Wednesday, December 30, 2009
CPS Social Workers Speak out
CPS crimes against children Stop Parental Alientation-Fight for Parents Rights Causes
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Saturday, December 19, 2009
Denial, Justification, and twisting things to work for yourself..
Denial, Justification, and twisting things to work for yourself..
Yeah that about covers it..
I read this article below and I'm sitting here scratching my head.. thinkin.. awesome (Information wise) article BUT... umm ok isn't that exactly what the definition is of either sex parent yelling and screaming that their partner is alienating the children from them do?
Yeah it is!
One parent alienating the children is and can very well be called domestic violence by proxy.. but it wasn't originally called that.
Instead it was called "Parent Alienation" and I'm thinkin just because Richard Gardner studied abusive women doing it and called it like it was.. that those women's groups got their panties in a bunch and had to insist it wasn't happening.
So, lets take a second look -
(1) abusers feel entitled
(2) abuse is a multi generational problem!
(3) people that are in or find themselves constantly in abusive relationships.. are there because they learned from their original caregivers that they weren't "good enough" "smart enough" "strong enough" "good looking enough" "fast enough" "slow enough" tall enough" "short enough" "thin enough" "fat enough" They grew up feeling for the most part JUST NOT ENOUGH of something! aka LOW SELF ESTEEM!
(4) Abusers came from homes where they were taught there were more than... "smarter than" "stronger than" "beter looking than" skinner than" .... do we get the picture here?
So is it only women that learn they aren't enough growing up, or only men that learn they're better than? Umm no!
How can I say no?
Women are the only ones abused!!!!
And because it's been proven that those who end up abused.. ended up there because of their low self esteem!
And men are all batters- then they all grew up feeling more than.. while the women all grew up feeling less than...
Yeah ok- you go right ahead and believe that -- and I'll educate myself and know the real truth.
Dominance and abuse comes in all color- sizes- shapes and forms..
Domestic violence by proxy when being done by an abusive woman is what? Oh yeah they labeled that PARENT ALIENATION!
But.. because this author felt that ONLY men are abusive and only women are victims-- they had to rename something that's already been studied and named long ago..
What's the name? Parent Alienation- stop needing to protect the groups that cried wolf when their own kind got caught alienating.. and call a spade a fukin spade will ya!
The faster Parent Alienation gets into the DSM as what can happened from an abusers entitlement attitude.. then PAS gets in there as well.. as what happens to the children that have been emotionally abused by the original abuser ... the faster our kids get help!
Ummm hello to all those women's groups...
The pain of acceptance is temporary..
The pain of Denial is forever...
How many women do you know that are now either dead or to old to enjoy their children that the abuser took from them eons ago?
DENIAL IS FOREVER...
Stop denying twisting or re-framing the obvious and lets get on with the healing of all the abused souls out there.. yeah even the ones that pee standing up!
Here's a link to the article that got my panties ina bunch this morning...
Domestic Violence by Proxy vs. Parental Alienation Syndrome - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
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Yeah that about covers it..
I read this article below and I'm sitting here scratching my head.. thinkin.. awesome (Information wise) article BUT... umm ok isn't that exactly what the definition is of either sex parent yelling and screaming that their partner is alienating the children from them do?
Yeah it is!
One parent alienating the children is and can very well be called domestic violence by proxy.. but it wasn't originally called that.
Instead it was called "Parent Alienation" and I'm thinkin just because Richard Gardner studied abusive women doing it and called it like it was.. that those women's groups got their panties in a bunch and had to insist it wasn't happening.
So, lets take a second look -
(1) abusers feel entitled
(2) abuse is a multi generational problem!
(3) people that are in or find themselves constantly in abusive relationships.. are there because they learned from their original caregivers that they weren't "good enough" "smart enough" "strong enough" "good looking enough" "fast enough" "slow enough" tall enough" "short enough" "thin enough" "fat enough" They grew up feeling for the most part JUST NOT ENOUGH of something! aka LOW SELF ESTEEM!
(4) Abusers came from homes where they were taught there were more than... "smarter than" "stronger than" "beter looking than" skinner than" .... do we get the picture here?
So is it only women that learn they aren't enough growing up, or only men that learn they're better than? Umm no!
How can I say no?
Women are the only ones abused!!!!
And because it's been proven that those who end up abused.. ended up there because of their low self esteem!
And men are all batters- then they all grew up feeling more than.. while the women all grew up feeling less than...
Yeah ok- you go right ahead and believe that -- and I'll educate myself and know the real truth.
Dominance and abuse comes in all color- sizes- shapes and forms..
Domestic violence by proxy when being done by an abusive woman is what? Oh yeah they labeled that PARENT ALIENATION!
But.. because this author felt that ONLY men are abusive and only women are victims-- they had to rename something that's already been studied and named long ago..
What's the name? Parent Alienation- stop needing to protect the groups that cried wolf when their own kind got caught alienating.. and call a spade a fukin spade will ya!
The faster Parent Alienation gets into the DSM as what can happened from an abusers entitlement attitude.. then PAS gets in there as well.. as what happens to the children that have been emotionally abused by the original abuser ... the faster our kids get help!
Ummm hello to all those women's groups...
The pain of acceptance is temporary..
The pain of Denial is forever...
How many women do you know that are now either dead or to old to enjoy their children that the abuser took from them eons ago?
DENIAL IS FOREVER...
Stop denying twisting or re-framing the obvious and lets get on with the healing of all the abused souls out there.. yeah even the ones that pee standing up!
Here's a link to the article that got my panties ina bunch this morning...
Domestic Violence by Proxy vs. Parental Alienation Syndrome - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
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Thursday, December 10, 2009
Outrage over convicted divorce judge’s early release
By Thomas Tracy
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 9:09 PM EST
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.
Ten years ago Siminovsky helped her ex-husband get full custody of their children under what she claimed to be bogus circumstances. She’s still fighting to get custody. The case was never re-opened, despite Simonovsky’s arrest and conviction for bribing Garson.
VOW, an assemblage of domestic violence survivors working to reform the New York Family Court system, said Garson’s arrest was an example on how domestic abuse victims are further abused when they are forced to stand in front of easily swayed jurists with dollar signs in their eyes.
In 2007, Garson was convicted of bribe receiving and receiving a reward for official misconduct after he was charged with throwing divorce cases to whichever lawyer could feed his hunger for fine food and pricey vacations.
Siminovsky was one of those lawyers. In fact, after he found himself in a spot of trouble, he offered to take part in the sting that took Garson down.
At his sentencing, Garson said that he was “profoundly sorry” for his behavior and that he was “appalled, embarrassed and ashamed” of his conduct.
He was sentenced to three to seven years in prison, yet a state law passed in 1997 allowed his sentencing to be reduced by one-sixth if he holds a “good prison record and accomplishes the milestones that were set for him,” a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Correctional Services said.
“There has been 30,000 inmates who have taken advantage of this small reduction,” the spokesperson said.
Garson was transferred from Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York, to the Fulton Correctional Facility in Harlem back on October 2. He will remain in a temporary release program until his full release on December 23 -- six months early.
A spokesperson for the Kings County District Attorney’s office did not comment on Garson’s early release.
Last month, Michael Vecchione, chief of the DA’s Rackets Division, sent a letter to the New York Department of Parole, demanding that the early release be halted.
“This was an overwhelming case of greed, of selling his office for drinks, lunches, dinners and gifts and of violation of the trust the voters and citizens of Brooklyn placed in him,” Vecchione wrote. “He should serve all the time the law requires him to serve.”
Original Article-
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/12/08/brooklyn/courier_frontpage_garsonout.txt
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In the article above they mention Karlene Gordon. Karlene is my sister from a different mista (Photo Above in the red jacket) She asked me if I would post her entire speach..
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 9:09 PM EST
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.
Ten years ago Siminovsky helped her ex-husband get full custody of their children under what she claimed to be bogus circumstances. She’s still fighting to get custody. The case was never re-opened, despite Simonovsky’s arrest and conviction for bribing Garson.
VOW, an assemblage of domestic violence survivors working to reform the New York Family Court system, said Garson’s arrest was an example on how domestic abuse victims are further abused when they are forced to stand in front of easily swayed jurists with dollar signs in their eyes.
In 2007, Garson was convicted of bribe receiving and receiving a reward for official misconduct after he was charged with throwing divorce cases to whichever lawyer could feed his hunger for fine food and pricey vacations.
Siminovsky was one of those lawyers. In fact, after he found himself in a spot of trouble, he offered to take part in the sting that took Garson down.
At his sentencing, Garson said that he was “profoundly sorry” for his behavior and that he was “appalled, embarrassed and ashamed” of his conduct.
He was sentenced to three to seven years in prison, yet a state law passed in 1997 allowed his sentencing to be reduced by one-sixth if he holds a “good prison record and accomplishes the milestones that were set for him,” a spokesperson for the New York State Department of Correctional Services said.
“There has been 30,000 inmates who have taken advantage of this small reduction,” the spokesperson said.
Garson was transferred from Mid-State Correctional Facility in Marcy, New York, to the Fulton Correctional Facility in Harlem back on October 2. He will remain in a temporary release program until his full release on December 23 -- six months early.
A spokesperson for the Kings County District Attorney’s office did not comment on Garson’s early release.
Last month, Michael Vecchione, chief of the DA’s Rackets Division, sent a letter to the New York Department of Parole, demanding that the early release be halted.
“This was an overwhelming case of greed, of selling his office for drinks, lunches, dinners and gifts and of violation of the trust the voters and citizens of Brooklyn placed in him,” Vecchione wrote. “He should serve all the time the law requires him to serve.”
Original Article-
http://www.yournabe.com/articles/2009/12/08/brooklyn/courier_frontpage_garsonout.txt
Refresh - Go to homepage
In the article above they mention Karlene Gordon. Karlene is my sister from a different mista (Photo Above in the red jacket) She asked me if I would post her entire speach..
Ummm yeah.. of course I will!
Here Goes... Karlene Gordon's Garson Speach in full!
BETRAYAL OF TRUST
Here Goes... Karlene Gordon's Garson Speach in full!
BETRAYAL OF TRUST
Gerald Garson and his partner in crime, Law Guardian, Paul Siminovsky, deceived, corrupted and destroyed lives with judicial immunity and protection. These two felons preyed on defenseless families while disregarding the safety and well being of children and victims of domestic violence. Their success was guaranteed by misusing and abusing their trusted positions as the lawyer for children and the judgeship. Garson and Siminovsky were provided the ultimate protection from the law, by the law.
The same way in which the Securities Exchange Commission failed to protect the public against the likes of Bernie Madoff, the New York State Commission on Judicial misconduct and the Office of Court Administration failed to protect children and parents from the likes of Gerald Garson and Paul Siminovsky. Both of whom are now disbarred felons.
Sentenced to a country club, resort-like-prisons, 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. 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 and recourse.
What is to be said of a judicial system that trivializes the destruction of our most vulnerable population by those with unchecked power.
We are here to denounce this mockery of justice by the Courts.
We will not stay quiet while this criminal element, Gerald Garson, is let loose... free to go home while the children he unconscionably sold to the highest bidding parents are still estranged and alienated.
We will not stay quiet while the parents from whom these children were stolen remain stigmatized, demonized and non-custodial...
We will not remain quiet lest our silence is misinterpreted as consent...
The countless complaint against Paul Siminovsky by Family Court litigants were never validated by any regulatory body. Although he was eventually found guilty of bribery and corruption, none of his Family Court cases were ever reviewed for the same offense.
Does this mean that lawyers and Judges are free to break the law in Family Court because there is absolutely no accountability... with cash, cigars and a hand shake, offenders are certain to escape prosecution.
The countless complaint against Paul Siminovsky by Family Court litigants were never validated by any regulatory body. Although he was eventually found guilty of bribery and corruption, none of his Family Court cases were ever reviewed for the same offense.
Does this mean that lawyers and Judges are free to break the law in Family Court because there is absolutely no accountability... with cash, cigars and a hand shake, offenders are certain to escape prosecution.
Garson and Siminovsky were not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but I, as one of Siminovsky’s back door paychecks continue to be persecuted by his corruption.
Where is the justice and early release for me, my son and all the other parents who lost custody and have been alienated from their children based on this 'custody for sale' scheme.
We are disgusted with the system and its abuses which are exhibited by its re-victimization of survivors of DV.
We are disgusted with the system and its abuses which are exhibited by its re-victimization of survivors of DV.
Although we, the Voices of Women and Advocates against DV, have made recommendation for DV training of Court personnel which to some extent have been implemented, there is still a lack of adherence and accountability.
Therefore,
I recommend that an outside body, comprising of survivors, advocates, civilians and other professional, be put in place to receive complaints of judicial misconduct.
This complaint review body must be transparent and available to the public, who will monitor those who routinely violate the rights of litigants 10 complaints of blatant prejudice, bias, disregard for the law or impaired judgment, must result in an investigation.
Those under scrutiny must step down from their positions pending the outcome of the inquiry.
I recommend that Judges, Referees, Magistrates and Law Guardians be subject to routine Psychiatric Evaluations by accredited psychiatrists, none of whom can be connected to the Courts.
The results of the evaluation must be available to the public.
Anyone found to be unfit must step down from his or her position
I recommend that Family Court discontinues its practice of providing batterers and abusers with the legal platform they need to continue their history of abuse.
Because we are witnessing
MONEY TALKS & GARSON WALKS….
The question is..
I recommend that Family Court discontinues its practice of providing batterers and abusers with the legal platform they need to continue their history of abuse.
Because we are witnessing
MONEY TALKS & GARSON WALKS….
The question is..
How many lawyers and judges did these two convicted felons mentor and corrupt.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Special Request for a dear dear worrier in the family rights fight..
Hello.. fellow family rights advocates...
Today I have a special post. I don't know how many of you know Gail Head from Texas.. but I've personally met her and I would do anything I can for her!
Above is a quilt she hand made with pictures of children that have been il[legally] kidnapped she had everyone send her a personal patch reminding them of their children with either a picture on it or just words.. and she displayed that quilt at every rally all over the world.
Below is a Utube video of her at the D.C. rally displaying the Awareness Quilt-
Her and I met in D.C. in 2007- I had sent her my babies pictures embedded on fabric from a pair of old corduroy pants I had from my daughter and I can't tell you the feeling I got when I had seen her work- what she did was AMAZING!!!
Well it's time to give back--- Gail had a fire that tore her house down to the ground.. she had nothing!
Please, if anyone has anything that they can use-- clothing- anything please get in touch with me and I'm waiting for her to email me back so I know where the stuff can be sent. I've met Gail and she's a tiny woman- I'd guess a size 5.. but I will ask her in my reply email. As for Hubby I have no idea, but will find out!
I told her in an email that I wanted anything to be sent directly to her in Texas.. so for now I'll be taking names and email addresses of anyone willing to help. One I get an address I'll forward it to any emails I have.
PLEASE it's Christmas time-- and Gail has given her heart and soul to strangers.. she has spent countless hours helping those less fortunate she's gone to court with more families than I can count.. it's time to give back!
Gail did not ask for anything- ans who knows if she'll get upset that I'm asking on her behalf but to bad-- LOL -- She helps EVERYONE-- It's her turn to receive!
Here's her original email..
First let me say, I appreciate the concerns, prayers, and thoughtfulness of each and everyone this message is being sent to~!!!
Hubby and I are alive and were not injured, at least physically anyway.
Emotionally, well, that's another story. We are both still in shock.
Here is what happened:
We left town after work and arrived at home a short time later only to find our home engulfed in flames when we got to the property.
I was on the phone with a close friend and started yelling that the house was on fire and burning. I gave her the address and she called 911, and I also called them when I hung up with her. They got there as quick as they could and finally got it out, but everything was destroyed with it burning to the ground.
The only thing left was the clothes on our backs.
What hurts emotionally even more was the loss of our parrots and birds and the sentimentals items that simply can never be replaced. All but 2 of the birds were talkers. We also lost at least 1 or 2 of the cats. We had thought and believed last night that all but one of them had perished in the fire and at first, didn't think any had survived.
After the fire was out, 1 of the kittens came out from hiding and came to me. Another kitten finally came out but was too scared and would not let me catch it. We had believed that only the 2 of them had survived. However, when hubby went to the property to feed the horses, outside dogs, and all the fine feathered farm family members this evening, Goldie, the mother of the kittens and the 3rd kitten came out of hiding.
They were still too scared and would not let hubby catch them, so he put out food for them, but at least they are alive. Will try tomorrow to catch them and bring them into town with us.
Red Cross has helped us last night and tonight with a place to stay, some money for food, essentials, and a change of clothes. Local thrift stores also gave us some clothes today as well as a few friends who brought clothes and other things to us.
Hubby's work, Atwood's Home & Farm has been awesome today too. Could not ask for an employer to be any more supportive than they are. My shop is OK. My landlord for it is an awesome lady and landlord~!!!
So hubby still has his job and I still have my shop. I'll get back to work in it as soon as I can think straight enough to concentrate on what I'm doing. Right now, we are both just very overwhelmed with what has happened and the decisions we are now going to be facing.too many unanswered questions.
Can't even begin to say how, what,where, when, or anything about anything. This was not rental property. We have a land mortgage, but we didn't have a house payment - it was paid for, and no, living in the country where we were, no fire hydrants and insurance premiums not affordable, there was no insurance.
In answer to the question --- will we stay there or move? Yes, we will stay and rebuild as we can.
If you write or email, please give me a little time to respond, but I will answer as soon as I can.
Take care everyone.
Until later............
Gail
PS --- permission granted to share this message with anyone wishing to read it.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
National Organization for Women-NYS Denounces Judge Garson's Early Release
ALBANY, NY (12/05/2009)(readMedia)--
Former Judge Gerald Garson was convicted of taking bribes from parents in custody disputes. He is being released six months earlier than his minimum sentence.
NOW New York State, the Battered Mothers Custody Conference, and other domestic violence and court reform advocates denounce the early release of Ex-Judge Garson. This is indicative of the pervasive corruption, cronyism, and conflict of interest that permeates our state's and its nation's family court system.
Judge Garson was given early release, after having been convicted of a crime. Yet thousands upon thousands of survivors of domestic violence, whose children have been taken away from them and given to their abusive ex-partners through improper court practices and judges like Mr. Garson, will never be released from the anguish of losing their children.
The citizens of New York State can no longer tolerate investigations where the fox is watching the hen house. On behalf of thousands of battered mothers in New York State, we call for a thorough, impartial, citizen-involved review of the NYS family court system. Until this serious review takes place, women and children will continue to be at risk.
Original Article--
National Organization for Women-NYS Denounces Judge Garson's Early Release
Now anyone that knows me KNOWS how much I despise the political BS of this group-- but this story is a fair one and I know that first hand-- so here is it.
Refresh - Go to homepage
Former Judge Gerald Garson was convicted of taking bribes from parents in custody disputes. He is being released six months earlier than his minimum sentence.
NOW New York State, the Battered Mothers Custody Conference, and other domestic violence and court reform advocates denounce the early release of Ex-Judge Garson. This is indicative of the pervasive corruption, cronyism, and conflict of interest that permeates our state's and its nation's family court system.
Judge Garson was given early release, after having been convicted of a crime. Yet thousands upon thousands of survivors of domestic violence, whose children have been taken away from them and given to their abusive ex-partners through improper court practices and judges like Mr. Garson, will never be released from the anguish of losing their children.
The citizens of New York State can no longer tolerate investigations where the fox is watching the hen house. On behalf of thousands of battered mothers in New York State, we call for a thorough, impartial, citizen-involved review of the NYS family court system. Until this serious review takes place, women and children will continue to be at risk.
Original Article--
National Organization for Women-NYS Denounces Judge Garson's Early Release
Now anyone that knows me KNOWS how much I despise the political BS of this group-- but this story is a fair one and I know that first hand-- so here is it.
Refresh - Go to homepage
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Mother, Son Reunite After Two Decades
HALABJA, Iraq (Dec. 5) --
Six families nervously awaited the DNA tests on the young man who returned from Iran. They wondered: Could this be their son who was just an infant in 1988 and somehow lived through a deadly chemical attack by Saddam Hussein's regime?
There was absolute silence as the judge announced the lab results. The man, who called himself Ali, was deemed to be the sole surviving child of 58-year-old Fatima Mohammed Salih, who had lost her husband and all her other six children in the poison gas clouds that covered the mostly Kurdish city of Halabja.
For the first time in more than two decades, they embraced.
"I'm in a dream," said 21-year-old Ali Pour as he comforted the weeping woman.
The reunion Friday in Iraq's northern Kurdish region was the rarest of artifacts from Halabja: a moment of joy from the day the city became an open cemetery for an estimated 5,600 people killed when lethal gas was dropped by Saddam's military.
It was part of Saddam's brutal 1987-88 campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion. Nearly 200,000 people died in Baghdad's scorched-earth offensive.
The alleged mastermind of the Halabja attack, Saddam's cousin known as "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, is among regime officials who have been sentenced to death for the Kurdish crackdown and other crimes. The trial specifically on Halabja is still under way.
It's the only known case of a long-lost child from Halabja being definitively reunited with a relative. The assistant chief of the Directorate of the Martyrs of Halabja, Abdul Rahman Yasin, said 41 names — children at the time of the attack — are still registered as missing.
"I wonder if it is a dream or a gift from God," said his newfound mother.
She repeated her son's birth name: Zimnaku Mohammed Saleh.
She then recalled the day Halabja was attacked. The family was at home. There was utter panic. They first ran into the streets and then went back inside.
"We didn't know where to go," she said. "Zimnaku, the 4-month-old, was on my lap and suddenly my older son screamed saying, 'Mother, I feel like I'm burning.' I tried to help him and my other sons, too. But it was in vain. I saw them dying in front of me. I collapsed and the next thing I remember is lying in a hospital bed in Tehran."
As Ali Pour learned the fate of his Kurdish family, his own story was told through translators. Pour speaks only Farsi and knows only life in eastern Iran — far from the Kurdish region that straddles Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
"The baby Ali survived for three days," said his adopted uncle, Habib Hamid Pour.
He was found by the Iranian military, which had moved into Halabja after the gas attack. It was the closing months of a horrific war between the two countries that began in 1980 and many of the Halabja survivors were taken to Tehran.
The infant boy was brought to a hospital with plans to send him eventually to an orphanage, said the uncle. But his sister, Kubra Pour, offered to care for the boy along with her two children in the Iranian city of Mashhad.
"My adopted mother was nice," said Pour, who was dressed in traditional Kurdish clothing of baggy pants, tunic and scarf tucked into his belt. "When I entered primary school at age 6, she told me I am from the Kurdish people from Halabja. She said I should return someday to meet my relatives."
Four months ago, his adopted mother was killed in a car accident, Pour said.
"I felt lonely and I felt a strange feeling calling me to return to the arms of my relatives," he said. "I decided to go back."
He contacted Iranian officials who kept records on the Halabja survivors brought to Iran. They contacted Halabja officials, who answered that six families said they were missing a boy who would now be Pour's age. A judge asked for DNA tests from a medical lab in Jordan.
Amazing pics and Original Article - Iraqi Son, Mother Torn Apart by War, Reunite
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Six families nervously awaited the DNA tests on the young man who returned from Iran. They wondered: Could this be their son who was just an infant in 1988 and somehow lived through a deadly chemical attack by Saddam Hussein's regime?
There was absolute silence as the judge announced the lab results. The man, who called himself Ali, was deemed to be the sole surviving child of 58-year-old Fatima Mohammed Salih, who had lost her husband and all her other six children in the poison gas clouds that covered the mostly Kurdish city of Halabja.
For the first time in more than two decades, they embraced.
"I'm in a dream," said 21-year-old Ali Pour as he comforted the weeping woman.
The reunion Friday in Iraq's northern Kurdish region was the rarest of artifacts from Halabja: a moment of joy from the day the city became an open cemetery for an estimated 5,600 people killed when lethal gas was dropped by Saddam's military.
It was part of Saddam's brutal 1987-88 campaign to crush a Kurdish rebellion. Nearly 200,000 people died in Baghdad's scorched-earth offensive.
The alleged mastermind of the Halabja attack, Saddam's cousin known as "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid, is among regime officials who have been sentenced to death for the Kurdish crackdown and other crimes. The trial specifically on Halabja is still under way.
It's the only known case of a long-lost child from Halabja being definitively reunited with a relative. The assistant chief of the Directorate of the Martyrs of Halabja, Abdul Rahman Yasin, said 41 names — children at the time of the attack — are still registered as missing.
"I wonder if it is a dream or a gift from God," said his newfound mother.
She repeated her son's birth name: Zimnaku Mohammed Saleh.
She then recalled the day Halabja was attacked. The family was at home. There was utter panic. They first ran into the streets and then went back inside.
"We didn't know where to go," she said. "Zimnaku, the 4-month-old, was on my lap and suddenly my older son screamed saying, 'Mother, I feel like I'm burning.' I tried to help him and my other sons, too. But it was in vain. I saw them dying in front of me. I collapsed and the next thing I remember is lying in a hospital bed in Tehran."
As Ali Pour learned the fate of his Kurdish family, his own story was told through translators. Pour speaks only Farsi and knows only life in eastern Iran — far from the Kurdish region that straddles Iraq, Iran and Turkey.
"The baby Ali survived for three days," said his adopted uncle, Habib Hamid Pour.
He was found by the Iranian military, which had moved into Halabja after the gas attack. It was the closing months of a horrific war between the two countries that began in 1980 and many of the Halabja survivors were taken to Tehran.
The infant boy was brought to a hospital with plans to send him eventually to an orphanage, said the uncle. But his sister, Kubra Pour, offered to care for the boy along with her two children in the Iranian city of Mashhad.
"My adopted mother was nice," said Pour, who was dressed in traditional Kurdish clothing of baggy pants, tunic and scarf tucked into his belt. "When I entered primary school at age 6, she told me I am from the Kurdish people from Halabja. She said I should return someday to meet my relatives."
Four months ago, his adopted mother was killed in a car accident, Pour said.
"I felt lonely and I felt a strange feeling calling me to return to the arms of my relatives," he said. "I decided to go back."
He contacted Iranian officials who kept records on the Halabja survivors brought to Iran. They contacted Halabja officials, who answered that six families said they were missing a boy who would now be Pour's age. A judge asked for DNA tests from a medical lab in Jordan.
Amazing pics and Original Article - Iraqi Son, Mother Torn Apart by War, Reunite
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Dad Sought in Wisconsin Deaths of 2 Daughters and Their Mothers
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin authorities on Saturday searched for a father who they say is linked to the deaths of his two young daughters and their mothers. The man has been charged in two of the murders and police have warned that he is armed and dangerous.
Tyrone Adair, 38, of Middleton, was charged Friday with first-degree intentional homicide in the deaths of his 33-year-old girlfriend, Tracy Judd, and their 23-month-old daughter, Deja Adair. Judd's older daughter told detectives Adair called her Thursday to say her mother and Deja would not be home because they had been in a bad accident.
Their bodies were found that night in Middleton inside the trunk of Adair's car, less than three hours after another of Adair's daughters and that girl's mother were found shot to death in Madison, authorities said. The coroner identified those killed in Madison as Amber Weigel, 25, and Neveah Weigel-Adair, 2.
Madison Police spokesman Joel DeSpain called Tyrone Adair armed and dangerous Friday. His photograph was distributed to law enforcement nationwide.
"At this point in time we don't know where this guy has gone," DeSpain said.
Court records indicate Adair was involved in paternity cases with Judd and Weigel, whose family issued a statement late Friday through Madison police saying they were "deeply devastated" and asking friends to "help ensure the safety of the rest of this family by refraining from making any comments or releasing any information."
Police were called to Weigel's duplex on Madison's southwest side around 6 p.m. Thursday and found the bodies of Weigel and her daughter inside a vehicle in the garage.
Around 8:30 p.m., Madison police asked officers in nearby Middleton to locate another vehicle. Officers found it in an apartment complex parking lot with the bodies of Judd and her daughter in the trunk, according to a court documents.
Judd had suffered a head injury, Middleton Police Lt. Noel Kakuske said. The Dane County Coroner's Office did not release specifics about how she and her daughter died, other than to say Friday that they were "victims of homicidal attacks that were not related to firearms."
No charges had been filed in the Madison case Friday, but Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said he filed the charges in the case of Judd and her daughter so police could issue a warrant for Adair's arrest.
According to a criminal complaint, Judd's older daughter told detectives Adair had moved into their Middleton house a few days before Christmas Day 2007 — Deja Adair's birthday. She said she last saw him about 4 p.m. Thursday.
The girl said Adair called her about 7:20 p.m., told her he was behind a Wal-Mart in Dodgeville, about 50 miles from Middleton, and said her mother and Deja wouldn't be home because they'd been in a bad accident.
When Madison detectives investigating the shootings there learned of the phone call, they asked Middleton police to find Adair's vehicle, leading to the discovery of the bodies in the trunk. Police released a still shot from a camera inside a bar next to the parking lot that shows Adair was there Thursday afternoon.
"It's possible it was just a random location to leave the vehicle," Kakuske said.
Court records show Adair and Judd reached a court settlement in 2008 acknowledging Adair was Deja's father. A family court commissioner ordered Judd, who also used her married name of Tracy Graser, and Adair to share custody of the child because they were living together.
Police tape encircled Judd's ranch-style home Friday morning. Sheriff's deputies came and went from the house. All the blinds were drawn. A child's plastic playhouse sat in the backyard.
In the other paternity case, a court commissioner ruled in March 2008 that Adair was Neveah's father after Amber Weigel petitioned the court for a paternity judgment. The two were ordered to share custody and Adair to pay Weigel child support and birth expenses.
Weigel, who was an assistant teacher for the toddler class at Montessori Children's House, was "so proud of what she had become and what she did with her life," her family's statement said.
The family also offered prayers to Adair's family, "particularly to Tyrone's mother because she has also lost a granddaughter, and they have lost a cherished family member."
ORIGINAL ARTICLE- Dad Sought in Wisconsin Deaths of 2 Daughters and Their Mothers - Local News News Articles National News US News - FOXN...
Thursday, December 3, 2009
The case is Pottawattamie County, Iowa, v. McGhee and Harrington.
This isn't my normal type of post but lemme tell you.. this is a must read!
People think about it-- can this happen to you or yours? Why not!
At Supreme Court: Can prosecutors be sued for framing defendants?
Two African-American men wrongly imprisoned for 25 years filed a lawsuit against prosecutors for fabricating evidence against them. The Supreme Court hears the case Wednesday.
By Warren Richey Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 3, 2009 edition
Washington - The US Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to consider an unusual question: Do Americans who have been framed by unscrupulous prosecutors for crimes they did not commit have a right to sue the prosecutors when the fraud is finally exposed?
According to the Obama administration, the answer is no.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan argues in a friend of the court brief that local, state, and federal prosecutors must enjoy absolute immunity from citizen lawsuits - even when they sent innocent men to prison for life by fabricating incriminating evidence and hiding exculpatory evidence.
Those are the allegations in a case from Iowa set for oral argument on Wednesday morning. According to legal briefs filed in the case, prosecutors in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, solicited false testimony implicating two innocent African-American teens in the murder of a recently retired police officer in 1977. At trial, the false testimony led to their convictions. They were sent to prison for life.
When the false testimony and other exculpatory evidence was discovered, the two innocent men, Curtis McGhee and Terry Harrington, were released after 25 years in prison. They filed a lawsuit against the prosecutors.
The question before the high court is whether the prosecutors can be held accountable in a civil trial or instead are entitled to absolute immunity from such lawsuits.
"If the allegations here are true, [the Iowa officials] engaged in prosecutorial misconduct of an execrable sort, involving a complete breach of the public trust," Solicitor General Kagan writes in her brief to the court. "But absolute immunity reflects a policy judgment that such conduct is properly addressed not through civil liability, but through a host of other deterrents and punishments. "
Absolute vs. qualified immunity
Lawyers for Mr. McGhee and Mr. Harrington argue in their briefs that police officers who fabricate evidence do not enjoy such absolute protection from a civil lawsuit. They say prosecutors who actively participate in the pre-trial investigation of a case must be held to the same standard as police officers, detectives, and agents, who can be sued if they violate clearly-established constitutional rights.
"When law enforcement officers fabricate evidence with an intent to use it to deprive innocent citizens of their liberty, they violate the Constitution, " writes Paul Clement, a former US Solicitor General who is arguing the case for McGhee and Harrington.
"The framing of innocent African-American citizens for a crime they did not commit, lies at the core of what Congress sought to prevent in the Civil Rights statutes," Mr. Clement says in his brief.
Lawyers for the two prosecutors counter that there is no constitutional right "not to be framed."
The critical question is whether the trial is fair, they say. The constitutional infraction occurs not when the false statements are first obtained, but when they are introduced at trial. Since prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity from lawsuits related to the actions they take at trial, any false testimony cannot form the basis of a lawsuit against a prosecutor, they say.
Attorneys general from 27 states and the District of Columbia filed a friend of the court brief urging the high court to embrace this broader view of absolute prosecutor immunity.
However, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Cato Institute, and the American Civil Liberties Union argue for a lower level of immunity that offers prosecutors protection from lawsuits except when they have violated a clearly-established constitutional right.
Confidence in justice system
New Jersey-based group Black Cops Against Police Brutality also filed a friend of the court brief in the case.
"This case is not just about drawing a good lawyerly line between precedents," writes Chicago lawyer Mark Herrmann in a brief for the group. "The facts are that Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee are black and once were young, and that [the murder victim] was white and had been a police captain. Together, these facts made it easy for [the prosecutors] and their accomplices to frame Harrington and McGhee for murder."
Mr. Herrmann writes: "We can imagine few rulings of this Court that would send a more negative message about American criminal justice than to permit white prosecutors to frame African-American suspects for the murder of a white police officer, admit the outrage, and then walk away with impunity, after their victims have wrongfully suffered twenty-five years in prison."
The case is Pottawattamie County, Iowa, v. McGhee and Harrington.
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People think about it-- can this happen to you or yours? Why not!
At Supreme Court: Can prosecutors be sued for framing defendants?
Two African-American men wrongly imprisoned for 25 years filed a lawsuit against prosecutors for fabricating evidence against them. The Supreme Court hears the case Wednesday.
By Warren Richey Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
from the November 3, 2009 edition
Washington - The US Supreme Court on Wednesday is set to consider an unusual question: Do Americans who have been framed by unscrupulous prosecutors for crimes they did not commit have a right to sue the prosecutors when the fraud is finally exposed?
According to the Obama administration, the answer is no.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan argues in a friend of the court brief that local, state, and federal prosecutors must enjoy absolute immunity from citizen lawsuits - even when they sent innocent men to prison for life by fabricating incriminating evidence and hiding exculpatory evidence.
Those are the allegations in a case from Iowa set for oral argument on Wednesday morning. According to legal briefs filed in the case, prosecutors in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, solicited false testimony implicating two innocent African-American teens in the murder of a recently retired police officer in 1977. At trial, the false testimony led to their convictions. They were sent to prison for life.
When the false testimony and other exculpatory evidence was discovered, the two innocent men, Curtis McGhee and Terry Harrington, were released after 25 years in prison. They filed a lawsuit against the prosecutors.
The question before the high court is whether the prosecutors can be held accountable in a civil trial or instead are entitled to absolute immunity from such lawsuits.
"If the allegations here are true, [the Iowa officials] engaged in prosecutorial misconduct of an execrable sort, involving a complete breach of the public trust," Solicitor General Kagan writes in her brief to the court. "But absolute immunity reflects a policy judgment that such conduct is properly addressed not through civil liability, but through a host of other deterrents and punishments. "
Absolute vs. qualified immunity
Lawyers for Mr. McGhee and Mr. Harrington argue in their briefs that police officers who fabricate evidence do not enjoy such absolute protection from a civil lawsuit. They say prosecutors who actively participate in the pre-trial investigation of a case must be held to the same standard as police officers, detectives, and agents, who can be sued if they violate clearly-established constitutional rights.
"When law enforcement officers fabricate evidence with an intent to use it to deprive innocent citizens of their liberty, they violate the Constitution, " writes Paul Clement, a former US Solicitor General who is arguing the case for McGhee and Harrington.
"The framing of innocent African-American citizens for a crime they did not commit, lies at the core of what Congress sought to prevent in the Civil Rights statutes," Mr. Clement says in his brief.
Lawyers for the two prosecutors counter that there is no constitutional right "not to be framed."
The critical question is whether the trial is fair, they say. The constitutional infraction occurs not when the false statements are first obtained, but when they are introduced at trial. Since prosecutors enjoy absolute immunity from lawsuits related to the actions they take at trial, any false testimony cannot form the basis of a lawsuit against a prosecutor, they say.
Attorneys general from 27 states and the District of Columbia filed a friend of the court brief urging the high court to embrace this broader view of absolute prosecutor immunity.
However, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Cato Institute, and the American Civil Liberties Union argue for a lower level of immunity that offers prosecutors protection from lawsuits except when they have violated a clearly-established constitutional right.
Confidence in justice system
New Jersey-based group Black Cops Against Police Brutality also filed a friend of the court brief in the case.
"This case is not just about drawing a good lawyerly line between precedents," writes Chicago lawyer Mark Herrmann in a brief for the group. "The facts are that Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee are black and once were young, and that [the murder victim] was white and had been a police captain. Together, these facts made it easy for [the prosecutors] and their accomplices to frame Harrington and McGhee for murder."
Mr. Herrmann writes: "We can imagine few rulings of this Court that would send a more negative message about American criminal justice than to permit white prosecutors to frame African-American suspects for the murder of a white police officer, admit the outrage, and then walk away with impunity, after their victims have wrongfully suffered twenty-five years in prison."
The case is Pottawattamie County, Iowa, v. McGhee and Harrington.
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Wednesday, December 2, 2009
VT Judge Awards Custody to Non-Biological Mom- Due to Parent Alienation
by Kilian Melloy
Monday Nov 30, 2009
A long-running custody dispute has culminated in a Vermont judge ordering the former partner of a child’s biological mother to assume custody of the child. The anti-gay Christian press says that the seven-year-old child, Isabella, is a "stranger" to her new custodial parent, Janet Jenkins, and that Isabella had "violent reactions" whenever she was in Jenkins’ care due to her "lesbian lifestyle." But according to lawyer and family court expert Kurt Hughes of Burlington, Vermont, the outcome is typical of certain custodial cases in which one parent repeatedly refuses to abide by a court-ordered custody arrangement.
"Even though it’s hit the headlines because this happens to be a same-sex couple, this is a very basic family law that we’re talking about," Hughes told local news station WCAX, which reported on the case in a Nov. 23 article.
"There’s something called parental alienation syndrome, in which one parent is constantly bad mouthing the other parent," Hughes explained. "And so the courts over the years have decided that the potential long term psychological impact to a child from that type of behavior is much greater than the temporary disruption that would result from a child changing households from one parent to the other." The biological mother, Lisa Miller, has been ordered to relinquish custody of daughter Isabella to Jenkins by the start of the new year. Miller will retain visitation rights. If she does not comply, she may end up in prison.
Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ruled that the change of custody was necessary because the dispute had the capacity to harm the child more than a change of custody would. Wrote Judge Cohen, "Ms. Miller’s interference with the relationship between (the child) and Ms. Jenkins have become so pervasive that it now outweighs the potential harm that could occur to the child by a chance of custody."
But to Christian pundits, the case represents a precedent in which the state takes a child from her biological mother in favor of a non-biological former same-sex partner.
Miller’s lawyer, Mat Staver, is also the founder of the right wing--and anti-gay--Liberty Counsel, which has ties to Jerry Falwell’s religious organization. Staver was one of two sources quoted in a Nov. 25 article posted at CitizenLink.com, a Focus on the Family-affiliated Web publication. The other source quoted in the article was a professor at the right-wing Christian Liberty University School of Law.
Said Staver, "This judge in Vermont ultimately ruled that he is going to switch custody from Lisa Miller, and take her own biological daughter Isabella and move her from Virginia and put her into an activist lesbian household up in Vermont with a person she really doesn’t know, who’s not her biological mother, and frankly who’s not acted as a parent."
Staver claimed that Isabella responded negatively to Jenkins’ so-called "lesbian lifestyle," saying, "Every time that the visitation actually occurred, Isabella had violent reactions, because Janet exposed her to the lesbian lifestyle." Staver claimed that Jenkins "tried to convince her that she has two moms and even tried to scare her by saying that she was going to be taken from Lisa and transferred to Vermont."
The article painted Miller’s refusal; to comply with the court-ordered custodial arrangement due to the "violent reactions" that Isabella allegedly exhibited to spending with Jenkins. However Jenkins painted a much different picture, saying, "[M]y daughter completely knows me. We were together ten months ago. I mean, she adores me. She calls me Mama."
The case has raged for six years between the former life partners, who had entered into a civil union together before Miller conceived Isabella via artificial insemination. When their relationship ended, Miller relocated from Vermont to Virginia and became a Baptist.
The custody dispute went all the way to the state supreme court of both states. Vermont’s Supreme Court recognized Jenkins’ parental relationship with Isabella, and the Vermont state Supreme Court found--despite a Virginia law that excludes same-sex families from any legal recognition--that while Miller would receive custody of Isabella, Jenkins would retain visitation rights. It is that arrangement that Judge Cohen’s ruling reversed.
Cohen’s ruling was denounced by Liberty University School of Law professor Rena Lindevaldsen, who told CitizenLink.com, "To have the first reported decision in the country stripping a biological mother of her child, solely because she has refused to give visitation to a legal stranger, is shocking." Added Lindevaldsen, "There’s a lot of talk nowadays about drawing that line in the sand and understanding that government can’t order certain things. When you’re ordering a child to be stripped from her biological mother, you’ve got to wonder, has the court overstepped its bounds?"
Staver cited the case as illustrative of the perils of granting same-sex families full legal recognition, telling Newsweek in a Dec. 6, 2008 article that, "Lisa Miller’s case illustrates two things in regards to same-sex marriages. First, one state cannot adopt same-sex unions without affecting the sister states. It’s simply impossible. Secondly, these cases are about real people, and children are particularly caught in the tangled legal web of same-sex marriage, and Isabella is a classic example."
In that same article, however, Jenkins offered a glimpse into what the case has meant for her. "I did not divorce my child, I divorced my partner," she said. "Yet I’ve missed out on my child’s kindergarten graduation. I’ll never get that back. I don’t even get to talk to my daughter on the phone. It’s heinous what has transpired."
Whether children of same-sex couples are more at risk of such legal entanglement than are children of feuding heterosexual former spouses may be a point of debate. When it does happen that dissolving same-sex unions involve children, however, what holds sway is the very same patchwork of legal rights and status that can change the legal standing of a family’s members from one state to the next simply by crossing a border: while Vermont, where the women lived while together and where Jenkins still resides, now offers marriage equality, Virginia, where Miller relocated, specifically denies any legal recognition of same-sex families at all. Attorney Joseph Price, who represents Jenkins, told Newsweek, "You cannot just shop your case around in different states until you get a ruling in your favor. And that’s essentially what Lisa has tried to do."
In that article, Miller, too, opened up, saying that she had a conversion experience while attending a Baptist church and decided to walk away from her lesbian identity. "I do not feel safe leaving my daughter with her," Miller told Newsweek, referring to Jenkins, "and I believe I have a God-given and constitutional right to raise my child as I see fit." Continued Miller, "There is a homosexual agenda at work here, and Isabella is a pawn in their game. It has nothing to do with the law. Isabella was saved at age 4, loves God, and knows what’s right and what’s wrong. We don’t hate Janet, we pray for her soul and salvation."
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
Link to Original Article- VT Judge Awards Custody to Non-Biological Mom :: EDGE Boston
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Monday Nov 30, 2009
A long-running custody dispute has culminated in a Vermont judge ordering the former partner of a child’s biological mother to assume custody of the child. The anti-gay Christian press says that the seven-year-old child, Isabella, is a "stranger" to her new custodial parent, Janet Jenkins, and that Isabella had "violent reactions" whenever she was in Jenkins’ care due to her "lesbian lifestyle." But according to lawyer and family court expert Kurt Hughes of Burlington, Vermont, the outcome is typical of certain custodial cases in which one parent repeatedly refuses to abide by a court-ordered custody arrangement.
"Even though it’s hit the headlines because this happens to be a same-sex couple, this is a very basic family law that we’re talking about," Hughes told local news station WCAX, which reported on the case in a Nov. 23 article.
"There’s something called parental alienation syndrome, in which one parent is constantly bad mouthing the other parent," Hughes explained. "And so the courts over the years have decided that the potential long term psychological impact to a child from that type of behavior is much greater than the temporary disruption that would result from a child changing households from one parent to the other." The biological mother, Lisa Miller, has been ordered to relinquish custody of daughter Isabella to Jenkins by the start of the new year. Miller will retain visitation rights. If she does not comply, she may end up in prison.
Vermont Family Court Judge William Cohen ruled that the change of custody was necessary because the dispute had the capacity to harm the child more than a change of custody would. Wrote Judge Cohen, "Ms. Miller’s interference with the relationship between (the child) and Ms. Jenkins have become so pervasive that it now outweighs the potential harm that could occur to the child by a chance of custody."
But to Christian pundits, the case represents a precedent in which the state takes a child from her biological mother in favor of a non-biological former same-sex partner.
Miller’s lawyer, Mat Staver, is also the founder of the right wing--and anti-gay--Liberty Counsel, which has ties to Jerry Falwell’s religious organization. Staver was one of two sources quoted in a Nov. 25 article posted at CitizenLink.com, a Focus on the Family-affiliated Web publication. The other source quoted in the article was a professor at the right-wing Christian Liberty University School of Law.
Said Staver, "This judge in Vermont ultimately ruled that he is going to switch custody from Lisa Miller, and take her own biological daughter Isabella and move her from Virginia and put her into an activist lesbian household up in Vermont with a person she really doesn’t know, who’s not her biological mother, and frankly who’s not acted as a parent."
Staver claimed that Isabella responded negatively to Jenkins’ so-called "lesbian lifestyle," saying, "Every time that the visitation actually occurred, Isabella had violent reactions, because Janet exposed her to the lesbian lifestyle." Staver claimed that Jenkins "tried to convince her that she has two moms and even tried to scare her by saying that she was going to be taken from Lisa and transferred to Vermont."
The article painted Miller’s refusal; to comply with the court-ordered custodial arrangement due to the "violent reactions" that Isabella allegedly exhibited to spending with Jenkins. However Jenkins painted a much different picture, saying, "[M]y daughter completely knows me. We were together ten months ago. I mean, she adores me. She calls me Mama."
The case has raged for six years between the former life partners, who had entered into a civil union together before Miller conceived Isabella via artificial insemination. When their relationship ended, Miller relocated from Vermont to Virginia and became a Baptist.
The custody dispute went all the way to the state supreme court of both states. Vermont’s Supreme Court recognized Jenkins’ parental relationship with Isabella, and the Vermont state Supreme Court found--despite a Virginia law that excludes same-sex families from any legal recognition--that while Miller would receive custody of Isabella, Jenkins would retain visitation rights. It is that arrangement that Judge Cohen’s ruling reversed.
Cohen’s ruling was denounced by Liberty University School of Law professor Rena Lindevaldsen, who told CitizenLink.com, "To have the first reported decision in the country stripping a biological mother of her child, solely because she has refused to give visitation to a legal stranger, is shocking." Added Lindevaldsen, "There’s a lot of talk nowadays about drawing that line in the sand and understanding that government can’t order certain things. When you’re ordering a child to be stripped from her biological mother, you’ve got to wonder, has the court overstepped its bounds?"
Staver cited the case as illustrative of the perils of granting same-sex families full legal recognition, telling Newsweek in a Dec. 6, 2008 article that, "Lisa Miller’s case illustrates two things in regards to same-sex marriages. First, one state cannot adopt same-sex unions without affecting the sister states. It’s simply impossible. Secondly, these cases are about real people, and children are particularly caught in the tangled legal web of same-sex marriage, and Isabella is a classic example."
In that same article, however, Jenkins offered a glimpse into what the case has meant for her. "I did not divorce my child, I divorced my partner," she said. "Yet I’ve missed out on my child’s kindergarten graduation. I’ll never get that back. I don’t even get to talk to my daughter on the phone. It’s heinous what has transpired."
Whether children of same-sex couples are more at risk of such legal entanglement than are children of feuding heterosexual former spouses may be a point of debate. When it does happen that dissolving same-sex unions involve children, however, what holds sway is the very same patchwork of legal rights and status that can change the legal standing of a family’s members from one state to the next simply by crossing a border: while Vermont, where the women lived while together and where Jenkins still resides, now offers marriage equality, Virginia, where Miller relocated, specifically denies any legal recognition of same-sex families at all. Attorney Joseph Price, who represents Jenkins, told Newsweek, "You cannot just shop your case around in different states until you get a ruling in your favor. And that’s essentially what Lisa has tried to do."
In that article, Miller, too, opened up, saying that she had a conversion experience while attending a Baptist church and decided to walk away from her lesbian identity. "I do not feel safe leaving my daughter with her," Miller told Newsweek, referring to Jenkins, "and I believe I have a God-given and constitutional right to raise my child as I see fit." Continued Miller, "There is a homosexual agenda at work here, and Isabella is a pawn in their game. It has nothing to do with the law. Isabella was saved at age 4, loves God, and knows what’s right and what’s wrong. We don’t hate Janet, we pray for her soul and salvation."
Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where he also serves as Assistant Arts Editor.
Link to Original Article- VT Judge Awards Custody to Non-Biological Mom :: EDGE Boston
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Monday, November 30, 2009
Babysitter's Custody Win May Be Short-Lived
Ya just can't make this shit up!
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.
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Law.com: Babysitter's Custody Win May Be Short-Lived
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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.
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Law.com: Babysitter's Custody Win May Be Short-Lived
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Monday, November 23, 2009
Mother, Son Reunite After 36 Years
(Nov. 23) -- A mother and son who had been searching for each other for 36 years were finally reunited this month in Chicago.
David Martinez Johnson, who was 5 when his parents divorced, spent time with both parents until one day his father's family moved him to Georgia, the Chicago Tribune reported. He was told his mother's Mexican-American family couldn't accept David, whose father is African-American.
But that wasn't true.
Frances Martinez spent years searching for her son, even altering his birth certificate while he was still a minor in hopes her ex-husband would be alerted and try to contact her. David Johnson, 41 and a paralegal, took Martinez as his middle name when he turned 18. "I had nothing else of hers," he told the Tribune.
Their lucky break came when Martinez, 62, recently went to get a new Social Security card. After hearing her story, a worker allowed her to use a Social Security Administration computer to find her son. The worker couldn't give Martinez her son's address but agreed to mail a letter Martinez wrote to Johnson. He received it Nov. 12.
The two spoke by phone and arranged to meet. Johnson and his girlfriend drove from Peachtree City, Ga., arriving at his mother's house at 2 a.m. "I couldn't get over how much I looked like her," he said.
"Everybody in my family knew how long I had waited," Martinez said. "Holding my son in my arms, I couldn't have felt more grateful."
To read more, go to the Chicago Tribune.
Mother and Son Reunited After Searching for Each Other for 36 Years
David Martinez Johnson, who was 5 when his parents divorced, spent time with both parents until one day his father's family moved him to Georgia, the Chicago Tribune reported. He was told his mother's Mexican-American family couldn't accept David, whose father is African-American.
But that wasn't true.
Frances Martinez spent years searching for her son, even altering his birth certificate while he was still a minor in hopes her ex-husband would be alerted and try to contact her. David Johnson, 41 and a paralegal, took Martinez as his middle name when he turned 18. "I had nothing else of hers," he told the Tribune.
Their lucky break came when Martinez, 62, recently went to get a new Social Security card. After hearing her story, a worker allowed her to use a Social Security Administration computer to find her son. The worker couldn't give Martinez her son's address but agreed to mail a letter Martinez wrote to Johnson. He received it Nov. 12.
The two spoke by phone and arranged to meet. Johnson and his girlfriend drove from Peachtree City, Ga., arriving at his mother's house at 2 a.m. "I couldn't get over how much I looked like her," he said.
"Everybody in my family knew how long I had waited," Martinez said. "Holding my son in my arms, I couldn't have felt more grateful."
To read more, go to the Chicago Tribune.
Mother and Son Reunited After Searching for Each Other for 36 Years
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Father and Sons Reunited After 10 Years
Mario Navarrete, left, laughs with his son Emilio, 15, for the first time in over a decade.
Emilio and Xavier Navarrete don't remember having a father.
He left his family -- which also included two older brothers -- in Florida for work in Indiana when Emilio, 15, was a baby. He came back, but divorce papers and burglary accusations prevented Mario Navarrete from returning to his family permanently. Ten years went by, during which scrapes with the law sent both Emilio and Xavier into foster care.
But on Sunday, Emilio and Xavier, 16, were reunited with the father they always believed abandoned them, the St. Petersburg Times reported.
Mario Navarrete was able to meet his sons thanks to caseworker Gabriela Naccarato and a federal effort to put kids with family members instead of with strangers. "My boys?" he screamed when she called. "You have my boys?" Naccarato was also able to locate older brother Gabriel, who had aged out of the foster care system.
After work on Friday, Navarrette left his home in Kentucky and drove all night, first picking up Gabriel and then to meet Emilio and Xavier.
Navarrete must pass a background check and home study in order to take the boys to Kentucky, and the mom who didn't want them is also a complication. But the boys hope to be with their dad by Christmas.
To read more, go to the St. Petersburg Times.
This story is so typical now a days.. kids getting torn apart from their families-- then led to believe the parent or parents abandoned them! Truth be told 99.9% of these parents not only want their children but are doing whatever they can to fight the system to get their children back!!!
These families suffer life long ex-fuckin-excruciating pain from being torn apart!!
The parents are suffering just as bad as these children.. these families are heart broken- and kept apart from each other by "our wonderful fuckin system" then everyone involved is expected to go through life and function!
These mother fuckers (those that separate these families) may they have something precious be torn from them- so they know the pain first hand!
Thank God there is hope that these children will now know at least the partial truth-- as I pray one day my own children will know I NEVER ABANDONED THEM- But their wonderful-fuckin-father and his political cronies kept us apart all these years and they will know I did nothing but pray daily and fight these bastards to get my babies back!
Monday, November 16, 2009
Apology for Kids Shipped From Britain
Ten-year-old twins Brian Thomas, left, and Kevin James Sullivan carry their luggage as they leave London bound for Auckland, New Zealand, in October 1950.
Children As Young as 3 Were Sent to the Colonies.
CANBERRA, Australia (Nov. 15) - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd issued a historic apology Monday to thousands of impoverished British children shipped to Australia with the promise of a better life, only to suffer abuse and neglect thousands of miles from home.
At a ceremony in the Australian capital of Canberra attended by tearful former child migrants, Rudd apologized for his country's role in the migration and extended condolences to the 7,000 survivors of the program who still live in Australia.
"We are sorry," Rudd said. "Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care. Sorry for the tragedy — the absolute tragedy — of childhoods lost."
The apology comes one day after the British government said Prime Minister Gordon Brown would apologize for child migrant programs that sent as many as 150,000 poor British children as young as 3 to Australia, Canada and other former colonies over three and a half centuries.
The programs, which ended 40 years ago, were intended to provide the children with a new start — and the Empire with a supply of sturdy white workers. But many children ended up in institutions where they were physically and sexually abused, or were sent to work as farm laborers.
Rudd also apologized to the "forgotten Australians" — children who suffered in state care during the last century. According to a 2004 Australian Senate report, more than 500,000 children were placed in foster homes, orphanages and other institutions during the 20th century. Many were emotionally, physically and sexually abused in state care.
Some in the audience wept openly and held each other as Rudd shared painful stories of children he'd spoken with — children who were beaten with belt buckles and bamboo, who grew up in places they called "utterly loveless."
"Let us resolve this day that this national apology becomes a turning point in our nation's story," Rudd said. "A turning point for shattered lives, a turning point for governments at all levels and of every political hue and color to do all in our power to never allow this to happen again."
At that, the audience erupted into loud cheers and applause.
John Hennessey, 72, of Campbelltown, 40 miles (70 kilometers) southwest of Sydney, struggles to make himself understood through a stutter — a never-healing scar from a thrashing he received from an Australian orphanage headmaster 60 years ago.
Hennessey was only 6 when he was shipped from a British orphanage to an institute for boys in the country town of Bindoon in Western Australia state.
At 12, he was stripped naked and nearly beaten to death by the headmaster for eating grapes he had taken from a vineyard without permission because he was hungry.
"What terrified me most was that in my mind I thought: 'That's my father. What's he doing?' — I had nobody else and he was the one I'd looked up to," Hennessey said. "Before that I didn't have a stutter. I've sought medical advice since and they've said, 'John, you're going to take that to the grave with you.'"
After the apology, an emotional Hennessey approached Rudd with a photograph of his late mother May Mary Hennessey, whom he was reunited with in England in 1999 as a guest of the British government when she was 86.
"I can't believe it, mate, I'm still shaking," Hennessey told The Associated Press. "But the one I'm waiting for is the British apology. That's the icing on the cake."
The Forgotten Australians also welcomed the apology. Rod Braydon, 65, said he was raped at the age of six by a Salvation Army officer on his first night in a boys home in the city of Melbourne.
"When we reported this as kids, we were flogged to within an inch of our lives, locked up in dungeons and isolation cells," said Braydon, who has received a cash settlement from the Salvation Army for the abuse and is suing the Victoria state government for neglect.
British High Commissioner Valerie Amos said that while the Australian government had ruled out paying compensation, her government had not yet decided that issue.
She declined to say which government was more to blame for the children's suffering.
"This is a matter of us all acknowledging that we need to say 'sorry' for what was a terrible period in our history," Amos told reporters.
The British government has estimated that a total of 150,000 British children may have been shipped abroad between 1618 — when a group was sent to the Virginia Colony — and 1967, most of them from the late 19th century onwards.
After 1920, most of the children went to Australia through programs run by the government, religious groups and children's charities.
A 2001 Australian report said that between 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia as migrants during the 20th century. Many of the children were told that they were orphans, though most had either been abandoned or taken from their families by the state. Siblings were commonly split up once they arrived in Australia.
Authorities believed they were acting in the children's best interests, but the migration also was intended to stop them from being a burden on the British state while supplying the receiving countries with potential workers. A 1998 British parliamentary inquiry noted that "a further motive was racist: the importation of 'good white stock' was seen as a desirable policy objective in the developing British Colonies."
Australia had an immigration policy that favored British and white immigrants until the 1970s.
"We were used as white fodder," Hennessey said. "The Archbishop met us at Fremantle (in Western Australia) and I can still remember his words. He said, 'Welcome to Australia. We want white stock because we're terrified of the yellow peril.'"
British Children's Secretary Ed Balls said the child migrant policy was "a stain on our society."
"The apology is symbolically very important," he told Sky News television.
"I think it is important that we say to the children who are now adults and older people and to their offspring that this is something that we look back on in shame," he said.
Britain has been trying to make amends since the late 1990s by funding trips to reunite migrants with their families in Britain.
Brown's office said officials would consult with representatives of the surviving children before making a formal apology next year.
Associated Press writer Jill Lawless reported from London.
Apology for Kids Shipped From Britain
My two cents-
Yaanno - I have so much to say about this article that I'd have to address each sentence and well- that would ruin the gist of the story. So I'll make this as short as possible.
THIS IS A FUCKING DISGRACE!!!! NOT JUST A DISGRACE- A FUCKING DISGRACE!
And... ya wanna know what makes it even worse?
THE CHILDREN IN OUR COUNTRY ARE GOING THROUGH THE SAME THING-
Only difference is our children are being kept IN our Country while they are being abused!!
OUR CHILDREN -how many years later? YEAH over 50 years later are being abused and ripped from loving families- at the hands of our own people in power!
In closing I'll say it once again- WHAT HAPPENED TO THESE CHILDREN IN THIS STORY IS A MOTHERFUCKIN DISGRACE!
THE SAME MOTHERFUCKIN DIGRACE THAT IS DESTROYING OUR CHILDREN TODAY!
Now before anyone accuses me of hating my Country- fuck you! I love my Country- it's the people that are in power within this wonderful Country, and are abusing that power- that I question!
No! "Sorry" just doesn't motherfuckin- cut it!
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Sunday, November 15, 2009
Jordan McFarland, 14, Gets Guillain-Barre Syndrome After Swine Flu Shot
(Nov. 12) -- Jordan McFarland, 14, at Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Va., where he was treated for Guillain-Barre Syndrome after getting an H1N1 flu shot
A Virginia high school student was released from the hospital Tuesday after developing a rare disease within hours of being vaccinated against swine flu, MSNBC reported.
Jordan McFarland, 14, of Alexandria, Va., experienced severe headaches, muscle spasms and leg weakness after getting the H1N1 vaccine. His parents told MSNBC that doctors diagnosed him with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a muscle disorder. Only a handful of cases of the syndrome have been reported in relation to the vaccine.
"The doctor said I'll recover fully, but it's going to take some time," said Jordan, who will need physical therapy and might have to move around with the aid of a walker for a few weeks.
An official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was no clear link between the vaccine and the syndrome, the television network reported.
An official from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there was no clear link between the vaccine and the syndrome, the television network reported.
Read the full story at MSNBC.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Judge refuses to dismiss torture charges against two suspects in Tracy child torture case
UPDATE on the Tracy Case
Earlier Links-
Couple Arrested in Chained Teen Case
Photo Gallery
4 adults indicted in torture of teen in Tracy
Teen in Tracy torture case was burned by lighter fluid, bleach, doctor testifies - San Jose Mercury News
Tracy Press - Tracy torture victim s disappearance long unknown to police
By Sophia Kazmi
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 11/10/2009 12:00:00 AM PST
STOCKTON — A San Joaquin County judge has refused to drop torture charges against two of the suspects accused of torturing a 16-year-old boy who said he was beaten, burned and denied food at a Tracy home before escaping last year.
Attorneys for Michael Schumacher, 35, and Anthony Waiters, 30, asked Judge Terrence Van Oss on Monday to throw out the torture count among others in the 17-count grand jury indictment against their clients.
Schumacher, Waiters, Schumacher's neighbor; Schumacher's wife, 31-year-old Kelly Lau; and CarenRamirez, 44, who said she was the aunt of the boy, publicly known as Kyle R., face a series of charges of torture, false imprisonment, criminal threats, aggravated mayhem and corporal injury to a child.
All have pleaded not guilty. If convicted they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.
John Casenave, Schumacher's attorney argued that torture requires a motive such as revenge, persuasion, extortion or sadistic purposes and the grand jury testimony — taken in secret without the defendants or their attorneys present — does not reflect a motive.
"I'm not saying the allegations are not horrific," Casenave said, adding that he doesn't believe the grand jury transcripts show that his client committed torture.
Waiters attorney, Alan Jose, said without such motives the charge should be child abuse, not torture.
Van Oss said the grand jury could reasonably assume that Waiters and the others committed the abuse, which allegedly went on for more than a year, for sadistic purposes.
"He deliberately sliced the boy's arm then poured salt on the wounds," Van Oss said of one of many acts of abuse Waiters is accused of committing.
As for Schumacher, Van Oss said there is enough evidence to show that he aided and abetted the incidents because he allowed them to occur in his Tennis Lane home.
In addition to torture charges, Van Oss also let stand charges of aggravated mayhem and assault with a caustic chemical against Schumacher, which his attorney wanted tossed out. The criminal threats and great bodily injury clause against Waiters also stood.
A great bodily injury clause in one of the counts was dismissed against Schumacher and use of a dangerous weapon clause in the same count was dismissed against Waiters, but the charge as a whole stood.
Van Oss commented the case is strange, especially due to do the number of suspects and the length of the alleged abuse.
"Everyone taking part in this, it's just bizarre," Van Oss said.
Kyle R. stumbled into a Tracy fitness center on Dec. 1, 2008. He was bloody, filthy, emaciated, in rags and wore a three-foot chain on his ankle. He told police he was kept in a house where he was chained to a fireplace, regularly beaten and denied food.
All four are being held without bail at San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp. They will return to court Nov. 17 to change their trial date, which was scheduled for Feb. 1.
Judge refuses to dismiss torture charges against two suspects in Tracy child torture case - Inside Bay Area
Refresh - Go to homepage
Earlier Links-
Couple Arrested in Chained Teen Case
Photo Gallery
4 adults indicted in torture of teen in Tracy
Teen in Tracy torture case was burned by lighter fluid, bleach, doctor testifies - San Jose Mercury News
Tracy Press - Tracy torture victim s disappearance long unknown to police
By Sophia Kazmi
Contra Costa Times
Posted: 11/10/2009 12:00:00 AM PST
STOCKTON — A San Joaquin County judge has refused to drop torture charges against two of the suspects accused of torturing a 16-year-old boy who said he was beaten, burned and denied food at a Tracy home before escaping last year.
Attorneys for Michael Schumacher, 35, and Anthony Waiters, 30, asked Judge Terrence Van Oss on Monday to throw out the torture count among others in the 17-count grand jury indictment against their clients.
Schumacher, Waiters, Schumacher's neighbor; Schumacher's wife, 31-year-old Kelly Lau; and CarenRamirez, 44, who said she was the aunt of the boy, publicly known as Kyle R., face a series of charges of torture, false imprisonment, criminal threats, aggravated mayhem and corporal injury to a child.
All have pleaded not guilty. If convicted they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.
John Casenave, Schumacher's attorney argued that torture requires a motive such as revenge, persuasion, extortion or sadistic purposes and the grand jury testimony — taken in secret without the defendants or their attorneys present — does not reflect a motive.
"I'm not saying the allegations are not horrific," Casenave said, adding that he doesn't believe the grand jury transcripts show that his client committed torture.
Waiters attorney, Alan Jose, said without such motives the charge should be child abuse, not torture.
Van Oss said the grand jury could reasonably assume that Waiters and the others committed the abuse, which allegedly went on for more than a year, for sadistic purposes.
"He deliberately sliced the boy's arm then poured salt on the wounds," Van Oss said of one of many acts of abuse Waiters is accused of committing.
As for Schumacher, Van Oss said there is enough evidence to show that he aided and abetted the incidents because he allowed them to occur in his Tennis Lane home.
In addition to torture charges, Van Oss also let stand charges of aggravated mayhem and assault with a caustic chemical against Schumacher, which his attorney wanted tossed out. The criminal threats and great bodily injury clause against Waiters also stood.
A great bodily injury clause in one of the counts was dismissed against Schumacher and use of a dangerous weapon clause in the same count was dismissed against Waiters, but the charge as a whole stood.
Van Oss commented the case is strange, especially due to do the number of suspects and the length of the alleged abuse.
"Everyone taking part in this, it's just bizarre," Van Oss said.
Kyle R. stumbled into a Tracy fitness center on Dec. 1, 2008. He was bloody, filthy, emaciated, in rags and wore a three-foot chain on his ankle. He told police he was kept in a house where he was chained to a fireplace, regularly beaten and denied food.
All four are being held without bail at San Joaquin County Jail in French Camp. They will return to court Nov. 17 to change their trial date, which was scheduled for Feb. 1.
Judge refuses to dismiss torture charges against two suspects in Tracy child torture case - Inside Bay Area
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Report: Family Court System in Crisis
Report: Family Court System In Crisis
Posted on Tuesday, 10 of November , 2009 at 7:33 pm
New York’s Family Court system is reaching a state of crisis, the State Senate Judiciary Committee finds in “Kids & Families Still Can’t Wait: The Urgent Case for New Family Court Judgeships”. With just 153 Family Court judges statewide to handle 728,000 cases and projected appearances exceeding 2.5 million this year alone, a system meant to protect children and families is leaving many of them without the full measure of guidance they need to navigate a complex legal process, avoid repeat appearances, and ensure family safety and stability. And as a result of the current state of the economy, the system is at a breaking point.
In a good economy, some Family Court judges can carry daunting dockets of 8,000 cases. Caseloads have since ballooned in all parts of the state — placing the quality of justice for children and families in jeopardy. The Senate’s report — the most comprehensive report of its kind in legislative history — traces the development of the Family Court’s docket crunch from the court’s creation in the early 1960’s until the present day, and makes recommendations for the Legislature to act on immediately.
These recommendations include:·
Phasing in a total of 39 new Family Court judgeships on the basis of need over the next several years;·
Establishing a process by which all three branches of government work together to objectively assess the Family Court system to ensure it remains equal to growing needs; and·
Eliminating outdated legal barriers that prohibit judges of other trial courts from presiding in Family Court when appropriate. “Family Court cases typically involve children, and the protecting their best interests is something we must all support, especially when difficult economic conditions put already at-risk children and families in harm’s way,” said Senate Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson, lead sponsor of S.5968, which would immediately establish 21 new Family Court judgeships across the state.
The Senate passed this bill in September, and it awaits final action in the Assembly. “It has been fully 20 years since even a single Family Court judgeship was created for New York City, and in many upstate counties Family Court also is reaching a breaking point,” Sen. Sampson continued. “It is long past time to make this critical investment in the lives and wellbeing of children and families who often have nowhere else to turn.” Sen. Sampson added, “This report draws necessary attention to a Family Court system that is crying out for assistance.
We have a duty to give at-risk New Yorkers the help they need by immediately expanding the number of Family Court judges, which would reduce caseloads and speed the resolution of time-sensitive cases. This legislation and other reforms proposed in our report are long-overdue and would provide relief to families and children in need.
Children and families simply cannot wait anymore.” Full Report Available Online:www.nysenate.gov/report/familycourt 11-10-09
Subscription Needed For Future Visits. First time visitors are welcome at no charge. Thereafter, readers who wish to read additional articles or plan on returning at a later time will need to be an advertiser or have a paid subscription to the NCG Daily Digest in order to gain access. This policy will be strictly enforced and access will be denied to those who abuse it. To sign up, see the subscription ad and PayPal button to the right of this page or at www.northcountrygazette.org If you have questions, contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org
North Country Gazette » Report: Family Court System In Crisis
Refresh - Go to homepage
Posted on Tuesday, 10 of November , 2009 at 7:33 pm
New York’s Family Court system is reaching a state of crisis, the State Senate Judiciary Committee finds in “Kids & Families Still Can’t Wait: The Urgent Case for New Family Court Judgeships”. With just 153 Family Court judges statewide to handle 728,000 cases and projected appearances exceeding 2.5 million this year alone, a system meant to protect children and families is leaving many of them without the full measure of guidance they need to navigate a complex legal process, avoid repeat appearances, and ensure family safety and stability. And as a result of the current state of the economy, the system is at a breaking point.
In a good economy, some Family Court judges can carry daunting dockets of 8,000 cases. Caseloads have since ballooned in all parts of the state — placing the quality of justice for children and families in jeopardy. The Senate’s report — the most comprehensive report of its kind in legislative history — traces the development of the Family Court’s docket crunch from the court’s creation in the early 1960’s until the present day, and makes recommendations for the Legislature to act on immediately.
These recommendations include:·
Phasing in a total of 39 new Family Court judgeships on the basis of need over the next several years;·
Establishing a process by which all three branches of government work together to objectively assess the Family Court system to ensure it remains equal to growing needs; and·
Eliminating outdated legal barriers that prohibit judges of other trial courts from presiding in Family Court when appropriate. “Family Court cases typically involve children, and the protecting their best interests is something we must all support, especially when difficult economic conditions put already at-risk children and families in harm’s way,” said Senate Majority Conference Leader John L. Sampson, lead sponsor of S.5968, which would immediately establish 21 new Family Court judgeships across the state.
The Senate passed this bill in September, and it awaits final action in the Assembly. “It has been fully 20 years since even a single Family Court judgeship was created for New York City, and in many upstate counties Family Court also is reaching a breaking point,” Sen. Sampson continued. “It is long past time to make this critical investment in the lives and wellbeing of children and families who often have nowhere else to turn.” Sen. Sampson added, “This report draws necessary attention to a Family Court system that is crying out for assistance.
We have a duty to give at-risk New Yorkers the help they need by immediately expanding the number of Family Court judges, which would reduce caseloads and speed the resolution of time-sensitive cases. This legislation and other reforms proposed in our report are long-overdue and would provide relief to families and children in need.
Children and families simply cannot wait anymore.” Full Report Available Online:www.nysenate.gov/report/familycourt 11-10-09
Subscription Needed For Future Visits. First time visitors are welcome at no charge. Thereafter, readers who wish to read additional articles or plan on returning at a later time will need to be an advertiser or have a paid subscription to the NCG Daily Digest in order to gain access. This policy will be strictly enforced and access will be denied to those who abuse it. To sign up, see the subscription ad and PayPal button to the right of this page or at www.northcountrygazette.org If you have questions, contact us at news@northcountrygazette.org
North Country Gazette » Report: Family Court System In Crisis
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Monday, November 9, 2009
Great blog post on Non Custodial Moms and Parent Alienation
I came accross this blog this morning- and quite frankly I couldn't have said it better so without any further delay here is it...
What do you think of when you meet a non-custodial mother? In most cases, a person’s opinion or idea of a non-custodial mother is far from the truth. If you were to ask non-custodial mothers why they lost custody, you would receive a wide array of answers. Very few of these responses would be because the mother was “unfit.” In fact, many mothers lose custody due to manipulative, controlling ex-spouses or partners.
Many mothers lose custody to their abusers. First, you may doubt this statement. Some studies have shown that batterers are able to convince authorities that the victim is unfit or undeserving of sole custody in approximately 70% of challenged cases. Fathers who batter mothers are two times more likely to seek sole physical custody of their children, than non-violent fathers.
Non Custodial Mothers and Parental Alienation
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What do you think of when you meet a non-custodial mother? In most cases, a person’s opinion or idea of a non-custodial mother is far from the truth. If you were to ask non-custodial mothers why they lost custody, you would receive a wide array of answers. Very few of these responses would be because the mother was “unfit.” In fact, many mothers lose custody due to manipulative, controlling ex-spouses or partners.
Many mothers lose custody to their abusers. First, you may doubt this statement. Some studies have shown that batterers are able to convince authorities that the victim is unfit or undeserving of sole custody in approximately 70% of challenged cases. Fathers who batter mothers are two times more likely to seek sole physical custody of their children, than non-violent fathers.
Non Custodial Mothers and Parental Alienation
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Friday, October 30, 2009
Parental Alienation: A Mental Diagnosis?
Some experts say the extreme hatred some kids feel toward a parent in a divorce is a mental illness.
By Lindsay Lyon
Posted October 29, 2009
From an early age, Anne was taught by her mother to fear her father. Behind his back, her mom warned that he was an unpredictable and dangerous; any time he'd invite her to do anything—a walk in the woods, a trip to the art store—she would craft an excuse not to go.
"I was under the impression that he was crazy, that at any moment he could just pop and do something violent to hurt me," says Anne, who prefers that only her middle name be used to guard her family's privacy. Typical of a phenomenon some mental-health experts now label "parental alienation," her view of him became so negative, she says, that her mother persuaded her to lie during a custody hearing when the couple divorced. Then 14, she told the judge that her dad was physically abusive. Was he? "No," she says. "But I was convinced that he would [be]." After her mother won custody, Anne all but severed contact with her father for years.
If a growing faction of the mental-health community has its way, Anne's experience will one day soon be an actual diagnosis. The concept of parental alienation, which is highly controversial, is being described as one in which children strongly attach to one parent and reject the other in the false belief that he or she is bad or dangerous. "It's heartbreaking," says William Bernet, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, "to have your 10-year-old suddenly, in a matter of weeks, go from loving you and hiking with you...to saying you're a horrible, ugly person." These aren't kids who simply prefer one parent over the other, he says. That's normal. These kids doggedly resist contact with a parent, sometimes permanently, out of an irrational hate or fear.
Bernet is leading an effort to add "parental alienation" to the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association's "bible" of diagnoses, scheduled for 2012. He and some 50 contributing authors from 10 countries will make their case in the American Journal of Family Therapy early next year. Inclusion, says Bernet, would spur insurance coverage, stimulate more systematic research, lend credence to a charge of parental alienation in court, and raise the odds that children would get timely treatment.
But many experts balk at labeling the phenomenon an official disorder. "I really get concerned about spreading the definition of mental illness too wide," says Elissa Benedek, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a past president of the APA. There's no question in her mind that kids become alienated from a loving parent in many divorces with little or no justification, and she's seen plenty of kids kick and scream all the way to the car when visitation is enforced. But, she says, "this is not a mentally ill child."
The phenomenon has been described for many decades, but it became a cause célèbre in 1985, when Richard Gardner, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, coined the term "parental alienation syndrome." As more dads fought fiercely for joint custody, he observed a surge in the number of children suffering from a distinct cluster of symptoms, including a "campaign of denigration" against one parent that sometimes included a false sex-abuse accusation and automatic parroting of the other parent's views.
But sound research supporting a medical label is scant, critics say. The American Psychological Association has issued a statement that "there is no evidence within the psychological literature of a diagnosable parental alienation syndrome." What's more, concern has grown that "PAS" could be invoked by an abusive parent to gain rights to a child who has good reason to refuse contact, says Janet Johnston, a clinical sociologist and justice studies professor at San Jose State University who has studied parental alienation. In teens, she notes, parental rejection might be a developmentally normal response. Anecdotal reports have surfaced that some kids labeled as "alienated" have become suicidal when courts have ordered a change of custody to the "hated" parent, she says.
In any case, divorcing parents should be aware that hostilities may seriously harm the kids. Sometimes manipulation is blatant, as with parents who conceal phone calls, gifts, or letters, then use the "lack of contact" as proof that the other parent doesn't love the child. Sometimes the influence is more subtle ("I'm sure nothing bad will happen to you at Mommy's house") or even unintentional ("I've put a cellphone in your suitcase. Call when everyone's asleep to tell me you're OK"). It's important to shield kids from harmful communication, says Richard Warshak, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and author of Divorce Poison. If something potentially upsetting about an ex must be conveyed, he advises imagining how you would have handled the conversation while happily married; how would you have explained Mom's depression, say?
More- Parental Alienation: A Mental Diagnosis? - US News and World Report
By Lindsay Lyon
Posted October 29, 2009
From an early age, Anne was taught by her mother to fear her father. Behind his back, her mom warned that he was an unpredictable and dangerous; any time he'd invite her to do anything—a walk in the woods, a trip to the art store—she would craft an excuse not to go.
"I was under the impression that he was crazy, that at any moment he could just pop and do something violent to hurt me," says Anne, who prefers that only her middle name be used to guard her family's privacy. Typical of a phenomenon some mental-health experts now label "parental alienation," her view of him became so negative, she says, that her mother persuaded her to lie during a custody hearing when the couple divorced. Then 14, she told the judge that her dad was physically abusive. Was he? "No," she says. "But I was convinced that he would [be]." After her mother won custody, Anne all but severed contact with her father for years.
If a growing faction of the mental-health community has its way, Anne's experience will one day soon be an actual diagnosis. The concept of parental alienation, which is highly controversial, is being described as one in which children strongly attach to one parent and reject the other in the false belief that he or she is bad or dangerous. "It's heartbreaking," says William Bernet, a child and adolescent psychiatrist and professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, "to have your 10-year-old suddenly, in a matter of weeks, go from loving you and hiking with you...to saying you're a horrible, ugly person." These aren't kids who simply prefer one parent over the other, he says. That's normal. These kids doggedly resist contact with a parent, sometimes permanently, out of an irrational hate or fear.
Bernet is leading an effort to add "parental alienation" to the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Association's "bible" of diagnoses, scheduled for 2012. He and some 50 contributing authors from 10 countries will make their case in the American Journal of Family Therapy early next year. Inclusion, says Bernet, would spur insurance coverage, stimulate more systematic research, lend credence to a charge of parental alienation in court, and raise the odds that children would get timely treatment.
But many experts balk at labeling the phenomenon an official disorder. "I really get concerned about spreading the definition of mental illness too wide," says Elissa Benedek, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a past president of the APA. There's no question in her mind that kids become alienated from a loving parent in many divorces with little or no justification, and she's seen plenty of kids kick and scream all the way to the car when visitation is enforced. But, she says, "this is not a mentally ill child."
The phenomenon has been described for many decades, but it became a cause célèbre in 1985, when Richard Gardner, a clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University, coined the term "parental alienation syndrome." As more dads fought fiercely for joint custody, he observed a surge in the number of children suffering from a distinct cluster of symptoms, including a "campaign of denigration" against one parent that sometimes included a false sex-abuse accusation and automatic parroting of the other parent's views.
But sound research supporting a medical label is scant, critics say. The American Psychological Association has issued a statement that "there is no evidence within the psychological literature of a diagnosable parental alienation syndrome." What's more, concern has grown that "PAS" could be invoked by an abusive parent to gain rights to a child who has good reason to refuse contact, says Janet Johnston, a clinical sociologist and justice studies professor at San Jose State University who has studied parental alienation. In teens, she notes, parental rejection might be a developmentally normal response. Anecdotal reports have surfaced that some kids labeled as "alienated" have become suicidal when courts have ordered a change of custody to the "hated" parent, she says.
In any case, divorcing parents should be aware that hostilities may seriously harm the kids. Sometimes manipulation is blatant, as with parents who conceal phone calls, gifts, or letters, then use the "lack of contact" as proof that the other parent doesn't love the child. Sometimes the influence is more subtle ("I'm sure nothing bad will happen to you at Mommy's house") or even unintentional ("I've put a cellphone in your suitcase. Call when everyone's asleep to tell me you're OK"). It's important to shield kids from harmful communication, says Richard Warshak, a clinical professor of psychology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and author of Divorce Poison. If something potentially upsetting about an ex must be conveyed, he advises imagining how you would have handled the conversation while happily married; how would you have explained Mom's depression, say?
More- Parental Alienation: A Mental Diagnosis? - US News and World Report
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Know thyself..
It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself* you will you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
~ Sun Tzu
Some of you maybe wondering what the hell is this "know yourself" bullshit about anyway?
For as long as you look through a magnifying glass and not a mirror.. You have given your power to the enemy!
You will only know yourself once you can define every one of your weaknesses and strengths after careful reflection.. including where and how they originated...
When you know why you do what it is that you do, or don't do.. and can define where that originated..and why.. and whether or not it works for you or against you in the long run.
You must be able to list your weaknesses and strengths faster than your enemy can..because if they know you better than you know yourself.. they will have figured out how to use "you" against yourself to win!
You will only know "you" when you are concious of, and have a well thought out, good reason for why you are about to do something..or did something... and know the consequenes of those actions and are ok with dealing with them.
Once you know your triggers better than your enemy does... and you know why they are triggers or weak points within yourself and are able to control them.
Once you fully understand that a trigger (something that causes an angry outburst) is not a reaction to the here and now- but a reaction to something that hurt you long ago, that you can now identify.
Once you can look your enemy in the eye and say "you were able to push my buttons because" ... then really know what weakness you have that allowed you to have buttons to begin with.
Once we can label and face our weaknesses- they no longer hold power over us- they then become strengths!
Ehh the list goes on and on.. but the above is a great starting point!
~ Sun Tzu
Some of you maybe wondering what the hell is this "know yourself" bullshit about anyway?
For as long as you look through a magnifying glass and not a mirror.. You have given your power to the enemy!
You will only know yourself once you can define every one of your weaknesses and strengths after careful reflection.. including where and how they originated...
When you know why you do what it is that you do, or don't do.. and can define where that originated..and why.. and whether or not it works for you or against you in the long run.
You must be able to list your weaknesses and strengths faster than your enemy can..because if they know you better than you know yourself.. they will have figured out how to use "you" against yourself to win!
You will only know "you" when you are concious of, and have a well thought out, good reason for why you are about to do something..or did something... and know the consequenes of those actions and are ok with dealing with them.
Once you know your triggers better than your enemy does... and you know why they are triggers or weak points within yourself and are able to control them.
Once you fully understand that a trigger (something that causes an angry outburst) is not a reaction to the here and now- but a reaction to something that hurt you long ago, that you can now identify.
Once you can look your enemy in the eye and say "you were able to push my buttons because" ... then really know what weakness you have that allowed you to have buttons to begin with.
Once we can label and face our weaknesses- they no longer hold power over us- they then become strengths!
Ehh the list goes on and on.. but the above is a great starting point!
Monday, October 26, 2009
In order to change the output, we must change the input.
Wow- that's all I can say...
In this article (below) there is a gentleman named Richard. Hmmm, Richard reminds me of a few people near and dear to me.
I hope they've found this blog and really pay attention to the entire article below.. it can and will change their lives forever.. if only they hear what's being said.. as Richard finally did!
If you want to know why you suffer from so much emotional pain..and how... ONLY YOU CAN CHANGE THAT PAIN- then this (link below) is a must read!
Keep in mind that near the end of the article.. there will be a gift more important to you than any gift you have ever recieved or will recieve..
THE SIMPLE- KEY TO A PAIN-FREE LIFE! Follow the external link and invest the time in your future to really read the entire article..
Are you in enough pain to hear the truth now- so you can change the input ENOUGH that's causing the pain? No? Ehh it's all good- one day you will be, save this link for then!
Use the + at the top of the article (header) to make the font easier to read. ~
[PDF]
2 WHAT CAUSES OUR PAIN? Pain, like all feelings, ...
The thought that we are responsible for our lives can be difficult the first ... Your reality arises from inside you. My words are just a trigger for what ... changes on the outside. Until you take charge of your internal reality structure , you are .... cause our feelings , it only resonates what is already there. ...
http://www.msplinks.com/MDFodHRwOi8vd3d3LndoeWFnYWluLmNvbS9ib29rLWVuL2VuMDAxMi5wZGY=
Don't miss yesterdays very related blog on the Borg
Could there be Borg here on Earth?
Yanno, I hardly watch television.
For some reason I turned the T.V. on yesterday and found myself wathing "Witness to...."
Each Story was told by witnesses to the inside different Cults... If I have to say it myself.. it was very interesting to watch- from a very "aware" state of mind.
Anywho.. when all was said and done..
The question was: Could there be Borg here on Earth.
Borg (Star Trek) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Answer is: Duhhhh of course there are!
What do the Borg, Cults and Alienated Children aka Enmeshed Families have in common?
An egotistical, selfish, evil manipulator.. as a leader..
One who can and will manipulate the unknowing into ugly consequences in their personal lives (sabotaging their lives) for the greater of the collective aka selfish leader!
Meanwhile the manipulated go about their days believing the thoughts that are causing havoc and pain in their lives are their own. (think-- don't drink the koolaid- Jim Jones- Jamestown- over 900 people willingly without thought drank the koolaid and died- knowing this was why they were drinking it)
Thank God for denial, justification, dismissal and distraction, projection, assimilation an cybernetic implants or those that have been manipulated might just snap out on the leader if they allowed themselves to see reality in all it's glory!
In order to do that- they would have to love themselves (be concerned with thier happiness) more than they were taught to "love and obey" the leader- and step outside the picture and ask themselves..
What if this is true- what if.. all the things I've learned to justify, deny or ignore were really unconcious learned behavior (cause that's the way it always was) to do what was in the best interest of the leader... without any concious thought given- just act on auto pilot?
Would my life.. my pain.. and my problems.. make more sense then?
If the answer is yes.. then perhaps it's time for a wake-up call-- A reality check!
Refresh - Go to homepage
For some reason I turned the T.V. on yesterday and found myself wathing "Witness to...."
Each Story was told by witnesses to the inside different Cults... If I have to say it myself.. it was very interesting to watch- from a very "aware" state of mind.
Anywho.. when all was said and done..
The question was: Could there be Borg here on Earth.
Borg (Star Trek) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Answer is: Duhhhh of course there are!
What do the Borg, Cults and Alienated Children aka Enmeshed Families have in common?
An egotistical, selfish, evil manipulator.. as a leader..
One who can and will manipulate the unknowing into ugly consequences in their personal lives (sabotaging their lives) for the greater of the collective aka selfish leader!
Meanwhile the manipulated go about their days believing the thoughts that are causing havoc and pain in their lives are their own. (think-- don't drink the koolaid- Jim Jones- Jamestown- over 900 people willingly without thought drank the koolaid and died- knowing this was why they were drinking it)
Thank God for denial, justification, dismissal and distraction, projection, assimilation an cybernetic implants or those that have been manipulated might just snap out on the leader if they allowed themselves to see reality in all it's glory!
In order to do that- they would have to love themselves (be concerned with thier happiness) more than they were taught to "love and obey" the leader- and step outside the picture and ask themselves..
What if this is true- what if.. all the things I've learned to justify, deny or ignore were really unconcious learned behavior (cause that's the way it always was) to do what was in the best interest of the leader... without any concious thought given- just act on auto pilot?
Would my life.. my pain.. and my problems.. make more sense then?
If the answer is yes.. then perhaps it's time for a wake-up call-- A reality check!
Refresh - Go to homepage
Friday, October 23, 2009
Ohio: Children Sue Over Adoption
Two Ohio teenagers forced by their adoptive parents to sleep in cages have sued the couple and caseworkers who arranged the adoptions.
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland on behalf of Sharen Torrence, 18, and Michael Gravelle, 17. Their adoptive parents, Michael and Sharen Gravelle, named the children after them.
The couple are now serving two-year prison terms for abusing some of their 11 adopted special-needs children. The suit also names caseworkers and the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services in Cincinnati.
It said the Gravelles were unfit to be parents and should never have gotten custody of the children. Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, declined to comment.
National Briefing - Midwest - Ohio - Children Sue Over Adoption - NYTimes.com
The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court in Cleveland on behalf of Sharen Torrence, 18, and Michael Gravelle, 17. Their adoptive parents, Michael and Sharen Gravelle, named the children after them.
The couple are now serving two-year prison terms for abusing some of their 11 adopted special-needs children. The suit also names caseworkers and the Hamilton County Department of Job and Family Services in Cincinnati.
It said the Gravelles were unfit to be parents and should never have gotten custody of the children. Julie Wilson, a spokeswoman for the Hamilton County prosecutor’s office, declined to comment.
National Briefing - Midwest - Ohio - Children Sue Over Adoption - NYTimes.com
Teen found in Times Square doesn't know who she is
Authorities are pleading for the public's help identifying a "Jane Doe" teen with amnesia who has been in the city's care for two weeks.
One of the few clues to her background is that she's able to recall words from a 2003 fantasy novel, "Fool's Fate."
"I just want to know who I am," the teen, estimated by doctors to be between 14 and 17 years old, was quoted as saying. "I want to know who I am and what happened to me."
In what an official described as an "extraordinary case," cops picked up the teen on Oct. 9 at 12:30 a.m. outside the Covenant House shelter at 460 W. 41st St., near the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
She was wearing tattered clothing, including green army pants, but had no ID.
She had no memory of her name, home or family. A fingerprint check produced nothing.
Tom Manning, a Covenant House spokesman, said she wasn't a resident at the shelter and workers there don't know her.
Officials said the blond, spiky-haired, soft-spoken girl has undergone testing by police experts and psychiatrists, who are convinced she isn't faking.
For two weeks, the Administration for Children's Services has been trying to track down her identity without luck.
"She is safe with us, and we are doing all we can to help her, but she needs to find her family," said ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.
Officials believe the young woman isn't from the city.
She is 5-foot-6 with a medium build, with poorly maintained teeth and blue eyes.
She has been reviewing materials designed to help students pass GED exams for high school and says she's able to do the math but has no memory of reading the history and science materials.
At one point, she wrote down the name "Amber" and responded when called by that name.
One of the few clues to her background is that she's able to recall words from a 2003 fantasy novel, "Fool's Fate."
"I just want to know who I am," the teen, estimated by doctors to be between 14 and 17 years old, was quoted as saying. "I want to know who I am and what happened to me."
In what an official described as an "extraordinary case," cops picked up the teen on Oct. 9 at 12:30 a.m. outside the Covenant House shelter at 460 W. 41st St., near the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
She was wearing tattered clothing, including green army pants, but had no ID.
She had no memory of her name, home or family. A fingerprint check produced nothing.
Tom Manning, a Covenant House spokesman, said she wasn't a resident at the shelter and workers there don't know her.
Officials said the blond, spiky-haired, soft-spoken girl has undergone testing by police experts and psychiatrists, who are convinced she isn't faking.
For two weeks, the Administration for Children's Services has been trying to track down her identity without luck.
"She is safe with us, and we are doing all we can to help her, but she needs to find her family," said ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.
Officials believe the young woman isn't from the city.
She is 5-foot-6 with a medium build, with poorly maintained teeth and blue eyes.
She has been reviewing materials designed to help students pass GED exams for high school and says she's able to do the math but has no memory of reading the history and science materials.
At one point, she wrote down the name "Amber" and responded when called by that name.
Original Article-
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Balloon boy's parents to face criminal charges, sheriff says
A sheriff said Saturday that his office will file criminal charges in the case of a 6-year-old boy who vanished into the rafters of his garage while the world thought he was zooming through the sky in aflying saucer-like helium balloon.
After the boy’s parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene, met with sheriff’s officials for much of the afternoon, Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden didn’t say who would be charged or what the charges would be, but he did say the parents spoke to investigators voluntarily and weren’t under arrest.
Alderden previously said that if the balloon ordeal was a hoax, the parents could be charged with making a false report to authorities, a low-level misdemeanor.
“We were looking at Class 3 misdemeanor, which hardly seems serious enough given the circumstances,” Alderden said Saturday.
“We are talking to the district attorney, federal officials to see if perhaps there aren’t additional federal charges that are appropriate in this circumstance.” He said deputies were seeking a search warrant for the family’s home, and there would be more information at a news conference Sunday.
The Heenes were expected to speak to reporters outside their home later Saturday, after a strange day that began with Richard Heene knocking on the windows of journalists camped outside his home and promising a “big announcement.” A few hours later, he did an about-face when he told reporters that they should leave questions in a cardboard box on the front doorstep.
As Heene walked away, a reporter shouted, “Can you tell us once and for all if this is a hoax?” “Absolutely no hoax. I want your questions in the box,” Heene said, waving a cardboard container before going back into his home.
A circus-like atmosphere formed outside, including men holding signs and occasionally yelling “balloon boy.” One sign read, “Put balloon boy on TV: America’s Most Wanted.” Other gawkers carried aluminum-foilstovetop popcorn makers that resembled the silvery balloon launched from the family’s backyard Thursday, with Falcon believed to be onboard.
While Richard and Mayumi Heene were at the sheriff’s office, the couple’s three sons remained home, apparently being watched by sheriff’s officials. Authorities wouldn’t comment on what was happening.
Alderden had said that he wanted to re-interview the family after Falcon told CNN that “you said we did this for a show” when asked why he didn’t come out of his hiding place. Then Falcon got sick during twoseparate TV interviews when asked why he hid.
The balloon was supposed to be tethered to the ground when it lifted off, and no one was supposed to be aboard. A video of the launch shows the family counting down in unison, “3, 2, 1,” before Richard Heene pulls a cord, setting the balloon into the air.
“Whoa!” one of the boys exclaims. Then his father says in disbelief, “Oh, my God!” He then says to someone, “You didn’t put the (expletive) tether down!” and he kicks the wood frame that had held the balloon.
Falcon’s brother said he saw him inside the compartment before it took off and that’s why they thought he was in there when it launched. Heene said he had yelled at Falcon before the launch for getting inside.Alderden said earlier that he thinks it’s likely that Falcon ran off because he was scared of getting in trouble, later falling asleep in his hiding spot. He said he doubted that such a hyperactive boy could beordered to stay quiet for the five hours he was missing.
Over the years, Richard Heene has worked as a storm chaser, a handyman and contractor, and an aspiring reality-TV star.
He and his family appeared on the ABC reality show “Wife Swap,” and the show’s producer said it had a show in development with the Heenes but the deal is now off. TLC also said Heene had pitched a reality show to the network months ago, but it passed on the offer.
Despite his attempts to get on TV, Heene insisted Saturday that he didn’t know what kinds of questions were being asked about him because he didn’t have cable. “I’m going to place the box out front. Please write your questions down, because friends are telling methey’re saying this and that. I have no idea what the news is saying,” Heene said.
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