Activist Parent, Veteran, Refuses Food And Water, Moved To Jail With Medical Facilities
John Murtari, divorced father to 13-year-old Domenic and founder of AKidsRight.org is on his fourth day of noncooperation while incarcerated for failure to pay child support. (Click here for background information.) Murtari is refusing food and water to protest what he says is unjust treatment of noncustodial parents.
“Our civil rights aren’t respected. Family rights need to be established and protected,” he said, “I’ve been trying to get Hillary Clinton to meet with us and to take a look at our proposed Family Rights Act, but she doesn’t seem interested.” Instead of agreeing to a meeting with local parents, Clinton asked that he be arrested for stalking. Murtari had been peacefully protesting in front of Clinton’s Syracuse office by writing in chalk on the sidewalk.
Video coverage:
| Writing I LOVE YOU with Chalk at the Federal Building (RealPlayer) |
| Writing I LOVE YOU with Chalk at the Federal Building (Windows Media) |
| Writing I LOVE YOU with Chalk at the Federal Building (MPEG-4) |
Murtari, in a call this morning from his new location, the Onondaga County Justice Center, says he understands why some people who go on hunger strikes change their minds. “This is scary stuff,” he said, “you’re alone in your cell feeling your body break down and nobody gives a hoot.” “You wonder if it’s really worth it,” he continued, “but I’m a philosophical guy and I have resolve.” This reporter can confirm that the dehydration is taking effect, his memory isn’t as sharp as usual.
He was moved to the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse when officials at the Jamesville Correctional Facility realized he wasn’t backing down and might need medical care. Jamesville had one nurse and examining room, Syracuse has an entire floor with medical staff. Dehydration can lead to swelling of the brain, seizures, kidney failure, coma or death. Murtari’s blood sugar and blood pressure are being monitored. His blood sugar was 43 and his blood pressure was 90 over 60. “I don’t look forward to the feeding tube,” he stated, “I’m going to ask for one in my abdomen instead of down my throat.
It’s often assumed that Murtari quit his high-paying job after being ordered to pay child support. In fact, his leaving that job came before the divorce. Murtari, a veteran and ex-Air Force pilot, had been a highly-paid consultant for a division of Lockheed. His duties included making sure the patrol system software for submarines was adequate. He learned that not only did tests show it wasn’t working, but the company was sending false reports to the Navy. He went through normal channels within the company, but no one was willing to correct this. Murtari knew if this wasn’t corrected people would die. He felt he had no choice; he blew the whistle on them. Murtari was fired the very next day. After researching the situation, the government agreed with Murtari. Unfortunately his actions made getting a job in the same industry difficult. (The judge in his case put that fact aside and imputed his income at the highest level.) This was the second time he’d had to blow the whistle on unethical companies. At that point he decided to focus on his existing small internet company.
Murtari is not an angry radical activist, the image opponents of equal child custody laws portray of the family law reform movement. He’s a quiet, thoughtful, peaceful man. Murtari was at one time planning on being a priest. He was in pre-seminary training when he realized he just couldn’t give up the experience of having a family.
A peaceful protest to draw attention to John’s situation and the plight of all noncustodial parents is being organized for the Onondaga County Justice Center (MAP) (time and date TBA). Interested parties should email Arte Miastkowski at arte_miastkowski@yahoo.com with a copy to Teri Stoddard at teri@akidsright.org.
You can write to John at:
John Murtari
POD 2A-5
555 South State Street
Syracuse, NY 13202.
To write to public officials find contact info HERE.
……
Background:
Devoted Parent Risking It All To Highlight Family Rights Violations
John Murtari is already showing signs of dehydration just one day after turning himself in to the Jamesville Correctional Facility to serve a 6-month sentence for failure to pay court-ordered child support and starting his peaceful protest of noncooperation. When Murtari reported to New York’s Jamesville he identified himself and explained to the officers he would not be cooperating. “I won’t walk, eat or drink anything,” he has said, “but I will tell them how much I love my son.”Murtari says his civil rights have been violated, along with the rights of millions of other noncustodial parents. “People need to be aware of what is happening to families all across the nation,” he said, “we need a Family Rights Act.”
The Family Rights Act would:
“recognize and protect the right of our children to have two parents equally involved in their lives and the right of parents to raise and nurture their own children requiring parents be found guilty in a criminal court, with jury protection, of being a demonstrated serious threat to their children – before government can interfere in family life.”
Murtari has been trying to arrange a meeting between Hillary Clinton and local parents for years, but has been turned away and called a stalker. On August 18, 2005 he climbed the structure outside her office in the Syracuse Federal Building and hung a 6-foot banner that read, “Senator Clinton – Please Help Us!”
More of Murtari’s story is on his website A Kids Right.
After a calm 10-minute exchange in the lobby Murtari was put to the floor, handcuffed and dragged into an adjoining room. He was stripped, dressed, and put into an isolated one-inmate cell across from an office.
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Murtari has a bed but no towels or sheets. There is no air conditioning and his cell is about 90 degrees. According to a visitor his color was off and he seemed a bit dazed. Inmates are checked on once an hour.
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Want to call the local newspapers to ask when they’re going to do a story on John?
.
Albany – WTEN (Ch 10) ABC – 518-436-4822
John McLoughlin, Managing Editor/Reporter
.
Syracuse – WTVH (Channel 5) – (315)453-2424
Syracuse – WCNY (Channel 24) – 315-453-2424
Syracuse – WIXT/WXYR (Channel 9) – 315-446-9900
Syracuse – WSTM (Channel 3) – 315-477-9446
…………….
Parent Chooses Jail Over Losing Loving Relationship With Son, Plans Non-cooperation Protest
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John Murtari, father to Domenic, and founder of A Kid’s Right plans on reporting to the Jamesville Correctional Facility Monday afternoon to serve a 6-month sentence for failure to pay child support. Murtari says it has cost him more than the amount owed ($60,000) just to remain a part of his son’s life after his ex was allowed to move Domenic across the country.
Take a look at these photos of their 6-week summer visitation time and ask yourselves,
“Aren’t some things parents contribute to their children’s lives worth more than cash?”
and
“Shouldn’t parents have the right to decide how to support their children as long as they support them?”
.
.
And while you’re at it, ask yourselves,
“Is it right for a judge to allow one parent to move a child away from the other parent when that parent is loving, fit, and actively involved in the child’s life?”
and
“If they do allow move-aways, shouldn’t travel expences be taken into account when determining child support?”
Here are some video clips of John Murtari being interviewed on televsion:
January 25, 2005 / Syracuse, NY – The following clips were taken from a WSTM Chan 3 (NBC) News Broadcast which aired on Jan. 25, 2005.
| Writing I LOVE YOU with Chalk at the Federal Building (RealPlayer) |
| Writing I LOVE YOU with Chalk at the Federal Building (Windows Media) |
| Writing I LOVE YOU with Chalk at the Federal Building (MPEG-4) |
March 1999 / Syracuse, NY - The following clips were taken from a New’s Magazine show that originally aired in Syracuse, New York in March of 1999. They document an effort that used NonViolent Action.
I'm a sun and nature loving, 50-something, laid back, forward thinking, liberal anti-feminist egalitarian, san francisco bay area native, single mom of 4 and yia yia to 2. I've been active in the equal parenting movement since 2002. Known as the purple Queen of Equality, I once blogged as the Feminist4Fathers. Find me now on sharedparentingworks.org and jugsforjustice.org. | More from Teri Stoddard
Stumble It!
August 3rd, 2006 at 3:54 pm
Another excellent description of the problem. And believe it or not, there is a solution:
Scream for the enforcement of the Peonage Law!
18 U.S.C. §1581 provides a penalty of not more than 20 years of imprisonment for enslavement for debt or an arrest with intent to return or hold a person in a condition of peonage.
Peonage is the condition of involuntary servitude or slavery in liquidation of a debt or obligation and the statute applies to both contracts and court orders, and any other such attempt under state law.
The federal grand juries in Massachusetts has some work to do in the case of Mr. Mutari, and then they can start on the entire case load from the Child Support Crusade.
Yes, it is a felony!
A LOUD, PUBLIC scream for the enforcement of the Peonage Law by those with access to the public microphone such as Teri Stoddard and the rest of the mens news daily gang might have some positive results.
After all, it has yet to be tried.
August 3rd, 2006 at 8:35 pm
Roger – I think the issue with the Peonage Laws is valid, however, it is not publicized. I looked up Peonage Laws on Wikipedia and found items on sex-slavery, but nothing related to the debtors prisons for “child-support” now being operated in the US. Do you have something intelligible you can add there? I think we can bitch all we want about our unconstitutional laws, but without good publicity, nobody will give a sh*t. The word needs to get out via all avenues available!
August 3rd, 2006 at 10:58 pm
http://www.antipeonage.0catch.com/
Try this link roadkill. It’s a little hard to get over the feminist propaganda if you are under…say…40 or 50 but with study you can do it.
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:06 pm
There is alot of good stuff here too.
http://www.childsupportanalysis.co.uk/information_and_explanation/world/history_usa.htm
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Thank you oneman. To roadkill, please ask yourself this question each morning:
What can I do today to publicize the Antipeonage Act as the antidote to the Child Support Crusade?
And then find time in your busy schedule to do it.
Then when you go to bed each evening, ask yourself this question:
What have I done to publicize the Antipeonage Act as the antidote to the Child Support Crusade?
Your comment here is an excellent start!
Yes, there is a cone of silence against the fathers’ side of the story in this system. Particularly the Antipeonage Act! Yes the MSM is not interested because it does not fit their template. Yes the talk radio people, including Rush Limbaugh unfortunately, have a way of walking around our issues, particularly the Antipeonage Act. Even George Rolph mentioned peonage and child support in the same article a few weeks ago, but he seemed to be reluctant to mention that there is a LAW about it!
Yes, the Christian Right are THICK on this issue! They blame the destruction of the institution of marriage on two people of the same gender wanting to try it! No fault divorce and the Child Support Crusade get a pass! Which is more destructive to marriage? Same gender couples wanting to try it or no fault divorce allowing the female party to unilaterally destroy her marriage and to use the willing legal system to plunder her husband’s resources and force him into peonage?
Kind of like asking which weighs more: a freight train hauling 88 cars fully loaded or a pea.
And yet that is not the worst blind spot: These people actually think the problem is fathers abandoning their families and it does not seem to occur to them that far more fathers are kicked out of their families than abandon them!
Why do they pretend to believe that which is so demonstrably and observably not true?
I have done as much as I can and continue to do as much as I can to publicize the Peonage Law.
But we all know a chorus is louder than the lone cry in the wilderness.
We have George Rolph, Teri Stoddard, Wendy McElroy, Phyllis Schafly, Glenn Sachs, Stephen Baskerville, and others beginning to get a word in edgewise on our side of these issues.
Yet they are reluctant to say the P-word and to mention the existence of the Antipeonage Act.
The more of us fathers saying it, the less reluctant the talking heads will be when it comes to finally apprising the public that this statute exists and what we have here is a massive felony on the part of our legal community, our judges, and all those who advocate the removal and enslavement of fathers.
And they use our children to justify it! Just as moral as Hezballah using their children as human shields!
August 4th, 2006 at 11:07 am
[...] I’ve been following this story for a bit now: Activist Parent, Veteran, Refuses Food And Water, Moved To Jail With Medical Facilities [...]
August 4th, 2006 at 2:58 pm
We must fight this war for our rights to love our children against a powerful system . All of our children will be proud of us one day as we struggle to bring dads back into the equation. In solidarity – John – prayers from the trenches downunder mate.
August 5th, 2006 at 8:02 am
I support Murtari’s goals, but his hunger strike is misguided at best.
I don’t understand why people think anything in the family courts is going to change. If anything, the legal rights of men are going to be further diminished as time goes by.
Look at the situation in Europe where feminism was incorporated into the overall leftist orientation of most governments. Men have virtually no parental rights in Scandinavia or the UK. For now in the US, divorced fathers have it pretty good if they are even allowed to see their children once in a while.
I know our current family law system is intolerable and untenable to men, but it is a reality which will further concretize as time goes by. Men who hate the current system and hate feminism are a smaller minority than they think. Those of us who would like to see change are seriously outnumbered.
Murtari would do better to keep himself out of jail and at least have some contact with his son. His publicity stunt is costing him his family, income and health and it will make absolutely no difference to the public or the politicized family courts.
August 5th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
The Antipeonage Act does not apply to child support. Child support is an obligation and not a debt. The argument has been made many times over the years, and each time it has failed in the courts.
Mr. Murtari is quite misguided in his efforts. Firstly, Senator Clinton has no obligation to meet with him and his group. Secondly, his so called Family Rights Act is not something that can be legislated at the federal level. It instead, is something specifically for each state to adopt in full, in part or to totally reject.
Mr. Murtari is a veteran. Is continually mentioning this supposed to indicate that people believe that he is “exempt” from the laws that everyone else must follow?
Mr. Murtari has created his own problems by being stubborn and wanting to be a martyr. That is his choice, and in rational people’s minds, can hardly make him a hero. His personal choices to take care of his mother and not try to pay child support have left him effectively without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.
His hunger strike – or as he is calling it – his refusal to cooperate will accomplish nothing. He may well find himself being billed by the county for the medical care that he is forcing them to give to him. He can also find himself being psychologically evaluated, which in turn could result in him having supervised visitation with his son in the future, in the worst case scenario.
Mr. Murtari will ultimately become only a small blimp in the fathers rights movement, and held up as an example by those who choose to argue against shared parenting concepts.
August 6th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
By supporting this man, people are making it easier for men to slack off on child support. What people that are an advocate of this man don’t seem to understand is that if there were laws like this so many men would be either purposely getting fired or quitting so they don’t have to pay child support. What everyone is looking past this min is that this man is not paying child support. What are you helping by starving yourself? If you die, then you have a son without a father and without support. You are a selfish man who is a deadbeat…..take charge of your life and take care of your child.
August 6th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
“By supporting this man, people are making it easier for men to slack off on child support. What people that are an advocate of this man don’t seem to understand is that if there were laws like this so many men would be either purposely getting fired or quitting so they don’t have to pay child support.”
I don’t agree with his hunger strike either. I think it’s pointless and if he loves his kid, he will have to put up with his situation. However, it’s not just the issue of child support. Most fathers want to support their own kids – in their own homes. They want to be full time dads. Women freely break agreements not to move away. It happened to me and lots of other men. Murtari had his ex take his son across the country. Air fare for frequent visits can cost more than child support. All of his expenses combined were forcing him to lose contact with his child.
In other words, the only good thing in his life was taken away and replaced with a court-ordered debt. That is the point – not some feminist need to extract support payments to vindictive ex-wives.
Most fathers who have sole custody don’t ask for or get support money from mothers who aren’t around. Murtari did the best he could and is resisting blatant unfairness. He’s not making the right decisions, but his entire campaign isn’t about support payments, it’s about being part of his childs life – one thing modern women are firmly against.
August 8th, 2006 at 3:19 am
[...] John Murtari Struggles Physically, Maintains Nonviolent Action, Eight Days Without Water or Food August 08, 2006by Teri Stoddard Drawing on his faith, John Murtari is enduring the suffering that comes from eight days of dehydration and starvation, surprisingly, conditions he imposes upon himself.  Murtari, father to Domenic, 13, decided his 6-month sentence for child support arrears would include the ”nonviolent action of noncooperation,” to draw attention to the need for Family Law Reform and Parents’ Civil Rights. Murtari, a faithful, loving, gentle man graciously calls it being “uncomfortable,” yet speaks in a weak voice, saying the feeding tube he once feared was, ” now the best thing I can imagine.” Members of A Kids Right, the parents’ group Murtari founded, seek congressional hearings on Family Law Reform and want to draw attention to the Civil Rights of all Parents.  They want passage of a Family Rights Act, which protects the average parent’s right to custody of their children. Murtari was taken to a local hospital emergency room Friday when his heartbeat became rapid and irregular. Plans to give him fluids by IV were halted and he was returned to the Onodaga County Justice Center medical unit. Today a Senior Medical Administrator at the jail told Murtari they would not be putting in an IV or feeding tube, as he’d been told Friday.  She said there were ethical considerations involved because he had the choice to eat and drink normally. Fearing permanent kidney failure the administrator again asked him to drink.  She said if the condition progressed to an emergency situation they would take action and send him to an emergency room for treatment. Murtari has had no food or liquid since July 31, except for small amounts of water that get swallowed when he brushes his teeth. Saying, “It’s not easy,” Murtari plans on continuing, yet prays for guidance.  He asks that his sincere thanks are conveyed to everyone concerned about his situation. The 6-month sentence came from Judge Bryan Hedges of Onondaga County, New York who says Murtari is $60,000 behind in child support. Murtari disputes that claim, and says his case is full of injustice, including the wrong jurisdiction, travel expenses to see his son who was moved across the country not taken into account, and perjury. But Murtari isn’t thinking about money right now, he’s thinking about Domenic, and praying he’s doing the right thing. Please participate in the worldwide Day of Demonstration for Equal Parenting and Vigil for John Murtari on Wednesday, August 9. Send photos of statues and trees tied with purple ribbons to TERI.  To ask Judge Hedges to reduce Murtari’s sentence, call or write: Judge Bryan Hedges Onondaga County Family Court 401 Montgomery Street Syracuse, NY 13202 (315) 671-2040 To contact public officials on Murtari’s behalf: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (up for election this year) James M. Hanley Federal Building 100 South Clinton Street P.O. Box 7378 Syracuse, NY 13261-7378 Phone: 315-448-0470, Fax: 315-448-0476 Congressman James Walsh (up for election this year) James M. Hanley Federal Building 100 South Clinton Street P.O. Box 7306 Syracuse, NY 13261-7306 Phone: 315-423-5657, Fax: 315-423-5669 US Attorney Glenn Suddaby P.O. Box 7198 100 South Clinton Street Syracuse, NY 13261-7198 Phone: 315-448-0672, Fax: 315-448-0689 Onondaga County DA Bill Fitzpatrick (John already sent Mr. Fitzpatrick a sworn complain about attorney misconduct and perjury — check A Kids Right’s main page for details on April 26,2006.) 505 S. Salina Street Syracuse, NY 13202 Phone: 315-435-2470 To contact the media: WHEC TV (NBC) – Main Number: 585-546-5670 News Hot Line: 585-232-1010, http://www.10nbc.com/contactus.asp [...]
August 9th, 2006 at 12:05 am
[...] The doctors have asked John to drink water. He has, on two occasions. He’s had about 20 ounces of water in 9 days. He had 6 ounces today, “to celebrate” tomorrow’s rally, and to stop “the shakes.” This isn’t a hunger strike. He doesn’t want to die. [...]
August 9th, 2006 at 8:53 am
This man is hurting his son. He should go through the proper legal channels and get his child support reduced if he earns less money now and also has to pay travel expenses for his son during visitation. Whats done is done, right or wrong. The reality is his son lives in California with a mother he also loves and has ample visitation with his dad. I think this is more of a issue between the parents and the child should not suffer because they can’t get their act together. I work as a counselor with children of divorce and I can tell you how parents like these are damaging their children. They should hear what I hear children saying in session.
August 9th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Re: post on 8/5 by FamilyLawyer:
“The Antipeonage Act does not apply to child support. Child support is an obligation and not a debt. The argument has been made many times over the years, and each time it has failed in the courts.”
“Written like a true lawyer. The family courts are a joke. To the average Joe out here, owing money is the same thing. Lawyers like to parse words meant to confuse. polititians / lawyers are masters at it. A pile of crap may be called a pile of feces, still stinks. S: (n) obligation (the state of being obligated to do or pay something) S: (n) debt (the state of owing something (especially money).
“Mr. Murtari is quite misguided in his efforts. Firstly, Senator Clinton has no obligation to meet with him and his group.”
The Framers of the Constitution created a bicameral Congress out of a desire to have two houses to check each other. One house was intended to be a “people’s house” that would be very sensitive to public opinion. So why is Senator Clinton not obligated to meet with Mr. Murtari and his group? I guess that depends on the meaning of the word is.
“Secondly, his so called Family Rights Act is not something that can be legislated at the federal level. It instead, is something specifically for each state to adopt in full, in part or to totally reject.”
I’ll have to check with House Speaker Jim Black from North Carolina to help me with that one. Maybe he could show me how to get things done, without breaking any laws of course. Maybe he could slide something in on a bill at the last minute.
“Mr. Murtari is a veteran. Is continually mentioning this supposed to indicate that people believe that he is “exempt†from the laws that everyone else must follow?”
Everyone but the people who write and interpret them. Mr Murtari served his country and is now serving his time. Where do you get “exempt”? Cindy Sheehan uses her dead son and the far left wing to get her message across. Veteran means something to me if not Hilary Clinton.
“Mr. Murtari has created his own problems by being stubborn and wanting to be a martyr. That is his choice, and in rational people’s minds, can hardly make him a hero. His personal choices to take care of his mother and not try to pay child support have left him effectively without a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of.”
I see, don’t buck the system or stand up for what you believe in. Martyr, sufferer (one who suffers for the sake of principle). It’s all about pot$ and window$ for the rational thinking lawyers, politicians and doctors. Pay to play as usual. No pay, go straight to prison and to hell with the child. laws are written by politicians and lawyers for politicians and lawyers for the sole porpose of keeping we the sheeple in line so that big corporations / big government can bleed off as much money as possible from us. Maybe I should become a Mexican citizen and walk back across the border.
Too bad Mr. Murtari is just a blimp on the green radar screen of the justice system. Adolph couldn’t have written your responce any better.
August 16th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
There appears to be some confusion about how Mr. Murtari got into such a fiscal problem.
I believe this is what happened (See letter below):
August 9, 2006
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
RE: EMERGENCY REQUEST FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE TO PARDON FELLOW NON-CUSTODIAL PARENT – MR. JOHN MURTARI – ON THE GROUNDS OF ENTRAPMENT
Dear Senator Clinton:
I recently wrote you about saving Children(s) rights by way of E-COURT and I reported last time that your team responded immediately.
Now we need your help to save the rights of a Non-Custodial Parent. His name is Mr. John Murtari. He is a leader in the Children(s) rights movement. I believe he has been framed as part of a debtors-prison-strategy used by wealthy lawyers, psychologists, custodial parents, politicians, and/or prosecutors to feather bed or further their careers at the expense of the Non-Custodial Parent. This strategy is used across two (2) continents. Their credo is: “pay us or elseâ€. In this case, the “else†translated to a jail sentence. In other cases, like mine, it translates into denial of visitation. Please see his website http://www.akidsright.org for more background information on the Murtari case.
Upon reviewing John’s website, you’ll find his six month incarceration was unlawful for the following reasons:
• “DOUBLE BILLING†the defendant on every occasion so they can put John into Debtors Prison is the most probable cause and by not providing receipts. In Grunfeld v. Grunfeld, 94 N.Y.2d 696, 709 N.Y.S.2d 486 (2000), the Court of Appeals clearly prohibited doubling. These excess monies are really alimony and are taxed accordingly. Support monies go under the income tax radar which is clearly tax evasion by the custodial parent.
• Debtors’ prison and Peonage was outlawed in the 1800’s with slavery. John is being charge twice his earnings and his downward modification requests are ignored by Judges.
• There was an abuse of power or police misconduct which is in violation of Title 42, U.S.C, Section 14141
• There was questionable behavior on the part of the Judge, Prosecutor, Custodial Parent, and/or Lawyers where the motive is to be determined.
NOTE: There is reasonable cause to believe the motive was because John’s web site competes with Bar Association; hence the system has conspired to slow him down.
More importantly, as tax payers, I do not approve of wasting good tax monies on ruining peoples’ lives when it could be spent on a Child’s education.
Please let him out so he can pay his child support and continue his Children(s) rights efforts. His incarceration will only put him further behind in his Child Support obligations.
Your consideration in this matter is appreciated not for my sake but for the Children.
Sincerely,
>scott