RightsForMothers

These Kansas Judges need to pull their heads out of their ‘god-syndrome’ asses. WTF—

FILED IN: CHILD CUSTODY, CHILD CUSTODY BATTLE, CHILD CUSTODY FOR SALE, CHILD CUSTODY FOR FATHERS, CORRUPT BASTARDS, JUDGE PATRICK WALTERS, KANSAS, MOTHERLESS CHILDREN,NONCUSTODIAL MOTHERS, SHAWN JONES, TAMMY YOUNGQUIST, CHILD CUSTODY FOR ABUSERS

UPDATE (8/26/10): Today is Women’s Equality Day.  Send Judge Walters a “Happy Women’s Equality Day” email: jwalters@dc18.org

During a hearing yesterday in a Sedgwick County Courtroom, mother Tammy Youngquist sought to have contact with her two very young daughters.  She hasn’t seen them in months.  As most mothers who have been run into the ground financially by the abusive ex, she motioned the court pro se….without a lawyer.  Judge J. Patrick Walters refused to entertain anything in the motion she put forward, and when Tammy was quoting something in Kansas Constitution about rights of women, Assmunch Walters asked “Women have rights?“  Then he left the court room.

So the ex (they weren’t even married) continues to keep total control of the little girls and won’t let them see their own mother.  Won’t even let her see a picture of them while they were in court.  Tammy’s older son was “allowed” by BOS (bag of smegma) Shawn Jones, who was alleged to have sexually abused one of the young daughters, to see his sisters’ pictures, and the boy cried.  Control freaks like BOS Shawn Jones are known to try and control access to anything to do with his property (as he thinks of them as), as they make excellent pawns in the sick game of “keep away.”  He’s so lucky to have Chauvenist Pig Judge Walters right there by his side to let him continue the game.  God help these little girls.

There are no plans for their mother to ever see them again.  But they are promising to try and put her in jail next month for child support.  Bravo BOS Shawn, you would make our Asshole of the Month Club if we had one.  You are an embarrassment to me as a veteran of the military…you wear an Officers uniform, you take two little girls from their mother, one who was born in the hospital when you were out messing with another woman.  You and the “replacement mom” (wife #4?) make buckets of money next to what Tammy makes as a part time waitress.  Shame on you.  Your daughters (and this I know personally) will end up damning you for keeping them from their mother and siblings.

See what others say about Judge Patrick Walters, on The Wall of Shame by P & C Justice:

Judge Patrick Walters, here in Sedgwick county needs to be mentioned on your wall of shame, Judge Walters is NOT following the law. He is handing children over to the alleged abusers, he is denying protective parents a right to see their child/children. Kansas statute reads that a parent is entitled to visitation unless visitation would cause danger to the child. Well, in a recent case and others Judge Walters took away parenting time from a mother because she reported abuse. He stated that she was the abuser, how dare he say such thing, this is why so many children are dying because of Judges like Pat Walters. Lets not forget about Daytona Robertson, when the mother asked to have her daughter protected, and the abuse investigated and Judge Anthony Powell took away parenting time of mom and put her on supervised visits and gave Dad sole custody, then just a few months later little Daytona died from abuse in Dads home, Dad didn’t abuse the child but it was in Dad’s home NOT moms. Judge Patrick Walters needs to be removed from the bench, he is a true danger to children of abuse, children who rely on Judges to keep them safe. Judge Patrick Walters also has taken other children away from mom’s after abuse allegations and put the children in foster care, once again how dare him traumatize these children and take them away from the ONE parent who didn’t abuse them and place them with STRANGERS, NO MORE JUDGE WALTERS, you don’t deserve the HONOR of being a Sedgwick County Judge.

By the awesome RANDI James

Stepmothers Cannot Replace Biological Mothers  (emphasis mine)

Myth -- Stepmothers are acceptable substitutes for children's real mothers. [This is the cherished belief of many re-coupled nonprimary caregiving fathers who seek custody, and also of the custody evaluators who indulge them.]

Fact: "It has been consistently found that stepfamilies are not as close as nuclear families (Kennedy, 1985; Pill, 1990) and that stepparent-stepchild relationships are not as emotionally close as parent-child relationships (Ganong & Coleman, 1986; Hetherington & Chlingempeel, 1992, Hobart, 1989) Many clinicians and researchers assume that stepfamilies tend to become closer over time. However, previous longitudinal studies conducted on stepfamilies have found little empirical support for this (Hetherington & Clingempeel, 1992; Kurdek, 1991).

"Exploring the Stepgap: How Parents' Ways of Coping with Daily Family Stressors Impact Stepparent-Stepchild Relationship Zuality in Stepfamilies," by Melady Preece. University of British Columbia. (1996) http://www.psych.ubc.ca/~mpreece/compdoc.pdf

Fact: "The one most significant factor that neutralizes the advantages of remarrying is the psychological dilemma the child goes through over whom to love. The child seems to be polarized, for example, between loving the woman (the mother) who is now, as it usually happens, hated by the father, and the new woman (the stepmother) whom the father deeply loves. Virginia Rutter describes this conflict as "divided loyalty". She further explains that the child feels torn because their parents are pulling them in opposite directions. The symptoms of this divided royalty are that they brew up bad behavior or depression, a forced psychological path to resolve the conflict between the parents(Rutter). On the other hand children whose parents remain single do not experience this because no new figure (stepparent) is introduced to trigger that psychological trauma."

"Reconstituted families vs Single-Parent Families." http://wl.middlebury.edu/derick/ ; Rutter, Virginia. "Lessons From Stepfamilies". Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers, Inc. May-June 1994 Vol27 n3 p30 (10). Oct. 31, 2002.

Fact: "Adolescents, however, would rather separate from the family as they form their own identities. "The developmental needs of the adolescent are at odds with the developmental push of the new stepfamily for closeness and bonding,".

Id. Also see "NEW PERSPECTIVES ON STEPFAMILIES:STEP IS NOT A FOUR LETTER WORD," by Susan Gamache, M.A., R.C.C.* STEPFAMILIES, Fall 1994 http://www.saafamilies.org/education/articles/prof/gameche.htm

Fact: "Only about 20% of adult stepkids feel close to their stepmoms, says the pioneering work of E. Mavis Hetherington involving 1,400 families of divorce, some studied almost 30 years. 'The competition between non-custodial mothers and stepmothers was remarkably enduring," she writes in For Better or For Worse: Divorce Reconsidered. 'Only about one-third of adult children think of stepmoms as parents,' suggests Constance Ahrons' 20-year research project. Half regard their stepdads as parents. About 48% of those whose moms had remarried were happy with the new union. Only 29% of those whose dads had remarried liked the idea of a stepmom.'

"Stepmoms step up to the plate," by Karen S. Peterson, USA TODAY. 5/6/2002) http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-05-07-stepmom.htm

Fact: "Stepmothers have the most difficulty building a relationship with stepdaughters. There is generally less affection, less respect, and less acceptance in this relationship than in other stepfamily relationships. The daughter may resent the stepmother's closeness with her father... Attempts by the stepmother to fulfill her role in the stepfamily may be perceived by the stepdaughter as efforts to replace her mother."

"Building Step Relationships." Stepping Stones for Stepfamilies. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1832.pdf

Fact: "Stepmothers are also found to have more problematic relationship with stepchildren; while children, particularly girls, also experience higher stress when they are living with their stepmothers. (Jacobson, 1987 in Visher & Visher, 1993). Visher & Visher (1979) suggested that teenage daughters identify strongly with their mothers and resent any woman who replaces their mother for the father's affection. Teenage daughters also exhibit much competitiveness with their stepmothers for their father's affection. These findings suggested that there are strong situational dynamics at work that create special relationship problems for stepmother families. Difficulty between the children's mother and stepmother has also been mentioned as a possible contribution to the greater stress in stepmother families. (Visher & Visher 1988)

"Exploring the Difficulties of stepmothers in the Hong Kong Chinese Society," by Kwok Yuen-ching, Lily.The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (1998) http://swforum.socialnet.org.hk/article/fulltext/990502.doc

Also see: Ganong & Coleman. Remarried Family Relatioships Sage Publications. (1994); Visher, J.S. & Visher, E.B. "Stepfamilies: A Guide To Working With Stepparents & Stepchildren." Brunner/Mazel New York (1979); Visher, J.S. & Visher, E.B. "Old Loyalties,New Ties." Therapeutic Strategies with Stepfamilies Brunner/Mazel New York (1988); Visher, J.S. & Visher, E.B. " Remarriage Families and Stepparenting" in Walsh, T. (ed.) Normal Family Processes. New York Guilford Press (1993); Vuchinich S. et al (1991) "Parent-Child Interaction and Gender Differences in Early Adolescents." Adaptation to Stepfamilies. Developmental Psychology 1991 Vol. 27, No.4; Smith, Donna. "Stepmothering." Harvester Wheatsheaf. New York (1990)

Fact: "Children raised in families with stepmothers are likely to have less health care, less education and less money spent on their food than children raised by their biological mothers, three studies by a Princeton economist have found. The studies examined the care and resources that parents said they gave to children and did not assess the quality of the relationships or the parents' feelings and motives. But experts said that while the findings did not establish the image of the wicked stepmother as true, they supported the conclusion that, for complex reasons, stepmothers do invest less in children than biological mothers do, with fathers, to a large extent, leaving to women the responsibility for the family's welfare."

"Differences Found in Care With Stepmothers," by Tamar Lewin, Tim Shaffer for The New York Times Susan Sasse, vice president of the International Stepfamily Association, with her husband, Erik, and their children in Chesapeake City, Md. (August 17, 2000) http://www.geocities.com/thesagacontinues2000/stepmoms.html

Also see http://www.geocities.com/wellesley/9204/custody.html; and "What's Normal In a Stepfamily"? by Peter K. Gerlach, MSW. Board member Stepfamily Association of America http://sfhelp.org/04/reality3.htm

Also see: Children living with custodial fathers are less likely to have health insurance than children who live with their mothers. http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/p60-224.pdf

Fact: "[C]hildren experiencing multiple transitions, experiencing them later in childhood, and those living in stepfamilies fared poorly in comparison with those living their entire childhood in stable single-parent families or moving into two-parent families with biological or adoptive parents. Other studies show benefits of stable single-parent living arrangements for children's socioemotional adjustment and global wellbeing (Acock & Demo, 1994), and deleterious effects of multiple transitions (Capaldi & Patterson, 1991; Kurdek, Fine, & Sinclair, 1995), supporting a life-stress perspective."

David H Demo, Martha J Cox (2000) Families With Young Children: A Review of Research in the 1990s Journal of Marriage and Family 62 (4), 876-895.

Fact: "[R]esearch suggests that being a stepparent is more difficult than raising one's own biological children, especially for stepmothers, and that stepmothers may compete with the child for the father's time and attention."

Pasley, K., & Moorefield, B. S. (2004). Stepfamilies: Changes and challenges. In M. Coleman & L. H. Ganong (Eds.), Handbook of contemporary families (pp. 317-330), cited in Valarie King (2007) When Children Have Two Mothers: Relationships With Nonresident Mothers, Stepmothers, and Fathers Journal of Marriage and Family 69 (5), 1178-1193.

You can read more at the Liz Library

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We all know good and bad stepmothers, some are well-intentioned, others are.... These women are often in quite a mess of a situation: They are in their 2nd and 3rd marriages, determined to make the current marriage work, insistent that thishusband is the best (or at least a little better than the last), and sometimes constantly having to convince themselves of this. They often already have children that they are fully responsible for and in addition, they become the caretakers of the husband's children (please read Remarried Custodial Fathers As Caregivers).

Stepmothers generally believe their husband's word, as gospel, about his ex wife and are often staunch leaders in the attack against his former girlfriends and wives. She must believe it because it was her choice to marry such a "wonderful" man and surround herself in this complex situation. She cannot look stupid, again. Any woman before her can become the enemy in her attempt to boost her self-esteem.

A stepmother is a husband's greatest advocate. A judge in an Australian child sex abuse custody case opines [on the stepmother]:

"This lady was an impressive person and witness. I thought she was honest and attempting to assist the court. She clearly supports the father and trusts him implicitly. She would not contemplate a future with him if she suspected that he had been abusing his child .

**Custody was given to the father

They can be like Bonnie and Clyde.

(See: Father Let His 12 Year-Old Daughter Die A Slow Hideous Death After Beating and Scalding

Father Accused Child's Mother of Abuse in Custody Case; Stepmother Kills Child

Father and Stepmother Tortured 9 Year-Old Child

Stepmother Stabs 14 Year-Old Boy

Father and Stepmother Punched Around 8 Year-Old to "Toughen Him Up" and/or as "Play Hitting"

Where was Her Mommy? Dad and Stepmonster Charged with Criminal Mistreatment

Child Abuse Charges for Minnesota Father, Stepmonster)

From Family in Court for Brutal Child Abuse (in a rare case in which a father was charged for failure to protect, emphasis mine):

The future is uncertain for a two-year-old boy allegedly beaten unconscious by his stepmother. As he continues to recover from severe brain injuries, his family appeared before a Lee County judge trying to decide who will take care of young Kaydin on his long road to recovery.

Rosemary Kunz showed up for family court Wednesday morning.

The Department of Children and Families is investigating child abuse allegations against Kunz.

Detectives say she confessed to hitting her stepson, tripping him, and knocking him unconscious.

She went as far as to say she was "addicted to abusing him" and that she "liked to see him cry."

**Kinda makes you afraid to let your kid go with dad. All we ever hear about is stepDADS and mothers' boyfriends who do the abusing.

Child support is owed to the ex, taking money away from the family, custody battles may ensue...Stepmothers get stressed trying to hold up the family and juggle each situation as it presents. Much anger and resentment is built. I have seen many a stepmother talk absolute shit about her husband's ex AND the children.

Here's an excerpt by Leeahn Griffin-Scott:

"The 2nd X is a psychopathicredheadedfreakofnature. I kid you not. This woman is an unmittigated lunatic. My wonderful husband partnered with her as he walked out the door of his first marriage. Long story. My wonderful husband has a 9yr old child to this fool...

I know this is an awful thing to say, but if I never saw his children again it would be too too damn soon. I cannot and never will forgive them for what they have done to their father. I on the other hand, can and should expect some problems. But what they have done to the only parent that loves them more than life itself, is absolutely without question unforgiveable."

Is it her place to judge a woman she truly knows nothing about? Do stepmothers not understand karma?

My advice to stepmothers or potentials would be to do a background check on your prospective mate...maybe all of those injunctions for protection aren't just "false allegations." Get to know his family members. Keep in mind that their beliefs about him may be exaggerated in either direction. And most of all, don't make enemies with his ex. Everything that she is saying may not be false...Think about it! She knows him better than his mama because she's been sleeping with him and putting up with his shit. She knows his mannerisms, habits, friends...She should be your ally because you never know, one day, you made need her assistance so that you can join forces.

On a personal note, I once, very briefly and nebulously tried to tell my ex's current wife about the abuse we had suffered, and why I was fighting so hard in my custody battle. She told me that she would never allow "those types" of things to go on in her household, and that they had a very "loving" family. Verbatim, she said,

"There are three sides to every story..."

Which I took to mean,

"Whatever, bitch!"

But she was cordial and reminiscent of a virgin. I left it at that.

Here this "woman" was trying to tell me about the man she had been married to for one year. One. I've known him for more than a decade.

A double standard when it comes to athletes and domestic violence

Great article by Jeff Benedict – A double standard when it comes to athletes and domestic violence. This could also be called: Why do athletes believe heavyweights can fight lightweights? Because that’s what I’d like to know.

It’s pretty sobering to visualize a big muscular athlete knocking down a woman or pummeling a grandfather. Against the sheer violence involved in each of these cases, it’s easy to overlook the fact that each of these incidents played out in front of plenty of witnesses. Typically, domestic violence is the kind of crime that goes on behind closed doors, where bullies carry out threats and violence without fear of being seen or caught.

But athletes are less prone to fear consequences, especially when it comes to their off-the-field behavior. Fields confronted his ex-girlfriend outside a child care facility at 5 o’clock on a Monday afternoon. Rodriguez couldn’t have picked a more public place to berate his girlfriend and strike her father than at a ballpark, never mind the fact that there were security guards on hand.

Most of us would consider this behavior pretty brazen. Yet athletes who run afoul of the law are used to getting out of jams. Look at Stephenson. While starring at Abraham Lincoln High in Coney Island Stephenson and a teammate were arrested in October 2008 for allegedly sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl inside the school. At the time, Stephenson was being recruited by schools like North Carolina, Kansas, Memphis, USC and many others. He was on his way to becoming the all-time leading scorer in New York state history and leading his team to four consecutive New York City championships. He’d become such a big phenomenon that a courtside announcer had nicknamed him “Born Ready” and a reality web series about him was being planned under the same name.

All of that was jeopardized by the felony sexual assault case pending against him. But here’s where it pays for an abuser to be an athlete. After Stephenson pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disorderly conduct, the University of Cincinnati offered him a scholarship. He became the Big East’s Rookie of the Year in 2010 and was selected drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of June’s NBA Draft. It was as if the incident at his high school didn’t matter.

Jeff Benedict is a distinguished Professor of English at Southern Virginia University and the author of several books on athletes and violence, including Out of Bounds and Pros and Cons. Check out his website at jeffbenedict.com.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/jeff_benedict/08/18/krod.stephenson/#ixzz0xldBGGXc

The Legal Intelligencer

A federal court judge this week dismissed three defendants from civil suits related to the "kids-for-cash" scandal in Luzerne County, Pa., effectively clearing the way for the case to move forward.

Judge A. Richard Caputo of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted motions filed by the wives of former Luzerne County Common Pleas Court Judges Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan, as well as one filed by Conahan's brother-in-law, who served as a psychologist for the county's probation department.

It had not been proven by the plaintiffs in the cases, Caputo wrote in Wallace, et al. v. Powell, et al., that either Ciavarella's wife, Cindy Ciavarella, or Conahan's wife, Barbara Conahan, knew of or were involved in any conspiracy among their husbands and others to send juveniles to a pair of private, for-profit juvenile detention centers in exchange for $2.6 million.

Likewise, ruled Caputo, it could not be proved by the plaintiffs that Michael Conahan's brother-in-law, Frank Vita, knew his contract with the county would allow for the creation of a case backlog that would require juveniles to spend more time in the juvenile detention centers while awaiting evaluations.

The rulings mean the plaintiffs in the cases may proceed with claims against Mark Ciavarella; Michael Conahan; Robert Powell, the former co-owner of the juvenile detention facilities; and Robert Mericle, the builder of the juvenile detention facilities.

Also remaining as defendants in the cases are Mericle's company, Mericle Construction; a company owned by Powell to allegedly help funnel money to the judges, Vision Holdings; the company that operated the juvenile detention facilities, Mid-Atlantic Youth Services; and the juvenile detention facilities themselves, PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care.

In early July, Caputo dismissed Luzerne County as a defendant in the case.

Marsha Levick, chief counsel for the Juvenile Law Center, which is representing many of the plaintiffs in the case, said the plaintiffs had conceded the claims against the recently dismissed defendants.

The decision, she said, sets the path for the case to move forward.

A settlement conference is scheduled for Sept. 15. Levick said the fact Caputo's ruling came in advance of that conference was important because "we know what the landscape of the case is."

"This, really, was a tremendous victory, I think," Levick said. "We're very gratified."

Powell's attorney, Mark B. Sheppard of Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoads in Philadelphia, said anything that helps parties "focus on the issues in terms of a possible settlement is a good thing."

"I think the court's decision here advances that ball," he said.

One of Mericle's attorneys, Joseph B.G. Fay of Morgan Lewis & Bockius in Philadelphia, had no comment on the rulings. Fay, along with other attorneys from his firm, also represent Mericle Construction.

Neither Bernard M. Schneider of Brucker Schneider & Porter in Pittsburgh, who represents PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care, nor Edward P. McNelis, the attorney for Barbara Conahan and Cindy Ciavarella, could be reached for comment.

Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella, who are representing themselves pro se, also could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit stems from federal racketeering charges alleging the former judges took more than $2.8 million from Powell and Mericle.

Michael Conahan has pleaded guilty and Mark Ciavarella is awaiting trial.

The plaintiffs in the civil suits have alleged the sums received by the judges were "kickbacks" and that the money was in exchange for sending juveniles to PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care.

Caputo previously ruled that the former judges were partially protected from claims because of judicial immunity. Neither, Caputo ruled, could be held liable for his in-court actions. Caputo, however, ruled that the two men can still be sued for their out-of-court actions related to the alleged conspiracy.

Caputo, in his decisions, dismissed Luzerne County from the case because municipal liability can only be established when "unconstitutional actions" are committed by final policymakers for the county. Judges, probation officers, district attorney's office officials and public defender's office officials could not be considered final policymakers for the county, Caputo ruled.

Further, Vita had to be dismissed from the case because the plaintiffs could not prove he had a role in the alleged conspiracy.

The plaintiffs did, however, offer significant enough allegations against Powell and Mericle, along with the host of companies, Caputo ruled.

And though Pinnacle, a company allegedly used by the former judges to collect payments from Powell and Mericle, was at the center of the alleged conspiracy, that was not enough to keep the former judges' wives, who were listed as Pinnacle's owners, in the case as defendants, Caputo ruled.

According to Caputo, allegations of ownership are enough to bind Pinnacle for the women's actions, but the inverse does not have to be true. Actions undertaken by Pinnacle did not necessarily have to involve the judge's wives.

"In the present case, plaintiffs even allege that while Mrs. Conahan and Mrs. Ciavarella owned and operated Pinnacle generally, that their husbands controlled Pinnacle during the conspiracy," Caputo wrote. "Plaintiffs provide no further factual allegations that the wives agreed, assisted, knew of, or otherwise participated in the alleged conspiracy beyond 'owning and operating' an entity used by the conspiracy."

A HX of Domestic Violence!! Its not a Tragedy it is an OUTRAGE!! Its not ‘romantic’ its  the ultimate control completely--http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/26/1794302/exs-jealousy-turned-deadly-in.html

A schoolgirl and her mother were shot and killed in Hialeah by a jealous older boyfriend, who went home and turned the gun on himself.

A schoolgirl and her mother were shot and killed in Hialeah by a jealous older boyfriend, who went home and turned the gun on himself.

Lisset Perez had not yet turned 15 when she broke up with her boyfriend, a man six years her senior who had lived in her family's apartment. Lisset's new start did not last long. Early Thursday morning, her estranged and jealous boyfriend, Adalberto Torres, 21, gunned down Lisset and her mother outside her Hialeah apartment, where they waited for her school bus.

An hour later, Torres killed himself in the Miami efficiency he just rented a few days before.

``How do you explain or rationalize something like this: a 21-year-old gunning down a young girl and her mother? It's a waste and a tragedy,'' Hialeah Police Chief Mark Overton said.

He called the crime scene ``as horrific as it comes.'' The bodies of Lisset and her mother, Vivian Albelo, 39, lay under police tarp in an open area at the Water View Villa complex for hours. An early morning rain sent blood streaming into puddles of water.

Police didn't know how many bullets were shot. Some hit parked cars. The rain may have washed others away. It is not known what kind of gun Torres used.
Before their breakup, Torres and Lisset -- nicknamed ``Chai'' -- lived together in her family's apartment for two years.

``My aunt accepted the situation, so Chai wouldn't move away,'' said Yunerkis Aguilera, Perez's cousin. ``My aunt did not want her to date him.''

The shooting echoed another crime of passion in Hialeah at the popular eatery Yoyito Cafe-Restaurant. There, an estranged husband stormed the restaurant in early June, killed his wife and three other women, left three more women badly injured, then shot himself a few blocks away.

In both cases, reports of physical abuse emerged after the shootings.
In the Thursday shooting, neighbors heard the shots while getting ready for work and school. Lisset's friend Yaimarelys Roque, 23, a neighbor and Lisset's close friend, had seen Torres -- nicknamed ``Pacho'' -- walking around the apartment complex Wednesday night and immediately thought of Lisset.

``He was very jealous,'' Roque said. ``He didn't even like it when she came to my house to play with my son.''
Family members and friends described Lisset as shy, sweet, very pretty and gentle.
``She was serious -- too serious for her age,'' said friend and neighbor Javier Lugo, 24.

Lisset had just celebrated her 15th birthday on Tuesday. Roque had bought her a small chocolate cake. The big birthday celebration was set for Sunday, when Lisset planned to spend the day at Virginia Beach with family and friends.

Family members say Lisset's mother had come from Cuba in the 1980s. Lisset, born in the United States, was the second youngest of her mother's five children.

She had started ninth grade this week at Westland Hialeah High School.
The news of the shooting shocked students, even teens who didn't know her, and the school held a moment of silence in memory of Lisset.

``Anytime a young life is lost, it's a tragedy, and our thoughts are with the family,'' said Guillermo Muñoz, principal at the school where grief counselors arrived to provide support.

The couple did not have any record of domestic violence. But Hialeah police spokesman Carl Zogby said police had heard that Torres ``used to rough her up, but she never reported it.''

Torres, who was born in Havana, Cuba, did not have a criminal record in the United States.
``He was very respectful, he was very friendly, he was a great kid,'' said Alex Rosa, Torres' cousin.
But those close to Lisset saw Torres as a controlling and jealous older man.
``He wouldn't let her talk to even my brother or my husband or my 2-year-old son,'' said Mayelin Vizcaya, a relative.

Two days before the shooting, Torres moved to an efficiency in a peaceful southwest Miami neighborhood, at 2721 SW 29th Court. His body was found there at about 9 a.m., said Napier Velazquez, a Miami police spokesman.
The owner of the house who rented to Torres said he worked in exports and liked motorcycles.
In Hialeah, standing near the yellow crime-scene tape, Lisset's Cuban grandmother Julia Diaz cried as she tried to comfort another granddaughter, Yalin Betancourt, who had lost her mother and sister.

``The best thing that ever happened to her was to break up with him, but at the same time, it got her killed,'' said Vizcaya.
Hialeah police urged women to report domestic violence.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported 111 homicides in Florida last year in which the victims were the spouse or partner of the murderers. More than a fourth of those cases happened in Miami-Dade County.

• Hialeah shooter kills teenage ex-girlfriend and her mother

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/7173978.html

French court sides with Texas mom in custody fight

© 2010 The Associated Press

Aug. 27, 2010, 6:57AM

Jean Paul Lacombe Diaz

SAN ANTONIO — A Texas woman's lawyer says a French court has granted her custody of her 11-year-old son who disappeared last year after being removed from a school bus in San Antonio.

Attorney Miguel Ortiz told KSAT-TV that the court Friday granted custody to Berenice Diaz. She and her ex-spouse, Jean Philippe Lacombe, who is from France, were in court Thursday in Marseille.

Ortiz says paperwork was being completed to return the boy, Jean Paul Lacombe, to his mother.

Law officers last October removed the boy from the school bus after the father allegedly used incomplete Mexican court documents to falsely claim he had custody.

The father faces Texas charges of kidnapping, aggravated perjury and interfering with child custody. Further details on the criminal case were not immediately available.

Neither Rain, Nor Sleet, Nor Gloom of Night

Call-in Number: (347) 205-9977

AMPP is a social movement seeking justice and accountability within the family court system which includes DHHS/CPS, psychologists and other so called experts.

AMPP TV—for more Videos

We as mothers demand CITIZENSHIP and our Rights to our Children.

We demand that our children not be used as pawns by our abuser in a custody dispute. We demand that Mothers and Children be equally protected against court ordered visitation with an abuser.

We demand that Mothers and Children be given the same rights, privileges and voice that the abuser gets in family courts! We demand that our President take action now as can no longer afford to be silent and we won’t.

We demand the same "rights and freedoms" to which all humans are entitled. Behind the closed doors of the dirty little secret of the family court system, thousands of women each year lose child custody to violent men who beat and abuse Mothers and Children.

Family courts are not family-friendly and betray the best interests of the child. Until Mothers and Children's voices are heard we will never shut up, give up or go away!