NOTE: I am in the process of writing a book. The following blog is part of my research and is a chronological order of actual events that happened starting from April 2006 to now. Just trying to keep my memory of events fresh. A TIMELINE-

The First Amendment to the United States of America Constitution protects the rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression from government interference.      I.  Freedom of expression consists of the rights to freedom of Speech, PRESS, Assembly and to petition the government for redress of grievances, and the implied rights of association and belief. The Supreme Court interprets the extent of the protection afforded to these rights. The First Amendment has been interpreted by the Courts as applying to the entire federal government even though it is only expressly applicable to Congress. Furthermore, the Court has interpreted, the due process clause of the fourteenth Amendment as protecting the rights in the First Amendment from interference by STATE governments.

                             The pen is mightier then the sword—edward bulwer-lytton

A time line of actual events….

I do not usually do this but in this case I felt I needed too.All parents, Grandparents and anyone who has a child who is the most important person in their lives should know this about the court systems, social services,Guardian-ad-litems, and the foster care homes and the so-called foster parents that they put our children with. These people are ALL liars and thieves who for the most part have absolutely no experience but are just trying to cover their asses and will say anything to prove their own bullshit. This is my forum and I am going to name names because I just do not care what happens to me, it is just that important to me. I am protected by the first amendment of the United States Constitution, but then again I do not care. The things and events that I will write about actually happened and are true so help me God.

APRIL 2006

A little background information on myself and the circumstance that made me start this blog. My name is not that important and either are the facts around my divorce, which started in 2006 but the events that follow are. When my wife and I separated our two young daughters ,who at the time were 12 and 10, went out of the home with their mother. They could have stayed with me but I knew it was important for them to be with their mother. At the time I did think that within a couple of days I would calm down and my wife and I would be able to sit down and talk. Well I did calm down and was able to talk to my wife but for whatever reasons she decided to stay out of the home, as she put it “to clear my head” and she wanted the girls to stay with her. Of course I did not like this but I did agree to it. In books I have read and the classes I have had in college, they have all suggested that the most important person in a young girls life is that of the same-sex parent so I felt that during this time it was important to our girls to be with Terri. My wife had told me that she was receiving help from a local group in town called “Listening Ear’, and they had agreed to put her and the girls up in a motel while she decides what to do in terms of our marriage. Just the other day I was talking to my ex-wife on the phone and we were discussing this period of time during our separation and she told me that when she went to “Listening Ear” they decided to put her at the VIKING MOTEL,  she actually made the comment that she wished that they would have never put her up at that motel because a lot of  construction workers stayed there too.” I found out later that she was having countless affairs, (maybe that is not the right word to use because we were “separated” at the time) with most of the constructions workers,  while my daughter’s played on the road and railroad tracks by the motel. As a reminder they have already been to Social Services and through them were put in contact with the group “LISTENING EAR” and were under Douglas County guidance and protection.  I never knew about any of this. When my wife and I separated I made a conscious decision to stay away for a few months, for her and me to sort things out and also for the sake of the girls to allow things and events to calm down a little. I did not know where they were and nobody at social services would tell me, however I did find out a month or so later through some of my friends, but I had no idea what my wife was actually doing. I just assumed that she was taking care of the girls and while they were in school looking for a job.

So all of a sudden after 14 years of being happily married or so I thought, here I was sitting at home alone and depressed and to be honest wondering “What the HELL happened?” While my wife at the expense of Douglas County, Douglas County Social Services and “Listening Ear” was having the time of her life, screwing everyone who smiled in her direction. Men and women.

In asking a few questions and doing some detective work on my own I found out that when she went to Social Services  and “Listening Ear” to get some kind of assistance. She claimed that I physically and verbally abused her. I would never hit her or my children in my life and anyone who knows me will tell you the same,  but my wife hit me all the time, I guess you could make the argument that I could have brushed her when I was putting my hands up to protect myself, I just do not know for sure. As for the verbal abuse that she claimed, we did have arguments and disagreements as did any other married couple but as far as I can remember these never got any worse than anybody elses and in no way could you claim verbal abuse. Social Services and “Listening Ear” had also advised her to go see an attorney, which if this went on any longer and her claims were justified would have been the correct thing to do however in less then five days from the day she left our home with our daughters, and without checking out any facts Douglas County Social Services and “Listening Ear” had already characterized me “the husband” and the father of those two beautiful girls who were the best things in my life as a monster, without even meeting me or knowing I was disabled and used a walker to walk, a scooter to use outside of the home and a handicapped accessible van for travel around town they ALL in their infamous wisdom took the word and story of the wife. Is it me or am I just crazy, wouldn’t you like to know both of the people involved and find out both sides of the story before blindly believing the first story that you hear? 

I did assume that “Listening Ear” in accordance with Douglas County Social Services was providing her with money for lodging, food, gas and misc. expense (Remember all of those affairs she was having with those construction workers)  Douglas County and Douglas County Social Services were actually being her pimp in this whole deal. All of these activities of my ex-wife Illegal  (drugs) and In moral were funded by “Listening Ear”, Douglas County Social Services and the fine citizens of the state of Minnesota through their tax dollars, you think that my wife cared about any of this? HELL NO ! But you would have thought Douglas County and Social Services would be on top of this. Again my answer is HELL NO!!!.

A few days into our separation I received in the mail an envelope from Douglas County Social Services and  a Anna Solheid,  who as the letter stated was a court appointed representative who was sending this letter to both my wife at her address (which was unknown to me but known to Ms. Solheid, the courts and Social Services). The letter went on to say that we both were receiving this questionnaire and  we had fifteen days to fill it out and send it back and if it was not could be punishable by law. I completed my questionnaire within four days and mailed it back the next day. A week or two after I had mailed this questionnaire back there was a knock at the front door of the house, I was in the back of the house so it took me awhile to get to the door. It was an older lady in her 60’s who introduced herself as Anna Solheid, the Court appointed representative who was assigned our case to follow-up on. She stated that she had received the questionnaire I had filled out and had just wanted to stop by and introduce herself and take a quick look at our home so if my wife and the girls decide to come home they would be safe and secure. Of course I agreed to her looking around and asked how my wife and the girls were. Ms. Solheid stated that she has not even met my wife and daughters yet, so I asked her that since she received my questionnaire had she received my wife’s, she stated  that she had not. By my count this was around the 20th day of  mailing mine back. In our short introductions and conversation I must have shown my frustration to Ms. Solheid,because in her mind (Not knowing me or even seeing me until 15 minutes ago when I opened my front door) reason to be concern because she raised her voice and stated “Well, I am an officer of the court and I am here seeing you now not your wife”. I guessed I chuckled a little at this little old lady getting a little testy with me because I commented back to her that, “If you’re an officer of the court (Which is laughable by itself) then why when I filled out my questionnaire in time and mailed it back before the court ordered deadline, why are you here seeing me instead of going over and requesting that document from my wife” At this, this little old lady by the name of Anna Solheid, I could see she was getting angry turned around and retorted “she was done here” and walked out my front door. All I was thinking at that moment was “If this is an Officer of the Court from Douglas County from the great state of Minnesota,  I was dealing with a lot of people who had no place being in the position that they were in, but rather they were there just to take up space and collect their meager paycheck from the good taxpayer of Minnesota. She could not get a job anywhere else so she decided to milk the state of Minnesota…Which I find is typical of low-level government employees.In my opinion this is a sad fact.

Summer 2006- The beginning

May 2006

Since the 22nd of April I had not seen my wife or daughters except for a two or three times, when she would stop by. On one such occasion I was having a hard time sleeping and she had gone to the drug store to pick up a prescription for me, the reason for my not sleeping were a couple of times during the early morning hours I would receive a phone call and on the times I would answer the phone the person on the other end would just mumble or scream to the point where I could not understand what they were saying. This was obviously my wife and her current boyfriend. I had called her a few times about this but she had denied it. During this month she and the girls had moved out of the Viking Motel and into an  two bedroom apartment at the Condamera Apartment on Fillmore, less then 8 blocks from our home. She got some furnishings for the apartment from the group that works through Douglas County and Douglas County Social Services called “Listening Ear”. She also moved in her boyfriend,  Roderick Pounce, the guy that she had been seeing while she was still married to me, all of this with the approval of Douglas County. In the months to follow I had heard that they was going out all the time and leaving our young daughter’s in the apartment by themselves. When this would happen our youngest daughter, Megan who was 10 at the time would take off on her bike and ride across town to a friend’s house leaving Haley who was 12 at the time alone in the apartment watching TV. One night in early May I had a meeting at the Eagles and as we usually do after our meetings and before we went home we would have a few drinks. On our meeting nights I would usually get home around 10:30pm. I got home that night around 10:15pm and had received a phone call from Julie Thomas, a friend of my wife and the mother of Megan’s friend. She told me that a hour or so ago she had received a phone call from Terri (my wife) who was very drunk and loud on the phone, who told her she and Rod were on their way to Bismark, North Dakota, they were near Fergus Falls now and needed Julie to go to the apartment and pick up the girls and keep them overnight. Julie had been sick that day and could not do it, she told Terri that Megan had been there but had ridden her bike back to the apartment a few minutes ago. Terri stated that she thought the girls would be ok alone tonight and the she and Rod would probably be back around noon tomorrow. When Julie got off the phone with Terri she called the apartment and got no answer. 30 minutes later Megan had shown up at her door again and had said that when she went back to the apartment no one was there so not wanting to be alone in a strange apartment she came back over to wait for her mother to get home and pick her up. This is when Julie called me. She came to the house with Megan a short time later. The immediate problem was that we needed to know where  Haley was. On the way over here Julie had stopped at a few places that she thought she might be at but was unable to locate her. She stayed for awhile to help calm Megan down since by now and from the comments she had heard she knew what her mother had done and where Terri was headed and that she would not be home that night. We ask many times where she thought her sister might be but Megan had no idea. Julie had to take off because her children were home with her boyfriend and she did not want to stay away too long. After she left Megan and I jumped in my van and went over to the apartment. Since the girls and their mother had only lived there for less then a month I had never been there and did not know the layout of the apartment and since I had my scooter I did not know if the apartment was big enough for me to move around. I let Megan out of the van to go inside and take a look around for Haley one more time, thinking that she might had come home since the last time Megan was there. As she hopped out I pulled into a parking space and started to open the side doors to get out of the van when Megan came out and said that Haley was right behind her, she was closing and locking the door to the apartment. Megan said that Haley was in a closet of the apartment hiding all night since 8:00pm, she was crying because she was scared, they had only lived in that apartment a few weeks and when she came home no one was there and it was getting dark so she hid in the closet till someone came home. By now it was around midnight so of course I took the girls to the house for them to spend the night, I would be calling this Anna Solheid and Social Services first thing in the morning, as for now all I wanted to do was to get my daughters home and safely in bed. In surroundings they were familiar with.

I woke up early the next morning to check on the girls, They were both sleeping soundly in their own beds. I made a pot of coffee and turned on the TV in the kitchen as any morning, as it was my morning routine, looked at the clock on the stove and it was only 7:30am and I know that if I called this Anna Solheid she would not even be up to take my call until 9:00, so I turned down the volume on the TV and just sat there in the darkness of the early morning hours drinking my coffee and thinking about the night before, wondering what I was going to say to this Anna Solheid when I finally got a hold of her. I knew it was not going to be pretty. Here they are, the Judges, the Gardian-at-litem, Social Services and the case worker. All of them by their own imposed authority and super large EGOS are telling me that my girls are safer with my soon to be Ex-wife then they would be with me. My-ex-wife who takes off at night with her boyfriend, or who will ever smile in her direction and leaves my young daughter’s in an apartment and complex that they are unfamiliar with and tells them she will be home in the morning. As I sat there drinking my morning coffee all I could think of is how scared Haley and Megan must have been, their mother calls them and tells them that she is on her way to Bismark, North Dakota and she will not be home tonight but rather around noon tomorrow. My girls who are only 12 and 10 at the time and have only lived in the apartment complex less then a month, as I am sitting there getting angrier at every sip. The phone rang at 9:15am I answered it and it was Anna telling me that she was on her way over, she arrived a few minutes later with a Social Services case worker, a Nikki Martin who I had met a few days earlier when she was put in charge of my wife’s and daughter’s case. She was very young actually she looked like she had just graduated from high school. She was young and pretty with short blond hair and did not at all look like she was a social services case worker but rather looked as if she had just came from a beach volley ball game. Anna asked about the girls and I told them they were still asleep and they were welcome to look in at them. Walking down the hallway to their rooms they both very quietly open their bedrooms door to check on each of them. They came back to the kitchen where I was drinking my last cup of coffee. They asked about the events of last night and I told them what had happened.  As I almost got done telling them of the events of the other night Anna Solheid’s cell phone rang, it was my wife telling her that she was on her way back to Alexandria and should be in town around 1:00pm. The girls were not up yet so they both left and said that they were be back as soon as my wife was back. I asked what they intended to do about this mess and they advise me that they would talk to Terri when she was back and find out what her story was and then take the proper actions if they were needed at that time. 

Around 1:00pm the phone rang, the girls had been up for an hour or so. They had breakfast and were playing and watching TV in their rooms. I was just doing things around the house and going up and down the stairs carrying laundry to the laundry room. I was just going by the kitchen when the phone rang. I hurried as fast as I possibly could on a walker and was able to pick up the phone on the third ring. a little out of breath I was able to get out a hello, it was Anna Solheid she told me that Terri and this Rod guy had gotten back into town around noon and had met with Anna and Nikki Martin, the case worker at the Social Services offices. Anna said that Terri and Rod had explained the situation to them and why they had to leave, it seemed that this Rod’s boss had called and needed him in Bismark to talk over a few plans that they have for a project they were working on in Alexandria and since Rod did not have a vehicle or a license to drive because he was picked up a few months ago for a DWI he asked Terri to drive him and she had agreed. I asked this Anna why since Terri had the responsibility of my daughters why she agreed to do this and why did they wait until 9:00pm to leave for Bismark, Ms. Solheid stated that Terri had told them that she had Julie Thomas lined up to take care of the girls that night, which I knew was a lie because Julie had been sick that day and was home with her kids and boyfriend when Megan came over on her bike around 7:00pm. I told Anna and Nikki that this was a lie and why I knew it was. I think they both looked at each other and then Anna said that she had no reason to think otherwise and is going by Terri’s explanation and even if it was not the wisest thing to do the girls were fine and no harm was done. At this I angrily replied that it was because of me and Julie that the girls were here and still not over in the apartment all alone. This is when Nikki Martin broke in and said that even if that was the case that they (Social Services) felt no reason to change the way things are and now that the girls were up that they, Nikki and Anna would be taking the girls back over to the apartment. Anna made a phone call on her cell phone to Terri who said that she and Rod was home and waiting for the girls to return. At this point I went into each of the girls room and told each of them that their mother had made it home and was over at the apartment waiting for them and with that they both went with Nikki and Anna. I looked at the clock in the kitchen and it was about 3:00pm by now, the house was quiet again except for the humming of the washing machine downstairs. 

I sat on my stool in the kitchen looking around at the recliner in the living room that was left in the reclining position just as Megan left it, she always has a habit of jumping out of the chair without first putting it in the upright position, and a glass of half empty orange juice was left on the other side of the side table by Haley, it’s kind of funny but at that moment a saying popped in my head that I had once heard, “All alone,  a man with his thoughts”. All I was thinking of at that moment was how proud the citizens of Douglas County and the state of Minnesota should be of the fine job your Social Services are doing and the bang up  operation of this agency and employees. I am also thinking about how much these incompetent people that are employed by the county are getting paid. I wish I could screw everything up and make Stupid decisions just to cover their own fat asses still get paid for it. In my opinion someone is getting screwed and I am pretty sure it is the taxpayer who pays these idiots salary.

Since it was getting late in the day and to be honest, I was a little stressed out by the events of the last 24 hours I thought I needed to be with good friends and unwind, So, as far as Social Services were concerned my girls were “safe in their home’ and as far as I could tell Terri would stay home with them.  I am going to get ready and go down to the Eagles and on my way home I might even stop at the Elks…”I need a drink”.   

A month or so later in mid-July I had a meeting at the Eagles. After the meeting as customary I was having a drink with the other officers of the club when the bartender brought the phone over to me and told me I had an important call and needed to take this. It was Jim Gripne an officer with the Alexandria police department who I had known and lived a few blocks away from my house. He asked me if I was going home soon as he wanted to call me back at the house. I told him I was almost done with my drink and will be leaving very soon, he said he did not want to talk to me over the phone at the bar but would be calling me back in 45 minutes at the house. I said goodbye and gave the phone back to a friend to take and put it back on the cradle to hang up. I got home about 20 minutes later and waited for Jim’s call. When he did call, he related a story to me that quite honestly scared the hell out of me. It seems that morning that Terri promised to spend the whole day with the girls and get a movie that they can watch that night before the girl’s bedtime. The girls and their mother had a good day that day, Terri had taken them to the park and later went shopping with them at the local mall but when they got home later that afternoon Terri told them that she had to leave for a while to go see Rod, but she would return soon. A hour or so later she called the apartment and got a hold of Haley and told her that she was staying with Rod and would be home in the morning, at this Haley and Megan both pleaded with their mother to come home because they did not feel safe at the apartment alone at which Terri replied just lock the door and watch TV until bedtime, they would be fine and hung up. Megan as she has done in the past hopped on her bike and road across town to Julie’s house, so Haley being alone again started to cry and hung out in the closet again where she took a knife with her and began cutting herself, so when Megan returned home that’s where she found Haley all bloody and cut upped Megan then called 911. Jim told me that it appeared Haley tried to commit Suicide so when the ambulance got there Megan had called her mother and after all of this did come home but they took Haley to the hospital for overnight and observation, since Terri was home now Megan stayed with her. As a curtesy Jim wanted to call me and let me know about what had happened since he knew Terri would not give the complete story. Since I had a few drinks, I told Jim that I would follow up on this the first thing in the morning, I thanked Jim for calling me and letting me know because in reality Jim was not supposed to do this but knew I would follow up on this when no one else would.  So, the next morning I would, early. The next morning, I did get up early and checked my emails and phone messages. My mother had called and left a message that She and Hap (her new husband) were up north with another couple on their annual Minnesota fishing trip and would like to stop by on the way home to Okoboji, Iowa if I would be around on Friday. I called her back and told her I didn’t think I would be so maybe another time when they were up here. I didn’t go into what was going on, there was no reason to upset her. After I hung up with her, I finished my coffee and then jumped in the shower and got ready to go over to the hospital. It was around noon when I got there, Haley had already been discharged and was at home. I went down to the records department of the hospital and asked for a copy of Haley’s admission and discharge forms. I didn’t think there would be any problem in getting a copy however I could see and feel concern from the records clerk in getting this for me but Thank-God I knew a person working in that department that did verify I was indeed Haley’s father and had every right to copies of these forms. When I left the records department, I went out to the van to read through the forms. It stated on her admission form that it appears that she did attempt suicide and was admitted overnight for observation. I was livid, how can a mother be so thoughtless and cruel to her young daughters for what, “a guy”!! I started up the Van and drove directly to the Social Services office. The more time passed the angrier I got. I hit the door to the Social Services office ready to hunt some bear!! I walked up to the receptionist and insisted on seeing the person in charge of this bull shit office I must have said it louder than I thought because everyone that was near came running. The receptionist instructed me to sit over there and someone would see me as soon as they could.

When Terri, I and the girls moved to Alexandria in April of 2000, we moved up here for a job opportunity with Viking Savings Bank (a savings and loan). I thought the job would work out but after three months and knowing that my knee was not going to get better and my right hip seemed to be getting weaker and I was having more pain that I decided to quit. Their was also some personal conflicts between the other officers and myself that basically I felt that it wasn’t worth the headaches. In all honesty The Savings and Loan was going through the same ownership hassles that I went through with my last job at Security State Bank, and I really didn’t want to go through that shit again, so I had a little cash we could live on till I decided on our next step so I just quit. So for the first 4 years we really were busy with trying to get a home based business going to supplement my income that I had applied for from Social Security Disability which to my surprised was approved after 6 months of leaving “Viking Savings”. So with the girls so young and not having a job or any sort of income besides Social Security Disability we tended to stay home a lot except for family dinners out or getting a babysitter so Terri and I could go out occasionally . During this time Terri would try to work, first with Mills Fleet Farm, and then Alexandria Opportunity Center but always seem to have a complaint that would prevent her from staying with any job more than six months if that. One May night in 2004 we decided to get a babysitter and go out to dinner at the newly remodeled and renamed restaurant in the local Holiday Inn, “Rudy’s Red Eye Grill”.  We went out early to miss the crowd and on our way home we drove by the Alexandria Elk’s Lodge, their parking lot was not that crowded so we decided for the first time to stop in and have a drink. I knew it was a membership club but the public was welcome to stop in and have a drink and learn about the club. As we sat there having a drink there were a few members up at the bar and a couple more sitting at the tables. We asked the bartender, Amy about the club and she stated a few things that they did for the community and events coming up. I asked about the membership fee, requirements and an application. Amy looked around the bar area but did not see any of the Officers of the club however she knew there were a couple back in the card room playing cards so she excused herself to go get one of them to help us with the application process. I have been looking for a bar to go to and just have a few drinks and enjoy a night out, and now since I have my van and scooter to improve my mobility I thought it would be a perfect time to join the club and to get to know other people in the community. Amy came back with Stan Hagan, who at the time was the Lecturing Knight, an officer of the club. Before we left we both signed applications to join and paid our application fee. The initiation ceremony  would be a few weeks later and at that time we would meet a lot of other members. After a few weeks as members of the Elk’s we met so many nice people and the Esteem Worthy President of the club named me to be the Chaplin. Terri also became involved when she could with many activities. In September a couple of members of the Elks who were also Members of the Alexandria “Runestone” Aerie of the Fraternal Order of Eagles signed both of us up to become members of that club. Again, our initiation ceremony was in a few weeks and also in December I took over as Worthy Chaplin of the Aerie and a month or so later Terri became an officer of the Auxiliary. The reason I mention these clubs in my timeline is that these Club, Members, Officers and friends would become very important to me throughout this custody process and dealing with Social Services and the courts plus keeping my sanity intact.    

I am going to start writing again. I took off from this for a long time due to the facts that putting all of this down was depressing me at that time and I couldn’t handle it. Now it has been a few years out and things have begun to calm down a bit .Still Memories of events are still clear and it is important for me to get this out there in the hopes that someone will run across this blog and it will help them avoid Douglas County Social Services. A bunch of people who have no idea what they are doing. More later I promise!!!