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Help remove Statute of Limitiation on Paternity

I am on a mission to remove the statute of limitations when concerning a parent or child. I feel that no person should be denied knowing who they are especially when DNA evidence can prove the truth. Consumer DNA Technology is getting increasingly popular and more and more people are going to find themselves in the same situation I am in. Help me become the pioneer for the future of this movement now, so when the next person is in critical need of the information they don't have to wait any longer than they need for the information. 

I was told today 1/14/20 by Minnehaha County Circut Judge James Power that unfortuanately the law is the law and the law is not always right.  These are words that will forever keep me fighting to make things right. 

Here is what I asked the Judge.

Honorable Judge,
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to be heard in regards to my request to amend my birth certificate. My whole life, I have spent wondering who I am. I am not adopted, although that would be a much easier situation to explain. Instead, I was born to a woman who did not want to trap a man into raising a child that was not his.

I was born September 27th, 1979, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to Linda Olson. Prior to my birth, Linda Olson had only been intimate with two men in her entire life. The first was Brent Davidson, who had been Linda's on and off boyfriend for some time in High School and beyond. She had also been with Howard Jacobson, a military man who was 11 years older who would come back to Lennox, South Dakota, where we lived when he had Military Leave. Since my mother was not 100% certain when I was born who the father was, she did not want a name on my birth certificate until she would be 100% certain even though she could vividly remember being with Howard Jacobson on Christmas Eve 1978. Nine months and three days before my birth.

Shortly after my birth, Brent Davidson was excused by a paternity test conducted at Sioux Valley Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Once Brent was excused, my mother spent several years trying to contact Howard to tell him he was the father. On February 1st, 1984, Linda received a letter from Howard lawyer stating any further communications needed to be conducted through him.

We grew up poor. My mother did not have the means to hire a lawyer, so no further action was taken until the Department of Social Services decided to intervene before I turned eighteen. The Department of Social Sevices served a summons to Howard Jacobson, January 15th, 1997, requesting Howard to take a paternity test. The order also advised Howard that if he is the father that he would be responsible for $368 per month in child support and half of all medical bills until William Joseph Olson turns eighteen. Nearly three full months later, on April 10th, 1997, Howard takes a paternity test in Huntsville, Alabama, at Columbia Medical Center. A facility that would be close in 1999 due to its role in taking kickbacks and committing fraud.

On May 22nd, 1997, Howard was excused with a 0.00% likelihood of being the father of William Joseph Olson. It is at that moment when a bad situation got worse because, at that moment, my mother had no conceivable idea of who my father was. From that moment on, she thought she had been taken advantage of and raped by someone. Furthermore, she had to also live with my pain of believing that she was hiding something from me.

I had zero relationship with a father, and my relationship with my mother was severely damaged by those paternity results until 2018. In 2018, I connected with Joanna Salmon via Ancestry.com. She is the half-sister to Howard Jacobson. Weeks later, I took an independent DNA test with Alice Vietor, Howard's full-blood sister, and those results showed Alice as a 99.9718% probability of being my paternal aunt.
Unfortunately, Howard Jacobson died on April 10th, 2010. The same day I finally learned who my father was, is also the same day that I realize I would never get to meet him.

I have spent the last two years of my life working to correct an error that means nothing to nobody except myself. An error that defined my past but will not shape my future. Many people have asked me why after all this time, would I want Howard's name on my birth certificate. I tell them, it is not for him, it is for me. I do not want to add a name to my birth certificate to be invited to more family get-togethers that I do not have time to attend. I want to ensure that my offspring's Genealogical existence does not stop with me.

Your Honor, a person does not realize how many times one is asked who their parents are until one dreads the question as I have for 40 years. As a kid, I had to explain my situation to every new friend that I became close to. I was never fond of the first day of school each year because once again, I was going to have to stand up and tell the class who I was and who my parents were. The questions did not stop when I became a teenager having to explain to more new friends and their families. As an adult, the questions only get more serious as I get asked by my doctors, employers, and the one that hurt most was my children.

The burden of this situation has now left me having to question the difference between law and science. Scientifically, I have evidence to prove who created me, but legally I have not been able to make the change. I now have to renew my passport; however, on the second page, it asks for my father's information. The application also states that knowingly falsifying any information is punishable by up to 10 years in Federal Prison and a $250,000.00 fine.

Regardless of the type of relationship one has with their father, and I am sure a person can find at least one positive memory of the man that created them. Maybe it was their father kissing a boo-boo, teaching them to ride a bike, going to a ball game, taking them fishing, walking them down the aisle, or just being present when their first grandchild was born. Sadly, I will never know what sharing those moments feel like. My memory of my father will always be how I had to fight so hard for something that means so little to everyone else but me.

I stand before you asking for your help and allow me to add Howard Jacobson's name to my birth certificate based on the evidence I have presented before you. My past was denied a father. Please do not deny me a history.  


I am raising money to be able to find legal help which will get me closer to the end goal of getting this statute removed. I am not along in this battle. Through my Facebook page www.facebook.com/deniedaccessdna I have found several other people with similar situations who are just wanting to be whole. Please help me do the right thing so others do not have to go through the same battles that I already have the wounds from. 




Here is a link to all of the evidence I collected. Please feel free to review and if I missed something, please feel free to let me know. Thank you for your consideration.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/125yp36akxtfd14/AACkm5AgEnhdWth2jv6nt7loa?dl=0  

Organizer

B.J. Olson
Organizer
Hartford, SD

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