tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36758977691023356162024-03-05T07:51:39.659-08:00Parental abduction lawKidnapping a child--even your own child--is a criminal act. Oregon's ORS 30.868 offers kidnapping victims tools to deter and resolve parental and family abductions.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-30671063514753149182017-02-03T21:49:00.001-08:002017-02-03T21:49:36.429-08:00Oregon's landmark child abduction law explained<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">State Representative Linda Flores (R) Clackamas explained how Oregon's landmark child abduction law ORS 30.868 was designed to work when she carried Senate Bill 1041 (2005) on the House floor.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://youtu.be/bDUCKlfp4Q0?list=PLMOQRGPFqpOYfjc0p46vviCVFCdl7PCkb" target="_blank">Oregon's landmark child abduction bill passes the House</a></span><br />
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https://youtu.be/bDUCKlfp4Q0?list=PLMOQRGPFqpOYfjc0p46vviCVFCdl7PCkb<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">SB 1041 was sponsored by Senator Avel Louise Gordly.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-27563813349470248952015-11-29T20:02:00.000-08:002017-02-03T21:19:54.943-08:00Oregon's landmark child abduction law - House Judiciary hearing<div class="_209g _2vxa" data-block="true" data-offset-key="73lnk-0-0" style="background-color: white; color: #373e4d; direction: ltr; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; position: relative; white-space: pre-wrap;">
<span data-offset-key="73lnk-0-0">Much unfinished business: 6 years after my time in the Oregon Senate ended, and 10 years after the death of my son Aaron Cruz, I testified on child abduction before the House Judiciary Committee during the 2015 legislative session. </span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="auh96-0-0">Abducting a child has lifelong consequences, and those persons who think about participating in a kidnapping need to understand that they are in it for life. To those who participated in the kidnapping of my children, know that I am coming for you....</span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9g0ep-0-0"><a href="https://youtu.be/U-7R135VdZ4">House Judiciary hearing on child abduction</a></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="a5dh6-0-0">https://youtu.be/U-7R135VdZ4</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-40843050451856849792015-02-19T15:50:00.001-08:002015-02-19T15:50:24.025-08:00Oregon House of Representatives votes to remember Aaron Cruz forever<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">February 18, 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Shortly before the
Oregon House voted to name ORS 30.868 "Aaron's Law", I saw Governor
Ted Kulongoski in the corridor, and he graciously signed this photo of himself
signing Senate Bill 1041 into law ten years ago. SB 1041 was sponsored by
Senator </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/avellouise.gordly"><span style="color: #3b5998; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">Avel
Louise Gordly</span></a><span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">, standing beside the
Governor in the photo. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #141823; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A short time after
Governor Kulongoski and I spoke, the House voted 59-0 to remember Aaron Cruz
forever....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">78th OREGON LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2015 Regular Session<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold; font-size: 20.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold;">House Bill 2603<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Sponsored
by Representative SMITH WARNER (Presession filed.)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold;">SUMMARY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Provides
that ORS 30.868, regarding civil damages for custodial interference, shall be
known and may be cited as “Aaron’s Law.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold;">A BILL FOR AN ACT<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Relating
to citation of ORS 30.868.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
during the 2005 regular session, the Seventy-third Legislative Assembly passed
Senate Bill 1041, sponsored by Senator Avel Gordly, which became chapter 841,
Oregon Laws 2005, and was codified as ORS 30.868; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
with the enactment of Senate Bill 1041, Oregon became the first state in the
nation where abducting a child creates a civil cause of action; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
Senate Bill 1041 is the culmination of the work of the 2004 Interim Task Force
on Parental and Family Abductions and of Senator Gordly’s chief of staff, Sean
Aaron Cruz; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
Sean Aaron Cruz’s own four children disappeared from Oregon in 1996; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
Sean Aaron Cruz’s eldest son, Aaron Cruz, died in Utah in April 2005 as a
consequence of the abduction, inspiring the Legislative Assembly to act on
Senate Bill 1041; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
Senate Bill 1041 passed 26-3 in the Senate and 59-0 in the House of
Representatives and was signed into law by Governor Theodore R. Kulongoski on
September 2, 2005; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
Senate Bill 1041 is referred to as “Aaron’s Law” by members of the legal
community, including presenters at the State Family Law Advisory Committee’s
Family Law Conference; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Roman;">Whereas
designating Senate Bill 1041 as “Aaron’s Law” is a fitting tribute to the
memory of Aaron Cruz, whose death was not in vain; now, therefore,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold;">Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: NewCenturySchlbk-Bold;">SECTION 1. ORS 30.868 shall be known and may be cited as
“Aaron’s Law.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-10047593641461773232015-02-11T19:52:00.002-08:002015-02-11T19:52:59.542-08:00Storm Waters on the Cusp of a Kidnapping<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Storm
Waters on the Cusp of a Kidnapping<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">February
11, 1996. The Pacific NW dealing with the Great Storm of 1996, I-5 closed at
Tacoma, I-84 closed in the Columbia Gorge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Mormons
in three states busy making my kids disappear into Utah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">They
vanished on Feb 12. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now,
tomorrow, 19 years later to the day, I will testify on the kidnapping before
the House Judiciary Committee, considering HB 2601 and HB 2603....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-31654000330011448082015-02-02T16:49:00.001-08:002015-02-02T16:49:32.990-08:00Thoughts on an abducted daughter's birthday....<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">February 2nd is my baby girl Allie's birthday. She disappeared into Utah along with her sister and two brothers ten days after her 8th birthday, 19 years ago, in an abduction/shunning organized and carried out by Mormons in three states. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">She is living somewhere in the LDS empire, still in the grip of the congregations that took her so long ago. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #141823; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">She drew the "You will shine for ME! Every day!" picture for me and my mom a few months before she vanished. Her drawing kept me alive more t</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">imes than I can count over the years. When hope of seeing her and her siblings ever again faded, I promised her drawing that I would shine for her, every day, never giving up. </span><br />
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;"><br /></span>
<span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #141823; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 19.3199996948242px;">Now, within the next few weeks, the Oregon legislature will take up the issue of child abduction again, and I will see that these images are entered into the public record. For you, baby girl, wherever you are, know that your daddy never stopped loving you....</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-29658163615099533912014-11-17T16:50:00.000-08:002014-11-17T16:50:58.619-08:00The Last Christmas Eve – Deeper than the Core of the Earth<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Last Christmas Eve – Deeper than the
Core of the Earth<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
video is a home movie, documenting that the Cruz family existed: Grandmother
Cruz, single dad Sean Cruz, and his four children. But Mormon zealots had other
plans, and the children disappeared into Utah just six weeks later. The story
of the abduction and the legislation that resulted begins here....<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-44223819869088431972014-06-12T12:50:00.000-07:002014-06-12T12:50:33.613-07:00Deeper than the Core of the Earth<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Deeper
than the core of the Earth<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Sean Aaron Cruz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The abduction of my four children<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blew a hole in me<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">More than 18 years wide<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Deeper than the core<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Of the Earth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Pain measured in light years<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Blew holes in my children also<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Innocent victims<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aaron died from the shock<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From “Undetermined Causes”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In MormonLand Utah<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All this because I disagreed<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">With some Mormons</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Long ago….</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwkLDmLD67oDukuZU5sL4y_eBBrfsDdSqysfynMs51MftRPU1ZWTYpZPUEmyTnl7qZxJO1ddPeYcNJQ_Fox_RwVq5s9HJutqgFILzFCtqq6ixUrMfRwjODIYsygGyEk5SxEjSS6plfb_Q/s1600/4kidsinwoods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwkLDmLD67oDukuZU5sL4y_eBBrfsDdSqysfynMs51MftRPU1ZWTYpZPUEmyTnl7qZxJO1ddPeYcNJQ_Fox_RwVq5s9HJutqgFILzFCtqq6ixUrMfRwjODIYsygGyEk5SxEjSS6plfb_Q/s1600/4kidsinwoods.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-10753559826745355022014-03-21T07:19:00.000-07:002014-03-21T07:19:08.886-07:00<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">On Trust
and Conditional Love<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By Sean
Aaron Cruz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">March
21, 2014 (Aaron’s birthday)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This
photo of my late son Aaron has always had a special hold on me. Every time I
look at it, ever since I took this photo, the word “trust” comes to my mind,
and I think about how this beautiful boy had every reason in the world to trust
those around him, family and friends, and the people his parents allowed into
his life. He is looking at me. I am looking at him. He is looking back at me.
We are One Together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYaY15Z2sKeLN48Ra6M88udvEybl3z9Xuwikat5r9OsKorAB8H5uFsq-etHt09e9EsnTqbQeeSvK-viRukGH19GElENxMCKciB9Kx3UZuocyX8skh2Z5SXChC8_kPdytMN2e0V16HcZM/s1600/aaron+trust+002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNYaY15Z2sKeLN48Ra6M88udvEybl3z9Xuwikat5r9OsKorAB8H5uFsq-etHt09e9EsnTqbQeeSvK-viRukGH19GElENxMCKciB9Kx3UZuocyX8skh2Z5SXChC8_kPdytMN2e0V16HcZM/s1600/aaron+trust+002.jpg" height="400" width="283" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aaron
had every reason to believe that his future and those of his brother and two
sisters were secure; secure in the sense that love in our family was unconditional
and permanent (“I love you to infinity”, we often said to each other). He knew
he was loved, that he was a priority in his parents’ lives, as were each of his
siblings, and in this love was the foundation of his confidence, the trust so
clear in his eyes. He is looking at me. I am looking at him. He is looking back
at me. We are One Together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There
came a time, however, when his parent’s priorities changed, after his mother
became involved in Mormonism, like falling into a deep chasm full of crazy-ass
ideas, which led to the breakup of his family, and now there were a different
sort of people allowed into his life, True Believers with smiling faces and religious
agendas, home-baked cookies and Books of Mormon, people with status and
impressive church titles in his mother’s new world, and the foundation he had
grown up on had changed, had vanished utterly; <i>love was now conditional</i>….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> I never got on with his mother’s new Mormon
friends, not while we were still married, and never after. They looked at me
and the word “Mexican” would explode in their brains, along with all their
stereotypical imagery. You could see it in their eyes, their demeanor, their
assumptions. I had seen that look many times before, growing up in California,
where one’s Mexican-ness was always an issue one way or another, and these
Mormons didn’t like race-mixing much either, so the term “half-breed” was
knocking around in their heads also when they looked at me. There was that part
of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
Mormons now intruding into our family saw me as a threat to the whiteness with which
they were now enveloping my children, and in my personal religious views (more
agnostic than anything else) they saw a cause for direct action. They were
fighting a religious war personally directed by God Himself (to Whom they had Exclusive
Direct Access right there in Salt Lake City) against people who don’t see things
the same way. Seriously crazy, bug-eyed religious fervor, a group of people
bent enough to plot the disappearance of four children on a school day and to
conceal them in the mountains east of Ogden, Utah. Mormons with titles: Bishop,
Counselor, Relief Society President were now speaking directly to my children,
from their positions of “trust”, reeking with conditional love….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">First
came a press of Mormon “counselors” who put a lot of hours into trying to
convince me to get with their program, and after that campaign failed, after I
rejected their last arguments, the same group of ideologues convinced my
children’s mother to file for divorce, provided a top Mormon lawyer, and a 15-year
marriage came to an end in a matter of weeks, our family itself now conditional….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My
ex’s Mormon friends decided to separate my children from me as a punishment, a
consequence of my “apostasy”, although I had never believed the LDS dogma, had
agreed to join their church only because I had made a deal with my wife, made
after years of fruitlessly attempting to persuade her to stop smoking while she
equally without success pressured me to join up (“You quit smoking, I’ll join
your church,” I had finally said). This was/is by far the worst deal I ever
made in my life, this one here, and if only I had simply gone back on my word,
things would have turned out differently. The point is, leaving the LDS church
can have negative consequences….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aaron
and his siblings vanished from Oregon on February 12, 1996, now isolated in
remote Mormon enclaves, breaking our physical connections, and the Mormons now
in control of their lives worked hard to destroy every emotional connection my
children and I had shared. It was a deliberate, structured campaign that included
introducing Aaron to Prozac, Ritalin, Zoloft, a long list of other such drugs,
and Oxycontin, the gateway to the Mormon-infused opiate addiction that wrecked
his chances of success in high school and gave these Mormons an excuse to blame
him for his troubles, for not fitting in.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Within
a year of arriving in his Utah concealment, Aaron’s despair was so intense that
he began cutting himself with a knife. Years later, I saw the scars as he lay
there on his Utah deathbed, long, overlapping, crisscrossing scars on both his
upper arms. I had no idea a knife’s sharp edge could make a scar so wide, these
marks of conditional love laid out on my beautiful son, scars on top of scars, each
a remnant of the Big Bang in his shrunken universe, where Trust had become a
distant, red-shifted blur, falling away hopelessly into amorphous gas and dust….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Aaron’s
siblings succumbed to the pressure, joined up with his mother’s church, became
fully immersed in Mormonism, made friends of their own, fell in and out of love
with other Mormons, and this is where they remain today, surrounded by Mormons
infused with all of the conditional love the Mormon Universe has to offer, love
that would be withdrawn in a heartbeat should they ever reach out to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
have boxes of photographs of my children, of Aaron, of Natalia, of Tyler, of
Allie, with that same look of Trust and Unconditional Love in their eyes. They
are looking at me. I am looking at them. They are looking back at me, and we
are One Together.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">There
is nothing the Mormons can do to change that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">--Portland,
Oregon, March 21, 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-83684728770254933622013-11-23T19:19:00.000-08:002013-11-23T19:19:07.722-08:0012 Years a Slave - 18 Years a Kidnapping, pt 1<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">By Sean
Aaron Cruz</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Portland,
Oregon—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
movie <i>12 Years a Slave</i> shocked me a
bunch, but not for the reasons one might expect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">What
shocked me the most was not the bloody, detailed depiction of the barbarism and
cruelty of America’s Slave Era, because those facts are all well known, but in
the more subtle reaches: the forced separation of families, the scenes of Scripture-quoting
monsters in everyday life justifying their crimes against humanity, and in the other
parallels and contrasts I could see between Solomon Northrup’s experiences and
my own as the father of four kidnapped children whose abduction began some 18
years ago and continues beyond today, and in the attitudes we both encountered
along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For
me personally, Solomon Northrup’s story was more about the present than it was
about the past, more about the pain of indifference than about the pain of the
lash.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
went into the theater thinking about the horrors of slavery, but early on the movie
put me on a different course of thought: knowing first the suffering that lay
ahead for the Northrup family, the father losing his wife and children, and the
children suffering the sudden, mysterious loss of their father, and then during
the slave market scene, in the attitudes the slave Patsy encountered when she was
sold separately from her two children, never to see them again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My
children and I were abruptly parted on February 12, 1996, when they disappeared
from Oregon in a kidnapping/shunning organized by Mormon church members in
Oregon, Washington and Utah, an abduction also intended to last forever.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWrWUYkchX5QJawop_fQ2xBDQpglBtXWsn20yhX4giwtK4SktB6zuCf7CZr6AwRlTXfLnCSozpV1jio9izKfz2_QWtKoVvVSJ9r56EUKyGEUZGU0JtCSnkymlUEj-tD4CR3Bp-G-ksuQ/s1600/4kidsinwoods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCWrWUYkchX5QJawop_fQ2xBDQpglBtXWsn20yhX4giwtK4SktB6zuCf7CZr6AwRlTXfLnCSozpV1jio9izKfz2_QWtKoVvVSJ9r56EUKyGEUZGU0JtCSnkymlUEj-tD4CR3Bp-G-ksuQ/s400/4kidsinwoods.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My
mom never saw her grandchildren again, died four years into the kidnapping, an
extension of the shunning, how they disappeared from Grandma’s life, Mormons in
control, the indifference I encountered….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Three
different forms of abduction between us, I was thinking, sharing much in
common: Each was organized. There was planning and logistics and a larger social
structure that supported the crimes. Beyond their reckless disregard for life
and liberty, there was the kidnappers’ desire to do actual harm to a person
they did not personally know. The kidnappers’ actions resulted from their
respective religion- or race-based hatreds, and with which they intruded into
their victims’ lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">My
first thought was that I would rather have been kidnapped into slavery than for
my children to be the kidnappees, that I would be beaten and chained in a box
if it meant my children would remain safe in their home, and that at least
Solomon Northrup knew that no one was tricking and tormenting his children
during the captivity, deliberately destroying every emotional as well as
physical link between them and forcing his children into complicity in the
kidnapping. And none of his children died during the course of his ordeal. It
could be worse, I thought, than this. I would take those beatings, and 12 years
of separation is much better than 18.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
the slave market scene, a slave trader told Patsey in not so many words that
she would forget about these children sooner or later, so she ought to move on
and focus on her new life with the new master, and I found myself saying out
loud to no one in particular, “That’s what they expected me to do, too.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I
was referring to the attitudes I have encountered. People have been telling me
this ever since the beginning of the abduction, that I ought to “move on” or “accept
this”, in one way or another, and my children’s kidnappers were all of this
mind also, believing that they could get away with their crimes if I did move
on, and for so long as they could continue to maintain control over my children’s
lives, which they do even as adults.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The
larger society was indifferent to all of these abductions as they were taking
place. Years went by before Solomon found a person willing to get out of his
comfort level and take an action that would lead to resolution and
reunification, if not justice. It was not wishing or hoping or praying or
pissing up a rope that brought the Northrup kidnapping to an end, but a person
taking action. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In
all of the 18 years of the Cruz kidnapping, I only encountered one such person,
a retired police officer named John Bissell, who saw the situation for what it
was and did everything he could to help. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But
I don’t believe that anyone in the movie’s audiences would expect Solomon to
ever do this, to move on or accept these injustices, a contrast between our
experiences that arises from people’s attitudes entirely, although we do know
that Solomon was in fact reunited with his children. No one knows, however, if
the Cruz abduction/shunning will ever come to an end, if the Mormons will ever
release my children to have contact with their father again, he who dared to
criticize LDS doctrine in his own home….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Scripture-thumpers
dominate both of our stories. Sunday worshippers committed the crimes against
the Northrup and Cruz families, pious slavers and prayerful shunners, each reading
from their Good Books the lines that made fit their crimes. Woe be to those who
disagree with The Teachings that justify our respective Peculiar Institutions;
punishments of Biblical proportions resulting, they intone in their Psalm-singing
and Tabernacle Choirs….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">18
years of painful separation, so far, 18 years a kidnapping, and a whole church
to keep it that way….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Coming soon:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">12 Years a Slave – 18 Years a Kidnapping,
pt 2.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our
stories also have in common the heartlessness of the abrupt break in
communications between parent and child that the kidnappers impose. Solomon and
Patsey had no way to contact their children as years went by, and my children’s
Scripture-quoting kidnappers were able to cut off every means of communication I
was ever able to establish between us as I fought through four jurisdictions in
three states. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-44455648757324858492013-04-15T16:26:00.000-07:002013-04-15T16:26:49.392-07:00Access to Justice Denied: Parental, Family and Organized Child Abduction in Oregon<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 24.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Access to Justice Denied:<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 24.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Parental, Family and <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 24.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Organized Child Abduction in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Aaron Cruz<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:date day="12" month="4" w:st="on" year="2013"><b>April 12,
2013</b></st1:date><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Testimony in support
of <b>House Bill 2014</b>, sponsored by
State Representatives Alissa Keny-Guyer, Brent Barton, Chris Garrett, and Wayne
Krieger</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Please tell Sean that I also wish him
the best. I have also followed his career and believe his personal experience
has given him the wisdom and the moral authority necessary to make a real
difference in making <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
safer for our children.” –Hon. Judge James L. Fun, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Washington</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">County</st1:placetype></st1:place>
Circuit Court, <st1:date day="24" month="1" w:st="on" year="2007">January 24,
2007</st1:date></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Access to Justice Denied: Parental,
Family and <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Organized Child Abduction in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I. <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>’s Custodial Interference I and II
statutes<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A. The four statutory barriers to
justice</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. “A person”
exceptions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 2.
The definition of “protracted”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 3.
“…a substantial risk of illness or
physical injury”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 4. A crime in progress<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">II. Overview of
access to justice in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:stockticker w:st="on"><b>III</b></st1:stockticker><b>.
Finding legal assistance in the wake of an abduction today<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A.<span style="font-size: 7pt;">
</span><!--[endif]-->The Oregon State Bar</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">B. The Oregon Judicial Department</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> C. The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Oregon</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype></st1:place>
Police Missing Children Clearinghouse</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IV. The roots of
Senate Bill 1041 Aaron’s Law (2005)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A. The 1996
abduction of Aaron Cruz and his siblings</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> B.
Legislative history of Aaron’s Law</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 1.
Reporting the crime to the Legislative Assembly</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 2.
Take Root – Adults who were abducted as children speak</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 3.
The 2004 Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a. No numbers</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">b. A broad lack
of awareness</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">c. Some parents
use their children as weapons</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> d.
Long-lasting trauma, injury and damage</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> e. Damage similar to sex
crimes against the child</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 4.
<i>“Burning Issues in Access to Justice”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> 5.
Aaron’s Law in statute: ORS 30.868</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">V. The principles of
Aaron’s Law<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A. Victims
in control, not The System</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> B. Who you
serve and 142 reasons why </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> C. Domestic
violence exception</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">D. Counseling for resolution and
deterrence</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> E. The
child victim becomes an adult</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> F. Aaron’s
Law and child trafficking</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">VI. Case Study:
Aaron’s Law and the Kyron Horman abduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A. “There is no case like this.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> B. Meeting
the criteria</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:stockticker w:st="on"><b>VII</b></st1:stockticker><b>.
Attitudes as Obstacles <o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “Your
children will find you some day (Don’t worry be happy)”</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I. <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>’s Custodial
Interference I and II statutes<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Four significant barriers to access to justice and to
prevention and resolution of child abduction cases lie in the statutes
themselves and in how Oregon law enforcement agencies and the Family and
Criminal Law systems interpret the language.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ORS
163.245</b>: “<span style="color: red;">A person</span> commits the crime of custodial interference
in the second degree if, knowing or having reason to know that the person has
no legal right to do so, the person <span style="color: red;">takes, entices or
keeps</span> another person from the other person’s lawful custodian or in
violation of a valid joint custody order with intent to hold the other person <span style="color: red;">permanently</span> <span style="color: red;">or for a
protracted period</span>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ORS
163.257</b>: “<span style="color: red;">A person</span> commits the crime of custodial interference
in the first degree if the person violates ORS 163.245 and:<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (a)
Causes the person <span style="color: red;">taken, enticed or kept</span> from
the lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint custody order <span style="color: red;">to be removed from the state</span>; or<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
<span style="color: red;">Exposes that person to a substantial risk of illness or
physical injury.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A. Four statutory barriers
to justice<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>1. “A person” exceptions:</i></b> The statutes make no exceptions for
the other parent, family members or hangers-on, members of a church
congregation enforcing a shunning or any other organized group of persons
acting with criminal intent. In actual practice, however, when a parent is
involved in the abduction, law enforcement and the Family Law and Criminal Law
systems appear to follow a policy of ignoring the other persons who have
violated the statute. This highly selective enforcement of the Custodial
Interference statutes contributes to the incidence of child abductions. Since
it is so unlikely that nonparental persons will be held accountable for their
crimes, the statute has little deterrent value, hence the high incidence of
parental and family abductions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>HB 2014 </b>should result
in an understanding of how and why decisions to make exceptions to the statute
are made at the local level, providing the 2014 Legislative Assembly with the
opportunity to consider establishing a state policy.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>2. “Permanently or for a protracted period”</i></b><i>:</i> There appears to be no statewide policy or published local law
enforcement directive regarding when the threshold of “protracted” is reached
and the Custodial Interference statute is triggered. The dictionary definition
of “protracted” is “prolonged.” The absence of a clear definition of
“protracted” in statute makes it difficult for law enforcement to act, creating
a systemic barrier to the swift resolution of these cases. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>HB 2014</b> should
result in an understanding of the range of interpretations of this statute
among local law enforcement jurisdictions across <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>, providing the 2014 Legislative
Assembly with the opportunity to consider enacting a statewide policy regarding
this critical definition.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><i>3. “Exposes that person to a
substantial risk of illness or physical injury.”</i></b> The real injuries a child victim
suffers in an abduction is not recognized in current statute. Although the
Legislative Assembly has adopted a policy of mental health parity in health
insurance coverage, it is not clear that parity applies to the “substantial
risk of illness” component of the custodial interference statutes, and the term
“physical injury” explicitly fails to recognize the mental and emotional trauma
victims suffer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 2004 Senate
President’s Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions reported: “…the
injury a child receives, when the child has been abducted by one of the child’s
parents, does not necessarily include physical injury. <i>The injury is more in the nature of mental trauma or mental injury. Nonetheless,
the injury is real and may be even more long lasting and damaging than physical
injury</i>.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Failing to recognize the serious nature of these nonvisible
injuries contributes to inaction by law enforcement and the court systems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>HB 2014</b> should be
expected to reveal a deficiency in how abductions are prioritized by law
enforcement and both the Family Law and Criminal Law systems. The report will
provide the 2014 Legislative Assembly with an opportunity to establish a clear
policy regarding the definition of “illness” and “injury” in respect to mental
health parity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>4. </b><b><i>“A crime in progress</i></b><b>”:</b> The Custodial Interference statute does not
take into account the fact that abductions are “continuing” crimes. The trauma
and loss that victims suffer increases over time, yet law enforcement and both
the Family Law and Criminal Law systems routinely fail to treat these case as
crimes in progress, which is exactly what they are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>HB 2014</b>, coupled with the Final Report of the Parental and Family Abduction
Task Force, should provide the 2014 Legislative Assembly with a better
understanding of the Custodial Interference statutes and offer ideas to better
protect the interests of <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
children and their families.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">II. Overview</span></b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"> <b>of access to
justice in Oregon<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For more than sixteen years, the Oregon Legislative Assembly
has considered the serious problem of public access to competent legal services
in the Family Law system:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“In a final report given to
the December, 1997 Legislative Assembly, the Oregon Task Force on Family Law
articulated <b><i>the continued unmet and acute demand for assistance dealing with pro se
litigants in the court systems</i></b>. At the request of the Task Force, the
Legislature created the Oregon Family Law Legal Services Commission. The charge
to this group was to evaluate and report on “how courthouse facilitation and
unbundled legal services might enhance the delivery of family law legal
services to low and middle-income Oregonians.” During the next four years the
Commission gathered both qualitative and quantitative information. They held
public monthly meetings, solicited written input from lawyers, litigants,
experts in the field, court clerks and all interested parties before drafting
the proposal and completing its final work with the recommendations found
here.” --<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>
Family Law Legal Services Commission<br />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br />
<!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The majority of Oregonians represent themselves in Family
Court. <i>“<st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state> data indicates that <u>both</u> <u>sides</u>
<u>are</u> <u>self-represented</u> in approximately 49% of family law filings.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Oregonians now represent
themselves in Family Court in 67%-86% of the cases filed. Given the <b><i>huge
demand</i></b> for legal help in family law matters that nonprofit law firms
and the private bar <b><i>cannot meet</i></b>, access to justice efforts the last 10 years have
concentrated on the statewide availability of <b><i>model family law forms</i></b>
and <b><i>procedural
assistance</i></b> from courthouse facilitators. Now, <b>budget cutbacks</b> have led to reductions in existing court services
and stalled planning efforts focused on self-representation.” – Executive
Summary. Task Force on Family Law<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Self-representation in Family Court is a permanent aspect,
and the legal system’s response “must be actively planned.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“While the ultimate goal in
access to justice efforts is representation by attorneys, self- representation
is a permanent aspect of the family court. As such, the legal system’s response
to litigants without lawyers must be actively planned.” – Executive Summary.
Task Force on Family Law<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Budget pressures and other priorities contribute to reduced
access.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Since 2007, however,
significant budget reductions precipitated by the poor economy have stalled
energy and funding for both interactive forms and broader self-representation
planning. Moreover, some local courts have eliminated or reduced their
facilitation programs to preserve resources. Simultaneously, the court’s
partners in the access to justice community have continued to struggle with the
<b>high unmet demand for family law legal
services</b>. The poor economy has placed additional stress on this challenge.
In addition, <b>given the enormous public
need for family law help</b>, concern has arisen that market-minded
entrepreneurs may soon preempt access-oriented, quality-focused legal planners
by selling web-based interactive <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>
family law court forms for profit.” –Executive Summary, Task Force on Family
Law<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most victims of parental, family and organized child
abductions do not have a lawyer at the time of the kidnapping. No <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> attorney
advertises a practice in child abduction crimes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are no “model family law forms” for an abduction. <i>Family law forms require service on the
other party</i>. In abductions, however, the other parties’ and the victim
children’s location is unknown, is likely to be transient, and they may be
living under assumed names.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abductions are always sneak attacks, with planning and
execution carried out in secret, and nearly always involving multiple
jurisdictions, long distances, more than one perpetrator, and two or more state
legal systems.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Persons participating in a parental, family or organized
kidnapping will likely have intimate knowledge of the victims’ financial
resources, ability to access competent legal assistance and other weaknesses
prior to executing the crime.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are many variations of legal status. The parents of
the victim children may be married or unmarried, legally separated or not,
divorced or not, with or without custody orders. It may be a grandparent or
some other person who is the primary caregiver for the victim children and
reporting the crime. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A parent whose children have been abducted is likely to be
experiencing severe grief, shock, panic and depression. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>HB 2014</b> will
provide the 2014 Legislative Assembly with critical insights into how to
improve access to justice “when a child is reported to law enforcement
officials as missing by the parent, grandparent or legal custodian of the child”
or is brought to <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
under similar circumstances.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:stockticker w:st="on"><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">III</span></b></st1:stockticker><b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;">. Finding
legal assistance in the wake of an abduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the victim children have vanished, the victim parent, grandparent
or legal custodian reports the commission of a crime to local law enforcement
and then looks for competent legal advice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prior to the passage of Senate Bill 1041 (Aaron’s Law) in
2005, the only avenues of recourse a victim parent (or grandparent) had were
either through the Family Law system or the Criminal Law system. Neither system
recognizes the urgency of the situation, the emotional harm the victims are
suffering, or the fact that the longer the crime continues, the more extensive
and long-lasting the harm. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neither system provides any point of control for the
victims, who become victims of both the crime and of the system itself. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Family Law and Criminal Law systems are often
adversarial and have long built-into-the-process timelines, when the issue is
urgent.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although <b>Senate Bill
1041 (2005) “Aaron’s Law”</b> made Oregon the first state in the nation where
child abduction creates a civil cause of action, no information about the law
or the Parental and Family Abduction Task Force is presently available through
the Oregon State Bar or Oregon State Police web sites.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is the Yellow Pages and online referral systems, but
neither resource is likely to lead to an attorney specializing in child
abductions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A.</b> <b>The Oregon State Bar</b> website contains
no information about parental and family abductions. There are no references to
the 2004 Parental and Family Abduction Task Force or Senate Bill 1041 (2005),
Aaron’s Law. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The “search” feature on the OSB website turns up no
information related to <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
legislation on the subject.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The OSB Legal Information Topics page contains no
information related to abductions in the Criminal Law or Family Law categories.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no link to the <b>Oregon
State Police Missing Children Clearinghouse</b>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Searches under “personal injury”, “civil suit” and “child
abuse” provide no useful links for abduction victims. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>B. The Oregon
Judicial Department</b> website contains no information about parental and
family abductions. There are no references to the 2004 Parental and Family
Abduction Task Force or Senate Bill 1041 (2005), Aaron’s Law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the legal forms available on the website, none are
related to the issue, in which the whereabouts of the abducted children and the
abductors are unknown.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The terms “abduction”, “custodial interference” and
“kidnapping” do not appear in the site’s listing of legal terms and
definitions.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under the heading “Family Law Topics”, there is no reference
to the crime, and none of the topics link to information about abduction.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is no link to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on"><b>Oregon</b></st1:placename><b> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype></b></st1:place><b> Police Missing Children Clearinghouse.</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>C. The</b> <b>Oregon State Police Missing Children
Clearinghouse</b> contains<b> </b>no
references to the 2004 Parental and Family Abduction Task Force or Senate Bill
1041 (2005), Aaron’s Law.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The mission of the Missing
Children Clearinghouse is to receive and distribute information on missing
children to local law enforcement agencies, school districts, state and federal
agencies, and the public. In 1989, the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>
legislature mandated that OSP establish and maintain a missing children
clearinghouse.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The goal of the Missing
Children Clearinghouse is to streamline the system, serving child victims and
their families by providing assistance to law enforcement agencies and the
public.” – Oregon State Police website<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is rare that a missing or abducted child appears on the
OSP clearinghouse website if a parent is involved in the abduction. The
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) frequently posts
photographs and other information about parentally abducted on its website that
are not matched on the Oregon State Police website. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As of this writing, NCMEC lists seven <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> children as parental/family
abductions since 2007, plus Kyron Horman. The OSP site identifies only four of
these children, plus Kyron Horman.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has been discrepancies of as many as 17 children
abducted from <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
who were listed on the NCMEC site but not on the OSP site.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2012, the Beaverton Police Department issued a statement
identifying more than a dozen police and governmental agencies who assisted in
the recovery of a child who had been abducted and taken to <st1:country-region w:st="on">New Zealand</st1:country-region> by
his father. The Oregon State Police was not among them, and the child was never
listed as abducted on the Missing Children Clearinghouse website.</span></div>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 14.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IV. The roots of Senate Bill 1041
Aaron’s Law (2005)<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A. The 1996 abduction
of Aaron Cruz and his siblings<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron Cruz and his three siblings disappeared from <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> on <st1:date day="12" month="2" w:st="on" year="1996">Feb 12, 1996</st1:date> despite an
order for joint custody that had been in affect for five years. The number of
adult persons who took, kept and enticed the Cruz children in violation of the
order for joint custody and the Custodial Interference I and II statutes was
greater than ten and included the children’s mother, other family members, and
members of their church congregation that were unrelated to the victims. Their
motivation was to enforce a shunning against the children’s father. The intent
of the shunning was to prevent any contact of any kind between the children and
their father or members of their father’s family, permanently. The shunning
remains in effect today.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The four Cruz children were kept incommunicado and taken to
a series of secret locations in <st1:state w:st="on">Utah</st1:state>,
where they were pressured to choose between parents, one to love with all their
hearts, and one to despise with equal fervor. Mail sent to my children at their
mother’s last known address in <st1:city w:st="on">Hillsboro</st1:city>
was forwarded to the address of a conspiring church member in <st1:city w:st="on">Hillsboro</st1:city> instead of on to the children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abducted children are forced to adhere to whatever cover
story their abductors require, are not permitted to grieve their losses, and
are likely to lose access to health care during their time on the run.
Abductors, acting in their own interest, will work hard to sever all emotional
ties the abducted children have to the victim parent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My children were taken on a journey through three divorces
and three stepdads in three states. My fight to locate and recover my children
would take me through four jurisdictions in three states, usually <i>pro se</i>, but never with the assistance of
an attorney competent in the issue of criminal child abductions.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With a single exception, every court officer, judge,
attorney, juror, witness and police officer I encountered through these four
jurisdictions was white, as were all of the persons participating in the
abduction, and several among them shared membership in the same church
congregation enforcing the shunning.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although the order for joint custody stated that all
decisions regarding the children’s education and non-emergency medical care
would be made “By Both Parents Together”, I was only able to access two
after-the-fact medical reports </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">for Aaron from <st1:state w:st="on">Utah</st1:state>,
and none for my other three children after they disappeared from <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> in 1996. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prior to his abduction from <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>, Aaron had no history of any serious
illness or injury. The first medical report for Aaron was an intake report
dated a year after his abduction began. He had been hospitalized for expressing
suicidal ideation. The report described him as severely depressed, underweight,
and noted many long scars from self-inflicted knife wounds across both of his
upper arms. The report quoted him as saying he cut himself to relieve his
emotional pain.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The second medical report I received from <st1:state w:st="on">Utah</st1:state> about Aaron was his death certificate,
which stated that he had died from “undetermined causes.” He may have been a
suicide—there was a note—but it is also likely that he had run out of his
anti-seizure meds, suffered a seizure, fell into a coma and died. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When my three living children and I gathered around Aaron in
the Intensive Care Unit in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Payson</st1:city>,
<st1:state w:st="on">Utah</st1:state></st1:place>, in April 2005, where he lay
comatose, it was the first time the five of us were together since the
abduction/shunning began in 1996. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Over the course of several days, from arriving at the
hospital to Aaron’s funeral service, my three surviving children and I spent
many hours together, and it appeared that we would re-establish our
relationships going forward. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My son Tyler, a member of the Utah Army National Guard,
invited me to see him off on his second tour to <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> several weeks after Aaron’s
death, and we spent five days together at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Camp
Shelby</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Mississippi</st1:state></st1:place>.
Tyler called me from Kuwait and sent me a single email from Ramadi, and we
appeared to be well connected, but over the next few weeks all of my children’s
email addresses and phone numbers went dead, just like every other time I found
them since the abduction began.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The shunning remains in effect today. Neither the Family Law
or Criminal Law systems in any of four jurisdictions in three states looked at
the persons engaged in the abduction, other than my former wife. After filing
the initial police report, I was never interviewed by a police detective. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">B. Legislative
history of Aaron’s Law<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. Reporting the
crime to the Legislative Assembly</b>: During the <b>2001</b> legislative session, I met with Senator Avel Gordly in her
office in the Capitol and described the abduction of my children and the
failures of both the Family Law and Criminal Law systems to protect my family.
She promised to work on the issue.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the fall of <b>2002</b>,
Senator Gordly offered me the opportunity to serve as her legislative staff in
the upcoming 2003 session. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the <b>2003</b>
session, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the <st1:street w:st="on">Joint Ways</st1:street> and
Means Public Safety Subcommittee. Senate President Peter Courtney appointed the
Senate President’s Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions,
co-chaired by Senator Gordly and Senator Frank Morse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <b>2004</b> Task
Force on Parental and Family Abductions was intended to build on the prior work
of the Family Law Task Force, which had been co-chaired by William Howe <st1:stockticker w:st="on">III</st1:stockticker> and the Honorable Judge Maureen McKnight, and
Judge McKnight was among those appointed to the abduction panel. I testified
before the Task Force in 2004.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Family Law Task Force had worked on strategies to reduce
the incidence of divorce in <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>,
including the requirement that both parties enter into counseling before a
divorce is granted, in the event that some parties might reconsider for the
sake of the children. This idea would be incorporated into Senate Bill 1041 in
2005.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the <b>2005</b>
legislative session, I testified on the crime and in support of Senate Bill
1041 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Rules Committee, and the
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">House</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype></st1:place> and Federal Affairs Committee.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Senate Bill 1041 passed the House on a unanimous vote and
was signed into law by Governor Ted Kulongoski in <b>2005</b>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2. Take Root – Adults
who were abducted as children speak:</b> Take Root is an advocacy group whose
membership is entirely composed of adults who were abducted by their parents
when they were children. Liss Hart-Haviv, the Executive Director and founder of
Take Root, was a key member of the Parental and Family Abduction Task Force.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Statement by Take Root:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Children who are hidden
from the justice and child protective systems by a fugitive parent are no less ‘missing’
than children taken by non-family members, and may find themselves in just as
much danger. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“50% of Take Root members
who were abducted by parents were also physically or sexually abused by those
parents. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Almost all suffered
profound psychological trauma from being cut off from their loved ones and kept
‘off the grid’ to evade discovery, sometimes deprived even of medical care or,
more commonly, schooling.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“However, when society
hears about the crime of family abduction it is typically from the perspective
of a left-behind parent expressing his or her anguish over having a missing
child, or a taking parent justifying his or her actions. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Seldom do we have the
opportunity to hear, firsthand, from the child about the experience of being abducted. Take
Root was established as a platform for the abducted to tell their side of the
story.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It is our hope that
raising awareness of the true danger and devastation faced by children who are
abducted by individuals to whom they are related will put an end to such cases
being dismissed as “custody battles” between parents.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Take Root’s uniquely child-centered
training workshops and resources have proven effective at changing perceptions
of family abduction; educating law enforcement, policy makers, child advocates,
and missing child case managers from coast to coast about the realities of this
devastating crime against children.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“Nothing can replace the personal and professional experience that Take
Root’s workshops present, the focus on the child as victim – which can
sometimes get lost in the legal and technical aspects of the case or day-to-day
dealings with parents. Liss Haviv’s presentation was truly an incredible
experience and scored a perfect “5” on the evaluations – a first since we began
the class.”</i>- Ellen Conway, Director, Office of Children’s Issues, US
Department of State</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.takeroot.org/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.takeroot.org/</span></a></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. The Task Force on
Parental and Family Abductions (2004)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Task Force held a series of meetings, took expert
testimony, and produced a Final Report to the Senate President prior to the
2005 legislative session.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Among the Task Force’s
key findings were:<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>a. No numbers</b>:
that no person or entity knew the number of <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> children suffering parental and
family abductions in any given period of time. No one tracks the cases on a
statewide basis. A parent’s report of the abduction of their child likely went
no further than the City or the County taking the police report. This is
probably still the case.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>b. A broad lack of
awareness</b>: That there was a general lack of awareness among law
enforcement, the courts, the bar and social service professionals, which
partially explains the low priority all give to non-stranger abduction cases.
This lack of awareness factors into the system’s willingness to allow the
abducting parent and the parent’s associates to keep the children indefinitely,
and the failure of law enforcement, the bar and court officers to understand
that abductions are crimes in progress and respond accordingly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>c. Some parents use
their children as weapons: </b>That “often” parents “often” take out their
anger with each other through their children, and that some “even abduct their
own child.” The Task Force found “that this is extremely detrimental to the
emotional and mental well being of the children, and at time may even put the
life of the child in danger.” Non-parental accomplices of these crimes are even
more likely to disregard the safety and wellbeing of the abducted child.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>d. Long-lasting
trauma, injury and damage</b>: The real injuries an abducted child suffers is
not recognized in current statute. “…the injury a child receives, when the
child has been abducted by one of the child’s parents, does not necessarily
include physical injury. <i>The injury is
more in the nature of mental trauma or mental injury. Nonetheless, the injury
is real and may be even more long lasting and damaging than physical injury</i>.”—Abduction
Task Force</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>e. Damage similar to
sex crimes against the child</b>: The Task Force recommended that the 2005
Legislative Assembly increase the statute of limitations for Custodial Interference
I and II offenses: </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“This would mean that the statute of limitations for
custodial interference would be the same as it is currently for sex offenses.
Your Task Force believes that the rationale for doing this is the same for the
statute of limitations on sex crimes. A child who is removed from the lawful
custody of one parent by another is a victim. That child is similarly situated
to many underage victims of sex crimes. The perpetrator of the crime is the
child’s parent. Too often, at the time of the offense, the victim is unaware
that they have been abused or that they have a right to seek redress. LC 847
would give a person, who as a child was a victim of a</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">parental abduction, the ability to seek prosecution when the
person is an adult and better able to understand the ramifications of the
abduction.” –from the Final Report</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the 2005 Legislative Assembly did not follow the Task
Force’s recommendation on extending the statute of limitations, Senate Bill
1041 did address the issue, providing child victims with a window to hold the
child’s abductors accountable that extends to six years after the child has
attained the age of 18.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">4. <i>“Burning Issues in Access to Justice”</i><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 4<sup>th</sup> Family Law Conference, titled <i>“Out of the Frying Pan: Burning Issues in
Access to Justice”</i>, sponsored by the Oregon Judicial Department and the
State Family Law Advisory Committee, was held in Bend, Oregon, April 7-8, 2006.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Workshop #6: <u>Encountering Family Abductions in the Legal Setting</u></b>.
This workshop will offer information about family abductions, including
international abductions and the Hague convention, prosecution of custodial
interference, <span style="background: yellow; mso-highlight: yellow;">and
statutory approaches to preventing and dealing with abduction cases including
the new Aaron’s Law (SB 1041, Ch 841, Oregon Laws 2005)</span>. Dr. Edward
Vien, Psychologist, <st1:city w:st="on">Portland</st1:city>;
Hon. Terry Leggert, Circuit Court Judge, Marion County; Liss Hart-Haviv,
Executive Director, “Take Root”; Kathy Root, Attorney at Law, Portland;
Marshall Spector, Attorney at Law, Portland.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<h3 style="background: white; line-height: 16.8pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 3.0pt;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">5. Aaron's Law in statute:
ORS 30.868<o:p></o:p></span></span></h3>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>30.868
Civil damages for custodial interference; attorney fees.</b> (1) Any of the following
persons may bring a civil action to secure damages against any and all persons
whose actions are unlawful under ORS 163.257 (1)(a):<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (a)
A person who is 18 years of age or older and who has been taken, enticed or
kept in violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a); or<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
A person whose custodial rights have been interfered with if, by reason of the
interference:<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (A)
The person has reasonably and in good faith reported a person missing to any
city, county or state police agency; or<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (B)
A defendant in the action has been charged with a violation of ORS 163.257
(1)(a).<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (2)
An entry of judgment or a certified copy of a judgment against the defendant
for a violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a) is prima facie evidence of liability if
the plaintiff was injured by the defendant’s unlawful action under the
conviction.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (3)(a)
For purposes of this section, a public or private entity that provides
counseling and shelter services to victims of domestic violence is not
considered to have violated ORS 163.257 (1)(a) if the entity provides
counseling or shelter services to a person who violates ORS 163.257 (1)(a).<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
As used in this subsection, “victim of domestic violence” means an individual
against whom domestic violence, as defined in ORS 135.230, 181.610 or 411.117,
has been committed.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (4)
Bringing an action under this section does not prevent the prosecution of any
criminal action under ORS 163.257.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (5)
A person bringing an action under this section must establish by a
preponderance of the evidence that a violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a) has
occurred.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (6)
It is an affirmative defense to civil liability for an action under this
section that the defendant reasonably and in good faith believed that the
defendant’s violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a) was necessary to preserve the
physical safety of:<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (a)
The defendant;<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
The person who was taken, enticed or kept in violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a);
or<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (c)
The parent or guardian of the person who was taken, enticed or kept in
violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a).<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (7)(a)
If the person taken, enticed or kept in violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a) is
under 18 years of age at the time an action is brought under this section, the
court may:<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (A)
Appoint an attorney who is licensed to practice law in <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> to act as guardian ad litem for the
person; and<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (B)
Appoint one of the following persons to provide counseling services to the
person:<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (i)
A psychiatrist.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (ii)
A psychologist licensed under ORS 675.010 to 675.150.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (iii)
A clinical social worker licensed under ORS 675.530.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (iv)
A professional counselor or marriage and family therapist licensed under ORS
675.715.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
The court may assess against the parties all costs of the attorney or person
providing counseling services appointed under this subsection.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (8)
If an action is brought under this section by a person described under
subsection (1)(b) of this section and a party shows good cause that it is
appropriate to do so, the court may order the parties to obtain counseling
directed toward educating the parties on the impact that the parties’ conflict
has on the person taken, enticed or kept in violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a).
The court may assess against the parties all costs of obtaining counseling
ordered under this subsection.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (9)
Upon prevailing in an action under this section, the plaintiff may recover:<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (a)
Special and general damages, including damages for emotional distress; and<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
Punitive damages.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (10)
The court may award reasonable attorney fees to the prevailing party in an
action under this section.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (11)(a)
Notwithstanding ORS 12.110, 12.115, 12.117 or 12.160, an action under this
section must be commenced within six years after the violation of ORS 163.257
(1)(a). An action under this section accruing while the person who is entitled
to bring the action is under 18 years of age must be commenced not more than
six years after that person attains 18 years of age.<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b)
The period of limitation does not run during any time when the person taken,
enticed or kept in violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a) is removed from this state
as a result of the defendant’s actions in violation of ORS 163.257 (1)(a).
[2005 c.841 §1; 2009 c.11 §5; 2009 c.442 §26]<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">V. The principles of Aaron’s Law<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Child abduction,
causing a child to disappear for any length of time, is child abuse. The
consequences can be devastating to the child and the child’s family, with
damages accruing minute by minute over months and years. The harm can extend
into the next generation. Much of the damage can never be remedied. Deterrence
and prevention is vital. Custodial interference statutes are ineffective. The
Criminal Law and Family Law systems do not provide an appropriate response to
the problem. Victims ought to be able to hold their children’s abductors
accountable in civil court. Child victims ought to be able to hold their
abductors accountable in civil court once the child has become an adult. No
person is exempt from the law.</i> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A. Victims in
control, not the system: The Civil Suit</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You are the parent of a child abducted by the other parent.
You did not see this coming. You do not know where they are, where they are
going, if they are using assumed names or many other important details. Your
child may have medical issues. You are certain that your ex intends to keep
your child from you permanently. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now you have to convince someone—many persons in a gulag of
systems and strangers—that you are not exaggerating, that your child is
suffering, that this is an emergency. You must find legal help in at least two
state systems.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having reported the crime to law enforcement and facing the
systemic access to justice and lack of awareness issues outlined above, the
victim parent, grandparent or legal custodian either enters the Family Law
system <i>pro se</i>, or finds an attorney
willing to take the case. Family Law attorneys will tell you that they do not
practice criminal law. They will work the case as a custody issue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Family Law system is a labyrinth of overburdened courts,
bewildering forms and procedures, long timelines, requirements that make swift
action impossible, and staffed by persons who lack awareness of the difference
between a custody fight and a cold-blooded kidnapping. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Law enforcement response to the abduction is subject to
statutory issues identified elsewhere in this report, and the fact that no
charges will be filed before </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">prosecutors believe that they have sufficient evidence to
convince a jury to reach a unanimous verdict “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The
Kyron Horman abduction, now entering its third year, illustrates this point
very clearly.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Criminal Law system is also very rigid in certain
respects, and the victim parent may not want to see the abducting parent go to
jail, as was the case in the Cruz abduction.<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-size: 10pt;"> </span>. In many
cases, incarcerating a parent adds to the ongoing trauma suffered by the child
victims.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Neither system offers good, appropriate choices for the
victim family. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Filing a civil suit for damages against persons who you can locate,
however, who you can prove “by a preponderance of the evidence” instead of
“beyond a reasonable doubt” did in fact “take, keep or entice” your child in
the course of the abduction, provides abduction victims with a range of options
unavailable in either the criminal or family law systems.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Civil suits can be brought forward more quickly also,
potentially shortening the time that your child is abducted, and time is of the
essence in kidnappings.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With the passage of
Senate Bill 1041 in 2005, Oregon became the first state in the nation where
abducting a child creates a civil cause of action, the right to sue for damages
to your child and your family, and the right of the abducted child to seek
redress when the child becomes an adult.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">B. Who you serve and 142
reasons why:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You probably do not know where your ex is concealing your
child and thus cannot serve legal process papers, but you become aware that
your ex has assistance in carrying out the crime, whether providing logistical,
financial or planning support in taking, keeping or enticing the child.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This person or these persons can likely provide information
leading to where your child is being concealed. <i>You file suit under ORS 30.868, Aaron’s Law.</i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law is intended to serve as a powerful deterrent to
persons considering aiding in a parental, family or organized child abduction.
The prospect of defending oneself against liability for “(a) Special and general damages,
including damages for emotional distress; and (b) Punitive damages”, as
well as attorney’s fees, would discourage many from joining in facilitating a
kidnapping.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
Kyron Horman abduction illustrates the concept very plainly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The disappearance
of 8-year old Kyron Horman nearly three years ago triggered the largest search
effort in <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
history. No criminal charges have been filed in the case, and police have
released an age-progressed image of what they think Kyron might look like
today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last seen in the
company of his step mom, Terri Horman, the multiple searches turned up no trace
of the child. Law enforcement has named no suspects or persons of interest, <i>officially,</i> although those terms most
certainly describe Kyron’s step mom Terri Horman and her close friend DeDe
Spicher, <i>unofficially</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both women have
stubbornly refused to account for their whereabouts during the crucial two
hours on the morning of <st1:date day="4" month="6" w:st="on" year="2010">June
4, 2010</st1:date>, when Kyron vanished from the face of the earth, as did
these two women, albeit temporarily in their cases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With both the
criminal and family law courts at a stand still, unable to move forward,
Kyron’s mother Desiree Young filed a civil suit against Terri Horman, alleging
that the step mom knows where Kyron is and whether he is dead or alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DeDe Spicher invoked the 5<sup>th</sup>
Amendment 142 times during her deposition.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">C. Domestic violence
exception: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No “public or private entity that provides counseling and shelter services to victims of
domestic violence” can be sued under Aaron’s Law, nor can parents fleeing
domestic violence situations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>D. Counseling for
resolution and deterrence:</b> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Borrowing from the Abduction Task Force’s predecessor, the
Family Law Task Force, Aaron’s Law authorizes the Court to order “the parties”
to the civil suit into counseling directed at educating “the parties” as to the
harm their conduct is causing the victim children.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This feature is intended to serve as a tool for both
resolution and deterrence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">E. The child victim
becomes an adult: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Parental and Family Abduction Task Force noted the
similar trauma in child abduction and child sex crime victims, recommending an
increase in the statute of limitations, but no change to the criminal statute has
been made. Under Aaron’s Law, however, a child victim has a six-year window to
hold persons participating in the abduction accountable, beginning when the
child becomes an adult. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This concept is intended to serve in the cause of justice
and as an additional deterrent. It also better places the Custodial
Interference I and II statutes in the context of the crime, which is a <i>continuing</i> crime, and the persons
involved are responsible for everything that happens after the kidnapping is
initiated.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">F. Protecting the
interest of the child: <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When a civil suit is filed under Aaron’s Law, the Court is
immediately authorized (encouraged) to appoint legal and mental health and
other qualified professionals to see to the interests of the child, and to
assess the costs to “the parties” as the Court sees appropriate. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This concept results in part from the findings of the
Parental and Family Abduction Task Force. The cost assessment feature is
intended to act as a further deterrent.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>G. Aaron’s Law and
child trafficking</b>:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While ORS 30.868 Aaron’s Law has yet to be tested in a child
sex trafficking case, it could be a very useful tool in providing resolution
and as a deterrent, were it to be better understood by professionals working in
that field.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: 16.0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">VI. Case Study: The Kyron Horman
abduction<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“There is no case like this.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A. “There is no case
like this.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kyron Horman abduction is unique in many respects. The
missing child has triggered the largest search effort in the history of <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>, now entering its
third year.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is also the first known instance of a filing under ORS
30.868 Aaron’s Law.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desiree Young, Kyron’s mother, filed the civil suit on <st1:date day="1" month="6" w:st="on" year="2012">June 1, 2012</st1:date>, as reported in
The Oregonian:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> “There is no case
like this – even close to these circumstances,” (Multnomah Judge Henry) Kantor
said….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">…."I will forever have a
hole in my heart because he is not here," Young said, shaking as she stood
outside Portland's Justice Center and beside respected civil rights attorney
Elden Rosenthal.</span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; border: none; line-height: 18.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">….The lawsuit argues that Terri Horman
"intentionally interfered" with Young's parental rights, and
intentionally inflicted severe emotional distress on her. Young shared joint
legal custody of Kyron after her divorce from Kaine Horman in 2003.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; border: none; line-height: 18.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="color: #363636;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Rosenthal pledged to aggressively use all the
tools afforded to him in a civil case "to peel away the layers of mystery
surrounding Kyron's disappearance," and to add more names to the suit if
others are responsible. He said he will issue subpoenas for witnesses to
testify under oath, and compel the production of documents, such as e-mails and
text messages.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div style="background: white; border: none; line-height: 18.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: yellow; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #363636;">"There
are some cases that require victims of wrongs to use the civil justice
system," Rosenthal said. "This case is one of them."</span><span style="color: #363636;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 10.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/06/kyron_hormans_mother_seeking_t.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/06/kyron_hormans_mother_seeking_t.html</span></a></div>
</div>
<div style="border: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-alt: solid windowtext .5pt; mso-padding-alt: 1.0pt 4.0pt 1.0pt 4.0pt; padding: 0in;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kyron Horman’s is the only <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> abduction case that has lasted longer
in the media than a single news cycle. Most parental and family abduction cases
never make the news. The families suffer in private, and an abduction case is
isolating by its very nature.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Kyron’s disappearance attracted media attention for three
reasons unique to the case:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">1. He disappeared from his school, attracting attention from
parents, teachers and school officials across the state and beyond. Most
kidnappers will want to avoid attracting attention.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. No one else close to Kyron was also missing. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. Kyron’s stepfather is a police detective. When he was
discovered missing, his family had instant credibility with law enforcement,
and police were on it in a matter of minutes.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>B. On meeting “The
Criteria”</b>:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kyron Horman abduction is complicated for many reasons.
Obviously, law enforcement has not been able to assemble evidence sufficient to
move a jury to a unanimous verdict “beyond all reasonable doubt”, which is why
no criminal charges have been filed.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This obstacle in the Criminal Law system is holding back
both the Family Law process and the civil suit filed under Aaron’s Law.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But most parental and
family abductions do not face this obstacle, because there is no criminal
proceeding under way and law enforcement is not actively looking for the
abducted child(ren). <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During a press conference two years ago, the Multnomah
County Sheriff was asked if there were any other missing children besides Kyron
out there, and the Sheriff responded “none that meet the criteria.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whatever “the criteria” is, it is important that both the
public and the professionals whom the public relies on for justice and to
protect their families understand what the criteria is, what the rules are and
how to make them work better.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>HB 2014</b> will
provide the 2014 Legislative Assembly with information vital to making the
Criminal Law, Family Law and Civil Law systems work better for the benefit of
all <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
children, and for those children who are brought to <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> under similar circumstances.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:stockticker w:st="on"><b>VII</b></st1:stockticker><b>.
Attitudes as Obstacles to Access to Justice<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“Happy
families are all alike; every unhappy family is
unhappy in its own way.” –</i>Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My personal experience as the parent of abducted children is
my own, but over the years since I began working on child abduction prevention
legislation, several dozen <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state>
parents whose children have disappeared with the ex (and the ex’s associates)
have contacted me.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the details of their respective family situations, they
each had their own stories. Some were still married to the other parent; some
had never been married; some were in the process of divorce; some long
divorced. Their legal status was of every sort, and the number and ages of the
victim children as varied as can be.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But in the issue of access to justice, all of the stories
were the same, the same as mine, we parents of children abducted by known
perpetrators.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These grieving parents had all reported the crime to law
enforcement, but the police were not looking for their children. They were all
in some sort of limbo—at best—with the Family Law system. Some had lawyers at
different points in their story, some did not. They all reported problems in
finding a lawyer willing to listen, much less help, and all while time slipped
away forever.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A father whose non-custodial ex-wife had disappeared with
the children in February was told by a police detective the following September
that the department couldn’t act because the Custodial Interference statute had
no definition of “protracted.” They couldn’t be sure it had reached that point.
The children were eventually recovered from <st1:state w:st="on">Arizona</st1:state>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These parents had found me through my writing posted on the
web. They had gone online desperate for help, for ideas. They had learned about
Aaron’s Law and had read it through, but were unable to find a lawyer in <st1:state w:st="on">Oregon</st1:state> who was familiar
with ORS 30.868.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is why they were contacting me, after all of this had
happened. And there was yet a missing child and time was of the essence, and
they were clinging to threads of hope.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Your children will
find you some day (Don’t worry be happy)”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In my experience, supported in conversations with these
other parents of children abducted by known perpetrators, significant barriers
to recovery and in access to justice lie in people’s minds, both in those who
people The System and those in the general public, all stemming from the same
lack of awareness.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Moving a child during the course of a custody battle is one
thing; <i>causing the child to vanish is
another</i>. Taking, keeping or enticing a disappeared child that a person is
not related to ought to be a behavior that the System especially discourages,
and sharply. A person aiding and abetting the taking of that disappeared child
across state lines ought to be held accountable.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there is a tendency for people to marginalize the crime,
if not exactly trivialize it. <i>Be patient.
It will be OK. </i>People with passive personalities will counsel more patience
and an optimistic attitude. <i>Your children
will find you some day</i>. Writing off your child’s entire childhood…<i>learn to accept it</i>…your teenager’s
entire adolescence…<i>Keep your chin up,
someday your grandchild will want to know something about you…</i>People wonder
when you will move on<i>.</i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Caseworkers have big caseloads; department budgets are
constrained; No one knows what “protracted” means; most Oregonians cannot
afford an attorney….</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We ought to know,
however, what chain of events takes place when a child disappears, either from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state> or into <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Oregon</st1:place></st1:state>. Please move <b>HB 2014</b> forward.</span></i></div>
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-382390926491151222013-03-31T20:48:00.000-07:002013-03-31T20:48:09.803-07:00Testimony for the House Judiciary Committee in support of HB 2014, related to child abduction <br />
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<st1:date day="26" month="3" year="2013"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">March 26, 2013</span></st1:date></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Aaron Cruz</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:place><st1:placename>Oregon</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place>
Capitol, <st1:place><st1:city>Salem</st1:city>, <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state></st1:place>—</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the record my name is Sean Aaron Cruz. I am here today
to testify in support of House Bill 2014, and am very grateful for State Representative
Alissa Keny-Guyer’s leadership on this urgent issue.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Chair Barker, Vice Chairs Garrett and Kreiger, and members
of the Committee, it is good to see so many friendly and familiar faces. I owe
many of you my lifelong gratitude for your support of Senator Avel Gordly’s Senate
Bill 1041 in the 2005 session, which passed on a unanimous House floor vote. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Senate Bill 1041 has since come to be known as Aaron’s Law,
in memory of my late, abducted son Aaron Cruz, and I hope that someday its
principles will be applied nationwide. If Aaron’s Law had been on the books in
1995, then my family would be whole and my son still alive. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, it has been seventeen years since my four children
disappeared in an abduction organized by members of a church congregation in
three states, and it is my opinion that very little has changed either to deter
or resolve non-stranger abductions in <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I first briefed Senator Avel Gordly to the story of my
children’s abduction and to the issue in general in 2001, and she promised to
work on legislative solutions. In 2002, she offered me the job as her
legislative staff, and I began to work on legislation in the 2003 session, when
I testified before Senate Judiciary and the Ways and Means Public Safety
Subcommittee. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ever since the 2003 session, I have been contacted by
parents whose children have been abducted by the other parent, which is how I
became acquainted with Mrs Charisse Laverdiere, who has traveled from Southern
California to speak with you today, and their stories all have similar
elements, like mine. Mrs. Laverdiere is the most recent of several dozen
parents who have contacted me for advice over the years.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are all parents of children who have been abducted by
known perpetrators. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We have gotten no help from the police in large part because
the children are with a parent, but there are also several statutory and
institutional factors that contribute to the inaction of law enforcement and
that continue to stand in the way of the recovery of our children and many
others like us.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We parents of abducted children can’t find a lawyer willing
to listen to our stories or who might be familiar with the issue of
non-stranger child abduction in any real sense of legal expertise. I never met
one. Family lawyers will tell you they don’t practice criminal law. They want to frame it as a custody issue. If
the parent can get into court, with or without a lawyer, the judge is no help,
and court processes can grind out over years.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And yet there is still a child missing, a child suffering
terrible abuse, emotional abuse that amounts to torture. These parents start
looking for help on line and that leads them to me, from all over the state
since 2003.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The status quo in 1996 when my children were abducted is
much the same status quo today.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are here today, Mrs Charisse Laverdiere and I, to
describe to you the chain of events that have taken place in our lives as
parents whose children were abducted from <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
by known perpetrators.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<i><u><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(to Mrs
Laverdiere’s testimony)<o:p></o:p></span></u></i></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Aaron’s Law, <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
became the first state in the nation where abducting a child creates a civil
cause of action, providing new tools to deter and resolve non-stranger child
abductions. It is now more than seven years after its passage and still no
information about the statute appears on the Oregon State Police Missing Children
Clearinghouse website, and last summer its first known application came in the
Kyron Horman case. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no idea how a citizen whose child has been abducted or
who is in danger of being abducted would learn that the law exists or how it
might be applied. It’s buried in the ORS where only a lawyer could find it.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Kyron Horman abduction is unique in several ways. It is
the largest search effort in the history of the state, and is at the same time
probably the only non-stranger abducted child that <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
law enforcement is actually looking for. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During a press conference two years ago, the Sheriff was
asked if there were any other missing children besides Kyron out there, and the
Sheriff responded “none that meet the criteria.” </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What <i>is</i> the
criteria, exactly? What chain of events take place when a child is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">reported missing or abducted? What does it take for a parent
of an abducted child to be taken seriously by the Oregon State Police? Who
knows?</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 2004 Senate President’s Interim Parental and Family
Abduction Task Force found that no state agency—and therefore no one—knew how
many <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state> children were
abducted in any given period of time, because no one was tracking them. They
estimated the number at several thousand, but no one knew for sure. These facts
are in the Task Force’s Final Report. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’d like also to call the Committee’s attention to the news
release from the Beaverton Police Department dated <st1:date day="16" month="5" year="2012">May 16, 2012</st1:date>. More than a dozen police agencies
and other governmental agencies in the US, New Zealand, Australia and Canada
were involved in recovering this child, and yet the Oregon State Police is not
one of them, and no information about this child, missing since December 2010,
was ever posted on the OSP Missing Children’s Clearinghouse. <i>What is the criteria?<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are other cases where children who have been
parentally abducted from <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
are identified on the National Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited
Children, but not on the OSP website.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What is the criteria? What is the chain of events that take
place in <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state> when a child is
reported abducted by a known perpetrator?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We urge your strong support for HB 2014.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Additional comments
and recommendations<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 2004 Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions
identified several </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">systemic and institutional problems, among them:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(1) That “often” parents “often” take out their anger with
each other through their children, and that some “even abduct their own child.”
The Task Force found “that this is extremely detrimental to the emotional and
mental well being of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">children, and at time may even put the life of the child in
danger.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(2) The real injuries a child suffers is not recognized in
current statute. “…the injury a child receives, when the child has been
abducted by one of the child’s parents, does not necessarily include physical
injury. <i>The injury is more in the </i></span><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nature of mental
trauma or mental injury. Nonetheless, the injury is real and may </span></i><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">be even more long
lasting and damaging than physical injury</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(3) That there was a general lack of awareness among law
enforcement, the courts, the bar and social service professionals, which
partially explains the low priority all give to non-stranger abduction cases. This
lack of awareness factors into the system’s willingness to allow the abducting
parent to keep the children indefinitely, and the failure of law enforcement,
the bar and court officers to understand that abductions are <i>continuing</i> crimes and respond
accordingly.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(4) No person or entity in <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
knew the number of non-stranger abduction cases originating in <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>,
because no agency was tracking them; there was no system to track them; A
parent’s report of the abduction of their child likely </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">went no further than the City or the County taking the
police report. This is probably still the case.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Time is everything. But no one is interested. The court
processes take no interest in the issue of time, the value of time in the life
of a child.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No one understands that a crime is being committed, multiple
crimes. The abduction of your child drains every last emotional reserve and
financial resource you have.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My four children disappeared from <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
in a church-sponsored abduction on <st1:date day="12" month="2" year="1996">February
12, 1996</st1:date>, during the Great Storm of that year, organized by Mormon church
officials in three states: <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>,
<st1:state>Washington</st1:state> and <st1:state>Utah</st1:state>.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a time when I-84 through the Gorge and I-5 at Tacoma were
closed due to landslides and flooding, when my children’s friends and
classmates were safe at home or in school in Washington County, members of this
church group, I came </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to learn later, were holding my kids in a motel on the </span><st1:state style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oregon</st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
coast. They waited for the storm to clear and then took my kids to </span><st1:state style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Utah</st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,
where fellow church members concealed my kids in a series of locations east of </span><st1:place style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:city>Ogden</st1:city>,
<st1:state>Utah</st1:state></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, intending to keep them from me
permanently.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Custodial Interference statute states:</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ORS 163.245</b>: “<span style="color: red;">A person</span>
commits the crime of custodial interference in the second degree if, knowing or
having reason to know that the person has no legal right to do so, the person <span style="color: red;">takes, entices or keeps</span> another person from the other
person’s lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint custody order with intent
to hold the other person <span style="color: red;">permanently</span> <span style="color: red;">or for a protracted period</span>.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>ORS 163.257</b>: “<span style="color: red;">A person</span>
commits the crime of custodial interference in the first degree if the person
violates ORS 163.245 and:<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (a) Causes the person taken,
enticed or kept from the lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint
custody order <span style="color: red;">to be removed from the state</span>; or<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> (b) <span style="color: red;">Exposes
that person to a substantial risk of illness or physical injury.”</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The statutes make no exceptions for the other parent, family
members or members of a church congregation. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My son Aaron died in <st1:state>Utah</st1:state>,
alone and sick and without the medical attention he had needed for years, and
my three surviving children continue to live in church enclaves, completely
contained within my former wife’s church. The people who abducted my children
got exactly what they wanted. All this despite an order for joint custody that
had been in effect for five years at the time of the abduction.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Abductions have beginnings but no real endings. The damage
is life long. I don’t think that there is such a thing as a happy ending, all
the more reason to take steps to deter people from abducting their own
children, which is the whole point to Senate Bill 1041, Aaron’s Law, and why HB
2014 is not only necessary but <i>urgently </i>necessary
and important.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Recommendations:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Define “protracted” in the Custodial Interference
statute. The lack of a definition contributes directly to the inaction of law
enforcement. How lengthy a head start should a kidnapper have? What is a
reasonable period of time?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Add child abduction to the statutory definition of
domestic violence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Recognize the abducted child’s mental and emotional
injuries in statute and actual practice. Prioritize deterrence and access to
medical resources.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Recognize abduction as a “continuing crime” in statute
and actual practice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Recognize that parental abductions often involve multiple
perpetrators. Hold them all accountable, which is normally the case in property
or violent crimes.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Require local law enforcement to pass all reports of
missing or abducted </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">children to the State Police Missing Children’s Clearinghouse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Add a synopsis of Senate Bill 1041 Aaron’s Law to the OSP
Missing Children’s Clearinghouse and elsewhere.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Recognize nontraditional family relationships in the
Custodial Interference statutes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">[] Improve education and awareness throughout the state,
beginning at the state bar, law enforcement and the courts.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Attachments: </b><st1:city>Beaverton</st1:city>
PD news release, <st1:date day="16" month="5" year="2012">May 16, 2012</st1:date></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-77607443244844993132013-03-05T15:32:00.000-08:002013-03-05T15:32:51.003-08:00New child abduction bill in Oregon House<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
By Sean Aaron Cruz</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:date day="5" month="3" year="2013">March 5, 2013</st1:date></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<st1:place><st1:city>Portland</st1:city>, <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state></st1:place>—</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
State Representative Alissa Keny-Guyer (D, <st1:city>Portland</st1:city>,
House District 46) has introduced legislation calling for an Oregon State
Police study of the issue of children abducted both from and to <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
HB 2014 is the first legislation on the issue since the
passage of Senate Bill 1041 (Aaron’s Law) in 2005.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Representative Keny-Guyer’s bill addresses the issue of
parental, family and church-sponsored abductions in several important ways<i>, and I want to underscore the fact that
when your child disappears, every barrier and everything that delays or
prevents the recovery of your child matters, every minute of every day matters,
and it will matter for the rest of your and your children’s lives.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>(1) HB 2014 calls on
the </b><st1:place><st1:placename><b>Oregon</b></st1:placename><b> </b><st1:placetype><b>State</b></st1:placetype></st1:place><b> Police</b> to report on “the chain of events that take place when a
child is reported to law enforcement officials as missing by the parent,
grandparent or legal custodian of the child.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Under existing laws and practices, law enforcement and court
officials ignore reports of missing/abducted children from grandparents and
non-custodial parents. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yet, all too often, children are abducted by family members
in situations where the parents are still married or were never married, and
thus there is no custody order.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And there are often cases where it is a grandparent who is actually
raising the child(ren), but has no standing in court.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<b>HB 2014</b> brings
the whole of the child(ren)’s family into view, and asks the question, “What
chain of events takes place….”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>(2) HB 2014 calls on
the </b><st1:place><st1:placename><b>Oregon</b></st1:placename><b> </b><st1:placetype><b>State</b></st1:placetype></st1:place><b> Police</b> to report on “the chain of events that take place when a
child is reported to law enforcement officials as having been brought to <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
in violation of a lawful custody order issued by a court of competent
jurisdiction in another state.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There has been no prior study on this issue, what happens
when a child is abducted from somewhere else and brought to <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>(3)</b> <b>HB 2014 calls on the Oregon State Police</b>
to report on “any progress that has been made in conducting investigations” of
children abducted to or from Oregon since the issuance of the final report of
the 2004 Senate Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 2004 Senate Interim Task Force on Parental and Family
Abductions built on prior work by the earlier Task Force on Family Law, which
sought to reduce the incidence of divorce in <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Among the findings of the Task Force on Parental and Family
Abductions was the shocking realization that no state agency knew the number of
non-stranger child abduction cases occurring in <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>,
because no one tracks them. The Oregon State Police made promises to the
legislature in 2005 that they would do so in the future.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 2004 Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions laid
the groundwork for Senate Bill 1041 “Aaron’s Law” in 2005. With the passage of
SB 1041, <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state> became the first
state in the nation where abducting a child (violating the Custodial
Interference I statute) creates a civil cause of action. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Aaron’s Law provides parents of abducted children with new
tools to deter and resolve cases where parents or family members or members of
a church congregation engaging in a shunning have abducted a child in the state
of <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Here is the full text of HB 2014:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
77th <st1:state>OREGON</st1:state>
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY--2013 Regular Session<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: 24.0pt;">House Bill 2014<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
Sponsored by
Representative KENY-GUYER; Representatives BARTON, GARRETT, KRIEGER</div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
SUMMARY<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Requires
Department of State
Police to conduct
study on issues related to
abduction of children. Directs
department to report
results of study
to interim </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
committees of Legislative
Assembly related to crime
on or before
</div>
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<st1:date day="1" month="11" year="2014">November 1,
2014</st1:date>. Sunsets <st1:date day="2" month="1" year="2015">January
2, 2015</st1:date>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Declares emergency, effective
on passage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A <st1:stockticker>BILL</st1:stockticker> FOR AN ACT</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Relating to the
abduction of children;
and declaring an
emergency.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Be It Enacted by the People of the State of <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SECTION 1. (1) The Department of State Police shall conduct
a study of:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(a) The chain of events that take place when a child is
reported to law enforcement officials as missing by the parent, grandparent or
legal custodian of the child;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(b) The chain of events that take place when a child is
reported to law enforcement officials as having been brought to Oregon in
violation of a lawful custody order issued by a court of competent jurisdiction
in another state;<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(c) Investigation procedures related to violations of ORS
163.245 and 163.257; and<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(d) Any progress that has been made in conducting
investigations described in paragraphs (a) to (c) of this subsection since the
issuance of the final report of the 2004 Senate Interim Task Force on Parental
and Family Abductions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(2) The department shall report the results of the study to
the interim committees of the Legislative Assembly related to crime on or
before <st1:date day="1" month="11" year="2014">November 1, 2014</st1:date>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SECTION 2. Section 1 of this 2013 Act is repealed on <st1:date day="2" month="1" year="2015">January 2, 2015</st1:date>.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SECTION 3. This 2013 Act being necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health and safety, an emergency is declared
to exist, and this 2013 Act takes effect on its passage.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
__________</div>
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<br /></div>
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Link to Representative Keny-Guyer’s web page:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.leg.state.or.us/keny-guyer/">http://www.leg.state.or.us/keny-guyer/</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
__________</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed Senate
Bill 1041 (Aaron’s Law) with my son’s picture on his desk in 2005</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifRQSzAryffxHruwFN8kH6nLy6xIRj1-ZhxgtgQXn8kBG2uOc3hHLqQlkrciAKDzlbtwlyV_In0aB6oJgBZGJJCwi3Ae3akwDY3dsg8c56J2XKTqIcn2Fq5BXDTlm8Q6p5-K2nC9W41ac/s1600/aaron's+law7-signing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifRQSzAryffxHruwFN8kH6nLy6xIRj1-ZhxgtgQXn8kBG2uOc3hHLqQlkrciAKDzlbtwlyV_In0aB6oJgBZGJJCwi3Ae3akwDY3dsg8c56J2XKTqIcn2Fq5BXDTlm8Q6p5-K2nC9W41ac/s400/aaron's+law7-signing.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-5900537271634294702012-11-26T10:29:00.002-08:002012-11-26T10:29:34.358-08:00The Wisdom and the Moral Authority<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Aaron Cruz</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><st1:place><st1:city>Portland</st1:city>, <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state></st1:place>—</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Please tell Sean that I also wish him
the best. I have also followed his career and believe his personal experience
has given him the wisdom and the moral authority necessary to make a real difference in making <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
safer for our children.” –Judge Jim Fun, <st1:place><st1:placename>Washington</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>County</st1:placetype></st1:place> Circuit Court, <st1:date day="24" month="1" year="2007">January 24, 2007</st1:date></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received this message from Judge Fun’s judicial assistant.
He was writing in regard to the work I had done on the issue of child abduction
since my four children disappeared into <st1:state>Utah</st1:state>
in a Mormon kidnapping in 1996. Each year, more than 200,000 <st1:country-region>U.S.</st1:country-region>
children are abducted by their own parents, family members or persons known to
the family, as in church-sponsored abductions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judge Fun knew the issue and my family’s case very well. In
1997, he had been the Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted the 1<sup>st</sup>
degree Custodial Interference case against my former wife, which came to trial
nearly a year and a half after my kids had disappeared, and who were still being
held incommunicado in <st1:state>Utah</st1:state> at the
time of trial. He had noticed during jury selection that the defense referred
to a Washington County LDS church roster, and that there were a number of
Mormons on the jury. You know how that turned out. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJGgBdtztVcNOjMxF-4xk6UZoRRNYRRnUc-fywZnBs49OxDkIFJ842CI0XetIuC8uCiDSklG3x9zRSub35LNXchhQlCKP0ZpYy9kuTmlVk1v4wUy-X8FlMGSDU2H58Ay7ZQzalmE-wZEI/s1600/4kidsinwoods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="285" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJGgBdtztVcNOjMxF-4xk6UZoRRNYRRnUc-fywZnBs49OxDkIFJ842CI0XetIuC8uCiDSklG3x9zRSub35LNXchhQlCKP0ZpYy9kuTmlVk1v4wUy-X8FlMGSDU2H58Ay7ZQzalmE-wZEI/s400/4kidsinwoods.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Judge Fun was writing about what I had done since then,
after the failures of both the criminal and family law systems in the wake of
the abduction of my children, with that experience and with that moral
authority:</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first and most important thing I accomplished was to
stay alive, to survive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m a writer, an essayist and a blogger, so I wrote and I
blogged, posting a couple of hundred essays over the years. I had alerted and
informed Senator Avel Gordly about the issue long before she hired me to serve
as her legislative staff in 2003. That year, I testified before the Senate
Judiciary Committee and the <st1:street>Joint Ways</st1:street>
and Means Public Safety Subcommittee, and Senate President Peter Courtney
appointed the Senate President’s Interim Task Force on Parental and Family
Abduction to examine the issue and report its findings to the 2005 legislature.
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I testified before the Task Force in 2004, describing how
both the family law and criminal law systems and an order for joint custody had
failed to protect my children and my family. The fact is these systems fail in
non-stranger abduction cases far more often than they succeed, which explains
the high numbers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Task Force found that the experience of abduction by any
person is harmful to the child, and as abusive as any other form of child
abuse. The consequences of this abuse are life long.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2005, Senator Gordly assigned me to lead the workgroup on
her landmark Senate Bill 1041. In that legislative session, I testified before
the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Rules Committee and before the <st1:place><st1:placename>House</st1:placename>
<st1:placetype>State</st1:placetype></st1:place> and Federal Affairs Committee
as we moved SB 1041 through the building.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bill went through ten major rewrites on its way to
passage on a dramatic, unanimous House vote on the last day of the 2005 legislative
session. It immediately became known as Aaron’s Law, in memory of my late son
Aaron Cruz, who had died in <st1:place><st1:city>Payson</st1:city>, <st1:state>Utah</st1:state></st1:place>,
earlier that year, a direct consequence of his abduction and forced immersion
into Mormonism.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Aaron’s Law (ORS 30.868), <st1:state>Oregon</st1:state>
became the first state in the nation where child abduction creates a civil
cause of action, providing kidnapping victims with new tools to see justice
served, and real deterrents to abducting a child in the first place. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now, in 2012, Aaron’s Law is seeing its first usage in the
Kyron Horman case, first such case in the nation, a civil lawsuit for the crime
of custodial interference in the 1<sup>st</sup> degree.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve written extensively about the particulars of Aaron’s
Law at <a href="http://www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/">www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com</a>
and <a href="http://www.aaronslaw.blogspot.com/">www.AaronsLaw.blogspot.com</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Earlier this year, I took my son Aaron’s name as my own
middle name.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, all this to say that many of my readers who know me
through my work on issues other than child abduction and who are unfamiliar
with the story of the abduction of my children may think that I might be unfair
or exaggerating where I refer to Mormons and Mormonism, but I want you all to
know that I am speaking from experience and with moral authority.</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-41805307805821769152012-10-29T11:33:00.000-07:002012-10-29T11:33:33.061-07:00Aaron's Law in statute: ORS 30.868<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Are your children and grandchildren protected from parental, family, church-sponsored or other non-stranger abductions? Only if the child(ren) is(are) abducted from Oregon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Talk to your legislators and Congressional delegation. Here is the model legislation:</span><br />
<br />
<b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;">30.868 Civil damages for custodial interference; attorney fees.</span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"> (1) Any of the following persons may bring a civil action to secure damages against any and all persons whose actions are unlawful under ORS 163.257 (1)(a):</span><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/030.html">http://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/030.html</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-43873017943268678952012-10-24T18:09:00.002-07:002012-10-24T18:09:22.557-07:00Aaron's Law at work: Taking the 5th 142 times<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">By Sean Aaron Cruz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:date day="24" month="10" year="2012"><span style="font-family: Arial;">October 24, 2012</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<st1:place><st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;">Portland</span></st1:city><span style="font-family: Arial;">, </span><st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;">Oregon</span></st1:state></st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">—<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The disappearance of 8-year
old Kyron Horman more than two years ago triggered the largest search effort in
</span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Oregon</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;"> history. No criminal charges have been filed in the
case, and police have released an age-progressed image of what they think Kyron
might look like today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Last seen in the company of
his step mom, Terri Horman, the multiple searches turned up no trace of the
child. Law enforcement has named no suspects or persons of interest, <i>officially,</i> although those terms most certainly
describe Kyron’s step mom and her close friend DeDe Spicher, <i>unofficially</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Both women have stubbornly
refused to account for their whereabouts during the crucial two hours on the
morning of </span><st1:date day="4" month="6" year="2010"><span style="font-family: Arial;">June 4, 2010</span></st1:date><span style="font-family: Arial;">, when Kyron vanished from the face of the earth, as
did these two women, albeit temporarily in their cases.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Earlier this year, with both
the criminal and family law courts at a stand still, unable to move forward,
Kyron’s mother Desiree Young filed a civil suit against Terri Horman, alleging
that the step mom knows where Kyron is and whether he is dead or alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">As reported in The Oregonian
yesterday, DeDe Spicher invoked the 5<sup>th</sup> Amendment 142 times during a
recent deposition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .5in; margin-right: .5in; margin-top: 0in;">
<span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;">Spicher declined to answer any questions posed
by Young's lawyers on Oct. 5 that involved Terri Horman, Kyron's stepmom, or
Kyron -- each time asserting her Fifth Amendment constitutional right not to
incriminate herself.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;"><br />
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<span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;">Spicher also declined to answer questions about
where she was on </span><st1:date day="4" month="6" year="2010"><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;">June 4, 2010</span></st1:date><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;">.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;"><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">"Are you aware that Kyron Horman has
disappeared?" asked Young's lawyer, Elden Rosenthal.<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #363636; font-family: Georgia;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">"I'm asserting my Fifth Amendment
right," Spicher replied, according to a transcript filed in Multnomah
County Circuit Court.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background: white;">Spicher even declined to identify a photo of
Terri Horman, or whether she knew Terri Horman's husband, Kaine Horman, Young,
or had ever met Kyron.<span class="apple-converted-space"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11.0pt;"><a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/terri_hormans_friend_dede_spic.html">http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/10/terri_hormans_friend_dede_spic.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">This civil suit is
authorized by Senate Bill 1041 (2005), known as “Aaron’s Law” for my late son
Aaron Cruz, who died earlier that year as a consequence of his abduction from </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Oregon</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;"> in 1996. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">With the passage of Aaron’s
Law, Oregon became the first state in the nation where child abduction creates
a civil cause of action, providing family members with new tools when law
enforcement and the courts fail to act, and yet there is a child missing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">The civil suit filed by
Kyron’s family is the first under Aaron’s Law, and thus first in the nation.
“There is no other case like this,” the judge hearing the suit said, and as
this process moves forward, there will be many places where precedent will be
established and challenged.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Already there is the
question of whether a person (Spicher) can take the 5<sup>th</sup> in <i>civil</i> court to shield another person
(Terri Horman) when neither has been charged with a crime or has been named by
law enforcement as a suspect or person of interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Aaron’s Law is triggered
when a person violates </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Oregon</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;">’s
Custodial Interference I statute by knowingly and wilfully “tak(ing),
entic(ing) or keep(ing) a (child) from the (child’s) lawful custodian or in
violation of a valid joint custody order.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">A violation of Custodial
Interference I is a Class B felony, good for up to five years in prison, but
the statute is rarely enforced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Historically, there is a
high degree of certitude that a parent or family member who abducts their own
child will suffer few consequences, and those only after court processes that
stretch out for years and drain every economic resource and emotional reservoir
available to the family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Aaron’s Law is designed to
change these circumstances.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">My own four children
disappeared into </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="font-family: Arial;">Utah</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="font-family: Arial;"> in an abduction organized by Mormon officials in
three states, and despite an order for joint custody that had kept their lives
orderly and secure for five years prior to their abduction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Aaron’s Law is designed to reach anyone,
any person or organization, who provides logistical, planning, financial or any
other support to the abduction of an </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Oregon</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"> child, through a civil process.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">The civil suit empowers Kyron’s mother
to depose witnesses, and DeDe Spicher, who is not a family member, unrelated to
Kyron Horman in any way, connected only through Terri Horman, is about to
become a very public example of the power of Aaron’s Law.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">This is how Aaron’s Law will eventually
have a deterrent effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">I hope that the principles of Aaron’s
Law will be enacted in every state, protecting every child in the nation.
Abducted children are very nearly always taken out of their home state, and
international abductions have been trending upwards for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">If you participate in the abduction of
an </span><st1:state><st1:place><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Oregon</span></st1:place></st1:state><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;"> child, be prepared to squirm and reach
for that Fifth Amendment. <u>Think about whether it is worth it before you act</u>.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<i><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial;">Aaron's
Law is waiting for you now.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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~~~~~<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Sean Aaron Cruz, serving as
Oregon State Senator Avel Louise Gordly’s chief of staff, led her 2005
workgroup on parental and family abductions, which culminated in the passage of
Senate Bill 1041 on a dramatic unanimous vote in the Oregon House of
Representatives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_3BUkU5bcrFNAWkEOy2-bHkyosPyinm-7-ovL1yenMPzMziQ7k0Phiv5AIXk-jruaniSUYUHd84ZSV16leChhNgRXfwP9r6ZOVTC4xbGJvFrWYgSRO6SBUsHhnWChI0C9CfzoM8MHdU/s1600/aaron's+law7-signing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP_3BUkU5bcrFNAWkEOy2-bHkyosPyinm-7-ovL1yenMPzMziQ7k0Phiv5AIXk-jruaniSUYUHd84ZSV16leChhNgRXfwP9r6ZOVTC4xbGJvFrWYgSRO6SBUsHhnWChI0C9CfzoM8MHdU/s400/aaron's+law7-signing.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signs SB 1041 “Aaron’s
Law”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-38139077272113855412012-08-02T22:47:00.001-07:002012-08-02T23:35:46.662-07:00Mother of missing child Kyron Horman claims Constitutional rights<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Desiree Young, whose 7 year-old-son Kyron Horman was kidnapped more than two years ago, filed motions in Multnomah County Circuit Court today, arguing that the civil case should be heard, and that further delay would violate her constitutional right</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUdV4uCHLTHm-BtjEtsoVXju1ToIwYpd2C_hlHgUmvMCA8hx59euZN0xslbv-mI8msXsdKmOHnARxME9pJo4Blu9-mF54bZ6q6ffx5PDVUT_o85-w3KXzB8AM5gX7B_lCi5w761PVhBM/s1600/aaron's+law7-signing.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" eda="true" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOUdV4uCHLTHm-BtjEtsoVXju1ToIwYpd2C_hlHgUmvMCA8hx59euZN0xslbv-mI8msXsdKmOHnARxME9pJo4Blu9-mF54bZ6q6ffx5PDVUT_o85-w3KXzB8AM5gX7B_lCi5w761PVhBM/s400/aaron's+law7-signing.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Governor Ted Kulongoski signed Aaron's Law in 2005</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Terri Horman, stepmother of Kyron Horman and the defendant in the civil case, has filed a motion to abate the civil proceedings for at least two years, asserting that her constitutional rights under the Fifth Amendment are threatened.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And thus, the opening salvos in the Kyron Horman civil suit will address issues of rights guaranteed by the US and Oregon constitutions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This civil suit is the first filed under Oregon’s landmark 2005 child abduction statute, Senate Bill 1041, known as “Aaron’s Law”, which provides child abduction victims with new tools when the criminal and family law systems are unable to move forward, and yet there is a missing child.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under Aaron’s Law, Oregon became the first and (so far) only state in the nation where abducting a child (violating Oregon’s Custodial Interference in the First Degree statue) creates a civil cause of action.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thus, everything that happens going forward in the Kyron Horman case will be first in the nation.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Local Portland news channels are beginning to devote more resources to understanding the issues that will be at trial, and there will be many.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">KGW-8, for example, consulted with Tung Yin, a legal scholar at Lewis and Clark Law School in this story filed by Nigel Duara of the Associated Press:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<a href="http://www.kgw.com/news/Kyron-Hormans-mother-fights-lawsuit-delay-164788256.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.kgw.com/news/Kyron-Hormans-mother-fights-lawsuit-delay-164788256.html</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The story includes a link to the legal arguments filed today.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law was written with Constitutional rights in mind, including the right to parent your child without criminal interference from third parties, and the child’s right NOT to be abducted by ANYONE, including family, friends, neighbors, hangers-on, mopey in-laws, ex-family, church groups, and other criminal associates.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The nation’s criminal and family law systems treat the issue of time, the value of time in a child’s life and in the child’s relationships to parents and family, as if time has no importance. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both systems also provide few tools or options for victims, who are usually put in the position of helpless spectators to processes that are failing to produce a missing child.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law provides new tools to resolve and deter child abduction cases.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron Cruz died in Payson, Utah from long term medical neglect, abandonment and heartbreak in the course of his Mormon abduction and the shunning imposed on his father by officials in the Mormon Church.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law also recognizes that many child abductions involve multiple perpetrators, and is triggered by the Oregon Custodial Interference I statute that reaches to any person who takes, entices or keeps a child wrongfully, who provides planning, logistical or financial support to the abduction.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law followed on the work of the Senate President's 2004 Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions, and was informed by Sean Aaron Cruz’s personal experiences as the father of four children who disappeared from Oregon in a Mormon abduction that began in 1996.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-2787448798649967432012-07-29T20:41:00.000-07:002012-07-29T20:41:31.717-07:00Understanding Aaron's Law, pt 1: The Triggerby Sean Aaron Cruz<br />
<br />
July 29, 2012<br />
Portland, Oregon--<br />
<br />
The recent civil court motions in Multnomah County in the Kyron Horman kidnapping case are the first filings under Aaron’s Law since the statute was enacted in 2005, when Oregon became the first and only state in the nation to create a civil cause of action for the crime of Custodial Interference in the First Degree.<br />
<br />
The number one reason that it has taken so long for a case to be brought forward under Aaron’s Law is because so few people know it exists. That is about to change, is already changing now.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of people close to the Kyron Horman case looking at a completely new application of law right now, intruding at a time when both the criminal and family law systems are failing and time is marching on, and yet a child is still missing, and note the use of the word “intruding.”<br />
<br />
Fewer still understand how Aaron’s Law works. The Kyron Horman case is the first of its kind in the nation, and there will be a great many legal precedents set here as the process outlined under Aaron's Law unfolds.<br />
<br />
Attention is about to go nationwide. Believe it! There is a presidential election at stake, with a Mormon candidate. This is gonna be good! God does move in mysterious ways, and in this presidential election, He is gonna punish the wicked!<br />
<br />
You bet Aaron’s Law is an intrusion!<br />
<br />
Aaron’s Law was written for times like these!<br />
<br />
Aaron’s Law gives a parent the power to intrude, the power to assert some control into a system that is failing to produce a missing child and that forces a parent to sit on the sidelines and wait, to wait perhaps forever.<br />
<br />
Nothing works in a kidnapper’s favor more than delaying proceedings, two years so far in the Kyron Horman case. <br />
<br />
This is a good time to explain the law:<br />
<br />
Oregon’s landmark anti-kidnapping statute, Senate Bill 1041 “Aaron’s Law”, is triggered when “a person” commits the crime of Custodial Interference in the First Degree.<br />
<br />
<br />
1. Who: Note that the statute applies to “a person,” making no exceptions.<br />
<br />
“A person”…”any person”…”each person”…”every person”…all the same. This reaches to all of those religious zealots and hypocrites out there...a church shunning can very well be a kidnapping.<br />
<br />
2. What: DO NOT take, entice, keep (or conceal) a child in violation of these criminal statutes.<br />
<br />
“A person commits the crime of custodial interference…if, knowing or having reason to know that the person has no legal right to do so, the person takes, entices or keeps another person from the other person’s lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint custody order with intent to hold the other person permanently or for a protracted period.”<br />
<br /><br />
3. Where: DO NOT remove the child(ren) from the state of Oregon.<br />
<br />
4. Why not: DO NOT expose the child(ren) “to a substantial risk of illness or physical injury.”<br />
<br />
Abduction by any person—including a parent—is known to be as abusive to the child as any other form of abuse, and is often the gateway to other forms of child abuse.<br />
<br />
If Aaron’s Law had been on the books in 1995, then my son would still be alive today, and my family unbroken.<br />
<br />
Here are the key elements of Oregon’s Custodial Interference laws:<br />
<br />
<br />
ORS 163.257 Custodial interference in the first degree. <br />
<br />
(1) A person commits the crime of custodial interference in the first degree if the person violates ORS 163.245 (Custodial Interference in the second degree) and:<br />
<br />
(a) Causes the person taken, enticed or kept from the lawful custodian or inviolation of a valid joint custody order to be removed from the state; or<br />
<br />
(b) Exposes that person to a substantial risk of illness or physical injury.<br />
<br />
(3) Custodial interference in the first degree is a Class B felony.<br />
<br />
<br />
ORS 163.245 Custodial interference in the second degree. <br />
<br />
(1) A person commits the crime of custodial interference in the second degree if, knowing or having reason to know that the person has no legal right to do so, the person takes, entices or keeps another person from the other person’s lawful custodian or in violation of a valid joint custody order with intent to hold the other person permanently or for a protracted period.<br />
<br />
(3) Custodial interference in the second degree is a Class C felony.<br />
<br />
~~~~~<br />
<br />
Sean Cruz is the father of four children who disappeared from their Oregon homes into Utah in a Mormon abduction in 1996.<br />
<br />
He led the legislative work group on Senate Bill 1041 in 2005, which provides the statutory basis for the civil action filed by Kyron Horman's family. <br />
<br />
The bill followed on the work of the Senate President's 2004 Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions, and was informed by his personal experiences as the father of four children who disappeared from Oregon in a Mormon abduction that began in 1996.<br />
<br />
SB 1041 became known as "Aaron's Law" in memory of his late son Aaron Cruz (who died in the course of his abduction) at the same time that it passed the House on a unanimous vote, and Governor Kulongoski signed the bill into law with Aaron's photograph on his desk.<br />
<br />
Having fought through four jurisdictions in three states against a phalanx of Mormon lawyers who used every trick in the book to delay proceedings in the case of the Cruz kidnappings, Aaron's Law anticipated where the Kyron Horman case would be today.<br />
<br />
They are going to remember you now, son....<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiWSAJJJZM0IEClpe0FF-2wi_-v7wxcUcUkMXVMG_uB6KLpOIHGiVXbTfevXsdB9KVHbM-DkwJ55xQ-mxKNAEe1JiZpaqUoi12UkHZG8Y_SKNVRtRQPlHIVpWmWPT0KtcQj7ZWBEoiF7w/s1600/aaron&I-carousel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="386" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiWSAJJJZM0IEClpe0FF-2wi_-v7wxcUcUkMXVMG_uB6KLpOIHGiVXbTfevXsdB9KVHbM-DkwJ55xQ-mxKNAEe1JiZpaqUoi12UkHZG8Y_SKNVRtRQPlHIVpWmWPT0KtcQj7ZWBEoiF7w/s400/aaron&I-carousel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-80438321794720061572012-06-05T07:54:00.000-07:002012-06-05T07:54:12.345-07:00For Kyron Horman<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Cruz</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portland, Oregon—</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An age-progressed image is heartbreaking in so many ways</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You see so much of your child's life is gone, and for what</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You feel your child's pain in ways that most will never know</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Along with your own</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is painful to remember the good times</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Years ago, you could take a deep breath</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But now your chest is too tight all the time</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A certain leaden numbness</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">encases your heart full of tears</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And today feels just like yesterday</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An artist’s idea consummately skillful</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Took your breath away the first time you saw it</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And now you dread the need for another</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">May your baby boy come home</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-69635271388385124972012-06-03T16:14:00.000-07:002012-06-03T16:14:12.163-07:00Breakthrough! Landmark Oregon child abduction suit filed under Aaron's Law!<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">by Sean Cruz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portland, Oregon--Desiree Young, the mother of Kyron Horman, filed a civil suit against her son's stepmother under Senate Bill 1041 (2005), Oregon's landmark child abduction statute, known as "Aaron's Law" after my son Aaron Cruz, who died as a consequence of his abduction by members of the Mormon church enforcing a shunning.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/06/desiree_young_seeks_10_million.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2012/06/desiree_young_seeks_10_million.html</span></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron's Law provides new tools for kidnapping victims to resolve and deter abductions, and to hold kidnappers accountable, particularly when law enforcement and the courts are unwilling or unable to act. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The US Department of Justice reports that more than 200,000 US children suffer the trauma of kidnapping by a parent, family member or religious organization every year, with growing numbers of children taken to foreign countries.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The filing of the Horman suit, regardless of the length of time it takes or its outcome is likely to serve a greater good in deterring others from committing similar crimes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under Aaron's Law, persons who provide assistance to an abduction, whether logistical, planning or financial, are liable for damages, including punitive damages for their participation in the crime.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Hormon case and the Marenco case both illustrate how difficult non-stranger child abduction cases are to resolve, and in all cases the experience of abduction and loss is so traumatic to the child that focus needs to be on <strong><em><u>deterrence.</u></em></strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Consider these facts:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the past five years, the only child to be recognized as missing by the Oregon State Police Missing Children Clearinghouse is Kyron Hormon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children currently identifies 17 Oregon missing children, none of whom are listed on the Oregon State Police Missing Children site. Are those children missing or not? Ask the parents who are looking for them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An international child abduction case that originated in Oregon was resolved just last week with the assistance of more than a dozen police agencies, with the Oregon State Police conspicuously absent from the credits. The Marenco child was listed by the National Center, but not by the Oregon State Police over the year and a half that the child was known to be abducted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does an abducted child have to do to get some OSP attention?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More on this later.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>In 2005, Governor Ted Kulongoski signed Senate Bill 1041 with my son Aaron's picture on his desk</em></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYA4Hy5K5NHlDYzEDeZIfcD_UMX_JemWTKoQl-v8CZj0vDNmt-hnCtPc8bwOtV1JoDOcjZ88pNK7J22WVvCozwHp1NZxo1d2lw6dapGLLTcRI6YZMGabmkzo0QnvhmLXH0CPUFCtmxrbE/s1600/aaron%2527s+law7a-govsigning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYA4Hy5K5NHlDYzEDeZIfcD_UMX_JemWTKoQl-v8CZj0vDNmt-hnCtPc8bwOtV1JoDOcjZ88pNK7J22WVvCozwHp1NZxo1d2lw6dapGLLTcRI6YZMGabmkzo0QnvhmLXH0CPUFCtmxrbE/s320/aaron%2527s+law7a-govsigning.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-6067993126848864502012-05-25T08:17:00.000-07:002012-05-25T08:17:57.153-07:00Marking May 25, National Missing Childrens Day, in Oregon<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Cruz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portland, Oregon— National Missing Children’s Day is May 25. It is not a holiday, but the one day in the entire year that the families of thousands of missing children hope to have your attention. With very few exceptions, each grief-stricken family is entirely on its own in its search, and with few exceptions, the children were abducted by a parent or family member. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each year, according to the US Department of Justice, more than 200,000 US children suffer the trauma of abduction by a parent or family member, some repeatedly. It is difficult to track the number of Oregon cases, because no Oregon policing agency keeps a record, not even the Oregon State Police.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An international child abduction case that originated in Oregon made the local news briefly recently and then vanished (just as the child had a year and a half before) a victim of the news cycle, before the Marenco case could illuminate the several public policy issues related to parental, family and church-sponsored kidnappings that are the real story here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Center for Missing and Children currently identifies 17 Oregon children who are not listed as missing on the Oregon State Police Missing Children’s Clearinghouse website. Although more than a dozen international police agencies were involved in recovering the Marenco child, he never appeared on the OSP list. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The recovery of the Marenco child required the cooperation of courts in Washington County and in New Zealand, and “The following agencies/organizations have assisted the Beaverton Police Department with the Marenco case: Interpol, US Department of State, US Customs and Border Protection, US Marshals Service, US Federal Air Marshals Service, US DHS-ICE Homeland Security Investigations , National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Washington County District Attorney's Office, Washington County Sheriff's Office, Forest Grove Police Department, Government Agencies in New Zealand, Australia and Canada , San Francisco Police Department , San Mateo County Sheriff's Office.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">International abductions are on the rise due to corresponding increases in international marriages and child-producing relationships, and subsequent divorces and breakups. The convenience of international travel also plays a role, as do religious and cultural differences between the couples.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The media is rarely interested in reporting parental and family abductions, largely because law enforcement rarely acts, and there is so much else going on to fill the newscast or the page. After a day or two, a parental abduction story is old news if it was ever news at all. The family is on its own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, the only child to make the OSP list in the past five years is Kyron Horman. The Horman case also illustrates how difficult and painful child kidnappings are to resolve. The focus needs to be on prevention and deterrence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The discrepancies in the lists of missing kids indicates that the Oregon State Police is not involved in looking for any of them, and also illustrates how easily a parentally-abducted child can slip through the cracks.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fact that so many agencies were involved in recovering the child from New Zealand demonstrates how difficult it is to recover a child abducted to a foreign nation, even if both nations speak English and have similar court systems. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These facts, and the finding by the 2004 Oregon Senate President’s Task Force on Parental and Family Abductions that child abduction by any person is child abuse, point to the need to enact policies that discourage people from abducting their own children, or a family member’s children, or through a church-sponsored shunning/abduction, in the first place.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the purposes of marking National Missing Children’s Day in Oregon, why don’t we take a look at those 17 Oregon kids who are missing enough to be listed on the National Center’s website, but not missing enough to be listed by our own Oregon State Police. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What does a missing kid have to do to get some attention from the Oregon State Police?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-35478944963630487082012-04-19T21:42:00.001-07:002012-04-19T23:01:03.133-07:00The Wisdom and the Moral Authority<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Cruz</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portland, Oregon—</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Please tell Sean that I also wish him the best. I have also followed his career and believe his personal experience has given him the wisdom and the moral authority necessary to make a real difference in making Oregon safer for our children.” –Judge Jim Fun, Washington County Circuit Court, January 24, 2007</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I received this message from Judge Fun’s judicial assistant. He was writing in regard to the work I had done on the issue of child abduction since my four children disappeared into Utah in a Mormon kidnapping in 1996. Each year, more than 200,000 U.S. children are abducted by their own parents, family members or persons known to the family, as in church-sponsored abductions.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Judge Fun knew the issue and my family’s case very well. In 1997, he had been the Assistant District Attorney who prosecuted the 1st degree Custodial Interference case against my former wife, which came to trial nearly a year and a half after my kids had disappeared, and who were still being held incommunicado in Utah. He had noticed during jury selection that the defense referred to a Washington County LDS church roster, and that there were a number of Mormons on the jury. You know how that turned out. The Mormons stick together like the Borg. That includes both inside and outside the courtroom.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But Judge Fun was writing about what I had done since then, with that experience and with that moral authority:</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial;">The first and most important thing I accomplished was to stay alive, to survive.</span></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’m a writer and a blogger, so I wrote and I blogged, posting a couple of hundred pieces over the years. I had alerted and informed Senator Avel Gordly about the issue long before she hired me to serve as her legislative staff in 2003. That year, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Joint Ways and Means Public Safety Subcommittee, and Senate President Peter Courtney appointed the Senate President’s Interim Task Force on Parental and Family Abduction to examine the issue and report its findings to the 2005 legislature. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I testified before the Task Force in 2004, describing how both the family law and criminal law systems and an order for joint custody had failed to protect my children and my family. The fact is these systems fail in non-stranger abduction cases far more often than they succeed, which explains the high numbers.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Task Force found that the experience of abduction by any person is harmful to the child, and as abusive as any other form of child abuse.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2005, Senator Gordly assigned me to lead the workgroup on her landmark Senate Bill 1041. In that legislative session, I testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Senate Rules Committee and before the House State and Federal Affairs Committee as we moved SB 1041 through the building.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bill went through ten major rewrites on its way to passage on a dramatic, unanimous House vote on the last day of the 2005 legislative session. It immediately became known as Aaron’s Law, in memory of my late son Aaron Cruz, who had died in Payson, Utah, earlier that year, a direct consequence of his abduction.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Aaron’s Law, Oregon became the first state in the nation where child abduction creates a civil cause of action, providing kidnapping victims with new tools to see justice served, and real deterrents to abducting a child in the first place. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve written extensively about the particulars of Aaron’s Law at </span><a href="http://www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.aaronslaw.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.AaronsLaw.blogspot.com</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, all this to say that many of my readers who know me through my work on issues other than child abduction and who are unfamiliar with the story of the abduction of my children may think that I might be unfair or exaggerating where I refer to Mormons and Mormonism, but I want you all to know that I am speaking from experience and with moral authority.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-45460978417434173092012-04-10T17:51:00.000-07:002012-04-10T17:51:10.630-07:00On swearing in Mitt Romney<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Cruz</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portland, Oregon—Now that the GOP Presidential buffoon-o-rama is coming down to just one left standing, and while it’s all good that Mitt Romney is full of ideas about what he thinks he’s going to do on Day One of a Romney presidency, there is one small issue that will certainly stir up a humongous discussion well before that crisp day in January comes around:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><em>Which Bible would a Mormon prefer to be sworn in with?</em> The New, Improved Mormon bible, or the Bible that the Mormons have built their entire mock-Christian religion around denying is truthful in all its translations, King James et al? They are deep into insulting every non-Mormon form of the Bible.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That’s a good question, worth talking about. Romney could resort to the stack-of-bibles approach, including all of the current versions used by various Christian churches, but those would be the same churches that the Book of Mormon refers to throughout as “whores” or “the Great Whore of a church.” Wowie! That issue should spark a discussion too!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another good question is <em>where would a Romney Western White House be located?</em> Salt Lake City? Close to the Utah Throne? Near the only guy in the world that God speaks to, according to the Mormons? </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And here’s another one, related to the preceding question: <em>How similar to theocratic Utah would a Mormon Presidency be?</em> That’s worth exploring in great depth. Utah is the one state in the nation where state and local government is controlled by a religious sect, the system that Romney says is the center of his life. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There will be more good questions like these down the road….</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">==============</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sean Cruz writes about child abduction and the loss of his four children in a Mormon kidnapping/shunning at </span><a href="http://www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com</span></a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is the father of four children who disappeared into Utah in a Mormon abduction in 1996, organized by a group of Mormon extremists that his former wife had fallen in with, in retaliation for his criticism of LDS church policy.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 2005, he led the Oregon Senate workgroup that crafted Oregon’s landmark child abduction statute, Senate Bill 1041, known as “Aaron’s Law”, after his late son Aaron, who died in Payson, Utah as a result of this church-sponsored abduction.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Aaron’s Law, Oregon became the only state in the nation where child abduction creates a civil cause of action. Without a civil cause of action, a parent of a kidnapped child has no basis in law to hold a kidnapper accountable for the damages the criminal causes. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Under Aaron’s Law, victims can reach those who provided planning, logistical or financial support to their abduction. This is especially significant in cases with multiple perpetrators, as a church-sponsored shunning.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without a civil cause of action, the parent of a kidnapped child has only two courses of action: the family law system or the criminal system, both of which routinely fail the child and the family in abduction cases.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The U.S. Department of Justice documents more than 200,000 cases each year of parental and family abductions, year after year, and many of those children are never recovered.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law passed the Oregon House on a unanimous vote, the last stop on its way to the Governor for signature into law, but is still in need of amending and refining in order to be truly effective in both preventing and resolving abductions. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaron’s Law should be modeled in other states, eventually becoming the law of the land.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Aaron’s Law, my son’s death is not for nothing, and his life not without honor.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-58830416323453808572012-04-08T11:09:00.000-07:002012-04-08T11:09:03.664-07:00I couldn't be happier...been a long time comin'...You know who you are<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">By Sean Cruz</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Portland, Oregon—I couldn’t be happier than to see Mitt Romney, Mormon bishop Mitt Romney, become the GOP nominee for President! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See why in my comments posted on The Oregonian Editorial Board’s “Oregon GOP should pick Mitt” endorsement, April 7, 2012, right here:</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/04/oregon_gop_should_pick_mitt.html</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And to the Mormons who kidnapped my children, hid them in Utah, ruined my son Aaron’s life and let him die, I want you to know that payback is gonna be a bitch! It’s been a long time coming. You know who you are….</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">=======</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sean Cruz writes and posts about the issue of child abduction and the story of the Mormon kidnapping of his children at <strong><a href="http://www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/">http://www.blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/</a></strong></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He is the father of four children who disappeared into Utah on February 12, 1996 in a Mormon abduction/shunning. He had spoken out in opposition to certain practices and doctrines of the LDS church, including its racist attitudes toward people of color, its coercion of women into roles subservient to men, and for forcing young people to choose between the church and their own families when marrying into the Mormon religion. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In retribution for his remarks, Mormon officials in three states connived to cause his children to vanish from their Oregon homes during the Great Storm that struck the Pacific Northwest in February, 1996, just ten days after his baby girl’s eighth birthday. His mother would die four years later without contact with her grandchildren, as the Mormons enforced their “no contact” rules against those they regarded as apostates.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He pursued the recovery of his children through four jurisdictions in three states while both the criminal and family law systems failed to either protect his family or uphold the joint custody order that had kept his children’s lives safe and secure for five years preceding the abduction.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Cruz children were initially concealed in the mountains east of Ogden at the home of Mormon official Kory Wright and his wife, who were the principle organizers of the kidnapping. In 2009, he confronted his children’s abductor in the lobby of the Hilton Hotel in Vancouver, Washington:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong>Counting coup on an Oregon kidnapper</strong></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<strong><a href="http://blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-counting-coup-on-kidnapper.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">http://blogoliticalsean.blogspot.com/2011/04/on-counting-coup-on-kidnapper.html</span></a></strong><br />
<br />
<strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">His son Aaron Cruz died in the course of the abduction, alone and without medical care, in Payson, Utah.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Senator Avel Gordly’s chief of staff, Sean led the workgroup on parental and family abduction that resulted in Senate Bill 1041, known as “Aaron’s Law” in memory of his late son, which passed the Oregon House on a unanimous vote in 2005.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With Aaron’s Law, Oregon became the only state in the nation where the abduction of a child creates a civil cause of action, which provides kidnapping victims new avenues of recourse to hold their abductors accountable. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sean Cruz hopes to see the principles of Aaron’s Law enacted nationwide.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJdwtj2uvwv35qmAaHryKCp-M0FrFkxrzyweXC42XSak7OFPzccZJceORom43ZHEqgU3S5CgnPZROZ8iVun0P6XwRIaPoW-HGiTQLh_oua78RRONsgAIoHUWv6athaB4rWS3ifk7LCFA/s1600/aaron's+law7-govsigning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="287" nda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcJdwtj2uvwv35qmAaHryKCp-M0FrFkxrzyweXC42XSak7OFPzccZJceORom43ZHEqgU3S5CgnPZROZ8iVun0P6XwRIaPoW-HGiTQLh_oua78RRONsgAIoHUWv6athaB4rWS3ifk7LCFA/s320/aaron's+law7-govsigning.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Governor Kulongoski signed Senate Bill 1041 into law with my son Aaron’s photo on his desk.</span></em><br />
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</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For all of those parental and family abductions that will not take place in the future for his sacrifice, my son did not die in vain or without honor…. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-9496472374724715472012-04-01T10:38:00.000-07:002012-04-01T10:38:48.751-07:00On Presidential candidate Mitt Romney: Pink Slips and Slit ThroatsBy Sean Cruz<br />
<br />
Portland, Oregon— Mitt Romney’s zeal for issuing pink slips to middle class workers whose jobs he’s destroying is well established by his own admissions, but his participation in Mormon throat-slitting rituals has been kept under wraps (so far) by the LDS church’s (so far) successful campaign to keep specific aspects of the highly secretive religion out of public view. <br />
<br />
A new BBC documentary titled “The Mormon Candidate” examines the issues that are somehow off-limits in U.S. political discourse in 2012, among them the LDS practice of destroying families by requiring its members to shun those who leave the church or who speak out in opposition, and the symbolism of throat-slitting and disemboweling gestures made in secret Mormon temple practices.<br />
<br />
Mormon temple ordinances required devotees to symbolize a knife slicing across their own throats with a finger, and the same gesture across the belly as an act of promised hari kiri if they were to reveal any temple secret to an outsider. The mumbo-jumbo litany that Mormons would chant as they made the gestures made it clear that if they got crosswise with the LDS hierarchy, they would be cutting their own throats and disemboweling themselves, and all Mormon church members would have “no contact” with them, at all, ever. In other words, a shunning would take place.<br />
<br />
All of that inside information is available on the Web now, posted by former Mormon insiders, who aren’t making up any of it.<br />
<br />
These two segments describe how Mormon shunnings work. The interviews include a high Mormon official denying the throat- and belly-slitting, denying that shunning takes place, and otherwise illustrating his superb prevaricational skills.<br />
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A look-alike relative of Mitt Romney discloses how his views drew a shunning that is still active, like mine. Mormon shunnings are forever, and all family members (including the children) are forced into compliance or face the same fate, with real consequences in that closed-off Mormon society. <br />
<br />
I have written and spoken about these practices for many years subsequent to the Mormon abduction of my four children, and all along it has been difficult to convince people that the shunnings are real or that they are effective. <br />
<br />
Mormon officials in three states were directly involved in the planning, execution and ongoing support for the abduction of my children and their forced immersion into extreme Mormonism. I have named them repeatedly, the ones whose identities have been revealed in court documents and those who participated by their own admissions:<br />
<br />
Chris and Kory Wright, Bishop Donald Taylor, Bishop David Holiday, Steve and Gina Nielson (now Ben and Gina Foulk), Relief Society President Evelyn Taylor, Cynthia Anderson, Anthony Micheletti all had criminal involvement in the kidnapping. Then there were the tier of Mormon court officials, including three Mormon judges who had the distinction of also being my former wife’s former divorce lawyers in three of her four divorces, so far. Their roles were to see that all the Mormons in the criminal conspiracy and the image of the LDS church were protected, and they did this using all the judicial powers available to them.<br />
<br />
As in the current Presidential campaigns, people are reluctant to criticize other religions, even a belief system as notoriously wicked and contrived as Mormonism. The British do not seem to have that odd American hangup.<br />
<br />
See for yourself in these two segments, now available on Youtube.<br />
<br />
<strong>The Mormon Candidate, pt 4 of 6</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLRzdeKEEII">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLRzdeKEEII</a><br />
<br />
<strong>The Mormon Candidate, pt 5 of 6</strong><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2TvQij0OoM&feature=relmfu">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2TvQij0OoM&feature=relmfu</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Three cheers for the BBC!!!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3675897769102335616.post-7387192248833282632012-03-20T21:02:00.001-07:002012-03-20T21:07:55.446-07:00On Passing a Mormon-Abducted Child's Birthday, and the Rites of SpringBy Sean Cruz<br />
<br />
<br />
Portland, Oregon—<br />
<br />
In nature, Spring is a time of renewal. The awful weather Winter brings is fading, the days grow longer and sunnier and a new generation emerges. It is a time for optimism, for looking forward, and for many a season of fruition beckons, fulfilling family milestones, school graduations, marriages and new adventures.<br />
<br />
Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring is a story about the sacrifice of a young girl’s life in order to suit some pagan agenda, to satisfy their belief that a horrible criminal act would please a Deity with whom they imagined they had a special relationship.<br />
<br />
Which reminds me of the Mormons who kidnapped my children, and of that awful first Spring.<br />
<br />
My late, kidnapped son Aaron’s birthday is March 21, and his was the first of my four children’s birthdays to pass by after they disappeared on February 12, 1996, on their way to concealment in a series of remote Mormon enclaves in Utah.<br />
<br />
There would be no more birthday celebrations for the Cruz family once they entered Utah. We would never have contact on a birthday or any other family day ever again, once the Mormons had gained control over their lives.<br />
<br />
I would fight to locate and regain contact with my children through four jurisdictions in three states, all while counting the days, each day, living one day at a time, day after joyless day, hopeless days on end….<br />
<br />
So I missed my son’s birthday, that first birthday some six weeks after the beginning of the kidnapping (abductions are continuing crimes, meaning the crime continues until the abduction ends with the recovery of the victim), and I know it broke his heart. <br />
<br />
This was a clear sign of the cruelty of his Mormon kidnappers. They knew they were breaking my children’s hearts, and they did this time and again. <br />
<br />
The Mormons feel a need to separate the world into its “Members” and everyone else, and they run a very sophisticated operation to keep people from leaving their church. <br />
<br />
The most common reason the Mormons lose converts is to family influence, so they have developed techniques to carve families apart. Some are subtle, but others are fundamental, such as forbidding non-Mormon parents from attending their Mormon-convert adult children’s weddings. <br />
<br />
Once they were taken to Utah, my children did what they had to do to survive. Some succumbed to the coercion and inducements. Aaron did not, and my other children had to watch him suffer for years, all while growing up with their own tormented, confused feelings. And they would suffer together through their mother’s 3-Mormon-stepdads-in-3-states wedding spree.<br />
<br />
It is not only this time of the year that I think about Aaron’s birthday, or those of my surviving, still-abducted children. The feelings are very long-lasting, and seem to last the whole year, year after year.<br />
<br />
I’m working on those renewal feelings, and making good progress, with the help of my friends….<br />
<br />
And while I’m thinking about Aaron right now, Natalia, Tyler and Allie are also in my heart. Your birthdays may be far away on the calendar, but I can feel them from here.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht93QP3RPr9OiA9vHm88OPQQIUpzUsNUCReNecBhelMcM8C2tWTtnp0vIfd7i5Wj06BoQ5Dmr2JTwo8XmtTwIV4VjWn3l6mWjPKqQCIiADkS0wYu0mu_Fd5j1ZMuxCKyuFE-AmT6yT1nk/s1600/aaron2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht93QP3RPr9OiA9vHm88OPQQIUpzUsNUCReNecBhelMcM8C2tWTtnp0vIfd7i5Wj06BoQ5Dmr2JTwo8XmtTwIV4VjWn3l6mWjPKqQCIiADkS0wYu0mu_Fd5j1ZMuxCKyuFE-AmT6yT1nk/s1600/aaron2.jpg" /></a></div> <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZhxmk7Ii1_G_8GhunFwiPHEMixoDioX3gTrQG4X8XbDA2YRKGwT9tHv5ryl6y-WAXZU0AXgSdz4sE5wX7s2-2wz-bCU9sS_URKiQMW1eMIJTc5DAXq-pCypyNFeap_M-a3JxOb5NPSQ/s1600/3kids-apt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img aea="true" border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkZhxmk7Ii1_G_8GhunFwiPHEMixoDioX3gTrQG4X8XbDA2YRKGwT9tHv5ryl6y-WAXZU0AXgSdz4sE5wX7s2-2wz-bCU9sS_URKiQMW1eMIJTc5DAXq-pCypyNFeap_M-a3JxOb5NPSQ/s320/3kids-apt.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14818577155071008136noreply@blogger.com0