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A typical custody matter in Family Court
When marriages fail, families explode, kids go ballistic and parents get high, where you gonna go? Family Court! It is a place where no one wants to go but that we can't live without. This website is an ongoing chronicle of the Las Vegas facility by court observer and former Area 51 researcher Glenn Campbell. UFOs, aliens, divorce and adolescence: It's all the same twisted reality....
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Written and Maintained by Glenn Campbell
Email: familycourtguy at gmail.com
[ Home Page - Photo Resume - Entity Page - NY Times - Self-Portraits ]

These are the TRUE stories (more or less) of the denizens and clients of the Clark County Family Courts and Services Center in Las Vegas. This is where government tries to pick up the pieces — or at least stop the bleeding — of thousands of troubled families and failed relationships.

It's a different side of Sin City, miles from the Strip but not very far from its effects. Did you just have a quickie wedding that you regret the morning after? This is the place for a quickie annulment. Does the annullee refuse to leave you alone? Then come on back for a Temporary Protective Order. Did you arrive home late after drinking and gambling to discover that your unattended children have vanished? This is where you will probably find them, safely housed in the pleasant cottages of Child Haven and hopefully not next door in the Juvenile Detention Center. The Family Services Center isn't just a courthouse; it's one-stop shopping for all of your dysfunctional family needs.

In addition to reporting what we observe, this website is concerned with maintaining the integrity of the divorce, child welfare and juvenile justice systems. We will do our best—in our own way and within our limited resources—to make these systems more responsive to the needs of their most vulnerable clients.

Read About This Project in the Las Vegas Sun (12/18/05)

Read Glenn's book The Case Against Marriage, inspired by this project

Listen to Glenn on Weekend America

See Below for original website contents (This web page is big!)

Prince or pauper, it's the same court for everyone. Easy to get into, but not so easy to get out! Everything's happy in Vegas, right? The chains of marriage... and divorce. Families, dysfunctional and otherwise.
Site Contents
Introduction — How did we land here? Hint: + =
Active Sections — Updated Often!
Newsletters (latest first):

#46: The New Communist Threat, 5/19/08 #45: When Love Ends but the Marriage Doesn't, 5/12/08 #44: The Problem of Creeping Commitment 5/5/08 #43: Charles & Diana's Wedding Disaster 4/28/08 #42: Teenage Insanity Explained At Last! 4/21/08 #41: Divorce Tsunami Heading This Way! 4/14/08 #40: Secret Government Exposed! 4/8/08 #39: The Perfect Storm 3/31/08 #38: Safe House Seduction 3/24/08 #37: They're killing us with safety! 3/17/08 #36: The Real Del Vecchio Damage 3/10/08 #35: Words Don't Work 3/3/08 #34: Road Rage! 2/27/08 #33: Democracy Run Amok! 2/25/08 #32: No New Taxes? 2/19/08 #31: Review-Journal Sux!, 2/13/08 #30: Coroner's Program Ineffective?, 1/14/08 #29: Fasten Your Seat Belts, 12/10/07 #28: Hardcastle, 7/16/07 #27: Certification Nightmare, 7/11/07 #26: Jensen for Family Court Administrator, 7/2/07 BLACKLISTED, 6/25/07 Guaranteed Lifetime Employment, 5/25/07 The Case of the Missing Mutt, 4/13/07 You're an Addict, 3/29/07 Children Swept Under the Carpet, 3/19/07 IT'S ALIVE!, 3/9/07 Hiltz Goes Global, 3/1/07 Love is in the Air, 2/14/07 SMOKING KILLS BRAIN CELLS, 2/6/07 Barbara Buckley: PURE EVIL... The Sequel, 1/16/07 Evil Explained, 12/4/06 One Tiny Moment, 11/27/06 A Wee Little Problem with the Plan, 11/22/06 Revenge of the God Squad, 11/13/06 Lawyers Can Be Saved, 10/30/06 The Crash is Near, 10/23/06 #10: Ban Gay Marriage I Will Blow Up Family Court Help Wanted Commissioners Replaced by Robot Clones Earth to Judges! What the Heck, Why Not? Why Not Wayne Newton? Wake Up, People! Pure Evil Witchhunt! Send in the Clowns

The Family Court Philosopher — Random discussions on philosophical and psychological topics that interest the webmaster:

    #110: Quality of Consciousness (4/4/08)
    “.”
    #109: The Meaning of Life (4/3/08)
    “.”
    #108: Management (3/21/08)
    “Management is the art of compromise under fire.”
    #107: Small Town Blues (3/18/08)
    “The biggest selling point of small towns is that everyone knows their neighbors. The biggest curse is also that everyone knows their neighbors.”
    #106: Self-Deception (3/14/08)
    “When you “trust your heart” you are just as likely to find disaster as happiness.”
    #105: Fakery (3/12/08)
    “Fakery is a natural phenomenon in any social or biological system.”
    #104: The Complainers (3/11/08) — New One-Page Format!
    “Deprived of love in his childhood, the sociopath has an insatiable need for it in adulthood.”
    #103: The Paradox of Protection (3/9/08)
    “Protection comes at a price, to both the protector and the protectee.”
    #102: Chimps vs. Humans: Who's Smarter? (3/8/08)
    “The intellect of our species is clearly impressive, but too often it is used merely to generate complex rationalizations for obedient behavior.”
    #101: The Economics of Freedom (2/7/08)
    “In general, the more money you have in your pocket, the more freedom you have to adapt to the unexpected, but it is not a simple formula.”
    #100: Dysfunctional Families... Like Yours (2/3/08)
    “In one way or another, ALL families are dysfunctional. Even the most enlightened and well-meaning parents are going to impose a non-verbal language on their child which is not entirely within their conscious control and that is not all good.”
    #99: The Fatal Upgrade (1/15/08)
    “No matter what your current pursuit may be, there always seems to be a "next step" that will solve all your problems. What people don't see at the time is that this upgrade is often deadly.”
    #98: The God Problem (1/9/08)
    “I choose to be good not because of any call to authority but simply because it makes sense to me. I have thought through the logical implications of both good and evil acts, and good is more practical.”
    #97: Loneliness (1/8/08)
    “For social animals like us, the worst feeling in the world is to be trapped on a desert island with no one who cares about us, interacts with us and witnesses what we are doing.”
    #96: Connoisseurs (9/9/07)
    “Being "rich"—that is, having plenty of extra resources beyond your basic needs—is seen as a desirable goal in our society, but the disturbing reality for most people is that being rich makes you fat and lazy.”
    Book Draft: The Superhero Handbook (8/25/07 to 10/14/07)
    The first 13 chapters of a proposed book on charitable intervention.
    #95: The Superhero Handbook (trial) (8/25/07)
    “Some days it seems like a superhero can't win. You wake up in the morning with some idealism and hope, but by the end of the day, you're drained. All day long, you're racing around desperately trying to save people, but in the big picture nothing seems to change.”
    #94: The New Slavery (8/30/07)
    “Slavery was supposedly outlawed in the United States a century and a half ago. One person can no longer own another and physically compel them to work for them. However, the experience of slavery continues to this day, and it is likely to touch all of us.”
    Book Draft: The Case Against Marriage (7/11/07 to 8/10/07)
    First draft of a proposed book arguing against marriage.
    #93: A Caseworker's Nightmare (6/10/07)
    “Knowing when to stop is an inherent problem in all forms of generosity and voluntarism. It is one of the reasons why some people don't give anything to anyone at all: Once you start caring about a needy person or cause, it tends to take you over, because the needs will always outstrip your resources.”
    #92: Showdown at Morro Bay (6/3/07)
    “He seemed like the classic pedophile: a middle-aged man with no stable address who had crossed state lines in a rental car with two underage girls.”
    #91: Meet Drama Mama (5/25/07)
    “I was walking on the trail about 20 feet ahead of the girls when suddenly the youngest one, Drama Mama, took off. She headed off the trail and into the thick woods, miffed by something that another girl said.”
    #90: Super Person Saves the Day (5/15/07)
    “I am seen as your standard, All-American, white-bread superhero, more emotionally stable than the rest, which means I am expected to be the leader. What this basically means is that I have to attend more meetings, give more speeches and endure more public flack than anybody else. I am also expected to resolve personnel issues within the team, like the problem with Wonder Gal.”
    More Philosophy Articles (#1 to #89)
The Media Stream and Observer's Blog - Local newspaper articles on foster care, divorce, juvenile justice and other business of the Family Court in Las Vegas, along with skeptical commentary by the webmaster. Updated almost every day.

The Entity File - A cross-referenced database of people, organizations, places and concepts in Family Court, Juvenile Justice and Child Welfare in Las Vegas. Photo Album

The Superhero Handbook - An online book under active development in Fall 2007. Advice for caseworkers, counselors, public defenders and other tormented crusaders. [an error occurred while processing this directive]
The Case Against Marriage - A first draft of an on-line book. Read it or weep! [an error occurred while processing this directive]
Family Court Stories (Human dramas in the courthouse)
    Introduction
      Now I have returned here as a ghost, wandering the halls and rattling my chains in search of peace. I step into courtrooms unannounced and listen to the proceedings. I strike up conversations with people in the hallways and ask them questions about what is going on. I don't want to be a victim of my past but the ruler of it, and to do this I need to understand this place that I fear.
    Story #1: A Life Saved (10/24/06)
      The boy hasn't yet entered a plea, because it isn't relevant. He is innocent until proven guilty, except in this particular kind of hearing, where he is presumed guilty. We are here for a much more significant proceeding than any trial. In this hearing, the judge must decide whether this teenager, recently arrested, should be processed as a child or an adult. It is the difference between four years of treatment and 20 years in prison.
    Story #2: Incompetent Caseworker Alert (12/7/06)
      I was attracted to the hearing by something that I sensed in the waiting area. I saw what I thought was a nervous and very guilty looking man sitting outside the courtroom. Such impressions, of course, are not admissible in court, but they were enough to attract my attention and draw me into the courtroom.... It turns out that the nervous man was not the accused.
    Story #3: Parental Alienaton: A Protest (3/11/07)
      As I was going to court on Friday, Mar. 9, at about noon, I saw two protesters on the sidewalk. I stopped and chatted with them and learned their stories.
    Story #4: Showdown at Morro Bay (6/3/07)
      He seemed like the classic pedophile: a middle-aged man with no stable address who had crossed state lines in a rental car with two underage girls.
Photos and Field Trips: Other photos, latest first...
Currently Inactive Sections
About this Project
Soapbox — Comments on the family services system from our readers.

Statistics - For Juvenile Justice, Divorce and Abuse/Neglect in Las Vegas.

Audio Clips:
  • Glenn Campbell's 3-Minute Rants at the County Commission. Audio files of the activist's brief speeches during the public comment period at the county commission meetings, progressing over time from reasonable to outrageous.
    • 9/19/06: "Triage." (At the presentation of the "Safe Futures" plan.)
    • 7/18/06: "Happy Valentines Day!" (after approval of Virginia Valentine as county manager)
    • 7/5/06: "This stinks to high heaven!" (after approval of Thomas Morton as DFS director)
    • 6/6/06: Uneasy about appointment.
  • Campbell Interview on Weekend America (10 min)

Organizations - Public and private groups involved with Family Court and its functions. Being replaced by the Entity File.

Legal Reference - Statutes and case law that pertain to Family Services. To be replaced by the Entity File.

Glossary — A slightly cynical dictionary of terms and concepts unique to Clark County Family Services or the philosophy this website. (Okay, maybe a lot cynical.) This glossary roams far and wide across all things "family", including essays on love, sex, parenting, domestic violence, law, psychology, and the meaning of life. This was the predecessor of our Philosophy section.

Ask the Webmaster — Advice for the lovelorn and frustrated.

Sample Book Chapters — From a book that was started in mid-2005 and abandoned a few months later. These chapters are retained because that might contain useful information on the Family Court, but they work will not continue. (Any future book will take a different form.)

Fact Sheets: Foster Parenting Questions & Answers | How to Lose your Kids in Nevada (child protection court process)

Monitored Cases: Baby Sosa Case | Angel, Tia and Parisha

Fiction: Sleeping with the Fishes—A Parable (A very short story released 11/3/05)

Archive Documents (from our old website on child welfare)
Other Features: (not currently active)
Area 51
In an attempt to come to grips with our webmaster's sordid past, here are a few links to his work on Area 51. None of this material is still active.

About Glenn Campbell (current)

Site History
Website History. Latest changes...
3/31/08: Newsletter #39: Las Vegas Economy: The Perfect Storm
4/3/08: Philosophy #109: The Meaning of Life
4/4/08: Philosophy #110: Quality of Consciousness
4/8/08: Newsletter #40: Secret Government Exposed!
4/14/08: Newsletter #41: Divorce Tsunami Heading This Way!
4/21/08: Newsletter #42: Teenage Insanity Explained at Last!
4/28/08: Newsletter #43: Charles & Diana's Wedding Disaster
5/5/08: Newsletter #44: The Problem of Creeping Commitment
5/12/08: Newsletter #45: Like Ships Passing in the Night
5/19/08: Newsletter #46: The New Communist Threat

Note: The Media Stream (news+blog) is updated almost every day. (Most additions are not shown above.)

Note: Any new webmaster commentary may be actively edited for the next 1-3 days following release. (Come back in a couple of days for a more refined version.)

For the latest news and website additions, create a bookmark containing this link:
(It will always take you to the latest Media Stream page, which includes the change log above.)

Opinions expressed on this website are those of the webmaster and not of any other party or organization. We encourage your feedback, and we will correct our errors, so if you see any, please contact the webmaster at the email address or PO box below.


Because this website has been frozen, reader comments can no longer be added to this page (effective 8/3/09). If you feel that an existing comment is damaging or inappropriate, feel free to contact the webmaster regarding its removal: familycourtguy (at) gmail.com

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©2005-07, Glenn Campbell
This is an independent and unofficial website.
All opinions expressed are those of the webmaster or the person quoted.
Information conveyed here is accurate to the best of our knowledge but is not guaranteed.
You should seek your own independent verification of critical information.

As of Aug. 2008, this site is no longer active or maintained.

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