'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.
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