DOUGHERTY: Please state your name, where you're from, and proceed.

     MINX: Justin Minx. I'm from Sunrise Beach, Missouri.

     DOUGHERTY: Is that in Greene County.

     MINX: No, Greenview is close by, but no, it's in Camden County.

     I heard about this just a couple days ago. I, hopefully, hope my not being prepared doesn't hurt, because I just heard about this. I don't particularly want to be here, but I figured an obligation to my children. I just didn't have any choice and wanted to come.

     I was divorced in ‘92. I'm a single parent with sole custody of five children. I've been, basically, trying to get child support for quite a few years. The reason that I'm here is that the only reason I do not get child support is because I'm a man. It's known and obvious why the judges don't file Form 14 sometimes, and I just thought I'd come up here. I feel equality and freedom are like water, you know they'll reach their own level and if enough people will get tired of not being treated equal in a situation. I feel it's a slap in the face to women, also. For my girls, it's like, it's teaching them they're - to me, I feel like it's teaching them they're not the same as us.

     I originally went to a child support order, administrative order. It was knocked down. I think it was either in the Supreme Court or in the 8th District, here, pretty recently. They changed administrative modifications, where you now have to sign by an attorney. So, that put me out for a couple of years, then we went through a regular judicial process, I guess, and the judge awarded zero dollars at this time, for five children, and we both have comparable incomes, and $15.00 per child, starting in 1998. I received about seven months of child support.

     DOUGHERTY: Let me interrupt. Who has the children?

     MINX: I do.

     DOUGHERTY: All of them?

     MINX: Yes. I have them 26 days of the month for the last three or four years, and the years before that I had them, basically, all the time.

     DOUGHERTY: Are you sure this is not a Greene County case?

     MINX: I thought they were complaining because the men don't get the kids down there. Obviously, the only way, my attorney told me at the very beginning, men don't get children in Missouri. You know, it's the bible belt, things happen here last, but the way I got them was basically the way that most men that I talked to who got custody is the other party wasn't there.

     I went through a modification process. It was turned down. Like I said, they changed that. Well, I went back to the judge. I asked my attorney after it was over, I asked him, I said, why didn't, I said, their attorney, and she's represented by legal aid and has asked for $300, something, a month, and my attorney thought the way they figured it was $326, something like that, and I asked my attorney, I said, why didn't, their attorney was as sharp as I was, and I said why didn't he file that? He said, well, you remember the testimony that she said about that she told the children that she had to pay child support if she would leave the state and that she was very upset about her paying child support and she thought that I was that I would spend it on something else, that men haven't got away with that argument since the 50's, but, he said the judge felt it was in the best interest of the children. Now this isn't testimony in court. It's my attorney telling me on the side afterwards, the judge thought that if the best thing.....

     DOUGHERTY: Best interest of the children not to give you child support?

     MINX: It would be best for the children not to get child support because she would be upset.

     DOUGHERTY: What was the name of the Judge?

     MINX: Oh, Gary Schmidt. I was warned about the attorney. He doesn't dislike men, he just doesn't feel women are quite.....

     JACOB: What's the name, Schmidt?

     MINX: Yeah, Gary Schmidt.

     JACOB: And, that's in Camdenton?

     MINX: California, Missouri. My wife resides in California.

     JACOB: But, you're in Moniteau County.

     MINX: I'm in Moniteau County, and don't repeat this to my attorney. And I really think he has good judgement. He's a great guy.

     DOUGHERTY: You're making a good comeback here. Thanks to the tape recorder here. Could I ask if the committee members have questions. Yes, Representative Green.

     GREEN: Just a quick statement on this point. There's a constituent of mine, a husband and wife, and same similar case transpired, largest in the state, but she never paid child support, and he was not granted the money she owed him. I've seen it in my district. She owed $36,000 back child support.

     JACOB: This woman's on legal assistance, so she couldn't have too much money.

     MINX: Yes, but we still have comparable income. In fact, that is the other issue, if I could have another second, I wanted to bring up. I don't know if this was the scope of this formum, but I  know anything legal, and I was really appalled, I said, when I found out that she can use a legal aid, and I have five children and I can't. I said, so, therefore, they've litigated me to death for years with holding a hammer over my head. I'm in court for everything all the time. I've had - we don't have time, but under constant litigation, and now I have a situation where I'm going to want to appeal this decision just on the Form 14. My lawyer has recommended, he said, you know, if you will appeal this decision, he said, what's going to happen is Edmond Berg, the Director is personally handling the case, I assume, because he wanted to get his name in the law books, he's going to cross appeal a thousand things and he knows you have no money in this situation, and I asked Mr. Berg, I said, can you represent me, and he said, well, it's a conflict of interest, so I talked to the eastern district, and said, can you represent me, and I - the situation is okay and everything, but, I just think it's, for the future mine's done. I think it's very - I'd hate to see my children in court, where they could get no legal representation, and they had somebody holding a hammer over their head, and I'm shocked that you can't get representation for both sides, or no representation, because I'm going to appeal that, and I know what they're going to say. I wrote a letter. In fact, I showed it to Scott Fields, this fellow, I just met. He's says, they're going to kill you when you sign this thing. I said, "Dear Sirs, the appeals court. Would you waiver transcription fees and would you appoint me an attorney?" Which I know they don't have, and  I'm sure nothing is going to happen, but the legal aid has all the money in the world. So, the two issues I did want to bring up, is one, is I want to, for my girl's sake, especially, is that women are not treated equal. You can look at when men are not treated fairly. Women are not treated as equals in court, and the other thing was about the legal aid. That's about all I'm going to say.

     DOUGHERTY: Are there any further questions? Thank you, very much. Appreciate your testimony.

     That will conclude the hearings at this point and time. We thank everyone today for coming and sharing with us, I know, for some, more than others, it's really difficult, and being the first time amongst a bunch of people that look like us behind these desks, it might be hard, but we thank you, very much, for the time that you've taken off work and come to share with us.

     Our job now will be over the next weeks and couple of months is to try to sift through the recommendations, the ideas, the problems, the suggestions, the frustrations that you have and seeing what we can come up with.

     Our charge by the head of the Senate and the House is to come back with a report. We are going to try and push that a little bit further to come and see if there are areas that we can actually agree upon to get ready for legislation. As you know a recommendation by the committee, any one Senator, any one Representative, can file anything they want, and, that, of course, will happen. We're going to try and see how many things we can come to agreement on and move this further along. Thank you, very much, for coming today.