Ground Zero Continues
Wednesday, September 04/02, Day 24 : Greetings everyone. Another beautiful day on the west coast. The court house was busy today, administering justice? Or what ever it is they really do. Many stares today. A gentlenan approached me, who looked like your typical murderer, and asked why I was there. I in turn asked if he had any children. He responded saying he did. I then asked him when was the last time he was permitted to give them a hug and tell them he loved them? He responded saying about two years ago now, as he was a seperated father, you know the story he replied. Unfortunetly I do. His response was his way of justifying this tragedy. How can we except this as the norm? He further explained to me that once a couple of years ago, his step children snuck his child to him for a visit. My God, " I'm sorry but there is no way I can sit back and allow the extinction of Fathers or allow Fatherhood to be considered a crime. This is not and will never be normal or proper. This guy excepted this as the way it is and was quite comfortable with knowing he is disposable.  As I was leaving Murray Williams showed up to deliver a document for the court to file. Hal Legere finally showed up with that coffee, no we went for coffee. Anyway while in the registry, I came upon a phamplet that read, " If your child is taken by the ministry of Children and Family Development. Your rights as a parent". This immediately got my attention. First of all what rights? Obviously, as a father, we have no rights.  So who is it that has rights? Certainly our children's rights are of no consideration.   My second thought was, it would appear that there is competition here. If it is not bad enough with our former spouses taking our children from us, now we have to compete with the Ministry as well. So where does that put fathers on the food chain?
Tuesday, September 10/02, Day # 25 : Greetings all, upon arrival at Kangaroo Court today, I noticed that every parking spot was taken. I circled the court house for the next 15 minutes. After only 7 laps, and many looks, I came upon an open spot. Kind of felt like a buzzard, cicling my kill.   Upon reaching my usual perch I noticed there only to be about 20 bodies or so within the entrance way to the building. In fact it seemed some what dead, certainly not accounting for all the cars. Must have been decoys, that's it.  An elderly gentleman noticing me, began his task of approaching me. Given his spped and distance he had to travel (30 feet) , I estimated his time of arrival at 5 minutes. Upon his arrival he immediately told me of his awful plight.He informed me he was being charged for hitting a telephone pole with his car. Further stating that if he had of driven into this pole, the front of his car would be smashed, not the side. I replied saying, " They put them damn poles in the darndest of places". Further saying I hope the city was paying for the obvious oversight on the part of the engineer who determined the boulevard to be a safer place for this pole than the street. Did I mention this was seventh drinking and driving charge? Yeah, he saved that little bit of info for last. He even offered me drink, from the bottle of whiskey he was openly drinking from. I informed him I do not drink loudly, (For the FBI in the garbage can). I was totaly at a loss. This guy was to come in front of a judge in the next twenty minutes, smelling of booze, piss drunk, and about to defend himself on his seventh drinking and driving charge. Wow.   Shortly after another gentleman approached me, informing me his rights too had been violated. He further informed me that he too had been in the courts for two years, has spent over ten grand, has a web site dedicated to his cause and had all the relevant cases to cite. " Sounds like a true activist", does it not? " HE'S  FIGHTING A TRAFFIC TICKET". When asked after, how my rights had been violated, I replied, " Oh I just haven't been permitted to see my daughter in over a year, that's all". Can you imagine if someone like this guy, were ever to loose his kids, what lengths he might go to. I shudder to think.
Wednesday, September 11/02, Day# 26: What more is there to say, today I lowered my sign to half mast, with respect for the brave fire-fighters who lost their lives in New York a year ago, also for all the victims.
Noticed two security gaurds today, their trigger fingers itchy, in anticipation of terrorists, I'm sure. Pretty quiet today, many events going on, most seemed distant today. The only thing worth highlighting was as I was leaving.  A couple approached the passenger side of my car and waved to get my attention. Upon rolling down my window, the woman said," Your the guy who always is out front of the court house". "Rumor has it", I replied. Her friend then introduced himself, giving me a run down on his situation. The woman then said, "see I told you he was the guy", further informing me all her friends knew about me. Thanks, I replied.  This was encouraging and nice to know that perhaps it is not all in vain.   Have a safe day everyone.
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