Click Headline for Full Story
|
 |
Help
Support Victims-of-Law on the web by
purchasing from
its
Associates |
March 2010
NEW
HAMPSHIRE
Courts committee critical
of Superior Court justice
By Nancy West, New Hampshire Sunday News
03-04-10 --
The committee that disciplines judges has criticized
Superior Court Chief Justice Robert Lynn for his courtroom
demeanor in a child-custody case, though it dismissed the
underlying grievances filed by the mother and her attorney.
. . . Erica Tapply of Merrimack and her attorney claimed
Judge Lynn was biased against her when she was seeking to
maintain limits on visitation with her young son by his
father, a convicted rapist. . . . The Judicial Conduct
Committee voted to dismiss the grievances alleging bias and
discrimination filed by Tapply and her attorney, Katherine
Stearns of New London, but cautioned Lynn about his tone on
the bench. Lynn disagreed with the committee regarding his
courtroom temperament. . . . In letters sent to Lynn and
obtained by the New Hampshire Sunday News, the Judicial
Conduct Committee said of Lynn’s conduct in the Sept. 29,
2009, hearing: “... the Committee expressed its concern with
the rather strident tone taken by the Court in questioning
Ms. Tapply and in issuing its final conclusions, as well as
entering into a debate with Attorney Stearns after the
conclusion of the hearing."
OKLAHOMA
Top Oklahoma court
rejects abortion bill
Julie Bisbee, Capitol Bureau The Oklahoman
03-04-10 --
Legislation that seeks to limit a woman’s access to
abortions was declared unconstitutional by the state Supreme
Court. . . . In an opinion handed down Tuesday, the court
said the legislation, which contains several provisions
including requiring ultrasounds for women seeking abortions
and limiting a woman’s access to pregnancy-ending drugs,
violated the state’s constitution that says legislation is
limited to one subject. . . . The state’s high court upheld
a decision Oklahoma County District Judge Vicki Robertson,
who said the bill was unconstitutional because it contained
provisions with several different subjects.
February 2010
CALIFORNIA
Judge who denied
restraining order faces challenge
Mike Cruz, San Bernardino Sun Staff Writer
02-21-10 --
A Superior Court judge is facing a challenge in the June
election after he denied a Yucca Valley woman's request for
a restraining order against her ex-boyfriend days before he
reportedly killed their 9-month-old son and then himself. .
. . Judge Robert Lemkau, who was appointed in 2007 and was
recently transferred to Victorville Superior Court, is
facing his first election to the court. Of the 31 judicial
seats that were up for re-election this year, Lemkau's is
one of two seats facing a challenge. . . . Lemkau did not
return calls to his courtroom for comment. . . . Deputy
District Attorney James Hosking stepped up to run against
Lemkau after he heard about the judge's ruling in a case
involving Katie Tagle - a case Hosking says is black and
white.
TENNESSEE
Born on streets, infant placed in foster home may have been
killed
By Kate Howard, The Tennessean
|

A
Victims-of-Law Associate |
02-05-10 --
Cherokeewolf William Diedrich, born into poverty on the side
of a dirty street, was supposed to be getting a better
chance at life when he was put into foster care. . . . His
then-homeless mother did not willingly give up the child,
but she agreed she could use some time to get her life
together before taking on the duties of motherhood. The
foster parents took the newborn and they hoped to adopt him
if he didn't go back to his mother. . . . When Cherokeewolf
was taken off life support on Tuesday, dead at the age of 12
weeks, both their dreams died with him. . . . Kimberlee
Diedrich, now living in an apartment, was left to wonder how
life had been better for her son. And police turned their
attention to the foster home setting after hospital X-rays
indicated the baby may have been shaken - more than once. .
. . The medical examiner's office has not released a cause
of death, saying more tests need to be completed. No charges
have been brought, but police are calling their review of
the case a
homicide investigation.
|

A
Victims-of-Law Associate |
January 2010
FLORIDA
Ruling a third strike against Florida's gay adoption ban
A
Miami judge has approved the adoption of a foster child by a lesbian
couple, bringing to three the number of adoptions by gay parents
since 2008.
By Carol
Marbin Miller, MiamiHerald.com
01-27-10 --
With the blessing of her large extended family, Vanessa Alenier took
custody of an infant relative who had been seized by child welfare
workers. She moved him into a yellow nursery with a blond wood crib,
a blue-striped carpet and a mobile. . . . When she asked the state
to for permission to adopt him, the application included a simple
question. . . . Are you gay? . . . Alenier, 34, said she did not
want to begin her journey as a parent with a lie. So she told the
truth -- despite Florida's 33-year-old law banning gay men and
lesbians from adopting.
Fla. woman fights ruling that kept her in hospital
By Bill
Kaczor, Associated Press Writer
01-26-10 --
Samantha Burton wanted to leave the hospital. Her doctor strongly
disagreed, enough to go to court to keep her there. . . . She smoked
cigarettes during the first six months of her pregnancy and was
admitted on a false alarm of premature labor. Her doctor argued she
was risking a miscarriage if she didn't quit smoking immediately and
stay on bed rest in the hospital, and a judge agreed. . . . Three
days after the judge ordered her not to leave the hospital, Burton
delivered a stillborn fetus by cesarean section. . . . And six
months after the pregnancy ended, the dispute over the legal move to
keep her in the hospital continues, raising questions about where a
mother's right to decide her own medical treatment ends and where
the priority of protecting a fetus begins.
Pregnant Pro Se Mom Argued Treatment Case
from
Hospital Bed & Lost; Will Lawyer Win Appeal?
By
Martha Neil, ABA Journal
01-26-10 --
Already the mother of two daughters, Samantha Burton had obtained
prenatal care for her third pregnancy and voluntarily went to the
hospital when she experienced symptoms she'd been told to look out
for, in the hope of saving her baby, according to her lawyer. . . .
When the 29-year-old questioned the medical advice and care she
received there, however, and sought to leave, Tallahassee Memorial
Hospital got a Florida judge to order her to submit to the treatment
its doctors ordered, including bed rest at the facility, reports the
Associated Press. Her stillborn baby was delivered by
Caesarian section three days later. . . . Now, in a closely watched
case that pits Burton's constitutional rights against those of her
fetus, a Florida appeals court is mulling whether the state had the
right to order her to submit to specific medical treatment, against
her wishes and, at least arguably, without considering other viable
options. Although a reversal would come too late, of course, to
uphold Burton's claimed constitutional rights concerning the forced
treatment at Florida Memorial Hospital, it would, she says through
her lawyer, David Abrams, help prevent other women from going
through a similar "horrible" experience that is still very upsetting
to her, the AP reports. . . . The hospital and its doctors declined
to comment. However, State Attorney Willie Meggs, who handled the
case after the hospital reportedly brought the matter to his office,
says the emergency situation--doctors feared a miscarriage--and the
threat to the life of Burton's fetus justified the judge's decision,
after a telephone hearing, that the best interest of her unborn
child trumped Burton's constitutional rights to privacy and to
refuse medical treatment. . . . Burton argued her case alone,
unrepresented by counsel, from her hospital bed during the telephone
conference call court hearing, reports the
Tallahassee Democrat. The hospital's legal counsel, E.
Murray Moore Jr., argued against her in the Leon County case, having
been appointed a special assistant state attorney by Meggs for the
purpose. . . . "This is good people trying to do things in a right
fashion to save lives, whether some people want them saved or not,"
Meggs tells the AP, contending that there was no time to seek a
second opinion. . . . Burton, represented by Abrams and backed by
attorney Diana Kasdan, who is reportedly representing both the
American Civil Liberties Union and the American Medical Women’s
Association in the case, says the judge's ruling, if allowed to
stand, creates a worrisome precedent. Her symptoms weren't all that
unusual, she wasn't in labor, and there were a number of treatment
options, including bed rest at home, that would have been
appropriate for her and allowed her to take better care of her two
daughters there, she and the lawyers contend.
TEXAS
Woman beaten by teen son
responsible for his legal costs
By Adriana M. Chávez / For the Sun-News
01-25-10 --
Four months ago, Teresa Fuller endured a severe beating at
the hands of her 15-year-old son after he refused to do his
chores. . . . She said she received multiple concussions and
has a scattered memory of the last three months of 2009. . .
. Not only does she have to live with the lingering physical
affects of the beating, she has to pay her son's legal
bills, prompting her to wonder why the state's court system
doesn't do enough to help victims of parental abuse. . . .
"As a victim, I don't feel like I should have to pay,"
Fuller said. . . . Fuller said she and her two sons moved to
El Paso from Arizona in June 2008, shortly after her husband
died. While in Arizona, Fuller's 15-year-old son was
arrested more than 20 times, all for physically abusing her,
Fuller said. . . . The El Paso Times isn't identifying the
boy because of his age. . . . Fuller said his September
arrest was his third since moving to Texas. The September
incident started after she told him to do his chores and he
refused, she said. . . . "He pushed me once and kept pushing
me. It got to the point where I ended up calling the
police," Fuller said. . . . Fuller said her son struck her
in the chest with an open hand and knocked the wind out of
her. He kept pushing her onto the floor but she continued to
try to get up again. As he was pushing her, Fuller said, she
struck her head on the floor and the leg of a nearby table.
ILLINOIS
Win in parental
discrimination case raises issues for employers
By Ameet Sachdev, Chicago
Tribune reporter
01-24-10 --
Dena Lockwood, 39, has been a working mother since she was
18 but never felt she was treated differently in the
workplace because of her family responsibilities. Then she
took a sales position in 2004 at Professional Neurological
Services Ltd. . . . Her commission rate was lower than that
of sales people who were not parents. She was ignored in
sales meetings. The company was more lax about time off
taken by single people. . . . One day in 2006 when she had
to take a day off because her 4-year-old daughter was sick,
her manager responded by firing her. . . . Working mothers
face discrimination on the job, but Lockwood's story has
gained attention because of her rare accomplishment: Instead
of going to court, she filed a discrimination claim against
her former employer at the Chicago Commission on Human
Relations and won. . . . The low-profile administrative
agency enforces the city's regulations that prohibit
discrimination in housing and employment. Chicago's
ordinance also is one of the few local statutes nationwide
that expressly prohibits job discrimination against parents.
|

A Victims-of-Law
Associate |
VERMONT vs. VIRGINIA
Vt. judge sets deadline
in women’s custody dispute
By John Curran, AP, The DC
01-22-10 --
A judge refereeing a child-custody dispute between former
lesbian partners balked Friday at issuing a contempt
citation for one of them and instead gave her 30 days to
appear in court with the girl or face arrest. . . . Lisa
Miller has disappeared with 7-year-old Isabella
Miller-Jenkins, and Miller’s former partner renewed her call
for help finding the girl. . . . “Every day I wonder where
she is, and if she’s OK,” said Janet Jenkins, of Fair Haven.
“Every time the phone rings, I hope it is someone calling to
tell me they have found her.” . . . Miller, the girl’s
biological mother, was ordered to surrender custody of
Isabella on Jan. 1, but she failed to do so. The girl is now
considered a missing person. . . . On Friday, Family Court
Judge William Cohen — who had ordered the custody change two
months ago — rejected Jenkins’ plea for a contempt-of-court
citation against Miller but found her in violation of his
previous order. He set a Feb. 23 court date, saying if
Miller doesn’t appear with the child then, he would issue a
warrant for her arrest. . . . He did not rule out referring
the matter for a criminal prosecution on custodial
interference.
No Supreme Court hearing
for mom who asked to read Bible to son's class
The US Supreme Court on
Tuesday refused to hear the appeal of a Pennsylvania mom who
sought to read five verses of Psalms from the Bible as part
of her son's 'All About Me' classroom assignment.
By Warren Richey The Christian Science Monitor Staff writer
01-19-10 --
A mother blocked from reading Bible passages during “show
and tell” in her son’s kindergarten class has lost her bid
to have the US Supreme Court examine the public school’s
actions. . . . On Tuesday, the high court declined to take
up Donna Kay Busch’s lawsuit against the Marple Newtown
School District in suburban Philadelphia. The court issued
its order dismissing the case without comment. . . . The
action ends a four-year legal battle over whether Ms. Busch,
an Evangelical Christian, should have been allowed to read
five verses from the Book of Psalms to her son’s class. /
Part of 'All About Me' week
. . . The
reading was to be part of an in-class assignment in which
the children were invited to present important aspects of
their lives to their classmates. As part of this “All About
Me” week-long assignment, Busch’s son, Wesley, made a poster
displaying photographs of himself, his hamster, his
brothers, his parents, his best friend, and a
construction-paper likeness of his church.
The case is
Busch v. Marple Newtown School District.
CALIFORNIA
Help for San Jose mom
whose car was repossessed as son slept in back seat
By Lisa Fernandez, mercurynews.com
01-14-10 --
Strangers from around the country are stepping forward to
help a San Jose woman whose car was repossessed this week as
her toddler slept in the back seat. . . . More than two
dozen people, including someone from Michigan, e-mailed or
called the Mercury News on Thursday in response to a story
about Isabel Luevano, and pledged to try to help the
26-year-old single mother of three get her 2000 green Honda
Accord back. . . . "The story just touched my heart," said
Patrick Amador, 48, a small San Jose businessman who has
five children and planned to walk into Luevano's office
Thursday and hand her $50. "My kids struggle. I got a little
extra money, and my priest tells us when we see someone who
needs help, we should help."
Repo man takes San Jose mom's car with 2-year-old in back
seat
GEORGIA
Army Charges Mom Who Refused Deployment
The Associated Press, Newsmax
01-13-10 --
The Army said Wednesday it
has filed criminal charges against a single-mom soldier who
refused to deploy to Afghanistan last year, arguing she had
no family able to care for her infant son. . . . Spc.
Alexis Hutchinson, a 21-year-old Army cook, could face a
prison sentence and a dishonorable discharge if she is
convicted by a court-martial. But first, an officer will be
appointed to decide if there's enough evidence to try a case
against her. . . . Hutchinson's attorney, Rai Sue Sussman,
said she still hopes the case can be settled without a
military trial. She said the Army should consider
Hutchinson's reason for not deploying overseas — that she
was afraid of what would happen to her baby. . . . "There
are other routes if they really want to punish her,"
Hutchinson's attorney, Rai Sue Sussman, said Wednesday. "I
don't think the situation was serious enough to warrant a
criminal matter." . . . Hutchinson of Oakland, Calif., was
scheduled to deploy from Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah on
Nov. 5. She skipped her unit's flight, saying the only
relative she had to take care of her 10-month-old son — her
mother — was overwhelmed by the task and backed out a few
days before Hutchinson's departure date.
CALIFORNIA
Appeals court rules in favor of octuplet mother Nadya
Suleman
Los Angeles Times
01-08-10 --
A state appeals court has ruled in favor of octuplet mother
Nadya Suleman, saying a child actor's call for the
appointment of an independent guardian to monitor the
octuplet's finances was an "unprecedented, meritless effort
by a stranger." . . . In an opinion filed today, 4th
District Court of Appeal justices directed an Orange County
probate court to vacate its order for an investigation into
the family's finances. . . . Paul Petersen, a child actor
who is now an advocate for children in the entertainment
industry, had taken Suleman to court, arguing that her
children were vulnerable to exploitation and that an
independent guardian should be appointed to look after their
financial interests.
VERMONT
Hearing on custody case set
By Brent Curtis, Rutland Herald Staff Writer
01-08-10 --
A Rutland Family Court judge wants to hear all arguments
before deciding on a motion that seeks a warrant for the
arrest of a Virginia woman who failed to turn over her
7-year-old daughter to her former lesbian partner. . . . Six
days after Lisa Miller and her daughter Isabella Miller
failed to appear for a court-ordered custody transfer in
Virginia, Judge William Cohen scheduled a Jan. 22 hearing
date. . . . Asked about the time it would take to argue for
what was filed as an emergency motion in the case, Jennifer
Levi, an attorney representing Miller's former partner,
Janet Jenkins, said she wouldn't question the judge's
decision but said the sooner the motion was considered the
better.
|

A Victims-of-Law
Advertiser |
NEW
York
Billionaire’s Ex-Wife Hires New Lawyer
New York Times (blog)
01-05-10 --
Patricia Cohen, the ex-wife of a hedge fund billionaire,
Steven A. Cohen, has a new lawyer representing her in the
civil racketeering lawsuit she filed against Mr. Cohen,
Jenny Anderson writes in The New York Times. . . . Gaytri
Kachroo has taken over the case from Paul Batista, a New
York lawyer. In various federal inquiries and hearings, Ms.
Kachroo represented Harry Markopolos, the whistle-blower who
spent a decade trying to warn authorities, including the
Securities and Exchange Commission, that Bernard L. Madoff
was running an extensive Ponzi scheme. . . . Ms. Cohen
approached Ms. Kachroo soon after her case was filed in
mid-December in United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York. “She felt her case wasn’t
getting the attention it required,” said Ms. Kachroo, who is
not a litigator but is a corporate lawyer with her own
practice. . . . After reviewing the documents and learning
of new facts that were not included in the original lawsuit,
Ms. Kachroo said she decided to accept the case. “I think we
have a very strong case, especially in light of the facts
that we’ve uncovered,” she said. She declined to elaborate
on those facts, but said they would be included in a new or
amended complaint.
VERMONT vs. VIRGINIA
Legal battle ratchets up in lesbian custody fight
By John Curran The Associated Press, Times Argus
01-05-10 --
A Vermont woman locked in a child custody battle with a
former partner who has since renounced homosexuality asked a
judge Monday to hold her ex in contempt and help find her
and their 7-year-old daughter. . . . A lawyer for Janet
Jenkins filed an emergency motion for contempt for not
surrendering the couple's daughter, Isabella Miller-Jenkins,
on Friday. . . . The motion seeks court sanctions and the
assistance of law enforcement in locating Lisa Miller, whose
last known address was Forest, Va., but whose whereabouts
are now unknown. . . . "I am so worried about Isabella,"
Jenkins said in a written statement issued by her lawyer,
Sarah Star. "I do not know where she is or whether she is
okay." . . . Miller's lawyer, Mathew Staver, didn't
immediately return a call seeking comment.
|

A Victims-of-Law
Advertiser |
December 2009
NEW
JERSEY
N.J. judge rules surrogate legal mother of twins despite not
being genetically related
By The Associated Press, NJ.com
12-31-09 --
A woman who bore twins for her brother and his partner is
the legal mother, despite not being genetically
related to the children, a New Jersey judge has ruled. . . .
The babies Angelia Robinson gave birth to were conceived in
a lab using eggs from an anonymous donor and sperm from Sean
Hollingsworth, the husband of Robinson's brother, Donald
Robinson Hollingsworth. . . . Lawyers involved say that it's
not the first case of its kind, but that it does offer a
glimpse into the complications that can arise from an
emerging kind of surrogate parenthood increasingly used by
gay male couples. . . . Superior Court Judge Francis
Schultz's ruling, made Dec. 23 in Jersey City and shared
with the parties this week, relied heavily on the New Jersey
State Supreme Court's 2-decade-old ruling in the nation's
best-known court case over surrogate rights, the Baby M
case.
VERMONT vs. VIRGINIA
Vt. judge: Birth mom must
give child to ex-partner
By Wilson Ring, Associated Press Writer, Sacromento Bee
12-29-09 --
The birth mother of a 7-year-old Virginia girl must transfer
custody of the child to the woman's former lesbian partner,
a Vermont judge ruled, adding that it seems the woman has
"disappeared" with her daughter. . . . Vermont Family Court
Judge William Cohen ordered Lisa Miller of Winchester, Va.,
to turn over daughter Isabella to Janet Jenkins of Fair
Haven at 1 p.m. Friday at the Virginia home of Jenkins'
parents. . . . But in the Dec. 22 order denying Miller's
request to delay the transfer of Isabella, Cohen wrote: "It
appears that Ms. Miller has ceased contact with her
attorneys and disappeared with the minor child." . . .
Miller and Jenkins were joined in a Vermont civil union in
2000. Isabella was born to Miller through artificial
insemination in 2002. The couple broke up in 2003, and
Miller moved to Virginia, renounced homosexuality and became
an evangelical Christian.
ILLINOIS
Disabled mom fighting to
keep her son
Can a quadriplegic woman be a
good parent? Her ex-boyfriend filed a custody suit that says
no.
By Sara Olkon, Chicago Tribune reporter
12-20-09 --
Kaney O'Neill knows she has limits as a mother. . . . The
31-year-old Des Plaines woman cannot walk, move her fingers
independently or feel anything from the chest down. A decade
ago, O'Neill was a Navy airman apprentice when she was
knocked from a balcony during Hurricane Floyd, leaving her a
quadriplegic. . . . When she discovered she was pregnant
last December, she felt fear and joy, a journey the Tribune
chronicled in August. She quickly embraced the opportunity
to raise a child, feeling she had the money and family
support to make up for her paralysis. . . . David Trais, her
ex-boyfriend and the 49-year-old father of their now
5-month-old son, disagreed that she was up to the challenge.
. . . In September, Trais sued O'Neill for full custody,
charging that his former girlfriend is "not a fit and proper
person" to care for their son, Aidan James O'Neill. . . . In
court documents, Trais said O'Neill's disability "greatly
limits her ability to care for the minor, or even wake up if
the minor is distressed." . . . O'Neill counters that she
always has another able-bodied adult on hand for Aidan -- be
it her full-time caretaker, live-in brother or her mother.
Even before she gave birth to Aidan, O'Neill said, she never
went more than a few hours by herself.
TEXAS
Texas Attorney Elizabeth Fontaine Feared Losing Daughters, So She
Killed Them, Police Believe
Posted
by Carlin DeGuerin Miller, CBS/AP CBS News (blog)
12-16-09 --
Orange County Sheriff’s believe that Texas attorney Elizabeth
Fontaine may have been so distraught over a custody dispute that she
killed her two young daughters, her mother and herself on Monday,
but they are not willing to say for sure who pulled the trigger
until a ballistics report returns. . . . After Fontaine didn’t
return to a Southern California family court Monday afternoon,
authorities were sent to the San Clemente area home where she was
staying while dealing with a reported custody dispute with her
ex-husband Jason Fontaine. . . . What cops found was an incredibly
bloody scene: Fontaine, 38, her daughters, 4-year-old Catherine and
2-year-old Julia, and Fontaine’s mother, 67-year-old Bonnie Hoult,
shot dead in the hallway, lying in close proximity, sheriff’s
spokesman Jim Amormino told CBS affiliate
KFMB.
RHODE
ISLAND
Judge hears mom’s plea, orders DCYF to return newborn,
reunite Woonsocket family
By W.
Zachary Malinowski, Providence Journal Staff Writer
12-11-09 --
On Monday, Netvilai Vixaisak of Woonsocket made her way to the
Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence to hand deliver a note to
Family Court Chief Judge Jeremiah S. Jeremiah Jr. . . . “Right now,
I have so much pain in my heart and it is hurting a lot due to what
[the state] is doing to me. I want to be with all of my kids all in
the same place,” she wrote. . . . After reading the note, Jeremiah
emerged from his chambers to speak with the young mother, who broke
down and cried in his fifth-floor courtroom. . . . “Don’t worry,” he
told her. “I’m on your side. I’m fighting for you.” . . . The judge
was deeply moved to learn that Vixaisak, 28, gave birth to a
daughter, Isis Diamond, on Dec. 2, at Women & Infants Hospital in
Providence. Two days later, as she prepared to return home and
breast-feed the baby, she learned that the state Department of
Children, Youth and Families, which already had custody of her three
other children, had placed a “hold” on the newborn. She said she
“cried and cried until I couldn’t cry anymore.”
VIRGINIA
Appeals court asked to keep mom, daughter together
Fighting out-of-state order
to give 7-year-old to lesbian
By Bob Unruh, © 2009 WorldNetDaily
12-11-09 --
The Virginia Court of Appeals has been asked to keep a
mother and daughter together by affirming a state law that
voids orders stemming from out-of-state civil unions. . .
.Mathew Staver founded
Liberty Counsel,
which yesterday argued before the court on behalf of Lisa
Miller, who has been ordered by a Vermont judge to turn over
her young daughter, Isabella, to Miller's lesbian
ex-partner, Janet Jenkins, on New Year's Day. . . .
WND has reported the case
in which a
Vermont judge ruled Jenkins, who has not been involved in
Isabella's life for years, first should have visitation with
Miller's biological daughter, then full custody. . . . The
ACLU and Lambda Legal Defense Fund have been demanding that
Miller give up her daughter to Jenkins, who maintains a
lesbian lifestyle in Vermont. Miller left the lesbian
lifestyle shortly after Isabella was born, and Jenkins
neither has a blood relationship nor an adoptive
relationship with the child. . . . The order is being
appealed in Vermont. But the question pending before the
Virginia Court of Appeals was whether Virginia must enforce
custody and visitation orders arising from a Vermont
same-sex civil union.
NEW YORK
Outrage over convicted divorce judge
By
Thomas Tracy, YourNabe.com
12-10-09 --
The fact that disgraced judge Gerald Garson will be home for the
holidays is “reprehensible” and a “mockery of justice,” a group of
divorced mothers and domestic violence survivors claimed Monday as
they protested the convicted septuagenarian’s early release from
prison. . . . “Money talks and Garson walks,” screamed Karlene
Gordon as she and a handful of protestors from the Voices of Women
Organizing Project (VOW) stood across the street of Brooklyn Family
Court on Jay Street Monday afternoon. “Gerald Garson and his partner
in crime Paul Siminovsky deceived, corrupted and destroyed lives
with judicial immunity and protection. Sentenced to a county club,
resort-like prison, then allowed to escape his judicial slap on the
wrist, Garson’s early release from jail is a slap in the faces of
those lives he irreparably destroyed,” she added. “He will complete
his sentence, yet the families he injured, on so many different
levels, are still serving the sentence this felon imposed on them.
His victims continue to suffer in silence without justice or
recourse.” . . . Gordon said she knows about suffering in silence
all too well.
|
 
A Victims-of-Law
Advertiser |
WASHINGTON
$10 an hour with 2 kids?
IRS pounces
Rachel Porcaro knows she's
hardly rich. When you're a single mom making 10 bucks an
hour, you don't need government experts to tell you how
broke you are.
Danny Westneat, Seattle Times staff columnist
12-06-09 --
Rachel Porcaro knows she's hardly rich. When you're a single
mom making 10 bucks an hour, you don't need government
experts to tell you how broke you are. . . . But that's what
happened. The government not only told Porcaro she was poor.
They said she was too poor to make it in Seattle. . . . It
all started a year ago, when Porcaro, a 32-year-old mom with
two boys, was summoned to the Seattle office of the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS). She had been flagged for an audit. .
. . She couldn't believe it. She made $18,992 the previous
year cutting hair at Supercuts. A few hundred of that she
spent to have her taxes prepared by H&R Block. . . . "I
asked the IRS lady straight upfront — 'I don't have
anything, why are you auditing me?' " Porcaro recalled. "I
said, 'Why me, when I don't own a home, a business, a car?'
" . . . The answer stunned both Porcaro and the private tax
specialist her dad had gotten to help her. . . . "They
showed us a spreadsheet of incomes in the Seattle area,"
says Dante Driver, an accountant at Seattle's G.A. Michael
and Co. "The auditor said, 'You made eighteen thousand, and
our data show a family of three needs at least thirty-six
thousand to get by in Seattle." . . . "They thought she must
have unreported income. That she was hiding something.
Basically they were auditing her for not making enough
money."
 
November 2009
ILLINOIS
Babysitter's Custody Win
May Be Short-Lived
Tresa Baldas, The National
Law Journal
11-30-09 --
Family law attorneys call it
a first: a babysitter winning custody of a child. Now the
mother's lawyer has won a rehearing -- just in time for the
holidays. . . . In an emergency hearing in a Chicago
courtroom on Nov. 24, the same judge who last month gave a
babysitter custody of a two-year-old boy vacated the
guardianship order at the request of the child's parents.
The toddler will stay with the babysitter pending a Jan. 20
status hearing, although he will spend Thanksgiving and
Christmas with his parents and grandmother, who will also
get weekly visits. . . . "I've been practicing law for 30
years, and I've never seen anything like this," said Jeffrey
Leving of the
Law Offices of Jeffrey M.
Leving in
Chicago, who represents the mother.
Choice Moms Announces Survey That Puts a Face on Women Who
Choose to be Single Mothers
PR-USA.net (press release)
11-26-09 --
An article in the December issue of The Human Fertility
Journal reports on a first-ever large-scale survey of women
choosing to be single moms. These women — typically called
choice moms or single mothers by choice — actively set out
to give birth to or adopt a child without a partner, and
differ from single mothers who find themselves alone
following divorce or separation. The survey participants
tended to be European-American, upper middle class, in their
mid-to-late thirties, well educated, and financially secure.
. . . The survey, which was conducted by researchers from
The Centre for Family Research at the University of
Cambridge, collected data on the motivations and experiences
of 291 choice moms using online questionnaires. Most of the
participants were based in the United States, with the
remainder living in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia,
and several other primarily European countries. The article
is titled “Mom by choice, single by life’s circumstance’:
Findings from a large scale survey of the experiences of
single mothers by choice.” . . . The majority of women (76%)
in the survey had been in long-term relationships, but
rather than have a child with the “wrong” partner chose to
have a child alone. All of the women were happy with their
decision to have a child alone, although more than half
stated that they would have preferred to have a child within
a relationship, and most felt it was important that their
child have regular contact with a male role model.
|

A
Victims-of-Law Advertiser |
OREGON
Coos County woman feared for her life
Concerned Divorce Lawyer
Followed Client, Witnessed Shooting Aftermath
By Lynne Terry, The Oregonian
11-19-09 --
Details emerged on Thursday indicating that a Coos County
woman who was critically wounded by her husband was worried
about her safety. . . . Ashley Kendall, 22, was shot by her
husband Tuesday evening after she met with her lawyer to
discuss an upcoming child custody hearing and divorce
proceedings, according to R. Paul Frasier, Coos County
district attorney. . . . While Kendall was meeting with her
attorney, her 26-year-old husband, Travis Roy Kendall, got
out of a borrowed car he had driven to the scene and slipped
into the dark green Jeep Wagoneer that his wife had driven.
. . . When Kendall finished her appointment, the lawyer
walked her to the Jeep. . . . “I think it’s safe to say the
lawyer had concerns about what was going on,” Frasier said.
. . . The courts had just granted Ashley Kendall a
restraining order against her husband. . . . She had no idea
that he was hiding in the Jeep and the lawyer did not know
either: Its rear passenger and cargo area windows are
tinted. . . . The lawyer, Sharon Mitchell, watched her
client drive away and even hopped in her own car and
followed close behind to ensure that she was safe, Frasier
said. . . . During the drive, Ashley Kendall called her
sister, and at one point in the conversation screamed that
“he” was in the Jeep.
Soldier mom nixes
deployment to care for baby
Army cook may face criminal
charges after refusing to go to Afghanistan
Associated Press, MSNBC
11-16-09 --
An Army cook and single mom
may face criminal charges after she skipped her deployment
flight to Afghanistan because, she said, no one was
available to care for her infant son while she was overseas.
. . . Spc. Alexis Hutchinson, 21, claims she had no choice
but to refuse deployment orders because the only family she
had to care for her 10-month-old son — her mother — was
overwhelmed by the task, already caring for three other
relatives with health problems. . . . Her civilian attorney,
Rai Sue Sussman, said Monday that one of Hutchinson's
superiors told her she would have to deploy anyway and place
the child in foster care. . . . "For her it was like, 'I
couldn't abandon my child,'" Sussman said. "She was really
afraid of what would happen, that if she showed up they
would send her to Afghanistan anyway and put her son with
child protective services."
CALIFORNIA
Midlife Mom Launches Web Site On Motherhood
By Jory John, Santa Cruz Sentinel
11-15-09 --
In 2001, Angel La Liberte and her husband had a serious
discussion. Both had been married before, but neither had
any children. The pair decided, if possible, that they would
like to conceive. La Liberte was 40 years old at the time. .
. . "Basically, the attitude toward us was that it would be
nothing short of a miracle," she says. . . . Against the
odds, La Liberte's son was born in 2003. Three years after
that, she had a daughter. Both were natural conceptions,
occurring without the use of Assisted Reproductive
Technologies. And both babies were healthy. . . . When La
Liberte turns 50 next year, her son will be 8 and her
daughter will be 5. La Liberte realizes that she is on the
forefront of mothers having children when they're older than
40. And because she wanted to form a community around the
issue, La Liberte recently launched www.flowerpowermom.com,
"the truth about motherhood after 40."
KENTUCKY
Protective order didn't stop man from shooting girlfriend,
mother
By Andrew Wolfson • courier-journal.com
11-15-09 --
Accused of punching his girlfriend, threatening to kill her
and ripping her phones out of the wall, unemployed handyman
Terry Stoess stood in a Jefferson County courtroom and
admitted only that he and Laura Eagle had argued over money.
. . . “As far as harming her in any way,” Stoess, 49,
insisted, “I never would.” . . . . . Family Court Judge
Donna Delahanty issued a domestic-violence order anyway,
directing Stoess to leave the home they shared in Hikes
Point, surrender his guns and to stay away Eagle, whom he
had dated for six years and lived with for a year. . . . . .
Three days later, on June 1, 2007, Stoess shot both Eagle
and her mother in the head before turning the gun on
himself.
NEW
MEXICO
Mom's dream come true: family reunited after 50 years
By: Kayla Anderson, Eyewitness News 4; Matthew Kappus,
KOB.com
11-15-09 --
A New Mexico woman who spent more than a half-century
searching for her two daughters was finally reunited with
them. . . . Nellie Wick's girls were taken by her husband
back in 1958. She never heard from them again--until a
tearful reunion in Albuquerque. . . . "I never thought I
would see you again," the 85-year-old woman told her
daughter as they saw each other for the first time in 50
years. . . . But it wasn't just her daughters 85-year-old
Nellie Wick was meeting—she also saw her granddaughter for
the first time as well. . . . At 9 years old, Marque Cravens
and her 7-year-old sister, Denina, were taken by their dad.
Nellie Wick hired a private investigator to find them—but
with no luck. Nellie says it was hard to deal with the
loneliness. . . . "I didn't know when I'd see them or not,"
she said. . . . The girls grew up and parted ways. About 15
years ago, they reunited when their dad died. But yet again,
they lost track of each other. . . . "I thought I'd never
see anybody again," Marque Cravens said.
VIDEO
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/13637
MINNESOTA
Watchdog Group Asks Judge
to Resign
FOX 9 News
11-12-09 --
A courtroom watchdog group is asking for Hennepin County
District Judge Stephen Aldrich’s resignation due to several
inappropriate comments he has made in the courtroom. . . .
Three weeks ago in family court, reviewing a domestic
violence order for protection, a transcript shows Judge
Aldrich telling the husband and wife, "I’ve been married 45
years. We've never considered divorce, a few times murder,
maybe." . . . A court watchdog group, called Watch, is
calling for Judge Aldrich’s resignation. The joke lands
flat, when you consider 21 women in Minnesota were killed
last year in domestic violence. Many like Pam Taschuk, who
was murdered last month, and had restraining orders against
their partners. . . . And it's not the judge's first attempt
at judicial levity. He made a comment to a man who'd been
stabbed by his wife that he should do the barbecuing from
now on.
WYOMING
Group seeks to increase legal access
More people represent themselves
in court
By
Joshua Wolfson - Star-Tribune staff writer
11-11-09 --
The state provides an abusive husband with an attorney for his
criminal trial. But when his battered wife needs a restraining
order, there's no lawyer to assist her. . . . As an attorney and
director of Poverty Resistance, Mary Ann Budenske has witnessed
the scenario unfold numerous times. Wyoming is one of only two
states that doesn't have a statewide legal assistance program
for people who can't afford to hire their own lawyer. . . . The
absence of such a program, experts say, leads to a public
increasingly disenfranchised by the legal system. . . . "One of
the things that has always bothered me is that if you are an ax
murderer, you are going to get better legal representation than
if you are the victim of the ax murderer," Budenske said.
"Somehow that doesn't quite feel like it is fair to me. But with
the resources we have, that is what happens."
|
HELP KEEP
VICTIMS-OF-LAW ON THE WEB
SHOP OUR ADVERTISERS
OR CONTRIBUTE NOW
|
October 2009
ILLINOIS
Tenant reported abuse --
then suffered eviction
She sues owner of apartment
complex: 'I was punished for protecting myself'
By Sara Olkon Tribune reporter
10-13-09 --
Kathy Cleaves-Milan called police to report that she was the
victim of domestic violence. She got help -- but she also
got evicted. . . . A day after she told a judge that her
live-in boyfriend had brandished a gun and promised to end
both of their lives, the managers of her Elmhurst apartment
complex served her with eviction papers for violating the
terms of the lease, citing the criminal activity she had
reported to police. . . . "I was punished for protecting
myself and my daughter," Cleaves-Milan, 36, said. . . .
Attorneys for Cleaves-Milan have filed a lawsuit against
Aimco, the company that owns and operates Elm Creek
Apartments. In the Oct. 1 filing, attorneys with the Sargent
Shriver National Center on Poverty Law and the law firm of
Reed Smith argue Cleaves-Milan's 2007 eviction was a form of
sex discrimination, based on Cleaves-Milan's sex and her
status as a victim of domestic violence. . . . A
representative of the company said the eviction wasn't
solely about the domestic violence but also involved her
ability to pay the rent if her boyfriend moved out -- an
assertion Cleaves-Milan strongly rejects.
'I want my son back!'
US Gov't took her baby and
locked her away in a psychiatric hospital
By Ingrid Brown Observer senior reporter,
jamaicaobserver.com
10-12-09 --
Sandra Allen has not cuddled her eight-year-old son in her
arms in the last four years. Neither has she been able to
capture Kodak moments, push him in the backyard swing or
cook his favourite meal. . . . Instead, for one hour each
Thursday she sits across from him in a room and makes small
talk, under the watchful eyes of a social worker. . . .
Allen is one of several Jamaicans in the United States whose
children have been placed in foster care by the
Administration for Children's Services (ACS). . . . And not
even the intervention of the Jamaican Consulate or the
Diaspora movement in New York has been able to help Allen
get her son back after an eight-year-long battle in the
courts. . . . "We only get one hour with him and he always
asks why he can't come home and we have been told that when
we leave he cries," an emotional Allen said to the Observer
in hushed tones in the Hofstra University library in Long
Island, New York, where she is a student. . . . She is
confident her son will be returned one day, although that
looks even dimmer with recent news that the court has ruled
he be put up for adoption. . . . "By God's grace we know he
is coming home... they could break him up into pieces but we
know he is coming home," she said, with the first hint of a
smile.
ILLINOIS
La Salle lawyer's license
suspended
Steve Stout, MyWebTimes.com
10-7-09 --
The Illinois Supreme Court has suspended a La Salle
attorney's law license for 60 days following the
recommendation of the Illinois Attorney Registration and
Disciplinary Commission. . . . According to the ARDC, Louis
L. Bertrand was suspended for neglecting a female client's
child support case against her former husband, making a
misrepresentation to her and mismanaging the funds she had
given him for filing fees. . . . The suspension takes effect
Tuesday, Oct. 13. . . . The ARDC said Bertrand, who was
first licensed in 1984, violated Illinois rules of
professional conduct when he failed to tell his client the
local court ordered counsel and the parties to appear at a
status hearing Feb. 24, 2006, and also when the attorney
told his client her appearance at the hearing was not
necessary.
TENNESSEE
Tennessee Mother Regains
Custody Of Snatched Newborn, Cleared Of Baby-Selling Claims
Fox News
10-6-09 --
The Tennessee mother of a kidnapped baby was reunited with
her four kids and is cleared of involvement in an alleged
baby-selling plan, a lawyer for the children said Tuesday. .
. . Attorney Thomas Miller said a Tuesday custody hearing
was canceled amid an investigation into the claims that the
family of mom Maria Gurrolla tried to sell the baby boy
after he was abducted by a fake immigration agent. . . .
Gurrolla was reunited with 1-week-old Yair Anthony Carillo
Tuesday after losing him twice in recent days, first to the
alleged kidnapper and then to state foster care. . . . The
baby was recovered last week after he was abducted during a
Sept. 29 knife attack at Gurrolla's home. A suspect is in
custody.
TENNESSEE
Tenn. mom left to wonder
when she'll see 4 kids
By Kristin M. Hall, Associated Press Writer, Palm Beach
Post
10-4-09 --
A week ago, Maria Gurrolla was celebrating the birth of her
fourth child. A blue yard sign announced: "IT'S A BOY!" She
visited a local welfare office that helps low-income
mothers. . . . Then an attacker posing as an immigration
worker arrived at her home south of Nashville, stabbed the
30-year-old mother and snatched away her 4-day-old son. The
newborn was found safe, but after a brief reunion, state
officials took the baby away from Gurrolla again, along with
her other three children. . . . Now Gurrolla is left to
wonder when she might see any of them again. A judge will
review the case this week to determine when Yair Anthony
Carillo and his siblings - ages 3, 9, 11 - can come home. .
. . State officials say the children were taken into custody
Saturday for safety reasons but have not offered details. A
spokesman said a hearing must occur within three days of
when the children were taken into state custody.
WASHINGTON
Mother Arrested After 12
Years on the Run
Chehalis Woman Accused of
Fleeing With Son to Africa, Thailand
By Andy Campbell, Centralia Chronicle
10-1-09 --A
former Chehalis woman accused of kidnapping her son and
running from authorities for 12 years was arrested Wednesday
at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport when she arrived
on a flight from Thailand, the U.S. Attorney’s Office
reported. . . . Karen Kristine Sudderth, 52, has had a
warrant out for her arrest since Jan. 22, 1997, for an
unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to the
release. In July 1999, she was indicted by a federal court
for international parental kidnapping. . . . The case began
in 1996 when Sudderth failed to bring her son, who was 5
years old, to a scheduled visitation with his father, David
Calhoun. She fled, moving from Senegal and West Africa to
Thailand over the 12 years, according to the release.
|
Win a Year
of Child Care*
 |
Help
Support Victims-of-Law on the web by
purchasing from
its Advertisers |
September 2009
ILLINOIS
Chicago teen kills mother's boyfriend in fight
16-year-old is not
charged after stabbing is ruled self-defense
By William Lee Chicago Tribune reporter
9-29-09 --
A South Side teenager fatally stabbed his mother's boyfriend
Sunday night when he was attacked while trying to stop the
man from beating his mother, Chicago police said Monday. . .
. Cook County prosecutors later declined to file criminal
charges against the 16-year-old boy, saying he acted in
self-defense. . . . Police said the boyfriend, Christopher
Nettles, was quarreling with the teen's mother over the
couple's living arrangements in their home in the 6000 block
of South Michigan Avenue in the Washington Park
neighborhood. . . . When Nettles began beating the woman,
the son tried to intervene and stop the attack, police
spokesman Michael Fitzpatrick said. . . . Nettles punched
the teenager in the face, pulled a pocket knife and tried to
stab the boy, Fitzpatrick said.
MICHIGAN
State to MI mom: Stop baby-sitting neighbors' kids
Associated Press, Chicago Tribune
9-29-09 --
A southwest Michigan woman has been told that she's breaking
the law because she watches her neighbors' children each
morning before they get on the school bus. . . . Lisa Snyder
of Middleville says it's "ridiculous" that she faces fines
and possible jail for being a good neighbor and watching two
children for less than hour without getting paid. . . .
State Department of Human Services officials told her last
week that she was operating an illegal day care.
NEW
YORK
Mom reclaims life, rebuilds relationship with child
Ex-Islander turns her
circumstances around after dragging herself down with drugs
By Elise McIntosh, Staten Island Advance
9-29-09 --
Kellie Phelan is in a good place now. Currently, the
35-year-old serves as the volunteer program coordinator at
Hour Children, a nonprofit organization in Queens that, as
one of its many services, cares for children whose mothers
are incarcerated for non-violent offenses. . . . The former
Bulls Head resident is delighted for the opportunity to give
back to a program that has helped transform her life. . . .
A few years ago, she was in prison herself. She wound up at
Rikers Island for violating her probation for previous
drug-related arrests. During her 60-day sentence, she was
pregnant and gave birth to a baby girl, Savannah. . . . The
father, a drug dealer, was no longer a part of Ms. Phelan's
life, so staff at Hour Children acted as the newborn's
guardians while the mother served the rest of her sentence.
Two weeks later, she was discharged and arrived at Hour
Children, eager to reunite with her infant and start anew. .
. . Her top goal after getting settled was to rebuild a very
important relationship she had neglected for years: the one
with her older daughter, Brittanie, whom she had when she
was 17 years old. . . . Brittanie's father was a drug
addict, in and out of prison and in and out of her life. . .
. Whenever he showed, "I was left to pick up the pieces,"
Ms. Phelan said about Brittanie's dad, her first love.
SOUTH
CAROLINA
Mother regains custody, claims agency sought revenge over
gang-rape case
Court gives woman
guardianship of handicapped child; she says state tried to
punish her for gang-rape lawsuit
By Ben Szobody • Greenville News Staff Writer
9-29-09 --
The mother fighting a 12-year legal battle with the state
Department of Disabilities and Special Needs over her
daughter's alleged gang rape again became the woman's
guardian nearly two months after accusing the agency of
exacting revenge by pushing for her removal. . . . Probate
Judge Edward Sauvain reversed his earlier decision. His new
order says all sides now agree the daughter has a “deep
emotional commitment” to her mother, the move will protect
dwindling funds for her care and the mother is the most
likely person to aggressively pursue rape litigation against
DDSN. . . . The mother, Brenda Bryant, said Monday that
she's “very pleased” to regain the rights to her daughter,
but she remains concerned that a parent can lose
guardianship without a review by an outside investigator. .
. . Bryant had accused DDSN of retaliation for her
long-running lawsuits by successfully arguing for her
removal as guardian while her daughter stayed in one of the
agency's Greenville facilities. . . . DDSN officials have
declined to comment on the case. They had previously denied
other claims of retaliation made by consumers, legislators
and an advocacy group in the wake of a critical audit last
year.

Controlling Children's
Minds
by Ken Klukowski, Townhall.com
9-5-09 --
Most people have now
heard that President Obama is going to address America’s
school children on September 8. He’ll be speaking to them
directly, without their parents there to serve as a filter.
. . .
Taken with an outrageous
situation unfolding in New Hampshire, where a home-schooling
mother has been ordered to put her daughter in public school
because the daughter is too outspoken in her Christian
beliefs, a terrifying truth emerges: If you can force a
child into government schools, you can control that child’s
mind. . . .
On Tuesday, around the nation,
millions of children will be in a setting where they’re
expected to accept what adults tell them, and where they are
required to obey. . .
. Many teachers will
carry out White House instructions (now officially modified)
to give writing topics to their students. The original
theme: How can I help President Obama? Children are also
encouraged to read books about Obama, and even
kindergarteners will be asked, “Why is it important that we
listen to the president?”
OHIO
Ohio Supreme Court
affirms firing of worker for taking lactation breaks
by Emily L., Gather.com
9-2-09 --
Ohio doesn't seem to be in the running for most
"family-friendly" state in the Union -- at least, not if you
look to the state's Supreme Court. . . . Last week, Ohio's
top court
ruled
in favor of an employer's right to fire a worker who took
unauthorized breaks to pump breast milk. That's right.
Totes/Isotoner fired new mother LaNisa Allen for taking
breaks to pump during work, and the court took their side.
According to the ruling, the state's law that protects
pregnant women doesn't extend to new moms -- even when the
connection is impossible to miss. . . . According to the
Columbus Dispatch,
the company's attorney "said the case was never about
pregnancy or motherhood." Really? No matter how you approach
this case, and whatever legal perspective you take, that
statement's really hard to take seriously. Totes/Isotoner
took the position that Allen shouldn't have been allowed to
take unauthorized breaks, even ones resulting from her
pregnancy.
NEW
JERSEY
Family Court Gives
Soldier Visitation in Custody Case
By David Kocieniewski, New York Times
9-1-09 --
After 10 months in Iraq and
three months fighting
with her former companion over access to their daughter,
a National Guard specialist was granted daily visitation and
weekly sleepovers with the 2-year-old girl by a judge in
family court here on Tuesday. . . . The specialist, Leydi
Mendoza, 22, said after the hearing that she was delighted
by the judge’s temporary order and already knew how she
would spend the time with her daughter, Elizabeth. “I’m
going to eat with her,” Specialist Mendoza said, laughing,
“and finally potty-train her.” . . . Elizabeth’s father,
Daniel Llares, who had prevented Specialist Mendoza from
spending more than a few hours with their child for fear of
disrupting her routine, said through his lawyer that he was
satisfied with the ruling. After several hours of
negotiations among the parents, their lawyers and a mediator
failed to resolve the standoff, a Passaic County Family
Court judge, George F. Rohde Jr., approved a temporary
agreement that would allow Mr. Llares to retain residential
custody of Elizabeth but grant Specialist Mendoza the right
to see the girl every day and take her home on weekends.
|
 |
A
Victims-of-Law Advertiser |
August 2009
CONNECTICUT
Hotel's Rape Defense Met
With Serious Reservations
Blame-the-victim strategy
still used, but attorneys say it can backfire
Christian Nolan, The Connecticut Law Tribune
8-31-09 --
The story made national news headlines, was the talk of
bloggers and irked every rape victim advocacy group
imaginable. How it affects Marriott International Inc.'s
business remains to be seen. . . . But clearly the hotel
giant suffered a public relations nightmare this month
related to a lawsuit filed by a woman who said she had been
raped in the parking garage of the Marriot Hotel & Spa in
Stamford, Conn. . . . Lawyers for Marriot's insurance
company, in briefs filed in Connecticut Superior Court,
suggested that the woman was partially responsible for the
attack because she was careless and negligent for being in
the garage. After the initial backlash, Marriott
backpedaled, saying that it would not pursue the defense. .
. . But was the initial legal strategy so outrageous? For a
negligence case? No. For a negligence case involving the
rape of a woman in front of her two children? Probably.
CALIFORNIA
You be the judge:
A prayer for relief from court sanctioned child abuse
LA Family Courts Examiner Laura
Lynn
This is the last in a series of the text of a Petition for
Writ of Mandate to change venue of a family law case and
other relief. You may want to read parts
one,
two and
three first.
VII. PRAYER
8-30-09 --
The Petitioner has no expectation that justice will be done
here. She asked for justice May 27, 2008 from this court,
and this court denied her request summarily. The Court is
acting criminally and is making a concerted effort to ruin
the Petitioner emotionally, physically and economically. . .
. The Petitioner is not trained in the law, yet she is held
to a standard that is far higher than the standard of the
Court itself. . . . I pray that the Court will reconsider
its ruling of May 29, 2008 and see that Commissioner Alan
Friedenthal should have been disqualified from presiding
over this case from the start. . . . Criminal charges should
be filed against the parties who altered, falsified, and
destroyed court documents. Criminal charges should be filed
against the officers of the Court who held these corruptions
in their hand and did nothing to further the cause of
justice. Criminal charges should be filed in Federal Court
against the Officers of the Court who perverted justice.
VIRGINIA
ACLU fails in demand to jail child's mother
Mom refused to deliver
6-year-old for unsupervised visit with lesbian
By Bob Unruh, © 2009 WorldNetDaily
8-25-09 --
effort by the American Civil Liberties Union to have a
judge jail the mother of a 6-year-old child for not
delivering her daughter to another state for unsupervised
visitation with a lesbian has been foiled. . . . Lawyers
with the Florida-based legal advocacy group
Liberty Counsel today appeared in court in
Winchester, Va., to defend Lisa Miller from a complaint from
the ACLU on behalf of Janet Jenkins. . . . The ACLU had
wanted Miller jailed after she refused to deliver her
daughter, Isabella, to Vermont for an unsupervised visit
with Jenkins, a lesbian who has stated she believes it is
not good for a child to be raised in a Christian atmosphere.
. . . The ACLU also asked for a court order for Miller to
pay for its attorneys.
IDAHO
Supreme Court overturns ruling barring mom's move
Associated Press - KPVI-TV
8-23-09 --
The Idaho Supreme Court has overturned a lower court
decision barring an Idaho mother from moving to another
state after her divorce. . . . The justices concluded Friday
that that 6th District Magistrate Judge Gaylen Box had no
authority to prevent Aneka Allbright from moving to Michigan
with her new husband. . . . The ruling stems from a Bannock
County divorce and child custody case involving Allbright
and her former husband, Gregory Allbright. The couple
divorced in 2005, have one daughter and the initial divorce
settlement split child custody nearly even.
July 2009
NORTH
DAKOTA
New abortion law to go into effect; judge still reviewing
case material
A new North Dakota law
regarding what a Fargo abortion clinic is required to offer
a woman before obtaining the procedure will go into effect
Saturday despite the clinic’s attempt to temporarily stop
it.
By: Brittany Lawonn, INFORUM
7-31-09 --
A new North Dakota law regarding what a Fargo abortion
clinic is required to offer a woman before obtaining the
procedure will go into effect Saturday despite the clinic’s
attempt to temporarily stop it. . . . A judge said he could
not rule from the bench, but said he would act quickly and
take a prosecutor at his word that he would not rush to
prosecute violations of the law. . . . The Red River Women’s
Clinic has filed a lawsuit in Cass County District Court
arguing that a provision in the new law is confusing. The
suit also asks for clarification and a temporary injunction.
. . . The new law requires the clinic to offer a woman the
opportunity to view an ultrasound 24 hours before getting an
abortion. It includes a provision regarding giving a woman
the opportunity to hear the fetus heartbeat. The clinic is
unsure what they must do to comply with that provision,
including whether they must provide that opportunity, which
would mean purchasing new equipment.
NORTH
CAROLINA
NC court: Twins' mother not liable for lawyer fees
The Associated Press, MiamiHerald.com
7-21-09 --
A North Carolina appeals court said Tuesday that a woman
convicted of kidnapping her biological twins from their
adoptive parents can't be ordered to pay the parents'
attorney fees after she sued them. . . . The North Carolina
Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court judge shouldn't
have ordered Allison Quets to pay $7,480 to the couple who
adopted her twins. Quets had sued to regain custody and lost
last year. . . . While reversing the lower court's attorney
fee ruling, the appeals court agreed that Quets had given up
her parental rights and couldn't claim the children were
adopted fraudulently. . . . In March 2008, Wake County
District Court Judge Anne Salisbury told Quets, 50, who
conceived with donor eggs and sperm in 2004, to pay legal
fees for the adoptive parents, Kevin and Denise Needham of
Apex.
After decades apart, woman finds mom -- homeless in Orlando
Happy reunion:
Jessica Wisnoski and Lani Burgos are reunited after Wisnoski
spent $20,000 and decades searching for the mother she
hadn't seen since she was a toddler.
Susan Jacobson Sentinel Staff Writer
7-20-09 --
For nearly four decades, all Jessica Wisnoski had to
remember her mother was a tattered photo of 2-year-old
Wisnoski sitting in her mom's lap. . . . The yearning to
know her mother never left Wisnoski, 38, who lives near
Houston. She and her husband, Bryan, spent $20,000 and 17
years searching for Lani Burgos, 58, who left her only child
with Burgos' father and stepmother while she tried to kick a
drug habit. . . . On Saturday night, Wisnoski finally found
her mom — homeless and living in Orlando. . . . After years
of dashed hopes and false leads, the Wisnoskis, with the
help of a private investigator, tracked Burgos to a
Salvation Army shelter in
Ocala and, from there, to Central Florida. . . .
During the weekend, they drove to Orlando, where they
planned to hand out fliers offering a reward for helping
them find Burgos. On the way to the Coalition for the
Homeless of Central Florida, they stumbled on police Officer
Jonathan Adkins. He offered to drive them. . . . No luck at
the shelter. So, Adkins took the couple to other hangouts
for the homeless, including Lake Lucerne, where transients said
they had seen Burgos at free meals downtown, Adkins said.
UTAH
Court favors mother's rights over former lesbian partner
Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow
- 7/19/2009 4:10:00 AM
7-19-09 --
A Utah woman involved in a lesbian relationship left her
partner and took her child with her, a move that led to a
courtroom battle. . . . Jana Dickson left the relationship
with lesbian partner Gena-Louise Edvalson because she
believed it was not a good environment to raise her
two-year-old son, among other reasons. Salt Lake City Alliance
Defense Fund attorney Frank Mylar represented
Dickson. . . . "This other party was living with my client
and it was in a lesbian relationship -- and my client and
the other party separated and cut off their relationship,"
he recalls.
NORTH
CAROLINA
Search continues for mother of abandoned baby
By Nancy McCleary, FayObserver.com Staff writer
7-11-09 --
A plea was issued Friday to the woman who abandoned a
newborn on the steps of a Fort Bragg home. . . . "For the
welfare of the child, please step forward," said Tom
McCollum, Fort Bragg's public information
officer. . . . The infant boy - now being called Baby Doe -
is at Womack Army Medical Center and is in
good condition, McCollum said. . . . The baby will be turned
over to the Cumberland County Department of Social Services
when he is discharged from the hospital, McCollum said. . .
. The baby was left on the doorstep of a home in the St.
Mere-Eglise neighborhood between Sicily Drive and Longstreet
Road on Thursday, McCollum said. He would not give the
address of the home. . . . Witnesses reported seeing a woman
in her early 20s with shoulder-length blond hair in the area
about 4 p.m., McCollum said. . . . The baby was found when
the resident and a neighbor heard him crying, McCollum said.
/ Umbilical cord .
. . The child was wrapped in a blanket, according to
reports. Doctors believe the boy is between 3 and 6 days
old, McCollum said. The umbilical cord was still attached,
indicating the mother did not have a medical delivery,
McCollum said. . . . "The child appears healthy, but we need
assistance in finding the mother," he said. . . . Locating
the woman is especially important to determine the baby's
medical history, McCollum said.
NEW
JERSEY
Lawsuit fans flames of N.J. debate on adoption privacy
By Jason Nark, Philadelphia Daily News
Posted on Tue, Jul. 7, 2009
7-7-09 --
IN NEW JERSEY adoption circles, the right to privacy versus
the need for an identity isn't just an explosive issue of
the moment: It's been a painful, simmering fire for both
sides for almost 30 years. . . . Legislation to provide
adoptees with greater access to birth records and their
medical histories has been kicking around in the Garden State since 1980, adoptee-rights
groups claim. . . . "The primary issue is a right to our own
identity at birth. This should not be a state secret," said
Pam Hasegawa, an adoptee and spokeswoman for the New Jersey
Coalition for Adoption Reform. "It's really outrageous that
this bill is stalemated." . . . The issue has drawn
celebrity adoptees such as Darryl McDaniels of the hip-hop
group Run-DMC to the state to lobby for reform. But powerful
opponents, including the NJ-ACLU, the New Jersey Bar
Association and the New Jersey Catholic Conference, hold
influence, said state Sen. Diane Allen, a prime sponsor of
the most recent bill to open records. . . . "There is a
large group of people who are pushing it, but there are just
as many groups pushing back," said Allen, a Burlington
County Republican.
CALIFORNIA
Federal Judge Plans to Acquit Mom Convicted in Landmark
Cyberbullying Case
By Martha Neil, ABA Journal
7-2-09 --
A federal judge in Los Angeles reportedly has said he
intends to acquit a Missouri mother accused of helping to
drive a neighboring teen to suicide by participating in a
hoax on the MySpace social networking site. . . . Lori Drew
was cleared of more serious charges but convicted by a
federal jury in Los Angeles last year of misdemeanor counts
of accessing computers without authorization. However,
interpreting the federal law under which she was found
guilty in this manner, says U.S. District Judge George Wu,
would mean that anyone who has ever violated a website's
terms of service could be found guilty of a crime, reports
the
Associated Press.
June 2009
Navy censors Christian moms
Tells chat group for
relatives of U.S. sailors to change name
By Bob Unruh, © 2009 WorldNetDaily
|
 |
6-26-09 --
The
U.S. Navy has ordered a chat group gathered on a
special website the military set up for families of service
members to drop the word "Christian" from its title. . . .
It also has changed the website's rules to ban all
"religious discussions" because such speech "contradicts our
purpose by creating unnecessary divisions among site
members." . . . The issue was exposed by officials with
Liberty Counsel, a public interest law firm that
has written to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus demanding that the
censorship on the
NavyforMoms.com website be reversed. . . . "The
prohibition of religious groups and religious speech on Navy
for Moms by the United States Navy is unconstitutional,"
said the letter dispatched also to the private company
engaged by the Navy to operate the site. . . . "The
government simply may not create a forum and then proclaim
religious views are not welcome as that is blatant viewpoint
discrimination, absolutely prohibited by the First
Amendment. Even if the restrictions were evaluated as
content restrictions, the United Sates Navy could not
withstand the strict scrutiny required by the Supreme Court
for analyzing the restrictions," the letter, signed by
attorney David Corry on behalf of Liberty Counsel, said.
NEW
JERSEY
Distraught woman sues, alleging N.J. helped child of rape
find her
By Jason Nark, Philadelphia Daily News
6-23-09 --
Reunions of adopted children and their birth parents are
usually heartwarming moments in which tears flow and broken
bonds are made whole in mere seconds. . . . At least that's
how it usually plays out on "Oprah." . . . But that wasn't
the case last Dec. 13, when an Atlantic City woman came face
to face with the daughter she placed for adoption 30 years
ago after being raped. . . . This short reunion on the
woman's doorstep left her feeling "violated, in shock, and
short of breath," according to a lawsuit filed Thursday in
U.S. District Court, in Camden, and she believes that a
division of New Jersey's Department of Children and Families
helped set up the traumatic event. . . . "Everyone would
like to believe that these reunions are so wonderful," said
attorney Matthew Weisberg. "This one wasn't. They didn't
have coffee together. My client went pale. She is devastated
and continues to be devastated because her biological child
continues to attempt contact with her." . . . According to
the complaint, the woman - whose name is being withheld by
the Daily News - received a letter from the Division of
Youth and Family Services in August 2008 saying that an
adopted adult was seeking information about her birth
parents. DYFS asked her to confirm her identity and whether
she wanted to pursue the matter. . . . That letter alone was
painful, rehashing a "violent, disturbing" incident, the
complaint claims, but she believed that her lack of response
would suffice as an answer. . . . "She does not want any
relationship with this woman," Weisberg said.
Why Women Are Unhappy
by Phyllis Schlafly
6-19-09 --
The National Bureau of Economic Research released a
study to be published soon in the American
Economic Journal that shows women's happiness has measurably
declined since 1970. It's no surprise that this has
stimulated much comment. . . . This study covers the same
time period as the rise of the so-called women's liberation
or feminist movement. The correlation demands an
explanation. . . . One theory advanced by the authors,
University of Pennsylvania economists Betsey Stevenson and
Justin Wolfers, is that the women's liberation movement
"raised women's expectations" (sold them a bill of goods),
making them feel inadequate when they fail to have it all. A
second theory is that the demands on women who are both
mothers and jobholders in the labor force are overwhelming.
. . . I'm neither an economist nor a psychologist, but I'll
join the conversation with my own armchair analysis. Another
theory could be that the feminist movement taught women to
see themselves as victims of an oppressive patriarchy in
which their true worth will never be recognized and any
success is beyond their reach. . . . Feminist organizations
such as the National Organization for Women held
consciousness-raising sessions where they exchanged tales of
how badly some man had treated them. Grievances are like
flowers; if you water them, they will grow, and self-imposed
victimhood is not a recipe for happiness. . . . Another
theory could be the increase in easy divorce and
illegitimacy (now 40 percent of American births are to
single moms), which means that millions of women are raising
kids without a husband and therefore expect Big Brother
government to substitute as provider. The 2008 election
returns showed that
70 percent of unmarried women voted for Barack
Obama, perhaps hoping to be beneficiaries of his "spread the
wealth" policies. /
{MORE}
Reunited after 12 long years apart
Matt Bradley, The National
Foreign Correspondent
|

Janet Greer with her daughter, Sarah El Gohary.
Courtesy Janet Greer |
6-17-09 --
After 12 years of court battles, failed negotiations and
deferred hopes, Janet Greer has finally met her daughter,
Sarah al Gohary, for the first time since her father
kidnapped her and brought her to Egypt in 1997. . . . In the
intervening years, the three-year-old American girl Ms Greer
remembered has blossomed into a 15-year-old Egyptian
teenager. But while Ms al Gohary now shares little more than
blood with Ms Greer, a flash of recognition was enough to
fill the gaps left by differences in language and culture
and years of separation. . . . “She looked at me and my hair
… it’s long and blonde,” said Ms Greer, who has since
returned to her home in
North Carolina, in the United States. “The reason I
keep my hair that way is so that she will remember me. She
looked at me and she said, ‘yes mum, this is how I remember
you’. What can I say, that’s what I needed to hear.” . . .
Only days before, such a visit had seemed impossible. On
June 1, an administrative court in Cairo had decided against
allowing visitation rights for Ms Greer – a decision that
marked the culmination of more than a decade of battles in
Egyptian courts for custody and eventually, merely for
visitation rights.
NEW
YORK
Moms sue maker of Baby Gender Mentor kit for inaccurate
results
Examiner.com
6-16-09 --
Six moms in New York state are suing the maker of Baby
Gender Mentor kits for inaccurate results. The test, which
promises that expectant mothers will learn the gender of
their unborn child as early as five weeks into the
pregnancy, has a 99.9% accuracy rate, according to their
website. It also has a money-back guarantee if the results
are wrong, which is a nice touch given that the price itself
is fairly pricey. Problem is, for these New York moms, the
tests were not only wrong but now they can't get their money
back. . . . The
Baby Gender Mentor kit costs $25 and comes with
two pregnancy tests, a blood specimen collection kit, and a
prepaid FedEx envelope. It's fairly simple, you prick your
finger to collect the blood, put it in a vial, and then send
it off to Acu-Gen, the manufacturer of the test. Oh, don't
forget your $250 lab fee! You'll be notified when the sample
is received and then within a few days you'll receive an
email letting you know you can receive your results online
with instructions on how to do so. Finally, you can find out
whether or not you're having a boy or girl. . . . Just don't
get your hopes up too much. The New York moms were told they
were expecting one gender, and placed so much faith in the
results (and why not, since they were guaranteed and 99.9%
accurate?) that they decorated nurseries, named their unborn
child, and began to bond with it as the gender they were
sure it was. Imagine the shock of learning later that no,
Jane is actually a John, or vice versa.
SMW Single Moms' Parenting Tips & Resources
12 Tools Every Single Mom
Should Own
By Allison O'Connor, Single Minded Women
6-7-09 --
When I bought my first home as a
single woman, the very first housewarming gift I
received was a Craftsman’s steel tool box complete with a
set of tools from my father. I tried my best to muster an
appreciative smile and “thank you” but all the while I was
thinking, why the heck do I need this?! Well, to my
surprise, that tool box still gets used a couple times a
month more than 10 years later. And, I’ve even added a few
tools to my collection since then. . . . Whether you own
your own home or rent, having a few tools on hand for a
quick fix can save you time and money you would otherwise
have to spend hiring a handyman. And as any
single mom knows, whether you’re putting together
a crib for the first time or trying to take the batteries
out of a toy, you will always need a screw driver.
Click to see what else you should also have in your tool
kit.
ILLINOIS
Slain mother's fate could teach victims a lesson
In 2001, she wrote: 'If I
come back he'll shoot me again'
By Mary Mitchell, Sun-Times Columnist
6-7-09 --
Under the circumstances, it wouldn't be a rush to judgment
to suspect that Irma Rodriguez was a victim of domestic
violence. . . . On Monday, the 45-year-old mother of three
was found dead in the trunk of her car, which was parked on
a street in Midlothian. . . . She and her husband of 13 years, Norberto Rodriguez, were going
through a divorce. The couple were due in court the day
before Irma was killed. . . . Now, Norberto Rodriguez has
dropped out of sight. . . . According to a report in the
SouthtownStar, "Norberto Rodriguez has not been seen around
the neighborhood in Oak Forest, nor could he be reached at
several phone numbers listed to his name." . . . That's
strange behavior for a man whose son graduated from
elementary school last week. . . . Norberto Rodriguez was
fired as a Chicago Police officer in 1997 for shooting his
wife in the hand during a tussle and was arrested and sent
to prison five years later in a botched heroin deal. . . .
I'm confident the police will catch up to him. . . . I'm
less confident that abused women who can still save
themselves will learn from this tragedy.
ENGLAND
Catholic mother's fury after mental breakdown
sees son fostered by gay couple
By Simon Mcgee, Daily Mail
6-7-09 --
A ten-year-old Catholic boy is being placed in the care of
homosexual foster parents against the wishes of his
religious mother. . . . The child, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, is due to arrive tomorrow at his permanent
new foster home, a hotel in Brighton run by a middle-aged male couple. . . . In the latest row over gay
adoption and fostering, social workers at
Brighton and Hove Council, which has full custody of the child, decided his
long-term placement last month. . . . A Catholic legal
charity is representing the mother in an attempt to change
the placement. . . . A devout Catholic, she has told friends
she is worried about the environment in which her son will
be placed and wants him fostered by a heterosexual couple,
in line with her Church’s belief in the traditional family.
. . . The boy was first placed in care a year ago when his
mother suffered a mental breakdown, the result of an abusive
marriage which has left her unable to look after him. . . .
Described as ‘bright and lively’, he attends a faith school
and is due to take his First Communion soon. He loves tennis
and singing, and texts his mother some nights to let her
know he has brushed his teeth and said his prayers. . . .
The Thomas More Legal Centre, a Catholic legal charity, was
instructed last week to represent the mother. Neil Addison,
director of the centre, said: ‘We are advising her on her
legal options and seeking to resolve the matter with the
council by agreement.’ . . . Her parish priest and her son’s
headteacher are said to be deeply concerned.
May 2009
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
Court Rules Old Maternity Leave Doesn't Count Toward Pension
Associated Press, Wall Street Journal
5-18-09 --
Women who took maternity leave before it became illegal to
discriminate against pregnant women can't sue to get their
leave time to count for their pensions, the Supreme Court
ruled Monday. . . . The high court overturned a lower-court
decision that said decades-old maternity leaves should count
in determining pensions. . . . Four AT&T Corp. employees who
took maternity leave between 1968 and 1976 sued the company
to get their leave time credited toward their pensions.
Their pregnancies occurred before the 1979 Pregnancy
Discrimination Act, which barred companies from treating
pregnancy leaves differently from other disability leaves. .
. . AT&T lawyers said their pension plan was legal when the
women took pregnancy leave, so they shouldn't have to
recalculate their retirement benefits now. Congress didn't
make the Pregnancy Discrimination Act retroactive, they
said, so the women shouldn't get any extra money. . . . A
majority of the justices agreed. . . . "A seniority system
does not necessarily violate the statute when it gives
current effect to such rules that operated before the PDA," wrote Justice David Souter, who will retire next month.
|

ParentStock 2009 - A simultaneous, nationwide
celebration of Faith, Family & Fun, with music,
speakers, and so much more, centered around the
official [36 USC § 135] federal holiday of
Parents Day, Sunday, July 26th
Sponsored by the faithful families of
United Civil Rights Councils of America
Similar to the "Tea Parties" - but even
better, all as is provided by
Federal Law - every single city,
town, village and hamlet, all across America,
should take full advantage of the golden
opportunity to have their own local free Parents
Day celebration, by simply using
the ready materials, easy 1-2-3
instructions, and contact information
provided.
Are you a REAL go-getter for better Family
Values? Then, you should be listed as the local
Coordinator for the ParentStock 2009 event in
your area. Please see the comprehensive USA list
of County Seats linked below, and check if your
faithful service is needed. If so, please do not
hesitate to submit your immediate request, by
clicking through to
your respective UCRCoA Regional Membership
Director, to let her know today, or, by
emailing your details to
events@parentstock2009.com
Click here to see the USA Master ParentStock
2009
Event Locations spreadsheet
|
ILLINOIS
Amy Leichtenberg turning pain of sons' slayings into purpose
Mom becoming an advocate,
working to draw attention to her case
By Stacy St. Clair | Tribune reporter
5-17-09 --
Amy Leichtenberg clings to the memory of that final morning
with her sons -- when the two boys were hers, healthy and
alive. . . . She replays it in her mind, looking for things
she could have done differently or words she could have used
to convince authorities that the boys were in danger. . . .
She watches herself call the LeRoy Police Department about 9
a.m. March 7 to tell the on-duty officer that she won't
allow her sons to spend a court-ordered weekend with their
father because of his increasingly erratic behavior. She
hears the officer threaten to arrest her, and she winces as
she caves to his authority. . . . Leichtenberg hurriedly
packs two backpacks for the boys, kisses them goodbye, tells
them that their mama loves them to the heavens and back. She
sees them climb into a car with her ex-husband, an
unemployed pharmaceutical salesman who has vowed to cut her
open, frequently threatens to kill himself and allegedly
violated her orders of protection 56 times. . . . She
shudders in hindsight, knowing her sons were walking toward
their deaths. . . . Duncan and Jack Connolly, ages 9 and 7,
never returned from that visit. Their bodies were found in a
remote area of Putnam County three weeks later. Their
father, Michael Connolly, hanged himself from a nearby tree.
. . . "Nobody took me seriously," Leichtenberg said in her
first extensive interviews. "I'll spend the rest of my life
wondering why no one would listen to me." . . . Troubling
picture. . . . Law-enforcement records, court transcripts
and other public documents obtained by the Tribune paint a
troubling picture of a system that often ignored
Leichtenberg's cries for help and instead aided her
ex-husband as he worked toward supposed redemption. Despite
his odd behavior and criminal record, Connolly received the
benefit of the doubt from police, prosecutors and a family
court judge in McLean County in central Illinois. . .
. Leichtenberg, 39, has filed an official complaint against
Judge James E. Souk, who granted Connolly unsupervised
visits. She also wants more information about disciplinary
action against LeRoy Police Chief Gordon Beck, who was
suspended for a week without pay shortly after the Tribune
reported that his department had thwarted an Amber Alert
request for the boys. No reason was given for the
punishment.
 
LOUISIANA
Comments in alleged abuse case land judge in hot seat, again
By The Associated Press, Tri Parish Times
5-14-09 --
A Houma judge disciplined for racial insensitivity has been
brought back before the Louisiana Supreme Court to answer
allegations that he belittled a woman who wanted a
restraining order against her husband. . . . Justice Greg
Guidry asked why 32nd District Judge Timothy Ellender was
back before the Supreme Court only five years after his
six-month suspension and orders to take a sociology course
about racial diversity for wearing blackface at a Halloween
party. . . . "That sanction was severe, but it didn't
prevent this from happening," Guidry told the Timothy
Ellender Jr., who represented his father at last Wednesday's
hearing. . . . "It's a completely different incident," the
younger Ellender said. "That was about racial
insensitivity." . . . Guidry replied: "And this is
insensitivity to women. That's the big distinction you're
making? I see lots of similarities between the two cases:
disrespectful, insensitive and insightful behavior." . . .
Judge Ellender admitted the facts of the case, which was on
audiotape. The Supreme Court must decide a penalty.
OREGON
Mom gets probation for fleeing with baby
Texas trek - The Portland
lawyer was afraid the state would take custody of her son
Aimee Green, The Oregonian Staff
5-13-09 --
A Portland attorney who fled to Texas with her 2-month-old
son and the boy's father pleaded guilty to custodial
interference and was sentenced Tuesday to three years'
probation. . . . Amanda Lynn Stanley, 31, sparked a
nationwide search in February when she drove off with her
baby out of fear that state child-welfare workers would win
permanent custody of the boy. . . . Stanley, a tax and
business attorney, received the recommended sentence under
Oregon's sentencing guidelines.
A charge that she stole more than $3,000 from client trust
accounts in order to finance her trip was dismissed, but
Stanley will have to pay the money back.
ARKANSAS
Lawyer sued over car wreck injury to mom's unborn child
By Scott F. Davis, Northwest Arkansas Times
5-10-09 --
A Springdale attorney is accused in a lawsuit of injuring an
unborn child during an automobile accident in 2007. . . .
Kelly Kettle of Fayetteville filed a complaint on Thursday
on behalf of her daughter, Peyton, against H. Todd Whatley
involving an automobile accident on Oct. 19, 2007. . . . Her
husband, Derek, was driving their 2002 Chevrolet pickup and
traveling north on Crossover Road when Whatley attempted to
make a left turn through the northbound lane, causing an
accident with the Kettles' vehicle, according to the
complaint. . . . Kelly Kettle, who was 35 weeks pregnant,
was wearing her seat belt, but she was injured and
transported from the accident scene to Washington Regional
Medical Center, according to the complaint.
Birth Mother's Day eases adoption grief
By Leanne Italie, / Boston Globe
5-3-09 --
Mother's Day, Eileen McQuade used to watch forlornly as
flowers were handed out to beaming women surrounded by their
loving children. Though she was raising two daughters, her
special day was filled with grief and shame. . . . In 1966,
when she was an 18-year-old college freshman, she gave up
her firstborn for adoption. . . . "I didn't feel like I
should take the flower because I didn't feel I deserved it,"
said McQuade, who splits her time between Delray Beach,
Fla., and South Windsor, Conn. . . . Like McQuade, many
birth mothers can't shake their anguish and guilt when
Mother's Day rolls around each May, so they've taken on the
Saturday before the holiday as their own - Birth Mother's
Day. The day was established by a group of Seattle birth
mothers in 1990, and has grown over the years to include
candle lightings, poetry readings, and other events around
the country. . . . "The old myth about adoption was that
birth mothers would go and have their children and forget it
ever happened and the adoptees wouldn't care where they came
from," said the 62-year-old McQuade, who was reunited with
her daughter 12 years ago. "We know that it doesn't really
happen that way. We have a much better sense of it now.
Birth Mother's Day is a healing for many."
TENNESSEE
Millions Potentially At Stake In Illegal Immigrant's Child
Custody Case
Associated Press, FOXNews
5-2-09 --
At 4 years old, Alessandra Villalobos spends nearly all of
her time confined to a bed. She is severely brain-damaged,
can neither walk nor talk and is at the center of a medical
malpractice lawsuit and a custody fight waged in two
Nashville courts. . . . The child-custody case is complex
because of the girl's extraordinary health conditions.
Alessandra requires round-the-clock nursing care — the
result, lawyers say, of a medical mishap when she was 3 that
forever altered her life. If the lawsuit is successful, it
could provide millions of dollars to cover the cost of her
care. . . . But the battle over the child is complicated
even more because her mother, Ingrid Diaz, is in the country
illegally and facing deportation while her daughter was born
in the U.S. and is an American citizen. . . . Diaz, who
moved from Mexico to Nashville five years ago, says she
wants to keep her child but is willing to relinquish custody
if it's in her daughter's best interests. . . . "All I want
is what's best for her, and if other people think that she
should be with someone else, I'm willing to accept that, as
long as it's best for Alessandra," the mother said last
week, speaking through an interpreter.
|

Get Your Justice Live
Every Wednesday and Sunday Night at 8PM
Lary Holland, Get
Your Justice Live
Get Your Justice Live
is an interactive internet talk radio show that
focuses on reforming our government, with an often
special focus on the anti-family courts within the
United States.
. . .
To Call In Live During
Show Time: 724-444-7444 TALKCAST ID: 39517. . . .
Together our voices do count. Be sure to join in
during our live broadcasts and become a part of real
change. We are leading the way for others to
participate fully in the governmental decisions that
affect our children, our privacy, and our lives. . .
. I know together we can make a difference for our
children and their children, but it starts with
being a good citizen. Being a good Citizen starts
with engaging in the discussion of government
policies affecting our well-being on a daily basis.
That is what we are doing, engaging in the
discussion every day! Spread the word. |
April 2009
NORTH
CAROLINA
12 years later, Waynesville mom hopes to see daughter
Susan Reinhardt • CITIZEN-TIMES.com
4-30-09 --
Six years ago I wrote a three-part series on Janet Greer, a
Waynesville woman whose 3-year-old daughter was abducted in
1997 by the child's father and taken to his homeland in
Egypt. . . . The little girl, Sarah “Dowsha” Elgohary, was
kidnapped while living in
Hawaii with her mother. During a
visitation, her noncustodial father smuggled the toddler
into Egypt. . . . Greer hasn't seen Sarah since and has
fought for 12 years to get her daughter back, having lived
in Egypt on three occasions and winning custody twice in
Egyptian courts, only to have it overturned. Two
governments, including her own, have failed her. . . .
Organizations like PARENT International — Parents Advocating
for Recovery through Education by Networking Together — have
supported her, along with countless others. . . . Still
nothing. . . . But now everything may change. . . . An
Egyptian-American journalist and child rescuer has come to
her aid and published a stinging piece about her situation
in Egyptian newspapers. The publicity and outcry have
enlightened the government and enraged the people, said
writer Zagloul Ayad, of Boston, who also runs a nonprofit to
help others. . . . “I believe she's close to being
reunited,” he said. “It's not 100 percent, but 95 percent —
within the next month or so. The article is putting pressure
on the government and making the public aware. Everyone in
Egypt is siding with Janet. The people there have hearts.” .
. . While Greer has come close several times, once as far as
driving to her daughter's apartment building but not being
allowed to get out of the car, she's hopeful this might be
her best shot at a reunion with her long-lost daughter.
NEW
YORK
Lawyer Says Kaye Scholer Partner Wasn't Abandoning Her Kids
Jim Fitzgerald, The Associated Press
4-27-09 --
The woman who allegedly ordered her squabbling young
daughters out of her car and drove off without them quickly
returned to the scene expecting to pick them up, her lawyer
said Friday. . . . Madlyn Primoff, 45, simply drove around
the block in downtown White Plains, N.Y., but the 10- and
12-year-old girls were gone when she returned, defense
attorney Vincent Bricetti said. . . . "She wasn't abandoning
her children," he said. "She expected to find her children."
. . . Briccetti said the older girl had begun walking home
-- 3 miles away -- and the younger girl was apparently taken
in hand by a passer-by who called police on Sunday evening.
NEW
YORK
Lawyer Madlyn Primoff in trouble with the law after passing
point where parents snap
James Bone in New York Times Online
4-24-09 --
Many a parent has contemplated ordering their fighting
children out of the car. Some even pull over to the side of
the road to underline the threat. Seldom does a mother go as
far as Madlyn Primoff, a New York lawyer, allegedly did. . .
. Ms Primoff, a partner at the Park Avenue law firm Kaye Scholer, is said to have ordered her bickering daughters,
10 and 12, out of the car three miles from their home in the
New York suburb of
Scarsdale on Sunday. They were left on a street in White
Plains. . . . She is now facing a criminal charge of child
endangerment. . . . Ms Primoff, who is married to another
Ivy League-educated lawyer, let the 12-year-old back in when
she caught up with the car. The ten-year-old was allegedly
abandoned on the pavement, where a “Good Samaritan” found
her in tears, bought her an ice cream and flagged down a
police car.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
After Mom's Wistful Remark, A Maternity Ward Inquisition
By Marc Fisher
4-23-09 --
Woozy from pain medication after a Caesarean section,
swinging from joy over her newborn boy to exhaustion from
the strain of delivering him, Karen Piper mentioned to her
doctor that she'd been hoping for a girl. She would come to
regret those words. . . . There she was at Washington
Hospital Center on an early spring afternoon, three days
after giving birth. She'd be taking Luke home to the room
she had lovingly prepared, to a time she'd dreamed about for
years, just the two of them getting to know each other,
reveling in the miracle of new life. . . . When nurses
finally told Piper she was free to leave, no discharge
papers for her son were brought out. Instead, she faced a
parade of inquisitive official visitors, including uniformed
police, a social worker, a psychiatrist, and assorted
doctors and nurses. Her baby had been placed on medical hold
while government investigators considered whether Piper was
fit to take Luke home to Prince George's County, the
authorities said. She had failed to bond with her baby, a
nurse told Piper.
NEW
YORK
Police: Mom ordered daughters out, drove off
Partner in Manhattan law firm
reportedly upset by kids' bickering
The Associated Press, MSNBC
4-22-09
-- Usually, it's an
empty threat: "If you kids don't stop fighting, I'm going to
stop this car right now and leave you here!" But a mother
from an upper-crust New York suburb went through with it,
ordering her battling 10- and 12-year-old daughters out of
her car in White Plains' business district and driving off,
police said Tuesday. . . . A judge on Wednesday modified a
temporary order of protection against 45-year-old Madlyn
Primoff and her two daughters. Her lawyer, Vincent Briccetti,
said Primoff is no longer barred from living or talking with
her children. . . . Primoff, a partner in a Manhattan law
firm, pleaded not guilty to a charge of endangering a child
on Monday.
Mental health screening targets moms-to-be
Questionnaire will be used to
determine 'depression' in patients
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
4-2-09 --
A bill that would subject pregnant women to mental health
screenings – and possibly medications that would follow any
diagnosis of "depression" – has returned and already is more
than halfway through Congress, a concerned family group is
warning. . . .
WND reported a year ago when the plan was
proposed to allow the government to order tests on mothers
for baby blues. The proposal later died. . . . However,
officials with
United Nonprofits and Individuals for Truth and Ethics
say the bill is back, and it already has been approved by
the U.S. House and assigned to a Senate committee under the
designation S.324. . . . It's named the "Melanie Blocker
Stokes Mother's Act" after a pharmaceutical sales manager
who killed herself by jumping out of a window after
receiving four cocktails of antidepressants, anti-anxiety
and antipsychotic drugs and electroshock therapy following
the birth of her child.
OKLAHOMA
Bill Lets Moms-To-Be Kill To Save Baby
Measure Would Authorize
Deadly Force If Unborn Child's Life At Risk
4-2-09 --
A bill in the Oklahoma Legislature would allow pregnant
women to use deadly force in order to save the lives of
their babies. . . . The bill stems from a Michigan case
where a woman who was carrying quadruplets stabbed and
killed her boyfriend after he hit her in the stomach. The
woman lost the babies and was convicted of manslaughter. . .
. Oklahoma lawmakers said they want to make sure that a
woman can legally protect her unborn child. . . .
"Unfortunately, we feel we need legislation like this," said
Rep. Mike Thompson. "What we want to make sure is that a
woman feels safe and secure defending herself and her unborn
child against any attacker."
NEW
YORK
Woman’s Sting Operation to Free Her Son Incurs Judge’s Wrath
By Kareem Fahim, New York Times
4-1-09 --
A Brooklyn judge issued a stinging rebuke on Wednesday of a mother’s attempt to
exonerate her son of murder charges, saying her attempts to
elicit incriminating statements from a juror in her son’s
trial amounted to “vigilante” behavior. . . . The judge,
Alan D. Marrus, denied a motion by the son, John Giuca, to
vacate
the verdict or at least hold a hearing on
allegations of juror misconduct. “The defendant,” Judge
Marrus wrote,” is entitled to no relief from his judgment of
conviction.” . . . Judge Marrus said that the mother, Doreen
Giuliano, “contacted the juror two years after the trial
without information that juror had done anything improper,
lied to him about who she was and why she was speaking to
him, engaged in a long-term, quasi-romantic
relationship with the juror during which she
repeatedly manipulated their conversations to get him to
speak about this case, and surreptitiously recorded some of
their conversations.

March 2009
FEDERAL COURTS
N.Y. Federal Judge Overturns FDA Regulation on Sales of Plan
B Contraceptive
Mark Fass, New York Law Journal
3-24-09 –
A federal judge in Brooklyn, N.Y., has ordered the Food and
Drug Administration to allow the manufacturers of Plan B to
make the emergency contraceptive available to 17-year-olds
without a prescription. . . . Eastern District of New York
Judge Edward R. Korman also ordered the FDA to reconsider
whether adolescents younger than 17 should be able to
purchase the drug over the counter, as adult women have been
able to do since 2006. . . . The FDA's decisions limiting
access to the drug were tainted by improper political
influence and departures from the agency's own policies,
Korman wrote. . . . "Plaintiffs have presented unrebutted
evidence of the FDA's lack of good faith," he said in his
52-page decision,
Tummino v. Torti, 05-CV-366.
NORTH
CAROLINA
Mom will fight judge's order against homeschooling
'I couldn't believe how he
overlooked all the facts to legislate from the bench'
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
3-15-09 --
A North Carolina homeschooling mother, ordered to stop
teaching her children at home and send them to public
school, said she will appeal the judge's ruling. . . . "I
couldn't believe how he overlooked all the facts to
legislate from the bench," said Venessa Mills of Wake County
District Court Judge Ned Mangum's ruling that it would be in
the "best interests" of her three children, ages 12, 11 and
10, to be placed in public school, even though two are
learning at two grades above grade level while the third is
at grade level. . . .
As WND reported, the judge's action came in the
divorce proceeding between Mills and her husband, Thomas. .
. . At a court hearing last week, Mangum conceded the
children are "thriving" under Mills' instruction but said
they need to be exposed to the "real world." . . . "It will
do them a great benefit to be in the public schools, and
they will challenge some of the ideas that you've taught
them, and they could learn from that and make them
stronger," the judge said. . . .
Mangum, when contacted by WND, explained his goal
in ordering the children to register and attend a public
school was to make sure they have a "more well-rounded
education." . . . "I thought Ms. Mills had done a good job
[in homeschooling]," he said. "It was great for them to have
that access, and [I had] no problems with homeschooling. I
said public schooling would be a good complement."
Wake divorce case illustrates what is wrong with the current
judicial system
The domestic relations system
in this state is broken and needs to be fixed
Delma Blinson News, analysis and commentary
3-15-09 --
We posted an article from the
Raleigh News and Observer on our State News page
about a domestic relations dispute in Wake County. An oversimplified review
of the case is that a District Court Judge, Ned Mangum, has
ordered a divorced mom to stop homeschooling her three
children and to send them to the public schools. According
to reports the judge came to this conclusion without hearing
any evidence to support a decision that the homeschooling
was harming the children. . . . We think the case is a good
illustration of the corruption we see all too often in
domestic cases in this state. The problem, it seems to us,
is that the current law in North Carolina is all too lax in
what it requires of a judge in handing down such decisions.
Because of the inadequacies of the law judges operate pretty
much as omnipotent arbiters of what is going to happen with
children in a divorce case. The law needs to be changed, as
this case illustrates.
 
NEW
YORK
Prosecutors: Woman had ex-husband killed to keep daughter
The Associated Press
3-9-09 --
Prosecutors say a Queens woman hired a relative to kill her
ex-husband because she feared the court would hand her
daughter over to him. . . . In closing arguments Monday in
state Supreme Court, prosecutors said defendants Mazoltuv
Borukhova and Mikhail Mallayev acted in concert. Both face
murder charges in the death of orthodontist Daniel Malakov.
. . . The 34-year-old Malakov was delivering the girl for a
supervised visit with her mother when he was shot dead in
October 2007.
GEORGIA
'Octomom' Bill Referred for More Study
Shannon McCaffrey, The Associated Press
March 6, 2009
3-6-09 --
A Georgia measure that would place first-in-the-nation
restrictions on the number of embryos fertility doctors may
implant likely won't pass this year after it was shipped to
a subcommittee on Thursday for more study. . . . "The
Ethical Treatment of Human Embryos Act" was inspired
by California's "octomom." It would restrict the number of
fertilized embryos a woman could create and implant through
in-vitro treatments. . . . The issue is expected to
resurface next year. Several key state lawmakers said they
supported the thinking behind the legislation but that it
needed more study to avoid legal challenges. Parliamentary
rules say any bill would have to reported out of committee
on Monday to be considered this session, meaning the measure
is effectively dead. . . . State Sen. Ralph Hudgens said he
sponsored the bill to avoid Georgia spawning its own Nadya
Suleman. Suleman gave birth to octuplets in Bellflower,
Calif., on Jan. 26. She has six other children, lives in her
mother's three-bedroom home and has relied on food stamps
and disability income to provide for her family.
VIRGINIA
Bethany House Of Virginia, An Abuse Shelter Out Of Control
by Carey Roberts, Post
Chronicle Editorial
3-3-09 --
Bethany House of Northern Virginia is an abuse shelter that
provides "warmth and shelter" to persons suffering from
domestic violence -- at least that's what the group claims.
But now a former shelter worker, client, husband, and a
sitting judge have all come forward to reveal a sordid tale
of unethical and illegal conduct. . . . The first bombshell
hit in 2004 when a former shelter volunteer filed a
three-page letter of complaint. Alleging the staff was
"enraged with a bottomless pit of anger at men," she charged
the shelter admitted women who had never suffered physical
abuse, indoctrinated them into feminist ideology, and then
bribed them to commit perjury against their husbands. . . .
"I have spoken with several wives at BHNV who have deeply
regretted having contacted BHNV," the shelter worker
concludes. The women "deeply regret destroying their
marriage, family, husband, and their children's future." Her
full complaint can be seen
here.

February 2009
CALIFORNIA
Suleman says hospital wants proof she can care for octuplets
By Jessica Garrison and Kimi Yoshino
2-25-09 --
Nadya Suleman told TV host "Dr. Phil" McGraw on Tuesday that
she fears Kaiser Permanente Medical Center may
not release her octuplets to her until she proves she can
care for them. . . . In an interview with The Times, McGraw
said Suleman called him Tuesday afternoon, distressed after
talking to Kaiser officials. Suleman has taped two episodes
of McGraw's show, the first of which is scheduled to run
today. . . . "What she is telling me is that unless and
until she has a better living arrangement, that they are not
likely to release the children to her," McGraw said. . . .
Suleman, a single mother who already had six children before
giving birth to octuplets Jan. 26, lives in Whittier with
her mother in a three-bedroom house that is in
pre-foreclosure. Suleman has no job and relies on government
assistance, including food stamps and disability income for
three of her six older children.
NEW
JERSEY
A helping hand for women in need
Posted by Bob Braun/The Star-Ledger
2-18-09 --
There can be money in it -- if the clients are rich enough
-- but many lawyers don't like to touch family law issues.
That's one of the reasons state courts set aside one judge
just to hear so-called "unrepresented" cases -- there are so
many of them. . . . So it's no surprise that one of New
Jersey's premier voluntary efforts to help women deal with
domestic violence and other family law matters is housed in
a Montclair office building that is, to be generous, dismal.
No glass tower, this--no conference room with leather chairs
and an endless polished table. . . . "We sometimes have to
say 'No,'" says Jane Hanson, executive director of Partners
for Women and Justice, a public interest law firm dedicated
to the legal problems of women. . . . "We just don't have
the capacity." . . . If the importance of an issue were
judged by standards of life and death, then problems related
to family law would attract more attention. On average, of
some 450 to 500 homicides a year in New Jersey, about one in
five is related to domestic violence--usually a man killing
a woman. Sometimes, he kills the kids, too, and then
himself.
CALIFORNIA
Panel Affirms Ex-Lawyer’s Life Sentence for Torturing Wife
By Sherri M. Okamoto, Staff Writer
2-10-09 --
The Third District Court of Appeal yesterday upheld the
torture conviction of former criminal defense attorney
Richard William Hamlin of El Dorado Hills. . . . Although
sufficient evidence that Hamlin’s course of conduct
physically abusing his wife supported the torture
conviction, the panel ruled that El Dorado Superior Court
Judge Eddie T. Keller erred in imposing upper terms on
Hamlin’s convictions for making a criminal threat and
inflicting corporal injury on a spouse based on facts not
found to exist by the jury, admitted by defendant, or
justified based on defendant’s record of prior convictions.
. . . Hamlin’s wife, identified in the opinion only as S.,
testified that Hamlin physically abused her every day,
sometimes multiple times each day, and in front of the
couple’s four children, between June 2003 and February 2004.
. . . The prosecution contended that Hamlin had committed
the crime of torture against S. by his conduct. . . . A jury
found Hamlin guilty of torture, three counts of misdemeanor
child abuse, on count of making a criminal threat, and three
counts of inflicting corporal injury on a spouse.
Software Deals of the Week
GENERAL
Octuplet Mom: Blame the Lawyers
Forbes, NY
2-2-09 --
The
story of Nadya Suleman, the woman who
delivered octuplets in Los Angeles last week,
is troubling to many medical ethicists and
frankly, normal observers. Why was a woman
who already had six children get so many
embryos implanted during an in vitro
fertilization procedure? Adding to the
concern is that one of her other children
might have special needs--and that she is a
single mother whose own mother, with whom
she lives, reportedly disapproved of her
decision to ahead with so many births. . . .
Some of the blame has been directed at
Suleman's fertility doctor. That doctor has
not yet been identified in the press. But it
seems like others in the field have a
non-judgmental approach.
In one dispatch, a fertility
specialist says: "Who am I to say that six
is the limit? There are people who like to
have big families." Another says that he
cannot be a "policeman for
reproduction." In other words, doctors
don't consider it their role to steer
patients away from making bad decisions. . .
. But legally-speaking, can they refuse to
aid and abet if they so desire? The answer
is no, at least according to a
recent high-profile court case in
Suleman’s state of California. In
that case a lesbian couple in San Diego went
to a fertility specialist so that one of the
women, Guadalupe Benitez, could get
pregnant. The doctor, Christine Brody,
refused to treat Benitez, explaining that
she objected to unmarried women having
children. Brody offered to refer the couple
to another doctor. Benitez and her partner
sued Brody and her medical practice,
claiming civil rights violations.
January 2009
Court: Christian mom's child must
visit lesbian
State
threatens to take daughter by force, if
necessary
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
1-19-09 --
A Christian mother has been told by a
Virginia court that her 6-year-old daughter
must now visit the mother's former lesbian
partner in Vermont, and if she refuses, the
law will remove the girl by force, if
necessary. . . .
As WND has reported, Lisa Miller
left the homosexual lifestyle and became a
Christian when her daughter, Isabella, was
17 months old. But Janet Jenkins, Lisa's
same-sex partner when Lisa gave birth to
Isabella, is seeking full custody of the
girl, claiming she was a parent even though
she is not biologically related to Isabella
and never sought to adopt her. . . . The
case has been further tangled by the courts,
as Jenkins and Miller were joined in civil
union in Vermont, but Miller and her
daughter now live in Virginia, where the
laws forbid recognition of civil unions. . .
. Earlier this month, however, Judge William
Sharp of the Shenandoah County Domestic
Relations District Court in Virginia,
ordered Miller to allow Jenkins a three-day
unsupervised visit with Isabella. . . .
Miller told LifeSiteNews that Sharp also
ruled that Vermont's civil union laws must
be upheld in Virginia.
|