Dear 'Wondering Alice',

I am Larry's friend and sister-traveller, and I assure you that he holds the interests of Martha Toogood firmly in his heart, and wants nothing but the best for her and her family. I realize that since you do not know him personally, you have to go by what you've read here on this forum. Even given that handicap, I find it incredible that you have formed such a mean-spirited opinion of him.   My final and definitive comment on your posts above is that you are totally and inexorably wrong.

I totally agree with catspaw when he says, "Congrats to the Judge, the caseworker and supervisor for doing their job, and mostly to a little girl who is where she should be at this time."

And I also totally agree with Ron when he says, "He has an agenda (and there is nothing wrong with that) but I don't think he is pushing it at the expense of the child.   There are two issues and both are being clouded together. If Larry is guilty of anything it is not communicating his case to the satisfaction of some people here on Mudcat." AND "If you take the time to read Larry's OTHER postings, he is concerned about what happens to that child.   The thrust of his issue was on placing the child in a home where she will receive proper care and be in an environment that supports her heritage."

Judge Nemeth has made his decision based on facts to which we are not privy, and I want to point out that he is not the same judge who will be adjudicating the felony charges filed against Ms. Toogood. Her case will probably not come up before the criminal court until after the first of next year. Therefore, discussing the criminal case will not get us anywhere, except to an exhaustive re-hashing of opinions that have already been expressed here.

I would only encourage those of you who have not previously known of the Irish Travellers (and the other travelling people of the United States and the rest of the world) to take this opportunity to learn about them, their history, cultures, and their collective struggle to survive against seemingly insurmountable prejudice, oppression, and genocide. In the three parts of this thread alone there are links to several informational sites on the Internet, many of which have even further resources to offer in the form of bibliographies and ongoing research contacts.

Well, the road is out for me on this one, and may I suggest that we all adjourn to happier subjects like BS: QE2's Dropped The Puck-It's HOCKEY TIME! -- and if you haven't ever heard of hockey, well then, all I have to say to you is 'there's none so blind as those who can't see the puck on the ice!' ;-)

All the best to all of you, Áine