Some people should not be parents!

[ktmeadows]

This just makes me sick. How can people, esp. parents, be so cruel? I just got through reading another story earlier today that made me want to barf. I just wish they'd take these parents and do the same thing to them so they know what it feels like!

ST PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A woman and her roommate were charged with starving the woman's 9-year-old daughter, who weighed just 42 pounds when she was found, authorities said.

The child also was locked up all day and was forced to wear a filthy diaper, police said.

Melissa Samoraj, 27, and Raymond LaFountain, 31, were arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse.

The girl was so emaciated that her spine and ribcage were showing when state child welfare officials took her June 30, police said.

The girl also had her hands bound behind her, was locked in a bedroom all day and wore a diaper that went unchanged for hours, officials said. She told police it was punishment for bad behavior.

"It's a very disturbing case," police Detective Joe DeLuca said. "You see very few like this."

The girl now lives with her grandparents and has gained about 25 pounds in a month.

"She's doing well now," DeLuca said.

LaFountain's mother reported the girl's appearance after visiting the home, DeLuca said. It's not clear how long the alleged abuse had been going on, police said.

Samoraj and LaFountain were in a Pinellas County jail Thursday, each held on a $50,000 bond. DeLuca said they did not address the allegations when they were arrested Wednesday, and jail records did not indicate if they had lawyers.

LaFountain was originally described by police as Samoraj's live-in boyfriend, but the gender classification at the jail was changed from male to female following a routine strip search, Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said. http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/03/starved.girl.ap/index.html

 

[ktschris]

This just makes me sick. How can people, esp. parents, be so cruel? I just got through reading another story earlier today that made me want to barf. I just wish they'd take these parents and do the same thing to them so they know what it feels like!

ST PETERSBURG, Florida (AP) -- A woman and her roommate were charged with starving the woman's 9-year-old daughter, who weighed just 42 pounds when she was found, authorities said.

The child also was locked up all day and was forced to wear a filthy diaper, police said.

Melissa Samoraj, 27, and Raymond LaFountain, 31, were arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse.

The girl was so emaciated that her spine and ribcage were showing when state child welfare officials took her June 30, police said.

The girl also had her hands bound behind her, was locked in a bedroom all day and wore a diaper that went unchanged for hours, officials said. She told police it was punishment for bad behavior.

"It's a very disturbing case," police Detective Joe DeLuca said. "You see very few like this."

The girl now lives with her grandparents and has gained about 25 pounds in a month.

"She's doing well now," DeLuca said.

LaFountain's mother reported the girl's appearance after visiting the home, DeLuca said. It's not clear how long the alleged abuse had been going on, police said.

Samoraj and LaFountain were in a Pinellas County jail Thursday, each held on a $50,000 bond. DeLuca said they did not address the allegations when they were arrested Wednesday, and jail records did not indicate if they had lawyers.

LaFountain was originally described by police as Samoraj's live-in boyfriend, but the gender classification at the jail was changed from male to female following a routine strip search, Pinellas sheriff's spokesman Mac McMullen said. http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/03/starved.girl.ap/index.html

I'm sorry, I know this is a horrific story - I hope these two rot in jail, but I can't help but giggle at the "gender classification change"

 

[Sheila]

We just had this very same story repeated on our local news here. Lady left her 2 children in a car this a.m. in a town just northeast of Atlanta. I think Bsmart can vouch that this happens quite often here in the Metro Atl. area. Many instances have ended in great tragedy. Interesting that it has involved people of all walks of life. Rich, poor, educated, less educated. Race is not even a factor.

I personally, do not understand why anyone would ever leave a small child in a locked car anywhere, anytime! There's just too much at stake to take the risk.

 

[ktmeadows]

OMG..you did not go there!!!!! There are no words for my displeasure in this post. FYI LadyB, I have seen white parents do this !!!!!

I agree, kd. The lady in the St. Petersburg case was white. Interestingly enough though...it appears that at first the police classified her "partner" as a male. Turns out a strip search caused them to reclassify "he" as a "she"!

 

[Jdarg]

I'm a bit confused. How did a post about child neglect turn into a racist comment? Why did it matter that the mother at Walmart was black?

Children suffer neglect at the hands of adults- adults OF EVERY RACE AND ETHNICITY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Thankfully most people on this board are not bigots.

Maybe Kurt will lock this thread before more stupid racist comments are posted.

^5 to all who caught this one and called it.

 

[ktmeadows]

I'm a bit confused. How did a post about child neglect turn into a racist comment? Why did it matter that the mother at Walmart was black?

Children suffer neglect at the hands of adults- adults OF EVERY RACE AND ETHNICITY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Thankfully most people on this board are not bigots.

Maybe Kurt will lock this thread before more stupid racist comments are posted.

^5 to all who caught this one and called it.

I agree. I hate to see negative topics of ANY kind turn into a matter of race/ethnicity/sexual orientation Jerks come in all shapes, sizes, colors, etc.

 

[Lady D]

I'm a bit confused. How did a post about child neglect turn into a racist comment? Why did it matter that the mother at Walmart was black?

Children suffer neglect at the hands of adults- adults OF EVERY RACE AND ETHNICITY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION. Thankfully most people on this board are not bigots.

Maybe Kurt will lock this thread before more stupid racist comments are posted.

^5 to all who caught this one and called it.

Jerks come in all shapes, sizes, colors, etc.[/QUOTE]

Don't believe I made a racist comment here. When a city is 61% one ethnicity, 34% another, and 5% mixed, which is our case here, then most of what is seen here like that involves the higher percentage of course. I have yet to see a white child here slapped across the back of the head or face because of crying and being tired or hungry and being called a f*ing bastard. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but I have never seen it. On occasion I have seen one's leg popped for misbehaving, which is as it should be. But when a child is little and is out late past what I consider their bedtime, it's not acceptable. They could go do their shopping earlier and could leave that little child at home with someone instead of dragging them out when it is naptime or bedtime. And anyway, this all has to do with different types of neglect and abuse, because leaving your child locked up in a car is both neglect and abuse also, and a small child being slapped across the head or face and called the above mentioned name is neglect also, and abuse, regardless of who they are.

 

[Jdarg]

Don't believe I made a racist comment here. When a city is 61% one ethnicity, 34% white, and 5% Mexican, which is our case here, then most of what is seen here involves that. I have yet to see a white child here slapped across the back of the head or face because of crying and being tired or hungry and being called a f*ing bastard. It might happen here, but not as much I can assure you, but I have never seen it. On occasion I have seen one's leg popped for misbehaving, which is as it should be. But when a child is little and is out late past what I consider their bedtime, it's not acceptable. They could go do their shopping earlier and could leave that little child at home with someone instead of dragging them out when it is naptime or bedtime. And anyway, this all has to do with different types of neglect and abuse, because leaving your child locked up in a car is both neglect and abuse also, and a small child being slapped across the head or face is neglect also, and abuse, regardless of who they are!

Even if your city is 99% African American, what is the reason for mentioning race? THERE ISN"T ONE. The point of the story is child neglect, which is sad in itself, and made even sadder by people like you who blame this neglect as a characteristic of a specific race of people.

If you throw the Hispanics in with the African Americans, you can start throwing dirt at a full 66% of your city's population.

 

[Biff]

 

[ktschris]

Convict me now because I often have my kids out "past" their bedtime. Can't be helped, I work full time, sometimes after work and football practice and swimming lessons, that's the only time I have left to go to the grocery store to get them milk and bread. Yes, they are tired and crabby and sometimes I yell at them, but hey, I'm tired to. Lead me to the jail.

Until you can walk in someone else's shoes, I would be very careful about assuming a sutiuation.

Sorry for the typos. My boss is coming and I'm trying to type fast.