Strollerderby : driver's license

Parents Sue School for Checking for Sex Offenders

JeanneSager — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:06:00 GMT

And the short-sighted parent of the year award goes to . . . two Texas parents who are suing their child's school because they're required to show their driver's license before being allowed access to a building full of children. The horrors, I know.

Yvonne and Larry Meadows say their rights are being violated by a program that compares would-be school visitors' driver's licenses to a database of registered sex offenders.

Yvonne says she's been told she'll be denied entrance to Bee Cave Elementary School unless she hands over her license. That, she said, puts her private information at risk. Besides, the Meadows' told the Austin American-Statesman they are guaranteed the freedom to associate with their children at school.

I'm kind of perplexed here. The school is a government agency, as is the department of motor vehicles - which provides the driver's license. Any information being picked up in the scans should already be in the system, which makes it hard to see how parents are suffering identity theft. Granted the school has contracted with a private company to do the checks, but several states contract with private companies to issue driver's licenses.

The license, by the way, isn't a guaranteed right. It's a privilege - which can be revoked. As is the so-called "right" to visit a school. At my daughter's pre-school, no one is allowed entrance unless they are recognized as a parent of one of the students or show some ID and a clear reason for being present. Even my in-laws had to present the teacher with identification to pick up their granddaughter. Hers is a private pre-school, but I'd like to think a public school would have a similar policy.

Public schools are the places where we send our children during the day, expecting them to return to us in the same shape in which they left. We put our trust in them to keep our kids safe, and protection from pedophiles ranks high on that list. I would think the Meadowses would prefer a little hassle at the door to having their child touched by a kiddie rapist (not a threat, merely an awful, disgusting fact of life). In the post-Columbine era, most schools have locked all but one entrance and placed someone there to monitor ingress and egress anyway. They reserve the right to turn anyone away. As a reporter, I quickly learned to bring both my press pass and driver's license with me to the doorway lest I be sent back to my car and end up late to my interview. At times, my ID has been taken for me to claim on the way out - the school's way of ensuring people check in before they leave, so they can tell who is in the building and when.

Is this any different? Would you feel violated if you were asked to provide ID or feel like your kids were a little safer?

Image: WRAL

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JeanneSager — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 19:54:00 GMT

That's it. I'm not going out on the road with my kid again until I buy a tank. Maybe I should vote for McCain after all - he'd probably love to see us all driving them. OK, the venom is gone. On to the story.

A 10-year-old, driving 90 MPH down a Tennesee highway, flipped a van over the weekend. Why weren't any adults watching when a child climbed into the driver's seat and took the wheel, you might ask? I know I did. The answer didn't make me feel any better. A man and a woman were in the back of the van when it flipped, along with another 10-year-old and a 6-year-old.

Just wait, it gets worse.

The man, Randy Lewis of Bristol, Tenn., told police he'd had 15 beers that night plus some liquor. The woman, Paula Elaine Evans, was reportedly shoveling pills into her mouth as fast as she could when the cops arrived. Police would not tell the media if Lewis and Evans were the boy's parents. For his sake, I hope not. Lewis has been charged with seven violations, including third offense DUI and felony reckless endangerment while Evans faces charges of either child abuse or child neglect. Both are in jail while the three kids are in state custody.

Really, where do you begin with this one? I'm all for assigning someone as DD when you've had a little too much (or you know, two and a half cases too much) to drink. But my vote's for someone who can see over the steering wheel. Then there's Lewis' history. This was his third driving while intoxicated charge. And his duds at the arraignment? A shirt that says "By This Dad a Beer."

How about we just buy him a vasectomy?

Image: Fox News

Source: Kingsport Times-News

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JeanneSager — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 20:57:00 GMT

If you teach a man to fish, he may eat for a lifetime - but that doesn't mean his kids will. Which is why the State of Tennessee is looking to revoke 1,200-some fishing and hunting licenses from deadbeat moms and dads.

In the last few days, letters were sent out to more than 20,0000 residents across the state with a warning - pay in full within 90 days or hand over their recreational, driver's or professional license. This isn't the first year state officials have taken advantage of the fact that the state issues licenses for everything from driving to casting a line. State and federal law both allow for social services to revoke any state-issued license as a means to punish parents who aren't living up to their court-ordered obligation to help support their children. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work. Approximately 7,000 licenses were yanked last year because the parents failed to heed the warning.

This time around, almost 18,000 residents stand to lose their driver's licenses, another 1,200 their right to hunt and fish. If they aren't willing to feed and clothe their own kids, I find it hard feel bad for someone who's been told they can't take off on a boat for a few days or go out to camp with the boys. Although there are people who hunt and fish to feed their families, I live in a rural area where I've watched the same people who tell me they need to hunt to eat plunk down a couple hundred on a brand new rifle or fancy fly-fishing reel. Besides, these men and women AREN'T feeding their families, that's the reason they got themselves into this mess in the first place. The state may even be doing them the favor of helping them save a little money this year. That's a couple hundred that could buy a nice hunk of cow from the grocery store and a pile of produce at the farmers' market.

I am a little wary of the plan to revoke 400 professional licenses, the state-issued permission for people to work in fields including healthcare and real estate. If you're trying to get someone to pay their child support, does it make sense to essentially put them out of business?

Image: Timatteo

Source: Crossville Chronicle

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Man dresses up as a woman to marry a man

Brett Singer — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:00:00 GMT

So two people get married. A man and a woman. Or so the clerk thought.

Turns out "Justine" was really "Justin." Specifically Justin L. McCain, an 18-year-old who wanted to marry Antonio E. Blount, his 31-year-old boyfriend. One reason they were able to pull it off was because of a "design quirk" in the Virginia driver's licenses – the "M" or "F" in the "gender" area is obscured by the state seal. One wonders why no one seemed to notice that the name on the license was "Justin" rather than "Justine". Newport News Court clerk Rex Davis said that, "When things are rolling along and you don't have any reason to suspect that somebody is not being completely forthright with you, you might not take the time to check." Gee, and I thought New York City was a busy place. Davis issued the happy couple a marriage license, and then they went to Richmond to get hitched. Which they did.

The story makes it sound like the ruse might not have been discovered at all if McCain hadn't come back to Newport News to apply for a name change. Our busy clerk Rex Davis became suspicious when he saw the name, which was – get this -- Penelopsky Aaryonna Goldberry, which blogger Christian Hall points out is "pretty much the best name ever." I mean, where the hell do you come up with that one?

The marriage is illegal in the state of Virginia because, well, they're both dudes. Or rather, they're both "legally" dudes. The article quotes attorney Cole Thaler from the group Lambda Legal as saying that, "it's not deceptive for a transgender person who lives their life as a gender different from the gender they were assigned." In fact, "You could have a driver's license in New York state that says you're a male and have a birth certificate from New York City that says you're female," says Paisley Currah of the Transgender Law and Policy Institute.

According to the article, most states (the exceptions being Tennessee, Ohio and Idaho) "typically change one's gender on their birth certificate following gender reassignment surgery." What's not clear is whether or not Justin/Justine/Penelopsky has had surgery or not.

Now prosecutors have to decide whether or not to bring charges against the two lovebirds. Of course, if we would just LET GAY PEOPLE GET MARRIED THIS WOULD NOT BE AN ISSUE. Ahem.

And just for yucks, here's the video for Aerosmith's Dude (Looks Like A Lady).

image: worth1000.com

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