Our Legal System at it's FINEST!

Well, no surprises here! The hearing was an amazingly big waste of time, money, resources, tax-payer dollars, and energy. I cannot express to you how livid I am at this moment. After months of legal wrangling, untold amounts of money spent, and an extreme amount of emotional stress, we are back to square one! The hearing was only scheduled for one day. Half of that day was spent arguing over whether the hearing was "legal" or not. Can you believe it? Patty's attorney felt her client hadn't been given her "due process" in the hearing held last October. Most of the morning was spent trying to decide whether this hearing was "legal". Ridiculous! The judge kept telling her that she was arguing about things that had already been ruled on but she kept at it. I believe "legal gobble-dee-gook" is the technical term for it. During the afternoon Keith spent most of his time on the witness stand. Patty's attorney wasted most of the time with trivial "legalese"--therefore there was no time to get to the "real" issues at hand. Basically, there was nothing decided! The only new ruling that came from the hearing is that Steven now has his own attorney. Gloria Winston, the former guardian ad litem on the case, is now the attorney of record for Steven. So Steven is "lawyered up", Keith is "lawyered up", and Patty is "lawyered up". As Beth said, "Oh good! Another attorney on the payroll." Since Gloria is now Steven's attorney, a new "Guardian ad Litem" was assigned to the case--hence we start all over with a new player in the game. They scheduled another glorious hearing the first week in October. More $$$!

Is anyone besides me totally fed up with how our government works today? There is not one person in the case who doesn't know exactly where Steven should be placed! But we play the game! A very costly, non-productive, and insane game! If you think that these types of cases do not affect you--think again! We ALL pay for these court cases. They tie up our legal system, waste your tax dollars, and suck our system dry!

Where is Steven now? He's spending the morning visiting with his mom, maternal grandparents and his new attorney and guardian ad litem. This afternoon he will do the same thing all over again with his father, paternal grandfather, his new attorney and the new guardian ad litem. And what will we have accomplished! Absolutely NOTHING! Sorry folks! Wish I could give you better news--and I wish I could be more optimistic about our legal system. I think Shakespeare said it best: "First thing . . . lets kill all the lawyers." Seems their reputation has been around for quite some time--and it's not going to change in the future.

My brother (who went through a nasty divorce) had a cartoon framed and mounted on his wall. In the middle of the cartoon was a big cow--the wife was pulling on it's head; the husband was pulling on the tail. And the lawyer was sitting in the middle . . milking the cow! Pretty much says it all!

BTW: Steven's Uncle was found "not guilty" on the sexual charges leveled against him. Another shining moment for our legal system. I have no doubt he was guilty! Keep your children close!