatherhood
by
Gordon Finley
As we look forward to the quantity
and quality of our lives in the 21st century we face an
unprecedented challenge. As a nation, it is critical for all men,
women, and children to cease denying the silent epidemic of the
demise of fathers from the lives of our children and acknowledge the
consequences for both children and fathers. Here are the horns of
the dilemma we are facing. . . . On the one hand, we have a vast
empirical research literature showing that both children and fathers
benefit on almost all conceivable outcome indices when they are
involved in each others lives as the children are growing up and
being guided by their fathers into adulthood and beyond. . . .On the
other hand, we have the following widely accepted contemporary
demographics: one third of children are born to women who are not
married at the time of delivery (and presumably do not
have a father involved in the child’s life on a continual basis);
50% of first marriages end in divorce and another 17% end in
permanent separation yielding an effective two thirds marital
dissolution rate for first marriages; the divorce rate for second
and subsequent marriages is about 10% higher; and the cookie-cutter
formula used by most states grants physical custody to mothers about
85% of the time with the father being awarded infrequent visitation
along with child support and alimony obligations.
August 4,
2006
The Kiss-And-Accuse Capers
By Carey
Roberts, NewsWithViews.com
Former New England Patriots
linebacker Ted Johnson was one of the lucky ones. . . . On July 16
the three-time Super Bowl player was arrested in Weston, Mass. for
assaulting his wife. But last Monday Jackie Johnson came clean: “My
husband, I adore him, and, it was my fault. . . . It breaks my heart
to think I would be responsible with one emotional, irresponsible
call in destroying this beautiful man’s reputation.” . . . Judge
Rucker Smith of Sumter County, Georgia can also thank his lucky
stars. . . . When he announced his decision to break off a romantic
relationship, his girlfriend bit him fiercely on the leg. Then the
woman called the police to allege that he had attacked her. On May
5, the jury acquitted the judge of all charges against him. . . .
And let’s not forget TV talk show host David Letterman. . . . Last
December Colleen Nestler of
Santa Fe, NM claimed that Mr.
Letterman was using mental telepathy, facial gestures, and televised
code words to induce her to move to New York. Judge Daniel Sanchez
granted an order directing Mr. Letterman to cease the harassment.
The laughable injunction was eventually dropped. . . . But few men
have the financial where-with-all of a former NFL player, sitting
judge, or media personality. So when they are accused of domestic
violence, men often find themselves dragged into a legal machinery
that eventually leaves them penniless, disillusioned, and broken. .
. . Often the false claims are made during an acrimonious divorce or
child custody case.
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