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I don't know, J. That's very flagrant behavior to receive a warning. I don't agree with jail, nor do I believe she should lose custody of the baby, and for the most part I think parenting classes are a joke. But I think the analogy to dangling a baby out a 4th-story window was a good one. That's not a mistake, or brief bad judgment ... that's dangerously bad judgment. I don't know if a finger wag and wrist slap is going to do anything, really.
Edited: By "J," I meant jturr88. A couple of posts went up while I was typing. I'm sorry if that is too familiar.
CASE #1: "The use of the highway for the purpose of travel and transportation is not a mere privilege, but a common fundamental right of which the public and individuals cannot rightfully be deprived." Chicago Motor Coach v. Chicago, 169 NE 221.
CASE #2: "The right of the citizen to travel upon the public highways and to transport his property thereon, either by carriage or by automobile, is not a mere privilege which a city may prohibit or permit at will, but a common law right which he has under the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Thompson v. Smith, 154 SE 579.
I already stated that constitutionally protected rights can be abridged in specific cases, with due process, or regulated, where there is a compelling public interest.
When did it becom a "right"? We didn't always have highways, we didn't always have motorized vehicles. You may have a right to travel, but there are alternatives--like walking.
the woman sounds dangerously ignorant of child safety. people have had children taken away for less
They have? Now, that's really scary.
As for Julia's Michael Jackson comment ---how many people do you know who have ever dropped a baby? People don't drop babies. If Michael Jackson had dropped the baby on the kitchen floor, would you say he endangered the baby by carrying it in the kitchen? Even if he didn't drop it on the kitchen floor, would you say a baby ought to be taken away from any parent who carries it anywhere, because it would be injured if the parent dropped it?
I probably would have called the police as well. There is no way that woman could have possibly driven safely when breastfeeding and talking on the cell phone. It is ridiculous. So not only is she putting herself, her infant, and other children in the car in danger, she is putting her fellow drivers at risk as well.
Regarding jail time, I don't think I'd go that far. Perhaps probation, loss of license, parenting classes, or all of the above.
It is disturbing that the woman thinks that the air bag deploying would be the same if she was the only one in the car and if she was breastfeeding the infant. It's not the same thing and how she can possibly think there is no difference I cannot imagine.
It is disturbing that the woman thinks that the air bag deploying would be the same if she was the only one in the car and if she was breastfeeding the infant. It's not the same thing and how she can possibly think there is no difference I cannot imagine.
It might be disturbing, but it is not surprising. An awful lot of people don't really have any mechanical sense, and don't understand very well what kinds of things happen with the physical laws of the universe are set into play. Most of these people are women, which is why they are so often baffled by the concept of checking the air in their tires.
It never surprises me when a person is unable to predict a mechanical event. This woman does not need parenting classes, she needs high school physics.
If I had been the cop, and if my department allowed me any common sense leeway on the beat, I would have given her a warning. I would have explained that there is a law that requires child restraint, and breast feeding does not exempt her from compliance. Issuing such a warning would have gone a long way toward minimizing the child endangerment in the future. Most people offend because they think they will not be caught, and disabusing them of that notion is a strong deterrent.
YOu would think this would work but I don't think so with this particular woman. At the end of the interview the reporter (or the mother) indicated that while the mother will take this under advisement, she may breastfeed the child while driving again, or something like that. So, if this woman, while facing stiff fines and jail time, is actually considering doing this again, I don't think that a warning would suffice.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jtur88
I would have thought there would an even greater child endangerment to take the mother away from a breastfeeding child for six months in the county jail, or to take $2,000 out of the family budget which could have been used to provide the child a more enriched environment in which to be reared, or to generate a high degree of anger and hatred against the police and authority in the child's mother, which would psychologically to the disadvantage of the child.
I really have a lot of concern about how many people in this country think the best thing we can do for our children is to imprison their parents on the most trivial of pretexts and impose draconian fines on their households and engender a hatred and distrust of authority. Or make the children the victims of do-gooder tattle-tales.
We have just generated one more hater in a world where there are already too many, and she has children to raise. Where will it end?
I agree that putting the woman in jail or such a fine if it would put a major hardship on the family's budget wouldn't be the best punishment in this case.
Generating haters--well we can't ignore situations so we won't generate another "hater".
Seriously, I don't know anyone who would argue that they should be allowed to breastfeed and drive at the same time.
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