Charles Oliver: Apparently, politics precedes parenting

Opinion

Discussion

December 5, 2012

Charles Oliver: Apparently, politics precedes parenting

Charles Oliver The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Dec 05, 2012, 06:00 AM EST

A couple in South Yorkshire, England, who weren’t named by the media, had three foster children take from them because they are members of the United Kingdom Independence Party, which opposes British membership in the European Union and supports greater restrictions on immigration. The couple have fostered a dozen children over the past seven years. But the local council recently discovered their membership in the UKIP. Officials said the couple’s support for “racist” policies made them unfit to be foster parents. The couple in question note that they not only have members of other races in their family they have also fostered children of other races.

Alexis Sumpter just wanted to get downtown to her first day on the job in a marketing internship. She’d swiped her MetroCard and was about to board the subway when three plainclothes New York City police officers confronted her and told her she looked too old to be using a student subway pass. When she couldn’t provide any ID, they threw her against a wall, handcuffed her and called her parents. The cops didn’t believe the parents when the told them she was 15. Her mother had to get her birth certificate and show it to them before they released her.

In Great Britain, the Revenue and Customs office has set up lessons for school children on the importance of paying taxes. One of those lessons encourages children to tell their teachers if they suspect anyone they know is trying to evade his taxes.

A federal jury has awarded Karolina Obrycka $850,000 after she was beaten up by off-duty Chicago police officer Anthony Abbate. The jury found a conspiracy involving Abbate and other officers to cover up the crime. Abbate became angry after Obrycka, a bartender, cut him off and tried to keep him from coming behind the bar.

Summer Larsen, a fourth-grade teacher at Idaho’s Declo Elementary School, came up with a novel way to make sure her students met their reading goals. Those who failed to meet the goals would face one of two punishments. They could choose to miss recess or they could have their faces marked by other students in the class. Nine students didn’t meet their goals, and six of them chose to have their faces marked. Apparently, some of their parents didn’t know about this and were surprised when they came home with their faces covered in ink. Those parents were even more surprised, and angry, to find that permanent markers had been used.

For years, the Nutz Poker League has run free poker tournaments at bars and restaurants across the Tampa Bay area. They don’t charge money to enter the tournaments, and they don’t allow money to be bet on the games. So they were surprised when a team from the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, in full tactical gear and pointing weapons at them raided a tournament in Largo. Agents charged the restaurant owner with keeping a gambling house and employees with working for a gambling house. They face up to five years in prison. Officials say they broke Florida’s anti-gambling laws, which don’t require any money to be bet. Owner Richard Danford says if anyone had told him he was breaking the law he would have stopped, but the raid was the first time he’d had contact with anyone on law enforcement regarding the tournaments.

Charles Oliver is a staff writer for The Daily Citizen.

Text Only

Opinion

Search Results

Discussion

Charles Oliver: Apparently, politics precedes parenting

Site Map

Contact Us