Posted on 04/28/2008 7:58:13 AM PDT by mombyprofession
If you watch much television, you've probably heard of a product called Mike's Hard Lemonade.
And if you ask Christopher Ratte and his wife how they lost custody of their 7-year-old son, the short version is that nobody in the Ratte family watches much television.
The way police and child protection workers figure it, Ratte should have known that what a Comerica Park vendor handed over when Ratte ordered a lemonade for his boy three Saturdays ago contained alcohol, and Ratte's ignorance justified placing young Leo in foster care until his dad got up to speed on the commercial beverage industry.
Even if, in hindsight, that decision seems a bit, um, idiotic.
Ratte is a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the University of Michigan, which means that, on a given day, he's more likely to be excavating ancient burial sites in Turkey than watching "Dancing with the Stars" - or even the History Channel, for that matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at wzzm13.com ...
Have you seen this?
this is what makes it seem like an accident... that the child was consuming it publicly...
Probably the same way I could drink 4 of them and feel like I drank nothing more than regular lemonade. I think they lie about the alcohol content.
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The boy's father...Ratte is a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the University of Michigan, which means that, on a given day, he's more likely to be excavating ancient burial sites in Turkey than watching "Dancing with the Stars" - or even the History Channel, for that matter.To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. |
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· Mirabilis · Texas AM Anthropology News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · · History or Science & Nature Podcasts · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · |
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>> I’d probably be appalled too, if I saw a young kid drinking an alcoholic drink like that.<<
Good thing you’re in America.
Over in Europe they are drinking wine from birth.
Any you would have had a hissy fit when I put Irish Creme on my daughter’s gums when they were teething.
What part of “I’m the parent” is not in the mix here?
“Mr. Ratte’s To-Do list:
1) Hire the best contingency lawyer in Michigan
2) Sue the state of Michigan for $100 million
3) Sue the Detroit Tigers for $100 million
4) Settle for $5 million.”
Yep, that would be the typical response of socialists getting PO’d that they had to live with the nightmare of expanded government. I have no doubt this Ann Arbor, Wolverine socialist falls on that side of the political aisle. I’m actually glad that he got caught up in the trap he has begged for.
I have a friend who is a phD professor of some sort of mechanical engineering way above my ability to comprehend. Great guy in many ways, but completely lacking in common sense and street smarts. I could easily see him doing something like this. In fact, I thought it might be him till I read the name.
“Oh well...let this guy go, but hammer the trailer trash that might watch TV.
That’s what I gather from this line.”
As you should. Most of the UM grads I know are the most elitist jerks out there, I can only imagine that the Professors are exponentially worse. In addition, the city of AA is a liberal haven, and you know how they are...
Whoops, and thanks Grellis.
“Good thing about this is that everyone involved are probably flaming liberals. Maybe now they’ll question some of the crap flowing from the little fiefdoms that are so purvasive throughout local government.”
Nope, in SE Michigan, everything is George Bush’s fault. Just ask the socialists that can’t see their nose, even while looking in the mirror.
There is also a blanket ban on marshmallows at the DTE theater. I kid you not. But that's way off topic.
Perhaps because the alcohol content is very small?
ImaGraftedBranch: Ping to a somewhat interesting story involving lemonade.
None of those are offered at Comerica Park.
“In fact, I didn’t know that there was alcoholic lemonade and that it was called “hard lemonade” until a year or two ago, when an employee came into my office drinking a Mike’s, right in front of me. It was only later that another of my employees pointed out to me that it was an alcoholic beverage did I retrieve the bottle from the trash and look closely at the label, and then proceed to fire the other employee.”
Sounds like you assumed that the employee consuming the lemonade knew that it was more than a soft drink. Why would you make that assumption, when you didn’t even know?
I can’t think of a single Major League Baseball ballpark that still allows glass containers (either brought in or sold). Each stadium sets their own rules, and I suspect they base their decision on plastic bottles for liability reasons (broken glass in the seats) and for player safety (drunk fans throwing empty bottles).
Every ballpark I’ve been to has either been plastic bottles, or the “beerman” has to pour the beer into a cup for you (there are many brands of beer, such as Corona, that don’t come in plastic).
That stuff's alcohol?
I hope it's 200 proof . . . just to help you forget the fact that you just gayed it up by ordering a Zima! Kinda like that old joke:
Guy: Bartender, give me a shot of whiskey.
Bartender: What's the occasion?
Guy: My first Lewinsky.
Bartender: Ah, so you're celebrating . . .
Guy: No, I have to get this taste out of my mouth.
Has the book, “The Death of Common Sense” faded into obscurity so quickly?
The alcohol content is on the label. Just like required.
Am I really that much older than those of you who are perplexed about what the word ‘hard’ does as a modifier of a beverage.
Hard cider does not ring a bell with y’all? Back in the day, for your edification, apple cider was not pasteurized and homogenized, so it would ferment, making ‘hard’ cider.
Wait a bit longer and voila, apple cider vinegar.
Total cock up by all involved.
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Agreed, and it all started with an out of touch dad. All these posts and not one slam on an ivory tower, head in the dig, dad?
I agree with you completely. If a parent wants to give his or her child a glass of wine with dinner, so what? There was never a ban on alcohol in my mother’s home. She gave me a sip of her martini when I was four. I’ve hated the taste of martinis ever since. I didn’t like the taste of beer or wine as a child.
What was banned in my mother’s home was Coca Cola! Guess what I wanted to drink when I was a rebellious teenager?
The point is the father made a mistake. He probably just ordered “lemonade” for the kid. But then the police state took over and they had their Great White Defendant.
To put this child in a foster care overnight was beyond ridiculous. And who made the call keep the kid in foster care until she completed her “investigation”? Latricia Jones? Nuff said. I’ll lay money the security guard was of the same ilk.
Far easier to go after and make an example of a father (ya know, a REAL father who’s married to and living with the kid’s mother and supporting the kid) who buys his kid lemonade that turns out to have a whopping 5 percent alcohol content than to address the children of Detroit who are truly in need of protective services.
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