While waiting for my discharge papers, I couldn’t help but hear the story of a woman adjacent to me in the emergency room.
Severe headaches, halucinations… the cause? Her husband slamming her repeatedly in the head with the butt of his rifle. This happened on Sunday. She was there that night with the State Police for evidence, to be treated, and to issue an arrest warrant for the husband.
She came back yesterday. Whatever they gave her wasn’t strong enough. AND her husband is still on the loose. He seems to “get away” every time they decide to get off their asses to look for him.
Think the Poconos are bad on New Yorkers? Try being a woman.
They’re very slow to arrest an abusive husband… and yes, this is sadly a fact of life all over the country. When a husband seeks to kill someone they once loved, orders of protection are totally useless. That’s another sad fact in the United States.
But ladies… miss a child support payment in the Poconos, and they will throw the fucking books at you. It doesn’t matter. Monroe County Correctional Facility is filled to the brim with women who don’t pay child support… doesn’t matter how many kids are in that house as you’re hauled away.
One such case was a woman who had four children, two were with her, two were with him. He never gave her a dime of child support, she wanted very little to do with him.
But that’s irrelevant. He filed charges and she didn’t. She did three months.
Another amazing tale was Linda Fogle. Her husband, James Proctor… unemployed, in a trailer filled with garbage & cat shit, beat his 3-month old baby to death because she wouldn’t stop crying.
Well, a life sentence for Proctor wasn’t enough for the Monroe County legal system, was it? Why not go after the mother who worked two jobs to keep the family afloat?
“‘Linda was out busting her ass, and now this,’ said Donna Fogle, referring to the fact that her daughter worked while Proctor stayed in the trailer. ‘He trashed the place, not Linda,’ she said.”
Well goddamn it… Linda should have been the “happy homemaker”, as well as the breadwinner and bill payer. Proctor was the “man of the house”, he shouldn’t have to do sissy & menial stuff like clean & babysit his own kids. That was *HER* job too.
At least that’s what the judge thought.
“Glaring directly at Fogle, [President Judge] Vican asked rhetorically, ‘Why would you allow these children to live under such deplorable conditions ?’…”
“Calling Fogle ‘lazy, stupid and unconcerned’ for the welfare of her children, Vican told her, ‘You had no right to impose that (squalor) on your children.’..”
Actually, his exact words were “irresponsible bitch”, according to the reporter.
It was an Andrea Yates story, except in reverse. Had Linda Fogle killed their baby instead of Proctor, I believe with all of my heart she would have gotten the death penalty, and Proctor would have gotten a heartfelt sympathy for the loss of his child from the courts.
Fucked up shit, huh?
I played “Mr. Mom” for two years when we moved up here. I cooked, I cleaned, I did kids’ homework with them while Carole worked.
Was it easy? No.
Did I expect Carole to come home from a long day at work and clean a pig sty, cook dinner, and do all of her “domestic goddess” chores while I sat on my fat ass & watched tv?
No. I’m weird that way.
President Judge Vican would strongly dissagree with the way our “dysfunctional” family was set up. But then again, I see him as the type to nudge his wife in the middle of the night to let her know *her* baby is crying & “probably needs something”.
But I digress…
After I got my crutches & discharge papers, I apologized to the woman for eavesdropping and gave her my card. (Up close, you can see the stitches over her right eye.) I gave her the names of a few reporters who might be interested in a human interest story.
And yeah, she did thirty days for child support too.
Mr. Abusive husband reported her at some point.
The State Police will take their sweet time finding and arresting him.
Because domestic violence is ok… after all, he’s a “man”.
Pay your child support you damn wimmen, you!!!!
Welcome to the “Land of no Excuses”…
Especially for women.
Eric Brooks
Musician, Programmer, Graphic Designer, Evil Clown - A thorn in the Internet's side since 1997 with no intention of stopping any time soon.
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Babe, if was up to me… I would have been out of here in Oct. 2000. And the kids would’ve been right behind me…
But Carole wants to stay. You’d think, with every thing *she’s* been through… she’d be the first person to run for the New York border screaming. (And yes, I *do* believe that, being a female business owner, the courts have been extra harsh on her. Treating her like a ditz that can’t balance a checkbook.)
Linda Fogle and that woman with the four kids were both Carole’s cellmates at some point, so I got all the inside gossip… it’s un–fucking–believable.
""Amazing police work," said Mark Pazuhanich, Monroe County District Attorney, of the efforts to trace White’s movements." Is he being sarcastic? Some amazing police work would have been more useful before this woman was murdered. It’s not much use to her after. I wonder how many times she called the police during their relationship? Or did she never bother knowing there would be little the law could/would do to protect her.
As for Linda Fogle – what kind of reception would dhe have got from your social services if she’d gone to them and said "I can’t cope, I’m working 2 jobs to feed us all, I’m married to a man who’s happy to live in a pig sty and I have to leave our kids with him. I need some help"? What kind of reception would she have got if she had wanted to give up her jobs and start claiming welfare giving her reasons as wanting to care for her family. Would she have been given short shrift or am I being cynical?
Ach! I need to go and kick the cat! >:(
I’m with kd Eric! Run, don’t walk!! Hope you’re begining to feel a little better!
Btw Eric, I know you are not really happy with your webhost. Ever heard of Draknet? It’s who I use, and they are wonderful! :o)
http://www.drak.net
Just in case you want to drop by there ;o)
"Amazing police work," said Mark Pazuhanich, Monroe County District Attorney"
Nah.. Pazuhanich (Pronounced: paz–ooh–HAN–itch) wasn’t being serious or sarcastic. He’s just an idiot with political aspirations and he just likes to get in the paper every chance he gets… other wise he doesn’t give a shit.
Last summer, Carole walked into his office, armed to the teeth with evidence about the guy who sold her the bad business (which was the cause for all the bounced checks). Also proof that homeowners were bilked out of tens of thousands of dollars in deposits. It would have absolved her from everything…
He didn’t want to hear it. She had to clear up all of her cases first. Even then I don’t think it mattered, because it wasn’t "high profile" enough for him.
The funniest was in that special report (that Percudani is suing us for) Pazuhanich is not willing to do anything about the problem. "We’d be getting involved in wiretaps that need to be monitored 24 hours a day for months on end,…Devoting those kinds of hours is very, very difficult, not because we don’t want to do it, but don’t have the manpower to do it"
Next thing you know, the series is sold out on newsstands, NY and NJ media is picking up the story, the FBI is getting involved and suddenly Pazuhanich becomes head of the task force (Which went nowhere until he handed his position over to the Attorney General)… whatta guy, huh?
"As for Linda Fogle – what kind of reception would she have got from your social services"
To be on public assistance in PA, everyone over 18 in that household is required to have a job (or at least try to find one). James Proctor was quite comfy, and unwilling to work. So they would have been denied any benefits.
It’s like Fogle’s mother said at the trial "It was like she had to take care of THREE children."
I wonder if stuff like that doesn´t happen over here or if I just don´t hear a thing about it.
It’s about the same here, when it comes to protecting women against insane exhusbands/exlovers.
Hope it goes alright with you, or as alright as it can during the circumstances. Thought I would write you a mail, but my addressbook is a scheissbook and won’t load. Take care.
Oh yeah… I know that all too well.
When we first moved up here one of my daughters was struggling… they decided in November that she was being left back.
NOVEMBER??!!??? Less than two months into the school year. This is why I admire people like Batgrl, who doen’t give up on her students.
This place is so fucked up… give me back the muggers and the terrorists in
New York any day…
how soon can you move the hell away from there?
You live in the Pocono’s? GET OUT OF THERE! My family was there for only two years when I was little but the school system managed to convince my parents I was retarded. You have my sympathies for staying…