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Man Gives Away Teddy Bears, Everybody Panics and Calls the Cops
Reason.com ^ | 14 Sept 2016 | Lenore Skenazy

Posted on 09/19/2016 1:26:37 PM PDT by Eric Pode of Croydon

A dad in Ostego, Michigan—population 3,956—terrified parents, police, and school administrators by handing out teddy bears to people he passed on the street, including children in the presence of adults. It was Ken Cronkhite's attempt to spread some happiness and help his 89-year-old father, the owner of an 800-teddy bear collection, to downsize.

And it backfired.

As news spread of a man, a plan, and his plush toys, the police department's phone lines lit up. Officers sped off to patrol the bus stops as at least one frantic mom ripped apart her kid's bear to see if it contained something insidious.

Meanwhile, the school district jumped into action, alerting parents with emergency phone calls and going on Facebook to warn of "a heavyset, older, white man handing out teddy bears to kids from his silver SUV."

"We have not been told that this man threatened anyone or tried to lure students to him, and adults have been present during two encounters," the letter said, "however, it raises a concern as we want to be sure our students are safe."

Hmm. A man who is not threatening kids, nor luring them, and only approaching the ones who are directly supervised by an adult? Yes, that sure is scary.

According to the Kalamazoo Gazette's mlive.com, commenters on the Facebook post fretted that the bears could be filled with heroin syringes or hidden cameras. But when Cronkhite's teenage son read it, he realized: That's my dad!

Dad immediately called the cops to tell them: I'm your man.

Cronkhite said he is a veteran Marine and a retired Chicago police officer and had fun approaching shoppers with children in store parking lots, people jogging along the streets, and children gathered with adults at bus stops or picnic tables.

He said he made sure there was an adult accompanying any children he approached.

He said he started the direct giveaways after he had distributed bags of bears to Sylvia's Place shelter for battered women, and to the American Cancer Society in Kalamazoo. Some charities would not accept the stuffed animals because they were not brand new, he said.

So his elderly mother washed them all and his father told him to just give them to any takers in an attempt to spread some happiness, Cronkhite said.

But spreading happiness is a lot harder than spreading hysteria, Cronkhite learned.

When his father asked him to distribute the bears to children, it never occurred to him not to do it.

"It was really fun until this happened," said Cronkhite.

"This" being America 2016, when even the police chief says that parents are "rightly on alert for any contact between their children and adults they don't know."

Even when the kids are standing right next to their parents, the parents are "rightly" on alert. Because no one who isn't you should ever interact with your kids. After all, you never know when a man with a teddy bear might pull the syringe out of the bear's stuffing, shoot the parent full of heroin, and run off with the child.

Certainly Cronkhite has learned what it means to be male and friendly and a little offbeat: "I will never try to go out and try to do anything nice for anyone again," he said.

What a relief.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: chickenlittle; morons; paranoia
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

It has come to this........................B^(


21 posted on 09/19/2016 1:50:20 PM PDT by Red Badger (YES, I'm Deplorable! I Deplore the entire Democrat Party!....................)
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To: billorites

From the Grateful Dead, yeah................


22 posted on 09/19/2016 1:50:48 PM PDT by Red Badger (YES, I'm Deplorable! I Deplore the entire Democrat Party!....................)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

Thanks to the automatic man = pedo/rapist stupidity that infests both sides of the political spectrum, this is what any guy can expect.


23 posted on 09/19/2016 1:51:35 PM PDT by VanDeKoik
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

“Oh, bother,” said Pooh.


24 posted on 09/19/2016 1:53:31 PM PDT by mumblypeg (Make America Sane Again)
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To: Maceman; Captain Rhino
The reference was to the homonyms Cronkhite (the subject of this article) and the dead, Bolshevik newscaster Walter Cronkite who would always close out his propaganda ‘newscasts’ with ‘...and that the way it is ...’
25 posted on 09/19/2016 1:54:32 PM PDT by El Cid (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house...)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon
Now if he were some 24-35 year old Muzzie wearing an explosive laden flack jacket while handing out free pressure cookers and shouting "Allahu Akbar", then it would've been alright. Anyone calling the Cops would have been labeled as an Islamophobe and dragged into DNC headquarters for questioning ....

/sarc

~ MM ~

26 posted on 09/19/2016 1:56:18 PM PDT by Mr_Moonlight (Deplorable American Citizen ... and damn PROUD of it !!!)
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To: Maceman

The last name of the man in the article is Cronkhite.

The sign off I posted was from the famous CBS journalist, Walter Cronkite. He signed off the CBS Evening News on television with that departing salutation for ... oh, 20+ years, I suppose.


27 posted on 09/19/2016 1:58:17 PM PDT by Captain Rhino (Determined effort today forges tomorrow)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

Giving things away is the job of the GOVERNMENT!


28 posted on 09/19/2016 1:59:28 PM PDT by Fido969 (Maybe I';ve been posting for the last 10 years, and rather than spew cr@p you could look up my posts)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon; left that other site

It’s a jaded world out there.

No wonder people freaked out.

A pure good deed... no guile, no weirdness, no ulterior motive involved? *Who ever sees that?*

I myself even wonder if the story is faked just to get a rise out of people. :-/

In any case, imagine what would happen if the Messiah showed up and started handing out teddy bears, or gathered kids around to entertain them with fun stories, or put Spiderman or Hello Kitty bandages on their scuffed knees?

He’d be lucky to make it out alive.


29 posted on 09/19/2016 2:01:01 PM PDT by Ezekiel (All who mourn the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

The Government must be the sole source of charity and munificence.


30 posted on 09/19/2016 2:03:33 PM PDT by PLMerite (Compromise is Surrender: The Revolution...will not be kind.)
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To: VanDeKoik

Sometimes you have to give it right back to them just as hard.


31 posted on 09/19/2016 2:05:00 PM PDT by equaviator (There's nothing like the universe to bring you down to earth.)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

People are nuts.. ripped the bear apart to check for drugs?

Hey, that might have been a great idea for a raffle. Buy the bear with a kilo of coke in it.. get a Presidential pardon.


32 posted on 09/19/2016 2:05:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon
Certainly Cronkhite has learned what it means to be male and friendly and a little offbeat: "I will never try to go out and try to do anything nice for anyone again," he said.

This is what we've come to as a society. Frankly, I'm not sure if we deserve to survive.

33 posted on 09/19/2016 2:08:53 PM PDT by zeugma (Welcome to the "interesting times" you were warned about.)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

“...one frantic mom ripped apart her kid’s bear to see if it contained something insidious.”

Odds are that this was the rare 1904 Steiff bear that was in mint condition and worth as much as $100,000.00


34 posted on 09/19/2016 2:09:55 PM PDT by MeganC (JE SUIS CHARLES MARTEL!!!)
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To: Captain Rhino

Who are you calling “ancient”????????????


35 posted on 09/19/2016 2:12:08 PM PDT by Thumper1960 (Trump-2016)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

See something, say something, run amok.


36 posted on 09/19/2016 2:23:02 PM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Eric Pode of Croydon

See something, say something, run amok.


37 posted on 09/19/2016 2:23:02 PM PDT by JimRed (Is it 1776 yet? TERM LIMITS, now and forever! Build the Wall, NOW!)
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To: Thumper1960

Okay. If you were born after 1949, you are not ancient.

You are a young whipper snapper!! Better?

(Actually, I used “ancient” because Cronkite has been gone from the scene so long that many of the younger FREEPERs may have never had a chance to hear the famous signoff.)


38 posted on 09/19/2016 2:24:03 PM PDT by Captain Rhino (Determined effort today forges tomorrow)
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To: Mr. Jeeves

“No one who isn’t you should interact with your kids.”

This s a strange statement. Even with parents present? This is a sure way to break the bonds of community by instilling paranoia in the young.


39 posted on 09/19/2016 2:24:36 PM PDT by Crucial
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To: SkyDancer

He should have handed out free “love is love” rainbow colored condoms .. which would raise 0 red flags in these azz..backward times.


40 posted on 09/19/2016 2:28:20 PM PDT by BobPgh
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