BOSTON, April 26 – Holyoke Chief of Police Anthony Scott will address members of the Fatherhood Coalition in a public forum this Monday, Apr. 28 beginning at 7 p.m.

The forum will take place in the auditorium at Brightside for Families and Children, Rt. 5/Riverdale Road, West Springfield, which is located in the facility’s administration building at the top of the campus where the coalition holds its regular weekly meetings.

Chief Scott will present the progress of his efforts on judicial reform. The Chief is proposing a constitutional amendment to limit judicial appointments to six years, and thereafter, having their nominations put on a ballot for voters to decide with confirmations by the Governors’ Council.

According to Mike Franco, State Co-Chair for the Fatherhood Coalition, Chief Scott and many fathers share common ground on their desire for judicial reform.

"We want the same thing," Franco said, "Our mission and goals run parallel."

Chief Scott’s impetus comes from his work in the criminal arena while the Coalition’s focus is more on the family court. A key objective in both instances is to hold state judges accountable to the people, and to the standards of the Commonwealth’s Constitution and General Laws.

"It’s clear some judges abuse their discretion," Franco said. "And they do it with impunity."

"Family court judges often render poor decisions because of an omnipresent pressure to infantalize women and treat them as victims regardless of the circumstances," adds Coalition Spokesman Mark Charalambous. "The growth of so-called 'feminist jurisprudence' is not only harming fathers and their children in family court, but it has undermined and corrupted the precepts of justice that have stood as the bedrock of the legal system in western democracies for hundreds of years," he said.

When you arrive for the forum, please park along the parameter road leading to or from the horseshoe driveway. Use the entrance there, and take the stairs one flight down to the auditorium.

For information on judicial reform, please go to www.massjudgesaccountability.us where you will find the tools to learn more and become active. The tools include petitions, a survey and proposed amendment, examples of judicial misconduct, and Articles V & VII of the state’s Constitution.

You may also visit the coalition’s web site at www.fatherhoodcoalition.org or contact us through the Fathers' Rights Hotline at 1-413-295-DADS toll free anywhere from Western Massachusetts.

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