Honestly, it proved one of the most depressing days of my life, the six of us gathered in a small office deciding the future of my thirteen year old son Glen. Patricia’s allegations against Glen finally rose to the level where the State felt necessary to hold an inquiry to determine if my thirteen year old honor student was a delinquent.

            I hired a lawyer to represent Glen and in addition to the lawyer, his Guardian Ad Litem (GAL), John Romero, and his paternal grandmother came to testify on Glen’s behalf. I do not believe Glen and I said much more then three words during the proceeding. The five of us crowded around the hearing officer’s desk. Glen and I listened while his Guardian, lawyer, and grandmother trashed Glen’s mother. No child should ever hear a parent spoken of in this manner.

            In the same way Patricia’s assault on Glen in the study of the family home in November of 2001 placed us on a road leading to Patricia’s decision to file for divorce, Patricia’s decision to attempt to shift blame for her own actions to Glen proved the turning point in the ‘Divorce Wars’.  All because of the death of a dog I never knew.

            By August of 2002, everyone understood Glen could no longer live with his mother; there was simply too much conflict between the two. To the Machine, the answer was easy – move Glen in with his father. Dividing children is an easy answer for both the Courts and the mental health professionals.

            But not an easy answer for Dad, I wanted all of the children with me and Glen moving in by himself raised several concerns, concerns the GAL and I discussed intensively over the week before I made my decision.

            My greatest fear came true. Patricia’s mental illness tended to manifest itself in anger, fantasies, and unpredictable behavior (both good and bad).  This is tough enough for a thirteen year old but I understood one of the roles Glen assumed after I left was a buffer between his mother and his nine year old sister and his five year old brother. Glen’s departure might shift this burden to nine year old Jessica.

            It is tough position, removing your oldest child from a close to impossible position and in doing so, facing the possibility of creating or transferring the burden of the impossible situation to your nine year old. Unfortunately, my fears also proved warranted. Jessica experienced a tough couple of months before she and Montie came to live with me, tough enough that the end result was the State removing the children from Patricia’s care.

            Another consequence I should have foreseen was Glen’s temporary status as an only child. I still do not believe the family has overcome this problem. Imagine several months of one-on-one quality time with your father interrupted by the return of your younger siblings.

            Instead of improving the relationship between Glen and his mother, the separation made matters worse.  In typical Patricia fashion, she wanted Glen gone but wanted to maintain complete control of his life. She threw a fit when Glen decided not to attend Montie’s sixth birthday party (Montie's Sixth Birthday) and left several nasty voice mail messages on both his cell phone and his grandmother’s home phone. She began filing police reports accusing Glen of various criminal acts on a near weekly basis.

            Patricia can maintain a state of rage against an individual for weeks; finally she decided to seek revenge against Glen by killing his dog.

            I never knew Rinnie, the German Sheppard Patricia purchased for Glen shortly after I left the home. I was living in an apartment at the time, so we could not move the dog with us and I still habitually treated Patricia as rational.

            With Jessica and Montie in tow, Patricia took Rinnie to Animal Controll and requested they put the animal down. A few months after this, the city discontinued this practice, but it was too late for Rinnie.

            Jessica and Montie did not have the heart to tell us what Patricia did; they simply told us Patricia took Rinnie to the Animal Shelter.

            Glen and I visited all of the shelters and could not find Rinnie. My Administrative Assistant, BJ, agreed to house the animal until we could make arrangements.

            Jessica finally told Glen and I the full story. I think the two phase story helped. Glen accepted he lost Rinnie when we could not recover him from the shelter only later to understand Patricia had put the animal down.

            Patricia’s actions did not surprise the kids or I, we knew Patricia fully capable of such actions, we moved on.

            The reaction of the Machine surprised both Patricia and I, and it was a strong reaction. They simply could not imagine the horror of Patricia putting Rinnie down simply because she was mad at Glen.

            Once Patricia realized the Machine’s reaction she launched a campaign to clear her name. She put Rinnie down on the advice of five animal behavioral experts who stated the Rinnie was a vicious animal. And why was Rinnie a vicious animal? Because Glen had abused Rinnie from the moment he got him.

            The allegations led to our appearance before the JPO for an inquiry into Glen’s status as a delinquent and the six of us crowed in the small office. Patricia decided not to show up, she claimed that a nonresistant restraining order against me prevented her appearance, so she wrote a letter talking about how vicious Glen was, how it was all my fault, and how she wanted him to go to the Boy’s Ranch.

            After an hour hearing everyone but Glen and I defend him, the JPO put a stop to the hearing. He told us that he had made a decision about the quality of Patricia’s complaint once he read her letter. 

            After this incident, Patricia lost the respect and ear of the Machine surrounding Family Court, she attempted to branch out to new audiences and other parts of the Machine, but her efforts peaked with the death of this animal my son loved and I never knew.