Free Republic

The father of a disabled woman who died last year is entitled to half her estate even though he had little contact with her during her life, a state judge ruled yesterday. Ruben Martinez of Staten Island will receive about $400,000 of the $1.1 million remaining in a trust established for the care of his daughter, Jennifer Rogiers, who was born with severe disabilities caused by spinal cord injury suffered during her breech birth in 1983. The girl's mother, Rosa Rogiers of Weehawken, also received $400,000 and an additional $300,000 to compensate her for the years of care she provided...

Greenwood, IN - An Indiana man is behind bars for intentionally leaving his girlfriend's children in a car in the frigid cold. On Sunday, police say Gary Willhoite left a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a two-month old at a Greenwood gas station just south of Indianapolis. Authorities say he was angry with his girlfriend, so he left her kids in a car for six hours. By the time the children were found, police say ice had formed inside the car. Lt. Bob Dine with the Greenwood Police Department says, "The baby was in the car seat, had a wet diaper,...

For education and discussion purposes only.CHARLES CITY, Iowa -- The presiding pastor at Evelyn Miller's funeral Thursday said it was time to celebrate the life of the 5-year-old girl. Video: Watch KCCI's Report Evelyn disappeared from her home July 1. Her body was found days later in the Cedar River. The Rev. Phil Corr tried to focus on the positives of Miller's short life. But even he acknowledged that it's very difficult when something like this happens to someone so young. Candy necklaces greeted attendees at the front door of the First Congregational Church in Charles City. They were her...

This is a Roger Clinton update. A couple of years ago, we requested help in tracking down Roger Clinton to demand that he meet his legal obligations for child support. We got some good leads from public comments and private communications. Today, we are informed that Roger Clinton has fallen behind in his payments again. He currently owes $20,000. A complaint has been filed in the State of Tennessee. The last permanent address I was able to obtain for him was in Torrance, Calif. in 2002, where his home was being foreclosed. If anyone - including Uncle Bill and...

CHANDLER, OK. -- A 9-year-old girl was shot while sleeping in her own bed. And her younger brother is the one who pulled the trigger. It happened just before 8 a.m. Wednesday. The gunman is just 6-years-old. Sheriff's deputies said the mother's rifle didn't have a lock on it, so all the boy had to do was grab the gun, load it, and shoot it. Luckily, though, he was just a little off the mark. "My granddaughter is 9-years-old," said Ronny Jones. "We could have buried her today." It's a wake-up call Ronny and Glenda Jones will never forget. Officers...

Hall of Fame basketball player Calvin Murphy was found not guilty today of charges he molested five of his daughters. Jurors deliberated just two hours before finding Murphy not guilty on all six counts. When the verdict was read, Murphy closed his eyes, then looked up at the ceiling. Earlier today during closing arguments, prosecutors Murphy as a cheat and a child molester today, while defense attorneys maintained that the daughters accusing him of sexual abuse were lying in an orchestrated effort to make him pay. "You can never fully repair his reputation," defense attorney Rusty Hardin told jurors during...

BALTIMORE (AP) — The president of the NAACP is stepping down as head of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights group, according to newspaper reports. Kweisi Mfume, who has been president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People since 1996, planned to make the announcement Tuesday, The (Baltimore) Sun, citing an anonymous source, reported in Tuesday editions. The resignation was also reported Tuesday in a USA Today opinions column by weekly contributor DeWayne Wickham. [flip]Last month, the NCAAP announced that the Internal Revenue Service was reviewing the organization's federal tax-exempt status. NAACP chairman Julian Bond said...

MISTRESS DISTRESS MISTRESS DISTRESS By HOWARD BREUER -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- July 19, 2004 -- EXCLUSIVE REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — With only a few days until Amber Frey takes the stand in Scott Peterson's double-murder trial, she has told her family that she's tired of being dragged through the gutter by people who know nothing about her. Smut king Larry Flynt has insinuated she's a prostitute. Trial observers expect her to be portrayed by the Peterson defense as a harlot who pursues married men, and possibly as a participant in Laci Peterson's murder. In an exclusive letter to The Post and Fox News...

The National Organization for Women's recently released Family Court Report 2002 claims that family courts are "wrought with gender bias" against women. However, the respondents to the survey upon which the report is based were not chosen at random, but were instead self-selected from among those whom NOW calls its "constituents." If one selects a survey's respondents, one can make the survey show almost anything. For this reason, these types of Self-selected Listener Opinion Polls, commonly known as SLOPs, are viewed as junk social science by serious researchers. NOW's report sounds the alarm on women's "loss of custody through gender...

TACOMA, Wash. (Oct. 28) - A seriously wounded 8-year-old boy calmly described his father's deadly knife rampage during a call for help to 911. "My daddy killed me with a knife and I'm gone," the boy told a dispatcher. "Can you please send the Army men or the ambulance?" The soft-spoken child gave a wrong address and then hung up. But a second dispatcher called back, keeping him on the line while a frantic search was under way. On Wednesday, authorities released the remarkable tape of Anthony Sukto's calm courage during the Oct. 22 ordeal, and the frantic efforts to...

In anticipation of the unsealing of John Kerry’s divorce and child custody papers, we decided to re-post our “Deadbeat Dad” story. If this is what we have gleaned from the available public record, just wait until the court documents are opened …   When John Kerry got his first marriage annulled, he told reporters annulment was “one of this special Catholic things.” “75 percent of all annulments in the world take place in the United States,” he joked. “I guess that figure drops to 50 percent if you take out all Massachusetts politicians.” His first wife, Julia Thorne wasn’t...

The Child Support Scam April 24, 2004 by Roger F. Gay Since the creation of the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement in 1975, government workers and lobbyists for private child support collection companies have been relentless in their efforts to misinform the public about child support payments and collections. A recent article published by WRAL.com in North Carolina provides a typical look at the propaganda effort. The long title explains the impression that the article is intended to give: "Wake County Child-Support Workers Well-Intentioned But Overburdened; Child-Support Enforcement Needs Short-Changed By County Budget." Before going into detail, let...

Child Support Propaganda in an Election YearApril 22, 2004 by Roger F. Gay It's that season again! This is an election year, so every half-witted politician and bureaucrat is out to maintain or sweeten if possible their share of pork from the taxpayers' pocket. Nowhere is the special-interest machinery more worn than in delivery of child support propaganda. I don't suppose child support system promoters will tire of telling the same old lies until editors tire of publishing them. In Iowa, the Department of Human Services says it's "turning up the heat on parents delinquent in child support payments,...

On the campaign trail the Kerry's look like a devil-may-care, happy-go-lucky brood. But like many upper crust families, the Kerry's too have a dark history; one swirling in a shadowy fog of divorce, depression, thoughts of suicide, and perhaps even deadbeat parenting. It all started in 1971 when Julia Thorne met a young Yale grad and Navy boy named John Kerry. We have covered this early part of the story in some detail before. What is clear is that Thorne suffered from severe depression. She was also so lonely during her life with the ambitious Kerry, she contemplated suicide more...

<p>You could tell that the people in the courtroom would rather have been somewhere else -- anywhere else.</p> <p>The topic of the hour was children; yet there were practically none around to hear discussions that would greatly affect their lives.</p>

TREASURE ISLAND -- Former tennis star Roscoe Tanner was extradited from Germany to this town near Tampa on charges of writing a bad check worth $35,000 and failing to pay child support. Tanner was being held in the Pinellas County Jail without bail Tuesday, one day after being extradited. Tanner bounced a check for $35,595 to buy a 32-foot boat three years ago while working as a tennis instructor at the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club, the Pinellas County State Attorney's Office said. He used the boat's title as collateral for a $10,000 loan, and bounced a check to...

Man Threatened With Prison Time LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A Louisville man agreed Tuesday to abstain from sex until his child support has been paid in full. Louisville station WLKY-TV reported that Luther Crawford was given the choice of abstaining from sex or facing one to five years in the penitentiary. Crawford, 50, owes $33,000 in child support, WLKY reported. Crawford admitted that he's fathered 12 children with 11 women, but he said that he's now learned to use contraception. quot;I thought about it and thought about it,quot; Crawford said. quot;I want to get out of jail. I don't want to...