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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 27, 1955)
'lrr i " "r r "r 'r " -fT.' Itloraey '(General Bescinsses FamBIy loini-Suppoirt (Editor note: The problem of the absconding father who fails or refuses to support his wife and children is becoming acute in Ore son. In two articles, Oregon's at torney general discusses the prob lem. The first article appears below.) ' By ROBERT Y. THORNTON , ; One of the most serious and ;. 'dangerous disturbances in our .. present day social structure is - the increasing number of family breakups due to desertion and abandonment by the husband nd father of the family. Across the nation, between July 1, 1948, and June 30, 1949, over 1,000,000 wives and children were aban doned by their breadwinners. In Oregon 6,600 children were deserted between July 1952 and .December 1953. In 18 per cent - . of the reported cases the de- c serting parent or parents con :tinued to live in the same coun- " ty; 14 per cent, in another Ore gon county; and in 27 per cent, outside the state. But in over 40 per cent of the reported - eases the whereabouts of the parents of these deserted or -.3 abandoned cnudren was un- known. - Gives Hypothetical Cat What can a 'mother do when , she has been deserted and aban , doned by her husband? To an swer this question let's take the hypothetical case of Mrs. John Q. Smith. Suppose that Mrs ' Smith, a mother of three chil dren, has been ' severely mis treated and finally deserted by her husband. There are two ways for Mrs. Smith to approach her support problem. First, she can treat it as a a. crime, which of course it is, go to the district attorney and ask to have her husband ar rested for nonsupport. Second, she may treat it as a civil mat ter and either (a) bring suit for divorce and support money or (b) simply sue for support money without divorcing her husband. Interstate Problems What happens when Mr. Smith has fled to Miami, Florida? Be .fore the new "Runaway Father .Law" was passed, which I will explain in a moment, Mrs. Smith would have been obliged to hire a lawyer in Florida if she could afford a lawyer to try to collect support money for herself and the children. This - made the civil remedy virtual- - ly ineffective. Under the new law she can file her suit here in Oregon and have papers forwarded to where ever Mr. Smith is living. In all probability-she will be able to have the money collected for i her by the courts of Florida. :- In 1951 . Oregon's legislature II 1 rt- - W if i i r i i f III IS?T i:r 1iVrnTm III iJkmMM&slim .. l iMttnuMii I ess; passed the new law the Uni form Reciprocal Enforcement of Support Act popularly refer red to as the "Runaway Father Law.". This law, which was amended in 1953, had for its purpose making all runaway parents support their children instead of forcing the state to do the job. Provides Machinery Briefly, it provides machinery whereby a. mother living in Ore gon can compel her spouse, who has run away to Florida, to support her and their three chil dren here in Oregon by merely filing a legal proceeding m her home state and obtaining the aid of the Oregon and Florida courts to enforce the family obligation in Florida. The re verse of this is also true. Thus, if a Florida wife and her chil dren are abandoned by the fa ther who comes to Oregon, she can fi'e a proceeding in Florida and reach him here in Oregon. This model law has now been passed in substantially the same form in all states of the Union except Nevada. How has the law worked out in practice? Remarkably well, on the whole. There have been a few dodgers who hop around from state to state so fast that they cannot be compelled to support their dependents. Some Bottlenecks Some of the bottlenecks that have developed result from the fact that district attorneys and welfare agencies without ade quate staffs have been too swamped with other duties to give , these cases the time and effort required to keep after these absconding fathers. Effi cient collection of support money is a lime-consuming job It cannot be accomplished with out tireless and dogged efforts to stay on the backs of these child deserters. The costs of aid to abandoned children and wives have proved to be a heavy burden on the public pocketbook, nation, state and local. At the outset of this article, I stated that over one million wives and children in the United States are abandoned by their husbands and fathers every year. These dependents received a total of $561,111,000 in federal and state assistance in 1954. The Federal Security Agency estimates that this will increase at the rate of 20 per cent per year. At the present time the Federal Government contributes about 48 per cent of the . costs of the program in Oregon. The balance is borne 36 per cent by the state and 15 per cent by the counties. ft, VI FOR OVER Problem In June 1954, 18 out of every 1,000 Oregon children 18 years of age and under were receiving Aid to Dependent Children. To tal payments for the fiscal year 19o4 amounted to $4,652,625.03, or more than 16 per cent of ex penditures for all types of pub lic assistance. While Aid to Dependent Chil dren, as I have just indicated, covers more than just desertion cases, the latter do constitute nearly one-half of this substan tial figure. From my studies of the prob lem I am convinced that a sub stantial number of runaway fa thers are still escaping their re sponsibilities of support and that the taxpayer is as usual footing the bill. The absconders are remarrying, settling down and starting to raise new fam ilies, all because there is no over-all planned, continuing col lection effort being made.' Who is to blame for this sit uation? (The second article will ap pear in The Mail Tribune to morrow.) Grange Phoenix Grang About 80 members and guests attended the covered dish din ner in observance of the 24th anniversary of Phoenix Grange when they met February 22. Charter members presented by Master Melvin Lottie were Myrtle Ferns, Bert Stancliff e and Mr. and Mrs. Cal Lusk. A birth day cake in keeping with the occasion was made by Florence Hartley and Mabel Quacken bush. Serving committee in charge were Mr. and Mrs., Dee Hendrickson, Mr. and Mrs. Chet Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Stan cliffe and Mr. and Mrs. Wade Harmon. Agriculture chairman Charley Hockersmith provided the pro gram. Invited were Harold White from Southern Oregon Experiment Station who spoke on fertilization treatment and yield data and L. R. Thomas, who showed color pictures of Butchart gardens and Peterson's Rock garden. Visitors attending the dinner, also the closed meeting were Mr. and Mrs. Cal Lusk, Mr. and Mrs. Jake Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Force and Mrs. Crete Car nall from Eagle Point Grange and Mr. and Mrs. Phil Motsch- enbacher and Mrs. Ida Otto from Shady Cove Grange. Members voted to participate in the program visitation meet- Are You CQoufeed Whem You Shop For y.-'.CMlP MOST PEOPLE ARE . . . SO LET US GET YOU STRAIGHT ON CARPETS! Let- Us Show You The NEW COMPLETE 1955 LINE OF COME OUT TO OUR FURNITURE BARN AND WE WILL CURE THOSE "CARPET JITTERS" 25 YEARS ROBBER COMES OUT SECOND BEST Police Lt. T. A. Williams stands over Lloyd M. Pryor, handcuffed and bleed ing, as they await ambulance at Memphis, Tenn. The police officer surprised Pryor just after he had held up a gas station. Williams said Pryor attacked him with an ice pick as he was radioing headquarters. He slugged the bandit with his gun rather than shoot him. ings sponsored by. Pomona Grange. Escorted to the Master's station for their attendance pins were Mr. and Mrs. Willis House and Al Floyd. Lecturer Olive Floyd announc ed that a travelogue picture by Standard Oil will be shown March 8 starting at 8 p.m. and will be open to the public. Central Point Grange Central Point Home Economic club of the Grange will meet at the home of Mrs. Charles Taylor, Old Stage road at 1:30 p.m., Monday. AH women are invited to attend. Roxy Ann HEC The Roxy Ann Grange Home Economics club will meet at the Grange hall Wednesday, March 2, at 1 p.m. Hostesses will be Mrs. Lucille Meadows and Mrs. Caroline Wolfe. The sun supplies over three quadrillion kilowatt hours of en ergy every three days, more than is available in all the re serves of. coal, oil, natural gas, and uranium on earth. ililll A YOUR LEADER IN j T v Social Security Office Adds Man A new claims representative has been hired by the Medford social security office, making a total staff of eight, according to W. V. Nusbaum, district office manager. Richard Keniston, 35, former ly in private business in Seattle, is here, and his wife and. two children will arrive here in about two months. The hiring of Keniston is the third staff addition since Janl 1. Nusbaum said that the increase has been brought about by in creases in social security cover age and the area's population. Keniston is a former employee of Seattle Auto Dealer Stanley Sayres, who is best known for record-winning speedboats, Slo-Mo-Shun III, IV and V. Kiniston is a graduate of Seattle univer sity and a Navy veteran of World War II. There Is No Need TO HAVE Carpet A Really, there is nothing to be confused about in carpets when you buy standard lines manufactured by the old established carpet makers in America . . . and when you buy from an eld reliable store with 25 years experience . . . and from salesmen that will tell you the honest; facts. IFIUffl Highway 99 - Near Central Point Straday, Ftbraary 27, 19SS Miffleman Ordered Portland (U.R) The State Sanitary Authority has given Harry Mittleman, Portland con tractor and operator of Cedar Mill Park, 90 days in which to provide adequate sewage dis posal in the southwest Portland housing development. If he fails to comply, the au-, inoniy said ne will oe cited to show cause why proceedings should not be instituted against him. Situation Deplorable t The authority, at its quarter ly meeting Friday, said en gineers have been surveying the Cedar Mill sewage plant and have declared the situation ."de plorable." In other action, the authority gave five meat packing firms along the Columbia slough' in north Portland 30 days in which to contract with the city for sewage disposal or provide other adequate means to abate pollu;. 'FREE r BUY SIX AT REGULAR PRICE and Get Another SIX FREE --Just Pay the Bottle Deposit! i mm mm i 223 Jitters!" HOME FURNISHINGS! To Clean Up Tract In tion in the slough.' The authority, decided to hold in abeyance decisions on pro posed sewage programs by Hood River and The Dalles. The city of St. Helens was given 90 days in which to submit a construc tion schedule for a proposed $615,000 sewage system. Program Turned Down - The authority turned down a 10-year program by Empire for construction of a sewage treat ment plant and lines. Dr. Harold M. Erickson, state health officer, said possible pollution of water supply from use of septic tanks in the Empire area might be a cause of Coos county's high rate of infectious hepatitis. Bandon was given a go-ahead There are three great classifi cations of rocks constituting the earth's surf ace igneous, ; sedi mentary and metamorphic; 1 A) I). I Refreshes without filling?; HANDY MONEY CARTON WEST JACKSON s SSmV jti4 iliTh -ihl r J MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE FTVK South Portland on. its proposed five-year pro gram for construction of a treat ment plant " " SUCCESSFUL LIVING start with saving. Have the things you want through systematic sav ing. Don't just dream . . . or with, but havo the things you want in life by saving for them. Start with any amount. . FIRST FEDERAL SAYINGS & LOAN ASS'N of Medford ' 27 North Holly . An Institution Dedicated -T Those Who Save -SAVMG BLVD. - Ml ':'47J 5". ;' H fi II fit if-: ( ... m
