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Father's Priorities are Out
of Wack
There's a New Greg Hyatt in Town
by
Tom Dunham
There used to be a well-known guy from Methuen named Greg
- who would cry about conspiracies, the corrupt court
system, and how everyone was wrong but him. He had a Web
site where he would slander and vilify people he did not
like, blaming everyone but himself for his problems.
Well, there is a new Greg in town and his name is Kevin
Thompson. Kevin is a disgruntled dad and teacher from
Methuen who had his day in court and lost. He had a
second bite at the apple when he appealed the
court’s ruling and lost the appeal as well.
The court case was a custody battle with his son’s
mother for custody of their son. After a trial, the
mother won both physical and legal custody. Much of what
was presented at trial was sealed, like the DSS reports,
for the protection of the minor son.
In Family Court, the standard used is “the best
interest of the child.” The judge in this case found
that based upon the evidence, it was in the best interest
of the child for the mother to have both legal and
physical custody.
After losing in court, Thompson has taken his fight to
the media, blaming the judges, the entire court system,
the mother, the mother’s lawyer, and everyone but
himself for his loss.
In a prepared statement he presented before the court,
Thompson states, “My Motion for Relief was filed to
give the witnesses and press here today more proof of the
kind of injustice that fathers experience every day in
family court.”It appears that his focus is on the
press, rather than his son. His priorities are
obviously flawed as one does not file motions for the
press and witnesses.
Because of his constant anger - and being further fueled
by others like the fatherhood coalition - Mr. Thompson
wrote a book giving his version of the case and the
“corruption in the court system.” The book
contained slanderous statements attributed to Judge
Manzi, Judge Digangi, the court clerks, the mother’s
lawyer and the mother.
The book also contained sensitive and privileged
information abut the son. When the mother found out about
this disclosure, she filed to have the book impounded.
As the mother had been awarded legal custody, she has
sole authority over what information is released about
her son. There is also an automatic impounding of
sensitive information like a DSS report. The judge agreed
with the mother and ordered that privileged information
about the son and any information about the DSS report be
deleted from the book.
Kevin Thompson now calls this a “book ban.” He
has refused to edit the book and now the book has been
removed from sale on his publisher’s Web site.
Because he could not discuss the DSS report and any other
sensitive medical information to the press and public, he
can not then write a book discussing the same information
under the guises of the “first amendment.”
Thompson also chose to represent himself, and because he
failed to understand the court’s rules of evidence,
he was not able to present certain items at trial. He
blames the judge rather than himself for not knowing the
rules.
His motion was also dismissed because he filed a
“motion” rather than a “complaint.”
Mr. Thompson seems not to understand the rules again, and
thinks that such details are minor and should not have
prevented him from his day in court. Rules are an
integral part of the legal system and must be taken
seriously. When an officer fails to read someone
his Miranda rights, should we say “oh, minor
mistake, not a big deal.” No, the legal system lives
by rules of law. Had Mr. Thompson hired a lawyer
who understood this, maybe his fate would have been
different.
So, instead of taking responsibility for his own actions
and court losses, Mr. Thompson blames the entire legal
system as just being one big corrupt conspiracy, and that
everyone is wrong but himself.
Thompson is a teacher in the Methuen public schools and
sources in the school system have said that his book and
custody battle have disrupted and affected his teaching,
and that Thompson has been given several warnings about
his behavior.
Mr. Thompson was even willing to go to jail for refusing
to abide by the court order to not disseminate his
book. Does this really sound like a good father and
role model who wants to spend time with his son?
*Send your questions comments to ValleyPatriot@aol.com
The May, 2006 Edition of
the Valley Patriot
The Valley Patriot is a Monthly
Publication.
All Contents (C) 2006, Valley Patriot, Inc.
We publish 8,000 newspapers and distribute in Andover,
North Andover, Methuen, Haverhill,
Lawrence, Dracut, Tewksbury and Lowell.
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