As I recall, part of the pledge to serve one's country states, "..to protect
and defend the Constitution and the people of the United State from all
enemies, foreign or domestic.."

Seems to me like there are a great many "public servants" who should be out
of a job for forgetting that particular portion of their Oath of Office.

Perhaps they should be reminded of that fact.


"Phil #3" wrote in message
m...
It's not the president that we need to worry about, it's the judges who
wield unlimted power to overthrow a man's constitutional rights simply
because he wants to.
Phil #3

"Dusty" wrote in message
...
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09192/983301-454.stm

Judge frees Pa. inmate who served record term for delinquent alimony
account 14-year contempt sentence ends
Saturday, July 11, 2009
By Mari A. Schaefer, Philadelphia Inquirer

AP Photo/Courtesy of Bobbie Chadwick

PHILADELPHIA -- H. Beatty Chadwick, imprisoned in Delaware County for the
last 14 years, was in the jail library yesterday giving legal advice to
female inmates when a prison official walked up and gave him the news.

He was a free man.

Minutes earlier a Delaware County Common Pleas judge issued an order
granting Mr. Chadwick's petition for freedom, thus ending his
incarceration for contempt of court -- a U.S. record for the charge.

"We want you out of here right away," Mr. Chadwick, 73, said the official
told him.

In 1995 -- the year "Apollo 13" was a box-office hit, O.J. Simpson was
acquitted of murder and 169 people were killed in the bombing of an
Oklahoma federal building -- Mr. Chadwick was a corporate lawyer who grew
up in Bryn Mawr and became embroiled in a nasty divorce. In April that
year, he was arrested by two sheriff's deputies at his dentist's dowtown
Philadelphia office and landed in jail.

A Delaware County judge issued an order to jail Mr. Chadwick for failing
to deposit $2.5 million in a court-controlled account that would be used
to pay alimony to his ex-wife, Barbara "Bobbie" Applegate.

Mr. Chadwick contended he no longer had the money, saying he lost it in a
bad overseas investment. The judge believed he hid the money after
divorce proceedings were started. Court-ordered investigations after he
was jailed turned up no money.

The couple were married for 15 years. Mr. Chadwick called their marriage
happy; she said he was stubborn and controlled her every move.

Efforts to reach Ms. Applegate's attorney, Albert Momjian, yesterday were
unsuccessful.

In yesterday's ruling, Judge Joseph P. Cronin said Mr. Chadwick had the
ability to comply with the 1995 court order to make the bank deposit and
willfully refused to do so. But, after 14 years, Judge Cronin said, the
contempt order had lost its coercive effect and instead had become
punitive.

At the prison yesterday, when Mr. Chadwick's attorney, Michael J. Malloy,
arrived to pick him up, about 50 people -- prison staff, correction
officers and inmates -- were gathered inside and out to see him off.

"It was pretty remarkable scene," said Mr. Malloy. He added people were
crying, shaking hands and hugging Mr. Chadwick. When he walked out into
the brilliant, blue sky day, Mr. Malloy said everyone applauded.

The two packed 14 years of clothes, books, magazines -- including Bon
Appetit -- and boxes of legal filings into the backseat and trunk of Mr.
Malloy's Honda Accord, and then they drove off.

"I really missed being free and being able to have interactions with
other people," said Mr. Chadwick, who was dressed in a dapper green suit
and maroon tie for the occasion. "Jail is really a very artificial
society."

Later in Mr. Malloy's office, Mr. Chadwick talked about his legal
battles, the judicial system, his life in prison and his future.

He said he held no anger about the imprisonment or toward his ex-wife, to
whom he has not spoken in more than a decade.

"The dark moments always came when I had a turndown from some court,"
said Mr. Chadwick, who had repeatedly sought release over the years. He
said he kept his spirits up helping others with their legal issues.

For more than six years, Mr. Malloy worked pro bono on the case.

"I always thought if I could take this to a jury, he would have been home
in a week," said Mr. Malloy.

When Mr. Chadwick's son, William, 41, walked into the office, the two
embraced.

"It was so tough to keep up hopes at these hearings," said William
Chadwick.

"We were concentrating so much on getting him out, we haven't thought
what we'd do immediately afterward."

Beatty Chadwick will stay at his son's house in King of Prussia until he
can set up his own apartment. He has no firm plans beyond that.

"I have to get out and make a living," said Mr. Chadwick, who has no
income other than Social Security.

He is considering possibly teaching, trying to see what he can do in a
corporate advisory role, and he will try to get his law license
reinstated.

"I'm really thinking about what I'm going to do with the rest of my
life," Mr. Chadwick said.

He would like to use his "skills and talent and time" to benefit others.

As Mr. Chadwick walked outside to transfer his belongings into his son's
Prius, a man driving a car along Veteran's Square in Media honked,
cheered and gave the thumbs-up sign, all while hanging out the car
window.

"Good job, buddy," said the former fellow inmate, who declined to give
his name. "You deserve to be out."