Posted by minneapolisfalling
I am writing here for the first time and i wish to commend
the efforts of Tony and those involved with this complex
issue.
I probably would NOT have so much understanding or
even interest in the same, if i were not myself a “NCP” as
its easily referred to; i.e. i have a son named Joshua
and he loves his dad dearly and as deeply as anything
in this world and he’s taught me the meaning of
unconditional love again, in my rather eventful life at
49 years of age.
I have a strong interest in making this effort here in
Ohio as strong as any in the nation. I would like to talk
not just on the blog but in person and expand this effort
across the state and i believe, we can do so. I know there
are some other groups and we need to organize around
the central themes that have often been posted and
discussed.
My specific background is having been a lawyer for over
14 years engaged in various forms of public/private sector
solo law practice, with a major emphasis on both
criminal and constitutional law [or what used to be referred
often to “civil rights” law] My “civil rights ” expierience
dealt specifically with suing major police chiefs,
prosecutors and their officers for serious pattern abuse.
I know a thing or two about a powerful federal law which
was enacted during the Reconstruction Era of
America, which were and remain the “enabling statutes” of
the 14th Amendment to the United States, once formerly
called the “KKK” act in a less politically correct era.
This 42 U.S.C Section 1983 area of the law became my
forte and its a vehicle that I am a student and have been
a litigator for. It is the law that was relied upon by former
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshal, when he as a
very young NAACP lawyer challenged racial segregation and
changed this nation for ever, in 1950’s.
It was a law that the “old segs” from the South
had basically written off and the judiciary and Congress of
American had forgotten for over a hundred years promptly
after it was enacted.
If it were NOT so readily misapplied by the Supreme
Court of United States, in the late 1800’s we would NOT
have had to undergo the searing experience of all that has
followed in terms of the modern civil rights movement; i.e
there was a federal law on the books that clearly prohibited
the very kinds of racial and legal discrimination that
was practiced by all those southern states and some of us
in the north for years and is still happening in part.
But this is a site not about racial issues nor a primer on
Civil War Era Civil Rights Amendments or is it?
Not quite but then why does such a crazy father write
of such ? Because this is the very same law we use today,
over a hundred and fifty years almost after it was passed
to sue bad “state actors”, i.e. bad cops, bad police chiefs,
and sometimes, bad administrators.
What can it also be used for? To sue bad CSEA officials
and very bad case workers in certain instances…
and it is one very powerful weapon, based on federal
standards, not state law.
It has been restricted in part by a conservative majority
of Supreme Court justices over the years, but it remains a
very potent weapon on the side of the individual inside our
fading democracy.
It may be in fact, among the most prominent laws that
actually gives the individual today to become his /her
own “private attorney general” as the statute again
held in its own original language {something about those
guys in the 1800’s seemed to like something called
democracy! or at least thought it was important!}
In short it gives some of us, the ability to “equal the
playing’ field” inside a court of law in this nation.
And its why so many are not told about it and why even
more courts and police and CSEA officials do not want you
to know about it.
More and more lawyers, today, because of the epidemic
of police brutality and environmental issues
are utilizing this “Section1983” law, so more folks are
becoming aware of the same
School officials are particularly scared of it…and that
means, fathers have a powerful legal weapon, if they know
how to weld it, to create “justice at the point of a pen”
from those who would and do often rip off our children’s
and our parental rights from us, acting in the name
of the state and what Section 1983 calls “the color of
law”
Its a thought process i have been thinking of since i
myself in this part of my life, am not thinking so much as a
constitutional lawyer right now, but as a one very upset
single father of a beautiful son named Joshua who HE has
been made to suffer sick, sick things at the hands of
our currently lovely state of affairs as it affects fathers
inside this state, [for me, inside of Mahoning County Ohio
Juvenile Justice System, Youngstown that is]
I like many have a story, but i wanted to reach out and
grab some …well…attention here by stating..”lets come
and reason together”, as the Bible states and together,
indeed, as the director here says, lets get this party
going!…
What i am suggesting, is among the various legal
statutes and efforts at present, we just may well also have
a powerful 19th Century legal weapon that was intended
to eradicate a form of “domestic terror”, as the preamble
to this 14th Amendment related statute said, as per
Congressional approval in the1870’s when it passed,
its still very much, perhaps, at our disposal
… and i think it is contains potentially powerful
constituitional case law resources that has yet to be fully
applied to the area of father’s rights and to the kinds of
various sicko, sad and tragic things i see posted by those
seriously affected fathers on this site
NOTE: I am NOT promoting my own work. I am NOT
practicing law either at the present so it does not matter
to me in that way anyway
and I am not suggesting that I could represent anyone
here.
BUT…what i AM stating, there is a powerful law that was
once and even today, invoked from the dusty law books of
the din of history, that came roaring back to life to not
openly change the south, but to bring serious change
to our nation and helped to bring it back into the modern
nations society of all humankind.
If ‘Section 1983’ litigation could help do this for an entire
nation, it ought to be able to have a role in what i perceive
as an experienced student of constitutional law in making
change happen for those of us who are so deeply affected
as single fathers trying to simply raise our children in a very
loving and caring manner, often in spite of, not despite the
best efforts of the many juvenile courts and often
imbalanced feminists mothers hell bent on using the child
as a ‘revenge piece’ …
instead of thinking of the child’s true best interest.
I am talking policy level considerations and about
creating a policy discussion which can lead to serious legal
and democratic reforms about how fathers are being
treated throughout this nation today, and how there may
be, if we put our collective heads together, a way to make
children’s rights, for fathers [and affected single mothers
where made the victim of this abusive sick system as well]
work for those who its supposedly intended, the children’s
best interest.
I personally wrote at the grand ole age of 30 this state’s
first minimum wage increase proposal ever and then had
the task to get it past the state legislatures daunting
House Labor Committee in the late 1980’s.
[This committee was made up of half republicans who cared nothing for such kinds of issues in 1988. Jim Petro
opposed this proposal and so did Beatty Jo Davidson and both were on the same. I was thirty and i was fully prepped
to debate these higher powers and after my testimony and the defense of the proposal i wrote,the bill, with the help
of a few organize labor friends, made it out of committee after my testimony..and became law.
There were other such proposals including ones to protect children in door to door candy sales, and school year
initiatives ending nightmare labor intensive overworked teens that i also helped to create by taking a direct lead in
making these legislative initiatives become law.]
I did this over 20 years ago this year. So, I would like to
see today, if I can help w/ these issues i see everyday in
my own life along w/ your organization’s strong advocacy.
I think i can help do this;so please…”let us come and
reason together”… my son, and your children are not
getting any younger, nor better, for having their
fathers being so oppressed and becoming so tied up
emotionally and internally, over what others not so well
intentioned or not, are doing to both their young lives and
our own Jeffersonian “pursuit of happiness”.
Write or contact me
[You can visit my own constitional rights
blogsite…midwest center.blogspot.com and follow the links
to my legal career’s work and efforts on behalf of the poor
and the civil rights cases in Eastern Ohio over the past 15
years. Every judicial officer in this state, in the highest
places knows my name, and my work…some for ill, some
for not so good, even some …out of respect.]
But again, i write mainly to communicate a theory and
one i think and have been trying to find a “home” for…
Tony, it might just be Italians in our midsts, will have to
do it again, for this nation, like our brother Columbus, in
progressing a critical pressing [and very emotional] issue
forward.
Let’s talk soon.
richard o
I am a struggling divorced father. The relationship between my ex-wife and I has become more and more heated over the past few years (since I remarried and had another child) and I need the help of an experienced attorney in Allen county, Ohio. The one I have now is doing absolutely nothing for me, tells me in no uncertain terms that I cannot win any little battles ever, so I shouldn’t even bother trying. I have rolled over time and time again, each time losing more time with my daughter and more money to the system. I would love to know of a place I can go to discuss the trials and tribulations of fathers in my county going through the same thing and maybe toss around some good attorney’s names! Thanks so much for any help you can provide,
Rob
Robert,
What you describe is not uncommon; when the father moves on, there are some mothers that can’t let go and move on themselves. They become increasingly combative and seek conflict with you at every turn.
I’ve found that in such cases, you should avoid conflict at all costs.”Never” engage her in a combative manner in front of your children. It’s best to turn the other cheek, remain silent, and leave, if that’s what it takes to calm the situation.
Even more importantly and as I hope you already know, (and I am not trying to be condescending in say this) please don’t ever badmouth your ex in front of your children. Divorce is hard enough on children as it is. Their world gets turned upside-down, they have no control, and they asked for none of it. So always be the “bigger parent” and walk away if necessary. I’m surprised at how some fathers think it’s okay to badmouth mom in front of the children. It never is, and no matter what she says or does. Please don’t take offense to me saying that, I only mention it because it sounds like you could possibly be in a high-conflict situation, and I know first hand how hard it can be at times to bite one’s tongue.
Unfortunately, and at this time, there are no Allen County attorneys I could recommend as I don’t know any in that area. However, what you can do is go to the docket office at your county’s Domestic Relations or Juvenile Court (depending on where your case is) and strike up a conversation about filing a motion pro se. For example, ask what paperwork needs to be filed, how it needs to be filled out etc etc.
If the person assisting you seems friendly and willing to assist, tell them you’d rather retain counsel as it would be much easier. They’ll like hearing that because they’d rather work with an attorney versus a pro se litigant. Then throw out there the “if you were me, who would you retain as counsel for this” line.
You could call your local bar, but quite frankly I’ve done that in Hamilton County, and I knew more than the attorney I spoke with, so I went at it pro se.
Based on what you’ve said, it sounds as if your present attorney may be the butt of the old joke, “What do you call someone who graduated at the bottom of their law school class?” –An attorney.
I see no problems with an attorney being frank with a client whose a father by acknowledging up front that the odds are stacked against you, you aren’t on a level playing field and that the courts assume that everything you say is a lie, (and you must have SUBSTANTIAL evidence to the contrary to prove otherwise) while everything she says is 100% truthful, is accepted as fact, and requires absolutely no substantiating evidence.
Sadly, I’m not being sarcastic is saying that. The statistics prove that what I’m saying is true; nationally, and in contested custody cases, mothers are awarded sole custody 84% of the time.
It’s interesting what you said about rolling over and losing more and more each time. I made the same mistake (out of ignorance) originally. I used to get to “visit” my daughter four days one week, and two the next. Now, I see her 4 days per month, or less than 14% a year.
If you don’t mind, email your attorney’s name to me. I’d like to ask you some other questions (offline) as well.
On your last point where you said,
–That’s something I have on my “to do” list; eventually I hope to have a forum for such.
hi my name is david i have three children with my ex wife couple of years ago i had got temporary custody of my children due to because my ex had them around her moms boyfriend witch is a child molester children services got involved and after a year of having my children there mother had got them back due to because of false allegations they had gave her custody of the children back because she found out that i had signed 2 of my children on ssi due to imparment and learning abilities that there mom will not work with them she was behind on shots on my kids and was not getting them the medical attention they needed and the proper schooling we had statements written from 4other partys and children services did not believe the statements well getting to the point the mother said that we was doing drugs and children services had us sumitte to a urin test foe 6 weeks straight every week well in october she had went to jail for drugs and had all 3 of my babies in the car why she was trying to sell and my kids were not in a car seat or nothing children services will not give no imformation on my kidsits been a ongoing battle with my children and i dont know as a farther what rights i have cause it seems like children services took all my rights away from me as a farther i have not seen my kids since july of 2011 my ex told children services i dont want nothing to do ith my kidsor i will not come and get them as soon as i found out where she lived children services would not let me get my kids they said that the grandma was keeping them and shes the one thats with a child molester and found out that he was over the house and around my kids every weekendi had told children services they will not give me no imformation on my children i have visits with my children and i finally got ahold of someone at children srevices and they will not give me her address cause up and moved again when i found her she told children services that she did not want me knowing were she livesthere for i feel children services is also keeping from my children i would like for something to happen because children sevices here in lima ohio do not think that they have to follow the rules and guidelines of the actuall law i would like to discuss more with you about the situation with my children if you would like to contact us my number is xxx-xxx-xxxx. i have been learning a little about law cause my soon to be wife had went back to school for paralegal and thats why cause she said she sees what alot of farthers go through and shes tired of most mothers get away with what ever they want when it bo hu to the law and the goverment about lies she told children services i molested my oldest daughter and i was not around my kids for 6 months cause she moved and did not tell me do you know they investigated me and kept my kids from me because of that false allogations is it right for a mother to go in and lie like that to the goverment just to keep me from my children i had a friend of mine that just told me last night that my ex was going around telling people i molested my children do you think thats right and telling the law and children services here in lima do you think they care shes had my kids at a knowen crack house by a license person that was to report any abuse allogations or seen or hear about a abuse witch is her own aunt cindy had wrote a couple statements out on my ex after the fact that she seen the abuse cause my kids and there mom lived with cindy and she saw all this abuse going on with my kids,but did not report it to children services do you think she should still be able to keep he license to report abuse when she fails to repor one how many other ones has she fefused to report and how many times has she failed to report my kids mom when she is related and the reson why cause my ex was giving her money from my child support when i was working and giving her my kids food stamps when i was getting my kids they would not even eat meat at my house my oldest said shes never had that kind of meat all they wanted was junk food mac and cheese plain pasta and they would always ask for something to drink at least 17 times within a half hour it kind of makes me think she dont feed my children the way they needed to be feed i dont know i have asked for help and help from almost every one and nothing im just so worried about the safty of my children and i would love to see my babies i still got there christmas and everything i have been trying to get my children sinceaugust of last year and i miss them deeply