Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 2, 1993 TAG: 9308020093
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SARASOTA, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The circuit judge, Stephen Dakan, must decide if the teen-ager can sever all ties to her biological parents, Ernest and Regina Twigg, or allow them visiting rights.
In a case that's already been the subject of a television miniseries and a book, the publicity has been generated largely by Kimberly herself.
The blond, hazel-eyed ninth-grader broke her long silence to express her devotion to the man who raised her, Bob Mays, and her anger toward her biological family, particularly her mother.
"I hate Regina for doing this to me - I really do. And I just want her out of my life," Kimberly said. "I can't wait to see Regina's face when the judge says, `Kimberly Mays has terminated their rights.' "
Her case was bolstered in July when a court-appointed psychologist reported that Twigg has deep psychological problems that should be treated before she is allowed unsupervised visits with Kimberly.
The case began in 1978 at a hospital in rural Wauchula, where identification tags were switched and girls born to the Twiggs and to May and his wife, Barbara, went home with the wrong parents.
The exchange came to light nearly a decade later, when the child raised by the Twiggs, Arlena, developed heart problems and blood tests showed she was not their biological daughter.
After Arlena died in 1988, the Twiggs launched a search for their daughter that led them to Kimberly.
Visits began in 1990 but Mays cut them short after five sessions, saying the Twiggs were disrupting her schoolwork and attitude.
Kimberly decided earlier this year to file a "divorce" action against the Twiggs, saying she was inspired by another child, Gregory Kingsley, who successfully severed all ties to his parents last year. She even hired George Russ, Gregory's adoptive father, as her lawyer.
The Twiggs' attorney, John Blakely, says the couple are fit parents and notes that courts historically have sided with the biological parents.
Kimberly said she won't visit the Twiggs no matter what the judge says.
by CNB