Letters

Resignation Call
As a family law practitioner in the family courts, I am nauseated at the gross and unprofessional conduct of Judge Galik ["No, No, Annette!," by Tim Fleck, October 1]. I call for her immediate resignation. She is totally unfit to be a family court judge.

A family court judge reflects in her very life the values of her profession: loyalty and fidelity to the family and sexual values of family life. In this, she has no private life, because she must live what she preaches. Family courts are supposed to stand for reconciliation, against the bane of adultery and, if at all possible, for the reconciliation of couples.

Here we have a family court judge committing open adultery, who lies to Athari's family by posing as just a professional friend and deceives her constituents by trying to hide it until after her election. What is that but hypocrisy, and a "Clinton defense" if ever there was one?

The Family Law Center is rapidly becoming a joke. I never thought I'd live to see the day I'd prefer the previous set of crooks in those courts to the unpredictable, scandal-mongering and ignorant judges we have there now.

Anyone who votes for the Republican Galik (I'm a Republican) fully deserves her at his/her divorce hearing. We teach not so much by words but by the lives we lead. Galik is utterly unworthy of that trust.

Peter J. Riga
Houston

Nobody's Business
You salacious pervert! Who cares what Judge Galik does on her own time? You yellow-dog journalists need to step out of the gutter and onto the curb. Surely there are more important issues in Harris County that could be brought to the forefront of public debate, instead of who Judge Galik accompanies to a Galleria-area store. Stop looking in people's bedroom windows.

F. Richard Leach
Houston

Yasir? No Sir
You state that you will publish comments on-line, provided they won't get you sued. I think you should use this same policy in your reporting. You made the Houston Press into the Enquirer -- full of schmuck!

Your statement that Magic Island has a picture of Yasir Arafat in its office is a lie! I do not understand your reporting ethics! Whether we have a picture of Jesus, Martin Luther King or King Tut in our office, it should not matter. However, your attempts to make us look prejudiced by saying we have an Arafat office picture, when we do not, only makes you prejudiced and a liar!

Magic Island hosts many bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs every month, and you will probably damage some of those sales. To help make up for that, I let our account representative know that we will no longer advertise in your publication. Now, if only I could recoup my lost commissions from your lie. Maybe you would like to be the one to take care of that? Maybe you got a "kickback" to print that article? It sure looks like it. However, I will not say if you did or did not. I do not lie in order to damage someone's livelihood, unlike you, Mr. Fleck!

Leigh Fahid
via Internet

Accounting Questions
I observed that the videotape of Judge Galik and Dr. Athari was taken on June 12, 1998, at 1:46 p.m. This was a Friday. Why was Judge Galik not presiding in her court? Did she receive taxpayer-financed salary for this time when she was videotaped, or did she claim a vacation or sick day?

Did you ask her how she is going to take care of her campaign-finance records to now show contributions came from individuals rather than corporate casinos? Perhaps the public court records should be reviewed to find out if any pending divorces in her court involved high-paid casino employees.

Did you mean to imply that Dr. Steven Hotze still supports Judge Galik despite her adulterous affair with Dr. Athari? If so, it goes to prove what many of us think of Dr. Hotze's integrity.

I know Sue Schechter. You cannot find a person with more integrity. Thank you for exposing what most of us around the courthouse know.

Name withheld by request
via Internet

Personal Experience
Although your article was enlightening, it was far from shocking for me personally!

I have to ask you, what about our children?
I was personally dragged through "Dishonorable" Annette's courtroom. I stood up to protect my daughter and plead for her safety and well-being. What I learned is, if you suspect your child has been "abused," don't report it. Don't follow the law! I was cast as "another revenge-seeking, bitter ex-spouse."

If you were to ask "Annette" about my situation, she would blame it on a jury panel. You can spend all the time and money, you can have two psychiatric evaluations stating you are honest, and all this does is irritate the system and prolong your case.

I am glad there are people like you, Mr. Fleck, and a paper that still prints "the truth."

Is there any possibility Annette was born and raised in Arkansas?
Lucky Hurtt
Houston

SUV the DINKS
I thoroughly enjoyed your recent article "It's Jackie's Neighborhood" [by Brad Tyer, September 17]. Of primary interest was the comment: