Strollerderby : texas

Post-Hurricane Video Games Poison Kids

Miriam Axel-Lute — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:30:00 GMT

Hurricanes, of course, do plenty damage. And then there are the many dangers that follow that them, including carbon monoxide poisoning from poorly functioning/ventilated generators.

A creepy little report in the June issue of Pediatrics gives a new spin on this problem: Texas researchers note that in 75 percent of the cases of kids who were treated for carbon monoxide poisoning after Hurricane Ike, the generators that caused the poisoning were not being used to keep food fresh or run AC—they were being used to power video games.

I have many conflicting reactions to this.

At first, it almost seems like a joke: Hey look, video games can be blamed for something else!! Did you know they also cause blindness and hairy palms?

On the other hand: Wow. You're out of power entirely and you're going to use expensive fuel to run video games? That is a little hard to swallow. Of course, who am I to talk? Under such circumstances, if Internet connectivity were available, I would probably charge my laptop and run the modem if a generator were already running. Also, from a distance, it's probably easy to underestimate the value of a little familiar entertainment following a natural disaster. (And depending on the weather, video games probably use less power than AC would.)

Then again, if we need a clearer picture of how hard it is for us to wean ourselves and our kids off energy-consumptive habits, even for a little while, there it is.

(Sidenote: researchers suggested that school programs and text-message warnings to children's cell phones should be instituted as a response. No bad thing, but does that mean these kids are running the generators themselves with no oversight? I suppose many of them were teens, so probably, yes.)

Photo CC Rebecca Pollard, via Flickr.

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Texas Rep: Change Your Weird Asian Name!

Madeline Holler — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:22:00 GMT

We've been talking a lot about baby naming, these days. We've got tips for siblings, a floral disaster and a whole list of names you won't want to use.

The blandly named Betty Brown, a Republican state representative in Texas, recently put forth her own baby naming tips and suggestions. She wants names to be easy to understand and remember, which for her means renaming Asians and American citizens of Asian decent.

The Texas Democratic Party demanded an apology from her, after she said this at a recent House Elections Committee meeting, where the group was discussing voter identification legislation.

From the Houston Chronicle:

"Rather than everyone here having to learn Chinese — I understand it's a rather difficult language — do you think that it would behoove you and your citizens to adopt a name that we could deal with more readily here?" Brown asked, the newspaper reported.

She later told [Ramey] Ko [a representative of the Organization of Chinese Americans at the committee meeting]: "Can't you see that this is something that would make it a lot easier for you and the people who are poll workers if you could adopt a name just for identification purposes that's easier for Americans to deal with?"

Whoa, Betty!

Ko was explaining how inconsistent transliterations of Chinese, Korean and Japanese names leaves voters with a legal name spelled one way and the name on their i.d. spelled another when Betty busted out with her re-naming suggestion.

So reasonable!

Anybody avoiding the Betty Brown tradition and passing up traditional family names or names that confuse poll worker and blow Betty's mind?

Photo: Houston Chronicle

How Do You Get 634 Years in Prison?

JeanneSager — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 19:32:00 GMT

If there's ever a time when a judge should be justified in throwing the book at a criminal it's when a kid has been hurt.

When a kid has been sexually abused by some sicko? I suspend all of my righteously liberal let's be reasonable here mantras . . . string 'em up. But six hundred thirty four years in prison?

Don't get me wrong, I'm cheering a jury's decision not to pull any punches for a guy who raped a little girl and forced her and her friend to perform sexual acts on one another while he watched. Robert Walter Bonner is a class A scum-sucking maggot.

I was just mystified at how they work out six hundred thirty four years in prison?

Turns out it's based on the number of charges - six counts of aggravated sexual assault, plus four counts of indecency with a child and two counts of sexual performance of a child. A jury decided Bonner deserved ninety-nine years for each aggravated sexual assault count . . . then tacked on an extra twenty years each for the latter six counts.

The judge opted to give Bonner the six ninety-nine-year prison terms and two twenty-year terms, to be served consecutively. Four twenty-years sentences are to be served at the same time as his first ninety-nine year sentence.

Add it all up, you've got six hundred thirty four years for him to rot. Which means Bonner won't be getting out of prison anytime soon, and kids all over Texas are a little safer. It won't give these little girls back their innocence, but you know what? This sentence sounds just right to me.

What do you think?

Image: GabesGuide

Texas School Accused Of Student Cage Fighting

Brett Singer — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

Next time you have complaints about your children's school, remember this story. Because things could be worse.

According to a report obtained by the Dallas Morning News, school officials at South Oak Cliff High in Texas (ironically known as "SOC", pronounced "sock", as in "sock it to me") had students settle their differences by fighting. In a cage. This did not happen last Tuesday. It happened back in 2003 and continued until 2005. And no one did anything about it.

Listen to this quote:

"Superintendent Michael Hinojosa told the newspaper that there were 'some things that happened inside of a cage' and called the fights 'unacceptable.'"

See, the only thing that should be happening "inside of a cage" at school is a hamster being fed. Maybe a little jog on the ol' exercise wheel. The hamster, I mean. Perhaps a bunny. I'm thinking cages at schools are for class pets. Students generally should not be doing ANYHTING in a cage. Especially at school.

In a blog entry at The Dallas Morning News web site, Kent Fischer digs up a few facts about former SOC principal Donald Moten. Moten allegedly "not only allowed [the fights] to take place, but that he egged on the participants." Hey, at least he wasn't just picking up a paycheck, right? Fischer points out that Moten's other "accomplishments" at SOC include "An athletic grade changing scandal, times two," "Allegations of credit card abuse," "Allegations of inappropriate sexual relations with students' mothers." Oh, and of course -- "Cage fights." The piece questions why Moten was even hired for the $92,000 a year job in the first place, since his employment history includes a stint as a police officer where he faked his own kidnapping.

When I was a student at a New York City Public School, people would always ask me how horrible it must have been. Sure, there were problems. But we never had anything like this. Well, as far as I know.

Source: Yahoo! News

Image: SXC (stock photo)

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Parents May Be Required to Undergo Counseling Before Divorcing

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:00:00 GMT

A Republican Congressman from Texas is hoping to reduce his state’s 50 percent divorce rate by making it mandatory for parents to undergo a marriage counseling course before filing for divorce. The 10-hour course in “conflict management, communication skills, and forgiveness skills" would cost $150 and could, according to Rep. Warren Chisum, spare “kids the anxiety and emotional stress that come with a divorce by their parents.”

Apparently, Mr. Chisum has never met a battered woman. As (almost) everyone knows, it takes a lot of courage and planning for the victims of domestic violence to file divorce papers. Requiring them to first take an expensive course in forgiveness could easily have disastrous consequences for both these women and their children.

Even for well-off, nonviolent couples, this legislation would be ineffective at best and harmful at worst. The fact is, it’s impossible to make a blanket judgment on whether divorce is right or wrong for every family. Research on the subject offers conflicting answers, with some psychologists finding kids always fare better with married parents and others finding that children are more balanced if their unhappily married parents divorce.

As the child of divorce, I am the first to see the validity in encouraging parents to commit to working through hard times. But I am also the first to see that a 10-hour forgiveness course is hardly enough of a remedy to keep couples together.

Interestingly, this same Congressman also recently sponsored a measure that supposedly encouraged marriages to last—by doubling marriage license fees while offering a discount to couples who took a counseling course. Apparently, Rep. Chisum believes that money is the only sure path to a happy union….

Photo: irishhealth.net

What If the State Kept Your Kid's Blood for "Research"?

Texas Wants Women to Listen to Fetal Heartbeart Before Abortion

What If The State Kept Your Kid's Blood for "Research?"

JeanneSager — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:01:00 GMT

I never thought about what happened to the blood sample taken from my daughter in the maternity ward after she was born . . . until now.

Apparently in Texas, blood samples taken routinely from newborns are kept on hand to be used for research. Which doesn't bother me in the slightest.

But a bill making its way through the Texas Legislature will give parents who DON'T want their kids' blood used in research an out; they can ask for the blood sample to be destroyed rather than held onto by the state.

I understand there are huge privacy concerns here. Even though the state assures parents that the baby's names are not connected to the individual samples once the screenings for disease and defects are completed, we've all seen privacy breaches around the nation on supposedly "safe" credit card information, social security numbers and more. Who's to say health information is safe?

But I'm not sure I see the concern here. Is it that kids might be discriminated against if it gets out that they have a certain disease? Or that parents don't want the blood used for research? Because only three parents have actually complained about the issue so far. In one of the top states in terms of population, we're talking ridiculously low numbers of parents here.

Would you care what happens to a small vial of your child's blood?

Image: Maine.gov

Texas Wants Women to Listen to Fetal Hearbeat Before Abortion

JeanneSager — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:27:00 GMT

Why Texas? Why?

Do you really think women who are headed in to have an abortion are all happy-go-lucky sorts who have no idea what they're getting into?

Because leading members of Texas' GOP are sponsoring a bill that would require women to sit through an ultrasound before an abortion, described in detail by the doctor, and (wait for it) require they listen to the fetal heartbeat. Oh, and if that's not enough, they must sit idly while a doctor lectures them with some good old-fashioned anti-abortion literature.

According to the bill, the "pregnant woman may choose not to view the materials or avert her eyes." How sweet. If that's an option, how about just skipping the whole charade and letting women get on with it?

Its supporters have made clear they are looking to reduce abortion numbers, but they're also being careful throw a little "we're helping to cut down on medical malpractice" spin in there.

"I think that this bill will protect women from being at the hands of a doctor who is not performing best practices," study author Republican Sen. Dan Patrick said. But he's certainly sticking with the party line - he goes on to say, "secondly, it may change the thinking of that woman if she decides to look at that ultrasound, to hear that heart beat."

This move is right up there with North Dakota's recent declaration that "personhood" is achieved at conception. Neither directly reverses Roe v. Wade, but they skirt the rights of a woman being trumped by that of an unborn fetus. As my colleague Kate recently pointed out, the right-to-life movement often neglects the idea that there is life AFTER birth.

The legislators who crafted this bill have no knowledge of a woman's mental or physical health when she walks into an abortion clinic. They have no idea whether she's been raped, had a condom break, gotten pregnant the day before her husband took off. But they are cocksure that listening to the heartbeat is going to change her mind; no matter the pain it inflicts.

Did these guys read the much-talked about Glamour piece on women who've gone through an abortion?

"In a perfect world, no woman would ever need to end a pregnancy," Liz Welch said just last month. "But in reality, one in three women will have at least one abortion by the time she is 45, and these women run the gamut of ages, races, backgrounds and beliefs."

So Texas, just to give you an update women might not feel guilty or even wrong for doing it, but it isn't an easy choice. They don't need to hear a heartbeat or be beaten over the head with literature and a detailed ultrasound description to know that.

Image: PatDollard.com

Photo - Obama Shocked by Schoolkids

Brett Singer — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 14:11:00 GMT

What is the President doing in this photo? Listening to Sasha and Malia's ideas for dog names? Hearing Republican ideas for his stimulus package? Hearing Sasha and Malia's ideas for the stimulus package? Nope. Read on.

The President was surprised by a question from a student during a recent school visit. (Call "shock and awwww.") I imagine that he's just playing around with the kids. At least I hope so. If not, can you imagine what the question would have been?

I know this is unfair, but our current President looks less goofy when he's playing around then George W. Bush did (and does). Then again, he also appears to be less goofy than Dubya. So there's that.

Maybe they should just have Dubya do all the school visits from now on, and let President Obama just, like, work. Bush seems to enjoy it, and he's got time now.

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George W. Bush Visits Texas Elementary School

Brett Singer — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 14:15:00 GMT

This is the age of bipartisanship. So…well…read this.

The former President and his wife Laura dropped by John J. Pershing Elementary School in Dallas. Apparently it really was a "hi, how y'all doing?" type of visit. The former First couple was there for over an hour. It was open house day, according to Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News.

Here are some highlights:

The Bushes were scheduled to visit three classes, but they ended up popping in on any room with an audience.
Ducking in one room, Bush asked, "Hey kids, do you know who I am?"
Gasps all around, and then someone blurted, "George Washington!"
"That's right!" the visitor said. "George Washington Bush!"

Then:

A little later, at an ESL class, Bush tried introducing himself in Spanish. Only it was a little too West Texas for the Spanish speakers. He tried again. Blank looks. Even held up three fingers. You know, a 'W." Still nothing.
Finally, Pershing's innovative, energetic principal, Margie Hernandez, stepped in with a Spanish introduction.
Ohhhhhhh.
The kids laughed at the confusion. The former president laughed. The principal laughed, out of relief, mostly.

Now, these examples are goofy, which is something that the former President was known for during his eight years in office. (Among other things, of course.) Later in the article, he shows off a different side of himself. One of the kids asked him:

"Why did you come here?"
Bush told the kids he came because he saw signs that welcomed him, and it made him feel good, and he wanted to say thanks. He then made some general observations, none more poignant than the first.
"You can be president," he said. "Can you believe that?"

I mean, look. It's not Barack Obama saying, "you can be president." But I think for the kids who were there to meet him, it was probably a special thing. Right?

Then he got a little goofy again. When asked if he would participate in the Dad's Club Haunted House, he answered with a grin and said, "I'd make a good ghost."

When I was in elementary school, I always thought it would be neat to have a President come and visit. I think it's sort of cool that GWB is still doing that. I mean, I don't agree with any of his major policies, but he was still the President. Heck, I wouldn't have minded meeting Gerald Ford.

See Congress? That's how bipartisanship works. Give me a call, we'll talk.

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Letter to Santa: Make My Relative Stop Touching Me

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:02:00 GMT

This has to be the most heartbreaking wish list in the history of the world. And yet, I never imagined I would be this grateful to Santa Claus.

A nine-year-old girl from Texas decided to ask for something monumentally important for Christmas this year, giving a whole new meaning to the childhood belief that if you ask Santa for what you want, he’ll give it to you. The girl wrote a letter to Santa asking him to make one of her relatives stop touching her and her sister. She turned the letter, which may have been for a school assignment, in to her elementary school. It somehow got into the hands of a school counselor, who arranged for the child to meet with a children’s advocacy group.

As a result of the meeting, 55-year-old Andres Enrique Cantu, whose relationship to the girl is not being disclosed to protect her identity, is being held on charges of continuously sexually abusing a young child for four years. He faces a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.

Thank you, Santa.

Photo: Jezebel

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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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Daughter's Homework Assignment Leads to Presidential Pardon for Dad

Brett Singer — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:30:00 GMT

Not one of Bush's daughters (that's what I thought when I first heard about this story, but maybe you're not as gullible as I am). The daughter of the man who was pardoned.

Danny Pue received a pardon from President Bush on Monday, one of 14 total. (I'm not including the annual turkey pardon.) Pue, a Vietnam veteran, was charged with, "illegal treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous materials and chemicals used to preserve utility poles." Sounds bad. That was in 1996. In 2003, Pue's daughter, Karen Flint, wrote to Bush asking him to pardon her dad as part of a class project in college. Five years later, Pue received a pardon.

On a separate but related note, I've always found Presidential pardons to be a little bit sketchy (except for the turkeys, of course). All Presidents do it, Democrat and Republican, so this isn't a partisan thing. I just always found it odd the way it gets done -- when there's no chance for a political backlash. At least in this case it seems that the pardon wasn't politically motivated (although I guess that's possible). And it's nice that Pue can get out and have a second chance at life.

The daughter wrote to Bush originally when she was in college, meaning she's not a kid anymore. Still, I hope dad gets her one heck of a Christmas present.

Source/Image: KHOU

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Evangelical Preacher Urges Congregants to Have More Sex

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 23:00:00 GMT

Addressing his congregation of 20,000, Rev. Ed Young urged his married followers to spice up their love life with some increased intimacy. "And when I say intimacy, I don't mean holding hands in the park or a back rub," the Texan evangelical preacher clarified. After all, Young reminded his flock, sex was God's idea in the first place.

More sex, Young has frequently argued, means that you "will perform better at work, leave a loving legacy for your children to follow and may even prevent an extramarital affair."

I think I kind of like this guy. As I've pointed out elsewhere, evangelical teens are more sexually active than almost any other religious group. This kind of open talk about hot sex in marriage is necessary if the church wants to keep teens committed to abstinence.

Young challenged his congregants to a "congregational copulation" (hot!): seven days in a row of lovemaking for the Lord. And the results, judging from the looks of Madeline and Rob Hulsey (pictured), were nothing short of miraculous. On the Sunday after the challenge was issued, Young's wife, wearing tight jeans and knee-high black boots, said that at the end of this "sexperiment," many of the congregants were "smiling."

As for single people, Young suggested eating chocolate cake. 'Cause that's sort of the same as physical intimacy with another human being....

Photo: New York Times

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Grown Kids Try Forcing Dad To Divorce Second Wife In Court

Brett Singer — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 18:00:00 GMT

The death of a parent can be tough on the kids. So can second marriages. But usually when we talk about things being "tough on the kids", those kids are, you know. Kids.

This case in Dallas, Texas is a little bit different.

The dad, Claude Thomas, kept his marriage to Susana Martinez Ramirez a secret for a while. Like a couple of years. Why did he do that? Maybe because he thought his children would be concerned about the difference in their ages: Thomas is now 87, Ramirez is 45.

But hey, if he's happy, what's the problem? As usual, it comes down to money. According to Thomas' children from his first marriage (there are no children from the second marriage mentioned, and they would be too young to sue if there were), "their father's estate was valued at as much as $1.5 million. It's now estimated at $165,000, according to court documents."

It's possible that the elder Mr. Thomas is not "capable of making his own decisions." The article says that he, "early signs of dementia, but he appears to know what's happening around him. He's said in court that he wants no guardian – he's happy with his wife and her spending habits. And he has disputed testimony that portrays his wife as a villain."

The details are soap opera worthy. Ms. Ramirez "pushed the tea cart" at a local restaurant, and became close with Claude Thomas and his now-deceased first wife, Geneva Thomas. Some are claiming that the first Mrs. Thomas asked Ms. Ramirez to take her place when she died; the children say that's not true. To make matters even more complicated, Thomas works with his kids at a family business he started.

I'm conflicted about this one. Whose money is it, anyway? If the old man wants to let his young wife spend it all, do his children have the right to stop him? Is an inheritance a right? If Thomas is found to be mentally incapacitated, that's different, at least legally (I think). If not, I think the new wife can do whatever she wants to. The family business part makes this legally more complex (again – I think). But the main issue of inheritance and what happens to it when there's a second marriage is something we can expect to see more of, according to Terry Hammond, executive director of the National Guardianship Association. "It's a case indicative of where we are as a society…accumulated financial wealth is a target. And the exploitation and love, or the appearance of love, is one of the first ways to an elderly person's heart." I'm sure that's true. But is it always the case? Is this particular situation Harold and Maude, Woody Allen and Soon Yi (I know, ew, but I don't think she's after his money), Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones? Or is it Anna Nicole Smith and James Howard Marshall II, Paul McCartney and Heather Mills?

Source: Dallas Morning News

Image: funatiq

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109 Year Old Daughter Of Slave Votes For Obama

Brett Singer — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:45:00 GMT

The line to vote for President and other stuff today might be kind of long. If you get cranky, here's an inspiring story to keep you a little bit sane.

From the Austin American Statesman:

Amanda Jones, 109, the daughter of a man born into slavery, has lived a life long enough to touch three centuries. And after voting consistently as a Democrat for 70 years, she has voted early for the country's first black presidential nominee.
…
Jones' father herded sheep as a slave until he was 12, according to the family, and once he was freed, he was a farmer who raised cows, hogs and turkeys on land he owned. Her mother was born right after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, Joyce Jones said. The family owned more than 100 acres of land in Cedar Creek at one point, she said.
Amanda Jones' father urged her to exercise her right to vote, despite discriminatory practices at the polls and poll taxes meant to keep black and poor people from voting. Those practices were outlawed for federal elections with the 24th Amendment in 1964, but not for state and local races in Texas until 1966.

First of all, the fact that anyone lived to be 109 is cool. More importantly, though, is her story. I can't imagine what it must have felt like for Amanda to cast her vote in this Presidential election.

Source/Image: Statesman.com

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Texas Judge Orders Woman to Stop Bearing Children

JeanneSager — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:29:00 GMT

It's not government enforced sterilization, but it's pretty darn close. And I'd like to shake the hand of the Austin, Texas judge who told 20-year-old Felicia Salazar to keep her legs shut. At least he's trying.

Judge Charlie Baird has ordered the end to childbearing as a stipulation of the Texas mother's 10-year probation sentence on charges of injury to a child by omission. Her boyfriend, Roberto Alvarado, 25, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for beating the couple's then-19-month-old daughter last year. At the time, Salazar did nothing to protect the litte girl, nor did she seek medical treatment for her daughter's injuries.

Both parents have severed their rights to their daughter, who has been in foster care since being discharged from the hospital. The Texas legal community, meanwhile has been debating the constitutionality of Baird's order. If Salazar were sentenced to 10 years in prison, they say, she would naturally be kept from getting pregnant by the nature of confinement. But Baird didn't sentence her to prison. He's given her probation - outside with the general public - and added this as a condition. Texas judges are permitted by law to append probationary sentences, although there's no precedent for this sort of condition. There is, however, a Wisconsin case upheld by that state's Supreme Court, in which a father of nine was ordered to stop spreading his seed after intentionally failing to pay child support. That too was a condition of his probation.

Salazar's attorney is still debating the options, but I'd tell him to quit while he's ahead. Could the case be overturned? Maybe. But his client apparently doesn't know how to be a parent, why give her a chance to screw up again?

Source: Austin American-Statesman

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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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Honey, Could You Drive Mommy to the Bar?

SunnyChanel — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:45:00 GMT

Most of us need a good stiff one every now and then. But generally, if one needs to get their drink on, they’ll find their own way to the local tavern to booze it up, not ask their twelve, yes TWELVE, year old daughter to do the driving.

On Wednesday, Jennifer Lynn Rosenberg’s 12-year-old was pulled over for turning the family minivan into a driveway while not using her turn signal and proceeded to bump into a house at low speed. The police, after discovering that the driver was a pre-teen, asked her where her parents were and she told them she had just dropped her mom off at the bar.

The police arrested mommy Rosenberg, who confirmed that her daughter did the driving, at the bar in question and she currently is in the Gregg County Jail in Longview, Texas on a $2,500 bond. Needless to say, the Child Protective Services will get involved…but at least she had a designated driver!

Five more FLDSers Arrested

Brett Singer — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 15:00:00 GMT

AP (via Jezebel) is reporting that five male members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) have turned themselves in to the police. They were indicted with the crime of having sex with minors, as was FLDS "prophet" Warren Jeffs. One of the men, Merrill Leroy Jessop, was also charged with bigamy. Another, Lloyd Hammon Barlow, was charged "only" with not reporting child abuse, which is a misdemeanor. He is the resident doctor at the ranch.

This is the first we're hearing about the FLDS folks since April, when Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) raided the polygamist compound (which I still think sounds like a wart cream. Hello??? Is this thing on?), except for when the head of CPS resigned, which makes one wonder if Jezebel is right when they imply that the raid was treated as a bigger crime than whatever may be going on inside the walls of the Zion Ranch. I'm kind of surprised that it took this long to charge someone with bigamy, since that's, you know, a major tenet of their religion – polygamy. Poly marriage. Not legal. Just sayin'. Of course, that charge is nothing compared to forcing minors to have sex. But it's all just "alleged" for now.

image: Jezebel

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Maybe the Waitresses Reminded Him of Mom?

Adrienne Martini — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:30:00 GMT

When you are a lost 5-year old boy, do you go to:

a) The Circus

b) A Construction Site

c) The Lego Store

d) A Place Known for Its Wings and Breasts?

If you answered D, congrats! You're our big weener this week!

A Denton, TX, kid wandered out of his day care center, crossed a busy road to buy sodas and snacks, then crossed back to go to the Hooters a half-mile away. At 5 p.m. On a Tuesday afternoon. At the start of rush hour.

The Hooters staff occupied the kid with crayons and games in the back room until the police showed up. No word yet on if the kid has begun puberty early.

Texas CPS head resigns

Brett Singer — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:00:00 GMT

Interesting little twist in the FLDS/Texas CPS case: Carey Cockerell, the head of the agency, announced that he is retiring. The interesting part is that the press release announcing the news makes no mention of the now-infamous seizing of 400+ children from the Polygamy Compound a few months ago, which is the only reason that most news outlets would pick up this story. (I still think Polygamy Compound sounds like a wart cream.) Cockerell is 61 and ran the agency for 3 ½ years, and was not asked to resign, according to Allison Castle, a spokesperson for Texas Governor Rick Perry's office. Patrick Crimmins, spokesperson for Texas CPS, "said Cockerell would have no further comment." Well OK then.

Once the Texas Supreme Court ruled that CPS "over-reached" in removing the kids from the FLDS ranch, it became tougher to defend what they did. There are some positive things to take from the experience: Child Protective Services is now allowed to make unannounced visits to the ranch, which seems like a good idea. So they did overreach, probably by a lot, but the end result is for the best. Not justifying the actions, just looking for a silver lining.

(Source: AP/Google)

image: CNN

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Prosecutions Underway in Child Sex Abuse Scandal

Hannah Tennant-Moore — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:01:00 GMT

Ay. Reading this story is entering a vortex of awfulness. In Mineola, Texas (pop. 5,100), four children were drugged with Vicodin and made to perform in weekly sex shows for a crowd of adults. Three of the children (now aged 7, 10, and 12) are siblings, while the fourth is their aunt (now 10). The siblings alerted their foster mother to the abuse in June 2005, telling her that they were dancing for men and that “everybody does nasty stuff in there”—there being a windowless building then known to the town as a swingers' club. Six adults, including a parent of the siblings, have been charged with involvement in the sexual abuse; two were swiftly sentenced to life in prison. The group’s alleged ring leader, Patrick Kelly (pictured), is set to go on trial today.

The most disturbing aspect of this whole monumentally disturbing affair is that between 50 and 100 adults regularly showed up to watch these children “perform.” I can’t even wrap my mind around that much evilness. Is pedophilia really that widespread or is group think just that nefarious?

According to Child Protective Services, the children are “now finally feeling secure and safe” after years of counseling.

Photo: jezebel.com

Substitute teacher shows up drunk

Brett Singer — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 16:00:00 GMT

During my time going to school in New York City, I saw a lot of things. However, I never once saw a teacher pull a kid to the front of the class so the other students could berate him. I also never had a substitute teacher show up drunk.

In Richardson Texas, Thomas Brownlee arrived at school with liquor on his breath and, one assumes, sadness in his heart. Another teacher figured out what was happening and the drunken doof was removed from the class. Apparently, he was "too intoxicated to complete a sobriety test." In my opinion, if you're too drunk to take the test, that should mean you fail. Sort of like the SATs.

Once you get past "wow, that's really terrible" and move on to "that would make a great SNL skit" ("1+1 ain't 2! It's misery! You try being married to that woman!" etc.), it makes me wonder how many times this sort of thing has happened. In fourth grade, I remember our regular teacher, not a sub, had a nervous breakdown of some kind right in front of us. We were on our way to a field trip, and a substitute teacher was on his way to take over the class. "You don't realize what I do for you!" she screamed. It was fairly frightening while it was happening, but once she left, we actually all thought it was pretty funny. No one, as far as I know, was scarred for life; in fact, I think we were over it by lunch. I'm not excusing her behavior, which in retrospect was amazing and not in a good way. And showing up drunk to teach is a bad thing. I'm just saying that kids are resilient. Hopefully the school fires the inebriated educator and doesn't make a big deal out of it to the students.

image: Hoboken411.com
Note: this is not a photo of the teacher. Not as far as I know, anyway.

Children of Polygamy Cult Returned to Parents

Cole Gamble — Mon, 26 May 2008 17:00:00 GMT

A dozen of the children removed from the FLDS Polygamy cult in Texas are being reunited with their families. Said parents and children will be allowed to live together under state supervision until a verdict comes down from the Texas Supreme Court. They may not, however, return to their Yearning For Zion ranch for the time being.

Last Friday an appeals court ruled the state had no right to take the children into custody. On one hand it's hard to fault the authorities in their raid. The heard of the underage marriages to older men, heard many other stories of highly questionable behavior with minors, and galloped in to “rescue” all the children. Unfortunately the legality of the matter is messier than that. It may be proven not every single child was endangered. Yes, an odd thought considering the stories about what went on behind the walls of that compound. Though there are children of the cult too young to have been asked to bear children and therefore may not technically qualify as abused, to teach those young children that this is normative behavior is, in my mind, abuse enough.

Photo: AP

Polygamists as Victims

Brett Singer — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:30:00 GMT

Are the members of the FLDS victims of religious persecution?

That's what some people from the polygamy-practicing sect are saying. A Texas court is holding hearings to determine what will happen to the children who were removed from the ranch last month, and with "463 children, 168 mothers and 69 fathers", that's going to take awhile.

They also don't know which kid belongs to which mother; DNA testing will eventually sort all of that out. Two of the children of self-styled polygamous prophet Warren Jeffs have been found to be from different mothers. (Jeffs, the leader of the polygamy pack, is currently in jail in Utah on "accomplice to rape" charges -- meaning he performed marriages between old men and underage girls -- and "he also faces trial in Arizona on eight charges of sexual conduct with a minor, incest and conspiracy." So he's been busy.)

Meanwhile, Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) has created some guidelines for compound parents must follow if they want their children to be returned to them, mandating "parenting training, family counseling and psychological testing of the parents." A report from CBS 42 in Austin says that one attorney for the FLDS parents was told, "if you ever want to get your kids back – don’t even think of returning to the ranch." Another lawyer for the FLDSers says of CPS, "the Governor of Texas has been praising the job they’re doing and to me that’s a lot like George Bush telling Brownie, ‘heck of a job’ after Katrina." Well, except that in Katrina, it was a natural disaster where people died needlessly, and your clients were breaking the law. But why quibble?

FLDS spokespeople are playing the victim card, crying religious persecution. One of the "elders" of the sect wrote a letter to President Bush calling the ranch raid a "terrorist act." It does sound like CPS and other Texas officials could have done a better job in some ways. But terrorism? And one of the mothers, Nora Jeffs, did not have time to meet with CPS officials to discuss the "family service plan" because she was spending too much time visiting her eight children, all of whom have been placed in different locations. She agreed to follow the plan, "so long as they don't conflict with my religious beliefs." The judge replied that, "You have a right to religious freedom up until the point where it breaks the law."

That's the bottom line here, isn't it? At some point, don't we have to draw a line between religious freedom and the law? If my religion dictates that I jog nude down Main Street on the fourth Tuesday of every month, or smoke marijuana, or perform human sacrifices, I can't do that. Well, guess what? Polygamy is illegal. You may think that's a bad law, but it's still the law. Even though it's possible that the reports of abuse may have come from a woman with a history of making false claims, the practice of polygamy is still against the law. Not to mention the fact that some of the moms were probably under 18. Hopefully no one will be fooled into supporting the "cause" of the FLDS under the guise of religious freedom. This is one case for that just doesn't apply.

image: CNN