Judicial activism gone amok: A weekend freeper's observation:

Last night after sending down my article on the elections and before turning off the computer and going to bed. I was surfing another news web site, Infowars.com which is run by Alex Jones.

As I scrolled down the page I came across an article that caught my attention. This article was about a bitter custody dispute and the casulties of it.

This article is a four part article and is too lengthy too post, but it comes out of Pennsylvania. Here's the story in a nut shell: Louis Grieco and Karen Scott met at a military base in California in 1978. They married that same year. Everything was going fine until later on in the marriage.

In the 1980's three boys were born. Nathan the oldest, then Justin and Patrick. After the births of those boys, the marriage began to deteoriate. Mr. Grieco filed for divorce and after it was granted Mrs. Griceo and the boys were ordered out of the army complex where they lived.

Mr.Greico received weekend visitation rights for the boys. The boys and Mrs. Greico later moved to Pennsylvania where she met another man. They made plans to get married. When she told her former husband about that, he cut off their support payments even though he was ordered to pay them.

What should be pointed out here is the greico marriage was an abusive relationship which got worse.The kids obviously were very afraid of their Dad as understanbly they might be. The article outlines the abuse that was commited by Mr. Greico. What was even more disheartening was his use of the court system to try to impose a standard of conduct on his kids during the visitation. Something which a judge acting outside his authority IMHO did. The judge ordered Mrs. Grieco to prpare the kids to meet their Dad in a "positive frame of mind" and to be respectful of him and that if they didn't behave he would find her in contempt.NOW, HOW THE HECK YOU CAN FORCE KIDS TO BE NICE TO A DAD WHO HAS NOT ONLY NEGLECTED THEM BUT ALSO PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY ABUSE THEM IS BEYOND ME. Obviously, this judge has never been in the kids shoes.

Well, needless to say this misguided attempt by the judicial activist at social engineering failed miserably. Shortly after one of those visits, Nathan wrote an essay for his class about it. Two weeks later he was found dead. Apprently, he commited suicide. There has been absoulety no improvement whatsoever in relations between the boys and their dad. Now, Mrs. Greico is facing a comtempt hearing because of this.

It should be noted that the judge who issued this outrageous edict takes as credible the evidence of a psycologist who has had 40 years of experience. The problem is this person has some rather questionable ideas and theories. for one thing he thinks that pedophilla and incest are normal and that there's nothing wrong with adults having sex with children.

Mrs. Greico, now known as Karen Scott is getting set to testify before a state comittee on these events and on the issue of child custody situations.

The title of the article is "Casulties of a Custody War" from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Here is the link to the 4 part article.It is really indeed a sad story not just of abuse in a family but also of judicial activism gone tottaly amuck.

The rule of law does not allow for judges to go and force children to get along with abusive parents. It is clearly obvious from reading this article in it's entirety that the judge stepped over the line with this "threat theraphy" nonsense. YOU DON'T GO AND FORCE KIDS TO BE NICE TO PEOPLE WHO ABUSE THEM!!! Something really needs to be done about these judicial activists.
Regards.

"Something really needs to be done about these judicial activists."

EGC, YEP!! The whims of man will never as a whole.be better than the rule of law. There are, as in everything, exceptions to the "rule". But, exceptions should NEVER be allowed to incessantly overule the standard. Peace and love, George.

It is really indeed a sad story not just of abuse in a family but also of judicial activism gone tottaly amuck.

It also sounds like psychology run amuck. I can imagine what Dr. Laura would have to say about a situation like this.

Judicial activism may have "gone amok", but this is obviously a one-sided presentation of the facts.

First of all:
"Mrs. Griceo and the boys were ordered out of the army complex where they lived."
Well duh. When a family lives in on-post housing, they are there as dependents of the service member. When the service member dies,or transfers, or the family divorces, the dependents are no longer eligible for government housing.

Considering this exaggeration of standard army regulations, I have to question whether or not there were other misrepresentations of the truth. For instance: The father must have been awarded visitation rights.. I can see where a judge would ask a parent not to turn young children against the other parent. That seems reasonable to me.

There are always at least two sides to every conflict, and in this instance, both need to be heard...don't you think?

I was surfing another news web site

Is that allowed? :)

You can't even force kids to be nice to people who treat them well. They lack the ability to pretend what they don't feel. I think the judge should have to spend a weekend with the father, if he wants someone to.

Agreed, Mom shouldn't bad-mouth Dad to the kids before their visit, but it happens ALL the time, and most kids adapt. Too many divorcees try to get the kids to take sides. But a judge ordering that Mom not bad-mouth Dad, that is an overstep, IMHO. And when do the kids get to choose whether they want to visit or not?

Bump for more replys. Folks, I don't see how a judge can make a child get along with an abusive parent. Even through threats. No 16 or 18 year old is gonna be nice to an abusive parent no matter how much you threaten him or her with jail time. I was reading the article in it's entirety and the first thing that came into my mind was WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT JUDGE THINKING WHEN HE ISSUED HE THIS NONSENICAL "THREAT THREAPY" RULING ? The link is towards the end of the article.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.