LETTERS
To the Editor:

On behalf of the State Bar of Georgia, I would like to congratulate Murphy C. Miller on his appointment by Gov. Sonny Perdue as Superior Court Judge in the Enotah Judicial Circuit.

Judge Miller brings a strong record of courtroom experience to the position, having served the people of Lumpkin, Towns, Union and White counties as public defender in the Enotah Circuit. We wish him much success as Superior Court Judge.

A strong judicial system is the foundation on which the principles of liberty and justice stand, and we must work to protect it every day. I thank Judge Miller for accepting this awesome responsibility, which, in the finest traditions of our justice system, helps protect the rights and liberties of all Americans.
Gerald M. Edenfield, President
State Bar of Georgia

Regarding: Biased Judges Scar Children, Wound Fathers

To the Editor:

I would like to respond to Alexis LaPorta in regards to her remarks about the roles of mothers and fathers in the importance of child rearing. I am sorry Alexis, I assume that you were at one time hurt by a man, (father), or you would have tempered your remarks about the importance of a father in a child's life. I do not insist that you are wrong, I just ask you to examine your "rules" that you are going by. Certainly, in your life you have known fathers that are more nurturing than mothers, and are more involved in their children's lives than the mother; but that is not the point. If justice were truly blind, and both parents being equal, and love could not gender discriminate, what would be wrong with a father having custody? Why then, if there is no doubt of a father's love, does the court system seem to just automatically give custody to the mother? And, if the parents of the child, really cared about the child, why would they spend so much time and effort in the attempt to tear the other down, to WIN; as if, in the case of a mother and father not being together to raise the child, there would be a winner.

This is what we need to change, the court system should not look at child custody as a win/ lose situation. That when a father stands up and says loudly that they love their child, his voice must be heard! This is not a contest of men vs. women, but a test of compassion and reason and I feel our "IN"justice system is not even listening. Now is not the time for old rules or conditioning, but rather a close look at the heart, then justice will be served.
Donna Bragg
706-896-2706
To the Editor:

The article written by Ms. Durfee on the Injustice that Fathers endure from our local court system was right on the money. Mothers are not always the best choice for the child or children. I am a mother of five and also have been divorced. My ex husband and I agreed to joint custody and wrote our own agreement with the best interest of our boys in mind. We apparently are one in a million. As it seems that the majority of divorced individuals "use" the child or children as leverage against the other party. The courts and attorneys play an important role in continuing the battle between the parties for power over their "leverage"...they all forget the children. My ex husband and I are both excellent parents, due to circumstances well beyond the children we decided to not be married any longer...not to hate eachother and use our children as weapons against one another. Leaving the courts out of our arrangement was the best thing we could have done for all concerned. We put our children first, respecting eachother and showing the children a united, although not married, parenting team. This works to the benefit of all concerned!

My current husband however is one of the abused and mistreated by the system. He was without a doubt the better choice for his daughter. Morally, emotionally, intellectually and in every other sense a better parent. He was "raped" by the system here. No consideration was given to the child's well being, the lack of stability the mother showed in every way, the fact that the mother was very promiscuous and even allowed her child to sleep in bed with men she had only known for days had no effect on the systems "custom" of giving custody to a mother. This woman took this child out of a stable, healthy joint custody situation and moved to Florida with a married man...and the courts allowed it even though a prior order forbid the child leaving this county...the same judge "changed" his own order to follow custom...nothing the mother had done was bad enough, nothing the father had done was good enough. He had dedicated himself to the care and upbringing of this child, while the mother used her as a means for manipulation and vindictiveness. The courts turned a blind eye and even lent support to the destruction of any stability that child will ever know. My husband suffered illness and depression for two years before he finally realized that he couldn't win, we spent thousands of dollars trying to "save" his daughter. She has been moved four times now in the past two years. She is now the victim of a classic case of parental alienation, a victim of her mother's hatred, of the courts' lack of diligence and of the attorney that conspired to destroy this child and my husband's lives for a fee. I believe with all my heart that there is a special place in hell for all that participate in such hideous abuses of power. It is too late for my step daughter, she is lost. It isn't too late for good people to make the system change. Joint custody if the parents are loving, responsible, drug free and caring is the only "right" way to handle this issue. If the parents are not equally capable the gender of the parent or child should not play a role in determining the custody, only the ability to provide a safe and stable and loving atmosphere for the child or children should be considered! Let's take custom and lack of real concern out of the divorce courts "bag of tricks" and make it a law that children have lawyers or advocates working for them in any divorce situation...they are the ones that need representation after all the adults can make their own mistakes and decisions...neither of which should affect the quality of the childrens' lives.

It is time to awaken and become AWARE that the wrongs in life going on around us may actually someday affect US! The system is wrong and must be changed. The injustices have life long sentences for the most innocent of all!
Karen Onsager
To the Editor:

With regard to Alexis La Porta's letter to the editor (Dec. 9) in her sophomoric attempt to denigrate the article "Biased Judges Scar Children, Wound Fathers", her comments about fathers being less fit than mothers shows ignorance on her part, and shows her low-browed Neanderthal thinking. Given that society has made huge strides in bending over backwards to free modern women from the doldrums of household duties and taking care of the children, and allowing them to seek careers, one wonders why the last bastion of gender discrimination remains in the family court system. The General Abstract of the United States shows that more than 85% of women with children up to the age of 18 work full time. More than 70% with a child of 5 years or less work full time.

Custody is given to over 90% of women in divorce proceedings. So are the assets and half of the father's income. Where can one find such consistently great odds in society? You can't find it on the betting tables or the lottery. This is outright gender bias. La Porta's comment that custody is awarded to the more fit parent because females are "more nurturing" is not only disingenuous and ignorant, it is malicious. The law says if both parents are fit, then custody is equal. But thanks to the profit motive of child custody and child support proceedings, fathers are routinely denied their fundamentally secured rights to be a parent. Not only is this government oppression, it's official misconduct by public officials (i.e., judges) who unlawfully use personal and biased discretion in awarding custody rather than following the law and the facts first, as required.

Moreover, judges have a built-in bias. The more child support they order and enforce, mostly against men, pursuant to federal law, Title 42 Section 658(a) the more federal reimbursement incentive funding the state receives. This funding has "no strings" attached. It is immediately put into the general treasury. The first items of the budget paid out of the general treasury are state employee and judicial pension funds. This is not only a huge conflict of interest, it is a conspiracy to line one's own pockets. This smacks of racketeering and extortion. The United States Supreme Court held in Tumey v. Ohio, Ward v. Monroeville and Gibson v. Berryhill that judges cannot sit in judgment of cases where they have a financial interest in the outcome of such cases. They must immediately disqualify themselves. In that event, the state needs to set up a panel of economists, financial experts, and others to make such recommendations. Judges cannot.

Custody is not about the children. It's about profit and gain for the state, the judges, the lawyers, and to the "victor in divorce goes all the spoils".
Bruce Eden, Civil Rights Director
DADS (Dads Against Discrimination)--New Jersey & New
York Chapters