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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 4, 1992                   TAG: 9201060187
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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CHILD SUPPORT IS A MONEY ISSUE

I UNDERSTAND and empathize with your belief that men have a moral obligation to support their children. I agree.

My point is that in this country, child support is not a moral issue. It's a money issue. If it were a moral issue, a father would have custody, not debts. He would not be a "visitor"; he would be a parent. He would not be "guilty"; he would be equal.

Alienating fathers on the assumption that they are inadequate or unwilling is surely morally wrong. Attempts to measure love's existence in dollars and cents are insanity in the first degree.

I'll bet if all those mad mothers had enough money without his, it would no longer be a moral issue for them. It would no longer even be "his" child. Even Big Brother would be off the hook. And children would no longer have mothers attached to them. There'd probably be fewer children. JOHN SMILEY ROANOKE

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