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Show OPINION ! II MAGGIE GALLAGHER NATHENTOFF t: COMMENTARY - ... Infant to be returned to child murderess Who will save baby Cornelious? respect for parents rights as the root In just a few weeks, the law will cause of tragedies such as these. rip 2-year-.old Cornelious from a Much of the current foster care safe home in the a rms of foster- crisis, and the terrible spectacles of mother Laura Blankman (who seeks children ripped from loving wouldto adopt him) and return the toddler be adoptive parents , could be to the cust0dy of his mother, resolved by inserting into the law Latrena Pixley, a convicted baby some clear, simple rules . I proffer killer. just three: T he facts in th is case are not 1. Don't give cust0dy of infants to disputed: On June 19, 1992, Latrena unmarried mothers who are minors Pixley killed her baby daughter and or drug addicts. threw her in th e trash. She later 2. Give women who surrender gave birth to ano ther child, children for adoption only a-brief Cornelious . Now that she's out of window-say, a week-to change prison, Latrena wants custody of th ei r minds , and d o n't allow Cornelious; a Mary- ~ - - -- - - -- - -- --- unmanied fathers lan d judge agrees to ch a ll e n ge th e with her. adoption. Rich.ard Gelles, 3. A parent who one of the bestmurders a fami ly known scholars of member [be it child family violence, or s_pouse) is, by calle d th e ruling definition, an unfit devastating. " The parent. judge sends a very At age 23, Latrs trong m essage" ena Pixley has had [that] "children's four babies o u t of best interest is set wedlock. She ha s at a lower level ' a.lso added to her than the biological rap sheet an arrest rights of parents," for criminal fraud he told The Washcharges. ington Post. She has declined Many of Corneto pursue Jegal lious' advocates cust0dy of her two also see the dispute o lde r kids. Corin sim ilar t e rms. nelious was bo_rn Janet Snyde_r, exewhile she was sercu t i ve director of ving time for kilHear My Voice, ling his older sister. u rges, "Cornelious If Latrena is not is not property, a de em ed an unfit piece of luggage to mother, then let's be picked up with a just dismantle the baggage claim. entire foster care The answer to problems like system, for no one else will be conthese, she believes, is to give chil- sidered unfit either. dren "an equal voice with adults" Latrena sees Laura Blankman's by appointing an attorney to guard efforts to adopt Cornelious as a their best interests. betrayal of trust. "1 was devastated But Cornelious had a guardian ad that she would try and take him !item. It's hard to see how adding away from me," Laneua wrote to any number of layers ol lawyers and members of the court. social workers pontificating about Laura Blankman met Latrena the child's best interest is going to while Blankman was interning in prevent tragedies like these. the public defende r's office, and Dr. Bill Pierce, president of the offered to take care of Latrena's National Council for Adoption, baby as an act of pure charity, not which has started up a legal defense even seeking foster care payments, fund for Cornelious' case, takes a according to sources close to the different tack: "This case shows case. that one can't rely on judicial Like many in this case, Laura discretion to be based-on common Blankman originally wanted to help sense. You have to remove judicial out Latrena. discretion: Pass a law that anyone But in the end, with the reality of who has killed a child is unfit to a child's life in her hands, Laura have custody of any children switched her allegiance from curren tly in her cust0dy and any Latrena toComelious. child that may be subsequently When will we? born to her." I' m uncomfortable with the Maggie Gallagher is a natio1wlly rhetoric of child advocates who see syndicated columnist. I COMMENTARY ... Hillary's conspiracy theory has serious flaws When Hillary Rodham Clinton alerted sitting besid e m e, said he agreed. the nation to "this vast right-wing Nonetheless, it will ever be on my dossier conspiracy that's been conspiring against that I have b een associated wi th Pa t my hus band,'' T w onde red if I migh t Robertson's Regent College. eventually be listed as a member of this An assiduous investigator like the Late band of plotters. Roy Cohn could prepare an auto-da-fe for A target of those who agree with Mrs. persons under suspicion on less inforClinton has been the Rutherford Institute mation tha.I;l is on my rap sheet. in Charlo ttesville, Va., b eaded by John My only hope, if Mrs. Clinton's rightWhitehead. I have lectured before some of wing conspiracy catches fire, may be to his lawyers and have written in the ask Michael Tigar to use his legal ski lls Washington Post on a number of Ruther- to clear my name. Meanwhile, the chain ford's court cases. of evidence gets longer. Although I am a Jeffersonian believer in For instance, when Jerry Falwell had a the wall separating church and state, I am publication called the Moral Majority, I mindful that the First Amendment also was asked to write an article for it and I prote cts fr ee exercise of religion. Aud stipulated up front that not one word much of the time, the Rutherford forces could be changed, and non e was. Th e legitimately pre vent th.e s tate from piece, as I recall, was about free speech suppressing religious expression. for heretics as well as tru e believers. My But although White- ..-------....,.........,,....-----...-.... own experi e n ce with head has becom e rather lists of conspirators in notorious for financially the 1960s was the comsupp o rting th e Paula pilers are less concerned Jones case, hardly any of with what you wrote t'he print press or telethan where you wro te vision have bothered to it. look into the actu al Then th ere are perwork of the Rutherford sonal associations that Institute. could qualify me as one A ccordingly, the who conspires agains t institute's name has the president. Jewis h conspiratorial overtones. a theis t tho ugh I am, I And o n ce the Wh ite happen to be a friend of H ouse ge t s around to Cardinal O'Connor of expanding Hillary's New York. The cardinal conspi racy me m bers, was so angry at t h e there I am wi th connecpresident ' s refusal to tions to John Whiteh ead. sign the ban on partialI al so n o tic ed wh en birth abor-tions that some of the conservative O'Connor refuse d to lawyers involved in the invite the president to Monica Lewinsky story the annual Al S mith were being identified in dinner, a traditional and the press, it was noted, i mpor-tant forum for with significance, they're members of the presiden-tial incumben ts as well as their Federalist Society. This is a conservative political opponents. association of lawyers whose primary and Since O'Connor also speaks o ften ardent interest is property rigbts. against situational morality, some l spoke before the Federalist Society supporters of the president could put on once on the First Amendment, and that th e enemy list this journalist who is day the chairman of the meeting was occasionally quoted with approval in the Judge Kenneth Starr, who recommended cardinal's col umn in the weekly Catbo]jc some of my columns in the Washing ton New York. Post to the gathering. I expect James I may hav e also earned a place on Carville might take note of my Hillary Rodham Clinton's list because I appearance at that event, particularly in have been writing very critically in the view of who was running the session. Washington Post about Bill Clinton's Ominous reference has been made by raids on the Constitution- from the Clinton advocates that Kenneth Starr radical reduction of the constitutional lectured at Pat Robertson's Regent right to habeas corpus to his support of College in Virginia Beach. Indeed, he did, stripping the courts of jurisdiction to hear but the lecture- which I heard on C- claims of rights viola t ions by t h e SPAN-was a scholarly analysis of a go vernment against immigrants and period of Supreme Court history. prisoners. I should also confess that I too have I didn't make the Nixon enemies list, spoken at Regent College, insisting- with much to the disappointment of m y specific illustrations from the Consti- children, but I just might come up lucky tution- that Pat Robertson notwith - this time and be included on Hillary's standing, this country is NOT a Christian list. nation. There w er e indignant souls in the Nat Hentoff is a nationally syndicated audience, but Ralph Reed, who was columnist. |