Politicizing At It's Worst

I received a piece of literature in the mail today that said in big red letters:
Robbie Beal turned our little boy over to a twice convicted, drug using, child molester
Then it proceeded with, "On January 13, 2006, after 2 earlier custody hearings my seven year old nephew was ordered by Robbie Beal, Juvenile Court Referee in Franklin, to spend weekends alone with his twice felony convicted, cocaine-using, child molester father. This decidion came five weeks after the father tested positive for cocaine and marijuana in Referee Beal's own court, and six weeks after the boy had reported to seven persons that he had been sexually molested by his father."
It was sent by the committee to elect Don Caulkins, Sr, and something smelled fishy. So I went and investigated.
And right off the bat, I found something. An article about the hearing in The Tennessean.
The piece that I just showed you oly told one side of the story, so I am going to tell, as one man says, the rest of the story.

"Of the thousands of cases Beal has decided during his eight years as a referee, this is the only one Caulkins is making an issue of.
... Beal believes his decision was proper and reasonable, based on the evidence before him at the time, which he says did not include information about a molestation conviction.
... The father's felony conviction for child molesting came in August 1992, seven years before his son was born.
Court records from Indiana show that when the father was 19, he had sex with a 13-year-old girl on at least three occasions.
In a separate case in December of that year, he pleaded guilty to a felony charge of confinement in a case in which he was accused of tying his 15-year-old stepsister to a bed and raping her. The man was originally charged with two additional counts of charge molestation involving his stepsister, but prosecutors agreed to drop those charges as part of a plea agreement.
The stepsister told a detective she had sex with her stepbrother six times during a period of several years.
The man served 92 days in jail, six months at a work release detention center and two years of probation as punishment in both criminal cases.
... In 1999, the man had a son by a woman to whom he was not married. In 2001, they went to court in Davidson County to determine custody of the boy.
The father's lawyer, Abby Rubenfeld, said there was a verbal agreement that the father would get custody, a contention that is supported by transcripts of the closed hearing that were provided by the mother's family.
Both sides agree that there was never a signed order by a judge, which is the usual procedure in a custody case."

And now, here comes what the flier "forgot to mention."

"The father's lawyer, Abby Rubenfeld, said there was a verbal agreement that the father would get custody, a contention that is supported by transcripts of the closed hearing that were provided by the mother's family.
Both sides agree that there was never a signed order by a judge, which is the usual procedure in a custody case.
After the hearing, the boy lived with the father briefly before being turned over to the mother.
The principal of a Williamson County elementary school filed a petition stating that the boy was being neglected by his mother, according to records provided to The Tennessean by a relative. The principal said the boy had been excessively tardy and absent from school. The father, mother and the mother's parents all requested custody.
Allegations that the father had sexually abused the boy arose, and Beal ordered that the father have no visitation with the boy until those allegations were investigated.
... On Dec. 7, both the mother and the father failed drug tests. Beal gave the grandparents temporary custody of the boy. The mother and father were awarded supervised visitation with their son.
... When the investigation was deemed to be unfounded and baseless by a Metro detective, an assistant district attorney, the guardian ad litem, two court-appointed special advocates, a school counselor and a psychologist, at that point that's about as much information as I can get," Beal said. "You can't do much more than that."
... After finding nothing to support allegations that the father had abused the child, Beal gave the man two days of supervised visitation with the boy, followed by unsupervised visitation every other weekend."

BUT WAIT!!! The plot thickens!!!

"Abby Rubenfeld, an attorney representing the father, says allegations against her client — in both 1992 and in October, when he was accused of molesting his own son — are exaggerated or false.
She said the most recent allegations were made up by the mother's family to overshadow the mother's drug problem. Rubenfeld said the 1992 conviction in Indiana stemmed from a "teenage romance." She said the 13-year-old victim lied to police when her mother found out she was having sex with a 19-year-old man. She said the other charges, which involved the man's stepsister and two young children, were falsely made and resulted from a family dispute that turned malicious.
Rubenfeld said the mother's family was using Caulkins and the media to attack Beal and her client after losing in court. She said three judges had ruled in favor of the father and that she believed the mother and her family were releasing selected court records to reporters in the hope that they'll "write a sexy story."

Donald Caulkins has stooped to new lows, and not even for a great cause either. The position he is seeking is the position of Circuit Court Judge. What a sleeze-bag.