Fathers Battling Injustice

Family Is Destroyed by ‘Poverty Lawyers

Posted By: Athena
Date: Friday, 17 March 2000, at 6:07 p.m.

Massachusetts News--March, 2000 By Edward G. Oliver

Family Is Destroyed by ‘Poverty Lawyers

Ken Newell is robbed of family and home

The mother of this family is: • on drugs, • diagnosed with psychological problems, and • recommended for treatment in a hospital. And yet the "poverty lawyers," with the help of the Massachusetts courts, are determined to "protect" her from her husband. It used to be that poor people were represented by local lawyers through their legal aid associations everywhere across the country until the 1960s. (The publisher of this newspaper was a legal aid lawyer in 1961.) However, Lyndon Johnson decided to federalize this local matter, and the lawyers were replaced by a federal system which has resulted in many serious problems, of which this story about a family in trouble is only one example. Ken Newell of Braintree tells Massachusetts News that his family has been persecuted by his mentally disturbed wife and her free government lawyers from Greater Boston Legal Services since the fall of 1998. As a result, the family as a unit has been destroyed and the 54-year-old, self-employed landscaper has lost custody of his children, his home, business and possessions as the result of a recent divorce. He was forced to declare bankruptcy after enduring a hellish year of arrests and fighting futile legal battles in three different courts that have not yet ended. "With all of the power and all of the federal and state money that Legal Services are granted, our family didn’t stand a chance," says Newell. "How can I stay and fight for a cause that I believe is right? How can I fight against the politics of the court system and the women’s advocates? I can’t afford it. There are other families out there with a lot of money fighting this stuff, and they’re not getting anywhere," he says. Newell says he is particularly upset that his two children, an 11-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son, were unnecessarily exposed to the conflict by his wife, Catherine 42, who has won full legal custody despite the court’s knowledge of her drug use and mental condition. He says Legal Services hired accountants to pore through his books looking for money. His house and all his property were sold and the proceeds given to his now ex-wife. The poverty lawyers hired a real estate attorney and appraiser to sell their summer cottage. "My wife had Boston Legal coming into the house constantly. They were constantly there, constantly sending me things, constantly faxing my attorney," says Newell. "I don’t have any money," he says. "I borrowed about $14,000 to pay my attorney’s fees and to pay for the mortgage of the house. My wife receiving free legal services while driving a new Camaro, getting $1100/month tax-free from Social Security and living rent-free while I paid the mortgage." Newell says his disastrous circumstances stem from a combination of factors: his wife’s irrational behavior due to marijuana use mixed with medication, her resulting desire for an easy life on the dole with custody of the kids, and a government all too willing to help her achieve her goals. Newell says that after he tried to follow her doctor’s request to get his wife mental help in 1998, she was able to use the system to destroy the family by making repeated false accusations of violence and death threats which resulted in an arrest record against him in her divorce and custody cases. He has been defending himself against charges by his wife in three different courts at the same time, Brockton and Quincy District Courts and Dedham Probate Court. Father Advised to Abandon Children This husband says he was advised by the police and the court therapist to abandon his children – even move to another state. He was told this despite the fact that the federal government considers his wife to be disabled and unable to function because of marijuana and other drugs. She receives $13,200 tax-free from the federal government every year. She has been placed in charge of their children by the state of Massachusetts. "Every time we go to a courtroom, she tells them she’s afraid of me and everything else. The cops watch me when I’m in the courtroom and she’s protected. She’s always put in a separate room. She makes up this whole thing that I’m trying to kill her. The only thing I ever wanted to do is to get her help." Attempts by Massachusetts News to reach his ex-wife through Legal Services were unsuccessful, and her Legal Services attorney, Pauline Quirion, would not answer questions. Most people connected with his case are unwilling to speak to the press, as are people in almost any case. However, Newell has many contemporaneous documents and witness affidavits including his wife’s psychological evaluation. Tests Show Mental Problems Newell found a copy of his wife’s psychological tests in his court file and produced them at an interview with Massachusetts News in early December as evidence to back up what he says about his wife’s mental condition. He feels that with his back to the wall, a growing arrest record and a legal system geared to women’s causes, there is no other way to defend himself than to go to the press. "The psych test came back and my wife is practically declared crazy," Newell says. The results say his wife is "experiencing numerous psychological problems." "Ms. Newell’s degree of stress and depression raise genuine concern about her safety should she find herself in more emotionally charged situations." At such times, "She is prone to act impulsively and has an extremely psychologically immature manner of coping with situations." "Ms. Newell’s significant elevations on scale 4 and 6 (Psychopathic Deviate and Paranoia) suggest an individual who is often viewed as immature, self-centered and self-indulgent. They typically make excessive and unrealistic demands on relationships. Individuals with this pattern often seek attention and sympathy from others. They may tend to be suspicious of others and resentful of demands made on them. "Relationship problems are characteristic of their psychological conflicts, especially those involving members of the opposite sex. They are often viewed as irritable, sullen, argumentative, and resentful of authority." It says further tests were needed to rule out organic impairment. Other possibilities were substance abuse (for which she tested positive, it says) or more serious emotional disturbance. The test called for a re-evaluation of her current treatment regimen based on the severity of her level of depression and stress. The test results say clinical elevations were also noted on scales 1, 2 and 3 (Hypochondriasis, Depression, and Hysteria) and mild elevations on scales 7 and 8 (Psychastenia and Schizophrenia). In contrast, Newell’s test results revealed mild depression due to his family and legal circumstances but said he was coping fairly well with stress. It said further there was "no evidence of a disturbance in his thought processes." The report concluded that Newell "might benefit at this time of great upheaval in his life" from therapy. Twenty-Six Cases Ken Newell says he has had twenty-six criminal cases filed against him in the two District Courts by his wife, aside from the proceedings for the divorce in the Probate Court. At the time this newspaper went to press, six criminal cases against him have been thrown out in the District Court in Quincy and five are still left to be heard. Nine cases were dismissed in Brockton District Court, six of them repeats from the ones thrown out in Quincy. Started With Money Asked how it all started, Newell replied, "Our whole downfall was money." About 1994, his wife was attacked by the neighbor’s dog which charged her and the children. Although nobody was bitten, "She decided this was an easy way to get money because she could sue the neighbors," he says. According to Newell, Catherine went to a lawyer in Quincy who advised her the emotional disturbance case would be much stronger if she went to a psychiatrist to be put on medication. The lawyer referred her to a doctor from Norwell. "She went to court and won approximately $25,000," says Newell. "But she didn’t stop there. Her doctor or a lawyer advised her that if she were prescribed lithium, she’d be able to get on Social Security." Newell says his wife went on lithium and has been receiving Social Security since 1996. He says he was bewildered by her strange behavior. After all, they were married for almost twenty years. He says he tried to arrange a group meeting at the doctor’s office. His wife became furious when she learned he called her doctor, he says, and the meeting fell through. According to Newell, her mental state deteriorated over the next few years under increasing medication. "On top of the medication, she has another chemical imbalance in her system from a thyroid problem. She has also been smoking marijuana ever since I met her. She won’t give it up," he says. Concerned about the mixture of medication and drug use, Newell says he called the psychiatrist more than a few times to ask if he was aware she was smoking marijuana. He says the doctor at first denied she was smoking marijuana despite Newell’s insistence she was. Cathy became more abusive after she learned her husband called her doctor about her illicit drug use, says Newell. He says Cathy kicked him out of the house by initiating a Restraining Order against him in Probate Court, but a few days later she asked the court to remove the order. A copy of the motion to terminate the Restraining Order says in her own words that her medical condition affected her decision-making ability. The couple tried to patch up their problems after that, according to Newell. According to Newell, her doctor eventually told him she should spend some time at some mental hospital. Newell said paying for it would be a problem. The doctor told Newell that Medicaid would cover it but Newell would have to be the one to get her in there. The doctor also said if she didn’t want to go in, she wouldn’t have to go. The Newells Sell Their House The Newells sold their house in Holbrook last month. When all the money had been distributed, Boston Legal Services had taken $1698.10 from the proceeds. Another lawyer for the wife, Margaret Drew, received $350 and her third lawyer, Steven Downey, got $450. The wife, Catherine Newell, got $4019.13. Ken Newell got nothing. In the summer of 1998, Newell says he tried to convince his wife to go to a hospital after her doctor failed to convince her to admit herself. "I never pushed it, though, because her father got sick and she was very worried," he says. "All during the summer of 1998, it was up and down. Most of the bad times were when she was smoking marijuana," he says. Husband Seeks Help Newell says after his wife’s behavior worsened, he went to a Quincy Court clinician named Dr. Lavoie four or five times for help. Finally, he went before a judge. The judge said there wasn’t enough evidence to put her in a hospital for observation. After more problems at home, Newell went back to Dr. Lavoie, who told him the only thing he could do was take her into Dedham Probate Court. Massachusetts News attempted to reach Dr. Lavoie but was told by the court he is now retired in Florida. The use of marijuana and medications continued, says Newell. "I got tired of it. I went to Dedham Probate Court like the Quincy Court told me to." He says the court called Cathy and she came in. It was December of 1998, about the time Cathy began getting free legal help from Greater Boston Legal Services, which continued to help her in Probate Court, according to Newell. "The judge asked what the problem was," says Newell. He says he explained to the judge how Dr. Lavoie advised him to bring Cathy in to be evaluated for drugs with a hair test. Newell says his wife reacted by countering that her husband was a nut who used cocaine and she said they were celibate for five years. Newell says he answered her cocaine charges by volunteering to submit himself to a drug test. After a few questions regarding Cathy’s celibacy claim, he says the judge told her, "I don’t like a liar in my courtroom. You will go down right now to get a hair follicle drug test, and you will get a psychological evaluation." Cathy, however, talked the judge out of taking the test that day because she had to pick up the children. The judge told her to be in the next morning or he would issue a bench warrant for her arrest, according to Newell. That night, he says, she left the family home. He says she returned the following morning and pleaded with him that she was going to be hurt by the court tests. He says she worried she would lose her Social Security if they found out she was smoking marijuana. Newell says he assured her he was not out to hurt her; he only wanted to put her into the hospital temporarily like he had tried before. Newell says he then told Cathy he wanted her to quit smoking marijuana and have herself tested for drugs on a regular basis. He also wanted the family to see a therapist to deal with their problems and he wanted custody of the kids. Cathy agreed with those conditions, according to Newell. Newell says they went to court and explained their agreement to the judge who was pleased the couple came up with their own solution. On Marijuana Again But that evening, Newell says, Cathy began reacting negatively to the new situation. The next day, according to Newell, he came home to find a girlfriend arranging to get some more marijuana for Cathy. Cathy got her marijuana and began her screaming and abusive behavior again, he says. Newell went back to Dedham Probate Court. He explained the situation to Dee Crawford, a mediator from Family Service. The judge agreed to bring in Cathy and to hear the case. Crawford called and left a message to Cathy to come into court. Newell says that following his attempt to help his wife, "Everything backfired and she had me arrested for assault and battery which I didn’t do." He explains what happened. Newell had to leave Dedham Probate Court to pick up his children since he had custody by their agreement. He brought his daughter from school to her grandmother’s house and then went home to wait for his son. In the meantime, the court called the house again looking for Cathy who did not want to take the call. Eventually she took the phone from her husband and became outraged that the court was ordering her to vacate the house and to come in to court on Monday, according to Newell. Newell got ready to take his son to his grandmother to be with his sister. He says they started to leave, but his upset wife hit him in the shoulder and tried to stab him in the face with a pencil. "She got in my face and said, ‘Hit me! Hit me!" says Newell. He says he refused to hit her, but she continued taunting him. He says he told his wife he would be back to talk about the court matter and then he brought his son to his mother-in-law’s house. "I should have never gone back," he says. When he returned, Cathy was on the phone with her mother. Newell turned on the TV and played with the dog while waiting for her to finish, he says. They began discussing Monday’s court appearance. She said she was not vacating the house, that Newell would have to take the kids and go somewhere. Newell refused and offered to give her some money to stay somewhere for the weekend. Cathy went into the kitchen where there was another phone, according to Newell. ‘Cops Show Up’ "All of a sudden, the cops show up," Newell recalled. "Sgt. Shanley told me he got a call about domestic violence." The police came in. One went to speak with Cathy and came back announcing Newell beat up his wife. "They threw me against the wall. I said, ‘What are you doing?’ They said, ‘We’re arresting you for assault and battery, you beat up your wife.’ I said, ‘I never touched my wife!’ "She claimed I threw her on the floor, stepped on her pelvic area, punched her in the face, knocked the coffee over. It’s a long thing. "All this stuff would have been eliminated in the beginning if the cops did the right thing. Starting with the cops, they should check everything out. ‘He hit you? Okay come on, let’s take you to the hospital and see if there is a bruise or see if there is scar tissue.’ They didn’t do that. They listen to the woman. Always the woman. And the cops will tell you that. You can ask any cop. You can go to any police station and ask any cop. If a woman accuses a man, they’ll arrest you just like that. Where’s the check in the system?" The police report states that when Mrs. Newell was asked if she needed medical attention, "She stated that she might need to get her eye checked but that she would go on her own." Newell says his wife later told him she used make-up to redden her face under her eye to fool the police. Newell has a photograph of the slightly reddish area on her face in his documentation. According to Newell, Cathy’s sister, Toni, recently testified in court about Cathy’s face deception. Toni refused to comment on that for Massachusetts News, saying it was a family matter. He was released and told he had to be in Quincy Criminal Court on Monday over the alleged beating but says he realized he had a Dedham Probate Court appearance with Cathy that day for the drug test. He was instructed by the Quincy court to go to Probate first, then come to Quincy in the afternoon session. Cathy flunked that drug test according to court records in Newell’s possession. According to Newell, at Probate Court, after Cathy told Judge Langlois her husband beat her up, the judge took the kids away from them both and gave them to the grandmother until their problems were settled later in court. He also put a Restraining Order on Newell who had to move in with his sister in Braintree. Cathy said she wanted to file for divorce. "I agreed to it but really didn’t want to get a divorce because I knew she was having problems mentally and it wasn’t a marriage problem. It was a psychological problem that wasn’t being addressed properly," Newell explains. "Her drug test came up positive, her psych test proved she was a wacko. But nothing helped in the divorce because they acted on the assumption I was doing all this to her," he says. "I never had a record before all this started. Now suddenly, I’m an ‘extremely dangerous person’ according to the batterers’ programs." Wife Arrested in Brockton Cathy was soon arrested for assault and battery in Brockton after she went to return some coffee to a donut shop. She became violent and threw some things and knocked things over. The shop asked the police to just get her out of there. Cathy argued with the police who then arrested her, according to Newell. Newell went to the court in Brockton and explained he had a Restraining Order on him but his wife was in a lockup and he was there to try to help her. He was told he could go into the courtroom. Cathy "freaked out " at the sight of him, he says. The police and the donut shop didn’t want to prosecute her, so the case was dismissed. The woman from the shop said she realized Cathy had mental problems, according to Newell. The Arrests Continue What continued after that was an ongoing saga of arrests of Ken Newell, some of which he detailed for Massachusetts News. A man identifying himself as Cathy’s doctor called her mother and said Cathy was being admitted to the hospital for a long stay. Could the mother look after the house which was open and look after the animals? The mother told Newell who tried to calm his crying daughter by promising to go to the hospital desk to try and find out what had happened. The receptionist found that Cathy was in the Emergency Room and she told Newell to go in. He explained they both had Restraining Orders, so he was asked to wait in the waiting room and someone would check for him. After he sat down he realized too late that the nurse might call the police. She did call the police and he was arrested and locked in the Brockton jail. Newell believes Cathy’s original plan was to trick him into going to her house to check on the dogs. He never found out why she went to the Emergency Room or who called, but she did not stay at the hospital. Another time he was at a bank for about an hour discussing some work that he would be hired to do around the parking lot. Cathy called the police claiming he called her and threatened her life. He was arrested and thrown in jail. He was released, however, when the arresting cop verified with the bank employee that Newell was where he said he was at the time Cathy claimed he called her. Newell has affidavits from bank employees confirming his alibi. On his mother’s 80th birthday, "The cops came in and said, ‘You’re arrested. You just chased your wife from Brockton to Holbrook.’ ‘I said, that’s impossible. I’ve been here all morning for my mother’s 80th birthday. There are seven people sitting here.’ They arrested me. It’s just an ongoing battle. It’s that unreal." His sister, Donna Walsh, her husband, son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter were also there. "Supposedly he was stalking her, but he never left the house," says his sister. She says a retired Braintree cop across the street visiting his son was also a witness that Newell was home. "He has to go to court on one of the cases as a witness," she says. Newell avoided jail but was put under house arrest and had to wear a bracelet for which he had to pay $50.00 a week and which was very intrusive."There’s a monitor they put in the house with your picture on it and a screen. They will call you sometimes two or three times a night. You have to be in front of the monitor within two rings. All of a sudden, you’re supposed to look in front of the monitor and press a button and it takes a picture. Before you take the picture, they ask you to do certain things, like put your finger in front of your nose, hold up three fingers, all that stuff." Donna says the police called her once looking for Newell. Cathy had called the police accusing Newell of following her in his truck and bumping her car. Donna said Newell was at his lawyer’s office at the time and the car that he was accused of using was put in the shop the day before. The charge was later dismissed. "Nothing happens to her," says Donna. She also says that at other times when he was supposedly calling his wife, Newell was at home with her and her husband. "Ken has been living with us all this time. We used to hear her when she would call him. He would put her on the speakerphone and we could hear her tell him she lied about this and lied about that. We have witnesses of her saying he didn’t really do anything and she was afraid that it had gone too far now to ever tell the truth." Donna says, "Cathy’s own sisters and mother are all afraid of Cathy because Cathy makes threats to them all. Cathy’s father was sick in the hospital, and we had all gone to court one day. Cathy’s two sisters were in court. The sisters called the mother to tell her that Cathy was on her way to the hospital to visit the father. Her mother who was at the hospital was so afraid of bumping into her, she walked home in the dark and she locked herself in her own house with the lights off. Does that say anything about your own daughter?" The arrangement at the time of Newell’s latest arrest was for the couple to be able to see the kids twice a week for four hours per visit. "So I would take the kids out and we would have a good time together. My wife couldn’t cope with that. She couldn’t cope with the kids being in her mother’s house and she couldn’t cope with the kids coming back saying they had a good time with me." Newell says Cathy was collecting Social Security for both herself and the kids but wouldn’t give her mother any of the money. Newell says he went back to the judge requesting an order for Cathy to give the Social Security money to her mother for taking care of the kids. The judge ordered them to appear in ten days. Newell had the order served on Cathy. He was allowed to go into his business office attached to the house where she lived but not into the house. He arranged with the constable to meet at 8:30 a.m. at the house to serve her. They met outside. She opened the door and the constable served the subpoena. Newell went back to his office for the few minutes while the constable spoke with Cathy. "When I went back outside, the constable was gone. I left too. I went back to the office two or three times that day for my business. At 1:30 p.m. I was driving back to the house to get some more paperwork when all of a sudden the cops stop me. They arrested me on the spot. "‘You kicked open the door of your house, you took your wife by the throat and threatened to kill her and bury her in the back yard.’ I said ‘I did not!’ The cop said, ‘We don’t care. We’re going to arrest you.’" Newell says the police told him Cathy called them at 1:30 and reported that he attacked her at 8:30. Newell asked if the police talked to the constable who was there at that time. They did, but the constable told them that he left shortly after 8:30 while Newell was still there. Newell says he must have left shortly after the constable did. He asked the police if it wasn’t strange she called at 1:30 p.m. if it happened at 8:30 a.m. "So they arrest me, now I’m out again. This time I can’t go near the house. It just escalates like that, you can’t stop the escalation. With the way the children’s situation was and the way she was getting what she wanted all the time that she did it, she would keep calling the cops. Numerous times she would call them and say, ‘He’s trying to kill me.’" Newell recounted an incident where he was helping his workers get their truck started at a cemetery. He says a policewoman from the Holbrook Police Department came up to him and said, "We have a problem Kenny, we’re sick and tired of your wife calling up all the time and accusing you of this stuff. When are you going to divorce her and get away from your wife?" Newell answered her, "Don’t you think I am too? What’s the problem now?" He says the officer told him they had just received another call, but the officer said, "I know you weren’t there because I saw you up in Holbrook Square." The officer had spotted Newell buying a part for the work truck when the call came in and she followed him to the cemetery where they were landscaping. He was not arrested. As a result of his not being arrested, Cathy went to court to complain that the police weren’t helping anymore, Newell says. She said her husband was trying to kill her, and she feared for the kids’ lives. The judge told her in that case he was going to have to put the kids in a safe-house. "Well my wife freaked out," says Newell, "She didn’t anticipate that. She anticipated she would get the kids." After her protestations, the judge relented and offered to put her together with the kids in a safe-house, which Cathy agreed to. The police went to the mother-in-law’s house and took the children to a safe-house to be with Cathy. Newell continued, "After that, she had me arrested around February, 1999." He says he was living downstairs at his sister’s and brother-in-law’s house and was invited up for dinner. When they were all eating, the Braintree Police came to the door about 7:20 p.m. with a warrant for Newell’s arrest. He was told Cathy complained he was outside her house shining a flashlight through her window. She said he was outside her house at 7:05 in Holbrook which was 15 minutes away. Newell’s brother-in-law explained to the police that was impossible, he was there all evening having dinner with the family. "That was a Friday night. They arrested me and kept me all weekend for violation of a 209A Restraining Order. I was supposed to stay 150 feet away from my wife according to the order. We went to Quincy Court for a show cause hearing. After she got on the stand and couldn’t answer questions without obviously lying, the judge stopped the whole thing and asked the district attorney, ‘Why do you want to put Mr. Newell in jail?’" Newell says the judge told the district attorney he wanted a jury to hear the case. The case will be heard in March.

Back Together In March, 1999, at a pre-trial hearing for the divorce, the judge ordered a hair follicle drug test for Cathy but gave her a period to dry out first, according to Newell. "So, she went off marijuana for a few months. She got a little bit better. She was able to talk, and when she saw me she was emotional. We decided to try and get our lives back together again. So we both went into the court and dropped both of our Restraining Orders. "So we started seeing each other. We went down to the cottage on the weekends. Everything was fine, it was a little bit touch-and-go sometimes but most of the times it was not perfect, but it was good. The kids were very happy." During a romantic trip to the Cape, Newell says his wife giggled and told him how she fooled the police with make-up when she told them he hit her. When they returned, he explained their situation to Dr. Krock, the Norfolk Probate Court clinician. Krock was to arrange for the couple to see a law therapist from Mass General Hospital who would assist them in mending their ways and untying all the legal knots between the different courts and departments. Newell says he noticed Cathy had begun using drugs again but avoided mentioning it. However, according to Newell, difficulties arose over the prospect of Cathy returning to work and giving up her Social Security money. Newell says she would have to work or he couldn’t afford much longer to keep up the house payments. "I also didn’t want her sitting idly at home thinking about how to screw people," he says. "She could have been the bank treasurer by now if she went back to work. She is very smart and was the assistant treasurer of Dedham Savings." A Family Is Destroyed Newell says his wife could simply call the police anytime it was convenient for her and have him arrested because of the 209A Restraining Order. "I know where it all stems from, and I’ve tried helping her more than one time. During the whole show of getting arrested, thrown in jail, all the stuff with the kids, I still tried to put the family back together during the summer. For her, all she wants is somebody to pay for what she wants all the time. She wants money, money, money and she wants to be on those drugs. She won’t stop on those drugs, and the state keeps giving her legal help to play these games. "I mean, anybody that knows anything about the case, even her family, is against her. It’s apparent in all of her medical records, being in therapy for 5 or 6 years, collecting Social Security because of her medical condition, being on thyroid medication which is a chemical imbalance to her system while tooted up with marijuana and drugs. And if you look at all that stuff, how can anyone come to the insane conclusion that the husband is the evil person? This is basically what a lot of guys have to deal with. "The 209A is a tool, a technical tool for my wife to use whenever my wife wants to use it. She’s in the driver’s seat. I can’t afford to be in the driver’s seat, I can’t afford it! I don’t have free legal services. This woman from Legal Services goes into my home in my office and she wants my books and my records and everything else from the last six years! I say, I don’t know what you want, so she goes in my office with Cathy and takes my tax books and all my office books and brings them back to her legal office. She put an order into the courts that I have to turn in what I’ve been making. She takes my books and she gives them to accountants and what do they find? They find the truth. There is no money!" Can’t See Children Newell recounted more anecdotes about false charges and arrests and how his wife would use the resulting report from District court against him in Probate Court where family issues are decided. This led to a new Restraining Order which specifies he can see the children only once a week for two hours at the Brockton Family and Community Resources Center. At the conclusion of each visit, for the next half-hour a therapist assesses the quality of the visit and the impact on the children. Newell is frustrated that he is severely restricted in what he can talk about with the kids on these visits. When his wife was sent to a safe house so "he wouldn’t kill her," she and the children were apparently moved from Brockton to Fall River and then up near New Hampshire. The children were unable to attend school and they were taught in the safe houses. "What do I want to happen? Simple. I want what I originally wanted to do. I wanted to put her in the hospital for at least 30 to 60 days to dry her out and to put her on the medication that she’s supposed to be having, or get her off the medication. I want her to understand what is happening, the damage she’s been doing to the kids for the past year and whatever months. She brought them to a safe house twice, she brought the kids in court, she had the police department in the house with the children accusing me. She mentally abused my children. She has been swearing at my children. "My wife is messed up medically. She’s a chemically imbalanced woman. It is proven. The state is trying to make me walk away from my family." At a time when many men like Ken Newell are complaining they and their children are suffering from abuse from existing laws, politicians eager to appear tough on "domestic violence" lined up to pass yet another stalking bill in the Senate recently. The bill, which is headed to the House, would create a new crime of "criminal harassment." A three year prison sentence awaits first-time offenders.