A greeting from The National Organization for Parental Equality.
We would like to take the time to introduce ourselves; we are the National Organization for Parental Equality (NOPE), formerly known as Parents And Children for Equality (PACE). During the last week of January of 2010 a new era began in parental rights in this nation when PACE was merged into NOPE.
NOPE is the brainstorm of several of the long standing members of PACE who have taken a lead role in the efforts to reform family law in this country.
Among our leadership is:
Michael Galluzzo - One of the first to successfully move a case into federal court challenging the constitutionality of a state custody law and the methods by which the court deprive children of their fit parents. Michael hails from St. Paris, Ohio and is a father and grandfather that recognizes the importance of equal parental rights for all fit parents. Retired now but working harder than ever to make sure that you and his children, and grand children have equal rights in the near future. Michael was on of the first to bring an original action in the federal court system that challenged the custody scheme of a state.
Chuck Evans - Chuck was one of the first to challenge the custody scheme of Ohio and took his case all the way to the Untied States Supreme Court years a go. With a knack for the legal issues that face separated parents, Chuck has done a great deal of the work on the Galluzzo Case, his own challenges to Ohio's custody scheme and has collaborated on needed changes that are currently being proposed to Ohio's Custody law to make it Constitutionally complaint.
Chuck is a long time resident of the Columbus area and is the owner of Montezuma Brands which is a specialty salsa and sauce maker. He has written two books on salsa and is renowned for his expertise in the area. To find out more about this part of his life please visit http://www.montezumabrand.com
Ray Lautenschlager - Ray was a long time Director with PACE in Akron, that has served without waver. He has been the webmaster for the group for nearly nine years and was one of the main writers on the equal custody legislation that was introduced by Rep. Ron Young in 2003. Ray has seen the good and bad of the system having started out with equal legal and physical custody of his son which he held for ten years before the courts inappropriately terminated his parental rights.
Ray has help to put together two parental right rallies on the steps of the Ohio Statehouse and continues to fight for the equal rights of all fit parents despite the fact that his son is now emancipated. He knows that he has to stay to protect the rights of his son in the future. He continues to press legislators to change the law and is in constant communications with both sides on the house on this issue.
As you can clearly see we are starting with an impressive team of fighters; Men who have been on the cutting edge of this movement for years. These men have more often than not been working quietly in the background with little recognition for their efforts. The one thing that has remain constant has been their unwavering desire to get the laws changed and go home to be with the families and live in peace and quiet.
How is this going to be achieved with in a reasonable amount of time? Our goal is a simple but one that has proved affective in all of our efforts so far. Join as many together under one voice and under one National Banner.
This does not mean that individual group should or are expected to lose their respective identities. That is not our goal. Our goal is to make available the combined voice of every group, mothers, fathers, grandparents and children a single organization where they can join with a unified voice in speaking to the legislators in every state of the nation. Our goal is to make each group know to everyone out there that is seeking help. Our goal is to share with you the information that we have so that you are not re-inventing the wheel out of the box.
We will be accepting applications for individual chapters in areas that we do not presently cover in the near future. That will be a simple application and a simple process once chapters are approved for addition. Watch the site for more information as it becomes available.
If you are a group that is presently in existence, add your information to our advocates map so that anyone that visits our site can see who to contact in their area. You just may help someone that is lost in the shuffle of this court nightmare that will be able to pay that forward for some one else some day.
So often we get a call or an email from someone that is telling us about finding something that we have known about for years. That is why we have one of the larger collections of information available on the internet and that collection is growing daily. The PACE site was a simple site when Ray took over ten years a go and it has grown to one of the larger sites on the internet with a total of nearly 300 pages of information and more coming as fast as his fingers can add it. We have done everything possible to make this information available for all to see including every filing in the Galluzzo case and two more major cases that are presently happening in Ohio.
What else is it going to take to make this work - the nasty "M" word- MONEY! With litigation that is presently being funded by individuals that has sacrificed everything to try to help all, why are you not stepping up to help fund their work. The costs of printing and filing fees can eat a person to death. We funded much of our work privately but please help us to continue.
So why not join us in our efforts to make this work for all fit mothers, fathers, grandparents and children? So that they may have the justice that they deserve and we , together will put an end to the tyranny of the family court system.
