Ginny Paseman
Letter to judge and prosecutor in Christine trial
Thu Sep 19 14:43:46 2002
208.152.73.203

From: Ginn41@aol.com  (Ginny Paseman)

Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 15:12:08 EDT

Below is a letter I received from the out of Oregon author. He wrote this
letter and sent it to Judge Lasswell (the judge in the Christine trial) and
Rick Wesenberg (the prosecutor in the case), and a copy to Oregon Governor
John Kitzhaber. Kitzhaber's 60 million dollar 'Oregon's Children Plan' is
now in effect, adding even more danger to parents in Oregon, like the
Christine's. Below is Robert's letter:
Ginny Paseman
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Christine Family Home Page
http://www.christines.faithweb.com/

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I have been asked by friends for a copy of the letter in which I expressed
my feelings to the judge and prosecutor in the Christine trial. I have also
been asked for permission to resend the letter to others. The letter is
below and send it to whoever you want.

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September 11, 2001

Circuit Court Judge William Lasswell
District Attorney Rick Wesenberg
Douglas County Court House
Roseburg, OR 97470

Dear Sirs:

This is an open letter to you from someone who grew up in the Pacific
Northwest and had plans on moving back in the near future. Oregon has
been one of our family's favorite vacation spots; the last vacation was
a week spent in and around Lincoln City last year. My biographical
synopsis can be found in your local library and I would like to
present that as my bona fides. I am a successful professional who has
been an asset to my community, a veteran who served my country
honorably, and one who has volunteered my services to the community
through the Civil Air Patrol as well as a pilot to fly State Police
detectives in their anti drug efforts. I believe in my country and
for the principles it stands on and have never been involved in any
organizations that could be, even remotely, considered
anti-government. In fact, the US Government has cleared me for a
Secret Clearance three different times.

Both of you, Judge Lasswell and Prosecutor Wesenberg, prevented me
from making a serious mistake. As a parent and grandfather I have
become very interested in preventing child abuse and when the
Christine story was aired on the Today Show I watched with interest.
I just couldn't believe that the story told could be true. An
American institution just couldn't be that cavalier to a young family,
there had to be a reason. So I started following the story on
Northwest News Channel 8 on kgw.com and other Oregon newspapers that I
could access on the Internet. Investigating both sides of the story
the best I could, the evidence looked like the Christine family was
being victimized by a state agency that was running amok. But there
was room for doubt for those of us who weren't actually there.
Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, there
was one part of the trial which forever proved beyond any shadow of
doubt which side occupied the moral high ground. When you, Prosecutor
Wesenberg, insisted on putting that little girl on the stand, even
after the parents said that they would admit to what you were using
her to prove, and when you, Judge Lasswell, allowed it to happen
knowing full well that it would be something that would haunt that
little girl, when she got old enough to understand, for the rest of
her life, there was no question any longer that the state of Oregon,
through its judicial agents, really wasn't concerned with protecting
children from abuse. Instead, what comes across is a mean streak of
wanting to get even with a couple of kids who successfully rescued
their children. If they hadn't bravely done what they did, risk all
for the freedom of their children, those little girls would not be
with their family now. They were successful and that made the people
representing the state of Oregon angry and just simply mean
bullies, spending millions of dollars where those poor kids had
nothing with which to defend themselves, and in the process tarnishing
the honor of Oregon. At that point I knew that it would be a terrible
mistake to move my family to a state where they, and especially my
grandchildren, could be subjected to the despotic system that Oregon
has allowed itself to be cursed with. At that point I realized that
the fear that I also could be victimized if I vacationed again in
Oregon meant that we would never be comfortable visiting Oregon again.
It is even scary to express my opinion on what took place in that
courtroom for fear of retaliation, but I am an American and as an
American I mustn't give into fear of terrorism even if it might come
from a domestic source. But, I also think it is important that you
know exactly how your actions are affecting other Americans,
especially the effect it has on the way they trust or fear
governmental institutions.

I know it is impossible for you to experience the horror that is felt
by others as they learn what has happened to the Christine's in Oregon
and how their children have been so severely abused by a state that
seems to have gone rogue, and its agencies. Too bad that you can't
feel the deep gut-wrenching fear as parents and grandparents realize
that the state agencies that should be helping and assisting are
instead predators after our children and grandchildren. The horror
that is felt by learning that the leadership of Oregon believes that
40% of our children are at risk, implying that we should have 40% of
them taken from us by the state. The horror felt that an Oregon
judge, Judge Guimond in Salem, says that, "since the young single
mothers are the most likely to put their children at risk it would be
a great idea to write an initiative to take all children from all
young single mothers, that being a major risk factor." Too bad you
can't experience the fear, the horror, the deep revulsion that many of
us in America are feeling as we learn about what has happened to the
Christine family, and others in Oregon that have found themselves in
the position of having to risk all in order to 'kidnap' their children
back. Doesn't anyone in position of power in Oregon realize that
child abusers do not try to 'steal' their children back? Can't any of
you feel the pain a parent would have if their children were stolen
from them by a despotic state agency? Is there any empathy left in
the Oregon power and judicial structures? If you could feel it, there
is no doubt in my mind that you would be fighting this despotism with
all the effort and power you could muster.

It is so hard to believe all that happened to the Christine family and
the implications that result. The following list is some of the facts
that have become apparent to me and many other Americans that have
followed the Oregon vs. the Christine Family trial and what those
observations mean to us "little people" who are not a part of the
power structure.

Events Learned:

1. That a family was abused by an Oregon state agency based on an
anonymous complaint and terrorized by Oregon law enforcement when
the parents tried to protect their children, a duty given to them
by God.

2. That three little girls were abused by an Oregon state agency by
separating them from their parents, an abuse far greater than any
their parents were suspected of.

3. That the little girls were sexually assaulted by the state
of Oregon when they were forced to endure invasive, painful vaginal
examinations. There was not the slightest hint of sexual abuse by
the parents on their children and no justification for the state's
sexual assault on the little girls.

4. That an Oregon state agency took unnecessary photographs of the
little girl's naked bodies and genitalia, which a judge later
declared to be pornographic. Agents, representing the state of
Oregon, are involved in what is essentially child pornography. (I
doubt very much if those photos were kept private and wouldn't be
surprised to read later that they have found their way on the
Internet or worse. I have seen other allegations where Oregon
child protection agents along with judicial officers have used
foster children for pornographic pictures. At first I couldn't
believe it, now I believe it to be possible.)

5. That an American court would dare to put its authority above God
and anything decent by destroying good American functional families
and forcing the dissolution of good American successful marriages.
If one court is doing it, than it means that most other American
courts are doing the same. America is no longer "One nation under
God." Instead, America is evidently "One nation under a despotic
judicial system."

Lessons Learned:

1. That judges, who are supposed to protect the weak and innocent,
can't be trusted. That judges seem to have lost the essence in
human morality. They are dishonest in that they will allow people
to be charged and convicted more than once for the same crime.
They will allow the prosecutor to charge people with a more serious
crime than they factually did. As Judges are placed in position of
power and responsibility they can do wrong with impunity which
means Judges can be, and evidently very often are, very evil. A
lesson to be remembered when serving on a jury.

2. That prosecutors do not care about truth or innocence. They will
do anything, including lying, obtaining witnesses that will perjure
themselves in order to prove a case, coaching a little girl on what
to say when the child is too young to understand what it means or
how it will affect them, and anything else they think they can get
by with in order to win a case and forward their career. It makes
no difference to them that this is at the expense of innocent
victims. And our judges allow it. Another important lesson to be
remembered when serving on a jury.

3. That police officers are not to be trusted, especially in a
nonresidential state. Children dare not go to them as what the
children say can and will be misconstrued and used against their
parents. Parents can no longer tell their children to turn to a
police officer or teacher if they need help, because if they do
their children will be taken from them.

4. That children are not safe anywhere and it is difficult or
impossible for parents to protect them from despotic state agents
and agencies. Instead of providing a countercheck, judges and
prosecutors enable and cooperate with those agencies without regard
to fairness or justice. Parents must worry and be aware of the
danger that their children can be taken by the state from school,
the library, and any public place, as well as from the safety of
their own home.

5. That in Oregon, all a mean neighbor who is angry with a family has
to do is to make an untruthful anonymous phone call and parents
will have their children taken by the state.

6. That once the children are taken, child welfare will distort truths
and make up lies in order to justify the taking of the children.
They will use dishonest and/or incompetent professionals to back
them up. Again, the judges and prosecutors enable, encourage, and
assist in this behavior rather than protecting the innocent.

7. The saddest lesson learned of them all is that one cannot go to
Child Protective Services if they see a child in need or being
abused unless that abuse is more severe than the abuse the state
will give that child. Child Protective Services cannot be trusted
anymore.

The defense, I imagine, for what happened in that trial is that it
"was legal." The assumption being that 'legal' is the equivalent of
'moral.' In Nigeria, a court legally sentenced a sixteen-year-old
girl to 137 lashes because she got pregnant out of wedlock after her
father forced her to have sex with three business associates. Was it
moral? In Afghanistan a young mother was legally shot as she ran out
of her house on the way to the hospital with a sick infant in her arms
because she was not with a male of her family. Was that moral? It is
just as moral as the state of Oregon taking children from loving
parents on the anonymous report of someone who is sanctimoniously and
self-righteously trying to enforce their ideas on others. The spirit
of the Taliban is alive and well in Oregon. Would it be immoral to
try to protect or rescue either of those two young women? Neither is
it immoral for a young American family to try to hold itself together
from state sponsored and state protected terrorists working under the
front of child protection services no matter what they had to do to
accomplish that purpose. Oregon legally put those young parents in
prison, but it wasn't a moral action; on the contrary, it was as
immoral as what the Taliban did in Afghanistan. The wrong people were
incarcerated. Moral and legal just is not the same thing. The
biggest 'bully' on the block determines legal, while moral is found
within one's soul.

It has been my experience that bullies never show any remorse for
their actions, or even have the ability to understand the immorality
of their actions. I imagine that is true in this case also. It has
been with great sadness that I have had to give up Oregon visits and
dreams. It has been sad to receive travel advisories warning against
taking children into Oregon. It has been sad to have to send those
travel advisories to friends and to warn them of the dangers of an
Oregon visit and vacation. It has been especially hard after telling
friends about our visit to Oregon, that it is such a beautiful place,
and to encourage them to vacation in Oregon and then having to turn
around and warn them against visiting. If they hadn't changed their
plans and something had happened to any of them during their visits
I would have felt guilty.

I have tried in all honesty to let you know how your trial and actions
has affected many of us throughout America. Fortunately for me, this
is still America, so I don't expect to be shot or stoned for writing
this letter. I wish that the wrongs that have been done could be
corrected, but I doubt there is any hope in that. This is America
where hope springs eternal, so who knows. At least we know the
dangers and have the opportunity to make sure our state agencies don't
take the same road that Oregon has. You, and the state of Oregon,
have taught us lessons we shall not forget.

cc: Governor John Kitzhaber

All my Friends, both on and off the Internet


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I am only one,
but I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but I can do something.
And because I cannot do everything,
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.
What I can do,
I should do.
And what I should do,
by the grace of God, I will do

- Edward Everett Hale.