The Purple Heart House

A time to remember

by Christopher Robin

It's the end of the year, the end of a century, the beginning of a new millennium...and it's time to remember.

Remember when we were parents and had the love of our kids, could say their prayers with them at night, tell them stories of our childhood, make plans with them about their futures, give them a goodnight hug? Remember when we could take them to school, to the movies, to ball games, to hockey games any time we wanted to? Remember hearing those awesome words, "I love you daddy"?

Remember the feeling of having those little arms wrapped around your neck squeezing you so hard they nearly choked you? Remember how that child of yours would hold on so tight, wrap those tiny arms around you as if afraid of ever letting you go? Remember seeing the beautiful eyes of your child look at you as no other eyes ever could? Remember the look in your child's eyes the last time you saw him?

A cruel judgement

Remember when the judge said you could visit your child on Wednesdays or every other Saturday but...x would tell you that your child was ill or busy at those times? Remember when the judge said you could call your child between 7 and 8PM each evening and speak for 15 minutes...but x would always have the phone off the hook at that time? Remember when you went to court to get more time with your child...and the judge would give you less time? Remember when your child would tell you that there were a lot of new daddies visiting mommy? Remember when your child would tell you that those new daddies could take them to ball games, to school, to the movies, to hockey games any time they wanted to?

Remember the feeling of disbelief each time you went to court, got destroyed and crawled away as if ravaged by an evil creature? Remember all the attorneys who would smile at you and welcome you into their world with one hand out to shake yours...while their other hand was on your wallet? Remember the attorneys who would not return your calls when you rant out of money? Remember when you got the bills from the attorneys and they had charged you $50.00 for each one minute call?

Remember when your X-mate insisted that children need both parents...but she, her attorney and the judge would not let you be a parent to your child? Remember how your X-mate left you financially devastated? Remember your reaction when you learned that you would not be allowed to be a part of your child's life...but they would need incredible amounts of money for child support and alimony? Remember when you tried to fight back and the Gestapo took away your property, your business license, your drivers license, your checking account, your savings account and then put you in jail because you couldn't pay? Remember how much you learned?

Happy new year!

You must have a sardonic sense of humor to be an alienated parent or grandparent and be shouting "Happy New Year!" Nevertheless, I wish for all of you who have been through the misery of Family Court lawlessness, the inner-strength, power and courage to continue the fight and...a more successful, happier New Year.

Please accept my apologies for dropping out of sight and sound for so long. In June, 1998, my bankruptcy went through and I left the Internet...and if you remember, on Fathers' Day weekend, the Gestapo invaded my home, handcuffed me and held me for three days in CooCooville to make sure our Fathers' Day demonstration would not go forward.

In October, 1998, the judge had me hauled from the courtroom directly to jail (debtor's prison?) because I refused to sell the Purple Heart House to pay the multi-millionaire princess X-wife child support for a child they kidnapped and I'll never see again.

I told them early on they would have to torture and kill me before they'd get a penny. Well, as you can see, I'm still alive. As for the torture, well, anyway, they didn't get a penny and never will. Don't they understand?

No parental rights, no money for the evil ones! Fight back! If you're truly an activist, fight back. Justice will not be a gift from them, we must fight for it. We must exhaust the enemy. They've spent thousands of hours, tens of thousands of dollars, FBI investigating me, photographing my home, interviewing neighbors just to get $10.00 a day they say I must pay for child support for my kidnapped child. They can torture me, they can kill me, but they will not get a penny until I can be a parent to my son.

Gratitude for the support

Thanks again to the hundreds of you who wrote letters to the judge while I was in the tank with murderers and rapists. After release from jail, with the help of Marv Bryer, we disqualified Judge Schoenberg, after which he announced he could no longer preside over this case. The judge seemed humbled and this was the first time he had ever treated me as a human being. From the bench, he showed us a file containing hundreds of letters from you great friends all over the world begging for justice for a fellow-father. He was amazed that so many of you cared and he also noted that Paul Clements from New Hampshire sent him a video of my son and me. The disqualified Judge mentioned he'd viewed the videotapes and said, "Mr. Robin, you're a very good father!"

However, just a month later, through some illegal chicanery, the judge got re-instated. Now he was determined to get my butt for disqualifying him. But he was frustrated because we had filed a Federal lawsuit where he and all the county politicians were defendants. Monica Hoeft-Ross and I had filed a Federal lawsuit because neither the jail nor the jail hospital had any handicap accessible toilets. Thanks to the brilliant Monica, a woman who is an outstanding fathers' rights activist, for helping me and dozens of other fathers immeasurably.

But after all our work, we came to the realization that all Judges are lawyers and it's obvious they will always protect each other. The Federal judge determined that since I was no longer in jail and there was no imminent threat of me being jailed again, the county did not need to spend millions refitting the Los Angeles jails with handicap accessible toilets. We should have won but our case was dismissed. It was a tough loss for us and it has taken a while to heal from another set back.

In the last three appearances of 1999 before criminal judge Ronald Schoenberg, they realized jail didn't soften my resolve and they'd never get any cooperation from me so Debra, the District Attorney in charge of my case who seems to hate men, argued, "Let's just put him in jail for a week and drop the case!" The judge set a date a month later for a new decision but the D.A. called in with a Migraine headache, so the date was postponed for a month. When the new date arrived, there was no District Attorney present so the judge, seemingly relieved, notified us that this case was to be taken off calendar. A week later, this family-destroying judge, Ronald Schoenberg, retired from the bench.

Since then, there has not been any word from the court system about my future except the Department of Motor Vehicles has notified me that as of April 30, 2000, I'll no longer have a driver's license. So you may see me scurrying around the freeways in my wheelchair beginning May Day. The handicap parking placard will just be a souvenir from now on.

But, the Purple Heart House and Wall of Hope will be here forever! At the darkest moment, a couple months behind on the mortgage, the very kind Fathers' Rights activist, Barry Koplen sent a check, and now my mate, Joanie, and I have developed a legal system of protecting this old place from the vultures forever.

A little death

It's obvious I'll never see my son again and it's important to accept that. Many a time, however, when a sarcastic person drives by the old house and yells "Get over it!" I just shake my head and muse how we can never get over it. It is like a death in the family. Still, the only way to keep going is to "get over it" or deal with it as best we can. If we don't accept the fact that we may never ever see our kids again, it will kill us. Many of my dear friends in the movement have far less contact with their kids than they did three years ago. (Jim Semerad, Don Hank, Albert Whale, Bob Costa, Jay Samuels, Gary Saunders.)

None of us believed that would happen. Now we know the truth and it's very painful since we all had such great hope. We are the loving fathers, the nurturers. We cared so much for the lives and futures of our kids. We worked so hard - we fought so hard - and yet we see our children far less, and in cases like mine, not at all, for 1400 days. (If you see Christopher Robin, Jr., please give him a hug from his dad. He turned 15 on December 19, 1999. I last saw him when he was 11.)

As for New Year's Resolutions, I promise to make the Purple Heart Wall of Hope an everlasting thing of beauty. We have beautified your pictures and stories since the weather has taken its toll in the nearly three years since the Wall was born. Even now, dozens of people come by, leaving messages in the mailbox that they've been by with other friends to photograph the site, to read the stories, to leave word that they've gone through the same Hell.

In the New Year, we promise to make the Purple Heart Wall of Hope even more meaningful. We will not go away! We will never give up the fight for justice for those who are just beginning the fight, those innocent, naive parents who believe as we did, that justice and fairness would help them to be parents and grandparents to their children forever.

Please continue to send pictures and stories for the Purple Heart Wall of Hope! If you have newer pictures and updated stories, please send them. It costs you nothing but a 33 cent stamp and a few minutes.

In the past three years, we've sent out 12,000 Purple Heart (KIDS NEED BOTH PARENTS or KIDS NEED FATHERS...NOT VISITORS) buttons to activists all over the world. Many of you have the Purple Heart stampers with the same logo. We're here forever so if you need any new buttons, stamps or videos, we send them to you for what it costs, all postage paid. (Videotapes of your stories and pictures on the Purple Heart Wall of Hope - $20.00. Stampers - $30.00. Purple Heart Buttons - $60.00 per hundred.)

God bless you and your beloved children, and may He give us the strength to never ever give up hope. I'll be back on line, soon.

Sincerely, Christopher Robin, Sr., exiled, alienated father