Bowling Green's Homosexual "Couple" Cheers U. S. Supreme Court's Same Sex Ruling, Calls Ruling "A Natural Progression".

Court ruling 'a natural progression'

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz had a mini-celebration Wednesday after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Defense of Marriage Act – which defines marriage as between one man and one woman – is unconstitutional.
 
In another decision Wednesday, the Supreme Court also cleared the way for gay marriages to take place in California.

Christin and Marcie Mulwitz celebrated their third anniversary June 10.

They married in Provincetown, Mass., and live in Warren County, where they raise two children, ages 13 and 16. Family mementos are scattered through their home, including a plate with the children’s handprints and a glass vase filled with multicolored sand symbolizing the union of the family.

“It’s one of the reasons we went to Massachusetts, because it was important to us to teach the kids, you know, that you want to be in a committed marriage,” Marcie Mulwitz said. “We didn’t want to just move in together and live like that.”

The couple work, attend church and live normal lives, but their marriage isn’t recognized in Kentucky. They believe eventually it will be. The Supreme Court decision shows momentum on that front, Christin Mulwitz said.

Wednesday’s court decision will allow them to file federal taxes together.

“It’s just a natural progression,” Marcie Mulwitz said. “It’s just like any other rights. ... It’s well past time for it to be there.”

In the meantime, they try to protect their family. For example, they made a will so, if one dies, their home can’t be taken from the other, Marcie Mulwitz said.

But there are things for which they can’t make provisions.

“It gives us maybe a false sense of security, I would say,” Christin Mulwitz said.

There’s no guarantee, if one of them were sick or injured, that one would be allowed to visit each other, Marcie Mulwitz said.

Marcie Mulwitz also can’t legally adopt Christin Mulwitz’s children without her relinquishing parental rights. If something were to happen to her, the children might be taken away, Christin Mulwitz said.

That lack of stability wouldn’t be good for them, Marcie Mulwitz said.

“The most important thing in raising a kid is stability for them,” she said.

“And love,” Christin Mulwitz added.

Diane Lewis, acting president of Bowling Green’s chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said she was thrilled about the Supreme Court decisions.

“The tide is turning, and we’re on our way,” she said.

Today’s youths increasingly view homosexuality as a non-issue, and Lewis hopes Kentucky will catch up with national trends on gay marriage and fairness ordinances that help protect against discrimination.

Patricia Minter, a member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky Board of Directors and an associate history professor at Western Kentucky University, said that, as a legal scholar, she always thought the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional. “It’s a major day for civil rights and human rights in the United States,” she said Wednesday.

Marriage is a basic right, Minter said. It’s meaningful culturally, facilitates process like inheritance and helps parents to create stable environments for children.

The Rev. Kara Hildebrandt, associate pastor at The Presbyterian Church on State Street, felt the Supreme Court rulings dealing with gay marriage were positive.

“It keeps the separation of church and state,” she said. “If the church defines marriage one way, that should not be placed on everyone. I think we saw justice in action today.”

The Presbyterian Church (USA) is in the process of discussing how to define marriage. The denomination allows gays and lesbians to be ordained as ministers.

“(It’s about) understanding that we are all God’s children,” Hildebrandt said. “(Sexual orientation) is not a defining factor in whether or not you are qualified to be ordained.”

She’s interested to see what will happen when ministers in states where gay marriage is legal are asked to perform gay and lesbian weddings that go against their beliefs.

Richard Nelson, executive director of the conservative think tank Commonwealth Policy Center in Cadiz, said he was surprised at the Supreme Court decision to strike down DOMA. The law has been in place for 17 years and was approved by large margins.

“It was wrong in that it subverts the democratic process,” he said.

He’s concerned that the activism he sees at the court level will discourage people from participating in the political process.

“When you have an activist court, you undermine that process,” Nelson said.

The ruling also sends the message to young people that marriage can be whatever they want instead of between a man and woman, he said.

Nelson said men and women represent two sides of humanity, and doesn’t believe that having two parents of the same gender is the same as having one of each gender.

“There is a difference between men and women,” he said. “Gender does mean something.”

For the Rev. Dave Thomas at Lakeview Fellowship Church, two things are supreme: God and the Bible. “That sets the boundaries for me of what’s right or wrong,” he said.

Because God says marriage is between a man and a woman, that’s what he believes is right. He is upset by the Supreme Court rulings.

“I think it’s very sad, kind of an indication of where our society is right now,” Thomas said.

It  frustrates him that the decision did not come from the people.

“Seemingly five people decided what’s right or wrong,” he said.

The Rev. Freddie Brown, pastor of State Street Baptist Church, doesn’t think allowing gays and lesbians to marry is in the same category as civil rights, such as the right to vote.

“I don’t see it in that light,” he said. “They are two completely different categories.”

Though he doesn’t believe homosexuality is in line with the word of God, he treats gays and lesbians with love.

“Our decision is to minister to all people, including those with alternative lifestyles,” Brown said. “Maybe we can get them to see God’s way. …It’s just like any other sinner. I might hate their crime, but I don’t hate them. We love the person regardless of the mistakes they made.”

As Earlier Predicted By Me, By A 5 To 4 Opinion, U. S. Supreme Court Voids An Important Part Of Federal Defense Of Marriage Act, Thereby Gutting It.

The Court said this:

"DOMA’s principal effect is to identify and make unequal a subset ofstate-sanctioned marriages. It contrives to deprive some couples married under the laws of their State, but not others, of both rights and responsibilities, creating two contradictory marriage regimes within the same State. It also forces same-sex couples to live as married for the purpose of state law but unmarried for the purpose of federal law, thus diminishing the stability and predictability of basic personal relations the State has found it proper to acknowledge and protect."

You can read the opinion here.

PROPOSED KENTUCKY DOMESTIC RELATIONS BILL WILL ALLOW "DATING" COUPLES TO GET EMERGENCY PROTECTION ORDERS (EPOs) AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ORDERS (DVOs)

State bill would allow domestic violence orders even if couple isn't living together
Written byJessie Halladay

FRANKFORT, KY. — People who are in dating relationships, but who have never lived together, could seek protection with a domestic violence order under a bill passed from the House Wednesday afternoon.

House Bill 9, which passed 92-5, would broaden the law that allows for victims to request an emergency protective order to include those people who are in dating relationships. Current law only allows protective orders be granted to people who live or have lived together.

Rep. John Tilley, D-Hopkinsville, brought the bill to the House, pointing out that only Kentucky and South Caroline do not allow protective orders in dating relationships.

Tilley, the father of three girls, said the bill will extend protection particularly for the group most vulnerable to dating violence, girls aged 16 to 24.

The bill will now move to the Senate for consideration.

Last week, after testifying before the House Judiciary committee, Marcia Roth, director of the Mary Byron Project, said the bill is an essential piece of legislation that will protect people. She pointed out that many people have been killed by partners they never lived with.

While the bill has made it through the House before, it has never made it through the Senate. But Roth said she hopes this year will be different.

“The seriousness of this is evident,” Roth said last week.

Editor's note:As a Lawyer who practices Family law extensively, the only problem I see is in defining a rather amorphous term: "dating".
What is to be considered "dating" and for how long is the couple to date? Does going out to McDonald's count or does it have to be an expensive place like Red Lobster?

CIA DIRECTOR, DAVID PETRAEUS, RESIGNS OVER AFFAIR WITH MARRIED WOMAN, HIS BIOGRAPHER PAULA BROADWELL. HIS WIFE MUST HAVE COMMENTED: "DAVID BETRAYED US"! SORRY, I COULDN'T RESIST. MY BAD. WATCH VIDEO.

READ MORE ABOUT HER.

BREAKING NEWS: KENTUCKY SUPREME COURT WISELY LIMITS GRANDPARENTS' VISITATION RIGHTS WHERE CHILD'S PARENTS OBJECT; OBJECTION NOW PRESUMED TO BE IN "CHILD'S BEST INTEREST" REBUTTABLE ONLY BY "CLEAR AND CONVINCING PROOF" TO THE CONTRARY.

Kentucky Supreme Court weakens grandparents' rights to see grandchildren

The Kentucky Supreme Court has made it harder for grandparents to win visitation with their grandchildren when the child’s parents object.

In a 6-1 ruling, the state’s high court ruled Thursday that parents who oppose giving a grandparent visitation must be presumed to be acting in the child’s best interests.

The court did not strike down Ken­tuc­ky’s 1984 grandparent visitation law but said a grandparent must present “clear and convincing” evidence to win the right to visit a grandchild over a parent’s objection.

“Kentucky courts cannot presume that grandparents and grandchildren will always benefit from contact with each other,” the court ruled. “If the only proof that a grandparent can present is that they spent time with the child and attended holidays and special occasions, this alone cannot overcome the presumption that the parent is acting in the child’s best interest.”

Writing for the court, Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr., said “the grandparent must show something more — that the grandparent and child shared such a close bond that to sever contact would cause distress to the child.”

Louisville family lawyers not involved in the case said the ruling will make it extremely hard for grandparents to win court-ordered visitation rights over a parent’s objection.

“That is an awful high legal standard,” said former Jefferson Family Court Judge Louis Waterman, adding that it gives “near-total authority” to parents.

The court reversed an order from Jefferson Family Court Judge Dolly Wisman Berry, giving visitation to Donna S. Blair for her grandson B.B., who is now 8, over the objection of his mother, Michelle L. Walker.

Blair said she had baby sat for the boy since he was born, took him to the zoo and the movies, gave him bubble baths and hosted his birthday parties.

But Walker said that, after the boy’s father killed himself, she feared for his safety and emotional well-being, because Donna Blair and her former husband blamed Walker for the suicide.

The court ordered Berry to conduct a new hearing, following the rules set down in its 20-page opinion.

The court said grandparents may win court-ordered visitation if they can show that the child would be harmed by denying it or where the grandparent and child lived in the same household for some time or the grandparent regularly baby sat the child.

The court directed judges to consider eight factors, including the nature and stability of the relationship between the child and the grandparent; the amount of time they had spent together; the effect that granting visitation would have on the child’s relationship with the parents; and the wishes and preferences of the child.

In a dissenting opinion, Justice Will T. Scott said he would have required grandparents to rebut the presumption in favor of parents based on a preponderance of the evidence, which is an easier burden to meet.

“It is beyond dispute that there is a societal presumption that it is usually healthier when a child has a loving relationship with a loving grandparent,” wrote Scott, who is seeking re-election against former Court of Appeals Judge Janet Stumbo.

The case marked the first time in 20 years that the state Supreme Court had tackled the issue, and the first time since the U.S. Supreme Court held in 2000 that parents have a constitutionally protected interest in raising their children without government interference.

Upholding the right of grandparents in a 1992 case from Boyle County, the state Supreme Court put parents and grandparents on equal footing in assessing the best interest of the child.

It also cited the benefit of visitation to the grandparent, who “can be invigorated by exposure to youth” and “avoid the loneliness that is so often a part of an aging parent’s life.”

But the court on Thursday said it was compelled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse its Boyle County ruling, which “is no longer good law.”

“So long as a parent is fit, there will normally be no reason for the state to inject itself in the private realm of the family,” the court said.

Blair’s lawyer, Denise Helline, said she found it troubling that "they set the bar too high." Walker’s lawyer, Mitchell Charney, said he hadn’t read the decision and couldn’t immediately comment.

No one tracks how many motions for grandparents’ visitation are filed in Kentucky, but Jefferson Family Court Judge Stephen George estimated in August that they are filed in about 5 percent of divorce and custody cases.

Waterman predicted that fewer will be filed now because attorneys will advise grandparents that it is less likely they will prevail.

Family lawyer Diana Skaggs, publisher of the blog “Divorce Law Journal,” who had predicted that if the court ruled Kentucky’s grandparent’s law unconstitutional it would mean “grandparents have no rights,” said she was glad the court didn’t do that.

But she agreed that the ruling means grandparents will have a tougher time getting courts to order visitation. “A loving relationship alone now is not enough.”

Editor's note:YOU CAN READ THE OPINION HERE (NOTE: REQUIRES PDF).

EDITOR'S COMMENT:I FIND IT PARTICULARLY INTERESTING THAT CHIEF JUSTICE JOHN MINTON, A DEMOCRAT, DISPLAYED REMARKABLE CONSERVATIVE PRINCIPLES HERE, WHILE JUSTICE WILL SCOTT, A REPUBLICAN, WENT THE OPPOSITE WAY DELIGHTING LIBERALS BY HIS DISSENT.

At Last, Judge Philip Shepherd Does What I Have Been Advocating For A Long Time, Fines Cabinet For Health And Family Services Thousands Of Dollars Over Child Death And Abuse Records. I Wish Employees Responsible Will Pay Up, Rather Than Tax Payers!

Judge fines state agency $16,000 for withholding child abuse records
By Bill Estep

A judge has ordered the state Cabinet for Health and Family Services to pay penalties totaling more than $16,000 to three newspapers over of its handling of their requests for records about abused children.

Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Shepherd also ordered the cabinet to pay a total of more than $57,000 in attorney fees incurred by the three papers as they fought to get the records in court.

Shepherd entered his orders Thursday in cases involving the Lexington Herald-Leader, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal and the weekly Todd County Standard.

The three had sued the cabinet seeking access to records of children who were killed or nearly killed from abuse and neglect after having contact with child-protection workers in recent years.

Shepherd ruled that the cabinet had improperly withheld the records.

In the case involving the Todd County paper, Shepherd said the cabinet first said it had no records on a girl named Amy Dye, who was beaten to death last year by her adoptive brother. That was not correct. The cabinet had approved letting a Todd County woman adopt the girl and had received several reports of suspected abuse involving the girl.

The cabinet's response to the newspaper was a willful misrepresentation, Shepherd said.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/19/2035007/judge-fines-state-agency-16000.html#wgt=rcntnews#storylink=cpy

Father, Whose Son Steven Woods, Jr., Was Executed From Texas Deathrow, Tells Kids: "I Wasn't A Parent [To My Son], I was just Being A Friend Because I Wanted Them To Love Me For Something That I Wasn't".

Father whose son was executed warns kids about drugs and alcohol
Club Sponsor: ‘A real-life story is better than someone just telling a story’
By LAUREL WILSON

Steven Woods Sr. of Bowling Green has delivered anti-drug talks around Warren County for 10 years. But he said a speech before a group of students at Warren East Middle School on Wednesday was the

hardest one he's given.

It was the first time Woods has spoken to a group since his son, Steven Woods Jr., was executed in Texas on Sept. 13 after a decade of being on death row. "The reality of what was going to happen actually happened," Woods said.

Woods Sr. visited Warren East Middle School to share his story with students in Club Pride, which aims to teach children about the consequences of drugs and alcohol and to help them make the right choices. It's important for students to learn firsthand about the reality of drugs, said Brenda Lawrence, the club's sponsor.

"A real-life story is better than someone just telling a story," Lawrence said.

The elder Woods told the group he began using drugs at age 13 because of peer pressure while he was growing up in Michigan. "I thought I wanted to be with the cool crowd," he said. "It's not the cool crowd. In my book, it's the dumbest crowd there ever is."

Woods Sr. said he used any drug he could get his hands on, including cocaine, heroin, LSD and marijuana. He introduced his children from his first marriage to drugs at a young age, he said.

"I wasn't a parent, I was just being a friend because I wanted them to love me for something that I wasn't," Woods Sr. said.

His oldest son, Woods Jr., followed much the same path as his father. As a teen, Woods Jr. began to hitchhike around the country in search of drugs and clubs that would let him in even though he wasn't yet of age.

When the younger Woods was 21, he was involved in a drug deal in Texas that went bad, resulting in the murders of two people. He was charged with capital murder and sentenced to die.

"He got his last high by the state of Texas when they injected that drug into him that slowly stopped his heart," the elder Woods said. After 10 years on death row, it took just 10 minutes for his son to die.

"Drugs will either kill you or put you in jail," Woods Sr. said. "And I can guarantee you that."

He showed the audience pictures of his son, including his mug shot.

"That mug shot right there - I want you all to remember that," Woods Sr. said. "I want you all to go home tonight and give the person you love the most a hug and tell them how much you love them, because I can never hug my son again."

Woods Sr. said he was clean and sober for more than nine years before he fell off the wagon a week before his son was executed.

"For just a little while, because of what was going on in my life, I thought I had the strength to handle it," he said.

He lost that strength but managed to pull himself back up, because he realized he wasn't doing himself or anyone else any good by falling back into his old habits, he said.

Woods Sr. said he knows many students in the audience have seen drugs, and he urged them to resist peer pressure.

"These people that you've seen do drugs - I think you should talk to them about it," he said. "Tell them what could happen in life."

He asked the students to think about their dreams, whether they want to become sports players, lawyers, doctors or anything else.

"Well, I'll tell you, if you get involved in drugs, you can forget about them dreams," he said.

Woods Sr. has another son, Patrick Woods, 13, who's in seventh grade at Warren East Middle School and a member of Club Pride.

Patrick said knowing his father's situation has helped him stay away from drugs.

"Where I used to live, I could have done drugs any time I wanted to, but I knew about my dad so I didn't," Patrick said.

Codey Stoll, 13, a seventh-grade member of Club Pride, said hearing stories such as that of the Woods family help him realize how bad drugs can be.

"What you think can't happen really can happen, and quickly," Codey said.

Editor's comment: This news should sound an ALARM to those "parents" who insist on being friends with their children and ABDICATING their GOD given responsibilities to PARENT their children instead!

Kim Kardashian And Family Express Sadness Over Divorce. So SAD! Watch Video.

Aransas County, Texas, Court-At-Law Judge William Adams Catches Flack For Spanking Daughter Hillary. Other Than The Cursing And The Threats And The Beating Being A Little Over The Top, Should The Judge Have "Spared The Rod, And Spoiled The Child"? I Think NOT!

Watch Controversial Evangelist Pat Robertson Tell Husband To Divorce Wife With Alzheimers (Yes, He Said It!), And Gets Slammed By Fellow Peacher.

Bowling Green Woman Who Locked Up Child In Room To Play With His Urine And Feces Indicted.

Woman accused of locking up son indicted
Byrns allegedly kept 4-year-old in room littered with urine, feces
By DEBORAH HIGHLAND

The mother of a 4-year-old boy who police found naked and locked in a feces- and urine-filled room was indicted Wednesday on a charge of second-degree criminal abuse.

A Warren County grand jury indicted Sharese Marie Byrns

, 28, 455 Three Springs Road No. 10, Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron said.

“The court will issue either a warrant for her arrest or an order to appear by the end of the week,” Cohron said.

If Byrns is convicted, she could spend five years in prison.

When Bowling Green Police Department officers arrived at Byrns’ home Aug. 8, no one answered their knock. A bystander, who asked to remain anonymous, told police that he or she had knocked on the door for more than a hour with no answer.

Officers asked the child, who was seen through a window, to come to the door. He told them he couldn’t, according to city police records.

After several minutes, the boy’s mother came to the door and said she had been upstairs in her room resting. She told police her son was locked in his room taking a nap, according to BGPD records.

When Officer Marc Kaiser walked inside the home, food containers and dirty clothes were scattered throughout the living room.

Fly traps hung from the ceilings in every room.

“I noticed the pungent smell of urine and feces,” Kaiser wrote in his report.

When Kaiser opened the door to the boy’s room, he noted that the lock to the door was on the outside. In addition to that lock, he noticed a silver latch on the door frame, the kind commonly used for securing tool sheds.

Once inside the child’s room, Kaiser’s shoes squished as he walked across the saturated floor padding. Kaiser said the odor took his breath away.

The little boy didn’t have a bed, only a urine-soaked mattress in the middle of the floor, which was littered with food and feces.

Instead of a coloring book and crayons, the boy reportedly had been playing with his feces and drawing on the wall with his own excrement.

Kaiser called child protection services, which removed the boy from the home, according to police records.

Byrns does not have any felony convictions.

Social Networking Sites Like Facebooking Define Acceptable Behavior. YIKES! Watch Video.

You Should NOT Be Surprised That "Bible Belt" Kentucky Is A National Leader In Divorces.

Check it out on HUFFPOST.

Number Of Kentucky Children Living With Non Parents Explodes.

Number of children raised by someone other than parent skyrockets in Kentucky
By Bill Estep and Linda J. Johnson

The number of children in Kentucky being raised by someone other than a parent went up significantly in nearly every county from 2000 to 2010, new U.S. Census figures show.

The jump was dramatic in some places — 283 percent in McCracken County, for instance, which was the highest, and 148 percent in McCreary County, according to an analysis of data by the Herald-Leader.

Police and other officials said a debilitating level of substance abuse is one key factor in the statewide increase.

Abuse of prescription pills and other drugs leaves parents unable or unwilling to care for their children, or lands parents behind bars for drug crimes or other crimes, such as theft, that are related to abuse and addiction, officials said.

The problem results in children being placed in the care of other relatives or foster parents, often by court action but also through family arrangements.

"Nine times out of 10 for us, it is substance-abuse issues," said Stacie Noble, who oversees a program that assists grandparents raising their grandchildren in the Kentucky River Area Development District, which covers eight counties in southeastern Kentucky.

McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden agreed that problems with abuse of prescription drugs, methamphetamine and cocaine have driven up the number of children in his county being cared for by someone other than a parent.

"We actually see that quite often in a lot of the drug cases we work," Hayden said of the need to have someone else care for a child.

The poor economy also might play a role, as parents unable to adequately provide for children send them to live with others, Hayden said.

The percentage of children living in households headed by someone other than a parent increased tenfold in some counties from 2000 to 2010.

By last year, 15 percent or more of all the children in some counties were not living with their biological parents, according to the paper's analysis of the data.

The highest total was in Owsley County, where 21.6 percent of the children were living with someone other than a parent.

Only four counties saw a decline in that trend.

The figures on children being raised by someone other than their parents were included in new information the U.S. Census Bureau released early Thursday.

The agency has issued new data from its 2010 count several times this year.

Many of the children being cared for by someone other than a biological parent are living with grandparents.

There were more than 86,000 households in the state in 2010 with people raising the children of their children, according to the census data.

Grandchildren come into the care of their grandparents for a number of reasons, including substance abuse; the inability or unwillingness of parents to care for their children; and illness, disability or death, said Deborah Anderson, commissioner of the state Department for Aging and Independent Living, which helps grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

In one program, which provides money for grandparents to buy school clothes and meet other needs of their resident grandchildren, the number of people assisted in the first three quarters of fiscal year 2011, which ended in June, was greater than in the entire previous year, Anderson said.

Melinda Mann of Lee County, who with her husband, Walter, is raising three grandsons, said the voucher program and other services such as food stamps and Medicaid are a great help, but raising a grandchild can still put grandparents in a financial pinch.

Mann, 47, said she held a job before her three grandchildren came to live with her. Now, she can't find work that would let her be off at the same time as her grandchildren or stay home in the summer when they're out of school.

The couple had to move to a larger house — with higher payments — after taking in their grandchildren. And there's no program to pay for gas for trips to the doctor with one grandson, who has health problems, Mann said.

Mann said she and her husband got the three boys, now ages 10, 7, and 5, because their parents had drug and other problems and weren't caring for them properly. Her son and daughter-in-law were in prison at one point, Mann said.

Taking in grandchildren is a major lifestyle change, Mann and others said.

At a time when people begin to think about retiring or traveling, they're thrust instead into caring for kids for the second time around.

Mann said she and her husband came and went as they pleased before, and had planned to travel more to see relatives out of state. The expense of traveling with three children prevents that.

"Everything that we had planned went on the back burner," Mann said.

Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2011/07/21/1818685/number-of-children-raised-by-someone.html#ixzz1SkRRtXtp

Mark Anthony And Jennifer Lopez Have Split. Yep, The Lizard And The 'Ho. Watch Video.

Kentucky Joins Other Staes In Caylee's (Anthony) Law That Will Require Parents To Report Child Missing Within 24 Hours, Or Face Felony Charge. GREAT Idea.

Lawmaker proposes 'Caylee's Law' in Kentucky
Written by Mike Wynn

FRANKFORT, Ky — A state House member says the high-profile Florida murder case of Caylee Anthony

highlights the need for new penalties against parents who fail to report missing children in a timely manner.

Rep. Richard Henderson, D-Jeffersonville, said Thursday he is prefiling a bill for 2012 legislative session that would require parents of missing children to notify authorities within 12 hours or face a Class D felony charge, which can carry a sentence of one to five years in prison.

Called “Caylee's Law” in honor of the slain 2-year-old, the proposal would apply to children 12 years old and younger.

“The reason it would be such a stiff penalty is to provide protection for those that can't protect themselves,” Henderson said.

The bill will “fix a portion of the judicial system that I feel like is gray or flawed,” he said.

Kentucky law forbids child abandonment but does not establish a timeframe for notifying police about missing children, according to officials. Henderson said his bill would close that legal gap, and he hopes to receive bipartisan support next year.

“I want to work with anyone,” he said. “If the legislation needs to be tweaked or if somebody can add something to enhance it … I am open for all dialogue that would help protect our children more.”

The Florida murder case has captured national attention since Caylee's disappearance in June 2008. Her mother, Casey Anthony, delayed notifying authorities of the missing child for a month, and prosecutors said holdups in locating the child's body wreaked havoc on forensic evidence.

A jury cleared Casey Anthony of murder charges in a trial that ended Tuesday but convicted her on four misdemeanor counts of lying to police. After the acquittal, outraged legislators and citizens have called for versions of “Caylee's Law” around the county.

According to news reports, lawmakers in Florida, New York, West Virginia and Oklahoma are considering bills, and the Internet petition Website Change.org had received more than 430,000 signatures by Thursday afternoon expressing support for a federal law.

Henderson said he decided to file the bill after reviewing concerns from a constituent.

Editor's note: Go here to read more.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, praised the proposal in a press release Thursday, saying “we must do whatever we can to ensure the protection of our young children.”

Breaking News: Judge In Casey Anthony Case Surprises Everyone, Sentences Her To The Maximum Sentence Of 4 Years. She'll Stay In Prison To Complete Sentence. Watch Video.

Update: after allowing for good times credit (apparently, Casey was a model prisoner -- go figure), she will be released from prison next Wednesday, July 13th.

Justice Orland, Florida style.

Alternate Juror In Casey Anthony Trial: "Casey Anthony Did Not Get Away With Murder". Watch Video.

Casey Anthony Verdict Leaves Many With More Questions Than Answers. But What Do You Expect From A Society That Sanctions The Killing Of Its Unborn Babies?

Casey Anthony verdict leaves many with more questions than answers
By Audra D.S. Burch

ORLANDO, Fla. — The verdict roared through the hushed crowd.

Not guilty of first-degree murder. Not guilty of aggravated child abuse.

Not guilty of manslaughter. And then, with an intake of collective breath, the reaction: "Oh my god, oh my god."

For those who had waited outside the Orlando courthouse for the Casey Anthony verdict after six weeks of testimony, 11 hours of deliberation and three years of unrelenting media attention, the news that the jury had acquitted the 25-year-old on all but the most minor charges of lying to police left them bewildered and astonished, angry and in tears. Even with the four misdemeanor convictions, Anthony could be free as soon as Thursday.

"Caylee died in vain. That poor little innocent baby was killed and treated like a piece of trash," said Lanai Yelverton, wiping away tears. The Chattanooga, Tenn., mother and her husband ditched their Disney vacation plans for two days to await the verdict outside the courthouse. "There was no justice in this justice system today."

Emotions ran high in those first moments as the crowd, many armed with cellphones, cameras and video cameras, surged around the courthouse.

Some cried. Some cursed. Strangers clung to each other, weakened by the decision. Outbursts flared, especially when the Anthony acquittal drew comparisons to O.J. Simpson's murder trial more than 15 years ago. Some chanted their frustration: "We want justice ... Justice for Caylee."

In the far corner of the rotunda, Keettely Cooper clutched the Virgin Mary pendant hanging from her necklace and leaned against the courthouse's granite columns. She cupped her hands over her streaming eyes with tears, "How could they, how could they?

"I feel like Caylee wasn't just Casey's baby, she became our baby," said Cooper, 45, of Orlando, who had lingered near the doors for a verdict since the early morning. "I keep thinking of my own two kids and I just can't imagine hurting them."

Hundreds of people, from as far away as Germany, came to the courthouse to be part of a public moment, a life-or-death decision for an Orlando mother accused of killing her child so she could pursue a life of nightclubbing and parties. For many who gathered in the summer heat, the jury's decision amounted to a terrible miscarriage of justice. For others — those in the minority, at least among the courthouse crowd — the acquittal was proof of what they had believed all along. Casey Anthony couldn't have killed her child. And even if she did, the prosecutors failed.

"The state did not prove their case. You have to get past all the drama and the storytelling," said Sherri Jaques, who said she taught Anthony English in seventh grade. "Because she lied does not mean she murdered her child."

Frank Giannazzo, sporting a gray suit and a ponytail, braved the chaotic scene to voice his unpopular opinion: not guilty.

"If you take all the emotion out of this, you are left with a case in which there was no evidence linking her to the Caylee's death," said Giannazzo, who lives near Orlando and rushed to hear the verdict. "The state doesn't even know how she died."

Anthony was charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony, accused of suffocating her with duct tape three summers ago. From the beginning, prosecutors painted the portrait of a narcissistic, reluctant mother. Anthony's defense contended Caylee died by accident in the family pool.

The spotlight on the case was intense from the start, stoked by unrelenting, wall-to-wall cable news coverage and the steady drumbeat of family dysfunction and finger-pointing in the Anthony clan. Seats in the courtroom during the trial became so coveted that people waited in line at 4 a.m. to get a spot inside. Visitors made it a tourist attraction — a day at Universal Studios or Disney, followed by a stop by the courthouse. Some drove the 10 miles outside downtown to see the Anthony family house on Hopesprings Drive, a soft pink one-story home, or to view the nearby patch of woods where Caylee's remains were found in 2008. The spot has become a growing memorial site as visitors drop off stuffed animals, bouquets of flowers and American flags. Tuesday night, as a crowd gathered, one man stood vigil on a nearby sidewalk with a sign: "In the End, Caylee is Still Gone."

Back in Casey Town, the media village that sprang up across from the courthouse, the dissection of the news began before the jury was even dismissed. As helicopters hovered overhead, anchors and videographers dashed in front of the crowds for live shots, zeroing in on the most vocal or tearful. One woman fainted. HLN television personality Nancy Grace, who drove much of the coverage and dubbed Anthony "tot mom," was stunned, saying, "Somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight." The of-the-moment worlds of Facebook and Twitter exploded with outrage within moments of the verdict. Celebrities took to twitter to weigh in, from Kim Kardashian and Carson Daly to Rosanne Barr and Ricki Lake.

More than an hour after the verdict, many lingered outside the courthouse, hoping to get a glimpse of the legal teams and Anthony's parents. Police, on horseback and on foot, at the courthouse and in front of the Anthonys' east Orange County home, asked people not to take to the streets. Anthony family attorney Mark Lippman acknowledged that George and Cindy Anthony are in hiding after receiving death threats.

Earlier, the family issued a statement calling the verdict "fair" and saying they hoped to rebuild their lives in private. But for many who had come to see Anthony punished, the acquittal left them with a sense of justice denied. Michelle Bolduc Mesa flew nine hours from Frankfurt, Germany, to be at the courthouse for the last chapter.

"I was working at the Hollywood Mall when Adam Walsh was abducted. It left such an impression on me and since then I have been drawn to missing-children cases, which is how Caylee's case started," said Mesa, a retired naval nurse, who grew up in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

She has been in Orlando since June 23 and spent a day in the courtroom watching the trial. At home in Schweinfurt, Germany, she watched it on YouTube. "I have been following the case from the very beginning so I knew I wanted to be here for the verdict."

In the end, the verdict created even more questions.

"The people are looking for the answer to a riddle. Who is Casey Anthony?" said University of Miami Law professor Donald Jones, who has been following the case and teaches Constitutional Law. "The eyes tell us she is a sweet, innocent woman. The mind, the evidence says she murdered her child, shoved her in a car and went and partied. Is she a mother or a monster? And can she be both? Many of the people there wanted to personally participate in the judgment of Casey Anthony."

But in the hours after the verdict, as the crowds finally thinned and the media glare dimmed , one man remembered the greatest tragedy: the death of a little girl.

He stood in front of the courthouse with a horn playing the plaintive notes of Amazing Grace.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/07/06/117062/casey-anthony-verdict-leaves-many.html#ixzz1RKoEHYkY

I Have Finally Figured Out How Caylee Anthony Died. Read More.

After reviewing all the evidence presented at the Casey Anthony trial, I have finally figure out how Caylee died.

I am quite certain the jury in Orlando agrees with me on this:

I think Caylee,

being a baby, ACCIDENTALLY (now that's the accident part for you conspiracy theorists who suggested there was NO accident!) ingested chloroform which she must have purchased from a corner drug store (the pharmacist should be the one facing murder charges, and not Casey

).

Soon after Caylee ingested this chloroform -- sorry I forgot, accidentally ingested the chloroform -- she almost cried out, but decided she better not, and then reached for the tape which was laying near by.

Are you following me at all?

She broke the tape in strips and proceeded to tape over her mouth so as not to cry out anymore, and that's when the second accident happened -- she mistakenly taped over her nose.

Upon realizing her mistake and being tired from all the wasted energy because the weather was hot that fateful day, she decided to lay down in the swamp, figuring she'd both cool off and the swamp will be like a cushioned water bed for her to blissfully lay on, she dozed off and was accidentally (this is the third accident, mind you) drowned (this explains in a better format, the defense's drowning theory).

And Casey never partied at all, no matter what the prosecution will want you to believe, or your eyes see.

Moreover, Casey loves America,

and will never do anything to hurt a fellow American.

As for the smell in the trunk, you got it: that was where Caylee will put her dirty diapers, and if you have ever changed a baby's diaper and leave it in the trunk or trash can, you would notice that it often smells like rotting flesh.

I don't know why I never thought of all this before blaming the jury for a botched verdict.

You thank me for solving the case? Oh, you are welcomed.