What's Wrong with our Country?

[Jogeephus]

I feel for those folks that screw up and lose a child due to their own actions, and then for the state to come along and compound their misery with the threat of jail, well some things just aren't right, . . . in my opinion.

I feel for them too. There is no punishment the state give this mother worse than what she is going to have to carry the rest of her life. Her life is ruined. Her marriage is probably ruined as well. Its a tragedy.

 

[angie1]

She didn't lose her child by anothers hand, as in a kidnapping or murder she killed her child by her neglect, there is a big difference between the 2. Yes she will have to live with it, but I still say she should be punished in some way.

Seriously?! Punished in "some way"? People like you will punish her the rest of her life.

There is no punishment the state give this mother worse than what she is going to have to carry the rest of her life. Her life is ruined. Her marriage is probably ruined as well. Its a tragedy.

 

[Ryder]

Shoot, when I was a kid you got to stand on the front seat between mom and dad so you could see out the front window. You could reach over and give Dad a big hug around the neck or plop down in Mom's lap and get her to read to you or take a nap. If it was dark, you could climb up on the back dashboard and look at the stars out the back glass. When we got older, Mom would leave us in the car while she ran in to the grocery or sewing supply store. (Had some of the best wrestling fights while she was gone, but if you saw someone coming everybody would immediately sit up and act like you weren't doing anything, and then when they left it was back to the action.) Of course back then you could actually roll the windows all the way down without the car being turned on. Imagine how many tickets Mom would have gotten under today's laws. The state child services people would have moved in with us under today's laws, but you'd have a hard time convincing me I didn't have the best parents in the world (except during my teenage years when they were the worst parents in the world ;-) ).

I feel for those folks that screw up and lose a child due to their own actions, and then for the state to come along and compound their misery with the threat of jail, well some things just aren't right, . . . in my opinion.

CUZ, I think you make a lot of sense. Seems to me it was a lot beter before all the do gooders got to doing everybodys thinking for them.

 

[GMN]

She didn't lose her child by anothers hand, as in a kidnapping or murder she killed her child by her neglect, there is a big difference between the 2. Yes she will have to live with it, but I still say she should be punished in some way.

Seriously?! Punished in "some way"? People like you will punish her the rest of her life.

There is no punishment the state give this mother worse than what she is going to have to carry the rest of her life. Her life is ruined. Her marriage is probably ruined as well. Its a tragedy.

PEOPLE like me? I do not think I am the minority in my views. How could anyone go to work and forget their kid in the car on a hot day.
All day as she was working, she never thought of her child, where was she at, etc.. I find that very hard to believe. Maybe she is just lying. did you ever think of that?

GMN

 

[6M Ranch]

If you never done something stupid,raise your hand.

The difference is, my stupid mistakes didn't kill someone. If it was the neighbor's kid, she would be punished. How is it different that she killed her own kid? I imagine drunk drivers feel bad when they kill someone close or otherwise, but they still need to be punished. Bad part #2, she's an assistant principal, and they have to decide whether or not to fire her. Whether or not she's legally punished, I don't want her to have responsibility for my kids 8 hours a day. Point was not whether she should be punished or not, which I believe she should, but the fact that animals are placed above people. Around here, they protest, put out little white crosses when cities gas the prairie dogs. I've never seen these same groups doing that when kids are the victims.

 

[hraz]

I can easily see how the child could have been forgotten all day. Most of us who have children and work have a pretty strict routine. Break the routine and something is going to go wrong. She could probably remember dropping that child off just like every other day.

I am heart broken for her.

As for the difference in punishment I think INTENT has a lot to do with it. She did not intend to harm her child. Vick absolutely intended to do everything he did.

 

[Brute 23]

I can easily see how the child could have been forgotten all day. Most of us who have children and work have a pretty strict routine. Break the routine and something is going to go wrong. She could probably remember dropping that child off just like every other day.

:shock: Uh... NO. Forget to bring milk home yes. Forget kid sitting in back seat all day... Definatley NOT!

Did you just use "getting out of the routine" as an excuse for killing your kid? :shock:

AND so we have come full circle to answer the original question and topic... "What's Wrong with our Country?" I think we just got the answer.... "routines".

 

[angie1]

Maybe she is just lying. did you ever think of that?

GMN

No ~ I never thought of that. I am a mother. Such a thought could not occure to me and I refuse to entertain it now. My heart goes out to her.

 

[Brute 23]

Maybe she is just lying. did you ever think of that?

GMN

No ~ I never thought of that. I am a mother. Such a thought could not occure to me and I refuse to entertain it now. My heart goes out to her.

There are people out there like that... :x

 

[Jogeephus]

In my many trips to the schools to pick up my children from extracurricular activities I have given many rides to children whose parents "forgot" them. This stuff can happen. Difference here a baby died.

 

[VanC]

In my many trips to the schools to pick up my children from extracurricular activities I have given many rides to children whose parents "forgot" them. This stuff can happen. Difference here a baby died.

That's what some seem to be forgetting. There is a big difference between an accident and negligence. We can make all the excuses we want. We can sympathize with what the mother is going through. But in the end, a child is dead. Some people cannot and should not have the responsibility of raising a child and no, I don't believe this could happen to anybody, as some have said.

 

[Fred]

It's a very sad situation. If she had left the baby to go buy drugs or go drinking I would have less sympathy for her. I can see how this could happen to someone.

 

[Mahoney Pursley Ranch]

Does make me question though how many of these "accidents" are planned murder.

 

[larryshoat]

I really feel sorry for that poor woman in Ohio. Two things here: It is not legal to put your kid's car seat in the front where you can see it, and cars, SUV's in particular, have gotten so large, dark and carvernous that I can see forgetting a child if it were sleeping. I don't think she could ever be punished more than she will punish herself for the rest of her life.

I also think that we are all too dam overwrought with work these days. Keeping up appearances has taken over our lives and we stop to think of what we have. That woman, and many of us, are so busy trying to be all things to all people that our minds just don't work like they should. That poor woman was clearly overwhelmed.

As for punishment, I think it should be handled on a case by case basis. If you were too drunk to remember the baby, then you should fry. If you did it out of meanness, you should fry.

I never left my kids in the car. But I had mine in t he front with me. I didn't have air bags back then. And I also had the rear view pointed at them if they were in the back.

We all need to just slow the heck down.

I agree.Batavia is not far from where I live.My understanding is that she is an assisstant principal at a school.She went inside to drop something off before taking the child to daycare and forgot to go back.A terrible stupid accident.How many times have I made some careless stupid mistake and gotten by with it.This woman needs our sympathy and prayers not our condemnation.

Larry

 

[Ryder]

Just what would be accomplished by throwing her in the slammer?

 

[CUZ]

Several years ago the guy who cut our hay had a load of his grandkids riding in his pickup. They were in a field (they had been at the swimming hole) when Fred started to back up. One of the grandkids fell off and got run over - killed. It was a family tragedy for them.

Fred didn't go to jail, and shouldn't have in my opinion.

Were there consequences for his actions? Absolutely. But sending Fred to jail would have accomplished 0 (zero), and would have been a hardship for his wife.

The family had suffered one tragedy and sending Fred to jail would have made them suffer another.

 

[msscamp]

And yes, Msscamp. there are a LOT of very busy working parents out there who make stupid mistakes. I don't condone it, but I can't imagine anything we can do to her that is any worse than what she's going to do to herself forever.

Give me a break! I would be the last person to argue with you about busy lives, but the vast majority of those people have the responsibility, commitment, and presence of mind to actually remember that they have children. :roll: Don't even try to play me with this lame excuse!

We are all too busy. Too much is expected of us, especially women that work. We were taught all our lives that we could "have it all", but that isn't possible. Still, everyone expects it. I can see getting so overwhelmed that you might make some horrible mistake like that. I know these women. I work with them.

I think you are making excuses, and perhaps these women that you speak of need to say "enough", scale down their lives, do more with less, and settle for a less demanding lifestyle. I know for a fact that if my idea of living compromised my childrens safety, you can bet your sweet ass my lifestyle would change. There is nothing in this world that would be more important that my child's safety!

I am a little suprised at your attitude. You are usually a lot more charitable than that.

I'm sorry to disapoint(sp?) you, but I have no charity for women who do not take care of their kids - never have, and never will.


It is easy to judge, and that woman probably did the same thing, before she accidently forgot her child.

I beg to disagree - it is not easy for me to judge anyone, I see too many shades of gray, and can put myself in their situation too easily. But, having said that, no mother who gave a damn about their child, or who had any kind of maternal instinct would "accidently" forget that child - that simply is not possible.

 

[Brute 23]

... but these rose co-lored glasses.... that I'm looking through.... show on-ly the beauty because they hide all the truthe...

This may have been an accident but there are alot of cases where it isn't. Don't be naive and think that all women are mothers. ;-)

 

[dun]

Just what would be accomplished by throwing her in the slammer?

Hopefully it would keep her from reproducing for a while

 

[GMN]

In my many trips to the schools to pick up my children from extracurricular activities I have given many rides to children whose parents "forgot" them. This stuff can happen. Difference here a baby died.

They forget to pick them up at school, NOT leave them in a car while they are at work-2 very different things.

This lady is a Principal, thats even worse, she was around kids all day, and never thought about her own? This story is about neglect plain and simple that lead to a child suffereing a horrible death.

I have a friend who is a social worker, she has seen this many times, this is what she said:

There does not need to be any intent for neglect like there is for abuse, it is just the lack of doing or not doing something that a reasonable person would or would not do and that the action results in POTENTIAL serious harm. This ended in death.

GMN