Red Bluff Daily News

April 28, 2015

Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/502512

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 5 of 15

GregStevens,Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIALBOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS I had a deadbeat dad. The kind of slacker so egregious—so blatant in shirking his re- sponsibilities—that he and his generation of counterparts inspired a series of draconian laws to combat their "free spiritedness." My father (I wince to refer to him as that) exists as a transitional fossil in the evolu- tion of child support in this country. He was between the time when men were by default the automatic and sole breadwinners of the family and the time when the full force of the state would come a er you for a late installment. My mothergaveupthe right to sue for child support in the divorce; an antiquated idea that largely no longer exists. My chromosome con- tributor went about his life of mystical self-discovery rarely mentioning or think- ing about his two children. Meanwhile, we were on food stamps, school lunch pro- grams and other social ser- vices. Mostly we went with- out. By the time I was a teenager and in foster care, the laws had caught up to dear ol' dad and sent him a bill in the form of a tax lien. I'm not sure if he ever actually paid it. I expect to hear from him if he ever needs a kidney. I share this not for sympa- thy; I offer it because if anyone should have absolutely no toler- ance for deadbeat parents, it's me. If anyone should want to see loafers and serial impreg- nators punished, it's me. If any- one would get some revenge- based pleasure out of seeing deadbeat dads suffer at the hands of the law—it'd be me. But the police shoot- ing death of Walter Scott, a man in and out of jail for the "crime" of failure to pay child support, has given me pause. Scott, father of four in South Carolina, had a warrant out for his arrest when he was pulled over for a broken tail- light. He fled the scene, only to be shot in the back by a police officer now charged with mur- der — something that would have never transpired had a video of the incident not sur- faced.) What Scott's death has highlighted is a system that is cruel, arbitrary and pu- nitive toward fathers and strangely dismissive of the best interests of their chil- dren. Under the guise of bud- getary issues and fueled by a puritanical moral cru- sade against seemingly ca- sual sex, we've been incarcer- ating men for failure to pay for their children. Men who cannot pay child support for any reason are being sent to jail. There aren't comprehen- sive numbers of how many people go to jail for failure to pay child support, arguably one is too many. The New York Times reports, "But in 2009, a survey in South Car- olina found that one in eight inmates had been jailed for failure to pay child support. In Georgia, 3,500 parents were jailed in 2010. The Re- cord of Hackensack, N.J., re- ported last year that 1,800 parents had been jailed or given ankle monitors in two New Jersey counties in 2013." A 2007 study of child sup- port arrears by the Urban In- stitute of nine large states noted, "Nearly three quar- ters of the high debtors [those who owed more than $30,000] had no reported in- come or reported incomes of $10,000 a year or less. These laws were designed to tackle middle- to upper-class fathers from skipping out on their obligations. They've also created debtors' prisons for the fertile yet marginalized among us. This attempt at recover- ing money from state cof- fers doled out to fatherless children is costing the state money in incarceration, court costs and paperwork. It's just shifting expenditures, invest- ing heavily in this sadistic public humiliation for child abandonment. When in jail, men don't work—sometimes after jail they can't work— and then, as we've seen, they can slide into the world where the best option seems to be bolting from a trigger- happy cop during a routine traffic stop. None of this is in the best interests of the children. None of this makes their lives bet- ter—or more secure, comfort- able or hopeful. It makes them into a curse—a bane to their fathers and then they're still sans child support. Child wel- fare is the point of these skir- mishes and yet children have become collateral damage. As a replacement for a scorched earth crusade to make deadbeats' lives miser- able, we should be focusing on how all children—even the children of rotten parents (like mine)—should have a certain level of care. They should have the same opportunities in this world as people with decent parents. They're faultless in this melodrama and forgotten at its conclusion. We've perfected destroying the lives of derelict fathers; in- stead we could be concerned for their children. They're worth more of our time and attention than their parents. TinaDupuyisanationally syndicated op-ed columnist, investigative journalist, award-winning writer, stand-up comic, on-air commentator and wedge issue fan. Tina can be reached at tinadupuy@yahoo.com. Tina Dupuy End the war on deadbeat dads Cartoonist's take CAPTION The Tea Party Patriots will present a very timely and infor- mative address by Fred Kelly Grant on DVD during the 6:30 p.m. segment of tonight's meeting at the Westside Grange on Wal- nut Street. Mr. Grant has been instrumental in helping citizens push back against out-of-con- trol state and federal agencies trampling on local property and governmental rights. He will explain the abuses of Cal- ifornia Air Resources Board (CARB), currently seeking to saddle trucking and agricul- tural industries with onerous and phony air quality stan- dards. Multiple legs support the platform of a healthy econ- omy: 1) business and entre- preneurial activity (you can't have too much), 2) utiliza- tion of natural resources (al- ways a reliable source of jobs and income—always opposed mindlessly by the environmen- tal left), 3) taxation levels (the lighter the burden, the more the economy will grow), 4) government regulations (cur- rently excessive, constitut- ing a $1-2 trillion annual drag on the economy); 5) An avail- able labor force that is edu- cated, eager and willing to forego government handouts for the pride and satisfaction of self-sufficiency (our current labor force is heavy on avail- able workers but contains too few of the latter), and 6) an immigration system designed and implemented for the pur- pose of protecting American jobs, while encouraging rea- sonable numbers of legal im- migrants with skills match- ing employment needs not be- ing filled by current citizens and legal immigrants—which also affects the ability of busi- nesses to grow. When it comes to the col- lective wisdom of the Amer- ican people, for instance, we can set aside happy, glowing reports on the economy and employment because "Only 1 in 4 buy Team Obama's claim unemployment improving" (Jan. 15, The Examiner). Those polled accept "that the na- tion's economy is improving, but not their own personal sit- uation, a depressing reality that the administration can't shake the country out of no matter what it does. They just don't believe the president and his team's boasting about the economy," with a majority be- lieving "more people are un- employed than the president says." The Economist/YouGov poll found that people don't credit Washington but rather busi- ness and consumers for any economic improvements. "The poll offers two reasons why the public is slow to buy into the improvement, and give Obama the credit. First, it says Amer- icans have a negative attitude about the economy. Second, they just don't believe the gov- ernment." One-third say their conversations with friends and family about the economy are mostly negative, with less than 1 in 5 reporting positive discus- sions. "Only 1 in 4 Americans think they are personally bet- ter off today than they were when Barack Obama took of- fice in 2009. A third say they are worse off." They are evenly split on whether their finan- cial status is better or worse than it was just one year ago. "Many Americans—mostly Re- publicans—simply don't be- lieve the data. Only one in four think the unemployment figures are accurate. More than half think there are more people unemployed than the Bureau of Labor Statistics fig- ures say there are." In March, I used data from the EDD website to estimate what Tehama County's unem- ployment rate really is when consistent, 20-years long, pop- ulation, labor force and unem- ployed numbers are factored in. I found that we really have about 15 percent unemploy- ment, not 9 percent—they've removed up to 1,600 peo- ple cumulatively from the la- bor force compared to what it should be based on population growth. In February, Jim Clifton, Chairman and CEO of Gallup, confirmed what many percep- tive analysts and conservative think tanks had already con- cluded—writing "The Big Lie: 5.6% Unemployment" (easily searchable by title). He followed that article up with a CNBC in- terview to clarify that "hope- lessly deceptive" was a better descriptor than "lie," and that "the BLS and Department of Labor numbers are very, very accurate. I need to make that very, very clear so that I don't suddenly disappear." I'm sure that was a tongue-in-cheek comment. While I've frequently read that the official "underem- ployment" rate—which in- cludes those working part time but wanting full time work—is around 11 percent, re- ality is far worse. You aren't even counted as "unemployed" if you've given up looking for a job—defined as having stopped searching in the last 4 weeks. Clifton: "Right now, as many as 30 million Ameri- cans are either out of work or severely underemployed. Trust me, they aren't throw- ing parties to toast 'falling' unemployment…An out-of- work engineer, healthcare, construction worker or retail manager (with) a minimum of one hour of work making at least $20—is not officially counted as unemployed…The official unemployment rate, which cruelly overlooks the suffering of the long-term and often permanently un- employed as well as the de- pressingly underemployed, amounts to a Big Lie. "And it's a lie that has con- sequences, because the great American dream is to have a good job, and in recent years, America has failed to deliver that dream more than it has at any time in recent mem- ory. A good job is an individ- ual's primary identity, their very self-worth, their dig- nity—it establishes the rela- tionship they have with their friends, community and coun- try. When we fail to deliver a good job that fits a citizen's talents, training and experi- ence, we are failing the great American dream." Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@ yahoo.com. The way I see it Our failing economic self-worth This attempt at recovering money from state coffers doled out to fatherless children is costing the state money in incarceration, court costs and paperwork. It's just shifting expenditures, investing heavily in this sadistic public humiliation for child abandonment. Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. We've been watching this construction, and hope it brings back the mountain-loving vacationers to the area. Cross-country skiing in meadow? Great restaurant? Hope springs eternal. Kelly Exner: On the planned opening of Highland Ranch Resort near Child's Meadow One of the best shows ever. The quilts this year are gorgeous and every style is represented. MaryAnn Crain: On coverage of the Sun Country Quilters Guild quilt show. Don Polson OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, April 28, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Red Bluff Daily News - April 28, 2015