Strollerderby : felony

Porn Charges for 'Sexting'?

KeriF — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:23:00 GMT

You may not know what sexting is, but if you have kids approaching their teens, you'll soon find out. The latest craze sweeping our teens involves sending nude photos of themselves to friends--a.k.a. 'sexting.' Is it appropriate? No. But is it pornography?

Depends who you ask. A teenage boy is facing felony obscenity charges in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after sending a picture of his privates to female classmates. Another boy was charged with child pornography for a similar incident. In Greensburg, Pennsylvania, three girls who sent photos and the four boys who received them were all charged with child pornography.

Michael McAlexander, the prosecutor in the Fort Wayne case, insists, "We don't want to throw these kids in jail. But we want them to think."

But is this the best way to do it? Shouldn't child pornography charges be reserved for the worst of the sex offenders? Should the naivety of a child really leave a sex offender charge on his or her record?

Not according to Dante Bertani, chief public defender in the Pennsylvania case. He called the charges "horrendous."

"It should be an issue between the school, the parents and the kids--and primarily the parents and the kids," says Bertani. "It's not something that should be going through the criminal system"

In Pennsylvania, all students but one settled for a lesser misdemeanor charge. The parents of one boy are thinking about fighting the charges.

What do you think? Having nude photos of underage children on your cell phone would certainly be a crime for an adult, so should it be a crime for a teenager as well? Or should it be up to parents to monitor what their kids are doing with their phones?

Dad arrested for leaving son at McDonald's

Brett Singer — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 19:00:00 GMT

See if you can follow this: Dave Lieber, a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, got into an argument with his 11 year old son over breakfast at McDonald's (perhaps the boy ate his McGriddle?). Lieber got so angry with the boy that he drove away, leaving him in the parking lot, which was "a few blocks" from their home. He then thought better of it and came back to pick him up a few minutes later, only to find that the police had been called. No charges were filed, and Lieber wrote about the incident in his August 15th column. He acknowledged that he had "made a stupid and quite serious mistake…I could have exposed my son to grave danger. I do know that. But in the moment of anger, I didn’t think clearly." He called The Parenting Center in Fort Worth, a nonprofit that offers counseling to local families. They gave him some good advice in case this situation ever happens again, like "don't take it personally when fighting with your child," that sort of thing.

HOWEVER, two weeks later, after "additional investigation", he was arrested on charges of "child abandonment with intent to return and child abandonment/endangering a child." Lieber is free on relatively modest $4,000 bail, but is still charged with two felonies.

There's an interesting line in his August 15th column: "back in the 1960s, if my parents had told me to 'walk home by yourself' when I misbehaved, no one would have thought twice…But what flew years ago doesn’t fly today."

I can't imagine doing something like this, and only partly because we don't eat at McDonald's. The felony charges seem extreme, however. When I was 11, I could walk to the store to buy comic books (and other things), and I lived in the Bronx. Isn't this the same thing? Or should intent –Lieber left his son in the parking lot out of anger – be a factor? Has anyone out there ever had an experience like this?

(Note: the image is from Dave Lieber's website, YankeeCowboy.com. That's a picture of him.)

Sources: Statesman.com, Star-Telegram

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Kids Stuff I like that my kids don't care about

More Kids Stuff I like that my kids don't care about

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The Great Lemonade Stand Robbery

Brett Singer — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 17:30:00 GMT

So, like, taking candy from a baby. That's generally considered a bad thing, right?

How about stealing from a lemonade stand? Steven Tryon from Terre Haute, Indiana, did just that.

The perp was chased into a nearby house where police spent 45 minutes trying to coax him outside. They did, and he will be forced to drink 10 gallons and lemonade and then be denied access to the men's room. OK, I just made that up. But it seems like an appropriate punishment, yes?

I had other jokey potential punishments in mind – being forced to change his name to Bob Q. Buttcheeks, etc. – but then I read that this is an 18-year-old who is being charged with felony robbery. So I kind of feel bad about it. Maybe he's really poor, or just screwed up in the head somehow. Of course, it's also possible that he's just a big jerk who thinks swiping $17.50 from two little kids at a lemonade stand is an okay thing to do.

Here's a video report, including a perp walk.

images and video: Wane.com

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Hate Gym? Bribe Your Teacher For $1 To Sit Out

Karen Murphy — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 19:01:00 GMT

I remember 7^th grade gym class like it was yesterday. The locker room always had a particular smell of old sweat and unwashed clothes and moldy showers, and it was where we changed out of our clothes into horrible polyester navy blue shorts and unflattering blue-and-white striped (horizontal, of course) shirts. At least the old one-piece jumpsuits from the 60's had been consigned to use only if your own gym clothes were forgotten, something I vowed never to do, accomplished easily enough if you never took your gym clothes home at all for washing. Then there were the girls, most of them already well-developed and flaunting it in sparkling white bras. I was a year younger than everyone, and thin, and had to beg my mom to get me a bra to cover my flat chest just so I could maintain a modicum of modesty while changing.

Gym itself was another nightmare entirely. Not being particularly athletic, I was relegated to the last-picked in any team event, just me and the remaining girls: the fat, the very thin, the geeky, the ones with coke-bottle glasses. Girls with their periods could sit out for a day or two, some stretching this into practically the entire month, but the rest of us were forced daily to play dodge ball and inane relay races and throw basketballs at one another’s noses, all tortures designed to showcase the able and the athletic, the popular, and to create a living hell for everyone else.

Which is why I so wish I’d had Tamara Tootle for my gym teacher. Ms. Tootle must have been the most popular teacher at the Ernest Ward Middle School in Walnut Hill, Florida, because for a paltry $1 per student per year, she “gave students who didn't participate or dress for her gym class” a participation grade of 100%. Is that cool or what?? No gym all year for just $1?! So Ms. Tootle has lost her certification to teach and has to perform 300 hours community service after pleading nolo contendre to six felony counts of bribery, all in exchange for, what, maybe a few hundred dollars per year? It hardly seems worth it, but I’ll bet those students are still smiling.