Pat Dollard | Young Americans

Blogger News Net:

A few days ago I shared this outrageous story with you–Father Jailed Because His Adult Daughter Fails to Get Her GED. In the case, father Brian Gegner was ordered to see to it that his daughter gets her GED, but she has not done so, in part because she struggles with math. The daughter’s problems in school came at a time when she lived with her mother. The daughter herself–now almost 19-years-old–says that she alone is responsible for her own problems and that her father shouldn’t be blamed. Nevertheless, the father is in jail on a six month sentence.

The jailed father goes before Judge David J. Niehaus on Friday–I urge all of you to call Niehaus and also the Governor of Ohio to demand Brian Gegner’s release. The contact information is:

BUTLER COUNTY
Juvenile Justice Center
Judge David J. Niehaus 513-887-3318
fax: 513-887-5592

Contact Ohio Governor Strickland here:
http://www.governor.ohio.gov:80/Default.aspx?tabid=448
Phone: (614) 466-3555
Fax: (614) 466-9354

Michael Robinson of the California Alliance for Families and Children issued a call to action on this case earlier this week, and has been checking into the case and speaking with Ohio officials. Robinson reveals several important facts about the case:

1) Both Robinson and Ohio WCPO TV reporter Deb Silverman have been digging into the Gegner family’s history, and Robinson says “both parents are clean, they simply were unable to get their daughter to stay in school.”

2) This sad chain of events was set off because the parents did the right thing–they were concerned about their daughter’s truancy, acknowledged that they were not able to control her, and called the police for help. I would also add that this is an example of two divorced parents working together to try to help their child, something this country needs a lot more of.

3) Perhaps most significant of all, Judge David J. Niehaus and two colleagues were specifically accused of judicial abuse by Butler County Commissioner Mike Fox in his 2003 report “A Culture of Secrecy, Fear and Judicial Abuse.”

Again, I urge all of you to call the judge in this case and also the Governor of Ohio to demand Brian Gegner’s release. The CAFC press release has generated protest calls but we need a lot more–the contact information is above.

Other relevant details:

1) According to CBS, the judge is “standing firm” and says Gegner will “only be released if his daughter passes the GED.” So a parent can be held in jail until his or her child passes a test?! If my son fails Geometry, should my wife and I be jailed until he passes Geometry in summer school?

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