Some Decency From a Fathers Rights Advocate

  Many of the beliefs that fathers rights groups maintain are often dangerous and a very good reason why these groups deserve a certain level of scrutiny.  I don't agree with the attacks that were made on the children of Holly Ann Collins by Mr Sacks as they were right to have left and should not have been ignored.  Perhaps had they have not left, they might have become a murder suicide statistic.  Some of the factors that lead to these murders are over looked with Mr Sacks, but I am a great believer in giving credit where credit is due:

Murderous Florida Father Deserved a Necktie Party, not Shared Parenting

January 7th, 2007 by Glenn Sacks, MA for Fathers & Families

I have been surprised and disappointed at the reactions of men's rights advocates Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D. and the activists at the Manumit Exchange to the Tony Camacho case. Camacho, a Florida father of two, was embroiled in a custody dispute when he set his house on fire and killed himself and his two children, ages 10 and 8.

The reaction? One of the activists at the Manumit Exchange wrote:

"This tragedy may not have happened occurred if a presumption of shared parenting (physical joint custody and residency) were law and the father knew that his children were not going to be kidnapped from him by his ex-wife and the State."

Similarly, Finley penned the brief letter Shared parenting may save lives for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, in which he argues that if Camacho had been granted shared parenting, the whole thing would never have happened, thus the family law system is at least partly to blame.

Sorry, guys, but I'll have to pass on this one. Camacho didn't deserve shared parenting, he deserved a necktie party.

According to one news article, "Camacho set the house on fire eight days after the [custody] ruling, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office officials said. He died of smoke inhalation after stabbing Crystal [his eight year-old daughter] in the back, severing her spine and leaving her paralyzed as the flames engulfed their home, according to the sheriff's office." A loving parent, no matter how distraught, could never bring him or herself to do such a thing.

Moreover, according to the article Psychologist saw paranoia in dad before he set fatal fire, Camacho wasoffered shared parenting but was so controlling and obsessive that he rejected it, demanding sole custody. Moreover, just as so many divorcing women are vindictive and denigrate the children's father in front of the children, according to the psychologist in this case, Camacho did the same thing to his ex-wife. It wasCamacho, not his ex-wife, who was refusing to share custody. When he couldn't get sole custody, he killed himself and took both of his kids with him.

This reaction to the Camacho killings reminds me of the reactions of some to Darren Mack. Mack, a Nevada "father" who was embroiled in a custody dispute last year, stabbed and killed his estranged wife as his little daughter played with her toys downstairs, and then shot and almost killed the Nevada family law judge who presided over his family law case.

After the Mack murder, some idiots in the fathers' rights movement defended him, comparing him to the Founding Fathers' struggle against British tyranny. (To be clear, not Finley or the Manumit Exchange, but others). I responded to these claims in my commentary Thomas Jefferson Murdered Women? I wrote:

"Last week I discussed the case of Darren Mack, the Nevada man who (allegedly) stabbed his estranged wife and shot and wounded a family court judge earlier this month. I wrote:

"'I'm not sure that this even needs to be said but I will say it anyway--I condemn without  qualification the crimes allegedly committed by Darren Mack in Nevada last week.

"'Mack was angered by his divorce and custody case. Some on the not insubstantial lunatic fringe of the fathers' rights movement see Mack as some sort of freedom fighter. Most of the commentary by other fathers' rights advocates seem to be of the 'he couldn't take it any more and snapped' variety.

"'I don't buy it. Though everyone is focusing on Mack's attempted murder of a judge, everyone seems to forget that he first stabbed and killed his estranged wife. After murdering her, he shot the judge through the judge's third-floor office window with a sniper rifle from over 100 yards away. That's not 'snapping'--that's premeditated murder.

"'Mack is not a good man trapped in a bad system. He is a bad guy. Because of men like him the system had to create protections for women, and unscrupulous women have misused those protections to victimize countless innocent men. Men like Mack aren't the byproducts of the system's problems--they are the problem.'"

"I contrasted Mack with the heroic English father David Chick, who was denied access to his little girl, and who launched a world famous, traffic snarling, peaceful, six day, one-man protest atop a 150 foot high crane near the Tower Bridge in London in November 2003. I noted:

"'David Chick acted with humanity and courage. Darren Mack possesses neither.'

"Recent reports indicate that Mack is even sicker than I had imagined. According to this article '[during] a search of Mack's townhouse, police turned up a shoe, towels and a t-shirt all with red stains after his estranged wife, was found dead there. Also, police say they discovered more than 50 boxes of ammunition and four empty rifle cases.'

"According to Mack's room held bomb parts (Reno Gazette-Journal, 6/20/06), Mack 'had bombmaking materials in his bedroom.'

"'The materials, when mixed together and attached to a blasting cap or shot at, will explode, said Washoe County sheriff's Sgt. Lou Gazes, head of the Consolidated Bomb Squad for Washoe County, Reno and Sparks and who was at Mack's apartment.

"'There were materials that could have made a bomb,' Gazes said Monday...

"The police search of Mack's apartment also found 'several boxes of firearm ammunition, including .223-caliber and .243-caliber rifle ammunition which was strewn about a floor in one of the bedrooms'...and police found 'an empty rifle case which contained a receipt from the purchase of a Bushmaster .223 caliber rifle by Darren Roy Mack'...the rifle was 'equipped with a laser sighting device.'"

"Mack and some of his supporters at the extreme end of the fathers' rights movement are comparing his actions to those of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the other revolutionaries who took up arms against British tyranny. I used to be a History teacher but I guess my memory is failing me a bit--tell me, Darren, when did Thomas Jefferson stab women?