R.I.P. Pawnsy-Boy. My girls never got a chance to see their cat again. They're lucky that it was only their cat and not a family member.

RIP Pawnsy-Boy. Pawnsy, who started off as Hans but later morphed into Pawnsy-Boy, had to be put down today because he had kidney failure. Pawnsy was my daughters’ cat that my ex brought home a few months before she told me that she wanted a divorce. Of course I was “stuck” with Pawnsy because she couldn’t take the cat. Pawnsy was a very loyal cat that spent a majority of his life hanging out and often sleeping on people. Unfortunately, Pawnsy did not live long enough to see his little girls again.

I’m an animal person and I loved the cat. Mom took the cat to the vet and she came back alone. I pretty much expected that Pawnsy was at the end of his rope but we didn’t have the conversation of what we would do with Pawnsy. Mom told the vet to have him cremated but I didn’t feel it did the old guy justice. I guess I felt bad because I always buried my dogs behind the garage on the farm so they could see the sun set every night. I guess it’s kind of goofy but it seemed like a peaceful resting place for my loyal friends. In fact, it was such a nice view of the sunset, my 87 year old grandma once joked that if she didn’t have a plot next to grandpa, she wouldn’t mind being buried next to my dog Cozmo. I just felt that my boy Pawnsy deserved the same effort and respect as the dogs.

Even though the girls’ cat died today, it has been another lucky day for them. They will never see their Pawnsy-Boy again but they are lucky that it was just their cat that died today. What if their Grandma Sue or Uncle Matt died today? What if something happened to their older cousins Katie and Holly? How would the girls be affected if I happened to die of cancer or if I was killed in an automobile accident before they got to see me again? “We have some good news and some bad news, girls. The good news is that you get to see Daddy’s family again. The bad news is, Daddy was killed by a drunk driver 5 months ago.”

These are the risks that vindictive people take when they play with my daughters’ lives. Their anger and hatred for me blinds them from being able to see what is in my children’s best interests. They don’t care if my mother dies before the girls have the opportunity to see their grandmother again. They don’t care if I die. They don’t care if the girls ever get to see their dad or his family. If they did, they wouldn’t keep trying to have me arrested and trying to hold me in contempt of court, while searching for bogus reasons as to why the girls should not see their father.

I put a lot of effort into Pawnsy-Boy because I knew how important he was to the girls. Near the end of the divorce, I spent a majority of my time at Mom’s house in Norwood because I was working on my case and farm life didn’t have the conveniences of Office Depot and high speed internet. I probably drove a couple thousand miles just to change Pawnsy’s litter box and to feed him during that time. That’s the same dad that they claimed to be dangerous to his own children. I wanted to keep things as normal as possible for the girls so they didn’t have any abrupt changes in their lives. That philosophy went out the window when Judge Humphrey took me out of my daughters’ lives.

Now I have to bury my buddy Pawnsy-Boy, because he was my loyal friend. I could have let the vet throw the ashes into the dumpster but it wouldn’t have been the honorable thing to do. Hopefully when I get to see my daughters I will only have to explain the death of Pawnsy-Boy. They will be upset; but not nearly as upset if I have to tell them that a family member died while people were trying to keep them away from Daddy. The sad thing is that they will understand all of this at some point in their lives. They will know that people worked hard to cheat them out of over a year with their dad and his family. That’s not a fair thing to put on children. The one thing that my girls can always take comfort in knowing is that their dad will always fight to be their dad. I love you girls and Daddy will keep fighting for you.

-Dan Brewington

www.danhelpskids.com

Another Victory for Dad

Today is the last day that I will have to deal with the telecommunication harassment charge that my ex-wife and her parents filed against me last September in Hamilton County, Ohio. They had me arrested for calling my daughters, which was allowed by the final decree in our divorce in Indiana. My ex was in contempt of the orders so rather than file something with the family court in Indiana, she and her family had me arrested in Hamilton County, Ohio. Luckily the Judge and the prosecution saw through my ex and her family and dismissed the charge. Today the arrest was expunged from my record.

This is a problem with a lot of fathers whom I have talked to. The mothers of the children have the ability to have the fathers arrested out of hatred or spite and then it is up to the fathers to pay to get out of a hole. A majority of the time, if the father tries to initiate criminal action against the mother, the police claim it is a civil matter. If the mother initiates criminal action against the father, there are arrest warrants and/or restraining orders filed. A woman almost always has the ability to gain an advantage in a custody dispute by filing bogus criminal action against the father. In 2005, my ex called 911 in an effort to harm me but the officer told her that she was trying to use our daughter against me and he made her leave. She's filed multiple contempt charges against me to no avail. The Judge denied her motion to shut down my internet content. When her efforts to have me punished in Indiana failed, she had me arrested in Ohio. At no point did she get punished or criticized for trying to bring harm to me with her bogus 911 calls, failed contempt charges, failed criminal complaints, etc... I was punished for filing multiple motions to obtain evidence from her expert even after it was discovered that my ex-wife submitted a false document from Dr. Connor's office in an attempt to obstruct my access to evidence. The only time I ever filed anything against my ex-wife was when I filed a contempt charge because she stopped letting me talk to my daughters. She had me arrested in another state a few days later. I find it baffling how courts will punish parents for writing about how they were falsely accused of crimes, yet the courts fail to punish the parents who make the false allegations.

Today was a good way to start the holiday weekend. Unfortunately it is another holiday spent without my precious little girls, but at least I will be able to have comfort in knowing that I successfully fought off another attack by my ex and her parents in an attempt to bring harm to me and to hinder my daughter's ability to have a father.

Women who make false allegations against the fathers of their children weaken father's rights and jeopardize the safety of women who are true victims of abuse. Crying wolf about harassment and abuse in an effort to gain a personal advantage over others, puts innocent people in danger. If I did not have a lawyer, I could have gone to jail. Problems arise when an actual victim files charges against an abusive person and the judge has to decide whether the victim is lying like the accuser in the last case. More scrutiny needs to be placed on people who abuse the system. A person who is willing to make a false police report to hurt the other parent, is emotionally abusive to the children. A parent who will intentionally bring harm to their own children, is unable to understand what is best for the children. Hopefully the courts will figure this out; for the best interest of the children. Have a fun and safe holiday. Go to www.danhelpskids.com for more information on my arrest in Hamilton County, Ohio.

My August 18, 2009 motion to the Court

MOTION TO CLARIFY AND TO RECONSIDER

Comes Now, Daniel P. Brewington, Respondent, pro-se, requests the Court to Clarify and to Reconsider, and in support, shows the Court as follows.

In the Final Order on Decree of Dissolution of Marriage, filed by the Court on August 18, 2009, the Court stated, “The Court is most concerned about Husband’s irrational behavior and attacks on Dr. Connor. Frankly it appears that these attacks have been an attempt at revenge from taking a position regarding custody contrary to Husband.”

There is no mention in the entire record of this case of the Respondent questioning Dr. Connor’s custody recommendations. Any of the Respondent’s motions, letter’s, public consumer complaints, etc… regarding Dr. Connor involve Dr. Connor’s refusal to provide the Respondent with a copy of Dr. Connor’s case file from the evaluation as agreed to in the Provisions to Serve as an Impartial Expert in a Custody Evaluation. Both the Petitioner and the Respondent signed this contract. As the Court cited Dr. Connor’s April 16, 2008 Addendum to the evaluation, the Court is aware that Dr. Connor stated “Mr. Brewington is correct in stating that our contract indicates we would provide the file to the representing attorney, however, given the circumstances, we believe that a Court order is necessary to release the file to Mr. Brewington given that he is representing himself pro se.” In a letter dated March 11, 2008 Dr. Connor stated the Respondent was not entitled to the case file because it contained confidential information. In a letter dated March 26, 2008 Dr. Connor stated, “If I receive verification from the Court of (the Respondent’s) pro se status, I would be happy to release the chart records to (the Respondent).” In a letter dated March 27, 2008 Dr. Connor stated that the Court indicated that the Respondent was not entitled to the case file, despite their being no hearing and/or protective order by the Court on the issue. In a letter dated August 4, 2008 Dr. Connor stated there were HIPAA and state laws that prohibit Dr. Connor from releasing the case file. In a letter dated September 9, 2008 Dr. Connor informed the Respondent that Dr. Connor failed to provide the Respondent with Dr. Connor’s Office Policy Statement for individual psychological services[1] but the Policy was simply an “adjunct document” to the Court order. In a letter to the Court dated September 10, 2008 Dr. Connor stated that as an evaluator per an agreed order, Dr. Connor was an “extension of the Court”. Judge Taul later stated that Dr. Connor was not an extension of the Court and Judge Taul recused himself due to ex parte communication initiated by Dr. Connor. [All of the above letters have been included in pleadings filed by the Respondent and are part of the Court record.] During the May 27, 2009 hearing, Dr. Connor testified that Dr. Connor’s office accidently provided the Petitioner with Dr. Connor’s Office Policy Statement and Dr. Connor testified that the Office Policy Statement was, in fact, NOT an adjunct document to the Court order. The Petitioner later testified that the Petitioner heard Dr. Connor testify to this.

Dr. Connor has repeatedly attacked the Respondent for not understanding matters regarding confidentiality yet the record demonstrates that Dr. Connor has failed to provide a clear and consistent explanation as to how Dr. Connor handles matters dealing with the release of the case file. Any outbursts from the Respondent, during the early moments of the final hearing that were arguably extreme and/or unwarranted, were due to the Respondent’s inability to legally inspect and cross-examine the information behind the allegations against the Respondent. The Respondent was troubled about the varying conflicting and false statements made by Dr. Connor and Dr. Connor’s attacks on the Respondent for not “understanding” Dr. Connor’s statements. Dr. Connor failed to mention any concerns about the Respondent being “potentially dangerous” until the Respondent began questioning Dr. Connor’s policies, statements and ethics. Dr. Connor did however fail to mention anywhere in the evaluation that the Respondent was dangerous to the children; in fact, on page 29 of Petitioner’s Exhibit 39 Dr. Connor states, “we believe this would be a benefit to the children” referring to the children being with the Respondent during the time the Petitioner works. Dr. Connor stated no concerns about the Respondent exercising overnights with the children.

The Court has failed to hear any testimony from any professional expert recommending that the parental rights of the Respondent be terminated and the Court was not provided any evidence that the Respondent has been charged, convicted, jailed etc… of any crime involving harassment, assault, sexual misconduct, or any other violent/deviant behavior that would warrant the termination of the Respondent’s parental rights. The Court did not hear any testimony that accused the Respondent of harassing the Petitioner in public, at home, at work, or on the phone. The Court did not hear any testimony from any medical doctor or child protection agency that would indicate that the Respondent neglected the children in any physical and/or emotional manner. The Court stated, “(The Respondent’s) words and actions show that (the Respondent) is, at least presently, unable to conduct himself with the level of maturity necessary to be a parent.” The Respondent requests the Court to clarify how the Court and the State of Indiana measures maturity and at what level of maturity can a parent’s rights be terminated/reinstated.

The Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines recommend that it is in the best interest the children to have as little deviation as possible to the time the children have with both parents. As testimony, school records, Dr. Connor’s evaluation, etc… state that the children were in the care of the Respondent on every Wednesday, Friday, every third Monday, and half of the weekends for over two and a half years; the children may suffer devastating and irreparable emotional damage by abruptly removing the Respondent from their life. The Respondent fears that this may have an adverse effect on the children’s love for the Petitioner as well. The Petitioner is left with the responsibility to somehow explain to the children how they cannot see their daddy anymore because daddy tried to hold Dr. Connor accountable for failing to tell the truth and daddy raised his voice in court out of frustration due to daddy’s inability to inspect the evidence behind the accusations against him. The Respondent feels that the children may resent the Petitioner because of the Court’s ruling.

The Respondent is concerned about the H1N1 flu virus following the deaths of two Dearborn County citizens and the worldwide concern of a possible pandemic. As the children begin school, there is an increased risk for infection if an outbreak happens. Given the Petitioner’s occupation as a [job omitted], the Petitioner is exposed to many people during the course of the Petitioner’s job. As government agencies and health organizations are warning parents to have alternate child care plans in the case that there is an outbreak at school, the children get sick, and/or the parents get sick; the Respondent’s inability to care for the children in emergency circumstances could be detrimental to the health of the children. Dr. Connor’s evaluation [Petitioner’s Exhibit 39] and other testimony indicated that the Respondent has the ability to recognize health concerns involving the children and the Respondent took immediate and appropriate action in dealing with the matter.[2]

WHEREFORE, Daniel P. Brewington, Respondent, pro-se, urges the Court to reconsider the Respondent’s rights to parenting time with the parties’ children to best serve the emotional and physical wellbeing of the children, or to clarify the Indiana guidelines of maturity and how it relates to parenting and to clarify what level of maturity is required to reinstate parenting rights.

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[1] The Petitioner signed Dr. Connor’s Office Policy Statement on June 5, 2007. The Petitioner, through her counsel, submitted Dr. Connor’s Office Policy Statement as evidence as to why the case file should not be released to the Respondent during the June 13, 2008 hearing on the release of the case file.

[2] Page 13 of Petitioner’s exhibit 39 documents that the children were in the Respondent’s care when the Respondent rushed one of the children to the Pediatrician due to breathing problems. Dr. Connor stated that the Petitioner was at her own home when this occurred, but the Petitioner was actually at work according to the Petitioner’s testimony.

It's a dangerous game.

            I just found out how dangerous the game is.  I never set out to beat the system.  I just began acting on my general instincts of right and wrong.  If I was going to lose time with my girls, I didn’t want to pay a crooked lawyer tens of thousands of dollars to do it.  Win or lose, I called the shots and I will never ask what if.  That has been my philosophy and I found out that my strategy couldn’t have been more right.

            I always do research on Dr. Edward J. Connor, of Connor and Associates, PLLC.  I Google his name almost everyday to see if there is any new information on him.  Two weeks ago I found out Dr. Connor’s office was involved in an FBI investigation.  His office manager, Catherine Cahill, pled guilty to unauthorized use of a credit card to the tune of $126,558.13.  This past week I found an Indiana appellate case involving the former Judge in my trial, who recently withdrew from my case, and Dr. Connor.  When I reviewed the appellate case I knew I had to contact the father who was involved immediately. 

            The easiest part of fighting from your back is the thought that you can’t fall down any further.  I have had my girls nearly half the time during the course of this divorce.  If Dr. Connor’s evaluation somehow flew, I didn’t think it would be likely that the Judge would wander too far from the Indiana Parenting Time Guidelines.  I thought he would order joint custody or close to equal time; man was I wrong. 

            I spoke with a guy who did everything by the system.  He had a lawyer.  He got his own professional witness to testify in court.  His professional witness testified to the biases of the evaluation conducted by Dr. Connor.  His witness testified to the inconsistencies that existed in the evaluation.  His professional expert was shocked to find out that the Judge didn’t take any of her testimony into account and gave the father less than the minimum time recommended by the State of Indiana because that was Dr. Connor’s recommendation.  What makes this even more disturbing is this was going on at the same time I was trying to get the evaluation case file from Dr. Connor.  On one hand you have a professional expert testifying to the problems in the evaluation, and in another case, I am filing pleading after pleading trying to figure out why the Judge isn’t forcing Dr. Connor to follow the rules and release the case file.  Why isn’t Judge Carl Taul questioning Dr. Connor’s practices?  It’s the Judge’s responsibility maintain control of those operating in his courtroom.  Dr. Connor was being fought from two very different angles; the status-quo legal way and my way.  If the Judge Taul ruled that Dr. Ed Connor’s evaluation was flawed or inadmissible in either case, he would have had a hard time letting it go in the other.  If he threw Dr. Connor out of both trials, the question that arises is how many other evaluations has Dr. Connor done for Judge Carl H. Taul of Ripley County and was Judge Taul aware that the other evaluations may be bogus as well?  Did Judge Taul do the right thing?  No.  He gave a loving father less time with his 8 year old son than recommended by the State of Indiana.  Luckily the father didn’t quit fighting for the right to see his son and the appellate court reversed the trial court’s decision on parenting time and sent it back to the trial court.  Ripley Circuit Court Judge Carl Taul gave me several conflicting reasons why he wouldn’t order the release of Dr. Connor’s case file and was trying to march me to the final hearing.  Judge Taul continued to communicate with Dr. Connor outside the presence of the parties.  Luckily I found the case of Garrard v. Stone less than three weeks before my final hearing and the Judge recused himself after I filed a Motion for a Change of Judge.

            Dr. Connor won’t quit.  He wants to hurt me.  I found out that a guy with a lawyer and a professional expert got less than the minimum time.  What do you think Dr. Connor would have said about me in Court?  Dr. Connor wrote a letter to the Court asking for protection from having to talk to me because I appeared threatening.  He told the Judge that I may suffer from reality distortion.  Dr. Connor told the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology that I was potentially dangerous.  He told the Board that he had contacted an attorney about filing criminal and civil charges against me.  If I would have had to appear at the final hearing in December, I may have not been able to see my girls at all.  Ask yourself why Dr. Connor is working so hard to stay involved in this case.  He could have easily said that he felt threatened by me so he was withdrawing from the case.  Does he care about the welfare of my kids; probably not because he keeps telling the Judge and the Board how dangerous I may be to him but he has never mentioned that I may a hazard to my children or their mother.  It appears that he wants to hurt me because I continue to demonstrate that he doesn’t follow the law.  The only problem is that the Judge didn’t seem to notice (or care about) what Dr. Connor was trying to do to me.

            The evaluation report recommended that I seek Cognitive Behavioral Therapy “as it relates to parenting.”  My treating therapist and medical doctor for ADHD didn’t even know what that meant.  If the guy who had a lawyer and an expert got a raw deal in court, could you imagine what the self represented dad who won’t keep his mouth shut would have gotten?

            Judge Carl H. Taul of the Ripley Circuit Court gave numerous conflicting answers as to why Dr. Connor didn’t have to release the evaluation case file and failed to hold Dr. Connor accountable for misleading the Court and the parties of the child custody evaluation.  My former attorney, Thomas Blondell of Zerbe, Garner, Miller and Blondell, kept saying “I don’t know if it’s a bad evaluation.  I’m not a psychologist.”  Mr. Blondell charged me several thousand dollars for listening to me and then fired me citing “communication problems” when it came time to question Dr. Connor.  Dr. Connor said I wasn’t entitled to the evaluation case file because I was representing myself and then said that it was against the law for him to release the case file to me.  The Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology ruled that there were no apparent violations of law in my 237 page complaint against Dr. Connor and declined to even investigate it.  The Assistant Attorney General of Kentucky, Mark Brengelman, tried to convince me to only deal with his office and to not contact the Board directly.  Now Mr. Brengelman deletes my emails before he reads them because I have asked too many questions. 

            I may have re-written the rules of thinking outside of the box.  How do you think you battle powerful entities that don’t follow the rules?  You make up your own.  I got the Judge to remove himself from the case and then I subpoenaed him to appear to testify at the final hearing.  I requested a copy of Dr. Connor’s response to my complaint that I filed with the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology.  No one had ever done this and I could see why the Board could just sweep the problem under the rug.  The Deputy Attorney General of Indiana file a motion to quash (throw out) the subpoena of Judge Taul because I didn’t tender the required fees for the expense relating to appearing for a subpoena and they claimed that the Court speaks from the Court’s orders and the court record so the Judge doesn’t have to appear.  I filed a response stating there is no official record or order explaining what was said between Judge Taul and Dr. Connor when they decided to communicate outside the presence of the parties and the Indiana Judicial Code of Conduct states that a judge is not allowed to accept compensation or reimbursement for expenses if it gives the appearance of judicial impropriety.  (I keep thinking about Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack handing the guy a wad of cash and saying “keep it fair, keep it fair.”)  I may be subpoenaing the whole Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology to testify what laws Dr. Connor is allowed to break when conducting child custody evaluations.

            All of these “officials” are backtracking.  I backtrack all of the time when I am putting my daughters’ toys together.  I get cocky and think I am above the instructions and before long I am backtracking because I have extra parts; but failing to follow the instructions is not against the law.  These officials are backtracking, not to correct errors or missed observations, but to cover themselves for failing to do their jobs in the first place.  What do the actions of all of these “officials” have in common; they all seem to have an interest in making sure Dr. Connor doesn’t fall.  They also seem to take offense to all of the problems I caused.  Sorry that I forgot to be intimidated.

            Tell me what you think.  Dr. Connor said he found my writings to be confusing and difficult to follow.  Dr. Connor told the Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology that he had a “two very large binders” full of documentation that supports his opinions of me but he didn’t provide them to the Board.  Dr. Connor’s office manager was investigated by the FBI for making $126,558 worth of unauthorized charges with Dr. Connor’s corporate credit card.  Catherine Cahill pled guilty in a U.S. District Court, and somehow it gets released to the media around 6 PM on a Friday evening where it would receive the least amount of coverage and was limited to a few local news websites.  If a server from Applebee’s were to steal a few hundred dollars by taking unauthorized tips from the customer’s credit cards, there would be a week long exposé.  I have someone on a Yahoo business listing review site personally attacking me for “nitpicking” Dr. Connor.  Personally I think it is Dr. Connor.  Something ain’t right folks.

            I continue to post this information on my blog to get the word out and to help people who have been victimized by Dr. Connor.  Please pass this story on as I hope somebody with some kind of authority will have the nerve to do something about it.  People want to point fingers at deadbeat dads yet no one cares about the dads who fight tooth and nail just to have an equal part of their children’s lives.  Where is Oprah, Dr. Phil, Ellen, Glenn Sacks, or Alec Baldwin when you need them?  What about Hannity, Michael Savage, or Bill O’Reilly?  Where’s Mike Wallace, Steve Kroft, Leslie Stahl and the rest of the 60 Minutes gang?  How come the “voice of the common man”, Willie Cunningham of 700 WLW, hasn’t come to the rescue?  If someone talks to President Obama, tell him I’m trying to make the world a better place by fighting for change in the family court system.  I wonder what Barack Obama would do if Michelle tried to take Malia and Sasha away from him.  If you see President Obama, tell him I love my daughters just as much as he loves his.  It would be great to see someone dive in and stop evil people like Dr. Edward J Connor Psy. D. but I think I’d better keep working until the cavalry arrives.  Thanks for stopping by. 

For more information visit www.dadsfamilycourtexperience.com