Monthly Archive for March, 2007

Nebraska

Parents: Children Beat Up Infant:

Reason to Blow Up the World:â?¦

OMAHA, Neb. — The parents of a 9-week-old baby have lost custody of the infant after the child was allegedly beaten by other kids in the home of her babysitter.

Court documents suggest Naveena Jenkins was thrown, hit and kicked by children in the home of two people who were supposed to be caring for her on Sunday night.

“I asked Destini if she could watch my baby, and she said ‘yes’,” said 18-year-old Sara Vasquez, the infant’s mother.

Destini Phillips and Corneiliou Thomas have each been booked on seven counts of misdemeanor child neglect. They were apparently sleeping when the other children in the home injured the baby.

Vasquez said she left the infant with the couple for just an hour. When she returned, the child was in distress.

“I see the baby, she has no clothes on, no diaper, she’s soaking wet. She has a little bit of blood running down her face,” Vasquez said. The baby has a skull fracture, cuts and bruising. Police said other children at the home caused the injuries while the caregivers were asleep.

Police reports said six children under age 5 were in the home along with the infant. A 5-year-old girl is believed to have caused most of the injuries. She was able to detail her account of the events to counselors at Omaha’s Project Harmony.

Yet the parents of the victim have their baby taken away? As usual Social Services or whatever it’s called in Nebraska have dropped the ball.

Nod of Doom to VonMexican.

In a rather unusual story, police in Garner, North Carolina, are offering $500, an Xbox (the article doesn’t say, but I’m assuming a 360), a Playstation 3, or a Wii for anyone that provides information that leads to the arrest and prosecution of the person(s) responsible for several recent instances of graffiti.

“We believe the offenders, as well as those who may know about the crimes, are young people in our area,” Garner police Chief Tom Moss said. “We hope this kind of reward motivates them to provide us with information we need to prosecute the offenders.

I’ll admit, it’s good thinking. Although most young people are going to realize you could take the $500 and buy a Wii and several games. But hey, it’s a start. And it’s certainly better than placing the blame on graffiti, say, somewhere it doesn’t belong.

This also comes on the heels of a similar measure in Mexico City where police are offering computers and games in exchange for guns.

Who knows? Perhaps we’re seeing a new trend of using enthusiasm for games to prevent crime, rather than as a scapegoat for it. One can hope.

California

Police: Who dumped 3 newborns, 11 months apart?:

Reason to Blow Up the World:â?¦

OROSI, California (AP) — The first newborn was discovered swaddled in a blanket on a park bench, an umbilical cord still hanging from his tiny body. Then, at neat 11-month intervals, two more abandoned babies were found in parked pickup trucks in the same neighborhood.

This week, DNA tests established all three babies were almost certainly born to the same mother.

Now, in a heartbreaking mystery that has transfixed this central California farm community of 7,300, investigators are trying to find the mother and figure out what drove her to such desperate lengths.

All three newborns were found within a two-block radius. The first two — a boy and a girl — survived and are now wards of the state.

The third baby was found dead of exposure on the cold night of December 3. She was enveloped in a sweatshirt in the bed of a pickup parked near the high school, some 60 miles southeast of Fresno. The coroner concluded she was alive for less than a day.

California has had safe haven laws since 2001. Are they that unknown?

Nod of Doom to VonMexican.