ok...the woman takes her kids to the fair...she forgets to put suntan lotion on them...they burn....so she goes to prison for 15 years??? she's facing charges???? what the hell ever happened to prosecutorial discretion?? The woman is in jail on $15,000 bail, for goodness sake!! Kids get arrested for hanging out in a parking lot and mothers get arrested for allowing her children to become sunburned. Great... i'm sure some conservative freak (please note the irony of me posting this!!) is gonna defend the DA on this one. (i only posted that last sentence because i've been trying to fit the phrase, "conservative freak" in a post for quite some time now..particularly not referring to myself!) http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...20/ap_wo_en_ge/us_sunburn_charges_1&printer=1 Mother faces charges for allegedly allowing children to get sunburned at fair Tue Aug 20, 3:57 PM ET STEUBENVILLE, Ohio - A woman was arrested on felony charges for allegedly letting her three children get so severely sunburned they looked like they "were dipped in red paint." Eve Hibbits was arrested a week ago on three counts of child endangerment, said Sheriff Fred Abdalla. She remained in jail Tuesday in lieu of dlrs 15,000 bail. Abdalla said a deputy noticed her 2-year-old daughter and 10-month-old twin boys had severely sunburned faces at the Jefferson County Fair. "She pushed her kids around the fairground all day last Tuesday, and it looked like those kids' faces were dipped in red paint," he said. "There was no sunscreen or nothing on these children." The children had second degree sunburns and were treated with cold compresses, said Trinity Medical Center West spokesman Keith Murdock. Hibbits, 31, could face 15 years in jail if convicted of all three counts. A preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday
My GAWD !!!! Don't prosecute the woman, but at least let her know that she needs to be smarter then that. I feel for her kids. DD
i've sunburned myself before...not knowing it...your skin doesn't always appear to be burning...it's sometimes hours later before you realize the extent of it...i'm sure this lady felt like crap...it was certainly an accident, and we all do dumb things...but to be put on trial for it as a criminal...to be locked up....to be taken away from the children who so need a mother....that is freaking sick...
Man, we are talking about Sun Burn here. How come no one is talking about the victims? Those kids are the ones who suffered, not the mother. I mean do we really want a society where our precious, beloved children run around with red arms, noses, and moderate discomfort? The children are our future! Hangin's too good for her!
<B>MadMax</b>... mebbe you can get them to change your moniker to "ConservativeFreak".... or maybe I should!
she was pushing them around with the burnt faces that's why everyone is pissed that's why the prosecutors are doing what they are doing LOTS of people saw these kids frying during the fair
She's not going to jail for 15 years, calm down. But what she did is inexcusable. The sun is VERY damaging to your skin, and I can only imagine the effect it can have on a 2 YEAR-OLD! You can get a sunburn for being in the sun 15 minutes...this lady had her 2 YEAR-OLD in the sun ALL DAY with NO sun block! This woman does not deserve to be a mother. MadMax, where are you getting that she "forgot" to put sun block on them? How do you know that she ever intended to do so? edit: the first time I read it I thought it said "10 year old", but apparently her other kids were only 10 months old! OMG.
hehe . . .I'm just and old man . . . . i reckon but. . . i remember when folx were allowed to make a mistake or two Now. . . you do that . . .you goto prison Rocket River I still don't like 'discretion' that much
Freak -- The very fact she's standing trial baffles me...everyone knows she's not going to jail for 15 years...but parents make mistakes all the time...i used to go to my parents' beachhouse all the time as a kid...sometimes i got burned...somehow my parents avaded the law all these years!! I do not know that it was an accident...I'm assuming it was because my assumption is that she's 1. very stupid or 2. made a mistake (or some combination of the two). Do you honestly think a prosecutor is going to be able to prove some bad intent on her part??? Do you think she deliberately left the house TRYING to burn her children??? Do you think they'll even attempt to prove that??? I've heard antecdotes of much worse than this from very good mothers...
its stories like this that make me realize I don't ever want to be a parent... i'm too forgetful and I'd probably end up paying large fines or in jail for stupid charges like this!
Max, I don't think she should be in jail or on trial. Have her kids transported to a more responsible home, maybe. My guess is that she's just stupid and isn't aware of the potential dangers of exposure to the sun. She'd have to be stupid to leave her infants out in the sun all day.
I don't think you take children away from a mother for a sunburn...I would have a hard time believing that's really in the best interests of the child. Courts are reluctant to mess with the status quo unless there is serious concern...I don't think this kind of mistake is worth that. You mentioned before this mistake is inexcusable...I just don't see it that way.
"The children had second degree sunburns and were treated with cold compresses, said Trinity Medical Center West spokesman Keith Murdock. "-from article. Second degree. "Involve both the epidermis and underlying dermis. In addition to redness, tenderness, and pain, significant blistering occurs. " - http://cpmcnet.columbia.edu/texts/guide/hmg14_0005.html What happens if the deputy doesn't notice and it becomes a third degree sunburn (is that possible)? I guess I just have faith that if a deputy wouldn't stop a parent for sunburn unless it was really bad. I'm picturing a girl with serious skin damage on face and arms covered with blisters requiring medical attention...not your normal sunburn from being outside 6 hrs without sunblock. The following website has a picture of a child with second degree burns caused by hot soup. Scroll to bottom of the website. http://www.emedicine.com/aaem/topic78.htm#target2 I guess I'm a conservative freak, but I associate second degree burns with what would happen if you took a pot of McDonald's Coffee and poured it on a 2 year olds head. Am I thinking of a third degree burn? I think she should probably get a warning with checkups with protective services if it wasn't too bad of a burn.
I had a second degree burn earlier this summer...with blisters...I was hanging out with my brothers' family around the pool...just forgot to put on sunblock...about 7 hours later I had an awful burn..blisters and all. The effects of the burn (tenderness, pain, peeling) were felt for about 2 weeks. I was stupid for not putting sun block on.... Criminal law, for the most part, contemplates some degree of intent. People are negligent all the time, but it doesn't rise to the level of criminal negligence.
