Sue is the ex-wife of Mike; she is mentally ill, having been confined to the MS State Hospital  several times, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Her records from the State Hospital were subpoenaed when we went into court for Mike''s criminal trial, but the judge(s) would not allow the introduction of her records because "she wasn't on trial". However, because of her illness and instability, Mike was able to gain custody of the boys, having had custody of them for several years when we met. Mike and the boys had been living with his mother in Edwards, MS. Shortly after Mike and I started seeing each other on a regular basis, Sue went to Mike's mom's house and told him that she wanted to talk to him (this was in March or early April 1985). She told him that she wanted custody of the boys and eight hundred dollars ($800.00) a month in child support. He told her that she wasn't capable of taking care of the boys, and even if she was, he couldn't and wouldn't give her that much child support a month. She also told him that if he would do this, she would be available any time for sex. He gave her a negative answer on all counts. She became angry and verbally abusive, and told him she would fix him. The afternoon after her visit, Mike came over to my house and related the foregoing exchange to my mother and me. He was cautioning me that she might try to cause trouble for me, some way or another, as she had made obscene remarks about the relationship between Mike and me, and also made threatening remarks to him regarding me.

Shortly thereafter and at different times for different periods of time, I would receive a lot of hang-up phone calls, and girls calling and asking to speak with Mike, and more obscene statements. I thoroughly discounted it, because I felt fairly sure Sue was behind the calls.

Mike, his mother, and friends who occasionally kept the boys told me, that Keith was abusive to Chad, and did not want to abide by the rules of the household. He was always asking to go live with his mother. I think some of this was because Keith realized that his mother was ill, and this worried him, but also he was given more freedom when he was with her. By his own admission to his father and me, he was sexually active. Although Mike still maintained custody of the boys, he did allow Keith to go live with Sue. When Mike and I met, Keith was living with his mother near Utica, MS, but Mike had legally custody of him; Mike and Chad were still living with Mike''s mom in Edwards, MS. When our relationship became closer, Mike, upon my urging, rented an apartment in Pearl. I lived in Pearl with my daughter and my mother.

Mike and I, with Chad and my daughter, were almost constantly together. As a welder, he worked through a local union, but was unemployed at the time. I worked for a small business in Pearl. Chad had not started to school at that time, so many days they would pick me up from work at lunch and we would either go eat with my mother, or Mike would have something cooked at his apartment. I kept Chad with me a lot, and we were just all very close.

In Late March, Mike received a letter from the Department of Human Services, signed by Debbie Graham. The letter stated there had been complaints that his children were being abused, and he must call her to set an appointment to come in and talk with her. Because of his ex-wife''s erratic behavior and history with the boys, Mike assumed that the complaints were against her, as the letter gave no indication of who was accused of abusing the boys nor was the type of abuse indicated. He was concerned, but not terribly upset, as he knew he had custody of the boys, and could protect them. He showed me the letter when I went over for lunch. At my house and he called Debbie Graham to set an appointment with for the next day.

I took off work and went with him to the appointment, and Chad went with us. As we went in, Mike gave his name to the receptionist and whom he was to see. In a few minutes Debbie Graham came to the opening of the lobby area and called Mike''s name. We walked over to her, she introduced herself to Mike, verified who Chad was, and totally ignored me. As we reached the door of her cubicle, she realized I was still there, and turned to ask who I was. I introduced myself, stating that I was Mike''s girlfriend. She told Mike that I couldn''t come back there, that the discussion was confidential. Mike told her that he didn''t mind me being there, but she was adamant that I not be present. Mike, Chad, and Graham went into her office and the door was pushed to, it did not catch coming open a few inches. Also the wall of the cubicle did not go to the ceiling, so if one was trying to listen (as I was), what was said could certainly be heard.

The cubicle was very small, no larger than ten by ten. Her desk was to the immediate right of the door, with the short side being against the front wall. To the left of the door was two metal folding chairs, so as you walked in, you would be standing in front of the desk with the chairs to your left. There were shelves behind her desk, and on those shelves were a set of anatomical dolls. At that time, I did not know anything about those dolls, so when I saw them, I thought they were just soft-bodied dolls.

I continued to stand in the hallway outside the cubicle. She sat down behind the desk and Mike sat in a folding chair. She offered Chad a page from a coloring book and e crayons. He stood at the far end of her desk and colored while she and Mike talked. This whole interview lasted for fifteen to twenty minutes. I could hear every word. She began by telling Mike that calls had come into the "hot line" indicating that the boys were being abused. He asked her who had called the reports in, but she said that was confidential. He told her what the custody situation was, and that he had brought his custody papers. Then Mike asked her who the callers said were abusing the boys and how were they being abused. She told him the allegations were that he was sexually abusing them. He told her right there, on the spot, that she could take them to a doctor or talk to them or whatever. He said that he most certainly was not doing anything to them. He told her she could talk to Chad then and there if she wanted. She said that is what she was her intent, but she would like to talk with him alone, indicating she needed thirty to forty-five minutes with Chad. Mike and I bought soft drinks and went to his truck, staying a little over thirty minutes before going back in. While we were sitting there he told me that he knew Sue would try and pull something as a result of her proposal and his rejection of it, but he thought it would be directed toward him and me and our relationship, not something such as this.

After we returned to the building, we sat in the lobby area for a few minutes before Graham came back and called Mike into her office. Once again I followed, but strangely enough, this time she did not protest my presence.

In front of Chad she told Mike that Chad had assured her that no abuse was going on from his father. She said he told her that he liked living with his daddy better than his mother. She then told Mike that after talking with him and Chad, she felt that Keith was probably in a "dangerous situation", and that Mike needed to go and pick Keith up from school that day, and bring Keith to live with him. (Keep in mind that Mike had custody of both boys.) Mike took Chad and me back to my house for two reasons: it was lunch time and Chad was hungry, and Mike was going to have to take Keith by Sue house to pick up his clothes and bicycle. He was concerned that an altercation would erupt and he did not want Chad and me to be involved. He went to Keith''s school, showed the custody papers, took Keith out of school, picked up his belongings from the Sue''s house and left her a note. They came back to my house, the children played, and we ate supper.

The next day Mike registered Keith for school at Pearl Upper Elementary. Keith was an avid baseball player, and although sign up time had already passed and teams had been organized, I made arrangements through my boss to get him on a team, and his uniform furnished. Three weeks passed and Keith seemed to be settling in. Mike had contacted someone about getting Keith into Boy Scouts. We were making every effort for him to become involved, and put him into situations where he could develop friendships. We went somewhere or did something with our three children every afternoon, and Mike heard not a word more from Debbie Graham or the Department of Human Services. We thought everything had been resolved.

It was during this three-week period that Keith shared with us that he "was screwing" his girl cousin who was around his age or a little younger. He and Chad also told us of some bizarre incidences with their mother, and brought up things she had done in the past, even when Mike was around.

On April 23, 1985, I went over to Mike''s apartment to eat lunch. The first thing I noticed when I parked in front of the apartment was that the door was closed. He always left the door open so Chad could run in and out while playing. There was a large tree right in front of the apartment door with a built up flowerbed around it, but no flowers. Chad and some other small children played with their little cars there. No children were present. I knocked on the door, and Mike came to the door, in his blue jeans, no shirt. He had a dishtowel in his hands. I stepped in and looked around. Chad''s partially eaten lunch was on the table, but Chad was nowhere to be seen. I smiled at Mike and asked him where my boy was. I turned and really looked at him and his eyes were full of tears. He said, "They came and got them."

I said, "Who came and got who? What are you talking about?"

He said, "They came and got my babies. The police and two social workers came and took them." I thought my heart was going to stop beating, as I felt all of the air had left my body.

Then he told me exactly what had happened. It seems that Debbie Graham had been to the school some days earlier and talked to Keith. What the contents of that conversation were, we do not know to this day. All we ever heard about it was what Graham testified to a preliminary hearing prior to Mike''s criminal trial. Supposedly, she talked to Keith who told her nothing was going on, and everything was fine. She told him if he thought of anything or changed his mind, to have the school call her. So within a week''s time, she said, the school called her to come back there, which she did and talked to Keith. Based on whatever he was supposed to have told her, she obtained a court order, which was never shown to Mike, to pick up the boys. They picked Keith up at school. When they came to Mike''s apartment, Chad was eating his lunch at the table. He had on shorts, a tee shirt and no shoes. The door was open, and suddenly there were three policemen standing there. The told him to back up against the refrigerator and not to move. Graham told Chad to get up, that he was going with her. Mike said that Chad started to screaming and trying to get to him. Both of them were restrained. Mike asked to talk to Chad, and they would not let him. They would not even let Mike get Chad''s shoes for him to put on. They told him nothing, except that on suspicion of abuse the boys were being removed from the home. We later learned that under the Youth Court Act parents are entitled to a hearing within 24 hours when children are removed from the home, but they did not inform Mike of this. We did not know what to do or who to call.

Finally, later in the afternoon I did get Graham on the phone. She told us that the boys had been taken to a shelter, and Mike would e notified of a hearing at Youth Court. That was it, that was all. It was almost as if the children disappeared off the face of the earth. We tried over the next few days to find out something, but just hit stone walls because we really didn''t know what to do, so we waitedand waited. **Only in 1998, while doing research on Mike''s case at the law library did I finally learn that the boys had been taken to a shelter, and where it was.** During this time Graham contacted Mike''s mother, and she went in and talked with Graham, but all that was twisted around. It is just too complicated and drawn out to put into here, but it can be related. In a nutshell, however, Mike''s parents had a bad relationship, but not necessarily a bad marriage. She claimed he was an alcoholic, but Mike and his two sisters say he was not. She tells of incidences that occurred between her and her husband, that no one else remembers. Basically Graham led Mike''s mom into portraying the father as a physical (not sexual) abuser, so they could go back on that to try to show there was a pattern. None of that ever stood up in court, however.

I set up an appointment with Graham, to go in by myself and talk with her. I told her that Mike, the children, and I were together almost all the time. I had a key to his apartment. I would go by sometimes when he wasn't home, and he would not always know that I was coming. I would pick up all of their laundry to take to my home and wash. I had a key to the storage unit that he had rented, and several times I went over there and picked items up for him, necessitating that I dig around in his personal effects. Especially after that initial meeting with Graham when she told Mike that the accusations were against him, I looked for signs: dried semen, blood, Chad being fearful, anything. My mother was a very perceptive person. She and I discussed all of this in length, and she kept Chad sometimes for us to go out, or when Mike would have something to do in the daytime. There was just never anything to make us suspicious. I told Graham this, and I told her some things that the boys had told me about their mother''s behavior and treatment of them. They voluntarily told me about these things, just blurting them out. Graham never made any notes during this meeting or any other meetings that she had with us.

After several weeks, Mike received a notice that a hearing was scheduled in Youth Court for late May. Mike, his mother, and I went to this hearing. We sat in the waiting lobby of the youth court building. We had no idea what to expect, didn''t even know exactly why we were there. A deputy sheriff, who was the court bailiff, came out and asked Mike if his attorney was there. When Mike told him that he didn't have an attorney, the bailiff told him he needed one. Mike asked him why and told him that we really didn't know or understand exactly why we were there. The deputy told Mike that he could be in serious trouble and he would need an attorney. We never went into the courtroom that day. The hearing was rescheduled for early June, during the first three or four days of the month.

We went to Legal Aid and Mike secured an attorney, a young man who was nice, but was clueless about situations such as ours. When we went back to court with him, he really offered no defense, nor contributed much of anything. Plainly, he was overwhelmed and outnumbered! We went back to Youth Court in June, and it was something like a preliminary hearing before Chet Henley, who, to my recollection acted as a referee, and was not a judge at that time. In essence what was accomplished at that first hearing, adjudicated the children to be abused, and officially removed the boys from Mike''s custody and placed them in the custody of DHS.

Chad's birthday is June 2, and we were in Youth Court the day before. By prior arrangement with D. Graham, the social worker, we had made plans for Mike, his mother, and I to visit the boys at the DHS office and take a birthday cake and other things. Graham brought this to Judge Henley''s attention. He was okay with us doing that, so after the first hearing we went to the DHS. When we arrived, Sue, the boy''s mother, her parents, and Keith were in the waiting area. We walked to a wide hallway just off the waiting area. Graham came in shortly, barely acknowledged us, but went over, sat down and talked to Sue. Then Sue and her parents left. Graham told Keith that he could come over and talk with us, if he wished, while she went to pick up Chad (from the shelter, we assumed). Please let me point out the irony of Keith there with us, given the circumstances! Had we known the lies that had been and would be told, we would not have wanted to be in that close proximity with Keith, as we could have been accused of threatening him. He could have said that we said anything, and he would have been believed! We were so naive!

Mike's mom chatted with Keith, and I valiantly tried to maintain some kind of normalcy. Neither of them knew what to do. Keith would be looking down at the floor, and Mike would be looking at him, and then Mike would look down at the floor, and Keith would look at Mike. Keith was talking to his grandmother, and I told Mike to say something to him. He said he just did not know what to say, since he could not confront him and say what he wanted to. The minutes passed very slowly, and then Graham came back. She told Keith to come with her, indicating she would be back in a few minutes to get us. We had brought gifts for both boys, a birthday cake, an ice chest with ice, drinks, and ice cream. We followed her through a maze of hallways, out one building, down a sidewalk, and into a mobile unit where the temperature was about 90 degrees. The boys were in a room waiting for us there. This next part is very important because of a written report from Graham, and what she said about this visit later on in Youth Court. Graham opened the door and preceded us into the room. Mike's mom was next, then me, with Mike following, carrying the ice chest. The boys were just standing there. When Chad saw his grandmother, he smiled a little and greeted her, not hugging because she had her arms full. I stepped over from behind her, and his face registered happy surprise to see me. He exclaimed, "Hey, Fredder!" and as he ran and jumped up into my arms, as I kneeled down. Over my shoulder, he saw his daddy, and in an excited whisper he said, right into my ear, "There's MY Daddy!" You could hear the joy in his voice. I stood up, still holding on to him, and let him slide down until his feet touched the floor. Mike set the ice chest down, and Chad ran to him, practically climbing Mike's body. We formed somewhat of a circle with the chairs, the boys, their grandmother, Mike and me. Graham sat down over to one side, inputting some into the conversation. Once again, at no time during this period did she make any notes. Chad could not decide if he wanted to sit on my lap or Mike's, and kept going from one to the other. Finally he got us to move our chairs close together, and put my left leg and Mike''s right leg together, and then he sat on both of them! Keith was much more reticent, but we slowly drew him in, and Mike talked to him. The boys opened their gifts, we had the food treats, with the whole visit lasting about an hour. Chad told Mike that he missed him a lot, and inquired after my daughter. At the end, Graham announced that it was time to go, and Chad hung on to his daddy and became very solemn, but did not cry. Graham asked Mike's mother to take the boys out into another room. The she proceeded to ask Mike questions about his disciplining methods, his employment situation and other things. The whole area of questioning was unconnected, hostile, and offensive, and she made no notes. When the boys were brought back in, we said our good-byes, and left. Little did we know that was indeed our final good-bye.

After that, when we next went to Youth Court, D. Graham testified a total lie about what had occurred when we came to the DHS and saw the boys for Chad's birthday. She stated that they hung back, and were reluctant to approach Mike, and that there wasn't much interaction at all. She must have been somewhere that I wasn't! She said Chad cried during the time we were there (he most certainly did not), and she said some stuff about her "interview" with Mike about his ideas of discipline, etc. She never even took notes when she was talking to him! I know, I was sitting right there. Months later, we went to the Legal Aid office to pick up the file they had on Mike. In that file was a typed report from D. Graham about that visit. It was a very positive report, in total contradiction to what she had testified in Youth Court. Through some other contacts, we learned that was supposed to have been a confidential report, but somehow the legal aid attorney had wound up with it. This report and other papers are now lost due to a financial misfortune of having the contents of a storage unit sold.

Another date had been set for later that month. We were still in Youth Court. Once again we had the legal aid attorney with us. While Sue, the social workers, and whomever else testified for the "other" side, no one was allowed into the courtroom. On the other hand, when it came time for Mike's mom, and then for him to testify, the courtroom was filled with social workers, deputies, and I don''t know who else, but there were only a few empty seats. It was a kangaroo court.

That day was the first time that we ever saw Brenda Chance and Rivers.  I knew who Rivers Carpenter was, as she had spoken at a meeting of an organization to which I had previously belonged. We later learned that Brenda Chance was the therapist for Chad, and Keith was seeing Rivers Carpenter.

Mike had finished testifying and was sitting at the table with the legal aid attorney. A deputy sheriff came in and sat down behind Mike's mother and me. We were on the front row, right hand side. The bailiff was on the front row on the other side. I looked back at the deputy behind us, and he was looking at the bailiff who looked back at him, and then towards Mike and nodded his head, as if pointing to Mike. I saw the deputy take his handcuffs out, and my heart sunk. We never went over there expecting Mike to be arrested. That had never occurred to us at all!

At the end of the hearing Chet Henley adjudicated Chad to be abused and left both of the boys in the custody of the DHS. Several weeks later we found out they were actually living with their mother, but at Youth Court it was indicated they would be in the physical custody of DHS, leaving us with the impression that they would NOT be with their mother. No one ever explained satisfactorily to us how they came to be in her care. The attorney for the court (boys) got up and asked for child support. Henley said he wasn't  going to let "this man see his children, so he certainly would not order him to pay child support." That was pretty much all that was said, and it was over.

Mike and his attorney stood up; the deputy that had been sitting behind me went through the gate, walked up to Mike and asked him if he was Mike Hall. Mike said yes, and the deputy told him he was under arrest. He reached out and put the handcuffs on Mike, and the bailiff told him not to put the cuffs on in the courtroom. The deputy took the cuffs off and Mike was led from the courtroom. They did not let his mother or me say a word to him. After he was outside the courtroom, they cuffed him and he was taken away. No one explained anything to us. We didn't know where they had taken him or anything. His mother was in absolute hysterics, and I was very upset, and had no idea what to do.

We went to my house, and I called a man I knew with the Jackson Police Department. He told me that Mike would be at the county jail, and he told me what to do to get in to see him. His mother and I went to the jail, and they did let us see Mike in a hallway for a brief few minutes. When he came out, he looked so pitiful. He had been crying, and was in total confusion. He said they never read him his rights and the people at the jail told him they did not even know what he had been charged with. I told him I didn't know what to do, but there would have to be some kind of bond set and as soon as we knew something, we would do everything we could to get him out. The bond was set at $25,000.00, and about midnight that same day I got him out of jail. When the charge came through it was sexual battery on Chad. We obtained an attorney and started preparing to go to trial. Mike was never read his Miranda rights. His first attorney told us since they were not going to question him, they didn't have to Mirandaize him, but I have had policemen and others tell me that when cuffs are being put on an individual, their Miranda rights are to be read. We never could get his attorney to put any focus on that.

We went to several preliminary hearings, one of which was in Judge Bell's court. He was the judge that verbally put Mike under a restraining order to stay away from the boys. He told Mike if he was in a store and he saw the boys that it would be in his best interest to leave. The prosecution asked for all of Mike's family to be put under a restraining order, but the judge refused to do so. However, we never had a written copy of that order, and when Mike's criminal attorney obtained all of the court records, there was no written order! Through all of the years that followed, Mike never made any attempt, himself, to contact the boys, even after we learned there was no written order restraining him from that. During the various times we went to court, we never saw Chad, only Keith. During the hearing in Judge Bell's court, Keith told a story about another man that Mike would let come over and sodomize Chad. He said Mike took pictures of the man with Chad, and that he had also made pictures of himself with Chad. Keith went on to relate that Mike had a camera that could do all of that. When asked what happened with those pictures, Keith stated he and Mike sold them on the streets of Jackson for ten dollars each! When I told Sue Hathorn, former director of the Children's Advocacy center about this, she said if there were any pictures like that on the streets of Jackson, she could obtain them. Several weeks later, she told me there were no such pictures. Our belief is that Keith was coached to tell this during pre-hearing(s). Mike did not have a camera like that, a tripod, lights, chemicals or a place to develop film or the finances, at that time.

Brenda Chance would always testify on what Chad had to say. She really capitalized that he had all the classic symptoms of "child abuse syndrome". She said that during therapy sessions he would hide under chairs, tell her he did not want to talk to her, tell her to leave him alone, and that he wanted to go to sleep. Of course he didn't want to talk to her, and wanted her to leave him alone. She was trying to make him say things that were not true. During this time, Chad was placed on Ritalin. There was a female doctor associated with the clinic of Chance and Carpenter. I was told a doctor had to be associated with their clinic in order for them to have malpractice insurance. We later learned that she signed orders to place children on medication without ever having seen the child. It was said by the therapist that Chad was placed on this drug because he was so hyperactive, that he was uncontrollable. They described a little boy that none of us had ever seen or known. Of course we did not know anything about Ritalin. We were suspicious then and are more so now, that it was given to him to control him, maybe in massive doses.

Several times, I tried to make contact with Brenda Chance or Rivers Carpenter to see if they would meet with and talk with us. Chance absolutely refused to and Carpenter never would return my calls. Mike and I were not married at the time. Mike is a shy man, and was totally baffled by all of this, so I would be the one to make the contacts. Of course since we were not married, they used that as an excuse for not discussing or meeting with me. At various times I would get on a searching mission, and I would try to find out things about these people, and about Dr. Julia Sherwood, the pediatrician that Chad was taken to after he was taken from Mike. In no particular chronological order, I will put things down that I found out.

Julia Sherwood, as mentioned above, is a female pediatrician whose name came up in court cases repeatedly, so she was another one that added to her income by "diagnosing " children as being sexually abused, and subsequently testifying in court. So she was getting paid by the state all the way around, on both the diagnosis and the testimony. She was at a conference in New York when Mike's first trial took place, and the State flew her in to testify.

The DHS took Chad to her for an examination. Please remember that it was alleged he was being chronically abused, but it was about ten days after being removed from the custody of his father before he was taken to a doctor. There were no semen samples acquired, no scarring was found or any other physical evidence. Chad saw her apparently while both boys were still staying in a shelter. They were taken to her clinic and left. Keith, who was eleven, gave her Chad's medical history. This was admitted by Sherwood in court when she testified at Mike's first trial. She did not testify at the second one. On a report that was in the files at youth court, that I just happened to obtain, there was just a handwritten statement that when she examined Chad there was "patulousness" around the anal area. This means spreading or expanded, to be open. Mike's first attorney sent a paralegal to University Medical Center to research the problems that would cause patulousness. Sherwood admitted on the witness stand that there were at least one hundred different problems that could cause the same thing! As an interesting side note I also found out through a state agency that Sherwood had two social security numbers.

Sue was Mike's first wife. After Mike's first trial, his second wife told me that frequently the DHS called her asking her about her son from a previous marriage, and if she thought Mike had ever molested him. She said she told them no, and to please leave her alone, but that DHS called her repeatedly. Finally she had to get really rude with them. That proves that DHS was only out to "hang" someone, and that someone just happened to be Mike. Again, let me reiterate, that no time or energy was expended by anyone from the DHS talking to anyone that could vouch for Mike''s innocence!

One of the most bizarre things that happened during the time before we went to trail was the day, in late summer of 1987, that we received the anonymous call about Keith, the oldest boy. We had just gotten in from work. Mike was in the kitchen when the phone rang, and I answered it. A man's voice asked if Mike was there, and I told him yes, to hold on. At that he said, "Fredna, just give him a message that Keith is on drugs, running around with known drug dealers, and in fact has been living with them." I asked who it was, and they hung up. It was very upsetting to both of us. Since Rivers Carpenter was the social worker that had been seeing Keith, I called her, identified myself, and told her of the call. Instead of her being concerned about Keith, she began talking about Mike! She said if Mike had not done what he did, that Keith would not be in that situation. I told her since we had not seen the boys in over a year, then whose fault was it if Keith was mixed up in something. She said she thought it would be his father's. I told her that there was nothing going on like that when Mike had the boys. Some other things were said and I was really angry. She showed such a lack of concern that Keith might be in a situation with drugs. She called Mike a pedophile, and told me that pedophiles were sick people and that they could not help or stop themselves from doing what they did. I turned right around and asked her, "Well, then, why on earth did kids around the neighborhood come over into our yard, and Mike was around children of friends all the time, and nothing else like that had happened?" Then this woman said, "Well, I would think once he has been caught, it would have scared him so bad, that he would never do it again." I said, "Rivers, you just called him a pedophile and said he could not help himself; now you are saying." And I went on to repeat what she had just said. With that, she told me she had an appointment and she had to go, and she hung up on me!

On the occasion of Chad's eighth birthday, June 1986, I had made arrangements with F. Williams, who was at that time, Regional Three Director of Family and Children Services, to take or have taken to the boys a cake, and gifts from us. Also I delivered a camera to her to make pictures of them. I thought she would take it herself, but as I understand from her, she contacted a social worker to take these things to the boys. The social work contacted Chet Henley, who would not permit this to be done. He, of course, was the Youth Court judge, involved initially, BUT how could he just say a word and stop this? Mrs. Williams has told me since then that she was upset and angry over that situation, because she thought taking the cake and gifts was a good idea. Why he blocked us from doing this I will never understand, and no one offered an explanation. Henley acted as if Mike''s parental rights were terminated, and that was not the case. We were so hungry to hear from them, to see pictures of them and wanted them to know that we loved them and had not abandoned them and that it was the system that was blocking us from seeing them.

There is so much, much more to this than time permits me to write here, but Brenda Chance was instrumental in both of Mike''s trials. At the first one, she had two "anatomical" dolls. These dolls are supposed to look like people, but her looked like Raggedy Ann and Andy. She walked around carrying these dolls, one on each shoulder, and I personally saw her patting their backs as if they were children. At the second trial there was introduced into evidence an audio tape of her interviewing Chad. Glen Waddle, who was Mike's court appointed attorney, knows a lot about taping, audio equipment, etc., as he has been in sports and radio work for years. He said it was very evident that there were "glitches" in the tape, and that the recorder was turned off and on during this taping. The judge allowed it to be played over and over and over.

Something totally questionable that Debbie Graham did after the boys were removed from Mike's custody, was exposing Chad to the anatomical dolls. She did this early on before Brenda Chance approached him with such. Debbie Graham testified to this in one of the pre-hearings that Chad completely destroyed the dolls. She had no training in the use of these dolls. Dr. Wood Hiatt, then at the University Medical Center, told me that one should never introduce the dolls in the manner that Graham did. Since then I have read the same thing, and it is out there to be read if one is interested enough to find it. Of course Chad tore up the dolls, and of course he was acting out. None of this had ever happened, and he was fighting back because he was frightened and confused. It was testified to that he looked up to Keith as a father figure, and then it was said that the "daddy"doll was the one he absolutely "annihilated."

There were around thirty-six errors in Mike's first trial that qualified the decision to go for an appeal to the MS State Supreme Court. His conviction was overturned and remanded for a new trial, if the prosecution decided to retry him. The decision said Mike has numerous errors, any one that could cause a reverse decision, but the one that was used was actually a political ploy. He was the first person to be tried under the law of the Youth Court Act of 1986 that allowed hearsay evidence, i.e., a therapist testifying for a child. The State Supreme Court ruled that the legislature had overstepped their bounds in passing such a law.

There is a time period during which the prosecution had to decide if they were going to try Mike or not, and it was just days until that time would be up when we were notified that he would be retried. The first trial was held in July 1986, and it was in 1988 when the appeal went through. The second trial took place in February 1990.

If there ever was an objective witness, it was Dr. Carl Moran of Raymond, MS who testified in Mike's second trial. His testified that Sue had brought Chad to him, saying that she believed he had been sexually abused. Dr. Moran examined Chad and said there were no indications whatsoever that he had been abused. He made an appointment for Sue to see a psychiatrist at the St. Dominic's hospital, an appointment that she never kept.

At all the hearings and during both trials, Brenda Chance testified that Chad was deathly afraid of his daddy. Keith told a fantastic tale at the preliminary hearing of seeing Mike watching them from the woods, seeing him peek in the windows at night, and that Keith went out with his gun and scared him away. What they did not know, was that in the time frame they were placing Mike as spying on them, he was working out of the state. Also, after the one time that this came up, it was never pursued again. However, we feel that his attorney should have used this to impeach Keith.

Contrary to the lie that Chance perpetuated, Chad always acted favorably to his dad on the rare occasions that they saw each other. At the beginning of the second trial, Mike, his attorney, and I rounded a corner in the courthouse and Chad was standing at the bottom of the stairs. I was looking directly at him, and his face lit up like a Christmas tree when he saw Mike. As Mike walked by he reached down and gently poked Chad in the stomach with his finger and said, "Hey, boy." Chad was standing on the second step from the bottom and he just reached up and put his hand on Mike's biceps. Mike ascended the stairs, with Chad staying where he was. As Mike went up, Chad just let his hand slide down Mike's arm until their hands met, and they squeezed. Mike looked back and down at Chad, and Chad up at him and they smiled. Two other occasions followed during the days of the trial. Once we were going up the stairs and the boys were in a room at the top. Chad just happened to look out the door, seeing his daddy. He grinned a little mischievous grin, and put his hand under his chin and waved. Keith looked out, saw us, and yanked him back in. The most significant moment came when we were standing by a balustrade on the second floor, waiting for the elevator. The door opened, and there stood Chad, Keith, and Sue. Chad rushed out of the elevator and threw his arms around Mike's legs and said, "Hey, daddy, I love you." Mike said, "I love you too, son." We noticed a bloody looking cut on his chin that wasn't there the last time we saw him. Mike asked him what happened to his chin, and he said, "Bubba hit me for waving at you." Bubba was Keith''s nickname. Sue reached and absolutely snatched him away from Mike.

The Christmas when Chad was about ten years old, Mike's mom had contacted Sue and made arrangements for them to come to her house for a Christmas get-together with Mike's sister, he son, and the two daughters of Mike's other sister. I just "happened" to drop by in the middle of everything, just me, not Mike. We had bought Chad a bike, and other gifts for both boys. Chad was very open to me, Keith was sullen, but I eventually drew him out somewhat. The weather was really bad that day with freezing rain. Since my mother-in-law lived about forty miles or so from our house, Mike had told me to call him before I left from over there, so he would know I was on the road coming home. When I was ready to leave, without even giving it a second thought, I told my mother-in-law that I had to call Mike and let him know I was leaving. About the time I had dialed our number and the phone was beginning to ring, Chad looked up at me from his chair, and said, "is that my daddy you're calling?" When I answered in the affirmative, he said, "I want to talk to him." I told him I was sorry, he couldn't, he began bouncing up and down in the chair, adamantly saying, "I want to. I want to talk to my daddy." I had told Mike to hold on, and I looked at my mother-in-law and she said for me to use my own judgment. I thought, well, Mike did not contact or attempt to contact him, so I told Mike someone wanted to talk to him. I handed the phone to Chad, he took it, and in a falsely deep voice and a big smile on his little face, he said, "Hey, daddy." By him talking so deep like that, Mike at first thought he was talking to Keith, and asked who it was. Chad said, "It's me, your son, Chad." They only talked maybe two minutes. Chad told Mike he loved him and missed him. When I took the phone back, Mike was absolutely stunned. Keith later reported to Debbie Graham, and it was duly reported to other sources, that I had forced Chad to talk to Mike. The grandmother was standing right there, the aunt was there, along with nieces and nephew who were old enough to be credible witnesses, all hearing it just as I have related here.

When I had taken Chad out on the carport earlier to make a picture of him on his bike, I told him that Mike wanted him to know that he didn't want those people to take him and Keith away, but he couldn't stop them. Chad nodded his head solemnly and said he knew that. I also told him how much we loved them and wanted them to be with us.

Brenda Chance, Rivers Carpenter, Julia Sherwood, Debbie Graham and others, conspired and were instrumental in this tragedy that virtually destroyed the life that Mike and I had hoped, dreamed, and planned for in being a complete family with our three children. Our finances were devastated, we had to declare bankruptcy, and we have lost virtually everything that we owned. The people mentioned by name in this paragraph, along with Ed Peters and Cynthia Hewes (from the DA''s office) were key players in this travesty of justice. The late Chet Henley certainly was at fault in this also. They were only out for a conviction, a notch on their guns of "justice." There was never any objectivity. They chose a victim (Mike), and they went after him with a vengeance. Dr. Wood Hiatt told me that these people were like a nest of vipers, they made their livings on doing just what they did in Mike''s case.

This is a bare-bones synopsis of the events that devastated our lives. Mike had never been in any kind of trouble, nor had either one of our families had any dealing with the DHS. We tried to cooperate and were always honest, but no one wanted to hear our side of the story. NO investigation was done. The morning the first trial began, we were given a copy of a report by James Davis, an investigator with the Hinds Co. Sheriff''s Department. He had "interviewed" the boys, but he had not interviewed anyone from our side, never talked to Mike, nor me. Mike''s sister directly refuted what Keith testified to and no one listened. There is more, much more to this. I will talk with anyone, anytime about it, and if they can get in to see Mike, he will too. Debbie Graham flat lied in court, on the witness stand. She perjured herself to the maximum and Brenda Chance did too, as she did not present facts as they really happened from the first. Facts came out in one of the hearings that when Brenda Chance had been a counselor at some other program (something connected with mental health), she had seen Sue as a patient several years prior to all of this coming about. That was a direct conflict of interest, and she never should have been allowed to work on this case.

Mike is in prison for something he did not do, and that is sad and tragic. He and I discussed this recently, and we both feel the same in our hearts and minds. Yes, his situation is sad, tragic, and at times practically unbearable, BUT he has me on the outside, and his mother, stepfather, my daughter, and his two sisters, extended family, and friends that love him and support him and attend to his needs as we are allowed. The most tragic figure in this whole thing, however, is Chad, who was abused by a system that was intended to protect children. Keith is a loser too, but apparently he hasn't realized it yet. Chad had no choice. He was taken, against his will, from the love and security that his father, his Grandma Hall, my mother, and I provided. He had to spend hours in false therapy, being brainwashed about something that never happened. His childhood was stolen from him, and he never had the opportunity to have the nourishing relationship with his father that he, or Keith, could have had, and should have had. Instead they were raised in an environment which involved drugs, alcohol, dysfunctional relationships, a murder, illicit sex, and no spiritual training.

What also must be realized, however, is that many people outside the circle of Mike, the boys, and myself were deeply and lastingly affected by this situation. I lost custody of my daughter for four and one half years because of this. She never should have been taken from me. Mike and I were not married at the time, but the court tried to dictate to me that I had to totally terminate my relationship with him in order for any consideration of maintaining custody of my child. I offered everything, but that. My daughter is now almost 24 years old, a gifted, highly intelligent young woman who graduated Magna-Cum-Laude with an Associate's Degree in Sociology. She is married and the mother of a two year old son. She has voluntarily terminated her relationship with her father because of his actions towards her and me through the years. Mike has been the father figure who helped to raise and support her. Through the grace and mercy of God this has not affected her life adversely, except for the heartache she suffered in not being able to live with me for those years. She actually is stronger for going through this, and would like to help keep others from going through something like this.

Mike's grandmother, Chad and Keith's great-grandmother died in late 1999. She deeply grieved over Mike being falsely imprisoned, and over not ever being able to see the boys again. She is one person that had knowledge, because of the boys confiding in her, that a man their mother was involved with was perversely abusing them. We told this to Debbie Graham and Brenda Chance, but no one ever called the great grandmother who lived in Oregon.

Another person who was greatly affected by this travesty was my own mother. Because of these accusations against Mike, I lost custody of my child to my ex-husband. This totally devastated my mother, who went into a deep depression. When Mike was convicted and sentenced, she ultimately lost her will to live, and succumbed to death in the middle of all of this.

Keith and Chad had been growing up with cousins on their paternal side, never to see them again after they were taken from their father. Contact with the paternal family, immediate and extended, was totally terminated.

Keith and I had not had the opportunity to form any kind of bond, but Chad and I had. He was an easy child to love, and he immediately made it clear that he looked on me in a motherly fashion. I was such a presence in his daily life for several months, and then we were snatched away from each other.

On December 17, 1992, Mike's conviction and sentence was affirmed by the State Supreme Court. The day after, my daughter and I found Keith at his job. He worked for a grocery super market and he was in the parking lot gathering shopping carts. She approached him before I did and told him that we came to tell him that his daddy was going to prison. He could not and did not look us in the eye. I had written him a letter telling him how he could and should tell the truth, and I gave it to him before we left. My daughter told him that she had always dreamed about having a big brother and he would have been that. She would have had a big brother and a little brother and they could have done a lot of neat things together, but he had a part in keeping that from happening. She told him she did not know how he could sleep at night. I stood in front of him and told him that the last thing Mike had said to me when he knew we were going to face Keith was to tell him that his dad loved him and forgave him. Keith stood there with his head hanging down, looking at the ground, scuffing his toe into the pavement. He said in a barely audible voice, "Tell dad that I will try to talk to him one day." I asked him if he was going to tell Chad. He said he didn't know. I pretended to be astounded and asked him, "Do you mean to tell me that since your dad did this horrible thing to Chad that you witnessed, and Chad is so frightened of him, that you don't know if you are going to tell him that at last his dad is locked away?" He mumbled that he didn't know. In October of 1993, Mike's mother saw the two boys at the state fair, and she told Chad that his dad was in prison. She said that he turned white around his mouth, and turned and asked Keith if he had known, but Keith would not answer him.

Mike was convicted a second time, largely due to Chad testifying during the second trial with Hinds County District Attorney Ed Peters leading him thorough the testimony. This really consisted of Chad saying "yes" and "no" to questions. Mike's sentence was twenty-five years on a charge that bears a stigma that will never go away. He began serving his prison term on December 17, 1992. He came up for parole in June 1998 and was turned down, and given a set-off for five years, which means that he will not come up for parole again until 2003. His release date is 2004 without parole. There was no reason for him to be turned down for parole. He has been a model inmate, went to school, worked up until the doctors would no longer permit it due to herniated discs in his back, the results of an injury he received since he has been incarcerated.

These ''boys'', now adults could be instrumental in helping their dad make parole (at the least); but they are the biggest key to his exoneration. As will be related later, we are hoping that Chad will help, but do not hold out much hope that Keith will. We do not feel that Keith can distinguish fact from fiction.

When Mike's case for appeal was argued before the State Supreme Court, Pat Flynn of the Attorney General's office represented the prosecution. My sister-in-law and I were in attendance at that hearing. Afterwards, I approached Ms Flynn in the parking garage. We talked and I started to give her some pertinent facts, such as what the boys had told their great grandmother about their mother's boyfriend making Keith perform oral sex. That was just one of many things that I brought to her attention. She was visibly stunned and appalled, and said, "Well, Fredna, why haven't you all ever told anyone about these things. Mike's sister stepped up and said, "Lady, my family and I have been treated like pond scum. We have told these things to everyone that would even remotely listen to us, but no one paid any attention."

An addendum to this is that after the second time Mike's trial was argued before the Supreme Court, Glen Waddle, Mike's court appointed attorney, told me that because of something that was said to him, he thought there were doubts about Mike's guilt even in the Attorney General's office.

We had related to Debbie Graham the things that we had told Pat Flynn. Rather, it was usually me that told her, as I would call and tell her things, but she never did anything with them. We told Mike's attorney. I told Sue Hathorn, former head of the Children's Advocacy Center, Rose Roberts, at that time the Deputy Director of Family and Children Services for the DHS. Anyone, everyone that I thought should know, that could or would possibly be interested. Everyone was interested/shocked/appalled, but nothing ever was done with the information.

The primary goal of the Department or Human Services should be to keep families together, but in this case as in many others, they only went after a little family to tear it apart. I spent, on several occasions, hours with Rose Roberts. She believed and still believes that something was very wrong in the way this situation was handled. In talking with Debbie Graham, Mrs. Roberts said she found an attitude that was not what it should be in a person doing her job objectively and for the common good of the family. In addition to knowing Brenda Chance Donald during that time, since then Mrs. Roberts has encountered the same in court. She knows how Brenda Chance Donald operates. No one in the DHS ever sought anyone out that could shed some light on why this was happening. They only went after those that could help them make a case against Mike.

Mike and I spent several hours with Rose Roberts. He begged her to bring the boys to him, to let him face them over a conference table. He told her she could "have the rooms ringed with deputies" or whatever it would take, but to please fix it so he could talk with his boys face to face. I always felt that Mrs. Roberts thought this was a good idea, but as she explained to us, she could not do that because of court orders already in place.

As the years have gone by, Mike and I, plus other family members and friends have tried to fathom why this happened. This is the conclusion that we have reached: Sue, the ex-wife, never worked outside the home to any extent, and did not want to work. She thought if she accused Mike of abuse, that the boys would be taken away from him, be given to her along with child support money, and that she could live happily ever after. She was foiled in her attempt at getting support, but the allegations had been made. To back out of them would have meant trouble for her. Not that she cared that Mike would be prosecuted, but we think that never occurred to her. It has also been suggested to us many times, by professionals, friends, and family, that maybe Chad was being sexually abused by Keith, and that they had been caught.

We believe that Keith was led to believe by his mother and her sisters, that they would get all this money from his dad. That they would get Mike's guns, three wheeler, truck, everything; and that Keith could have anything he wanted. At the time, Keith either really believed all of this happened, or perhaps he has been told that if he tells the truth now he could go to jail, as he was a minor when he testified before. We also feel that Chad is fearful of what? Keith, their mother? We aren't sure, but we do believe that for the following reason: When Mike's mother and stepfather saw Chad again at the fair in October 1995 (without Keith), she talked to him about telling the truth about all of this. She and Mike's step-dad said that he said, "Grandma, if I say anything, (and he made a slicing motion with his finger across his throat)" We don't know who "they" are, but we believe that this comes from his mother and brother.

Our family is truly a victim of a system gone seriously awry. Just recently as I was looking over the papers filed for Mike's appeal before the State Supreme Court, I was appalled to note pertinent points in the appeal files. Cases that had been heard before Judge Coleman prior to Mike's trial, and items that Judge Coleman ruled against in those cases, he let stand in Mike's case. At the end of the written decision by the Supreme Court on the first trial it was written that if this case went to trial again, it would be a "different ball game, no balls, no strikes." Of course, he did not follow the directive of "no balls, no strikes," even unto the sentence imposed by Judge Coleman in the second trial. He said, when sentencing Mike, that Judge Hilburn had imposed the twenty five-year sentence, and he "had" to honor that. That doesn't sound like "no balls, no strikes".

The first trial had been before Judge Breland Hilburn, but we filed papers asking that he recuse himself from presiding over the second trial. He was prejudicial during the first one, and we were sure he would not be fair and objective during the second one. That point was proven more than once, and again when we were preparing to go to trial a second time. Mike had to make an appearance before Judge Hilburn and at that time, told the Court that he had no money with which to obtain an attorney. Hilburn gave him some time to see about getting one. We did try, and it would have been no problem at all if we had had access to five or ten thousand dollars for just a retainer! Hilburn also told Mike to call the court clerk by a certain day. I was there; I made notes; I know what he said. We did call in by the date we were told, and we told them we could not obtain an attorney. So Mike was told to come in to the detention center. They put him in jail for three days, and Judge Hilburn told him it was because he failed to make a court appearance! That was false.

Appearing in court for the first time before Judge Coleman, the Judge went right back time and time again to what was done at the first trial. He would say he could not deviate from what Judge Hilburn did. When Glen Waddle, Mike''s attorney, read from the Supreme Court ruling about the no balls, no strikes, Judge Coleman was furious! He said the Supreme Court was first of all not going to liken his court to a baseball game, and they were not going to tell him how to run his court. Curiously enough, we have not been able to find these remarks in the transcript of that hearing. We understood that the court reporter was his wife.

Before the second trial we were all instructed not to refer back to the first trial in any manner. The jurors were not to know there had been a first trial, and that it had been overturned and remanded. Our minister was a character witness for Mike, and while District Attorney Ed Peters was questioning him on the stand, he led our pastor into saying something about the first trial. Judge Coleman left the decision up to us if we wanted a mistrial. We did not know what to do, so finally we decided not to take a mistrial. Since then we have learned that the judge should have declared a mistrial, not left it up to us to decide!

The day of sentencing was something else. Judge Coleman refused for Mike to be granted a pre-sentencing investigation. He had had one before, and the conducting caseworker was vile to Mike. She told Mike that he should be put away forever, and the key thrown away! Once again, Judge Coleman stated that he had to uphold the sentence that Judge Hilburn had given Mike; that he could not make it a lesser one. Once again he was reminded of what the Supreme Court said, and once again, he was not interested. He told Mike that, "This is the worse case of child abuse I have ever seen, and I have seen plenty." How could he even say that? There was nothing to document marks, injuries, no physical evidence, other than the symptom Dr. Sherwood had testified to when she said the same symptoms could be the result of numerous other things.

Somewhere, someplace, someone, somehow, will really see through all of this, and see that an innocent man has been sent to prison. A family in the making was virtually destroyed, and two children (Chad and Keith) were wrongfully taken away from the parent that could have and would have raised them, teaching them morals and values, in a Christian home with a father and mother that each other. They could have and should have been raised by parents that cared about and loved them, raised them with guidance, discipline, and a solid foundation to help them to grow up and become productive citizens and men that would build their own families on that same foundation. Instead they were forcibly taken by a system that was supposedly designed to protect them, that sucked them into a vortex from which they would never be released. They were placed into a situation where their mother survived on welfare; and the boys simply served as a means to an end. They were surrounded by drugs, violence, obscenity, and immorality. As they have grown into young men, from what little we have gleaned, Keith is somewhat of a con man, lying his way through life.

In 1998, Sue, the mother of Mike's two boys, called Mike's sister's ex-husband. She was trying to find out from him how to reach Maxine Mooney, Mike's mom. Through the years because of these charges, Keith's lies, and Sue's irrationality, Maxine has just cut herself off from the boys, has an unlisted number and doesn't want to have anything to do with them. At the time Sue made this call, Maxine and her husband, Mike's stepfather were away on an extended trip. No doubt Sue had gone to their house before she made the phone call. The reason she wanted to reach Maxine was that Chad, the youngest boy, had been arrested and charged with a felony. He and another young man had broken into a man's house in Copiah County, the man was at home and Chad hit him in the face with a metal pipe. Chad was in jail and she was trying to make bail money for him. Our family finds it amazing that the family that is hated and feared so my by Sue, her family, and supposedly sons, are where they head when there is trouble! This ex-husband called his daughter, Mike's niece and that is how we found out about this. I, in turn, called the county jail and talked several times with the investigating officer on the case. I subsequently wrote the judge on the case a letter asking him to consider placing Chad in the RID program (Regimented Inmate Discipline), where Chad would not have to do hard time and perhaps be benefitted by his incarceration. I faxed the letter to the judge the night before Chad''s sentencing. I don''t know if my letter was taken into account or not, but the judge sentenced Chad to exactly what I had asked him to. Under the RID program, he would have to serve six (6) months in prison, and then be on probation for the rest of his sentence. At Central Mississippi Correctional Facility (CMCF), where Mike is housed, it also the processing center for all who are entering the penal system in the state. Of course Chad went through that, and apparently worked on a maintenance crew while he was there. One day Mike was out for yard call, and a man (an inmate) that he knew was on the outside of the fence doing some type of work and he called out to Mike. Mike went over as close as he was allowed and the man told Mike he had a message for him. He said that he had worked with a young man on the other side the day before, and the young man had asked this man if he knew Mike Hall. When the man answered in the affirmative, the young man said, "Well, tell him his son is here and that I love him very much." I called and obtained Chad's prison number and his address.  Mike, my daughter, and I all wrote him. He replied to my daughterand they exchanged several letters. She lightly mentioned to him that he needed to help his dad, and he replied telling her that he was going to try to when he got out. He told her for right then, he would just rather correspond with her, and we all honored that. She never heard from him after his release. In the early summer of 2000, I found out who his probation officer was and obtained her phone number and address. I told her I would like to send Chad a letter in care of her, and she said that would be fine. At a later date, I called her and she related that Chad had come in, gotten the letter and read it in her office. I gave him my address, phone number and email address, my daughter''s address, phone number and email, and my sister-in-law''s address and phone number. We have not heard from him.

We pray that Mike will be exonerated from this charge, be released, and that our family will be restored. We do not have hate toward these boys, but a deep and abiding concern over how they may be tortured over what they were led into having done to their father. We want them to know that they can help, without putting themselves in jeopardy. We dream and talk of a day when our sons and our daughter will come together under our roof, and we can begin to heal, and establish a family that should have been established a long time ago.

UPDATE: On October 5, 2004, Mike was released from prison, after serving the required twelve years of his original 25 year prison sentence.  He came before the parole board four times and was denied parole each time, although he was a 'model inmate', and in all justification, should have been released on parole.  We left the state of Mississippi the day after his release, to reside in another state.  This will never be over, and we will never quit fighting to clear his name.

DESTRUCTION OF A FAMILY

THROUGH AND BY THE SYSTEM

By

Fredna B. Hall

Email  fhall1832@yahoo.com

(revised March 2001)

My husband's name is Michael (Mike) Alvin Hall, and my name is Fredna Bruce Hall. Mike is (was) a welder by trade, a Viet Nam veteran with an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army and Navy. Mike and I met in January 1985 and began seeing each other on a casual basis, becoming very good friends. We both have children by our previous marriages; I have a daughter, Allison, and Mike has two sons, Keith and Chad. All three children are now grown. At this writing, in March 2001, Keith will be 27 this month, Allison is 23 and Chad is 21. At the time we met, in January 1985, Chad was six in  June, and Keith was eleven in March. We spent a lot of time together, as a  collective group, Mike by himself with  all three  children, or me with just the children.  By late March, Mike and I realized that we wanted our relationship to grow, and we were excited to know that someday we probably would become a family.