Letters to the Editor

Hey, Ericka, the idiots who run New Times actually think you put me to shame with your vapid rag-on against what I had to say about Paul Demko's claptrap, "That's Condotainment!" (Letters, "Reader Puts Slavin to Shame," April 6.) Wrong, toe-fungus breath! I'm never ashamed about what I write, never!

Ericka, when a piece is written about entertaining old farts and pain-in-the-ass bluehairs (probably like your parents) living in Kings Point or some other condo fortress and appears in a supposedly hip, alternative newspaper, one has to question why.

The schmucks at New Times published your sorry-ass letter because they get their rocks off when a geek like you tries to run some smack at me. Do yourself a big favor, Ericka: Take two teaspoons of Metamucil and don't call me in the morning -- ever!

Oh, it's doubtful the cretins at New Times will publish this response to your cock-and-bull letter, so I hope they mail it to you! You see, they'll let you take a personal whack at me, but never get into your face. But I just did.

Let's see if you have balls, New Times.
Harvey Slavin
Hollywood

When the DCF Comes Off More Like the KGB
I picked up New Times after having brunch with my children on Sunday morning. We then went to the beach, where I started to read this paper I had never heard of before.

I came across a commentary on the article "Take the Child and Run" (Undercurrents, March 16). After reading the commentary, I had to see the article for myself. So when I got home, I researched the Web and found it.

I started to cry because my children were taken away from me for about one month by a DCF investigator and a sheriff's deputy one Sunday not unlike the one I just had. We went ice-skating, and when I returned they were waiting to take them away. It was a horror.

I'll give you a little background of my situation. On October 18, 1999, I was hospitalized due to depression. My children were taken care of by a close friend. The hospital called DCF, and when I got out of the hospital, a DCF investigator interviewed all my children and then called to interview me. She said she would be watching over us for a while. Well, after the third visit, she said the case would be closed because the children were well-adjusted and happy. She called me at work to see how my recovery was coming along. I told her I was all talked out and could she please call another time. The next time I talked with her, she was taking my children away from me.

On that "sad Sunday," as I call it, DCF told me I had to go for inpatient treatment or they would take the kids. Now, this was three weeks after I got out of the hospital. The deputy was adamant that he take the children, and I told him I wouldn't let him do it, because I was fine and so were the children. I work and am the sole supporter of my children. (Their father is a deadbeat dad.) There was no talking to him or the DCF investigator, who said she was doing as her supervisor instructed her. Well, this snowball turned into a snowstorm, and I was in court the next day, where the judge heard the case and gave my children back to my friend until another hearing was scheduled.

To make a long story short, I got my children back the next month but not until spending over $7000 on an attorney, psychiatric fees, et cetera. Incidentally, the investigator at DCF admitted to me she saw no reason to take the children from me, and now she is no longer working there. The scars are still fresh, and my children have suffered tremendously. I am thinking about suing these people, but like the article states, it's probably a losing battle, and I should be happy with having my children with me. However, there are laws they violated, such as entering and searching my house against my wishes (looking for God knows what).

The funny thing is that I am a tennis professional and was asked to play in a pro-am tournament to benefit the Children's Home Society. I did and helped raise $50,000 for the place.

Barbara Cytrynowicz
via the Internet