FIRST AMENDMENT ATTACK… UPDATE!

In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock!   Thomas Jefferson…

I received the following in an email today from Mellonee Kennedy, Attorney Advocate for the Office of the Guardian ad Litem with regard to her Motion to Suspend Visitation filed last week and set for Wednesday of this week…

“I just wanted to let you know that upon further discussion with the Guardian ad Litem, Ms. Riggins, and the therapist I will be withdrawing our motion to suspend visitation currently set for Wednesday.  I will however be making an oral Motion to Take Down exposingtherecord.org or in the alternative redact confidential information and all pleadings pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. 7b-2901 and 7b-3100.”  Mellonee Kennedy, Attorney Advocate GAL

First, this is a private website of which there is no jurisdiction in this court.  Period!  Second, it is absolutely protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  Period!

Mellonee Kennedy brings this so-called motion on behalf of another pretender, the Guardian ad Litem, Baccuhus Carver.  This motion and her email attempt to find a blanket of security under two juvenile statues which actually govern and prohibit agencies, court officers, and other officials associated with the courts and social services from distributing information about any minor children.  Of course I am none of those; Oh that’s right, I am their father and they are my children!  I have every right to expose this system and its routine of depriving families of their rights, especially while I am experiencing it “first-hand.”

Her motion goes on to detail concerns about the portions of the website that display (expose) specific motions such as my Motion to Recuse and Request for Reassignment of (the not so honorable) Judge Monica Bousman, Amended Motion to Set Aside the Order on Adjudication and Disposition which is currently on its way to The Court of Appeals, and my Application and Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Preliminary Injunction, and Permanent Injunction to prevent the removal of my children from the State of North Carolina.  This is simply a clandestine attempt to keep this information from exposing their unspeakable acts against my children, my wife, my entire family.  It is without question, DESPICABLE!

I had properly noticed the parties and scheduled an Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, Temporary injunction, and Permanent Injunction to prevent the removal of my 6 minor children from the state of North Carolina to California.  Being properly noticed, this motion was in fact scheduled for Wednesday, June 8, 2011 following my Motion to Recuse.  This was bypassed completely in favor of this NEW “oral” motion “to take down this website,” which was NOT AT ALL properly noticed on any of the parties (myself included).  Of course I objected to the motion citing not enough time to prepare, to no avail.  This court system is so disorganized and so instinctively gravitates to attorneys (effectively ignoring pro se litigants) that I quickly became irrelevant.  Judge Gray was at a loss, I guess, and had her hands tied (as she explains) since she could not risk bias after hearing this motion to recuse.  Not to mention that she was specifically tasked by the Chief Judge with only hearing the motion to recuse.  But what about the other 19 judges in the County?  What type of scheduling is this?  Would anyone even bother to care that this Emergency Motion I filed on May 23, 2011 is required by statute to be heard within 10 days?  Here we are 16 days later discussing the fact that it’s 5:00pm and there is no-one available to hear my “emergency” motion!  Really?  Due Process at its finest!?!?  Where is the Fourteenth Amendment?  Much more of the same!  This is exactly what my family has had to contend with since the start of this fiasco.

So, back to the motion to take down this website… I received a draft order via email from Mellonee Kennedy this afternoon for review before forwarding to the Judge for her signature.

“Please review and respond to the attached proposed order to be submitted to Judge Gray today pursuant to her instruction at yesterday’s hearing.”

THIS MATTER comes before the Honorable Judge Jane Gray on June 8, 2011 for hearing on a motion held pursuant to N.C. Rules of Civil Procedure 7(b)(1).  The following persons were present:  Ronald Reale; Father, Michelle Congleton, Attorney for Mr. Griego; Richard Croutharmel, Attorney for Mother; Bacchuhus Carver, Guardian ad Litem, Mellonee Kennedy, Attorney Advocate for Guardian ad Litem; John Gustavson, Social Work Supervisor; and Albert Singer, Assistant Wake County Attorney. 

            At the time of the Father’s hearing on a Motion to Recuse and Request for Reassignment, the Attorney Advocate for Guardian ad Litem made an oral motion for the Father to take down his website or in the alternative to remove confidential information pertaining to the children who are the subject of this action.  The Father objected and the Court overruled his objection.

            IT IS HEREBY ORDERED pursuant to N.C.G.S. §§7B-2901 and 3100, the Father shall not publish any information that would reveal the identity of the children including but not limited to:

1. any summons, petition, custody order, court order, written motion, recording of a hearing, or other papers filed in a proceeding under this court’s jurisdiction;
2. family background information;
3. reports of social, medical, psychiatric, or psychological information including any diagnoses concerning the children or their family; and
4. interviews with the family of the children.

My Response…

I agreed to reduce my children’s names to their initials to protect their identity.  I further agreed to redact the case number of the Juvenile File Case Number 10JA 172-178 (this does not include any other file case numbers).  After careful consideration I have decided not to redact any further information such as “diagnosis” or other information.  This is a personal decision, not one that any court can compel me to.  I absolutely maintain my position that I have every right to Post and Blog on my personal website in any way that I deem appropriate.  The First Amendment guarantees such protections.  I do not believe 7B-2901 or 7B-3100 has any authority to govern my actions as it pertains to my family, especially my own children, outside of the courtroom.  I am absolutely prepared to defend this position to the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the Supreme Court of the United States if need be.  The very precepts of the United States Constitution are at stake.

I think you will find that the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union), the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) and numerous others have been actively and recently involved in such cases and defenses.  I have already been in touch.  This topic is NOT NEW.  I look forward to the national attention as I absolutely support national reform in this arena.  I also feel that there are numerous citations of Case Law that support my decision.  I’m quite sure North Carolina would certainly embrace a case of this magnitude of their very own, for review.  In fact, I’m counting on it.  I would certainly welcome the opportunity to make my case more available to public inspection and available as a case study for years to come.  My Website is just the beginning.  I have been in touch with WRAL and WPTF to press forward with this issue and with my current case.  Maybe you should start drafting your motions against those organizations now.  Please understand that I will stop at nothing until my children are returned safely to me.  I will ExposeTheRecord.

Proverbs 28:1  The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the righteous are bold as a lion.  Ron Reale, Indignant Father

I received an email response from Mellonee Kennedy acknowledging receipt of my objections to her draft order with regard to her motion to “take down this website” to be presented to Judge Gray today…

This order reflects the requirements of the statutes that are in place to protect the privacy of your children.  I am forwarding the attached order to Judge Gray later this morning with some typographical errors corrected.  Should you have proposed changes, please forward them and I will include them with the order attached for her consideration.

My Response…

As previously stated, I have agreed to redact their names to initials and to remove any references to the juvenile case file number.  Again, I have done this as a personal choice and as a courtesy, in the interest of dispensing with this, that is clearly a waste of the court’s time; as I see nothing in the law that allows any court to mandate such.

As to the statutes themselves, they are clear in referring to county agencies and agents, court officers and specifically refers to certain local agencies; “The Department, after consultation with the Conference of Chief District Court Judges, shall adopt rules designating certain local agencies that are authorized to share information concerning juveniles in accordance with the provisions of this section.  It goes on to specifically name those designated agencies as; Agencies that may be designated as ‘agencies authorized to share information’ include local mental health facilities, local health departments, local departments of social services, local law enforcement agencies, local school administrative units, the district’s district attorney’s office, the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office of Guardian ad Litem Services of the Administrative Office of the Courts. Any information shared among agencies pursuant to this section shall remain confidential, shall be withheld from public inspection, and shall be used only for the protection of the juvenile and others or to improve the educational opportunities of the juvenile, and shall be released in accordance with the provisions of the Family Educational and Privacy Rights Act as set forth in 20 U.S.C. § 1232g. Nothing in this section or any other provision of law shall preclude any other necessary sharing of information among agencies.”  Sub-paragraph (b) simply and clearly refers to all previous assertions within this section as to certain local agencies sharing information or making information public and even ‘requires’ parental permission to release photos in the case of a runaway.  There is no other mention of parents being held to any such standard.  The Website is a Constitutional issue.  The First Amendment all the way.  Period! 

As you know (as everyone now knows) there is a Federal Action Pending (in the works) against at least 31 Defendants seeking damages and injunctive relief addressing the deprivation of rights of my entire family pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983.  I am somewhat in shock that you all continue to conspire knowingly and willingly to deprive me and my family of our rights (as recently as June 8, 2011).  Calling your attention to the hearing on June 8, 2011, my constitutional rights were once again trampled on at least two separate occasions during the hearing on Wednesday June 8, 2011 when; 1) your “oral” motion was allowed without proper notice (less than 48 hours) and with disregard to my stated objection, 2) and in place of my own Emergency Motion for a Temporary Restraining Order, Temporary Injunction, and Permanent injunction to prevent the removal of my minor children from the State of North Carolina to the State of California; which was in fact properly calendared and noticed to all parties. 

How does one prepare to defend against such frivolous motions and allegations or any allegations for that matter, in the absence of DUE PROCESS?  How is it that a party can prepare an Emergency Motion (which is required by statute to be heard within 10 days), properly calendar the motion, and properly notify all parties involved and simply stand there in appearance stating on the record, “I am prepared to present my motion,” only to have it ignored and not heard at all?  This, in the presence of a District Court Judge and at least four other attorneys (court officers).  I am truly stunned!  This is clearly another egregious violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  I absolutely find these to be issues that deprive my family of our unalienable rights and a clear attack on the United States Constitution. Ron Reale, Indignant Father

More recently, I have been subjected to repeated threats to be brought before Judge Gray on charges of Contempt of Court.  Judge Gray purports to receive her authority from “various statutes under Charter 7B of the North Carolina General Statutes” outlining this broad description in her Final Order (appeal pending).  She does not point to any one specific statute, but nevertheless has decided that the ”entire chapter” “as a whole” allows her to restrict “freedom of speech,” in particular as it pertains to this website.  This is Ridiculous!

What I also find to be “quite interesting” is that when these Social Workers, Judges, Pretenders (attorneys), and others associated with these Family Court “bullies” visit this website, they are primarily visiting pages & blogs that refer to themselves which discuss their unlawful acts, pages & blogs that challenge their very authority over my family, and other areas of the site that discuss general abuse by Social Services Agents and Agencies, Court Officers, Judges, and the like against children and families.  They do not seem to be as interested in the pages & blogs that describe the mutual love between me and my children, which are the very pages they claim to have authority over.  The pages and blogs that discuss my relationship with my children and/or the recent attacks against my entire family (including my children) receive “very little” traffic, yet their argument has been “exclusively” crafted around their purported authority under Chapter 7B to prohibit me from publishing ANY information about my children – anywhere (freedom of speech).  Of course it is something of a moot point since Chapter 7B has no such AUTHORITY over PARENTS!

I WILL STAND MY GROUND!  I WILL NOT BE DETERRED!  I WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!  I WILL NOT BE COERCED!  THIS WEBSITE WILL STAND FIRM AGAINST THESE EVIL ATTACKS!