Honorable Lita Indzel Cohen
Pennnsylvania State Representative
1010 Fayette Street
Conshohocken PA 19427
November 27, 2001
Dear Representative Cohen :
We have had occasional correspondence regarding the domestic relations
system. Several months ago, you kindly forwarded a copy of the domestic
relations task force’s 1997-98 report together with a covering letter.
Implementation even of some of the report’s recommendations would be an
excellent start towards remedying a system that is grotesque when juxtaposed
with this nation’s professed reverence for fair play, equal treatment, and
respect for human dignity.
The immediate reason for this correspondence is to bring to your attention
the enclosed duplicated letter from Edward Kleintop, a prisoner in the Houtzdale
facility. Assuredly, it is not for me to judge whether or not he should be
incarcerated. Taken at face value, however, his assertion that he was rearrested
and jailed for a parole violation because he tried helping his son repair a
bicycle tire would make the system appear at once ludicrous and appalling.
Of equal concern are the issues he raises regarding his treatment when he
appeared before a Monroe County support master. As you will read, ". . .I
filed several motions/petitions regarding this (child support) matter as well as
child custody/visitation, only to be railroaded . . .because I am not an
attorney. . . I had a hearing . . . before a master. I presented my case pro-se
only to be made a joke of, again, because I am not an attorney."
Out of context, his report might be dismissed. What makes it significant is
that it is part of prevalent reported insults, abuse, and mistreatment that men
commonly experience in the so-called family courts and domestic relations
offices. Commonly, callers to the Fathers’ Rights Hotline spontaneously say:
"I felt like a criminal. . ." "I was treated like a
criminal...." "The hearing officer was very chummy with my wife, and
let her speak fully, yet when I tried to speak, she cut me off." "The
hearing officer said, "Shut up’!" Then there was the Montgomery
County custodial father who had difficulty collecting child support because the
support master was having an affair with his ex-wife. Dismissing the matter,
President Judge Smyth wrote that the matter ". . .had only the appearance
of impropriety."
Mr. Kleintop’s letter raises other matters relating to the family court
system that I shall not explore at this time. Chiefly at issue, is that NO
legislator should sit idly while such conditions persist. Just because the
courts supposedly are an independent branch of government does not make them
sacrosanct. You and your colleagues, Representative Cohen, as the people’s
representatives must speak up and act. There is considerable that you could do
through remedial legislation. Legislators failing to move simply are not doing
their job.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Middleman
cc 70 legislators, Penna. Supreme Court justices, fathers’ activists
