Witness:  Mr. Jim Donnelly, Father, Jefferson City, Missouri

     JIM DONNELLY: This one right?

     DOUGHERTY: As close as possible.

     DONNELLY: Thanks for having this forum on this. I really appreciate this. I'm Jim Donnelly, from Jeff City. I just want to bring up a few things this morning that involves my case, and just kind of go from there. I'm an active father. I have joint physical and legal custody of my children. My son goes to school right across the street here, at St. Peters. He's a straight A student. My daughter is going to be a pre-school student next year.

     Presently, I'm involved......

     DOUGHERTY: I take it back, I take it back. Not so close.

     DONNELLY: Okay. Presently, I'm involved in some litigation where, if you guys reviewed this thing, I think you would find it absolutely ridiculous what I'm defending myself against. I really don't want to get into a public forum today on anything that I'm going to be going up in court against, but I'd be glad to send this information to you.

     What I'm trying to get at, and Steven was talking about, Rayper, there, about $50,000 in legal fees. Right now, I'm already into this for about five grand, and I haven't even tipped the iceberg. My problem is, maybe Steven can afford it. At some point I probably won't be able to, and my attorney, you know, they have their hands out constantly for money. Like I said, if you guys saw what I was defending myself against, you'd probably be appalled. You know, hypothetical situation. You know, I'm served with papers after my ex-wife and her new husband move into $150,000 house. The obvious deal of what's going on here is the incentive, the money to be made on this. I've never been late with a child support payment. I pay for the tuition for my son to go to school at St. Peters. I will do the same for my daughter. I pay for his after-school care. Again, what I'm trying to get across is the fact, that at some point, who's to stop the situation from developing again next year? Let's say I successfully defend myself this year, and probably will, if you'd read the reports, and then next year have to come back and do it all over again. I, am not in the financial means to sit there and defend myself with attorney's fees, and everything else, and let's face it, if you go into a situation in the court of law, you'd better have somebody that knows what they're talking about, in terms of legal ramifications and everything else. For me to go up there and defend myself, I think would be relatively hideous. Of course, I have to make that choice, but I think anybody in their right mind would do the same thing. So, the only thing I'm asking is that, you know, in many cases, and maybe not all, but in many cases, I think if the incentive was well worth for these individuals, father or mother, to gain financially, from situations. I think that a lot of this stuff could be avoided, and a lot of this money that needlessly is being spent on attorney's fees and other things, affecting your job and so on and so forth, and that's all I have to say.

     DOUGHERTY: Are there any questions? Okay, thank you, very much.

     DONNELLY: Thank you, very much.

     DOUGHERTY: Bill Douglass.

     DONNELLY: Oh, can I say one more thing real quick, just real quick?

     DOUGHERTY: Go for it.

     DONNELLY: Okay. One note I made on the papers here earlier this morning somebody had mentioned about an accountability law for child support. I was told by legal counsel that one time, a year ago, that there was no real enforceable law when it comes to accountability for where the child support is being spent. Now, I'm not going to say I'm any expert on law, but you might want to look into that. My lawyer is pretty well known around this area, so, I mean, if they tell you that, then they probably know. So, you might want to look into that. Thank you.

     DOUGHERTY: Mr. Bill Douglas, thank you, very much, and just remind everybody, make sure you have a witness form.

    Thank you.