“Everybody here wants you to get better”

The Oconee Probate Court will be asked to send a mother to the state Department of Mental Health to receive treatment for an illness that one judge believes has beset the woman during a series of child custody and related incidents.  After hearing the conclusions of a doctor, Circuit Judge Cordell Maddox said he will sign an order today remanding Laverne Marie Bennett so Bennett gets help for what the judge says is a treatable illness.  Bennett, an Oconee County resident, was first arrested three years ago after state police in Idaho found her in a rest area with her young children who were part of a custody case.  Since then, she has been arrested again, including her arrest last spring when she was charged with disturbing schools in an incident in which authorities said Bennett tried to see her children, even though it had been stipulated that she could have no contact with the children.  Maddox showed sympathy for Bennett and her condition, as he told her today that no one in the courtroom wishes her ill will.  He told her:  “I want you to get better.”  The judge also asked why Bennett had taken her young children out west.  She said she drove to the Northwest because her children wanted to see the Pacific Ocean.