foghat
02.01.03, 20:28
Posted on Thu, Jan. 02, 2003
Man says he's falsely accused
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
His boss, his banker, even his ex-wife all say Dale Kimme is the opposite of
a deadbeat dad.
"He's never missed a child support payment. Not once. He's never even been
late," said Catherine Kimme of Troy, about checks from her ex-husband for
the support of their daughter.
But to Dale Kimme's astonishment, the Illinois Department of Public Aid
filed notice last week with his employer to begin withholding $15,295 in
back child support they claim he owes.
"I was amazed. I couldn't believe it. I have never not made my payments," he
said.
Madison County Circuit Court Clerk Matt Melucci said Kimme's plight is
typical of dozens of recent cases where parents have been falsely accused by
state bureaucrats of owing money for child support.
"This happens over and over again. We've even had people tell us that the
state told them our records are wrong," Melucci said. Support payments are
paid through the county and passed on to the state.
"Somehow, it never seems to get straightened out. I don't think it's the
state clerks who work locally," Melucci said, "I think it goes much higher.
The problem is in Springfield. This has been a mess."
In 1999, the News-Democrat reported that thousands of people statewide did
not receive their child support checks after a new child support
distribution center opened in Wheaton, in DuPage County.
A computer printout from Melucci's office from 1995 to Nov. 1 shows that
Kimme has paid $28,509 and did not miss a payment. Even the receipt numbers
are recorded.
But when the 44-year-old carpenter took the payment records to the state
Public Aid office in Edwardsville last week to protest its claim that he
owed money, he said he was shunted from clerk to clerk.
"This one woman said to me, 'I could push this one button and your problem
would be over, but I'm not allowed to do that,'" he said.
"This has been a nightmare. I don't owe a dime, and I can prove it. But the
state won't listen."
Because of the state's claim, Kimme was turned down last week when he
attempted to refinance a home mortgage to take advantage of a lower interest
rate. He said he's been told that the state will file a hold on his income
tax refund, and he's worried that when he goes to renew his driver's license
next month it will be blocked.
Wayne Steiner, a bank officer for First Collinsville Bank in Highland, said
he tried but failed to help Kimme clear up the claim of owing child support
after seeing proof that he had faithfully made his payments.
"When the bureaucracy doesn't cooperate and further complicates the issue,
everybody loses," Steiner said.
Kimme said that when a bank employee telephoned a state Department of Public
Aid worker who would identify himself only as "Paul," the employee was
treated rudely.
"They were telling me about it. How rude he was. That's how I was treated,"
he said.
Liz Knepper, a supervisor at a small Belleville construction company, said
that when she received notice from the state to deduct payments from Kimme's
pay, she was reluctant to do it.
"I've got no choice, I guess, but I know he doesn't owe money."
Ellen Feldhausen, a spokesman for the Department of Public Aid in
Springfield, was sent the computer printouts showing Kimme's payments.
"He does seem credible," Feldhausen said. But as for getting Kimme's name
dropped from the list of people who owe back child support, she said, "That
just can't be done in a few hours. I don't know how long it will take."
On Tuesday, the state informed him that his debt had been knocked down to
$666.
"I might just accept that to get this over with," Kimme said, "but they
wouldn't give me a piece of paper saying even that. You can't trust them.
Who knows what they'll say next?"
