Lary Holland: Official Blog, Links, and Resources

Another domestic violence shelter acknowledges that DV occurs to both genders. If you are in the Lansing, Michigan area, there is help available in the 517 area code. If you need non-residential services, End Violent Encounters (EVE) provides various services. Below is their letter to the editor that was published in the Lansing Journal.

Help's available

The Michigan Uniform Crime Report indicates 14,936 males were victims of domestic violence in 2005. EVE, Inc. (End Violent Encounters) provides crisis line support (372-5572), counseling, advocacy, and personal protection order assistance to male victims of domestic violence.

Due to the physical space of our shelter, we cannot offer shelter services to men.

However, male victims of domestic violence can receive support through EVE, Inc.'s non-residential program and we will work with male victims to find a safe place to stay.

Males accounted for 4 percent of individuals seeking EVE's non-residential services and crisis hot line support during 2006-07. For more information about EVE, Inc.'s services for victims, please call 372-5572.

Jillian Pastoor
Lansing

I know some Michigan Judges and Attorneys that could benefit from a similar order, ordering them back to basic law school regarding the United States Constitution and the State of Michigan Constitutions and the limitations of government intrusion within the realm of protected liberties.

Judge Steven M. Pestka? Judge G. Patrick Hillary? Attorney Peter P. Walsh? I guess using the questionable chancery powers of equity of the U.S. Court System would technically allow for such a ruling as described by an Associated Press reporter.

Gavin Rabinowitz reports for the Associated Press earlier today that an Indian Court in New Delhi  decided to send one of the lower court justices back to law school, see excerpts below.

New Delhi's High Court justices, annoyed with lower court judges who issue problematic rulings, have decided to send one of them back to law school.

In an order issued late Friday, Judge R. K. Tiwari was told to return for a three-month refresher course after issuing an arrest warrant in defiance of a previous High Court ruling.

"Since Tiwari does not have even elementary knowledge of the criminal law and procedure it would be appropriate that he undergoes a refresher course at Delhi Judicial Academy," Justice V. B. Gupta wrote.

Gupta ordered that the head of the law school personally submit a report on Tiwari's progress after three months. And, to ensure that others in lower courts got the message, Gupta ordered copies of his order sent to all New Delhi judges.

If only these remedies were used in Michigan, the legal system would likely see immediate improvements and courtroom efficiency would skyrocket in an honest and equal manner.

The Kalamazoo Gazette, August 27, 2007, published a letter to the editor from Darrick Scott-Farnsworth. Darrick Scott-Farnsworth is the Executive Director of A Child's Right, an organization that supports the concept of equal custody and equal parenting.

I have personally met Mr. Farnsworth and value his opinions. He poses an interesting argument, and his argument is certainly well-supported by the facts regarding Michigan's, and this Nation's, various policies over the family. Most of the policies regarding family in America are focused on failing welfare services and creative schemes for states to acquire more federal funding.

Michigan fails children, fails parents, and essentially cannibalizes its' population for the survival of various bureaucracies.

The funding mechanisms behind state programs largely contribute to longterm negative consequences, like single-parent households and multiple-generations of welfare participants living off the tax rolls, instead of positive outcomes and participant productivity contributing to the tax rolls. We need to reshape this Nation's welfare policies to become entirely gender neutral and eliminate the rolls associated with the sexes. Making rolls equal will certainly be a step in the right direction that will force self-accountability and productivity on both sides of the "great divide."

Custody changes could help women

Some feminists and politicians complain about there being a pay gap between men and women, but fight tooth and nail against actually promoting any legislation that would truly do anything about it. It has been common knowledge for years that women, on average, do not make the same amount as men doing the same type of work because women tend to take more time off to raise children.

It is also common knowledge that children are denied equal time with both of their fit parents when it comes to custody disputes, with the majority of cases and custody time being awarded to mothers.

This denying of parenting time to fathers exacerbates the continuing pay gap between sexes because fathers are being coerced into maintaining full-time employment to make ends meet and pay bloated child support.

Furthermore, the government has fostered the overall belief that it is more important for men to work and earn then it is for women.

We must get the laws changed to recognize parents are equal and that children need both of their parents to develop and thrive. We must raise the importance of the father in the home by having a presumption of equal child custody law.

Darrick Scott-Farnsworth

UPDATED FOR DCFESTIVAL2008.ORG

Observe this video with the following philosophy in mind. A helpless family with their child walking through life being attacked by the family court system (the lions) with child psychologists, lawyers, and social workers trying to get their piece of the pie (the crocodile) and what happens when the calvary returns (the Family Preservation Festival 2008)!!! Now do you see the similarities between nature and the family court system? Watch the movie all the way through and see the horrible truth of what happens to a child, but bear in mind that some good can come out of it when the reinforcements arrive. Join the reinforcements in Washington D.C. to fight the family court system and get our children back. Check out http://www.dcfestival2008.org for more information about the festival on August 15 & 16, 2008.

I took the time to write Honorable Representative Brenda Clack, Representative Joel Sheltrown, and the sponsors of House Bill 4564 this evening urging for a referral to Chairperson Clack to bring House Bill 4564, Michigan's Presumption of Equal Custody Bill, to the floor for discussion and debate. 

Dear Hon. Representative Brenda Clack,

            My name is Lary Holland, a father and former litigant in an extremely litigious child custody dispute arising in several counties that should have resulted in a split-custody arrangement that would have been great for my children, fair for both parents, and appropriate for taxpayers. The outcome, however, was over three years of litigation, a significant drain on community resources, my children being deprived of meaningful access to their one and only father, and my no longer contributing to Michigan’s high-tech industry in a leading metropolitan corridor. There are additional ramifications that resulted from Michigan’s policy over the family too numerous to list here.

            Michigan needs a presumption of equal custody because it is fair for taxpayers, parents, and children. A presumption of equal custody eliminates the necessity of parents to feud over parenting time and children because there will no longer be an enabling negative family law policy supporting back and forth fighting over the children unless there are actual provable reasons on why one parent should not have substantially equal custody of their child(ren).

            Michigan needs to bring family law policy inline with Constitutional expectations, whereas a protected right should not be infringed upon unless all Constitutional protections are afforded the accused or deprived. Right now, when there are two fit, willing, and caring parents “fighting with the winner takes all philosophy” the children lose substantially because the parents stay enmeshed in the battle, projecting animosity to their children. The children should not be fought over, unless there is good reason to strictly limit one parent’s interaction with their children. House Bill 4564 levels the playing field and will reduce this tug-of-war dramatically when there are two fit, willing, and caring parents involved, freeing up court resources, time, and tax dollars because parents will no longer be enabled to fight with the winner take all philosophy over total domination of their children. Parental litigants will be directed to properly divide the time with their children a substantially equal amount of time. This bill does nothing for those that willfully abandon their children and do not have an interest in equally parenting their children.

            House Bill 4564 takes into account domestic violence concerns, because if an individual parent is perpetrating a continual act of domestic violence the evidence can be presented resulting in conviction of the offending party, and quite possibly showing that the offending party is also unfit as a parent. The bill does not go far enough to provide for a penalty to parents that fail to work together as equal parents, which would encourage and reward good behavior instead of the current atmosphere of alienation and family feuding. Policing for positive outcomes helps shape Michigan’s family law policy to support equal parents and towards punishing those that continue to enmesh themselves in a winner take all pattern of conduct.

            I hope you take into account the growing support across the State of the Equal Custody concept. This issue needs to be brought to debate early and discussed fully to come to a resolve in the committee that equal custody is good for parents, great for children, and honest for taxpayers. We need to free up community resources and focus again on parents being parents instead of adversaries in a courtroom. I have sent a copy of this letter to my Representative, Joel Sheltrown as well as all of the sponsors of the House Bill requesting referral for this bill to be brought up for discussion and thoroughly investigated.

            Should you have any questions about my position on this issue you may reach me toll-free at 800-319-4955 ext. 3. I would also like to be invited to any hearings that might be scheduled on House Bill 4564. Thank you for your consideration on these matters.

Respectfully Submitted,

/s/ /s/

Lary Holland

Michigan Family Court Problems

P.O. Box 107

Oscoda, MI 48750