CRISPE -- Sea to shining sea

 Mid-August, hot and muggy, yet family advocates came from many states for the first annual Bringing Children and Families Back Together rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial at the Washington Mall. The CRISPE coach was there, but not CRISPE-1 AKA Mr. CRISPE, Larry 3,000 miles west in San Diego, CA. As CRISPE-1 flew west to be with his son. CRISPE-2, Harry Crouch, flew east to be with the CRISPE Bus and rally.  Kevin Young Vice-President of the National Coalition of Free Men San Diego, happen to be in Boston on business stopped by to help out.

The evening before the rally was truly exciting. At a social event to view trailers of the upcoming feature film SUPPORT, System Down, Harry had the good fortune to meet many advocates with whom he had over the years met only by telephone or e-mail. The National Rally was a great success with powerful, wonderful speakers talking about the problems of family court and the changes needed for the real "best interest of our children". Kevin Young set up a tent at the rally , handed out Crispe brochures and sold a fair amount of those absolutely  gorgeous, purple Crispe t-shirts.

Larry flew back to Washington D.C., and rounded up the crew and headed for New York. There they spent several productive days rallying and meeting people in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Narrow, extremely rough, and crowded roads mixed with dozens of low bridges made driving the big purple bus through New York very challenging. Nothing  worse than driving a big bus on a narrow bumpy road with no turnouts, except when on such a road while heading for a covered bridge with a sign that says “10’5” foot” knowing the bus is 12’10” feet.  Not a good time for a Crispe hair cut. The backup camera is a nice feature though.  

The CRISPE crew settled into at a nice campground Thursday evening, our last night in New York, caught up on some very ripe laundry, put the coach in order, and got some much needed rest. The next morning, to avoid road damage, CRISPE braved a Ferry ride from Long Island to Bridgeport Connecticut. The ferry trip cut five-hours of drive time off the CRISPE’s trip and the voyage was a great break from the road. Roughly 100 cars on the lower deck surrounded the CRISPE coach. Most of the people were having breakfast on the second deck or gawking at the spectacular vistas and scenery from the top deck. The experience in New York will never be forgotten. CRISPE visited “Ground Zero”, drove through Times Square, and rumbled over one gargantuan old bridge after another. Long Island was rich with lush green vegetation and particularly spectacular, spacious, and beautiful. Best of all, there was ample parking space for the CRISPE coach as we rallied at two courthouses and even a town hall meeting. 

The roads in Connecticut were much smoother which was a blessing. Better yet the roads were less crowded and the bridges taller. We rallied at the capital as well as the courthouse in Hartford, and then moved on to a small Massachusetts town where State Senator John Scibak appearing at a fundraising banquet. He was shocked when the CRISPE coach rolled in and balked at the bus taking up so many parking spaces. Unfortunately, he was more concerned about the parking spaces than talking about equal shared parenting. Maybe our parking space grubbing purple coach and 12 protesters will at least cause him to reconsider.

 Saturday we parked the bus at a popular street fair and handed out a lot of brochures and tee shirts while talking to several people about the need for equal parenting as well as their family court situations.  That afternoon we headed to a library just outside of Boston to meet Congressman Barney Franks. Like State Senator Scibak, Representative Franks wasn’t interested in family court reform either. He said it was a state issue. Interestingly, it’s our understanding that Franks is a leading proponent of related Federal legislation harmful to our cause. However, of the seventy or so people in attendance roughly 20 asked questions about problems related to family court. Franks became somewhat perturbed and stopped taking questions about family court and related issues. 

Aside from education, CRISPE is about bringing like-minded people and groups together. Massachusetts groups, Fatherhood Coalition, Vote on Marriage Coalition, Families for Justice, Fathers4Justice, and Moms for Shared Parenting did a great job educating others and raising awareness of the issues. Hopefully they will continue to work together. Regardless, we have a long hard road a head of us in light of the disinterest demonstrated by influential politicians like John’s and Frank!  Our week came to a close at the annual Cape Cod Air Show and Open House Featuring the USAF Thunderbirds. Once again we scored by parking right in front of the main entrance. Thousands of people rubbernecked the coach and read our various slogans as they headed in or out of the air show. The CRISPE crew was able to speak to a number of people, hand out literature, and even sell a few CRISPE t-shirts. It was another great day in a fantastic and productive week.  

Thanks to everyone who donated and purchased T-shirts, to help by fuel and pay for expenses. Special thanks to Greg Fisher and his wife who gave us a home cook meal, the steaks and salad was delicious). Thanks to Bob Norton, George Mason, Mike Franco), Mark Tang, Stephen Walker, Steven McDonough, all the rest that helped make the rallies and CRISPE’s efforts successful. Another thank you goes to Wayne Jewett for parking the CRISPE coach at his house in Massachusetts and taking Larry to the airport August 24. Larry had to get back to San Diego to pick up his son. The next day Larry and his son flew to Wisconsin for a week with family.