Posted on 08/20/2002 1:27:30 PM PDT by Tired of Taxes
Mother Faces Charges for Allowing Kids to Get Sunburned
Tuesday, August 20, 2002
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 $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, of Brilliant, could face 15 years in jail if convicted of all three counts. A preliminary hearing was set for Wednesday.
Abdalla said Jefferson County Children's Services had been contacted about Hibbits' children in the past.
Most likely, neglect.
Even though I know better now, you can become focused on what you are doing and forget. You can be bright red before you even notice. I got severely scorched "FReepin" with the DC Chapter in front of the White House in July, 1999; and I am quite old enough to know better.
I sincerely hope these kids don't pay for mom's neglect years down the road with melanomas.
Every mistake must be criminalized in the pursuit of utopia.
It was usually in May, when few of us had much of a tan. We'd go out on the lake in rented canoes and rowboats and get especially bad sunburns because of the reflection of the sunlight off the water. At the end of the day we all tried to figure out whose burn was the most "lobster-red."
Looking back, I guess we should have sued the boat rental companies. (/sarcasm). After all, on sunny days at home my Mom had us kids play in the shade of trees a lot so we wouldn't burn. (All of us had red hair, freckles and pale skin.)
I feel bad for the mother in this story, if she really meant to show her kids a good time and just wasn't smart enough to know they would get burnt. Knowing how a bad burn feels, I'm sorry for the kids, too.
That happened to my husband, who rarely gets a burn. We were at a mid-June soccer tournament and our daughter was in two different matches in one day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon.
My kids and I tried to warn him he should put on sunscreen, but he didn't.
I think he learned a lesson--the exposed area of his legs, between his shorts and his sock tops, was painfully burned.
According to the article, a week later this woman is STILL in jail. Is this doing her sick kids any good? The law is getting scarier and scarier. It seems to have nothing to do with justice or what is right anymore, seems more like a game of "gothcha".
I have heard of women losing their children because of a messy house or because they didn't want their child to take Ritalin. I was once threatened with the loss of my child because the school counselor wanted me to admit my son to the mental hospital and I didn't want to do it.
I think there might be a lot more to the story then we know.
It there isn't then it was definite over-reaction. Two possibilities that would make it not an over reaction would be if she was approached by several people telling her that the kids were getting burned or if she made a habit of this.
Just guessing.
a.cricket
It sounds like the lady in question has had other run-ins with the police, but using this as a basis for a possible 15 year sentence is absurd. If there is other negligent or harmful activity going on in the home, they need to build a case from that.
I am not eager for the state to assume any more responsibility for policing my child. I worked with sexually abused children and emotionally disturbed adolescents in the deep south throughout the 80s as a recent college grad. One of the reasons I went back to school for an MBA and went into high tech (besides that I could not financially support myself in social work) was that the state sent sexually abused children home for visits with the parents who abused them. It was heart-wrenching to watch the happiness and hope light up those children's faces as they went off with the people who should love them most for a weekend visit, and then see the children return withdrawn, angry, hurt, and ashamed. These were children ages 6-12, and I could not understand why the parents had any access to them whatsoever, if all they would do was return the children's selfless love with such malevolent activity.
There is a tremendous case to be made for removing children from homes where the type of neglect I saw manifested itself. However, we should be very careful when giving control over family issues to the government, unless signs of physical, sexual or emotional abuse or life-endangering neglect are apparent
SeattleTiger
Stupid parents......not felons. Local news bump, Mountaineer, did you see this?
My friends and I always do that after going out, then take turns rubbing aloe or aloe leaves on eachothers backs.
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