Comments on: Star-Telegram Columnist Arrested for Child Abandonment

By: KOwriter

KOwriter — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 03:24:10 +0000

If you are a parent you’ve been immature with your kids at least once or at least angry enough to do something questionable by normal thinking. Just be glad witnesses weren’t around! Come on don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t know if he was uncontrollable, immature or what but give me a break.
As far as walking a mile on a 95 degree day. Can’t tell you how many miles I walked with my cousin to go fishing by ourselves during the summer or just playing outside. You wonder why the country is obese when a kid can’t walk a mile or two on a hot day without it being endangerment.

By: Lauren

Lauren — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:21:09 +0000

Who needs to grow up here? Leiber himself. You can’t handle an argument with an 11 year old in a public place, so you speed away in your car while the kid tries to open the door? It sounds like a teenage love spat before it sounds like interaction between a parent and a child. If your kids are flipping out so badly in a restaurant – and you react in such a psychologically immature way, then there is a lot more going on there than a kid just acting like a brat….and I think that starts with the parent. If your kid needs a lesson, stop eating and take your stuff with you. Drive the brat home and not take him out to eat again until he proves himself to be a more respecting kid – then take away the ipod, the Wii, cell phone, TV and anything else that is extra: legally you owe the kid a roof over his head, food, basic clothing, and an education -period. If brat wants more, then he can earn it back. As a parent you don’t have to show that you lost control and can’t handle an argument with a child, you’ll earn no respect that way – nor should you get any…looks like that is the root of the problem here.

By: jp

jp — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:41:41 +0000

Ahhh, what goes around comes around. Holding the NRH swat team up to ridiculous technicalities on a warrant. Acting like some school districts are Neanderthal when they are only holding up the state laws. He SHOULD be held to the letter of the Law and the peccadilloes he demands of all others.

I only bet the NRH police so wish it was at a McDonald’s in their district. I guarantee there wouldn’t be a name misspelling on the warrant as I am sure they remember it letter for letter.

By: jrp

jrp — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 01:50:12 +0000

it wasn’t Crenshaw Blvd., dude, it wasn’t as if the kid woulda been walking through Compton or the South Bronx or North Philly or Camden, man, it’s freakin Tarrant County for chrissakes on a bright, clear sunny day

what care was the child lacking? Mommy to hold his hand as he crossed big bad scary Basswood Blvd.? and it’s an 11-year-old not a 5-year-old

it’s sad and troubling that so many people seem to think this father did something wrong…just sad how delusional so many are

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:02:17 +0000

§ 22.041. ABANDONING OR ENDANGERING CHILD. (a) In this section, “abandon” means to leave a child in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.
(b) A person commits an offense if, having custody, care, or control of a child younger than 15 years, he intentionally abandons the child in any place under circumstances that expose the child to
an unreasonable risk of harm.

Google estimates it’s 1.3 mi – about 26 mins walking. On a 95 degree day. Down and across Basswood Blvd – 17,810 vehicles per day (TXDOT 2006), then up through a neighborhood or two.

Yeah, I think his little temper tantrum led him to fail to provide reasonable and necessary care for a child. Particularly that bit about how the kid was trying to get in the car when he drove off.

By: Liles

Liles — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:24:05 +0000

On Thanksgiving Day in 1974, my family went to the Dallas-Washington game at Texas Stadium. I was twelve years old at the time.

Our family would park at Valley View Mall and ride the bus to the game each week. Halfway through the fourth quarter, my Dad had grown disgusted with the Cowboys and insisted that we leave and get a head start on the traffic. I refused to get out of my seat. After a rather terse discussion, my family left me at the game.

After Clint Longley threw two touchdowns in the last minute to win the game, I didn’t mind having to sit in traffic and then walk all the way home from VVM.

By: Daddy Claxton

Daddy Claxton — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 16:37:02 +0000

This guy would be on the Wautauga Police Watch list: http://metrodad.typepad.com/index/2008/08/use-your-words.html

By: jrp

jrp — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:08:34 +0000

my dad took a shine to a bunch of different german beers in the ’80s (St. Pauli Girl, Dab, Beck’s etc.) and i often accompanied him on trips to the beer distributor

it got to the point where my dad would sometimes sit in the car and i would go in and purchase the beer (granted the proprietor had known me my whole life and knew the case of Pauli Girl wasn’t for the 11-year-old that was buying it, but for my dad who was in the car)

anyway, on one more than one occasion my dad would dispatch me to walk the three blocks to pick up a case, and maybe a carton of smokes, as well, and i’d buy the beer and walk back home carrying the case

now imagine what would happen today if an 11-12-13-year-old kid was spotted carrying a case of German beer walking down the street

the kid, his parents, and the proprietor that sold him the beer would all get locked up…explain to me what good that does anyone

we’ve lost all sense of discretion and have become slaves to coddling the immature and weak-minded

By: Spamboy

Spamboy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:30:28 +0000

My mom’s dad did it to her (actually dumped her on the steps of the town’s orphanage for a little while) and my parents did the same to me (left me at their friends without any word because I wouldn’t stop playing their Intellivision). Both times we each sobered up rather quick.

By: Candace Evans

Candace Evans — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 06:45:39 +0000

I’m so glad my kids are grown up. Think I’ll flee the country for grandchildren. “See ya, wouldn’t want to be ya.” I tried not to spank my first child — I beat the second one with a wooden spoon. Guess who turned out better?
JB you are right — it’s the Boomers — me — we screwed kids up and made them Little Lord Fauntlaroys 24/7. We did this because that’s what all the shrinks told us to do. Don’t spank, make sure they have great self-esteem. It’s b/c we were all afraid they’d take drugs if they were insecure, I can practically quote the experts’ pablum. We had to have them reading by age 5 so they could get into Harvard by 10. I know couples now who are raising their kids’ kids because the darlings find parenting too stressful. So give this guy a medal: he could have just dumped the brat back with his mom.