From: diana@wetware.com (CatWoman )
Newsgroups: alt.child-support,alt.dads-rights
Subject: Re: Anyone read Ann Landers on July 17th?
Date: 21 Jul 92 20:30:04 GMT
Organization: Castle WetWare MouseCatcher

Last week, I sent out the following.  I haven't
seen any responses, and we had some problems with
our posting software, so I'm sending it out again.

Diana

] We seem to have Ann on our side courtesy of this
] letter - might be nice to show her OUR support of
] HER stance by writing to her, since there's sure
] to be a flood of letters from the "other side".
] 
] (This letter typed in without permission of Ann,
] Creator's syndicate, or the San Mateo Times.)
] 
] The headline for the column is "Not all divorced
] dads are deadbeats".
] 
] "DEAR ANN LANDERS:  My fiance is one of those
] "deadbeat dads" we've been hearing so much about
] lately.  "Jeff" was on the "25 most wanted" list
] in Virginia, his credit was destroyed, and he had
] an Internal Revenue Service judgment against him for 
] over $28,000.  The man sounds like a real jerk, 
] doesn't he?  Well, actually, he's a lovely man.
] 
]    "It seems his ex-wife wanted a little extra cash,
] so she contacted Aid for Families with Dependent 
] Children and ssaid she hadn't received any child 
] support.  That was three years ago.  The state gave 
] her the cash and began to place judgments on my 
] fiance's credit in the amount of $600 every month.
] 
]    "Although Jeff was living in the family home and
] was within easy reach, no one wrote or phoned to 
] inquire about these so-called delinguent payments.
] The state simply assumed that if his ex-wife said he
] wasn't paying, he wasn't paying.  Jeff found out what
] was going on six months ago when he won $1,000 in the
] local lottery.  The state kept his money.  He went to
] the local social services office with his cancelled
] checks and divorce decree to prove that he had paid
] the amount ordered.  Do you know what he was told?
] "That's not good enough."  A letter had to come from
] his ex-wife stating that he had paid up and that she
] was satisfied.
] 
]    "This case is not unique.  Another friend's ex-wife
] was fired and lied about support payments so her 
] unemployment checks wouldn't be reduced.  Her husband
] had a military, direct-deposit allotment as proof of
] payment, but it wasn't good enough.
] 
]    "I realize there must be a system to enforce child
] support regulations.  But what about the parents who
] DO pay?  Murderers, rapists and child molesters get a 
] fair trial in this country.  Their constitutional
] rights are protected.  But fathers who've had ugly
] divorces can have their lives torn apart by bitter
] ex-wives.
] 
]    "We are now working with an attorney to change the
] situation, but it's hard to fight a system that assumes
] all non-custodial fathers are guilty until their ex-wives
] say they aren't.  Please, Ann, help us out.  Nobody
] else has the guts to be in our corner." --Virginia Beach
] 
] "DEAR V.B.:  I'm in your corner and here's your letter.
] Fair is fair.  In some cases, the divorced father is the
] better person."
] 
] Sound familiar folks?  I'm sure that Ann will get a lot
] of contradicting letters from the custodial women, and 
] could use some supporting letters...some of you who have
] put together support groups may want to "advertise" them
] in her column...
] 
] On a somewhat more positive note - the CBS program
] MISSING/REWARD had TWO stories in a row about children
] who had been abducted by the mother, where the father
] was the one searching for the child...wherein the
] authorities seemed to actually believe that the mother
] could be capable of abuse and it would be best to have
] the child returned to the father.  Imagine that...
] 
] Diana
]