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Letter to Senator Hillary R. Clinton

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From: Webmaster (webmaster@AKidsRight.Org)
Date: Thu Dec 04 2003 - 12:33:51 EST


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Good People & People of Faith,

The following letter was sent to Senator Clinton's Washington office
via fax and Fed Ex.  We'd like her to meet with parents whose families
have been hurt due to Family Law.  We encourage you to fax your
personal message in support.  The Washington fax number is: 202-228-0121.
For full details see http://www.AKidsRight.Org/actionc_syr/.

As always, your FEEDBACK is welcome.  You are also welcome to write to
John Murtari in jail: John Murtari, P.O. Box 143, Jamesville, NY
13078.  He does enjoy hearing from you.




November 29, 2003

The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
United States Senate
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510                             SCHEDULING REQUEST

Dear Senator Clinton:

I'm writing you this letter from a jail cell in Syracuse, New York.  A
Federal Magistrate gave me a 35 day sentence for peacefully
petitioning you for help.  My NonViolent Action was silently carrying
pictures of parents and children near your office in the Federal
Building.

I'm a coordinator for a growing group of loving mothers and fathers
who were unjustly separated from their children through divorce,
separation, or the action of child protective services.  Our group's
name is AKidsRight.Org.

We look forward to our Nation's recognition and protection of 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.  At this point we are not asking you to agree with or
endorse these goals, but would like to continue the legislative
process.

Our immediate goal is a local meeting between you and a small group of
mothers and fathers associated with our group.  We hope that after you
have a chance to hear our stories and also from other groups - you
will endorse a call for Congressional Hearings and eventually the
creation for a Family Rights Act.

In the past two years we have visited both your Syracuse and
Washington offices with few results.  We have left many petitions for
reform and not gotten any reply.  A few of our members were told to,
"Go and don't come back."  The most unusual response from any
Congressional Office we have visited.  Full details at our web site:
http://www.AKidsRight.Org/.

We can appreciate the busy schedule you and your staff members must
have.  I can only imagine the number of groups and different causes
that must appeal to you for support.  I wish our group of parents was
better organized, had millions of members, and was better funded - we
are not there yet.  But many of us believe our cause is important: as
much as the right of a black man to sit in the front of a bus or the
right of a woman to vote.

Our method and strength is NonViolent Action and we are attempting to
follow the recent historical examples of Gandhi and Martin Luther
King.  That positive social reform can be triggered, not by hatred,
revenge, or violence - but by parents motivated by Faith in a Loving
God.  Parents willing to demonstrate to the public the love they have
for their children by voluntary personal sacrifice.

As a coordinator for the group I am attempting to follow some of those
goals.  To demonstrate that NonViolent Action can work by my
willingness to sacrifice one of my most valued rights, my freedom - to
regain a more valued right - to be a parent to my own 10 year old son,
Domenic.

PLEASE, we need your help!  I need your help!  The Magistrate was kind
enough to structure my sentence so that I would be released in time to
fly out West and pick up my son so we can spend Christmas together.
We'll be together with my mother, Caterina, in our home town of Lyons,
New York.  I am her only child and Dom is her only grandchild.

She understands what I am doing and I am fortunate to have cousins in
town that can help her with grocery shopping.  She has been blessed
with good health - she is now 87 and still lives with me in her own
home.  Both of my parents were Italian immigrants.

After the holidays I will again be returning to the Federal Building
and probably more jail time.  It is not something I enjoy and it is
done at great risk to my family and my work.  I am very thankful that
Domenic is old enough to understand what 'Daddy does.'  Some newspaper
articles were an easy way to introduce him to what is happening by
reading him a story.  I always make it clear to him that Mom is not
bad and this is not her fault - that like other people in the past, we
are working to get a Human Right recognized.

The sacrifice of a few days in jail is minor compared to what people
suffered in the past to get basic rights recognized.  I am neither a
saint or a devil, nor am I trying to become a martyr.  Please do not
see this as an attempt to 'black mail' you into a meeting.

I have no right to demand a meeting between you and parents, but I
hope it will happen.  As a former Air Force pilot it was not my goal
to die, but to serve my country by willingness to sacrifice.  As a
loving parent I hope I have the courage and faith to show my son that
same measure of devotion.  Please help.

Sincerely yours,



John Murtari
315-635-1968, x-211
jmurtari@AKidsRight.Org
CC: Kathy Calhoun, Syracuse Regional Rep.
CC: Lona Valmoro,  Senior Scheduler

ATTACH:
Hand written letter

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